Wednesday, January 28, 2015
AND THEY LAUGHED
Every Saudi of means has spent decades living out of the Kingdom. They don't like it any more than we do. Thank you so much brave brave Sir Robin. The very first time you tell the female Wing Commander based a little south of the Kingdom that she no longer has to fly in and have a male driver for her next visit with the Saud's, you'll impress me much.
I reserve a special place in my heart for the female squadron commanders that used to fly into Dahran in aircraft they piloted. Humor is shared over a Consul's table.
I reserve a special place in my heart for the female squadron commanders that used to fly into Dahran in aircraft they piloted. Humor is shared over a Consul's table.
REG
It was my friend Reg who shared a room with me for 2 months in Seoul who did not share a room in Kuwait when we met each other again a few months later....The arab tailor in Bahrain made him what he asked for and gave him new name strips to sew onto his uniforms in Kuwait. His was a perfectly fine name but when translated in the lobby, it read NEEDPORK.
It was funny. We both specialized in a tiny aspect of war and so, for almost 2 decades we would show up and run into each other and he would wave and give a cheery, "hi Curt" and I would say, "hi Reg."
I've written here about another guy I used to keep bumping into. Every time we collided over the decades he assured me that he secured a gig that made him 'undeployable.' I always made it a point to say hi to him in Bahrain, Korea, San Diego, Saudi Arabia, Dubai and the ships at sea.
It was funny. We both specialized in a tiny aspect of war and so, for almost 2 decades we would show up and run into each other and he would wave and give a cheery, "hi Curt" and I would say, "hi Reg."
I've written here about another guy I used to keep bumping into. Every time we collided over the decades he assured me that he secured a gig that made him 'undeployable.' I always made it a point to say hi to him in Bahrain, Korea, San Diego, Saudi Arabia, Dubai and the ships at sea.
RIDING THE RAILS
A few years back my room mate and I used to take the Seoul subway to our offices in Yongsan Main Post. The first couple of times we did it after we arrived we ended up in the damnedest places. We would try to get on pure Korean military installations but never did. What is theirs is theirs. What we share is ours.
I spent a little over two months living in hotels in Seoul that first time and we refused the Army's kind offer of transportation (a bus which appeared at 0530) and decided to test the proof of life by exposing ourselves every single day (we worked @7 days a week) and took the Seoul subways to work.
We had alternate routes. We could amble out, after coffee and breakfast in the Lotte and turn to the left or the right. We mostly went left. I blame that on Reg. He was from Massachusetts and thus a total leftist. We would embark at Seoul Station or City Hall with a transfer or we would sometimes go to the right and take the subway to Itaewon. Either way, we had to walk the last quarter mile or so.
If one got off at Yongsan, the walk took one by Korean Imperial Defense Headquarters (which, soon after, relocated itself out of artillery range of the north Koreans hugging their side of the DMZ with their endless artillery and poison gas shells.) It also let us stroll past the Korean War Museum. If there was ever a museum that had 'one of everything,' it was that museum.
My Coast Guard colleague and I rode the rails underground in a sea of ignorance. The first time, because all the instructions and signs were written only in Korean, we had some trouble but there was an old man to help set us on the proper path. We were wearing our very attractive greenish, black, yellow uniforms of camouflage and he sussed out our desire to go the headquarters of United States Forces in Korea. He got us on the right train despite a very serious language barrier.
I think we took that train for the first month until the young lieutenants convinced us that there was a shorter way to the office. What they hadn't factored was the way that we commuted out of pure ignorance. We had found that if we grabbed a strap on either of the last two undermanned cars of the train that we would not be jammed in like sardines.
Yes, we turned out to be the second worst thing the country team experiences from visitors. We didn't know the last cars on every train are for women only. I know they didn't care at all but maybe it has changed again. We are old reprobates and we would not dream of depriving any lady of a seat on the line. We were just going 4 stops down the line and change. The cars weren't empty but there was absolutely no "inadvertent" brushing, touching, etc. They were mostly empty.
Over the next two decades, the lines got worse. Way. Every train car was packed to maximum capacity. It's a subway. At some point, you cannot add more cars to the train without leaving the rearmost hidden in the tunnel, well away from the platform. The trains took on the aspect of Japanese commuter trains.
It turns out that one can walk for many miles underground in Seoul through the subterranean stores that feature everything from art, belts, sunglasses, bathroom fittings, furniture, clothing... It has to be seen to be believed.
I'll never see it again but it was a really amazing place in the impeccably clean, bright, glistening undergrounds of Seoul. It was like Madrid's in the olden days in terms of clean. Madrid's didn't have any shops and just a handful of buskers.
I spent a little over two months living in hotels in Seoul that first time and we refused the Army's kind offer of transportation (a bus which appeared at 0530) and decided to test the proof of life by exposing ourselves every single day (we worked @7 days a week) and took the Seoul subways to work.
We had alternate routes. We could amble out, after coffee and breakfast in the Lotte and turn to the left or the right. We mostly went left. I blame that on Reg. He was from Massachusetts and thus a total leftist. We would embark at Seoul Station or City Hall with a transfer or we would sometimes go to the right and take the subway to Itaewon. Either way, we had to walk the last quarter mile or so.
If one got off at Yongsan, the walk took one by Korean Imperial Defense Headquarters (which, soon after, relocated itself out of artillery range of the north Koreans hugging their side of the DMZ with their endless artillery and poison gas shells.) It also let us stroll past the Korean War Museum. If there was ever a museum that had 'one of everything,' it was that museum.
My Coast Guard colleague and I rode the rails underground in a sea of ignorance. The first time, because all the instructions and signs were written only in Korean, we had some trouble but there was an old man to help set us on the proper path. We were wearing our very attractive greenish, black, yellow uniforms of camouflage and he sussed out our desire to go the headquarters of United States Forces in Korea. He got us on the right train despite a very serious language barrier.
I think we took that train for the first month until the young lieutenants convinced us that there was a shorter way to the office. What they hadn't factored was the way that we commuted out of pure ignorance. We had found that if we grabbed a strap on either of the last two undermanned cars of the train that we would not be jammed in like sardines.
Yes, we turned out to be the second worst thing the country team experiences from visitors. We didn't know the last cars on every train are for women only. I know they didn't care at all but maybe it has changed again. We are old reprobates and we would not dream of depriving any lady of a seat on the line. We were just going 4 stops down the line and change. The cars weren't empty but there was absolutely no "inadvertent" brushing, touching, etc. They were mostly empty.
