Williams was trained in demolitions, which meant he was trained to use explosives as well as flamethrowers, and he used both during the fight on Iwo Jima.
The tanks had trouble opening up a lane for the infantry through the
black volcanic sand that sloped steeply up the beach from the
waterline. The biggest problem was the many steel-reinforced “pillbox”
bunkers protecting the Japanese airfields.
“Bazookas and that sort of thing had no effect on them, because they
were so thick and well built,” Williams said in a 2017 interview. “The
only way to actually eliminate the enemy inside those pillboxes was by
flamethrower.”
The battle saw heavier than usual casualties. Williams had initially
been one of several demolition sergeants, but by Feb. 23, 1945, he was
the only one left. So, he bravely volunteered to go forward as the
last flamethrower to try to quell the devastating machine-gun fire
from the pillboxes.
In four hours, with only four riflemen to protect him, Williams
managed to wipe out seven pillboxes. He repeatedly prepared explosives
in a safe area, struggled back to where the enemy was, and then set
off the charges.
One time, he jumped onto one of the pillboxes from the side and shoved
the nozzle of his 70-pound flamethrower into an air vent pipe and
fired, killing everyone inside. Another time, he charged
bayonet-wielding enemies and killed them with one burst of flame.
His actions opened the way for the Marines to get around and behind the bunkers and continue the taking of the airfield and the island.
@chienfou we don’t have the ability to move comments unfortunately. The OP can create a new comment in the appropriate topic and then we’d be able to delete the old comment.
Bradford Freeman, the last surviving member of “The Band of Brothers”, Easy Company, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division, passed away on Sunday at the age of 97.
Freeman, who served as a mortarman, parachuted into Normandy on D-Day, then fought in Operation Market-Garden before being wounded in the Battle of the Bulge.
He returned to duty and served in the occupations of Berchtesgaden, Germany, and Austria.
Larry Storch, the rubber-faced comic whose long career in theater, movies and television was capped by his “F Troop” role as zany Cpl. Agarn in the 1960s spoof of Western frontier TV shows, died Friday, 7/8/2022. Storch was 99.
@chienfou@macromeh Wow, who knew anyone from that show was still alive! Looks like he was the last one left, sadly. I vaguely remember my father watching it, but they must have been re-runs, cuz it ended before i was even born. I feel so “young”(ish)!
@ircon96@macromeh
IMDB shows that the first episode was in mid-september when I was 10. Back in the day when new shows premiered in that time frame, there were only three major channels, and still there managed to be two shows you wanted to watch at the same time back before VCRs were even a thing. Now we spend 15 minutes trying to find something to watch from a selection of 100 plus channels and dozens of streaming options… go figure.
@chienfou@Kyeh@macromeh All very true! Overload is right, i just keep adding stuff to my “want to watch” queues until the point that i would have to live scores of lifetimes to watch it all! And speaking of the days before VCRs, that reminds me of the days before we got a TV with a remote, when we kids were the remote. Good times!
Eric Flint, author, editor, and publisher, mostly of science fiction (alternate timelines) and fantasy, passed away today at the age of 75.
His list of creations includes the Assiti Shards universe which started when the town of Grantville West Virginia was thrown back in time to 1632 Germany, and other places and groups found themselves thrown back to ancient times, and even the Cretaceous era; probably his best known universe which spawned many books, some with and by other authors including anthologies of fan fictions.
My favorite was his Belisarius series cowritten with David Drake, where two (effectively) AIs were sent back to the time of the Byzantine Empire; one to try to create an empire of regimentation and control, strict eugenics and hereditary power, the other went to General Flavius Belisarius (a real historical character) to try to prevent that future.
Many other series were created or edited by Flint, including some humorous fantasy or crossovers which ended up bringing real sphinxes, Circe, and Arachne back to our world from realities manufactured by aliens (they came to Las Vegas! My home town, always a plus)
He left us a sizeable collection of awesome fiction. He was also one of the early and most effective advocates for removing copy protection from e-published books and docs, which will make it easier for all of us to retain our purchased collections no matter what happens to the publishers in the future.
Warner, best known for his roles in the movie “Omen” and “Tron” and had roles in “Titanic” “Time Bandits”, several Star Trek movies, and others. Early on he performed on the stage, and over the course of his career he also acted on television, including in “Twin Peaks” and Dr Who.
David Warner
Beloved Acting Icon David Warner Dead at 80. Warner had an incredibly prolific career that spanned episodes of Star Trek, Doctor Who, and Twin Peaks, as well as films like Tron, Titanic, and The Omen.
He is best remembered as playing villains, as he stood at an imposing six-foot two. Genre fans would recognize Warner’s roles from the Star Trek films The Final Frontier and The Undiscovered Country, where he played St. John Talbot and Chancellor Gorkon, respectively. Furthermore, Warner became a Trek guest star icon when he appeared in the legendary TNG two-parter “Chain of Command,” playing the Cardassian interrogator Gul Madred in a tense standoff with Jean-Luc Picard.
