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First off, no, that's not a picture of my wife trying to determine what happened to the box of Oreo cookies she had worked so hard to hide. Which, as anyone who knows me can attest, trying to hide food from me is a lot like trying to hide the scent of blood in the ocean from a Carcharodon carcharias². Not possible and not going to happen, ever. Ask LUSH, she knows. (Besides which, my wife is not German ...)
So the other day Tuna recommended the Netflix series The Defeated to me. I had seen a brief (far too brief) clip from the series and something about it just annoyed the Hell out of me. So I passed at the time. However, based on Tuna's recommendation, I gave it another shot.
I'm glad I did.
First off, one of the scenes near the beginning of the first episode is a wide angle view of what Berlin looked like in 1945 (and for a couple of years after). Pretty much nothing but ruins as far as the eye could see. Which reminded me of the photos my father took when he was assigned to Berlin as part of the occupation forces from late 1945 up to 1948 (as I recall). Berlin was indeed a sea of destruction.
Secondly, I enjoy programs dealing with World War II, to include its aftermath. After watching a couple of episodes of this show, I'm hooked. Rape, displaced persons, AWOL³ soldiers up to shady things, it's in there. All of those were problems which plagued Europe in the aftermath of the war.
Thirdly, the acting is pretty good, the Germans are played by actual Germans and not Americans/Brits with a faux German accent. Also the story line is entertaining, though rather dark.
So Tuna, you get a 👍 for that recommendation.
In other news ...
Today I will bitch about the mask thing. My place of employment has decided that they will adhere to Chairman Xiden's mask edict after literally months of no one wearing a mask and months of no one getting seriously ill or dying from the WuFlu. At least, not that they're telling us. Which concerns me.
Out in Sandy Eggo on the September trip there was a vast panic when word was given to us that a member of our team had the Wuhandromeda strain. So everyone who felt "unsafe" could piss off and "work from home." (How in Hell one can test shipboard software from home has yet to be adequately explained to me.)
So I asked "who," in order to determine whether or not I had come into contact with this person.
We can't tell you, privacy concerns.
Alrighty then, f**k you and your news. No names, then it doesn't count, it's alleged, it's "might have," "we're not sure." Yup, threw the bullshit flag on that one.
Who else got the WuFlu from that alleged exposure?
No one, not one single person.
So yeah, let's go Brandon.
Anyhoo, at work they aren't quite as strict as the airlines (mask off, drink/eat, mask on) when one is eating/drinking, one can be unmasked, so to speak. But when I see four guys sitting at adjacent tables in the cafeteria, all properly "socially distanced" (Lord how I despise that term), all with a cup of coffee in front of them, all unmasked talking to each other, I realize the mask nonsense is precisely that. Nonsense.
But hey, it's a federally mandated order.
I grow weary of the charade ...
¹ French for "The Film Critic." Why, you might ask? Well, it's been a while since I had a post with fancy sounding foreign words for a title.
² I use the scientific term for this species as I don't wish to trigger anyone. Think about it. Tongue in cheek it is ...
³ Absent Without Official Leave. If a soldier is absent without proper leave paperwork for 30 days or less, that's AWOL. Longer than 30 days is considered desertion. Just so you know. I share, it's what I do. LUSH, stop laughing ...
You will soon find out just how much it will slow you down, what with eye/safety glasses fogging up from your breath escaping. It is maddening when you are in the midst of fine adjusting the gonkulator with a left-handed metric cratchet and suddenly, you can't see anything because some blithering idiot just fogged up YOUR glasses! You back off, look around, and there is nary a soul to be seen in close proximity...strange how that happens.
ReplyDeleteI am already familiar with that, during testing on the ship we had to wear masks. The Xiden insanity hit the armed forces before it hit civilian industry.
DeleteI am currently working on the USS Eisenhower (CVN 69). Masks for all. Had to go the the USS Truman (CVN 75) for a ship check. Not a mask to be seen. Wondered if the Eisenhower and the Truman were in the same Navy!
