7 Dec; Not a single post?

[UncleS2]

It's ~9:30 pm CST, Dec 7- and not one single post yet about Pearl Harbor? It happened over 10 yrs before my birth, but when I was a kid, every adult I knew could tell you exactly where they were & what they were doing when they first heard of the attack on Pearl Harbor, Dec 7, 1941. And I heard a *bunch* of those stories.

Lest we forget.

 

[tripleM]

Sad day in our history. Several decades before I was born but a defining moment for our country.

 

[Mystic]

I did not forget, but they don't want us to be political here. My father was in North Africa and Normandy in WWII. My uncle served on the USS Lexington (the 'Lady Lex"). The attack on Pearl Harbor happened 10 years before I was born also. I am pretty ancient. To a lot of young people today the attack is probably meaningless, if they think about it at all. For myself, every time December 7th comes along I think about it, at least a little bit.

People do remember major events. I can remember exactly where I was when the attack on the World Trade Center took place. Young people today probably remember that attack as much as the people of the past remembered Pearl Harbor. We slowly move forward in time. Maybe someday in some distant future people will learn how to accept each other and live together, and none of us will have to have memories of some terrible event.

 

[Pablo]

I thought about it a lot today.

Most in the USA with any wits have learned about Dec 7, 1941. I don't think they even teach about it in school anymore, though.

I'll open it up a bit more. Who out there knows what happened to the Americans on Wake Island shortly after the Pearl Harbor attack?

Easier - how long before the battle at Midway? (and it probably must have seemed much longer)

 

[Mystic]

I know what happened to the Americans on Wake Island. The defenders there held out for a long time. The American engineers were forced to build defenses on Wake Island for the Japanese. A higher percentage of the Wake Island soldiers survived WWII than many other prisoner of war groups. They survived terrible conditions in the POW camps.

I think it was about 6 months after Pearl Harbor when the Battle of Midway took place. I did not need to look in a history book for this.

I sometimes wonder what exactly is taught in the schools nowadays. There are young people going to college who need remedial training in spelling and reading. Who allowed them to pass high school?

I am not saying that my high school education was wonderful, but compared to some young people I am familiar with today I must have had a college degree in comparison when I left high school. I think there are a lot of educators today who need to be fired for nonperformance.

People forget their history at their own cost. If the history of WWII is not being taught to young people today there is something very wrong. Maybe that is why the leader of Iran today can say that there was no Holocaust and get away with it.

 

[Shannow]

Mystic, My Mum (a teacher) retires in a fortnight, and she despairs at the eductation these days. Pay is poor, so they get the dregs (or the occasional bright person with a genuine calling), she's seen grade one kids having to correct teacher's spelling.

Then there's all the do-gooder, knee jerk "they should teach that in schools" the the politicians foist upon them...all things that they should be learing at home.

Anyway, good parents can help a kid through terrible schools...but I don't see that as a consolation.

 

[Al]

Quote:

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Most in the USA with any wits have learned about Dec 7, 1941. I don't think they even teach about it in school anymore, though.

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Quoted for truth. My neice's daughter is studying WWII and she wanted to learn about the 8th Air Force in England which was bombing Germany. Her paper will be written as it was seen through the eyes of a P-47 fighter pilot (Wife's uncle) who was killed in a mission from Germany. I have copies of all of letters and military papers. I'm glad I could help her.

 

[Oldmoparguy1]

I remember it, vaguely. I was not quite 5. I remember family members gathered around the radio listening to a news program. I remember my Aunt screaming and crying about a war. Pretty heavy stuff for a little kid.

BTW: Dec. 7th. is my middle sons' birthday. He is the big one, 350#. My wife always refers to him as her bomb. We celebrated with him last night at Outback Steak house. It was good as always.

 

[Laminar Lou]

My Japanese Calendar has something written for Dec 7. My Japanese speakers are currently out of the office but I was meaning to ask if the my company is recognizing Pearl Harbor in their calendar. Even though it would be recognizing a historic moment, I don't know how I would feel about that (since I work for a Japanese company).

 

[Mystic]

Laminar Lou, find out what it says about December 7 on the Japanese Calendar! I would like to know.

The Japanese Admiral who was the commander in chief of the Japanese Navy had lived in the United States before Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. He said something about Japan having awakened a sleeping giant. He knew about the industrial power of the United States and he knew that if Japan did not win quickly Japan would lose the war.

The Battle of Midway was the turning point. Japan lost 4 aircraft carriers and Japan could not easily replace lost warships. The Japanese admiral I mentioned above was killed after the Type 1 ('Betty') bomber he was in was shot down by P-38 fighter planes.

