Posted on 08/07/2011 9:31:04 AM PDT by US Navy Vet
Makes ya wonder.
I had an interesting premonition when I was seven. I was reading myself a book, in a dream. I read a full chapter, which I remembered clearly, although I had no idea what book it was from.
Years later, I was randomly reading a book I grabbed from the school library, one I had never seen before (the author is a famous one, who wrote semi-Christian stories). I closed it when I hit the first page of a familiar chapter. I realized that I knew where I had heard it before. It was the book I read to myself in a dream, years earlier.
Before I opened the book again, I ran through every event in the chapter. Then I checked it. I was 100% correct. I even had the wording right, like I had memorized it.
That said, I also worked as an intelligence analyst for years. While the subject of the unexplained is an fascinating personal interest of mine, as a professional guideline, dreams, premonitions and the like are categorized at best as (Unknown source placement and access / unknown reliability / no confidence) and at worst, as CIA reporting.
So, insofar as we're talking about a helicopter shoot-down, a one word premonition isn't sufficient cause to call into question the facts as we know them. Which is that a large helicopter with thin skin and a full cargo load was hit by an insurgent RPG during routine combat operations. Fair?
The murmuring around town in San Diego suspects a tip off to the Taliban by one of the parties we are training...perhaps even a suicide bomber aboard the chopper. It was a night operation. Hitting the chopper with an RPG would have been a lucky shot. The local SEALs were told to “shut up”. That isn’t going over well.
SOF guys will combat it by taking away the cell phones and isolating the host nation troops before an operation, but it only does so much. The targeting process involves notifying Afghan officials when a raid is taking place, and those guys bleed information like OPSEC hemophiliacs.
Suicide bomber on the chopper is speculation, and not good speculation. It would be smarter for a bomber to blow up at altitude than near the ground where there might be survivors. The Taliban wouldn't claim, and we wouldn't confirm, a 'shoot down' in that case. Yeah, we can't trust the guys we work with, but OPSEC violations leading to ambushes are far, far more common than inside suicide agents. Plus, it sounds like this bird was on the return trip.
As far as being told to 'shut up', these days, every unit in the military gets gag orders when there's a catastrophic event. Facebook and email blackouts, no phones, etc. All that means in 2011 is that someone in the unit died.
I don't discount at all that some OPSEC violation led to the Taliban having some RPGs ready. That happens all the time. RPGs kill helicopters, so if you put enough in the air, sooner or later one's going to connect.
Why do you not care? Are you in favor of literary anarchy?
who appointed you to be a grammar policeman?
The same person who appointed you to be critical of me.
you just, for some reason delight in trying to make other freepers feel bad
Easily avoided in this case. Don't use made-up words like "alot". Problem solved.
What if some Freepers didn't finish high school, let alone go to college?
I think most people will have learned coherent writing before high school.
If someone has difficulty writing English, Free Republic provides
a spell checker. It does not recognize "alot" and would have caught the error.
Should someone have greater difficulty with writing, they might want
to run their material past a proof reader.
Do you think they need you on here pointing out every little grammatical error, making them feel bad
Actions have consequences.
Cueing up the Engelbert Humperdinck version of "Feelings" now...
Thanks LucyT. Thread re-visited and noted. Thanks to every poster.
When the news broke I heard this same reaction from people that are not even political junkies.There were many articles posted on Obama funding the Taliban. Who knows where it starts and ends but it does not pass the smell test.
Google search US OBAMA funding the Taliban
That guy seems to get alot of your attention! ;-)
Why do you not care? Are you in favor of literary anarchy?
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Literary anarchy? I hope you are not serious. I see errors all the time, all over the internet. I, unlike you, are able to just skim over them. I guess you have more time than I do and enjoy hurting others feelings. Some are typos pal, you do know what a typo is, right? There is no way you can deny you do almost nothing on FR but stalk posts to criticize grammatical errors, spelling errors or blogs. Criticism is your only goal here. Why can’t you just ignore it? Does it make you feel more important to make others feel bad?
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Easily avoided in this case. Don’t use made-up words like “alot”. Problem solved.
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Seriously... you think it is okay to hurt the feelings of fellow freepers just because they didn’t put a space between a lot. The point is , you DO IT to hurt their feeling, try to make yourself look superior. The question is why do you feel the need to do that?
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I think most people will have learned coherent writing before high school.
