RIP Kirk...

Kirk Douglas as Colonel Dax, Paths of Glory
(Source)

Kirk Douglas has entered the clearing at the end of the path.

A superb actor, his favorite role for me will always be him as Colonel Dax in Paths of Glory.

(Source)

Kirk graduated in 1938 and legally changed his name to Kirk Douglas. In 1941, following U.S. involvement in World War II, Kirk enlisted with the United States Navy.

Upon joining the Navy, Kirk received training as a communications officer in anti-submarine warfare. He was then assigned to PC-1139, a PC-461 class submarine chaser, and sent to the Pacific. There, Kirk served as both a gunnery and communication officer and was responsible for hunting down and destroying Japanese submarines.

On Feb. 7, 1943, Kirk and his crew were alerted by sonar to the presence of a Japanese submarine. Upon confirming the location of the submarine, Kirk and his fellow sailors fired and positioned themselves to drop depth charges. As a fellow sailor went to launch a depth charge marker, he accidentally fired a live depth charge. Once the charge hit the water, it exploded, launching PC-1139 and its crew into the air. Kirk was thrown against the ship and suffered abdominal injuries.

After being sent to a hospital to recover from his injuries, it was found that Kirk was also suffering from chronic amoebic dysentery. As a result, Kirk was discharged in 1944 at the rank of lieutenant junior grade. (Source)

Ave atque vale, LTJG Douglas.

The State of The Chant

Yup, that's a photo (er, I mean painting) of me delivering the Annual State of The Chant Address on the Champ de Mars in 1805. (I do believe that the Champs de Mars is actually adjacent to the Eiffel Tower these days. Said tower not being in existence in 1805, otherwise I'm sure David would have tried to get that "in the shot" as it were.)

The Chant is doing well, thank you very much.

That recent spike in activity is no doubt an anomaly. (The Russians?) Those spikes, as you can see, occur periodically, while the inconsistency bugs me, it does boost the stats. I like boosted stats. (Hey, I'm a numbers kind of guy. Remember, I work for a defense contractor.)

Ecce -

Received a couple of cool things from my next door neighbor the other day, she and her husband do antiques and stuff along those lines. Anyhoo, she found these at an estate sale and gifted them to me.

I know what they are, so exercise your Google-Fu (or Duck Duck Go-Fu or Bing-Fu, whatever floats your boat, those of you still using IE... yeah, I pity you, it's forced upon on us at work for the security what's in it...) and leave your answers to "What are those, Sarge?" in the comments.

Remember people, deep thoughts.

Ordinarius Negotiis -

I have started work on the Hall of Honor, so something else I'd like to see in the comments are your ideas about who should be in the Hall.

What I've done so far is included all of the posts I did a while back in the Who They Are... series. Which is proving to be rather unwieldy. So I will probably pare that down by just having a brief synopsis of the who's who along with their photo.

I may have something to run by you by next week, maybe. We shall see.

Rei Publicae Negotiis -

No, I did not watch the State of the Union address. Despising, as is my wont, most politicians. Bear in mind I do not despise this President, in truth the only President I actually, literally, despised is the namesake of the third Zumwalt-class destroyer. He's buried not far from Rancho Juvat. But honestly, I have a higher opinion of that jackwagon than I do for the current Speaker of the House. What a no-class ee-jit. Некультивированная свинья ...

Incidentally, what in the wide world of sports is going on down there juvat? I mean, really? I'm pretty sure there ain't enough beer, nor enough hot sauce to make me want to participate in that particular festival. And I've eaten some weird shit in my day.

Percussores Negotiis -

1,696 active players in the NFL - arrest records for 2019 indicate that 30 players had arrests, charges and citations for crimes more serious than common traffic violations. (Source)

The worst year in that database above, 2017, had 43 arrests.

Let's assume that in the past ten years, at least one year had 50 players arrested for crimes more serious than common traffic violations. That puts the NFL "Thug Rate" at roughly 2.95%.

Less than 3%.

That is all...





Not quite, "I got nothing," but close...

