Frank family takes refuge on July 06, 1942

Frank family takes refuge: In Nazi-occupied Holland, 13-year-old Jewish diarist Anne Frank and her family are forced to take refuge in a secret sealed-off area of an Amsterdam warehouse. The day before, Anne’s older sister, Margot, had received a call-up notice to be deported to a Nazi “work camp”.

Born in Germany on June 12, 1929, Anne Frank fled to Amsterdam with her family in 1933 to escape Nazi persecution. In the summer of 1942, with the German occupation of Holland underway, 12-year-old Anne began a diary relating her everyday experiences, her relationship with her family and friends, and observations about the increasingly dangerous world around her. On July 6, fearing deportation to a Nazi concentration camp, the Frank family took shelter in a factory run by Christian friends. During the next two years, under the threat of murder by the Nazi officers patrolling just outside the warehouse, Anne kept a diary that is marked by poignancy, humor, and insight.

On August 4, 1944, just two months after the successful Allied landing at Normandy, the Nazi Gestapo discovered the Frank’s “Secret Annex”. The Franks were sent to the Nazi death camps along with two of the Christians who had helped shelter them, and another Jewish family and a single Jewish man with whom they had shared the hiding place. Anne and most of the others ended up at the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland. Anne’s diary was left behind, undiscovered by the Nazis.

In early 1945, with the Soviet liberation of Poland underway, Anne was moved with her sister, Margot, to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in Germany. Suffering under the deplorable conditions of the camp, the two sisters caught typhus and died in early March. After the war, Anne’s diary was discovered undisturbed in the Amsterdam hiding place and in 1947 was translated into English and published. An instant best-seller and eventually translated into more than 30 languages, The Diary of Anne Frank has served as a literary testament to the six million Jews, including Anne herself, who were silenced in the Holocaust.

History Channel / Wikipedia / Encyclopedia Britannica / Anne Frank.org / Biography / Anne Frank (The Whole Story)

Understanding Military Terminology - Medical intelligence

(DOD) That category of intelligence resulting from collection, evaluation, analysis, and interpretation of foreign medical, bio-scientific, and environmental information that is of interest to strategic planning and to military medical planning and operations for the conservation of the fighting strength of friendly forces and the formation of assessments of foreign medical capabilities in both military and civilian sectors. Also called MEDINT. See also intelligence.

Joint Publications (JP 4-02) (Health Service Support - Defense Technical Information Center)

The Old Salt’s Corner

“The Odyssey”

BOOK IX

And Ulysses answered, “King Alcinous, it is a good thing to hear a bard with such a divine voice as this man has. There is nothing better or more delightful than when a whole people make merry together, with the guests sitting orderly to listen, while the table is loaded with bread and meats, and the cup-bearer draws wine and fills his cup for every man. This is indeed as fair a sight as a man can see. Now, however, since you are inclined to ask the story of my sorrows, and rekindle my own sad memories in respect of them, I do not know how to begin, nor yet how to continue and conclude my tale, for the hand of heaven has been laid heavily upon me.”

“Firstly, then, I will tell you my name that you too may know it, and one day, if I outlive this time of sorrow, may become my there guests though I live so far away from all of you. I am Ulysses son of Laertes, reknowned among mankind for all manner of subtlety, so that my fame ascends to heaven. I live in Ithaca, where there is a high mountain called Neritum, covered with forests; and not far from it there is a group of islands very near to one another- Dulichium, Same, and the wooded island of Zacynthus. It lies squat on the horizon, all highest up in the sea towards the sunset, while the others lie away from it towards dawn. It is a rugged island, but it breeds brave men, and my eyes know none that they better love to look upon. The goddess Calypso kept me with her in her cave, and wanted me to marry her, as did also the cunning Aeaean goddess Circe; but they could neither of them persuade me, for there is nothing dearer to a man than his own country and his parents, and however splendid a home he may have in a foreign country, if it be far from father or mother, he does not care about it. Now, however, I will tell you of the many hazardous adventures which by Jove's will I met with on my return from Troy.”

