Test (1 Viewer)

[Dennis Nicholls]

Good good good.
Is it cold up in your area too? I understand it's a whole lot warmer down in Mexico these days.

A plume of smoke and steam rises from the Popocatepetl volcano in Altzomoni Tlamacas, Mexico. Popocatepetl volcano exploded six times in a 24-hour period spewing steam and columns of ash more than a mile high.

Popo is currently 5,452 meters (17,887 feet) above sea level, but, being a volcano, that altitude is subject to change.

 

[Mike Frezon]

Funny you should bring up the weather...

By DAVID FILKINS, Staff writer
First published: Sunday, December 2, 2007
ALBANY -- About that storm expected to hit the Capital Region today and Monday: There's good news and bad news.
First, the good: The National Weather Service expects no more than three inches of snow by the time it's over Monday afternoon.
Now the bad: Objects on the ground could be covered with up to one-third of an inch of ice. The storm is expected to consist of mostly sleet and freezing rain, most of it coming early Monday, coinciding with the morning commute.
"It's going to be a mix of snow, rain, sleet, freezing rain -- take your pick," said National Weather Service hydro-meteorologist Tim Scrom. "Just about everything is going to be covered with ice."
Scrom said there is a 70 percent chance of precipitation today, starting in the afternoon or evening and continuing through the night into Monday, when the chance of precipitation is 100 percent, Scrom said.
Temperatures are expected to be in the teens and 20s today and Monday, with a slight breeze blowing both days and making the air seem even cooler, according to Scrom, who said offices could be desolate, schools empty, and businesses closed Monday morning.
"The timing of this should be pretty bad," he said.
A conference call between the National Weather Service and representatives from the public works departments of counties surrounding the Capital Region is scheduled for this morning, as municipalities plan for dealing with the weather.

 

[Dennis Nicholls]

Ugh. At least it's just terribly windy here. Temp. is 40 and little to no precip. forecast in Boise. Six inches of RAIN in 24 hours in Seattle though.

Amsterdam is currently a balmy 50 degrees F., with 21 mph winds and gentle rain.

 

[Mike Frezon]

Amsterdam is currently a balmy 50 degrees F., with 21 mph winds and gentle rain.

Um. No.
It is currently 17-degree F in Amsterdam.
Oh. You mean THAT Amsterdam!

 

[Dennis Nicholls]

I didn't want Cees to feel left out of our weather kvetching.

 

[Mike Frezon]

And if an English-literature-fancying friend ever gets the sniffles...what better gift than the Shakespeare Kleenex box holder?

 

[Mike Frezon]

President Taft on the phone.

Chief Justice Taft with President Hoover and Vice-President Coolidge.

Is that an admiral behind Coolidge?

 

[Dennis Nicholls]

Here are some snowfall and wind reports from the last day:

Kittitas County, WA: 22.0"
Troy, MT: 21.0"
Naples, ID: 16.0"
Glenwood, WA: 18.0"
Near Crested Butte, CO: 15.0"
Duluth, MN: 12.3"
As have the wind gusts in Oregon and Washington (only gusts over 85 mph shown)...
Mount Ranier, WA (10,000 Feet): 110 mph
Cape Blanco, OR: 101 mph
Cape Mears, OR: 98 mph
Lincoln, OR: 91 mph
Mission Ridge, WA: 86 mph

What's really odd is that the storm is raising temperatures here. When I went to bed it was 38 degrees outside: now at 3 AM it's 49 degrees.

 

[Cees Alons]

Amsterdam is currently a balmy 50 degrees F., with 21 mph winds and gentle rain.

Correct.
At the moment it's a very soft weather, dry and some sun. Proves global warming, of course (extremely cold weather also proves that: apparently the weather is disturbed).
Amsterdam, and the Netherlands as a whole, are currently dominated by a more than 1700-years old man with a red hat.
You guys know his name: it was transferred in the US to that other figure, Father Christmas, who got a name inside the US.
Allow me to present the Goedheiligman! (Good-holy-man.)

