Newsflash - Amelia Earhart Was Never Missing

It is a myth that Amelia Earhart "disappeared."

It is a fact that she did not.

There were, and still are - eyewitnesses, many eyewitnesses, who knew about what happened to her and who saw her plane on the Pacific island of Saipan, and who saw the plane destroyed.

Many of the eyewitnesses are U.S. soldiers.

One of them - one of the actual eyewitness soldiers - is a friend of my father's. He lives a mile from my father.

He was there. He was on Saipan when Ms. Earhart landed. He heard the intelligence report at the time it happened. He knew it then. He knows it now. He wrote a letter detailing his eyewitness report - and it's published in a book titled With Our Own Eyes: Eyewitnesses to the Final Days of Amelia Earhart, by Mike Campbell with Thomas Devine.

Ms. Earhart's plane was ordered to be destroyed by then Navy Secretary Forrestal. That order was carried out.

The question is not what happened to Amelia Earhart. The question is why was it covered up?

Probably because she was not worth the effort (according to whoever was in charge of the "Cover-up").

Now that, my friends, is the tragic story.

About the book:

Many books have been written about the disappearance of Amelia Earhart and her navigator, Fred Noonan, but Thomas E. Devine is the only eyewitness to write about the subject.

With Our Own Eyes presents the never-before-published eyewitness testimony of more than two dozen former GIs who support and corroborate Devine's account establishing Earhart's presence and death on Saipan following her last flight on July 2, 1937.

During the invasion of Saipan in 1944, Thomas Devine was a sergeant in the not-yet-activated 244th Army Postal Unit. Soon after arrival, Devine encountered a group of enlisted Marines at Aslito Field guarding a hangar containing Earhart's Electra.

Devine's examination of the Electra and the many statements, reports and letters by others on Saipan at that time weave together the facts missing from other books. Campbell makes a convincing argument and sheds more light on Devine's personal experience and subsequent corroborating testimony from ex-GIs on World War II Saipan.

Since the publication of his first book, EYEWITNESS: The Amelia Earhart Incident (Renaissance House 1987), Thomas E. Devine has continued to chronicle his ongoing efforts to establish his eyewitness claim to the truth about Amelia Earhart and her navigator, Frederick J. Noonan, during their around-the-world flight attempt in 1937.

For more than fifty years, Thomas E. Devine has labored to bring forth the facts - facts substantiated by the many eyewitness testimonies he has gathered.

EYEWITNESS dwarfed everything previously published on the Earhart mystery for
credibility and scholarship.

Kirkus Reviews called it "An investigative exploration, purporting to solve once and for all the mystery of the record-shattering aviatrix who disappeared somewhere in the Pacific..." Hazel Jones of the Ninety-Nines (International Women Pilots Organization) called Devine's first book "Overpowering in its logic and documentation."

Since publication of EYEWITNESS, Devine has continued his research and correspondence with other eyewitnesses. While on a routine writing assignment,
Mike Campbell (of Maryland) met the elder Devine through correspondence.

Two years later, Devine agreed to allow Campbell, civilian editor of the monthly Navy Editor Service, to use information he had gathered as the basis for an up-to-date look at Earhart's disappearance.

Devine and Campbell found the cooperation of other eyewitnesses who have come forth since 1987 invaluable. More than two dozen ex-GIs have corroborated Devine's account in many and various ways and in a thoroughly convincing manner.

Devine's perseverance and refusal to abandon hope despite overwhelming resistance, and Campbell's clear presentation of eyewitness testimony are must reading for anyone interested in the facts surrounding the fate of Amelia Earhart.

Read the book. Re-teach some actual history to your children.

She's worth it.

The Most Misunderstood Soft Drink

Yes, Virginia, there is a lack of prunes in Dr Pepper.

Various and sundry readers (by half dozens) from across the globe visit my blog via search terms such as "carbonated prunes" or "are prunes in dr. pepper" or "dr pepper laxative", etc.

So, to give those guys something (else) to read, I offer the following (it's from The UrbanDictionary dot com):

Dr Pepper, also known as DP was first created and sold in 1885 in Waco Texas, one year before Coca-Cola existed.