“When I had set sail thence the wind took me first to Ismarus, which is the city of the Cicons. There I sacked the town and put the people to the sword. We took their wives and also much booty, which we divided equitably amongst us, so that none might have reason to complain. I then said that we had better make off at once, but my men very foolishly would not obey me, so they stayed there drinking much wine and killing great numbers of sheep and oxen on the sea shore. Meanwhile the Cicons cried out for help to other Cicons who lived inland. These were more in number, and stronger, and they were more skilled in the art of war, for they could fight, either from chariots or on foot as the occasion served; in the morning, therefore, they came as thick as leaves and bloom in summer, and the hand of heaven was against us, so that we were hard pressed. They set the battle in array near the ships, and the hosts aimed their bronze-shod spears at one another. So long as the day waxed and it was still morning, we held our own against them, though they were more in number than we; but as the sun went down, towards the time when men loose their oxen, the Cicons got the better of us, and we lost half a dozen men from every ship we had; so we got away with those that were left.”

Thence we sailed onward with sorrow in our hearts, but glad to have escaped death though we had lost our comrades, nor did we leave till we had thrice invoked each one of the poor fellows who had perished by the hands of the Cicons. Then Jove raised the North wind against us till it blew a hurricane, so that land and sky were hidden in thick clouds, and night sprang forth out of the heavens. We let the ships run before the gale, but the force of the wind tore our sails to tatters, so we took them down for fear of shipwreck, and rowed our hardest towards the land. There we lay two days and two nights suffering much alike from toil and distress of mind, but on the morning of the third day we again raised our masts, set sail, and took our places, letting the wind and steersmen direct our ship. I should have got home at that time unharmed had not the North wind and the currents been against me as I was doubling Cape Malea, and set me off my course hard by the island of Cythera.”

BOOK IX continued ...

~ Homer

Written 800 B.C.E

Translated by Samuel Butler

Table of Contents

“I’m Just Sayin”

“One of several variants, is of practical importance in weather forecasting and in investigating density and turbidity currents in oceans, lakes, and reservoirs.”

~ Richardson number

“Thought for the Day”

“Each of us must confront our own fears,

must come face to face with them.

How we handle our fears will determine

where we go with the rest of our lives.

To experience adventure

or to be limited by the fear of it.”

~ Judy Blume

“What I Have Learned”

“Whenever you find yourself

doubting how far you can go,

just remember how far you have come.

Remember everything you have faced,

all the battles you have won,

and all the fears you have overcome.”

~ Anonymous

Bizarre News (we couldn’t make up stuff this good – real news story)

Towering iceberg draws hundreds to Newfoundland town

FERRYLAND, N.L. - A towering iceberg stationed off Newfoundland's east coast is drawing hundreds of people to the small town sitting in its shadow.

“It's a huge iceberg and it's in so close that people can get a good photograph of it”, Ferryland Mayor Adrian Kavanagh said during a phone interview.

“t's the biggest one I ever seen around here.”

The massive iceberg has become a tourist attraction in Ferryland, where cars were backed up bumper to bumper Sunday as curious onlookers tried to get a glimpse of it.

Pictures have been making the rounds on social media, including one of a helicopter apparently parked on one end, looking insect-sized by comparison to the huge iceberg.

Experts are attributing it to uncommonly strong counter-clockwise winds that are drawing the icebergs south, and perhaps also global warming, which is accelerating the Greenland ice sheet's shedding of ice.

CVT News UK (04/17/2017)

Mr. Answer Man Please Tell Us: Why Are Dairy Queen Blizzards Served Upside Down?

Like most restaurant chains, Dairy Queen has often relied on its franchisees to help shape its menu. Founded in 1940 to capitalize on the soft serve ice cream phenomenon, the brand was fortunate enough to attract the attention of St. Louis businessman Sam Temperato, who owned dozens of locations and proved to be a steady fountain of ideas. His Full Meal Deal, which packaged a burger, fries, drink, and sundae for one flat price, was a hit. So was his notion to add chili dogs to the menu's lineup.

In the 1970s, Temperato took notice of a custard stand operated by Ted Drewes Jr., a locally-owned operation that managed to hold its own against the marketing onslaught of Temperato’s Dairy Queen by peddling frozen treats Drewes referred to as “concrete,” ultra-thick shakes with bits of fruit mixed in. Drewes served them upside-down to customers to prove it wasn’t some watered-down concoction. The glob of custard was so dense it would hold the spoon in place and remain inside the serving cup.

That finishing touch was the result of a run-in Drewes had with 14-year-old customer Steve Gamber back in 1959. Gamber had been biking to Drewes’s stand for a sandwich and chocolate malt nearly every day. Each time, he’d demand Drewes make the malt thicker.

