WA2K Radio is now on the air

Ouch! that was a wimpy justification. I've got to stop thinking out loud.

JL, you have a great sense of humor, and yes, balance needs to be weighed. Now here's something that you can do:

The notes to the Calgary Stampede--key of C piano

cdeee
cdeee
cdeee bflat eag.

There are words to that thing, but I can't find 'em. Probably just as well, folks.

Well, have to do stuff. Back later:

This is cyberspace, WA2K radio.

Thomas Carlyle
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Thomas Carlyle (or Carlysle; December 4, 1795 - February 5, 1881) was a Scottish essayist, satirist, and historian, whose work was hugely influential during the Victorian era. Coming from a strictly Calvinist family, Carlyle was expected by his parents to become a preacher. However, while at the University of Edinburgh he lost his Christian faith. Nevertheless Calvinist values remained with him throughout his life. This combination of a religious temperament with loss of faith in traditional Christianity made Carlyle's work appealing to many Victorians who were grappling with scientific and political changes that threatened the traditional social order.


Early Life and Influences

Carlyle was born in Ecclefechan, Dumfries and Galloway, and was educated at Annan Academy, Annan.

He was powerfully influenced by his family's (and his nation's) strong Calvinism. After attending the University of Edinburgh, Carlyle became a mathematics teacher, first in Annan and then in Kirkcaldy, where Carlyle became an admirer of the mystic Edward Irving.

In 1819 - 1821, Carlyle went back to the University of Edinburgh, where he suffered an intense crisis of faith and conversion that would provide the material for Sartor Resartus. He also began reading deeply in German literature. Carlyle's thinking was heavily influenced by German Transcendentalism, in particular the work of Fichte. He established himself as an expert on German literature in a series of essays for Frazer's Magazine, and by translating German writers, notably Goethe.

Writings

Early writings

His first major work, Sartor Resartus (1832) purported to be a commentary in the thought of a German philosopher called Diogenes Teufelsdröckh (which translates as 'god-born devil-****'), author of a tome entitled "Clothes: their Origin and Influence". Teufelsdröckh's Transcendentalist musings are mulled over by a skeptical English editor who also provides fragmentary biographical material on the philosopher.

Sartor Resartus was intended to be a new kind of book: simultaneously factual and fictional, serious and satirical, speculative and historical. It ironically commented on its own formal structure, while forcing the reader to confront the problem of where 'truth' is to be found. The imaginary 'Philosophy of Clothes' holds that meaning is to be derived from phenomena, continually shifting over history, as cultures reconstruct themselves in changing fashions, power-structures, and faith-systems. The book contains a very Fichtean conception of religious conversion: based not on the acceptance of God but on the absolute freedom of the will to reject evil, and to construct meaning.

In Sartor Resartus, the narrator finds contempt for all things in human society and life. He contemplates the "Everlasting No" of refusal, comes to the "Center of Indifference," and eventually embraces the "Everlasting Yea." This voyage from denial to disengagement to volition would later be described as part of the existentialist awakening. Carlyle establishes that the bases for common belief and faith are empty, that men are locked into hollow forms and satiated by vacuous pleasures and certainties. His narrator rebels against the smugness of his age and the positive claims of authority. He eventually finds that rage cannot provide a meaning for life, that he cannot answer the eternal question by merely rejecting all answers. He eventually comes to see that the matters of faith to common life can be valid, if they are informed by the soul's passions and the individual affirmation. He seeks a new world where religion has a new form, where the essential truths once revolutionary and undeniable are again made new.

Sartor Resartus was initially considered bizarre and incomprehensible, but had a limited success in America, where it was admired by Ralph Waldo Emerson, influencing the development of New England Transcendentalism.

In 1834, Carlyle moved to London and began to move among celebrated company, thanks to the fame of Sartor Resartus. Within the United Kingdom Carlyle's success was assured by the publication of his two volume work The French Revolution, A History in 1837. After the completed manuscript of the book was accidentally burned by the philosopher John Stuart Mill's maid, Carlyle had to begin again from scratch. The resulting second version was filled with a passionate intensity, hitherto unknown in historical writing. In a politically charged Europe, filled with fears and hopes of revolution, Carlyle's account of the motivations and urges that inspired the events in France seemed powerfully relevant. Carlyle's style of writing emphasised this, continually stressing the immediacy of the action - often using the present tense. For Carlyle, chaotic events demanded what he called 'heroes' to take control over the competing forces erupting within society. While not denying the importance of economic and practical explanations for events, he saw these forces as essentially 'spiritual' in character - the hopes and aspirations of people that took the form of ideas, and were often ossified into ideologies ('formulas' or 'Isms', as he called them). In Carlyle's view only dynamic individuals could master events and direct these spiritual energies effectively. As soon as ideological 'formulas' replaced heroic human action society became dehumanised.

