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COMSUBBBS
Posts: 3202
Location: Alexandria, Virginia | Subject: Life's Laughter
Something my principal detractor said in her last harpie post. "He thinks everrything is funny." I plead guilty....I've looked for life's funny side during my entire planetary tour. I have had more than my share of rough times...No Dad during the first five years of my life thanks to Mussolini and Hitler...He returned and my Mother died of breast cancer, two years later. Grew up in military school...Dad had bad parachute jump and was in Walter Reed for two years. He walked again in 1955 and got the family together again I had a sister who was just four when Mother died...I didn't really know her....still don't. She's a retired college professor who taught at Virginia Tech...Dr. Ward. In 1967 my Old Man died....During his stay in the Terminal Ward at Walter Reed, he gave me various assignments and tasks that needed taken care of as he tied up all the loose ends of his life. One night, he was raising hell about the progress I was making taking care of his damn near endless list. I said,"Goddammit Wes, what in the hell is eating you tonight?" He smiled and gave a big grin,"Damn cancer....same stuff that was eating me last night...the night before and for the last four months." He died two nights later. Over the door of the Terminal Ward at Christmas there was a sign that read MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM THE STAPH....That was damn funny...Maybe not to some here but to the residents of the Terminal Ward...it was damn funny. My wife...my dear sweet little blue eyed Norwegian...known by the nickname the boat sailors gave her...THE METRIC BUILT BLONDE,....She had very advanced ovarian cancer. They had debulked her and removed as much of the damn stuff as they could but it had spread throughout her abdominal cavity and they told the family that there was nothing they could do for her but let bloody nasty stuff run its' course. One evening, I was sitting at her bedside holding her hand and we were laughing and shuffling through the wonderful memories we'd socked away over 40 years of playing house together. At one point she smiled..."Dex, do you remember how modest and embarrassed I used to get when I had to go for my internal medical examinations?" "Yes Darling." "Well in the last two weeks, if a man comes in wearing a white lab coat...a stethescope...and a five thousand dollar Rolex watch, I just take my panties off." We sat there and laughed. You're right Cora...I do look for the funny, rediculous, absolutely inappropriate comment....I hope I'm laughing when the embalming fluid kicks in...and they haul off what's left to the ALPO plant. In my world, nothing is too elevated, sacred or remote, to evoke humor. I do feel sorry for you poor lady...Life must really be lumpy along the road you travel. DEX |
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Crew
Posts: 69
Location: Irwin, PA | Subject: RE: Life's Laughter
BTW The patient that made the not being there when he died. A retired Master Chief Aviation Boatswainsmate, veteran of the Forrestal disaster. After which it was informally known as the USS Forrest Fire.
Dex, I enjoy everything you write. I skip over everthing that Cora writes, she just doesn't fit in with My off color sense of humor. She takes the fun out of being dysfuntional. I decided about 30 years ago that if I would always look for the humor in all situations. My mother would say that she would not be caught dead without her teeth in. When she died I was the first family member there. The nurses had removed her dentures so she could breath easier. I told her that she had to put them back in because my mother would not want to be caught dead without them. |
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Master and Commander
Posts: 2191
Location: Port Ludlow, WA (the Olympic Penninsula) | Subject: RE: Life's Laughter
Damn Dex - You mentioned the Alpo plant and the first thing that I thought of was the movie "Soylent Green" - jeeezzz what a thought! |
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Great Sage of the Sea
Posts: 561
| Subject: RE: Life's Laughter
December 27, 1971 I hit a car broadside going 55 mph. He had run a stop sign. My 2 year old daughter was with me. Due to my throwing my body between her and the dash she walked away and I spent the next 60 days in traction and then 4 months in a spika body cast. Also had a large gash across my left eye and my nose pointed east when I looked north. That from taking out the rear view mirror with my face.
