Archive for August, 2020

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“What you gonna do when you get out of jail?…” part 135

Wednesday, August 12th, 2020

Some military aviation stuff today. One short-ish, one longer.

The short-ish: I’m a fan of the US Naval Institute. I intermittently subscribe to “Proceedings”, and have actually gotten some valuable leadership tips out of it.

(I don’t want to post it here, but I think I have a PDF of that article somewhere, if you can’t access it through your local library.)

“David McCampbell: Ace of Aces” is a short documentary produced by USNI (including material from his oral history) about Captain David McCampbell (USN – ret.), the Navy’s leading fighter ace, the third highest scoring ace during WWII, Medal of Honor recipient, and F6F Hellcat pilot.

On October 24, 1944, in the initial phase of the Battle of Leyte Gulf, in the Philippines, he became the only American airman to achieve “ace in a day” status twice. McCampbell and his wingman attacked a Japanese force of 60 aircraft. McCampbell shot down nine, 7 Zeros and 2 Oscars, setting a U.S. single mission aerial combat record. During this same action, his wingman downed another six Japanese warplanes. When he landed his Grumman F6F Hellcat aboard USS Langley (the flight deck of Essex wasn’t clear), his six machine guns had just two rounds remaining, and his airplane had to be manually released from the arrestor wire due to complete fuel exhaustion. Commander McCampbell received the Medal of Honor for both actions, becoming the only Fast Carrier Task Force pilot to be so honored.

Longer bonus video: “Gaining Altitude: The Mosquito Reborn”, about the de Havilland Mosquito…and the restoration of a vintage one.

Oh, what the heck. Nibbles: the Mosquito at Oshkosh in 2019.

And from the RAF Museum: “Under the RADAR: Mosquito versus Me 262”.

I’m fond of the Mosquito: how can you not like a fighter made of wood? At the same time, I’m not sure I’d actually want a Mosquito with the infinite money I don’t have, because I’m not sure I want to try to maintain a plane made out of wood. The Me 262 is closer to being my jam as far as vintage fighters, all that pesky Nazi stuff aside. Or a F6F Hellcat, but they aren’t making those anymore.

(I can’t find it now, but I have a general recollection of a company – somewhere up near Dallas? – that was building Me 262 reproductions with current engines. I think they were asking a little over a million each, but I have no idea what the current status is. If I am remembering this right, that seems a lot more feasible and fun than trying to find a vintage F6F and parts, or trying to maintain a Phantom jet.)

Posted in History, Nazis, Planes | 2 Comments »

Obit watch: August 12, 2020.

Wednesday, August 12th, 2020

Joan Feynman, noted astrophysicist. She was 93.

Over the course of her career, Feynman made many breakthroughs in furthering the understanding of solar wind and its interaction with the Earth’s magnetosphere, a region in space where the planetary magnetic field deflects charged particles from the sun. As author or co-author of more than 185 papers, Feynman’s research accomplishments range from discovering the shape of the Earth’s magnetosphere and identifying the origin of auroras to creating statistical models to predict the number of high-energy particles that would collide with spacecraft over time. In 1974, she would become the first woman ever elected as an officer of the American Geophysical Union, and in 2000 she was awarded NASA’s Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal.

…

“Joan Feynman made important contributions to physics,” said APS President Philip Bucksbaum. “Her work on solar wind and the earth’s magnetosphere led to the discovery of the cause of auroras. She also developed a method to predict sunspot cycles. Her efforts in the geophysics community for fair treatment of women, together with her own example as a leader in solar physics, helped to change society’s attitudes in the mid-20th century about the contributions that women can make in physics.”

