A Soldier Comes Home – posted by Dave in Texas March 31, 2006
Posted by daveintexas in History.comments closed
He was 24 years old when they went down. That made him an old man to a lot of the squadron.
Lost to his family for 63 years. His remains are on their way home to Ohio.
If you’ve ever been to DC, or if you’re going to go, do yourself a favor and go to Arlington National Cemetery. Plan on a couple of hours.
The Marine Corps War Memorial is outside the gates. The image you’ve seen is a familiar one, that scene captured by photographer Joe Rosenthal on Iwo Jima, but seeing the memorial in person is different. It is quite beautiful.
Arlington is a lovely, haunting place. You can stand in places and look at the gentle rolling hills, covered with markers, perfect rows. As far as your eye can see.
You’ll walk up to a marker, and then another, and read the names. The dates. Their rank, branch of service. If you have a family member or someone you knew who is interred there, you’ll go to the place.
You will be staring into history.
Go see Robert E. Lee’s home. Go see the final resting place of two brothers who served their country, and died too young. See the memorial to the crew of the U.S.S. Maine, and the memorial to those fine men and women we lost in Challenger STS-51L.
End your visit by watching the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknowns. Always make that the last thing you see. These fine men and women, members of the US Army 3rd Infantry Regiment (The Old Guard), have the honor of guarding this sacred place, this place where “valor sleeps”.
If you have a dry eye when you see that, well you are made of sterner stuff than me.
UPDATE: Look what I found
I wonder which one is Buddy?
Advice for Late-Night Commenters – posted by Michael March 31, 2006
Posted by Michael in Humor.comments closed
Robin: "To the batcave?"
Batman: "And up the batpoles."
Robin: "The batpoles?"
Batman: "Even crimefighters need their sleep, Robin."
Breaking News: President Garfield Could Have Been Saved! – posted by Michael March 31, 2006
Posted by Michael in History.comments closed
After being shot, Garfield lingered for two and a half months while doctors speculated about the location of the bullet. The whole nation agonized over the mystery of where the bullet was, and whether surgery could safely be undertaken.
Alexander Graham Bell and Simon Newcomb invented a machine to find the bullet. It worked perfectly on test subjects (veterans of the War of Northern Aggression with bullets embedded in their bodies), but not on Garfield.
The problem? Metal coil spring mattresses had recently been invented, and the White House had acquired one for Garfield. The results were fatal:
HistoryBuff.com — Alexander Graham Bell and the Garfield Assassination
The White House was one of the few that had the coil spring mattresses at the time. Very few people had even heard of them. Thus, Bell's and Newcomb's invention was detecting metal — unfortunately they didn't realize that it was the coil springs. If they had moved him off the bed to the floor or table, their apparatus would have detected where the bullet was and likely, knowing this, the White House surgeons could have saved James Garfield's life!
Pony Love March 31, 2006
Posted by anycomments in Humor.comments closed
You have probably already seen this. I’m just working the bugs out of trying to post on this blog.
Peaches, the filly, was standing over him, licking his back and rubbing him with her head. 
Man, that was one huge photo before I resized it.
mondo slade orange pony couch: $12,000 March 31, 2006
Posted by skinbad in Humor.comments closed
*boing*
Policy Statement No. 5 – posted by lauraw March 31, 2006
Posted by anycomments in AA - Uncategorized.comments closed
1. Pimp the shit outta this non-blog blog
2. Lie about it to Michael
3. Profit
Thought for the Day – posted by BrewFan March 31, 2006
Posted by BrewFan in AA - Uncategorized.comments closed
It's always darkest before the dawn. So, if you're going to steal your neighbor's newspaper that's the best time to do it.
Policy Statement No. 4 – posted by Michael March 31, 2006
Posted by Michael in AA - Uncategorized.comments closed
You are subject to being banned for the following reasons:
- Defamation (i.e., genuine libel, not ordinary flaming)
- Copyright infringement
- Racism
- You are Mike
- Saying nice things about the Penguin, the Joker, the Riddler, the Bill Ardolino, Osama bin Laden, or others of their ilk
- Saying bad things about Batman (the original Adam West version only), Dick Cheney, Jeff Gannon, or Paul Anka
- Making Elzbth cry
Policy Statement No. 3 – posted by Michael March 31, 2006
Posted by Michael in AA - Uncategorized.comments closed
Under no circumstances will we ask for links, request inclusion in anyone else's "blogroll," or otherwise pander for traffic. That is blogger behavior.
We are commenters, not bloggers. Anyone can blog ~ commenting is hard.
Policy Statement No. 2 – posted by Michael March 31, 2006
Posted by Michael in AA - Uncategorized.comments closed
Contributors to the main page of this site should be referred to as Main Page Commenters, not bloggers.
We are commenters, not bloggers. Anyone can blog ~ commenting is hard.
Policy Statement No. 1 – posted by Michael March 31, 2006
Posted by Michael in AA - Uncategorized.comments closed
This URL should be referred to as a site, not a blog. This site is basically a continuation of the BlogWisconsin comment thread. We will be true to our heritage.
We are commenters, not bloggers. Anyone can blog ~ commenting is hard.
Hermann von Helmholtz – posted by Mrs. Peel March 30, 2006
Posted by Mrs. Peel in AA - Uncategorized.comments closed
The scientists' flame war going on at AOSHQ reminded me of Hermann von Helmholtz, who is the absolute sexiest scientist ever. I first read about him in a stupid epistemology class I had to take, and fell in love with him the second I read an excerpt from a letter he wrote to his father while at college, in which he stated that when bored, he liked to play the piano, and "sometimes for a change the integral calculus."
That's right, folks. He did integral calculus for fun.
Somehow, you just know he would have loved D&D.
The real reason I like Hermann von Helmholtz so much is that he was the first biomedical engineer. He wanted to study physics, but had to study medicine because of financial difficulties (there were scholarships available to medical students). But he never lost his love for physics, and continued to study it on his own. He applied his knowledge of optics to the human eye, and invented the ophthalmoscope, which is still used today in a form nearly identical to his original invention.
He loved electrical engineering, too, and got into electromagnetism later in life. He predicted EM radiation from Maxwell's equations, and the Helmholtz equation is named for him.
Seriously, this guy could so have his way with me.
Innocent Bystanders 