V.D. 2012

Ah, Valentine's Day. I'll go ahead and link my 2008 rant, 'The Death of Twue Wove,' a.ka. 'The Grinch Who Shanked Cupid,' since I can't really top it. (Sorry for the dated political references.)However, many of the "some e-cards" on relationships and Valentine's Day are pretty funny. You could almost tell a tale with them (and another graphic or two).Courtship:The implicit relationship

Nebraska (Gold) COB Fired

The Chief of the Boat of USS Nebraska (SSBN 739)(Gold) was fired for "administrative reasons" on January 3rd, according to Navy Times:

After his relief, the Navy began an investigation into allegations that Turley had had an inappropriate relationship with a female Naval Academy midshipman onboard Nebraska, officials familiar with the investigation said.
The firing came only a month after the first female submariners arrived in the fleet. They began reporting to ballistic-missile subs Wyoming and Maine and guided-missile subs Georgia and Ohio.
Turley’s relief was “unconnected” to allegations of an inappropriate relationship aboard the sub, Early said. Due to privacy concerns, he declined to comment on the nature of the alleged relationship or whether Turley was a subject of the investigation...
...Asked why SUBGRU 9 did not disclose the firing until pressed by Navy Times, Early said that because Turley wasn’t “relieved for cause,” there was no requirement to make his relief public.

Some discussion of this issue before it became public can be found in the comments of an earlier post; I have no idea about the accuracy of anything that was posted there. In general, I'll allow comments to stand for a story that's likely to make it into open source unless someone E-mails me to complain with a good reason why it should be pulled. In general, however, I would ask commenters not to attach names to rumors that aren't open source yet; the comments still show up on a Google search even if the story never does go public or just plain isn't true.

Rogue Submariners

ABC bought a pilot for a new series that could be interesting, "Last Resort":

The series tells the story of a U.S. nuclear submarine crew who refuses direct orders to fire nuclear missiles and must go on the lam. They find sanctuary at a NATO base where they declare themselves the world's smallest nuclear nation. Braugher will play Capt. Marcus Chaplin, the commander of the U.S.S. Nevada. A veteran of real combat and a leader by nature, Chaplin is a patriot, though won't follow any man blindly.

Sometimes on the midwatch the conversation would turn to methods by which a submarine crew could go rogue. I never got much beyond the "surface and tell a cruise ship you'd sink them unless they turned over all their valuables" or drug-running; I don't think I ever heard someone come up with the "declare yourself an independent nuclear power" plan.

So what would you do if your crew agreed to follow you into rogue-ishness with a submarine?

Gingrich and Citizens United

Newt Gingrich has complained mightily about pro-Romney SuperPACs paying for anti-Gingrich ads. In a recent Fox News interview, Gingrich said, "I think that people ultimately don’t want to have a candidate that tries to buy the presidency with attack ads." He's also complained that the ads are inaccurate, most memorably in early January on CBS, when he said Romney was "somebody who will lie to

Mark Ronson – "A La Modeliste"

This is from the Re:Generation project. This particular tune is based on a playground song. Mark Ronson, who arranged it, is joined by Erykah Badu, Trombone Shorty, Mos Def, Zigaboo Modeliste, and members of the Dap Kings. He also dropped by ">KCRW.