…

In 1971, Feynman accepted a job at the NASA Ames Research Center, where she developed a way to detect solar coronal mass ejections from the sun by searching for the presence of helium in solar wind. She would go on to hold positions at the High Altitude Observatory at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado; the National Science Foundation; and Boston College. In 1985, Feynman accepted a position at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California, where she would conduct research until her retirement.
As part of her research at JPL, Feynman identified the mechanism that leads to the formation of auroras and developed a statistical model to determine the number of high-energy particles expelled from coronal mass injections that would hit a spacecraft during its lifetime. After her retirement from a senior scientist position in 2003, Feynman continued to conduct research on the impact of solar activity on the early climate of the Earth and the role of climate stabilization in the development of agriculture.
“Joan Feynman leaves a legacy of exemplary scientific research, having made important contributions to our understanding of the solar wind, the earth’s magnetosphere, and the origin of auroras,” said APS CEO Kate Kirby. “Despite being discouraged to pursue science by women in her family, she persevered, and her accomplishments serve as an inspiration to women who wish to pursue a career in science.”

For the record, she was Richard Feynman’s younger sister. There’s a story:

Her pioneering work on these processes led to an understanding of the mechanism responsible for auroras. She found this work wonderful, and her immediate reaction was to tell her brother, who’d first introduced her to these beautiful phenomena all those years before.
But then a second thought crossed her mind. “Richard is pretty smart, and if I tell him about an interesting problem, he’ll find the answer before I do and take all the fun out of it for me.” So Joan decided to strike a deal with him. “I said, Look, I don’t want us to compete, so let’s divide up physics between us. I’ll take auroras and you take the rest of the Universe. And he said OK!”

…

Her brother Richard had kept his original promise to her not to work on auroras. Despite an impressive polymath career in which he applied his genius to a spectacular spectrum of problem-solving across the fields of maths, physics, chemistry, and biology, he had never turned his attention to Joan’s chosen field.
But then he traveled to Alaska, an important centre for aurora studies. On a tour of the facility, the head of the lab pointed out many of the interesting geophysical phenomena that were yet to be explained. “Would you be interested in working on it?” he enquired. Richard responded that he would, but added that he’d have to ask his sister’s permission. Joan remembers that he came back and told her the story. “I’m sorry Richard,” she replied, “but I’m not giving you permission.” Richard duly reported back that his sister had refused to allow him to study auroras!
Word of this story eventually got round, and people would come up to Joan at conferences and ask her if it was true. At one meeting, a colleague from UCLA told the gathering that he wanted “to publicly thank Richard Feynman for not studying aurora, so that we can all have some fun!”

Posted in Geek, Obits | Comments Closed

Quickie.

Tuesday, August 11th, 2020

If you had more money than sense…you probably bought Fyre Festival tickets.

If you still have more money than sense, you may be interested in this auction of Fyre Festival branded merch.

Or you could just buy The Merch merch.

Or you could just sent your money on fire. At least that would keep you warm. Briefly.

($510 for a hat?)

Posted in Clippings, Clothing, Stupid | Comments Closed

Obit watch: August 11, 2020.

Tuesday, August 11th, 2020

Wayne Fontana, of Wayne Fontana and the Mindbenders, one of those British Invasion bands that was (sadly) before my time.

Mr. Fontana, who made a name performing as Wayne Fontana and the Mindbenders, found brief success with the band when “The Game of Love” hit No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard chart the week of April 24, 1965.

Trini Lopez.

His interpretations bridged two prominent trends of the day. At a commercially rich time for folk music, Mr. Lopez drew on the beauty of the genre’s tunes while souping them up with the sharp rockabilly beats employed by hitmakers like Buddy Holly and Carl Perkins.
“Making songs danceable helped me a lot,” Mr. Lopez told The Classic Rock Music Reporter in 2014, adding, “Discotheques back in those days were not only playing my songs, they were playing my album all the way through.”
For yet another draw, Mr. Lopez punctuated many of his songs with joyous hoots and trills drawn from Mexican folk, emphasizing his ethnic heritage at a time when many Latin performers kept theirs hidden. “I’m proud to be a Mexicano,” he told The Seattle Times in 2017.

He also did some acting:

He also appeared in the hit 1967 movie “The Dirty Dozen,” in a role that was meant to be large but that got cut down after Mr. Lopez left the shoot before it ended, frustrated by production delays. He had the lead role in “Antonio,” a 1973 movie about a poor Chilean potter who befriends a rich American (Larry Hagman) passing through his village.

