Wednesday - June 07, 2006
Through The Looking Glass
“View From Atop Masada”
-by
BigFoto.com
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During the First Century A.D., the nation which we now call Israel was held as a Roman colony. The Jewish people who lived in this area, however, refused to succumb to the religious practices of Rome and decided rather to remain true to the religious practices which their ancestors had practiced.
This Jewish faith was incompatible with that of the Romans, and for this reason, the Jewish people began to revolt in 66 A.D. This revolt would mean the destruction of Israel as a Jewish state, as the Romans proceeded to destroy every stronghold of Judaism throughout the area.
The last area where the Jewish people had power was an old fortress known as Masada. From this mountain fortress, these people known as Zealots led raids on neighboring Roman towns and remained the only Jewish stronghold within Israel. As the war came to a close, the only place left for attack by the Romans was Masada. A Roman general laid siege to Masada in hopes of taking this last stronghold.
The Zealots prepared themselves for a long siege by rationing food and water. The Roman forces were strong, and they broke through the outer wall. The Zealots had made their last attempt at survival, and knew that death was their only end. Rather than give the glory of victory to the Roman soldiers, these Zealots committed mass suicide, seeing this as the best way to avoid slavery and death by the hands of Romans.
The Romans proceeded to destroy Jerusalem and utterly smashed the Jewish state, scattering the Jews to the four corners of the Earth where they would remain as refugees for nearly two thousand years. The world did not allow the Jews to come home again until 1948 A.D. By now you know the rest of the story ...
Posted by The Skipper
on 06/07/2006 at 06:10 PM
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Permalink • Tuesday - June 06, 2006
Through The Looking Glass
“Las Vegas Night”
-by-
Jon Sullivan
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Posted by The Skipper
on 06/06/2006 at 05:14 PM
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Permalink • Thursday - June 01, 2006
Through The Looking Glass
“Defending Liberty”
USAF Photo
Thursday, May 25, 2006: A P-51 Mustang, flown by Jim Beasley; an F-16 Fighting Falcon, flown by Maj. Dax Cornelius from Hill Air Force Base, Utah; an F-15 Eagle, flown by Capt. Tony Bierenkoven from Eglin AFB, Fla.; and an A-10 Thunderbolt II, flown by Capt. Jeff Yost of Pope AFB, N.C., fly over the Statue of Liberty. The “Heritage Flight” pilots flew in the Jones Beach Air Show on Long Island. Heritage Flight formations are designed to show generations of fighter aircraft.
-- (U.S. Air Force photo/Tech. Sgt. Ben Bloker)
Trivia: How man of you can identify the island in the upper right background without using Google?
Posted by The Skipper
on 06/01/2006 at 06:24 PM
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Permalink • Tuesday - May 30, 2006
Through The Looking Glass
May, 29th 2006 - Toby Keith sings one of his “bus songs” to a crowd of Soldiers from the 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Task Force Band of Brothers at Forward Operating Base Warhorse Saturday. This was the first stop on Keith’s most recent United Service Organizations-sponsored tour.
-- Photo by Sgt. Zach Mott
Posted by The Skipper
on 05/30/2006 at 06:45 PM
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Permalink • Saturday - May 27, 2006
Through The Looking Glass
“Inside The Wall”
His body lies that was so fair and young.
His mouth is stopped, with half his songs unsung;
His arm is still, that struck to make men free.
But let no cloud of lamentation be
Where, on a warrior’s grave, a lyre is hung.
We keep the echoes of his golden tongue,
We keep the vision of his chivalry.
-- Joyce Kilmer, “In Memory Of Rupert Brooke”
Note: This image is the result of two pictures I found on the net, a few minutes work with Photoshop and a certain inspiration. The names on The Wall represent thousands of faceless young men to most people who visit. The statue of the three warriors is placed off to the side, almost as an afterthought. I just figured the two deserved to be together in some manner. Those men had faces. They also had families, loved ones, friends and courage. They gave their lives in a futile cause after many things went wrong - beginning with lack of support back home. The very least we owe them now is ... respect.
