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A Favorite Factoid
Nov. 14th, 2014 01:01 pmFrom a book I found years ago in the Carson Newman University library on the history of privateering in America...
How the prize money was divided among the crew of a Revolution/Napoleonic-era ship:
15% -- The Captain, who might be obliged to pay his superiors in his fleet
10% -- split between the Captain's Lieutenants and the Sailing Master
10% -- split among the Marine officers, the Surgeon, the Purser, the Boatswain, the Gunner, the Carpenter, the Masters' Mates and the Chaplain
15% -- split among the Midshipmen, the Surgeon's Mates, the Captain's Clerk, the Schoolmaster, the Boatswain's Mates, the Steward, the Sailmaker, the Master-At-Arms, the Armourer and the Coxswain
15% -- split among the Gunner's Yeomen, the Boatswain's Yeomen, the Quartermasters, the Quarter Gunner, the Coopers, the Sailmaker's Mates, the Sergeants and Corporals of the Marines, the Drummer, the Fifer, and the Petty Officers
35% -- split among the Seamen, the Marines and the Boys
One Good Reason
Jun. 5th, 2014 02:33 pmOriginally posted by ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-syndicated.gif)
dieselsweet at One Good Reason
At least he's constructed better than Snoopy's doghouse.
dieselsweet at One Good ReasonAt least he's constructed better than Snoopy's doghouse.
For Your Viewing Pleasure
Feb. 20th, 2012 12:16 am( The Sino-American War Is Here--In First-Person Shooter Form )
GLORIOUS MISSION, the official video wargame from the People's Liberation Army.
GLORIOUS MISSION, the official video wargame from the People's Liberation Army.
Tags:
On The Fall TV Premieres So Far
Sep. 22nd, 2011 10:55 pmCRIMINAL MINDS
I don't know if any of my readers are as big of fans of the series as I am, but just in case you are and you haven't seen the first episode yet...
( Spoilers Behind This )
PERSON OF INTEREST
ALIAS meets Early Edition, with a good measure of Burn Notice thrown in (John Reese is basically a clone of Michael of Burn Notice--a former spy gone rogue). It's going to have to work to get an audience but I think it deserves one. The premiere episode had plenty of topspin. And since it's set in that Big Apple, I imagine a crossover with Bluebloods or CSI: New York might happen one of these seasons.
I don't know if any of my readers are as big of fans of the series as I am, but just in case you are and you haven't seen the first episode yet...
( Spoilers Behind This )
PERSON OF INTEREST
ALIAS meets Early Edition, with a good measure of Burn Notice thrown in (John Reese is basically a clone of Michael of Burn Notice--a former spy gone rogue). It's going to have to work to get an audience but I think it deserves one. The premiere episode had plenty of topspin. And since it's set in that Big Apple, I imagine a crossover with Bluebloods or CSI: New York might happen one of these seasons.
Tags:
Battle Is Joined!
Sep. 9th, 2011 05:24 pmSaw THIS on last night's NFL Football opening night. (YouTube won't let me imbed this clip.)
As a concept, we knew this was coming. But were we READY?
(Lee Marvin did something similar on the original THE TWILIGHT ZONE. But it was nowhere near as cool as this is looking to be!)
As a concept, we knew this was coming. But were we READY?
(Lee Marvin did something similar on the original THE TWILIGHT ZONE. But it was nowhere near as cool as this is looking to be!)
Let's start with what I wrote six years ago on the War On Terror. In it, I stated that the intensity in the so-called War was nowhere near what it was in past wars, and that in some ways I had a problem with that.
Got more data yesterday.
A soldier in the National Guard who is deployed to one of the warzones (makes no difference which one: Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen...) has a one in 1000 chance of getting killed and a one in 400 chance of getting wounded to the level of medical discharge eligibility. That's pretty darned low. Compare that to the men who stormed ashore at Anzio, Tarawa, Normandy or Inchon.
Granted, that's the Guard. The regular forces are sent to the hotter of the hot spots. But this is a war with no front line, no rear areas, and where the enemy is supposedly anywhere.
Al-Qaida and the Taliban are horribly ineffective enemies. We're killing far more of them than they are killing of ours. So why isn't the War On Terror won yet? The answer to that riddle may save the world.
Got more data yesterday.
A soldier in the National Guard who is deployed to one of the warzones (makes no difference which one: Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen...) has a one in 1000 chance of getting killed and a one in 400 chance of getting wounded to the level of medical discharge eligibility. That's pretty darned low. Compare that to the men who stormed ashore at Anzio, Tarawa, Normandy or Inchon.
Granted, that's the Guard. The regular forces are sent to the hotter of the hot spots. But this is a war with no front line, no rear areas, and where the enemy is supposedly anywhere.
Al-Qaida and the Taliban are horribly ineffective enemies. We're killing far more of them than they are killing of ours. So why isn't the War On Terror won yet? The answer to that riddle may save the world.