Over the next two decades, the lines got worse. Way. Every train car was packed to maximum capacity. It's a subway. At some point, you cannot add more cars to the train without leaving the rearmost hidden in the tunnel, well away from the platform. The trains took on the aspect of Japanese commuter trains.
It turns out that one can walk for many miles underground in Seoul through the subterranean stores that feature everything from art, belts, sunglasses, bathroom fittings, furniture, clothing... It has to be seen to be believed.
I'll never see it again but it was a really amazing place in the impeccably clean, bright, glistening undergrounds of Seoul. It was like Madrid's in the olden days in terms of clean. Madrid's didn't have any shops and just a handful of buskers.
Tuesday, January 27, 2015
ROME
Rome didn't run out of money, it ran out of Romans in Legions. It is the kind of thing that happens to any Imperial Status Quo.
I wouldn't be at all surprised if they resorted to a draft of some kind.
and the darkness took them. Hi Greece! Do you want fries and a Coke with your darkness?
As usual, nobody in Greece is going to notice as they slip into the abyss. They are all utterly reliable.
I wouldn't be at all surprised if they resorted to a draft of some kind.
and the darkness took them. Hi Greece! Do you want fries and a Coke with your darkness?
As usual, nobody in Greece is going to notice as they slip into the abyss. They are all utterly reliable.
Monday, January 26, 2015
A GROVEL HERE, A GROVEL THERE
Not content with groveling to the Saudis, Obama and his State Department maintain full prostration in front of the Cuban negotiators who know submission when they see it and negotiate using that basis. Meanwhile, Obama went back to the Kingdom to grovel some more. No pictures of this full prostration yet but here's one from the last grovel.
MOVIE REVIEW, ROMAN HOLIDAY
Watched it again tonight; one of us for the first time. It is a most wonderful movie about a world and time that never were although one catches oneself saying, oh yeah, I remember that. The story and the acting were fun and left you laughing. Ha! No, I wasn't born when this film was made but ever so close. Next up, Breakfast At Tiffany's!
It was, "most unusual." Roman Holiday will always be a classic. It was filmed in black and white, filmed in Rome shortly after the War, and resonates as a timeless love story. Relax and enjoy. There isn't a single picture or screen capture that does justice to the film.
It starts on classic and old lines,
It was, "most unusual." Roman Holiday will always be a classic. It was filmed in black and white, filmed in Rome shortly after the War, and resonates as a timeless love story. Relax and enjoy. There isn't a single picture or screen capture that does justice to the film.
It starts on classic and old lines,
| Lord Byron |
| CLXXIII. "She walks in beauty, like the night" |
| SHE walks in beauty, like the night | |
| Of cloudless climes and starry skies, | |
| And all that's best of dark and bright | |
| Meets in her aspect and her eyes; | |
| Thus mellow'd to that tender light | 5 |
| Which Heaven to gaudy day denies. | |
| One shade the more, one ray the less, | |
| Had half impair'd the nameless grace | |
| Which waves in every raven tress | |
| Or softly lightens o'er her face, | 10 |
| Where thoughts serenely sweet express | |
| How pure, how dear their dwelling-place. | |
| And on that cheek and o'er that brow | |
| So soft, so calm, yet eloquent, | |
| The smiles that win, the tints that glow, | 15 |
| But tell of days in goodness spent,— | |
| A mind at peace with all below, | |
| A heart whose love is innocent. |
Sunday, January 25, 2015
MINDING REDUNDANCIES
For about 4 years we of the west coast Mine Battle Force had an arrangement with our mine counter measures ships based in the Persian Gulf. The crews of the ships would be rotated over time and what you found when you got there was what was left of critical systems designed to drive the ship through the water or find your actual sea mines.
I remember the first time I showed up on one of those ships. As I recall offhand, the engineering systems had 22 outstanding casualty reports on pieces of the altogether vital ship's propulsion and control systems. Those were just the most hideously blatant ones. There were a whole slew of other things that did not work but were covered by redundant equipment so the effect of failure could be pushed off into some unknown future.
My Chief had preceded my arrival by a month and he was working flat out at making the ship whole but it was an uphill struggle until reinforcements arrived; me and a Chief Electrician off another MSO out of Seattle/Tacoma. We couldn't help but be amazed at the wreck that was now ours. Almost nothing on that ship worked except the SONAR and one or two engines.
One of the equipment failures I remember well. The ship's degaussing system did not work. The massive system designed to minimize our magnetic signature and make us invisible to really scary magnetic influence mines was totally out of commission. The Chief Electrician tore into that one first. He was busy going hand over hand following the various coils trying to find the ground/short when I took him to the fantail for a smoke and an update. He was outlining what he was trying to do with too few hands and coils that wrapped around that ship 3 different times when I nodded to the ship's mast and asked him if he would tell me which one of those stubby looking antennae was the antenna that sensed the earth's magnetic field as the ship moved through it and served as the master reference for the degaussing system.
His eyes turned to the mast in question and saw what I saw. There was one antenna that was visibly and risibly, not vertical straight up and down. It turns out all we had to do was climb up there with a plumb bob and make it vertical and lo and behold, the degaussing system was restored to full operation.
The casualties I really hated were the hidden ones that had not been reported because they were the redundant systems there to backup the primaries. When there is just one fuel oil purifier, you need it to work. Barring that, you would need the fuel oil transfer pump (1) to work so you could move fuel from the main tanks in the bowels of the ship to the service tanks in the engine rooms. Ours did not work. Neither did the attached diesel powered emergency fire pump. Neither did the Salt Water Cooling backup pump.
Some fairly bright architects, engineers, boat wrights and craftsmen built these ships but 4 months in the hands of slackers and underachievers had left them pretty much down to a single catastrophic failure with no chance of recovery.
I remember my brother returning to the condo we shared in San Diego and reporting that his bank had just written off another 2 or 3 % of outstanding loans as non-performing assets. This was at the height of the Savings and Loan disaster and I finally had to point out that he better start looking for a new job because one cannot keep writing off assets with a glib expression and no plan to make the bank work again.
It is looking more and more likely that civilized societies around the world have let all the redundancies of civilization fall apart and atrophy. The disaster at Chernobyl was manmade. I wonder though at people who are supposedly clever who dismantled their entire power network and now rely upon the truthfulness and integrity of Russians who 'promise' to provide all the fuel the new fossil plants require to generate power. Cities like LA totally reliant on a single water source hundreds of miles away.
The barbarians have always been out there and there's a lot of them now. Infrastructure used to be designed and built with redundancy so the entire system was never paralyzed if one source failed or hostile action destroyed a major node.
