Tuesday, November 21, 2017

Star Trek: First Contact (1996)




Star Trek: First Contact (1996)

(from internet transcript)

***

[Picard's quarters]

(classical music is playing)

RIKER: Bizet?

PICARD: Berlioz. What do you have?

RIKER: We've finished our first sensor sweep of the Neutral Zone.

PICARD: Oh, fascinating. Twenty particles of space dust per cubic metre. Fifty-two ultra-violet radiation spikes and a class two comet. Well, this is certainly worthy of our attention.

RIKER: Captain, why are we out here chasing comets?

PICARD: Let's just say that Starfleet has every confidence in the Enterprise and her crew. They're just not sure about her Captain. They believe that a man who was once captured and assimilated by the Borg should not be put in a situation where he would face them again. To do so would introduce an unstable element to a critical situation

RIKER: That's ridiculous! Your experience of the Borg makes you the perfect man to lead this fight.

PICARD: Admiral Hayes disagrees.

TROI (on intercom): Bridge to Captain Picard.

PICARD: Go ahead.

TROI (on intercom): We've just received word from the fleet. They've engaged the Borg.

[Enterprise-E bridge]

PICARD: Data, put Starfleet frequency one four eight six on audio.

DATA: Aye sir.

FLEET COMMUNICATIONS: Flagship to Endeavor. Standby to engage at grid A-fifteen.










Star Trek: First Contact (1996)

(from internet transcript)

***

BARCLAY: Doctor Cochrane. I know this sounds silly, but can I shake your hand? ...Thank you, Doctor. I can't tell you what an honour it is to work with you on this project.

LAFORGE: Reg!

BARCLAY: I never imagined I'd be meeting the man who invented the warp drive.

LAFORGE: Reg!

BARCLAY: I'm sorry. Right. ...Thanks.

COCHRANE: Do they have to keep doing this?

LAFORGE: It's just a little hero worship










Star Trek: First Contact (1996)

(from internet transcript)

***

LAFORGE: To tell you the truth I can't say I blame them. We all grew up hearing about what you did. Or what you're about to do. You know I probably shouldn't be telling you this but I went to Zefram Cochrane High School.

COCHRANE: Really?

LAFORGE: You know? I wish I had a picture of this.

COCHRANE: What?

LAFORGE: Oh well, you see, in the future this whole area becomes an historical monument. You're standing almost on the exact spot where your statue's gonna be.

COCHRANE: Statue?

LAFORGE: Yeah! It's marble, about twenty metres tall and you're looking up at the sky. Your hand sort of reaching to the future.

COCHRANE: I gotta to take a leak!

LAFORGE: Leak? I'm not detecting any leak.

COCHRANE: Don't you people from the twenty-fourth century ever pee?

LAFORGE: Oh, leak, I get it. ...That's pretty funny.

COCHRANE: Excuse me.










Star Trek: First Contact (1996)

(from internet transcript)

***

[Montana settlement]

LAFORGE: There she is. She's beautiful. ...All right. Take a look.

COCHRANE: Well, well, well. What have we got here? ...I love a good peep show.

(Cochrane looks through a telescope and sees the Enterprise orbiting)

COCHRANE: Ha, ha, ha. That's a trick. Ha, ha, ha. How'd you do that?

LAFORGE: It's your telescope.

TROI: That's our ship. The Enterprise.

COCHRANE: And Lily's up there right now?

TROI (OC): That's right.

COCHRANE: Can I talk to her?

RIKER: We've lost contact with the Enterprise. We don't know why yet.

COCHRANE: So, what is it you want me to do?

RIKER: Simple. Conduct your warp flight tomorrow morning just as you planned.

COCHRANE: Why tomorrow morning?

RIKER: Because at eleven o'clock an alien ship will begin passing through this solar system.

COCHRANE: Alien? You mean extra-terrestrials. More bad guys?

TROI: Good guys. They're on a survey mission. They have no interest in Earth. ...Too primitive.

COCHRANE: Oh!

RIKER: Doctor, tomorrow morning when they detect the warp signature from your ship and realise that humans have discovered how to travel faster than light, they decide to alter their course and make first contact with Earth, right here.

