The Call of Cthulhu

This time, I R'Lyeh R'Lyeh mean it!

John Moses Browning

Another Great American Birthday

January 23rd

Click on the link above to see the original article at Fr. Frogs Shooting Pages

The Gospel According To John (Moses Browning)
John Moses Browning was perhaps the finest firearms designer, ever. His designs continue to work and to serve almost 100 years after they were created. There is an ongoing controversy about the reliability and safety of current 1911s vs. other "modern" pistols and I think this about sums the situation up.
As translated from the original ancient manuscripts by Fr. Frog.© copyright 2002 by John C. Schaefer

1 In the beginning was the 1911, and the 1911 was THE pistol, and it was good. And behold the Lord said, "Thou shalt not muck with my disciple John's design for it is good and it workith. For John made the 1911, and lo all of his weapons, from the designs which I, the Lord, gave him upon the mountain."

2 "And shouldst thou muck with it, and hang all manner of foul implements upon it, and profane its internal parts, thou shalt surely have malfunctions, and in the midst of battle thou shalt surely come to harm."

3 And as the ages passed men in their ignorance and arrogance didst forget the word of the Lord and began to profane the 1911. The tribe of the gamesman did place recoil spring guides and extended slide releases upon the 1911 and their metal smiths didst tighten the tolerances and alter parts to their liking, their clearness of mind being clouded by lust.

4 Their artisans did hang all manner of foul implements upon the 1911 and did so alter it that it became impractical to purchase. For lo, the artisans didst charge a great tax upon the purchasers of the 1911 so that the lowly field worker could not afford one. And the profaning of the internal parts didst render it unworkable when the dust of the land fell upon it.

5 And lo, they didst install adjustable sights, which are an abomination unto the Lord. For they doth break and lose their zero when thou dost need true aim. And those who have done so will be slain in great numbers by their enemies in the great battle. a

6 And it came to pass that the Lord didst see the abomination wrought by man and didst cause, as he had warned, fearful malfunctions to come upon the abominations and upon the artisans who thought they could do no wrong.

7 Seeing the malfunctions and the confusion of men, the lord of the underworld did see an opportunity to further ensnare man and didst bring forth pistols made of plastic, whose form was such that they looked and felt like a brick, yet the eyes of man being clouded, they were consumed by the plastic pistol and did buy vast quantities of them.

8 And being a deceitful spirit the lord of the underworld did make these plastic pistols unamenable to the artisans of earth and they were unable to muck much with the design, and lo these pistols did appear to function.

9 And the evil one also brought forth pistols in which the trigger didst both cock and fire them and which require a "dingus" to make them appear safe.

10 But man being stupid did not understand these new pistols and didst proceed to shoot themselves with the plastic pistol and with the trigger cocking pistols for lo their manual of arms required great intelligence which man had long since forsaken. Yet man continue to gloat over these new pistols blaming evil forces for the negligent discharges which they themselves had committed.

11 And when man had been totally ensnared with the plastic pistol, the lord of the underworld didst cause a plague of the terrible Ka-Boom to descend upon man and the plastic pistols delivered their retribution upon men. And there was a great wailing and gnashing of teeth in the land.

12 Then seeing that the eyes of man were slowly being opened and that man was truly sorrowful for his sinful misdeeds, the Lord did send his messengers in the form of artisans who did hear and obey the teachings of the prophet and who didst restore the profaned 1911s to their proper configuration, and lo, to the amazement of men they didst begin to work as the prophet had intended.

13 And the men of the land didst drive out the charlatans and profaners from the land, and there was joy and peace in the land, except for the evil sprits which tried occasionally to prey on the men and women of the land and who were sent to the place of eternal damnation b by the followers of John.

a Several old manuscripts add the following text. "And they [also rendered as "these men"] didst chamber it for cartridges who's calibers startith with numbers less than the Holy Number 4. And lo the Lord did cause great grief amongst these men when their enemies who were struck in battle with these lesser numbers didst not fall but did continue to cause great harm."
b or Hell
© copyright 2002 by John C. Schaefer
For the faithful, the "feast day" of St. John Moses Browning is January 23.