We don't build civilizations like we used to.
I remember the first time I showed up on one of those ships. As I recall offhand, the engineering systems had 22 outstanding casualty reports on pieces of the altogether vital ship's propulsion and control systems. Those were just the most hideously blatant ones. There were a whole slew of other things that did not work but were covered by redundant equipment so the effect of failure could be pushed off into some unknown future.
My Chief had preceded my arrival by a month and he was working flat out at making the ship whole but it was an uphill struggle until reinforcements arrived; me and a Chief Electrician off another MSO out of Seattle/Tacoma. We couldn't help but be amazed at the wreck that was now ours. Almost nothing on that ship worked except the SONAR and one or two engines.
One of the equipment failures I remember well. The ship's degaussing system did not work. The massive system designed to minimize our magnetic signature and make us invisible to really scary magnetic influence mines was totally out of commission. The Chief Electrician tore into that one first. He was busy going hand over hand following the various coils trying to find the ground/short when I took him to the fantail for a smoke and an update. He was outlining what he was trying to do with too few hands and coils that wrapped around that ship 3 different times when I nodded to the ship's mast and asked him if he would tell me which one of those stubby looking antennae was the antenna that sensed the earth's magnetic field as the ship moved through it and served as the master reference for the degaussing system.
His eyes turned to the mast in question and saw what I saw. There was one antenna that was visibly and risibly, not vertical straight up and down. It turns out all we had to do was climb up there with a plumb bob and make it vertical and lo and behold, the degaussing system was restored to full operation.
The casualties I really hated were the hidden ones that had not been reported because they were the redundant systems there to backup the primaries. When there is just one fuel oil purifier, you need it to work. Barring that, you would need the fuel oil transfer pump (1) to work so you could move fuel from the main tanks in the bowels of the ship to the service tanks in the engine rooms. Ours did not work. Neither did the attached diesel powered emergency fire pump. Neither did the Salt Water Cooling backup pump.
Some fairly bright architects, engineers, boat wrights and craftsmen built these ships but 4 months in the hands of slackers and underachievers had left them pretty much down to a single catastrophic failure with no chance of recovery.
I remember my brother returning to the condo we shared in San Diego and reporting that his bank had just written off another 2 or 3 % of outstanding loans as non-performing assets. This was at the height of the Savings and Loan disaster and I finally had to point out that he better start looking for a new job because one cannot keep writing off assets with a glib expression and no plan to make the bank work again.
It is looking more and more likely that civilized societies around the world have let all the redundancies of civilization fall apart and atrophy. The disaster at Chernobyl was manmade. I wonder though at people who are supposedly clever who dismantled their entire power network and now rely upon the truthfulness and integrity of Russians who 'promise' to provide all the fuel the new fossil plants require to generate power. Cities like LA totally reliant on a single water source hundreds of miles away.
The barbarians have always been out there and there's a lot of them now. Infrastructure used to be designed and built with redundancy so the entire system was never paralyzed if one source failed or hostile action destroyed a major node.
We don't build civilizations like we used to.
 |
| YMS-516 exploded by a magnetic influence mine 18 October 1950, Wonsan, Korea |
Saturday, January 24, 2015
54
I'm in love with two women. You would not believe how beautiful, smart and creative they are. They are both adorable. With this one though, if you cover her feet....she falls asleep. OK, OK, 54 years into life, I'm beginning to suspect that it works with all girls.
Who knew? :)
Who knew? :)
Friday, January 23, 2015
THE OLD RELIABLE
Hillary is awful but just think, what kind of creature would she choose as her running mate?
She is the old reliable. We can count on her to get just the right man for the number 2 job in her administration.
She is the old reliable. We can count on her to get just the right man for the number 2 job in her administration.
65
65 men and women ensure a life without meaning. Good God. No wonder the SS has gone downhill.
Imagine the HR office where the second deputy under assistant to the vice president for ex first lady affairs runs the damned palace. Hillary has 65 agents full time to look after her. I really enjoyed GUARDING TESS by whossname. I can watch that movie again.
Can you imagine, life in the SS and they send you to the Clinton detail? Either one is bad, each is worse than the other.
Imagine the HR office where the second deputy under assistant to the vice president for ex first lady affairs runs the damned palace. Hillary has 65 agents full time to look after her. I really enjoyed GUARDING TESS by whossname. I can watch that movie again.
Can you imagine, life in the SS and they send you to the Clinton detail? Either one is bad, each is worse than the other.
SPEAKING TRUTH TO POWER
It is so like our president that he had this to say about a Saudi blogger who wrote about the religious police and who was sentenced to 10 years in jail and 1000 lashes by the harsh rulers of Saudi Arabia where, by the way, the knig* died yesterday.
Can't you see the ringtone with wrinkled brow trying to pen a word or two in tribute to the Saudi king and coming up with, 'courage of his convictions.' That's a seminal moment. Imagine, a total autocrat and ruler somehow scrounging up the courage to support his convictions.
*knig is the term for a Saudi ruler who imprisons bloggers and has them whipped to death.
"As a leader, he was always candid and had the courage of his convictions," President Obama said in a statement.The new king is said to be batshit crazy and suffers from dementia and Alzheimers so he will blend seamlessly into Saudi society and lead them brilliantly into the 31st year of the 8th century.
Can't you see the ringtone with wrinkled brow trying to pen a word or two in tribute to the Saudi king and coming up with, 'courage of his convictions.' That's a seminal moment. Imagine, a total autocrat and ruler somehow scrounging up the courage to support his convictions.
*knig is the term for a Saudi ruler who imprisons bloggers and has them whipped to death.
ADVICE FOR GOP HOPEFULS
How beautifully was this composed and written?
Maybe they need to hire more interns?
Republican presidential candidates haven’t had the best luck with young, unmarried women in the past couple of elections.
Maybe they need to hire more interns?
Thursday, January 22, 2015
HOODIE
You know how glabal warming is bad?
Hoodies are worse!
and yes, I know very well how to spell global. I mock.
Hoodies are worse!
and yes, I know very well how to spell global. I mock.
BYNOMIAL SUPPOSITION AND N FACTORING
The robber came into the chicken palace waving a firearm and demanding cash. The line attendants tried to satisfy his demands while I ate my dinner. At some point, the robber became frustrated and screamed that he was going to shoot hostages at which point, I hurled my salt shaker at his head. It took him down hard. I went over to him and was standing on his now disarmed hand when another customer picked up the gun and decided to rob on. She waved it at me and told me to shed my privilege and get off that boy's hand and then she started shooting. I bobbed and weaved and all 5 rounds from the revolver missed me, mostly, at which point I punched her into next week. She dropped the gun and as I watched in amazement, another man in the next booth pulled a gun and pointed it at me and told me to freeze.
