BellGab/bellchan Archive

He is a guy that wanders around the Bay Area and streams live.  He took a hiatus for quite sometime after being knifed, live on stream by a Jihadi [no for real] while in the Tenderloin.

He is live now - out inna woods:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rn4Q6D8uTdM

Live! 

Bill just about choked out right now. He was going with his patented overly dramatic enunciation and gagged himself.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oisO-gxJzNM

Lots of trolling this afternoon. Let's see what you got bellgab.

Here is a stake in the ground as Mr. Decon expressed a certain level of disappointment in the quality. Perhaps he'll think this is a tad better?  Perhaps not.

A few years back MV had to return to Morocco to complete an important rite of passage. In order to be truly accepted by the Patriarch of Mrs. MV's family, he had to complete the crossing of the great Saharan Erg on foot. All the way from Marrakesh to the Kasbah of Ko-Ro-Ba near the Algerian border, deep, deep in the desert.  He was allowed two companions on this quest. Each person was allowed one item and one item only to bring with them on this journey.

The Patriarch:


MV contemplated his choices of companions carefully. The first choice was rather obvious - it could only be the Mud King. His calm, steadfast demeanor would be a source of strength during this quest (plus the Mudking needed to be around in case a security patch applied to the server that runs bellgab.com induced a kernel panic. Bringing down the site and causing world unrest. Muddy can handle such things in a pinch).  Who else?  Who else indeed?  After much thought, MV settled on Mychael Decon (Mychael with a y and not an i). He figured that Mychael Decon's (Mychael with a y and not an i) experiences of living in the burning sands of El Centro would be invaluable in the desert.

Finally the fateful day arrived at the outskirts of Marrakesh. The three adventurers lined up in front of the Patriarch for inspection.  The Patriarch walked up to  MV and asked him what was the one item he selected for the cross desert journey to the Kasbah of Ko-Ro-Ba. MV said that he brought a waterskin, filled to the brim with fresh water. The Patriarch was impressed. He asked MV why he decided to bring that. "Patriarch, I brought this item to keep me cool in the desert heat.", stated MV. Next the Patriarch stood in front of the Mud King and asked him what he chose to bring. Mud King stated that he brought a waterskin full of Gatorade.  Again, the Patriarch was impressed. He asked Mudking why he decided to go with that. "Patriarch, I brought this item to keep me cool in the desert heat." "Very wise." said the Patriarch - "It has electrolytes you know. Very wise"

Finally the Patriarch stood in front of Mychael Decon (Mychael with a y and not an i). He noticed two things - first here stood a man used to the burning sands of the desert. The next thing he noticed was that he was carrying the driver's side door off a 1973 Chrysler New Yorker.  "My Son", said the Patriarch, "Why on earth would you bring a driver's side door off a 1973 New Yorker on this quest?" Mychael Decon (Mychael with a y and not an i) replied, "Patriarch, I brought this driver's side door off a 1973 Chrysler New Yorker to keep me cool in the desert heat. When I get hot, I can just roll down the window".

Roz and the Doc's online clashes give me a raging clue.

My Father, Walks_At_Night Sr., was a WWII veteran.  He volunteered for the US Navy shortly after Pearl Harbor was attacked.  He went through his recruit training at
Naval Station Great Lakes and graduated as an Apprentice Seaman.  From there he was sent to Naval Torpedo Station at Newport, Rhode Island to attend the Naval
Training School Torpedo located there to become a Torpedoman's Mate.   Torpedomen were responsible for the maintenance and firing of torpedo's and depth charges.
Torpedos in WWII were the hypersonic missiles of their day - there was much to learn in just 16 weeks.   

My Father passed away a few years back and when I was going through his things I discovered his notebook from his torpedo training courses.   I had never seen it
before.  I looked at it briefly at the time and set it aside as I had many things that needed attending to.  I don't really know all what is in it - when I looked at it before
I noted there were some notes, handouts and carefully made, hand drawn, mechanical drawings.

As time allows, I plan on going through the notebook in detail.  It might be boring.  It might be interesting.  Either way, I thought I'd bring Bellgab along for the ride.

Front Cover
The notebook is well weathered, green in color and is about 14" x 8".  The cover is labeled "Record" and on top of that is a hand drawn anchor with rope (My Dad had
good artistic talent - he spent a good portion of his later years carving ducks).   In the upper left corner he has written his name - first name, middle initial and last
name.   Under that is written "Co. 12xx Section 4" - I've truncated the full Company number. 



Inside the Front Cover
Inside the front cover has his name, company and section.   The rest is blank except for a fancy doodle of the number "3.50"   There is nothing to indicate what the
significance of 3.50 is.  Is it money owed, money borrowed, GPA?  No way of telling.




Back Cover
The back cover has a hand drawn sailor, wearing his dress blue jumper, neckerchief and dixie cup hat worn at a jaunty angle.  The sailor looks rather happy.  Perhaps
he has just graduated with a 3.50 GPA?  If you look closely, you can see the sailor has a hole in his left shoulder area.  We'll see why that is below.




