This one is 24 minutes long, but it will bring a tear to your eye…
One family’s connection thanks to an airplane.
I hope you enjoyed it, and they truly were the greatest generation! Thankfully there is another generation that is preserving the airplanes so more generations can see and hear them for real.
Is apparently alive and well again!
An Air Force jet piloted by an Offutt-based crew is flying the first aerial photography flight over Russia in more than a year under the Open Skies Treaty, Pentagon officials confirmed, marking a return to some limited military cooperation between the two nations.
Full article, HERE from Omaha.com
For those who are not sure what I’m talking about, this goes back to the 1950s, and was finally signed in 1989 by George HW Bush, but it wasn’t actually ratified until 2002. Now there were ‘overflights’ both by US and Soviet aircraft prior to 2002, as many of us in the military remember, along with the ‘overflight’ windows of the Soviet satellites, which we all came to know and ‘love’… sigh…
Ironically in 2018, the congresscritters refused to fund upgrading of the old OC-135 which is the only US compliant aircraft. That poor old 135 is still limping around on the original J-57 engines, and I’m not sure there are even any spares left for them. It’s a matter of time until it breaks and is stuck wherever it is… Hopefully NOT stuck in Russia!
More information on Open Skies is HERE. Note, this is NOT connected with the ICAO Open Skies policy…
One wonders what stories they told…
They had to have been in their 90s at the time this was taken. I also wonder what they thought about the advances in weapons! From cap and ball to semi-auto pistols and rifles, from horses to automobiles and airplanes. And I wonder how many battles they survived and how many friends they lost.
An old guy says his piece…
Nuff said…
h/t Crucis
Apparently the Senate has passed a bill called the Veterans Small Business Enhancement Act, S.2679, the “Veterans Small Business Enhancement Act of 2018,” which amends the Small Business Act to provide veteran-owned small businesses access to surplus property owned by the Federal government.
Where this could really be a boon to Veteran Owned Small Businesses (VOSBs), is the ability to get stuff from .gov from surplus/DRMO. Desks, chairs, maybe some office equipment, who knows. But it would be stuff that the VOSB didn’t have to pony up money for initially…
If you know a veteran that owns a small business, you might want to pass the information along.
HERE is the link to the actual verbiage, and the official notification.
And then there is this, from Apple. While I applaud the effort, I’m not sure I want that on my phone…
Apple has announced that military veterans treated by VA will soon be able to access their medical records on the iPhone Health Records app. It’s the latest major collaboration between Apple and a health care system, and a sign of the company’s growing interest in the world of electronic health records.
Electronic health records are a famously contentious sector of the health care system. For many patients, the tangled evolution of e-health technology has led to a fragmented paper trail filled with gaps, which makes it hard to bring their own health information from one network to another and can slow down their treatment. The new collaboration would allow the 9 million veterans served by the VA, which is the largest medical system in the country, to see their aggregated medical records – including conditions, vaccinations, lab tests, medical procedures, and diagnoses – in one place.
The long-rumored VA collaboration continues Apple’s efforts to partner with as many institutions as possible. A year ago, Apple announced that users would be able to
access records from over 100 hospitals in 39 health care systems through its app. According to a November Wall Street Journal report, the eventual goal might be for
patients to share their data with other health apps that can provide services like prescription refills and then give Apple a cut of the profit. Apple isn’t the only company interested in health records. Amazon recently announced that it will start selling software that can read medical records and make suggestions for improving treatment or saving money. And Google applied for a patent for a system that uses artificial
intelligence trained on electronic health records to build models that could warn doctors of dangerous medical events.
The military draft is currently under review-
ARLINGTON, Va. — Three years ago, Congress created a commission to help it answer a pair of questions: Is the Selective Service System, which requires 18-year-old men to register for a potential military draft, working?
If so, should it be expanded to include women?
The panel, more than halfway through its work, is asking even bigger questions.
Full article, HERE at USA Today.
And as of Friday, Federal Judge Gray Miller in Houston has declared that the all-male military draft is unconstitutional.
