kermode

Food & wine, travel, adventures, bears, snow sports, wildlife, politics and mountains!

[kermode @kermode]

@MetaPathogen Happy Friday! Saw a recent dolphin video of yours. That looks like it was fun!

[Mike Netter @nettermike]

In April 1967, a 20-year-old farm boy from South Dakota did something that would change the Vietnam War—he fell off his ship.
Seaman Douglas Hegdahl was standing on the deck of the USS Canberra when the recoil from a five-inch gun knocked him overboard into the Gulf of Tonkin. He treaded water for five hours, then swam for seven more. When fishermen finally pulled him from the sea, they handed him to North Vietnamese forces.
The interrogators didn't believe his story. They thought he was a spy, a commando, someone important. They beat him and threw him into the Hanoi Hilton—the most notorious prison of the war.
But Hegdahl made a choice that would save hundreds of lives. He became "The Incredibly Stupid One."
He played up his country accent. He stared wide-eyed at things he'd never seen before. When they ordered him to write a confession, he claimed he couldn't read or write. The guards, used to illiterate peasants in their own country, believed him completely. They even assigned someone to teach him—who eventually gave up, convinced Hegdahl was hopeless.
What they didn't know was that Hegdahl had a photographic memory and the discipline of a soldier.
Because they thought he was harmless, the guards let him sweep the prison yards. He walked between cellblocks. He memorized the layout of the camp and the route into Hanoi. He even sabotaged enemy trucks by adding dirt to their fuel tanks.
But his real mission was gathering intelligence.
With the help of fellow prisoner Joe Crecca, Hegdahl set out to memorize something impossible: the names, ranks, Social Security numbers, and personal details of over 250 fellow American prisoners. How do you remember 250 names under torture, starvation, and the constant threat of death?
He used "Old MacDonald Had a Farm."
Every day, Hegdahl repeated the names to the tune of the children's song. Over and over. Names became melodies. Data became memory. While the guards laughed at the "stupid" American humming in the prison yard, he was conducting one of the most important intelligence operations of the war.
When North Vietnam offered early release as a propaganda tool, Hegdahl initially refused—prisoners had sworn an oath to leave together or not at all. But his commanding officer, Captain Dick Stratton, ordered him to go. "You're carrying the names," Stratton told him. "Their families need to know they're alive."
On August 5, 1969, Hegdahl walked out of the Hanoi Hilton.
When he returned to the United States, he recited every single name. Every rank. Every identifying detail. His memory transformed 250+ missing men into confirmed prisoners of war. At the Paris Peace Talks in 1970, he confronted North Vietnamese negotiators with firsthand accounts of torture—and the pressure he brought helped secure the eventual release of all American POWs.
That farm boy who "fell off a ship" had just freed an entire army.
Decades later, in 1998, Hegdahl stood before an audience of veterans and families at the Richard Nixon Library. Thirty years after his release, he stood and sang—to the tune of "Old MacDonald Had a Farm"—the names of 256 men he'd memorized in captivity.
Not one name forgotten.
Sometimes the most dangerous people are the ones your enemy thinks are harmless. Sometimes genius wears the mask of stupidity. And sometimes, a child's lullaby becomes the most powerful weapon of all.
Ever know anyone that smart that could play that dumb for that long?
Amazing!

[kermode @kermode]

@MetaPathogen Will you get to meet up with our mutual former X buddy?

[kermode @kermode]

@MetaPathogen Happy Friday! We finally have a few days of cold weather, almost like it might be winter. There are flurries on occasion, but unfortunately no real snow. U will be happy: his energy improves drastically when it’s cold outside.

[kermode @kermode]

@MetaPathogen Happy 250th! We are in fire weather, canx’d our plans in the mountains. No fireworks even professional displays due to 🔥 concerns. East of Westcliffe is especially bad.

[Kayleigh McEnany @kayleighmcenany]

Kavanaugh points out these EYE-OPENING statistics:

🔹 PRIOR TO TITLE IX: “only about 300,000 high school girls played sports. Meanwhile, about 3.6 million high school boys played sports.”

