Parks Stephenson

Deep-ocean explorer, historian, retired naval officer, non-profit director.

[Parks Stephenson @ParksStep3]

I was introduced to the tiki culture in Southern California. But it wasn't until I moved to Louisiana that I truly became a part of it, which is strange because one doesn't usually associate tiki with the Bayou State. But I have a WW2 destroyer known as the "Pirate of the Pacific," and just like the postwar period, the ship is proving to be my link to the South Pacific and the pseudo-Polynesian drink culture that my Navy ancestors brought home with them.

Already, in just the past 3 years, I have managed to have my own rum and tiki mug produced, thanks to KIDD's inspiration. But that's not all that can be done. I am about to embark on a new project in collaboration with some similarly-passionate geeks here in Louisiana that I hope will transform the tiki world.

Stay tuned.

[Parks Stephenson @ParksStep3]

@elonmusk I pay homage to it with my annual May the Fourth post.

[Parks Stephenson @ParksStep3]

@gothburz I was waiting for you to deliver this incident to a new audience with a fresh perspective.

[Parks Stephenson @ParksStep3]

I was going through my email just now and came across this. I know that I wrote the endorsement but didn’t know that the book was now in print. It’s a great book for people who love “tin cans.”

[Parks Stephenson @ParksStep3]

@Roee_IL @VictorVescovo It’s WWII era. I measure the case at approximately 1-1/4”.

[Parks Stephenson @ParksStep3]

Michael D. Benge wrote this, not Barbara Walter’s.

[I am Ken @Ikennect]

Barbara Walters writes:
Unfortunately, many have forgotten and still countless others have never known how Ms. Fonda betrayed not only the idea of our country, but specific men who served and sacrificed during the Vietnam War.
The first part of this is from an F-4E pilot. The pilot's name is Jerry Driscoll, a River Rat. In 1968, the former Commandant of the USAF Survival School was a POW in Ho LoPrison, the "Hanoi Hilton."
Dragged from a stinking cesspit of a cell, cleaned, fed, and dressed in clean PJ's, he was ordered to describe for a visiting American "peace activist" the "lenient and humane treatment" he'd received.
He spat at Ms. Fonda, was clubbed, and was dragged away. During the subsequent beating, he fell forward onto the camp commandant 's feet, which sent that officer berserk.
In 1978, the Air Force Colonel still suffered from double vision (which permanently ended his flying career) from the Commandant's frenzied application of a wooden baton.
From 1963-65, Col. Larry Carrigan was in the 47FW/DO (F-4E's). He spent 6 years in the "Hanoi Hilton". . . The first three of which his family only knew he was "missing in action." His wife lived on faith that he was still alive. His group, too, got the cleaned-up, fed and clothed routine in preparation for a "peace delegation" visit.
They, however, had time and devised a plan to get word to the world that they were alive and still survived. Each man secreted a tiny piece of paper, with his Social Security Number on it, in the palm of his hand. When paraded before Ms. Fonda and a cameraman, she walked the line, shaking each man's hand and asking little encouraging snippets like: "Aren't you sorry you bombed babies?" and "Are you grateful for the humane treatment from your benevolent captors?" Believing this HAD to be an act, they each palmed her their sliver of paper.
She took them all without missing a beat. . . At the end of the line and once the camera stopped rolling, to the shocked disbelief of the POWs, she turned to the officer in charge and handed him all the little pieces of paper...
Three men died from the subsequent beatings. Colonel Carrigan was almost number four but he survived, which is the only reason we know of her actions that day.
I was a civilian economic development adviser in Vietnam, and was captured by the North Vietnamese communists in South Vietnam in 1968, and held prisoner for over 5 years.
I spent 27 months in solitary confinement; one year in a cage in Cambodia; and one year in a 'black box' in Hanoi. My North Vietnamese captors deliberately poisoned and murdered a female missionary, a nurse in a leprosarium in Banme Thuot, South Vietnam, whom I buried in the jungle near the Cambodian border. At one time, I weighed only about 90 lbs. (My normal weight is 170 lbs.)
We were Jane Fonda's "war criminals."
When Jane Fonda was in Hanoi, I was asked by the camp communist political officer if I would be willing to meet with her. I said yes, for I wanted to tell her about the real treatment we POWs received. . . and how different it was from the treatment purported by the North Vietnamese, and parroted by her as "humane and lenient."
Because of this, I spent three days on a rocky floor on my knees, with my arms outstretched with a large steel weight placed on my hands, and beaten with a bamboo cane.
I had the opportunity to meet with Jane Fonda soon after I was released. I asked her if she would be willing to debate me on TV. She never did answer me.
These first-hand experiences do not exemplify someone who should be honored as part of "100 Years of Great Women." Lest we forget. . . "100 Years of Great Women" should never include a traitor whose hands are covered with the blood of so many patriots.
There are few things I have strong visceral reactions to, but Hanoi Jane's participation in blatant treason, is one of them. Please take the time to forward to as many people as you possibly can. It will eventually end up on her computer, and she needs to know that we will never forget. See less

[Jesus Chrysler @JesusChryslerII]

Something All Must Witness To Believe
For those of you itching to see Puddles the Clown combine The Who’s “Pinball Wizard” with Johnny Cash’s “Folsom Prison Blues,” this is for you.
Enjoy. Or hate. It’s a free country.
Well, relatively, anyway.

[Parks Stephenson @ParksStep3]

Absolutely disgusting.

https://t.co/IWYNAlzJQ9

[Parks Stephenson @ParksStep3]

@threenotes_jp Two:
The Wind Rises, when the Zeros fly by Jiro and Caproni.
Grave of the Fireflies. Almost all of it.

[Parks Stephenson @ParksStep3]

@roninnato I’m still interested and I don’t even play the game.

[Parks Stephenson @ParksStep3]

Getting close to the release date! @USSKIDD_DD661

[Parks Stephenson @ParksStep3]

@SSN_685 We have been watching the river for some time, but the meeting was held to make official the decision to indefinitely postpone expectations of KIDD’s return to Baton Rouge.

[Parks Stephenson @ParksStep3]

It’s official: USS KIDD will not, because of drought conditions, be returning home on schedule. We currently have no new projected return date.

https://t.co/EGQl6b2dYS

[Parks Stephenson @ParksStep3]

Last September, I was interviewed at @TitanicBelfast by @tilscienceuhi3. That interview just dropped. Right or wrong, I so much prefer being able to talk off script.

https://t.co/9TVYR3Lmjm

[Parks Stephenson @ParksStep3]

The good guys have had their fun with May the Fourth. But now it’s time for the Sith.

[Parks Stephenson @ParksStep3]

I stepped into CIC aboard JFK and made an arrogant statement about the primitive equipment they were using. Then I took a step forward, didn’t see the step down below me (you can’t see very well out the mask’s eye lenses) and pitched forward into a full Vader faceplant. Sure, a good look for a new XO.

[Parks Stephenson @ParksStep3]

A picture was taken of me in the cockpit of an F-14 in my Vader outfit, but I can’t find it. This one will have to do. USS JOHN F. KENNEDY Tiger Cruise, Summer of 1978.

[Parks Stephenson @ParksStep3]

@sow413 I love the caption: “Paramedics catch runaway gurney.” No mention that they initially lost control of it.

[Parks Stephenson @ParksStep3]

The high point in my Star Wars “career”was crashing the annual Star Wars Celebration in Anaheim as part of a Spaceballs crew.