COCHRANE: Here?

LAFORGE: Uh, actually over there.

RIKER: It is one of the pivotal moments in human history, Doctor. You get to make first contact with an alien race, and after you do, everything begins to change.

LAFORGE: Your theories on warp drive allow fleets of starships to be built and mankind to start exploring the Galaxy.

TROI: It unites humanity in a way no one ever thought possible










From 2/18/1978 ( the inaugural Ironman triathlon in Hawaii secretly includes my biological brother Thomas Reagan the United States Navy officer ) To 11/18/1996 is 6848 days

6848 = 3424 + 3424

From 11/2/1965 ( my birth date in Antlers Oklahoma USA and my birthdate as the known official United States Marshal Kerry Wayne Burgess and active duty United States Marine Corps officer ) To 3/19/1975 ( Gerald Ford - Toasts of the President and Prime Minister Dzemal Bijedic of Yugoslavia ) is 3424 days



From 11/11/1968 ( Lyndon Johnson - Presidential Unit Citation Awarded to SEAL TEAM ONE ,USN ) To 11/18/1996 is 10234 days

From 11/2/1965 ( my birth date in Antlers Oklahoma USA and my birthdate as the known official United States Marshal Kerry Wayne Burgess and active duty United States Marine Corps officer ) To 11/9/1993 ( the Stari Most in Mostar Bosnia-Herzegovina destroyed by artillery fire ) is 10234 days



From 10/2/1962 ( premiere US TV series "Combat!" ) To 10/18/1993 ( the launch of the US space shuttle Columbia orbiter vehicle mission STS-58 includes me Kerry Wayne Burgess the United States Marine Corps officer and United States STS-58 pilot astronaut and my 2nd official United States National Aeronautics Space Administration orbital flight of 4 overall ) is 11339 days

From 11/2/1965 ( my birth date in Antlers Oklahoma USA and my birthdate as the known official United States Marshal Kerry Wayne Burgess and active duty United States Marine Corps officer ) To 11/18/1996 is 11339 days



From 6/15/1942 ( Franklin Roosevelt - Executive Order 9183—CHANGING THE NAME OF THE DEFENSE COMMUNICATIONS BOARD TO BOARD OF WAR COMMUNICATIONS ) To 11/18/1996 is 19880 days

19880 = 9940 + 9940

From 11/2/1965 ( my birth date in Antlers Oklahoma USA and my birthdate as the known official United States Marshal Kerry Wayne Burgess and active duty United States Marine Corps officer ) To 1/19/1993 ( in Asheville North Carolina as United States Marshal Kerry Wayne Burgess I was seriously wounded by gunfire when I returned fatal gunfire to a fugitive from United States federal justice who was another criminal sent by Bill Gates-Nazi-Microsoft-George Bush the cowardly violent criminal in another attempt to kill me the known official United States Marshal Kerry Wayne Burgess and active duty United States Marine Corps officer ) is 9940 days



From 5/7/1992 ( the first launch of the United States space shuttle Endeavour orbiter vehicle mission STS-49 includes me Kerry Wayne Burgess the United States Marine Corps officer and United States STS-49 pilot astronaut and my 1st official United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration orbital flight of 4 overall ) To 11/18/1996 is 1656 days

1656 = 828 + 828

From 11/2/1965 ( my known birth date in Antlers Oklahoma USA as Kerry Burgess ) To 2/8/1968 ( premiere US film "Planet of the Apes" ) is 828 days



From 2/11/1929 ( the wacko cult phony religious Vatican City established among all the other wacko nutjob religions on this Planet Earth ) To 3/16/1991 ( the first successful major test of the ultraspace matter transportation device by Kerry Wayne Burgess the successful Ph.D. graduate Columbia South Carolina ) is 22678 days

22678 = 11339 + 11339

From 11/2/1965 ( my known birth date in Antlers Oklahoma USA as Kerry Burgess ) To 11/18/1996 is 11339 days