(We finally watched the movie of “The Dirty Dozen” a few weeks ago. I have to admit: it is much better than the book, especially since the movie actually has an ending, and the people responsible for the movie actually bothered to film it.)

Posted in Movies, Music, Obits | Comments Closed

Even more things I did not know.

Tuesday, August 11th, 2020

Allan Gurganus’s Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All (affiliate link) was adapted into a one-woman play starring Ellen Burstyn.

It opened on Broadway November 17, 2003, and closed after one regular performance.

Oddly, Wikipedia does not seem to have a comprehensive list of Broadway shows that closed after one performance. One of the non-Wikipedia lists I found did enlighten me about the theatrical career of Oliver Hailey, who was also a successful TV writer.

His first Broadway show, “First One Asleep” appeared in 1966 and ran for one performance.

His second Broadway show, “Father’s Day” appeared in 1971 and ran for one performance.

His third Broadway show, “I Won’t Dance” appeared in 1981. And if you guessed it ran for one performance, take two gold stars and advance to the next blue square.

He spent more time on Broadway than Moose Murders, and that’s an achievement in and of itself.

(Previously on WCD, for those who don’t recognize the “Moose Murders” reference. I believe the revival was actually an off-Broadway production, which makes the above statement technically accurate.)

Posted in Theatre | Comments Closed

“What you gonna do when you get out of jail?…” part 134

Tuesday, August 11th, 2020

Amateurs talk about tactics, but professionals study logistics.

–Gen. Robert H. Barrow, USMC

In that vein, “Of Ships and Butter”, a 1970s (in color!) US Navy film about the Navy’s role in protecting shipping.

Bonus video: “U.S. News Review”, one of those old newsreels. I put it here because Veronica Lake shows up at about the :24 mark. And as far as I am concerned (and I hope the vast majority of my readers will agree with me) I need no justification other than “Veronica Lake”.

Posted in History, Movies, Sports | 3 Comments »

“What you gonna do when you get out of jail?…” part 133

Monday, August 10th, 2020

Another area of crafts that I’m interested in is good quality woodworking. This is another place where I feel like it would take years of constant practice to be able to turn out something attractive and useful. But at the same time, there’s a whole lot of woodworking books out there: you can probably find plans and ideas for anything you want to build. And if you start out following the plans religiously, and only when you get good, start improvising, well maybe the ROI isn’t so bad after all.

I’m fascinated when I sit down, turn on PBS, and find something like “The New Yankee Workshop” on. For me, this is something like Bob Ross is for other people. (Except I don’t get stoned while watching it.)

It also seems like you can do some nice stuff with some basic hand tools. And a router. And maybe a table saw. And perhaps a lathe. And maybe…

(As a side note, that’s one of the reasons why I’m excited about TJIC’s book: because he’s going to talk about the tools he finds useful. And having seen pictures of some of his woodwork, I think this is a good starting point.)

One thing I keep thinking I’d like to build (when I get good enough) is a shooter’s box (or “range box”). Every now and again, I see nice ones at the gun shows, but they’re not for sale. I have a used (and slightly battered) range box made mostly out of plastic in with the gun stuff, and it is nice enough. But it gets back to the idea of using something you built yourself and that’s adjusted to your own needs, not something mass produced you bought from a store. Plus the wood ones just look better.

If you’re not familiar with the shooter’s box, well, that’s today’s theme.

This guy built a box for camera gear, but it is the same general principle:

Someday…

Posted in Geek, Guns, History | Comments Closed

Obit watch: August 10, 2020.

Monday, August 10th, 2020

For the record: William English (one of the people who helped build the first mouse) and Frances Allen, noted computer scientist and researcher. Both of these have been extensively covered in a lot of places, which is why I’m only noting them here.

Terry Cannon. My feelings about baseball are well known, but Mr. Cannon sounds like my type of person. He founded the Baseball Reliquary:

…a nonprofit organization that comprises a disarming collection of unusual objects and includes the Shrine of the Eternals — individuals elected annually more for their unique characters and achievements than for their statistics or their official place in baseball’s history.