Posted by The Skipper
on 05/27/2006 at 05:41 PM
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Permalink • Friday - May 26, 2006
Through The Looking Glass
“Iwo Jima Memorial”
Washington, DC
Remember and honor those who died.
They gave it all for you.
Posted by The Skipper
on 05/26/2006 at 05:05 PM
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Permalink • Thursday - May 25, 2006
Through The Looking Glass
“Betatakin”
Navaho National Monument, Arizona
-by-
Jon Sullivan
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Posted by The Skipper
on 05/25/2006 at 07:02 PM
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Permalink • Wednesday - May 24, 2006
Through The Looking Glass
“Summertime”
-by-
The Skipper
Memo To Guys: No, I won’t give you her phone number. Don’t even ask.
Posted by The Skipper
on 05/24/2006 at 05:57 PM
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Permalink • Tuesday - May 23, 2006
Through The Looking Glass
“Onward And Upward”
-by- Red Orbit
In Memoriam: Virgil “Gus” Grissom, Edward H. White, II, Roger B. Chaffee (Died: January 27, 1967, Apollo I); Francis “Dick” Scobee, Michael J. Smith, Judith A. Resnik, Ellison S. Onizuka, Ronald E. McNair, Gregory B. Jarvis, S. Christa McAuliffe (Died: January 28, 1986, Space Shuttle Challenger); Rick D. Husband, William C. McCool, Michael P. Anderson, Kalpana Chawla, David Brown, Laurel Clark, Ilan Ramon (Died: February, 1, 2003, Space Shuttle Columbia).
Posted by The Skipper
on 05/23/2006 at 05:27 PM
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Permalink • Monday - May 22, 2006
Through The Looking Glass
“Royal Clipper”
-by-
Star Clipper Cruise Lines
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Skipper’s Note: Many years ago, I took a cruise on one of these ships belonging to Windjammer - Barefoot Cruises out of Miami Beach. It beats the snot out of the large luxury cruise liners. We slept on the deck under the stars and helped sail the ship, trimming the sails, etc. We sailed around from island to island and spent the days snorkeling and exploring the inland looking for pirate treasure (just in fun). I had the time of my life and I plan to do it again one day soon. You need to try this at least once in your life if you can afford it. It’s not that expensive and it will be something to remember forever.
Posted by The Skipper
on 05/22/2006 at 07:12 PM
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Permalink • Friday - May 19, 2006
Through The Looking Glass
“Space Oddity”
Photo Courtesy NASA
Ground Control to Major Tom
Ground Control to Major Tom
Take your protein pills and put your helmet on
Ground Control to Major Tom
Commencing countdown, engines on
Check ignition and may God’s love be with you
Ten, Nine, Eight, Seven, Six, Five,
Four, Three, Two, One, Lift-off
This is Ground Control to Major Tom
You’ve really made the grade
And the papers want to know whose shirts you wear
Now it’s time to leave the capsule if you dare
“This is Major Tom to Ground Control
I’m stepping through the door
And I’m floating in a most peculiar way
And the stars look very different today
For here
Am I sitting in a tin can
Far above the world
Planet Earth is blue
And there’s nothing I can do
Though I’m past one hundred thousand miles
I’m feeling very still
And I think my spaceship knows which way to go
Tell my wife I love her very much (she knows!)
Ground Control to Major Tom
Your circuit’s dead, there’s something wrong
Can you hear me, Major Tom?
Can you hear me, Major Tom?
Can you hear me, Major Tom?
Can you hear....
“ am I floating round my tin can
Far above the Moon
Planet Earth is blue
And there’s nothing I can do.?
-- David Bowie
MEMO: No, this is not a photoshopped image. It’s the real deal. NASA Bulletin follows:
Free Flying Orbital EVA
Mission Specialist Bruce McCandless II, is seen further away from the confines and safety of his ship than any previous astronaut has ever been. This space first was made possible by the Manned Manuevering Unit or MMU, a nitrogen jet propelled backpack. After a series of test maneuvers inside and above Challenger’s payload bay, McCandless went “free-flying” to a distance of 320 feet away from the Orbiter. This stunning orbital panorama view shows McCandless out there amongst the black and blue of Earth and space.
