The Rebel Black Dot Song o' Hallowe'en

The Citizens of Halloween Town, "This Is Halloween" from The Nightmare before Christmas: Special Edition (Mike Papa Wraith)

The Stars My Destination: Theodore C. Freeman

Operation AXIOM: The Space Race—In Memoriam Ted Freeman
Fifty-nine years ago to the day, 31 October 1964, Captain Theodore Cordy "Ted" Freeman, U.S.A.F., died after ejecting from his T-38 Talon, which crashed due to a bird strike; he was selected as part of N.A.S.A. Astronaut Group 3 in October 1963 & was the first member of the Astronaut Corps to perish in man's conquest of space.

The Wayback Machine Tour of Theodore C. Freeman
The Explorers' Club, № DCCLXXX

Bonus! Space Race Song o' the Day: In Memoriam
The Phenomenauts, "Heroes" from For All Mankind (Space Cadet Mike Papa Whiskey)

Requiescat in pace.

30 Years of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993-2023)

Episode of the Day
"Favor the Bold" (Part I; season six, episode five; 27 October 1997): Wikipedia-link.

The Explorers' Club, № CMLXXXVIII

Operation AXIOM: Between the Wars—Hyperinflation, Part IV
21 October-28 November 1923: The Rhenish Republic—A Free & Independent Rhenish Republic was declared in Aachen; separatists stormed town halls throughout the Rhineland, supported by French & Belgian occupational forces; when separatist violence became more widespread & chaotic, the French & Belgians stomped it out; Rhenish leaders Josef Matthes & Adam Dorten fled to France.

Commentary: Both before & after the Rhenish Republic, Konrad Adenauer, the Mayor of Cologne from 1917-1933 (& best known as the Chancellor of West Germany from 1949-1963), argued for a greater degree of autonomy from Berlin for the Rhineland, though he opposed the violent Rhenish separatists.

Lest we forget.

30 Years of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993-2023)

Episode of the Day
"Behind the Lines" (season six, episode four; 20 October 1997): Wikipedia-link.

The Rebel Black Dot Hallowe'en Song o' the Day

Sufjan Stevens, "They Are Night Zombies!! They Are Neighbors!! They Have Come Back from the Dead!! Ahhhh!" from Sufjan Stevens Invites You to: Come on Feel the Illinoise (Mike Papa Wight)

30 Years of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993-2023)

Episode of the Day
"Sons and Daughters" (season six, episode three; 13 October 1997): Wikipedia-link.

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' the XXX Sunday in O.T.

The Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time
The Insyderz, "God Almighty" from Soundtrack to a Revolution (Saint Mike Papa Whiskey)

30 Years of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993-2023)

Episode of the Day
"Rocks and Shoals" (season six, episode two; 6 October 1997): Wikipedia-link.

Bonus! Song o' the Day: Bye Week

"Weird Al" Yankovic, "Sports Song" from Mandatory Fun (Mike Papa Wolverine)

Commentary: The valiant Wolverines of Team 144 have a bye this weekend. Coach Harbaugh calls the bye week, "improvement week." Improve, valiant Wolverines! Improve!

"Your sports team is vastly inferior,
A simple fact that's plainly obvious to see,
We're gonna kick your collective posterior,
Of course, you realize we're speaking figuratively!

"Our stats are thoroughly impressive!
Our coach really has the Midas touch!
Our players are strong and fast and brave,
And your guys? Eh, not so much…"

Go Blue!

The Rebel Black Dot Hallowe'en Song o' the Day

They Might Be Giants, "Your Own Worst Enemy" from Factory Showroom (Mike Papa Warlock)

Commentary:

"Precious and few are the moments that you and your own worst enemy share…"

30 Years of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993-2023)

Episode of the Day
"A Time to Stand" (season six, episode one; 29 September 1997): Wikipedia-link.

The Rebel Black Dot Hallowe'en Song o' the Day

Warren Zevon, "Werewolves of London" from Excitable Boy (Mike Papa Werewolf)

30 Years of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993-2023)

Episode of the Day
"Call to Arms" (season five, episode twenty-six; 16 June 1997): Wikipedia-link.