This dehumanisation of society was a theme pursued in later books. In Past and Present (1843), Carlyle sounded a note of conservative skepticism that could later be seen in Matthew Arnold and John Ruskin: he compared the lives of the dissipated 19th century man and a medieval abbot. For Carlyle the monastic community was unified by human and spiritual values, while modern culture deified impersonal economic forces and abstract theories of human 'rights' and natural 'laws'. Communal values were collapsing into isolated individualism and ruthless laissez faire Capitalism, justified by what he called the "dismal science" of economics.


Heroes and Hero Worship

These ideas were influential on the development of Socialism, but aspects of Carlyle's thinking in his later years also helped to form Fascism. Carlyle moved towards his later thinking during the 1840s, leading to a break with many old friends and allies such as Mill and, to a lesser extent, Emerson. His belief in the importance of heroic leadership found form in his book "Heroes and Hero Worship", in which he compared different types of hero. For Carlyle the hero was somewhat similar to Aristotle's "Magnanimous" man - a person who flourished in the fullest sense. However, for Carlyle, unlike Aristotle, the world was filled with contradictions with which the hero had to deal. All heroes will be flawed. Their heroism lay in their creative energy in the face of these difficulties, not in their moral perfection. To sneer at such a person for their failings is the philosophy of those who seek comfort in the conventional. Carlyle called this 'valetism', from the expression 'no man is a hero to his valet'.

All these books were influential in their day, especially on writers such as Charles Dickens and John Ruskin. However, after the Revolutions of 1848 and political agitations in the United Kingdom, Carlyle published a collection of essays entitled "Latter-Day Pamphlets" (1850) in which he attacked democracy as an absurd social ideal, while equally condemning hereditary aristocratic leadership. The latter was deadening, the former nonsensical: as though truth could be discovered by toting up votes. Government should come from the ablest. But how we were to recognise the ablest, and to follow their lead, was something Carlyle could not clearly say.

In later writings Carlyle sought to examine instances of heroic leadership in history. The "Letters and Speeches of Oliver Cromwell" (1845) presented a positive image of Cromwell: someone who attempted to weld order from the conflicting forces of reform in his own day. Carlyle sought to make Cromwell's words live in their own terms by quoting him directly, and then commenting on the significance of these words in the troubled context of the time. Again this was intended to make the 'past' 'present' to his readers.

The Everlasting Yea and No

The Everlasting Yea is Carlyle's name for the spirit of faith in God in an express attitude of clear, resolute, steady, and uncompromising antagonism to the Everlasting No, and the principle that there is no such thing as faith in God except in such antagonism against the spirit opposed to God.

The Everlasting No is Carlyle's name for the spirit of unbelief in God, especially as it manifested itself in his own, or rather Teufelsdröckh's, warfare against it; the spirit, which, as embodied in the Mephistopheles of Goethe, is for ever denying,?-der stets verneint?-the reality of the divine in the thoughts, the character, and the life of humanity, and has a malicious pleasure in scoffing at everything high and noble as hollow and void.


Worship of Silence and Sorrow

Based on Goethe calling Christianity the "Worship of Sorrow", and "our highest religion, for the Son of Man", Carlyle adds, interpreting this, "there is no noble crown, well worn or even ill worn, but is a crown of thorns".

The "Worship of Silence" is Carlyle's name for the sacred respect for restraint in speech till "thought has silently matured itself, …to hold one's tongue till some meaning lie behind to set it wagging," a doctrine which many misunderstand, almost wilfully, it would seem; silence being to him the very womb out of which all great things are born.


Later work

His last major work was the epic life of Frederick the Great (1858-1865). In this Carlyle tried to show how an heroic leader can forge a state, and help create a new moral culture for a nation. For Carlyle, Frederick epitomised the transition from the liberal Enlightenment ideals of the eighteenth century to a new modern culture of spiritual dynamism: embodied by Germany, its thought and its polity. The book is most famous for its vivid portrayal of Frederick's battles, in which Carlyle communicated his vision of almost overwhelming chaos mastered by leadership of genius. However, the effort involved in the writing of the book took its toll on Carlyle, who became increasingly depressed, and subject to various probably psychosomatic ailments. Its mixed reception also contributed to Carlyle's decreased literary output.

Later writings were generally short essays, often indicating the hardening of Carlyle's political position. His notoriously racist essay "An Occasional Discourse on the Nigger Question" [1] suggested that slavery should never have been abolished. It had kept order, and forced work from people who would otherwise have been lazy and feckless. This - and Carlyle's support for the repressive measures of Governor Edward Eyre in Jamaica - further alienated him from his old liberal allies. Eyre had been accused of brutal lynchings while suppressing a rebellion. Carlyle set up a committee to defend Eyre, while Mill organised for his prosecution.


Private life

Carlyle married Jane Welsh in 1826, but the marriage was quite unhappy. The letters between Carlyle and his wife have been published, and they show that the couple had an affection for one another that was marred by frequent quarrels. There was a sexual incident that is the cause of much speculation by biographers. Whether this was a case of impotence or psychosexual neurosis, no one can be sure, but the couple was apparently celibate.

