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Michael McLeod

I'm using my favorite german-root word a lot these days. shadenfreude. yeah that's more like a sentence than a word but that's how they roll in deutschland, as in the old german saying, "deutschland, deutschland uber alles." Anyway shadenfreude means taking delight when something bad happens to someone you dislike. And if you follow the news michigan football is in big trouble these days having been caught cheating,snooping on other teams and stealing the hand signs they use -- a sneaky unsportmanlike no-no to give themselves an illegal advantage in games.The better part of me doesn't like seeing the rivalry tarnished. but I've locked the better part of me in the basement fo the time being. Screw blue. You deserve it. And Go Bucks. In case you are wondering it's pronounced shaw-den-freude, like sigmund freud's last name, only with two syllables: shaw-den-freude-duh.

and duh, fellow buckeyes, what else would you expect out of that crappy, cheating team up north?

Accent on the third syllable: SHAW-DEN-FREUD-DUH!

say it with me!

Then say:

GO BUCKS!!!!!

This ain't no party. This ain't no disco.This ain't no foolin'around!

I suppose it's been covered like crazy in columbus but it was news to me -- I'm way down here in florida but my heart's still up there!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPfP6tF-hwA

Mary Margaret Clark (Schultheis)

Thank you Elon Musk and Space X

SpaceX recently launched its Crew-10 mission to rescue two stranded astronauts, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, from the International Space Station after they had been there for nine months. The Crew-10 capsule successfully docked with the ISS, allowing the astronauts to return home.

David Mitchell

Mike,

I'll get back to you - maybe next month - on your post #15233.

Or is there "Cliff's Notes" version?

(from one of your slow-reader followers)

p.s. I'm not sure if we are allowed to use  "hubristically" here in South Cackalatchie. This ain't no party!

Mary Margaret Clark (Schultheis)

David Mitchell

Almost St. Patrick's Day

I was just recalling a couple of my favorite (yet disappointing) birthday memories.

On my 12th birthday, we drove 3 station wagons full of classmates down to Hocking Hills. It was my dad, Tom Litzinger's dad, John Jackson's dad, Tommy Swain's dad, Mike Haggerty's dad and I am forgetting the other one????  Two dads and 4 kids to each car.

We went to one of the camp grounds with barbeque facilities and an open field, where we played some touch football and roasted hot dogs. Then we followed the trail down to the "Rock House" - a very large cave in a gorgeous setting. Besides me, we had Tom Litzinger, John Jackson, Kevin Ryan, Tommy Swain, Mike Haggerty, Keth Groff, and a couple others who went on to Whetsone after grade shcool.

We had a blast. And that day left a mark on Tom Litzingers life - he fell in love with Hocking Hills and would go back there many times - later to seek refuge (usually at Steve Royers place) from life's stress as he dealt with his depression.

-----------------  

Later in high school, I had a wonderful 15th (or 16th?) biirthday at my house, with many of those same guys (plus Joe Royce, and new high school friends, Tom McKeon, and Steve Hodges) playing basketball in my driveway for hours. Then later, food (Pizza, I think?). I remember being a little miffed that Mike Hagerty's older brother Tim drove Mike and then stayed. I wanted it to be just our group, but if I recall correctly, Tim made it an even 4 on 4 playing basketball so it was all good. He left after we finished playing ball. 

We took a wonderful photo of a bunch of us making a human pyramid - kneelling on each other' backs - with me on top. I wish I could still find that shot - I'd post it here if I could find it.

Most of the guys had to leave after dinner, but a small group - maybe just Litzinger, Ryan and Jackson (?) stayed late to watch the NCAA playofffs. Remember, those were the Lucas, Havlicek, and Nowell days, but Ohio State was upset by the Cincinnati Bearcats - which sort of ruined my whole birthday.

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

I think a 21st birthday was supposed to be special. But mine was special in a odd way. I turned 21 while in my first year in Vinh Long.  (And 22 during my "extension")

We had come back from flying the day's mission, too late to eat dinner in the (closed) Mess Hall (they kept strict hours) - we had flown late that day.

And I couldn't interest any of the guys into going to the Officer's club with me. So it was gonna be just me and my cooking plate with one of my packages of Riice-a-Roni (sent from home). But I was out of my little bottle of cooking oil and needed oil or grease to cook my rice. 

