DHQ Dispatch Bag

[Joe Riley]

Back to the Future: Secrets and Where They Are Now​

"If one wanted to create a movie franchise, which would remain relevant for a long time, making it a timeless tale of time travel would be a good way to do it. Wait. Can a story about time travel be timeless? It’s about time. How can it be time-less? “Back to the Future” did exactly that. It tells the tale of Marty McFly, played by Michael J. Fox, who travels back in time in a DeLorean with a little help from his pal Doc Brown. And yet, the story remains timelessly grounded in all-things Americana. "

"It takes place in Hill Valley, A.K.A. Everywhere, U.S.A. Adding to that, the story rides less on the backbone of time as it does the backs of believable characters and solid character relationships. Audiences harbor strong feelings about the characters even to this day, about their lives imagined, and the way each one related to the other characters. As silent observers of their lives, we wanted either to be them or to hate them. Every character in “Back to the Future,” moved us. Here’s why…" READ MORE

 

[Joe Riley]

JFK FILES RELEASED: What's inside? | LiveNOW from FOX​

 

[Joe Riley]

Vulcan in Black

 

[Joe Riley]

05-13-14

Conquering Mt. Dialog

Two people were climbing the same mountain, each for their own reasons and with their own agendas.

It was a high and narrow mountain ridge that was topped by a cold and jagged boney spine. The climb was hard and tiring, but they pressed on. One by one their agendas, becoming dead weight, were left behind.

Finally after many hours, they approached the narrow ridge…one from the East the other from the West…until they were sitting together in the cold thin air, drinking in the breathtaking view, far below.

Each is able to look down and see where they have been and where the other has been. They had made it to the top of Mt Dialog!

It has been said that two monologues do not make a dialogue. In a relationship; when two Middle East Countries meet; in labor negotiations, or words between political parties, we see a lack of real dialogue…. and in its place we find a collection of monologues.

I used to think it would be fun to have them trade speeches and read them aloud.

Having two people together, in the same place, at the same time, with mutual goals, is no guarantee that dialogue will take place.

Genuine dialogue takes effort and is a rare and mysterious state. But when it is present, we know it.

 

[Joe Riley]

Scientists reveals the mystery about the origin of gold​

"The researchers have found evidence of said process in the Argentinean Patagonia, which in addition represents the first register of gold found under the South American continent, specifically at a depth of 70 kilometers."

"The researchers belong to various universities from Chile, Australia and France, and among them there's also José María González Jiménez, a Ramón y Cajal researcher from the Department of Mineralogy and Petrology at the University of Granada."

"The UGR researcher reminds that the interior of the Earth is divided into three large layers: crust, mantle and core. "The minerals we extract and which support our economy are located in the crust. And, although we are experts in taking advantage of them, we still know very little about their true origin. The search for gold has motivated migrations, expeditions and even wars, but its origin is one of the main questions in the field of mineral deposits genesis." READ MORE

 

[Joe Riley]

 

[Joe Riley]

50 Absurd Facts That Will Make You Question Everything​

This fascinating trivia will widen your eyes to the world around you.

 

[Smithy]

@Joe Riley I love your dispatch bag.

 

[Schwallenstutter]

Headquarters and Hindquarters​

"I have come to you from the West, where we have
always seen the backs of our enemies…"

–John Pope, to the Army of the Potomac​

"Major General John Pope was a big man with a large impulse for showy self-promotion. He was fond of boasting that his headquarters were in the saddle; his many detractors were fond of saying that his headquarters were where his hindquarters belonged. Still, in the summer of 1862 Pope had an opportunity to achieve the best possible self-promotion: military success in the eastern theater. On the strength of the general’s victories at Island Number Ten and New Madrid in the West, Lincoln called upon him to command Federal troops north and west of Richmond, about 50,000 in all. In fact, most of these were troops who had been prevented from joining McClellan by Stonewall Jackson’s dramatic campaign in the Shenandoah Valley." READ MORE

Ahh yes! Pope was a great general!

 

[Joe Riley]

 

[Joe Riley]

Bob Boze Bell's Big Bad Book of Bad Diary Entries​

Duck Walking Down Through History​

When I am looking at old images from the Southwest frontier I am often struck with how modern they appear to be. Case in point.

Daily Whip Out: "Duck Walking Mariachi On Canal Street In Nogales, Sonora" (circa 1902)

Of course, this is the guy who invented the duck walk in our country.

Chuck Berry's Duck Walk (reversed to show the similarity)​

 

[Joe Riley]

That time a US Navy submarine got a confirmed kill on a train during WWII​

"In August 1945, eight members of the crew of the USS Barb posed for a photo at Pearl Harbor holding up the submarine’s battle flag. The different patches on the flag represented the boat’s myriad accomplishments over 12 patrols in both the Atlantic and Pacific theaters. Seventeen ships sunk, a Presidential Unit Citation awarded following its 11th patrol, and the Medal of Honor was awarded to the ship’s captain, Cmdr. Eugene Fluckey. But, most unusual, the flag also featured a kill marking for a train. Yes, a train."

