- Rural Maryland and Delaware are very pretty. It reminded me of Wisconsin or Minnesota, but with toll roads and insane drivers.
- Loading a large cargo plane is a lot like Tetris, except that instead of hitting the restart button when you screw up, you have to scramble so that the darn thing doesn’t tilt back on its tail.
- I’m going to have to get down a better pair of boots if I’m going to load more aircraft, preferably ones with steel toes.
- For the first time in my life, I saw an Air Force NCO use “knife hands” while correcting the performance of one of his subordinates. I didn’t know they taught that in the Air Force.
- Driving in suburban Maryland ought to count toward your sentence in purgatory.
- Learning how much a 2000 square foot ‘fixer-upper’ is going for in suburban Maryland makes me appreciate how much more I get for a third of the money in Kentucky.
- Got neither the pat down nor the porn-o-scan at the Baltimore airport. It was almost refreshing to just go through the metal detector.
- While boarding our flight home, the flight attendant closed the door and welcomed us to the flight to Raleigh-Durham. Most of us got the joke. Unfortunately, some didn’t.
For when you really want to have a good 4th of July
Somehow I don’t think we’ll be seeing art like this on the nose of a drone anytime soon.
Thoughts on Sunday
Posted by daddybear71 on June 4, 2012
https://daddybearsden.com/2012/06/04/thoughts-on-sunday/
Today’s Earworm
This one is dedicated to the pilot of my flight home last night, who made the 90 minute flight from Baltimore to Louisville in about 70 minutes to make up time after a delay on departure.
Posted by daddybear71 on June 4, 2012
https://daddybearsden.com/2012/06/04/todays-earworm-167/
30 Days of the Founding Fathers – Day 1
I say, the earth belongs to each of these generations during its course, fully and in its own right. The second generation receives it clear of the debts and incumbrances of the first, the third of the second, and so on. For if the first could charge it with a debt, then the earth would belong to the dead and not to the living generation. Then, no generation can contract debts greater than may be paid during the course of its own existence. — Thomas Jefferson
Posted by daddybear71 on June 4, 2012
https://daddybearsden.com/2012/06/04/30-days-of-the-founding-fathers-day-1/
30 Days of Dune – Day 30
It is by will alone I set my mind in motion. It is by the juice of Sapho that thoughts acquire speed, the lips acquire stains. The stains become a warning. It is by will alone I set my mind in motion. — Mentat Piter De Vries in the 1984 Movie
My Take – When you are in control of yourself, you have the ability to do things instead of having things done to you. Have confidence, not cockiness, think before acting, act with a purpose, and life will be much simpler.
Posted by daddybear71 on June 3, 2012
https://daddybearsden.com/2012/06/03/30-days-of-dune-day-30/
Thoughts on the day
- Flying hung over must really suck. At least I remember it did when I was that young and dumb
- The pat down at the TSA checkpoint was professional and thorough. I was told I ought to get a PSA test, though, which is troubling.
- The only thing questioned at the checkpoint was the laser pointer, but when I offered to smash it and put it in the trash, the nice man lost interest.
- The kid who was an angel on the ground, the one all the women coo’ed over, sprouted horns and a hellish howl at 35,000 feet.
- You know, it’s a sad state of affairs when a man travelling alone has to think twice before offering advice to a mother travelling alone with her child, but she did say thank you when giving him his pacifier worked.
- You can tell the military is in transition from a strong wartime footing, but isn’t back to a full peacetime setting yet. Soldiers still travel in camouflage uniforms, but they were pressed, complete with creases.
- I have become such a groundhog. A little turbulence during the descent and landing made me airsick enough that I wasn’t right until for a couple of hours. I’m definitely going to eat very lightly tomorrow before flying home.
- When you’re trying to get over being motion sick, that “new car smell” in a rental car is not a pleasant aroma.
- Man, there are a lot of Navy guys in Annapolis. Must be something going on.
- Annapolis in early June reminds me a lot of Monterey in July. I’m sure once the heat and humidity hit in force, the comparison will disappear.