Carlyle became increasingly alienated from his wife. Although she had been an invalid for some time, her death (1866) came unexpectedly and plunged him into despair, during which he wrote his highly self-critical "Reminiscences of Jane Welsh Carlyle". This was published after his death by his biographer James Anthony Froude, who also made public his belief that the marriage was unconsummated. This frankness was unheard of in the usually respectful biographies of the period. Froude's views were attacked by Carlyle's family, especially his nephew, Alexander Carlyle. However, the biography in question was consistent with Carlyle's own conviction that the flaws of heroes should be openly discussed, without diminishing their achievements. Froude, who had been designated by Carlyle himself as his biographer-to-be, was acutely aware of this belief.

Jane Carlyle died in 1866, and Thomas Carlyle was somewhat reclusive thereafter. He was appointed rector of the University of Edinburgh. The Early Kings of Norway: Also an Essay on the Portraits of John Knox appeared in 1875.

Upon Carlyle's death on February 5, 1881 in London, it was made possible for his remains to be interred in Westminster Abbey but his wish to be buried beside his parents in Ecclefechan was respected.


Influence

Thomas Carlyle is notable both for his continuation of older traditions of the Tory satirists of the 18th century in England and for forging a new tradition of Victorian era criticism of progress. Sartor Resartus can be seen both as an extension of the chaotic, skeptical satires of Jonathan Swift and Laurence Sterne and as an annunciation of a new point of view on values. Finding the world hollow, Carlyle's misanthropist professor-narrator discovers a need for revolution of the spirit. In one sense, this resolution is in keeping with the Romantic era's belief in revolution, individualism, and passion, but in another sense it is a nihilistic and private solution to the problems of modern life that makes no gesture of outreach to a wider community.

Later British critics, such as Matthew Arnold, would similarly denounce the mob and the naïve claims of progress, and others, such as John Ruskin, would reject the era's incessant move toward industrial production. However, few would follow Carlyle into a narrow and solitary resolution, and even those who would come to praise heroes would not be as remorseless for the weak.

Carlyle is also important for helping to introduce German Romantic literature to Britain. Although Samuel Taylor Coleridge had also been a proponent of Schiller, Carlyle's efforts on behalf of Schiller and Goethe would bear fruit.

The reputation of Carlyle's early work remained high during the 19th century, but declined in the 20th century, especially after his dire prediction that democracy would bring chaos proved untrue. His reputation in Germany was always high, because of his promotion of German thought and his biography of Frederick the Great. Friedrich Nietzsche, whose ideas are comparable to Carlyle's in some respects, was dismissive of his moralism, regarding him as a thinker who failed to free himself from the very petty-mindedness he professed to condemn. Carlyle's distaste for democracy and his belief in charismatic leadership was unsurprisingly appealing to Adolf Hitler, who was reading Carlyle's biography of Frederick during his last days in 1945.

This association with fascism did Carlyle's reputation no good in the post-war years, but "Sartor Resartus" has recently been recognised once more as a unique masterpiece, anticipating many major philosophical and cultural developments, from Existentialism to Postmodernism. It has also been argued that his critique of ideological formulas in "The French Revolution" provides a good account of the ways in which revolutionary cultures turn into repressive dogmatisms. Essentially a Romantic thinker, Carlyle attempted to reconcile Romantic affirmations of feeling and freedom with respect for historical and political fact. Nevertheless, he was always more attracted to the idea of heroic struggle itself, than to any specific goal for which the struggle was being made.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Carlyle

Lillian Russell
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.


Lillian Russell (Helen Louise Leonard) (December 4, 1861 - June 6, 1922) was an American actress and singer.

Born in Clinton, Iowa in 1861, Helen Louise Leonard would become one of the most famous and beautiful actresses of the late 19th century and early 20th century. Little is known of her early life except that she had some musical training in Chicago. At the age of 18, she and her mother left for New York where Helen was offered a role in the chorus of Gilbert and Sullivan's operetta H.M.S. Pinafore. This would serve as an inauspicious beginning to a dazzling career.

In 1879, under the new guise of "Lillian Russell", Helen made her first appearance on the august stage at Tony Pastor's Theater. Tony Pastor, known as the father of vaudeville, was responsible for some of the biggest stars in show business. Russell's appearance caused such a stir that she stayed on with Pastor and starred in some of his comic operas.

Not only was her voice celebrated but her beauty caused quite a stir among the men and the women of the audience. Since her first appearance at Tony Pastor's she was also the subject of a great deal fanfare in the news media. For forty years, she was the companion of businessman "Diamond Jim" Brady who showered her with extravagant gifts of diamonds and gemstones.

For years, Russell was the foremost singer of operettas in the U.S. Among her most well-known roles were in Gilbert and Sullivan's Patience and The Sorcerer as well as Jacques Offenbach's The Princess of Trebizonde, The Brigands, and The Grand Duchess. She performed with a variety of opera companies including the company of the Casino Theater in New York and the company of Weber and Fields.

A very wealthy woman, during the Actors' Equity strike of 1919, Russell made a major donation of money to sponsor the formation of the Chorus Equity Association by the chorus girls at the Ziegfeld Follies.

