Credo
"Sign on, young man, and sail with me. The stature of our homeland is no more than the measure of ourselves. Our job is to keep her free. Our will is to keep the torch of freedom burning for all. To this solemn purpose we call on the young, the brave, the strong, and the free. Heed my call, Come to the sea. Come Sail with me." -- John Paul Jones
"Pardon him, Theodotus; he is a barbarian, and thinks that the customs of his tribe and island are the laws of nature" --George Bernard Shaw, "Caesar and Cleopatra"
"And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music."--Friedrich Nietzsche
"A kind Providence has placed in our breasts a hatred of the unjust and cruel, in order that we may preserve ourselves from cruelty and injustice. They who bear cruelty, are accomplices in it. The pretended gentleness which excludes that charitable rancour, produces an indifference which is half an approbation. They never will love where they ought to love, who do not hate where they ought to hate."--Edmund Burke
“You say that it is your custom to burn widows. Very well. We also have a custom: when men burn a woman alive, we tie a rope around their necks and we hang them. Build your funeral pyre; beside it, my carpenters will build a gallows. You may follow your custom. And then we will follow ours.”--General Sir Charles Napier
"Μολὼν λαβέ" -- Leonidas
"Blogito Ergo Sum" -- Neptunus Lex
Regrets, alas. Will hoist one in solidarity (Guiness, for strength, of course) at the time and day (Zulu). Respects to your Lady Mother, sister, brother, esteemed self, and all yall in the commentariat.
Gramps
Kat,
Will lift one here in tribute. Wish I could be there. Blessings on you and your family.
Flugelman
I’m gonna try and make it. My sister and boyfriend are coming in that day but if the timing is right, I’ll be there with them along for ride.
Kat:
Thank you for this opportunity! I’ll only be able to participate remotely from D.C., alas.
L.J.
Thanks to our delightful friend Sandy I will not be flying to Las Vegas or Sandy Eggo or anywhere else on the 9th. I’ll be in NYC though, if anyone wants to meet up in the Big Dark Wet Apple. Send me an email at daryle dot LaMonica at gmail dot com
Ahh, the bit where Army simply won’t allow it. (I wear a wierd shade of green) Bloody hell, would have loved it.
Regrets to you and family, dear Kat.
Just bought a new (to me anyway) airplane on the 1st. Have yet to fly it solo. WX dependent, will schedule first flight on your Dad’s b-day. There will be an extra headset in the right seat for him and a Guiness waiting for me when she goes back in the hangar.
God bless all here!
Dust
Alas! Us humble 1310s still holding our place on the line will be out to sea.
Hopefully this becomes an annual event. . .
I wish I could come, but, alas, I’m recovering from spinal surgery. I had a hard time making a three hour drive connected with work. I’d hate to see what those landings would do to my fine neurosurgeon’s work.
Best wishes to your family as you honor the memory of your father and Husband. A fine man he was.
I am so sorry that I will not be able to attend. Like Quartermaster, I too will be recovering from surgery this week.
Give my best to all.
flit
May you have a quick and full recovery, Flit!
Best,
Pogue
Flit..our thoughts and prayers are with you..
I won’t be able to attend in person, but I’ll lift a pint from the East Coast with you!
Quartermaster and Flit:
My best wishes to you both for a speedy and full recovery. Flit- I miss our exchanges, especially now that I have met you in person.
Paul
Ditto!
I presume that pictures and commentary from 11/9 will be posted on the FB page?
I was just thinking of your father tonight as I was doing the dishes (his story about “Moe Debbinly” if you are curious, and no, I don’t know why doing the dishes made me think of that). I very much wish I could be there, but will be able to attend in spirit only.
Looking forward to reading what you all write.
Greetings to all Lexians…I have missed you all.
I am not on FB, so I miss out there.
I think of Lex more and more these days, and I hope, Kat, that you and your family are well.
Sadly, I am stuck here in Central VA, but I will surely have a toast for Lex on Friday.
Tod
Will drive to San Diego to meet you. Am an airline pilot, but have been profoundly impressed by the blog, and the man who created it. Want to say thanks.
JOE
I’m afraid I’ll have to bow out of joining in person. There is much to be done before the snows of winter, and little time left. Instead I believe I’ll hoist a few of my own in quiet contemplation and perhaps re-read a few of the more memorable bits of the blog. The infamous healthcare debate would be a good start as it is the thread that quite literally sucked me in as a regular. Maybe one where I disagreed with Flit. And, of course, Rhythms.
If you’ve not made progress on turning that last into a book, I understand. But don’t put it off. There’s too many who want it and too much to be had for the family by making it available.
