For A Site Generally Considered Unreliable...

...it is sure easy to spend a LOT of time on Wikipedia!

Today's rabbit holes include:

• Keweenaw Peninsula
• Keweenaw County, Michigan
• Keweenaw National Historical Park
• Rubus parviflorus, which sounds like a disease but is actually the delicious Thimbleberry.
• Fort Wilkins Historic State Park which is on 
• Lake Fanny Hooe, allegedly named for the sister (or sister-in-law, I forget which) of the post commander, after her disappearance. Evidence is that she eloped with... someone.
• And how in the hell did I never hear of the Keweenaw Rocket Range? (Link fixed!) I wonder if my parents knew about it and conspired to keep it from me...?*
  

Pronunciation note: KEE-wuh-naw: despite the spelling the first "e" is long, and the paired e's are short. 

Obviously, I was in a mood to Say Yah to da UP, eh today. Holy Wah and all dat.

That particular Wikipedia Rabbit Hole exploration was actually sparked by a Tweet in Iowahawk's Twitter weekly (or more often) feature #DavesCarIDService. (URL included, since embedding tweets these days is a mess in my browser.)

(Look, I understand if you don't want to get on Twitter, but Dave "Iowahawk" Burge's feed is worth it, if only for #DavesCarIDService, especially if you have old family photos featuring cars. Tweet him with the hashtag, and he'll try to get it when he can.)

Speaking of Iowahawk and old cars, another Wikipedia expedition started out with the 

• Volkswagen 181, AKA "The Thing" in the US of A, which led to the 
• Kubelwagen and then the 
• Europa Jeep, followed by the 
• Schwimmwagen and wound up on 
• Ford GPA "Seep"
• Also inspired by Iowahawk, at some point this morning I looked up the Dodge WC Series "Weapons Carriers".

*If so, I don't blame them, especially since they probably discouraged tourists, and it sounds like it was pretty hard to get to. Also, closed by the time I was old enough to visit on my own.

Good news from home!

Lake Huron's Chinook salmon fishery unlikely to recover due to ongoing food shortage

Lake Huron's Chinook salmon fishery will likely never return to its glory days because the lake can no longer support the predatory fish's main food source, the herring-like alewife, according to a new University of Michigan-led computer-modeling study.

Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2016-03-lake-huron-chinook-salmon-fishery.html#jCp

Lake Huron's Chinook salmon fishery will likely never return to its glory days because the lake can no longer support the predatory fish's main food source, the herring-like alewife, according to a new University of Michigan-led computer-modeling study.

Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2016-03-lake-huron-chinook-salmon-fishery.html#jCp

Lake Huron's Chinook salmon fishery will likely never return to its glory days because the lake can no longer support the predatory fish's main food source, the herring-like alewife, according to a new University of Michigan-led computer-modeling study.

Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2016-03-lake-huron-chinook-salmon-fishery.html#jCp

Lake Huron's Chinook salmon fishery will likely never return to its glory days because the lake can no longer support the predatory fish's main food source, the herring-like alewife, according to a new University of Michigan-led computer-modeling study.

Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2016-03-lake-huron-chinook-salmon-fishery.html#jCp

Lake Huron's Chinook salmon fishery will likely never return to its glory days because the lake can no longer support the predatory fish's main food source, the herring-like alewife, according to a new University of Michigan-led computer-modeling study.

Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2016-03-lake-huron-chinook-salmon-fishery.html#jCp

Lake Huron's Chinook salmon fishery will likely never return to its glory days because the lake can no longer support the predatory fish's main food source, the herring-like alewife, according to a new University of Michigan-led computer-modeling study.

Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2016-03-lake-huron-chinook-salmon-fishery.html#jCp

Lake Huron's Chinook salmon fishery will likely never return to its glory days because the lake can no longer support the predatory fish's main food source, the herring-like alewife, according to a new University of Michigan-led computer-modeling study.

Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2016-03-lake-huron-chinook-salmon-fishery.html#jCp

Lake Huron's Chinook salmon fishery will likely never return to its glory days because the lake can no longer support the predatory fish's main food source, the herring-like alewife, according to a new University of Michigan-led computer-modeling study.

Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2016-03-lake-huron-chinook-salmon-fishery.html#jCp

Lake Huron's Chinook salmon fishery will likely never return to its glory days because the lake can no longer support the predatory fish's main food source, the herring-like alewife, according to a new University of Michigan-led computer-modeling study.

Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2016-03-lake-huron-chinook-salmon-fishery.html#jCp

Lake Huron's Chinook salmon fishery will likely never return to its glory days because the lake can no longer support the predatory fish's main food source, the herring-like alewife, according to a new University of Michigan-led computer-modeling study.

Lake Huron's Chinook salmon fishery will likely never return to its glory days because the lake can no longer support the predatory fish's main food source, the herring-like alewife, according to a new University of Michigan-led computer-modeling study.

Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2016-03-lake-huron-chinook-salmon-fishery.html#jCp

Lake Huron's Chinook salmon fishery will likely never return to its glory days because the lake can no longer support the predatory fish's main food source, the herring-like alewife, according to a new University of Michigan-led computer-modeling study.

Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2016-03-lake-huron-chinook-salmon-fishery.html#jCp

Lake Huron's Chinook salmon fishery will likely never return to its glory days because the lake can no longer support the predatory fish's main food source, the herring-like alewife, according to a new University of Michigan-led computer-modeling study.

Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2016-03-lake-huron-chinook-salmon-fishery.html#jCp

Lake Huron's Chinook salmon fishery will likely never return to its glory days because the lake can no longer support the predatory fish's main food source, the herring-like alewife, according to a new University of Michigan-led computer-modeling study.

Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2016-03-lake-huron-chinook-salmon-fishery.html#jCp

Lake Huron's Chinook salmon fishery will likely never return to its glory days because the lake can no longer support the predatory fish's main food source, the herring-like alewife, according to a new University of Michigan-led computer-modeling study.

Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2016-03-lake-huron-chinook-salmon-fishery.html#jCp

Lake Huron's Chinook salmon fishery will likely never return to its glory days because the lake can no longer support the predatory fish's main food source, the herring-like alewife, according to a new University of Michigan-led computer-modeling study.

Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2016-03-lake-huron-chinook-salmon-fishery.html#jCp

Lake Huron's Chinook salmon fishery will likely never return to its glory days because the lake can no longer support the predatory fish's main food source, the herring-like alewife, according to a new University of Michigan-led computer-modeling study.

Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2016-03-lake-huron-chinook-salmon-fishery.html#jCp

Lake Huron's Chinook salmon fishery will likely never return to its glory days because the lake can no longer support the predatory fish's main food source, the herring-like alewife, according to a new University of Michigan-led computer-modeling study.

Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2016-03-lake-huron-chinook-salmon-fishery.html#jCp

Lake Huron's Chinook salmon fishery will likely never return to its glory days because the lake can no longer support the predatory fish's main food source, the herring-like alewife, according to a new University of Michigan-led computer-modeling study.

Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2016-03-lake-huron-chinook-salmon-fishery.html#jCp

Lake Huron's Chinook salmon fishery will likely never return to its glory days because the lake can no longer support the predatory fish's main food source, the herring-like alewife, according to a new University of Michigan-led computer-modeling study.

Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2016-03-lake-huron-chinook-salmon-fishery.html#jCp

Lake Huron's Chinook salmon fishery will likely never return to its glory days because the lake can no longer support the predatory fish's main food source, the herring-like alewife, according to a new University of Michigan-led computer-modeling study.

Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2016-03-lake-huron-chinook-salmon-fishery.html#jCpv

See, you'd have to have been there back in the '60s and '70s when alewives were a plague, and you couldn't walk on a Lake Huron beach and actually be walking on sand (or rocks) for all the dead fish. Acres and acres of dead, stinky, invasive, non-native species garbage fish.