At about 100 meters from the cargo bay of the space shuttle Challenger, Bruce McCandless II was further out than anyone had ever been before. Guided by a Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU), astronaut McCandless, pictured above, was floating free in space. McCandless and fellow NASA astronaut Robert Stewart were the first to experience such an “untethered space walk” during Space Shuttle mission 41-B in 1984. The MMU works by shooting jets of nitrogen and has since been used to help deploy and retrieve satellites. With a mass over 140 kilograms, an MMU is heavy on Earth, but, like everything, is weightless when drifting in orbit. The MMU was replaced with the SAFER backpack propulsion unit.
Posted by The Skipper
on 05/19/2006 at 03:16 PM
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Permalink • Wednesday - May 17, 2006
Through The Looking Glass
“El Capitan - Merced River”
Yosemite National Park
-by- Jon Sullivan
(click image for 1024x768 larger image in popup window)
Posted by The Skipper
on 05/17/2006 at 07:40 PM
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Permalink • Tuesday - May 16, 2006
Through The Looking Glass
“Dying Star: Ant Nebula”
Chandra X-Ray Observatory
This mage shows part of the unfolding drama of the last stages of the evolution of sun-like stars. Dynamic elongated clouds envelop bubbles of multimillion degree gas produced by high-velocity winds from dying stars. In these images, Chandra’s X-ray data are shown in blue, while green and red are optical and infrared data from Hubble.
Planetary nebulas - so called because some of them resemble a planet when viewed through a small telescope - are produced in the late stages of a sun-like star’s life. After several billion years of stable existence (the sun is 4.5 billion years old and will not enter this phase for about 5 billion more years) a normal star will expand enormously to become a bloated red giant. Over a period of a few hundred thousand years, much of the star’s mass is expelled at a relatively slow speed of about 50,000 miles per hour.
This mass loss creates a more or less spherical cloud around the star and eventually uncovers the star’s blazing hot core. Intense ultraviolet radiation from the core heats the circumstellar gas to ten thousand degrees, and the velocity of the gas flowing away from the star jumps to about a million miles per hour.
Posted by The Skipper
on 05/16/2006 at 05:09 PM
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Permalink • Monday - May 15, 2006
Through The Looking Glass
Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I’ve climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds - and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of - wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov’ring there
I’ve chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air.
Up, up the long delirious, burning blue,
I’ve topped the windswept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, or even eagle flew -
And, while with silent lifting mind I’ve trod
The high untresspassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand and touched the face of God.
Pilot Officer Gillespie Magee
No 412 squadron, RCAF
Killed 11 December 1941
Posted by The Skipper
on 05/15/2006 at 05:59 PM
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On: 07/17/17 04:28
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On: 07/09/17 03:07
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Not that very many people ever read this far down, but this blog was the creation of Allan Kelly and his friend Vilmar. Vilmar moved on to his own blog some time ago, and Allan ran this place alone until his sudden and unexpected death partway through 2006. We all miss him. A lot. Even though he is gone this site will always still be more than a little bit his. We who are left to carry on the BMEWS tradition owe him a great debt of gratitude, and we hope to be able to pay that back by following his last advice to us all:
It's been a long strange trip without you Skipper, but thanks for pointing us in the right direction and giving us a swift kick in the behind to get us going. Keep lookin' down on us, will ya? Thanks.
- Keep a firm grasp of Right and Wrong
- Stay involved with government on every level and don't let those bastards get away with a thing
- Use every legal means to defend yourself in the event of real internal trouble, and, most importantly:
- Keep talking to each other, whether here or elsewhere
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Oh, and here's some kind of visitor flag counter thingy. Hey, all the cool blogs have one, so I should too. The Visitors Online thingy up at the top doesn't count anything, but it looks neat. It had better, since I paid actual money for it.
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