OT Things to ponder

[warspite1]

ORIGINAL: Korvar

ORIGINAL: warspite1

Thank-you. I am relatively new to WWI and so this is proving to be a truly useful learning experience. Lots of work - but hopefully worth it!

I have not read it myself, but I have heard high praise for the book The Rules of the Game.

From what I've read about the book, it seems to give a thorough treatment of the cultural/institutional development of the Royal Navy from Trafalgar forward - so a lot of time in the book will in fact be spent away from Jutland, but when it does circle back you'll have a much greater understanding of the doctrinal framework the British commanders were operating within, and will thus understand them much better.

This makes sense - any 'Monday morning quarterbacking' of battle commanders has to take into account doctrinal considerations or else it is completely without context and thus null and void. I also agree with the one review that states any book which is kept in print by a US CNO is worth a look.

warspite1

Have finished Jutland the Unfinished Battle (seen from Jellicoe's point of view)

Am almost finished - penultimate chapter - Rules of the Game (seen from Beatty's point of view (sort of)

Will then start Skagerrak (seen from the German point of view)

So fair to say I am getting it from all angles [:)]

[Zorch]

Back to the earlier topic... http://www.popsci.com/10-funny-animals- ... aps#page-2

[geofflambert]

That's not felix domesticus is it? I can't think of anything else it could be, but then I have a coon cat that could be mistaken for a lynx.

[BBfanboy]

The markings are not very pronounced, but it reminds me of the Margay Cat...

[wdolson]

If you look at the link, the picture is a jaguarundi from Suriname. There are some funny pictures of wildlife on that page.

Bill

[Reg]

I've found my new Avatar...... [:D]

[Zorch]

ORIGINAL: wdolson

If you look at the link, the picture is a jaguarundi from Suriname. There are some funny pictures of wildlife on that page.

Bill

Indeed! Wonder if the animals think humans look funny?!

[geofflambert]

ORIGINAL: Reg


I've found my new Avatar...... [:D]

Seriously? This is going to be your avatar?

[geofflambert]

I'm not the only one questioning your judgement.

[Zorch]

ORIGINAL: geofflambert

I'm not the only one questioning your judgement.

Gorn, is he your long lost cousin?

[geofflambert]

Most of you probably think that the Smiley was invented in the last century. Not so. In San Augustin Archaeological Park in Columbia there are many, many megaliths estimated to have been created in the last millennium BCE to the first millennium CE.

Lady and gentlemen, I present for you the very first Smiley!

Edit: I incorrectly wrote "century" instead of "millennium" at first.

[geofflambert]

Looks kinda like Mr. Happy Tooth from an ancient dentist's office.

No one less than Leonardo Da Vinci based his "Mona Lisa" on this exact Smiley.

[geofflambert]

I suspect the real author was a time travelling Picasso.

[Zorch]

ORIGINAL: geofflambert

I suspect the real author was a time travelling Picasso.

Did Picasso invent Pacman? If so, why didn't he call it Picaman?

[geofflambert]

.

[geofflambert]

Now, Krall has given me a special assignment, and I knew someone in this forum would be able to help me. Do any of you know where they keep the nuclear wessels?

[Zorch]

ORIGINAL: geofflambert

Now, Krall has given me a special assignment, and I knew someone in this forum would be able to help me. Do any of you know where they keep the nuclear wessels?

I don't, but Commander Chekhov might. Remember this is a very primitive and paranoid culture.

[warspite1]

ORIGINAL: geofflambert

Now, Krall has given me a special assignment, and I knew someone in this forum would be able to help me. Do any of you know where they keep the nuclear wessels?

warspite1

Nuclear Wessels? Was he the lesser known younger brother of the famous South African cricketer Keppler?

[geofflambert]

ORIGINAL: geofflambert

Most of you probably think that the Smiley was invented in the last century. Not so. In San Augustin Archaeological Park in Columbia there are many, many megaliths estimated to have been created in the last millennium BCE to the first millennium CE.

Lady and gentlemen, I present for you the very first Smiley!

Edit: I incorrectly wrote "century" instead of "millennium" at first.

OK. I'm rather disappointed. I got no mileage at all from this. If any of you has ever seen a cuter little scamp than this please post an image so that we can all be better educated on this sort of thing.
I mentioned Picasso because if you gave him a charcoal pencil and a blank white piece of paper he could draw something in about one and a half seconds that would totally blow you away.

I am supposed to accept that this statue is one or two or even three thousand years old. Are you kidding me? This thing is beautiful beyond belief, especially because we have some idea how ancient it is.
Next I will be told that this was actually carved by some 50k years ago knuckledragger from the Neander Valley.

I'm sorry, I posted it because it's one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen. I know that may seem stupid to you, but seriously! Could you ever have imagined that this thing would have been produced in such an ancient age?

If you had stumbled into it while giving a tour you'd probably say it was some kind of joke like graffiti.

[geofflambert]

There is another matter which perhaps a forumite could help me with. I have great respect for the historian Barbara Tuchman. If you haven't read her The Guns of August it is imperative that you do. I am currently reading Stilwell and the American Experience in China, 1911 - 1945. I'm going to quote here a passage from it that puzzles me.

"He [Stilwell] reached Leavenworth for the school year of 1925-26. What Leavenworth taught was "solution of the problem" based on statement of mission, analysis of the enemy, choices of action, solution, decision and plan. In lectures, map problems and terrain exercises the course covered mobilization, movement of units, march, relief, supply, reconnaissance and security, delaying action, withdrawal, change of direction, pursuit and all those maneuvers which man has indefatigably devised to make a science out of fighting. The course was exacting and the pressure to excel so great as to cause a series of suicides in the 1920's that later led to the closing of the school."

End of passage.

This school is the one that W.T. Sherman established in eighteen seventy something or other. I have been unable to confirm that the school was ever closed for even one semester and is in fact still in operation today. Is there an alum present or anyone who knows what she was talking about?