Russell is interred in a private masoleum in the Allegheny Cemetery in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lillian_Russell

Pappy Boyington
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.


Colonel Gregory "Pappy" Boyington (December 4, 1912 - January 11, 1988) was an American fighter pilot who flew with the American Volunteer Group (the Flying Tigers) in China, was the Commanding Officer of the Black Sheep Squadron and became a US Marine Corps ace in World War II.

Early life

Boyington was born in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho but grew up in the logging town of St. Maries, Idaho and later, Tacoma, Washington where he was a wrestler in high school. He first flew when he was eight years old, with Clyde Pangborn, who later flew the Pacific non-stop.

In 1930, Boyington entered the University of Washington where he participated in the ROTC and became a member of the Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity. He was a member of the college wrestling and swimming teams, and at one time held the Pacific Northwest Intercollegiate middleweight wrestling title. He graduated in 1934 with a B.S. in aeronautical engineering.

He spent his summer vacations working in his home state. He worked in a mining camp and a logging camp and with the Coeur d'Alene Fire Protective Association in road construction and lookout work.

He married his first wife, Helene, shortly after his graduation, after which he worked for Boeing as a draftsman and engineer.

In his youth, Boyington went by the surname of Hallenbeck, after his step-father. It was not until he decided to apply for flight training that he obtained his birth certificate and learned that his father was one Charles Boyington, and that his parents had divorced when he was a child. The discovery was fortuitous: since there was no record that Gregory Boyington had ever been married, he was free to become a cadet pilot in the U.S. Marine Corps.


Military career

Boyington started his military career in college as a member of the Reserve Officers Training Corps, in which he became a cadet captain. He was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Coast Artillery Reserve in June 1934, and served two months of active duty with the 630th Coast Artillery at Fort Worden, Washington. On 13 June 1935, he enlisted and went on active duty in the Volunteer Marine Corps Reserve. He returned to inactive duty on 16 July.

On 18 February 1936, Boyington accepted an appointment as an aviation cadet in the Marine Corps Reserve. He was assigned to the Naval Air Station, Pensacola, Florida, for flight training.

He was designated a naval aviator on 11 March 1937, then was transferred to Quantico, Virginia, for duty with Aircraft One, Fleet Marine Force. He was discharged from the Marine Corps Reserve on 1 July 1937 in order to accept a second lieutenant's commission in the regular Marine Corps the following day.

He was sent to The Basic School in Philadelphia in July 1938; on completion of the course, Boyington was transferred to the 2d Marine Aircraft Group at the San Diego Naval Air Station. He took part in fleet problems off the aircraft carriers USS Lexington and USS Yorktown.

Promoted to first lieutenant on 4 November 1940, Boyington went back to Pensacola as an instructor the next month.

Boyington resigned his commission in the Marine Corps on 26 August 1941 to accept a position with the Central Aircraft Manufacturing Company. CAMCO was a civilian organization that contracted to staff a Special Air Unit to defend China and the Burma Road. The unit later became known as the American Volunteer Group, the famed Flying Tigers of China. During his months with the "Tigers", Boyington became a flight leader. He was frequently in trouble with the commander of that outfit, Claire Chennault. As a member of the AVG 1st Squadron, Boyington was officially credited with 3.5 Japanese aircraft destroyed in the air and on the ground, but AVG records suggest that one additional "kill" may have been due to him. (He afterward claimed six victories as a Tiger, but there is no substantiation for that figure.) In the spring of 1942, he broke his contract with the American Volunteer Group, and was dishonorably discharged from that unit.

Boyington wangled a major's commission in the Marines, which were in great need of experienced combat pilots. He was assigned to Marine Aircraft Group 11 of the 1st Marine Aircraft Wing, where he became Executive Officer of VMF-121 operating from Guadalcanal. While assigned to VMF-121, Boyington did not shoot down any enemy planes. Later, he became Commanding Officer of Marine Fighting Squadron 214, better known by its nickname, the "Black Sheep Squadron."

Boyington is best known for his exploits flying the Vought F4U Corsair in VMF-214. During periods of intense activity in the Russell Islands-New Georgia and Bougainville-New Britain-New Ireland areas, Boyington added to his total almost daily. During his squadron's first tour of combat duty, the major shot down 14 enemy fighter planes in 32 days. On 17 December 1943, he headed the first Allied fighter sweep over impregnable Rabaul. By 27 December, his record was 25.

The CO earned the nickname "Pappy" because, at 31, he was a decade older than most of his men. A typical daring feat was his attack on Kahili airdome at the southern tip of Bougainville on 17 October 1943. He and 24 fighters circled the field where 60 hostile aircraft were based, goading the enemy into sending up a large force. In the fierce battle that followed, 20 of the enemy planes were shot out of the skies. The Black Sheep returned back to their base without the loss of a single ship.

Boyington's squadron, flying from the island of Vella Lavella, offered to down a Japanese Zero for every baseball cap sent to them by major league players in the World Series. They received 20 caps and shot down many more enemy aircraft.

