Cadence / Marching Songs

In a recent post I discussed military drill, notably close order drill. In order to do the drill that is required military personnel do something called PT (physical training). Usually this involves the platoon or company doing things like push ups, crunches and you guessed it running or what are called forced marches. The forced march or run starts off with no gear on but eventually the members of the platoon or company wear the full kit and run or march. During these sessions something called cadence is called or sung. That is the left right left right command, or a song like I wanna be a drill instructor.

 

Other nations armed forces do have cadence / marching song, but the United States Marines are the most notable users of the sung cadence.  

One of the most famous dates back to the 1930's, ERIKA.  This marching song speaks of a soldier longing after his sweetheart, whose name of course is Erika.  Now I know this was a song sung by the Heer and SS but, having said this the song is well done.  I believe the tune is still sung by the modern German armed forces.  The point of the cadence / marching song is listed below.

A cadence / marching songs job or goal is to, lift the spirit of the platoon, unify them and instill pride in unit and of course country.  It's one thing to show you can fight, but being able to show your troops are fit and morale is high is another.  As we approach November and remember our fallen wounded and current serving members of the armed forces, we think of the times they sung these songs outside of the training while they marched into battle and I have to say I actually found it easier to do drill and march when I sung cadence in the Army Cadets.  

Every military has marching / cadence songs, I could spend hours finding them but here are a few links that did catch the eye, from the US, Canada Russian and Germany.

Cliff T.

For a complete list of Canadian Forces authorized marches visit Wikipedia.

Distress Calls - Interesting And Scary To Listen To

As many of you know I am a ham radio operator.  I got my license back in 1982, 40 years! wow, that is a long time.  Anyway, for the most part we just talk and also send each other cards, called QSLs.  I have a collection of these from many countries.  There is a part of the hobby thought that is serious, it has to do with emergency communications.  We do handle traffic, the fancy word for calls, in such situations.  And we use different modes of communications, voice Morse Code and all kinds of digital signal modes to provide help.  

I have never really done any heavy work in a disaster, though I did handle some calls during the Mexico Earthquake back in the 80s and one car accident.  This said while I do know how to do it, I have never set up a net or ran messages.  But, I do know people who have, it's intense.  Very very intense.

If you have watched YouTube you may see video on distress calls and hear words like Pan Pan and Mayday and it is interesting to hear this stuff and it's also kind of scary to.  But, you should know that there is a way to do things if you ever end up in the midst of an emergency. 

I have put 2 videos from YouTube here that explain what Pan Pan and Mayday mean.  And what to do if you happen to come across a situation and are near a transmitter, specifically one operated by a ham operator.

 Note the video about ham radio process is U.S. focused but, here in Canada the rules are very similar.

Cliff T.

Happy Canadian Thanksgiving EH!

First off Happy thanksgiving to all our Canadian readers.  Enjoy the day no matter how you celebrate the day.

Here ae some supposed facts about the holiday.

1. We do our holiday in October and it's always the second Monday, that is true.  

2.  In Quebec it is called L'Action De Grace.  Translated The Action of Grace.  In Quebec it's a thing but, not a thing, after all this is an English tradition and the French do not really celebrate the holiday.  Which is Ok more turkey and stuffing for us Anglos.  LOL

3. The food, similar to U.S.  Though you may see ham on the table as well as chicken.

4. The CFL classic features two games, this year 2021 Ottawa will play in Montreal and Hamilton hosts Toronto.  The full CFL schedule is here. BTW the games on the 11th are at 1 and 4 respectively.

5. We do our thing shopping wise just like our American friends, on the U.S. Thanksgiving Friday.  Of course we really go goofy shopping wise on Boxing Day, December 26th.  

Happy Thanksgiving!

C. T.

Music From Mars - CBC - Ideas And Other Dope Tunes From Space, Sort of

 

Being a ham radio operator for so long I tend to just listen around the ham bands and not really pay much attention to signals outside of stations I am attempting to work or hear.  After listening to a recent episode of Ideas on CBC I got a better appreciation for what is going on in the cosmos.  There is a whole lot of radio to listen to coming from within our solar system and yes from outside of it as well.