Dr Pepper contains 39.6 milligrams of caffeine per 12 ounce can. Dr Pepper was invented by a pharmacist by the name of Dr. Charles Alderton. Dr. Alderton began selling the original syrup un-carbonated at Morrison's Old Corner Drug Store in Waco Texas in 1885.

At the time is was being sold as a vitalizing energy tonic. Customers asked to add carbonated seltzer-water to the syrup and they've been selling it carbonated ever since. Morrison the drug store owner later took over the business of selling Dr Pepper and teamed up with a local bottling plant owner Robert Lazenby. Morrison & Lazenby founded the Artesian Mfg. & Bottling company which later became Dr Pepper/ 7UP Inc. Dr Pepper/ 7UP Inc. is NOT owned by Pepsi, it is NOT owned by Coca-Cola.

But in fact it is owned by Cadbury Schweppes of London (they bought it out in 1995). Many people are confused why Dr Pepper is sold along side Coke & Pepsi products, Dr Pepper independently has contracts with Coke, Pepsi and various other bottling plants worldwide (this is because of the lack of bottling plants owned by Dr Pepper).

The ingredients in the unique beverage are purportedly classified but the company is clear it is composed of a variety of fruit flavors, prunes not being one of them.

Be a pepper, I'm a Pepper, You're a Pepper, Wouldn't You Like to Be a Pepper, Too?

It's Like I've Waited My Whole Life

If you haven't seen this yet, where have you been? Here's a recreation of the first JK Wedding Dance (remember to turn the music down - at the bottom of my blog .. or you'll get noise overload)..

Joy.

Banana Slug

Try it. Here.

Banana Slug promises to be a twist on Google. Not better - but different, interesting.

Great for random seekers like me.

What is that?

Take five minutes from your life this morning and watch this. You'll get the time back, I can almost guarantee.. (remember to turn the music down - at the bottom of my blog .. or you'll get noise overload).

Dance Children Dance - and a Wikumble

If this doesn't inspire you, well - good luck (remember to turn the music down - at the bottom of my blog .. or you'll get noise overload).



I found this here while wikumbling (the active form of "to wikumble"). I first wikumbled the place Monticello, Utah (because it looked interesting) .. blogged around for it .. landed at Ben Casnocha's place (because he had been there and posted about it) .. and - voila - inspiring video of the day, having nothing at all to do with Monticello, Utah.

It worked! I was (am) inspired.

Now I am late getting ready for work.

An Appointment with a Boat

My day started with making banana pudding. The kind you cook. And then you bake the meringue.

This is one of my "go to" recipes. I get a kick out of making it - and serving it.

But why did I make it? Because we had an outing planned at the lake. An appointment with a boat and some water and lots of friends and family.

I hadn't been in a boat since before my son was born (and he's 19).. my daughter had never been in a boat.. about 2 minutes into the ride, she asked to go boat shopping, and, oh by the way, 'can we get a lake house?'

Sure (right after I buy my beach house).

Awwwwwww life on the lake.

Haven't We Met? Wikumble is My New Word.

... well, have you met Emilie-Claire Barlow? Let me introduce you.

She's Canadian. She sings. Jazz, swing, bossa nova. The works.

Here she is with Bruno Pelletier (if you play the video below, please remember to scroll all the way down to the bottom of my blog and turn the volume down on the music player.. or else you'll get two sets of music at once.. and neither usually complements the other).

s' great.



I wikumbled upon this fair young musician on Wikipedia - wasn't she a great find?!

By the way, Wikumble is my new word. I made it up.

Here's some background for this word: It originates from two words - wikipedia and stumble.

What I've done is combined these two words and formed the one word wikumble, which is a random search on wikipedia (on wikipedia's page to the left under navigation, you should see "random article"... keep hitting the button, or stumbling, until you've found something interesting).

Whenever I "stumble" upon a great find there - I've wikumbled!

S0, go ye therefore, and wikumble.

