A little humor…

Posted on by May 10, 2026

To start the week…

The Stolen Car

The proud owner of a magnificent 1956 Chevrolet convertible, wrote to say he had restored the car to perfection over the last few years, and sent this…

Last week on a very warm summer afternoon I decided to take my car to town. It needed gas, as the gauge was practically on empty, but I needed an ice cream, so I headed first to my favorite ice cream shop.

I had trouble finding a parking space and had to park it down a side street. I noticed a group of young guys standing around smoking cigarettes and eyeing my car rather covetously.

I was a bit uneasy leaving it there. But people often take interest in such an old and well-preserved car, so I went off to enjoy my ice cream.

The line at the ice cream shop was long, and it took me quite a while to return to my car. When I did, my worst fears were realized… My car was gone.

I called the police and reported the theft and then went back and bought a quart of pistachio ice cream. About ten minutes later the police called me to say they had found the car abandoned near a gas station a few miles out of town.

It was unharmed and I was relieved. It seems just before I called, they had received a call from a young woman who was an employee at a self-service gas station. She told them that three young men had driven in with this beautiful old convertible.

One of them came to the window and prepaid for 20 dollar’s worth of gas.

Then all three of them walked around the car several times. They opened the hood and for a long time they all looked around inside. Then they closed the hood and walked around the car in the other direction.

Then they all got in the car and drove off, without filling the tank. The police were at a loss to explain this unusual sequence of events.

The question is, why would anybody steal a car, pay for gas that they never pumped, and then abandon the car later and walk away?

Answer: They couldn’t find where to put the gas! You’d never guess in a million years where it was on this car.

Continue reading →

One more chance…

Posted on by May 10, 2026

To save at least 3 F-14s…

Four decades after Tom Cruise’s Pete “Maverick” Mitchell first felt the need for speed in the cockpit of an F-14 Tomcat, new legislation is keeping hope alive that the iconic swept-wing fighter could someday fly again.

In late April, the U.S. Senate, led by sponsor Sen. Tim Sheehy, R-Mont., unanimously approved the “Maverick Act,” introduced by freshman U.S. Rep. Abraham Hamadeh, an Illinois Republican and Army Reserve officer. The bill, which has yet to become law, authorizes the secretary of the Navy to hand over the service’s three remaining F-14D Tomcats to the U.S. Space and Rocket Center Commission in Huntsville, Alabama.

It allows the commission to put the aircraft on display, but also permits them to be operated in “an airshow … or a commemorative event to preserve United States naval aviation heritage.”

Full article, HERE from Navy Times.

I worked with and knew a number of folks that flew the F-14s on active duty, and the ones that went to the sundown ceremony at Oceana September 22, 2006 came back grumbling about the fact that the birds were going to be destroyed.

There was a good reason, even back then, there were ‘concerns’ about Iran getting pieces/parts to keep their F-14s flying, including via the black market. They were the only other country to have them, in addition to P-3Fs they’d bought in the late 70s.

Ironically, the Iranians were the only ones to ever fire the Phoenix missile in combat, and yes, it worked as advertised. ROE prevented the US F-14 squadrons from ever using them by requiring positive ID of the target prior to firing.

There are there are approximately 8-10 F-14 Tomcat airframe hulls remaining in inventory at the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group (AMARG). They don’t have any engines, electronics, or anything else in them. The ‘goal’ of the Maverick Act is to make three flyable F-14s out of what is left.

I just hope they succeed…

Photo Dave Parsons (Smithsonian Mag)

Interesting…

Posted on by May 8, 2026

It appears the Balikatan joint exercise got interesting this year…

Japan didn’t fire those Type 88 anti-ship missiles in the Philippines because Tokyo needed target practice; they fired them because China needed to see the smoke.

The physical target was a decommissioned Philippine Navy ship, but the audience sat in Beijing, where Chinese President Xi Jinping has spent years watching neighbors argue, hedge, complain, and sometimes fold.

Japan just stepped onto Philippine soil, launched ship-killing missiles during Balikatan 2026 (the annual military exercise between the Philippines and the United States), and reminded China that the First Island Chain isn’t a string of paper lanterns waiting for strong winds.