- I had forgotten just how good crab cakes are. I really need to try making them at home if I can get a good source for fresh crab.
Posted by daddybear71 on June 2, 2012
https://daddybearsden.com/2012/06/02/thoughts-on-the-day-30/
30 Days of Dune – Day 29
Expect only what happens in the fight. That way you’ll never be surprised. — Duncan Idaho
My Take – If you think about self defense, you inevitably start thinking about scenarios. The shady guy at the ATM, the home invasion, the robbery at the stop-n-stab, they all get played through in our minds. But when we do this, we run the risk of having a script for defending ourselves and turning off our brains when it comes time to think “How am I going to survive this?”. Be mindful of what can happen in the places you go, but don’t try to plan the unexpected. Have your skills, your wits, and your common sense when something happens, and you have all the tools you can use.
Posted by daddybear71 on June 2, 2012
https://daddybearsden.com/2012/06/02/30-days-of-dune-day-29/
Product Review – iPhone 4s – First Thoughts
Well, it’s been about five days since I made an unscheduled upgrade in cell phone due to atmospheric dampness and an inability to do the differential equation between the rate at which a pocket will fill through the zipper and empty through the seam at the bottom.
So far, the iPhone 4s has been every bit as good as the iPhone 4, but not much better. Here are some thoughts:
- The salesman made a big deal about how the 4g network on the 4s was much faster than the 3g on the 4. I’ve surfed the web, downloaded a couple of books, and looked at photos on FaceBook, and I haven’t noticed much difference.
- The processor is a bit faster in starting my apps, but it’s not a quantum leap.
- The display, however, is absolutely wonderful. With the 4, I usually had trouble reading it in direct sunlight. With the 4s, it’s still bright and crisp.
- The size of the phone is, to me, not significantly different from the 4, either in thickness or weight.
- Siri is kind of neat, but she has trouble understanding when I say “Call Irish Woman, Main” that I mean for the phone to call Irish Woman on her main phone number. Siri interprets that to mean “Maine”, which I guess would be useful if she was in the extreme north-east, but since she’s in Louisville, it’s annoying. On the 4, it was never a problem.
I’ll see how I feel after a few months, but so far, it’s not that much of an improvement over what it replaced.
Posted by daddybear71 on June 2, 2012
https://daddybearsden.com/2012/06/02/product-review-iphone-4s-first-thoughts/
Dinner Tonight
Ingredients:
1 pound hamburger
1 white onion, cut in half and sliced very thin into half moons
1 green bell pepper
4 cups fresh broccoli florets
5 carrots, cleaned, peeled, and sliced thin on a bias
2 cans chicken broth
Canadian Steak Seasoning, to taste
Red Pepper Flake
2 cups dry couscous
2 cups water
1 tablespoon butter
In a medium saucepan, combine water and butter and bring to a boil. Shut off heat and stir in couscous. Cover and let steam.
In a wok, combine the onion, bell pepper, red pepper flake, carrots, and hamburger. Begin browning the hamburger. Mess up which side of the lid on the Canadian steak seasoning, and dump about 1 cup of salt, pepper, and garlic into meat. Try desperately to scoop it out before you realize you’re spitting into the wind and dump the entire thing into the trash and start over.
Go to the refrigerator and realize you have no other thawed meat or bell pepper. Look in the freezer and grab a package of mild Italian sausage. Throw the sausage in the microwave to defrost. Cut up another onion and five carrots. Cut the sausages into coins about 1/2 inch across and put in the wok. Add onion and carrots. Season with red pepper flake. Check the lid on the Canadian steak seasoning, then check it again, and just to be sure, a third time. After making sure you don’t make the same mistake twice, sprinkle lightly over the meat and mix well. Once the onions, carrots, and sausage are cooked most of the way through, add one can of the broth because the sausage gave up a lot more liquid than you thought it would. Put broccoli on top of the food in the wok, cover, and let simmer for 5 minutes until the broccoli is bright green and softening. Shut off heat and mix broccoli in with the rest of the meat mixture.