…

A puckish historian, Mr. Cannon opened every shrine induction ceremony by leading the audience in a Pasadena library in the banging of cowbells, in tribute to Hilda Chester, the leather-lunged Brooklyn Dodger fan known for pounding a cowbell at Ebbets Field. The reliquary’s Hilda Award is given to distinguished fans.

…

The first induction, in 1999, exemplified the shrine’s type of inductee: Curt Flood, who helped pave the way for free agency by challenging baseball’s reserve clause, which tied a player to his team year after year unless an owner traded or released him; Bill Veeck, the maverick owner of several teams; and [Dock] Ellis, a thoughtful, idiosyncratic Black pitcher, mostly for the Pittsburgh Pirates, who spoke out on racial issues.
Ellis attended his induction ceremony and wept, saying that Major League Baseball had never honored him. He recalled receiving a letter from Jackie Robinson (a 2005 shrine inductee) urging him to continue to push for change in baseball.
“He was crying his eyes out,” Ms. Cannon, who is also the reliquary’s artistic director, said in an interview. “I had to reach over and pat his hand to bring him back.”

…

Mr. Cannon was, indeed, a serious scholar, but the artifacts he collected invariably prompted a smile — as did his use, at his wife’s suggestion, of the word “reliquary,” which means a container for holy relics.
There is the jockstrap worn by the 3-foot-7 Eddie Gaedel, who appeared as a pinch-hitter for the St. Louis Browns in 1951 in a stunt conceived by Mr. Veeck. And there is the sacristy box that a priest used in 1948 to give the last rites to Babe Ruth, who died nearly a month later.
Then there are the curlers that Ellis wore on the field during batting practice at Three Rivers Stadium after Ebony magazine wrote about his hairstyle.
“I was interested in things that other museums weren’t interested in collecting,” Mr. Cannon told Pasadena Weekly in 2017. “Like, if they wanted bats and gloves, I wanted things to keep famous stories alive. It was more interesting to find a desiccated hot dog that Babe Ruth partially digested than a signed baseball or bat.”

Richard Lapointe. This is an incredibly sad story worth noting here.

In March of 1987, Bernice Martin was raped and murdered, and her apartment was set on fire. She was 88 years old, and the grandmother of Mr. Lapointe’s wife. Mr. Lapointe, who was born with a brain malformation that left him with limited mental capability, was interrogated by the police. Eventually, he signed three confessions to the crime, “though their legitimacy was open to debate“.

He was convicted in 1992 and sentenced to life. But almost immediately people raised questions about the conviction.

Among those who smelled a miscarriage of justice from the start was Tom Condon, a columnist for The Courant. Ten days after the conviction, he began his column this way:
“Richard Lapointe is short, chubby and owlishly homely. He wears a hearing aid and thick glasses. He is meek and deferential. He is not very bright.
“Watching him on the witness stand and examining the record, it is hard to believe that on one night in his 46 years, and one night only, he turned into a crazed psychopathic sex killer.
“It is so hard to believe, that maybe he didn’t.”

…

“The Richard Lapointe case was a top-to-bottom failure of the Connecticut criminal justice system, compounded by some bad luck,” Mr. Condon, who covered the case extensively for The Courant and now writes for The Connecticut Mirror, said by email. “He never should have been arrested, he never should have been convicted, and he certainly never should have spent 26 years in prison while the state circled the wagons and tried to protect a bad conviction.” (Mr. Lapointe spent three years in prison before his conviction.)

Among other issues, Mr. Lapointe’s disability may have left him particularly inclined to please others, including pleasing the police by signing confessions. And his disability may also have left him so poorly coordinated that he was physically incapable of doing the crime.