– Max
Kat/
Max has reminded me of something I’ve been meaning to mention. Many here have oft voiced our opinion (both to your Father when he was alive and many times since, the latest being Max, above) that his wonderful writings found in Rhythms should be published as a novel. And while I certainly concur as I think it would have wide appeal with the general public as well as with the Milblog community in general and the Neptunus Lex readers in particular, I have an additional suggestion/request for consideration:
Would you not consider entreating the Naval Institute to publish this entire Blog with all posts and all commentary in the interests of preserving a unique view into the historical record of our times as seen not only thru the eyes of a military-man such as your Father (in the form of the nature and subject-matter of his posts) but also thru the eyes of us, his devoted readers, his commentariat? To my mind Neptunus Lex represents a perhaps unsurpassed repository of opinion about things military, cultural and political over the last decade and a half found nowhere else in the “blogosphere.” I can’t pull up the quote, but retired USAF Msgt Buck Pennington (“Exile in Portales” on Lex’s blogroll) stated once on his blog in a colloquy with “Kris of New England” shortly after Lex’s passing that your Father’s place was THE most unique blog he’d EVER run across insofar as the quality, professionalism and civility of the discussion was concerned. But also because of the exceptional decency, wit, wide-range of knowledge and life experiences that the participants brought to the discussion–whether it be military or political affairs or arguments about the merits of particular sports-carts, their favorite root-beer, or authors of children’s adventure books that they’d read in their childhood (Howard Pease comes to my mind here.) Buck went further to categorically opine that he doubted such a uniquely idiosyncratic gathering place would EVER be found again in the blogosphere. As such let me echo his sentiments and also add that many of the comment threads are unique jewels to be savored time and again for both wit and wisdom, like a fine wine that ages well, forever timeless.
So, Kat, let this be a plea from one’s of your Father’s fervent admirers that you try to get the Naval Institute or some academic institution to publish this blog’s contents in its entirety. It, as well as Rhythms would, I feel, have wide appeal and stand alone on its own merits as a unique compendium of thought and commentary about our times from a unique reader base.
I’ll close by saying I’ll certainly be there today at Shakespeares in spirit–I fondly think of Lex–a man I never met–almost every day. Don’t let the essence of the man–and those he inspired–die with our deaths. Please let’s preserve the record in paper form–things digital have a way of disappearing all too easily..
Fondly,
Virgil X
PS: I should add that I realize there are some technical problems in publishing the various links that were a meaningful part of the blogs’ narrative in a coherent format, but I believe they could be overcome..
Virgil,
I took the liberty of copying your post into a message to a cuppla fellas who have summat to do with the Institute, thinking they might jump on a few dozing docents’ chests to get it started.
Best.
Mongo
PS Give QM a holler. He’s been throwing rocks your way, but it seems nobody was home.
Virg and Mongo – Because I have “down time” sometimes in my workday, I cut and pasted what I thought was the “Best of Lex” into my own set of “Archives”. I started at the beginning of the Blog and went to the end, ommitting comments. Just what I gathered by that method added up to well over 1,500 pages. I can only imagine that the entire blog, including comments, would total in terms of pages.
It would certainly be something to treasure but, unfortunately, I doubt it’s workable as a publication.
Going from blog to e-book isn’t actually all that difficult, and I’m reliably informed by author friends that they make more on a $1 e-book sale than they do on a $30 hardback sale.
http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/3-easy-ways-turn-blog-ebook-free/
Making an e-book out of the blog doesn’t require giving up on Rhythms becoming a coffee table book. Or a motion picture, for that matter.
– Max
Virg – see my “reply” to Mongo, below.
I will be taking off work early to get started on the Guinness.
I shall host one also for QM and Flit for their early and complete recovery. QM, I’ve been out your way recently doing some hikes on Pilot Mountain and Stone Mountain. Excellent weather and I caught the leaves at their peak.
Warmest Regards to all…
Best wishes to all the Lex fans and friends out there. I’ll join in, same as Max, by browsing a few stories this evening and raising a toast long distance.
Wilko
Best wishes to all friends of Lex out there. I’ll be doing the same as Max: Reading some of the old posts and raising a toast long distance.
Max, about that “infamous healthcare debate” … I’m glad it served some purpose other than to ruffle a few feathers (mine in particular).
Thanks for the smile (more of a grin actually) here and the memories, there is so much about Lex’s that I will always treasure and now dearly miss, but one of the (many) things I will never forget is the commaderie so many of us shared here. Tonight I will raise a toast (who am I kidding … “a” toast?) not *just* to Lex but also to this incredible community. I’m not sure if you ever made it to the FB group, but it would be great to see you there this evening.
Yeah, who the hell are any of us kidding?
Good thing I’m a single malt guy, as, whilst looking around, I noted an absence of Barbancourt. VX, I know you know people, but, damn, are we going to have to ‘Green Light’ you just to
finddrink some?Michelle, our debate was stimulating and full of vigor, but most notable for how our various contributors consisted of everybody but Lex. I suspect he made the pitch then sat back and watched, and so long as everybody was remotely respectful he just let that marketplace of ideas fill.
Lord do I miss that sort of conversation.
I subscribed to Facebook solely for the purposes of joining the Lexicans group. Having given Facebook a look, I’m sorry to say it’s not a medium I’m comfortable with from a privacy standpoint. I shall use it rarely.
– Max
Firebase Rockford will hoist a long range toast at the appropriate time.
I was setting up my tent at Greene Valley Forest Preserve in DuPage County with Troop 69 for a weekend campout, so it was (unfortunately) inappropriate to raise a glass of anything alcoholic, never mind Guiness. But I was thinking of him. I got there before the rest of the Troop and got to wander the woods a bit in the quiet and dark. Very peaceful (until the kids showed up).