The facts don’t need embellishment; Japan’s Self-Defense Forces fired Type 88 anti-ship missiles from northern Luzon on May 6, hitting the BRP Quezon roughly 46 miles off Paoay.

Over 17,000 troops joined  2026, including about 10,000 Americans and roughly 1,400 Japanese personnel. Japan, Canada, France, and New Zealand joined as active participants for the first time.

Full article, HERE from PJ Media, and HERE from Stars and Stripes

The US also fired a few ‘toys’ including HIMARS, a TLAM, and a few other things. Pretty much all of them pointed at China’s ‘first islands’ claim. And the irony is the Japanese P-3 also can carry and fire the Harpoon anti-ship missile…

I’m ‘sure’ this is just a coincidence, since President Trump is going to China in a couple of weeks…

Back in the day, this was ONLY a US/Philippine exercise, no other players. Things are changing in more ways than one with the Bilat and Trilat participation we’re seeing in those heretofore singular exercises…

Will it get somebody’s attention? One hopes…

Picky, picky…

Posted on by May 7, 2026

Gotta admit I never even thought about this one…

A major food brand is being sued over claims it falsely marketed its canned tomatoes as premium “San Marzano” products.

Cento Fine Foods, based in New Jersey, is facing a proposed class action lawsuit claiming it misled consumers by labeling its tomatoes as “certified” San Marzano despite allegedly failing to meet the strict standards associated with the variety, according to a May 4 complaint filed in federal court in California.

“San Marzano tomatoes are considered the Ferrari or Prada of canned tomato varieties,” the lawsuit states, quoting Martha Stewart’s website. “Loyalists say they are well worth the higher price tag compared to other Italian or domestically produced options.”

Full article, HERE from Fox News.

Obviously those folks have ‘spesul’ taste buds to be able to pick out which tomatoes are which.

Meh…whatever… I grew up eating tomatoes, tomato sauce, and chili. To me, a tomato is a tomato, and the best ones are the ones you grow yourself.

You want to go spend all that money, feel free!

Interesting…

Posted on by May 6, 2026

And probably long overdue…

Surface warfare officers will soon assume command of all amphibious warships, bumping naval aviators from their previous positions as commanding officers, according to a Navy memo.

The April 24 directive, seen on Reddit and confirmed by the U.S. Navy, cites issues with amphibious ship readiness and operational availability as catalysts for removing naval aviators from their previous positions as commanding officers of specialized vessels that transport Marine Expeditionary Units.

Full article HERE from Navy Times.

One of the justifications, FWIW, was that aviators ‘needed’ a deep draft command prior to taking a carrier due to the ‘value’ of a carrier… And no P-3 bubba EVER got a carrier. Funny though, the XOs were always SWOs…

So this is going to impact primarily the aviators who fly off the carriers. It will be interesting to see what happens in the next couple of years.

And for a throwback…

USS Iwo Jima, 2003…

Iwo Island

The Marines boil it down to basics…

‘Nuff said.

Book promo…

Posted on by May 5, 2026

First up is Larry Correia with a new book in his Academy of Outcast series- Magic and Bullets

As always, click the cover for the Amazon link!

The blurb-

Ozwald Carnavon used to be a lowly rank-one nobody mining “Red” on a plane of fire.

Now, he’s the acting head of the officially sanctioned (but totally broke) Academy of Outcasts. Situated in “The Tube”—a mile-tall wizard tower that fell over fifty years ago and is now an obnoxiously haunted ruin—the school is the talk of the Under Slump, mostly because they’ll accept anyone with a pulse and a single spell to share.

But running an academy for magical misfits isn’t all spell-crafting and experiments. When the legendary founder, Gaul “the Mutilator” Haddar, vanishes to hunt pirates, he leaves Oz in charge of a gaggle of aspiring mages who are more likely to blow themselves up than pass a test.

And then the landlord comes knocking.

Next up from Raconteur Press YA is Marie Helen Lebault with a new series the first book is- The Tide Runners

The Blurb-

From the author of the acclaimed Evers Series.

Beck North grew up watching the tidegate runners — couriers who carry sealed messages between worlds through shimmering portals in the harbor. On the day he takes the runner’s oath, Beck inherits his missing father’s bronze tideclock and his first route assignment. Six hours later, he’s outrunning a secret cult in a living coral reef and finding a symbol that shouldn’t exist carved into the walls.

