The Watering Hole: July 26 – The Ballistic Missile Age Begins

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On this date in 1944, the first ballistic missile was launched by Germany against Great Britain.

The German V2 was an innovation born of rocket scientists whose sole interest was the conquest of space. Their zeal led to one of the most terrifying weapons of WWII. While theThe total toll was less than 10,000 military and civilians., people could determine whether they were in the target area of the missile merely by the tone of its approach. The first V2 to strike England was only a test shot.

Update(WTM): Updated due to incorrect reference to warning sound. Note to Walt: Never try to post after 2AM on a Sunday morning.

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115 thoughts on “The Watering Hole: July 26 – The Ballistic Missile Age Begins”

  1. Not sure the V2 gave much of an audible warning, are you certain that wasn’t the V1 buzz bomb? The V2 was supersonic, hard to believe it gave this warning.

  2. Wok2 is correct. This is from the V2 wikipedia story linked above.

    “Nevertheless, it had a considerable psychological effect as, unlike bombing planes or the V1 Flying Bomb, which made a characteristic buzzing sound, the V-2 traveled faster than the speed of sound, with no warning before impact and no possibility of defense.”

    I’ve often wondered, if the US Government had taken the Von Braun team to another town, instead of Huntsville, if I would be driving a farm tractor for a living. Up until the aerospace and missile programs located here, we were just a sleepy little cotton town.

  3. Hey all,

    The “thumbs up/down” feature is now at the bottom of each post. Even if you don’t feel like leaving a comment, go ahead and give it a rating!

    Thanks.

  4. I’ve been rating them since the day the ratings were on the comments. First you had 5stars, (on the posts), then changed them to the thumbs up or down. They’ve been there every day. Have some people not been seeing them? Strange technical things have been happening lately on the blogs, notably the refresh causing the comments to scroll up funny as they reload, etc. I can’t use IE6 anymore at TP. It’s getting weird for us non-techies.

    • House, I’ve been seeing the ratings on the comments, but the ratings on the posts themselves just showed up for me.

      I use Firefox, and it’s been working pretty well. Just a weird scrolly action now and then.

  6. Morning all. If I ever catch the person who decided gluing indoor/outdoor carpeting down was a good idea I will glue their butt to the floor.

    • Good morning, Med.

      It must have been someone who knew they were passing a shitty job on to the next owner.

  7. I’m using the latest version of Firefox as well. This weird scrolling business didn’t start until after I installed the latest update.

  8. I keep getting a message at Youtube telling me they are ending support for my browser. The Firefox they offer is 3.5, so I guess that’s the latest one. I downloaded Google Chrome yesterday to try at TP. It works, but as I’m not familiar with it yet, and with anything strange, not happy to have to use it.

  13. IMHO, the issues with the scrolly effect may be a WordPress issue, related to specific themes, and not necessarily a browser issue. Jane gets it and she’s using Firefox, and I get it using IE8, the latest. I have not seen it happen at TP, though I don’t know if Jane has. (TP is also a WordPress-based blog.)

  14. Zooey,

    Last night, near the end of that thread (then), I postulated that the “membership invitation” issue may have been a misunderstanding (primarily on hanshiro’s part) about what being invited to join a conversation at TheZoo meant. I don’t know if you read any of the previous comments, but he seemed to think that one had to “be a member” in order to comment there. I thought he might have been confusing having to register with a WordPress account with becoming a Critter, which was clearly never the intent. I further thought that this may have been at the core of the disagreement which ultimately led to the…umm…the…uh…”stuff”…we had last night.

    If anything I said has caused you embarassment or discomfort, then I do sincerely apologize for that. I was simply trying to find a peaceful solution to a hijacked thread. I have not checked back there yet to see what, if anything, happened after I went to bed.

  15. FWIW, I was getting the scroll problem, too, last night but it’s all gone today. And I didn’t close and reopen anything, didn’t exit this site…

  16. Wayne A Schneider:
    No need to check back. The only thing that happened was a little Jersey punk action and pete and I chatted about fish breeding…

  18. That does it, not going to glue his butt down. I’m going to murdalize the bum (as soon as my hand stops bleeding). Twenty minutes to tear up a 3×8 section of ratty I/O carpet.

  19. Thanks, dbadass. I just submitted another abuse notice about one of the porn spammer’s comments. I keep suggesting words they can use in their filters (the ones that wouldn’t let us use any word with the consecutive letters “a-n-a-l”) to catch any comments with the letters “s-e-s-l-i”. Those letters do not appear in that order in any English word. (I’m good with words, and I’m fairly certain of this.) They still haven’t done this, as one of his earlier posts had that word in a link. I also suggested “i-z-l-e”. If you spell the word you want correctly, it probably contains “i-z-z-l-e”, so that would stop more of his comments.

  20. Wayne, did you notice that he disappeared after Zooey pwned him? I suspect he’s reading here today to see whether or not his 9-hour commitment had impact.

    And if there was a misunderstanding, it was on his part, not yours or Zooey’s. When I was invited over, I never had the impression that it was for anything more than to read and post comments. Oh, and to register for my Soros Bucks.

    Delusions of grandeur.