Full article, HERE.
I’m hoping they change the rules to require ALL 18 years olds register for the draft, regardless of sex. This will give women the ‘full’ equity that they have wanted. And along with it comes those pesky requirements that those who fail to register with the Selective Service System at their 18th birthday can be denied public benefits such as federal employment and student loans.
Frankly this is long overdue. It should have been done in the mid-80s when Schroeder et al made the big push for women in the military with no restrictions. Why should half the population get off scot free?
If you’d like your topsoil back, you can come get it… At least that part that isn’t already in Arkansas… Sigh…
Windy days are a fact of life in this part of the country, but dayum… 12 hours of 30-40 mph winds with highest gust at 50+ gets old. Power flickered five or six times, and I’m going to need to dust/vacuum the WHOLE house tomorrow, but I did get an alpha read in for a friend of mine, and it’s going to be one helluva book! I’ll be pushing it when it comes out, trust me!
Even poor Obi didn’t like it. He spent the day either barking at the pops and clicks, or hiding under my computer desk. He’d want out, go out for three minutes, and run for the door. Poor pup had to find a quiet corner of the yard depending on the wind direction to even try to take a leak without getting blown over.
Con crud is finally in ‘remission’, assuming nothing stupid happens in the next day or so. And I’m actually feeling like eating and being halfway human, now if the back will just quit hurting…
And the muse is finally starting to work a bit, so the writing is picking back up. Now the issue is, ‘which’ story she’s going to launch me on.
Lousy weather, lousy connectivity, supposedly high winds today.
So you get no post, cause I ain’t trying to type it on the phone.
Go read the sidebar folks.
Posted from my iPhone.
First up is a book bomb from Larry-
As always, click the cover to go to the book.
Our book is:
From Larry: Zach was a very good friend of mine and one of the all around coolest people I’ve ever met. He finished the rough draft of this novel three days before he died suddenly from a pulmonary embolism.
Paul Genesse and Patrick Tracy are talented authors, who were also friends of Zach’s, and they vowed to finish his last book and get it out there because Zach thought it was the best thing he’d ever written.
No matter how good you are, rough drafts still need lots of work, and working with Zach’s brother Josh, and a great team of artists (it is beautifully illustrated) and editors, they did a fantastic job. They’ve received no compensation for this. It was done as a labor of love, and all the royalties go to Zach’s widow, Makenzie.
Larry’s full post is HERE.
Second is a benefit anthology from LTUE, Trace the Stars.
The blurb-
Exciting Space Opera and Hard Science Fiction Tales from Award-Winning and Up-and-Coming Writers
A consultant discovers how to communicate effectively with ancient, alien beings who have an entirely different perspective on the universe. A human becomes a hero for his actions, even though they were after his death. Hard choices must be made to save loved ones. When trying to prevent imminent death, insanity becomes an asset. These are only a few of the amazing stories waiting within these pages!
Journey into the last frontier with these seventeen tales of wonder and science, including award-winning stories by some of the top writers in science fiction and brand new tales by promising up-and-comers.
Hemelein Publications, in cooperation with LTUE Press, is proud to present this exciting collection of space opera and hard science fiction tales. We created this anthology to honor Marion K. “Doc” Smith, the original faculty mentor behind the creation of Life, the Universe, & Everything, the annual science fiction and fantasy academic symposium held in Provo, Utah. Proceeds from this volume, and those that follow in the coming years, go to support LTUE’s mission of educating and helping new writers, artists, editors, and other creatives in learning the skills they need to become successful in the speculative fiction field.
Trace the Stars collects stories from Nancy Fulda, Sandra Tayler, Kevin J. Anderson, Brad R. Torgersen, M. K. Hutchins, Eric James Stone, Daniel Friend, Emily Martha Sorensen, David Farland, John M. Olsen, James Wymore, Eric G. Swedin, Jaleta Clegg, Paul Genesse, Wulf Moon, Beth Buck, and Julia H. West.
Both of these are for damn good causes! Thanks!
With this weather, kinda important…
And this one is just… over the top…
