For the Bored's Newest Historian...

[Evil Squirrel]

Congratulations, Sir!

[a1mamacat]

who's the cute red squirrel???

[Rexer25]

LOL!!

[Evil Squirrel]

who's the cute red squirrel???

I don't know, I never asked what her name was.....

[SportsFan68]

Brilliant, ES.

I'm so pleased to see that you're using that talent for good instead of evil . . .

[peacock2121]

Where's his big boy clothes?

[Sisyphean Fan]

who's the cute red squirrel???

I don't know, I never asked what her name was.....

Was she pretty much Evenly Gorgeous?

[tanstaafl2]

who's the cute red squirrel???

I should rather think that is the Red Baron. Or rather Baroness.

Although why she is flying a british aircraft is a bit puzzling. Maybe a descendent that moved to Britain.

[BackInTex]

With every new work, I am more and more impressed.

Good job!

[Sisyphean Fan]

who's the cute red squirrel???

I should rather think that is the Red Baron. Or rather Baroness.

Although why she is flying a british aircraft is a bit puzzling. Maybe a descendent that moved to Britain.

Oh, okay. I thought she was holding a writing implement and, with the ink bottle next to her, I was trying to figure out what she was writing on. It was as puzzling as ES' antics in the Catfish picture.

I'm just a dumby. I always need you around to straighten out my odd ideas and keep me informed, Snoopy.

[EugeneF]

Last October's New York Times Magazine had a gruesome attempt at being cute. The feature story "The Squirrel Wars" told of a British lord's crusade to exterminate gray squirrels in England. The gray squirrel is an alien species, an American tourist who doesn't know when to leave. In fact, the gray has proved quite an Anglophile (imagine Henry James cute, furry and tailed) and is crowding out the native red squirrel. To protect the native English squirrels, Lord Redesdale founded an organization called the Red Squirrel Protection Society. That protection requires the extermination of gray squirrels. Lord Redesdale is distributing traps and instructions how to smash the skulls of the trapped animals. In his efforts to protect the traditions of England--including its rodents--Lord Redesdale seems a disturbing combination of Beatrix Potter and Rambo. If you were more familiar with his Lordship, you might even be further unnerved.

In the first paragraph of the story, Lord Redesdale lets you know that his family came over to England with William the Conqueror. He ironically overlooks the fact that the Normans were an invasive species, too. Furthermore, for a man who knows his ancestry, he seems to have forgotten his last name. He tells the author, "our original name was Bertram." However, since the 18th century the Baron Redesdales have had an impeccably English surname: Mitford.

That was quite an oversight by both the Baron and the Times reporter. You see, the Mitfords are renowned for their crusades against "alien species". The second Baron Redesdale, great-great-uncle of the Squirrelicide, apparently used Mein Kampf as a guide to childrearing. His daughter Unity Valkryie Mitford had a wild crush on Hitler and was disappointed that the Fuhrer did not want to marry her. (Hitler was old enough to be her father.) When her native Britain went to war against her beloved Adolf, she attempted suicide--shooting herself in the head. Surprisingly, her brain was large enough to be hit and damaged; leaving her in a vegetative but more likable state.

Unity's sister Diana was a more practical Nazi groupie. She at least found a functioning heterosexual among the Brownshirts: the leader of the British Fascist Union Sir Oswald Mosley. And they lived happily after, if you don't count their years of imprisonment as Nazi agents. Their brother Tom shared their political sympathies; when he was killed in the war, at least it was by the Japanese rather than his beloved Nazis.

(Three other sisters--Deborah, Pamela and Nancy--were politically neutral: Jews should be snubbed but not murdered. And they certainly could not approve of Hitler's table manners. Yet another sibling, Jessica, went to the other extreme: she became a Communist and even married a Jew.)

So, the alleged Mr. Bertram seems to have inherited the Mitford heritage as well as title. In espousing the racial purity of the red squirrel, however Baron Redesdale seems to show better taste in rodents.

Eugene

[peacock2121]

Has anyone ever seen Eugene and wintergreen in the same place at the same time?

