Rain Forest #65

Ahhh, sumac,
Scratching for a laugh.......grin

Good one.

ehBeth,
If you have an opportunity to speak with those people invite them in. What am I saying - - - they are reading this!!!!!!!!
Ok, this is a blind invite to anyone reading this to join in the fray. By now ya'll know we are a great group of Wildclickers.......

That looks like a very serious knife, Dan.

It is, MA. The Negrito guides make them out of old truck springs and sell them to the guys going through the training for $3.00...... I've used this one regularly for 36 yrs now and still use it clearing brush and chopping down small trees. It keeps a really good edge and the handle is Buffalo horn. A throw holding it at the handle from twelve feet sticks really nicely.

Did you ever practice throwing the M1 bayonet, Dan? It's heavy, but for short distances it's beautifully balanced. With a little practice, it'll stick up to maybe half an inch into any tree of your choice.

Yes, MA, I have. And, I have also two German bayonets, one I purchased in S Texas at a junk store (antique shop) and another that my friend Franz gave me on a visit to Austria during the early 80's (which I've not thrown) .......Franz also gave me his Silver Iron Cross which he earned during WWII and told me about his experiences in Russia during his service in the German Army and his last days on the Western Front. They are each reminders of my basic training days on the bayonet training course listening to the instructors saying, "What's the Spirit of the Bayonet?".. Then, in unison, all the trainees say, "To Kill!!!!!" - - - I was thinking to myself at the time that there must be a better way to get along with each other.
I also have two WWI bayonets and some other things - - - like an honest to god Civil War saber (cavalry type) - - - Civil War spurs - - - and, a sh-t pot full of Civil War bullets of all kinds and some other stuff ......... I don't have a Civil War bayonet.

Here's a copy of my M1 rifle card from my USMCR days - - -



-----------------------------------

I'll try to be quick - - -

During my tenure as a USMC Pvt - I went to the rifle firing range at Red River Army Depot - near Texarkana, Texas. At the time (1960) there were targets that were exposed over the top of high berms of earth - behind the berms and below the line of fire were a bunch of gofers who "pulled" the target down after the person had fired a shot at it and "marked" the position on the target of the bullet hit by pasting "filler" piece of paper over the hole and then raising the target back up over the berm. Well, I fired my M1 rifle at the targets and got a good score. Then, it was my turn in the "pits" - ie. "pulling targets" behind the berm. At first I thought there were firecrackers going off........ Then came the SPLINTERS!!!!! when the bullets hit the targets. Jeeese!! It was loud. At lunch time we had a rest - the NCOs passed out cardboard boxes - "C Rations"......... I opened mine and saw a full pack of Camel Cigarettes (unfiltered) - a bar of chocolate (sort of covered with white) and cans of stuff with a little metal thing that would open the cans. I opened the can and started having lunch. Then - I noticed the writing on the top of the cans......... It was dated 1941!!!!!!! That meant I was actually eating C Rations OLDER than I was!! True story. At the time I was 17 yrs old.
It actually wasn't bad.

aktbird57 -

You and your 284 friends have supported 2,146,727.7 square feet!

Marine Wetlands habitat supported: 88,516.6 square feet.
You have supported: (0.0)
Your 284 friends have supported: (88,516.6)

American Prairie habitat supported: 44,638.9 square feet.
You have supported: (11,096.3)
Your 284 friends have supported: (33,542.6)

Rainforest habitat supported: 2,013,572.2 square feet.
You have supported: (167,302.4)
Your 284 friends have supported: (1,846,269.8)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

1 Aktbird57 .. 1313 49.280 acres

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

time for a new dance floor?

It's a full moon tonight - probably a good time to shake things up a bit.

Any takers?

Dan, I think I do have a Civil War bayonet. At least I did at one time. When I moved from my shack in the woods of New Hampshire back to the Big City, some stuff was left behind, some put into storage. I hope it's in storage because I really don't really know where it is! I'll look for it when I get a chance.

Have had a very similar C-Ration experience to yours. I recall eating rations stamped 1941 sometime around 1961 or '62. They were delicious!

ehBeth,
I am too busy right now and will be away after Christmas. Next turn.

I still have my father's diary and his wallet which he carried through WWII when he was in Russia.
The wallet has a hole where a bullet went through.
The letters of my mother and the pictures of his family inside the wallet saved his live. The shot was stopped.

Really great to hear your father was ok, ul. It's always better that way.
Patti has a tiny sign on the wall of our guest bathroom. It sez, "Be Nice or Leave." The seats of government throughout the world should have those signs. grin

MA, that's something isn't it. There were ton's of left over stuff after the end of WWII - most appeared in the "Surplus" stores everywhere.

all clicked..............