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Using the alot instead of a lot is one of the most common spelling errors. Look it up. I hardly call using alot incoherent writing. How do you know they didn’t just miss the space key? That would make it a typo, never assume.
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Should someone have greater difficulty with writing, they might wantto run their material past a proof reader.
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Hey HG.... check your sentence above. Since when is wantto a word? Assuming you missed the space bar, like someone might do with alot. :P Run their material past a proof reader? To post on FR. Are you freaking kidding me? They aren’t writing a book or a new column or even a blogs, it’s a post on the internet. Most people are able to read typos and words that are not spelled correctly.
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Actions have consequences.
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Apparently... especially if one has SPS and feels an intense need to boost their ‘shortcomings’ by calling out typos and other grammatical errors made by others.
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So whatever, you keep on doing your “thing” and I will keep thinking you are rude, abusive and the highlight of your life is trying to make others feel bad or piss them off.
Have a hot dog.
Breaking News: “Bin Laden” Heroes Probably Murdered to Keep Them Quiet
Saturday, August 6th, 2011 | Posted by Gordon Duff
Breaking News: Bin Laden Heroes Probably Murdered to Keep Them Quiet
HEY!!! I'm writing a book. It's called "Bigheadfred's Incomprehensible And Incoherent Rantography". Botchery of the English language is the maim goal.
Can I have a bite of your hot dog????
Check out link at # 191. - [Breaking News: Bin Laden Heroes Probably Murdered to Keep Them Quiet]
Thanks, tutstar.
No, no, no! I read that earlier and came away furious. I don’t even think he had two honest sentences in that crap.
HE *grilled* bin laden’s handler? Who is he to be grilling anybody, much less a top SECRET CIA agent? Watch what you trust.
Why did you ping me, Freddie? You don’t need a proofreader, for I would destroy your “botchery” [sic] of the language, which is my “maim” [sic] goal.
Hey, Joe........
Statistically speaking, a person learns how to spell and how to decipher even how to look things up by middle school. For years, sub-standard English has been not only tolerated by teachers, but also taught. We are very far away from the King’s English.
No one can overcome those initial learning pieces, and there is evidence that breaks apart what I call “numbers vs. words” thinking. Needling people about spelling and grammar is the same thing as scolding someone for not knowing how to count back change or compute net values. Doctors often can’t spell. Valedictorians often can’t spell.
And there is nothing to do when such people try to correct or point out errors except to offer up a nitpick of the day award. Speaking as someone who was practically ground up in my early education in order to spell and compute well, I speak from experience. But there is no way to actually sit in judgment on the experience of someone. I would not want to be the person, for example, to point out an error made in spelling or style by the wife of a Navy SEAL today....or the next day....or....
There are those who are determined to point out posting errors, and have pointed out mine before—and will again. I have issues and content to talk about. They matter more to me. So, flick the statements off with your thumbs and index fingers, FRiend. It’s not your issue really, and there are plenty of us here who’ll stand up for you and your work here.
Possible way to remember ‘a lot’ are two words.
Remember real estate and lot size. Each site for a house is a lot.
Or, remember the phrase about ‘cast your lot.’ and replace ‘your’ with ‘a.’
If possible, write out ‘a lot’ 10 times with your eyes open. Then with them closed.
Just a thought. Ditto for ‘all right.’
Note: these phrases’ spelling will probably die out over time. American English changes. For example, the word ‘gifted’ is a really stupid word, IMO.
whatever......
I try not to notice when something random like that jumps into my head anymore. Thank God it doesn’t happen too often. I like when it happens while I’m at the roulette wheel though.
Dreams are another story. Out of body dreams and the like.
I remember when the story came out about discovering that “the iceman” had been found to have an arrowhead embedded in his back, because that morning I was awakened from my sleep by the dream I was having about getting shot in the back by an arrow. In my dream I ended up in extreme pain (never happened before or since), but then that pain awakened me and once I was awake there was no pain in my back. I saw the news that night with Dan Rather (What’s the frequency Kenneth?) and he reported about the discovery of the arrow in “the iceman.” Weird!
I didn’t say I trusted it. I merely shared it.
I don’t really think anything is off the table with ZERO though. Lieutenant Quarles and others are dead?
The Clintons have been schmoozing the Muslim Brotherhood for longer than most of us knew.
I don’t know if anything is past the bunch that is in charge right now.
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