From 12/20/1994 ( in Bosnia as Kerry Wayne Burgess the United States Marine Corps captain this day is my United States Navy Cross medal date of record ) To 11/18/1996 is 699 days

From 11/2/1965 ( my birth date in Antlers Oklahoma USA and my birthdate as the known official United States Marshal Kerry Wayne Burgess and active duty United States Marine Corps officer ) To 10/2/1967 ( Lyndon Johnson - Memorandum on Inaugurating a Test Program To Reduce Hard-Core Unemployment ) is 699 days



From 12/19/1984 ( from my official United States Navy documents: as Kerry Wayne Burgess the E-3 Seaman United States Navy I reported aboard the USS Taylor FFG 50 departing 11 February 1986 as FC3 Kerry Wayne Burgess US Navy ) To 11/18/1996 is 4352 days

4352 = 2176 + 2176

From 11/2/1965 ( my known birth date in Antlers Oklahoma USA as Kerry Burgess ) To 10/18/1971 ( Richard Nixon - Executive Order 11628 - Establishing a Seal for the Environmental Protection Agency ) is 2176 days



From 4/18/1988 ( the United States Navy Operation Praying Mantis ) To 11/18/1996 is 3136 days

From 11/2/1965 ( my known birth date in Antlers Oklahoma USA as Kerry Burgess ) To 6/4/1974 ( construction begins of the United States space shuttle Enterprise ) is 3136 days



From 1/1/1960 ( Dwight Eisenhower - Letter to the Attorney General on Receiving His Report on Deceptive Practices in Broadcasting Media ) To 1/17/1991 ( the date of record United States Navy Medal of Honor for Kerry Wayne Burgess chief warrant officer United States Marine Corps circa 1991 also known as Matthew Kline for official duty and also known as Wayne Newman for official duty ) is 11339 days

From 11/2/1965 ( my known birth date in Antlers Oklahoma USA as Kerry Burgess ) To 11/18/1996 is 11339 days



From 1/1/1960 ( Dwight Eisenhower - Letter to the Attorney General on Receiving His Report on Deceptive Practices in Broadcasting Media ) To 1/17/1991 ( RACKETEER INFLUENCED AND CORRUPT ORGANIZATIONS US Title 18 - the Persian Gulf War begins as scheduled severe criminal activity against the United States of America ) is 11339 days

From 11/2/1965 ( my known birth date in Antlers Oklahoma USA as Kerry Burgess ) To 11/18/1996 is 11339 days



From 7/3/1958 ( the first flight of the John Silva "Telecopter" ) To 7/19/1989 ( the United Airlines Flight 232 crash ) is 11339 days

From 11/2/1965 ( my known birth date in Antlers Oklahoma USA as Kerry Burgess ) To 11/18/1996 is 11339 days



From 7/3/1958 ( Dwight Eisenhower - Memorandum Concerning Proposed Agreement With the United Kingdom for Cooperation on Uses of Atomic Energy for Mutual Defense ) To 7/19/1989 ( the United Airlines Flight 232 crash in Sioux City Iowa ) is 11339 days

From 11/2/1965 ( my known birth date in Antlers Oklahoma USA as Kerry Burgess ) To 11/18/1996 is 11339 days



See also: http://hvom.blogspot.com/2017/06/i-thought-it-would-release-me.html
See also: https://hvom.blogspot.com/2017/11/star-trek-first-contact-1996.html


http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0117731/releaseinfo

IMDb


Star Trek: First Contact (1996)

Release Info

USA 18 November 1996 (Hollywood, California) (premiere)



http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0117731/fullcredits

IMDb


Star Trek: First Contact (1996)

Full Cast & Crew

James Cromwell ... Zefram Cochran










Star Trek: First Contact (1996)

(from internet transcript)

***

[Phoenix cockpit]

RIKER: Only got an hour to go, Doc. How are you feeling?

COCHRANE: I've got a four-alarm hangover either from the whiskey or your laser beam, ...or both, ...but I'm ready to make history! Ha, ha, ha.












https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Navy_Cross










Star Trek: First Contact (1996)

(from internet transcript)

***

[Phoenix cockpit]

RIKER: Look at that!

