A landmark under assault

I saw an article on Yahoo about the sad state of the cruiser USS Olympia, moored in Philadelphia. For those of you not in the know, Olympia is an armored cruiser, built in 1892, and most known for being Admiral Dewey's flagship in the Pacific Squadron during the Spanish-American war of 1898. She was present at the Battle of Manila Bay, where the main body of the Spanish Pacific Fleet was destroyed, paving the way for the occupation of the Philippines and the American colonial 'empire'.

In addition, Olympia served in World War I. One of her final duties was bringing the body of the Unknown Soldier back to US soil in 1921 before her decommissioning in 1922. Since 1931, she has been preserved as a relic and museum ship. Olympia is the oldest steel-hulled warship still afloat-her closest contemporaries, the museum ships Mikasa in Japan and Avrora in Russia, are newer but still in that same turn-of-the-century era.

Olympia represents the period of rapid naval advancement from about 1890 to 1920, where sails were finally replaced by steam engines, iron hulls by steel plate, muzzle loading guns and ram bows by standard calibers of breech loaders, and firing over open sights by directed fire control. Electricity was used to run functions once powered by gangs of sailors. The newfangled 'wireless' would make control of individual ships by a central command possible and provide 'instant' communications. Olympia also sported the first mechanically powered water chiller (water fountain) used on a warship!

Since 1945, Olympia has been berthed in Philadelphia as a memorial vessel. She has not been drydocked for maintenance since then. Even a museum ship must enter drydock about every 20 years to have its hull checked, repaired where necessary, and cleaned and painted. The former and current management has not done this. It appears that they have only slapped paint on exposed surfaces over the years.

Now, Olympia has many places where sunlight can be seen through cracks and pitting in the hull plating, both topside and near the waterline. Years of painting isn't the same as regular scheduled maintenance. I think most groups don't realize how many man-hours are required to keep a ship, well, ship-shape. Modern ships can spend months in the dock for maintenance, and that's with an army of yard workers swarming over the ship. A group of volunteers who may not have all the mechanical skills, equipment, and time necessary to do maintenance probably just can't do the job or afford to have it done.

Olympia needs to be drydocked and probably have most of her bottom replaced-the 100-plus year old steel has about had it. The estimated cost of repairs is $10 million, and the non-profit currently operating the ship can't afford it. It seems to me that as the ship continues to corrode, it will become too dangerous for people to walk around on. Now the current managers are contemplating having Olympia towed to sea and sunk as an artificial reef. The funds simply aren't available from any source to refit the ship.

That seems a shame. This ship is a monument to the rise of American industrial and military power after the Civil War. It deserves to remain a museum ship. I understand that $10 million could take care of more than a few people in need. I also know that the government wastes a hell of a lot more than $10 million in the course of a fiscal year.

I think we need to examine what ships we should keep as museums. Obviously, there isn't enough revenue from any source to keep our fleet of museum ships (which is bigger than many of the world's battle fleets) in a good condition. We appear not to be able to afford them all.

There should be a list of criteria before approving transfer of Naval ships to non-profits, based on historical impact and/or importance to the naval arts. We don't need two dozen WWII-era fleet submarines and resources going to them when we have a unique example of an armored cruiser from the pre-Dreadnought era slowly rotting away.

I don't know what will happen to Olympia. But it seems to me like towing it to sea and disposing of it isn't quite right, either. It's like this country's declining and we can't afford to maintain the icons of our history any more. Maybe that's the case.

I reckon I'll be reading more in the future about the ship and its final disposition. If you want to see some pictures, go here.

yankeedog out.

Now hear this! Uniform of the day is...

...I'm not sure. I did read a bit in the local paper that the current style of plunging necklines is making it tough for some women to find appropriate clothing for a professional workplace.

The 'guy' part of me says 'So? What's the problem?'. But I do know that there are women who aren't entirely comfortable wearing something at the office that shows a lot of cleavage. The Better Half wears a lot of turtleneck blouses to work, so I know at least one woman who's bucking the fashion trend.

I know there are a few things that I am tired of seeing on people. I think I'll sound like an old man. So be it.