So the collapse of an invasive species leading to the decline of a transplanted non-native sports fish isn't exactly a lose-lose.

Assorted Geekery

I don't usually purchase beer, wine, or hard liquor based solely on the label.  But sometimes a clever name or image on the label will induce me to look closer, and I'll then purchase it.

What geek could resist this beer?

A closer look at the label art:

Beer for warriors:

The "Khukuri" is a product of the UK, by the way...

Also, gun show tomorrow, so I decided I'd see what the ammo supply is like at local stores, so I'd know if any gun show "deals" really are.

Now, I'm not superstitious, but I will confess that I am as ready to jump on someone for "jinxing us" as the next guy.  Part of this stems from my Army days when, sure as shooting, some jackass would comment on how nice the weather was, and it would instantly turn to shit.  Or, they would complain about the weather, and it would turn shittier.  (We got rained on at Ft. Irwin and 29 Palms.  You think rain in the desert is a Good Thing? Try it when you're sleeping on the ground and living out of your rucksack...)

Conversely, if one everyone was truly prepared for crappy weather, it seemed like it would not appear. (Coincidence that"m posting this on Friday the Thirteenth...)

Anyway.  Last week I noticed that my nice rag wool, thinsulate, and gore-tex watchcap that I've had longer than I've known Mrs. Drang was falling apart.

And today I discovered that Sportsman's Warehouse now stocks Stormy Kromer caps.  At the risk of jinxing us, I will say that, now that I have a wool cap designed by a railroad engineer, and made in Ironwood, MI, it will probably never get below freezing here again...

Ya know how I know?

Sometimes it's oh! so easy to tell when someone is Not From Around Here. A couple I heard on the radio while driving today:

• You refer to a local major highway or expressway using the definite particle and it's numerical identifier, but not it's alphabetical designation, i.e., "THE 5", "THE 167." To a Washingtonian, this screams "I'M A CALIFORNIAN!!!" Whatever you're trying to sell, forget it. 
• The name of the town in which the Western Washington Fair is held is NOT pronounced "Poo-Wallop." Sheesh. 
• The local mollusk with a long "siphon" that causes prudish little old ladies who see it to giggle nervously is pronounced "gooey-duck", with a hard "gee", NOT like it is spelled. Say "Geo-duck", with a soft "gee", and we'll all laugh in your face. 

A few years ago one of the local stations had an ad in which they lampooned other stations, bringing in outsiders, going through local acclimatization training, trying to wrap their heads around the fact that "Sequim" is pronounced "skwim."

Then again, I also recall an ad from a station in Detroit that used the same theme, in which a taling head pronounced "Gratiot Avenue" ("Grash-ut") as "Grat-ee-oh", and "Escanaba" as "Escabana."  (The latter only really jars Yoopers and we trolls who wished we had been born Yoopers...)

Wolverines!

NRA-ILA | Michigan Legislature Introduces Gun Owner Protection Legislation

As the Michigan state Senate finishes its second week of the new legislative session, pro-gun legislators have already begun to advocate for the rights of law-abiding gun owners.  State Senator Thomas Casperson (R-38) filed a bill that would keep the personal information of permit-to-purchase applicants confidential and exempt from Freedom of Information Act requests.  This bill, Senate Bill 49, has been scheduled for a hearing on Wednesday January 23 in the Senate Judiciary Committee at 8:30 am.
In other parts of the country, anti-gun media outlets abused their privileges under the Freedom of Information Act and have jeopardized the safety of law-abiding citizens by publishing the names and addresses of registered gun owners.  Contrary to their claims, these media elites have not increased public safety.  Rather they have simply provided a map for criminals to use on their next burglary.  SB 49 would make sure that never happens in Michigan by exempting permit-to-purchase applications from Freedom of Information Act requests.
Please contact your state senator and the members of the Senate Judiciary Committee and urge them not to endanger the rights of people that have applied for a permit to purchase and those that have registered the pistol as required by Michigan law. It has been reported that some of the gun owners in New York who had their names and addresses published have already had their houses burglarized and their guns stolen.  Your help is needed TODAY to make sure that never happens in Michigan. 