@ircon96 Orinoco was definitely the break-out star of the Wombles. When you read the books it seems like Bungo was supposed to be the reader-identification character (not for me, I was all about Wellington), but was totally eclipsed by Orinoco. Also, Mike Batt wrote the best songs for him.
@mossygreen I’m embarrassed to say I’d never seen them before, they were a little before my time & i assume they never made it to my local PBS station, so that might explain it, with the limited programming i had available to me as a kid in the pioneer days!
@ircon96 Super late response: it’s nothing to be embarrassed about, almost nobody in this country knows about the Wombles (literally everyone I know who does is either related to me or someone I told about them), and Orinoco is everyone’s spirit animal because of his firm commitment to sleeping, snacking, and wearing a floppy hat that 1) protects his eyes from the sun or 2) hides the fact he’s asleep.
/youtube the wombles dreaming in the sun
@mossygreen That makes me feel better! Lol… I tend to gravitate towards British productions, but occasionally one pops up that surprises me. And your description of Orinoco certainly checks all the boxes for me to be added to the club! Btw, that song is more than a little reminiscent of the Beatles… I like it!
@ircon96 Approximately 30 years ago my sister and I played the Wombles for her future (and eventually former) husband and his response was it’s like from a world where the Beatles were still popular (something along those lines, anyway) and we were like IT’S FROM THE EARLY '70’S, THE BEATLES WERE STILL POPULAR. ALSO THEY ARE STILL POPULAR NOW. I honestly am not sure what point he thought he was making, probably just they sound like the beatles, but I’m not sorry he’s my former brother-in-law.
My parents told me every year for years, (starting in the early 60’s), that the Beatles were a temporary fad and they’d be soon replaced by some other group and forgotten.
I used to twit them about that prediction every time we heard s Beatles song in the radio, or coveted by a Marching Band.
My instincts for mercy caused me to stop asking them,
“when will the Beatles fad die out, do you think? Any day now?”
In the late 1980’s.
@f00l@ircon96@mossygreen
From some list of the things that made people feel old: In the late 80’s, I was in a record store and heard a young woman of about 16 say to her friend “Did you know that Paul McCartney had a band before Wings?”
I regret to inform you that a great light in the firmament no longer shines for us as it has for so many years.
Last night, my mother, Nichelle Nichols, succumbed to natural causes and passed away. Her light, however, like the ancient galaxies now being seen for the first time, will remain for us and future generations to enjoy, learn from, and draw inspiration.
Hers was a life well lived and as such a model for us all.
One of my favorite stories of hers was when she described what happened when she was thinking of leaving Star Trek to do a play & was convinced to stay by none other than MLK, Jr. I would have loved to eavesdrop on THAT conversation!
This is from her L.A. Times obituary:
When they met at an NAACP fundraising event in Beverly Hills, King was appalled when she spoke of quitting, according to Nichols’ 2010 reminiscence on the Archive of American Television.
“The world sees us for the first time as we should be seen,” King told her. “Gene Roddenberry [‘Star Trek’s’ creator] has opened a door. If you leave, that door can be closed. Your role is not a Black role and not a female role — he can fill it with anything, including an alien.”
“I could say nothing,” she recalled. “I just stood there, realizing that every word he said was the truth.”
I always liked the ensemble cast of that show; it always felt like the characters really were best friends and battle buddies, and really would ‘be there’ for each-other when needed. And that they would go the distance.
Per the article, TC was featured in 158 of the 162 episodes that were made.
Olivia Newton-John, the Australian singer whose breathy voice and wholesome beauty made her one of the biggest pop stars of the '70s and charmed generations of viewers in the blockbuster movie “Grease,” died on Monday, according to a statement from her husband. She was 73.
@Kyeh We were talking about my less-than-adequate exposure to musicals, but “Grease” happened to be one of the few that I’ve watched multiple times. It was a staple of my childhood. RIP, Sandy/Olivia
@ExtraMedium For years, I had very mixed feelings about Olivia–I (of course) absolutely loved her in Grease, but felt that as far as her pop hits went, her voice was… OK, sweet but not strong, nothing remarkable, and that she was famous maybe more because of her looks. And then about a year ago, I was driving and listening to an oldies station, and they played a song of hers that I’d never heard, totally unfamiliar to me, but–I knew it was her. Immediately. And I thought to myself that I’d really done her a disservice. How can I say that a woman’s voice that I recognize immediately and cannot confuse with anyone else’s isn’t strong or unique? I can’t. So I relaxed into just loving her. I hope my local oldies station does a tribute day for her.
David McCullough
has passed away at the age of 89.
