Oh @#%@#@ joy…

Here we go again with another F-35 boondoggle…

“Without defined PTMS and engine modernization requirements, the F-35 program is at greater risk of repeating prior missteps,” GAO said. “By proceeding with planning and development of future capabilities without considering the demands on the PTMS and engine, the program endorsed capabilities that neither could support. The program risks repeating a similar mismatch between PTMS and engine capability and future modernization needs if the military services select an option without first defining future requirements.”

Full article, HERE from Defense News.

Note these words- ‘Greater risk of repeating prior missteps’

This is NOT the first time the program has tripped all over itself causing multiple problems and cost overruns, and a cost per maintenance man hour of $37,000 according to some reports.

This is what happens when ‘things’ get crammed into the platform without proper design engineering, system load design, testing and assessments… I’m betting by the time all this crap comes to a head, the F-35 will cost damned near as much as a B-2 cost!!!

Grrrr…

Things…

Welp, amazingly, it seems the Orange Co. sheriff’s office in San Clemente has arrested the perps that beat up the three Marines the other day…

Nine minors were arrested Tuesday after a melee near the San Clemente Pier over Memorial Day weekend in which a group of 30 teens and young adults pummeled three off-duty Marines, according to the city’s mayor.

Orange County deputies arrested five of the juveniles — four boys and one girl — on suspicion of felony assault, said San Clemente Mayor Chris Duncan. The Orange County Sheriff’s Department said the five were booked into Orange County Juvenile Hall. Duncan said four additional minors were arrested on other charges.

Full article, HERE from LA Times.

Amazing how that worked out, isn’t it???

In other news, apparently the House passed the debt limit bill last night, with much gnashing of teeth on both sides. Now we’ll see how long it takes the Senate to screw around and posture with it…

Lastly, a possible preliminary cover for the next Rimworld, currently about 70% complete.

Maybe it’s time…

For some Dungaree (or BDU in this case) Liberty on San Clemente, California.

The mob of San Clemente, California teenagers who beat up three U.S. Marines on Memorial Day Weekend will be held accountable for the horrific attack, a law enforcement officer told Fox News on Tuesday. 

Off-duty Marines were enjoying time at the beach Friday when they asked a group of teenagers to stop lighting off fireworks because they were being hit with debris. The Marines were then jumped and repeatedly stomped on by a mob of up to 40 people, according to a previous Fox News report. The city’s mayor has denounced the attack with “total disgust and shock.” 

Full article, HERE from Fox News.

For those who’ve never heard the term, it was when the CO, either tacitly or openly, authorizes Sailors/Marines to go to ‘town’ on liberty in unmarked working uniforms. It’s been done more than once in a variety of locations around the world to ‘clean up’ waterfronts, bar areas, etc. and take care of local toughs/places cheating Sailors/Marines.

I’m sure there are a number of very worried COs at Camp Pendleton right now after the three Marines were beaten up by a mob of people at San Clemente beach. And listening to the Sheriff’s spokesman, I’m betting they are trying their damndest to get those people arrested BEFORE the Marines find them.

Personally, I’d say turn the Marines loose! Let them ‘educate’ those local toughs that used that 10+ to 1 odds to beat on those Marines doesn’t work when the odds are anywhere near even. I would also recommend they have ambulances on standby to haul those toughs to the hospital afterward.

And I’ll be San Clemente gets really ‘polite’ toward any Marines that come to town anytime soon.

Engrish…

Is not a language for the weak minded…

We’ll begin with a box, and the plural is boxes,

But the plural of ox becomes oxen, not oxes.
One fowl is a goose, but two are called geese,
Yet the plural of moose should never be meese.
You may find a lone mouse or a nest full of mice,
Yet the plural of house is houses, not hice.

If the plural of man is always called men,
Why shouldn’t the plural of pan be called pen?
If I speak of my foot and show you my feet,
And I give you a boot, would a pair be called beet?
If one is a tooth and a whole set are teeth,
Why shouldn’t the plural of booth be called beeth?

Then one may be that, and three would be those,
Yet hat in the plural would never be hose,
And the plural of cat is cats, not cose.
We speak of a brother and also of brethren,
But though we say mother, we never say methren.
Then the masculine pronouns are he, his and him,
But imagine the feminine: she, shis and shim!

