Wikipedia

I visited Wikipedia this evening.

You all remember "The Sound of Music" I suppose. Thinking of Austria as a landlocked country, as we've known it to be, it was amusing that Ritter Georg von Trapp was a commander in the Austrian Navy. But of course, before World War I Austria had included parts of modern day Italy and Albania including some Adriatic coastline, and had a for-real navy.

Well, I learned that Von Trapp had been a war hero submarine commander. Below I'm pasting his war-time achievements.

On April 22, 1915, he took command of U-5 and conducted nine combat patrols. While in command of the U-5 he sank:
The French armored cruiser Leon Gambetta at 39.30N, 18.15E on April 21, 1915, 15 miles south of Cape Santa Maria di Leuca
The Italian submarine Nereide at 42.23N, 16.16E on August 5, 1915, 250 yards off Pelagosa Island
He captured:
The Greek steamer Cefalonia off Durazzo on August 29, 1915
He is sometimes credited with sinking the Italian troop transport, Principe Umberto but in reality, this was sunk by the U-5 under Von Trapp's successor Friedrich Schlosser (1885-1959) on June 8, 1916 after Von Trapp was transferred to the U-14.
On October 14, 1915 he was transferred to the captured French submarine Curie, which the Austrian Navy redesignated U-14. While in command of the U-14, he sank:
The British tanker Teakwood at 36.39N, 21.10E on April 28, 1917
The Italian steamer Antonio Sciesa at 36.39N, 21.15E on May 3, 1917
The French steamer Italia at 39.45N, 19.00E on May 30, 1917
The Greek steamer Marionga Goulandris at 35.38N, 22.36E on July 5, 1917
The French steamer Constance at 36.51N, 17.25E on August 23, 1917
The British steamer Kilwinning at 35.26N, 16.30E on August 24, 1917
The British steamer Titian at 34.20N, 17.30E on August 26, 1917
The British steamer Nairn at 34.05N, 19.20E on August 28, 1917
The Italian steamer Milazzo 34.44N, 19.16E at on August 29, 1917
The British steamer Good Hope at 35.53N, 17.05E on October 18, 1917
The British steamer Elsiston at 35.40N, 17.28E on October 18, 1917
He conducted ten more war patrols, until, in May 1918, he was promoted to Korvettenkapitän (equal to Lieutenant Commander) and given command of the submarine base in the Gulf of Kotor.
At the end of World War I, von Trapp's wartime record stood at 19 war patrols, 11 cargo vessels totalling 45,669 tons sunk, 1 cargo vessel captured, the French armored cruiser Leon Gambetta (12,600 tons) and the Italian submarine Nereide (225 tons). Among other honors, he received a knighthood[2] and the Knight's Cross of the Military Order of Maria Theresa.

Interesting also was the fact that his first wife was the English grand-daughter of the inventor of the motorized torpedo and builder of the submarines purchased by the Austrian Navy. Her inherited wealth supported the family after WWI. After her death and his subsequent marriage to Maria, political pressure led him to transfer his funds from Lloyds of London to the Austrian bank owned by a friend which soon failed leaving the family in genteel poverty. It was these circustances that led Maria to commercialize the family past time of singing.

Interesting, huh?

The Mexican government has a history

of coming up with far fetched explanations of embarassing events. When a plane crashed this week in Mexico City killing the interior minister (top cop) and a half dozen of his staff, the official sources explained that the pilot had apparently lost control of the plane. Well, that doesn't seem too implausible, but doesn't provide an adequate explanation.

The Mexica government's war on the drug traficers is hampered by a culture of official corruption extending into the police and military, the gangs' proclivity for violence and terror, and the prevailing poverty that contributes a fertile recruiting ground for the gangs. We feel at a loss to find solution to the threat that our neighbor will sink further into the narco state squalor as government officials are intimidated as well as bribed into submission to the gangs.

The only response I can recommend is that we all commit to a boycott of illicit drugs from Mexico. Sounds extreme, I know, but it seems to be working for ivory.

I know I said one unexpected loss

wouldn't spell the end for Charlie, but "unexpected losses" are starting to pile up. Here's a sample of the posting at Rock's House this morning, an open letter to the board of trustees:

"We need an emergency bailout plan post haste.

The Charlie Weis era is over. If he won’t resign or you don’t fire him today, you more than Weis will be responsible for the bigger mess that will follow the Notre Dame Football program in particular and the University in general for a long, long time. Take Lou Holtz up on his offer to serve as interim coach. You already chased him away once, but the man’s love for Notre Dame outweighs any animosity he might have had for the institution that stabbed him in the back at the beginning of this legend-breaking debacle. It’s the only credible option you have.