DeleteHad the same impression when I first went to Sandy Eggo. Zumwalt was all masked up, Monsoor was not. Until they had a reported case of the WuFlu, then it was "All Hands! Mask up!"
DeleteThe Ike is my oldest daughter's old ship, spent a nice day at sea on that ship. Fond memories of a Christmas dinner aboard her as well!
I fear that with all of the lies the government has pushed for COVID, that when they need the public to really trust them it won't happen. Think that when ebola-NG shows up and the public needs to wear a real mask , wear it correctly and really take real precautions no one will. They (both/all sides) have been spinning, lying, misdirecting for so long they have destroyed that trust.
ReplyDeleteAnd that's the real problem, right there.
DeleteAnd a mask won't stop ebola-ng anyways. Considering they still are debating how that pesky viral body is transmitted.
DeleteMaybe a full face mask with a proper filter, you know, the ones that cost over $1,000 each...
Yeah, good luck with that.
DeleteI think Don nailed it. Fauci (Falsi?) needs to go (preferably to jail).
DeleteWhat, no one has any hemp stock? Jail might be too forgiving.
DeleteIt's all I've EVER asked for… "just one public hanging."
DeleteJust one? But if there could be only one, that would be the one.
DeleteAfter seeing how folks do not wear their mask correctly, I have repeatedly said a quick thank you to God that we are only plagued with Covid and not ebola. Civilians and solid infection control practices just don't seem to mix.
DeleteOn the same page, the other thing that just annoys me is when I see folks outside...all by themselves...wearing a mask...duh!! WTH!!! Who wants to wear a mask any longer than necessary?!?!?!
And I am in total agreement with juvat and with LtFuzz although I would probably be satisfied with real prison sentences for folks other than Republicans. Sick of the one law for you but not for me.
Annnd what is with the taking off the mask when standing in front of a mic with cameras rolling??? Speak slower, louder, and we will understand ya just fine. I know. I have to do it every day. When dealing with the frail elderly who are DEAF!!!! Trust me, I can get them to understand me! Otherwise, lose the stupid mask rules all over. It is a cloth or paper mask...not a sound proof material!! Ya either need to wear it, or not! Sheesh...
Agreed!
DeleteMy trust of government was always kind of ... shaky. It's becoming active, hostile, disbelief: they're just lying to me. Whether or not they know, or think or hope they know, they're just lying. Because they can. Power trumps Truth.
ReplyDeleteAmen!
DeleteSarge, if you are into non-WW II movies/dramas (but German), you might try Barbarians on Netflix. It is a depiction (six episodes) of the events of leading up to the Battle of the Teutoberger Wald and the loss of Varus and his three legions. The Germans speak German and the Latins speak Latin (which I always very much enjoy). The final battle is far more spectacular than what actually occurred (budgets and all), but still enjoyable.
ReplyDeleteThe real danger of all of this is exactly as you have said; undermining the confidence people have in the government when they proclaim an actual serious event. It is apparent that no-one in the government actually grasps this is happening.
I have watched that series, most entertaining. It is col that the Romans speak Latin, but the German being used is very far removed from what the Germanic tribes spoke back in the day. But hey, it's better than English speakers using German accents.
DeleteI think that most thinking people in this country no longer have any trust in the Federal government. They have proven themselves, for the most part, unworthy of their forebears. It's "The Boy Who Cried Wolf" writ large.
Funny, I always thought Romans spoke with English accents... :)
DeleteSure, the officers had upper class accents, the lower ranks spoke like the lower class. 😉
DeleteWhat? Cockney?
DeleteSometimes. Not all lower class British accents are Cockney. Most rural types were considered lower class. Remember, Cockney is specific to London. Or Londinium, if you prefer. 😉
DeleteTo be a Cockney one must be born within the sound of Bow Bells, which were silenced during the Battle of Britain and therefore older than I. Old Guns
DeleteExactly!