I bent over, picked up the empty gun and threw it very hard at his head.
How many times do you read about anybody using a gun as a missile?
We aim to satisfy.
Now you have. I had fun writing that. Have a very good day.
I bent over, picked up the empty gun and threw it very hard at his head.
How many times do you read about anybody using a gun as a missile?
We aim to satisfy.
Now you have. I had fun writing that. Have a very good day.
BEATING THE RECORD FOR LOWEST AIRPLANE FLIGHT
Eric Worrall says it pretty well but without the irony:
Ever wonder what a dog is going to do with a car once he chases it down and bites it?
In 2013, NASA decided to take time out from creating spectacularly useless climate models, and reactivated their Near-Earth Object Wide-field Survey Explorer programme. The result is moderately terrifying – 8 previously unknown near Earth asteroids with catastrophic impact potential have been discovered, along with a host of smaller bodies which have the potential to wipe out a city.As with global warming and dogs, one wonders why people bother. With the best telescopes, all the money in the universe and an army of slaves, if you saw a killer planetoid speeding directly towards an earth shattering collision, what the hell would you do about it? Global warming/cooling? We're talking about a whole entire planet. When you think you have an idea how gigantic that is, hop on a plane at SFO and fly to Japan. NIMBYs have no idea how big a planet is.
Ever wonder what a dog is going to do with a car once he chases it down and bites it?
Wednesday, January 21, 2015
THE TUBE OF YOU
I went there to find this. Because we think it is funny and captures my driving experiences through LA for almost 20 years. I really did not like driving through LA and tried to do it when most of them were fast asleep or passed out.
Sadly, those rotten bastards are almost always on the freeway....
and then I found this video next up in the cue of the tube of you.
I regret that I lost my lifelong respect for police but this one, he was good. He's the kind of lawman that I dealt with all my life. Good men. Doing their best under trying circumstances that I understand. The will to be stupid is almost overwhelming for some. After emptying a magazine at her, I'd have reloaded and shot her some more because she needs killing.
It amazes me, sadly, that even given every reason to feel the urge to kill, we suppress it.....a lot.
Don't worry. Still don't believe in no-knock raids and don't believe in police drive-by killings and I don't carry. Our freeways are dangerous enough. :)
UPDATE: This is actually a Zen video. Given your color of immunity and your apex predator status, what wouldn't you do that van load. This one never fired a shot.
Sadly, those rotten bastards are almost always on the freeway....
and then I found this video next up in the cue of the tube of you.
I regret that I lost my lifelong respect for police but this one, he was good. He's the kind of lawman that I dealt with all my life. Good men. Doing their best under trying circumstances that I understand. The will to be stupid is almost overwhelming for some. After emptying a magazine at her, I'd have reloaded and shot her some more because she needs killing.
It amazes me, sadly, that even given every reason to feel the urge to kill, we suppress it.....a lot.
Don't worry. Still don't believe in no-knock raids and don't believe in police drive-by killings and I don't carry. Our freeways are dangerous enough. :)
UPDATE: This is actually a Zen video. Given your color of immunity and your apex predator status, what wouldn't you do that van load. This one never fired a shot.
A VERY SMALL PIECE OF THE LAST
This showed up awhile ago.
I put it back on my key chain. How many people have been to Sintra much less Cabo da Roca?
OTOH, my last key chain fob was from Panmunjom in the Joint Security Area.
I put it back on my key chain. How many people have been to Sintra much less Cabo da Roca?
OTOH, my last key chain fob was from Panmunjom in the Joint Security Area.
THE SCIENCE IS SETTLED
From Ars Technica:
You tell little girls things like this and they just don't believe you...
Tuesday, January 20, 2015
THEY HAVE SUFFERED ENOUGH
Honestly, I kept expecting Penn or Teller to jump out of the bushes.
Absolutely no poll tests allowed. Come one, come all, and Vote!
I loved, "haven't women suffered enough?"
Absolutely no poll tests allowed. Come one, come all, and Vote!
I loved, "haven't women suffered enough?"
LET'S CUT TO THE HEART OF THE MATTER ON GLOBAL TEMP
The hell with all this, what do the tree rings tell us? What@the trees!?!
How odd that we no longer reference our long lived brothers in forest who accurately measured the seasons temperatures for decade after decade, century after century and are now set aside as meaningless data. Screw the satellite data, I want tree rings dammit!
Climate data without tree rings is MEANINGLESS!
Sorry, I just thought I'd throw that out there. :)
How odd that we no longer reference our long lived brothers in forest who accurately measured the seasons temperatures for decade after decade, century after century and are now set aside as meaningless data. Screw the satellite data, I want tree rings dammit!
Climate data without tree rings is MEANINGLESS!
Sorry, I just thought I'd throw that out there. :)
SQUARELY ON THE HEAD
Nails it.
I worked with our country teams in the Middle East a long time and think that the article nails the FSO's to the wall with their own pointed barbed words. One has to see to believe how meaningless the State Department has made Ambassadors and our Embassies.
In my lifetime, an Ambassador was his country's voice abroad.
I worked with our country teams in the Middle East a long time and think that the article nails the FSO's to the wall with their own pointed barbed words. One has to see to believe how meaningless the State Department has made Ambassadors and our Embassies.
In my lifetime, an Ambassador was his country's voice abroad.
SPEAKING OF ISIS
Interesting report from Jurgen Todenhofer at Breitbart. It seems a journalist took his son into the Caliphate and witnessed the atrocities they practice in preparation for the big plans to kill hundreds of millions of infidels and maybe half a billion muslims. What captured my interest was:
But don't ask me. Look at history itself.
The journalist asserted that the U.S.-led bombing campaign was not going to stop the Islamic State and its continuing jihad. He told Al Jazeera that he believed the terror group would only be stopped if fellow Sunni Iraqis would rise up against them.I think we have reached the point where we simply have to accept that it is quite futile to rely upon muslims for anything at all; not oil, not common humanity and certainly not killing jihadists fighting in the name of islam. Even when you think you have one pinned down on the humanity grid as being in our court, they up and slaughter their daughter for the honor that's in it. I'm pretty sure they're not on our side in this struggle and they never were and they never will be.