Serve vegetables and sausage over couscous with a crusty bread. Try to find a way to explain why there’s a pound of hamburger and onions in the trashcan when queried by your wife.
Posted by daddybear71 on June 1, 2012
https://daddybearsden.com/2012/06/01/dinner-tonight-18/
Thought for the Day
It must have been a good day to be a dog today. Bluegrass has a grass stain on her forehead and what looks like a black eye. My guess is she hit a slick spot in turn three and hit the wall before tumbling into the infield. I swear that dog is part thoroughbred.
Posted by daddybear71 on June 1, 2012
https://daddybearsden.com/2012/06/01/thought-for-the-day-148/
News Roundup
- From the “Negative Ghostrider, the pattern is full’ Department – Two small asteroids buzzed by the Earth recently. giving rise to a back to back marathon of death-from-the-sky movies on networks owned by Ted Turner. Scientists believe that even if these space rocks had impacted our planet, their diminuitive size would have kept them from doing much harm. Of course, when a 3 inch piece of hot rock from the heavens punches a hole in your newly-restored classic muscle car, I don’t think it’s going to matter much that it could have been a lot worse. No word yet from the White House on the administration’s reaction to the news, but I have it on good authority that Mr. Obama was disappointed that he could not use widespread destruction and loss of life to distract people away from his record as president.
- From the “Derp!” Department – The Romney campaign is wiping egg off its face after an app it released went out with “America” misspelled as “Amercia”. Not to be outdone, President Obama put out an app that misspelled “Socialism” as “Domestic Policy”.
- From the “I’d Hire Him” Department – A physics teacher in Canada has been fired after giving zero’s for uncompleted work. The school he taught at decided that zeroes were unfair, and banned them from the workbook. Instead, the little snowflakes are being graded on the work they actually motivated themselves to do. I fondly remember telling my oldest’s teachers that if he didn’t do the work, to give him the F he earned. It was fun to watch their eyes bug out at the thought of a parent who wasn’t threatening them with a lawsuit and/or bodily harm for having the temerity of treating a student in the manner he earned.
- From the “Meh” Department – As part of its reboot of its comic universe, DC Comics is re-casting the Green Lantern as an openly gay man. Anyone who cares please raise your hand
- From the “Wasn’t Me” Department – A black bear raised some blood pressure the other day when it wandered onto school grounds in California. Students at the elementary and middle school were in no danger, and the bruin wandered off before being hit with a stun gun, collected, and released back into the wild. The bear may have heard the rumor that schoolchildren are full of chocolate and wandered over to see if it is true. We all know it’s not true, because schoolchildren are full of crack. At least the ones I’ve had to interact with have acted like they are filled to the brim with the stuff.
- From the “Nothing to See Here” Department – A support group for military mothers has set off a firestorm by publishing a picture of two Air Force females breastfeeding their children in uniform. I’m not sure what the kerfluffle is all about. Women join the military. Women tend to have breasts. Women sometimes have babies. When women have babies, they have to feed the babies, and a lot of them choose to feed them straight from the tap. Women in the military wear uniforms, even after having babies and wanting to breastfeed, and the baby isn’t going to wait until you change into civilian attire. My only quibble on this was that it might have been in better taste to use a shawl or something, but that’s between the ladies in the picture and their commander. Don’t the rest of us have something better to do?
- From the “Not Helping” Department – A spokesman for a New York Congressman is probably looking for a new job and a clue after posting “Let’s hurl some acid at those female Democratic Senators” on a forum. Here’s a hint: If you’re bringing the method by which ignorant bastards in the Hindu Kush punish women who don’t cover their faces into the American political process, you need to step away and go do something else with your life that more suits your personality. Consider goat castration, mopping out the troughs in the men’s rooms at major league baseball stadiums, or possibly elephant masturbation at the zoo. On second thought, those are all honorable professions, so never mind. Just go away.
Posted by daddybear71 on June 1, 2012
https://daddybearsden.com/2012/06/01/news-roundup-123/
DaddyBear
DaddyBear’s Den 