Archive for February 15th, 2023

Obit watch: February 15, 2023.

Wednesday, February 15th, 2023

Raquel Welch. Damn.

THR. Variety.

Her first starring role came with her second film after signing with 20th Century Fox, though it was hardly an actor’s dream. Her biggest line of dialogue in the prehistoric drama One Million Years B.C. (1966) was, “Me, Loana … You, Tumak.” Her experience on the set was even less inspiring.
“On the first day of shooting,” she recalled, “I went straight up to the director, Don Chaffey, and said quite seriously, ‘Listen, Don, I’ve been studying the script and I was thinking …’ He turned to me in amazement and said, ‘You were thinking? Don’t.’”

Duangphet Promthep. He was the captain of the Thai soccer team that got trapped in the flooded cave and had to be rescued by divers.

He moved to England last year after securing a scholarship to a soccer academy that promoted its high-level program and international student population. “I promise I will focus and do my best,” he wrote on social media at the time, later posting photographs of his classes and the school grounds.

He was 17 (I’ve seen other sources say 18). He was found unconscious in his room and died in a hospital.

Stanley Wilson, former cornerback for the Lions. He was 40, and this is sad.

In August of last year, he was arrested “after he allegedly broke into a Hollywood Hills home, took a bath in an outdoor fountain and raided the property”. He was held in police custody until February 1st, when he was declared not competent to stand trial and was transferred to a psychiatric facility.

The former NFL player collapsed and died during intake at the medical facility, law enforcement sources told the outlet.

Posted in Movies, NFL, Obits, Sports, TV | 3 Comments »

Brief historical note, suitable for use in schools.

Wednesday, February 15th, 2023

If I had thought about it, I would have prepared a longer post. However, I’ve been distracted by other projects, and would have completely missed this if it wasn’t for McThag.

125 years ago today, on February 15, 1898, the battleship USS Maine exploded in Havana Harbor.

Interesting note from Wikipedia (I know, I know):

Maine is described as an armored cruiser or second-class battleship, depending on the source. Commissioned in 1895, she was the first U.S. Navy ship to be named after the state of Maine. Maine and the similar battleship Texas were both represented as an advance in American warship design, reflecting the latest European naval developments. Both ships had two gun turrets staggered en échelon, and full sailing masts were omitted due to the increased reliability of steam engines. Due to a protracted 9-year construction period, Maine and Texas were obsolete by the time of completion. Far more advanced vessels were either in service or nearing completion that year.

(Edited to add: I should clarify, since this is a little confusing: the “Texas” above is the 1892 USS Texas, not the 1914 USS Texas.)

Side note: one of the tour guides at the Texas made an interesting comment, and I’d like to do more research on this. In brief, the Germans pioneered modern welding.

Because of arms limitation treaties after WWI, the weight of battleships was limited. If you rivet battleship plates together, you have to overlap the plates. But if you weld battleship plates, you can basically butt the plates together rather than overlapping. This allows you to use less plate. Less plate means bigger battleship within the weight limitations.

I’d really like to find some good sources on welding history. I think that’d be a technically interesting area to explore.

Anyway, remembering the Maine: somewhere I have what I believe is a first edition of Rickover’s How the Battleship Maine Was Destroyed. (Affiliate link goes to a Naval Institute Press reprint edition.)

Edited to add 2: Thanks to valued commenter Chuck Pergiel for providing a link to his post on the Maine.

Drachinfel. This one is short:

The USS New Jersey. This is a little under 30 minutes.

Posted in History, Ships | 1 Comment »