We were then living way out of town in rural northern California and only got one tv channel, I was going to school full time on the GI Bill and working 10-12 hours per night in a start up computer service place doing the night product runs. This was 4 years after my six year Submarine stint. I had hair down my back and wore beads to keep the voo-doo police away. In rural northern California then, long hair made you a convicted druggie, communist, radical, anti everything un-Godly anti-American.
One night I was hanging there in the traction and watching "Sanford and Son' starring Redd Foxx a show we did not receive in the boonies.
I was laughing so hard tears were flowing and not from the pain pills they had given me.
The Doctor walks in on his night time rounds, looks at me laughing, and said, "If you can laugh at a time like this then you hit your head than I thought", LOL. I had told him about my boat time and he said "You Bubble Heads are truly in a world of your own".
A few nights later he laid on the bed next ot mine and watched "The Seven Samuri" on PBS with me. It was a 3 hour show dubbed in English. It was a Japanese version of the "Magnificent Seven". He said he need some of my life after a particularly bad doctor day.
Yes Dex, we all need to learn to laugh more and to not take pot shots and make snide little remarks at you.
Your stories and writings make you one of us, in a world of our own.
T.Spoon, DBF
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Master and Commander
Posts: 1431
| Subject: RE: Life's Laughter
Now Hear this!!! "The Seven Samuri" was not a version of "The Magnificent Seven". It was da udder way around!!! Some one has got to ride herd on you guys or you'll have everyone thinkin da world is flat and I'm good lookin  |
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Great Sage of the Sea
Posts: 561
| Subject: RE: Life's Laughter
OK, OK, I saw the Magnificent Seven before I went to Yokosuka.
The real problem was that the lead character in the Seven Samuri wasn't bald.
T.Spoon, DBF |
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Master and Commander
Posts: 2357
| Subject: RE: Life's Laughter
dex armstrong - 2007-10-24 5:59 AM
In my world, nothing is too elevated, sacred or remote, to evoke humor. DEX
Somehow Dex, I seriously doubt that statement to be true.
Practice what you preach and don't read her posts rather than attack her...."it's all too easy" as a mate says to me.
Blue *_* |
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Master and Commander
Posts: 1814
Location: Boydton, Virginia | Subject: RE: Life's Laughter
"Gallows Humor" is hard to understand taken out of context. Ya gotta be there to appreciate it. Like you said, Dex, it is our way of "coping". A defence mechanism to help us keep our sanity. Period. No excuses or apologies necessary. Why do you hear laughter and pleasant conversation during viewing hours at a persons casket? this is a perfectly normal human characteristic. But taken out of context, it seems terrible.
Steamboat sends |
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COMSUBBBS
Posts: 6180
Location: Summerville, SC | Subject: RE: Life's Laughter
Ahhh, Steamboat, you stole my thunder. Speaking of thunder, we are getting some very needed rain today and the thunder is amongst us.
Cora to me is a good person. As you know we do blast back and forth with one another. She does have her sense of humor. Maybe not as much as we do, but, you have to understand where she is coming from. After all she's been out there living in the "Black Hills" of South Dakota. Have you ever given it much thought as to why they call it the "Black Hills"? Sounds like a dismal place to me, but, having been through there a few times it really is a beautiful place.
Give Cora some slack---- she be okay, Bubba.   |
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Mess cooking
Posts: 24
Location: Grove, Oklahoma | Subject: RE: Life's Laughter
I'm with you on this subject Dex. I am tired of looking at that stupid headset picture and wish she would confine herself to some little old ladies web site and leave us alone with her stupid remarks!
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COMSUBBBS
Posts: 2561
Location: Rapid City, SD | Subject: Jim Mitchell
I have an idea for you. Don't look at the "stupid" headset picture. And don't read my posts.
I notice that your 'stupid" picture is not up on the board. It must be that you're so good-looking that you would put all the other guys to shame.
I know what DEX looks like. He's really handsosme, too. But for some reason (can't imagine what it could be) he doesn't post his picture either.