His real name is Sint Nikolaas (Saint Nicholas), better known as Sinterklaas, pronounce almost like the US-English Santa Claus. His birthday is on December 6th, so, being a politically correct friend of children, he brings presents for them on Sinterklaas-eve: December 5th (many people think that's his birthday), commonly and better known as pakjesavond (parcel evening).
Normal procedure: the whole family together make a big thing of placing a box or bag near the front door. The front door will be off the lock. Then all of the family will return to the living room where they will start singing Sinterklaas-songs, possibly accompanying a record. Grown-ups may repeatedly say things like "I wonder if Sinterklaas calls this year". That's because they're stupid, of course. (Dad may have to leave for a pee, or something. Stupid too: as it appears he misses the one big moment. Oh, too bad!).
Suddenly the bell rings very loudly, long and impressive. Children run to the door: no-one to see, but oh goodness, the whole bag is filled with presents now, packed in typical Sinterklaas-paper. There may even be one or two extra bags!
Daddy emerges frome somewhere, and now the bag or box is (or bags or boxes are) taken to the room, where all presents, one by one, are handed over to the respective receivers (often the role of mom: "for Lizzy" - the name is on each present), opened, a poem (the infamous Sinterklaas-poems) or a message is read by the 'receiver', who then says "thank you very much Sinterklaas" (especially older persons do this, looking straight at the person then who they think is the one who had a hand in the present), followed by the next present, etc. Takes at least a whole hour.
Here's some information in English (reasonably well done):
http://www.stnicholascenter.org/Brix?pageID=105

Cees

 

[Mike Frezon]

Nice. Well-told, Cees.
Who are Sinterklaas's co-travelers? The ones wearing black with red diamonds, earrings, etc.
**EDIT: Never mind. Found the answer myself in the wiki article. Zwarte Piet, of course!

 

[John Kilduff]

Pizza, anyone?
Sincerely,
John Kilduff...
I hope this works.

 

[Dennis Nicholls]

The only thing that puzzles me is why Sinterklaus is arriving by boat from Spain. Years ago Spain wasn't a friend of the Netherlands at all but rather a military occupier IIRC. But is does explain the Moorish Black Pete.

Nevertheless, the tradition has been accused of being racist, and attempts have been made to introduce Gekleurde Pieten (Coloured Petes), who are coloured blue, red, etc., instead of black. This phenomenon of "Coloured Petes" was introduced nationally in 2006. The explanation given for this was that "Sinterklaas passed through a rainbow with his boat".

So PC theory has invaded the Netherlands now too.

The origin of "Santa Claus" clears up my mind in one respect. "Santa" I've always associated with the Spanish word for a female saint vs. "San" for a male saint. E.g. Santa Barbara, Santa Clara, and the like.

 

[Cees Alons]

"Santa" seems purely based on the sound of it.

Although Saint Nicholas really was a bishop in Turkey, around 300 AD, the "cult" seems to have started around 700 AD in Italy (which didn't really exist then, just small independent parts). In our neighbourhood it only came to blossom from approx. the 14th and 15th Century on, so "Spain" was an intuitive step, I guess.

It looks, like so many traditions, that it was based on beliefs and habits that already existed a long time.

Wotan and/or Odin were supposed to run through the sky on their horses and used black ravens (there even seemed to have been a black little "devil" accompanying Wotan) to listen to chimneys.

Sinterklaas runs over the rooftops on his white horse (although Santa Claus is still higher up in the sky) and has his helper ... listen to chimneys. He also uses the chimneys to fill shoes of children (socks in the US, isn't it?).

So when the benefactor became a bishop from Spain, "Black Pete" became a Moorish servant. Then some figured his hands and face got black by climbing inside those chimneys, and the ravens were forgotten.

I don't think people even knew very much about the mere existence of black people (if at all) in this part of the world, during the Middle Ages. There's in fact nothing politically incorrect about Zwarte Piet, even though he wears blackface (children often dress up like ZP, making their faces black with a burned cork; black children use the cork as enthusiastically as any). He's of black raven descent.

Nowadays, ZP is more of an equal to the Sint. There's supposed to be 1 "main Piet" (the "Hoofd Piet"), and many other helpers, all reporting directly to the HP. He's very popular among children, who tend to be more reserved under the gaze of the Sint himself.

The standard expression is "Sinterklaas & Zwarte Piet", you use it together almost inseparably. They also enthusiastically visit the Caribbean parts of our commonwealth.

