Author Topic: A thread about nothing at all....  (Read 672935 times)

Offline Rhino

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Re: A thread about nothing at all....
« Reply #1540 on: June 30, 2014, 07:22:06 AM »
So I wonder why they didn't give Pershing the title Field Marshal.

Great- maybe you will like today's useless piece of information.... :-)

So who was the highest ranking officer ever in the US military? The answer is short, the reason for it is a little longer.

Before the 20 century the answer is sketchy due to the various ranks, terms and qualifiers. From 1919 it was John J. Pershing ('Black Jack' Pershing although that was a much- softened version of his nickname and it was quite derogatory). But then in 1976, George Washington became the highest ranking US military officer ever. Kinda' funny, huh?

So it goes like this: after the first World War, Pershing was given the rank "General of the Armies" (note the plural) and it was considered the equivalent of a six- star general. This meant he clearly out- ranked Washington and all that served before himself. Then in 1976, Congress passed a bill making Washington General of the Armies also but given his earlier promotion, he would effective out rank Pershing.

Pershing was given the choice of the what insignia to use- he chose to wear the four stars of a full general but in gold rather than silver to denote the different rank.

Brian

Offline Conrad

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Re: A thread about nothing at all....
« Reply #1541 on: June 30, 2014, 07:34:06 AM »
Update to my post above...

I replaced the original two batteries in my Silverado, they were both 11 years old. One was actually still good but the other was not and it was draining the good battery. The bad battery was the one that was in the hotter of the two locations under the hood.
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Offline B.D.F.

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Re: A thread about nothing at all....
« Reply #1542 on: June 30, 2014, 08:37:20 AM »
I do not know but I would suspect that it was done right at the end of WWI when all things German fell into disfavor. The term Field Marshal would have been most closely associated with Germans at that time, and even perhaps today.

Hey, that reminds me of more useless trivia:  One of the most popular dog breeds is the German Shepherd Dog (I believe the only dog to actually have the word 'dog' in its name) and it has been since the breed's development at the turn of the 20th century. As already mentioned, after both World Wars, lots of things associated with Germans or Germany fell into disfavor. So the German Shepherd Dog has yet another name- it is also called an Alsatian. This was the conjeured up name to prevent a very popular dog breed from falling out of popularity just because of its name.

Brian



So I wonder why they didn't give Pershing the title Field Marshal.
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Offline wile_e_coyote

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Re: A thread about nothing at all....
« Reply #1543 on: June 30, 2014, 10:03:19 AM »
I have one more Dog Breed to add.

The American Eskimo Dog is a breed of companion dog originating in Germany. The American Eskimo is a member of the Spitz family. Despite its name and appearance, the American Eskimo dog is not from Alaska; the dog's heritage is traced back to Northern Europe. The breed's progenitors were German Spitz, but due to anti-German prejudice during the First World War, it was renamed "American Eskimo Dog". Although modern American Eskimos have been exported as German Spitz Gross (or Mittel, depending on the dog's height), the breed standards are actually significantly different. In addition to serving as a watchdog and companion, the American Eskimo dog also achieved a high degree of popularity in the 1930s and 1940s United States as a circus performer.
03 C10

Offline B.D.F.

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Re: A thread about nothing at all....
« Reply #1544 on: July 03, 2014, 07:18:13 AM »
Because tomorrow is 4 July, today's trivia is about a Frenchman.... (wait, it turns out OK).

Marquis de Lafayette was an aristocrat born in France to nobility. Despite that, he was very much taken with the American Revolution, the founding fathers and the spirit of the new country. He fought in the revolution as a major general and was a hero of both the American revolution as well as the French revolution shortly afterward. He gained American citizenship while here and when he died he was given the same honors as Washington and Adams had received upon their deaths. Lafeyette was buried in Paris, France, under soil from Bunker Hill, MA, USA (the site of a famous American revolutionary battle, more or less (OK, it was Breed's hill but hey, history is full of 'close enough')).

This bond between the Americans and Lafayette is so great that when some of the first Americans arrived in France upon the US's entry into World War I, at a point when the country of France had been bled nearly white, the American Colonel Charles Stanton (nephew of A. Lincoln's Secratary of War) visited Lafayette's tomb on July 4, 1917, and said:

“America has joined forces with the Allied Powers, and what we have of blood and treasure are yours. Therefore it is that with loving pride we drape the colors in tribute of respect to this citizen of your great republic. And here and now, in the presence of the illustrious dead, we pledge our hearts and our honor in carrying this war to a successful issue. Lafayette, we are here.” 

