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

Team 145, Game 5: Michigan v. Minnesota
The University of Michigan Marching Band, "Little Brown Jug" from Hurrah for the Yellow and Blue (Mike Papa Wolverine)

Commentary: Go Blue!

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' the Day

Me First and the Gimme Gimmes, "Friday on My Mind" from Go Down Under (Mike Papa Whiskey)

Section 31: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993-2024)

Simplex Edition | Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea máxima culpa!

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

Section 31: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993-2024)

Simplex Edition | Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea máxima culpa!

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

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' the Day

"Weird Al" Yankovic, "Foil" from Mandatory Foil (Mike Papa Whiskey)

Commentary: "Foil" is a brilliant exemplar of "Weird Al's" œuvre, combining a food song ("Eat It," "The White Stuff") with a lifestyle song ("Like a Surgeon," "Amish Paradise"). The music video is a classic, especially Patton Oswalt's reactions: YouTube-link.

Section 31: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993-2024)

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

Commentary: Odo is a monster. He is just as imperious as any other Changeling, as the Founders of the Dominion.

Operation ÖSTERREICH: Saint Michael's Lent

Please Stand By | Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea máxima culpa!

Weekly Wednesday Weigh-in
Last weigh-in: 330.2 lbs. (12 June)

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' the Day

Sex Bob-Omb, "Garbage Truck" from Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (Mike Papa Whiskey)

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' Today

Dienstag, 24. September
MxPx, "Sad Sad Song" from Secret Weapon (Mike Papa Whiskey)

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' Yesterday

Montag, 23. September
Real Can of Yams featuring J. Coliadis, "We Had a Chance" from the Nothing Can Kill the Grimace E.P. (The Last Angry Man)

Section 31: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993-2024)

Simplex Edition | Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea máxima culpa!

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

Section 31: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993-2024)

Simplex Edition | Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea máxima culpa!

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

The Explorers' Club, № MXLVIII

Operation AXIOM: Destination Moon—The 60th Anniversary of AS-102
18 September 1964: AS-102 (Saturn I S.A.-7) lifted off from Florida's Cape Kennedy A.F.S., the second flight of a boilerplate Apollo C.S.M.; the Launch Escape System was jettisoned for the first time & AS-102 was the first flight to carry a reprogrammable guidance computer; the search for the eight in-flight camera pods was thwarted by Hurricane Gladys, but two of those later washed ashore.

Commentary: The flight test lasted for five orbits; after fifty-nine orbits, the boilerplate C.S.M. re-entered the atmosphere & crashed into the Indian Ocean (22 September).

Ex Luna, scientia.

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

The Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Audrey Assad, "Lamb of God" from the Death, Be Not Proud E.P. (Saint Mike Papa Whiskey)

Bonus! Song o' the First Day o' Autumn

"The cruel, hot summer
led into the long, hard fall,
becoming the dark, killing winter
until spring replenished us all."
—Bill Willingham, Fables

Suburban Legends, "Autumn in the Park" from Rump Shaker (Rude Boy Mike Papa Whiskey)

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

Team 145, Game 4: Michigan v. U.S.C.
Half Past Two, "So Cal Summer" from the Camp Slushtone E.P. (Mike Papa Wolverine)

Commentary: B1G conference play opens against the University of Southern… California? What I have never understood about the epithetless Trojans & their whole schtick—the Spirit of Troy marching band, the Trojan Shrine statue (Tommy Trojan)—is that Troy not only lost the legendary Trojan War, but the city was destroyed so comprehensively that it was lost to history until the 1870s. The "topless towers of Ilium" were toppled! Trojan Horse, anyone? Weird to emulate defeat.

The loss of regionalism in college football is a terrible, terrible mistake. This process began a decade ago—2014—when the B1G abandoned its Midwestern identity by admitting Maryland & Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey. But even Maryland & New Jersey, as non-Midwestern as they are, are at least continguous with B1G territory. Admitting the Left Coast—Washington, Oregon, & California—is something else entirely. Not only has the B1G disdained its own identity, but we fans are being asked to embrace the Ancient Enemy, core members of the former Pac-12, as members of our own conference. I don't know for certain that conference realignment & the end of regionalism will destroy college sports, but I do know that these malign forces are already dimming my love for college sports. It could turn out that 2023 was the last year of college football, & the valiant Wolverines are the ultimate champions.

Go Blue!

Bonus! Song o' the Last Day o' Summer!