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~

Let’s face it – English is a crazy language.
There is no egg in eggplant nor ham in hamburger;
neither apple nor pine in pineapple.
English muffins weren’t invented in England .
We take English for granted, but if we explore its
paradoxes, we find that quicksand can work slowly, boxing rings are square, and a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig.

And why is it that writers write but fingers don’t fing,
grocers don’t groce and hammers don’t ham?
Doesn’t it seem crazy that you can make amends but not one amend.
If you have a bunch of odds and ends and get rid of
all but one of them, what do you call it?

If teachers taught, why didn’t preachers praught?
If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat?
Sometimes I think all the folks who grew up speaking
English should be committed to an asylum for the verbally insane.

In what other language do people recite at a play and play at a recital?
We ship by truck but send cargo by ship.
We have noses that run and feet that smell.
We park in a driveway and drive in a parkway.
And how can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same, while a wise man and a wise guy are opposites?

You have to marvel at the unique lunacy of a language in which your house can burn up as it burns down,
in which you fill in a form by filling it out, and in which an alarm goes off by going on.

And, in closing, if Father is Pop, how come Mother’s not Mop?

Author unknown

As a fellow writer says, “English mugs other languages in a dark alley and just takes what it wants without regard for case, sense, or anything else.”

Book promo…

Another postcards!!! Postcards from Foolz

As always, click the cover for the Amazon link!

The blurb-

The rules of the game were simple: one image. Fifty words.

Twenty authors met the challenge and excelled, and this volume records their efforts. Between these covers are complete stories that will take a moment to read, and ages to forget.

If your appetite is whetted, you’ll also find that images have been provided for you to practice your wordsmithing skills. So that you, too, can try the next Postcards challenge.

Go on. Write!

And some preorders from friends, both dropping on the 31st of May!

First up is Kelly Grayson with Things That Go Bump in the Night

The blurb-

Every kid has felt them, the nameless things that lurk in the dark, hiding in the shadowy corners of you bedroom as you sleep, daring you to stick out an arm and a leg, let the blankets hang off the edge of the bed, leave the closet door open… anything.

Scary movies are nothing compared to a kid’s imagination in the dead of the night when they hear a strange noise. Mostly it’s just like your parents say; it’s the wind, or a shadow cast by a toy, or the drapes blowing in the breeze.

And sometimes it’s not. Sometimes it’s the things that go bump in the night.

Next up is J.F. Holmes with Irregular Scout Team One: Volume 2 

The blurb-

A year has passed since the plague destroyed most of civilization around the world and the U.S. military is slowly starting to move out into a devastated country. From their bastion in the Pacific Northwest mechanized task forces take the fight for America onto the offensive.

In front of the military, deep into the wild ruins, go the Irregular Scout Teams. A mix of hardened military veterans and experienced civilians who can operate for long periods of time on their own. Checking the road, rail, and water transportation infrastructure, identifying groups of survivors for reinforcement or evacuation, running rather than fighting. The Teams have all the might of their task forces’ firepower on call but it’s better to be unheard by the infected and unseen by the lawless.

IST-1, the first team and the most experienced, is ordered to operate on their home ground of the ruined Upper Hudson Valley. Sergeant First Class Nick Agostine, the Team Leader, driven to fulfill his oath to the Constitution and his county while haunted by the memory of his dead family. His fellow NCO and Team Medic, Doc Hamilton, trying to keep everyone alive. Ahmed Yassir, a man without a country or tribe, deadly at a thousand meters with is calm shooting. Isaiah Jones, a giant of a man with a machine gun and a booming laugh, who grew up surrounded by violence. The fiery red head with the ice blue eyes, who is just as ready to take off an infected’s head with her shotgun as she is to put at teammate into their place with her sarcasm. Former Serbian soldier Sasha Zivcovic, who is a born killer living in his preferred element, war.

As the eyes and ears of Task Force Empire, it’s their job to save the lives of thousands of soldiers by providing accurate intelligence. That’s the mission, in theory, but incompetence, the fog of war and politics get in their way, putting the entire teams’ lives at risk.

