Interesting...

Seeing that The Searchers was going to be on soon, I turned to the station and saw that the 1942 version of The Jungle Book was on.  In a sudden fit of "Where are they now?" curiosity, I looked up Sabu on IMDb, and learned that his early career was almost a Hollywood cliche, as he was trained (appropriately enough) as a mahout, but was discovered while mucking out the elephant stables and "had a movie career handed to him on a silver platter."

After making three wildly successful movies for Alexander Korda, he moved to Hollywood, where he was, alas, cast largely in formulaic potboilers...

...and, after becoming an American citizen in 1944 he enlisted in the US Army Air Corps, where he served as an aerial gunner and was awarded the Air Medal and the Distinguished Service Cross.

Alas, his post-war movie career never met the promise of those early days, and he died of an unexpected heart attack at the age of 39.

Words of wisdom

A People Generally Corrupt | The Rio Norte Line

"Old Fuss and Feathers"

Good article about Winfield Scott: The War Hero New York Forgot by Steven Malanga, City Journal Autumn 2013

Easy to look at that nickname and see him as some kind of overly-excitable, white-glove-inspection martinet, but his insistence on discipline, on developing the US Military Academy at West Point into an institution to develop professional officers, and his writing of the General Regulations for the United States Army published in 1821 were critical in the US Army's ability to evolve into a professional force that could explore and survey a continent, and go from a small,wide-spread frontier constabulary to a large modern industrialized Army in a relatively short time. (Not that there were no teething troubles there...)

One of the things worth noting about General Scott is that, a son of the South, he stood with the Union during the War Between The States; in fact, he commanded the Army during it (the position we today call the Chief of Staff), and devised the strategy that eventually led to the defeat of the South, the "Anaconda Plan." As for that "Fuss and Feathers" nickname, well, General Patton, too, was known to be a bit strict when it came to shaves and haircuts and polished boots and things, but no one ever considered him to be a wuss when it came to fighting battles.

"Native American Code Talkers Get Congressional Gold Medal"

Native American Code Talkers Get Congressional Gold Medal

WASHINGTON, Nov. 20, 2013 – Native American “code talkers” who transmitted codes based on 33 tribal dialects during World Wars I and II so enemies could not decipher them were patriots with “unique capabilities and willingness to give their talents and lives” to the nation, the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said today at a Congressional Gold Medal ceremony to honor them.
Conceived in 1918, the code talker program eventually comprised more than 400 Native Americans who volunteered to defend the nation, the vice chairman said.
The role of the code talkers during the two world wars was kept a secret until 1968*, officials said.
“Throughout history, military leaders have sought the perfect code — signals the enemy cannot break, no matter how able the intelligence team,” the vice chairman said. “It was our code talkers who created voice codes that defied decoding.”
{Navy Adm. James A.}  Winnefeld said the codes were “doubly clever” by using words that were confusing to the enemy, such as “crazy white man” for Adolf Hitler and “tortoise” for tank.

via eHam

I mentioned previously, en passant here as well as specifically here that the US Army used Code Talkers in both WWI and WWII, but the US Marines use of Navajos as bio-crypto assets in WWII is so famous that most think that only the Naval Service ever had that idea.  (Probably coincidence, but John Woo's Marine Corps fantasy Windtalkers, with Nicholas Cage, Adam Beach, and Christian Slater was on The Military Channel Friday night...)

Related:  Picked up Code Talker, Chester Nez' autobiography, from the King County Library. I can sure see why a young Navajo from the Rez might have thrived as a Marine, Boot Camp probably seemed like a vacation.  Honestly, though, I was a little disappointed by it, i think he was so used to keeping what he dis and saw a secret, that he had little to say about it once he got around to writing his story.
Mind you, I can relate...

*Well, officially, maybe.  But I note that the Code Talkers made an appearance in the -- excellent -- Leon Uris novel and movie Battle Cry...

Fun Show AAR 11/23/2013

Washington Arms Collectors show today.

Still not a lot of .22 LR out there.  Kickin' myself for not buying a case or so when we were in Reno for  the GBR in September.

Other calibers are in good supply, prices are a lot closer to where they were a year ago than 6 months ago.

One exception: prices of .44 Special are exorbitant.

I haven't seen so many Mauser Broomhandles for sale in... ever, I think.

Lots and lots of other antique-ish (not to say Curio and Relic) handguns, as well, many century+ old revolvers.

No sign of the Star PD Mrs. Drang was fondling last month. Guy that had the new-in-box one sold it, and the guy selling the beater we saw (for a C-Note less, with more mags) was a no-show.

• I note that there are several for sale on Gun Broker right now. (I spent all that time researching where to get magazines, replacement springs and other parts, replacement grips...) 
• So now Mrs. Drang is asking guys who sell used guns to look out for a Star PD for her. 
• One flat-out refused. Jerk. 
• Others were cool with it. 
• She is also looking at newer guns, ones that are actually still in production...

Interesting: Just Right Carbine. Pistol-caliber carbine, uses Glock or 1911 mags, ambidextrous.

Looking at holsters, really need to upgrade the Don Hume IWB clip holster I've been using with the Combat Commander.  Blade-Tech has a small presence, oddly, considering the plant is a short distance from the show.  Didn't have the models I want.

Meanwhile, there's a new kid in town, K Rounds, closer to me than to the show, which looks kinda like someone bailed from Blade Tech and decided to make their own take on it...
(Not that there's anything wrong with that.)

Plus the usual suspect had his table full of Kramer holsters.
(Throw in Seattle Gun Rights Examiner and leathersmith Dave Workman, and it starts to sound like Pugetopolis is the center of the stuff-to-stuff-your-gat-in world...)