-I'm tired of seeing big, massive tattoos on everyone. Used to be, people got inked as a sign of their individuality. If everyone goes and gets tattooed, then where's the individuality? Aren't you just following the herd at that point? Used to be that women got a rather small and dainty tattoo somewhere. Now they get the stuff like a map of Pennsylvania, the Japanese characters for 'Fire Exit', or a schematic for a dishwasher done up someplace on them. I'm just not sure that's a good look. Veterans of either gender get a pass-tattoos are part of the culture.

-Ditto the people with earlobes stretched out with holes the size of dinner plates. I know-you're making a statement. That statement, however, is 'I look like a Ubangi or some dude from New Guinea'. What makes a person think this a) looks good, or b) will enhance their chances of getting that district manager job?

-The goth look. I've seen enough girls with hair dyed jet-black, clad in black, eyes lined in black, and a permanent pout. If you don't like your life now, just wait. It gets worse.

I'm sure there's more, but right now ideas aren't coming into my head. Like I said, perhaps I'm simply becoming old. So maybe design something with a little higher neckline for the ladies. And you kids get out of my yard!

yankeedog out.

Need some help, Blogger users...

Anybody know how to block a person from a Blogger blog?

I seem to have found some unwanted company here, who is good at spreading gossip and putting herself in everybody's affairs. She's local. I hate to make the blog 'friends only' or skip to another address, but I may not have much choice. If there's a simple way to block her, I'd prefer to go that route.

Need some technical genius, people. Failure is not an option. Any tips or tricks would be appreciated.

Thanks!

(EDIT-Looks like our guy Moko found a solution for me-but I'll entertain any and all solutions.)

yankeedog out.

My old pal Pix

The company upgraded my version of Pro/E to 4.0 on Monday. As I was looking through the program, I found my old pal Pix:

Pix and I go back a long way. Nowadays Pix gets put in 3D models of equipment to see how the ergonomics of said drawn equipment will work out. Good work if you can get it.

Like I said, Pix and me, we go back a few years, probably right around thirty years ago. I remember meeting Pix when he was a simple collection of four-bit sprites. I think one of the first things I saw Pix in was the game Berzerk:

Back then, Pix, like me, was young, simple, and not as rounded off. He and I spent a lot of time together back in the early '80's, until Pix caught his big break back in 1985, and he got work in the famous Dire Straits video 'Money for Nothing'.

That's Pix in the background, the skinny mover. They made him up a lot for the video-added a few more bits of resolution and a lot more color. The crew, I think, enhanced a lot of his features.

After Money For Nothing, Pix found himself with plenty of work. I remember next seeing Pix playing a batter in Accolade's Hard Ball, a game I played a lot of on the old C64.

Well, I was surprised at how Pix had changed! He got a bit rounder, and somehow seemed to move more smoothly in his environment. His whole world seemed to acquire more depth and detail as he got older. I suppose that happens to all of us, though.

Time marches on. A few years passed. I surprisingly ran across Pix playing a part in Activision's fun automotive shoot-'em-up and homeage to 1970s Detroit, Interstate '76.

That's Pix on the left. I could see he'd been working out-he'd gotten all angular and full of polygons. He could move and shoot and drive at least as well as I was able to. I told him it was good to see him, and gave him some crap about the tan he was sporting. He told me that color palettes and shape renderings had come a way since his Berzerk days. I could see that technology was good for him and I was glad to see him still working.

Life happens, and somehow I lost touch with Pix until this week. As you can see from the very first pic, Pix has matured-all animated and much more flexible then when he was younger. Must be yoga and increased computer capabilities.

Pix says his next big ambition is to be portrayed as a three-dimensional hologram. I told him I wouldn't be surprised if someday he managed to do that. I wished him the best right before I powered down for the night.

Always good to see your friends hit the big time.

yankeedog out.

I got your Weak in Sport right here...

With apologies to Doc Yobbo.

It's time for an overview/post-mortem on some local teams.