DeleteEven after four years of High School Latin (class of '56, "go Bearcats!") I can't understand spoken Latin. Thankful for the course of study though, every time I sit down to write or read.
DeleteLacking a knowledge of Latin has always pained me somewhat.
DeleteThe one of the folks at Instapundit says it well - Paraphrased as "When the people who are mandating masks and other measures start strictly abiding by those mandates themselves, then I'll think something serious is happening." That applies not only to masks but to other "Oh my God, we're going to die!" Issues like climate change (or is it global warming? Or cooling?). Basically just means by which the powerful can control the population or extort money from them or both. Grrrr!
ReplyDeletePrecisely.
DeleteYeah, the CDCs and the NIH are maskless and vaxx-less, and so is Congress and the Post Office, so... yeah... sure...
Delete👍
DeleteHey Old AFSarge;
ReplyDeleteThat is the problem, Don touched it right there, the CDC started playing politics last year and got busted getting recommendations from the Teachers union on school procedures and people wonder why they don't trust anything that comes out and the blatant double standard from our "betters" running around unmasked but the "hoi Pelloi" has to be masked.....Really? I am soo tired of the Bovine Scatology, and yes I have had Covid 2 times now. I use serious mask and filters at work for my job and that damm face diaper don't do a dang thing except show obedience.
Sorry for the rant
Never apology for a good rant. I'm with you on this.
DeleteCome on, Mr. Garabaldi. You can rant better than that, I've read your blog, you magnificent bastide! (to paraphrase Patton, and only in respect to you and Patton and Rommel.)
Delete👍
DeleteHey Beans;
DeleteIt is Old AFSarge House and I show great respect for his house and front porch so I tone it down ;)
A wise man.
DeleteGlad you liked the show. As for the masks, we are far below the infected rate in the Navy and in San diego when the mask mandate was reinstated, but we are still wearing them with no metric for when we can take them off. Stupid.
ReplyDeleteIt seems as if every decision made with regard to this disease is politically motivated with absolutely no science or logic behind it. We are led by idiots.
DeleteNo. We are not. We are being trained. Don't resist the masks and don't resist the vaxx and then what's next? Well, in Australia, they're using their army to round up anti-vaxxers and people who've broke quarantine (by going outside and enjoying the outside.) So they get us to allow masks. Then to allow the vaxx. Then to allow narking on each other like the good little Stassi informers we all are. Then they start denying the resistors services, like jobs. And access to banks and stores. And travel. And health care. Oh, wait, we do already have that, regarding jobs, banking and access to money, ability to shop, to travel and to get basic or emergency health care. There are already places where you can't renew your rental lease unless you have proof of the vax. You can't worship in a group. You can't gather.
DeleteWe are only a few steps away from the 'bad people' being rounded up and sent to 'facilities' 'for the good of the people.' (And guess what? New York State already has that law on the books. Wouldn't surprise me if California, Washington, Oregon and Colorado don't have them too and nobody's been allowed to read the secret invisible rules.)
As much as Australians may seem like Americans, they're not. I can't believe that this is some coherent plan led by outsiders. To what purpose? Qui buono?
DeleteTo impose a feudalistic state where the average person is tied to the land, you know, serfs and peasants and indentured servitude and debt peonage and ultimately actual slavery of one sort or another. With the power-elite having all control over persons within their physical or economic spheres of control. That's the ultimate goal from what I see. Quietly take away all freedoms and force people into becoming subjects or servants.
DeleteIt will fail, it always does.
DeleteDoesn't mean they won't try. After all, pseudo-socialism/communism has never been tried correctly so far according to the pseudo-socialists/communists.
DeleteDictators gotta dick.
DeleteBeans@ 6:37PM/ An ASOLUTE CLASSIC of whereof you speak I caught one nite while watching the old Charlie Rose talk show with an interview of one of my favorite actors (Tho NOT my favorite "Great Political Philosopher") that famous Hollywood lefty Benicio del Toro. I came to the program late just as they were discussing Communism at which del Toro classically said: "It doesn't totally work but..." LOL! Says it ALL!!!