Show was crowded today.  The October show is usually the biggest of the year, since there's no show at the Puyallup fairgrounds in September (what with the fair and all), but November and December are close seconds.  (Dave has some more on that at the link to his Examiner column above.)

QOTD 11/21/2013

The government consists of a gang of men exactly like you and me. They have, taking one with another, no special talent for the business of government; they have only a talent for getting and holding office. Their principal device to that end is to search out groups who pant and pine for something they can't get and to promise to give it to them. Nine times out of ten that promise is worth nothing. The tenth time is made good by looting A to satisfy B. In other words, government is a broker in pillage, and every election is sort of an advance auction sale of stolen goods.H.L. Mencken

Plus, through the miracle of bureaucracy, you get A through L being robbed to benefit M, who actually comes out short, too...

Dusty in here all of a sudden...

Navy honors dying wish of sailor who survived Pearl Harbor with trip on board destroyer named after one he served on | Mail Online

One Hundred Fifty Years Ago Today...

President Abraham Lincoln gave The Gettysburg Address

Four score and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation: conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. 
Now we are engaged in a great civil war. . .testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated. . . can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. 
We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. 
But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate. . .we cannot consecrate. . . we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember, what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. 
It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us. . .that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion. . . that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain. . . that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom. . . and that government of the people. . .by the people. . .for the people. . . shall not perish from the earth.

Good people, good cause

I'll be working next Sunday, but 16 Seattle-area martial arts studios are getting together to raise money for Typhoon Haiyan relief.

Click the link above for a bigger version, and more info.

Filipino food. Mmmmm, lumpia...

(Please keep the speculation about that other item, IYKWIMAITYD, to yourselves...)

Veteran's Day

Armistice Day. Remembrance Day.  Poppy Day.

Happy Birthday

Marines!

I've met a couple...

Earworm, Hopey-Changey Edition

"Dear Readers of Guns and Ammo Magaizne..."

(See Dear Guns and Ammo magazine)

Saw it on Facebook, tracked it down, thinking it might be too good to be true, but, yep, Guns and Ammo magazine has canned Dick Metcalf.

As seen on The Bang Switch:

Transcription from TTAG

From Jim Bequette, Editor Guns & Ammo Magazine:

As editor of Guns & Ammo, I owe each and every reader a personal apology.

No excuses, no backtracking.

Dick Metcalf’s Backstop column in the December issue has aroused unprecedented controversy. Readers are hopping mad about it, and some are questioning Guns & Ammo‘s commitment to the Second Amendment, and I understand why.

Let me be clear: our commitment to the Second Amendment is unwavering. It has been so since the beginning. Historically, our tradition in supporting the Second Amendment is unflinching. No strings attached. It is no accident that when others in the gun culture counseled compromise in the past, hard-core thinkers like Harlon Carter, Don Kates and Neal Knox found a place and voice in these pages. When large firearms advocacy groups were going soft in the 1970s, they were prodded in the right direction from the pages of Guns & Ammo.

In publishing Metcalf’s column, I was untrue to that tradition, and for that I apologize. His views do not represent mine — and, most importantly, Guns & Ammo’s. It is very clear to me that they didn’t reflect the views of our readership, either.

Dick Metcalf has had a long and distinguished career as a gunwriter, but his association with Guns & Ammo has officially ended.

I once again offer my personal apology. I understand what our valued readers want. I understand what you believe in when it comes to gun rights, and I believe the same thing.

I made a mistake by publishing the column. I thought it would generate a healthy exchange of ideas on gun rights. I miscalculated, pure and simple. I was wrong, and ask your forgiveness.

Plans were already in place for a new editor to take the reins of Guns & Ammo Jan 1. These recent events have convinced me I should advance that schedule immediately.

Your new Guns & Ammo editor will be Eric Poole, who has so effectively been running our special interest publications like Book of the AR-15 and Trigger. You will be hearing much more about this talented editor soon.

Guns & Ammo will never fail to vigorously lead in the struggle for our Second Amendment rights and with vigorous young editorial leadership, will do it even better in the future.

It sure didn't help that the Brady Bunch were crowing about what a stand-up guy Metcalf is...

The Liberal/Progressive/Statist/Gun Banner Mind

Yesterday at work one of the crew walked up to my colleague and I, shaking his head.  "Another mass shooting.  Shopping mall in New Jersey."

Today I asked him "So, some known drug dealer steals a gun and shoots himself in a shopping mall, and it's a mass shooting?"

He seems to have suffered amnesia...

Well, that was quick!

Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Seen in comments to R-R-R-R-R-R-Rainier:

Brigid said...
I just about got run down by a herd of wild Rainiers in downtown Seattle during college, a promotion of some kind. I never tried the beer, but my Dad had some in the fridge on occasion or two.

Just got back from honeymoon, will be toasting, but not with Rainier.

Not two months ago the blushing groom told me they hadn't set a date yet! Congrats, you crazy kids!

R-R-R-R-R-R-Rainier

Mrs/ Drang has a post up about the old Rainier Beer brewery in Seattle. (R-R-R-R-R-R-Rainier)

Now having grown up here, but having driven by the place on my way from Ft Lewis to see not-yet-Mrs. Drang, I was glad to see the sign back up.

Don't recall that I ever drank any Rainier.  But their commercials were a hoot and a half:



And my favorites:

and

Dear Guns and Ammo magazine

I have two words for you:

• Zumbo 
• Recoil

Now fix it, or piss off.

First World Problems

Heck of a wind storm blowing, weather advisory says gusts to 60 MPH. Power went out for maybe 30 seconds. Now we have to reset the "Precise Fill" preferences on the refrigerator...

NOOOOOOO!!!!!!

The horror... There's a global wine shortage - Oct. 29, 2013