Commentary: Thus begins the Dominion War: Wikipedia-link.

The Rebel Black Dot Hallowe'en Song o' the Day

The Phenomenauts, "Cyborg" from For All Mankind (Mike Papa Witch Doctor)

Commentary: "Cyborg" is in the tradition of Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus in that a creation turns on its creator. In the case of "Cyborg," the eponymous cyborg rejection her inventor's romantic overtures: He made a girl who was out of his league.

30 Years of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993-2023)

Episode of the Day
"In the Cards" (season five, episode twenty-five; 9 June 1997): Wikipedia-link.

Commentary: Your humble narrator has long characterized "In the Cards" as the final "regular" episode of Deep Space Nine before the brilliant, all-encompassing Dominion War that comprised the sixth & seventh seasons. A better description is that "In the Cards" is the last pre-war episode, like the performance of a stage play in Warsaw during late August 1939.

Operation ÖSTERREICH

Weekly Wednesday Weigh-in
Last weigh-in: 347.2 lbs. (Wednesday, 4 October)
This weigh-in: 348.6 lbs.
Difference: +1.4 lbs.

I helped host a retreat the weekend before last (the kind of introductory-level retreat that featured plentiful snacks, not the kind of advanced-level retreat that would feature intense fasting & naught but bread & water as sustenance) & went on a road trip last weekend; so, I'm not at all surprised that I did not meet my weight loss goal, but instead put on weight. What does perplex me is that I have recently tightened my belt by a notch. I'm gaining weight, yet my waist is shrinking?

"Do or do not, there is no try." I did not. I make no bones about that, I'm just perplexed.

Bonus! Lied von ÖSTERREICH
Robbie Williams, "No One Likes a Fat Pop Star" from Swings Both Ways (Mike Papa Whale)

The Rebel Black Dot Hallowe'en Song o' the Day

Jason Segal, "Dracula's Lament" from Forgetting Sarah Marshall: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (Mike Papa Wampir)

Commentary:

"It's getting kind of hard to believe things are going to get better,
I've been drowning too long to believe that the tide's going to turn,
And I've been living too hard to believe things are going to get easier now,
I'm still trying to shake off the pain of the lessons I've learned…

"Die, die, die,
I can't."

The Rebel Black Dot Hallowe'en Song o' the Day!

The Aquabats!, "Sandyface!" from the The Aquabats! and Horchata Records Present… Rice Capades Music Sampler Vol. 1 compilation (Captain Thumbs Up!)

Commentary!: What makes "Sandyface!" a Hallowe'en song? I don't know about you, but a hippie with a beard of bees is nightmare fuel for me.

Bonus! Girl Trouble Song o' the Day

The Proclaimers, "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)" from Sunshine on Leith (Mike Papa Whiskey)

Commentary:

"But I would walk five hundred miles
And I would walk five hundred more,
Just to be the man who walks a thousand miles
To fall down at your door…"

30 Years of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993-2023)

Episode of the Day
"Empok Nor" (season five, episode twenty-four; 19 May 1997): Wikipedia-link.

The Explorers' Club, № CMLXXXVII

Operation AXIOM: Between the Wars
23-24 October 1923: The Hamburg Uprising—A splinter faction of the Hamburg Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands stormed police stations, seized weapons, & erected barricades, without support from the national K.P.D. or even the majority of Communists in Hamburg; the insurrection fell apart the next day, having claimed ninety-nine souls, the majority of whom were innocent civilians.

Lest we forget.

30 Years of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993-2023)

Episode of the Day
"Blaze of Glory" (season five, episode twenty-three; 12 May 1997): Wikipedia-link.

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' the Day!

The Aquabats!, "All My Money!" from Hi-Five Soup! (Captain Thumbs Up!)

30 Years of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993-2023)

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' the XXIX Sunday in O.T.

The Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Audrey Assad, "Love Is Moving" from the Death, Be Not Proud E.P. (Saint Mike Papa Whiskey)

Bonus! Papal Song o' the Day

Dan Potthast, "Pope" from Sweets and Meats (Mike Papa Whiskey)

Commentary:

"…It was like a parade at forty miles an hour,
And the pope zipped past in his see-through car,
And we laughed and we waved and I think he smiled,
It all happened so fast, all the people were chanting:
'John Paul Two, we love you!'…"

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' the Day: Go Blue!

Team 144, Game 8: Michigan @ Michigan Agricultural
John Linnell, "Michigan" from State Songs (Mike Papa Wolverine)

Commentary: There is no joy in the annual tilt against the dastardly Spartans of the Michigan Agricultural College; it's a chore, like taking out the trash. It's time to take out the trash.

Have I mentioned how much I hate night games? Because I really hate night games.

Go Blue!

30 Years of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993-2023)

Bonus! Song o' the Day

Operation AXIOM: The 13th Anniversary of My Loss on Jeopardy!
"Weird Al" Yankovic, "I Lost on Jeopardy!" from "Weird Al" Yankovic In 3-D (Mike Papa Whiskey)

Commentary: Thirteen years ago today—Thursday, 21 October 2010—my episode of Jeopardy! aired on nationally syndicated television.

30 Years of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993-2023)

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' This Auspicious Day

"Weird Al" Yankovic, "Happy Birthday" from "Weird Al" Yankovic (Mike Papa Whiskey)

The Explorers' Club, № CMLXXXVI

Operation AXIOM: The 60th Anniversary of Astronaut Group 3 (the "Fourteen"), Part I
18 October 1963: N.A.S.A.'s Astronaut Group 3—the "Fourteen"—were announced: Edwin A. "Buzz" Aldrin Jr., William A. Anders, Charles A. Bassett II, Alan L. Bean, Eugene A. Cernan, Roger B. Chaffee, Michael Collins, R. Walter Cunningham, Donn F. Eisele, Theodore C. Freeman, Richard F. Gordon Jr., Russell L. Schweickart, David R. Scott, & Clifton C. Williams Jr.; four were Moonwalkers.

Bonus! Space Race Song o' the Day: The Fourteen
Super Boat Warp, "A Path to the Stars" from the Fire All Weapons! E.P. (Space Cadet Mike Papa Whiskey)

Commentary: On average, the Fourteen were younger, taller, & heavier than the Mercury Seven & the New Nine at the time of their respective selections as astronauts. They also had more academic degrees & fewer flying hours.

Semper exploro.

30 Years of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993-2023)

Episode of the Day
"Children of Time" (season five, episode twenty-two; 5 May 1997): Wikipedia-link.

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' the Day!

Better Late than Never | Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea máxima culpa!

The Aquabats!, "Anti-Matter!" from The Aquabats! vs. The Floating Eye of Death! and Other Amazing Adventures, Vol. 1 (Captain Thumbs Up!)

30 Years of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993-2023)

Episode of the Day
"Soldiers of the Empire" (season five, episode twenty-one; 28 April 1997): Wikipedia-link.

The Rebel Black Dot Girl Trouble Song o' the Day

Better Late than Never | Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea máxima culpa!

New Found Glory, "All about Her" from New Found Glory (Mike Papa Whiskey)

Commentary:

"Forget the way she was,
'Cause it's the things she does—

"That make me sing about her,
She knows I care about her,
She said, 'Be gentle, boy, you show a lack of character'…"

30 Years of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993-2023)

Episode of the Day
"Ferengi Love Songs" (season five, episode twenty; 21 April 1997): Wikipedia-link.

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' the Day

Better Late than Never | Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea máxima culpa!

"Weird Al" Yankovic, "Mission Statement" from Mandatory Fun (Mike Papa Whiskey)

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' the Day

Better Late than Never | Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea máxima culpa!

The Cox Family, "I Am Weary (Let Me Rest)" from O Brother, Where Art Thou?: Music from a Film by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen (Mike Papa Whiskey)