McCullough was as probably as good of a biographer as you could find, with subjects ranging from Theodore Roosevelt (“Mornings on Horseback”), John Adams (“John Adams”), and Harry Truman (“Truman”) to his book on the Wright Brothers. He also wrote history, with subjects ranging from the Johnstown flood to the Brooklyn Bridge, from the American Revolution (“1776”) to 19th century Americans in Paris (“The Greater Journey”). He wrote in a highly readable style that also depicted his subjects in highly human terms. Among other honors, he won the Pulitzer Prize, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and numerous other honors. He was a writer’s writer, with a prose style that was as good as it gets.
He was also a wonderful speaker with a mellifluous voice that somehow seemed to mirror the best of the America he tried to chronicle, having narrated Ken Burns’s “The Civil War” and the Jeff Bridges film “Seabiscuit”. For eleven glorious years, he hosted the PBS series “The American Experience”.
Wolfgang Peterson, Oscar-nominated director of Das Boot, The NeverEnding Story, Enemy Mine, In the Line of Fire, Outbreak, Air Force One, The Perfect Storm, Troy, and Poseidon.
My dad.
I was going to post about the queen earlier today and then I got a phone call from my sister that my dad passed away. Queen Elizabeth would be honored to be holding heavens door for my dad, he’s truly one of the good guys.
He’d been visiting from Florida for the summer and staying with my sister.
I’m crushed and can’t stop crying. Just 5 weeks ago my mom’s husband of 40 years died and today it’s my dad. I’ve been thinking for years about how lucky and blessed I am to still have both my parents. Today that’s all changed.
Losing a parent isn’t a thought that I was ever willing to sit with and wonder about how I was going to feel when that awful day came.
I can’t think of a more pleasant way to go than the way he did. A afternoon nap on the couch after lunch with my sister. He was most probably dreaming about a round of golf with his buddies and a evening swim. Hopefully heavens got the most beautiful golf course ever! R.I.P
@Lynnerizer I’m so sorry for what you’re going through, but I’m sure it’s a comfort that he got to visit with his girls and have such wonderful final days. Your post was a beautiful tribute to him and the love really comes through. Condolences to you & your family, I’m glad you’ll have each other for support. Be sure to take care of yourself in the coming days.
@Lynnerizer I’m so so sorry! It does sound like he went in the best possible way, but what a shock for you.
Queen Elizabeth herself said this:
“The pain of grief is just as much part of life as the joy of love: it is perhaps the price we pay for love, the cost of commitment."
I’ll tie the the two losses (one a world event of public and private mourning, the other being your private family loss) together; hope you don’t mind:
Grief is the price we pay for love.
But life, of course, consists of final partings as well as first meetings …
Ken Starr,
Who Turned a Blind Eye to Rape and Defended a Sex Trafficker, Dead at 76. Rolling Stone
The right-wing lawyer and hypocritical pecksniff was known for probing Bill Clinton’s affair, mishandling sexual assault cases at Baylor, and helping Jeffrey Epstein secure a sweetheart deal.
Known for the eponymous Starr Report, a nauseatingly prurient fishing expedition, that uncovered nothing but a wholly consensual 20-month affair between a married man and an unmarried adult woman that included a grand total of 9 sexual encounters, described in pornographic detail at taxpayer expense. He blew $52 Million (in year 2000 dollars) and his shot at a robe on SCOTUS, later given to his protoge, Kavanaugh.
Starr also clearly thought cheating on your wife was fine when he did it, having an affair with his own PR adviser during the Clinton impeachment.
While he was Chancellor at Baylor University, Starr turned the school into a rapist’s paradise, so long as the offender in question could run a 4.4 40. Eventually forced to resign as the degree of violent criminality he had fostered became undeniable, Starr whined about how unfair it all was to focus on a few “episodes” on his way out the door.
His other post-Starr Report activities included defending Jeffrey Epstein, supporting a teacher who molested five students after word of these crimes came out (the Court ignored Starr’s recommendation to release the rapist pedophile and instead sentenced him to 43 years), and supporting Prop 8.
He was also fine with insurrection, defending TFG at his second impeachment.
Ken Starr’s legacy will likely be the starting point of endless, baseless investigations of Democrats. From Whitewater to Lewinsky, to Benghazi, to e-mails, to Seth Rich, and now, Hunter Biden’s laptop.
@mike808 If you’re going to claim all of those things are baseless, you’re kind of giving up your moral high ground and a claim to having principles. You don’t have to stoop like that.
Hunter Biden is legitimately under FBI investigation. He is also not an elected official, and not working in the white house. Attempts to implicate his father based upon what is publicly available require huge leaps of logic. The most “damning” testimony alleges that President Biden… walked over and said “hi” to his own son and some other people when they were in the same town. Hunter Biden is super shady, but he’s a private citizen and his shadiness is not really the issue that certain media outlets try to make it.
Republicans want to lock Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton up, but give Former President Trump a pass. Democrats say Clinton did no wrong by Trump should go to jail. These aren’t mutually exclusive position. They both deliberately mishandled classified materials. I was very concerned about what Clinton did, and I am even more concerned about what Trump did. Neither should get a pass just because they’re “on your team.”