Are you a qualified submariner? What boat(s) did you serve on? What was your highest rank?
I'm sure you would want everyone on the board to know all those facts.
Since you are a relative newcomer, by what right do you dare comment at all? About anything?
All my best,
Cora
Edited by Corabelle 2007-10-24 7:43 PM
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Old Salt
Posts: 489
Location: San Freakcisco CA area | Subject: RE: Jim Mitchell
I figure that Jim Mitchell can speak for himself - but "newcomer" he ain't. He was posting on Roundtini's BBS more than 14 years ago during the great Hogfish/Whateverfish race to Perth (or was it Chula Vista?) and Rankoon was raising six shades of hell over midshippersons "earning" silver dolphins on their summer outing from Chesapeake University of Nautical Terminology and Sid Harrison was introducing Cousin Bob [RIP, Bob!] --- which is just about the time I drove up.
Makes no difference -- but I'm of the opinion this entire thread and another of similar tone is heading directly where Don Gentry pulled the plug before ... right into the crapper. I, for one, would hate to see that happen.
Who gives a rat's ass? Well, I think most of us do. We had an Executive Hall Monitor way back then who thought "Ron's Rules" were her specific domain to enforce -- we don't need a rerun of that old show, PLEASE! |
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COMSUBBBS
Posts: 2561
Location: Rapid City, SD | Subject: I kinda wish that you would of let him speak for himself.
This is the second time in 13 posts that he's "wished" that I would go away. The last time I believe someone told him that that wasn't up to him.
I'm anxious for him to post a picture of himself so that I can comment on it. And, of course you know that I'll say kind things about it.
Have you noticed a pattern here - when the board is calm - and - when it isn't?
Cora |
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Great Sage of the Sea
Posts: 602
Location: Visalia, Ca. | Subject: RE: Jim Mitchell
Corabelle - 2007-10-24 5:42 PM
......
Since you are a relative newcomer, by what right do you dare comment at all? About anything?
All my best,
Cora
The same rights we all have to express our opinions, no matter how idiotic or unqualified they may seem to others.
Let's please step back from the personal jabs and insults, and from taking offense where none may have been intended. We are all supposed to be adults here, let's act like it. (Yeah, I know, growing old is mandatory, growing up is optional.)
It seems clear that Cora and Dex have very different senses of humour. I, too, tend to appreciate the off-beat, and am not above a bit of graveyard humour, even when I am conducting a funeral (Yes, I have. Sometimes it helps to lighten the mood). When I hear one of my Shipmates is ill, I warn them "You damn better get well quick. I've done 6 funerals and sent 5 other condolence cards in the past two months, and I'm not ready to do yours!"
Once I was visiting an FRA Shipmate in the hospital, recovering from a mild(!) heart attack, as I was helping plan the Memorial service for another FRA Shipmate. I said "I'm sure glad you are doing so well. I was afraid we were going to have to have a double service for you and Bob." He got a chuckle out of it, but his wife took offense, and complained to the Branch President (I was Jr. Past President at the time, as well as Branch Chaplain). I apologized to her for the joke offending her, but not for telling the joke. You can't please everybody all the time.
I consider everyone who posts here to be a valuable contributor to the community. I will not refuse to read someone's posts unless they really tick me off, and that takes some doing. I will also not suggest anyone "go away and leave us alone". As long as we observe the few simple rules Shipmate Gentry has established (and we all agreed to when we joined), we can all have a good time here.
So, if there is someone who you think is likely to offend you, don't read their posts. But if they decide to join a discussion you are in, don't take it as a personal attack on you. Reply to those you want to, and ignore the ones you don't. Live and let live. Just like we did when we were locked in those old steel cans for months at a time, and couldn't get away from someone we didn't like.
Donald L. Johnson
EM1(SS) USN Retired
Past President, Chaplain, FRA Lemoore Br. 261
USSVI Wahoo Base P.O.C.