But don't ask me. Look at history itself.
BEEN THERE, DONE THAT, GOT THE ISIS TRIM
Yet a new study has been conducted to determine why some fields of endeavor appear to shun women and maybe even blacks. Let's hope they're too smart to sound off on their findings. Read a way into the comments there at mathbabe's place because it takes awhile to become clear that Harvard defended a professor so well that he was never convicted. To quote mathbabe's post and comments, there was a reason or two:
I think the faculty ousted him as President of Harvard because of what he said. So, if you are carrying out a study on gender and science differences never ever breath a word of the results you get. Go back and ask for more funding for further study.
Double that amount if you want to even breath about race and science differences. Or better yet, just slit your lying stupid throat first. OK, I had actually meant to refer to the authors of the BELL CURVE.
There are no real victories in the social sciences these days nor in most of the non-engineering/STEM sciences. Go forth young pioneer and discover new breakthroughs in medicine and immunology based on genetics but rather sacrifice your first child to Baal than try to draw any conclusions from genetic differences about ability from something as transient and specious as genetics.
I think the faculty ousted him as President of Harvard because of what he said. So, if you are carrying out a study on gender and science differences never ever breath a word of the results you get. Go back and ask for more funding for further study.
Double that amount if you want to even breath about race and science differences. Or better yet, just slit your lying stupid throat first. OK, I had actually meant to refer to the authors of the BELL CURVE.
There are no real victories in the social sciences these days nor in most of the non-engineering/STEM sciences. Go forth young pioneer and discover new breakthroughs in medicine and immunology based on genetics but rather sacrifice your first child to Baal than try to draw any conclusions from genetic differences about ability from something as transient and specious as genetics.
Monday, January 19, 2015
BIRDMAN REVIEW
If you attend the theater to watch amazingly powerful acting, it's worth the $6.00 we paid to sit through tonight's performance. The acting throughout was excellent, the title and credit cacophony was not and the rest was OK. It took me through the second iteration before I began to compare and contrast it with a movie that was very popular on HBO back in its day; ALL THAT JAZZ with Bob Fosse. It will join the likes of GLENGARRY GLEN ROSS and GOSFORD PARK as a movie I won't watch again.
There, I've assured it an Oscar or two.
There, I've assured it an Oscar or two.
Sunday, January 18, 2015
CHECK OUT TRADITIONAL VIBE
Look at the last half dozen posts. The picture of the bullfighter was memorable. [UPDATED]
This incredible photo marks the end of Matador Torero Alvaro Munera’s career. He collapsed in remorse mid-fight when he realized he was having to prompt this otherwise gentle beast to fight. He went on to become an avid opponent of bullfights. Even grievously wounded by picadors, he did not attack this man.Torrero Munera is quoted as saying of this moment: “And suddenly, I looked at the bull. He had this innocence that all animals have in their eyes, and he looked at me with this pleading. It was like a cry for justice, deep down inside of me. I describe it as being like a prayer - because if one confesses, it is hoped, that one is forgiven. I felt like the worst shit on earth.”
Friday, January 16, 2015
NOW AT THE END OF DAYS
I must stop starting my posts with I. We sound like the current president when we catch ourselves doing that. Anyway, we shall forge on. Who knew? I thought the Attorney General would leave office without making a single worthwhile, justifiable or Constitutional decision and yet I am proved most wrong. Sometimes it is good to be wrong. I won't say I misjudged the man because I haven't. I will say that some dragon must be snapping at his ass because this volte face by the Justice Department is as shattering as the one that found the US government guilty of the crimes we attribute to nazis when the President signed an order to round up Americans of Japanese descent and imprison them all in camps like Manzanar.
Note the total lack of irony in the quoted section, "without evidence that a crime occurred." Just how did the law get to that state without any of the toads noticing? The Decline and Fall of Western Civilization will probably have a full chapter on this period as darkness fell.
Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. on Friday barred local and state police from using federal law to seize cash, cars and other property without evidence that a crime occurred.Why was that even necessary in a Republic? We enthuse about how the action to abate lawlessness by cops was embraced by both the extreme left and the extreme right. As we come around the bend we begin to see each other in our loathing for this government. Warp speed will do that sometimes.
Note the total lack of irony in the quoted section, "without evidence that a crime occurred." Just how did the law get to that state without any of the toads noticing? The Decline and Fall of Western Civilization will probably have a full chapter on this period as darkness fell.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.I never once listened to a bureaucrat of any stripe, who could not be trumped. And no, I never had to resort to thumpery. {nifty new word I just made up}.
Thursday, January 15, 2015
YET ANOTHER MODEST PROPOSAL*...WITH VIDEO!
These guys and the road liars seem to be proliferating like mad these days so I have an innovative solution. I will only charge one Peseta* for it.
PROBLEM:
SOLUTION:
No officer, I never laid a hand on them...
*I kept pawing through my car console for quarters, dimes, and nickels and these scrungy looking pesetas kept getting in the way. I wondered today, what are those things? I miss the peseta. With that weight of metal, one felt one had a lot of money.
Oh, and there's plenty of room under the bridge for an F-18 if only those pesky flesh tubes weren't in the way.
OK OK: or we could just dispatch a fire truck to hose them all down thoroughly for about 30 minutes and then send them a massive cleaning bill for the wash down. Water isn't free.
PROBLEM:
SOLUTION:
No officer, I never laid a hand on them...
*I kept pawing through my car console for quarters, dimes, and nickels and these scrungy looking pesetas kept getting in the way. I wondered today, what are those things? I miss the peseta. With that weight of metal, one felt one had a lot of money.
Oh, and there's plenty of room under the bridge for an F-18 if only those pesky flesh tubes weren't in the way.
OK OK: or we could just dispatch a fire truck to hose them all down thoroughly for about 30 minutes and then send them a massive cleaning bill for the wash down. Water isn't free.
SORRY CHARLIE, IT'S ONLY WORKPLACE VIOLENCE
I misremember. Did the President ever condemn this little bit of islamic medical malpractice? Probably not. None of those killed were anything like his son Trayvon. He probably thinks that whatever may, or may not have happened at Fort Hood, had nothing at all to do with islam.
I never use the most obvious shills of the Ministry of Truth as references, but I'm going with the reference because I believe it is true. I know. Gasp!
I never use the most obvious shills of the Ministry of Truth as references, but I'm going with the reference because I believe it is true. I know. Gasp!
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| The ones in uniform did very well indeed....and were promptly fired. Really. Fired. |
DEAR LEADER
There is an old saying, much garbled, by George Santayana. "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."
