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Praetorium Honoris

Saturday, October 14, 2017

Красный Октябрь - Weekend Open Thread

(Source)
Oddly enough, what NATO calls the Typhoon-class is called Акула (Akula, or shark) by the Soviets, er, I mean the Russians. Pretty big freaking shark. (And yes, loved the book and the movie. Read the former at least six times, watched the latter at least four. A single ping Vasily!)

The post title? Ah, the Russians are boosting my stats again, thought I'd throw 'em a bone. Give Ivan something to chortle about.

Anyhoo.

I'm on the road for Madame Mère's natal festivities. Up to New Hampshire for some leaf-peeping, birthday-celebrating, beer-drinking old timey New England fun.

So, I've got a rerun queued up for Sunday, but today dear readers is Saturday. I leave things up to you. Comment about whatever you want, I'm sure Andrew can think of something. Make it controversial, make it funny, just clean up the mess when you're done.


Yup...

FOOD FIGHT!



26 comments:

  1. Dasvidaniya Ivan.... tweak...tweak. Saturday.....college football time and barbecue ribs before the rain hits. Tomorrow the sun returns and there's outdoor chores to do..... NFL can go jump.

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  2. I always get a kick out of how the Soviets/Russians refer to their ships in the masculine.

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    1. I need to research that, odd but why not?

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    2. Ha. In John Ringo's "Aldenata" series, the now intelligent USS Des Moines (aka Daisy Mae) says most ships are female, targets are 'its' and all Russian ships are male, but gay.

      Now, with the USS Harvey Milk, I think we've become... Russian.

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    3. Sarge, you'll no doubt find it gets complicated and can vary according to the gender of the craft's namesake. Our Russian instructors in Monterey were mostly native to the Motherland and pointed out these unusual (to us) traditions. I think there is a scene in 'Red October' where Ramius and his XO are discussing something about the boat and the XO refers to it as "he".

      This brings to my landlubber mind that the Russians must think us a bit daft in referring to our capital ships such as our CVN's which are all named after males as "she". Ivan would probably go bonkers trying to figure out how to call the USS Harvey Milk.

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  3. Everybody knows that ships are feminine, it costs so much to keep them in paint and powder.

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    Replies
    1. Let's be inclusive now, Dave. There are plenty of beings in, oh say, Hollywood who would also fit that description.

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  4. I thought that the Akulas were what we called the Alfas.

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    Replies
    1. I thought that too but the Russians called the Alfas "Lira," Russian for lyre.

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  5. And the voice in my head will spend part of the day pronouncing words with a Scots/Russian accent.

    Sometimes when I think about the deteriorating state of American Politic I think of this quote, "This business will get out of control. It will get out of control and we'll be lucky to live through it."

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    1. That clip shows up often on some blogs. With good reason.

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    2. I was glad to discover that the pilot (er...aviator) of the Panther shown in the ramp strike clip preceding the "out of control" scene survived. That was a weak substitute for an F-14 though.

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    3. Yes, and obvious to the cognoscenti.

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  6. Sarge! Dangit, we don't pay you to do re-runs!!! Oh, wait... Never mind. ;)

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  7. Flugelman gets a gold star for his comment. Me, I have nothing; although I did just watch a Howard Sterns clip on which he talked about gun control.

    Paul L. Quandt

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    1. Ah, Gun Control. It is my firm belief that BATFE should be able to break into your house, search for every gun and explosive, and then CITE you for every object that is not in reasonable working order, within reason (citations being non-monetary, non-criminal, of course.) Assault gun cleaners. Combat explosive helpers.

      Now that would be following the spirit of the Second Amendment.

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  8. Please, please, please can we stop naming ships after pandering politicians and dead (or semi-dead (Gabby Giffords)) social justice warriors? Let the Sea-Shepherds do that crap.

    First rule of naming a ship after a person - They must be dead for 30 years, or died in battle.

    Second rule of naming a ship after a person - They must have had something to do with the Navy (ish)(allows land assault vessels to be named after Marines or significant Army members who died in sea assaults.)

    Third rule of naming a ship after a person - Politicians only get their names on supply and support vessels, since,
    well, they're good at handing out money and collecting garbage.

    Fourth rule of naming a ship after a person - Well, see, there's all these historical names for ships, starting pre-Revolutionary War and going on to modern times. We'll get to your selection when the name is especially worthy or we've run out of other names.


    First rule of naming Naval Vessels - Start with the list of names and classes from World War II. Follow those conventions, and use previously used names when possible. When you've finished, then repeat. (Attack subs should be named after fish. Boomers, maybe whales or significant Sub Service heroes.)

    Second rule of naming Naval Vessels - See Rule 1. What, you want new names? See rules for naming persons if you must use a 'modern' name.


    First rule of Military Uniforms - Except for situations where BDU's are actually called for - in the field, training, doing grunt stuff, all uniforms will immediately revert back to the Vietnam Era/WWII standards for uniforms. Sharp looking, wearing ties, the whole nine yards.

    Second rule of Military Uniforms - Service members are encouraged to wear their uniforms off-duty, as long as they are representing the best of the services (do wear uniforms while flying, to weddings, to social occasions. don't wear uniforms to dirty nasty things that you wouldn't put your normal cloths through.)

    Third rule of military uniforms - there will be an armed robot in every Secretary's office that will come out, shoot the Secretary and defile all subordinates who wish to change the uniform policy back to the crappy ones we have now.

    Fourth rule... The inventors and proponents of Aquaflage will be staked out on the National Mall until such time as the last eyeballs have been plucked by ravens. Let this be a lesson in stupidity to you.

    And...

    Treason, vile treason against the Government, especially if as a service member, will be met with Death. Subjects can be tried in absentia. Sentences will be carried out immediately after 1 appeal (if subject is present), appeal is waived if subject doesn't immediately turn said self into the authorities (stateside or at a convenient consulate or embassy elsewhere.) Executions will be done by firing squad or hanging. Special Jurisdictional Teams will be assembled to fulfill sentences on foreign lands (Think Mossad, or SEAL team.)

    How was that for off the cuff and potentially controversial?

    Have a good day with the missus and the drinking.

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    1. Gee Andrew, I'm really impressed. That is a grade A rant. I fully concur with it.

      I think that you would enjoy the Sterns clip.

      Paul

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    2. I will sneak off to the back room so I can hear it as soon as I have a chance.

      I don't understand people who can't control guns. It is just a muscle-brain thing. I mean, even my semi-paralyzed wife can handle one. And they have stuff so that even Stephen Hawkings could go shooting (if he wasn't such a liberal fuck-tard. Smart fuck-tard, but the English Socialism is strong in that one...)

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    3. Great rant Andrew !! agree 100 per cent....but i was anxiously waiting for the Spanish Inquisition to bust through the door at any second spouting off those rules....

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  9. Red October...Halloween at Bernie Sanders??

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Just be polite... that's all I ask. (For Buck)
Can't be nice, go somewhere else...

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