One of my favorite genres of fiction is the sea story. Especially the stories of sailing ships in the 17th and 18th centuries that have become more and more popular these days to the point that they make multi-million dollar movies about them. Great authors like C.S. Forrester and Patrick O'Brian write rousing tales of adventure and derring do that are great page turners. In particular I enjoy the work of Douglas Reeman who writes under the pen name of Alexander Kent and has a wonderful series of books called the "Bolithio" series. It traces the career of a British naval officer from a lowly midshipman to becoming an admiral. It basically cribs from Admiral Nelsons career although Nelson makes a few brief cameo spots and it is a lot of fun and highly recommended series for youse guys to read.
Now there are a lot of conventions in these types of books. The cruel Captain Bligh types who have their men whipped at the slightest notice. The solid yeoman who are pressed into service but become loyal and self-sacrificing members of the crew. They young impressionable midshipman who idolize the hero and grow up to be captains themselves. And one of the most common conventions is the "False Flag."
Now the false flag is when an enemy ship sails up to you with your country's flag displayed and then at the last minute changes it to the enemy and starts lobbing cannon balls at you. Now you can't tell which ship is which by the designs or types of ship because they were constantly getting captured as prizes and incorporated into the other nations navy. So it can be a surprise when you think someone is something they are not. You always have to be ready for that. Or they can blow you out of the water.
I hate false flag operations.
The ones I hate in particular are the people who claim to be something they are not to get some reflected glory off of a particular profession or life experience. The guy in the bar who pretends to be a fireman after 911 to pick up girls. The dude who pretends to be a producer or director to hit on people. The blogger who pretends to be a fashionista who will promote you but really only wants free stuff. And most of all the lowlife who pretends to have served in the armed forces as a vet.
Back in the day I used to hang out in the Quiet Man and the owner Eddie loved to pretend he was a former Green Beret who had injured his hip parachuting into Vietnam. When in fact he was an ex-cop who got hit by a taxicab on 42nd St. He would tell these long involved bullshit stories about his experiences and you would listen and then go "But Eddie that was the plot of "China Beach" last night." It got really tiresome and after a while you got tired of arguing and when he started his bullshit you would just drink up and go somewhere else.
Recently I was in a bistro and someone was pulling a false flag operation where they pretended to be a Mom of a service member. I called them on it and pointed out the many inconsistencies and lies in a very pointed manner. Nothing gets me more pissed off than someone who tries to use the military to pretend that they are vets or that they have family members serving. Time and again we have people claiming to be something they are not to get their insane views some credibility in some insane way. It was total and complete bullshit and I jumped on it with both feet.
But then a crazy thing happened. The bartender threw me out without really knowing or understanding what was happening. Now they were either lazy or stupid. I am betting on lazy as this bartender is famous for being lazy. You know that type. Who think you came to the bar because of them and not because of the other people in the bar. So the bartender went on a rampage and threw me out of the bar. Now this is a person who leaves dirty glasses on the bar and cigarettes on the floor and crap and debris and just never cleans up the mess. But now all of a sudden they want to set up what the customers can talk about. How about that?
So now you get faced with a decision. Do you go back to the bar where this kind of shit is happening? Or do you drink up and take your business elsewhere? I kept going to the Quiet Man because it was on the corner of my office but that is not the case here. So maybe it is time to just drink up and go somewhere else. Many of the regulars at this joint have already done that. In fact when I see them they ask me why I still go there. And you know I am starting to wonder.
You see I never sail under a false flag.
44 comments:
I thought this was going to be about the Niña.
You see I never sail under a false flag.
Me neither. But I do like to get close enough to enemy to see the whites of their eyes.
I knew that J-hole would be a problem since day one. "It" flies under the Jolly Roger.
J is not really the problem. People like him show up now and again. I like to give everyone a chance. But once they prove over and over again what they are then there is no excuse to allow them to do what they do.
If you do you are either lazy or stupid.
Too lazy to do cleanup work or too stupid to understand what he is doing to you and your commenters.
He had enough rope.
Now he gets the full Russell Armstrong.
I guess things spun out of control after I left!
The nice thing about your own place is that nobody can throw you out of it.
Trooper, You showed restraint...J has issues that aren't compatible to a civil interaction w/ other people.
Now he gets the full Russell Armstrong.
I had to google that name and I should be ashamed that I forgot his sad story and name so quickly after you stuck up for him the way you did.
The thing is that I get distracted whenever I hear the name "Russell" in a name. I can only think of one thing, thanks to you: Cross my heart.
I rustled up some cheesecake for you: link
had to google that name and I should be ashamed that I forgot his sad story
The MamaM had to google it up too. That followed a check on the Pinta--which means the painted or spotted one. Thoughts about hanging from the yardarm then led to this fine story from Time 1950...