USSV WWII Fresno Chapter Associate, Comms Officer
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Great Sage of the Sea
Posts: 561
| Subject: RE: Life's Laughter
Have you noticed a pattern here - when the board is calm - and - when it isn't?
Cora
=================================================================
Yes cora, when you take pot shots at Dex and snipe at him he comes back at you and you get upset. Then you enlist a very few to support you, sort of, and think you have a mandate to post slime after slime attacking him.
If you would do as you sometimes preach just 'shut up' perhaps we all could get back to SUBMARINE things 'WE TRUE BROTHERS of the 'PHIN' like to discuss amongst our selves.
In your last post on this thread you had the audacity to question the postings of a Brother of the 'Phin most of us true brothers know. What gave you that right non-qual. As SOB said, we do not need a harpy hall monitor here who is only a wanna-be.
We do welcome true ladies here who participate with respect and true wisdom.
As to your picture with the head phones, I could care less if you put it up or a picture of an Orangutan (sorry for the disrepect to all orangutans) but those head phones remind me of your irate indignation at we Pampanito docents and the one in particular in the radio room. The one who was so rude to you as to not stop his radio transmission and cater to your whim. You seem to carry that 'princess' attitude a lot.
Before you attack with the claim that I am a Dex worshiper, I have had disagreements with him in the past but am adult enough to let them pass and appreciate his writing talents. The writings that so accurately describe our lives below the sea.
As Cow Boy told you a few years back after you chastised me for my joke, during the Presidential election. about the Muslims decreeing that all Muslim women should shave their pubic areas then chant, "No more Bush, No more Bush", we do welcome women here but most don't stay as they do not understand our humor.
Perhaps, just perhaps....................................I thought wisdome came with age.......
T.Spoon, DBF
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COMSUBBBS
Posts: 3673
Location: Kansas City Missouri | Subject: RE: Life's Laughter
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COMSUBBBS
Posts: 6180
Location: Summerville, SC | Subject: RE: Life's Laughter
Here's my 2 cents worth for what it's worth. As you know Dex and I have a sparring a time or two over the years. He has his faults as I do and every one of us. I've met Dex a few years ago and found him to be a sincere person and Shipmate and yes he does have humor 99.9% of the time and as we've seen not long ago a real soft heart. His stories are great and most of the time humorous.
So, everyone knows this. If you don't like that humor, don't read it. Seems like a no brainer to me.
I also find Cora humorous. Yep, we kck the tin can back and forth and have fun doing it. She has faults as each and everyone of us has. Is she right to shadow Dex's writings? No, I don't think so, however, I think Dex should just ignor her if he finds her not to his liking and she shouldn't read his material if it bothers her so.
I'll be the first to admit that prayer DOES work. I've seen it happen so very many times. We may not get our prayers answered the way we want, but, we trust in the Lord and have faith that He knows what's best. Humor has its place during rough times also. It relieves a lot of tension so that we can think more clearly at the time. Look around you and you'll notice the our God has a sense of humor too.
How's that for a Tap Dance? <:~))) Love guys and girls |
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Master and Commander
Posts: 1814
Location: Boydton, Virginia | Subject: RE: Jim Mitchell
LUV YA, Cora ! Don't you dare slack off posting!
BTW, send me your snail mail addy by "private message" and I will send you a copy of "In the Spirit of Crazy Horse" that I spoke of some time ago.
Steamboat sends |
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COMSUBBBS
Posts: 2561
Location: Rapid City, SD | Subject: Tim -
- I'll respond to you as much as I can. I honestly don't remember the "No more Bush" joke. Maybe I didn't think it was funny - that's entirely possible. Did my response to it offend you? If so, than I apologize.