First, the Cubs. Currently 20 games under .500 and 26.1/2 games out of first place (though happy to see the Cardinals at 6 games out of first and fading. Go Reds!). This has been a very disappointing year and a very lackluster effort. It IS the the first year under new ownership, and I don't blame the Ricketts family for sitting back and seeing what they bought for damn near a billion dollars. I wasn't expecting much this season, and it looks like I'd better not expect much for the next few seasons. It's going to take a while to get this mess straightened out. The team needs...pretty much everything, and 'everything' ain't gonna get fixed this off-season. I'd say start with new talent evaluation and scouts. Start getting some decent players in development, and start running the place like a professional organization instead of an outdoor beer garden. Manager Lou Piniella announced his retirement after the season. He also has family health issues with his mother, so the Cubs told him to leave early. I don't blame them for that-kind of a class thing to do since the team is going nowhere. And I suspect they paid him the rest of his contract. Also class.

Across town is the White Sox, who started poorly, came on in June and July to lead the AL Central, and are currently fading, 4.1/2 games behind the Minnesota Twins (my second-favorite team. They play the game right). The Sox are possibly the slowest team in baseball, and their relief pitching is woeful (and injured). They need to outslug their opponents, because if the Sox have to go to their bullpen, they're screwed. The addition of  38-year-old prima donna, former steroid user, and occasional slugger Manny Ramirez I don't think will help them that much, unless Manny can develop a fast ball, sinker, and change-up and pitch the 7th, 8th, and 9th innings of games. Not likely. I think the Sox peaked about six weeks too early. I don't think they'll make the postseason either. They ARE in better shape than the Cubs, though.

Next is DA BEARS! The Bears are 0-3 in preseason games this year. Now, the preseason record doesn't count, but what one sees happening in preseason does. Last year, the offensive line couldn't protect Jay Cutler, the receivers couldn't run their routes, and the defense let the other team convert on way too many 3rd-down-and-long plays, continuing scoring drives. After an off-season of diligent work and no player draft to speak of, the offensive line can't protect Jay Cutler, the receivers can't run their routes, and the defense allows way too many 3rd down conversions. The song remains the same... Looks like the Bears might be doing good to go 4-12 this season at this rate. And I don't trust any of the Bears' management team to get the ship righted any time soon. Watch for QB Cutler to walk to the sidelines in about Week 3 carrying his decapitated head in his hands as some blitzing lineman or linebacker pushes aside the Paper Curtain that is the Bear offensive line. The good news is that a bad Bears team frees up my Sunday afternoons.

The Blackhawks came out of their Stanley Cup season having to dump players to get back under the salary cap. Several of the 'bit' players that became key players on the way to the Cup are gone. Surprisingly, Blackhawk management had to borrow from their other businesses to make salaries for the players. This in a season when the United Center was full most nights and the team sold an arseload of merchandise. I don't think hockey players are able to be paid baseball-type salaries. The season isn't as long for hockey (82 games vs 162 for baseball), and generally the hockey teams play in smaller venues. There isn't the opportunity to pull in the same dollars. More importantly, hockey doesn't have a TV contract with a major network here in the States (though I'm sure it does in Canada), and TV revenues are where the big dough comes from. The core of the team is still intact, though. The Hawks should be competitive, but the push for a second championship is going to be a lot harder this winter.

The good news for the readers here: probably less 'Chelsea Dagger'. Oh, what the hell...one more time for old times' sake!

The Bulls...could be alright this year. I'm not a big NBA fan, but getting a very competent Carlos Boozer to complement Derrick Rose is a nucleus to build around...finally. They probably aren't going to make anyone forget Jordan and Pippen anytime soon, but considering some of the players that have trod on the court at The House That Jordan Built, they should put up a decent season and give the fans some hope for the future.

Overall, not the brightest prognosis for the upcoming seasons of the local squads.

Last Sunday, the White Sox had a ceremony showing off the major championships of the Chicago teams: the Lombardi Trophy that the Bears won in '85 (Super Bowl XX), the 2010 Stanley Cup from the Hawks, the Championship Trophy of the 2005 White Sox, and the six trophies from the great 1990s Bulls teams. Hmm-one team missing from the lineup here. Oddly enough, given Chicago's generally miserable sports teams, Chicago is the only city in America to win championships in all four major sports over the last 25 years! Go figure.

yankeedog out.