Let's see, Hmmmm, Oh yeah...... I told you about my jungle training experiences - so, now I tell you about my Arctic Pilots survival training. I was stationed at Ft Wainwright, AK in 1970 to 72. The first winter there was a record breaker - minus 72 degrees Farenheit for two weeks. That was chilly and dangerous. Great for parties though - when I ran out of ice cubes for the guests drinks I would fill the tray with water and set the tray between the door and the outside storm door - wait exactly 30 seconds and bring in a nice tray of perfect ice. If I waited too long the ice would be so dry that it would litterally fall apart. That's because at about minus twenty degrees the moisture disappears from the air. Its so dry static sparks up to an inch can jump from lip to lip with a kiss. We normally go around quickly slapping (lightly) each other on the arm before we touch.
As the Fall of '70 turned to Winter (December) I went to Eielson Air Force Base to attend an Arctic survival course. It was minus 35 degrees F and believe it or not that's the middle of what I call the comfort zone (-20 to -40 degrees F) because at -20F the moisture is no longer there and as long as your skin is protected you "feel" relatively warm. But, below -40F you feel each and every drop in degrees. It starts biting at -40F down. We started our training in a classroom on base then loaded onto a bus (there were only a few of us) and were deposited out in the middle of nowhere with only the stuff we could expect to have if we parachuted out of an airplane. The chute of course, an emergency kit which had medical and survival stuff like wire for snares, matches, candles, emergency mirror, and a couple of candy bars and a knife. The first thing we did was make our shelter. I picked a good spot and started clearing the snow and ice down to the ground. Then went foraging for tree limbs to form the "cocoon" shape. Over that I place the fabric from the parachute and started covering it with snow. The snow was so dry that at first I had trouble making it stick - but then I developed the technique of slapping it on rapidly. The slight friction of the snow hitting the side of the shelter was enough to cause it to stick. I kept this up until I had about 8 inches all over the shelter. The entrance hole was at one end sort of on the side. I used part of the parachute cloth left over to fashion a "door" which I pulled over the opening after crawling into the shelter. It all came out nicely. I did however, have to take off my coat and unbutton my wool shirt while working on the shelter to keep from sweating. That would have been a bad thing - sweat. It destroys the insulating qualities of your clothing.
We stayed in these shelters and were instructed on how to stay alive by setting snares for rabbits and create "signals" during the next couple of days. The last night was for me unpleasant - we all stayed in a "community shelter" that had already been built so we didn't have to. We stayed in it for the "experience" - It was crowded, cramped, HOT, and STINKEY!!!.... Bleeth.

Speaking of bird flu, has the topic of inter-species whatever been covered here in any fashion?

Dan, it is patently unfair that you should have so many good stories. Mine would all pale in comparison. Therefore, it is incumbent on you to keep them coming. The downside of success, as it were.

http://www.dailynews.lk/2005/12/16/fea01.htm

Ok all clicked in! Take a look ehBeth!

Hi Susan! :wink:

Meine Gott!! Was ist das????

All the above is kidding, Stevepax.......

Welcome to the Wildclickers Private Clubhouse.....

And, welcome to A2K ! We hope sincerely that you stick around and enjoy the satisfaction of saving a tree a day in the Rain Forests of the world.

Oh, do you have any interesting stories to tell?? I'm pretty old and have a few more - but, I think everyone here has heard most of mine....... Except for the "juicy" ones.. ..... big grin......!

I came back..

sumac, Thanks for the link - it was informative and - for me - educational.

danon5, Oh yes old friend, I have quite a few. Has the rutabagatagagushi guy (you know who I mean) :wink: been around lately??

Wall, (that's Southern for Well..) Yes, I do remember the Rutabagayeti - and all those great autos we drove - and the brilliantly colored forests - and, all those unexpected and wonderfully interesting things. - - -

Ok, I heard you say quite a few stories!!

Let us hear the first one in a row..........?

The first one in a row....I like the sound of that.

And hi back atcha, stevepax.

Yes, Danon, I found that interesting too. I think I had read about that act before. Not Sri Lanka's, but ours. Once in a while, we do something useful, eh?

Some day I'll tell the story about way back in 1967 at IBM when I almost got electrocuted trying to save some printouts from a flooded mainframe computer room.

Aha! So whites are the mutants....

Scientists Find A DNA Change That Accounts For White Skin

By Rick Weiss
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, December 16, 2005; Page A01

Scientists said yesterday that they have discovered a tiny genetic mutation that largely explains the first appearance of white skin in humans tens of thousands of years ago, a finding that helps solve one of biology's most enduring mysteries and illuminates one of humanity's greatest sources of strife.

The work suggests that the skin-whitening mutation occurred by chance in a single individual after the first human exodus from Africa, when all people were brown-skinned. That person's offspring apparently thrived as humans moved northward into what is now Europe, helping to give rise to the lightest of the world's races.

There are rather broad implications for the general principles highlighted below:

PSYCHOLOGY: Frozen in Time
---------------------------------------------------------------------------Gilbert
J. Chin

Humans may be unique in being aware of their own mortality. In any
case,
being reminded that we are, in fact, mortal is apt to evoke feelings of
anxiety and to call forth mechanisms for alleviating or managing our
reactions to lives being extinguished. One such strategy is to seek
reinforcement of one's worldview, which has the consequence of skewing
our
opinions of others (and others' actions) toward the extremes of good
(in
accord with one's views) and bad. Furthermore, these valuations may
very
well become fixed at their best or worst if the other person has died.

Eylon and Allison provide evidence for the immutability of judgments in
the
form of two experiments in which subjects were assessed for the change
in
their valuations when a good person (fictitious in the first case, real
in
the second) was described as having behaved immorally and, conversely,
when
a bad person was reported as having acted meritoriously. They found
that
the decrement in positive ratings and the increase in negative ratings
were
both smaller when the persons in question were dead versus still alive,
suggesting that our impressions of people, favorable or not, become
resistant to change when they die. -- GJC

Pers. Soc. Psychol. Bull. 12, 1708 (2005).

I'm back! Didja miss me? I don't have my computer fixed yet, but hopefully this old dinosaur I'm on here will do in the mean time! Thanks, Beth for trying to click for me. I'll hopefully be able to take over, but if I don't show up here it means I didn't show up there!

And looks like I need to welcome StevePax - so welcome!

All clicked - finally!

Thanks Devriesj!