Science Sunday!
You know what else I thought was really cool when I was six years old?
From 1962 and the Bell System, by way of the AT&T Tech Channel, “Telstar”, the story of the satellite’s development.
Bonus science video, also by way of the AT&T Tech Channel, but covering a totally different aspect of science: “The Year They Discovered People”, a 1973 documentary about the Hawthorne Effect.
Marge Redmond. She was perhaps most famous as “Sister Jacqueline” on “The Flying Nun”, but she did a fair amount of other TV: “Barnaby Jones”, “The Rockford Files”, “Quincy, M.E.”, “Matlock”, and more. She was also in “The Fortune Cookie”, “Manhattan Murder Mystery”, and “Family Plot”.
She was married to Jack Weston, and they were both good Cleveland people. Apparently, she died in February, but her death was only recently reported.
Here’s something a little different and shorter. “Coast Guard Lighthouses”, a film about…Coast Guard lighthouses, as of 1960.
Bonus: since the theme today is “something a little different”, here’s a promo film from the American Radio Relay League, also from the 1960s: “The Ham’s Wide World”. Noted: one of America’s most famous hams, Barry Goldwater (K7UGA and K3UIG), shows up at about 15:40.
I do love me some hot Navy action. I also really enjoyed The Hunt For Red October. So:
“Co-ordinated Anti-Submarine Warfare” This is labeled as part 1, but I think the good folks at PeriscopeFilm put parts 1 and 2 together when they uploaded the newly mastered version.
Bonus video: “Tracking the Threat: Anti Submarine Warfare in the Cold War”. This has a 1982 copyright date, which makes it extremely contemporary with Red October.
Richard Herd, working actor. He appeared on a minor SF TV show and was a regular on a minor sitcom, but he had a lot of other credits. (Including, interestingly enough, “Capt. Dennis Sheridan” on “T.J. Hooker”. One of the less reputable broadcast networks was running a marathon of that last weekend. Man, it is hard to watch these days.)
Anthony James, another working actor. He was in “Unforgiven” and “In the Heat of the Night” (the movie), also appeared on a minor SF TV show, and had a lot of other credits (“Quincy, M.E.”, the good “Hawaii 5-0”, “Gunsmoke”, “Starsky and Hutch”, “Police Story”, and so on).
By way of Lawrence, Cindy Lou Butler Stevens.
“Cindy Lou who?”
No, Cindy Lou Butler Stevens. She was one of the female leads in the awful “Boggy Creek II: and the Legend Continues…“, and also appeared in “The Town that Dreaded Sundown” and “Grayeagle”.
All three of those were directed by Charles B. Pierce (who also directed “The Legend of Boggy Creek”, the first film in the trilogy). Per Lawrence, Ms. Stevens was married to Mr. Pierce at the time.
An assortment today. No unifying theme.
Police videos have been kind of skimpy recently because they haven’t been popping up in my YouTube recommendations. If I narrow the topics down to just “law enforcement”, I get…nothing but “Live PD” clips. Now, I have nothing against “Live PD”: I don’t watch it, because we don’t have cable, but I’ll certainly sit through a YouTube clip. In a private window in my browser, not signed in to YouTube, so why are these clips showing up in my recs? And if people want to watch “Live PD” clips, you all know where to find them, right?
Anyway, I finished the book great and good FotB (and official firearms trainer of WCD) Karl Rehn recommended back when I posted about the Newhall shootout: Newhall Shooting – A Tactical Analysis: Survival Lessons from One of Law Enforcement’s Deadliest Shootings (affiliate link) and I do recommend it, with some small quibbles.
One thing I learned from that book: in addition to the CHP Newhall training film, the LA County Sheriff’s Department made their own training film. I think you are better served watching the CHP film first, as the quality of the transfer on this one isn’t that great, and I have questions about the accuracy of LACSD’s film. In the interest of the historical record, however, here it is:
Totally unrelated: ever wonder about astronaut weightlessness training in the days before the “Vomit Comet”? Yeah, I do, too. Wikipedia says that the Mercury astronauts trained in a C-131. But this purports to be vintage film of Glenn, Grissom, and Shepherd training in an F-100F (not all three at the same time, obviously):
And speaking of the F-100: “TAC On Target”, from 1962, which features various aircraft in action (including the F-100, F-104, F-105, and F-4C).
I’ll just note: for those of you who work for, or deal with, a certain large company in the computer networking area (hi, Borepatch!) “TAC On Target” may have an entirely different connotation for you.
Something else I like, from Rod Dreher: “Ode to the Roof Koreans“.
I don’t usually link to Reason unless it is backup for a blog entry, or to make a larger point.
But I do rather like this J.D. Tuccille piece, “In Praise of Pointy Things“, and commend it to your attention.
Story: when I was going through the citizen’s police academy in !Austin, the chief of police showed up pretty regularly. There’s an entire class block devoted to his presentation on officer related stress and the physiology of critical encounters.
He likes to tell a story about asking his officers, “Why do you carry a knife?” and then mocking their responses. “In case I need to cut a seat belt.” “When was the last time you had to cut somebody out of a seat belt?” And so on, and so on. I kind of like the guy in general, but this is one aspect of his style I don’t get.
His answer: “In case I need to stab you.”
My answer: “Because I am a tool using animal. I have evolved over millions of years to be able to use tools. A knife is a tool.“
Thanks to all the folks who stopped by and left comments on my Memorial Day post. Thanks also to Borepatch for the linky love.
