Meme Scholar with Madness (PhD)

[EndtheMadnessNow]

Happy Ramfeezled Friday!


Found that word, "sgiúnach" in the Gaelic etymological dictionary (1896/1911)



The Words of the Week - June 7


The Swords in the Rock (Sverd i fjell)


This peace monument was unveiled by Norway's King Olav V in 1983. It commemorates The Battle of Hafrsfjord, a great naval battle fought in Hafrsfjord sometime between 872 and 900 that resulted in the unification of Norway, later known as the Kingdom of Norway. After the battle, the victorious Viking chief Harald Fairhair proclaimed himself the first king of the Norwegians, merging several petty kingdoms under a single monarch for the first time. The swords stand over 30 feet tall and are sculpted to look like traditional viking sabers. The are forever planted into the rock of a small hill (god help us if someone large enough to pull them from the stone should ever come along). The tallest of the three swords is a bit more elaborate, representing the King Harald’s victory and the two smaller swords represent the defeated petty kings.


Ya'll think if the Russians and Ukrainians meet half-way in the Tunnel of Love they'd end the war?


Tunnel of Love in Klevan, Ukraine, a Fairytale Train Track


USS Augusta (LCS 34) and USS Montgomery (LCS 8) are in port Astoria, Oregon providing the public an opportunity to tour a U.S. Navy ship. Praise to the Second Class here for her being in the proper uniform and representing our service. Also, Marines trying to steal the show.





"Musk is a character out of Heinlein. A once in a generation figure who inspires love and loathing, and who will leave an indelible mark on our society and human history."
Starship Launch: Mostly Successful, Including Soft Landings for Both Vehicles

In some instances he's like a modern day Howard Hughes and in other cases like the equal of Delos D. Harriman, in The Man Who Sold The Moon. He is an entrepreneurial businessman who masterminded the first landing on the Moon as a private business venture. His story is part of Heinlein's Future History.


In an alternative universe the film companies made many sequels to this masterwork...


However, if they did to Master and Commander universe what they have done to the Star Wars universe, then perhaps we should be happy to have this jewel to hold up as what it should be.

On March 28, 1979, a handful of Air Force officers and a Mormon civilian employee from Hill Air Force Base arrived in Salt Lake City for an unusual meeting. They were seeking a blessing: For the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' top leaders to endorse a plan to construct 8,500 miles of roads and 4,600 concrete garages for a nuclear weapons system.

The system would constantly shuttle 200 missiles on racetracks, playing a "shell game" intended to keep the Soviet military guessing where America's nuclear warheads really were located at any given moment. The Soviets could, of course, just build more nuclear weapons and take out the entire missile field at once, so American war planners imagined the project—called "Missile, Experimental," or MX—would continuously expand, becoming 8,250 garages and 360 missiles by 1990. And so on.

Utah is home to several Northrop Grumman facilities producing missiles for nuclear warheads.

Of the population that did exist in the basing area, however, roughly 80% was Mormon, according to an account of the MX battle in The Mormon Military Experience, a book recently published by historians Sherman L. Fleek and Robert C. Freeman from West Point and Brigham Young University, respectively.

The generals left the meeting with the church's then-president, Spencer Kimball, and his two top counselors feeling "elated," according to an academic who interviewed one of the officers. They would later be blindsided by the church's opposition, apparently unaware on that March day that Kimball, who had visited Hiroshima for missionary work, was already entertaining dissent.

Kimball had—three years prior to the meeting—published a jeremiad about the state of the nation and the Cold War arms race. His essay, "The False Gods We Worship," was—somewhat awkwardly due to its critical take—featured in an edition of the church's official magazine that was dedicated to patriotism and America's bicentennial.

"When enemies rise up," Kimball wrote at the time, "we commit vast resources to the fabrication of gods of stone and steel—ships, planes, missiles, fortifications—and depend on them for protection and deliverance."

Good long article if interested: No tobacco, nukes ok—Mormon tithes finance nuclear weapons contractors


The not-so-friendly skies...LOL


"The balloon club named for a cartoon about a flying house wondered if it was suddenly at the center of an international action drama."

After dubious shootdowns, NORAD now checks with balloon hobbyist groups


Cuban Missile Crisis 2.0: Electric Boogaloo...

HAVANA -- Four Russian ships, including a nuclear-powered submarine, will arrive in Havana next week, Cuban officials said Thursday, citing “historically friendly relations” between both nations and as tensions escalate over Western military support for Ukraine in its war with Russia.

Cuba’s foreign ministry said in a news release that the ships will be in Havana between June 12 and June 17, noting that none of them will carry any nuclear weapons and assuring their presence “does not represent a threat to the region.”

The announcement came a day after U.S. officials said that Washington had been tracking Russian warships and aircraft that were expected to arrive in the Caribbean for a military exercise. They said the exercise would be part of a broader Russian response to the U.S. support for Ukraine.

The officials said that the Russian military presence was notable but not concerning. However, it's taking place as Russian President Vladimir Putin has suggested that Moscow could take “asymmetrical steps” elsewhere in the world in response to President Joe Biden’s decision to allow Ukraine to use U.S.-provided weapons to strike inside Russia to protect Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city.

Russian warships will arrive in Havana next week, say Cuban officials citing 'friendly relations'