This isn’t a book about the Apocalypse. It’s a book about the men and women of Irregular Scout Team One and how they lay their lives on the line for each other in the face of incredible danger. A book about how a bad decision or just plain bad luck can put yourself and the ones you love at risk. In the end, though, it’s a book about … Hope.

And last but not least, due to the success of the Haunted Library anthologies that were done to benefit our local small town library, I got this from the lady that manages the library!

Thank you for all you do for the library!

Here’s the information for the 2023 anthology to support our children’s programs
The premise is the story is about the Oil Patch between 1890-1930. It must be PG13,
5-8k words.

Will take submissions until August 30th.

The Haunted Libraries anthologies has made more than $1000 for the library and continues to make money every month.
We are so thankful!

Of note- It doesn’t limit your type of story, it could be a romance, cops vs. bad guys, oil tycoons, etc, just has to be ‘based’ on the oil patch and between 1890 and 1930.

You will not be paid for the story, it will be a donation for a good cause!

You can send your stories to me at oldnfo at gmail dot com.

Thanks in advance!!!

TBT…

40 years ago, this was a view we saw more than once…

Number one in the bag, good X, heading south for Kef as the sun rose after another all night burner.

h/t Jim E for the photo

Posted in TBT

Well, this could get ugly…

Looks like Guam is about to get whacked by a super typhoon. Anything military that can fly or run away has… ships have evacuated north toward mainland Japan, and aircraft have gone ‘wherever’ they were directed to go.

Residents of Guam stockpiled supplies, battened down windows and abandoned wood and tin homes for emergency shelters as Super Typhoon Mawar bore down as the strongest storm to approach the U.S. Pacific territory in decades.

Full article, HERE from Navy Times.

Folks, a cat 4 super typhoon is ugly, to put it mildly, 150 mph winds, plus water, storm surge, etc. and the typhoon warning center said it could easily make cat 5, which would be 160+ mph. This is the strongest one in over 20 years!

The closest analogy would be Katrina hitting New Orleans, but Guam is an island. There is NO place to go! At least the buildings (other than the shacks) are concrete and built to withstand the forces and high enough to be above the storm surge lines.

And Mawar was over the island last night, per the JTWC.

If you know anybody out there, say a prayer for them, and don’t bother trying to call them. A text ‘might’ get through, or an email in a day or three.

Having ridden out a couple of weaker ones over the years, I don’t envy anybody out there right now… Mother Nature is showing her strength right now.

A little humor…

To start your week!

Parents have learned:

1. Garbage bags do not make good parachutes.

2. A 3-year-old is louder than 200 adults in a crowded restaurant.

3. If you spray hairspray on dust bunnies and run over them with roller blades, they can ignite.

4. If you hook a dog leash over a ceiling fan, the motor is not strong enough to rotate a 42-pound boy wearing Batman underwear and a superman cape. It is strong enough, however, to spread paint on all four walls of a large room.

5. When using the ceiling fan as a baseball bat, you have to throw the ball up a few times before you get a hit. A ceiling fan can hit a baseball a long way.

6. The glass in windows (even double pane) doesn’t stop a baseball hit by a ceiling fan.

7. When you hear the toilet flush and the words “Uh-oh,” it’s already too late.

8. Brake fluid mixed with Clorox makes smoke, and lots of it.

9. A six-year-old can start a fire with a flint rock even though a 36-year-old man says they can only do it in the movies.

10. A magnifying glass can start a fire even on an overcast day.

11. Certain Legos will pass through the digestive tract of a six-year-old.

12. “Play-Doh” and “microwave” should never be used in the same sentence.

13. Super glue is forever.

14. No matter how much Jell-O you put in a swimming pool you still can’t walk on water.

15. Pool filters do not like Jell-O.

16. A king size waterbed holds enough water to fill a 2000 sq. foot house 4 inches deep.

17. Marbles in gas tanks make lots of noise in a moving car.

18. You probably do not want to know what that odor is.

19. Always look in the oven before you turn it on. Plastic toys do not like ovens.

20. The spin cycle on the washing machine does not make earthworms dizzy. It will, however, make cats dizzy.

21. Cats spit up twice their body weight when dizzy.