RIP

[Winstonm]

Koko, the gorilla who learned sign language.

[Winstonm]

Charles Krauthammer

[rmnka447]

Charles Krauthammer

Thanks, Winston.

 

Whether you agreed with him or not, he was one most articulate and intelligent political writers/analysts.

[Al_U_Card]

Hubert Green. A personal favourite and it is golf season.

[Winstonm]

SCOTUS

[Cyberyeti]

[Winstonm]

John McCain

[Winstonm]

Neil Simon

 

My favorite Neil Simon play was The Odd Couple

 

Oscar Madison: You want… uh… brown sandwiches… or green sandwiches?

Murray: What’s the green?

Oscar Madison: It’s either very new cheese or very old meat.

Murray: I’ll take the brown.

[barmar]

Neil Simon

Just read an obit that mentioned all the plays and movies he'd written (not to mention some early TV: "Your Show of Shows" and "The Phil Silvers Show" (aka "Sgt. Bilko"). Wow, he was prolific, and so many of them have become classics. No wonder they renamed a Broadway theatre after him -- if you name a well known Broadway play, there's a good chance he wrote it (maybe only Rogers & Hamerstein's shows have better name recognition).

[barmar]

John McCain

In my opinion, he may have been the only remaining GOP Senator who had real integrity. His passing is the end of an era.

[kenberg]

About John McCain. Here are some quotes, full article at https://www.washingt...m=.9d8d757b64ac

 

"Senator John McCain was an American patriot and hero whose sacrifices for his country, and lifetime of public service, were an inspiration to millions," said Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

 

In Australia, new Prime Minister Scott Morrison — who assumed office on Friday — honored "a true friend of Australia who was committed to strengthening the alliance between our two nations. He was a man of great courage and conviction."

 

 

Calling McCain a friend, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tweeted that the senator's support for Israel "sprang from his belief in democracy and freedom."

 

"Senator John McCain stood for an America that was a reliable and close partner that — because of its strength — shouldered responsibility for others and stood by its values and principles even in difficult moments," German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said. "We will remember his voice."

 

German Chancellor Angela Merkel echoed Maas's comments, saying, "John McCain was led by the firm conviction that the sense of all political work lies in service to freedom, democracy and the rule of law. His death is a loss to all those who share this conviction."

And so on. And on.

 

McCain wasn't always right, nobody is, but he had beliefs that he thought were important, and I think that's important. He was a good person. Often that's more important than being right.

[y66]

I enjoyed Robert McFadden's story about McCain which included a picture of the young McCain with his Navy squadron and these lines:

 

For a Navy man who had always tried to live up to his father’s accomplishments, the Silver and Bronze Stars, the Distinguished Flying Cross and other decorations he received were not enough. But a psychiatrist’s report seemed to capture his happiest moment. “Felt fulfillment,” it said, “when his dad was introduced at a dinner as ‘Commander McCain’s father.’ ”

 

Seeking the 2000 Republican presidential nomination, Mr. McCain pledged “a fight to take our government back from the power brokers and special interests.” Gov. George W. Bush of Texas was favored, but Mr. McCain won the New Hampshire primary, 49 to 30 percent. South Carolina’s primary then loomed as crucial. It was one of the era’s dirtiest campaigns. Anonymous smears falsely claimed that Mr. McCain had fathered a black child out of wedlock, that his wife was a drug addict and that he was a homosexual, a traitor and mentally unstable. Mr. McCain later said he regretted calling a Confederate flag on the State Capitol in Columbia a “symbol of heritage.” “I feared that if I answered honestly, I could not win the South Carolina primary,” Mr. McCain admitted.

 

Few of us have been tested the way John once was, or required to show the kind of courage that he did,” Mr. Obama said Saturday. “But all of us can aspire to the courage to put the greater good above our own. At John’s best, he showed us what that means.”

 

In 1993, Mr. McCain gave the commencement address at Annapolis: the sorcerer’s apprentice, class of 1954, home to inspire the midshipmen. He spoke of Navy aviators hurled from the decks of pitching aircraft carriers, of Navy gunners blazing into the silhouettes of onrushing kamikazes, of trapped Marines battling overwhelming Chinese hordes in a breakout from the Chosin Reservoir in North Korea. “I have spent time in the company of heroes,” he said. “I have watched men suffer the anguish of imprisonment, defy appalling cruelty until further resistance is impossible, break for a moment, then recover inhuman strength to defy their enemies once more. All these things and more I have seen. And so will you".

