The Sudden Curve

The Prisoner !!! Streaming from AMC

Posted by Tom Novak - who loves this ....

Turtle -- the First Submarine

Turtle was the world's first submarine used in battle. It was invented in Connecticut in 1775 by American Patriot David Bushnell as a means of attaching explosive charges to ships in a harbor. Governor Trumbull recommended the inventor to George Washington and although the commander in chief had doubts he provided funds and support for developing and testing the machine. For many people this machine was the key to help defeat the British and win the war. The Turtle was its given name though most people think it is shaped like a walnut not a Turtle.

The submarine,designed as a naval weapon,was meant to drill into a ship's hull and plant a keg containing 130 pounds of gunpowder, which would be detonated by a time fuse. Much testing was done by the inventor's brother, Ezra Bushnell, in the waters of the Connecticut River.

Named for its shape, Turtle resembled a large clam as much as a turtle; it was about 8 feet long (according to original specs), 6 feet (1.8 m) tall, and about 3 feet (0.9 m) wide, consisting of two wooden shells covered with tar and reinforced with steel bands. It submerged by allowing water into a bilge tank at the bottom of the vessel and ascended by pushing water out through a hand pump, similarly to the use of spear sack tanks in modern submarines, and was propelled vertically and horizontally by hand-cranked propellers, the first recorded use of the screw propeller for ships. It also had two hundred pounds of lead which could be released in a moment to increase buoyancy. It was manned and operated by one person. It contained enough air for about thirty minutes and had a speed in calm water of about three miles per hour.

Six small pieces of thick glass in the top were the only source of natural light. After Bushnell pondered the problem of lighting the inside of the ship and after learning that using a candle would hasten the use of the limited oxygen supply of the air inside, he solicited the help of Benjamin Franklin who cleverly hit upon the idea of using bioluminescent foxfire to provide illumination for the compass and depth meter. The light given by the material was said to be sufficient at night, though likely dimmer than expected, because the ship was cooled by the surrounding sea water and the metabolic rate of poikilothermic, heterotrophic organisms is temperature-dependent.

On the night of September 7, 1776,  Turtle, under the guidance of army volunteer Sergeant Ezra Lee, attacked Admiral Howe's flagship HMS Eagle, which was moored off what is today called Governors Island, which is due south of Manhattan. A common misconception was that Lee failed because he could not manage to bore through the copper-sheeted hull. In practice, it has been shown that the thin copper would not have presented any problem to the drill. A more likely scenario is Lee's unfamiliarity with the vessel made him unable to keep the Turtle stable enough to work the drill against the Eagle's Hull. When he attempted another spot in the hull, he was unable to stay beneath the ship, and eventually abandoned the attempt. Governors Island is off the southern vertex of Manhattan, the place where the Hudson River and the East River merge. The currents at this point would be strong and complex. The Turtle would only be able to attack ships moored here during the short period of time when the incoming tide balanced the river currents. It is possible that during the attack the tide turned and Lee was unable to compensate. He released the keg of gunpowder when British soldiers or sailors in row boats tried to pursue him. The British, suspecting a trick, gave up the pursuit.

In 1777, Lee used floating mines in an attempt to destroy the British frigate HMS Cerberus, anchored in Niantic Bay. The explosion was said to have killed several sailors but did not do much major damage to the ship.

The submarine was sunk by the British as it sat on its tender vessel, in Fort Lee, New Jersey. Years later in a letter to Thomas Jefferson, Bushnell reported he had salvaged the Turtle but later destroyed it.

No British records of any attacks by the submarine or any reports of explosions on the night of the supposed attack on HMS Eagle exist (although records of the floating mines do). The only British records are of an intercepted letter of a supposed description of the boat which was not taken seriously.

The problems of achieving neutral buoyancy would have rendered the vertical propeller useless. The route the boat would have had to take to attack HMS Eagle was slightly across the tidal stream which would in all probability have resulted in Ezra Lee becoming exhausted.

In the face of these and other problems it has been suggested that the entire story was fabricated originally as disinformation and later a morale boosting propaganda, and that if Ezra Lee did carry out an attack it was in a covered rowing boat rather than the Turtle.

A replica is on display at the Royal navy submarine museum

In 1976, a recreation was designed by Joseph Leary and constructed by Fred Frese as a Bicentennial project. It was christened by Connecticut's governor, Ella Grasso, and later tested in the Connecticut River. It is owned by the Connecticut River Museum and is currently on loan to Old Saybrook High School in Old Saybrook, Connecticut, where students under the direction of Fred Frese are currently building a working recreation of that model.

On August 3, 2007 three men were stopped by police while piloting and escorting a replica of the Turtle within 200 feet of the Queen Mary 2 without authorization at New York City's Red Hook Brooklyn cruise ship terminal. The replica was created by New York artist Philip "Duke" Riley and two men from Rhode Island, one of whom claimed to be a descendant of David Bushnell. The coast guard issued a citation for having an unsafe vessel.

Posted by Bob Wallace, who sez, now this is history.

Phineas Gage

When I was a kid the only magazine my father had a subscription to was True magazine, which was a men's magazine that went out of business around '74, I think.

I only remember two stories from it: one in which some guy shot a charging gizzly two or three times with his .45 and killed it about two feet from him, and the other was about Phineas Gage,

Gage I remember vividly. He was the train worker tamping gunpowder in a hole when a blast sent his tamping iron through his skull, giving him a partial lobotomy,

He got up a few minutes later and started talking and walking around, even though some of his brains were leaking out of his head.

He lived another 11 years, changed to some degree by his injury...and injury that should have instantly killed him,

Posted by Bob Wallace, who is still cringing to this day.

