Well made it through day2. In the mornng we went to Arlington. Amazingly the children were very well behaved. We got to see the changing of the guard at the tomb of the unknowns.

After that we went to the natural history museum. That was nice because I was able to sit down in the main area and send Girlie Bear off to see different exhibits. There is some benefit to your daughter getting older.

Today is the air and space museum.

Was listening to the 6 o’clock news while I got dinner together tonight, and a report came on as a teaser for an investigative report they debuted last night. It deals with an X rated theater and book store in Indiana. Apparently, the local NBC affiliate sent in a hidden camera to catch people doing things that were against the law. Then one of the reporters cornered local law enforcement and politicians as to why they didn’t shut the place down.

That’s all good. I wouldn’t have talked about it during the dinner hour, but hey, freedom of the press and all that.

But I didn’t need nor did I expect to hear the term “glory hole” spoken on the TV tonight. Especially since Girlie Bear was in the living room typing something up on the computer.

Had to play the old “I’ll tell you when you’re older” card.

Got to love it.

Well, it’s been a very full weekend.

Saturday, Junior Bear had his junior prom. Had to do all the last minute things like pick up the tux and flowers, etc. He had a good time with his lady, and I got him and her home last night in one piece. Got to bed at about 1 AM.

Today, of course, is Mother’s Day. Treated the family to a Cracker Barrel breakfast (Mmmmm, Cracker Barrel). After we slept off the carbs a bit, we went to the zoo to see the new giraffe. We’re glad to see that he’s doing fine. He was born with a deformity of his lower legs that didn’t allow him to stand up, which is death to a baby giraffe. They have to stand in order to nurse. The mother can’t kneel down to feed them.

Irish Woman really enjoys her work with the zoo, so we spent almost 4 hours just wandering around. Baby Bear got to see the lorikeets for the first time today, and he was entranced. These are small parrot-like birds from Australia and Indonesia. They feed on nectar, so we bought a small cup of sugar water to feed them. Baby Bear was very firm in wanting to grab one, but we were able to keep them away. Didn’t want to end up on the evening news as a story of a toddler squeezing a tropical bird to death.

Girlie Bear spent the afternoon learning how to use my digital camera. She’ll be using it on our big field trip next weekend.

After all that, had to do the regular weekend work and errands, but compressed into the couple of hours left to do them on a Sunday afternoon.

I’m bushed, and I have a 5 AM change control to do tomorrow. Think I’m going to goof off for a few more minutes and then go catch a few hours of sleep.

Hope all of you enjoyed your mother’s day!

Saw this over at Blackfive. Gregory Kane at the Washington Examiner was at the World Trade Center the morning of September 10, 2001, and apparently shares my lack of empathy for those who have been interrogated.

I’ve been listening to people CBS (Cry and Blow Snot) over the interrogation methods that have been made public over the past few years with a bit of a cynical view. To be perfectly honest, I’m absolutely apathetic of the plight of people who have been captured while actively planning or executing plans to hurt me or those like me. I went through training as the subject of interrogation by Army interrogators, both newbies and guys who’d been around the block. I wasn’t being trained, I was the training aide. kinda like being the guinea pig used to do biology class experiments, only by very motivated students. It sucked, and I’m not ashamed to say that after a while it got really tempting to just give in and tell them my “secret” just to get it to stop. But it didn’t cause me actual harm, it didn’t make my want to roll into a ball and suck my thumb, and it didn’t make me want to call my congressman and the New York Times to complain.

The one mistake that President Bush made was not getting a formal declaration of war in the aftermath of September 11th. With that, a lot of the things that have been blared across the CNN screens would have been covered by the governments war powers, and some reporters would have gone to jail for discussing classified programs such as NSA wiretapping of foreigners who happen to reside in the US.

Mr. Kane makes the point that our foreign policy should boil down to “Don’t start nothing, won’t be nothing”. I like “No better friend, no worse enemy”. Even better is “We Americans are a peaceful people, but if you raise a hand to us, we’ll cut off your arm”.

If you’ve got 15 minutes, check out this short story over at Tor.

It’s being rumored that Apple is discussing purchasing Twitter.

For what, I have no idea.

Apple doesn’t have any business that Twitter would compliment, and I don’t think that Twitter has any technology that Apple needs.

I’m throwing the flag on this one for 10 yards.

Thoughts?

I just stumbled across Private Murphy, a comic about a regular guy in the Army. For anyone who’s ever been in the military, it’ll touch a nerve. Hopefully one that makes you laugh.

Here are a few of my favorites so far:

Had a guy in my unit in Germany who could do this with his NBC mask on.

Since I used to teach a few classes at Fort Huachuca, I won’t comment on this one.

Had this happen to me once. Took almost 2 hours to get the entire platoon extricated.

Anyway, this one goes on my list of everyday links. Enjoy.

Well, the month long craziness that is the Kentucky Derby festival is finally over.

The traffic disruptions, lack of good news coverage in favor of reporting on bed races, and worrying if it will rain on a certain Friday or Saturday are all over.

I watched the Derby on Saturday, and I have to admit it was a good race. I’m not one for horse racing that much, although I enjoy going to the track with friends. But that’s more to enjoy time with my friends than it is to bet on the ponies.

A few years ago, a friend of ours got us tickets to Churchill Downs on a Sunday for brunch on Millionaires Row. For those of you who don’t live around Louisville, Millionaires Row is the area where celebrities and politicians go to watch the Derby and Oaks. We didn’t go on a special day, so it was mostly regular people who paid extra to have a great breakfast, an air conditioned table to sit at, and a great perch in a tall building to watch the races from. We had all of the kids with us, and I allowed each of them to pick a horse from one of the races, and I put a $2 bet down for them. Junior Bear suddenly turned into Jimmy the Greek. He asked about track conditions, what the records of each of the horses was, and so on. Little Bear picked a horse at random as he was more interested in the buffet. Girlie Bear picked, and I quote, “the brown one”.

Needless to say, Girlie Bear won on a 25 to 1 shot. I let her spend her $50 any way she wanted.

After the Derby this year, we went over to a friend’s house to make dinner for the crew of friends who were working security at the Derby. They are parents and teenagers who are involved in the band program at Junior Bear’s school. The money they raise working security at these events goes towards paying for the band. These poor souls had been on their feet for 14 hours a day for the past two days, so we made them a good spaghetti and salad dinner. Irish Woman went to the store and got a flat of cupcakes and an apple pie for dessert.

When the crew got in at about 9, we got to hear about all the celebrities they’d seen as some of them had worked the limousine entrance and some had worked on Millionaires Row. Apparently, Kim Kardashian is as pretty in person as she is on the Internet. Or at least she is to the eyes of an 18 year old high school senior.

So, until next year, we can get back to just being a city in the South/Midwest.

Over the weekend, while I was at home watching the Kentucky Derby, members of the Dallas Cowboys were at a rookie mini-camp. During a violent storm, the facility they were in collapsed, injuring several of them.

One of the injured will be paralyzed below the waist for the rest of his waist. Another broke his back, but has no paralysis.

My thoughts and prayers go out to these men, their families, and the Cowboys in general. During the season, on the field, they are the evil empire. When stuff like this happens we let all that go and help each other any way we can.

Looks like Jerry Jones is going to do the right thing and support these employees in any way he can. Good on him. Mr. Jones sometimes has a bad reputation, but if he’s going to do right by his people when they get hurt on the job, he goes up a notch or two in my estimation.

After my earlier discussion of the new flu scare, Roberta X linked to a great article on why this flu isn’t that panic worthy over at Atomic Nerds.

Just when you thought you were informed and eloquent, someone else does it better.