Spruce from a new overhaul, the mighty U.S.S. Missouri—the only active battleship in the U.S. Navy—steamed out of Norfolk last week headed for Caribbean maneuvers. For lean, strong-jawed Captain W. D. Brown, it was the first trip since he took command last December. Just past Old Point Comfort, the Mighty Mo swung to the north of the familiar channel to run a new acoustic range. The Mighty Mo never swung back. With the sickening sensation that only a sailor can know, Captain Brown felt his ship touch bottom. Slowly, majestically, the 57,600 tons of the Mighty Mo slid on and on, and then stopped, her waterline six feet out of water, her bottom resting stolidly on the mud.
The Navy wore an air of defiant calm.. "It's not serious but it's awfully inconvenient," said a spokesman. They sent out some tugs and pulled. Nothing happened. They dug a trench around her, dredged a channel through 830 yards of shoals back to the channel. They pumped off all her oil, blasted tunnels under her with high-pressure hoses, got more tugs. Several hundred bluejackets raced from the port side to the starboard side and back, sallying ship in an effort to free her ample bottom from the sucking mud. Nothing happened.
The Navy sweated on, under a rain of callous suggestions from the Army and Air Force. Old hands wondered aloud how the Missouri had strayed nearly half a mile from the channel, and a board of inquiry was named to find out. Experts, reporters, and the merely curious pointed and peered at her exposed underbody. At week's end the Navy gave up, announced dejectedly that they would try again at the next spring tide in February. Every night, for all to see, two red lights hung at the Missouri's yardarm. They indicated that the ship was aground, as humiliating for a ship's captain as "kick me" chalked on the seat of a small boy's pants.
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,856477,00.html#ixzz1aQQLO6Jz
Memorable High Seas adventures via Cheech and Chong.
Great story about the 'Mo MamaM.
Richard Henry Dana wrote the following in Two Years Before the Mast:
The CALIFORNIA was to windward of us, and had every advantage; yet, while the breeze was stiff we held our own. As soon as it began to slacken she ranged a little ahead, and the order was given to loose the royals. In an instant the gaskets were off and the bunt dropped. "Sheet home the fore-royal!"–"Weather sheet's home!"–"Lee sheet's home!"–"Hoist away, sir!" is bawled from aloft. "Overhaul your clew-lines!" shouts the mate. "Aye-aye, sir, all clear!"–"Taut leech! belay! Well the lee brace; haul taut to windward!" and the royals are set.
Mark Twain said this about that passage (and more that preceded it):
What would the captain of any sailing-vessel of our time say to that? He would say, "The man that wrote that didn't learn his trade out of a book, he has BEEN there!"
Shows up a great problem with modern English as She is Blogged (as well as writing in any language and period): the great prevalence of Bullshit. That's one of the things that made Mark Twain great: No Bullshit.
Trolls are the ultimate purveyors of bullshit. That's why I hate them. One of the most bullshitless blogs I know is Flight Level 390, a very occasional diary of an airline pilot. He's been at it as long, and has at least as many readers as Althouse. And he sports a very active comments section as well.
But because it is a bullshit-free-zone, he's always moderated his comments. Allows a full discussion, and, despite a busy schedule, always quickly approves (or not) the comments. (He's NOT supposed to be doing that from the Left Seat of an A319, aka "the Electric Jet" or "Fi-Fi.") He also eventually answers most of the comments (also, I hope, not from the Left Seat).
Great blog, wonderful writing, gripping subject matter, first-rate comments.
They're moderated. A little extra work. Readers love him. No trolls. Problem solved.
Sorry to step on Mama's history of running aground with my nautical (and aeronautical), but sincere, blogging advice.
I have my own true sea stories, one of running aground, the other of success in the Navy.
When I met my wife, she was a depressed grad student at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. She was getting an advanced degree in International Law. I'll spare you the details of both the degree and International Law, but, as you might imagine, Law of any kind can be a depressing subject, peopled as it is with lawyers.
The Navy always had officers getting advanced degrees at Fletcher. This sort of thing seems to follow an old tradition, based on the need for line officers to know something of the Law of the Sea. Of course, things are more complex these days, and we now call it "International Law." My future wife had became friendly with an intelligent and personable Naval Captain and his wife and young family. When I met him, he had finished his PhD, and was shortly off to Maine to take command a newly-minted frigate and bring her back to Norfolk.
All went well until his ship, like the Big Mo, ran aground. This, despite his advanced degree, spelled the end of his Naval career. The Navy is old-fashioned that way. They still expect their officers to be able to sail ships. Other Services have hordes of officers at the Pentagon and elsewhere who sit at desks performing as bureaucrats and occasionally thinking higher thoughts. The Navy, of course, has a large bureaucracy that also sometimes thinks higher thoughts, but the officers, no matter how high their reasoning, must also do some of it close to the water.
