Obscurorant 2.0

“For I have sworn upon the altar of God, eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man”
-Thomas Jefferson
“He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of officers to harass our People, and eat out their substance.”
-The Declaration of Independence

Note: this post was originally published as ‘ Thoughts on the Coming Anniversary’ on June 4, 2004 at my old joint, and again last year. I (still) feel it worth repeating.
Over the next few days, as we approach the 60th anniversary of the D-Day invasion, one catch phrase that will bandied about quite a bit [...]

From my mother’s sleep I fell into the State,
And I hunched in its belly till my wet fur froze.
Six miles from earth, loosed from its dream of life,
I woke to black flak and the nightmare fighters.
When I died they washed me out of the turret with a hose.
-The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner by [...]

Not only was I unaware that such a thing as the Culinary Arts Museum existed, I had no idea there was an entire exhibit devoted to diners. Might be a nice day trip, if you can get there before June of this year (when the exhibit ends).

When I was a kid I was fascinated by the prop-driven war planes of WWII. Back then I filled a sketch book with drawings of those aircraft but now the internet provides grist for that particular mill:
Brutal-Looking Airplanes at 2blowhards.
Creamer’s Dream from Shorpy.
More than 60 years ago six P-38 Lightnings and two B-17 bombers [...]

If I recall correctly, at least one person who shares my fascination with the Gurkhas will find these of interest: photos of the 9 Gorkha (Gurkha) Rifles at Indian Army Regimental Boot Camp. (lva the Ghost)

This is the kind of historical tidbit that fascinates me: Chicago’s long-abandoned freight subway. Apparently the tunnels are still extant, though sealed off to the public.

I can remember reading his blog way back before I had one of my own. Maj. Olmsted was killed in Iraq yesterday. The world is just a little bit smaller now.

In the early days of August many pundits, print and electronic, turn their attention to the anniversaries of the atom-bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. None of them will write with clarity and force displayed by Paul Fussell in his essay Thank God For The Atom Bomb, which I highly, highly recommend.

Note: this post was originally published as ‘ Thoughts on the Coming Anniversary’ on June 4, 2004 at my old joint. I felt it worth repeating.
Over the next few days, as we approach the 60th anniversary of the D-Day invasion, one catch phrase that will bandied about quite a bit is ‘the greatest generation,’ in [...]