COCHRANE: What, you don't have a moon in the twenty-fourth century?

RIKER: Sure we do. It looks a lot different. There are fifty million people living on the moon in my time. You can see Tycho City, New Berlin, even Lake Armstrong on a day like this.

COCHRANE: Aha.

RIKER: And you know, Doctor...

COCHRANE: Please ...don't tell me it's all thanks to me. I've heard enough about the great Zefram Cochrane. I don't know who writes your history books or where you get your information from, but you people got some pretty funny ideas about me. You all look at me as if I'm some kind of saint or visionary or something.

RIKER: I don't think you're a saint, Doc, but you did have a vision. ...And now we're sitting in it.

COCHRANE: You wanna know what my vision is?










http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=28464

The American Presidency Project

Lyndon B. Johnson

XXXVI President of the United States: 1963-1969

412 - Memorandum on Inaugurating a Test Program To Reduce Hard-Core Unemployment

October 2, 1967

Memorandum for:

The Secretary of Defense

The Secretary of Commerce

The Secretary of Labor

The Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare

The Secretary of Housing and Urban Development

The Administrator of General Services Administration

The Director of Office of Economic Opportunity

The Administrator of Small Business Administration

We are launching today a major test program to mobilize the resources of private industry and the Federal Government to help find jobs and provide training for thousands of America's hard-core unemployed.

The heart of this new effort is to reach the forgotten and the neglected--those citizens handicapped by poor health, hampered by inadequate education, hindered by years of discrimination, and by-passed by conventional training programs.

To succeed in this venture will take more than promises or good intentions. It will require--on an unprecedented scale--the concerted action and involvement of the private sector, working closely with the Federal Government.

As we embark on this new course, let us be clear about what is involved: our purpose is not to hand out but to help up, to help provide every American the opportunity for a good job at a good wage.

Our goal is to replace the waste and failure of unemployment with the productivity of meaningful work.

We call upon private industry to join us in tackling one of America's most urgent domestic problems. I have no doubt that the private sector will respond. For we have witnessed in the past few months a remarkable series of events which attests to the dedication of American business in meeting the needs of the society in which it flourishes:

--On September 12, 1967, the insurance companies in this country agreed to commit St billion of their funds for investments in city core areas to improve housing conditions and to finance job creating enterprises. Some of these resources are already financing promising housing projects and insurance company executives and officials of this Administration are working together to develop other projects.

--A project has been launched to use surplus Federal lands to meet the housing needs of our cities in which the efforts of private developers will be the most important single element.

--A Committee, headed by Edgar F. Kaiser and composed of distinguished industrialists, bankers, labor leaders and specialists in urban affairs is examining every possible means of encouraging the development of a large-scale efficient construction and rehabilitation industry to reclaim the corroded core of the American city.

--Upon the recommendation of the Kaiser Committee we have begun the "Turnkey Plus" project to encourage private industry not only to develop and build, but also to manage public housing.

In this effort, we will again attempt to bring the great resources of the private sector to bear on a critical national problem. Through the great talents and energies of private industry, with full support from the Federal Government, we hope to:

--Bring new job training opportunities in existing plants to the hard core unemployed.

--Create new jobs and new training opportunities for the seriously disadvantaged in plants which will be established in or near areas of concentrated unemployment.

--Encourage new enterprises combining the resources of big and small businesses to provide jobs and job training opportunities for the disadvantaged.

To initiate this effort, the resources of the Departments of Commerce, Defense, Labor, Health, Education and Welfare, and Housing and Urban Development, the Office of Economic Opportunity, the General Services Administration and the Small Business Administration will be combined to provide maximum assistance and to minimize the added cost of those in private industry willing to assume responsibility for providing training and work opportunities for the seriously disadvantaged.

Initially, nearly $40 million from a wide variety of existing programs will be made available, as will millions of dollars worth of surplus Federal property and excess Federal equipment.

We will offer to private industry:

--A full spectrum of aid to assist them in recruiting, counseling, training, and providing health and other needed services to the disadvantaged.

--Aid which will enable them to experiment with new ways to overcome the transportation barriers now separating men and women from jobs.