[EugeneF]

Has anyone ever seen Eugene and wintergreen in the same place at the same time?

I know I haven't!

Eugene

[MarleysGh0st]

Outstanding work, ES!

Is this the first time a BB has had his old avatar incorporated into his ES portrait?

I'm not sure I can identify the RAF plane the red squirrel is flying. The de Havilland Mosquito had twin engines but it didn't have a rear canopy like that. The Lancaster did, but that was a four-engine bomber. These details would be very important for military historian like Flybrick!

[christie1111]

Last October's New York Times Magazine had a gruesome attempt at being cute. The feature story "The Squirrel Wars" told of a British lord's crusade to exterminate gray squirrels in England. The gray squirrel is an alien species, an American tourist who doesn't know when to leave. In fact, the gray has proved quite an Anglophile (imagine Henry James cute, furry and tailed) and is crowding out the native red squirrel. To protect the native English squirrels, Lord Redesdale founded an organization called the Red Squirrel Protection Society. That protection requires the extermination of gray squirrels. Lord Redesdale is distributing traps and instructions how to smash the skulls of the trapped animals. In his efforts to protect the traditions of England--including its rodents--Lord Redesdale seems a disturbing combination of Beatrix Potter and Rambo. If you were more familiar with his Lordship, you might even be further unnerved.

In the first paragraph of the story, Lord Redesdale lets you know that his family came over to England with William the Conqueror. He ironically overlooks the fact that the Normans were an invasive species, too. Furthermore, for a man who knows his ancestry, he seems to have forgotten his last name. He tells the author, "our original name was Bertram." However, since the 18th century the Baron Redesdales have had an impeccably English surname: Mitford.

That was quite an oversight by both the Baron and the Times reporter. You see, the Mitfords are renowned for their crusades against "alien species". The second Baron Redesdale, great-great-uncle of the Squirrelicide, apparently used Mein Kampf as a guide to childrearing. His daughter Unity Valkryie Mitford had a wild crush on Hitler and was disappointed that the Fuhrer did not want to marry her. (Hitler was old enough to be her father.) When her native Britain went to war against her beloved Adolf, she attempted suicide--shooting herself in the head. Surprisingly, her brain was large enough to be hit and damaged; leaving her in a vegetative but more likable state.

Unity's sister Diana was a more practical Nazi groupie. She at least found a functioning heterosexual among the Brownshirts: the leader of the British Fascist Union Sir Oswald Mosley. And they lived happily after, if you don't count their years of imprisonment as Nazi agents. Their brother Tom shared their political sympathies; when he was killed in the war, at least it was by the Japanese rather than his beloved Nazis.

(Three other sisters--Deborah, Pamela and Nancy--were politically neutral: Jews should be snubbed but not murdered. And they certainly could not approve of Hitler's table manners. Yet another sibling, Jessica, went to the other extreme: she became a Communist and even married a Jew.)

So, the alleged Mr. Bertram seems to have inherited the Mitford heritage as well as title. In espousing the racial purity of the red squirrel, however Baron Redesdale seems to show better taste in rodents.

Eugene

Bravo!

[christie1111]

Congratulations, Sir!

ES!

You have outdone yourself with details!

Absolutely awesome!

[SportsFan68]

Outstanding work, ES!

Is this the first time a BB has had his old avatar incorporated into his ES portrait?

I'm not sure I can identify the RAF plane the red squirrel is flying. The de Havilland Mosquito had twin engines but it didn't have a rear canopy like that. The Lancaster did, but that was a four-engine bomber. These details would be very important for military historian like Flybrick!

I think artistic license might apply in this case. I hope so, anyway.

[ulysses5019]

On an aviation tangent, I photographed an event tonight for USC's Annenberg and there was a speaker named Brian Terwilliger. He does documentaries and here is his company's website which might be of interest to those who fly:

http://www.terwilligerproductions.com/

There were other speakers including someone from Digital Domain (Benjamin Button) and the JibJab founders.

[MarleysGh0st]

Outstanding work, ES!