I didn't appreciate the orangutan comparison. Why is it, that when some guys on the board don't like my posts, they're compelled to attack me personally? How I look, or my intelligence, etc. As I've said before, I do like that picture. My brother (who had trouble taking pictures because of his macular degeneration) took the picture. That's one reason that I like it. Also, as you can see, I was really happy to be on the same class diesel boat as my brother served on sixty years before.
Yes, I did have the audacity to question the postings of "a brother of the 'phin." He attacked me personally. He said my picture was "stupid," and that the things that I said were "stupid." I would never offend someone by telling them that their picture was stupid, or question their intelligence. He has only made 13 posts since Don changed the format, and two of those posts were negatively addressed to me. He doesn't know me. Why is he doing that? I thought that if I knew a little more about him (apparently you have the advantage over me, there), I might understand where he was coming from. And why. He has made it very plain that women have no place here; or at least one woman. Apparently women don't bother him if they don't disagree with anything a "brother of the 'phin" says.
In this last "go-round" with Dex, I was agreeing with Ski. Is that permissable? As Ski said, he knew he would get flak for his post, and he did. His ability to express his thoughts on religion, was denigrated. I suspect the real problem was that he stuck up for me. Could that be?
I know that Dex has made an unwritten rule, that I can not post ANYWHERE on a thread that he has started, or that he has posted on. He (in a private e-mail) wanted me to agree to never do this. I did not so agree, and don't believe that I have to.
About the radio shack episode. Elmer and I both knew that this would be the last time that he would ever be on a submarine, so we wanted to get a shot of him actually sitting down at the radio desk. Was that too audacious? It seems that whoever the man in the radio schack was talking too, might have been asked to wait just a moment, while we took a picture of Elmer sitting at the desk one last time. I think, when this issue (where I acted like a princess?) arose, one of you men told me that the man operating the radio equipment wasn't an actual docent, but a ham radio operator, using equipment that was vastly different than the old WWII dot-dash style that Elmer used. I believe that if he had been a docent, he would have explained how the radio room operated 'way back then. You think I was rude? We thought he was. We tried to attract his attention so that we could take the picture that we wanted, but apparently what he was doing on the Pamp was more important than being civil to guests. And it was Elmer, not me, who took the chain down and stepped inside the radio shack. Tell him that he, "acted like a prince."
Because Cowboy knew that he wouldn't be on the boat on the day that we visited, he informed the docents that we were coming, and asked them to let us go anywhere on the boat that we wanted. This was in deference to Elmer's WWII status, and to his age (he was 80). We were even told that we could go up (am I saying this right?) into the conning tower. However, Elmer really didn't feel well that day, and because of that, he felt that he wouldn't be able to manage this, although he would have loved to. He even had some difficulty going through the water-tight doors. He laughed and said, "I can't get my hind leg through."
I'm sorry that my picture is offensive to you. I think it's really nice that most on the board do post their pictures (either back when they were in the navy, or more current ones). When they do, it makes it more personal when we're talking (posting) to each other. I wish that everyone would. But, why is it that you and Dex and Jim Mitchell feel compelled to make offensive remarks about my picture? Seems a little immature to me. If we can't meet her on equal turf, let's tell her she's stupid looking; maybe that'll drive her away. It won't.
Cora
Edited by Corabelle 2007-10-25 5:35 PM
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Great Sage of the Sea
Posts: 561
| Subject: RE: Life's Laughter
What I am talking aout when I say you snipe at Dex and take pot shots is this post by you:
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Subject: You're confused (as usual), Ralph
Jane Fonda was not in Dances With Wolves. And it's not DANCING With Wolves - it's Dances. Mary McDonnell was the lead actress.
Have you had your morning coffee yet? Are you trying to start something by asking Dex?
Cora
Edited by Corabelle 2007-10-14 8:52 AM
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That is your cheap shot meant only to antagonize.
Then you get upset when he responds.