    • Mom,

      I knew as soon as that lame-assed weirdo took my last comment out of context in order to call me a coward, that was the last we’d see of him on that thread. I’m sure he feels like he really stung me on that one. :roll:

  21. Zooey, its on an enclosed porch on the front of the house and what is underneath is glue-infested plywood. I either have to scrape all the glue off or get lazy and slap down a new piece of crap carpet.

    I’m tempted to just paint it. The glue would provide texture and pattern.

  22. Are We All “Content Pirates”?

    “The Associated Press is attempting to catch Web sites that post its stories without permission. It plans to embed tracking code in every article and charge fees to illicit users.”

    If the AP utilizes “pay-per-click” advertising, and a blog links to them, much as is done here, and a reader goes to their page to view a story, how do they lose? What may happen, is more bloggers will research from other sources, or write their own copy, and AP will lose even more.
    What if a blog has a link in a comment? Are they forced to pay or delete the comment?
    I heard this Friday afternoon at work, and my feeble brain remembered it this morning.

    • House,

      We rarely use AP articles here, because we know they’ve been getting owly about that stuff. It’s easy enough to find a better article anyway. :)

      If they don’t want more links back to their advertisers, that’s fine with me!

  23. Zooey and Wayne, how will you ever get past the “I feel quitty and shitty and GAY” line?

  24. med, I’m sorry I was off running errands and didn’t see your post about Firefox 3.5. I would have told you not to do it. Like I said yesterday, I’ve been using Firefox almost since Day 1 and only after installing 3.5 here at home did I start getting some serious issues and start experimenting with Chrome. The only thing I miss is the little Delicious bar that I could stick bundle tags to, and pull down “politics” or “baseball” or “booze” and pick my bookmark. I’m adjusting, though, and almost don’t notice.

    Chrome is considerably faster and uses a fraction of the memory.

  25. houseofroberts: I make a concerted effort never to even link to AP stories, much less quote from them. Care has to be taken when quoting or linking any newspaper article to be sure it isn’t actually a syndicated AP story.

    Not to mention, they spin national stories from the Right consistently.

  26. Gum, I was wondering about Chrome so I downloaded it and am giving it a try. So far it is much faster than Firefox and no scrolling.

    It will take a bit to relearn the rest.

  27. Zooey,

    I’m liking that idea. Give me some time. I have the DVD of WSS and it has the lyrics. I had been thinking of doing something with the entire musical, but the right inspiration hasn’t found me yet. I’m sure it will. In the meantime, I see nothing wrong with taking one song from that and using it for an entirely different purpose. Besides, it might eventually fit into whatever grander idea might come to mind later. :)

    Thanks. I’ll start working on that. I was considering putting together a post with all my Sarah Palin songs and calling it “The Sarah Palin Collection”. If I finish this new one, it can head the list. :)

    • Thanks, Wayne. :)

      No pressure, of course. I just had that idea flash through my teeny brain, and had to put it here before it evaporated.

  28. I doubt you’ll notice the difference, Zooey. It works just as it’s supposed to and the only issues I’ve had are stupid WP issues like being logged out at random, and that’s happened with every browser.

    I do love Palin’s purple jacket! Not shopping at Neiman Marcus these days, is she?

  29. I’d just like to point out the importance of the the molluscs to the color purple…

  30. Zooey, it installs quick and easy and imports your stuff from Firefox. It looks a little more like the Linux web browser so it is a bit of an adventure finding things at first.

    Thanks for the tip to both gum and house.

    • I just discovered my son already put Chrome on my computer. Sneaky monkey.

      Med, how do I import my stuff from Firefox?

  35. Last piece of carpet removed. Now all I need is a bucket of hot water and some Epsom Salts. My hands feel like I’ve been wrestling sharks.

  36. My hands. I doubt Epsom Salts would have much effect on that glue from hell.

    And I might just fill the bucket extra full so I can soak my head for a bit after yesterday.

    • I guess glue like that only does it’s job when you don’t want it to.

      You should have done what I did yesterday — leave for several hours, and let all the other smart people handle things.

  38. An incognito window opens up when you don’t want other people to know where you’ve been browsing, in the event that you share a computer. It doesn’t leave any tracks in your history, for example.

      • Good news! Starting this weekend in Washington State (about a minute from my front door), breast feeding in public will be legal!

        Also, convicted felons will be allowed to register to vote, as soon as they’re finished with probation. The mentally ill will have restrictions on their ability to own guns (although they’re not usually the ones we have to worry about). And school teachers, janitors, and bus drivers who have sex with 18 year old students will have to register as sex offenders (dude, they’re 18 — adults). Sheesh.

  39. Rats. I was hoping it would be a window where you could stealthily browse the web like the Shadow or the Spirit, righting wrongs and punishing evil doers.

  40. The mentally ill will have restrictions on their ability to own guns (although they’re not usually the ones we have to worry about).

    Depends on how you define “mentally ill”. These days, being a Republican falls into that category for me, and I find that type of mental illness something we all have to worry about.

    But I get the point you’re actually making.

  44. Mom, you are right. By many standards there are many Republicans who qualify for mentally ill. Not being able to recognize reality is a big one.