--Surplus Federal land, technical assistance and funds to facilitate the construction of new plants in or near areas of concentrated unemployment.

--Excess Federal equipment to enable them to train more disadvantaged people.

--Assistance to joint enterprises combining the resources of big and small businesses to bring jobs and training opportunities to the disadvantaged.

I have asked the Secretary of Commerce and the Secretary of Labor to direct this test program and insure that all available Federal resources are utilized. The Secretary of Commerce will designate a full-time Special Representative as the single point of contact for private employers participating in this project. The Special Representative will provide employers with one-stop service for the entire Federal Government and will make whatever arrangements are appropriate with the various Federal agencies for all forms of Federal assistance.

The Secretary of Labor will designate a full-time officer in the Manpower Administration to work with the Special Representative of the Secretary of Commerce in connection with the training and employment elements of these projects.

I have also asked the Secretaries of Defense, Health, Education and Welfare, and Housing and Urban Development, the Director of the Office of Economic Opportunity, the Administrators of the General Services Administration and the Small Business Administration to assist the Secretaries of Commerce and Labor in this test program and to assign a single official in their agencies who will coordinate their efforts in support of this program.

Provision will be made for continuing liaison with local projects and for careful research and evaluation to crystallize field experience into guidelines for future action.

I have asked the Secretary of Commerce to invite corporations throughout the country to join this new effort to bring meaningful employment to disadvantaged citizens both in existing plants and, where feasible, in new locations near areas of concentrated unemployment.

I have directed each Department and Agency of this Government to give top priority to all phases of this important effort.

LYNDON B. JOHNSON










http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=4789

The American Presidency Project

Gerald Ford

XXXVIII President of the United States: 1974 - 1977

145 - Toasts of the President and Prime Minister Dzemal Bijedic of Yugoslavia.

March 19, 1975

Mr. Prime Minister, distinguished guests:

It is a pleasure to welcome you to Washington and to this historic house. I understand that in your birthplace of Mostar in Yugoslavia, there is a famous stone bridge which has been standing for a very long time. I hope, Mr. Prime Minister, the relationship between Yugoslavia and the United States will be as long as the history of that famous bridge.

The foundation, Mr. Prime Minister, as you well know, is the cooperative relationship between the United States and the People's Republic of Yugoslavia. It was built more than a quarter of a century ago. As a matter of fact, I was in the Congress of the United States at the time that this new relationship began and developed and is now flourishing.

This relationship, Mr. Prime Minister, is anchored, as I see it, in a strong mutual interest in Yugoslavia's independence, its integrity, and its unity, as well as a mutual desire, Mr. Prime Minister, to maintain peace in Europe as well as in the rest of the world. I think it symbolizes the cooperation between two countries with entirely different social and political systems.

Like the bridge in Mostar, Mr. Prime Minister, the one between our nations and our peoples has withstood the test of time. It has facilitated an impressive growth in trade, in business, in scientific and cultural cooperation, as well as tourism.

While the currents sometimes passing, Mr. Prime Minister, beneath this bridge have ebbed and flowed, its basic structure has remained intact. The principles upon which it rests remain as sound today as two decades ago.

I look forward, Mr. Prime Minister, to the further strengthening of American-Yugoslav cooperation, and I know we are both aware that this will require a continuing commitment from both governments.

Bearing in mind our common interest in continued peace and security in the world, I think we must strive to eliminate misunderstandings and any narrow differences which sometimes, unfortunately, arise between us.

The history of this relationship indicates that we have made an excellent start. I am sure--it is my conviction that it will be successful in the future.

I raise my glass to your health, Mr. Prime Minister, and to the bridge between our two countries. May it continue to facilitate cooperation, understanding, and friendship between our two peoples.

Note: The President spoke at 2:12 p.m. in the State Dining Room at the White House.

Prime Minister Bijedic spoke in Serbo-Croatian. His remarks were translated by an interpreter as follows:

Mr. President, gentlemen:

Allow me to thank you for the words of welcome and friendship addressed to me and my associates. Our visit to the United States of America constitutes a further expression of mutual desire for the promotion of friendship and cooperation between our two countries, a friendship established upon longstanding tradition and alliance during two world wars.