My wife's friend had proven his incompetence to serve the Navy in a practical way, no matter how highfalutin his theoretical education. But he moved seamlessly to a position with some institute or other in Washington, filled with intellectuals, including former officers, few of whom could fly airplanes, sail ships or shoot straight. From what I understand, he has done extremely well sticking to his desk and never going to sea, but, not having polished enough doorknobs as a lad, he will never, alas, rule the Queen's Navy.
The other officer married a woman we've known for some years. Unlike our Annapolis-trained friend, this one enlisted as an ordinary sailor straight from high school. He worked his way up the ranks by dint of incredible effort. When we met him, he held the rank of Commander, and was in charge of a task force in the Pacific. He apparently is a brilliant Operations guy and a real leader of men (and some women these days). He was slated to go back to Washington for a couple of years to design training materials, and will, if he hasn't already, retire with the rank of Rear Admiral.
Both of these gentlemen have succeeded, each in their own way. I don't know if these stories ought to be taken allegorically, as is the tendency here, but I believe there is at least some worthwhile moral, whatever you think it might be.
That should be, "each in HIS own way."
"Their" is the ungrammatical and lazy default these days. Sorry.
Tim,
Flightlevel390 is one of the webs outstanding blogs. I check in religiously every few days.
The moderated comments however, stink for the most part. 99% are like:
"Oooh Captain, you made my day.
~DeAnn. Dave has too many groupies.
Although he occasionally allows the conversation to wade into interesting areas like AF447, Dave keeps it controlled with minimal followup or addtional comments allowed after a week or so.
But that's the way he runs it, and it works for his site. I will stay for his posts, which are magnificent even for those who aren't fly junkies. I just skip through the groupie comment section.
Partly because of this, I make it a point never to compliment Trooper even when he posts a gem (and he regularly does, but others can point that out). It's annoying to have to wade through complimentary comments, and its also bad for Troop as he already has a tendency to let flattery go to his head.
About the jtroll, his arc long ago hit the ground and all that comes out now is repetitive gibberish. Ignoring it is better than moderating it or banning it because lack of attention will be the only way it will go away.
You are not welcome here J. Your posts will be deleted.
Please post your insightful comments over at Althouse as she values your viewpoint much more than mine.
Note to regular commenters.
J's posts will always be deleted. It just might take a little while for me to get to them so if you reply to his nonsense your post might not make much sense after I delete. But it is of course up to you.
Ooh, ooh. Off topic, but speaking of 99%:
The OccupyNewYork protesters (from todays paper) are "fighting for the 99 percent, or the vast majority of Americans who do not fall into the wealthiest 1 percent of the population".
As one with a science background, I too can get worked up (in a tautological sense) about fighting for something so axiomatic. In solidarity with their cause, I am sending them a pie (chart).
Waddaya mean I let the praise go to my head?
I barely get a good job fella now and again.
Jeeeez.
...if you reply to his nonsense your post might not make much sense after I delete. But it is of course up to you.
I don't mind looking like a guy talking to himself. My wife says the same thing about me.
My dad has listened to all the O'Briens, I think. I'll have to look into Forrester and Kent for him.
I love the movie Master and Commander...you know who is perfect in it :)
I love the movie Master and Commander...you know who is perfect in it :)
Not sure, deborah. Maybe you could rustle up a photo. ;-)
john,
I agree there is too much, "Tell us again how wonderful you are, Captain Dave" over at FL390, but I've run into some pretty good and insightful comments, despite Bev posting what amounts to the same comment every time. And Capt. Dave does approve them pretty quickly. I think it's just the nature of the blog and its subject matter that colors the comment section.
It might slow things down here if Trooper went to moderated comments. But I don't think it would alter the basic flow if he did it quickly enough.
IMHO, "J" is not going to go away any time soon. Ignoring him will not discourage him. I think it's as much or more work to remove him ex post facto as nip him in the bud.
This is based on my Unified Troll Theory, developed over a long time observing trolls on Althouse. The short of it is that there is a person or group in Southern California who have been obsessed with Althouse since almost the beginning. Almost all of Althouse's serious trolls come from this one source. He or they seem to be serious lefties (let's say Marxists, from their M.O.), who seem intent on disrupting any community that might develop around a "right-wing" figure like Althouse.
They have not succeeded, because the Althouse commentariat is too large, and their efforts are overwhelmed.
Trooper, OTOH, presents a more inviting target. If they can't drive people from Althouse, they might have more luck disrupting a community developing around what has been essentially an annex of the Althouse blog.
If they're doing this for political reasons, it's really stupid, as Trooper welcomes all comers. It just seems to be an effort at opportunistic content enforcement on a site perceived as too conservative.
