Muhammad Aziz and Khalil Islam did not kill Malcolm X.
Noted.
November 19th, 2021Obit watch: November 19, 2021.
November 19th, 2021Wilbur Smith, author. He was another one of those guys whose books I often see in racks at the grocery store, which is a pretty good sign.
“I wrote about hunting and gold mining and carousing and women,” Mr. Smith said.
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Mr. Smith had his detractors, who saw some of his writing as glorifying colonialism and furthering racial and gender stereotypes. And he was not always a favorite of critics.
He maintained, as he told the Australian publication The Age, that he paid little attention. “The snootiness of critics is so silly,” he said. “They’re judging Great Danes against Pekingese. I’m not writing that literature — I’ve never set out to write it. I’m writing stories.”
Lawrence sent over Ann Althouse’s obit for Justus Rosenberg yesterday. I can’t really do the man the justice she did, so I’ll just point you over there.
I shot an arrow into the air…
November 19th, 2021…how far did it go?
This is something I hadn’t really thought about until this Smithsonian article came across Hacker News: how far can you shoot an arrow? The current record is apparently 2,028 yards.
“The Quest to Shoot an Arrow Farther Than Anyone Has Before“.
Travel notes.
November 19th, 2021As you might have picked up from previous posts, Mike the Musicologist, myself, and some other friends who shall remain anonymous went up to Tulsa this past weekend for Wanenmacher’s Tulsa Arms Show. We generally try to go to every third one, but what with the Wuhan Flu et al, this is the first one we’ve been to since November of 2018.
I’m working on a longer post about some of the things I picked up during the show and around Tulsa, but I have to wait until one item arrives at my FFL. (On a related note, I am thinking more seriously about getting a C&R license. The problem is: I am already supposed to get one colonoscopy a year. I don’t need BATFE giving me a second one.)
A few things I noticed:
- It didn’t take us as long to go through the show as it usually did. I felt like I had seen all the tables by about 2 PM on Sunday.
- The reason is that it seemed there were fewer vendors. I think Wannemacher’s still sells all their tables, but it seemed like a lot of vendors may have purchased tables and then backed out for this round. Additionally, it seemed like a lot of vendors who were there decided to pack up their tables and close early: either they sold everything they’d brought, or just wanted to get on the road.
- There were a lot of people selling AR pattern rifles and parts at the show. But as usual, almost all the ones I saw were not mass-production platforms (Bushmaster, S&W, etc.) but were from small builders. I really didn’t pay much attention to prices, because I wasn’t looking for a new AR pattern rifle. (I am kind of looking for a cheapish AR upper for my own personal Behind Every Blade of Grass gun (hattip: McThag), but it wasn’t a priority for me at this show.) Someone Who Isn’t Me did purchase an upper in .224 Valkyrie, but I didn’t note the price.
- There were, as always, a lot of ammo vendors at the show. Which means ammo prices were competitive. I didn’t buy any ammo at the show. (I did pick up a box of .221 Fireball from Sports World and a box of 10mm Hornady Critical Duty from Dong’s Guns while we were roaming the city.) My Friends Who Are Not Me keep close track of ammo prices and did pick up some at the show for what they thought were good prices: 280 rounds of M-1 Garand specific .30-06 ammo for $1.25 a round (with ammo can and enbloc clips), 1000 rounds of .45 Auto for $.44 a round, 1000 rounds of 9mm for $.34 a round, and 1000 rounds of .380 for $.37 a round.
- I saw a lot (relatively speaking) of older Smith and Wesson Model 48 revolvers for sale. It wasn’t like every other table had one, but I saw far more than I expected to see, even given the size of the show. The Model 48 is a K-frame revolver chambered in .22 Magnum. They are nice guns, especially the older ones. I was just surprised at how many I saw for sale. (No, I didn’t buy one: I already have one in 6″. It’s very nice.)