The cool thing is that this very audio has been used to make music and has even been used in films and shows like Star Trek and Star Wars.  The episode and other content can be found on the Ideas Show page.  

Also of note is the fact that there is such a thing know as music in space.  Wikipedia outlines some of the cool sounds from space.  These of course are mostly man made sounds.

I should note is that what you are hearing is not actual sound, but rather data converted to sound via radio telescopes with some exceptions where microphones have been mounted to space probes.  Again we look to Wikipedia for an explanation.  

Below are interesting sites that talk  about what sound would be like on our nine planet solar system and how NASA listens in on what is going on in space.

Eavesdropping in Space: How NASA records eerie sounds around Earth.

Enjoy and thanks for reading Mixed Nuts.

Cliff T.

Cuckoo Cuckoo Cuckoo - Yes it's a post about Cuckoo Clocks

My aunt Dianne had a cuckoo clock.  It was fun to listen to it for a bit then it just got annoying.  Anyway, these clocks have been around for a long time.  But, there is one in particular that is quite unique.  In Schonach im Schwarzwald, Germany there is a cuckoo clock that is huge.  I mean really really huge.  It is 4.5M tall 4.5M wide and the cuckoo weighs 150Kg.  For the non metric crowed that is 15 x 15 Ft and 300Lbs.  

It took 5 years to build and just like a regular cuckoo clock it has all the parts that make up the clockworks.  The real interesting thing is that tourists can actually go inside this clock and see all the mechanics at work.  

And if you really like cuckoo clocks then you may want to visit Cuckooland a museum in England that has a lot of them, apparently 700 are in the collection.

The oldest clock is 250 years and I am assuming it still works.  Good grief can you imagine 700 cuckoos going off at midnight.   

Happy reading and thanks for visiting Mixed Nuts.

The clock is 4.5M x 4.5M it's bird weighs 150kg

Atlas Obscura site featuring the clock and info about the site.  Click here.

Manchester Evening News Article about Cuckooland, a museum housing 700 cuckoo clocks, believed to be the largest collection in the world.

  Cliff T.

Rain Rain And More Rain - 7 Meters! Annually - Hucuktlis BC

Hucuktlis (pictured left) formerly Henderson Lake is a very very wet place. On average this area of BC per annum gets a rainfall amount equal to 7 Meters, 21 Feet of rain. Rain of course is measured in Millimeters so w would say that the rainfall equals 9,307 mm or 366 inches, or more accurately 30 feet! That is just nuts LOL.

Hucuktlis (pronounced “who-chook-tlis”) Lake means place way inside and is the home of the first nations people known as the Uchucklesaht.  They live in the area and perform ceremonies honoring the Thunderbird a legendary creature that flaps it's wings to create thunder and flashes it's eyes to produce lightning.

A readers Digest Article about the lake can be visited by clicking here.

https://www.uchucklesaht.ca is the official website of the Uchucklesaht nation.

This is not an area to just go and wander around there are bears and other wild animals in the area. Also it's isolated, only accessed by water and on foot.

Take a look at Google Maps the lake is remote very very remote. Note the map shows the old Henderson Lake place name.

Cliff T.

The Ghan - Australia And The Worlds Longest Train

 rains come in a variety of types and lengths.  There are freight and passenger trains of various sizes around the world but the record holder for the longest passenger train in service is the Ghan.  

The train usually has two locomotives and 30 cars on it, but has been known to have up to 44 cars.  This makes it a world record holder.  The Guinness Book of Records lists this train as the longest.  The Ghan's length is 774M 2359 FT.  It takes 3 days to travel from Adelaide to Darwen.  To ride the Ghan, my guess this would be a bucket list item for anyone especially a rail enthusiast.  To read more about this train and if you want to book a ride check the links below.

Journey Beyond Rail, you can book via this site. Click this Link.

Guinness Book of Records page on the Ghan. Link.

Wikipedia Article about The Ghan.

C. T.