AS for the Pampanito:
We docents are volunteers and have no authority to take any one any where that is off limits, this includes the radio room that usuall has a closed andlocked door. It was only open that day as the volunteer ham operator, not a sub guy, was doing a monthly project to link as many museum ships and boats as possible. That is very hard to do with bad atmospheric conditions and such. He was very busy with an important mission that could not be interrupted. Surely Elmer told you that radio traffic was not to be interrupted. The sign said "NO ADMITTANCE" and you in your princess mode removed it and entered. YOU WERE THE RUDE ONE THAT DAY.
Yes, if a regular docent had been aboard and Elmer had properly identified himself as a WWII radioman the docent would have made every attempt to get him into the radio room, at his discretion not yours. That is all up to the discretion of that days boat manager, an employee of the museum. You were pushy and the way most of we docents deal with pushy tourists is to ignor them, which the radio operator that day did. He actually is a school friend of mine from high school, 1957.
Being a Brother of the 'Phin, I am sorry Elmer, a true bubblehead, did not get what whould have been his last boat wish.
You, Princess Cora, I would have shot out a torpedo tube along with all the other pushy, rude, loud mouthed tourists.
Now Cora, I pledge to not responed to you ever again. But you as a princess could not say that, could you?
Please prove me wrong and show us all that you are a 'lady' and never again respond to Dex, use his name in in vain, or say anything that is not strictly boat related. After all this is a board for boat related things only.
Please prove me wrong as I say you can not do it.................
T.Spoon, DBF
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Crew
Posts: 50
Location: Bremerton,Wa | Subject: RE: Jim Mitchell
This is a fine example why we do not allow females to become brothers of the phin !
Take her down to sixty feet,dam the pressure
Dirty Dave HOLLAND CLUB...CLASS OF 55. |
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Master and Commander
Posts: 2357
| Subject: Actually....
...progressive nations do.
Like Australia.
Blue *_* |
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COMSUBBBS
Posts: 2561
Location: Rapid City, SD | Subject: When you make up your mind,
you don't let facts change it, do you?
Cora |
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COMSUBBBS
Posts: 3673
Location: Kansas City Missouri | Subject: RE: Another for you....Blue
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Master and Commander
Posts: 2357
| Subject: RE: Another for you....Blue
well that's not an Italian 'bird' that is for sure!
Blue *_* |
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Old Salt
Posts: 489
Location: San Freakcisco CA area | Subject: RE: Another for you....Blue
Hey!!! Where did you get that picture of my wife? I thought I had the negative and all prints, so c'mon, fess up! |
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Old Salt
Posts: 489
Location: San Freakcisco CA area | Subject: RE: Life's Laughter
>>>remind me of your irate indignation at we Pampanito docents and the one in particular in the radio room
Actually, TS, those folks in the radio room are NOT docents like you and I are ... there is a historic ships radio club that PAMPANITO's radio room is used for and they provide their own transmitters and receivers. They use our 110VAC and antennas and, of course, the operators' positions.
But PAMPANITO's WWII era equipment that Doug Nissan keeps operating in 4.0 condition is not part of their access. All of their gear (which is more powerful than the standard installed equipment that takes 3 full 6' racks plus some other space (and a few hundred pounds of MG sets and power supplies in the Pump Room) fits in that one small locker that was used to hold some bound crypto pubs, tech manuals, and the CRM's Jim Beam bottle in 1944.
They are all licensed hams and some have a military background but so far as I know, only one of the group is SS-qualified. I might be wrong on that - which is par for the course for me lately. If someone hit the diving alarm, they just might soil themselves - that is how SS they are.
Most of the time when I've had the duty and the radio club was aboard, they kept the sliding door shut and locked because a lot of visitors are naturally interested and seem to conveniently "overlook" the chain and authorized personnel only sign.
I've noticed that ever since we had to return the crypto machine to the NCA Museum, the radio club tends to leave the door open a bit more often than before - not that the crypto gear is classified any longer, but visitors seemed to be unable to resist the temptation to reach over the chain and fiddle with the switches and keys.