- Pretty much all of our meals were good. We had the traditional German food at Siegi’s Sausage Factory, Thai food at Lanna Thai (“Lana!“), pretty good barbecue at Oklahoma Joe’s, excellent bulgogi at a hole in the wall called Gogi Gui Korean Grill, and a nice higher-end meal at Smoke Woodfire Grill. (Our usual higher end Sunday night meal place, The Chalkboard, is now only serving Sunday brunch.) We also had an excellent breakfast Monday morning at Bramble Breakfast and Bar in the Pearl District. (I recommend the Monte Carlo Benedict.) Also an excellent breakfast: Toast and Franklin’s on Main in Broken Arrow.
Stephen Hunter, call your office, please.
November 18th, 2021Spotted at a grocery store in Tulsa:
“…the man who holds the complete works of Aristotle in one hand, and a delicious sandwich in the other”. Well, who doesn’t love a delicious sandwich? But I think the Swagger I’m familiar with is more likely to have a .38 Super in the other hand.
(Swagger explained, for those who are unfamiliar with the works of Stephen Hunter. Those people should fix that soon: I’m personally fond of Pale Horse Coming, for reasons.)
Also spotted: Old Spice Krakengard. Which actually makes sense to me: if I can get a body wash that protects me from kraken, I am there, man.
Obit watch: November 18, 2021.
November 18th, 2021…
Philip Margo and some of the others in the group didn’t have a lot of confidence in the resulting recording.
“We were embarrassed by it and tried to convince Hugo and Luigi not to release it,” he said in an interview quoted in “The Billboard Book of Number 1 Hits” by Fred Bronson. “They said it would be a big record and it was going out.”
They were right. It hit No. 1 on the Billboard chart in December 1961, remained there for three weeks and became a cultural touchstone. A whole new generation was introduced to it in 1994 when a version turned up in the Disney movie “The Lion King.”
“Now that it’s current, we’re current,” Mr. Margo said at the time. “I am thrilled.”
Mr. Frishberg, who also played piano and sang, was an anomaly, if not an anachronism, in American popular music: an accomplished, unregenerate jazz pianist who managed to outrun the eras of rock, soul, disco, punk and hip-hop by writing hyper-literate songs that harked back to Hoagy Carmichael and Johnny Mercer, by way of Stephen Sondheim.
His songwriting wit was for grown-ups, yet he reached his widest audience with sharpshooting ditties for kids as a regular musical contributor to ABC-TV’s long-running Saturday morning animated show “Schoolhouse Rock!”
Among his credits: “I’m Just a Bill”.
Lawrence sent over an obit from Slam Wrestling for Joe Cornelius. In addition to his wrestling work, he helped with fight coordinating on “The Avengers” and also made some uncredited movie appearances. Perhaps his best known work was as the titular character in “Trog”.
Heath Freeman. He had some roles on “Bones” and “NCIS”. According to THR, he was only 41.
Obit watch: November 17, 2021.
November 17th, 2021Still playing catch up on obits. Please to excuse the shortness here.
Terence Wilson, of UB40.
Graeme Edge, of the Moody Blues.
Clifford Rose, noted actor with the Royal Shakespeare Company. He also did some movie and TV work, including “Doctor Who”.
Geir Vegar Hoel, Norwegian actor. Lawrence and I knew him from “Dead Snow“, a fun little horror movie about Nazi zombies.
More firings.
November 16th, 2021I’m back home, but playing catch-up. In the meantime, Justin Fuente out as Virginia Tech head coach.
43-31 overall and 28-20 in the ACC over six seasons.
Firings watch.
November 15th, 2021Riding shotgun on the way home. In haste: Butch Davis out at Florida International.
Even better: it’s sabotage!
Travel day.
November 15th, 2021Heading home. Light blogging ahead. Some patchy fog. Otherwise clear and cold.
Obit watch: November 14, 2021.
November 14th, 2021Another quick obit roundup while I’m still on the road.
Sam Huff, linebacker for the New York Football Giants.