Page Pate, 55
Attorney, trial lawyer with Georgia firm Pate, Johnson & Church, frequent legal commentator for major media outlets such as CNN and the NY Times, and founding member of the Georgia Innocence Project.
Louise Fletcher, whose riveting performance as the cruel and calculating Nurse Ratched in “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” set a new standard for screen villains and won her an Academy Award, has died at age 88.
@mike808 I saw him in concert a few years ago and he mentioned his cookbook. Spice measurements are in nickel and dime bags. I don’t think I ever cooked anything out of it. Maybe this weekend.
Gregory Jein modelmaker for Star Trek and mentor to many in the business.
https://www.giantfreakinrobot.com/ent/star-trek-icon-gregory-jein.html
Hershel “Woody” Williams, the last surviving Medal of Honor recipient from World War 2 passed away June 29th at the age of 98. Williams, a United States Marine, served in the Battle of Guam, then in the Battle of Iwo Jima, where his actions resulted in being awarded the Medal.
Williams was trained in demolitions, which meant he was trained to use explosives as well as flamethrowers, and he used both during the fight on Iwo Jima.
From the DOD history:
His actions opened the way for the Marines to get around and behind the bunkers and continue the taking of the airfield and the island.
We are diminished
My Dad - John Edward McDonough - June 7th
@djames85 So sorry for your loss.
@djames85 Condolences to you & your family.
@djames85 Condolences
@djames85 may his memory be a blessing to you and your family
Could one of the vol mods please move these last 2 to the Q2 thread so they will be where they belong (for anyone looking for them).
@chienfou we don’t have the ability to move comments unfortunately. The OP can create a new comment in the appropriate topic and then we’d be able to delete the old comment.
@Ignorant
Ok. Thanks
Bradford Freeman, the last surviving member of “The Band of Brothers”, Easy Company, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division, passed away on Sunday at the age of 97.
Freeman, who served as a mortarman, parachuted into Normandy on D-Day, then fought in Operation Market-Garden before being wounded in the Battle of the Bulge.
He returned to duty and served in the occupations of Berchtesgaden, Germany, and Austria.
He has now joined his brothers.
And we are diminished.
James Caan, actor
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/james-caan-veteran-godfather-elf-actor-dies-82-rcna37148
Former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe assassinated: https://www.npr.org/2022/07/08/1110538891/shinzo-abe-former-prime-minister-japan-killed
Tony Sirico
Known for his role as “Pauly Walnuts” on The Sopranos.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Sirico
Irreverent and narrowly focused, but…
The $5 IRK.
RIP. Ye were usually a rip in truth, anyway.
@werehatrack
going to be weird if they resurrect this one…
Famed Western actor L.Q. Jones (94 yrs old)
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/l-q-jones-dead-wild-bunch-peckinpah-1235177736/
Larry Storch, the rubber-faced comic whose long career in theater, movies and television was capped by his “F Troop” role as zany Cpl. Agarn in the 1960s spoof of Western frontier TV shows, died Friday, 7/8/2022. Storch was 99.
@macromeh
Man, I haven’t thought about F-Troop in a LONG time!
@chienfou @macromeh Wow, who knew anyone from that show was still alive! Looks like he was the last one left, sadly. I vaguely remember my father watching it, but they must have been re-runs, cuz it ended before i was even born. I feel so “young”(ish)!
@ircon96 @macromeh
IMDB shows that the first episode was in mid-september when I was 10. Back in the day when new shows premiered in that time frame, there were only three major channels, and still there managed to be two shows you wanted to watch at the same time back before VCRs were even a thing. Now we spend 15 minutes trying to find something to watch from a selection of 100 plus channels and dozens of streaming options… go figure.
@chienfou @ircon96
@chienfou @ircon96 @macromeh
Ugh, so sadly true! Sometimes it’s “Choice Overload” …
@chienfou @Kyeh @macromeh All very true! Overload is right, i just keep adding stuff to my “want to watch” queues until the point that i would have to live scores of lifetimes to watch it all!
And speaking of the days before VCRs, that reminds me of the days before we got a TV with a remote, when we kids were the remote. Good times! 
Susie Steiner, British author & journalist
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/jul/03/novelist-and-former-guardian-journalist-susie-steiner-dies-aged-51
Monty Norman, composer of the iconic James Bond theme, passed away Monday, July 11 “after a short illness.” He was 94 years old.
Ivana Trump, businesswoman & ex-wife of the ex-president
https://people.com/politics/ivana-trump-dies-age-73/
Eric Flint, author, editor, and publisher, mostly of science fiction (alternate timelines) and fantasy, passed away today at the age of 75.
His list of creations includes the Assiti Shards universe which started when the town of Grantville West Virginia was thrown back in time to 1632 Germany, and other places and groups found themselves thrown back to ancient times, and even the Cretaceous era; probably his best known universe which spawned many books, some with and by other authors including anthologies of fan fictions.
