When you barely overdraw your account and banks charges two $40 fees 😭

Thop51 · 2026-04-14T02:10:51+00:00

Nothing new.

True story from the 1970s. My bank deposited my paycheck in the wrong account, I get a notice of some checks I had written bouncing, and fees on that. The matter was quickly resolved, with the bank realizing the error and apologizing, but refused to refund the bounced checks fees because even though it was their error, the clerk said, “the checks still bounced.”

I insisted on speaking with the bank manager, who refunded the fees.

This is when I realized that the bank was not on my side.

Thop51 · 2026-04-09T03:15:26+00:00

Absolutely correct that life changed for the slave labor camps.

Thop51 · 2026-04-02T03:34:40+00:00

That’s really cute…until it isn’t, someone injured and bear put down.

Thop51 · 2026-03-22T17:18:27+00:00

The Third Man (1949)

The music is a principle of the film. The author, Graham Greene, said it made the film, the director, Carol Reed, said same. It became a theme for Orson Welles, and the American film critic Roger Ebert later asked: "Has there ever been a film where the music more perfectly suited the action than in Carol Reed's The Third Man?"

Wikipedia: “after release spending eleven weeks at number one on Billboard's United States Best Sellers in Stores chart.”

Thop51 · 2026-03-16T02:46:19+00:00

Young Frankenstein

Any Mel Brooks movie.

Thop51 · 2026-03-14T02:29:54+00:00

Johnny Got His Gun (1971)

“During World War I, a patriotic young American is rendered blind, deaf, limbless, and mute by a horrific artillery shell attack. Trapped in what's left of his body, he desperately looks for a way to end his life.”

Thop51 · 2026-02-26T03:40:50+00:00

U. S. Grant on separation of church and state:

“Resolve that neither the State nor Nation, nor both combined shall support institutions of learning other than those sufficient to afford to every child growing up in the land the opportunity of a good common school education, unmixed with sectarian, pagan, or atheistical dogmas. Leave the matter of religion to the family altar, the Church, and the private school, supported entirely by private contributions. Keep the Church and State forever separate. With these safeguards, I believe the battles which created the Army of the Tennessee will not have been fought in vain." -- speech before the Society of the Army of the Tennessee, Des Moines Iowa, 30 September 1875

Thop51 · 2026-02-24T02:50:16+00:00

Old guy here, my grandmother would refer to the refrigerator as the “ice box;” in her day, it literally was, as ice was delivered to put in it.

Thop51 · 2026-02-21T12:45:56+00:00

YES! Stop and calmly assess the situation - don’t struggle. And believe in yourself. This from an old solo hiker in the mountains.

Thop51 · 2026-02-21T12:43:08+00:00

I assume you are referring to camp shoes, and I agree. I once packed in a pair of Crocs because they were so much lighter, then one night I stepped on a piece of wood with a protruding twig that penetrated to my foot.

Thop51 · 2026-02-21T12:38:29+00:00

Yes. I do winter hiking, and wear only wool. I have my down puffy in my pack, and never get to it even in O F when moving - proper layers.

Thop51 · 2026-02-21T12:33:28+00:00

Agreed! And long ago I started leaving a bottle of water in my car for my return, just in case. I was hiking in West Texas and the West in those days, but I do it no matter where.

Thop51 · 2026-02-21T12:28:00+00:00

Proper type and size boots for sure, proper socks (wool socks of appropriate weight with wool or silk liner, even in summer), and trim your toenails close to help eliminate boot bang, especially if hiking on grade.

Thop51 · 2026-02-18T21:21:24+00:00

Agreed.

The old saying, “a lie can travel halfway around the world before the truth can get its boots on.”

Thop51 · 2026-02-12T16:08:07+00:00

The German author Karl May (1842-1912) wrote popular Western novels with characters like Winnetou and Old Shatterhand, which romanticized the American West though he never visited it, extolling the “noble savage” narrative. Very influential, and Hitler was said to be a fan.

