Today’s Earworm
Posted by daddybear71 on October 27, 2013
https://daddybearsden.com/2013/10/27/todays-earworm-427/
Thoughts on the Weekend
- Everything in Virginia was more expensive than it is in Kentucky, except for gasoline.
- Virginia politics is almost as dirty and mean as Kentucky politics.
- If the attack ads actually mentioned the marital status of the target of the attack, then they might pull ahead in the 100 meter mudslinging event.
- Had an excellent dinner with OldNFO and one of my co-workers on Friday night.
- I was wondering if my partner would have much to talk about with NFO and me, but little did I know that he was an old school member of the naval aviation mafia, so the conversation flowed easily.
- If the worst thing that happens all day is that someone else puts a few tons of cargo in the wrong order and has to rearrange things with three heavy fork lifts, it’s a good day.
- It’s always good to work with motivated professionals.
- Of course, they were motivated to get the job done so they could get home to watch college football, but whatever works.
- After leaving work last night, I had a huge choice to make.
- I could go back to my hotel, take a shower, put on nice clothes, and go out for a nice dinner, or I could go to Waffle House, wash my hands in the men’s room, and have breakfast for dinner.
- In unrelated news, I realized last night that I like Waffle House’s all-the-way hashbrowns and biscuits and gravy at 10 o’clock at night.
- For once, the TSA at Norfolk International Airport was friendly, professional, and just seemed to want to get people through the checkpoint.
- Must have been the pink rubber gloves they were wearing.
- If you need another reason that all of the new security measures are kabuki theater, here’s one: This morning, when the line to get through the body scanners or get patted down was 30 people deep and growing, the TSA fired up the old walk-through metal detector and was putting 3/4 of us through it.
- If it’s good enough for crunch time, it’s good enough for every time.
- Gee, I wonder if the billions we paid for millimeter-wave scanners and chemical sniffers was worth it?
- It is a good thing that the ground crew noticed the fuel leak on the engine during pushout from the gate this morning.
- It’s those abrupt, fiery stops in sub-divisions and cornfields that tend to make days more interesting than they need to be.
- We went from “Going back to the gate” to “Get the heck off my aircraft” to “Stand in this line and we’ll try to find a new flight for you” to “Get on the airplane because we fixed it. We’ll do our best to make sure you don’t spend the night in Baltimore International”.
- I had a couple of hours layover in Baltimore, so I was OK. A few people on the flight weren’t sure if they’d make it home today.
- The person that comes up with a device that causes the eardrums of small children to painlessly pop when air pressure changes will be a billionaire and Nobel Prize winner in about 8 minutes.
Posted by daddybear71 on October 27, 2013
https://daddybearsden.com/2013/10/27/thoughts-on-the-weekend-34/
Quote of the Day
America, land of the piss test and the no-knock; the militarized southern border; a Drug Enforcement Agency that is not only twice the size of the Estonian army, but which probably outguns it, too; where moderately bright dogs are treated as constitutional scholars on Fourth Amendment issues, eager to please their handlers by giving them an excuse to tear your car apart on the roadside; where state and local police agencies are the recipient of DoD hand-me-downs as though they were banana republics, although with less oversight as to how the gear will be used.
And you bring this stuff up and it gets hand-waved away with “you just want to smoke pot.” — Tam. Our most disastrous war…
Posted by daddybear71 on October 26, 2013
https://daddybearsden.com/2013/10/26/quote-of-the-day-124/
America, land of the piss test and the no-knock; the militarized southern border; a Drug Enforcement Agency that is not only twice the size of the Estonian army, but which probably outguns it, too; where moderately bright dogs are treated as constitutional scholars on Fourth Amendment issues, eager to please their handlers by giving them an excuse to tear your car apart on the roadside; where state and local police agencies are the recipient of DoD hand-me-downs as though they were banana republics, although with less oversight as to how the gear will be used.
And you bring this stuff up and it gets hand-waved away with “you just want to smoke pot.” — Tam. Our most disastrous war…
Posted by daddybear71 on October 26, 2013
https://daddybearsden.com/2013/10/26/8072/
And now, a poem
Today is the anniversary of charge of the British light cavalry at the Battle of Balaclava on October 25, 1854. It was taught to me as an object lesson in always making sure to understand orders and always make my orders clear.