The "Blue" Piet, etc. really isn't seen anywhere in practice. Discussions whether or not ZP is politically correct hardly occur anywhere, because it's basically too stupid.

But who knows what the future might bring.

Cees

 

[Mike Frezon]

But back to Post #3408, who's the dude behind Cal?

 

[Dennis Nicholls]

Probably Admiral Pratt, CINC around that time. He's in the left in this photo taken about the same time.

Your photo is of the Hoover inaugural in 1929, so that's outgoing president Calvin C.

 

[Dennis Nicholls]

Pratt was still around for FDR's first inaugural.

Scuttlebutt is that Hoover delayed Pratt's retirement so as to keep Doug MacArthur from showing up at the inaugural ceremonies. Hoover blamed his electoral loss on Doug's rousting of the "bonus army" earlier.

MacArthur and Roosevelt had reasons for mutual dislike. The general had been appointed chief of staff by Herbert Hoover and made no secret of his Republican preferences. MacArthur would have been the senior service chieftain at FDR's inauguration if the president hadn't deliberately delayed replacing Admiral Pratt. MacArthur blew any chance Hoover had of getting reelected by his unnecessary zeal in chasing away the World War I veterans--the pitiful Bonus Army--who had come to Washington to lobby for early payment of a bonus that was due them. When Washington columnists Drew Pearson and Robert Allen published some unflattering remarks about the episode, MacArthur sued, only to drop the suit when Pearson discovered that the plaintiff had been maintaining a teenaged Filipina mistress in Washington's swank Chastleton apartments on Sixteenth Street, and had fallen out with her. Eisenhower was to spend a frustrating interval pounding the pavements trying to find the lady in the warren of Washington rooming houses .Pearson found her first and, along with her, MacArthur's love letters. Money changed hands and the lady agreed to leave town.

 

[Mike Frezon]

Your photo is of the Hoover inaugural in 1929, so that's outgoing president Calvin C.

Ack! I flip-flopped my administrations. It's tough to get old.
A couple of questions: That is one cool uniform. Who would wear it? Any old admiral? Is it still a regulation uniform...or retired? And why did he have ribbons/medals dya suppose at the FDR inaugural but not on-board the battleship ("in the '30s")?
What is CINC?
So, Pratt was basically the head of the Navy before there was a Joint Chiefs of Staff?
Was Roosevelt behind glass at his inaugural?

 

[Cees Alons]

Was Roosevelt behind glass at his inaugural?

Dunno.

But if his father-in-law was present there as well, Roosevelt certainly was a glass behind.

Cees

 

[Dennis Nicholls]

Cees, actually Theodore Roosevelt died tragically at the young age of 61 in 1919, so he never saw FDR as president.
Beats me about such things, but the Navy more than the other services is big on special "ceremonial" uniforms. I've been up-close and personal with many US Navy Admirals and have never seen one funny uniform myself. Generally they wear regular officer's hats with extra embroidery.
CINC is an acronym for Commander-in-Chief, a term referring to a post held by senior general officers or admirals. For example, CINCPACFLT is the head admiral of the US Pacific Fleet. CINCPAC on the other hand is the head of ALL US forces in the Pacific, and by tradition is held by an admiral. CINCPACFLT reports to CINCPAC. There are some horribly long titles such as CINCUSNAVEUR (CINC US Navy Europe). Pratt was CINC US FLT at the time of the Hoover inauguration, which he attended in protocol as "senior service chief". Sometime around then CINC US FLT was re-titled CNO for chief of naval operations - I'm a little vauge on the details.
There were no joint chiefs of staff until after WWII. In those days, there was no Air Force and no DOD. The head of the Marine Corps reported to the head of the Navy, and the Air Force was part of the Army. The Navy and Army reported to the Secretary of the Navy and Army, respectively.
George W. Bush pissed off the Navy early in his first term by forbidding anyone other than the President from having a title including the term CINC, claiming HE was the only one. The title of CINC has been replaced for military use by Commander: thus CINCPAC is now CommanderPAC.
As an example, here's CINCPAC Nimitz performing routine duties wearing a normal admiral's uniform:

 

[Dennis Nicholls]

My it's wet in western Washington state.

That's Interstate 5 under up to 10 feet of water.