However, there is a deeper and more insidious wrinkle, again, IMHO, that argues for comment moderation. J continually insults certain ethnic and religious groups, notably the Jews and Mormons. This is really odd from someone who is supposedly a "progressive." What he is doing is planting "hate speech," so that complaint may be made later to Google. I think something like this, along with an insider at Google, was responsible for Althouse's late troubles with Blogger.
Trooper may remove J's hateful postings, but they remain on Google's servers. The argument may be made that, although they were removed, they were up long enough to constitute tolerance of "hate speech." Plus, they're still on the servers, proving what a bigot attracted and allowed such things in the first place.
Poof! Goodbye, Trooper.
I may be overly paranoid, but I think the only way to avoid the taint of being someday labeled a "hate speech" blog is to keep the bad comments outside the gate to start with.
It's Trooper's blog, but, as with the EBL, that's my $.02 as to why I favor moderation in all things, including, sadly, blog comments.
oops
http://celebritywonder.ugo.com
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Interesting theory on a troll group angling for Troop's site deletion, as it's exactly what happened to Althouse.
But as someone said a while back, I think on Althouse, it seems to be personal toward Troop (considering his site is non-political).
I appreciate your thoughts Tim but I have reported J to Blogger and Google and I hope I have got out in front of this.
Of course if they decide to destoy me as they have done to others than there is little I can do.
I don't think my audience is big enough for them to continue to waste time on me. I will simpley delete him as fast as I can. Hopefully that will be enough.
You should definitely get the Alexander Kent books. I doubt that they are on tape though. They are straight genre fiction without the literary patina of O'Briens work.
Thus much more enjoyable in my perspective.
One of the things that really impressed me about M and C was how realistic the ship was; the close quarters in the opening scene, the hammocks, etc. I didn't realize.
I definately think he will like them. Especially the earlier ones. Set during the American Revolution.
Thanks, Troop, I'll look into them.
Douglass Reeman (Alexander Kents real name) also wrote some naval fiction based in WW2 which is also very good.
He might like that as well.
Glad you're out in front of the troll, Troop. Sounds like you've done all you can w/o moderation, which, while I recommend it, is definitely no fun. I guess I'm just a "take your castor oil" kind of guy.
For those who haven't read him, I've recently gotten Richard Henry Dana's Two Years Before the Mast for my Kindle, and I definitely recommend it. I read it in HS, but all these years later, and with the hindsight of things like M & C, for example, it's great to read again. Well-written by someone who, as Mark Twain said, was actually there. It's also fascinating for the early history of California.
One of the things that really impressed me about M and C was how realistic the ship was; the close quarters in the opening scene, the hammocks, etc. I didn't realize.
The HMS Surprise is docked at the San Diego harbor. It was built for the film and has lots of hidden things like a diesel motor and electricity, but they're all well hidden.
@deborah: I just reread my own link and realized that the HMS Surprise was much older than the film. I must have gotten it confused with the Titanic replica that James Cameron had built down in Mexico.
It's annoying to have to wade through complimentary comments, and its also bad for Troop as he already has a tendency to let flattery go to his head.
Depends on which head...one seems more level and thoughtful than the other, but the considerations of both are what make this blog unique.
With regards to complimentary comments and trolls, anyone saying the same thing over and over, the same way, with the same words can get annoying, but in MamaM's opinion there has only been one who has gone over the edge to become destructive and that one is being effectively handled with the polite but firm broken record technique and the reinforcing strong arm of removal.
Not clear what more moderation would accomplish. One of the appeals of the TY blog is the fact that it is an open forum, more neighborhood bar than country or gentleman's club. Enough regulars to keep it hopping, an open space or two at the bar, and some tables for Lay-dees next to the window. Knowing that TY is open to walk-ins and reads most of the comments himself is enough moderation for MamaM.
Nice sketch of the TY ambiance, MamaM.
Hey, I found some of the Kent books on Audible.com, but not in my dad's library system. The big surprise was that the narrator was my favorite narrator for the PD James novels I mentioned a while back...Michael Jayston.
Chick, I did not know there was a Titanic replica in Mexico...at a different scale?
I am not surprised that they had a good narrator as they are great books.
"To Glory We Steer" and "Command A Kings Ship" are my paticular favorites.
Your Dad will enjoy all of them.
:)
You can satisfy both your Sci-Fi and "Wooden Ships and Iron Men" desires with Webber's "Off Armageddon Reef" and subsequent novels of the "Safehold" series.
1. Is Mitochondri-Allie another incarnation of Apfelkuchen, or is it a total coincidence that M-A showed up right after Apfelkuchen fled, and that both of these hatred-spewing harpies hide behind the patriotism of a liberal daughter they claim is serving in Afghanistan?
2. How many different names and accounts do Apfelkuchen / Mitochondri-Allie courageously use to "take on" the other posters?
Two simple, direct questions that can be taken care of with two simple, direct answers: a yes/no, and a number. No ranting, raving, or dissembling required.
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