My favorite was his Belisarius series cowritten with David Drake, where two (effectively) AIs were sent back to the time of the Byzantine Empire; one to try to create an empire of regimentation and control, strict eugenics and hereditary power, the other went to General Flavius Belisarius (a real historical character) to try to prevent that future.
Many other series were created or edited by Flint, including some humorous fantasy or crossovers which ended up bringing real sphinxes, Circe, and Arachne back to our world from realities manufactured by aliens (they came to Las Vegas! My home town, always a plus)
He left us a sizeable collection of awesome fiction. He was also one of the early and most effective advocates for removing copy protection from e-published books and docs, which will make it easier for all of us to retain our purchased collections no matter what happens to the publishers in the future.
PANS! GLANDS! CRAYONS! AWESOME!
@mediocrebot Show some respect, asshole!
@ircon96 It’s a trigger on “awesome”.
/giphy got trigger?
@mike808 Which in turn triggers my sarcasm… I thought it was the perfect occasion to troll that little punk bastard.
Jak Knight, stand up comedian, writer, actor, 28
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/jak-knight-dead-stand-up-comedian-actor-1235181487/
Claes Oldenburg, artist, known for his colossal sculptures of everyday objects
https://www.cnn.com/style/article/claes-oldenburg-artist-death/index.html
@ircon96 So brilliant.
/image claes oldenburg the store
Taurean Blacque, Hill Street Blues actor
https://ew.com/tv/taurean-blacque-hill-street-blues-neal-washington-dead/
David Warner, a British actor, passed away this past Sunday at the age of 80.
Warner, best known for his roles in the movie “Omen” and “Tron” and had roles in “Titanic” “Time Bandits”, several Star Trek movies, and others. Early on he performed on the stage, and over the course of his career he also acted on television, including in “Twin Peaks” and Dr Who.
Surely a prolific artist.
Paul Sorvino:
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/paul-sorvino-dead-goodfellas-1235185779/
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/25/obituaries/paul-sorvino-dead.html
David Warner
Beloved Acting Icon David Warner Dead at 80. Warner had an incredibly prolific career that spanned episodes of Star Trek, Doctor Who, and Twin Peaks, as well as films like Tron, Titanic, and The Omen.
From Gizmodo
He is best remembered as playing villains, as he stood at an imposing six-foot two. Genre fans would recognize Warner’s roles from the Star Trek films The Final Frontier and The Undiscovered Country, where he played St. John Talbot and Chancellor Gorkon, respectively. Furthermore, Warner became a Trek guest star icon when he appeared in the legendary TNG two-parter “Chain of Command,” playing the Cardassian interrogator Gul Madred in a tense standoff with Jean-Luc Picard.
Just for one day, there are five lights.
He also played Sark in Tron.
@mike808 Repeat… Oops, wrong forum!
Tony Dow, actor best known as Wally Cleaver on “Leave It To Beaver”
https://variety.com/2022/tv/news/tony-dow-dead-wally-cleaver-leave-it-to-beaver-1235326146/
Bernard Cribbins, 1928-2022, the speaking voice of all the Wombles. I’m sure he did other things people enjoyed as well.
@mossygreen Orinoco could be my spirit animal, although my napping is usually involuntary!
@ircon96 Orinoco was definitely the break-out star of the Wombles. When you read the books it seems like Bungo was supposed to be the reader-identification character (not for me, I was all about Wellington), but was totally eclipsed by Orinoco. Also, Mike Batt wrote the best songs for him.
@mossygreen I’m embarrassed to say I’d never seen them before, they were a little before my time & i assume they never made it to my local PBS station, so that might explain it, with the limited programming i had available to me as a kid in the pioneer days!
@mossygreen
@ircon96 Super late response: it’s nothing to be embarrassed about, almost nobody in this country knows about the Wombles (literally everyone I know who does is either related to me or someone I told about them), and Orinoco is everyone’s spirit animal because of his firm commitment to sleeping, snacking, and wearing a floppy hat that 1) protects his eyes from the sun or 2) hides the fact he’s asleep.
/youtube the wombles dreaming in the sun
@mossygreen That makes me feel better! Lol… I tend to gravitate towards British productions, but occasionally one pops up that surprises me. And your description of Orinoco certainly checks all the boxes for me to be added to the club!
Btw, that song is more than a little reminiscent of the Beatles… I like it!
@ircon96 Approximately 30 years ago my sister and I played the Wombles for her future (and eventually former) husband and his response was it’s like from a world where the Beatles were still popular (something along those lines, anyway) and we were like IT’S FROM THE EARLY '70’S, THE BEATLES WERE STILL POPULAR. ALSO THEY ARE STILL POPULAR NOW. I honestly am not sure what point he thought he was making, probably just they sound like the beatles, but I’m not sorry he’s my former brother-in-law.