And placed an American flag at Lafayette's tomb. That flag has been changed daily ever since, always standing over the grave from that day forward, even during the German occupation of Paris from 1940 to 1944.

Brian
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Offline Strawboss

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Re: A thread about nothing at all....
« Reply #1545 on: July 03, 2014, 07:04:33 PM »
I was going through some old pics the other day and found some of my idiot brother-in-law the cop and myself. These are truly rare indeed and never before seen or published photos. I will try my best to post them this Sunday so mark your calendars, wake the kids and call the neighbors this will be a once in a lifetime experience to see me and him together.
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Offline Gsun

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Re: A thread about nothing at all....
« Reply #1546 on: July 03, 2014, 09:51:44 PM »
I was going through some old pics the other day and found some of my idiot brother-in-law the cop and myself. These are truly rare indeed and never before seen or published photos. I will try my best to post them this Sunday so mark your calendars, wake the kids and call the neighbors this will be a once in a lifetime experience to see me and him together.

We are waiting with anticipation for this one. We all have our own ideas of him! Now to put a face to them.....

Offline B.D.F.

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Re: A thread about nothing at all....
« Reply #1547 on: July 04, 2014, 07:46:31 AM »
I don't know- this could be a bad thing.... I mean, his shear idiocy could overwhelm us. Then again, the build up has been so great that perhaps, just perhaps, his idiocy will not show up all that well in a mere 2D photo?

Nice meeting you in TN Dave!

Brian

I was going through some old pics the other day and found some of my idiot brother-in-law the cop and myself. These are truly rare indeed and never before seen or published photos. I will try my best to post them this Sunday so mark your calendars, wake the kids and call the neighbors this will be a once in a lifetime experience to see me and him together.
Homo Sapiens Sapiens and just a tad of Neanderthal but it usually does not show....  My Private mail is blocked; it is not you, it is me, just like that dating partner said all those years ago. Please send an e-mail if you want to contact me privately.

KiPass keeping you up at night? Fuel gauge warning burning your retinas? Get unlimited peace and harmony here: www.incontrolne.com

Offline Strawboss

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Re: A thread about nothing at all....
« Reply #1548 on: July 06, 2014, 07:49:41 AM »
I also found a video of our wedding in 1992 that he was in, I won't post anything from that. ;D Yes, Brian, idiocity is the key word, however, sometimes putting a face on the enemy helps sear an image into the brain thereby causing one to drink less fretting over what evil looks like.
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Offline Rhino

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Re: A thread about nothing at all....
« Reply #1549 on: July 07, 2014, 11:10:17 AM »
Took a road trip on the C14 last week and found myself at the New Mexico museum of space history in Alamagordo NM. Was looking at the mighty F1 rocket engine used in the Saturn V as well as many other smaller engines including the German V2 engine. All of them are "regenerative" engines where the cones are made of tubes and the fuel (kerosene for most of them) is pumped to the front of the cone and the fuel flows backward up to the combustion chamber. This cools the engine while heating the fuel for better combustion. All of them except the V2 engine used turbo pumps for this purpose as well as pumping liquid O2 into the engine. The V2 engine pre pressurized the fuel and oxidizer tanks with hydrogen peroxide to push the fuel and O2 into the engine. Each F1 engine produced 1,500,000 pounds of thrust and burned 2000 pounds of fuel every second. The Saturn V used 5 of these engines on the first stage. 10,000 pounds of fuel every second.


Was also a personal experience for me because my dad was an engineer for Bell Labs in NJ and worked on the guidance systems for many of the early Army missiles including the Nike series. He would travel to Alamagordo regularly while I was growing up to observe test firings at the White Sands missile range. On display was a Nike Ajax missile that he worked on. He had a tie tack of that missile and I remember him wearing that every day when he went off to work.


I and 3 of my brothers standing by a Nike Ajax missile.

Offline BruceR

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Re: A thread about nothing at all....
« Reply #1550 on: July 07, 2014, 07:07:34 PM »
Surprisingly neat little museum, isn't it?  I used to work on the radars for the HAWK missile system.  Dragged my son up there last summer.  I hope you had time to go by the display at WSMR, and go into White Sands National Monument.

Offline Conrad

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Re: A thread about nothing at all....
« Reply #1551 on: July 08, 2014, 05:36:28 AM »
We were camping up in Door County Wisconsin for the week of the 4th and watched the fireworks on the beach at Baileys Harbor.

The fireworks display was top notch and I saw a type of firework that I've never seen before.