For Cowboy to have alerted the docents of pending visitors would have never gotten to the radio room gang because, as I said, they are not PAMPANITO docents.
Some time back when GUMBA visited, I wanted to show him the radio room - he is a retired E-9 RM(SS) and had never seen a TBL, TCS, RAK, or RAL before. I damn near had to get a presidential pardon to get someone with a key to the key locker to unlock the key locker to get the key to the radio room. But GUMBA got to see a real TBL. He thought it was a water cooler. No, that is unkind. GUMBA didn't know what to make of all of that iron and copper and mason jar sized vacuum tubes, he was flabbergasted when he found out the max power output was 100W voice (AM at that) and 250W CW. He asked about SSB and I told him the upper and lower sidebands were stowed in the sideband locker down in the pump room along with a spool of 21-thread waterline. He knew I was kidding about the 21 thread part, waterline is really 9-thread.
Edited by SOB490 2007-10-25 11:35 PM
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COMSUBBBS
Posts: 6180
Location: Summerville, SC | Subject: RE: Life's Laughter
Tim, I think you need to reread this again very closely.
What I am talking aout when I say you snipe at Dex and take pot shots is this post by you:
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Subject: You're confused (as usual), Ralph
Jane Fonda was not in Dances With Wolves. And it's not DANCING With Wolves - it's Dances. Mary McDonnell was the lead actress.
Have you had your morning coffee yet? Are you trying to start something by asking Dex?
Cora
Edited by Corabelle 2007-10-14 8:52 AM
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You'll notice in Cora's subject line this response was to me not Dex.
I think you owe Cora an apology. That's IMHO of course.
Now let's all be nice boys and girls and behave ourselves. |
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Great Sage of the Sea
Posts: 561
| Subject: RE: Life's Laughter
Using Dex's name like that is only meant to irritate him. That is what I call sniping and taking a cheap pot shot.
If a particular person would forget that name, not use it ever, and go back to only submarine related ideas the smoke could clear.
T.Spoon, DBF |
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Great Sage of the Sea
Posts: 561
| Subject: Thanks SOB
SOB, That is what I was trying to say but you said it much more eloquently. The radio room is off limits to even we regular docents.
Backin 1957 one of the Ham operators and I had a high school (Sequoia HS in Redwood City) freshman algebra teacher who was a grey haired retired Admiral . I only wish I had asked the gentleman more about his Naval Service back then. He surely had started his career aboard a sailing ship.LOL
One day in class he had us all tell what our future plans were for after high school. When I replied "Join the Navy" he smiled, puffed out his chest, and I seemed to get much better grades after that.LOL
See you aboard the Pampanito,
T.Spoon, DBF |
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COMSUBBBS
Posts: 2561
Location: Rapid City, SD | Subject: Yes, thank you SOB
That does clarify things that happened (or didn't happen) when Elmer and I went through the Pampanito.
As I said, a docent named Marvin Wong (or Wang - I can't remember) met us before we boarded, and he and Elmer visited for a while. I have a picture of them sitting next to the sub. We thought that he was going to escort us through the boat, but after we went down the steps and looked back, he was no longer with us, so we picked up the headsets and began our audio tour.
There was no way that we could have known that the man in the radio shack wasn't a docent. All I know is that we stood there for quite a long time, and this man would not acknowledge our presence.
It would have been nice if Marvin had been with us - he might have been able to set up the scene for the picture Elmer wanted, but it may have been that Marvin was the only docent on at that particular time, as we didn't see anyone else.
Apparently since the ham operator was a high school classmate of Tim's (I think that's what he said), he may have gotten a different version of what happened. The only thing I can say about that, is that we were there, and Tim wasn't.
Again, for (I think, the third time), MY BROTHER WAS THE ONE THAT TOOK DOWN THE CHAIN, AND STEPPED INSIDE THE RADIO ROOM. Elmer made his own life's rules.