Imperfectly Beautiful

... that describes me pretty well - but this isn't about me - it's about her - here!

I've been inspired this morning.

You too can get this inspiration .. try it, you might like it. It's Imperfectly Beautiful, the story of a staple gun and a wimpy girl.

Mmmm That Summer Wind

Get great music here! Thanks goes to "On a Rainy Night" out in Astoria, Oregon.

The Bear Necessities

Now it's like this little britches ... look for the bear necessities ...

A few days ago, a treed bear was shot in Lacrosse, Wisconsin.

Wildlife officials say the crowd ignored orders to disperse and the bear grew more agitated. When it looked like it was going to leave the tree, officers had to open fire because the animal threatened public safety.

Apparently, the wildlife officials are taking some hits (from the crowd who agitated the bear) for killing the bear.

Of course, if the bear had harmed the crowd (the crowd who agitated the bear), the same officials would be taking hits (bigger ones) for not killing the bear.

Now, I'm not at all for the random killing of bears - but when it comes to the safety of actual human beings - homo sapiens - the upright - the ones with brains that reason - the ones that have the unique ability to create, to dream, to feel, to go to the moon and back again ... I'm for the people.

Bears v People? I'm for the People most every single time.

By the way, this bear reportedly weighed upwards of three hundred pounds. They can be -and usually are - even bigger than that.

This is the season for male bear roamings, according to this article by Dale Bowman, staff reporter for the Chicago Sun Times. The male bears are looking for love, and they'll roam for miles to find it. So, more sightings are highly likely in possibly unlikely places.

To Illinois?

''This is their breeding time,'' he said. ''You can expect big boars to be in areas where they normally aren't looking for receptive sows. It would not surprise me at all for one to drop into Illinois for a short period of time. After breeding time, after these urges, they will go back to what they call home.''

- - -

Meanwhile, over in Rozet, Wyoming, a bear was captured there this past week, after having climbed up an electric pole. It was tranquilized and is to be released back into the wild.

For some reason, this quote made me giggle:

After the bear was tranquilized, it shimmied down the 25-foot power pole.

If I'm tranquilized, I'd probably shimmy down too.

Our Destiny Is To Explore

You may know I'm compiling a list of 1,000 posts to read before you die. They're not my posts - they're yours (well, a small number of them are mine) - and I'm picky. You can read them all here. I don't quite have a thousand yet, but they're definitely adding up, so get some coffee, relax, and of course - read them. The one following is my latest...

This article is from the Mansfield News Journal dot com, from up in Ohio. Eugene Cernan is the last man who has walked on the moon (so far). He wants somebody else to be the next one.

After spending three days on the moon during the final Apollo lunar-landing mission, Cernan was poised to step off the surface and into the lunar module for the last time. It would make him the last person to walk on the moon for the foreseeable future — which has so far stretched nearly 37 years.

“I tried to stop the clock,” Cernan recalled Friday in a telephone interview from Houston. “I tried to push the freeze button because I wanted to stand there awhile and think about what the last three days of my life had meant to me and maybe had meant to civilization.”...

The moon landings came to an end with Apollo 17, when Cernan and Harrison Schmitt blasted off toward Earth on Dec. 14, 1972...

“Our destiny is to explore,” he said.

Today, Cernan spends much of his time on his ranch near San Antonio, raising horses and longhorn cattle.He said he has never had a dream about walking on the moon and seldom talks to his family about the experience because he doesn’t like to live in the past.

But he seems as awe-struck today about his moon roving as he was at the time.

“It was overwhelming,” he said. “I had an opportunity to sit on God’s front porch, looking back home.”

I have not walked where he has walked, but I understand a little bit of what he is trying to convey.

I do.

Thinkin' About the Things We Used To Do

Snap your fingers and get your groove on..

Fourth of the 2009th Variety

What I did this summer .. on the Fourth of July. Watched Daddy build a pier off his lake island.. watched him row the canoe back to shore.




Dangled my feet alongside my daughter's feet off the newly built pier off the lake island.




Watched hubby grill hamburgers and beef doggies.