Extirpation
Apr. 29th, 2011 05:52 pmYes, that horrible storm system that hit the Southeast Wednesday night hit us too at Rather Manor. Luckily the blow wasn't a vital one as such...but Mom's garden was demolished. What hailstones and falling branches from stricken trees didn't crush was trampled underfoot by the recovery effort. Morale here isn't very good but we have to credit the British Royal Family and the wedding for getting Mom's spirits back above the red zone.
Cleanup and replanting are likely to take weeks. We hope to have help soon, but all across the area everybody has troubles of their own.
Cleanup and replanting are likely to take weeks. We hope to have help soon, but all across the area everybody has troubles of their own.
Those Who Can, Do--Those Who Can't, Censor
Mar. 5th, 2011 11:29 amFrom the commentary on today's Wonderella:
My comics hero, Steve Purcell, once got a cartoon deal with FOX in the 90s. He quickly learned that censors didn't dislike violence so much as they disliked accessible violence - the sort of violence kids could easily mimic. Thus the more exaggerated it was, the safer you were. If your knife fight doesn't work, simply replace the knives with atomic bombs. It's a good rule to live by.--Justin Pierce
You know, censors, it doesn't work. Kids will learn violence from the real world, not TV. How I found out. Didn't need help from Bugs Bunny or Mighty Mouse.
FP
My comics hero, Steve Purcell, once got a cartoon deal with FOX in the 90s. He quickly learned that censors didn't dislike violence so much as they disliked accessible violence - the sort of violence kids could easily mimic. Thus the more exaggerated it was, the safer you were. If your knife fight doesn't work, simply replace the knives with atomic bombs. It's a good rule to live by.--Justin Pierce
You know, censors, it doesn't work. Kids will learn violence from the real world, not TV. How I found out. Didn't need help from Bugs Bunny or Mighty Mouse.
FP
Semi-Random Topics Of The Day
Jan. 28th, 2011 03:37 pm* Egypt. Al-Qaida disappoints me. I would have thought they'd take advantage of the "political speech" going on in Cairo to storm/bomb/wreck the American Embassy there and and so on.
Remember, Egypt is our indispensible ally in the region. If their government changes, the Camp David Peace will be burned to ashes, and we can expect regular wars in the Sinai and Suez--with the possible new wrinkle of nuclear strikes. Mubarak goes and we have Armageddon.
* Afganistan. When was the last time the mainstream sources told us how the war is going in general terms? Nobody seems to be interested.
I wonder if some Republican/Tea Party state governor is going to say, "Now that we've deployed our entire National Guard contingent to Afganistan, I'm giving them die-in-place orders. They'll only return if they win the war--and will have to pay their own way. No resupply, no support, and not one more penny from the taxpayers."
* Media Technology. On my post the other day about the possibility of computers understanding tone-of-voice...it turns out that Avatar Creators Like This Man have been coming at the solution from another direction. By making virtual homonculi capable of modeling the full array of human emotion, a computer intelligence can, in theory, work backwards and recognize the meanings of human expression through the settings of the model.
Meanwhile, I saw an advertisement on TV for Shirley Temple movies that had been remastered and colorized for DVD last night. Colorization of monochrome movies has been around since the Eighties, and while it can be great if done correctly, I haven't exactly been impressed by it.
I think it has to do with our basic level understanding of photography in general...how we see the world through our own eyes. When I saw the sample footage on the commercial, I couldn't help but notice the gray zones underneath the color. I guess the technique will improve in the years to come, but I still have my doubts. *shrug*
Remember, Egypt is our indispensible ally in the region. If their government changes, the Camp David Peace will be burned to ashes, and we can expect regular wars in the Sinai and Suez--with the possible new wrinkle of nuclear strikes. Mubarak goes and we have Armageddon.
* Afganistan. When was the last time the mainstream sources told us how the war is going in general terms? Nobody seems to be interested.
I wonder if some Republican/Tea Party state governor is going to say, "Now that we've deployed our entire National Guard contingent to Afganistan, I'm giving them die-in-place orders. They'll only return if they win the war--and will have to pay their own way. No resupply, no support, and not one more penny from the taxpayers."
* Media Technology. On my post the other day about the possibility of computers understanding tone-of-voice...it turns out that Avatar Creators Like This Man have been coming at the solution from another direction. By making virtual homonculi capable of modeling the full array of human emotion, a computer intelligence can, in theory, work backwards and recognize the meanings of human expression through the settings of the model.
Meanwhile, I saw an advertisement on TV for Shirley Temple movies that had been remastered and colorized for DVD last night. Colorization of monochrome movies has been around since the Eighties, and while it can be great if done correctly, I haven't exactly been impressed by it.
I think it has to do with our basic level understanding of photography in general...how we see the world through our own eyes. When I saw the sample footage on the commercial, I couldn't help but notice the gray zones underneath the color. I guess the technique will improve in the years to come, but I still have my doubts. *shrug*
