A friend gets a well-deserved medal

Stephen M. Carney (right) is presented the French Legion of Honor medal by French Consul-General for the Southeast United States, Phillippe Ardanaz, in a ceremony Saturday, June 27, 2009, aboard the French schooner Belle-Poule, moored in Charleston as part of the Harbor Fest 2009 celebration. Carney was awarded the medal, France's highest merit for civilians and soldiers, for his service in liberating several French cities while serving as a member of General Patton's Third Army, in 1944-45. (Other photos of the event may be viewed.)
Carney is resident at Franke at Seaside, Mt. Pleasant, SC, and is a friend and down-the-hall neighbor.

Picture editing revisited

A short while ago two pictures (see last blog entry) seemed to be almost identical and I suspected one had the background grayed out. Not so it seems. A friend sent me a picture he took on the same occasion and says it was probably the angle at which each picture may have been taken than made me suspicious. As can be seen in the friend's photo the steps in the background resemble the background in the WSJ photo in the earlier blog. Thanks to a friend for clearing this up.

Picture editing interesting

Here are two images of S.C. Governor Mark Sanford taking the oath of office for the second time in 2007. The picture on the top is from The Wall Street Journal and the smaller one from The Post & Courier, Charleston, SC. It is obvious this is the same scene and the photos were taken within minutes of each other. Notice, however, that the WSJ image has grayed out the background group shown in the P&C image.

And we wonder if we ought to believe what we see in the newspapers or on TV.

BTW: Both pictures were used Thursday morning (June 25, 2009) in the stories about Sanford's absence from South Carolina for five days and his strange confession of dallying in Argentina with a woman not his wife.

Happy Father's Day to all Fathers

Some memories of father hood:
When our family was growing up my two oldest sons would sit at the supper table and swear on their mother's cheeseburgers and coke they would never be like their father and wear a blue pin-striped suit and wing-tips to work every day. Fast forward a decade or better and one of them met his brother at work one day and said, "Christ, look at us. We've become Dad - pin stripes and wing-tips."
On Friday I was exercise walking around six in the morning. I met a man pushing a stroller that carried a small boy. I told him I had to know: did he wake up the baby and take him out for a walk or did the baby wake him up? He laughed and said the boy woke him up.
Another of my sons used to take his son for a ride in the car in the early evening if the child could not get to sleep. A few blocks and the boy was off to lulu land for the night.
I hope all of you out there who are fathers have a nice day on this Father's Day, 2009.

500 Consecutive sellouts

When fans flocked to Fenway Park for Wednesday night's Interleague bout between the Red Sox and Florida Marlins, they did so as part of the 500th consecutive sellout at the iconic ballpark. A streak that began May 15, 2003 -- and surpassed the previous Major League record of 455 on Sept. 8, 2008, held by the Cleveland Indians from 1995-2001 -- continues to wade into unchartered waters.

Wanna buy a watch?

Watches have been on my mind for a couple of days so it was second nature to count the number of display ads for high-end, upscale watches in the first section of The Wall Street Journal today (June 16, 2009) and discover there were eight of them. Watches clearly outnumbered all other products. There was one half-page ad, two quarter-page ads and five smaller ads each averaging about a tenth of a page.
In this economy, it is obviously the seller of ad space to watch makers who is bringing home the bacon.
I did not go on-line and learn the prices of any of these watches. (The ads are not so gauche as to quote a price!)
Yesterday, I was in the local drug store for some dental floss and saw a pile of watches on the counter with a 75% off sign over them. I need a cheap watch (none in the Journal ads qualify) for when I walk on the beach to keep track of how long I am in the sun. I worry about the effect of sea air and sand on my good watch. I bought one that originally sold for $14.95 (wouldn't buy the box for those advertised in the Journal) and with the discount walked away for less than $5, tax included. So it only lasts through the summer, who cares?