Finally, “just to shut me up”, Gamber recalled, Drewes handed him a malt so solid he could turn it upside down without risking spillage. “Is that thick enough for you?” Drewes asked.

This practice did not escape the attention of Temperato, who went to Dairy Queen executives in 1983 with the idea for a soft serve concoction made with fruit or crunched-up candy bar chunks, a practice he had seen in another local stand called Huckleberry’s. (Drewes refused to use candy in his custards.) After executives visited St. Louis and saw the lines at Drewes’s locations, they signed off on the Blizzard, using a trademarked name they had owned since the 1950s.

At the time, the thought of candy mixed with soft serve was a novel concept, and not one that was met with total enthusiasm. Mars, which owns the M&Ms and Snickers candy brands, refused to ship Dairy Queen broken-up pieces for the Blizzard; so did Oreo. But once Dairy Queen rang up sales of nearly 100 million Blizzards in 1985 alone, the brands had a change of heart. Blizzards have been a staple of Dairy Queen’s menu ever since.

Temperato, who freely admitted the inspiration he derived from both Drewes and Huckleberry’s, was showered with praise for boosting company revenues by 15 to 17 percent. The McDonald's McFlurry and Friendly’s Cyclone followed, both attempting to capitalize on the frozen phenomenon. But only the Blizzard—born of “concrete” custard—is served upside down.

Dairy Queen • Mentalfloss • Quora • Reddit • Wikipedia

Where Did That Saying Come From?

“Nineteen to the dozen”  Meaning: Going very fast.

Origin: In Cornish mines in the 18th century, pumps were installed to drain floodwater.

When working at full capacity, they could drain 19,000 gallons of water for every 12 bushels of coal that powered them.

Phrases.org UK

NAVSPEAK aka U.S. Navy Slang

Permanent Help: Slang for a PH (Photographer's Mate) in a fighter squadron.

PFA: Physical Fitness Assessment: new name for PRT. Situps, pushups and a run/bike/swim/elliptical trainer.

PFM: “Pure Fucking Magic”, term applied to when things work, but one doesn't know how or why - but they work. Other usage: “PFM circuit” for electronics in depot level repair only equipment whose inner workings are not required to be known. See also “Black box” and “Transistor Theory”.

Just for you MARINE

R/S: Respectfully Submitted, used as an end greeting in written communication.

Rack or Sack: Bed, inappropriate to use the Army term “bunk” except when used in conjunction with “junk on the bunk”.

Radio Watch: Duty monitoring radio networks for relevant traffic, also; the person filling that duty.

Naval Aviation Squadron Nicknames

VX-31 - Operational Test and Evaluation Force (used for Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance): “Dust Devils”
Weapons Test, Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake, California

Science & Technology

How our brains can recognize previously unseen scenes, objects or faces in a fraction of a second • Graphene holds up under high pressure • Research on ready-to-use therapeutic food seeks drastic reduction in fatalities from severe acute malnutrition • A black hole in a low mass X-ray binary • Makerspaces could enable widespread adoption of microfluidics • Freezing lithium batteries may make them safer and bendable • Jellyfish-shaped galaxy found in Abell 2670 cluster

Phys.org / MedicalXpress / TechXplore

The Strange, Mysterious or Downright Weird

Blanket of Spiderwebs Covers Entire Field

Visitors to a New Zealand park recently found the grass blanketed not by flowers, but by silk webs produced by what appeared to be thousands of tiny spiders.

Park-goer Tracey Maris noticed something unusual about the scene on April 16 and captured video footage of the gently rolling silk waves. The web blanket was approximately 98 feet (30 meters) long and as wide as 7 to 10 feet (2 to 3 m), The New Zealand Herald reported. Webs covered ground near a soccer field at the Gordon Spratt Reserve in suburban Papamoa, near the Bay of Plenty on New Zealand's eastern coast, the newspaper said.

Initially, Maris thought the silk nets were unoccupied, she said. But as she and her family explored the webs' outer perimeter, they noticed that there were “little black things on top” - spiders, numbering in the thousands, Maris told The NZ Herald. “So, as you do, we screamed really loudly”, she said. [Weird and Wonderful: 9 Bizarre Spiders]

New Zealand hosts a variety of sheet web spider species, the largest of which is Cambridgea foliata. While the smallest sheet web spiders measure just a few centimeters across, C. foliata's leg span is “palm-sized”, and it produces a web that can measure over 3 feet (1 m) across, according to a species description shared by the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa.

Live Science (04/18/2017)