Contact information at the link.

Wonder why Mrs. Drang got all weepy?

Oh.
The start:

The end:

(They overlap.)
The back story:  The float he was on was sponsored by the Pentagon, for the Military Working Dog Memorial.  He won a contest to be reunited with his family at the Rose Parade; he told his wife he won a contest for a trip to the Rose Parade for her and their son...
Soldier reunited with family in Rose Parade's most surprising moment - latimes.com
A little more video here: Decorated Soldier Reunited With Family During Rose Parade « CBS Los Angeles
He looks awful young to be a Sergeant First Class.  Or maybe it's just me...

(I also note, FWIW, that's is originally from Michigan.)

BTW...

The worst school massacre in US History:
Bath School disaster - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Bath School disaster is the name given to three bombings in Bath Township, Michigan, on May 18, 1927, which killed 38 elementary school children, two teachers, four other adults and the bomber himself; at least 58 people were injured. Most of the victims were children in the second to sixth grades (7–11 years of age) attending the Bath Consolidated School. Their deaths constitute the deadliest mass murder in a school in U.S. history and the third-deadliest non-military massacre in U.S. history, behind 9/11 and the Oklahoma City bombing.

The bomber was school board treasurer Andrew Kehoe, 55, who died in a car bomb he set off after he drove up to the school as the crowd gathered to rescue survivors from the burning school.

 Apparently, he had a second bomb which  failed.  He probably would have upped the death toll to 200 or so if it had gone off.

Good thing it happened before the advent of the 24-hour News Cycle...

Annals of Authoritarianism, Dhimmitude Edition

This really pisses me off: Instapundit » Blog Archive » ANTI-SEMITISM IN MICHIGAN: Dearborn Police Harass Man For Flying Israeli Flags…. It would have been one thing to say "Sir, we're concerned about reactions to these flags", but...

The Dearborn police were one car behind me when this student threw a bottle on my windshield. The police did not stop the student, but instead stopped me for 30 minutes asking me why I would display Israeli flags on my truck.

Holy Wah!

Today I watched Escanaba In da Moonlight on Netflix.

Oh.

Em.

Gee.

Laughed so hard I scared the cats. 

Including the neighbors' cats.

Pretty sure it's the only movie ever made about deer camp.  Positive it's the only movie ever made about Yoopers in deer camp.

Humor gets a little rough, but recommended.


Post title ref.

My Alma Mater...

...The Eastern Echo, campus newspaper of Eastern Michigan University, has published an OpEd entitled Guns allowed at school?, coming out on the "yes" side.

I guess I'm supposed to insert some remark here about how "This is what winning looks like", but I'm a bit in shock...

h/t John Lott.

I can see my house from here!

Well, not quite, and I haven't lived there for over 30 years, but...

The Great Lakes region, with Detroit near the center, shows a portion of Lake Michigan through the clouds on the left, Lake Erie of the right, and Lake Huron at the top of the photo.
(Credit: NASA/NPP)

A high-res Earth from 512 miles (photos) | Full Frame - CNET News

A Communist Secession plot, and other thoughts

"From The Soviet Files", Breitbart's Big Peace brings us in sight into An American "Negro Republic"--the Communist Secession plot

Interesting reading. I find it not surprising at all to learn that Coleman Young, the late, unlamented mayor of Detroit, who had so much to do with running a once-proud city into the ground, was a secret commie. In fact, I am trying to determine whether my lack of surprise is because I had learned it somewhere before, or if my conviction is because it is so unsurprising...