DeleteBingo - Boutique Marxists who just assume that they will be part of the new ruling class.
DeleteWish I could rant like you, Sarge!
ReplyDelete😁
DeleteIt's not Carcharodon carcharias you have to worry about, it's Carcharhinus leucas that's the real killer, or any other species of brown water teeth people (as the Micronesian name for that type of fish translates to.) Carchardodon carcharias has a bad rap thanks to Spielberg, well, unless you're a surfer wearing a black wetsuit and even then CC will just take a test bite. CL will chomp away with all the fun ferocity of a 6' piranha/alligator mix. And they're sneaky bastides capable of surviving in brackish or even fresh water for quite a while. Evil bastides.
ReplyDeleteHeck, even the lowly Negaprion brevirostris is more dangerous than CC, again being a brown water species.
What's really interesting is watching a reasonably high altitude shot of the Miami beach area that includes lots of water. You'll regularly see whole reefs worth of Sphyrna swimming north or south just 100 meters east of the swimmers and surfers.
As to post-war Berlin movies or mini-series, would love to see a decent version of the time around the Berlin Airlift. Bout time for people to remember exactly what good guys actually do after they conquer bad guys. And the whole tension between the Soviets and us is a very interesting subject.
Regarding that last line, our current incompetent regime is really trying to piss off the Russians into full-scale war. Boy, I sure do miss mean tweets.
The line was meant to highlight a shark's ability to detect a small amount of blood in a huge volume of water, much like my ability to detect Oreos in a fair-sized dwelling. I chose the Great White because they are, without a doubt, my favorite shark. (Hey, if you're going to have a favorite shark, why not?)
DeleteI find that the Linnaeus Society being based in California is made clear by their dropping the Great from the name of C carchaius, because calling it a Great White Shark implies that it is great, because it is white. But the Great Blue, Great Hammerhead, and Great Thresher get to keep their Greats.
ReplyDeleteI think a shark the size of an F-350 gets to be called Great.
The shark you gots to watch out for, is Charcharhinus longimanus, the Oceanic Whitetip. A most aggressive beastie, and killer of hundreds during WWII ship sinkings.
Ah Scott, you get me.
DeleteWell, the Linnaeus Society can bite my rear. And Pluto is still a planet!
DeleteReef whitetips and blacktips, on the other hand, are nice, as long as you can see them. Kind of dog-like and relatively friendly. Relatively.
Concur on Pluto.
DeleteWhile the Bull shark is hyper aggressive, one has to admit, when a Great White chomps something, it stays chomped.
ReplyDeleteI know that you can use Negraprion brevirostris to make fish sticks.
Do they have a citrus flavor?
Delete(Don McCollor)..My vote for sheer horror would be the large squid species (like the Humbolt). They simply followed a different evolutionary path. Very short lived, but probably at least as intelligent as a dog or cat (an account I ran across of a diver filming the Humbolt at night in the Baja noted that the frightening thing was that, unlike a shark, there was intelligence in their eyes). And very powerful. Note that squid come near the surface at night to feed, and are attracted to bright colors and lights. Now imagine floating in the water wearing a "yum-yum" yellow or orange life jacket with a little rescue light burning...
DeleteNightmare material!
DeleteRE: "So yeah, let's go Brandon."
ReplyDeleteI am glad we can depend upon you and those hereon for the truth.
Someone has to do it.
DeleteSpeaking of Berlin Airlift movies, I just wish NBC News would just reprise that old "white paper" video they broadcast some 70-ish (give or take a few) years ago, documenting the West Berliners who dug that tunnel underneath the Berlin Wall and rescued several people.
ReplyDeleteAnother story which would be awesome on the big screen!
DeleteOr the people who made a friggin hot-air balloon. Nothing says how great socialism is that people will build hot-air balloons or make boats out of pickup trucks in order to go to socialism. Oh, wait...
Delete👍
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