    • Med, I think as long as a woman is young enough or old enough to push one out, she’s old enough to breast feed. ;)

  47. Wayne, I know you can do a better job with the lyrics, but this “I feel pretty” is funny!

  48. I will, Zooey. Just like I believe clapping will bring Tinkerbelle back, Republicans are decent and honorable and the world is flat.

  50. Med, doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result is another sign of serious mental illness.

  53. That was good. She can sing well, and the look-alike stuff helped sell it. I like my version, too.

    Speaking of which, Zooey, please check your e-mail. Your opinion counts. :)

  56. Time for me to head out to a BBQ with friends. Ribs, baked taters and corn on the cob. A few beers, maybe a marg or two and a few hours of lively discussion.

    I did notice some good posts that will need attention later but for now Corona is calling. Everybody have a good time.

  57. Thanks to everybody on the Google Chrome advice and info, I’m still running IE6 here for now. Maybe Chrome is the way to go.

    One drawback with Chrome, and this may be up to WordPress to fix, when I am logged in here, with IE6, and I open Wayne’s Brain, I am logged in there also. Using Chrome I am not logged in there when I am logged in here. I haven’t checked any other WordPress blogs yet, to see if they are the same.

  58. Wayne, loved your new parody! I did write a comment, but it disappeared… so I wrote a follow-up and it’s gone, too…

    Ghosts?

  59. house, I think that the way Chrome works, it looks to be opening a tab, but it really is opening another window. Open multiple tabs and then look at Task Manager (assuming Windows). I’ve got six tabs open and there are nine “chrome.exe” processes running.

    Once you’ve logged in to Wayne’s site, you should stay logged in when you close the tab/browser, and if my theory is correct, you would only see this behavior the first time. Except WordPress screws with me all the time.

  64. No duh about it. I had to dig through the Help files early on with Chrome to find the answer. I don’t think it’s particularly intuitive.

    One of the things I like about Chrome is the way the address bar works. I can start typing as though doing a search and it will immediately start pulling up suggestions, including likely domain names–or just run a Google search.

    When you click on the + sign near the upper right, it displays the “most visited” pages. You can delete any that show up and aren’t really favorites; mine comes up with YouTube even though I don’t use it often, I think because when I do use it I page through a ton of possible videos.

  65. spencer’s mom,

    For some reason, you ended up in my spam bin, too.

    Have you forgotten to say “Hail, Pedro”?

    I cleared your comments. If I can figure out a way to permanently approve certain people, I would.

    BTW, if you go back there, I put up “The Sarah Palin Collection” of all my Sarah Palin song parodies (six, including today’s.) Since you haven’t seen many of them, you might want to check it out.

      • From Crooks & Liars

        Here, then, is the Republican 10-Point Plan for Health Care:

        1. 50 Million Uninsured in America
        2. Another 25 Million Underinsured
        3. Employer-Based Coverage Plummets Below 60%
        4. Employer Health Costs to Jump by 9% in 2010
        5. One in Five Americans Forced to Postpone Care
        6. 62% of U.S. Bankruptcies Involve Medical Bills
        7. Current Health Care Costs Already Fueling Job Losses
        8. 94% of Health Insurance Markets in U.S Now “Highly Concentrated”
        9. Dramatic Decline in Emergency Room Capacity
        10. Perpetuating Red State Health Care Failure

        C&L has details on each point.

    • Wayne, I’ve got them on another tab, and I’ll watch and read all of them first thing next time I’m on the computer. Promise!!

      Goodnight!

  67. I suspect the GNOP healthcare reform plan consists of hoping current and soon-to-be Democrats die from lack of healthcare coverage.

    For the rest of the population without coverage, they will send the newly available Sarah Palin around the country to hold prayer vigils, telling them that government healthcare is not the answer, getting right with the Lord will heal their troubles.

    I sincerely doubt their “plan” is any more substantive than that.

  68. Hey Wayne, LOVED your Palin set.

    BTW, I have every album you had on the string (yes, even West Side Story). I’m just glad I’m not the only person with Zeppelin and Broadway in the collection.

  71. Yes Jane – repressed, melancholy people who have never experienced the joy of Jimi Hendrix covering “I Enjoy Being a Girl.” My heart goes out to them….

  73. 12:49 a.m., CST: Gotta say, it was fun wise-assing, but then I re-read the thread du jour, and it struck me:

    “The first V2 to strike England was only a test shot.”

    So, what, the test is “successful?”

    “Zo, vost Britishhund det?”

    “Ja.”

    “Zucksess!!!!”

    “(sigh) Ja, ich guessen so….”

    Can anyone give a reasonable reason (which is not quite the oxymoron you may think) why this conversation not only took place, but is still taking place ….?

  75. When searching for some misplaced item, few people do not find it in the last place they looked.

  77. TRoS calls me that! Actually Roberts is my surname, so no Bobs here. Someone thought it was a reference to the Church of Bob, too.

    Why are you up late? I work until 2:45 am Monday through Thursday, so this is my normal awake time.

  78. I work an odd shift as well, plus there’s that whole insomnia thing. But nice to meet you, Mr. Roberts…

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