My Kind of Guy

Posted by Bob 'Quick Draw' Wallace

This is What is Meant by 'Gone Viral"

Posted by Bob Wallace, who has never seen anyting like this.

Click on This

Click here

Posted by Bob Wallace, who's not going to say anything except if you don't click on it you will regret it for the rest of your life

TV Series of the Sixties

Wow - I watched everyone of these shows as a kid and I want to watch them all over again ::

posted by Tom Novak who says, 3 Channels and always something worth watching on ...

Star Trek 11 the Awesome Movie Trailer with Original Series Mashup

... and here is the new version mashed up with the original cast and crew ::

posted by Tom Novak - who can't wait to see this little old Retro Sci Fi film.

Snicker Snicker Snort Snort

Manbabies - watch more funny videos

Posted by Bob Wallace, who sez, this is funny stuff.

My Kind of Girl

Two illegal aliens, Raphael Resindez, 23, and Enrico Garza, 26, probably believed they would easily overpower home -alone 11 year old Patricia Harrington after her father had left their two-story home .

It seems the two crooks never learned two things: they were in Montana and Patricia had been a clay shooting champion since she was nine.

Patricia was in her upstairs room when the two men broke through the front door of the house. She quickly ran to her father's room and grabbed his 12 gauge Mossberg 500 shotgun.

Resindez was the first to get up to the second floor only to be the first to catch a near point blank blast of buckshot from the 11-year-old's knee crouch aim. He suffered fatal wounds to his abdomen and genitals.

When Garza ran to the foot of the stairs, he took a blast to the left shoulder and staggered out into the street where he bled to death before medical help could arrive.

It was found out later that Resindez was armed with a stolen 45 caliber handgun he took from another home invasion robbery.

Posted by Bob Wallace, who sez, if she was my daughter, I'd put my arm around her and say, "Damn, I am so proud of you!" and really really mean it!

Hudson River Airplane Landing Animation

Posted by Bob Wallace, who sez, now this is what America is about,,,no thanks to the government.

Bruce Campbell is great in "My Name is Bruce" ~ on dvd

What's the best movie of 2008? Forget all those stupid lists and simpering award shows... the hands down winner is My Name is Bruce!

What does a teen age horror fanboy do when his town is being terrorized by the Chinese Demon-God he unwittingly unreashed upon it during a graveyard romp? He kidnaps boozey, bitter, B-movie actor Bruce Campbell to fight the thing - of course. What else would you do?

Campbell, emerging from the trunk of the car he'd been locked in and hearing the story told him by the yocals, thinks the whole thing is a cruelly, elaborate birthday prank - that is, until he's confronted with the too-real monster.

Directed by Bruce Campbell and filmed on location in Oregon, I think My Name is Bruce is even better than Bubba Hotep. And that is saying alot. Heck, it's even available on netflix already.

posted by Tom Novak who doesn't want to ruin it by giving away any more good lines ...

Shenendoah

I had ":Gangs of New York" next to my Netflix queue but replaced it with the 1965 James Stewart film, "Shenandoah."

I have only seen "Shenandoah" once on TV, and that is not accident.

There is a part in the film where a Confederate conscription gang comes to take his sons and he tells them, "They are my sons," even though he is himself a Southerner.

The is not pro-North or pro-South, not even anti-war, just anti-State.

Posted by Bob Wallace, who can play "Shenandoah" on the harmonica.

The Shelby Cobra 427

Another car I wouldn't mind having is the Shelby Cobra with the 427 V-8.

Of course this one would have to be a kit, too, since orginals sell for about $500,000.

I've only seen one real one, on display at an airport. It was impressive.

I'd put a small engine in mine, probably a four-cylinder. A 427 V-8 would get in the single digits when it came to gas mileage.

Posted by Bob Wallace, who has to get a plastic model of this one, along with a pony and a plastic rocket, thank you Buddha.

The Classic Hot Rod

The reason I got the plastic model of the Ford 1932 Deuce Coupe is that it is the classic hot rod of all time,

There are kits out there you can buy, but they cost $13,000. Then you put them together.

Too bad they don't cost less. I'd get one, even though it would take me two years to put it together. It'd be worth it.

For now, though, I'll have to settle for the plastic model.

Posted by Bob Wallace, who sez,  even the Beach Boys sang about a little Deuce Coupe.

Night of the Comet ~ on dvd

This is one of the movies that you, the TSC legion of Zombie Doom simply have to own, and I don't want to hear any mumbly "braaaaiinns" arguments out you either.  The burden of civilization is upon us, so prepare and get Thom Eberhart's brilliant masterpiece: Night of the Comet. The thing has the best ending ever ... and Catherine Mary Stewart ...  Woooba Wooo!

posted by Tom Novak who deep down is a Teenage Mutant Horror Comet Zombie.

My new CON shirt

posted by Tom Novak who is a bricklayer not a doctor and was sporting this very t-shirt over the weekend at Chattacon 34. Stylish huh?.

Mad Magazine

I haven't thought about Mad magazine in years, but read a few days ago it was going from monthly to quarterly, which means their subscriptions are not what they should be.

I had a subscription as a kid and enjoyed it thoroughly. Since a year's subscription is only $19.95, I signed up. I'm sure they can use it.

Posted by Bob Wallace, who is mad! I tell you! Mad!

George, George, George of the Jungle

Cartoons reached their peak in the '60s and ya'll know it.

Posted by Bob Wallace, who is friend to you and me!

Just realized that it was (Bill Haley and) THE COMETS

Of course - Comets!

posted by Tom Novak, who is smackin' hisself upside the sputnik