 

[Laminar Lou]

Okay, I went over to the other building and all the Japanese are apparently in Vegas "working". They won't be back from their "job" until Monday. So, does anyone here read Kanji

Or click here for a larger image: Clicky

The first symbol is Kanji for "Big" I believe(according to this websiteweb page on Kanji) . Maybe the second symbol is "Mistake".

 

[obbop]

Ensign Gay of Torpedo Squadron 8 had a front "seat" to the affair.

Anyone recall the code breaking and sending od a fake message regarding the breakdown of water distillation devices on "Cactus."

But, the schools have to meet the "No kid left behind" government/politician intrusion onto education so non-tested areas of education receive short shrift.

What's a "shrift"?

Here's a thought......

That Kim chap, froze to death in Oregon. Likely made really good money. He was quite the specialist. Seems to be a pre-requisite for much of modern life/career/etc.

Know a whole lot about a very specific area.

Not much room for generalists, anymore.

Fit into that mold.

Of course, if that niche is bypassed or sent overseas... does one have to spend years learning a new specialty?

I dunno'.

Just pondering aloud. In a textual manner, of course.

Just got cable TV after a many year hiatus. Saw Lou Dobbs show for the first time a couple weeks ago.

I reached the same and similar conclusions he presents years ago without input from him.

Maybe I need my own TV show.

But, am not a broadcast specialist.

Networking doesn't work for me, either. Everyone I know is poor and powerless.

Sniff.

Ain't even got a rock.

 

[Pablo]

Lou Dobbs? Criminy, give that man another bamboo bong hit.

Quote:

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short shrift
–noun 1. a brief time for confession or absolution given to a condemned prisoner before his or her execution.
2. little attention or consideration in dealing with a person or matter: to give short shrift to an opponent's arguments.

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Can't help on the kanji thing. You can have my rock. Free.

 

[Drew99GT]

***deleted*** so I don't get this thread closed!

 

[Mystic]

Americans had just about cracked the Japanese code but a message was sent out of Midway concerning the water distillation plant so that it could be confirmed that the target was in fact Midway Island. The breaking of the German codes and the Japanese codes by the Americans and British played a major role in winning WWII.

There was only one survivor of Torpedo Squadron 8 (the carrier torpedo bombers that attacked some of the Japanese aircraft carriers off Midway). The torpedo bombers did not hit a single Japanese ship but they helped win the battle anyway because the Japanese fighter planes had to fly low to shot the torpedo bombers down and could not get altitiude again to fight the dive bombers. One man in the water from the torpedo planes observed while three Japanese aircraft carriers were successfully attacked by dive bombers. The fourth Japanese aircraft was destroyed later (the next day, I think). With the carriers lost the Japanese retreated. They still had a powerful force (including one of the two largest battleships ever built by mankind). The tide of war had changed.

 

[Mystic]

The Japanese symbols above are probably some sort of Japanese proverb. It is Japanese calligraphy which is very difficult to learn. The Japanese had beautiful proverbs. For example, "Life is as a eather compared to one's duty." Somebody who knows Japanese calligraphy would be able to tell us what it means.

My ancient old book 'The Divine Wind' has similiar symbols but not exactly the same. There could be different ways to write the same symbols, or probably they must be produced exactly right.

 

[Mystic]

Sorry, that should be 'feather' above and not 'eather'.

 

[Pablo]

I don't think that's a proverb. Japanese use three types a of character based language. Kanji, hiragana, and katagana.

Kanji characters are closest based to Chinese characters, some times with very similar/same meaning , but with completely different pronunciation. For example - the characters might be shien (purple garden) in Kanji but in Chinese mandarin the character meaning would be purple garden but totally different way of saying (pronunciation not even similar)

 

[Laminar Lou]

Okay, well I got a translation. It means "Big Snow". Although he said that he had not seen those two characters used together before, so it could mean something else.

side note: When a Japanese native who lives in Japan cannot understand the true meaning of something in his own language it reinforces my experience with the Japanese and their communication style. I've said it before and I'll say it again; Japan could rule the world if they could ever learn to communicate within their culture. The trouble with "listener based speaking" and speaking in metaphor so as not to offend the listener is that the true communication of ideas is often lost in an effort to protect "harmony". But I digress...

When he pressed me for the real reason why I wanted to know what the symbol meant (ahh, to understand my "true meaning" for the question), I told him the truth. So now he thinks I was trying to make a point. You should have seen his demeanor change. He was kind of shocked to think that I would think that our very large Japanese company would make such a faux pax. Then again, our calendars are contracted out by National Geographic so maybe somebody is having a really good laugh right now...

They are pretty calendars though...

 

[Laminar Lou]

I did more research and it can also mean:

snow; wipe away shame, avenge

Like most things in Japanese, it is all about context. I did find the 2 characters used together and it does apparently mean a big snow that is in the Chinese 24 climatic periods. Since he is not Chinese, that would make sense why he didn't recognize the combination.