Frontiersman, July 2011

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Frontiersman, July 2011

Hindsight, Blindsight
Sam Aurelius Milam III
The famous Iwo Jima photograph has been a symbol of heroism for many years. The problem with the picture is that, if it's to be believed, then it took six men to raise the flag.¹ To look at them, you'd think that they were straining every muscle.
I once raised a ham radio antenna that consisted of two 10-ft steel mast sections, a 15-ft fiberglass antenna section, six steel guy wires, the coaxial cable, and a cable-and-pulley arrangement the purpose of which I no longer remember. Starting with the antenna assembly laying on the roof, with all of the wires and cables carefully arranged to avoid tangling, I lifted it to a vertical position and inserted it into the socket on the ridge line, entirely by myself. Thus, I can speak with some experience about raising heavy things on tall sticks. I can tell you for a fact that it wouldn't have taken five big Marines and a Navy corpsman to raise that little flag at Iwo Jima. One Marine could have done it without even gritting his teeth. For that matter, the thing could probably have been raised by a WAC in her pajamas.

Apparently, for more than 60 years, people have looked at the Iwo Jima picture without wondering why it would take so much strength to do such a little job. Why do people fail to notice such discrepancies? They look at a picture of six big men struggling to raise a little flag on a stick and they never wonder about it. That sort of thing is important because it reveals a mindset. It shows that people will accept something ridiculous, without question, if the authorities tell them that it's true.

The documents claim that there are six men in the picture. I see only four. It's a mystery to me.

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July 2011

Frontiersman, ^c/o 4984 Peach Mountain Drive, Gainesville, Georgia 30507

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0000000000 Liberty

I have another example, shown in Picture 4. I copied it from the graduation diploma that Catherine, the older of my two daughters, received when she graduated from Kindergarten. I hasten to assure you that it wasn't my idea to put her into Kindergarten. That was one of her mother's lunatic notions. Anyway, the picture looks a lot like the Statue of Liberty. It seems that nobody noticed the error in the picture. It went right onto the diplomas and they were distributed at the ceremony. I don't recall anybody remarking on the error. Later, when I asked people to tell me what was wrong with it, most people couldn't do it. Take a look yourself. See if you can find the error.

This kind of thing is important because it reveals that people look without seeing. They look at pictures of a so-called crash site at the Pentagon and they don't wonder why there isn't any wreckage. They look at a picture of an army tank pushing its cannon through the wall of a building and they believe that the Branch Davidians in the building started the fire. They believe that six big men struggled with all of their strength to raise a little flag on a stick at Iwo Jima. It would be a good thing if we could all learn to see for ourselves instead of thoughtlessly believing whatever we're shown by someone whose job it is to deceive us.

Please use the enclosed envelope to send a contribution. I prefer cash. For checks or money orders, please inquire.
For PayPal payments, use Frontiersman@manlymail.net.

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Frontiersman, ^c/o 4984 Peach Mountain Drive, Gainesville, Georgia 30507

July 2011

Nuts and Bolts
Sam Aurelius Milam III

Several months ago, I walked into a room where two women were having a conversation. I stood with my hands humbly folded, waiting submissively for one of them to notice me and acknowledge my presence. Of course, they ignored me. While thus waiting, I overheard part of their conversation. One of the women was declaiming learnedly that audiocassettes just don't last very long. People should, she declared, throw away their old audiocassettes and buy CDs. Momentarily losing all contact with my last shred of sanity, I became so daring as to boldly interrupt the lady and suggest a different opinion. I suggested to her, with the utmost of deference and courtesy of course, that if a person keeps his audiocassettes clean and dry, keeps them away from heat, and keeps them away from strong magnetic fields, then they'll last a long time. The two women went silent and glanced at one another, apparently conferring telepathically about how to handle the situation. What they did was to change the subject. Maybe it was my deference and courtesy that saved me.

Foolhardy though it was, my statement was true and I have the audiocassette collection to prove it. Shortly after interrupting the lady, I listened again to one of my old Moody Blues recordings. I know how old the recording is because I dated it when I made it. I recorded In Search of the Lost Chord on Side B on September 21, 1976. I recorded On the Threshold of a Dream on Side A on October 7, 1976. Why did I record Side B first? I don't have the faintest recollection. Anyway, that was about 35 years ago and the recording still plays as good now as it did when I first made it.

A good many years ago, someone that I knew at the time complained to me that his audiocassettes didn't last very long before they became unusable. I suggested that maybe he ought to store them in a safe place between uses instead of pitching them onto the floorboard of his car, as was his normal procedure. It reminds me of a statement that Poppa used to occasionally make.
0

Son, tha problem ain't tha bolts in tha engine, it's tha nut behind tha wheel!