Tiring experience...

...literally. I bought four new tires for the Brazen Chariot today. Actually, I bought three, since the store had a 'Buy Three, Get One Free' sale going on certain types. Not a bad deal.

I hate sitting at the tire store. I don't mind waiting for much else, but I hate waiting for tires to be installed. Do I envy those guys in NASCAR or F1 who go into the pit and 30 seconds later have new rubber all around their vehicle! Granted, those are mounted, balanced, and ready to go, but still...

You can only read the daily newspaper and that May 2008 People magazine they have in the waiting area, or inspect tread patterns on the display tires, so many times before you start to get really bored. I was reduced to finishing Ralph Peters' The War After Armageddon (Peters is a brilliant analyst, and knows all things military-rather a shame he's just not that compelling a writer of speculative fiction).

That 'rubber-and-mold-release-oil' smell, though, takes me back to my first real engineering job. It was the summer of 1984, and I had a job as an engineering assistant at a factory that made all kinds of rubber parts for the automotive and other various industries. Everything in that plant had that 'inside of a tire' scent. Molding rubber and related compounds is a hot, filthy, smelly, messy job, and if you can avoid working around the molding machines at a rubber manufacturing facility (minds out of the gutter, everyone-it wasn't the Durex plant), I recommend you do so.

Tonight, TBH's mom's church (Lutheran) had their annual corn roast, kind of a big ol' picnic, with burgers, hot dogs, and the featured roasted corn on the cob. I have to say that my patience with the elderly isn't what it should be. Her mom, bless her, is kind...but not always a big help with things. We go through a lot of the same phrases and rituals every time we go for events-I suppose most of you hear some of the same. If you don't, hang in there, you will.

Me: "Would you like-(me to get you something to drink, me to stop at this rest area, to stop here)?
Her: "We-ell...what were you planning to do?"

To which I usually say "Don't worry about we're going to do! Do...you...need...to...(whatever)!!!" I don't mind doing whatever, but we're not taking a vote where majority rules. Just tell me what to do.

Or we'll go to a buffet, she'll take a plateful, then realize she can't eat it all. "I don't think I can eat all of this. Could you eat some of this? I don't want to see it go to waste. I grew up during the Depression." Almost every time.

I didn't put it on your plate. So, no.

Her: "Could you read the menu for me?"
Me: "Where's your glasses?"
Her: "They don't help that much." or "I forgot them." Then I read the menu.
Her: "What are you going to have?"

Again, don't worry about everything else. I'm trying to get you taken care of.

Then we eat, and I hear "Is that all you're going to have?". Which is when I retort with "I thought you were a Swede. When'd you become a Jewish mother?"

When we go on a long trip, I get this: "I'm glad to be so well taken care of, and I don't have to think." Me: "Of course you have to think. No one should just shut their mind off!".

Actually, if I get to 91, I'll be saying the same things, if I'm not drooling down the front of my shirt. And when the memory fades, I reckon it is a struggle to have to get through the day. I don't find it all that infuriating because it's pretty much a ritual whenever we take her anywhere. I think she goes to seniors' events and trades notes with others there on how to get a dig in on the driver on a long trip!

She means well, and does as well as can be expected for her age. Most of her circle are either dead or in really sad shape. That I think would be depressing, especially since they were kind of the gregarious sort. She's always fairly upbeat and never complains about things, which puts her one up on yours truly!

But I digress rather extensively. The corn roast was good, and if anyone that dines regularly in the upscale establishments around the world can point to a better culinary delight than a grilled hamburger, I'd like to hear about it. It's getting to be church dinner season here (fall, into winter). You may not be a Christian. You may be an atheist-maybe a militant one. But I tell you this-you can some darn good eats at a country church, all the way from the roast pig to the dish to pass to the monster spread of home-baked desserts. OK-if you just can't bring yourself to set foot in God's house, maybe the VFW or the American Legion post public dinners are for you. Or look for the Izaak Walton League, Ducks Unlimited, or local gun club's 'wild game dinner', held at a building which has absolutely no visible roadkill in a ten mile radius around it. Just sayin'...

After the day and the week, I took a bit of time to do something relaxing for me.

