Meme Scholar with Madness (PhD)

[EndtheMadnessNow]

March 9, 1862: during the U.S. Civil War, USS Monitor and CSS Virginia engaged in the first battle between ironclads. The ships fought to a stalemate, but the Battle of Hampton Roads signaled that the age of wooden warships was coming to an end.


CSS Virginia vs USS Monitor Civil War Naval Battle

The world is well familiar with the iconic design of the ironclad USS Monitor, but there is compelling evidence to suggest that the images of her in battle are not correct.

Attached to a wall in Preble Hall at the U.S. Naval Academy Museum in Annapolis, Maryland, is one of the oldest and, for its time, largest artifacts from the USS Monitor. It is not particularly exciting to look upon—although it is humbling to be able to actually touch a piece of this famous ship—but this artifact is the key to picturing a distinctly different image of how the Monitor’s turret actually looked during history’s first battle between ironclads—the Monitor’s clash with the CSS Virginia on 9 March 1862, during the Battle of Hampton Roads. This relic may help prove that the well-known round turret, in fact, had a prominent flat shield attached.

The artifact is made of 1-inch-thick wrought iron, is 32½ inches wide and 20¼ inches high, and appears to be an armor plate from the famous ship. It is inscribed by Gustavus Vasa Fox, Assistant Secretary of the Navy from 1861 to 1866. Fox was very influential in the development of ironclad ships, especially the Monitor type. He became close friends with the Monitor’s inventor, John Ericsson, and witnessed, from the deck of the USS Minnesota, the battle between the Monitor and the Virginia. The inscription on the relic reads:

    Piece of the first Monitor, removed after her battle with the Rebel Steamer Merrimac [CSS Virginia] in Hampton Roads March 9th 1862. Presented to the  U.S. NAVAL ACADEMY by G.V Fox Asst Secty of the NAVY 1866.

It is flat, not curved like the wrought iron plating of the turret, and is pierced in six places for bolts or rivets. Weighing about 100 pounds, it has three flat sides, a clearly damaged side—and a cut-out circular area.

A New Look for an Old Icon

Change comes hard to all navies, and there was fierce resistance to ironclads when they first appeared. They ridiculed the Monitor as a "Cheesebox on a raft." Little did they know what this humble ship would develop into. Flash forward to 21st century, today's version of the Monitor looks odd too.



Namesake is Admiral Elmo Russell "Bud" Zumwalt Jr. (November 29, 1920 – January 2, 2000) was a United States Navy officer and the youngest person to serve as Chief of Naval Operations. USS Zumwalt's first commanding officer was Captain James A. Kirk. Star Trek Captain James T. Kirk wrote a letter of support to Zumwalt's crew in April 2014.


March 9, 1924: Katharina von Oheimb, the most prominent woman member of the German Reichstag, won’t seek re-election after four years. The suffragist and left-leaning member of the German People’s Party says she is "sick" of politics and will seek change by social means.





March 9, 1954: Edward Murrow reported on the "Red Scare" investigation of Communists led by Senator Joseph McCarthy.


Really good history, drama-bio film, written/directed/starring George Clooney as Fred W. Friendly with David Strathairn as Edward Murrow and Jeff Daniels as Siegfried Thor "Sig" Mickelson, the first president of CBS News from 1959 to 1961.

Friendly served as president of CBS News from 1964 to 1966.
Murrow and Friendly broadcast a revealing See It Now documentary analysis on Senator Joseph McCarthy (airing March 9, 1954) that has been credited with changing the public view of McCarthy and, being a key event leading to McCarthy's fall from power. In 1966, Friendly resigned from CBS when the television network ran a scheduled episode of I Love Lucy instead of broadcasting live coverage of the first United States Senate hearings questioning American involvement in Vietnam.


An uptight, leather-clad female alien who goes by Nyah, armed with a ray gun and accompanied by a menacing robot, comes to Earth (lands at a Scottish Inn) to collect Earth's men as breeding stock.



Patricia Laffan (1919-2014) a statuesque and striking actress with vaguely reptilian aspects, at once sinister and alluring; a smile never more than a whisker away from a sneer and a commanding, imperious presence suggesting innate superiority. Difficult to cast, Patricia Laffan seemed destined to portray the villainous or the eccentric. The daughter of Irish rubber planter Arthur Charles Laffan (1870-1948) and London-born Elvira Alice née Vitali (1896-1979), Patricia was schooled at the Institut français du Royaume-Uni in London and trained in dramatic arts at the prestigious Douglas-Webber School. She emerged on stage in 1937 and made her screen debut by 1945. In between a cluster of nondescript or uncredited roles, we remember her for two indelible cinematic performances: first, as that sumptuously decadent, scheming, malicious Empress Poppaea in MGM's epic blockbuster Quo Vadis (1951) -- sardonic and disdainful in her delivery, at times running close to overshadowing even the great Peter Ustinov in his most famous role as Nero. One of her lavish outfits included a 14 carat gold dress designed by Herschel McCoy. A contemporary BBC interview with Laffan also recounts an incident during the making of Quo Vadis. In this, the actress, while reclining on a divan next to a couple of cheetahs at the end of a love scene with Robert Taylor, was set upon by one of the not so tame cats but managed to escape with a torn dress (the gold one ?) -- "on the other hand, the lions in the arena scene were so bored that they went to sleep in the shade instead of looking hungrily at the Christians".

Laffan's other fondly remembered showing on screen was in the campy Devil Girl from Mars (1954), a typically low-budget Danziger Brothers attempt at emulating the success of The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951). Justifiably derided at the time (for such valid reasons as inane writing, lacklustre direction and props acutely reminiscent of kitchen appliances), it has become a surprising cult touchstone for sci-fi aficionados. Why? Certainly because of the picture's sole meritorious component: Patricia Laffan as the Martian invader Nyah, exotically made up, outfitted in PVC jumpsuit, miniskirt, Darth Vader-style cape and skullcap and making the most of her scenes, delivering her lines with practised cold, languid authority.

Mystery Trivia:
Her death, just 9 days shy of her 95th birthday, was not announced publicly at the time and it wasn't until two and a half years later, when a researcher uncovered her death certificate, that it was made public. This would help explain why there are no press obituaries for her.

A clip showing her firing a ray gun in Devil Girl from Mars (1954) is often used in commercials and documentaries, such as the TV remote episode of the History Channel series "History's Lost and Found" (early remotes used a beam of light and looked like a ray gun). History Channel still uses the prop gun out on Skinwalker Ranch.  Kidding. Then again you never know.




March 9, 2015: A hacker caused an explosion at a nuclear power plant in Hong Kong.




On this day, heroic Sean Kirkpatrick of AARO and steadfast Chris Mellon of the CIA/DIA have both received an honor worthy of their talents as "deceivers of the public and scalawags of the Republic," by their secret society The Knights of Malta. Huzzah!




Drone swarms are coming...


Houthis conduct largest & most complex attack to date—sending 28 one-way attack drones toward U.S. & coalition ships. All 28 drones were shot down with no injuries or damage.
US Navy & Royal Navy Admirals: We just be testing our new toys. We don't want to annihilate them too early or our R&D boys will not be happy.
Houthis with a war budget not even worth mentioning vs USA/NATO of over $1 Trillion.


Silent service out/in...