I had never realized that the anniversary of the founding of the Marines was the day before Armistice Day. It’s been two hundred thirty one years. They’re older than the nation itself–there’s never been a US of A without them.

Such may indeed be the state of our edumacational system. Early to bed, early to rise, makes one have no fear except fear itself.

[Sunday morning update]

Alan K. Henderson has some more misnamed action figures.

Two thirds of a century later, many historians are saying that the RAF didn’t win the Battle of Britain.

The Berlin Wall was erected forty five years ago today. And it’s been sixty-six years since the beginning of the Battle of Britain.

Did anyone call WWII WWII during WWII? Or was it only called that in retrospect? If not, what did they call it?

Would it make sense to simply rename the Cold War WWIII and call this one WWIV, so we can get away from this stupid “War On Terror” name?

Celts in Turkey?

It’s hatch was unlocked.

Yeah, this is kind of geeky, but it was one of the very first subs, after all…

Everyone seems to think that the big story of the day is the number of the beast, but I think that it’s much more important to remember what happened sixty two years ago. The Donovan does, in pictures. Black Five does as well, with a link roundup.

An interesting explanation (besides the abundant media bias) why the Bush administration doesn’t get as much credit for the economy as it should.

And as to media bias, answer this quiz:

Was U.S. economic growth higher during the time John Snow was Treasury Secretary, or during the time Robert Rubin was Treasury Secretary?

Answer is at the link.

The last commercial transport has rolled off the assembly line in southern California. There’s still a large aerospace industry there, but no more manufacturing, at least for transports.

Very few of the facilities that were built during the war to build airplanes still do so, if they exist at all. I remember when I worked in Downey at the old Consolidated-Vultee (which later became Convair) plant that was later purchased by North American (and became the space division during Apollo), you could still walk out in the back parking lot and see the lines from the old runway where the “Valiants” and other aircraft would roll out of the factory and take off over the dairy farms and orange groves. It’s all suburbia now, and the plant is being converted to film studios and other uses.