***

On a related note, author Loren Estleman's Detroit Crime Series is excellent; it traces the history of Detroit in the 20th Century, from when it was on the verge of becoming the Motor City (Thunder City), through Prohibition (Whiskey River), WWII (Jitterbug), the 50s (Edsel), 60's (Motown), 70s (STRESS), and 80s (King of the Corner). While the automotive industry plays an obvious part in Detroit's history, Estleman (a fellow alumnus of Eastern Michigan University) also weaves Detroit's history of crime and violence--Whiskey River features the Purple Gang, who were no geniuses, but who scared Al Capone--as well as music and sports, two other prominent, enduring features of Detroit culture.  Despite being fiction, with many fictional characters, historical figures and events feature throughout; having grown up with this history all around me, I can say that this is well presented.  

So much so that, as  the series went on chronologically, I found it increasingly depressing, reading of a great city's decline.

Estleman is also the author of the Amos Walker thrillers, whcih are also set in Detroit.  I enjoy these, too, despite occasional technical errors. 

Snodgrass Hill, Part II

Continued.

22nd Michigan Volunteer Infantry Regiment Monument, Snodgrass Hill
Found at.

Inscription:

MICHIGAN
TO HER
TWENTY-SECOND REGIMENT OF INFANTRY
COMMANDED BY
COLONEL HEBER LeFAVOUR
LIEUT. COLONEL WILLIAM SANBORN
CAPT. ALONZO M. KEELER
WHITAKER'S BRIGADE, STEEDMAN'S DIVISION, GRANGER'S CORPS
This monument marks the position where the regiment performed its most important service, Sept. 20th, 1863.
Casualties:
Engaged 455
Killed 32
Wounded 96
Missing 261
Total loss 389
On the 19th the regiment marched from Rossville joining the brigade near McAfee's Church. From thence it moved about noon of the 20th toward this position. After three hours desperate combat having exhausted their ammunition, they charged overwhelming numbers until overcome.
In the Chattanooga campaigns it performed important engineer service, Major Henry S. Dean, Commanding.
Monument #898

 That "march" from Rossville to McAfee's Church was 50 miles.  In a day.  On hardtack and salt pork, with gear that, while it didn't weigh anywhere near what a GI humps today, was significantly less ergonomic.  As I recall from the Regimental history I found in Eastern Michigan University's library, they marched without specific instructions:  This may have been the origin of the command "March to the sound of the guns."

Somewhere along the way they passed General Granger, who complimented Colonels LeFavour on the appearance of his "Brigade."  The Corps Commander is said to have expressed his admiration for a regiment that could arrive at a raging battle with few, if any, falling out.

I think I mentioned that I visited the battlefield about 20 years ago.  Where I stood next to the regiment's monument on Snodgrass Hill, I counted  6 or monuments to Confederate regiments.  Granted that, by this time, the average rebel regiment was about the size of a battalion, or smaller, they were still seriously outnumbered.  And effectively disarmed, out of ammo.

Monument to the Regiment's most famous member:

Also: Chickamauga Blog

You can take the boy out of Motown...

...but you can't take Motown out of the boy.

So, yeah, kick ass ad, Chrysler.

Talk is cheap.

Buy your way out of Government Indenturement, and we'll talk.

Heh

Wolverines making comeback in Washington State.


LATER: Very frustrating. I don't see a video, I go to edit the post to fix the embed, the video is there. You may need to follow the link to view.

Movie I gotta see

Uncle Jimbo reviews Escanaba In Da Moonlight.

A movie about Yoopers.  Yoopers deer hunting, at that.

Years ago Mrs. Drang and I rented a camper from outdoor rec' and headed east, for the big Drang family reunion.  Saw a lot of Michigan.  Driving around the eastern end of the UP Mrs. Drang sez "It's like Washington, without the mountains.  Do you want to retire here?"  I said "See the  really wide shoulders on this two-lane highway?"  She did.  "See those tall red poles at the sides of the road?"  She wasn't blind.  "The poles are so the snowplow driver knows where the road is, and the shoulders are so he has someplace to put the snow."