Snippets

The above is why I won't, and never will, allow ads here at The Chant. It seems to be all click-bait, all the time. What, some of you may be asking, is click-bait? The short answer is - you see something interesting on the Internet, a picture at a website off to the side or at the bottom of what you're reading (sometimes right in the middle of something you're trying to read), it looks interesting, there's half a headline to pique your interest, so you click.

So you click on the picture and get taken off to some website that wants you to click on another link, then another, then another. Click-bait.

The ones that used to get me were "Amazing Never Before Seen Historical Photos." Which usually are fairly common photos for anyone who studies history (like Your Humble Scribe), what's worse is that the website will give you one photo at a time. You have to click "Next" or "Previous" to cycle through the photos. Granted, some of them are interesting photos.

But the screen will bounce on you, so you don't click "Next" but something else and now you're watching an advertisement. Click-bait. We hates it.

Say how about that Iowa Caucus? The Dems really covered themselves with glory on that one didn't they? Sure, it would be a great idea to let those ass-clowns run the country, it's like giving the car keys to drunk Uncle Frank so he can run down to the gas station and buy some lottery tickets. What could possibly go wrong?

Lest you take me for a Republican, go read this.

I'm informed that the Repubs also had a caucus in Iowa, seems there are two guys who ran against the President - Bill Weld, former Massachusetts governor and former Libertarian candidate, and Joe Walsh, not the guy from The Eagles. No, this particular Joe Walsh is a former social worker and one term congresscritter from Illinois's 8th congressional district. He lost his seat to Tammy Duckworth, a lady who I have trouble forming an opinion about. (For various reasons, which I may discuss someday, or not.)

Bill and Joe got their asses handed to them. Bill Weld I don't find entertaining at all, Joe on the other hand is a hoot. Apparently in Iowa he had trouble "knowing his audience." Seems they booed in all the wrong spots as well as cheered in all the wrong spots.

Enough politics and click-bait.

I did watch the Super Bowl on Sunday last as I am a football fan, having played the game in my youth. I have seen every one of these games (save one*) since their inception when it wasn't even called the Super Bowl. I thought it was an excellent contest. I don't care how much the players are paid, nor should you, unless you're a Commie. I'm sure Bernie hates football.

You charge what the market will bear. It's called capitalism folks, and it works. The lack of capitalism is what will kill you. (Yes, Venezuela, I'm looking at you.  And a bunch of countries that no longer exist. Because, d'uh, Marx was a failed academic who drew the wrong lessons from history.)

Anyhoo.

Much controversy regarding the halftime show this year. Sex still sells. FWIW, I do like Shakira's voice. No more needs to be said about that.

One last thought - Not all NFL players are "over paid thugs." The quarterback of the Chiefs, for instance, spent his Monday at Disney World supporting the work of the Make-A-Wish Foundation with, you guessed it, kids being granted a wish to be at Disney. He also does charity work the year 'round, a lot of players do that as well. Sure, some of the players are assholes, just like some of the people in all walks of life, but they're the exception, rather than the rule.

One thing billionaire owners don't like is someone giving their product a bad name.

Just my opinion.

Isn't it amazing just how fast a long weekend goes by.

While sneezing in the office just now (well, yesterday actually) one of my colleagues asked me if I was okay.

Me: I'm just kinda riffing and scatting over here. Toss in some drums, maybe a solid bass line and we'll see where this goes.

Colleague: As long as it doesn't turn into Ukrainian Speed Jazz.

Now there's a musical genre I need to start, too bad I'm not Ukrainian. If I called it "Scottish Speed Jazz," no doubt everyone would assume bagpipes were involved. But hey, a bandura, few know what that is, I need one of those!

Cossack playing a bandura
(Source)

Google Translate says "smells like teen spirit" translates to "пахне духом підлітка" in Ukrainian, which translates back to "smells like a teenager." Manipulate that a bit and you get "пахне підліток дух," which translates to "smells like a teenager spirit." Which is probably not exactly correct.

"Smells like a teenager," might be the name of my first album...