So I wondered over to the Mess Hall to see if I could commandeer some sort of cooking oil - in my shorts and T-shirt and flip flops. I walked into the mess hall, which was empty by then, and stepped over to the chow line, where a large open can of Crisco was stilll sitting out. As I reached my hand (with my fingers cupped together like a scoop) into the Crisco, one of the Mess Seargents came out and saw me just after I withdrew my hand full of of the goods.

He yelled at me that the Mess Hall was closed and - "Dammit all, What d'ya think I'm runnin' here - an all-night restaurant? I got hours to keep you know!"  

I outranked him and could have called him to attention and balled him out - but he could see no rank on my T-shirt and I saw no need to embarrass him. I just needed to walk away with my "cargo". I moved my hand down to my side away from his view and turned and walked out. I meandered slowly back to my hooch, plugged in my hot plate, and tossed the Crisco into the pan.

I had received a little mail that day but nothing from home - Darn!  As I sat on the floor of my little 8x8 sleeping cubicle, in my underwear, I opened a letter with the Squadron Commander's ("the Colonel") letterhead. It was a short but concise greeting, congradulating me on my 21st Birthday and thanks for my service in the Squadron. I was actually touched - but also felt even more lonely. Feeling sorry for myself that night - I actually shed a tear or two.

(a few pounds ago - lol)

Mark Schweickart

Dave -- Let's all forget that dashing figure from our childhood, The Cisco Kid, because there's a new guy forever planted in our imaginations now -- The Crisco Kid! 

David Mitchell

Mark,

I like it!  I think I'll keep that name.

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

Meanwhile I see the "brackets" are out. But the Bucks are not in them. 

SIU Edwardsville and Lipscomb are in, but not our Bucks.

David Mitchell

St. Patrick's Day in Savannah

Some of you may be aware that nearby Savannah has one of the largest St. Patrick's Day parades in the U.S. (alledged to be second only to Boston or New York City - not sure). It is not because of the false history of Georgia becoming an Irish prison colony for the British, but actually a sort of failed attempt to make it a place to clear the the British "debtors prisons" back in the mid to late 1700 hundreds.

British Parliamentarian, and philanthrophist, Generaal James Oglethorp (founder of Georgia), first sailed to Savannah with a 120 British Citizens in 1732 - arriving (by way of  Charleston and Beaufort) in 1733. Then during the Irish potato famine of the early 1800's, several thousand Irish settled in Savannah. 

Colonial Period in Savannah

The plan was to offer a new start for England's working poor and to strengthen the colonies by increasing trade. The colony of Georgia was also chartered as a buffer zone for South Carolina, protecting it from the advance of the Spanish in Florida.

Under the original charter, individuals were free to worship as they pleased and rum, lawyers and slavery were forbidden - for a time.

Upon settling, Oglethorpe became friends with the local Yamacraw Indian chief, Tomochichi. Oglethorpe and Tomochichi pledged mutual goodwill and the Yamacraw chief granted the new arrivals permission to settle Savannah on the bluff. As a result, the town flourished without warfare and accompanying hardship that burdened many of America's early colonies.

Savannah is known as America's first planned city. Oglethorpe laid the city out in a series of grids that allowed for wide open streets intertwined with shady public squares and parks that served as town meeting places and centers of business. Savannah had 24 original squares; 22 squares are still in existence today.

     Oglethorp Square in downtown Savannah - one of the most charming cities in the U.S.

David Mitchell

Mike,

You gotta understand, I am old and feeble minded, and I alwasy was a slow reader.

But why is writing so much easier than reading?

Michael McLeod

MM: Frost was indeed a rarity. His poems were clearer than most writers' prose.

DAVE: Just messing witcha. I've got no room to talk when it comes to being longwinded. The nytimes story about the chinese slave-woman I posted a link to is a great example of how words and imaginative layout can be combined to make a long story readable and inviting for a hurry-up, short attention span age and audience.

Meanwhile Just messin' witcha dave.your story made me wanna be there.

BUT ON TO MORE IMPORTANT THINGS: WHY DOES BUCKEYE BASKETBALL SUCK?

Seriously. Remember Jerry Lucas and Havlichek and Mel Nowles? We were spoiled back in the day with great players both in football and b ball? what's the prob at osu these days?.

In the I am gobsmacked department: an internal effort has been made to shut down a key, compassionate part of our federal government, one that provides food and water for desperate tens of thousands internationally. 

Elsewhere,  as just as insanely, protestors are blowing up brand new teslas.

It sounds like made up scenes in a movie. But they  are not. It's all happening in a single news day.

I'm not taking sides. I'm just making note.

We have lived though enough crazy caca to be blase about wackadoodle current events. But this stuff ranks right up there. 

