Science Sunday!
I’ve mentioned Theodore von Kármán in passing previously, but only in the context of his influence on other folks. He was a hugely important scientist in his own right, though: he did massively important work on fluid flow (including air flow) and turbulence, especially in the supersonic realm.
This is a lecture from 2012 about von Kármán’s life and work.
Bonus: A discussion with Roger Penrose on “What is time?”
The other day, I was at Half-Price Books, and found a first edition first printing of One Ranger (affiliate link) signed by both authors for $10, which is a heck of a find. I’ve written before about this book, and I won’t repeat myself here.
But it did get me thinking about the Texas Rangers.
I still have not seen “The Highwaymen”. It isn’t out yet on DVD or blu-ray, I refuse to subscribe to NetFlix, and I haven’t gotten up enough motivation to hoist the black flag.
But I do love this scene, both for the obvious reason and because there’s a limited amount of Woody Harrelson.
No, that wasn’t today’s video.
“Doing Justice to Pancho Hamer” part 1:
Part 2:
“Captain Frank Hamer and his go to firearms.”
This guy says that Frank Hamer did not use the Remington Model 8 to dispatch Bonnie and Clyde (they were used in the ambush, just not by Ranger Hamer):
I know I’ve mentioned him before, but Jeff Guinn in Go Down Together: The True, Untold Story of Bonnie and Clyde (affiliate link) agrees with that guy, and says Ranger Hamer used a Colt Monitor machine rifle. On the other hand, John Boessenecker in Texas Ranger: The Epic Life of Frank Hamer, the Man Who Killed Bonnie and Clyde (ditto) asserts that Hamer used the Model 8. My problem with this is that Boessenecker’s sources amount to:
History doesn’t work on the basis of “which writer we like better”. But given Boessenecker’s (in my opinion) weak sourcing, his tendency to take pot shots at other writers, and the moralizing he inserted into his book…unless somebody shows me a better reliable source, I’m taking Guinn’s side in this dispute.
(It looks to me, watching clips on YouTube, that “The Highwaymen” takes the Boessenecker side.)
For those unfamiliar with the Monitor (which is probably a lot of folks) it was basically a cut-down version of the BAR. Here’s a video from Brownells showing both.
Ian’s also done a video on the Monitor, which includes demo firing.
And one last video for the road, from TFB TV: “John Moses Browning’s Amazing Remington Model 8 Semi-Auto Rifle”.
(Remember, JMB’s birthday is coming up January 23rd. I’ll probably do a thematically appropriate post that day: in the meantime, I encourage you to pick up something designed by JMB if you don’t already have one of his guns. A .45 would be nice if you fall into that category, but an Auto-5/Remington Model 11, a Hi-Power, or a Winchester Model 1894 would be fine choices as well.)
…has rolled.
Tom Herman out as UT head coach.
Herman was 32-18 in four seasons at Texas and has not won any Big 12 championships. The Longhorns have made only one appearance in the title game. That came in 2018 during UT’s 10-4 season that ended with a win over No. 6 Georgia in the Sugar Bowl.
But that season has become the exception rather than the norm under Herman. He was 9-10 against top-25 opponents and 1-4 against rival Oklahoma. That’s not anywhere close to the success UT officials expected when the school hired Herman away from Houston in November 2016.
Happy New Year! And happy Travel Thursday on Friday!
I thought we’d go someplace exotic today. Namely, “The Land Called New Jersey”, a 1960s promo film from Humble Oil.
Bonus: I may be fudging the definition of “travel” a little bit, but this popped up and I couldn’t resist for two reasons. “Come Fly With Me”, a documentary (about one hour long) about the history of Pan Am. Reason #1 being: Pan Am.
Reason #2: this is narrated by the late Honor “Pussy Galore” Blackman.
(Speaking of Ms. Blackman, we actually did watch “Cockneys Vs. Zombies” (affiliate link). And…it’s not bad. I don’t think it is one of the great zombie films, but for $8 it gives you about 90 minutes of solid fun entertainment. And both Ms. Blackman and Alan “Brick Top” Ford are quite good.)
Phyllis McGuire, last of the McGuire Sisters.
Ms. McGuire, with her older sisters Christine and Dorothy, shot to success overnight after winning the televised “Arthur Godfrey Talent Scouts” contest in 1952. Over the next 15 years, they were one of the nation’s most popular vocal groups, singing on the television variety shows of Ed Sullivan, Milton Berle, Andy Williams and Red Skelton, on nightclub circuits across the country and on records that sold millions.
The sisters epitomized a 1950s sensibility that held up a standard of unreal perfection, wearing identical coifs, dresses and smiles, moving with synchronized precision and blending voices in wholesome songs for simpler times. Their music, like that of Perry Como, Patti Page and other stars who appealed to white, middle-class audiences, contrasted starkly with the rock ’n’ roll craze that was taking the world by storm in the mid-to-late ’50s.
Ms. McGuire was also famously linked aromatically with Sam Giancana. Yes, the mobster.
Richard Thornburgh, former governor of Pennsylvania and Attorney General under Reagan and Bush.