A thread about nothing at all....

[B.D.F.]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5n9Ebx-bXLI

The rifle looks awfully pristine to be an original Henry but even if it is a replica, it represents the first successful repeating firearm mass produced and used by any armed forces. Quite a few Union soldiers had them by the end of the Civil War.... which led to the Confederate lament about 'That damn Yankee rifle that you can load on Sunday and shoot all week long'. It most certainly did give a huge advantage to those armed with them when confronting soldiers armed with 'muzzle stuffers' (muzzle loaders).

The Henry rifle became quite famous but not until the New Haven Repeating Arms Co. was purchased by a wealthy shirt manufacturer named..... wait for it..... Winchester; the company was re-named the Winchester repeating arms Co. and the Henry rifle evolved into the famous Winchester Model 1866.

Brian

[B.D.F.]

“One of the two most dangerous men in America.”
- Franklin Delano Roosevelt

referencing Huey P. Long and General Douglas MacArthur.

Brian

[B.D.F.]

Alfred Hitchcock appears in almost all of his movies in a small, non- speaking, cameo role. The Hitchcock film 'Lifeboat' is about the survivors of a merchant ship and a U-boat that sunk each other and the entire movie is set at sea, in the lifeboat, with the entire cast present in the boat from the beginning to the end of the film (not everyone survives but what I mean is that the cast is not variable and does not include any incidental people). This provided a problem for Hitchcock's cameo role as there was no way for an additional person to wander into and then out of the movie's setting. He considered floating by as a body but eventually settled on a pretty clever scheme I think: there was a newspaper on board the lifeboat and as Hitchcock had recently lost a great deal of weight, he appeared in an advertisement in the newspaper as both the 'before' and the 'after' photo showing the performance of a weight loss drug.

Brian

[VirginiaJim]

Speaking of subs..

Just as the crisis in Cuba in 1962 could get no worse, Russia decided to send a sub group (diesel) with nuclear torpedoes to Cuba.  They just about got there before they were detected by US Naval forces.  B-59 had three officers that had to agree on the firing of the torpedo.   B-59 had lost contact with Moscow and US Naval forces wanted them to surface.  They did not want to destroy them so they were throwing practice depth charges at them.  They threw 5 thinking that they would understand that they were to surface.  Unfortunately, Russia's subs only knew the code of three charges.  They were hot.  The air was getting bad.  The captain was angry and initiated the loading of the torpedo.  The political officer agreed.  The only hold out was the flotilla commander.  He decided against that action and ordered the sub to surface.  It was of course surrounded by US Naval forces who just shadowed it and the sub was nudged to go home in the opposite direction it came from.

We all have to thank Vasili Arkhipov, the flotilla commander, for being alive today.  If that torpedo had fired a nuclear round we would have retaliated immediately and so would the Russians.  I was on an AF base in England at the time and I remember the lock down that occurred during the Cuban Missile Crises.  General LeMay had moved all kinds of resources to FL in preparation for action and I am quite sure he wouldn't have held anything back should he have got orders from Washington to retaliate.

[Rhino]

Alfred Hitchcock appears in almost all of his movies in a small, non- speaking, cameo role. The Hitchcock film 'Lifeboat' is about the survivors of a merchant ship and a U-boat that sunk each other and the entire movie is set at sea, in the lifeboat, with the entire cast present in the boat from the beginning to the end of the film (not everyone survives but what I mean is that the cast is not variable and does not include any incidental people). This provided a problem for Hitchcock's cameo role as there was no way for an additional person to wander into and then out of the movie's setting. He considered floating by as a body but eventually settled on a pretty clever scheme I think: there was a newspaper on board the lifeboat and as Hitchcock had recently lost a great deal of weight, he appeared in an advertisement in the newspaper as both the 'before' and the 'after' photo showing the performance of a weight loss drug.

Brian

I never saw that movie, I'll have to see if it's available on netflix or youtube.

[B.D.F.]

Not a bad movie as long as you try and remember the time it was made (1944, right in the middle of WWII) and who made it (Hitchcock). The plot has a definite 'point you in 'right thinking' direction' about it but not as bad as, say, Sahara is in that way. Then again, I really like Sahara but I accept it for the period piece it is- there is a very large 'ra- ra' factor in the movie about winning the war (made in 1943).

Brian

I never saw that movie, I'll have to see if it's available on netflix or youtube.

[B.D.F.]

I cannot make this stuff up. I cannot even think this stuff up and I have a rather.... lax view of the world and expect little from those of my species. Yet day after day I am simply shocked at the stuff going on 'out there'.

"Woman discovers 'boyfriend' of two years is woman when she removes blindfold during sex"

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/11851589/Woman-discovers-boyfriend-of-two-years-is-woman-when-she-removes-blindfold-during-sex.html

And just when I thought it could not get any more bizarre, the article claims the 'victim' discovered her 'boyfriend' was a woman the SECOND time they had sex.

Brian

[B.D.F.]

"Belgian discovers his wife used to be a man after 19 years"

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/belgium/9703166/Belgian-discovers-his-wife-used-to-be-a-man-after-19-years.html

Sorry no time to comment on this one, I have to get a subscription to this newspaper....

Brian

[Conniesaki]

I cannot make this stuff up. I cannot even think this stuff up and I have a rather.... lax view of the world and expect little from those of my species. Yet day after day I am simply shocked at the stuff going on 'out there'.

"Woman discovers 'boyfriend' of two years is woman when she removes blindfold during sex"

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/11851589/Woman-discovers-boyfriend-of-two-years-is-woman-when-she-removes-blindfold-during-sex.html

And just when I thought it could not get any more bizarre, the article claims the 'victim' discovered her 'boyfriend' was a woman the SECOND time they had sex.

Brian

There are a lot of folks out there that just are not very detail oriented.

[B.D.F.]

True but this is like walking up to someone and slapping them in the face with 'it'. Well, not actually the face per se but you know what I mean....

Brian

There are a lot of folks out there that just are not very detail oriented.

[Rhino]

There are a lot of folks out there that just are not very detail oriented.

  LOL literally. I'm on a conference call and had to mute my phone.

[MrPepsi]

To this day, they still print $2 bills.

[MrPepsi]

Today in San Francisco I needed to get gas and my normal "in the city" gas station was not open yet. So I was forced to get gas closer to the freeway. Because of this I only got $6.00 worth because the cost was $3.57 per gallon. I then drove my 40 miles to work and stopped at Costco in Concord. By filling up at Costco I saved $15 just for one tank of gas. It would have cost me an additional $15 to fill up at the first gas station vs. just getting $6 worth and then stopping again.

[Rhino]

The other day I bought gas in the Austin TX area for $1.79/gal. Sorry Pepsi

[MrPepsi]

ROFL, Costco is the cheapest in town. $2.29
I am just thankful there is one convenient to me on my way to work.

[Sgt Mac]

Saw it today for $1.86, had to do a double take.

[VirginiaJim]

We've got regular here for $1.71.  I'm sure it's lower elsewhere in the state.

[Conrad]

I put 50 gallons in the RV yesterday. 

$1.75 per

[gPink]

Going somewhere?

[Conrad]

I had to take the RV up to Huntley for some warranty work on the furnace yesterday, bad flame sensor, part ordered. The tank was low and since gas was relatively cheap, I filled er up.