Playing for the Giants in their glory years of the late 1950s and early ’60s, Huff came out of the West Virginia coal country to anchor a defense that gained the kind of renown that had previously been reserved for strong-armed quarterbacks and elusive runners.
He played in six N.F.L. championship games in his eight seasons with the Giants. He was named to the all-league team three times and played in five Pro Bowls.
Huff was remembered for his head-on duels with two of the game’s greatest fullbacks — the Cleveland Browns’ Jim Brown and the Green Bay Packers’ Jim Taylor — but he also had 30 career interceptions. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1982.
Jonathan Reynolds. He was a playwright and wrote a food column for the NYT. I wanted to note his passing because he was also a screenwriter. His first script was “Micki + Maude”, a Blake Edwards/Dudley Moore movie that I was unfamiliar with, but which was apparently well received. But…
He also did “Switching Channels”, “My Stepmother Is An Alien”, and “The Distinguished Gentleman”.
Gavan O’Herlihy. He had a fair number of credits, including “Willow” and “Lonesome Dove”, but seems to be most famous for playing “Chuck Cunningham” in nine episodes of “Happy Days”.
Your loser update: week 10, 2021.
November 14th, 2021NFL teams that still have a chance to go 0-16:
Well, it’s complicated.
Detroit tied Pittsburgh in overtime. But apparently the NFL is playing 17 games this season? Who knew?
(No, really. I didn’t.)
So it is still theoretically possible for Detroit to go 0-16…and 1. Does that count?
Reply hazy. Ask again in week 17, assuming Detroit hasn’t won one by then.
Obit watch: November 12, 2021.
November 12th, 2021Still on the road, but taking a few minutes to round up some obits from the past few days. Sorry if this seems compressed.
John Artis, historical and legal footnote. He was the other guy convicted with Hurricane Carter.
Jerry Douglas. He was most famous for “The Young and The Restless”, but he had a pretty extensive career. “Barnaby Jones”, “Rockford Files”, “Richie Brockleman, Private Eye”, “The Dead Don’t Die”…
…and he was a “Mannix” three-timer. Sadly, IMDB has messed up the site to where I can’t easily get a list of his episodes.
Father Emil Joseph Kapaun.
November 11th, 2021Father Kapaun was born April 20, 1916 (!!!!) near Pilsen, Kansas. He graduated high school in 1930, completed his seminary education (Conception Seminary College and Kenrick Theological Seminary) in 1940 and was ordained as a priest that year.
I’m not sure what happened between 1940 and 1943, but in January of 1943, he was appointed auxiliary chaplain at the Herington Army Airfield. He was named priest there in December of 1943.
In August of 1944, he went into the US Army Chaplain School, and graduated in October. From April of 1945 to May of 1946 he served in the Burma Theater of operations.
He mustered out in July of 1946 and used the GI Bill to earn a MA degree in education. In September of 1948, he rejoined the Army as a chaplain at Fort Bliss.
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Father Kapaun quickly became known for his willingness to risk his own life in order to save his men. He sometimes used the hood of his jeep as an altar on which to celebrate Mass and hear confession. [King]
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When Father Kapaun’s commanders ordered evacuation, he chose to stay.
By all accounts, Father Kapaun refused to save his own skin, dodged bullets, and gave the last rites to as many dying soldiers as he could reach. He carried one man, whose leg had been shattered by shrapnel, in his arms to safety.
During the forced eighty-mile march to a prison camp in the freezing cold, Father Kapuan shored up flagging spirits and encouraged his men to help those too wounded to walk. [King]
Father Kapuan spent seven months as a POW.
Nearly half the prisoners died that first winter, from cold, starvation, lice infestations. Given such conditions, Father Kapaun decided to pray to Saint Dismas, the good thief, and then would sneak extra rations for his men. He offered freezing prisoners his own clothes, bathed their wounds, exhorted them to keep going.
