Mark Kelly, husband of Representative Gabrielle Giffords, is having to make a hard decision.  He’s been up in the shuttle before, but has been slated to command the shuttle when it flies later this spring. On the other hand, his wife is recovering from a gunshot wound to the head, so she really needs him.  I’m sure he’s agonizing over whether to make history or stay home to support his wife. 

Here’s my take on it:

Dude, don’t even consider the shuttle option. Here’s what commanding the shuttle will give you:

• A nifty patch
• A place in the history books
• Another notch in your badass astronaut coup stick

Here’s what you will gain by staying with your wife:

• Hopefully, her appreciation of you giving up the opportunity of a lifetime to take care of her.
• The continued possession of half your things and full time access to your children.
• A reputation of being a stand up guy who puts the needs of his family above his own ambitions.
• You negate the understood risk of strapping yourself to the top of a rocket and spacecraft design that’s been known to catastrophically fail at a time when your wife desperately needs you in her life.

Here’s what taking the shuttle mission could cause:

• Years of “well since I need you to do something for me, I assume you have a space mission that night” remarks
• Half of the ballooned debt that she runs up in spite
• Years of seeing your kids part time.
• Years of paying child support full time
• Moving into a condo while watching your wife put your house up for sale.
• Watching half of your worldly possessions disappear overnight

I’m not saying that a wife would divorce her husband because he chose a space shuttle mission over caring for her during a time such as this, but I’m one percent certain that it would be brought up during the inevitable spats every couple has.  And heaven forbid they ever divorce, it’s sure to be mentioned at least once or twice.

Dude, tell NASA thanks, but you need to stay home to care for your wife.  You’ve already been an astronaut, you’re already proven to be braver than the average bear, you’ll get accolades for being a caring husband, and the likelihood that you’ll keep half your stuff and your kids will be improved.

No, I’m not bitter, why do you ask?

I guess I’m naive, but I like the ‘new’ in the ‘news’ to mean that only things that will surprise me or I will find novel should be included in my news.  Here are a few of the things that were on the news today that my only response was “No kidding?”:

• The head of the TSA is freezing the number of airports who will use contract security instead of TSA screeners because he doesn’t see much point in it.  No kidding?  A government bureaucrat is deciding to make sure that the public has no choice but to use the ‘services’ of his agency? 
• Egypt’s economy is tanking because foreigners are taking their tourist money and getting the heck out of Dodge.  Really?  Tourists don’t like going to places where CNN is showing pictures of violent protests and riots? 
• The mid-west and Plains states are bracing for a rather nasty blizzard which is expected to dump snow and ice over a large part of the country.  No fooling?  It’s bleeding January and they’re surprised that it’s snowing and blowing on the plains?  
• If a person wants to lose weight or maintain a good body mass ratio, they should eat less and exercise more.  Really?  The magic bullet for weight control is to follow your grandmother’s advice of “Eat your vegetables” and “Go outside and play”?

In other news, the ocean is still wet, politicans tend to steal and lie in order to stay in office, and the sun rose this morning.

For the newsies out there, please start reporting things that we don’t expect to happen, not things that can be predicted.   The rest can be filtered out and no-one will complain.

Well, I have to say that this was one of the better weekends I’ve had lately.

Saturday afternoon, I met BRM and Wing at the Maker’s Mark distillery for a tour and lunch.  The tour was really interesting, and the tasting of two different kinds of bourbon at the end was even better.  The weather was unseasonably warm and clear, so we decided to have lunch at the distilleries open air cafe.  One note on Maker’s Mark:  it’s an itty bitty place in the middle of the country.  If you’re going, allow plenty of time for travel, and follow the directions carefully.  If you’re not used to driving on little two lane roads, this will be a great way to gain experience.  That being said, the countryside in that part of Kentucky is very pretty, so the drive is pleasant if you’re not in a hurry.

That evening Wing and BRM joined us and some other friends for dinner at Case De Oso.  Much good food, great conversation, and good company was enjoyed.  I was introduced to a new temptation, Van Der Hum brandy liqueur.  BRM reports that it’s common in his home country of South Africa, but he has been able to find only one importer for it here in the United States.  I’m definitely going to have to ration out the bottle he left with us.

Sunday morning Irish Woman made a country cholesterol breakfast for us, and we talked for a while over coffee.  After saying our goodbyes and promising to not be strangers, Wing and BRM left to head back down south.