Is this the first time a BB has had his old avatar incorporated into his ES portrait?

I'm not sure I can identify the RAF plane the red squirrel is flying. The de Havilland Mosquito had twin engines but it didn't have a rear canopy like that. The Lancaster did, but that was a four-engine bomber. These details would be very important for military historian like Flybrick!

I think artistic license might apply in this case. I hope so, anyway.

No, it wasn't artistic license.

I'm ashamed to admit this, not only because it betrays my unforgivable lack of trust in ES's historical accuracy (particularly considering that he's an associate of Notebookboy) but also because my thinking got stuck in the the track of trying to connect an RAF plane with the (British?) red squirrel, instead of associating it with Flybrick. After all, Ms. Red Squirrel is most likely just borrowing the plane from his collection.

The plane is most definitely one of the Beaufighters in the Night.

[littlebeast13]

Outstanding work, ES!

Is this the first time a BB has had his old avatar incorporated into his ES portrait?

I'm not sure I can identify the RAF plane the red squirrel is flying. The de Havilland Mosquito had twin engines but it didn't have a rear canopy like that. The Lancaster did, but that was a four-engine bomber. These details would be very important for military historian like Flybrick!

I think artistic license might apply in this case. I hope so, anyway.

No, it wasn't artistic license.

I'm ashamed to admit this, not only because it betrays my unforgivable lack of trust in ES's historical accuracy (particularly considering that he's an associate of Notebookboy) but also because my thinking got stuck in the the track of trying to connect an RAF plane with the (British?) red squirrel, instead of associating it with Flybrick. After all, Ms. Red Squirrel is most likely just borrowing the plane from his collection.

The plane is most definitely one the Beaufighters in the Night.

I was figuring at least FlyBrick would make that connection when he saw it....

lb13

[MarleysGh0st]

I was figuring at least FlyBrick would make that connection when he saw it....

Like I said, I'm embarrassed that I didn't, at first. I guess that's why I don't usually post late in the evening. I'm not a night person.

[ulysses5019]

At least my Beaufighter avatar doesn't wear any HK stuff.

[kayrharris]

Dare we to doubt ES??!?!? I know I seldom do.

Good job once again.

[littlebeast13]

Outstanding work, ES!

Is this the first time a BB has had his old avatar incorporated into his ES portrait?

Oh, and for the record, it is the second time ES has done that.....

lb13

[tanstaafl2]

I think artistic license might apply in this case. I hope so, anyway.

No, it wasn't artistic license.

I'm ashamed to admit this, not only because it betrays my unforgivable lack of trust in ES's historical accuracy (particularly considering that he's an associate of Notebookboy) but also because my thinking got stuck in the the track of trying to connect an RAF plane with the (British?) red squirrel, instead of associating it with Flybrick. After all, Ms. Red Squirrel is most likely just borrowing the plane from his collection.

The plane is most definitely one the Beaufighters in the Night.

I was figuring at least FlyBrick would make that connection when he saw it....

lb13

Although if one did choose to pick a nit I would think the Beaufighters in this book would have had a USA roundel on the side given they were US Army Air Forces aircraft. And may well have been brown since they were stationed in North Africa, at least until they moved to France after D-Day. No doubt FlyBrick would know for sure!

Or perhaps this is a model of the original British Beaufighter before they were adopted by the US. Perhaps the only version of the model available came only with an RAF roundel. Which I think at that time had a gold outer ring, not white...

If historical accuracy is of interest!

And we probably don't even want to go into what appear to be eagles on the shoulder of his uniform given that he notes his rank on the book cover as Lieutenant Colonel. No doubt he appreciates what I am sure is a well deserved promotion...

Which brings another thing to mind. The book title is Beaufighters in the Night: 417 Night Fighter Squadron USAAF. I learned about the designation USAAF for US Army Air Forces. Had always thought it was the US Army Air Corps but that changed in June 1941 before the US had even entered WWII (although according to that highly authoritative source wiki, it was still the name of a branch within the USAAF).

Learn something new every day.