The storm cult is supposed to be the enemy. The Runner Command is supposed to be trustworthy. And Beck’s father is supposed to be dead.

None of that turns out to be true.

Alongside his fast-talking best friend Tack and the relentlessly precise Zuri, Beck runs routes through floating markets, tide-locked gardens, and a hurricane-wrapped fortress at the edge of the known worlds. The deeper they go, the clearer it becomes: someone is building a machine to enslave every tidegate in existence — and the only person who knows how to stop it is Beck’s father, who’s been a prisoner for two years.

A breakneck adventure about loyalty, the cost of keeping promises, and what it really means to run toward danger when you could run away from it.

Next up is another YA from Raconteur Press, Fred Phillips with the second in his Gold and Fire series- Sons of Gold and Fire

The blurb-

Aron’s brothers are gone, snatched by goblins in the night. His father and his knight-master rode after them into the mountains and never came back. The only one who can fix this is Aron — and the great golden dragon who is his best friend.

But Doubloon has been snared in a wizard’s enchanted trap, held fast by a net that his own fire cannot burn through. With his family imprisoned and his dragon helpless, Aron is out of options.

His only move is across the mountains. Alone. No harness. No wings. No backup — except a smart-mouthed goblin who talks, a couple with dark ideas about adoption, a sabrecat who takes his last strip of jerky, and one massive platinum dragon who actively despises humans.

Sons of Gold and Fire is a quest story that never lets up. Packed with monsters, narrow escapes, and a friendship between a boy and a talking goblin that nobody planned but everybody needed, this is the kind of book that stays with you long after the last page.

And last but certainly not least, Pam Uphoff with a short novel in her Chronicles of the Fall series- The Pine-Wicker Feud

The blurb-

A short novel of events centuries before the Chronicles

Fifty years ago, a judge had a strong precognition, and executed a young lord, heir to the leadership of the Wicker Family, for crimes nearly serious enough for such a harsh sentence. But now the judge has died, and Lord Friedrich Wicker is free to take out his revenge on the surviving Pine Family. And he’s planning on killing every single one of them . . . Especially the seventeen-year-old Lord Karlheinz Ingolf Pine.

I can recommend all four, excellent reads!

 

Getting old…

Posted on by May 4, 2026

Is NOT for sissies…

We were talking over the weekend, and this came up. Sigh…

And yes, this was really the way we grew up. Outside all summer, playing in the creek, the woods, and only coming home at dark for supper.

If that happened today, the parents would be arrested, the kids sent to CPS, and it would be a ‘horror story’ of  ‘wild’ children running amok!

Funny, we survived our childhoods, and grew into responsible adults…for the most part…but we’ve never forgotten, and just shake our heads at what is going on today.

A little humor…

Posted on by May 3, 2026

To start the week…

Have pun with these:

A man’s home is his castle, in a manor of speaking

Dijon vu – the same mustard as before

Practice safe eating – always use condiments

Shotgun wedding – A case of wife or death

A man needs a mistress just to break the monogamy

A hangover is the wrath of grapes

Dancing cheek-to-cheek is really a form of floor play

Does the name Pavlov ring a bell?

Condoms should be used on every conceivable occasion

Reading while sunbathing makes you well red

When two egotists meet, it’s an I for an I

A bicycle can’t stand on its own because it is two tired

What’s the definition of a will? It’s a dead give away

Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana

In democracy your vote counts. In feudalism your count votes

She was engaged to a boyfriend with a wooden leg but broke it off

A chicken crossing the road is poultry in motion

If you don’t pay your exorcist, you get repossessed

With her marriage, she got a new name and a dress

The man who fell into an upholstery machine is fully recovered

You feel stuck with your debt if you can’t budge it

Local Area Network in Australia – the LAN down under

Every calendar’s days are numbered

A lot of money is tainted -Taint yours and taint mine

A boiled egg in the morning is hard to beat

He had a photographic memory that was never developed

A midget fortune-teller who escapes from prison is a small medium at large

Once you’ve seen one shopping center, you’ve seen a mall

Bakers trade bread recipes on a knead-to-know basis

Santa’s helpers are subordinate clauses

Acupuncture is a jab well done

Dammit…

Posted on by May 2, 2026

30 plus years of existence wiped out…

This is a copy with attribution to house of Yoogi said about Spirit Airlines going under. Not the first one I’ve seen go away. Braniff, PSA, TWA, Eastern, Piedmont (merged with US Air, which merged with American), Air Florida, etc… At least he doesn’t cuss with his report, I’m afraid I would have…