The afternoon was spent playing with BooBoo.  He’d been pretty good all weekend with our guests, but needed some individual attention.  I have to say that he had more energy for wrestling than I did, but Irish Woman and I were able to switch off pretty frequently, so we weren’t too terribly worn out.

We’re expecting some bad weather this week, and our wood bin was looking kind of empty, so I cut up about half a cord of logs and split them.  The bin is now full, so if the power takes a hit, we’ll be OK.  I’m definitely going to have to spend a few weekends this spring hunting craig’s list for firewood to replenish our supply.

Irish Woman and I really enjoyed having guests, and are already planning a Derby Party for May and a pool party at a friend’s subdivision for July or August.  Am I becoming a social creature in my middle age?

Admiral James Winnefeld, commander of the U.S. North American Air Defense Command (NORAD), appears to be both clueful and forthright.

He is, to the shock of all who will listen, proclaiming that the suicide bomb attack at Domodedovo Airport in Moscow could just as easily have happened here.  He’s pointing out that, at least on the subject of international Islamic terrorism, Russia is closer to us than we all want to believe.  He wants to meet with his Russian counterparts and work with them on as much as possible.

I have to agree with the good Admiral, as much as it pains me to admit that I agree with anyone in the Navy.  We have made it more difficult to get a weapon onto an airplane, so it stands to reason that future attacks will happen on places other than airplanes.  They may go after mass transit as they did in London and Madrid, tourist areas such as Bali or Times Square, or airports like Domodedovo.  And these tactics will eventually become more common in the American homeland.

And guess what?  The Admiral is right in asserting that we have to have perfect security in order to keep nutjobs from strapping on explosives and blowing themselves and a bunch of civilians up.  We can stop most of them, but we will miss some.  Perfect security is impossible.  If they keep throwing the balls at the basket, we will eventually have one go in.  The questions for us are:

1. How much liberty are we willing to sacrifice in order to have “better” security, knowing that no matter how hard we try, eventually someone will succeed?
2. How are we going to react when eventually Ahmed bin BadGuy succeeds in blowing up the petting zoo on field trip day?

As to Russia being a partner in the fight against Islamic terrorism, I can’t agree more heartily.  Let’s agree for a moment that Russia is at best a fledgling democracy, and has a long way to go in the department of freedom and individual rights.  But they have also been absorbing terror attacks for at least as long as we have.  Russia has expertise and the will to use it.  They also have great influence in the central Asian republics, which we depend on for support in our fight in Afghanistan.

It is refreshing for someone in the government to be honest about the real threats that we face, and to be willing to reach beyond the rut we have worked ourselves into to look for new partners in the struggle against Islamic terrorism.  I just hope that those in power who don’t want the unspeakable to be spoken don’t slap him down.

H/T to Blackfive and Big Peace for this one.

The city of Fayetteville, NC, which is the town next to Fort Bragg and Pope Air Force Base, is planning a big festival to celebrate veterans of the Vietnam war.  Admirable, if a bit late. The vets,who weren’t exactly treated well when they came home, certainly deserve it.

Fort Bragg and Pope AFB, for those not familiar with them, are home to the 82nd Airborne Division, the XVIII Airborne Corps, and the John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School, as well as several other units.  These units, and Bragg itself, have a long history of being the first into the fire for our country.  Bragg has been ‘home’ to a lot of soldiers who have gone to fight our wars since the First World War, including Vietnam, so I can see why the town fathers would want to hold a celebration of the Vietnam vets.

The mayor of Fayetteville, however, seems to have forgotten to take his medicine lately.  He’s inviting members of Quaker House, an organization that vigorously protested the Vietnam War, to participate in the festivities.  Quaker House, who I must point out had every right to protest the war itself, but seems to have chosen to include protesting the troops involved in the war, plans to not only attend, but also to show several anti-war films to the crowds.  Just what a group of aging veterans want to see and remember, films of Jane Fonda sitting on anti-aircraft guns that shoot at our planes and consorting with the soldiers that our troops were fighting.

Ahem….

Someone in Fayetteville needs to spend a little time with their mayor and remind him why his little city isn’t even more of a jerkwater than it already is.   It’s a craphole that was only saved from oblivion because Presidents Wilson and Roosevelt used placement of Army posts as a way to lift up depressed economic areas.  Read “We can’t get anything useful out of this area, let’s use it to train people to blow stuff up!”.