The Aquabats!, "Pool Party!" (live) from The Fury of The Aquabats! Live at The Fonda! (Captain Thumbs Up!)

Section 31: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993-2024)

Simplex Edition | Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea máxima culpa!

Episode o' the Day
"Ties of Blood and Water" (season five, episode nineteen; 14 April 1997): Wikipedia-link.

The Rebel Black Dot End o' Summer Song o' the Day

The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, "Wasted Summers" from Pin Points and Gin Joints (Rude Boy Mike Papa Whiskey)

Skammentary:

"Here comes another wasted summer,
Here comes another wasted summer,
Here comes another wasted summer,
On and on it goes, that's the way it goes…"

Section 31: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993-2024)

Simplex Edition | Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea máxima culpa!

Episode o' the Day
"Business as Usual" (season five, episode eighteen; 7 April 1997): Wikipedia-link.

The Rebel Black Dot End o' Summer Song o' the Day

Ramones, "Rockaway Beach" from the Ramones Mania compilation (Mike Papa Whiskey)

Commentary:

"Chewin' out a rhythm on my bubble gum,
The sun is out and I want some,
It's not hard, not far to reach,
We can hitch a ride to Rockaway Beach!

"Up on the roof, out on the street,
Down in the playground, the hot concrete,
Bus ride is too slow,
They blast out the disco on the radio.

"Rock, rock, Rockaway Beach,
Rock, rock, Rockaway Beach,
Rock, rock, Rockaway Beach,
We can hitch a ride to Rockaway Beach!…"

Section 31: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993-2024)

Simplex Edition | Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea máxima culpa!

Episode o' the Day
"A Simple Investigation" (season five, episode seventeen; 31 March 1997): Wikipedia-link.

Operation ÖSTERREICH: Saint Michael's Lent

Please Stand By | Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea máxima culpa!

Weekly Wednesday Weigh-in
Last weigh-in: 330.2 lbs. (12 June)

Bonus! Lied von ÖSTERREICH!
MU330, "Hot Dogs" from Chumps on Parade (Mike Papa Walrus)

The Rebel Black Dot End o' Summer Song o' the Day

MxPx, "Vacation" from On the Cover II (Mike Papa Whiskey)

Commentary:

"A week without you,
Thought I'd forget,
Two weeks without you and I
Still haven't gotten over you yet!

"Vacation, all I ever wanted,
Vacation, had to get away,
Vacation, meant to be spent alone…"

The Rebel Black Dot End o' Summer Song o' the Day

Fastball, "The Way" from All the Pain Money Can Buy (Mike Papa Whiskey)

Commentary:

"They made up their minds
And they started packing,
They left before the Sun came up that day,
An exit to eternal summer slacking,
But where were they going
Without ever knowing the way?…"

Bonus! Song o' Mexican Independence Day

Fountains of Wayne, "Mexican Wine" from Welcome Interstate Managers (Mike Papa Whiskey)

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' the Day

The Defiant, "Everybody Loves Me" from If We're Being Really Honest (Mike Papa Whiskey)

Commentary:

"I might be a dagger or a butter knife,
I can kill your dreams and I can save your life,
I'm a red flag and a bright blue streak,
You're gonna hear me brag if you allow me to speak.

"The mule is gonna kick,
The donkey took a punch,
They took me out to dinner,
They said I was out to lunch,
A pin-less hand grenade,
I'm rain on your parade.

"Everybody loves me!

"I'm the uppercut that broke the bottom jaw,
I'm down below the rader, but I'm way above the law,
I'm full of sanctimonious sacrilege,
I'll put out the fire and I'll burn your bridge!

"I'm the top shelf,
I'm the bottom rung,
I'm a loose cannon,
I'm a son of a gun,
I'm a third rail,
I'm a coffin nail.

"Everybody loves me!
Loves me!
Evеrybody loves me!
Loves mе!

"Everybody loves me!…"

The Explorers' Club, № MXLVII

The Space Race—Astronaut Group 3 (the "Fourteen"), Part IX
William Alison Anders (17 October 1933-7 June 2024), Major General, U.S. Air Force Reserve—He flew Apollo 8 (1968) & took the iconic Earthrise photograph; he later served on the Atomic Energy Commission & as the first chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission; he was Ambassador to Norway (1976-1977); he died three months ago, piloting his T-34 Mentor, crashing into Puget Sound.

Commentary: I deeply regret not commemorating General Anders's death this past summer. Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea máxima culpa!