He tied the American record of 26 planes on 3 January 1944 over Rabaul, but was shot down himself later the same day. The mission had sent 48 American fighters, including one division of four planes from the Black Sheep Squadron, from Bougainville for a fighter sweep over Rabaul. Boyington was the tactical commander of the flight and arrived over the target at eight o'clock in the morning. In the ensuing action, the major was seen to shoot down his 26th plane. He then became mixed in the general melee of diving, swooping planes and was not seen or heard from again.

Following a determined but futile search, Boyington was declared missing in action. He had been picked up by a Japanese submarine, and became a prisoner of war. (The sub was sunk 13 days after picking him up, though not before dropping him off). He spent the rest of the war, some 20 months, in a Japanese prison camp, where he was selected for temporary promotion to the rank of lieutenant colonel.

During mid-August 1945, after the atom bombs and the Japanese capitulation, Boyington was liberated from Japanese custody at Omori Prison Camp near Tokyo on 29 August and arrived in the United States shortly afterwards. On 6 September, he accepted his temporary lieutenant colonel's commission in the Marine Corps.

Shortly after his return to his homeland, Lieutenant Colonel Boyington was ordered to Washington to receive the nation's highest honor, the Medal of Honor, from the President. The medal had been awarded by the late president, Franklin D. Roosevelt in March 1944 and held in the capital until such time as he could receive it. On 4 October 1945, Boyington received the Navy Cross from the Commandant of the Marine Corps for the Rabaul raid; the following day, "Nimitz Day," he and other sailors and Marines were decorated at the White House by President Harry S. Truman.

Following the receipt of his Medal of Honor and Navy Cross, Colonel Boyington made a Victory Bond Tour. Originally ordered to the Marine Corps Schools, Quantico, he was later directed to report to the Commanding General, Marine Air West Coast, Marine Corps Air Depot, Miramar, San Diego, California.

Colonel Boyington retired from the Marine Corps on August 1, 1947, and, because he was specially commended for the performance of duty in actual combat, he was advanced to his final rank.

In addition to the Medal of Honor and Navy Cross, Colonel Boyington held the American Defense Service Medal, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, American Campaign Medal, and the World War II Victory Medal.

Later life

Boyington was a tough, hard-living character who was known for being unorthodox. He was also an alcoholic, which plagued him in the years after the war, and contributed to multiple divorces as well as disciplinary problems with the Marines.

Many people know him from the 1970s television show Baa Baa Black Sheep, a drama about the Black Sheep squadron based very loosely on Boyington's memoir of the same name, with Boyington portrayed by Robert Conrad. Like Chuck Yeager in the movie The Right Stuff, Pappy had a short walk-on role as a visiting General during the second season of the show. Many of Boyington's men were very irate over this show charging it was mostly fiction and presented an over glamorized portrait of Boyington. At least on the television show, Boyington was depicted as owning a bull terrier dog, named "Meatball," although it is not certain he owned such a dog in real life.

While artist depictions and publicity photos often show Boyington with aircraft number 86 ("Ma Belle") covered in victory flags, this was not his combat aircraft. In fact, he rarely flew the same aircraft more than a few times. It has been said that he would choose the F4U in the worst shape, so none of his pilots would be afraid of flying their own aircraft.

Boyington was an absentee father to three children by his first wife. One daughter committed suicide; one son graduated from the United States Air Force Academy in 1959.

Boyington died of cancer on January 11, 1988 at the age of 75.

He was buried in Arlington National Cemetery on January 15, 1988, in plot 7A-150 with full honors accorded to a Congressional Medal of Honor recipient, including a missing man fly-by conducted by the F-4s of the Marine detachment at Andrews Air Force Base. Before his flight from Fresno, California VMA-214 (the current incarnation of the Black Sheep Squadron) did a flyby. They intended to do a missing man formation, but one of the four aircraft suffered a mechanical problem.

After the burial service for Boyington one of his friends, Fred Losch, looked down at the headstone that he was standing next to, the boxing legend Joe Louis. Bruce Gamble comments on this by saying, "Ol' Pappy wouldn't have to go far to find a good fight."

Medal of Honor citation

His citation reads in full:

The President of the United States takes pleasure in presenting the CONGRESSIONAL MEDAL OF HONOR to MAJOR GREGORY BOYINGTON UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS RESERVE for service as set forth in the following CITATION

For extraordinary heroism above and beyond the call of duty as Commanding Officer of Marine Fighting Squadron TWO FOURTEEN in action against enemy Japanese forces in Central Solomons Area from 12 September 1943 to 3 January 1944. Consistently outnumbered throughout successive hazardous flights over heavily defended hostile territory, Major Boyington struck at the enemy with daring and courageous persistence, leading his squadron into combat with devastating results to Japanese shipping, shore installations and aerial forces. Resolute in his efforts to inflict crippling damage on the enemy, Major Boyington led a formation of twenty-four fighters over Kahili on 17 October and, persistently circling the airdrome where sixty hostile aircraft were grounded, boldly challenged the Japanese to send up planes. Under his brilliant command, our fighters shot down twenty enemy craft in the ensuing action without the loss of a single ship. A superb airman and determined fighter against overwhelming odds, Major Boyington personally destroyed 26 of the many Japanese planes shot down by his squadron and by his forceful leadership developed the combat readiness in his command which was a distinctive factor in the Allied aerial achievements in this vitally strategic area.