The veterans he’s dishonoring by inviting those who questioned their honor kept his little flyspeck of a cesspool from blowing away back in the day. Our currently serving troopers continue to support his little enclave of pawn shops, strip joints, and tattoo parlors by living in what amounts to off post housing and buying their groceries from the good citizens of Fayetteville.    Maybe he ought to show a little more respect and thankfulness to those who pay his salary and keep his children safe at night.

Deep breath…..  OK

If Quaker House has the bad taste to show up, then I hope that the gathered vets and their families give them the treatment the deserve:  a respectful view of their backs as they are completely ignored.  Don’t give them even the satisfaction of acknowledging their existence.  And maybe that should go double for Mayor Chavonne.

Irish Woman, pointing to the Backyardigans on TV:  What is that they’re singing?  Is that a hymn?
DaddyBear, only half listening:  Dear, it’s a cartoon hippo.  How am I supposed to know if it’s a her or a him?  Does it have nipples?

Mental note, when the wife initiates communications, pay attention!

Dear Apple Iphone Programmer,

This afternoon, as I was driving home, the following playlist came up while listening to music on ‘shuffle’ on your device:

1. Metallica, Enter Sandman (Sweet!)
2. Guns and Roses, Paradise City (Rock on!)
3. Pearl Jam, Jeremy (All Right!)
4. Slash – Something off the new album that made my windows vibrate
5. Ozzy Osbourne, Crazy Train (AHAHAHAHAHA!)
6. Jimmi Hendrix, All Along the Watchtower (SWEET!)
7. AC/DC, Shoot to Thrill (ALL RIGHT!)
8. Metallica, Wherever I May Roam (GRAAAHHHHH!)

And then just as I was about to start banging my head and smashing my fist against the headliner of the van, the following pieces of ‘music’ came up:

1. The Jonas Brothers – Something whiny
2. Miley Cyrus – Something grating
3. High School Musical – What the !@#$!@#!@#$?

Luckily, I was able to fast forward through all of that dreck.

OK, children, listen up.  If I am listening to a shuffled music library, and I turn up the volume and don’t fast forward through any songs, that means I like what your little piece of electronics is doing.  That does not mean stop playing stuff that rocks to switch to stuff that makes me want to drive into a concrete barrier.  If IOS doesn’t handle that kind of logic, then fix it.  Code, monkey, code!

Robb Allen has it.  He also makes a good point.

The ATF is expected to restrict the importation and sale of such guns as the Saiga shotgun today, due to a perceived notion of whether or not it has a “sporting purpose”.  While there is an argument that if such firearms are manufactured domestically the ATF won’t be able to do this, I still have problems with a government agency capriciously deciding that something becomes illegal because a subjective determination is made without congressional action.  And who’s to say that even if someone gets the patent and starts making them domestically, the ATF won’t come up with another administrative roadblock to stop them?

The net effect of this action, if it unfolds as expected, will be to make sure that there are no Saiga-like shotguns on the market by the time the ATF steps up to the mike, and all of those who own one will immediately see their value go up.

Personally, I hope that this is a head fake on the part of the ATF, and their announcement is not what is expected.  But then, I’m a starry eyed optimist sometimes.

For the record, I don’t own a Saiga.  I like my Mossberg, and will probably continue to buy from that manufacturer.  But those who want to have these firearms, which are legal as I type this and may very well not be by the time I come home from work tonight, have the right to do so without government interference.    If this goes down as expected, then letters to my senators and congressman will be in order, and I suggest you do the same.  Robb uses hyperbole, but I agree with him in that if the government is allowed to infringe on one right by fiat, then they will try to infringe on all of them.

Or stretch your arm out over its enclosure to take a cell phone picture apparently.

A young woman in Ukraine tried to take a picture of the crocodiles in her local zoo when she accidentally dropped her cell phone into the reptile’s pond.  The animals of course swallowed the fool thing, and now doctors are considering how to get it out of the alligator’s digestive tract.

This is a good lesson for why you should always back up your data and have a lock on your cell phone.  You never know when it’s going to be eaten by a predator, and who knows how many minutes are being eaten up in this situation.

Apparently, the phone is still in working condition, since doctors can still hear it ring occasionally.  Part of me wants to know what brand of phone it was that it can take a dunking in water, being swallowed by a bloody great crocodile, and survive in its stomach for a couple of weeks.  My kids can destroy a cell phone with a wet towel.

Hopefully the phone will work its way out and the vets won’t have to take the extraordinary step of doing surgery on a large, carnivorous reptile to get it out.  On the other hand, how many vets can say they’ve done thoracic surgery on a crocodile?