Inside the back cover
Inside the back cover has a nicely drawn 32 point compass rose. It has compass points, headings, and is multicolored.   We also discover why the sailor has a hole in his shoulder
as that is the center of the compass rose.   I really like this drawing.  There is bad line headed from the center point out at about the 135 degree point but other than that
it's nicely done.    Hip hip hooray for the Old Man here................

I'm sure this has been done before but on a slow, Saturday night it might be time to revisit awesome TV Show intro's.

My all time favorite TV show was the original Hawaii Five-O and it certainly had one bad ass intro:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AepyGm9Me6w

Looks like season 2 of Last Chance U is available on Netflix now.

Any other fans of Buddy, Brittany, Clint and the rest of the East Mississippi Community College Lions?

As exasperating as it was at times, I enjoyed Season 1

Douglas Dietrich has a show called Critical Omissions that runs on Revolution Radio every Tuesday night
at 10PM.   

I'm going to attempt to check it out.   Few guys aggravate me more that Dietrich but I'm gonna give it a go.   


They even have a chat -> http://freedomslips.com/newchat/live.htm

Ever wonder why the State of Michigan is divided into two peninsulas?   



The answer goes back to the Northwest Ordinance passed by the precursor of the U.S. Congress in 1787.   The law stated that the north-south boundary for three of the states would be 'an east and west line drawn through the southerly bend or extreme of Lake Michigan" which pretty much is modern day Gary, Indiana.  The intent was clear enough but trouble soon followed.

In 1802, Ohio began the process of attempting to become a state.   Reports were received from a fur trappers that Lake  Michigan extended further south than was previously thought.  Worried about the prospect of losing territory and some access to Lake Erie, the Ohio Constitutional convention 'bent' the northern border upwards to protect their interests. However, this was included as minor provision.  When the Congressional Committee reviewed Ohio's entrance into the United States the  matter was not dealt with, the Committee's report simply said the boundary depended on a 'fact not yet ascertained'.  In 1803, Jefferson signed an act of Congress that approved Ohio’s constitution which in essence made Ohio the 17th State in the Union [although techincally the Congress did not declare it such until 1953 when the oversight was noticed â€" the paperwork in 1953 made the induction retroactive to 1803].

In 1805,  the Territory of Michigan was formed, quite rightly using the language of the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 to define it’s southern border.  The Ohio legislature petitioned the US Congress on the matter but nothing was done and when the War of 1812 broke out there were more pressing matters to deal with.  It was not until 1816 when Indiana joined the Union as a State that a survey was ordered. Typically, the Congress put a former governor of Ohio in charge of the survey and lo and behold it came out in Ohio’s favor.

Michigan then commissioned it’s own survey. The results of which put the “Toledo Strip” into Michigan’s territory as was originally intended back in 1787. As such, the Territory of Michigan  began building roads, collecting taxes and what not in this piece of land.  While most of this 8 mile wide strip of land was farm land of not huge importance the section near Lake Erie was.  With the opening of the Erie Canal in 1825 what would become the Port of Toledo increased in economic importance greatly.

In 1833 the Territory of Michigan gained enough population to begin the statehood process.  However the enabling act was blocked in Congress by the Ohio delegation.  In 1835, Ohio then setup county governments throughout the “Toledo Strip”.  Enraged,  the young Governor of Michigan signed a law that made it a crime for anyone to carry out Ohio governmental actions in the disputed area â€" punishable by five years of hard labor.   The original “Michigan Militia” was then formed and sent into the “Toledo Strip” to enforce the law.  Former President John Quincy Adams sided with Michigan during the dispute and said: "Never in the course of my life have I known a controversy of which all the right was so clearly on one side and all the power so overwhelmingly on the other.

Ohio did indeed have power.   They quickly raised an even larger militia and sent it near the strip. In response Michigan occupied the City of Toledo and the Toledo War was on.  Then, as now, Ohio was swing state in Presidential elecetions and Michigan was still a Territory.  As such President Andrew Jackson was definitely on Ohio’s side.   He had nothing to gain politically by supporting Michigan’s claim â€" whether it was legally correct or not. 

A skirmish broke out on April 26th, 1835 in what is known as the Battle of Phillips Corners.   The Ohioans retreated but by this time there was almost out and out war.  Both sides allocated more monies towards increasing the size of their respective militia’s. Again Michigan petitioned for Statehood but this time Andy Jackson squashed it until the border issue was resolved.  Jackson then removed Michigan’s territorial governor with a more compliant individual â€" a guy named “Little Jack” Horner.

Horner, obviously, was loathed in Michigan and he was pelted with veggies upon his entry into the territorial capital.   Andrew Jackson then let it be known that he would approve Michigan’s statehood if the Toledo Strip was ceded. In compensation, Michigan would be given the Upper Peninsula. Michigan had no realistic choice but to accept.    On December 14th, 1836 the terms were officially accepted and the Toledo War was over.