AVG victory claims

There is some controversy surrounding Boyington's AVG victory claims. His official CAMCO account showed 3.5 for enemy aircraft destroyed, of which only 1 was an air-to-air victory. However, AVG records suggest that Boyington was short-changed of an air-to-air victory during his tour of duty at Mingaladon airport in Rangoon, and that his total should have been 4.5.

According to Bruce Gamble, Boyington also felt that the AVG staff overlooked claims from a raid on Chiang Mai, Thailand. Six pilots were involved in a raid that supposedly destroyed 15 Japanese aircraft on the ground, giving each man 2.5 victory credits for the raid. Boyington apparently decided that the two pilots who flew top cover should not have shared in the bounty, and that his score should have been calculated this way:

* Confirmed air to air victories: 2 (this is what the US military officially acknowledges normally)
* Chiang Mai Raid: 3.75 (15 aircraft destroyed divided by 4 shooters)
* Total: 5.75

He then rounded it up to 6, and convinced the Corps to officially acknowledge it. This was probably good for the Corps' image during the final days of the tour as Boyington neared the record of 26 victories held at the time by Joe Foss and Eddie Rickenbacker. He ultimately tied the record on the same mission in which he was shot down.

After the war, Boyington insisted on the term "victories" rather than "kills", and was known to lose his temper over the issue.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pappy_Boyington

Deanna Durbin
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.


Deanna Durbin (born Edna Mae Durbin on December 4, 1921 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada to Ukrainian immigrant parents) was a popular young singer and actress in Hollywood films of the 1930s and 1940s.

Changing her name to Deanna Durbin at the commencement of her career, Durbin signed a contract with MGM Studios in 1935 and made her first film appearance in a short subject Every Sunday with another contractee, Judy Garland.

Durbin was released from her contract shortly thereafter as studio executive Louis B. Mayer felt he did not need two young female singers under contract. Hollywood legend has recorded that he instructed his staff to "drop the fat one" and that they had dismissed Durbin, misunderstanding that Mayer had in fact intended to terminate the contract of Garland.

Durbin was quickly signed to a contract with Universal Studios and made her first feature-length film Three Smart Girls in 1936. The huge success of her films were reported to have saved the studio from bankruptcy. In 1938 she received a special Academy Juvenile Award, along with Mickey Rooney.

She married an actor, Vaughn Paul, in 1941 and they were divorced in 1943. Her second marriage, to producer Felix Jackson in 1945, produced a daughter, Jessica Louise Jackson, and ended in divorce in 1949. She also had an affair with Joseph Cotten, which was publicized by Hedda Hopper, whose chair an understandably peeved Cotten kicked out from underneath her just as she was about to sit down at a Hollywood affair, to the applause of spectators.

By the mid 1940s Durbin had tried to assume a more sophisticated film persona in such films as the film noir Christmas Holiday (1944) and the whodunnit Lady on a Train (1945), but the public preferred her as the sweet and wholesome adolescent she had come to represent.

She retired from public life in 1950, after her marriage to Charles David, who had directed her in Lady On A Train. The couple moved to Paris, France, with Durbin vowing that she would never return to show business, and raised Durbin's second child, Peter David. Since then she has resisted all offers to perform and has refused to be interviewed, steadfastly asserting her right to privacy. Her husband, Charles David, died in Paris on March 1, 1999.

Deanna Durbin has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1722 Vine St.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deanna_Durbin

Max Baer, Jr.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.


Max Baer, Jr. (born December 4, 1937) is an American actor, screen writer, producer and director.

He was born Maximilian Adalbert Baer, Jr. in Oakland, California, the son of legendary boxing champion Max Baer and Mary Ellen Sullivan. His brother and sister are James Baer (born 1941) and Maude Baer (born 1943).His first acting role was in " Goldylocks and the three Baers" at the Blackpool Pavilion in England in 1949. His performance was to earn him an Oscar nomination.

Baer grew up in Sacramento. He attended Santa Clara University, where he received a bachelor's degree in business administration with a minor in philosophy and domestic science.

His acting career began in 1960 at Warner Bros., where he appeared on TV programs that included Maverick, Surfside 6, Hawaiian Eye, Cheyenne and 77 Sunset Strip.

In 1962, Baer was cast in the role of doltish Jethro Bodine on the TV sitcom The Beverly Hillbillies, which he played with comedic mastery. During the nine year run of the show, he appeared also on Vacation Playhouse and Love, American Style, and in the Western movie A Time for Killing.

He has had one wife, Joanna Hill (married 1970-divorced 1971).

After The Beverly Hillbillies went off the air in 1971, he made several more guest appearances on TV, but found himself typecast. His major contribution to the entertainment industry was in the field of feature motion pictures.