The guards ridiculed his faith. At night he slipped into huts to lead prisoners in prayer and administer the sacraments. “Just for a moment,” one said, “he could turn a mud hut into a cathedral.” [King]
Unfortunately, his own health failed. He came down with dysentery and pneumonia. He had a blood clot in one leg, and was malnourished. He led a forbidden Easter service on March 25, 1951 (“holding up a small crucifix he had fashioned from sticks”) but got progressively sicker.
It is said that the “hospital” was really a “death house” and that the guards did not give him food or water.
He had also been awarded the Distinguished Service Cross (for the rescue of those 40 men during the Battle of Unsan) but on April 11, 2013, that was upgraded to the Medal of Honor. His citation:
Chaplain Emil J. Kapaun, while assigned to Headquarters Company, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division, distinguished himself by extraordinary heroism, patriotism, and selfless service between Nov. 1-2, 1950. During the Battle of Unsan, Kapaun was serving with the 3rd Battalion of the 8th Cavalry Regiment. As Chinese Communist forces encircled the battalion, Kapaun moved fearlessly from foxhole to foxhole under direct enemy fire in order to provide comfort and reassurance to the outnumbered Soldiers. He repeatedly exposed himself to enemy fire to recover wounded men, dragging them to safety. When he couldn’t drag them, he dug shallow trenches to shield them from enemy fire. As Chinese forces closed in, Kapaun rejected several chances to escape, instead volunteering to stay behind and care for the wounded. He was taken as a prisoner of war by Chinese forces on Nov. 2, 1950.
After he was captured, Kapaun and other prisoners were marched for several days northward toward prisoner-of-war camps. During the march Kapaun led by example in caring for injured Soldiers, refusing to take a break from carrying the stretchers of the wounded while encouraging others to do their part.
Once inside the dismal prison camps, Kapaun risked his life by sneaking around the camp after dark, foraging for food, caring for the sick, and encouraging his fellow Soldiers to sustain their faith and their humanity. On at least one occasion, he was brutally punished for his disobedience, being forced to sit outside in subzero weather without any garments. When the Chinese instituted a mandatory re-education program, Kapaun patiently and politely rejected every theory put forth by the instructors. Later, Kapaun openly flouted his captors by conducting a sunrise service on Easter morning, 1951.
When Kapaun began to suffer from the physical toll of his captivity, the Chinese transferred him to a filthy, unheated hospital where he died alone. As he was being carried to the hospital, he asked God’s forgiveness for his captors, and made his fellow prisoners promise to keep their faith. Chaplain Kapaun died in captivity on May 23, 1951.
Chaplain Emil J. Kapaun repeatedly risked his own life to save the lives of hundreds of fellow Americans. His extraordinary courage, faith and leadership inspired thousands of prisoners to survive hellish conditions, resist enemy indoctrination, and retain their faith in God and country. His actions reflect the utmost credit upon him, the 1st Cavalry Division, and the United States Army.
Father Kapaun’s remains were among a group of unidentified bodies that were returned to the US after the Korean Armistice Agreement. They were originally buried in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Hawaii, but as part of the ongoing efforts to identify unknown soldiers from the Korean War, they were disinterred. His remains were identified in March of this year, and on September 25, they were returned to his family. They are currently interred at Wichita’s Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception.
Pope John Paul II named Father Kapaun a Servant of God in 1993. From what I can tell, the case for Father Kapaun’s sainthood is currently under consideration by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints. There are several miracles attributed to him that are currently under investigation, and I can see a very strong case that he was a martyr.
Sources:
King, Heather. “‘Credible Witnesses: Servant of God Emil Kapaun.’” Magnificat, Nov. 2021.
“Medal of Honor Recipient Chaplain (Capt.) Emil J. Kapaun | the United States Army.” Www.army.mil, www.army.mil/medalofhonor/kapaun/. Accessed 7 Nov. 2021.
Wikipedia Contributors. “Emil Kapaun.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 2 May 2019, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emil_Kapaun. Accessed 20 June 2019.
Travel day.
November 10th, 2021On the road again. Blogging will be catch as catch can for the next few days.