Got smoke in my eyes.

A good time was had by all.

Happy Independence Day!

Here's to freedom.. may you have many fond memories to come! And, here's a little something to read. It's by Sheila Stroup, Columnist at The Times-Picayune.

"While other kids were playing baseball in dusty lots or lying around reading Nancy Drew mysteries, I was ringing up charcoal, pickles and potato chips in the big square building that was Dad's world."

Now I'm off to heat up the charcoal...

The Call of The Loon - A Treasure

This sound is a true treasure. I can hear it in my sleep - and I rest, perfectly.

Picture a cabin by the lake, night .. breeze .. troubles far away .. soothing sounds of nature.

Thanks to Leslie Martin and Minnesota Public Radio for this story.

Cold Cocked by a Bear

I've taken up a slight interest in bears recently - black bears to be precise. Seems they are out 'n about more than usual. There seem to be more and more stories of "attacks" and "sightings" - and then there's the "in-betweens" (is it an attack or not - you decide I guess).

In this story (according to the man involved in the duo between man and bear), the bear flat out cold cocked him and took his sandwich.

Take a look. If this is what you look like after a "sighting", I hate to see what an actual "attack" looks like.

The New Jersey Department of Fish and Wildlife says it was not an attack - no evidence.

Says the man's injuries were when he fell on the driveway.

Guess they didn't see his black eye, all the cuts, all the bruises - and of course, the sad sad remnants of the sandwich left behind.

Measuring the Passing of Summer

I want this book. It's called Billy Ray's Farm, by Larry Brown.

I heard about it this morning over at nmisscommentor's place. Seems the book is not a novel, but rather, a collection of essays about - well, here's an excerpt:

"A long time ago when I was a boy, there was one slab of concrete that stretched from Oxford to Toccopola, a distance of about sixteen miles, and that was the road everybody used to get to town.

It was kind of like half of a road, with one side concrete, the other side dirt and gravel. If you were heading to town, you could stay on the concrete all the way and never have to get off on the gravel side.

And if you were coming from town, you could get on the concrete part and drive on the wrong side of the road until you met somebody, and then you had to jump back onto the gravel.

That road has been gone for a long time, but I still remember the swaying of the car as my father went from one side of the road to the other. Everybody did it and nobody ever thought anything about it."

I didn't grow up in Oxford, Mississippi - but I did grow up near there.. and I remember a road like that.. and I remember the scene.

I can close my eyes and see it, feel it, hear the buzz of the locusts, smell the honeysuckle.. the memory is right there in front of me like the mist.. it envelopes me .. but where is it really.. am I in it.. or is it a dream.. it's the past.. it's with me but it's not. These are beautiful treasures that my mind paints for me.

TC wrote this morning too of some summer memories - hers in Wisconsin. Memories tho, and favorite things, in Oxford, my home or far away Wisconsin - they are somewhat universal.. the memories are joyous, simple, remarkable, ordinary and extraordinary. They are gifts - to us from us.

"Washing my car with my own two hands. Measuring the passing of summer by the height of the corn crop. The sound of bat connecting with ball and the resounding cheer that follows. Roasting marshmallows over a fire for s'mores.

Chasing fireflies as day gives way to night.For three short months, Wisconsin is home to so many of my favorite things. These are but just a few."

- - -
You may know I'm compiling a list of 1,000 posts to read before you die. They're not my posts - they're yours (well, a small number of them are mine) - and I'm picky. You can read them all here. I don't quite have a thousand yet, but they're definitely adding up, so get some coffee, relax, and of course - read them. The above is the most recent.

Jenny Sanford - A Role Model

Yes, Jenny - you are right. You are not the one to be humiliated - your husband is.

Yes, Jenny - you are not to teach your sons to behave like your husband . . . you are to show them what a respecting wife and mother does - exactly what you are doing.

Yes, Jenny - limits are good. Marriage takes two - and currently you're only one. If he wants a marriage, he needs to tow the line.

Yes, Jenny - your sons now have a chance because they have you.

If you haven't read this, you have missed out.