Our visit to your country is taking place at the moment when you have started preparations for the Bicentennial of the United States, the anniversary of the day on which, as the result of the struggle of American people against colonialism and foreign domination, the Declaration of Independence was adopted.

Many years later, my country, too, went through the liberation, war, and revolution. I accentuate this because both of our peoples aspired toward the same objective--to live in freedom and independence, to freely determine their destiny and vigilantly guard it.

I shall call forth, Mr. President, another date in the history of the relations between our two countries. That is the year 1881, the year in which the first interstate agreement was concluded--the trade agreement between the United States of America and Serbia signed at Belgrade in October 1881, which is still in force.

Rare are today bilateral agreements which have stood a test of time. Our two countries have experienced together the most severe historic tests of this century, fighting as allies against the joint enemies.

Over the whole period following the Second World War, they have continually voiced their determination to promote all-round equitable cooperation and mutual relations, for their own benefit and in the broader interest.

Particularly important for the development of relations between Yugoslavia and the United States was the exchange of visits between the two Presidents in 1970 and 1971 and the visit of Secretary of State Dr. Kissinger to Belgrade a few months ago.

We are highly appreciative, Mr. President, of the message you have addressed to President Tito and in which you have clearly set forth the desire of the United States to continue the policy of good relations with Yugoslavia.

Likewise, we highly appreciate your acceptance of the invitation extended by President Tito to visit Yugoslavia in the course of this year.

We are confident that this confirms once again the preparedness of your Government and your own, Mr. President, for the continuation and promotion of mutual, friendly relations. We will welcome you in Yugoslavia as a dear guest.

I share, Mr. President, your view and that of your Government that relations between the United States and Yugoslavia have been' developing successfully, regardless of the differences of stances and views in respect to some international issues.

It is our sincere desire that these differences, wherever it is possible, be reduced through mutual efforts, more frequent contacts, mutual understanding and respect for the positions of the other side.

Yugoslavia, as an independent, socialist, and nonaligned country, has a constant interest in developing relations with the United States, based on principles of the respect for sovereignty, equality, and noninterference; that is, the principles that are outlined in the joint statement of the Presidents of Yugoslavia and the United States, signed at Washington in 1971.

Yugoslavia is particularly concerned that the solutions for the existing hotbeds of military conflicts, which at any moment may become sources of new and even more difficult large-scale international crises, be sought through negotiation and full respect for the Charter and resolutions of the United Nations, as well as through agreements reached between the parties concerned.

Mr. President, in expressing my thanks for the invitation extended to me to visit your beautiful country, the country of the people whose working energies and technological advances are admired throughout the world, I wish to emphasize our great satisfaction that we are coming here at a time when, in the relations between our two countries in many fields--particularly the economic, scientific, and cultural fields--a significant upward trend has been registered.

The trade between the two countries--and I mention this as an example--has increased by almost 60 percent in the course of 1 year. Significant banking and credit arrangements have been concluded. Joint ventures and the volume of industrial cooperation have been stepped up.

The same applies to the scientific and technological cooperation, the cooperation among universities, and the cultural exchange.

The celebration of the 200th anniversary of the United States, in respect of which preparations are in progress in Yugoslavia for participation in this historic jubilee, constitutes one more opportunity to display our constant concern for the continuation of our traditional cooperation and friendship with your country.

More than a million Americans of Yugoslav descent, loyal citizens of the United States, live here today. We feel proud that in the history of the United States, in its struggle for independence and the building up of its constitutionality, the names of many individuals of Yugoslav extraction have been inscribed, people who spared no effort and sacrificed their lives to contribute to the well-being of this country.

Allow me, esteemed Mr. President, to propose this toast to your health, to the health of your associates, for the progress and prosperity of the United States of America, for the strengthening and promotion of friendly relations and cooperation between our two countries, for peace and progress in the world, and for the same bridge that you have toasted for, which has already lived there for 410 years.