@ircon96 @mossygreen
My parents told me every year for years, (starting in the early 60’s), that the Beatles were a temporary fad and they’d be soon replaced by some other group and forgotten.
I used to twit them about that prediction every time we heard s Beatles song in the radio, or coveted by a Marching Band.
My instincts for mercy caused me to stop asking them,
“when will the Beatles fad die out, do you think? Any day now?”
In the late 1980’s.
They had long since admitted their error.
: )
/youtube here comes the sun
@f00l @ircon96 @mossygreen
From some list of the things that made people feel old:
In the late 80’s, I was in a record store and heard a young woman of about 16 say to her friend “Did you know that Paul McCartney had a band before Wings?”
@f00l @Kyeh @mossygreen
All y’all gave me a much needed laugh! And all proving that not everyone has highly developed musical taste &/or aptitude! 
@f00l @ircon96 @Kyeh @mossygreen
Also sorry to be late to this thread.
But, did you know that there were people who thought it was nice that Kanye West gave a break to an older musician?
They said some were joking, but maybe not!
https://www.thewrap.com/paul-mccartney-kanye-west-twitter/
@f00l @ircon96 @MarkDaSpark @mossygreen Oh bruther!
Nichelle Nichols, the groundbreaking actor who played Lieutenant Nyota Uhura on the original “Star Trek” series, has died. She was 89.
@macromeh My daughter watched Snow Dogs a few times a week when she was little. She was great in that too.
@macromeh
Oh, damn. An icon for so many. Shine on, Nichelle!
@macromeh
Godspeed, Nichelle.
From https://uhura.space/
So awesome, she was. And, underestimated for much of her life, I suspect.
EVERYTHING IS AWESOME!
@mediocrebot Again, no respect… Put a sock in it, mediocrebot, read the room!
One of my favorite stories of hers was when she described what happened when she was thinking of leaving Star Trek to do a play & was convinced to stay by none other than MLK, Jr. I would have loved to eavesdrop on THAT conversation!
This is from her L.A. Times obituary:
When they met at an NAACP fundraising event in Beverly Hills, King was appalled when she spoke of quitting, according to Nichols’ 2010 reminiscence on the Archive of American Television.
“The world sees us for the first time as we should be seen,” King told her. “Gene Roddenberry [‘Star Trek’s’ creator] has opened a door. If you leave, that door can be closed. Your role is not a Black role and not a female role — he can fill it with anything, including an alien.”
“I could say nothing,” she recalled. “I just stood there, realizing that every word he said was the truth.”
If anyone is interested in hearing her tell the story herself, she was on NPR’s Tell Me More in 2011:
https://www.npr.org/2011/01/17/132942461/Star-Treks-Uhura-Reflects-On-MLK-Encounter
Bill Russell, basketball legend (player & coach), civil rights activist
https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/31/sport/bill-russell-nba-legend-dies-spt-intl/index.html
Pat Carroll, Emmy winner and voice of Ursula, dies at 95
https://www.npr.org/2022/08/01/1114830647/pat-carroll-died
/image Ursula Sea Witch
Los Angeles Dodgers broadcaster for 67 years, Vin Scully. He was 94.
https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/34338705/vin-scully-iconic-former-los-angeles-dodgers-broadcaster-dies-age-94
Roger Mosley, who played Theodore “TC” Calvin, Magnum’s friend and helicopter pilot in many episodes for Magnum P.I. (the real one, not the recent remake) passed away as a result of injuries suffered in a vehicle accident this past Sunday. He was 83 years old.
I always liked the ensemble cast of that show; it always felt like the characters really were best friends and battle buddies, and really would ‘be there’ for each-other when needed. And that they would go the distance.
Per the article, TC was featured in 158 of the 162 episodes that were made.
Olivia Newton-John, the Australian singer whose breathy voice and wholesome beauty made her one of the biggest pop stars of the '70s and charmed generations of viewers in the blockbuster movie “Grease,” died on Monday, according to a statement from her husband. She was 73.
@ExtraMedium
/youtube Olivia Newton-John - I Love You, I Honestly Love You
RIP
@Kyeh We were talking about my less-than-adequate exposure to musicals, but “Grease” happened to be one of the few that I’ve watched multiple times. It was a staple of my childhood. RIP, Sandy/Olivia
@ircon96 She really had remarkable talent and scintillating beauty.
@ExtraMedium Good bye, Olivia. Thankfully we still have your music, and your incredible voice to help us carry on.
@ExtraMedium For years, I had very mixed feelings about Olivia–I (of course) absolutely loved her in Grease, but felt that as far as her pop hits went, her voice was… OK, sweet but not strong, nothing remarkable, and that she was famous maybe more because of her looks. And then about a year ago, I was driving and listening to an oldies station, and they played a song of hers that I’d never heard, totally unfamiliar to me, but–I knew it was her. Immediately. And I thought to myself that I’d really done her a disservice. How can I say that a woman’s voice that I recognize immediately and cannot confuse with anyone else’s isn’t strong or unique? I can’t. So I relaxed into just loving her. I hope my local oldies station does a tribute day for her.