There are some videos on YouTube about Father Capodanno, but I have not been able to watch any of them yet, and I don’t want to put them up without watching them first. So here’s a couple of things I thought were odd or diverting.
Many of my readers are probably familiar with the idea of ASMR videos. I wasn’t aware that there was such a thing as ASMR gun cleaning videos.
(I have another reason for posting this video. But I’ll go into that at some point in the future.)
Bonus: More hot metal! “Modern Steel Making”, from the United States Steel Corporation in glorious Technicolor!
I feel like I’m in a transition between Memorial Day observance and getting back to (what passes for) normal.
So here’s some military aviation videos that I think are interesting. First off, this is apparently a promo film for Northrop’s YB-49, aka “the Flying Wing”.
This is where I mention that the YB-49 never saw active service: the Air Force went with the B-36 instead.
Bonus video #1: “Instrument Flight”. In the T-38-A Talon.
I’ve always been fond of the T-38. If I had the money and ability to fly jets, I’d love to own and fly my own T-38. (Wikipedia says there are seven privately owned ones in the US.)
Bonus video #2, just because I’m feeling extra geeky: a training film about the F-111’s terrain following radar.
In honor of Memorial Day: “To Save a Soldier”. This is an ABC News documentary from 1966, narrated by Henry Fonda, and following a wounded soldier through the military medical system: from Vietnam to his homecoming.
Bonus video: “The Greatest Raid of All”, a Jeremy Clarkson documentary about the British commando raid on the St. Nazaire dock in March of 1942.
The St. Nazaire raid is a great story: Giles Milton’s Churchill’s Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare (affiliate link) contains a good summary.
Father Capodanno was ordained as a Catholic priest in 1958. He did missionary work in Taiwan and Hong Kong. But he felt a stronger calling.
So he enlisted, went through Officer Candidate School and was commissioned as a Lieutenant in 1965. He served with the United States Navy Chaplain Corps, and was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 7th Marines, 1st Marine Division. Later he was transferred to the 1st Medical Battalion, 1st Marine Division to finish out his first tour. He took six months of leave, and then re-enlisted and was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 5th Marines. Shortly after that, he was reassigned to the 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines, 1st Marine Division.
The troops called him “The Grunt Padre”.
…
He became a true father to young boys on the front lines. He was “out there” with his men where he lived, ate, and slept as they did. To the young recruits thrust into the terrifying reality of battle, he was always available in his tent where anyone could drop in for comfort and guidance.
He shared his salary, rations and cigarettes with anyone in need. He could always be counted upon for a cold soda or a book from his reading library. When Christmas came around and soldiers felt forgotten, Father Vincent saw to it that no Marine was without gifts which he obtained through a relentless campaign from friends and organizations all over the world.
More importantly, he heard confessions for hours on end, instructed converts, and administered the sacraments. His granting of General Absolution before battle unburdened the consciences of the Marines and instilled in them the courage to fight. His mere presence in a unit was enough to lift the morale of all on patrol.
When men died, he was at their side so they would not die alone. He gave them Last Rites encouraging them to repent and persevere. In addition, he wrote countless letters of personal condolence to parents of wounded and dead Marines and offered solid grounding and hope to fellow Marines who lost friends.
When the pseudo-peace movement began to oppose the war, Fr. Vincent raised the spirits of demoralized soldiers in the field. He encouraged his men to oppose that same brutal communist system, which still oppresses Vietnam today.
When his second tour of duty was up, he begged his superiors for an extension. That extension was denied: he was supposed to go home in November of 1967.
…
Father Capodanno was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for his actions.
The Catholic Church is considering the case to canonize Father Capodanno as a saint. As I understand it, he has been named “Servant of God”, which is the first step in the process, but I can’t tell if there’s been any progress on this since 2013.
Science Sunday!
I thought I’d go back to the early days, starting with the 1950s.
From 1953, and the Bell System, “The Transistor”, an early documentary about the transistor and its anticipated impact on society. (Remember, this was six years after the transistor was invented.)
Wrist radios! Portable televisions! Computers that can fit into “a good sized room”! The future!
Bonus video #1: “Genesis of the Transistor”. Also from the Bell System, but from 1965 this time: the origins and development of the device.
Bonus video #2: “The Incredible Machine”. Electronic circuit design, digital drawing with a pen, computer animation, computer music composition, speech synthesis…none of this stuff is extraordinary today. But it was in 1968.
The Bell Labs ‘Graphic 1’ computer system consisted of a Digital Equipment Corporation ‘PDP-5’ computer coupled with input devices such as the ‘Type 370’ light pen and Teletype Corporation ‘Teletype Model 33’ keyboard, married to a Digital Equipment Corporation ‘Type 340’ precision incremental display backed by 36-bit Ampex ‘RVQ’ buffer memory capable of storing 4096 ‘words’. The resolution on the monitor was 1024×1024.
This system was designed to transform the graphics-based input into output to be fed into a IBM ‘7094’ (200 Kflop/s). The entire thing was attached to a microfilm-based recorder – the Stromberg Carlson ‘SC 4020’, which took hours to read and record the data.
Since it is Memorial Day weekend…
“The Legacy of the Thresher”. This is (according to the YouTube notes) an old “CBS Reports” special from 1964. (The USS Thresher was lost April 10, 1963.)
Of possible amusement value to some folks: this features a very young Dan Rather.
Bonus video: this is a little shorter, if you’re pressed for time on this Saturday. It also fits in thematically with Lawrence’s Battleswarm post today.
From the Department of the Navy and the US National Archives: “To the Shores of Iwo Jima”.