The Charge of the Light Brigade, by Alfred, Lord Tennyson
Half a league, half a league,
Half a league onward,
All in the valley of Death,
Rode the six hundred.
‘Forward, the Light Brigade!
Charge for the guns’ he said:
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.‘Forward, the Light Brigade!’
Was there a man dismay’d?
Not tho’ the soldiers knew
Some one had blunder’d:
Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do and die:
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon in front of them
Volley’d and thunder’d;
Storm’d at with shot and shell,
Boldly they rode and well,
Into the jaws of Death,
Into the mouth of Hell
Rode the six hundred.Flash’d all their sabres bare,
Flash’d as they turned in air
Sabring the gunners there,
Charging an army while
All the world wonder’d:
Plunged in the battery-smoke
Right thro’ the line they broke;
Cossack and Russian
Reel’d from the sabre-stroke
Shatter’d and sunder’d.
Then they rode back, but not
Not the six hundred.Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon behind them
Volley’d and thunder’d;
Storm’d at with shot and shell,
While horse and hero fell,
They that had fought so well
Came thro’ the jaws of Death,
Back from the mouth of Hell,
All that was left of them,
Left of six hundred.When can their glory fade?
O the wild charge they made!
All the world wonder’d.
Honour the charge they made!
Honour the Light Brigade,
Noble six hundred!
Posted by daddybear71 on October 25, 2013
https://daddybearsden.com/2013/10/25/and-now-a-poem-2/
Quote of the Day
Let us hope the administration doesn’t try to implement a nationwide energy policy. I suspect they can find a way for us to lose knowledge of fire. — Michael Z. Williamson, on FaceBook
Posted by daddybear71 on October 24, 2013
https://daddybearsden.com/2013/10/24/quote-of-the-day-123/
News Roundup
- From the “Good Start” Department – The Vatican has suspended a German bishop who is notorious for his lavish spending habits. It appears that the wayward cleric spent over $40 million refurbishing his residence, which appears to be the most egregious in a long list of fiscal abuses. It’s good to see that the Holy See is tamping down on clergy who abuse their position to enrich themselves or make their lives more comfortable. Now if they would only come down as hard on clergy who betray their vows of chastity and the trust of their parishioners, we might see something worth praising.
- From the “Woman Scorned” Department – Archeologists have unearthed a lead tablet containing a pretty strongly worded curse on it. The tablet was found in the ruins of a Roman home, and is probably about 1,700 years old. The woman who wrote it implores six separate deities to aid her in taking down a rival, asking that his ability to oppose her be taken away. In related news, officials from the Obama administration have been reported to be purchasing sheets of lead and books on ancient gods.
- From the “Respect His Authoritah!” Department – Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois, Democrat and founding member of the Americans For The Advancement Of The Enslavement Of Everyone Who Disagrees, has asserted that a Republican House leader made a disrespectful remark to President Obama during ‘negotiations’ during the recent government shutdown. The White House and House leadership have both stated that the incident never happened, but Durbin is standing behind his statement. Apparently, the good Senator has an issue with people saying disrespectful things about the Chicago messiah. Funny, being disrespectful of the office and person of the president wasn’t such a bad thing when people named Reagan and Bush were in the Oval Office, so why is it so bad now? So, to Senator Durbin, I say this: “Your president is a worthless waste of protoplasm. He has the outhouse touch, in that everything he touches turns to crap. The body of the Communist wench who whelped him ought to be dug up and publicly chastised for what she has wrought on not only the American people, but the entire human race. The name and image of his father, who had the poor taste to put his name on this disgrace of a son, ought to be purged from the public record and forgotten as atonement for the sin of bringing such a person into the world. The fact that this bumbling, egotistical, half-wit refugee from a 1970’s blacksploitation movie has executive power over the machinery of a world superpower is not only frightening, but also depressing. My wish for him, and for you Senator, is to go down in history as the worst example of American politics imaginable, and to be held up as an example of who we do not want to ever see hold public office in the republic. I shun both of you as I would shun a rabid dog, and I hope you both live out long, lonely lives dwelling on the damage you have done.”