And yes, there will be Cossacks!

And bagpipes and Cossacks!!





* I missed the "wide right" Super Bowl. XXV by Roman reckoning. Giants versus Bills.

Two Men Went Out, One Came Home...

(Source)

Remember this photo from the other day? Did you chase that link over to flickr by clicking on (Source)?

U.S. Air Force ground personnel prepare AIM-7E Sparrow missiles for loading on McDonnell F-4C Phantom II aircraft (s/n 63-7473, 64-0830) at an air base in South Vietnam, in 1967. 63-7473 is armed with a 20 mm gun pod and napalm canisters. Note that 64-0830 is not equipped with the IR-sensor. It served with the 559th Tactical Fighter Squadron, 12th Tactical Fighter Wing at Cam Ranh Air Base. It crashed in Laos on 22 March 1968 following a bomb malfunction over Khe Sanh. One crew member was captured, the other is missing.

Well, you know me, I had to chase down that last sentence. Let me introduce you to two American heroes...

Lieutenant Colonel Lyon didn't come home...

On March 22, 1968, an F-4C Phantom II (tail number 64-0830, call sign "Phantom 82") with two crew members took off as the second in a flight of two aircraft on a strike mission against enemy targets in Laos. As they completed their second pass over the target, the crew reported they were hit by ground fire coming from a hill south of the target. The flight leader instructed them to mark the hill with rounds from their aircraft cannon, and "Phantom 82" was then seen coming off the target and climbing. Radio contact was established at this time and no sign of difficulty was reported. The flight leader then made his pass over the target, after which he was not able to reestablish radio or visual contact with "Phantom 82." Other aircraft on the mission searched the area for the "Phantom 82" but found no crash site, and while a rescue beeper was heard, neither of the crew members could be located. After the war, it was discovered the  "Phantom 82" aircraft commander survived the incident and was captured. After return to U.S. custody, he reported the aircraft was hit by enemy anti-aircraft fire and crashed, but he was not sure if the other crew member was able to eject before the aircraft exploded. 

Major Donavan Loren Lyon entered the U.S. Air Force from California and served in the 559th Tactical Fighter Squadron, 12th Tactical Fighter Wing. He was the pilot of the F-4C Phantom "Phantom 82" when it crashed, and was the crew member lost along with the aircraft. Attempts to locate his remains have been unsuccessful. Following the incident, the Air Force promoted Maj Lyon to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel (Lt Col). Today, Lieutenant Colonel Lyon is Memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. 

Based on all information available, DPAA assessed the individual's case to be in the analytical category of Active Pursuit.* (Source)

Colonel Guy did come home, but he took the long way...

CITATION:

The President of the United States of America, authorized by Title 10, Section 8742, United States Code, takes pleasure in presenting the Air Force Cross to Colonel Theodore Wilson Guy (AFSN: 0-1911304), United States Air Force, for extraordinary heroism in military operations against an opposing armed force as a Prisoner of War in North Vietnam from 25 January 1972 to 25 May 1972. During this period, Colonel Guy was subjected to maximum punishment and torture by Vietnamese guards to obtain a detailed confession of escape plans, policies, and orders that he had issued as the senior ranking officer in the prisoner of war camp in which he was commander, and the communications methods used by the Americans interned in the camp. He withstood this punishment and gave nothing of value to the Vietnamese while sustaining many wounds to his body. Through his extraordinary heroism and willpower in the face of the enemy, Colonel Guy reflected the highest credit upon himself and the United States Air Force.

Colonel Guy was a P.O.W. from the time he was shot down until the P.O.W.s were released. He went through Hell...

Col. Theodore W. Guy was the pilot and Maj. Donavan L. Lyon his weapons/systems officer on an F-4C Phantom fighter jet which was sent on a combat mission over Laos on March 22, 1968. Their mission, meant to knock out an enemy gun on the Ho Chi Minh Trail, took them near the Aideo Pass through the mountainous border of South Vietnam and Laos a few miles southwest of the demilitarized zone.