(GEEK ALERT) This little beast is the familiar Constitution-class cruiser from Star Trek. They're minatures used in the wargame Star Fleet Battles, an old pencil-and-paper game with rules of similar size and complexity to the U.S. Tax Code. I don't care to play the game, but I've an idea for a vignette using these wee ships. They're fairly well done for their size (1/3788 (!) scale) and aftermarket decals are available for them. Putting waterslide decals the size of flyspecks on these ships is a challenge, but this one really is looking good for the addition of them.

These shots are blurry-the camera doesn't like focusing on something this small (I heard this very same thing when I auditioned for a porn movie-I get no respect), but you can probably make out windows and the registration stripes on the hull and the warp nacelles.

This ship is the USS Gallipoli (NCC-1752), the possibly less famous sister ship of the Enterprise. I named it Gallipoli in honor of most of my blog visitors. And the 'USS Australia' decal curled up and couldn't be salvaged (the letters are probably half a millimeter tall at this scale).

These little ships look good, and with decent decals can be made into fine little models.

That's my relaxation, working on stuff like this. I need more of that. Probably also need a life while I'm at it!

yankeedog out.

Images of Empires past...

Recently I came across an article with some photos of some of the more exotic locales of the Russian Empire, circa 1910. The photographer, Sergei Prokudin-Gorskii, used a series of color filters for his shots. The end result are some pictures that look like they could have been taken yesterday with a digital camera.

Some amazing pictures, which can be seen here.

The old Russian Empire was, and today's Federation is to an extent, an exotic mixture of Asian and European cultures.

The old European empires weren't formed for any altruistic reasons. Lands were conquered, natives subjugated, and resources harvested, all in the name of the Mother Country. In some ways, the period from 1600 to 1950 was a dark time for the less technologically-advanced societies that were overtaken by one nation or other, or passed around like cards as a result of wars between the Great Powers.

But in another way, it must have been a rather 'romantic' and interesting time for citizens of the established nations of Europe. How different it must have been for a citizen of the cools and damps of, say, Denmark, to have the fortune to travel to their possessions in the Virgin Islands of the Caribbean back in the 1800s, to experience the azure waters, green palms, and tropical vistas. What stories that citizen could tell to his fellows, back in those days before instant communication and knowledge, on a cold winter's night.

What a wealth of material anyone studying societies and cultures in the Universitet in St Petersburg back in the days of the Romanovs would have had, in the stew of peoples that formed the Russian Empire!

Perhaps the greatest empire in history was the British Empire, of course.

It's mind-boggling to think that at the turn of the last century, in those days of relatively slow (read leisurely) modes of transportation, a British citizen could literally go around the world and never leave the soil of Britain-never see a flag other than the Union Jack, never leave the protection of the scarlet jacketed Army and the ironclad protector of the seas, the Royal Navy. It isn't so astounding in these days of continent-spanning jets, but in the context of the day, the building of the Empire was an amazing achievement.

The things, places, and peoples that were part of the Empire....

 

The heights of Victoria Falls in East Africa...

...the great animal herds of the African savannahs in Kenya and South Africa...

...the remnants of the ancient empires in Egypt...

....the heights of the Himalayas in Darjeeling....

...the old cultures and natural wealth of India, which was in many ways the battery that kept the Empire running....

 

....the timber, furs, minerals, and wide-open spaces of the Dominion of Canada...

 

...the faraway tropical isles of the South Pacific...

 

...and the vast majesty of the Australian continent.

 

The hills and dales of the harsh Scottish Highlands...

 

....to the intrigues of the pivotal port of Aden, protector of the Suez Canal and gateway to India and the East...

 

...and the clear blue waters and trade winds of Antigua and the rest of the Caribbean.

An epic and wonderful trip it would have been, a Grand Tour of the British Empire around 1900. The stuff you'd see, the people you'd meet, the things you could do would probably fill a score of books. The places I showed were a mere fraction of the possessions that were shaded in red in the atlases of the day.

A bit of perhaps poetic waxing. Maybe it wouldn't have been that great to see. But I can't figure that it wouldn't.

yankeedog out.