Bonus! Space Race Song o' the Day: The "Fourteen"—Bill Anders
James Darren, "Come Fly with Me" from This One's from the Heart (Space Cadet Mike Papa DSKY)

The Wayback Machine Tour of Bill Anders
"The Explorers' Club," № DCCXXIV: The 51st Anniversary of Apollo 8, Part I
"The Explorers' Club," № DCCXXV: The 51st Anniversary of Apollo 8, Part II
"The Explorers' Club," № DCCXXVI: The 51st Anniversary of Apollo 8, Part III

Requiescat in pace.

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

The Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Five Iron Frenzy, "Far Far Away" from Five Iron Frenzy 2: Electric Boogaloo (Saint Mike Papa Whiskey)

Bonus! Song o' Trivia Night

Project Mercator: Trivia Night @ Saint Matthew
"Weird Al" Yankovic, "Everything You Know Is Wrong" from Bad Hair Day (Mike Papa Whiskey)

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

Team 145, Game 3: Michigan v. Arkansas State
Matamoska!, "Doom Boogie" from the Slacktivist Swing! E.P. (Mike Papa Wolverine)

Commentary: The valiant Wolverines have looked extremely shaky through two games, utterly discombobulated on both the offensive line & the defensive backfield. Coach Moore's mantra of "Smash" looks more like "smush," & I am on the verge of despair. It's not that we lost to Texas—Texas is a skilled, experienced club—it's that we didn't even put up a fight in the loss to Texas. There's no righting of the ship against an overmatched opponent like the epithetless Red Wolves (I had to look up the Arkansas State mascot), but there are many, many sloppy plays that need to be cleaned up before next Saturday's B1G opener against the epithetless Trojans of U.S.C.

Go Blue!

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' Today

Freitag, 13. September
Toto, "Africa" from Toto IV (Mike Papa Whiskey)

Commentary: Bless those rains!

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' Yesterday

Donnerstag, 12. September
Ken Boothe, "Everything I Own" from the Trojan Records: 40 Years, 40 Tracks compilation (Rude Boy Mike Papa Whiskey)

Skammentary: Apparently, "Everything I Own" is a cover song, written & originally performed by Bread. I've not heard Bread's version, but Boothe's remains haunting & heartbreaking.

Bonus! Song o' the Day: In Memoriam

The University of Michigan Marching Band, "The Victors" from Forever Valiant (Mike Papa Wolverine)

Commentary: In Memoriam James Earl Jones (17 January 1931-9 September 2024). Requiescat in pace, & Go Blue!

Bonus! Song o' the Day: In Memoriam

John Williams, "The Imperial March (Darth Vader's Theme)" from Star Wars: Episode V—The Empire Strikes Back (Mike Papa Whiskey)

Commentary: In Memoriam James Earl Jones (17 January 1931-9 September 2024). Requiescat in pace.

Bonus! Song o' the Day

Fastball, "Better Than It Was" from All the Pain Money Can Buy (Mike Papa Whiskey)

Commentary: It was important to commemorate 9/11 today, but "Better Than It Was" was the song running through my head when I woke up this morning.

"It's better than it was,
It's better than it was,
I complain never little because
It's better than it was…"

Operation ÖSTERREICH: Saint Michael's Lent

Weekly Wednesday Weigh-in
Last weigh-in: 330.2 lbs. (12 June)

Bonus! Lied von ÖSTERREICH!
The Aquabats!, "Food Fight on the Moon!" from Hi-Five Soup! (Captain Thumbs Up!)

The Explorers' Club Special: September 1914

Operation AXIOM: The World War
We here at The Secret Base did not publish a single episode of "The Explorers' Club" in September 2014, not one concerning the Great War nor any other subject, responding with a compensatory seven episodes that October. One of those addressed events exclusive to September 1914, which we present here.

The Wayback Machine Tour of the World War: September 1914
"The Explorers' Club," № CDXI: The First Battle of the Marne (5-12 September 1914)

Lest we forget.

Operation AXIOM: 9/11

Twenty-three years ago to the day, 11 September 2001, nineteen jihadist terrorists from al-Qaeda murdered 2,977 innocents by hijacking four airliners, three of which were crashed into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City & the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia; the fight back began with the passengers & crew of the fourth airliner, leading to that plane's crash in a Pennsylvania field, instead of into the suspect target, the Capitol in Washington, D.C. 'Twas due to the bravery of the passengers & crew of United Flight 93 that "Let's roll" became a battle cry.