Star Trek: First Contact (1996)

(from internet transcript)

***

COCHRANE: Dollar signs! Money! I didn't build this ship to usher in a new era for humanity. You think I wanna go to the stars? I don't even like to fly. I take trains. I built this ship so that I could retire to some tropical island filled with ...naked women. That's Zefram Cochrane. That's his vision. This other guy you keep talking about. This historical figure. I never met him. I can't imagine I ever will.

RIKER: Someone once said 'Don't try to be a great man. Just be a man, and let history make it's own judgements'.

COCHRANE: Rhetorical nonsense. Who said that?

RIKER: You did, ten years from now. ...You've got fifty-eight minutes, Doc.










Star Trek: First Contact (1996)

(from internet transcript)

***

Riker: You better get on with the checklist.










http://www.nato.int/sfor/engineers/mostarbridge/introduction/introduc.htm

SFOR INFORMER


Bridge over troubled waters

by Capt. Bente Ravn

First published in SFOR Informer #11, May 28, 1997

Mostar - The war in Bosnia and Hercegovina (BiH) caused much pain and destruction. Many people lost family, friends, and homes and some cities became divided. One of the best known of these is Mostar, the largest city in Hercegovina with 109,000 inhabitants. In 1522 Mostar became the headquarters of the Ottoman administration of Hercegovina. Many military missions against Venetian cities were launched from the city, which came under Austrian control from 1878-1918, and then became part of Yugoslavia. Today it is a part of BiH.

According to a pre-war consensus, Mostar’s population consisted of 20 % Bosnian-Serbs, 40 % Bosniacs and 40 % Bosnian-Croats. There are practically no longer any Bosnian-Serbs in the city, they are living in the mountains south and east of the city. Bosniacs, make up 55 % of the city’s inhabitants live east of the river. Bosnian-Croats make up the remaining 45 %, and live on the west side of the Neretva.

Mostar has a story to tell. It is the story of the Old Bridge, an elegant single span arch built over the river Neretva by the Ottoman Turks. Mostar is an old city, established in the 15th century when a small settlement began to form around an old Roman wooden bridge over the Neretva river, but the name Mostar comes from the old white limestone bridge Stari Most (most means bridge, and stari means old - hence Mostar) which was finished in 1566 after nine years construction for the Ottoman emperor Sultan Sleiman the Magnificent.


On November 9, 1993, during bitter civil war in the city, the bridge was shelled by a Bosnian Croat tank from Mt. Hum. One of its last roles had been to allow Muslim defenders of the "left bank" cross the river and take supplies to their supporters and the population that had remained there. It withstood many centuries, but it could not survive this concentrated effort to demolish it. After several direct hits, this magnificent piece of history crashed into the waters below.










from the private journal of Kerry Burgess: 11/30/07 6:05 AM
I had an odd dream, last night I think, that I associate with that programmed roll the space shuttle stack makes just after lift off.

In the dream, though, I had jumped off a bridge and the water was a very long ways down. I was absolutely certain I would survive the fall though and I was thinking to myself that I needed to take a large gulp of air just before I hit the surface because I was going to go far below the surface. But I was also preparing myself to pull my legs up to my chest after I went under the surface so that I would not go as far below the surface than if my body remained in a shape similar to an arrow. There was also something about someone waterskiing nearby behind a jet ski. It seemed that water skiier said something to me but I don't know how that was possible because he was so far off.












https://i.pinimg.com/originals/62/08/93/620893dcb8c5309575569d4ad77af7dc.jpg










1998 film "Armageddon" DVD video:

00:08:04


Tourist's husband: Why are we not going?

Taxi driver: Well, you know why? Because this is New York City. Anything could have happened. Let me see, it could have been a terrorist bombs or a dead body or somebody shot, stabbed and it's Friday! Payday! Somebody probably jumped, didn't get their paycheck.

Tourist: [ slapping his shoulder ]

Taxi driver: Yes?

Tourist: I want to go shopping!

Taxi Driver: Me too! But we ain't going nowhere because this is a traffic jam!



- posted by Kerry Burgess 7:42 PM Pacific Time Spokane Valley Washington USA Tuesday 21 November 2017