The more I read, the more I am convinced that progressive liberals are people who simply refuse to believe history and are anxious to condemn the rest of us to repeat the most grisly bits again and again and again.
A brief query, using wikipedia into an obscure island in the middle of the Pacific, led to a 3 hour reading binge ending finally with The War of the Pacific between Chile, Bolivia and Peru. The will to be stupid is the strongest force on earth.
The more I read, the more I am convinced that progressive liberals are people who simply refuse to believe history and are anxious to condemn the rest of us to repeat the most grisly bits again and again and again.
A brief query, using wikipedia into an obscure island in the middle of the Pacific, led to a 3 hour reading binge ending finally with The War of the Pacific between Chile, Bolivia and Peru. The will to be stupid is the strongest force on earth.
WHAT DID THE JAG SAY?
Over a decade ago the various commanders of US forces operating on foreign shores issued orders that forbade the wearing of military uniforms by military personnel engaged in military duties or assignments. They didn't merely discourage our combatant forces in foreign lands from wearing their military uniforms, they forbade the wearing of any uniform in a number of cases and allowed such undignified mods to the authorized uniforms that surely boiled the brains of Chief Petty Officers, Gunnies and First Sergeants expected to enforce the Force Protection orders and order the wholesale violation of the Uniform Regulations.
It's interesting to speculate that the reason the various overseas Admirals and Generals ordered these Force Protection measures was to attempt to have our Sailors, Soldiers, Marines and Air Forces more easily 'blend in' with the local populace and thus escape easy targeting by the enemy. I suspect that's the case. The Orders required a lot of silly things.
What do you suppose the JAGs had to say about our Armed Forces being ordered to doff uniforms while waging war in war-zones in which all our forces qualified for Imminent Danger or Hazardous Duty pay? Did anybody dare to point out that the Geneva Conventions spell out that all military personnel must wear distinctive uniforms or be considered Unlawful Combatants?
I'm sure they did.
It's interesting to speculate that the reason the various overseas Admirals and Generals ordered these Force Protection measures was to attempt to have our Sailors, Soldiers, Marines and Air Forces more easily 'blend in' with the local populace and thus escape easy targeting by the enemy. I suspect that's the case. The Orders required a lot of silly things.
What do you suppose the JAGs had to say about our Armed Forces being ordered to doff uniforms while waging war in war-zones in which all our forces qualified for Imminent Danger or Hazardous Duty pay? Did anybody dare to point out that the Geneva Conventions spell out that all military personnel must wear distinctive uniforms or be considered Unlawful Combatants?
I'm sure they did.
Tuesday, January 13, 2015
A MODEST PROPOSAL
The heart of the intolerance of muslims living in the West and elsewhere has to do with who funded the madrassas that trained all these western hating clerics running wild all over the world. Most of their funding came from Saudi Arabia and arabians living there and the rest came from the Emirates. One way to demonstrate universal disapproval of this sort of behavior would be to seize all their assets located in the West overnight. All their villas in Capri and the cote d'Azure gone overnight along with all their investments and money held by banks in the West.
Think of the trillions of dollars that could be squeezed out of the islamic supporters of terrorism and jihadism in the West! Who keeps sending money to boko haram to buy guns and ammunition? Who keeps sending money to the Taliban to buy guns and ammunition? Who keeps sending money to the families of suicide bombers in Palestine, Lebanon and Syria?
Don't think it can happen? Look at who seized/nationalized all Western assets throughout North Africa and the Middle East.
Think of the trillions of dollars that could be squeezed out of the islamic supporters of terrorism and jihadism in the West! Who keeps sending money to boko haram to buy guns and ammunition? Who keeps sending money to the Taliban to buy guns and ammunition? Who keeps sending money to the families of suicide bombers in Palestine, Lebanon and Syria?
Don't think it can happen? Look at who seized/nationalized all Western assets throughout North Africa and the Middle East.
Monday, January 12, 2015
MAKES FOR LAUGHTER
The same tortured analysts who constructed a vision that justifies Holder, Homeland Security and the President's refusal to obey the Law by citing prosecutorial discretion and insufficient resources, are going to see in a few weeks what failure to enforce the Law means if NYPD officers continue too refuse to write summons for the tens of thousands of misdemeanors every day they formerly strictly enforced in order to bring order and some decency to the cesspit known as New York City. They used to enforce a lot of laws but they did it for two reasons: I believe they did it because they knew it was a primary source of revenue for the city and thus for job protection but also because it became clear that if they kept the lid on all the little felons they wouldn't grow into big, dangerous, scary felons.
The federal law has completely collapsed on immigration as the feds follow a policy of total non-enforcement. It is having an immensely destructive effect on all the states in the Southwest from Texas to California. If the NYPD continues to follow their own lead and stop citing perverts, jaywalkers, window washmen, smokers, illegal gun possession, window breakers, etc, will New York turn back into the sewer that it used to be? Will urban blight return overnight to all the gentrified oases.
It will be interesting to find out. OTOH, while I don't believe that most NYPD live anywhere near the districts they patrol it is generally a bad thing to foul your own nest and they live in the city. On the gripping hand, they mostly live, I hear, in Staten Island. The other Burroughs can go hang.
It is not a pleasant laughter. Not at all.
The federal law has completely collapsed on immigration as the feds follow a policy of total non-enforcement. It is having an immensely destructive effect on all the states in the Southwest from Texas to California. If the NYPD continues to follow their own lead and stop citing perverts, jaywalkers, window washmen, smokers, illegal gun possession, window breakers, etc, will New York turn back into the sewer that it used to be? Will urban blight return overnight to all the gentrified oases.
It will be interesting to find out. OTOH, while I don't believe that most NYPD live anywhere near the districts they patrol it is generally a bad thing to foul your own nest and they live in the city. On the gripping hand, they mostly live, I hear, in Staten Island. The other Burroughs can go hang.
It is not a pleasant laughter. Not at all.
PRESIDENT OBAMA THE COWARD?
The light-worker is being roundly castigated by the press because he refused to appear alongside 40 leaders in a meaningless march through Paris. Well enough, but consider; the security services of the United States advise people like him on real and unreal things that concern them about the safety and security of both the country and our royal family. One thing you can bet they told him was that the security services and the Army of France were thoroughly penetrated by muslims and that there was absolutely no way in hell to guarantee the safety of any royals or vice royals sent to march alongside the likes of those that showed up in Paris.