- From the “Get A Rope” Department – A woman in Texas is being prosecuted after a five-year-old child under her care killed himself with her gun. It appears that the woman was legally carrying a revolver for self-defense, but left it on a coffee table while she took a nap. Now, because she’s either too lazy or too stupid to secure her firearm, a child is needlessly dead and the rest of us are stained with his blood. Personally, if she’s convicted, I hope she doesn’t get the death penalty, and that the images of his autopsy photographs and baby pictures are permanently affixed to every wall in her cell. The prosecutor is right in bringing charges, and I wholeheartedly agree with his assertion that the right to keep and bear arms comes with the responsibility to keep your firearms away from those who have no business having unsupervised access to them, especially children.
- From the “Fashion Crime” Department – The Defense Department is apparently considering changing the Marine uniform by making all Marines wear what has, up to now, been the headgear worn by females. It seems that it’s not fair that the Marines have the sharpest uniforms and the deepest traditions in the DoD, and we can’t have that, now can we? Apparently the DoD needs something constructive to do with their time. It could be worse, I guess. The Marines could be taking the distinctive headgear of an elite unit and making that the default headgear for the entire force, because everyone deserves to feel special and walk around looking like Chef Boyardee. I look forward to reports of bar brawls occurring after Marine infantrymen start knocking heads together when taunted about wearing a ladies cap in uniform.
- From the “Equal Protection” Department – Senator Randus Tiberius Paulus. Republican of Kentucky and apparent Tribune of the Plebs, has introduced an amendment to the Constitution that attempts to stop Congress from passing laws that protect members of the government from being subject to the laws of the land. A quick layman’s reading of the text of the amendment gives me a good feeling about what it wants to do, and dread for its future. My guess is that it will die a young and bloody death in Congress. In the unlikely event that it passes, I foresee decades of litigation as its meaning is twisted and abused to allow whatever the sitting power in government should wish. (Me, cynical? Perish the thought). I wish the good Senator luck, and advise him to watch out for members of the House and Senate who are breaking up their chairs and wielding the legs as clubs.
Posted by daddybear71 on October 24, 2013
https://daddybearsden.com/2013/10/24/news-roundup-205/
Thoughts on the Day
- Someday, I hope to write fiction half as well as my friends.
- It got cold enough that I had to scrape ice off the truck window yesterday. Guess fall has arrived.
- I’m not sure if we have a mouse or if the kitten has developed a taste for tubers, but we lost two small potatoes off the kitchen counter last night, and the dogs were locked out of the room.
- My doctor decided on which of two options she wanted to prescribe for my arthritis, and has begun the fight with my insurance company to get it.
- Many will be the adventures as I and a doctor’s office manager make phone calls, send in documentation, and wait for the final decision of Those Who Will Not Be Rushed and Prixthor, Denier of Coverage.
- There are few sensations in the human experience as wonderful as when you remove leather footgear and your socks after wearing them for 15 hours.
- Things you love to hear from your children #3187: I’m going to get started on this weekend’s homework so I don’t have to rush.
- You know the small male Siamese is making life difficult for his housemates when the large female Siamese climbs up in your lap and looks you in the eye and has a chat with you while he’s trying to chew on her tail.
Posted by daddybear71 on October 23, 2013
https://daddybearsden.com/2013/10/23/thoughts-on-the-day-179/
Today’s Earworm
Posted by daddybear71 on October 21, 2013
https://daddybearsden.com/2013/10/21/todays-earworm-426/
Musings
- Read “Ender’s Game” during lunch and after dinner tonight. Not bad. It’s a well written book, but I’m not sure I liked it.
- With the attack on the mall in Nairobi, Kenya, how long will it be before gecko45 and his band of commerce conquistadors gain new life as quick reaction forces for places like Mall of America?
- I’m only half joking.
- Today, I used the term “psychic area network” to describe the communications pathways that allow me to not only intuitively know what someone needs, but also know before they do.
- Girlie Bear has now officially had more cell phones than I have.
Posted by daddybear71 on October 21, 2013
https://daddybearsden.com/2013/10/21/musings-18/
DaddyBear