Baer wrote and produced the drama Macon County Line (1974), in which he also played Deputy Reed Morgan. It was the highest-grossing movie per dollar invested of all time (a record that would later be smashed by The Blair Witch Project). Made for US$110,000, it garnered almost US$25,000,000 at the box-office. He wrote, produced, and directed the drama The Wild McCullochs (1975), in which he also played Culver Robinson. Baer then conceived the idea of using the title of a popular song to make a movie and acquired the rights to a 1967 Bobbie Gentry hit. Baer produced the drama Ode to Billy Joe (1976), which turned a big profit. Made for US$1.1 million, it grossed US$27,000,000 at the box-office, plus earnings in excess of US$2.65 million in the foreign market, US$4.75 million from television, and US$2.5 million from video.

Since the success of Ode to Billy Joe, the first movie based on a popular song, the motion picture industry has capitalized on the trend, producing over 100 song title movies. Baer later decided to pursue the rights to the 1984 song "Like a Virgin" by Madonna. When ABC tried to prevent him from making the movie, he sued and won a judgment of over US$2,000,000.

He directed the comedy Hometown USA (1979), then retired to his home at Lake Tahoe, Nevada, making occasional guest appearances on TV.

In 1985, Baer began studying the gambling industry. He also noticed that tourists would pay US$5.00 to US$6.00 admission to tour the "Ponderosa Ranch," which was the site of location filming on some episodes of TV's Bonanza. Once inside, all there was to see was a working ranch, but people enjoyed it mostly because of the Bonanza connection. Baer decided if tourists would pay to see a ranch because of a well-known series, then surely they would gladly pay "nothing" to see something dealing with the series The Beverly Hillbillies, whose TV audience was much larger than that of Bonanza.

While a lot of people think of him as "Jethro Bodine" from The Beverly Hillbillies, he came to terms with that. He began to see it as a good marketing opportunity toward the gambling and hotel industry and began acquiring the contracts necessary to obtain the rights for marketing his latest idea.

In late 2003, Baer began developing an empty Wal-Mart building and its property at the south end of Carson City into a Beverly Hillbillies-themed hotel and casino called Jethro's Beverly Hillbillies Mansion & Casino, which has yet to open.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Baer%2C_Jr.

Waiting for our Bob to finish his bios.

Listeners, I noticed that our Raggedy seems reluctant to post her celeb updates and coveted pictures. If someone has said something that has caused her to cease, I hope you find another place to hang out instead of our cyber radio.

Jeff Bridges
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.


Jeffrey Leon Bridges (born December 4, 1949 in Los Angeles, California) is an American actor. He is the son of Dorothy Simpson and Lloyd Bridges, the brother of Beau Bridges and the uncle of Jordan Bridges.

Bridges's first starring role was in the 1974 movie Thunderbolt and Lightfoot for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. Another early role was the 1982 movie Tron, in which he played Kevin Flynn, a video game programmer. He gained repute in the mid-80s for his roles in the sexy thriller Against All Odds and the crime drama Jagged Edge. He also took the leading role of "The Dude" in the Coen brothers' film The Big Lebowski. His role in Fearless is recognized by many critics to be one of his best performances, and the film is widely considered as one of the most underrated films of the 1990s, professed by some critics to be a masterpiece.

In his off time while on set, he has been known to document the filmmaking process by photographing fellow actors and on-set staff with a panoramic camera. He has published many of these photographs online and in print [Pictures by Jeff Bridges (Hardcover, 2003)].

Bridges is also a cartoonist. Some of his "doodles" have appeared in various films, such as K-PAX and The Door in the Floor (a short story-within-story by John Irving). He incorporates his drawings at his web site, notable because it is almost completely hand-written and drawn art ?-not typed.

Known of left-wing views on politics. He married Susan Geston in 1975 with whom he has 3 daughters.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Bridges

Marisa Tomei
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Marisa Tomei (born December 4, 1964) is an American actress. Born and raised in Brooklyn to an Italian-American family, she was captivated by the Broadway shows her theater-loving parents took her to, and became drawn to acting as a career for herself. She attended Boston University for a year, then transferred to New York University in 1983 after landing a role in the soap opera As the World Turns (she would soon drop out of college as her career kicked into gear). She followed it up in 1987 with a role on the sitcom A Different World. Her breakthrough performance came in My Cousin Vinny (1992) for which she won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. She received a second Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress for In the Bedroom (2001). She has also done substantial work in the theater world, including lead roles on Broadway in Wait Until Dark (1998) and Salomé (2003), and many Off-Broadway plays.

Oscar "mistake"

There is an urban legend that Tomei's Oscar for My Cousin Vinny should have gone to someone else. The rumor goes that

During the 'Oscar' ceremony, Jack Palance announced Tomei as winner, while actually there was another name on his note. The mistake was considered too embarrassing to correct.

This rumor has been debunked by Snopes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marisa_Tomei

Shhhh! I stole this from Raggedy's desk. Don't anyone tell her or she'll beat me up. I couldn't find the pictures though. Remember mums the word. (Wherever did that expression come from?)