David McCullough
has passed away at the age of 89.
McCullough was as probably as good of a biographer as you could find, with subjects ranging from Theodore Roosevelt (“Mornings on Horseback”), John Adams (“John Adams”), and Harry Truman (“Truman”) to his book on the Wright Brothers. He also wrote history, with subjects ranging from the Johnstown flood to the Brooklyn Bridge, from the American Revolution (“1776”) to 19th century Americans in Paris (“The Greater Journey”). He wrote in a highly readable style that also depicted his subjects in highly human terms. Among other honors, he won the Pulitzer Prize, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and numerous other honors. He was a writer’s writer, with a prose style that was as good as it gets.
He was also a wonderful speaker with a mellifluous voice that somehow seemed to mirror the best of the America he tried to chronicle, having narrated Ken Burns’s “The Civil War” and the Jeff Bridges film “Seabiscuit”. For eleven glorious years, he hosted the PBS series “The American Experience”.
Lamont Dozier, Motown legend (songwriter, singer, producer)
https://www.npr.org/2022/08/09/1116472786/lamont-dozier-motown-died
Anne Heche, actor
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2022/aug/12/anne-heche-death-actor-dies-week-after-car-crash-aged-53
@ircon96
Yeah… That was totally crazy!
Wolfgang Peterson, Oscar-nominated director of Das Boot, The NeverEnding Story, Enemy Mine, In the Line of Fire, Outbreak, Air Force One, The Perfect Storm, Troy, and Poseidon.
https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/news/wolfgang-petersen-dies-age-81-director-air-force-one-das-boot/
RIP to Queen Elizabeth II.
@FreePasta @Kye
Must be strange to be born into such a no-choice life job, that appears anachronistic to so much of the world.
Gilded cage; a life of being pampered and served, but having to do endless tedious public events while never speaking one’s mind.
But constitutional monarchy, at least as the late Queen played it, has its uses (well beyond tourism and spectacle).
Overall (to me), the Queen was subtle, influential, dignified, intelligent, often savvy, impressive. (Not denying she made errors).
Achieved (by my understanding) more than it might appear to those who only saw video or pictures of her at state events.
Bernard Shaw, CNN’s first chief anchor and pioneering Black journalist.
https://apnews.com/article/middle-east-iraq-obituaries-baghdad-e22527222636b19fbc68cf44413c0013
My dad.
I’ve been thinking for years about how lucky and blessed I am to still have both my parents. Today that’s all changed.
I was going to post about the queen earlier today and then I got a phone call from my sister that my dad passed away. Queen Elizabeth would be honored to be holding heavens door for my dad, he’s truly one of the good guys.
He’d been visiting from Florida for the summer and staying with my sister.
I’m crushed and can’t stop crying. Just 5 weeks ago my mom’s husband of 40 years died and today it’s my dad.
Losing a parent isn’t a thought that I was ever willing to sit with and wonder about how I was going to feel when that awful day came.
I can’t think of a more pleasant way to go than the way he did. A afternoon nap on the couch after lunch with my sister. He was most probably dreaming about a round of golf with his buddies and a evening swim. Hopefully heavens got the most beautiful golf course ever! R.I.P
@Lynnerizer I’m so sorry for what you’re going through, but I’m sure it’s a comfort that he got to visit with his girls and have such wonderful final days. Your post was a beautiful tribute to him and the love really comes through. Condolences to you & your family, I’m glad you’ll have each other for support. Be sure to take care of yourself in the coming days.
@Lynnerizer I’m so so sorry! It does sound like he went in the best possible way, but what a shock for you.
Queen Elizabeth herself said this:
“The pain of grief is just as much part of life as the joy of love: it is perhaps the price we pay for love, the cost of commitment."
@Lynnerizer
True condolences for your loss.
@ircon96
Love and togetherness is what my family is about. I’ve always felt so proud being part of such special family.
Thank you.
@duodec
Thank you!
@Kyeh
What a beautiful quote, thank you very VERY much my friend!
@Lynnerizer I am so sorry. It is so hard, especially with no warning with no time to say goodby.
@Kidsandliz
Thank you
@Lynnerizer
I’m so sorry.
I’ll tie the the two losses (one a world event of public and private mourning, the other being your private family loss) together; hope you don’t mind:
Grief is the price we pay for love.
But life, of course, consists of final partings as well as first meetings …
HM Queen Elizabeth Ii
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/renowned-jazz-pianist-ramsey-lewis-dies-87-rcna47560
Ken Starr,
Who Turned a Blind Eye to Rape and Defended a Sex Trafficker, Dead at 76.