Remember this; it was football that allowed Our Lady’s University to become the wonderful institution of Catholic, intellectual thought we all know it to be. Remember your roots; remember the beacon of hope it became for the Catholic immigrants’ children when they needed someone, something to believe in as the forces of discrimination were working against them in the rest of their moribund lives a generation or two or three ago. I know my Dad, a subway alum, realized all too well what Notre Dame symbolized to Catholics in the 20s and 30s outside the City of Pittsburgh when the KKK burned a cross high on the hill across the river from the Eastern European, immigrant, coal-mining and steel town he grew up in. I also know what it meant to him as a symbol of hope coming back from World War II and experiencing the job discrimination against Catholics that still prevailed then.

My Dad died 10 days shy of his 87th birthday in the spring of 2007, so he has been spared the ignominy of having had to witness this slow motion train wreck over the last two seasons of the football team and University he held so dear. This is the man, whom upon my cleaning out his house after his death, I finally realized just how proud he was that his only son had the chance to attend Our Lady’s University. Buried at the bottom of the socks drawer in his dresser was an envelope marked “Mike – Notre Dame”, and in it, I discovered my tuition/room and board invoices from the University, all eight of them neatly arranged in chronological order. It became painfully obvious to me just how proud this humble and not well-to-do man was of paying those then-hefty bills to allow his son to attend this wonderful University of ours. Notre Dame Administrators – you owe a lot to people like my Dad (and Mom who passed 5 years prior to my Dad); many, many people like them helped make Notre Dame the special place it came to be. You also owe much to those who believe so much in Notre Dame today, in what it represents as a symbol of faith in this increasingly-secular world.

The time for change is now, not next week or next year. Please know this; it’s a whole lot more fun celebrating winning with humility as demonstrated by the likes of Ara Parseghian, Dan Devine, and Lou Holtz than what we have been experiencing lately. And if this helps any, I’m willing to put $100 up - $1,000 if you really need the push - to help make this happen. Heavens knows you’ve already gotten a lot more from me over the years. Count me as one of the lunatic fringe who returned to get a second degree from Notre Dame and send his two kids also.

I know it’s only football, but it’s our football and it’s our University, not just yours. "

Also posted

I didn't get it , but I liked it.

That makes it official

Janett sat down at her computer this morning and ordered my business cards for the tax and bookkeeping service. She's agreed tenatively to do some work there this tax season, manning the office for walk ins and preparing returns. I think she's partially motivated by a desire to be there to clean up after me, and keep me organized and on task. Jose is conducting training on Friday nights, and Janett attended last night

Besides business cards the other cool thing I desire is a little signature stamp with name and address printed small enough to stamp into the preparer block on returns. I guess between e-filing and printing everything from the computer, little rubber signature stamps are going the way of green eye shades and arm bands.

My daughters havent commented here since I posted that note on Senator Durbin losing his daughter. Maybe I embarrassed them (again)

Note to self

It was rude of me to refer to Senator McCain as pig-headed, and I shouldn't have expressed that opinion about Congressperson Emanuel either. Obviously, I take politics way too personally, and was caught up in a silly season frame of mind. Not that I think that I'm necessarily wrong in either case, but don't we all respect someone who speaks in measured tones, presents verifiable data, and must be pressed for an opinion, and even when pressed states the opinion in a nuanced way and never offensively?

My father or grandfathers could have stong opinions which they wouldn't share, preferring to keep their own counsel, and not feeling it was incumbent on them to influence or inform others. In our society, there may not be a lot of gentlemen to model our behaviour on, but it's probably not a bad idea to look back generation or two for instruction on appropriate behavior.

Thinking about it, I'm afraid they may represent a standard that would require a lot of practice to imitate. But I will try not to be offensive.

Sen Sam Brownback

would have been my choice among the Republican contenders. Folk's will say the market crash spoiled McCain's chances. I'd say his chances were always slim and none. He was just too pig-headed to know it. Now we have to figure out where the Republicans go from here. I'm sorry Mitch McConnell didn't lose in Kentucky. He's not capable of providing the kind of leadership they need now. I'm at a loss to see where they'll find a guy with brains, charisma, and vision amongst the membership. You do things the easy way long enough and it catches up with you.

Senator Durbin

cancelled his election party because his 41 year old daughter died over the week-end.

You know I like Senator Durbin. If he feels the way I do about my children, I imagine he is mourning the loss of a unique beauty, the distillation of hundreds of years of family history of happiness and strife, triumphs and losses, beauty and adversity, grace and courage into one precious little being in whom you rejoice each day of her life. Someone far too valuable, not only to the father, but to the world, to have lost.