It's also worth considering that the only way the disgraced American Secret Service would tolerate allowing his holiness to attend that rally was if they could flood the city of Paris, secure the entire route which means metal detectors and frisking all million marchers and vetting and locking down every sniper venue along the route.
Not going to happen. Plus, I'm sure that some Jackal close at hand was mentioning the Day of the Jackal plot to his magnificence and suggesting he take the better course of indecision and play golf at Pebble Beach instead.
I'm sure Obama was happy to go along with the suggestion and I'm sure he suggested Biden stand in for him and I'm sure Biden, who gets the same sort of information from our vaunted security services, mentioned that he had a previous tanning salon appointment and must therefore decline the kind offer.
It's also worth considering that the only way the disgraced American Secret Service would tolerate allowing his holiness to attend that rally was if they could flood the city of Paris, secure the entire route which means metal detectors and frisking all million marchers and vetting and locking down every sniper venue along the route.
Not going to happen. Plus, I'm sure that some Jackal close at hand was mentioning the Day of the Jackal plot to his magnificence and suggesting he take the better course of indecision and play golf at Pebble Beach instead.
I'm sure Obama was happy to go along with the suggestion and I'm sure he suggested Biden stand in for him and I'm sure Biden, who gets the same sort of information from our vaunted security services, mentioned that he had a previous tanning salon appointment and must therefore decline the kind offer.
Friday, January 9, 2015
NOT AFRAID AND UNARMED
There was another senseless murderous muslim atrocity yesterday but the people remain unarmed and unafraid.
They should really think about arming themselves.
Seriously.
The "Liberator" was made for people disarmed by their government or conquerors (bloody nebulous distinction these days).
They should really think about arming themselves.
Seriously.
 |
| A million were made and dropped for partisans. Under 3 bucks. |
OVERWATCH
It's a term and a position. Real security has it. How exactly did that intruder make it all the way into the east room?
I tend to think that nobody has whossname's back.
I tend to think that nobody has whossname's back.
INDEPENDENCE
Two enormous cats gave me a sign as I was sleeping in my chair. Cats don't alert but they sometimes focus very very intensely. I saw that. It was 2 in the morning. Both of them had their gaze focused like laser beams on our neighbors garage which it took me too long to realize was open. In these parts, that's a no no.
I put my clothes on and headed next door to alert them to the fact that their garage door was open. It is 5 degrees below zero and snowing. So the question for tonight is:
how did 2 cats get me to do that?
I put my clothes on and headed next door to alert them to the fact that their garage door was open. It is 5 degrees below zero and snowing. So the question for tonight is:
how did 2 cats get me to do that?
Thursday, January 8, 2015
LITTORAL COMBAT SHIP
Admirals,
This is what I was talking about when you were doing your slavish little LCS dance. Note the very close LITTORAL COAST.
Hi lo meant something when you and yours sent the Panay up a river in China. In modern combat it means death and your job is not like that of the French Foreign Legion.
This is what I was talking about when you were doing your slavish little LCS dance. Note the very close LITTORAL COAST.
Hi lo meant something when you and yours sent the Panay up a river in China. In modern combat it means death and your job is not like that of the French Foreign Legion.
Wednesday, January 7, 2015
JUST A REMINDER
Obama, his Senate, his Congress and Gruber, all said that fully one half of Americans are stupid.
Yeah, we knew that. We, on the other hand, didn't vote for any of them.
Yeah, we knew that. We, on the other hand, didn't vote for any of them.
NORTH CAROLINA RELIABLY COMMUNIST AT UNIVERSITY LEVEL
The poor little lambs can't help themselfies. What makes North Carolina a home to Mangums and pseudo-rapists and out and out school fraud? Some might blame sports but I learned something on a cold winter day almost 30 years ago in a house I was renting in Newport, Rhode Island along with 2 other Ensigns and LT Mike Lemieux, and the lesson was so simple.
It's the piano's fault.
I cannot recall who sent me to his little tiny house in the woods to see if he would like to share a house in Newport with us. We were young and newly commissioned and unmarried and looking for someone to share the price of a place while we attended Surface Warfare School. Mike was finishing up a Master's Degree in Chemistry at Penn State. I sought him out, knocked on the door of a tiny little house (I mean really really really small) and asked if he would join the two of us young Ensigns in a few days of house-hunting leave in Newport since I had been informed that he was heading to Department Head School when he graduated and I thought we could use his help with rent.
He was interested. I was struck by his little house in the woods. It was, no kidding, a little tar paper shack about 12 feet by 15 feet. It was packed with woodwind instruments, guitars, and the most ridiculously expensive stereo equipment on the planet which he bought in Japan when he was on USS Worden.
I started keeping a journal back then because I wanted, in the morning, most of all, to know where I left my car the night before. We threw some epic parties, living as we did at 14 Annandale Road, by Cliff Walk and blocks from Salve Regina Girls College, but we followed a code and it was a simple one. Nobody ever left our parties drunk at the wheel of a car. I would walk home from other people's parties and bars or get a ride, but never ever drive home from the bars after too much and I usually had too much. I used to leave my car in the oddest places and Mike would give me a lift to get it in the morning on the way to Coasters Harbor Island.
Mike could play anything beautifully and he had an extensive library of what I called Irish Revolutionary Tunes.
A few moments to remember. One meets so many people. The Navy being the Navy, I kept running into Mike over the years. One often does that with good people. I have never seen again the people I despised in the Navy. They just vanished or went to live in Norfolk.
No officer, that's not a bloody knife in my hand....
It's the piano's fault.
I cannot recall who sent me to his little tiny house in the woods to see if he would like to share a house in Newport with us. We were young and newly commissioned and unmarried and looking for someone to share the price of a place while we attended Surface Warfare School. Mike was finishing up a Master's Degree in Chemistry at Penn State. I sought him out, knocked on the door of a tiny little house (I mean really really really small) and asked if he would join the two of us young Ensigns in a few days of house-hunting leave in Newport since I had been informed that he was heading to Department Head School when he graduated and I thought we could use his help with rent.
He was interested. I was struck by his little house in the woods. It was, no kidding, a little tar paper shack about 12 feet by 15 feet. It was packed with woodwind instruments, guitars, and the most ridiculously expensive stereo equipment on the planet which he bought in Japan when he was on USS Worden.
I started keeping a journal back then because I wanted, in the morning, most of all, to know where I left my car the night before. We threw some epic parties, living as we did at 14 Annandale Road, by Cliff Walk and blocks from Salve Regina Girls College, but we followed a code and it was a simple one. Nobody ever left our parties drunk at the wheel of a car. I would walk home from other people's parties and bars or get a ride, but never ever drive home from the bars after too much and I usually had too much. I used to leave my car in the oddest places and Mike would give me a lift to get it in the morning on the way to Coasters Harbor Island.