Births

* 1555 - Heinrich Meibom, German historian and poet (d. 1625)
* 1580 - Samuel Argall, English adventurer and naval officer (d. 1626)
* 1585 - John Cotton, American Puritan leader (d. 1652)
* 1595 - Jean Chapelain, French writer (d. 1674)
* 1612 - Samuel Butler, English poet (d. 1680)
* 1660 - André Campra, French composer (d. 1744)
* 1670 - John Aislabie, English politician (d. 1742)
* 1713 - Gasparo Gozzi, Italian critic and dramatist (d. 1786)
* 1777 - Madame Récamier, French writer (d. 1849)
* 1795 - Thomas Carlyle, British writer and historian (d. 1881)
* 1798 - Jules Armand Dufaure, French statesman (d. 1881)
* 1835 - Samuel Butler, British writer (d. 1902)
* 1849 - Crazy Horse, Oglala Sioux chief (d. 1877)
* 1861 - Lillian Russell, American singer and actress (d. 1922)
* 1866 - Wassily Kandinsky, Russian-born French abstract painter (d. 1944)
* 1875 - Rainer Maria Rilke, Austrian poet (d. 1926)
* 1892 - Francisco Franco, Head of State of Spain (d. 1975)
* 1895 - Fung Yu-lan, Chinese philosopher (d. 1990)
* 1903 - Cornell Woolrich, American writer (d. 1968)
* 1908 - Alfred Hershey, American bacteriologist and Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1997)
* 1912 - Pappy Boyington, American pilot (d. 1988)
* 1914 - Rudolf Hausner, Austrian artist (d. 1995)
* 1916 - Ely Jacques Kahn, Jr., American writer (d. 1994)
* 1921 - Deanna Durbin, Canadian actress and singer
* 1922 - Gérard Philipe, French actor (d. 1959)
* 1931 - Alex Delvecchio, Canadian hockey player
* 1934 - Victor French, American actor (d. 1989)
* 1934 - Wink Martindale, American game show host
* 1937 - Max Baer, Jr., American actor, screenwriter, director, and producer
* 1938 - Yvonne Minton, Australian soprano
* 1939 - Freddy Cannon, American musician
* 1942 - Gemma Jones, British actress
* 1942 - Roh Tae-woo, President of South Korea
* 1944 - Dennis Wilson, American musician and singer (The Beach Boys) (d. 1983)
* 1945 - Roberta Bondar, Canadian astronaut and scientist
* 1949 - Jeff Bridges, American actor
* 1957 - Eric S. Raymond, American open source advocate
* 1959 - Bob Griffin, American bass player (BoDeans)
* 1960 - Glynis Nunn, Australian heptathlete and Olympic gold medalist
* 1961 - Frank Reich, American football player
* 1962 - Vinnie Dombroski, American singer (Sponge (band))
* 1963 - Sergei Bubka, Soviet-born Ukrainian pole-vaulter, IAAF World Champion, Olympic gold medalist and current world-record holder
* 1964 - Marisa Tomei, American actress
* 1966 - Fred Armisen, American actor and musician
* 1969 - Jay-Z (Shawn Carter), American rapper
* 1972 - Nikki Tyler, American actress
* 1973 - Tyra Banks, American model

Hey, Boston. How did Kennedy get Cuber out of Cuba.

JLN had me laughing at his bah, humbug post. Here is a recipe I found on a funny site about Christmas and its inaneness. There is genius in the simplicity of this recipe. Er, crazed genius...

Fruit Cake*

1 bottle of rum

15 Twinkies

1 cup Trail Mix

Blend all ingredients thoroughly. Eat it.

Serves 1.

http://www.angelfire.com/oh/BahIHateChristmas/Recipies.html

Hey, everyone. Back later to comment on each contribution.

Big hums to the humbugs.

Oh, goodness gwacious! I am sorry if I caused some misunderstanding.

I began posting the birthdays on December 4, 2004 and didn't think you'd want to see them all over again. I thought I might just post a birthday picture once in awhile.

So relieved that Diane laughed re: my bah-fit. She and her gentleman know where I live. Brrrr.

Well, we love our Raggedy and since Bob the bod was a good body double, you can do the pictures now.

I need to check out the etymology of "mum's the word."

Hey, Diane and JL. the first commercial I ever played here was about a humbug toy.

I was looking at Bob's stand in celebs and saw Jeff Bridges. One of his finest movies was with Lloyd Bridges. I think the name of the movie was Blown Away.

I'm glad Bob cleared up the thing about Marisa Tomei. My cousin Vinney was one funny movie.

Thanks, Boston.

And here he is:



and here's Marisa:

I've never seen a movie with J. Bridges or John Cuzack that I did not enjoy.

Raggedy, fabulous pictures, PA. Thanks, honey.

You're right, JL. both Jeff and John are good actors. The thing about blown away, was the combination of Tommy Lee Jones, Lloyd and Jeff. It was an Irish thing.

Now, listeners, how about a request for a song. This has been informative and also a great discussion. Right, listeners?

Certainly do miss the Europeans, however.