During the mission, a bomb mechanism developed mechanical failure, the aircraft blew up and in the process ejected Guy. Guy landed in rugged terrain. At the time, he did not believe Lyon made it out. Guy was subsequently captured by the North Vietnamese, whose activities in Laos his mission was meant to thwart. However, information was given the Lyon family that Lyon survived the incident as well. Although Lyon survived, his fate after landing on the ground is unknown.

Guy went on to assume command of the POWs in July 1968. He made tough standards for the 44 airmen he was held with at "Plantation Gardens" and expected them to live by them, as he did. Guy, a Korean war veteran, suffered the same torture and deprivation as pilots captured in the early years of the war. His hair, normally brown, turned completely white on one side of his head, but later fell out and returned to its normal color.

Ted Guy was released with 591 Americans in 1973. When Guy was released, he brought charges against eight fellow POWs whom many considered to be traitors. The charges, in the wake of the hero's welcome which greeted returned POWs, were dropped by Guy at the behest of the U.S. Government.

Guy and Lyon's case is not unusual. In several incidents of loss, pilot and backseater are separated (partly because they eject at separate times, thus increasing the distance possible between them), not to be reunited. In Laos, both the North Vietnamese and the Pathet Lao forces were apt to be on the scene to apprehend downed pilots, and neither was prone to hand their capture over to the other force.

The Pathet Lao stated publicly that they held "tens of tens" of American captives, but the U.S. did not include them in the agreements that ended the war in Vietnam. Therefore, these men were not released, and were not negotiated for. They were abandoned.  

If Don Lyon was captured by the Pathet Lao, he could be among the hundreds that experts believe are alive today. If so, he was betrayed by the country he so proudly served. (Source)

Remember them...

See below**

* Active pursuit cases are assessed to have sufficient information to justify research, investigation, or recovery operations in the field. These cases are the priority for operational planning and allocation of resources. (PDF)
** U.S. Air Force Academy, CO -- F-4 Phantoms execute a Missing Man formation over the funeral of Brig Gen Robin Olds, who passed away June 14, 2007 at the age of 84. Gen Olds was buried at the Air Force Academy, where he served as commandant of cadets from 1967 to 1971. The F-4s were flown by Lt. Col. Anthony Murphy and Maj. Chris Vance, 82nd Aerial Targets Squadron from Tyndall, and Lt. Col. JD Lee and Maj. John Markle from Detachment 1, 82nd Aerial Targets Squadron at Holloman. They're painted in the Vietnam era camouflage. (Air Force Photo/Dennis Rogers)

Cinque Terre

Well, I finally went and did it.  Been retired for 13 months and couldn't stand it any longer.

No, Beans, I didn't get a new job.  Mrs J's "Honey Do" list is still compounding interest and consuming time.  Who knew there was so much to do?

Nah.  This was much more difficult.

I cleaned off my desk.

No, Beans, I didn't use a bulldozer.

But only because I couldn't get it in the door.

I've got an actual archeologist who's using carbon dating to  analyze some of the artifacts unearthed. The current estimate of the last time this chore was attempted was about 2009, right after my Dad passed away.  I'm pretty sure that's accurate since I inherited the desk from him.

But some artifacts date back much further.

 I had no idea I even had one of those.  Evidently, whatever concoction was in that shot glass took care of that recollection.

Then there was this relic from the early aught's.

 Thought I'd lost this one.  Got something to read now.  (As if I don't have enough to read without this one.)

But, the thing I found that made me the happiest was a thumb drive.

No...

Really!

Yes, someone's got a twisted sense of humor, but said drive had something on it that's irreplaceable.

Pictures of our vacation in 2012 to the Med. 140 of them to be exact.

It's late October, and it's the usual gang.  Mrs J and I, Little Juvat and LJW, MBD, and our Winemaker Friends.  It's a celebratory vacation.  Both Mrs J and I and our winemaker friends are celebrating our 30th Anniversaries.  Little Juvat and LJW are celebrating their 3rd and MBD has just graduated from college.