🔹 AFTER TITLE IX: “About 3.5 million high school girls now play sports.”

It is TRULY SOMETHING that 3 female, liberal Justices wish to take women back in time.

[kermode @kermode]

@MetaPathogen We’re taking Ussuri elsewhere for now so as not to panic the tailless baby bird. Hope it survives the night and neighbor cats stay away.

[kermode @kermode]

@MetaPathogen I didn’t want to scare it but activity in the yard keeps neighbors cats at bay. Later I found the baby in the tree next to some suet. Hours later, it looks like it’s bedded there for the night. It stayed in a windstorm. I heard adults this evening, not sure if parents or not.

[kermode @kermode]

@MetaPathogen Those are the finch families that nest right outside windows around the house. I took Ussuri out midday and discovered a defenseless baby meadowlark on the ground. Took dog in, came out a little later, baby still there in the open.

[kermode @kermode]

@MetaPathogen The parents are obviously working with the youngsters, teaching flight, balance in high winds, and food sources. We restocked seed today. One baby said hi to me at a window and excited my cats.

[kermode @kermode]

@MetaPathogen It’s baby bird week. Lots of fledging. One nest above the grill with a single baby left: he got really nervous while I made dinner, barely keeping in the nest. It’s gone now though.

[kermode @kermode]

@MetaPathogen Happy Friday! Caol Ila is making more of a habit of snuggling into Ussuri’s plentiful fur. But if she sees we noticed, she stops. Makes photos impossible! But very sweet to observe.

[kermode @kermode]

@MetaPathogen We’re getting the front doors replaced soon, and U did very well for the short duration a single workman did some measuring. But I don’t think he can stand 2 days of multiple workers making a lot more noise. Might have to take him out of town overnight.

[kermode @kermode]

@MetaPathogen I rearranged some furniture and kitties were all very interested. It should give them a little more access to some windows, though it’s hot enough that the blinds stay closed for now.

[kermode @kermode]

@MetaPathogen U seems to be improving a little bit with movement. He’s spending more time outside in the mornings. But yesterday’s, neighbors had a visiting dog with a history of really spinning U up. At least he’s contained in the fence now (historically, he came up to U making things worse).

[kermode @kermode]

@MetaPathogen Oh no to stable quarantine! Happy weekend, hope you’ll be able to be with N some anyway. F is getting better about playing with more confidence, we’ve really been trying to work with him, mostly with slow blinkies. He’s even getting closer to U.

[kermode @kermode]

@MetaPathogen I take U out in the mornings when I do yard work for up to an hour. Today was the first day I was entirely outside the fence, and he did fairly well. I’m just working on cleaning rock beds of weeds and grasses, with some pruning of trees and shrubs. It’s a lengthy project.

[kermode @kermode]

@MetaPathogen He’s so sleek! We’re working with Fettercairn for confidence building. That includes occasional car rides when we’re running short errands together and one of us can stay in the car.

Ussuri’s been spending a lot more time outside. Sometimes he doesn’t even hurt himself.

[kermode @kermode]

@MetaPathogen Happy weekend!! Sizing kitties for harnesses is challenging. Cardhu slipped hers recently, for the first time, so now we’re being very careful when she’s outside. But she loves it, and is usually happy to just hang out with us.

[Yellowstone National Park @YellowstoneNPS]

(News Release) On the morning of June 8, occupants of a vessel on Yellowstone Lake discovered the body of a 41-year-old male, Brandon Rhea of Denver, Colorado, floating in the water near Rock Point on the northwest shore of the lake near Bridge Bay.

National Park Service rangers responded to the scene and recovered the body, along with a capsized kayak and personal belongings. The incident is under investigation, and there are no further details to share at this time.

Read more at: https://t.co/FTkLk5Rbq2

[BoulderCAST Weather 🏔️⛈️ @BoulderCAST]

3:45PM: Well, that escalated quickly Four severe warned cells in the Metro area now. Parker and commerce City are winning with ping pong ball sized hail #cowx