Mike could play anything beautifully and he had an extensive library of what I called Irish Revolutionary Tunes.
A few moments to remember. One meets so many people. The Navy being the Navy, I kept running into Mike over the years. One often does that with good people. I have never seen again the people I despised in the Navy. They just vanished or went to live in Norfolk.
No officer, that's not a bloody knife in my hand....
Tuesday, January 6, 2015
WANT TO BET?
In 2015 will Obama order a drone strike on:
Netanyahu
Kim
Putin
any random Kardashian?
I'm voting for Netanyahu.
Netanyahu
Kim
Putin
any random Kardashian?
I'm voting for Netanyahu.
A KIND OF MILD DISCONTENT
Long ago in my commuting to the Bay Area days I once heard Paul Theroux read as a PRI short on the radio. I was zooming up the valley to Gilroy at 0200 as Acknowledgement flowed over the air waves. I would like to hear it again.
A WAKE UP CALL
In 1988 I woke up the ship by playing this enroute to a minefield at 0600. Because I could.
The captain was so enamored he asked for my tape and then took two steps to toss it overboard.
Cheater.
They never prosper.
The captain was so enamored he asked for my tape and then took two steps to toss it overboard.
Cheater.
They never prosper.
Monday, January 5, 2015
AMUSEMENT
I'm not sure why peeps watch semi-pro, basketball or hockey. Honest to God, it is like watching pro-wrestling. Have some dignity dammit!
Saturday, January 3, 2015
IF WE WANTED
This article wonders why we don't track airplanes better so we know where to find them when they fall into an ocean. It's a valid question. Maybe they could try GPS and AIS and stuff that is available for free IFF every single day of the week.
The satellites know where they went. I have a screen saver that knows where they are.
The satellites know where they went. I have a screen saver that knows where they are.
BLACK FLAG
None of the poor dears understand who they hate so very much. There are two powers that can wage a form of warfare not seen since the middle ages. Sadly, the most liberal progressive regime is the most likely to resort to biological warfare.
If ever there was someone evil enough to unleash plague and bio war, the present incumbent tops the list. Putin might beat him but Chechnya has really quieted down these last decade and years. Kind of makes one wonder though, is anyone still alive in Chechnya?
If ever there was someone evil enough to unleash plague and bio war, the present incumbent tops the list. Putin might beat him but Chechnya has really quieted down these last decade and years. Kind of makes one wonder though, is anyone still alive in Chechnya?
Friday, January 2, 2015
A TRICKY LITTLE DEVIL
Andrew Klavan gets the warheads on foreheads. A lot of conservatives drop the ball when they speak about the Speaker. They miss the subtle underlying sharkness. Boehner and McConnell play the Congress like Yo Yo Ma plays the fiddle or something.
You can’t get more anti-government than Ayn Rand, so here’s Jack Wakeland writing from an Objectivist perspective on the sequester Boehner stuffed down the president’s throat: “The sequester is the only policy that has reduced spending by the federal government. In fiscal year 2013, total federal spending decreased 1.5% to 2.0% in real, inflation-adjusted dollars. And it promises to do so again in 2014. The FY 2013 sequester is the first time in my lifetime that federal spending shrank in absolute terms. After the ramp-down from WWII, the only decreases in federal spending were decreases as a percentage of GDP, e.g., during the Clinton-Gingrich term in 1995-96. These occurred only because GDP expanded more quickly than spending.”You never read about it in the press because they are the ones most often spitted and roasted by happy warriors on the rethuglican side.
PRESENT AT THE CREATION
I spent the holidays at my parents house in Virginia where I was asked to perform a few minor repairs using the tools at hand. In the first of my tasks, I was asked to install some towel racks and the tool I used was this:
You might have to embiggen the picture to see what I did. It is, in fact, a metal case with a power cord inspired by Edward Scissor Hands and no ground plug. Why yes, it was used by Pericles after it turned up in Egypt where it was used in building the Sphinx.
It is the single most scary tool I have ever used. Cannons were once labeled with Ultima Ratio Regum. This thing simply shrieks, Electrocution. My father says it dates from 1940.
You might have to embiggen the picture to see what I did. It is, in fact, a metal case with a power cord inspired by Edward Scissor Hands and no ground plug. Why yes, it was used by Pericles after it turned up in Egypt where it was used in building the Sphinx.
It is the single most scary tool I have ever used. Cannons were once labeled with Ultima Ratio Regum. This thing simply shrieks, Electrocution. My father says it dates from 1940.
Thursday, January 1, 2015
BUCK PENNINGTON
Another good man has stepped into the clearing at the end of the path. I don't know what kept the Casa Movil docked in Portales of all places but Buck was there for a long time. One could, I suppose, write a story about dark forces, evil overlords, Cold War treaties and such but there is no real explanation for why he exiled himself to the high desert of Portales.
We both toiled, for a time, in the radar gardens of our Uncle Sam. Buck worked primarily in the air search radar realm while I stayed more focused in the Continuous Wave and Doppler Pulse Fire Control Radar world.
You could tell he was Air Force because he covered a lot of ground in life and made a blessedly speedy departure. An exit like his is a blessing beyond price. I am going to miss him like I miss the man who introduced us. Good men who got the greatest things out of life and who suddenly, one day, stepped into the clearing at the end of the path.
I had hoped to one day see son#3 join his blog roll. I don't think he will ever know what he missed.
Pass and farewell friend. Until we meet again.
We both toiled, for a time, in the radar gardens of our Uncle Sam. Buck worked primarily in the air search radar realm while I stayed more focused in the Continuous Wave and Doppler Pulse Fire Control Radar world.
You could tell he was Air Force because he covered a lot of ground in life and made a blessedly speedy departure. An exit like his is a blessing beyond price. I am going to miss him like I miss the man who introduced us. Good men who got the greatest things out of life and who suddenly, one day, stepped into the clearing at the end of the path.
I had hoped to one day see son#3 join his blog roll. I don't think he will ever know what he missed.
Pass and farewell friend. Until we meet again.
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| Everybody slept easier when Buck was on the job |
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
We laughed loud and often as we celebrated the final day of 2014. We were watching RED2. It enriches the soul to know that RED3 is out there somewhere and due to appear in 2016. We are, thus, a little closer to the day we can watch it.
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