So here we are in Washington...

Go Blue!

When I first saw the score I thought it was a low-scoring college basketball game.

Nope: Illinois Football Team Scores 65 Points… Loses to Michigan (h/t Instapundit.)

The important question, of course, is how badly will they beat the Suckeyes?

This makes me so happy...

It seems that Faygo will ship pop anywhere in the nation.

At last, I can slake my thirst for Rock & Rye. (Maybe I was weird, preferring Rock & Rye to Red Pop, which they always pushed, but then, why should I have conformed on that one count?)

Condolences

My three regular non-related readers are well that I am originally from Detroit. 

They may not be aware that Jimmy Carter lost Detroit when his State Department-supplied translator told Warsaw that the Peanut Farmer in Chief lusted for them--in his heart, no doubt.  When my grandmother went ot work at Chrysler's Hamtramck Assembly Plant--popularly referred to as "Dodge Main"--in the late 40s or early 50s all the signs were in English and Polish.  I attended Kosciussko elementary school, where the most common nickname was "Ski", which, I am told, was also true of many units in the Michigan National Guard and the Detroit Police Department.* 

So, even though I am pretty sure I have no Polish blood, my thoughts are with the Polish people.

Militia Musings (Additional Material)

My previous post raises some further questions, especially in view of the current interest in militias, prompted by the arrest of the "Hutaree" gang in Michigan, and claims that the Tea Party is somehow affiliated with that great bogeyman, the Right Wing Militia.

Sebastian links to a New York Times series on militias.  At this point, I have not read the entire thing.  I did read this NYTimes article, discussing the Michigan Militia's efforts to draw a distinction between the Militia and extremist groups.

So, my question is, why don't those on the left who are so concerned about militias--I'm looking at you, Southern Poverty Law Center!--spend any time tracking leftist extremist groups?  The anarchists I discussed in the previous post, eco-terrorists like ALF and ELF, SEIU's Purple People Beaters, non-white "racial identity" groups, Muslims looking to buy property and go play Rambo in the woods...?  Why?  Why is it that, when we hear about the actions of these groups, if we hear about them at all, they tend to be one-minute wonders in the Lame Stream Media, and no one in the Liberal/Progressive wants to even acknowledge any possibility of a connection with Liberal/Progressive goals or values?

Plus, as Sebastian says in the post I linked to above:

The left shouldn’t just outright dismiss the concerns about criminal actions by law enforcement as just a bunch of right-wing nuttery. That’s something every American should be concerned about. When the people see their government commit crimes, and then not only fail to see the perpetrators held accountable, but so see them promoted while misdeeds are covered up, it undermines people’s faith in the system to the point where they believe drastic action is necessary. Given that pool of anger and resentment, you’re always going to find charlatans and opportunists willing and able to pour gasoline over the fire.

Because, if the Left/Liberal/Progressive media and leadership were paying attention, they'd know that those of us on the Right/Conservative/Libertarian side of the spectrum are condemning such activities, even while we admit that we may have something in common.

Then again, that assumes that "they" pay any attention to us.

ADDED:  Then again, what makes "them" so sure that being in a "militia" automatically equates to being "right wing" or "conservative/libertarian"?  Are Apocalyptic Christian cults sects all conservative politically or economically?  Even if they practice a communal lifestyle, and register to vote as Democrats?  Is everyone who is upset about government fiscal policy a "right winger"?  Why is it wrong for a "Caucasian" to be concerned about excesses of law enforcement, when it's a legitimate concern for minorities?

Further links:

• Gateway Pundit:  NYTime conflates tea Parties and Weather Underground.
• Instapundit:  VIOLENT ELIMINATIONIST RHETORIC, from Greenpeace.