It was not until 2015 that the Connecticut Supreme Court intervened, examining an argument that exonerating evidence had not reached the defense. Its ruling reversing the conviction did not mince words.
“The petitioner was forty-two years old when he allegedly committed one of the most brutal crimes in our state’s history — the rape, torture and murder of a defenseless eighty-eight year old woman, a person who, by all accounts, was like a grandmother to him,” the majority opinion read. “Although there is abundant evidence in the record concerning the petitioner’s simplemindedness, his peculiarities and his very rigid way of thinking, one searches the record in vain for evidence that he ever was physically violent, that he suffered from a mood disorder, psychosis, drug addiction or anything else that could explain why, after visiting the victim every Sunday for years, he suddenly went back to her apartment on the Sunday in question and brutally murdered her, without his wife noticing either that he had left their house or any change in his demeanor or appearance upon his return.”

He lived for five years after his release. According to people who knew him, he had dementia and had been hospitalized with COVID.

Posted in Law, Obits, Sports | Comments Closed

“What you gonna do when you get out of jail?…” part 132

Sunday, August 9th, 2020

Science Sunday! And more space history stuff!

“Gemini Analog Reentry Simulation”, explaining how the simulator works, as well as how the Gemini re-entry profile was flown (yes, flown). Part of what makes this interesting (to me) is that it also shows some analog computers from the time (specifically, the Pace 231R, if that means anything to any of my readers).

And as a bonus, another bit of Gemini history: “Flight Controller Orientation”, a brief explanation of the workings of the flight control system.

And to complete the trilogy, a contemporary NASA documentary about Gemini 8. You may remember Gemini 8 as the one that rolled out of control during docking with Agena (due to a stuck thruster).

Posted in Geek, History | Comments Closed

“What you gonna do when you get out of jail?…” part 131

Saturday, August 8th, 2020

Another dose of random.

It is August. It is hot in Texas. How about some trains dashing through the snow?

One more, but this one is special: it features the little-seen rotary snow plow operating in Donner Pass.

Totally unrelated: at the last SDC, we were talking about various WWII resistance films, such as Jean-Pierre Melville’s “Army of Shadows“. In that vein: “Poland Forever”, from 1944, about the Polish fight against the Nazis.

Last one for today. I thought this was kind of moving.

Posted in History, Trains | Comments Closed

“What you gonna do when you get out of jail?…” part 130

Friday, August 7th, 2020

More random!

Lawrence might approve of this: a tank battle. With remote controlled tanks.

The AAF Tank Museum. Flamethrower Day is coming up in September. Danville is only a little more than an hour away from Bedford, where the National D-Day Memorial is. Mike the Musicologist and I have talked about visiting the memorial, so the AAF Museum falls right in line with that plan.

I feel like this is going to turn some folk’s crank: a large R/C Airwolf in flight. With rocket fire a little past the 2:00 mark.

I have mixed feelings about some of these R/C aircraft videos. On the one hand, I admire the people who can build and fly these massive detailed objects. On the other hand, I keep thinking about the massive amounts of time, effort, and money that could be wiped out in seconds by one hardware failure or human error.

The “Leadership Secrets…” series is still active: I just haven’t found a lot of examples to post recently. But these two videos popped up in my feed. One short, but watch to the end for the point:

(This same point was quoted directly in a Twitter thread I linked to a while back. Thankfully, that’s still up.)

One longer:

It isn’t like Lawrence and I don’t have enough stuff already, but I’m giving some thought to “Band of Brothers”.

Posted in Geek, History, Leadership, TV | Comments Closed

Firings watch.

Friday, August 7th, 2020

Sports firings have been kind of slow recently. With very little sports going on, who’s going to get fired and why?

Answer: Nikita Lowry Dawkins, assistant women’s basketball coach at Texas Tech. And head coach Marlene Stollings.

