This one is NOT pretty at the end- but it does end well for the LEOs involved (they all get to go home in one piece).
Team work at it’s finest- and score one for the good guys! The helo pilot most probably saved the officer’s life by telling him NOT to follow the bad guy into the back yard.
This video also shows what our LEOs face on a daily and nightly basis when pursuing bad guys on foot.
Take a minute and say a little prayer for these men and women that are the thin blue line…
One of the better presentations for it’s skewed perspective on gun control…
I finally got back from my little WESTPAC “vacation” so I’m playing catch up on the news…
One thing is for sure- CNN worldwide is BIASED!!!! All of the presidential coverage was slanted pro-Obama; never saw a positive story on McCain the entire week and a half. This was both CNNj (Japan) and CNNs (Spanish, which came on at midnight), were rooting for Obama and his “positive” impact on the world.
Most of the Sailors and Marines I talked to are worried, about their jobs, and more so about the level of committment to the military Obama has.
Oh yeah, it was actually nice NOT to have internet access for a few days 🙂 Amazing how relaxing that is…
Go read Voodoo Medicine Man’s post on the entitlement mentality…
He got it in one, and said it MUCH better than I can.
Herding cats time…
Last night was one of those you had to be there situations…
A group of us went out to dinner at a Japanese (local not tourist) restaurant. They had the plastic presento food in the front window, with Kanji and prices only. The menu came, only Kanji, no English, no pictures…
So everybody either orders off their best guess or price (from the front window). Most of us ordered what are called sets (like prix fixe) but two guys got creative…
Soooo…
The wait staff starts bringing out dishes, sets one in front of one of the ladies with 8 little plates, and motions around the table (can we say appetizer?), so she takes a little plate, one piece and around the table we go… The last guy, a PHD, says, “hey, this kinda looks like what I ordered for dinner”. Next they bring out a few bowls of rice, which get placed around the table and some of the group take them…
Again the last guy is left out… Now they bring out the rest of the meals, he now has nothing sitting in front of him, and he mumbles something about thinking he ordered a bowl of rice…
We end up getting the manager over to the table, and find out that we had, in fact, eaten his dinner AND his rice 🙂 So he orders again…
20 minutes later we are finished, and his second set of food finally gets to the table. We wait for him, then go up to pay. Now this is where it gets interesting…
They don’t speak English, we don’t speak Japanese, there is nothing on the bill indicating the prices, and the Mamasan is getting frustrated. So I go track down the manager and get a menu, we guesstimate how much we owe, and start going back and forth to the front window and pointing out what we had. The Mamasan totals it up, points to the register and that is what we pay…
Last guys gets up, points to his appetizer and rice (times 2), and she rings up about 4 times the value… Last guy gets frustrated (reminder: he’s a PHD and he doesn’t deal well with not getting his way) so I end up in the middle of it, and through pantomime, etc. we figure out she never charged us for any drinks, so tacked it all on his bill… We finally get enough yen together to pay the last part and leave…
We get outside, and of course, to add insult to injury, it is now pouring rain! Last guy decides to wait on a taxi, while the rest of us head back. About 30 minutes later, we’re at the bar having a nightcap or three, when he finally comes in; he walks over and tells us he needs yen to pay for his taxi!!! The idjit called a taxi for what was effectively a 4 block ride, which cost almost $10, and he didn’t even have the money to pay for it, and tried to pay with his credit card!!!!
So collection time again, including trading people dollars for yen to finally collect enough to pay his taxi fare, meanwhile he leaves and goes to bed!!! So I get stuck doing the go min esai dance with the taxi driver…
Note to self: DO NOT bring this guy next time… sigh…
At about 315pm, felt a small earthquake here in Yokosuka, Japan. Chair was vibrating, computer (desk) started shaking, and I ‘finally’ realized what was happening; yep, I’m awake….
About 30 seconds before it hit, I heard a bunch of dogs start barking/howling… Don’t know if this was a bigger one elsewhere, and we got the fringes or what. No aftershocks so far, but the dogs are going nuts again, so I’m gonna take a break and go outside 🙂
Well, 15 minutes later and nothing has happened… I don’t think most people even noticed!
Biggest news over here today is that the Nikkei (Japanese Stock Market) has dropped 9.4% today, along with most of the Asian markets (largest drop Indonesian Market 10.5% before they suspended trading). Toyota was off 10% of their total value today alone! Add this to the London Exchange problems, the Brit buyout, etc. closure of the Russian markets after 10 and 15% losses respectively and yes, the Wall Street problem really has upset markets world wide…
BBC is saying there is now ‘officially’ a world wide panic in progress, thanks to the US!
We decided to do something different for dinner, so we took the train up to Yokohama, went to Chinatown, and ate in a Brazilian restaurant serving Argentinian beef… Talk about Globalization… Burp…
On October 1, 2008, Commander, Submarine Forces Pacific Fleet, Rear Adm. Douglas McAneny announced that a sunken vessel off the coast of the Aleutian Islands is in fact the World War II submarine USS Grunion (SS 216).
66 years after the fact, and in no small part due to the persisitance of LCDR Abele’s sons; along with a chance input from a Japanese source, closure has been granted to those families.
Details here:
http://www.csp.navy.mil/ww2boats/grunion.htm
and here:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/10/081003193648.htm
And here is the site about the search:
http://www.ussgrunion.com/
RIP and go with God Gentlemen; you will always be on Eternal Patrol.
A little humor for your Friday…
Watch for these consolidations in 2009:
1.) Hale Business Systems, Mary Kay Cosmetics, Fuller Brush, and W. R. Grace Co. will merge and become: Hale, Mary, Fuller, Grace.
2.) PolygramRecords, Warner Bros., and ZestaCrackers join forces and become:
Poly, Warner Cracker.
3.) 3M will merge with Goodyear and become:
MMMGood.
4. ZippoManufacturing, AudiMotors, Dofasco, and Dakota Mining will merge and become:
ZipAudiDoDa.
5. FedEx is expected to join its competitor, UPS, and become:
FedUP.
6. Fairchild Electronics and Honeywell Computers will become:
Fairwell Honeychild.
7. Grey Poupon and Docker Pants are expected to become:
PouponPants.
8. Knotts Berry Farm and the National Organization of Women will become:
Knott NOW!
And finally….
9. Victoria ‘s Secret and Smith & Wesson will merge under the new name:
TittyTittyBangBang
Hey, I don’t come up with em, I just pass em along on recycled electrons…
Everybody else is beating the hell outta the congresscritters and Wall St., so I’m going in a different direction…
Don’t know if this is real or faked, but it IS funny as hell! Tattoo it on your forehead- Don’t piss off little old ladies 🙂
Fannie Mae CEO calling Obama and the Dems the “family and conscience” of Fannie Mae…
Hmmm… And Pelosi and Reid are gonna fix it???