Members Idunno Posted December 25, 2014 Members Share Posted December 25, 2014 I think I successfully erradimicated the ads from this page 4-ever but the page loads funny now. I'll get used to it. Off to a chef's residence for his idea of a 12/25 celebration, al la cheap beer and turkey breast match-up, and to watch his kid play with his undeserved loot. You have a good time, too! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DeepEnd Posted December 25, 2014 Members Share Posted December 25, 2014 Christmas dinner was lunch at the IHOP in Glen Carbon, IL today. It's near where our daughter lives (within 10 miles) and it was open. Scrambled eggs, sausage, hash browns, and pumpkin pancakes. Yum! Yum! We exchanged gifts after lunch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Neal Posted December 25, 2014 Members Share Posted December 25, 2014 Wife at the family's in a nearby state, I'm with th animals(they ain't gonna feed themselves), and had a beer or three with the neighbor at the Chinese restaurant. Happy Saturnalia/Solstice/Placeholderforthatreligionsfigurehead'sbirthday to you all! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Idunno Posted December 25, 2014 Author Members Share Posted December 25, 2014 I'm back and it was a wonderful time of playing guest to a gracious host and his million-toy kid of 4-1/2 years old. Anyway, a good day to you all and I hope it wasn't too materially encumbered. Neal, I had a couple Yeunglings. I had to get them myself from the local convenient store for my son and me because the host is currently on an alcohol hiatus. That's cool, though. Everyone has self-imposed religious restrictions of lesser or greater weight. I'm a heathen only because it nets me all the holidays. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Neal Posted December 26, 2014 Members Share Posted December 26, 2014 Well, I'm alone and dedicating this last hour to posting in an empty room! Just you and me and Koiwoi are here at this point. What a relaxing Solstice it is. Think I'll watch some of the new "Cosmos" with my man-crush, Neil Tyson. He's as awesome as Bill Nye, and approaching Carl Sagan territory. "Pale blue dot"...priceless stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members garthman Posted December 26, 2014 Members Share Posted December 26, 2014 Our "Christmas" dinner will take place today when my son and daughter and their families descend on Garthman House in a doubtless merry mood. So yesterday we treated ourselves to a simple meal of mashed baked potato and potato skins au gratin (bake potatoes as normal, scoop out the flesh and mash with quite a lot of butter, slice the skins into little "boats" and scatter some grated parmesan cheese on top. bake both in a hot oven for 10 - 15 mins until starting to brown.). Eaten with some steamed shredded cabbage and crusty bread. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Idunno Posted December 26, 2014 Author Members Share Posted December 26, 2014 Best way to have a baked potato, Howard. I've had them that way many times. Some people refer to them as double-baked, I think. The ultimate heart-attack spud requires lots of butter, cheese, bacon bits, sour creme and a sprinkling of chives. I used to spend a good amount of time star-gazing. There was one time I was on a rock at 9 degrees north latitude where there were no terrestrial lights at night. A huge sky of stars was almost too much to take in. Then, I was at the north pole for a short period. The light reflected off the white expanse of snowy terrain was a distraction but the Aurora Borealis was playing itself out every night. Incidently, the spell checker on this site is red underscoring Borealis. Yep, nuttin' but the best for HC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members katopp Posted January 1, 2015 Members Share Posted January 1, 2015 There was one time I was on a rock at 9 degrees north latitude Kwaj? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Idunno Posted January 1, 2015 Author Members Share Posted January 1, 2015 Yap. Federated States of Micronesia (nee Western Caroline Islands) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members kwakatak Posted January 4, 2015 Members Share Posted January 4, 2015 Kwaj? OT: katopp, I have one question for you: polliwog or shellback? As for me: I'm proudly not one who had to crawl through the muck to "kiss the baby" and when everyone else was getting their Blue Noses I was standing watch. I lost the certificate from Borealis Rex, though I have the card for my wallet in a lock box somewhere. Going back on topic, my wife (who the "quality" cooking in our house even though I'm the homemaker. Otherwise I've lost my family to take out. For new year's she made pork loin with some kind of red cabbage slaw whose leftovers I have not revisited. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members katopp Posted January 4, 2015 Members Share Posted January 4, 2015 Neither. German Navy until a Diabetes cut me free from the service.But very interested in all things Navy due to family ties. Albeit on the other side...Family of mine fought at the Doggerbank, in Subs in the Atlantic and aboard Bismarck. Third grade cousin was CiC of the German Federal Navy ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members kwakatak Posted January 5, 2015 Members Share Posted January 5, 2015 Interesting. You probably prefer the movie "Das Boot" to "The Hunt for The Red October" then? The submarine service might as well be a different branch of the Navy for me. After seeing a documentary about Admiral Rickover I see why. The guy was a hardass and likely had some sort of personality disorder akin to Aspergers syndrome. If it weren't for his friends in the US Congress he'd have been forced to retire as a captain. I correspond with a guy on another forum who was in the US Navy and he's quite a character. He shared this link and swears it's all true: http://www.cracked.com/article_20871_6-things-movies-dont-show-you-about-life-submarine.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Idunno Posted January 5, 2015 Author Members Share Posted January 5, 2015 Neither. German Navy until a Diabetes cut me free from the service. But very interested in all things Navy due to family ties. Albeit on the other side... Family of mine fought at the Doggerbank, in Subs in the Atlantic and aboard Bismarck. Third grade cousin was CiC of the German Federal Navy ... Ah so! I was curious myself. I also had family involved in that fray but he (my Pop) was in the driver's seat of a B-17 with the Mighty 8th. I have yet to make it through his flight logs. I continued the association for as long as I could. In my time the low pay just didn't make sense (KC-135A Crew Chief) when the same civilian job paid triple just starting out. Plus, there wasn't anything threatening our shores so I took an early out and went civilian. Air Force, Air National Guard, Naval Reserve and then Air Force Reserve, it was a bit of a ride to dodge/avoid any further active duty time. All told, 9 years lapsed before I managed to get my final discharge from an initial 6 year active duty enlistment. BTW, I had zero hands-on when with the Naval Reserve. They didn't have any equipment where I was stationed. (I originally signed on as an AD3 working C-118s (civilian DC6) up in Glenview NAS, Illinois.) The reserve station was a classroom and drill environment only. Submariners were watching training flicks on F-14 canopy changes, and vice versa on surface and subsurface flicks so we all took turns dozing off. The duty station was in Coral Gables, FL, and about as unlikely a military installation as you can imagine. I transferred to the Naval Reserve from the Air National Guard because doing so immediately qualified me for time-served status and eligible for inactive reserve, non-duty. So, I never even received my initial clothing issue from the Navy before I slipped into inactive status. Besides, I never knew who to salute in that branch with all the gold this and that and shoulder boards and stuff. Later I joined the Air Force Reserve because the outfit I'd be serving with was maintaining C-130 aircraft, which I wanted to learn. Free training on that bird boosted my civilian credentials as an Airframe & Powerplant mechanic, which I got from our FAA when I exited Air Force active duty. EDIT to add: I never played guitar or sketched or oil painted when I was in the military. There was just something about the make-up and mood of my life when I was with the military that put me off pursuit of the arts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members katopp Posted January 5, 2015 Members Share Posted January 5, 2015 @kwakatak "Das Boot" is as much propaganda as "Hunt for Red October". Or "Crimson Tide", to mention one of yours.The VIIc subs depicted in "Das Boot" were already substandard technology in 1941 and the submariners went out there in the knowledge that the Allies had better material.If you look closely, the Type XXI subs from 1943/1944 were the grandpas of the 212A/214 of the German Navy.The Ruskis andc the Allies (Project Guppy) later really took from the German (and Japanese) sub developments. Rickover was possibly a candidate for Asperger's, but his absolute dedication to nuclear security at least prevented some messy accidents like K19 and a lot of others the Russians had. @Idunno yeah, was gearing up for Naval Reserve Officer career path when the Diabetes cut me loose. Worked on S-Boats (not ships) and there was not much Brass to salute to. The atmosphere aboard was pretty much relaxed in terms of military salute. Most of the time, you did not have the room to salute properly anyway. Pretty cramped on station. So it was pretrty much more like "G'Morning, Skipper!" - "G'Mornig, Guys" and then business talk without much adressing of rank afterwards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Idunno Posted January 6, 2015 Author Members Share Posted January 6, 2015 The military pageantry was mostly the reserve status weenies strutting around in Class A's talking crap and making like military personnel with a purpose (not). On routine active duty status saluting was pretty much as you say. The zeros didn't like saluting and the enlisted humored them. There were some 0's who considered themselves important and made a fuss about being acknowledged as superior but we chilled them pretty quickly. Most were there to do what they hired in to do and with as little celebration as possible. Besides, it was the enlisted guys who set the 0's up when we traveled abroad to the great expanse of the offshore no-tell motels so they respected our logistical needs support. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members katopp Posted January 6, 2015 Members Share Posted January 6, 2015 Nay, that was also completely different aboard ships. Boats=no brass, ships=lotsa brass, at least in the German Navy. And aboard ships approaching brass without a proper salute could get you as much in trouble as approaching the skipper on a boat with a proper salute. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Idunno Posted January 7, 2015 Author Members Share Posted January 7, 2015 I remember I was at Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry and did a walk-through tour on the U-505. As I recall it was captured at sea and despite the crew's attempts to scuttle Americans found and shut off the scuttle valves. They played a movie loop of its actual capture. The captain visited the boat each year after it was displayed, from my understanding. Talk about a tube full of pipes, valves, gauges, wiring/cabling, storage batteries, engines, torpedoes, bulkheads, gratings and all lushly sprinkled with creature comforts rivaling a rockslide. What an inglorious existence. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DeepEnd Posted January 7, 2015 Members Share Posted January 7, 2015 I remember I was at Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry and did a walk-through tour on the U-505. . . . Talk about a tube full of pipes, valves, gauges, wiring/cabling, storage batteries, engines, torpedoes, bulkheads, gratings and all lushly sprinkled with creature comforts rivaling a rockslide. What an inglorious existence. I did the same thing years ago when I was much younger. Dad and I were both 6ft.+ and neither of us would've been cut out for the assignment. I didn't have claustrophobia back then but it would've probably given it to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Idunno Posted January 7, 2015 Author Members Share Posted January 7, 2015 Seriously small personal space and none of it was for "living". You had to be an integral part of the machinery on those things. At a short 5'8" and 135 lbs I was feeling huge in that thing. Looking around at a forward torpedo room pic the other day it showed a torpedoman (now called machinists mate) polishing the torpedo tube and the caption read that they doubled as sleeping births. I don't think so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members katopp Posted January 7, 2015 Members Share Posted January 7, 2015 Nope, they did not sleep inside the tubes. But they slept above and next to live torpedoes. The reserve loads were stored inside the bowroom quarters. They also had to pull the eels out of their tubes and service them on a daily basis. Now consider this: 4 bow tubes with an eel in there each, about 12 eels reserve plus some 24 peeps hot bunking - all in the bow torpedo room. And yes, during alarm, eel maintenance etc. the bunks had to be folded up. So no good chance for R&R while being underway. And they lived like that for weeks. That's why they cheered for every eel they could fire against any target. That gave them more breathing space. Thank God, I was on the S-Boats, not the U-Boats. S-Boats are fast surface combattants, pretty much like the PGM Ashevilles, but with added Exocet ASM. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Idunno Posted January 8, 2015 Author Members Share Posted January 8, 2015 Read up on the S-Boats. Speedy little feckers. After the war JFK (PT-109 fame) visited Germany specifically to get a look at the S-Boats. He commented they were far superior to anything the US had in the fast-boat category. They were uglier than the ELKO boats, though, which is probably why Germany lost the war. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members kwakatak Posted January 9, 2015 Members Share Posted January 9, 2015 Reading? What's that? I just watched a youtube video with a German heavy metal soundtrack. That's more my speed. As for those S-Boat, maybe it was the old style film but they LOOKED fast too. Tiny too. I'd be puking my guts out. The ship I was on was bigger than a cruise ship and almost as stable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members katopp Posted January 9, 2015 Members Share Posted January 9, 2015 Modern S-Boats and the old ones are incomparable. The 143-Class had even A/C because of the positive pressurisation system that protected the crew against ABC weapons fallout. The new boats are slower than the older boats, too, but have better endurance.New boats fight as a squadron with linked data systems. Boats can share tactical intel.Old boats were much more like lone wolves. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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