Q-Tip's Birthday

It's Q-Tips 1st Birthday and you may see some pictures of him and his family - as well as some other groups of pictures taken recently. We have some beach scenes at Isle of Palms, and photos showing the progress on the third apartment house at Franke at Seaside. Click on the highlighted link, look in and enjoy!

Memories of the day

After yesterday's post regarding June 6, 1944, my youngest sister wrote: I remember going to church that morning. I do not think I really understood the big reason.

She was not alone. I remember the morning this way:

Dear Carol,

It was an early summer day, much like all the others. I went to St. Patrick's Boys' School and sat in my classroom; probably thinking about how many more days we had to go before school was over and the summer vacation would begin. Like you, I have no recollection of understanding the importance of the day, nor of the significance of what had started across the ocean on the shores of France. Then we were lined up and marched over to St. Patrick's church. All the students were there from the separate boys' and girls' schools. The boys shepherded by the Xavierian Brothers and the girls by the Sisters of whatever. We were in the lower church and it was crowded. There were some adults there as well. Probably from the neighborhood. Undoubtedly some had husbands, brothers, loved ones in the European Theater of operations and were praying for their safety. Our pastor Father John Meehan came out of the sacristy into the sanctuary and stood before the altar. Many of us in the back rows were too far away to have a good look at him but we heard his words. Then he knelt before the altar and began praying and all joined in responding to his prayers. When he finished he got up and turned to the rows of students and announced a school holiday. Some did not hear him clearly and "what did he say?" was heard throughout the crowd. Father Meehan responded that some of you didn't listen too well and he raised his voice and repeated his declaration of a school holiday. Did you hear that, he asked and there was a loud chorus of yeses. We left the church and went home and for the next few days followed the news in the paper about what was happening in France. I believe now it was several years before I came to fully appreciate what June 6, 1944, meant to all of us in America, and to the world and to history. In the movie The Longest Day, released in the early sixties, one of the characters (played by Rod Steiger) in charge of a large ship says we are on the cusp of a day that the world will still talk about long after we are dead and gone. How prescient he was.
Bud

Remember the Day

June 6, 1944

Something to think about

The "Kung Fu" actor David Carradine, age 72, was found dead in a luxury suite in a Bangkok hotel this week and police early on suspected suicide. It turns out the actor's death may have been accidental. He was found with a black nylon rope tied around his genitals and a yellow nylon rope tied around his neck. The two cords reportedly were tied together. Friends say he was in a good mood since his arrival to film a movie and would not likely commit suicide. Is there an explantion for all this?

Correction

In the last blog, the line beginning "France shared it with Israel and" should read "Iraq" not Iran.
In the next line, "Israel helped South Africa...
Sorry.

The road to nuclear club membership or how the hell did they get the bomb?

"Every nuclear power has been a secret sharer of nuclear technology", according to Bret Stephens at The Wall Street Journal.
Stephens' opinion essay appeared on June 2 and although in narrative form it reads like an organizational chart in any corporation.
In America our bomb was conceived by European scientists and built in a joint effort with Britain and Canada.
The Soviets stole theirs thanks to atomic spies, including Klaus Fuchs, a German scientist who worked in Britain and the United States.
The Soviets gave the Chinese a start in their nuclear program.
Britain gave the secret of the hydrogen bomb to France.
France shared it with Israel and Iraq.
Israel helped South Africa (which has since dropped out of the "nuclear club").
India illegally re-directed plutonium from a U.S.-Canadian reactor.
China gave early guidance to Pakistan, as did a Pakistani who stole sensitive centrifuge information from his employer in the Netherlands.
Pakistan helped Libya, North Korea and probably Iran get nuclear programs underway.
North Korea got into the "daisy chain" by helping Syria, and North Korea has hosted Iranians at its missile launches.
Stephens quotes an L.A. Times 2003 report about so many North Koreans working on nuclear and missile projects in Iran that a resort on the Caspian Sea is set aside for their exclusive use.