Rolling Stone
The right-wing lawyer and hypocritical pecksniff was known for probing Bill Clinton’s affair, mishandling sexual assault cases at Baylor, and helping Jeffrey Epstein secure a sweetheart deal.
Known for the eponymous Starr Report, a nauseatingly prurient fishing expedition, that uncovered nothing but a wholly consensual 20-month affair between a married man and an unmarried adult woman that included a grand total of 9 sexual encounters, described in pornographic detail at taxpayer expense. He blew $52 Million (in year 2000 dollars) and his shot at a robe on SCOTUS, later given to his protoge, Kavanaugh.
Starr also clearly thought cheating on your wife was fine when he did it, having an affair with his own PR adviser during the Clinton impeachment.
While he was Chancellor at Baylor University, Starr turned the school into a rapist’s paradise, so long as the offender in question could run a 4.4 40. Eventually forced to resign as the degree of violent criminality he had fostered became undeniable, Starr whined about how unfair it all was to focus on a few “episodes” on his way out the door.
His other post-Starr Report activities included defending Jeffrey Epstein, supporting a teacher who molested five students after word of these crimes came out (the Court ignored Starr’s recommendation to release the rapist pedophile and instead sentenced him to 43 years), and supporting Prop 8.
He was also fine with insurrection, defending TFG at his second impeachment.
Ken Starr’s legacy will likely be the starting point of endless, baseless investigations of Democrats. From Whitewater to Lewinsky, to Benghazi, to e-mails, to Seth Rich, and now, Hunter Biden’s laptop.
Say “Hi” to Rush.
@mike808 That pretty much sums it up! Good riddance to the scum-sucking weasel. Oops, where are my manners? i almost forgot: thoughts and prayers.
@ircon96 @mike808
Torts and players.
@mike808
A fair # of female Baylor students and alum have nothing but contempt for Starr, even if these people are otherwise Republican.
@mike808 If you’re going to claim all of those things are baseless, you’re kind of giving up your moral high ground and a claim to having principles. You don’t have to stoop like that.
Hunter Biden is legitimately under FBI investigation. He is also not an elected official, and not working in the white house. Attempts to implicate his father based upon what is publicly available require huge leaps of logic. The most “damning” testimony alleges that President Biden… walked over and said “hi” to his own son and some other people when they were in the same town. Hunter Biden is super shady, but he’s a private citizen and his shadiness is not really the issue that certain media outlets try to make it.
Republicans want to lock Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton up, but give Former President Trump a pass. Democrats say Clinton did no wrong by Trump should go to jail. These aren’t mutually exclusive position. They both deliberately mishandled classified materials. I was very concerned about what Clinton did, and I am even more concerned about what Trump did. Neither should get a pass just because they’re “on your team.”
Jean Luc Godard
giant of the French New Wave, dies at 91
The radical director of Breathless and Alphaville, and who was a key figure in the French New Wave film genre, has died.
Guardian
Here is a “beginner’s guide” to his works for those unfamiliar with the French New Wave genre.
https://www.indiewire.com/gallery/best-jean-luc-godard-movies-ranked-beginners-guide/pierrot-le-fou-2/
@mike808
Contempt was the first Godard film I saw. As a teenager.
I still remember it. Guess the guy had a little creativity snd talent.
I saw many of his other films over the next decade, in the days of dedicated classic film repertoire theaters.
Still think over many of them: esp Jules and Jim.
He also had a small bit memorable role as an actor in Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Fred Franzia
The man behind “Two Buck Chuck” and other value-priced wines that revolutionized the industry, has died. He was 79.
https://www.winespectator.com/articles/wine-industry-iconoclast-fred-franzia-dies-at-79
Blame @MarkDaSpark.
Page Pate, 55
Attorney, trial lawyer with Georgia firm Pate, Johnson & Church, frequent legal commentator for major media outlets such as CNN and the NY Times, and founding member of the Georgia Innocence Project.
Apologies, I forgot to link an obit. Very sad incident.
https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/13/us/atlanta-attorney-page-pate-death/index.html
Louise Fletcher, whose riveting performance as the cruel and calculating Nurse Ratched in “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” set a new standard for screen villains and won her an Academy Award, has died at age 88.
John Hartman, co-founder & drummer of The Doobie Brothers, 72
https://variety.com/2022/music/news/john-hartman-dead-doobie-brothers-drummer-1235382641/
Marsha Hunt, 104, blacklisted Hollywood movie, TV & Broadway actress, activist and humanitarian.
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/marsha-hunt-dead-blacklisted-actress-1235216286/
@ircon96
Excellent, interesting write-up.
Rapper Coolio (Artis Leon Ivey Jr) passed away. He was 59, and has taken up residence in the Gangsta’s Paradise. RIP, OG.
@mike808 I saw him in concert a few years ago and he mentioned his cookbook. Spice measurements are in nickel and dime bags. I don’t think I ever cooked anything out of it. Maybe this weekend.
Find Q4 here