Here is his rant-

Spirit Airlines died this morning at the hands of the socialist (Democrat) crusader, Elizabeth Warren, and all the Democrats that stand with her.

They must be so proud to add another casket to their achievements.

This morning at 3am, Spirit turned off the lights. Another 14,000 jobs gone. 30+ smaller airports lose service.

JetBlue offered $3.8 BILLION in cash to buy Spirit in 2022 so the airline could be saved and competition could be preserved. Shareholders, the unions, management, literally everyone voted yes.

The combined company would have held 9% of the US market against a Big 4 that already owned 80%.

For anyone who understands numbers: 9% isn’t a monopoly against 80%.

Warren said no. Democrats cheered her on, helping undermine this lifeline the entire way.

They wrote letters. They protested and campaigned. They pressured DOT head “Mayor Pete” Buttigieg. Biden’s DOJ sued. A federal judge killed the deal in January 2024.

Their argument: the merger would cost consumers $1 billion a year.

Now look at the collateral damage they will try to dust under the rug.

510 pilots gone in the months after. 1,800 flight attendants furloughed in December.

14,000 jobs in 2023. 7,500 last week. Zero tonight.

And that’s just the people in Spirit uniforms.

Catering goes. Fuel guys go. Vendors and suppliers gone. Baggage crews, gate agents, airport coffee shops, hotels and rental cars in 70 cities Spirit flew to, Uber and Lyft drivers, jobs disappeared or consolidated away to existing operators. Every airline job carries 3 more on its back, and many of those are now gone.

40,000+ people out of work because of one woman’s moronic crusade against the market and all the sheep willing to follow her off the cliff.

And the math ain’t mathing.

Spirit abandoned 90 routes during the death spiral. Fares on those routes are up 14% on average. Oakland to Newark: $135 to $288. Fort Myers to San Juan: $92 to $219. Kansas City to Newark up 66%.

That’s reality. That’s the market. That is real life consequences of ignorant policy Not some fake number from an “academic study.”

How does this save the consumer money?

Cheap carriers in a market drop fares 21% across the board. Southwest did this in the 90s and saved Americans $68 BILLION over 20 years.

Democrats killed it. That’s what moronic politicians led by socialism do. And this sort of mindset is all over DC, Springfield, and elsewhere.

With her own blind arrogance, Warren tweeted Spirit’s collapse is “a Biden win for flyers.”

A “win.” Good luck papering over this catastrophe.

14,000 people are reading termination letters this weekend. Tens of thousands others already have or will be shortly.

This is socialism in 2026.

And Warren and the rest take credit. A senator who’s never taken a risk or made a payroll thinks she knows how to run a market better than the people who own and work in the company.

She saved you a billion on imaginary paper.

She cost you many multiples of that in real life.

She didn’t protect consumers from anything – she crushed families and cost everyone more money.

They lie to tear down builders, risk takers, and job creators.

They tear them down so they can mislead you.

They mislead you so they can scare you.

They scare you so they can consolidate power – political and economic. Everything.

Tens of thousands will go from working, producing, creating, serving, helping, and providing for their families to the unemployment line and welfare.

They will make sure to blame billionaires, hardworking tax payers, AI, capitalism and whatever monster they will make up tomorrow hiding under your bed. Some are just flat out economically illiterate – others, like Warren, are just this devious.

Higher taxes. Fewer jobs. More expensive everything. This mindset destroys. It is why a great place like Illinois, which should be a top 5 state economy, is a bottom 5 in every economic and jobs metric that matters, destroying our communities and taking opportunity away from our families.

They call this a success. They might be “winning.” Are you?

Prayers for everyone impacted by this completely avoidable tragedy.

Thank you, @houseofyoogi