First it was Tailhook… And the politically correct patch. And yes, there IS an easter egg in the patch. Bonus points if you know what it is.
Now it’s callsigns… Politically correct, will be assigned to all pilots…
Sigh… It’s truly NOT my Navy anymore.
LibertyCon will be the end of the month June 28-30 in Chattanooga, TN.
I got my ‘official’ schedule so I know what I’m on the hook for…
| Day | Time | Name of Event | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Fri | 05:00PM | Opening Ceremonies |
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| Sat | 10:00AM | Indy Author Resources Panel |
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| Sat | 01:00PM | World Building for Space Opera |
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| Sat | 03:00PM | Indie Publishing – Latest Trends in Self-Publishing and the State of the Market |
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| Sat | 10:00PM | Writers Tell Sea Stories II |
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| Sun | 10:00AM | Kaffeeklatsch |
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These should be fun! Looks like I’m going to be surrounded by submariners again on the sea story panel… sigh…
If you’re interested, I will have a few copies of my books there.
Even after now four years, it felt strange to watch the ceremonies at Arlington on TV, rather than watching it there. The laying of the wreath is very solemn, and even with all the dignitaries and media there, John Q. Public is still welcomed and allowed. Based on my experiences, ‘most’ of the public attendees were retired or former military some for the first time, others who lived locally and had been there multiple years.
Ammo.com has a good piece on the history of ‘Decoration Day’, HERE. And commenters Tom and Beans linked to the article from Tom Cotton, Arkansas’ Republican Senator, who is ex-Army and did a tour with the Old Guard, HERE. It talks about his tour at Arlington, and is well worth the time.
For me, I watched it on TV, then started prepping for the cookout I was hosting yesterday. All of the guys were ex-military in one form or another, and we all share that sense of loss of men we knew. It’s kinda frustrating to be thanked for my service on a day like yesterday, since it’s REALLY about those who never came home. We all agreed on that, but deal with it, each in our own way.
And my friend and long time commenter, Stretch and his wife stopped in from Virginia for a few hours while on vacation. It was great to see them, and a good time was had, along with some decent burgers.
Apparently our little town is ‘right off’ their list of possible retirement places according to Stretch’s wife. Something about seeing us on TV regularly for our ‘weather’… So we gave them a few recommendations and a few places to stay away from (Dallas, Austin, Houston).
As usual, the talk turned to guns, as Stretch is one of the group that got together regularly to shoot in Northern Virginia when we did the fund raisers and fun shoots. Not that ‘that’ is a rat hole we go down routinely… nah… 🙂
Honoring those who did not make it back.
May you rest in peace, your brothers and sisters have the watch.
‘In Flanders Fields’ is a poem that was written in 1915 by Canadian physician and Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae to honor a soldier friend of his, Lieutenant Alexis Helmer, who had been killed in battle. The poem was also the inspiration for the use of the poppy to honor and remember those who have died in war, which, after all, is the true meaning of Memorial Day.
In Flanders Fields
In Flanders Fields the poppies blow between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky the Larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the dead. Short days ago we lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders Field.
Take up our quarrel with the foe: To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high. If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders Field.
LTC McCrae died in 1918 in France. There were several poems that were penned by individuals in honor of McCrae’s poem. One was titled ‘America’s Answer’ by R. W. Lillard.
America’s Answer
Rest in peace, ye Flanders dead. The fight that you so bravely led
We’ve taken up. And we will keep true faith with you who lie asleep
With each a cross to mark his bed, and poppies blowing overhead,
When once his own life-blood ran red. So let your rest be sweet and deep
In Flanders Fields.
Fear not that ye have died for naught; the torch ye threw to us we caught,
Ten million hands will hold it high, and freedom’s light shall never die!
We’ve learned the lesson that ye taught
In Flanders Field
The poppies ended up growing in the now named Poppy Valley at Gallipoli too…
Lots of folks are off for a long weekend, and will be hitting the sales and enjoying picnics, etc.
But take a moment and remember those in the military who never came home and will never be able to enjoy any of those things.
Remember these men and women from all races and religions, who gave their all…
AI systems development is getting scary…
We’ve seen some of this in the movies, where someone who has passed away is inserted into a new movie using CGI, but this stuff is even scarier!
This technology, called Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs), is behind the wave of digitally manipulated videos and photos called “deep fakes”.
The results are that famous people such as actors or politicians can be made to say and do whatever creators want and are difficult to prove as fake.Â
Interesting article, HERE from The Telegraph Technology Intelligence section.
So now, you can’t even believe the video… Or can you???
Our brains have been running Hunter/Gatherer 1.0 for 60,000 years without a software upgrade…
Some things are hardwired into our brains, regardless of what the POS and left want to believe…
Granted the ones still living in momma/daddy’s basement in their 30s and hiding behind their keyboards don’t want to admit that, but they know in their hindbrains that if they actually come out from behind the anonymity of the keyboard, and say those things to people with real experience, THEY will experience real consequences…
Mondays… sigh
Hadn’t done a deep scan on my computer in a while, and started it only to have it say it was going to take 12 hours… Lovely…
So it’s still running and I’m trying to type this on a cell phone. NOT my strong suit. I kinda feel like this guy…
And we’re supposed to get MORE rain this week. That should make things ‘really’ interesting, but it beats the hell out of the drought!
The stupid in DC is becoming almost laughable, except those idjits get to make laws, which is even more scary. The harder they beat on the desks about ‘change’ they are going to make happen, the more worried I get. And the more the Jews in the attic test comes into play.
I can’t help but wonder how far they think they can push John/Jane Q. Public before the pushback starts and balloons into something they cannot control?
Hopefully I’ll be back on the computer tomorrow. Thanks again for all the good thoughts yesterday, we do appreciate them!
‘Tis that time of year…
Alma put a great post up, HERE giving a technical answer to why a triple point weather pattern is ‘not good’…
Welp, last night and into this morning, that’s what we’ve got…
And over one helluva big area, as this pattern is a continuation of what started Saturday in San Angelo and ripped through Dallas/Fort Worth. As of yesterday evening, things were basically west of us, flowing northeast and bypassing us, thanks to a pretty strong wind out of the south. Starting about 1800, the lower level winds started changing, gusting, calm, out of the north, calm, out of the west, gusting again, etc. The upper level was still out of the southwest, and the hair started standing up (what little I have left).
We started seeing these clouds starting to roll through,
And another round of weather started coming up from south Texas, moving more and more ENE…
I’ll post the results of the overnight situation later this morning.
Edit- Â The major weather skirted us to the west, we only had an inch and a half of rain, a little bit of hail, and some pretty good winds…