On January 26th, 1837 Michigan officially became the 26th state in the union â€" without the Toledo Strip but with the U.P.  Even with the agreement in place there were still squabbles over the exact location of the border.  This was drag on for decades and decades.  In fact, it wasn’t until a 1973 Supreme Court decision in Michigan Vs. Ohio that the matter was put to rest once and for all.   

This is why Michigan has both a lower and upper peninsula and why there is still no love lost between Michigan and Ohio. 





P.S. Of course Michigan ended up having the last laugh in the long run.  I had the pleasure of living in the Upper Peninsula for five years as I attended college and it is a beautiful place.  Michigan picked up a future National Park and a National Lake Shore,  along with all the Copper, Iron Ore and Lumber resources in the U.P.   Ohio?  Well, they got to keep Toledo. 

U.P. of Michigan


Toledo

Guess someone in Net Ops checked out the Falkie thread.

A couple of years ago I signed up for the Film, Images & Historical Interpretation in the 20th Century: The Camera Never Lies class over on Coursera.   It was purported to cover "the topic of the use of Images, Film, and their use in historical interpretation in the 20th century. It is primarily provided for those who have a general interest in history that draws on photojournalism as primary evidence, and films based on historical events."

It seemed interesting and the courses are free on Coursera if you do not want a certificate so I signed on up.  The class was taught by a guy named Emmett Sullivan out of the University of London.  It was clear from the get go that he had not put in the work up front that was necessary.  While the topic was interesting the lectures were more like a Falkie haul video then anything - he just kind of winged it said whatever came to mind.  His conclusions seemed dubious and it was evident that the class was a royal goat screw.

Things got even more Falkie-like on the forum associated with the class.   The instructor obviously had never spent much time in online forums as he seemed oblivious to trolling and he would swallow the most outrageous statements made by the students hook, line and sinker.   After about two weeks into the class it was touch and go as to whether it would continue or not.  The instructor indicated that the schools Administration was looking on and were none to pleased. 

Then the instructors account got hacked and the forum entered a surreal state where you never knew who was who.   I was real busy with work and life and couldn't justify the time sink.   

I've noticed that the instructor must have persevered as there is a new section of Film, Images & Historical Interpretation in the 20th Century: The Camera Never Lies starting up in early March so I am going to give it another go.

I have really enjoyed a number of the episodes of Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Collossal Podcast!

Gottfried's voice and laugh is indeed horrid but he has had some wonderful guests from the entertainment world on.  A number of them are getting up there in years but have some great stories to tell.

A few of my favorite episodes are Rich Little, Hal Linden, Bob Einstein and Burt Ward

Looking at perhaps 8 to 12 inches.  Last time Raleigh got a little snow, the city didn't handle it well

Willy's interest in a red Pontiac Fiero lead to this find:

31,000 original miles.    $6,500   

https://www.carsforsale.com/vehicle/details/17289780

So any other interesting Used Cars out there?

View from inside a hotel in Gatlinburg, TN - looks horrible

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PsjGtbCupaM

Mrs. Walks and I visited this little ramshackle "Zoo" today.

They had a little bit of this and that, most of it was pretty standard fare - Racoons, Porcupines, Emus, snakes
and what not.  They also had some New Guinea Singing Dogs.  I had never heard of them before but
they fired up for us and gave us a neat chorus.   Sounded just like this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bt6-gygNcaw

Good to see the forum alive again!

Good to see the forum somewhat healthy again!

Looks like the former US Navy  HSV-2 Swift was zapped overnight by Houthi rebels in the narrow
Bab al-Mandab strait off of the coast of Yemen.  The Swift was hit with a Chinese  Yingji-82 anti-ship
missile - reports are mixed.  Some claim the vessel has sunk, some say it was damaged, some say no
sailors were hurt and others say 100 were killed on board.   The video below doesn't look good for the Swift.

The Swift was in US service from 2003 to 2013 and is/was now being used by the United Arab Emirates
and was supposedly was carrying medical supplies to Aden in Yemen.

Here is the video of the Swift being struck - plenty of Admiral Ackbar's after the missile hit pay dirt:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCWOAwGGQ7Q




The HSV-2 Swift in happier times:


Chinese  Yingji-82 Eagle Strike Anti-Ship Missile:

One of the other threads wandered off topic into this area and it seemed as if there was
enough interest to warrant a thread of its own.

Any K & B fans out there?



Found a few episodes here on hotrod.com
Hopefully there is no issue linking to 'em

Looks like Johnson has just thrown his hat in the ring.   Looks like he'll be up against John McAfee for the LP nomination.   
To me the third party presidential debates are the only fun part of the presidential election process.  I never miss 'em.

https://www.garyjohnson2016.com/

Anyone listening to the network right now?   

What the devil is going on with Solaris' show?  There is some dude talking about busting in Vietcong skulls over in Cambodia during the war and all kinds of things along those lines and she keeps going "uh huh.....   right......."

She is usually so new agey........    Wondering if her guest just went rogue on her and she doesn't know how to deal with it.