There is a disorienting, frightening, unreal quality to the news hour these days. It reminds me of a famous line in a poem written in another time of trouble long ago by William Butler Yeats:

Things fall apart. The center does not hold.

Michael McLeod

Incredible story in the ny times today about a chinese wife kept as a slave with a chain around her neck and the chinese government campaign to squelch the story.

I assume you'll see it picked up by tv news; it's that soul-searing and flatout astonishing.

If you're a reader/news junkies and  nonfiction storytelling follower as I am, it's worth the trouble of cutting and pasting the link below -- not sure if it can work for you.

this will win a pulitzer for its substance and state-of-the-art, cutting-edge presentation.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/03/05/world/asia/xuzhou-china-chained-woman-incident-activists.html?campaign_id=190&emc=edit_ufn_20250319&instance_id=150371&nl=from-the-times&regi_id=178878751&segment_id=193836&user_id=e3d12310d0292d16a7b8ce1d7f552dbc

Timothy Lavelle

Soooo, I was playing a video game. 

A robot walked up to me and in a British accent asked me if I would like  beverage, a haircut or to hear a joke.

I picked joke, of course. 

"Did you know sir, studies show that the best contraceptive for old people is nudity"?

David Mitchell

I see in today's news where "Pole-dancing Pete's" new DEI cleansing program is reaching deeper into the Arlington Cemetary's records. God forbid we should be allowed access to some of History's most fascinating and worthwhile stories. 

They removed the history of the Tuskeegee Airmen, the legendary group of of WW2 all-black fighter pilots who were so crucial to several of our bombing missions in southern Europe.

I just read today where they are also removing the history of the famous "Navajo Code-Talkers", one of the most unique and intersting stories of the War in the pacific - where Navajo tribesmen usd their own language for sending messages - a totally uninteligeable language for the Japanese to decicpher. I feel certain that no one would want to know that story. 

And I suppose the story of the legendary 442nd Infantry Regiment will be on the chopping block (if it has't been already). That unit was made up of all Japanese-American troops, many of whom's families were held in the famous "internment camps" in Arizona, Colorado, Nevads, Washington, etc. The unit became the most decorated of all American combat units in WW2. They were assigned several of the most crucial and dangerous missions in Europe and the 10,000-man unit came away with a mere 4,000 Bronze Stars, 4,000 Purple Hearts, and 21 (yes, twenty one!) Medals of Honor!!!!

I feel so relieved that visitors to the Arlingortn Cemetary will no longer be burdeed with such "devisive" information. 

Party on, Pete!

Michael McLeod

ps to dave:

if writing is easier than reading to you then you are either a genius or an idiot.

luckily for both of us i try not to judge.

in all seriousness i've never heard anybody say that  --and i wrote and taught writing for 50 years.

i would guess that you have an impatient mind. maybe a particular permutation of attention deficit disorder.

and i wouldn't worry about it. it's a peculiarity, but in its own way a charming one.ever run it by a shrink?

some people might say you're just full of yourself but that would be simplisitic plus i know you too well to think that's the case.

all i know is that hearing anybody say writing is easy would ordinarily make me either suspicious or jealous because it's been hard for me, start to finish.

Mary Margaret Clark (Schultheis)

Dave.....

https://pjmedia.com/rick-moran/2025/03/18/who-is-giving-the-order-to-remove-web-pages-on-dod-websites-of-minority-heroes-n4938018

xc vbhttps://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/hegseth-removal-of-tuskegee-airmen-video-after-dei-order-will-not-stand/ar-AA1xTXxx

David Mitchell

Mike,

You nailed it!  I was dignosed with ADD years ago.  

But I think it's accurate to also say that I am "full of myself". Perhaps a few of us who post here are in that club.  But I would add plain old fashioned loneliness to the list. This Forum gives me a way to stay in touch. I am far away, as you are, and miss the rest of the group. Just wish some of the "lurkers" would jump in more often.

David Mitchell

M/M,

Why on earth would they have removed that Tuskeegee Airmen story to begin with? - idiots with a racist agenda is what drives this stuff. (and most likely guys with no real combat experience themselves)

We'll see how this recent removal of the Navajo Code Talkers plays out. 

You'll get no apologies from me on this Pete Hegseth nonsense.

His military experince is as a middle-mamagement guy (a Major) who then failed miserably at his two recent civillan positions. I think the count is now up around 19 former Fox News associates who have claimed he was often so drunk they weren't sure he could go on the air. And that doesn't count the times he was "helped" off the stage - drunk - at meetings of his two former places of employment. 