[Winstonm]

Burt Reynolds

[Cyberyeti]

A postscript to Dolores O'Riordan, they just had the inquest, it appears she drank so much she drowned in the bath, sad ...

[Cyberyeti]

Chas Hodges. Known to many for his novelty songs as part of Chas and Dave, but a musician who played with many very well known British musicians in the 60s and 70s and on some things that will surprise a few.

 

He was one of Joe Meek's session musicians so played with Blackmore, Glover, Lynott etc also backing Jerry Lee Lewis and Gene Vincent.

[PeterAlan]

Marty Balin.

[y66]

Joachim Ronneberg, Leader of Raid That Thwarted a Nazi Atomic Bomb

 

The Norwegian saboteurs skied across the Telemark pine forest in winter whites, phantom apparitions gliding over moonlit snow. They halted at a steep river gorge and gazed down at a humming hydroelectric power plant where Nazi scientists had developed a mysterious, top-secret project.

 

Lt. Joachim Ronneberg, the 23-year-old resistance fighter in command, and his eight comrades — all carrying cyanide capsules to swallow if captured — had been told by British intelligence only that the plant was distilling something called heavy water, and that it was vital to Hitler’s war effort.

 

Hours later, in one of the most celebrated commando raids of World War II, Lieutenant Ronneberg and his demolition team sneaked past guards and a barracks full of German troops, stole into the plant, set explosive charges and blew up Hitler’s hopes for a critical ingredient to create the first atomic bomb.

 

Mr. Ronneberg, the last surviving member of the 1943 raid and one of the most decorated war heroes of a nation renowned for valorous resistance to the 1940-45 German Occupation, died on Sunday in Alesund, Norway, his daughter, Birte Ronneberg, said. He was 99.

[barmar]

Stan Lee

[kenberg]

Stan Lee

 

I just saw this. Here is an obit from WaPo:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/stan-lee-creator-of-superheros-dies-at-95/2018/11/12/0ca938da-e6ac-11e8-a939-9469f1166f9d_story.html?utm_term=.0af720fdae8f

In this article they briefly mention the earlier comic book era and how it suffered badly from Senate hearings in the 50s that investigated " the corrupting influence on kids". I had largely moved on by then. I had the largest comic book collection in the neighborhood going back to when Donald, Mickey, Pluto and all were defending the home front against the Nazis. Well, who knows? Perhaps this made me the corrupt being that I am today. Fwiw, I greatly prefer the Spiderman films to other movie portrayals of super heroes, although Becky really liked Wonder Woman. As did I, but Spidey is great.

 

 

 

[Winstonm]

Musician, Roy Clark. Gloom, despair, and agony on me.

[PassedOut]

Nicolas Roeg

 

In 1980 I was dating Constance and Walkabout was coming to a small art theater in Atlanta, so I told her that it was a must-see and we should get there early to be sure of getting seats. When the movie started, we were the only viewers, although one more came in after about ten minutes. She married me in 1982 anyway.

:)

[The_Badger]

I'm a film buff, and whilst some of Roeg's films seem a little bit dated these days, many were produced in the experimental years of the late 1960s/ early 1970s. I watched Performance recently and thought 'If he cut out all the unnecessary sex - I'm not a prude by the way - and the arty-farty pretentiousness of it all, it could actually be a good movie'. My favourite Roeg film is Castaway, with Oliver Reed and Amanda Donohue, that sticks very closely to Lucy Irvine's book.

[The_Badger]

Ricky Jay, the card illusionist, magician and actor. I remember watching him on TV when I was a very young man and thinking 'Wow'. What he could do with playing cards...

 

 

And what a showman too. Very funny.

[barmar]

I can't believe no one has posted about President George H W. Bush. Or is it there no point in mentioning it here?

[kenberg]

I can't believe no one has posted about President George H W. Bush. Or is it there no point in mentioning it here?

 

I was thinking the same, including that maybe it is superfluous to mention it. I was also wondering just what to say. The RIP thread probably should not be given over to extensive discussion of my views, or anyone's views, of his strengths and weaknesses, or of how the world has changed, etc. etc. But maybe I can say this much. I voted for Dukakis, but I very much felt that the country was in good hands with GHWB as president. Bush's note to Bill Clinton as Clinton took office is a stunning example of grace and generosity, and the two were later to become good friends. At a young age he made an excellent choice of a life partner. More knowledgeable people have said much more.