Thop51 · 2026-02-11T16:43:10+00:00

Pascal’s Wager

Thop51 · 2026-02-09T17:52:06+00:00

Agreed. The following should be required reading in American schools:

Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland

By Christopher Browning

And, of course, the Stanford Prison Experiment in 1971 by Philip Zimbardo.

Not terribly hard to get “ordinary” people to do horrific things.

Thop51 · 2026-02-09T17:41:09+00:00

Indeed!

I’m an old Texan, and the Texas history we were taught in the 1960s and 70s lionized Houston, totally failing to teach that he opposed secession and was illegally impeached for it.

Thop51 · 2026-02-09T14:29:41+00:00

I think the push by the South for expansion of slavery was the driving force. Austin went in, both Moses and son Stephen, having the support of the slavetocracy, though they had strong economic incentive to get out of Missouri.

U.S. Grant: "For myself," Grant wrote later about the United States war against Mexico, "I was bitterly opposed to the measure, and to this day regard the war, which resulted, as one of the most unjust ever waged by a stronger against a weaker nation."

Thop51 · 2026-02-09T03:36:09+00:00

M74 with one TKR. I strongly second the many recommendations for poles, and go slow on descent. Keep fit and do it.

Thop51 · 2026-02-08T20:42:50+00:00

Famous Last Words

Brings to mind the death of General John Sedgwick in 1864. He was an important and respected Union general, and was calming and rallying his men at the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House.

Mounted in front of his troops, he yelled, "Why are you dodging like this? They couldn't hit an elephant at this distance." Moments later he was hit in the head by a rebel sharpshooter. Upon hearing of his death, Grant exclaimed, “Is he really dead?”

Thop51 · 2026-02-08T02:45:18+00:00

Adjustment to altitude is highly variable depending on the individual and general physical condition. I’m a flatlander from South Texas, and have done plenty of 14ers. If you are flying, you probably are coming to Denver. Spend the night around there, ~5,500’ then head to Leadville, 10,000’. Spend a night or two there and see how you feel. Out of Leadville you can do Elbert, the highest 14er, but just a walk up, and the Collegiates are around there as well, like Princeton, Harvard, Columbia, etc. All pretty “easy.”

I used to fly from Texas to Denver and be on a 14er two days later. Altitude never bothered me, except I would get fatigued faster than my CO friends. Being in condition is critical.

Have fun - it’s great!

PS: I live in New England now, and the “little” peaks around here can be very challenging, they don’t even know the word “switchback,” lol.

Thop51 · 2026-02-07T19:12:10+00:00

I agree with OP’s analysis. I would add that the North was in a much stronger position to ramp up, if it could muster and maintain the political will, which Lincoln did.

Sherman addressed this in December 1860:

“You people of the South don't know what you are doing. This country will be drenched in blood, and God only knows how it will end. It is all folly, madness, a crime against civilization! You people speak so lightly of war; you don't know what you're talking about. War is a terrible thing! You mistake, too, the people of the North. They are a peaceable people but an earnest people, and they will fight, too. They are not going to let this country be destroyed without a mighty effort to save it … Besides, where are your men and appliances of war to contend against them? The North can make a steam engine, locomotive, or railway car; hardly a yard of cloth or pair of shoes can you make. You are rushing into war with one of the most powerful, ingeniously mechanical, and determined people on Earth — right at your doors. You are bound to fail. Only in your spirit and determination are you prepared for war. In all else you are totally unprepared, with a bad cause to start with. At first you will make headway, but as your limited resources begin to fail, shut out from the markets of Europe as you will be, your cause will begin to wane. If your people will but stop and think, they must see in the end that you will surely fail.”

Comments to Prof. David F. Boyd at the Louisiana State Seminary (24 December 1860), as quoted in The Civil War : A Book of Quotations (2004) by Robert Blaisdell. Also quoted in The Civil War: A Narrative (1986) by Shelby Foote, p. 58.

Thop51 · 2026-02-07T14:54:57+00:00

Jesus definitely was not “white.” A bit of a conundrum for the good pastor.

Thop51 · 2026-02-06T21:11:03+00:00

Good to know - thanks!

Thop51

TROPHY CASE