Since we always name our vacations, this one was easy.  30-3-G.

The plan is to fly out of Houston to Rome, spend the night to recover and visit the Vatican, then travel by train to Cinque Terre. My Clan had never been to Italy.  The winemakers, since they make Italian style wines, on a prior visit, had heard of Cinque Terre.  We're pretty easy, so were all in agreement.

The region is on the western side of the Italian boot where it joins up with the European landmass.  It is 5 small villages connected by a hiking trail (frequently washed out) and a train.  So...We'll be taking the train then.

My phone was being wonky.

Traveling by train, in Italy, with winemaker friends sure is fun.

We manage to arrive safely in Monterosso al Mare and find our B &B, although that did involve a bit more "exploration" after dark than expected.  Evidently the Coralli family owns not only the B&B, but also a not co-located restaurant.  The English-Italian request for directions and the Italian -English directions were not quite what was expected, causing an excursion to the other side of the town.

We were exploring different venues for dinner.

Which turned out to be excellent and fun.

Tired?  Not Us!

The following morning, still being a bit jet lagged, I got up early and went for a walk around town, to get my bearings as well as see what there is to see.

I wondered if Vinny was anywhere near?

Did I mention that the only way between towns was via train or a hiking trail?  Did I also mention that there were some very steep mountains in between?

Halfway up.

We decided we'd visit the Chapel and Convent that's above the town.

Still got a ways to go.

The herd is starting to straggle a little.

Nearly there.

Made it.

We check in with our tour guide who will show us around the place.

He recommends not climbing on the railings.

I wonder why.

The views were spectacular.

We decide we're going to head back down and go to the other side of Monterosso, which is on the other side of the mountain.

We say good bye to our tour guide, who had stayed by our side the whole time.  It might have had something to do with the "tips" Mrs J, Mrs Winemaker, MBD and LJW were giving him all along.

Apparently, we wore him out as he immediately took a nap.

Halfway down, we stop and look at the statue of St Francis of Assisi

Now we're starting to get pretty hungry.  It is lunch time, so we head towards town.

This is Italy and we're traveling with winemakers and we're having lunch, so.....

We spent a total of 5 days in Cinque Terre, exploring each of the little towns and having a blast.  Got back on the train and returned to Rome where we got on a cruise ship (Yes, Beans, Rome is land locked, Civitavecchia is the port we sailed out of) for two weeks touring Turkey and Greece.

Which is a story for another time.

A Pensive Kind of Day

(Source)*

A lot on my mind lately...

Son-in-law Big Time at sea for who knows how long.

The Missus Herself is out in California for a few weeks.

It's just the feline staff and me, holding down the fort.

Idiots in Washington are...

Nah, not even going to think about that.

Changes are afoot on more than one front in my personal life. I'm on a different road, don't know where it's going, but it's all good. Trust me.

What is normal?

If only one of you listens to and appreciates this song, we have a connection. Somewhere.

Normal

The Foo Fighters**

The waves that silences break come again, one by one

I lay awake and I count til I drown

Turn up the room it's getting too loud

I know I don't have to say it

Pick up and move and go find some new ground

Somewhere I know I can make it

But I won't give up when I want it enough

No, I won't give up

Anything, anyway, anyone, any day

Cause I figured it out

Here and the now takes me day by day

Will you come out tonight

Will you back down, will you put up a fight

Turn me around and make everything right

Make me normal from now on

Erased everyone I've replaced

In the end they're all gone

The faces all fade as the time passes by

What could I do I was waiting for you

Grown sick and tired of faking

Give me those eyes when I give you the truth

Finally here for the taking

But I won't give up

When I want it enough

No, I won't give up

Anything, anyway, anyone, any day

Cause I figured it out

Here and the now takes me day by day

Will you come out tonight

Will you back down, will you put up a fight

Turn me around and make everything right

Make me normal from now on

Hey, will you come out tonight

Will you back down, will you put up a fight

Turn me around and make everything right

Make me normal from now on

I've figured it out here and the now

Hey, will you come out tonight

Will you back down, will you put up a fight

Turn me around and make everything right

Make me normal from now on

Hey, will you come out tonight

Will you back down, will you put up a fight

Turn me around and make everything right

Make me normal from now on

Make me normal from now on

Make me normal from now on

Make me normal from now on

(Source)

Yup, bit contemplative today.