—Poppa

That's the only problem with audiocassettes. If you don't take care of them then they don't last very long. However, that isn't a failure of the audiocassettes. It's a failure of the user. If you leave your CDs laying on the floorboard of your car, outside of their cases, then they probably won't last very long, either.

I think that we're all being scammed by the marketing shysters. They keep telling us to throw away all of our old stuff and buy new stuff. Maybe, as a consequence of this line of thought, I've discovered an intelligence test that might actually be valid. Here's my suggestion. Look around somebody's house. See how much of his stuff is old technology and how much of it is new technology. I'd guess that new technology should never be more than about 10% of a person's possessions. Anyway, here's my idea. The older the technology, and the greater the percentage of his things that consist of old technology, then the smarter the person. The newer the technology, and the greater the percentage of his things that consist of new technology, then the dumber the person. It might not be any more valid then the intelligence tests that the psychologists give, but at least I'm thinking. At least, that is, I'm thinking when I'm not in the presence of women.

Stray Thoughts
Sam Aurelius Milam III

Catechasm — Being religious isn't the same thing as believing in God.

Long Term — Participation in the freedom movement must be a lifetime commitment. Otherwise, it's nothing.

Testing, Testing, 1, 2, 3, 4 — The first REAL test of something is the first time that you try to use it after you're through testing it.

Accomplishments — If I finish a project on the same day that I started it, then I had either a very good day or a very small project.

A White Man's Notes
Sam Aurelius Milam III
Marital Success — The secret to achieving a long and happy marriage is silence.

A Woman's Perfect Breakfast
Original Source Unknown. Forwarded by Sir Donald the Elusive.
She's sitting at the table, sipping her gourmet coffee. Her son is on the cover of the Wheaties box. Her daughter is on the cover of Business Week. Her boyfriend is on the cover of Playgirl. Her husband is on the back of the milk carton.

Please use the enclosed envelope to send a contribution. I prefer cash. For checks or money orders, please inquire.
For PayPal payments, use Frontiersman@manlymail.net.

July 2011

Frontiersman, ^c/o 4984 Peach Mountain Drive, Gainesville, Georgia 30507

Page 3

Frontiersman
^c/o 4984 Peach Mountain Drive
Gainesville, Georgia 30507

U.S. Citizenship Defined
All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.

—from the
Constitution for the United States of America
Amendment 14, Section 1
<Bold Emphasis Added>

Acknowledgments

My thanks to the following: SantaClara Bob; Lady Jan the Voluptuous; my mother; Dewey and Betty; and Eric, of Ione, California.

— editor

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Thoughts
Original Source Unknown. Forwarded by David, of Idaho Falls, Idaho.

•

Whose cruel idea was it for the word lisp to have an s in it?

•

Since light travels faster than sound, that's why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.

•

If it's zero degrees outside today and it's supposed to be twice as cold tomorrow, then how cold is it going to be tomorrow?

•

Why do you press harder on a remote control when you know that the battery is dead?

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Actual Instructions on Consumer Products
Original Source Unknown. Forwarded by David, of Idaho Falls, Idaho.

•

On a bottle of Palmolive Dishwashing liquid:
"Do not use on food."

•

On a tube of Crest Toothpaste:
"If swallowed, contact poison control."

•

On a bottle of ALL laundry detergent:
"Remove clothing before distributing in washing machine."

0
Interesting Facts
Original Source Unknown. Forwarded by Steve, of Mililani, Hawaii.

What separates 60 Minutes on CBS from every other TV show?

It doesn't have a theme song.

If you were to spell out numbers, how far would you have to count until you found the letter A?

One thousand.

Frontiersman

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Reprint Policy — Permission is hereby granted to reproduce this newsletter in its entirety or to reproduce material from it, provided that the reproduction is accurate and that proper credit is given. I do not have the authority to give permission to reprint material that I have reprinted from other sources. For that permission, you must go to the original source. I would appreciate receiving a courtesy copy of any document or publication in which you reprint my material.

Submissions — I solicit letters, articles, and cartoons for the newsletter, but I don't pay for them. Short items are more likely to be printed. I suggest that letters and articles be shorter than 500 words but that's flexible depending on space available and the content of the piece.

Payment — This newsletter isn't for sale. If you want to make a voluntary contribution, then I prefer cash or U.S. postage stamps. For checks or money orders, please inquire. For PayPal payments, use Frontiersman@manlymail.net. The continued existence of the newsletter will depend, in part, on such contributions. I don't accept anything that requires me to provide ID to receive it. In case anybody's curious, I also accept gold, silver, platinum, etc.

— Sam Aurelius Milam III, editor

Please use the enclosed envelope to send a contribution. I prefer cash. For checks or money orders, please inquire.
For PayPal payments, use Frontiersman@manlymail.net.

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Frontiersman, ^c/o 4984 Peach Mountain Drive, Gainesville, Georgia 30507

July 2011

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