Maureen O'Hara Died

I just found out Maureen O'Hara died Friday.

"I guess everybody was in love with Maureen O’Hara,” Clint Eastwood.

More from Vanity Fair, including a great interview with her from 2014.

"What is the quality you most like in a man?
    --  Tough, with inner kindness, like Duke had. 

Guns Sales Boom in Osterreich?

So, it appears that gun sales are on the uptick in Austria.  According to this article translated courtesy of the evil alphabet empire.   Interesting.  The key reason in this quote "The most common reason for the upgrade: fear of refugees and before dawn burglars."

St. Crispian's Day

Agincourt, and fair Harry the King.

This day is called the feast of Crispin:
He that outlives this day and comes safe home,
Will stand a tip-toe when this day is named,
And rouse him at the name of Crispin.
He that shall live this day, and see old age,
Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,
And say, ‘To-morrow is Saint Crispin:’
Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars,
And say, ‘These wounds I had on Crispin’s day.’
Old men forget: yet all shall be forgot,
But he’ll remember with advantages
What feats he did that day. Then shall our names,
Familiar in his mouth as household words,
Harry the King, Bedford and Exeter,
Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester,
Be in their flowing cups freshly remembered.
This story shall the good man teach his son;
And Crispin Crispian shall ne’er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be rememberèd;
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne’er so vile
This day shall gentle his condition:
And gentlemen in England, now a-bed
Shall think themselves accursed they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin’s day.

32 Years ago today.

32 Years ago today Iranian backed terrorists attacked the "barracks" of the 24 MEU at the Beirut Airport.  Stars and Stripes carried the story on the 30th anniversary.  The GWOT, Large VBIED's are nothing new, simply the lexicon and the narrative have changed.

Semper Fi.

Marine Corps Marathon 2015

For your Friday morning mirth.

Once a Marine, always a Marine.  Or should we say Marines will be Marines in all things?

The Marine Corps Marathon map is interestingly aimed at. . .

Monday, Monday.

It is a rainy Monday afternoon here in Oregon.  Nice!

I spotted this in my morning reading.  I was aware of the case from an earlier EFF post, that the ancestry.com owned database had been used and Mr. Usry had been fingered by the long arm of the law. . . What I was NOT aware of is this: He was cleared by his DNA. . .after 33 days under suspicion.

Read the article, and the EFF link.  I think this is an insidious use of technology, that of course has gone awry.  How could this not have?  Think of the Stanford Experiment?  What do you think should be done?

What Star Wars Teaches about "Hybrid Warfare"

OK, OK.  Hybrid Warfare, what the heck?  Well it is 4GW or whatever we called it before that. . .Like car bomb and truck bomb became VBIED. . .Stupid I know, but our boots were black, what did we know?  "Watch out, Medium to large sized VBIED!" as opposed to what we said in the olden days. . ."Give them a whiff of grape Captain Bragg". . . I digress, but that is the point isn't it.

For your Friday perusal and to satiate the Grunt-Nerdists I give you. . .

From Droid Armies to Luke Skywalker: What Star Wars Teaches Us About Hybrid Warfare at Small Wars Journal.

Drop, Cover and Hold!

The Great Oregon Shakeout!  Did you participate?  No, it's not just in Oregon.  It is an earthquake drill "The Great Shakeout" to promote earthquake awareness and preparedness.  It is at 1015 hours on October 15th every year.  It was just now.  I did, Drop, Cover and Hold under my great steel tanker desk. . .I need to dust and sweep under there!

Here in Oregon we live in the Cascadia Subduction Zone.  The New Yorker Magazine ran an article about it in July titled "The Really Big One."  It is a BIG DEAL here in the Pacific Northwest, or it will be when it occurs.  When, well it has occurred once every 240 years on average.  The last one was in 1700.

Oregon has been working on the problem of preparing for the BIG ONE for only a few years.  The Cascadia was only discovered in 1970.  After the 2011 quake in Japan and the resulting tsunami the coastal tsunami zone maps were revised gulping in quite a larger area that will be effected.  OPB's Oregon Field Guide has a documentary about the situation titled "Unprepared" and corresponding info to help you get prepared  Interesting title. . .

Yes it is a number is links.  So, check them out, read, learn, get ready!

Personal Kaizen

Great post from the Art of Manliness, Get 1% Better Every Day: The Kaizen Way to Self-Improvement. Now it should be a great big Duh moment for me, Mr. Kaizen, Kanban. . .but a dull impact somewhere on the backside is necessary now and again.

So, do a little something everyday.  "Try to do just 1% better than the day before. Start small and make your increases gradual. Avoid the temptation to get impatient and start rushing forward and taking bigger leaps. Take it slow, steady, and consistent."  Good stuff.

What can you do?  I have a list or three, starting with walking, and blogging.  Expect posts from me more and more frequently.

Enjoy your Friday!

Saturday Night Movie - The Way Ahead.

Saturday Night Movie - The Way Ahead 1944.

It is a British wartime propaganda film.  It's message is straight forward: It is going to take all of us to win.  The movie follows a group of men called up from civilian life. Suddenly thrust into the soldier's life, they don't like it. . .You follow their transformation from whiny recruit to cohesive rifle platoon.  Led by their platoon leader David Niven and their platoon sergeant, a pre-war regular, they train and deploy to Tunisia.  The movie ends in their first fight against the retreating Afrika Korps.

None of them are wounded or killed.  The characters are simple, but the diversity would allow the British wartime audience to find someone they could connect and empathize with.  Which is the intent.

Overall a good simple WW2 flick.