Again, thanks so much for your explanation. However, the picture op is now lost forever. That makes me sad. It would have been a picture that his children - and - I would cherish, plus making an old WWII subvet happy for a few minutes. I did take his picture while he was standing just inside the door, but there's no way that this can be identified as the radio shack.
Cora
Edited by Corabelle 2007-10-26 12:39 PM
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Old Salt
Posts: 489
Location: San Freakcisco CA area | Subject: RE: Yes, thank you SOB
I know it can get sorta complicated but Marvin Wong is not a docent either, he is PAMPANITO's "secret weapon" for obtaining rare and hard-to-find stuff, usually by the dark of the moon. Most folks mistake Marvin for a homeless person because you'll usually see his fanny sticking in the air while he is head-down in a #10 trashcan scavenging for aluminum. He is a master dumpster-diver to boot.
Marvin is a retired burner from Hunters Point Naval Shipyard where I first met him during an overhaul. A couple of pounds of coffee would get you almost any work out of any shop - and if it was worth over $10,000, you might have to toss in a small canned ham. When HP shut down, he went to Mare Island NSY as a certified welder on nuke boats until he retired.
In any event, Marvin doesn't do tours or windows so that probably explains why he dropped by the wayside.
I really don't know any of the radio club folks who use our radio room but I have noticed they tend to keep pretty much to themselves. Maybe the eau d'diesel makes them lightheaded or something. There is one guy who is a true speed key CW operator and he runs so fast that I can't distinguish one dit from another, it is just one long burst of CW tone. So whomever he is "talking" with has to be a magician to copy whatever he is sending. Or doing like the old time FOX braodcast, tape it at 15ips and replay it at 7.5ips in order to catch the text.
Oh - final note on Marvin - and before anyone gets their skivvies all knotted up, this is a story he tells on himself ...
"My greatest aspiration was to work for the telephone company and I applied many times but they always turned me down."
Why is that, Marvin - were they discriminating against you because you are Chinese?
"No, they were just afraid I'd hand out a bunch of wong numbers."
For those who have met Marvin and grown to appreciate him like we all do, I have to report that his eyesight is getting worse. He recognizes most of us by our voices and greets us before he can get close enough to actually focus his eyes on us, so he is masking it pretty well. I have no idea how old he is but he was an old man when I first met him in 1956 so he must be approaching 90 or so by now. |
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Old Salt
Posts: 489
Location: San Freakcisco CA area | Subject: RE: Another for you....Blue
Vic - old Blue is sort of slow so you had better explain to him that the Italian girl is the one sitting on the right under the USA flag.
All kidding aside, every time my wife and I travel to Europe, Americans are conspicuous by their tonnage. Not only that, many of the kids are downright obnoxious! We were having coffee at a little bistro just behind the Opera in Paris one morning and a gaggle of teenage American girls were at another table, loudly complaining about everything in sight. One particular pimply-faced water buffalo was really upset because, as she wailed ... "And they don't even speak English around here..."
No s***, imagine that - in Paris, France, they don't speak English! What is this world coming to, anyway?
Actually most Europeans are fluent in 3 or more languages. If you make the effort to communicate in the language of your host, they will usually respond in English and try to help you out. At least that is our experience.
No wonder we are called "Ugly Americans."
Edited by SOB490 2007-10-26 2:07 PM
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COMSUBBBS
Posts: 2561
Location: Rapid City, SD | Subject: RE: Yes, thank you SOB
Marvin was the only one around that day, and he was expecting us, so . . . we thought that he was a docent. There must not have been any docents on duty that day - or - at least at the time that we were there.
Cora |
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Master and Commander
Posts: 1107
Location: Tucson AZ | Subject: I know that this (unfortunately) won't be the last word, but ...
...
Can we give a rest, people?
:(
Edited by Flapper 2007-10-26 3:42 PM
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Life's Laughter