Watching the video of his confirmation questioning before the Senate is embarassing. He almost never answers the questions about his achoholism or his reckless sexual life.

He is is a loser. He is toilet scum!  

David Mitchell

M/M,

from your own link posted above - - -

The purpose of DEI is to avoid  information which would

"erode camaraderie and threaten mission execution,”

What on earth about any of these strories of courage would threaten mission execution?

Mark Schweickart

Tim – Again, I always run to my sweetie to relay a Tim joke, but after it prduced the desired laughter, she suggested a slight modification might iimprove it still. Since old farts like us are hardly in need of contraception, perhaps it should be: "...studies show that the best prevention of STDs among the elderly is nudity."

Either way we loved your joke. Keep 'em coming.

Mark Schweickart

Tim -- here's a joke I saw on a Garrison Keillor blog today. He called it a Catholic joke since it involves nuns. So for all you practicing and lapsed Catholics out there it went like this: Three nuns die and come to the gates of Heaven and St. Peter meets them and says, “I know you’re nuns and you’ve led holy lives but still I have to ask you each a question. He asks the first: “Who was the first man?” She says, “That’s an easy one. Adam.” He asks the second, “Who was the first woman?” She says, “That’s an easy one. Eve.” He asks the third nun, “What was the first thing Eve said to Adam.” The nun said, “That’s a hard one.” “Right,” said St. Peter, “come on in.”

John Jackson

Dave, they’ve also taken down mention of the Indian who was one of six soldiers raising the flag at Iwo Jima.  From the Washington Post:

Until recently, a page on the Defense Department’s website celebrated Pfc. Ira Hayes, a Pima Indian who was one of the six Marines photographed hoisting a U.S. flag on Iwo Jima in 1945, as an emblem of the “contributions and sacrifices Native Americans have made to the United States, not just in the military, but in all walks of life.”

But the page, along with many others about Native American and other minority service members, has now been erased amid the Trump administration’s wide-ranging crackdown on what it says are “diversity, equity and inclusion” efforts in the federal government..."

John Jackson

In other news, the New York Times is reporting that “The Environmental Protection Agency plans to eliminate its scientific research arm, firing as many as 1,155 chemists, biologists, toxicologists and other scientists...”

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/17/climate/trump-eliminates-epa-science.html

Yet another chapter in the right’s unending war on science.

MAKE AMERICA TOXIC AGAIN!

Joseph Gentilini

DT's administration is off the chart in meanness and cruelity. joe

Joseph Gentilini

OOPS!  cruelty, not cruelity.  Sr. Margeret and Raymunda would be appalled~  joe

Timothy Lavelle

Party on Mark, Excellent...Excellent. It feels like we are in the car in Wayne's World tossing craziness back and forth. 

Like Dave's ADD, I've lived thinking the world suffered from LDD or laugh deficit disorder. Luckily I grew up in a household of certifiable goofballs instead of an Italian Mafia family or I'd still be in prison somewhere.

I don't have a funny for this morning so I'll try to turm you in a different direction. Awhile back one of our young ladies spoke of her father. It didn't garner a lot of attention but it resonated strongly with me. Maybe you too since you've written of women with your book and in other places. 

When we were teenagers, one of the rights of passage was that first meeting with the parents of "that girl" ...the girl who was kind enough to laugh at our stupid jokes or what have you. Parents existed on a different plane back then. They weren't our buddies, they were treated with fear and respect...or else. It was nerve wracking whether it was for a biggee like a Prom date or slightly less fraught but still big time pensive like a first date but that first meeting had us n our toes like Eddie Haskel playing up to Mrs. Cleaver.

My friend Clare Hummer and I dated in HS. Our first date was going Christmas shopping. I drove my tiny mobile to her home on Oakland Park and proceeded slowly up the steps to the porch and knocked. I was ushered in by one of the platoon of bros and sis's she had to stand in front of her Dad. My knees were probably knocking as he put me through a few questions ending with "Tim, what's your middle name?"..."James, the reply...."TJ, Welcome to the Hummer house" with a big smile. 

In very short order, Clare's Dad became my model of a man.  It was always warm and fun when he was there during a visit and it felt like home. I've never, not once, met a man who lived up to him in an initial meeting. Sure, it was my nerves a bit that made it a great memory but he really was a wonderful guy. Lucky Clare. Lucky me. 

Any of you guys remember anything about that kind of event?