OK, OK Just one more thing

My old friend Everett and I got together a couple of weeks ago. I thought we made a date for brunch with the ladies for this morning at Port Edwards, a nice sea-food restaurant in Algonquin.
I called yesterday to confirm with him and got his voicemail. It was a nice morning and we took a chance and drove up there - No Everett, which was fine. At our last visit he was talking of plans for a visit with his daughter in Vermont, and he may still be there. Since he's in his nineties, there's some concern, but I'm not going to worry yet.

The thing was that there was no line at Port Edwards for brunch, and as Janett and I drove back to Red Lobster, which is more our speed she pointed out three closed restaurants in adjacent buildings in the Mall. One was a Famous Dave's, one a Friday's, and I don't remember who had the third place. We spoke of this oddity, and Janett told me about news of auto dealers closing. Just wait till they ship all those car's back and you drive past blocks of empty lots on the car dealer strip. That'll give people a chill.

We were all given an extra hour today

I used mine to update my playlist. Kim mentioned listening the other day, and I knew a lot of the connections had gone bad and needed refreshing. Also a couple just didn't fit, so I deleted them so I could add a couple and be sure I was bringing you the all time top 40.

ND lost to Pitt

I didn't really mind losing to North Carolina, but Pitt? This is not good. The offensive line was not good, so ungood in fact that Pitt rushed just three and still got pressure on Clausen, while dropping eight into coverage, so even when he had time, Clausen couldn't find an open receiver.
The running game should have thrived, but it was running back by committee (again) . While, I like Aldridge and Hughes OK, Armando Allen seems to be the best running back and should be used exclusively unless he's thoroughly winded or in certain short yardage situations. Really good running backs can go 20+ carries a game and seem to get stronger as they get in their groove (and the defense gets weary getting blocked on every play and having to chase him around.
I don't think one unexpected loss or even a dissapointing season spells the end for Charlie, but it doesn't look good for John Latina , the offensive line coach.

PS I know John Latina is a better offensive line coach than I am, and so I'm not in a position to judge, except by apparent results.

Wait a minute

On Thursday there was a news item I only heard once and have not seen in print, that Obama has asked Rahm Emanuel to serve as his chief of staff if he's elected. How annoying. The chief of staff controls access to and scheduling for the president, and for that reason has occasionally been referred to as the second most powerful man in Washininton.
I had been pleased that Obama seemed to be breaking the lockstep cadence Democratic nominees usually establish with pro-Israel extremists. In fact, my impression was that the neo-cons had shifted the Republican party into alliance with the Israeli right wing, and that Americn jewry was supporting McLean.
While I never expected the jewish people to be frozen out of influence in the Democratic party, I expected more moderate American jews would be represented in the Obama administration than Emmanuel, who I consider to be an agent of influence of the Israeli government in the leadership of the US Congress.
Either Obama has deceived me about his desire to take a more balanced position in mid-eastern affairs, or the announcement was a ploy in a day of campaigning in Florida, but the very thin coverage of this story in the news leads me to fear the former is the case.

MIA

I've been missing in action. I think I burned through another monitor. I've borrowed Janett's laptop til I can get to BestBuy. I worked til 11PM Tuesday and went to bed early last night, but tonight I felt I was beginning to suffer withdrawal symptoms and some kind of isolation syndrome. I'll probably post a comment on everyone's blog tonight just because I Can.

I talked to Jose today. I haven't been able to get the bookkeeping thing on track due to my temp job. He's OK about that though because he's getting fired up for a big tax season. He asked today if Janett would like to get involved. I told him that the year I ran the tax service in Huntley, Janett was receptionist/office manager and did some returns too. He was happy to hear that. I told him maybe we'd be able to get together with Janett on Saturday to sound her out.

Speaking of Janett, she ran over to pick up Kim today and they came back to Elgin where Kim could vote. She hadn't registered in her new home town yet. Last week there was some intra-familial tension over our daughters favoring McCain and Janett favoring Obama. Our daughters are not really one issue voters - well, yes, I guess they are. I heard today that there are a million abortions a year in the US. (I guess that's about the rate at which Hitler was exterminating people in the camps.) So at least the girls won't have to feign ignorance when they stand before their Creator on judgement day.

I've shared with them my opinion that the Republicans cynically use the abortion issue to lock up Catholics and other Christian voters, and the last thing Bush or McCain really want is another million welfare babies on the rolls each year, and that the Republicans' idea of a conservative supreme court justice is one who protects the wealthy and powerful, and unborn babies need not apply. But the girl's have made a commitment that the blood of those innocents will not be on their heads, and I guess, even if it's just lip service, the Republicans are keeping the debate alive.