On 11 September 2001, Afghanistan was ruled by the Taliban & was a sanctuary for al-Qaeda & associated jihadist terrorist groups. Today, Afghanistan is once again ruled by the Taliban & is once again a sanctuary for jihadist terrorist groups such as al-Qaeda & Daesh-Khorasan (I.S.I.S.-K.). The U.S. government betrayed our values as well as our self-interest, & all the Afghans who had partnered with us & cooperated with us through twenty long years of war, when we precipitously & ineptly abandoned Afghanistan in 2021.

There was a moment of ephemeral national unity after 9/11. Every president since the "day of fire" has campaigned as a uniter, a president for all Americans, yet the general feeling is that we are more divided than we have every been, that the United States is fraying, not just at the edges but at the very center. We can't even agree on common terms anymore, & everyone regards everyone else with suspicion & hostility. I don't know if that is the reality, but such is the Zeitgeist, the spirit of the age. At some point, we are going to have to ask ourselves if we are willing to live with each other, to forgive & tolerate each other. We are going to have to think back to 9/11 & that brief, grief- & shock-fueled moment of unity. Can we recover a sense of national solidarity minus the trauma of a massive national tragedy?

The official motto of the United States of America is:

In God we trust.

The traditional motto of the United States is:

"E pluribus unum" ("From many, one").

The only way we are going to be united is if we recommit ourselves to those founding priciples. We cannot cut ourselves off from the past; the concept of "Year Zero" can only ever lead to the Killing Fields of Cambodia. We are many; we are not bound by blood & soil. The only way we, as many, can ever be one, is in the One in Whom we trust. I'm not advocating, as the social media "integralists" do, for altar & throne; the Kingdom of Jesus Christ is not of this earth. Religious pluralism is foundational to the United States of America, for good or for ill. The Bill of Rights—Amendment I to the United States Constitution—enshrines the "free exercise of religion," not as the malevolent claim, "freedom from religion."

The malasise that plagues us now is the inevitable & predictable result of adopting atheism as our civic religion. The consequences of this are myriad & malefic. Politics has been elevated over discourse, partisanship is prized above principle, & freedom has been cheapened from freedom for excellence to simple license. In the words of the late Francis Cardinal George, O.M.I., "We have become a society that permits everything, but forgives nothing." We have forgotten how unique & radical the Christian ideal of forgiveness is; the forgiveness of sins & the love of enemies was utterly alien to the pagan Greeks & Romans that the darkling "Age of Enlightenment" promoted as an alternative to now twenty-one centuries of Christian patrimony.

Four airliners were hijacked by jihdists & used as weapons to strike at the Pentagon, the World Trade Center, & likely the United States Captol. Almost three thousand innocents & the nineteen hijackers died. Those of us who are old enough to remember will never forget where were were when we first learned that the Twin Towers had fallen, 11 September 2001, twenty-three years ago today.

The Wayback Machine Tour of 9/11
Patriot Day '23 / Patriot Day '22
Patriot Day '21 / Patriot Day '20
Patriot Day '19 / Patriot Day '18
Patriot Day '17 / Patriot Day '15
Patriot Day '13 / Patriot Day '11

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' Patriot Day
They Might Be Giants, "New York City" from Factory Showroom (Mike Papa Whiskey)

Never forget.

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' the Day

Pete Yorn, "Red Right Hand" from the Red Right Hand (from the Motion Picture Hellboy) single (Mike Papa Whiskey)

Commentary:

"You're one microscopic cog
In his catastrophic plan…"

The Explorers' Club, № MXLVI

Operation AXIOM: Between the Wars—The Second Saudi-Hashemite War, Part I
29 August-5 December 1924: The Sultanate of Nejd (Saudi) declared war on the Kingdom of Hejaz (Hashemite), capturing the cities of Taif (3 September) & Mecca (5 December); King Hussein bin Ali of the Hejaz abdicated in favor of his son, Ali bin Hussein (16 October); the end of British subsidies sparked the war, subsidies which had both restrained Sultan Ibn Saud & funded the Sharifian Army.

Commentary: King Ali's brothers, Abdullah & Faisal (far-famed from Lawrence of Arabia's Seven Pillars of Wisdom), were Emir of Trans-Jordan & King of Mandatory Iraq, respectively, but as both were militarily dependent upon the British for their thrones, neither was in a position to aid the Hejaz, their ancestral home, against Ibn Saud & his Wahhabi fanatics.

Lest we forget.