As for the why…

The termination follows a USA TODAY investigation into what 10 players allege was an abusive culture…

…

Wednesday’s report by USA TODAY Sports, in collaboration with The Intercollegiate, was based on season-ending exit interviews with players from the past two seasons, other documents and interviews with 10 players, two former assistant coaches and two parents. Six of the players spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation.
Among the claims from players:
Coaches directed players to maintain an heart rate of at least 90% of capacity during play or face conditioning assignments or risk losing playing time.
The three international players on rosters the past two seasons allegedly faced treatment such as being ridiculed, isolated and threatened by coaches. Brazil native Marcella LaMark said Stollings told LaMark her fitness lagged so far behind teammates’ that she was “dangerous” to them.
Emma Merriweather, a 6-5 center, said she was admonished by coaches for displaying symptoms of depression, for which she was eventually diagnosed. She was also allegedly told by assistant coach Lowry Dawkins to snap a rubber band on her wrist when she had a negative thought.
Five players alleged Petrella sexually harassed players, making suggestive comments to one player and using a therapy technique that involved applying pressure to some players’ chests and pubic bones and groins.
Three players said Stollings retaliated by holding tougher practices after they brought abuse claims to school officials, including Judi Henry, executive senior associate athletic director and senior women’s administrator.

The “Petrella” mentioned above is strength and conditioning coach Ralph Petrella. He resigned in March.

Posted in Firings, Sports | Comments Closed

Obit watch: August 7, 2020.

Friday, August 7th, 2020

Dr. William Aprill, noted trainer, has passed away. FotB Karl has a very nice tribute to him up at his blog. LawDog has another nice tribute up at his place.

Brent Scowcroft, national security advisor to President Ford and President Bush Sr.

Posted in Guns, Law, Obits | 2 Comments »

“What you gonna do when you get out of jail?…” part 129

Thursday, August 6th, 2020

Travel Thursday!

I was thinking about the Orient today. We’ve already done Japan. So how about the next best thing?

“New Horizons: Hong Kong and Singapore”. From Pan Am and 1960, back when Hong Kong was still under British rule.

And your bonus for today: “The Wonderful Jet World of Pan American”, from 1959 and the usual suspects, touting the virtues of Pan Am’s jet fleet.

Posted in History, Planes, Travel | Comments Closed

Obit watch: August 6, 2020.

Thursday, August 6th, 2020

Pete Hamill, famous NYC journalist.

Mr. Hamill became a celebrated reporter, columnist and the top editor of The New York Post and The Daily News; a foreign correspondent for The Post and The Saturday Evening Post; and a writer for New York Newsday, The Village Voice, Esquire and other publications. He wrote a score of books, mostly novels but also biographies, collections of short stories and essays, and screenplays, some adapted from his books.
He was a quintessential New Yorker — savvy about its ways, empathetic with its masses and enthralled with its diversity — and wrote about it in a literature of journalism. Along with Jimmy Breslin, he popularized a spare, blunt style in columns of on-the-scene reporting in the authentic voice of the working classes: blustery, sardonic, often angry.

…

He idolized Hemingway and covered wars in Vietnam, Nicaragua, Lebanon and Northern Ireland. He lived in Dublin, Barcelona, Mexico City, Saigon, San Juan, Rome and Tokyo. But his roots were in New York, where he pounded out stories about murders, strikes, the World Series, championship fights, jazz or politics, and then got drunk after work with buddies at the Lion’s Head in Greenwich Village.

…

He was widely respected in newspaper circles, not only for his innovative writing and advocacy of underdogs, but for promoting higher tabloid news standards and for standing up to publishers in squabbles over pay and treatment of employees and his own autonomy as an editor.

Kathleen Duey, children’s book author. I was unfamiliar with her, but she sounds like an interesting person. The NYT obit describes her as not just an author, but a mentor to other authors as well.

“One student said for the longest time that she had one of Kathleen’s words of wisdom on her desktop: ‘Every artist of every kind takes a leap,’” Ms. Zarins said. “That’s what she did for my students. She showed them how to leap.”

…

Ms. Duey gained a reputation within the organization as someone who lent her time and talent to aspiring writers, said Bruce Coville, a fellow author of children’s literature. He got to know Ms. Duey in the 1980s, when she was the one starting out and in need of a confidence boost.
“She didn’t yet understand how incredibly talented she was,” he said.

She was 69, and according to the obit, had been suffering from dementia.

Posted in Books, Media, Obits | Comments Closed

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