This too shall pass...






* Loving the photos at this website, as you might be able to tell. Lately I'm finding all sorts of stuff to fit my ever-changing moods.
** What is it about this band that strikes such a chord in my soul? Always finding something to match my mood.

Administrative Down Time

(Source)

So you see, here's the thing, I have a bunch of administrative things that either need doing or are things that I want to do here at The Chant. Like the masthead, long time reader Pogue, who hasn't been around for awhile, once mentioned that it is a bit cluttered. Okay, it's a lot cluttered. It works for me, but it ain't everyone's cup o' tea. So there's that.

I have an idea for a new page which will be called The Hall of Honor, or I might call it the Praetorium Honoris, which is the same as "Hall of Honor" only in Latin. Putting something in Latin gives it a certain gravitas, yes? (Gravitas, from the Latin gravis, which means "serious," in English it means "dignity, seriousness, or solemnity of manner.")

This new page would collect all (save two) of those photos on the masthead in one place along with a brief paragraph or two as to the whys and wherefores of their presence in The Hall of Honor. The two who would not be moved off of the masthead? Really, you have to ask?

Lex and Buck. That is, Captain Carroll "Lex" LeFon and MSgt Norman "Buck" Pennington would stay on the masthead, they would also be in The Hall of Honor but their likenesses would stay on the masthead, in perpetuity, forever, until the blog ceases to be. The reason being of course is that but for Lex's untimely demise, I probably would have never become a blogger, and without Buck's humor and constant encouragement I probably would have quit blogging early on.

So yes, redesign of the masthead is in the planning stages (and yes, I'll listen to suggestions, ideas, and the like from you, the readers), along with the construction of the new Hall of Honor page. That's stuff which would perhaps impede, if not downright prevent, daily posting. Yes, yes, I know I don't have to post daily, but it is kind of an obsession, I do have a mild case of OCD. (I will check to make sure a door is locked multiple times before I am satisfied that it's actually locked, for example. Say, that picture hanging over on that wall, does it look straight to you?)

Another thing, I spent some time recently re-reading the work I've done on "The Book," working title "Panzer 413." I really like what I've done there, I've also found a bunch of errors and some inconsistencies in the plot. Not to mention that the whole thing is a very rough draft and having let it sit, virtually untouched, for over a year, I have determined that the damned thing ain't gonna write itself. Slacker.

So yes, I have a laundry list of stuff that I plan on doing. It might require the blog to go "dark" for up to a week. I hate doing that as this thing, which I've been doing for nearly eight years, is something of an obsession. (Didn't I mention that already, hey, is that door locked?)

So yeah, it's in the planning stages, a "training day," an administrative "stand down," as a lot of the admin offices on the base used to call it, back in the day. We viewed it as a day where you couldn't get anything done support-wise. Back then, I didn't understand, heck, we were already trained, why'd the admin pukes need a day to "train," didn't they know their stuff already? These days I get it, every time someone higher up changes a regulation or adds new requirements, the admin guys need some time to absorb that and adjust their procedures and policies. Yeah, a training day. I get it. Mrs. juvat could probably give us chapter and verse as to the whys and wherefores.

Anyhoo, here's what I'm thinking for the Hall of Honor header, I've done some work already. We'll see if there's a need for a stand down or not.

Looks kinda cool, doesn't it?

Oh, the opening photo, that's Chant Headquarters, somewhere in the Northeastern United States, kinda how I picture myself, getting stuff done. (Plus I thought the picture was awesome, the source under the photo has a lot of good pics from the Korean War era, check it out!)

Now I gotta run, need to (ahem) prepare some stuff...

(Source)

Welcome to February, see ya Sunday, no doubt...