The rocket blasted off in more of a sideways trajectory and as it did it dropped 30 to 40 'things' in the water. At first I thought that it was a mistake or a dud but then you could see the 'things' in the water glowing (we were right at the water's edge). All at once the 'things' blasted off from the water and shot a smaller 'rocket' up into the air and exploded in a shower of beauty.  :)

The crowd went nuts in appreciation. They launched two of these babies off.
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Offline Rhino

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Re: A thread about nothing at all....
« Reply #1552 on: July 08, 2014, 07:42:43 AM »
Surprisingly neat little museum, isn't it?  I used to work on the radars for the HAWK missile system.  Dragged my son up there last summer.  I hope you had time to go by the display at WSMR, and go into White Sands National Monument.

No I didn't have time to go to WSMR. I wasn't sure there was anything for unauthorized persons to see. Would have loved to see it. The evening before I went to the little park in town and crossed the tracks to the museum bone yard. Among other things, there was a V1 just sitting out there that I was surprised wasn't part of the display at the museum. That's a pretty rare piece of rocket history. Also a Redstone rocket was sitting out in pieces. One of the staff later told us it was sitting in the open from back during the SALT treaty so the soviets could verify it was decommissioned.
 

Offline B.D.F.

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Re: A thread about nothing at all....
« Reply #1553 on: July 08, 2014, 05:56:58 PM »
Streptomycin, a broad- spectrum antibiotic, was first isolated in 1943 at Rutgers University. After the end of WWII, it was used experimentally to treat lift threatening infections at the military hospital at Battle Creek. The first patient did not survive; the second patient survived but became blind as a side- effect of the treatment. The third patient made a rapid and robust recovery. His name is Robert J. Dole, later US Senator and Presidential candidate.

Brian
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Offline Strawboss

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Re: A thread about nothing at all....
« Reply #1554 on: July 09, 2014, 04:42:45 PM »


Happier times- L to R Strawboss, Mrs. Strawboss, brother-in-law, Mrs. brother-in-law



These are never before seen by other humans.
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Offline Gsun

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Re: A thread about nothing at all....
« Reply #1555 on: July 09, 2014, 09:28:12 PM »


Happier times- L to R Strawboss, Mrs. Strawboss, idiot brother-in-law the cop, Mrs. brother-in-law



These are never before seen by other humans.

Fixed it for ya!

Offline Conrad

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Re: A thread about nothing at all....
« Reply #1556 on: July 10, 2014, 04:45:24 AM »
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Offline B.D.F.

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Re: A thread about nothing at all....
« Reply #1557 on: July 10, 2014, 08:44:02 AM »
Just to be clear, the two women are sisters, is that correct?

He doesn't seem that bad in the photo..... then again, Verbal Kint didn't seem bad until the very end of 'The Usual Suspects' either.

Brian



Happier times- L to R Strawboss, Mrs. Strawboss, brother-in-law, Mrs. brother-in-law



These are never before seen by other humans.
Homo Sapiens Sapiens and just a tad of Neanderthal but it usually does not show....  My Private mail is blocked; it is not you, it is me, just like that dating partner said all those years ago. Please send an e-mail if you want to contact me privately.

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Offline Strawboss

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Re: A thread about nothing at all....
« Reply #1558 on: July 12, 2014, 11:59:11 AM »
Yes, sisters, my wife is 4 years older. I'm 6 ft, if you notice, he's a bit shorter than me, actually, more than a bit, he must be wearing his elevated shoes as normally he's only a bit taller than my wife and here he looks a lot taller than her. A little man who carries a big pistol, makes him feel better.
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Offline B.D.F.

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Re: A thread about nothing at all....
« Reply #1559 on: July 12, 2014, 01:52:07 PM »
Unfortunately that state is not uncommon IME, or at least not uncommon enough.

And it looks like your SIL is a little bit.... how should I put this delicately..... "Glowing" in that photo.

Look at the bright side, at least you are not related to him, at least beyond the level we are all related (hey, we ARE all related, right?). So you can freely say 'The gene pool could use a little more chlorine".

Brian

Yes, sisters, my wife is 4 years older. I'm 6 ft, if you notice, he's a bit shorter than me, actually, more than a bit, he must be wearing his elevated shoes as normally he's only a bit taller than my wife and here he looks a lot taller than her. A little man who carries a big pistol, makes him feel better.
Homo Sapiens Sapiens and just a tad of Neanderthal but it usually does not show....  My Private mail is blocked; it is not you, it is me, just like that dating partner said all those years ago. Please send an e-mail if you want to contact me privately.

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