An Historic Day

"Lord of the Valley"

By Dale Gallon

Today. January 21st is the birthday of one of America's greatest military commanders. His premature death, at the hands of his own victorious soldiers, may have altered the course of the War Between the States. The picture shown above graces my living room wall in Romney, West Virginia. Thomas J."Stonewall" Jackson is seated on the right. I reside approximately 3 miles from the house he used as headquarters during his first command of that war. Jackson's strategy was simple. "Hold Romney and you hold the Valley". From there he could defend the Potomac River crossings to the north and the South Branch River crossing to the west. Offensively, he could strike at the rail lines in Cumberland Maryland and disrupt supplies to the Union armies in Ohio. After establishing the garrison in Romney, he returned to Winchester Virginia to confront Gen. Banks Union army to his north. That first winter in Romney was a frozen nightmare for the poorly equipped and provisioned Confederate volunteers. The general that Stonewall left in charge had political friends in Richmond. Without consulting Jackson, he wrote for permission to withdraw his troops closer to Richmond. Permission was granted and the Confederates abandoned Romney just before the start of a Union attack. Stonewall was furious that his orders had been countermanded by the politicians and rode directly to Richmond and thereupon resigned his commission in the army. General Lee and his allies in Richmond were stunned. Their left flank lay deserted and now without a commander. Eventually, given guaranties and assurances that his orders would never again be interfered with by political intrigue, Jackson was persuaded to resume his command. Romney changed hands more than any other city during the course of the war. The local graveyard is home to the very first Confederate veterans memorial erected after the war. It had to be shipped here without the inscriptions being engraved as it was feared it would be sabotaged by Unionist sympathizers in Baltimore. They were only added after the monument was erected.

Now. Pay attention. Today is also the day that we celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day. It is a day to reflect on Civil Rights, slavery, racism and freedom. Strange that it is also the day Thomas J."Stonewall" Jackson was born in 1824. There is a connection that I first ran across while reading James I Robertson Jr's biography "Stonewall Jackson". Although originally not religious, Jackson was often asked to give a sermon at his local church. He took to preaching and gave a sermon to his troops every Sunday (he preferred not to fight on Sundays if at all possible). As his string of victories grew, his Sunday sermons also grew in popularity. Had he not been accidentally killed, he may have changed the war into a religious "Crusade". It may have gone entirely differently.

Even before the war, Jackson was appalled at the plight of the Negro children in Virginia. Without being taught to read, he reasoned, they would never come to know the Bible and could not attain the Grace that is the right of every Human Being to strive for. To undo this evil, as he saw it, he established the first religious school for black children in Virginia. The following quote is from Wikipedia, but it accurately reflects what I read in Robertson's book.

"Little as he was known to the white inhabitants of Lexington, Jackson was revered by many of the African-Americans in town, both slaves and free blacks. He was instrumental in the organization in 1855 of Sunday school classes for blacks at the Presbyterian Church. His second wife, Mary Anna Jackson, taught with Jackson, as "he preferred that my labors should be given to the colored children, believing that it was more important and useful to put the strong hand of the Gospel under the ignorant African race, to lift them up." [14] The pastor, Dr. William Spottswood White, described the relationship between Jackson and his Sunday afternoon students: "In their religious instruction he succeeded wonderfully. His discipline was systematic and firm, but very kind. ... His servants reverenced and loved him, as they would have done a brother or father. ... He was emphatically the black man's friend." He addressed his students by name and they in turn referred to him affectionately as "Marse Major."[15]

So! That is my story for Martin Luther King Jr. Day. A tribute to two great Americans. Both slain at the pinnacle of their respective careers. Both preachers, both leaders. The fates indeed weave a strange and rich tapestry.

From Romney, West Virginia.

Posted by Svinrod. January 21st 2008

Frederick The Great

Vote For Fred If You Want to live!

Past Lives

Maryland Medieval Mercenary Militia

O.K. If you thought the role-playing in Dungeons and Dragons was a little weird, get a load of this! Yes, that is a real newspaper and a real photograph. Check out the date in the top right corner. Jan. 30,1977, almost exactly 31 years ago. Now check out the dude with the green propane tank on his head. Guess Who? If you guessed maybe a 20 year old Svin, go to the head of the line. Yes indeed loyal and long suffering readers, not content with fantasy feudalism, we actually joined up for the live version. I guess you could say I started practicing for the anti-jihad a long time ago.

Now, a few words about medievalism, then and now. This was before Lord of The Rings was a movie, even before Monty Python first put two coconuts together(IIRC). You could not go on-line and order up a complete Aragorn outfit or a chain-mail bikini (don't even think about it) or a complete King Arthur kit. We had to make all our own stuff by hand. Chain-mail was laboriously "Knit" together link by individual link. The aforementioned propane tank "Great-Helms" were cut and welded, padded and painted, used and abused under extremely realistic conditions. Small arms(daggers and knives) were often made by hand. Axe heads and sword blades were rare and coveted items. Cheap junk from Spain or elsewhere would not hold up for a minute. Unfinished leather was good as gold. The red "Heater" shield I am holding in the picture was made of 3/4 inch plywood with bolted on arm strap and handle in the back. The "armourer" for this piece was none other than our own Basil Riverdale. You can see from the condition of the front of it that it has seen many campaigns. The padded "Mace" wielded by another old friend(went skiing with him a few weeks ago) is an aberration. This photo was taken during our annual "Fratricidal War" where only padded weapons were allowed. For practice and shows, we used only real weapons and armor. If the armor you had built was authentic enough, it would protect you very well from the actual weapons of the day. Thus, with training, some choreography, and that fearless abandon which is the very definition of youth, we fought, died, were resurrected and well lubricated by nightfall and feast-time.