I guess it's kind of like me voting for Nader in previous elections.

Help!

My life is unharmonious at this time. Perhaps that's because I lack the energy or discipline to put things in order. I had a couple of future contracts expire out of the money last week. And I haven't opened up new positions. I figured the market was going to 8000 and now that it's there, even though the bad news continues to come out, and we haven't really had a selling panic to mark the bottom, something tells me the Dow's going to run up a couple thousand pretty quick . But I'd hate to go long and watch the index drop a couple thousand more instead.

Janett's still not doing all that well. She's fatigued and doesn't spring back after a couple days' rest. Maybe she has a cold coming on. Did you hear about her asking the landlord this week about the heat in the apartment? He said the thermostat in is the vacant first floor unit, and since the electricity was shut off, it's probably not working. Hmmm, Do you think maybe we should do something about that?

Mally's birthaday was celebrated yesterday. Steffy posted a couple pictures of her beautiful boys. Maybe there's more to come. If you go to her site to check them out, Owen doesn't really look like that. He's dressed in his Chew Baca outfit.

I'm still moving forward on the bookkeeping thing. Bad time to start a small business serving other small businesses. I mentioned to Jose, maybe we could offer a little bankruptcy filing service.

Getting back in the groove?

Posting 2 days in a row. How about it?

My temp assignment is dragging on. The plant is finished, up and running, all but a half dozen invoices have been received and paid. But the client isn't indicating I'll be released soon. I know there's more to be done, like reclassing the construction in process to assets placed in service and closing out the CIP account, but I think they're really keeping me around to deal with the auditors who will definitely scrutinize the project files.

And the corporate engineer, in a teleconference today, after confirming we'd committed all but a hundred thousand dollars on a 35 million dollar project, started talking about a few nice to have things that would run another half million. I've been worrying about coming in under budget (very important in these days of financial stress), and I got the feeling he can simply ask for another half million if he wants to.

Then this evening I met with my new neighbor, Jose Ramirez. Jose doesn't live next door. He's rented a little commercial space next door for his tax service. Our landlord told him that I'm an accountant and Jose would like to expand his tax service to include a bookkeeping service, so we're talking about me helping him out with that. I like the idea working part time getting a bookkeeping service going to supplement my retirement income, and I like Jose.

Last weekend Janett and I promised we'd make no plans for this weekend, and she could relax and not entertain. There's no Notre Dame game this week-end , which would normally be a social occasion for me, so maybe I'll have some time to investigate how to open up a bookkeeping service. We'll see what happens.

And here's another picture from last Sunday's walk in the park:

Love

Boy, oh boy, oh boy

Wow, it's been like a month since I posted anything. I should apologize to friends and family who occasionally drop by to see if I'm OK. Well, I guess I'm OK. About three weeks ago I was unsettled by Janett's health problems. A couple visits to the emergency room and an appointment with a new doctor seems to have gotten us through that crisis, but the stress and concern was fatiguing.
But I don't think that really kept me from posting. I think it's that feeling that people have described after having when involved in a major disaster, how time seems to stand still and you can look around at the horror filled expressions on peoples faces and hear crashing, tearing sounds and feel jolted and being tossed around, all in an instant that lasts a long time.
I think that's where I've been stuck for a month with the economic train wreck occurring.
But nice things always happen to me in the personal world. My birthday was the 28th and Janett and I went to Louie's for lunch and cake. Janett had prepared a nacho dish and it was good, but she was still in a lot of pain, and fearing she was going to run out of pain medication before she got in to see her new doctor she was self medicating with Miller Genuine Draft. So it was weird. Me, I'm kind of a celebratory drinker. If nothing else we can celebrate that we're having a drink. So Janett's drinking intently, purposefully seemed kind of like watching somebody cheat at crouquet. But anyway we put off the family celebration until this past Friday when Noah and Lauren were going to be in town. It was a family party, and very nice. Ross and Kim were there and Jase and Dee with Joey. Noah and Lauren, of course, and Steffy with her boys, and Mark showed up a little later. Janett ordered a bunch of Chinese food which we all enjoyed and there was a sufficient surplus that Janett was able to put leftovers in bags for people to take home.She also made a triple fudge layer cake and found chocolate mint meltaway ice cream at the store. Yumm.
Then Louie and Julie came over to watch ND lose to NC on Saturday. Too bad, but giving up 5 turnovers makes winning tough - and after last year, losing football games doesn't sting as much as it used to. Besides we're playing a lot of freshman and sophomores who are doing well, so there's real hope for the future.
Then on Sunday we drove down the river to Fabyan park in Batavia and enjoyed a beautiful afternoon walking around and taking pictures, like this one.