"On the USS Barb’s final patrol of the war, the eight men in the photo had destroyed a Japanese locomotive, a most unusual kill for a Navy submarine." READ MORE

 

[Joe Riley]

8 New Discoveries in JFK File Dump​

 

[Joe Riley]

Women’s History and Aviation: Katharine Wright, The Secret to The Wright Brothers’ Success​

"The story of the Wright brothers’ first powered flight in 1903 is widely known, but historians agree they wouldn’t have entered the history books without the help of their extraordinary sister. Katharine Wright has been called “aviation’s unsung heroine” and the key to the success of her famous brothers, Orville and Wilbur. In honor of Women’s History Month, read about the accomplishments of Katharine Wright, the forgotten Wright sibling."

Katharine Wright, Aviation’s Unsung Heroine​

Running the Wright Household

Katharine Wright was born in Dayton, Ohio in 1874, the only daughter of Susan and Milton Wright. She had four older brothers in total, but was so close with Orville and Wilbur that historians speculate the trio made a secret pact in their youth to never marry and instead spend all their time together; according to PBS, she “was essentially the only female figure in Orville and Wilbur’s adult lives.”

READ MORE

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[Joe Riley]

Deep Dive: The 1903 Wright Flyer "A" Engine​

"This is the engine that changed the world. It is deceiving in more ways than one. By all rights, its lack of technology should have dictated it would never make noise...but it did. This flat inline-four cylinder was built by hand by a man with little formal education, working out of the back of a bicycle shop in Dayton, Ohio in 1902."

"Barely out of the 19th century, the Wright brothers and their erstwhile employee Charlie Taylor designed a four-stroke, horizontal, four-cylinder engine with no carburetor or conventional throttle, no spark plugs, no valvetrain for the intake valve, and with no trace of a fuel or water pump. Despite its primordial start, this 4:1 compression engine made history."

"Their lone employee at their bicycle shop was also a rather gifted mechanic and machinist by the name of Charlie Taylor. The term used for him was “mechanician” – a play on words combining mechanic and magician. He offered to build the engine. Their shop contained little more than a 14-inch lathe and a drill press in the back room of their bicycle business. These tools were powered by a cast iron, single cylinder, gasoline engine. Pulleys connected by a leather belt transmitted the power to the lathe and the drill press."
READ MORE

 

[Joe Riley]

The 6 Darkest Secrets of Ancient Egypt​

"What pictures flit past your eyes when you think about Ancient Egypt? For many of us, the mental pictures we conjure up are those of golden sand dunes stretching as far as the eye can see, cursed mummies hidden deep in dark corridors, and of course, the great pyramids of old jutting up from the barren desert reaching for the sky like a dying man’s prayer. But what was ancient Egypt really like? And perhaps most importantly, what secrets do those ancient tombs conceal? In this article, we’re going to reach deep into those graves of old and bring to light 6 dark secrets from ancient Egypt.
READ MORE
The Ancient Hieroglyphs Lie
The Ancient Egyptians Feeding The Dead
The Ancient Egyptians Mummifying Pets
Ancient Embalmers' Strange Practices
The Horrifying Process Of Mummification
Murdering People So They Could Serve The Dead Pharaoh

 

[Joe Riley]

When Were Seat Belts Invented?​

"Seat belts were once simple straps that mainly served to avoid being tossed from automobiles on bumpy roads. Even then, most drivers and passengers didn’t bother with them."

“The early belts were … pretty much ignored,” says Erin Breen, the director of the Road Equity Alliance Project at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas."

"But as more and more Americans bought and drove cars, traffic accidents became more common, and leaders in the medical community began calling for improving car safety."

"Neurologist Dr. C. Hunter Sheldon pointed out in the November 5, 1955 issue of Journal of the American Medical Association that approximately 10 percent of all autos on the road the previous year had been involved in an accident. “If injured, you have one chance in 15 of receiving an injury severe enough to result in permanent total disability,” he wrote. Retractable seat belts, Sheldon argued, could save lives—if people wore them."

"The design that ultimately became the prototype for seat belts still used in automobiles today, arrived by the end of that decade, in 1959."

 

[Joe Riley]

 

[Nancy Hart]

My 1975 Camaro had a seatbelt interlock device that prevented you from starting the car if someone was sitting in the passenger seat without the seatbelt fastened. It was triggered by weight on the seat. I didn't know that until I tried to drive it to the laundromat with the laundry basket in the passenger seat one time and the car wouldn't start. I think the one on the driver's side was not working, because I rarely wore seatbelts back then.

 

[Joe Riley]

The UK government collected postcards as intelligence for the D-Day landings.​

"Starting in 1942, the BBC issued a public appeal for postcards and photographs of mainland Europe’s coast, from Norway to the Pyrenees."

"This was an intelligence-gathering exercise. Initiated by Lieutenant General Frederick Morgan, he was searching for the hardest beaches to defend."

"The postcards were sent to the War Office and helped form part of the decision to choose Normandy as the location for the eventual D-Day landings."