What does all this have to do with anything? Only that it is such a stark contrast to what fantasy role-playing is today. I would wager that the average "World of Warcraft" player has never cooked his own dinner, much less built his own suit of armour. Never actually set hammer to anvil. Never brewed their own beer. Never learned how to actually fight with real weapons instead of a game controller. Never really got to rescue the Damsel in Distress. Never played "Toss the Mail", never jumped a fire, never wrestled in the mud or snow, never passed out from heat prostration wearing seventy pounds of armor and padding in July. Never climbed tall buildings to play at "Gargoyle".

Never the less, it is from this same young generation that our new warrior class has risen. Brave volunteers all. Fighting and sometimes perishing in strange and foreign lands. No games. No resurrection in time for dinner. I think that when this cohort begins to return and take up it's place in our society, things will begin to change for the better. Contrast these young lions with those game boys whose "failure to launch" has become iconic of a generation. We will be a better nation when these Boots, forged and tempered in the heat of desert battle, begin to re-define and re-direct our nation. God I hope to live to see it so.

Svin

D & D

Before there was an Internet, an XBox or Wii, there was Dragons and Dungeons. The most sophisticated video games of the age were Pong and Asteroid. They fit into a console slightly smaller than a phone booth. D&D still used the 19th century technologies of pen, pencil, graph paper and dice (or die) and a little(or very little) imagination. There was always one player with an(imaginary) axe. Consequently, said axe was used as a weapon, a universal key/door opener, a means of dividing treasure etc...Brute force dont'cha know. More often than not, it was perhaps not the best answer. Sometimes though, it was precisely the right answer.

Nowadays, I find that I am often playing not Dungeons and Dragons, but it's 21st century equivalent. Lets call it Terrorists & Trolls. T&T. I like that. The terrorist part is right here on You Tube Smackdown. You can go to directly to the enemy castle and become an instant Troll. It is fun because they hate it, and frankly, how often do you get to be as obnoxious as you like all in the name of God and Country? Here, the imaginary axe is a hoot!

The Troll part of T&T is slightly different, but not much. I have only been using this medium for a short while, but it amazes me that some people would rather argue with an Internet Troll than hit them with an axe. Really! A Troll is a Troll. Hitting them with axes is what normal people should do. Have you ever tried debating with a Troll? Their most brilliant insights can be reduced to noises like "Uunnghh! or Gthaack!! Civilised people often prefer civilised discussion, but reasoning with a Troll is like playing Beethoven to an omelet. Strange behavior with predictable results. The omelet will always get cold before the end of the first movement. Breakfast is ruined and Beethoven gets nothing out of the deal either.

So what have we learned today(apart from that Svin forgot to take his Meds)? Trolls and Terrorists are alike in that they both need to be hit with an axe. Or a Tomahawk. Now go forth and rack up some hit points. We are in a target rich environment. All we need to do is hone our bad manners.

Svinrod the Swordless has left the Building!

For Andrea

Stop Internet Terrorists!

Clicking on the link above will take you to Quoth the Raven's sister site, which is operated by a truly wonderful American Patriot named Andrea. "Stop Internet Terrorists" is the express page for those of us who were recently described on Jawa Report as "Irregular Civilians" battling the Jihadis on You Tube. Andrea is the one who tirelessly ferrets out Jihad Video on You Tube, copies the URLs and posts them on our hit list. Your job is to follow the links and "flag" the videos as offensive. You Tube has recently added a whole new menu of offensive behavior to choose from. As an added bonus( if you can stomach it) you can even leave a note to the "Artistes" who post this crap on their sites. They are generally not a very impressive lot. Actually, they are usually losers of the worst sort. Col. cooper was right when he said "We have been blessed with the most ignorant of enemies. They only have one book!"

The best thing about Andrea's "Express" version of the Anti-Jihad is that you don't have to read any of the stuff that I occasionally post here. It is not a Blog. It is more like a Target Acquisition Radar. The fastest and easiest way to go to You Tube directly and start helping to take down these sites.

It Really Works! We have taken down so many individual videos and closed so many accounts that I have lost track. All due to the indefatigable Andrea and her army of siblings and assorted co-conspirators.

So Please-Click on the Link at the top and go Whack a few Moles. Her site deserves all the support you can give to it. Is this the most effective way to fight the jihadist propaganda machine? I can only quote the great Teddy Roosevelt regarding another war in a distant land. "Do what you can, where you are, with what you have!" Sage advice for any time really. NOW GO DO IT!!!

Svin/ Muninn