Love

How long has it been since I got hysterical about

the economy? I mean everyone knows I've expected the worst, and I haven't wanted to continually complain and warn folks. But just in case anyone thinks the "resolute action" by tne Treasury/Fed this week solved our problems, I thought I'd post a little caveat.

The AIG Insurance melt down is shocking but not unexpected, and the problem is not just that they made some bad mortgage loans. The problem is their credit derivative and default swaps. I wrote about them a year ago, and I don't want to copy my earlier post so I found a good article at Storm Watch (one of my linked sites). Bill O'Brien used to say he liked Scientific American, because the articles started simply enough then got more rigorous, and you could quit whenever you wanted and still get something out of it. Why did the govt take a majority interest (ownership) of AIG, instead of just lending them the 85 billion? Could it be because they plan to tell the insurance companies and pension funds, "You cant sue Uncle Sam." when those folks seek to collect on the insurance on their investments AIG sold them?

What is troubling is that politicians are "appalled" at the magnitude of the problems they've been forced to acknowledge. "Nobody expected such a thing could happen" sounds a little like "Everyone thought the Iraqis were developing WMD's" Yes we did, and no we didn't. It's a kind of culpable deniability. And they're not going to level with us about how bad the prospects really are.

The problem is they'll bankrupt the nation trying to stave off each lesser "disaster", pretending to be oblivious of the really big disaster that's rushing towards us.



We now return you to scheduled broadcasting...

ND vs Mich

Clausen hands off to Hughes


Tate getting yards after catch



Scoring with a recovered fumble



Blocking on play action TD pass to Tate. Mean while Tate is running down the field on the right (out of photo) while the safety at the center of the screen is still looking into the ND backfield for the ball carrier.

First three photos are from Era of Ara at Cartier Field
Last one from Blue Grey Sky

Weirdness

So Lehman Brothers is going bankrupt. As was the case with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, it'll be interesting to see what their assets and liabilities really are and how much those assets are worth when they have to be liquidated, and who they owe how much they owe that isn't going to be paid off.

and Merrill Lynch had to find a buyer

and insurance giant AIG is under scrutiny, and looking for buyers for the pieces of its business it can sell off to raise some cash.

Just folks like us can't be sure what's happening, like why Bank of America is paying more than market value for Merrill Lynch shares. And what kind of deals the Fed and Treasury are promising Bank of America to bail out Merrill.

Anyway the market is going to be down big on Monday, (and it wouldn't be very good day to ask your bank for a loan).

I haven't been communicating well...

Not only on blogs, I haven't been calling people on the phone or visiting my Facebook page or checking my email. I've been preoccupied, mainly by work, but also probably in dealing on a subconscious level with the losses suffered by our little family. Every day I think of Kim and Ross and their lost baby and I think of Sally without Si caring for Davie. If my emotional equilibrium is so upset by these sad events, how hard must it be for those who suffered the losses more immediately?

Ross's friend brought his band to town for a performance this week-end, and the guys are staying at Kim and Ross's, Kim likes the guys but decided it might be a nice time to get away, so she stayed at Steffie and Mark's last night. Only 5 min. away. I'll swing by there on my errand run this morning

But I got to be home this afternoon for the ND game with Michigan. Louie and Julie are coming over. We'll probadly skip the cooking brats etc. and just order a pizza. Janett's been miserable this week with pain in her upper abdomen. Her doctor says it's fibroid myalgia in the tissue separating her lungs from her stomach (or something like that), so he prescribed a pain remedy I've never heard of that's supposedly good for fybroid myalgia. She's cleaning and freshening the place up a little for company but I'm not sure she'll be a affable hostess. Well, my little den is at the other side of the apartment from her bedroom and study, and she can have a little seclusion if she doesn't feel gregarious.

One little problem is my TV. It is little. like 13". The TV in the living room is a little bigger, maybe 19". I'm just not a big TV guy. I told Louie we could watch the game at his house if he wouldn't be comfortable with the little TV, but he seemed happier with the idea of coming over here. Maybe the little TV will prove a blessing. If Notre Dame disappoints, we can turn the volume down and only half watch.

OK, time for me to run out for snack shopping and to see Kimbo at Steffie's. Steffie just called and said a bag of dough-nuts would not be unwelcome. So here I go.

PS The audit of my project at work went well. Tne numbers all tied out and the papers were in order. Some documentation required by the company are still missing, but the auditor felt that the shortcomings were more plant and procurement issues than accounting problems. At least that's what he said. I'll get a written report next week.

Mommy and I like this song

This one

ND won.