Meh…

Posted on by March 6, 2013
You’d think for $3.5M per 30 second ad, the stupor bowl commercials would have been a lot better than they were…


IMHO, the best one was Clint Eastwood’s halftime for America, which had, to me, MULTIPLE meanings…


The Coke ads, were pretty much stock and trade.


Same for Chevy, VW and Bud.


Go Daddy sucked as always, the Honda spot was pathetic unless you were a Ferris Buhler fan, and I know NONE of the four kids watching at the friends even had a clue what that one was about.


Audi, well, they won’t be selling to any “twilighters” in the near future… 🙂


Probably the worst was the Seinfield ad, again references to a long dead show, slap dash, and in reality Seinfield would have just bought the dealership and kicked the guy to the curb…


The Fiat Abarth commercial was just strange, we all thought it was a ‘better’ Go Daddy until the end… 🙂


And that half-time ‘show’?  The lip sync wasn’t bad, but they had the volume too low (no great loss there) on Madonna’s voice, and WTF? with the guy shooting everybody the bird during his solo???


The game? Well it was not bad, one team won, one team lost. Since neither one was mine, I didn’t have a dog in that fight.  BUT my host probably slept on the couch last night, cause his wife is a Pats fan, and the wife and daughter are “twilighters”! 🙂 


At least I managed to get home before all the drunks hit the roads last night, I was hearing sirens till about 0130, when I finally dropped off to sleep…


Today will be interesting, in who shows up on time, who doesn’t and what shape they are in!

A Message from the Queen…

Posted on by March 6, 2013

A little humo(u)r for your Sunday…

To the citizens of the United States of America from Her Sovereign Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

In light of your immediate failure to financially manage yourselves and also in recent years your tendency to elect incompetent Presidents of the USA and therefore not able to govern yourselves, we hereby give notice of the revocation of your independence, effective immediately. (You should look up ‘revocation’ in the Oxford English Dictionary.)

Her Sovereign Majesty Queen Elizabeth II will resume monarchical duties over all states, commonwealths, and territories (except Kansas, which she does not fancy).


Your new Prime Minister, David Cameron, will appoint a Governor for America without the need for further elections.

Congress and the Senate will be disbanded.  A questionnaire may be circulated sometime next year to determine whether any of you noticed.
To aid in the transition to a British Crown dependency, the following rules are introduced with immediate effect:

1. The letter ‘U’ will be reinstated in words such as ‘colour,’ ‘favour,’ ‘labour’ and ‘neighbour.’  Likewise, you will learn to spell ‘doughnut’ without skipping half the letters,  and the suffix ‘-ize’ will be replaced by the suffix ‘-ise.’  Generally, you will be expected to raise your vocabulary to acceptable levels.  (look up ‘vocabulary’).

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2. Using the same twenty-seven words interspersed with filler noises such as ”like’ and ‘you know’ is an unacceptable and inefficient form of communication. There is no such thing as U.S. English. We will let Microsoft know on your behalf.  The Microsoft spell-checker will be adjusted to take into account the reinstated letter ‘u” and the elimination of  ‘-ize.’

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3. July 4th will no longer be celebrated as a holiday.

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4. You will learn to resolve personal issues without using guns, lawyers, or therapists.  The fact that you need so many lawyers and therapists shows that you’re not quite ready to be independent.  Guns should only be used for shooting grouse.  If you can’t sort things out without suing someone or speaking to a therapist, then you’re not ready to shoot grouse.

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5. Therefore, you will no longer be allowed to own or carry anything more dangerous than a vegetable peeler.  Although a permit will be required if you wish to carry a vegetable peeler in public.

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6. All intersections will be replaced with roundabouts, and you will start driving on the left side with immediate effect.  At the same time, you will go metric with immediate effect and without the benefit of conversion tables.   Both roundabouts and metrication will help you understand the British sense of humour.

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7. The former USA will adopt UK prices on petrol (which you have been calling gasoline) of roughly $10/US gallon.  Get used to it.

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8. You will learn to make real chips.  Those things you call French fries are not real chips, and those things you insist on calling potato chips are properly called crisps.  Real chips are thick cut, fried in animal fat, and dressed not with catsup but with vinegar.

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9. The cold, tasteless stuff you insist on calling beer is not actually beer at all.  Henceforth, only proper British Bitter will be referred to as beer, and European brews of  known and accepted provenance will be referred to as Lager.  New Zealand beer is also acceptable, as New Zealand is pound for pound the greatest sporting nation on earth and it can only be due to the beer.  They are also part of the British Commonwealth – see what it did for them.  American brands will be referred to as Near-Frozen Gnat’s Urine, so that all can be sold without risk of further confusion.

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10. Hollywood will be required occasionally to cast English actors as good guys.  Hollywood will also be required to cast English actors to play English characters.  Watching Andie Macdowell attempt English dialogue in Four Weddings and a Funeral was an experience akin to having one’s ears removed with a cheese grater.

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11. You will cease playing American football.  There are only two kinds of proper football; one you call soccer, and rugby (dominated by the New Zealanders).  Those of you brave enough will, in time, be allowed to play rugby (which has some similarities to American football, but does not involve stopping for a rest every twenty seconds or wearing full kevlar body armour like a bunch of nancies).

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12. Further, you will stop playing baseball.  It is not reasonable to host an event called the World Series for a game which is not played outside of America.  Since only 2.1% of you are aware there is a world beyond your borders, your error is understandable.  You will learn cricket, and we will let you face the Australians (World dominators) first to take the sting out of their deliveries.

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13. You must tell us who killed JFK.  It’s been driving us mad.

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14. An internal revenue agent (i.e. tax collector) from Her Majesty’s Government will be with you shortly to ensure the acquisition of all monies due (backdated to 1776).

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15. Daily Tea Time begins promptly at 4 p.m. with proper cups, with saucers, and never mugs, with high quality biscuits (cookies) and cakes; plus strawberries (with cream)  when in season.


God Save the Queen!


h/t- JP

Band of Brothers…

Posted on by March 6, 2013
Brother, life is too short to wake up with regrets. 
So love the people who treat you right. 
Forgive the ones who don’t, just because you can. 
Believe everything happens for a reason. 
If you get a second chance, grab it with both hands, those of you who served in Viet Nam know this. 
If it changes your life, let it. 
Take a few minutes to think before you act when you’re mad. Forgive quickly. 
God never said life would be easy, he just promised it would be worth it.

Today is Band of Brothers’ Day; send this to all your brothers, fathers, sons and fellow veterans you know. 
Happy Brothers’ Day!

I LOVE YA BROTHER!!!

To the cool men that have touched my life. Here’s to you!!! I was never a hero, but I am thankful I served among them.

A real Brother walks with you when the rest of the world walks on you.

Send to all your Band of Brothers, because the fake ones won’t.

h/t JP

Memories…

Posted on by March 6, 2013
Borepatch’s post HERE about Indigo Girls and travelling sent me down memory lane this morning…


I can remember hearing that song on the radio when it first came out, because driving cross country in the 70s, 80s, 90s, about all you got were country stations at night…


This song captured our feelings better than most back in the day, and another one I remember from when it was released…



And this was our ‘theme song’ when we were on the road, because of what we did…





One of the pilots was a country music fan, and lots of the military clubs still had juke boxes in them, usually with a few country songs on them… While Johnny Cash’s version is probably the ‘iconic’ version, Elvis had done a cover of this in 1970 and that was the one we ended up playing the most…


Memories are a funny thing, you mostly remember the good, very seldom the bad, and always remember the weird, humorous, or strange things that happened…





And sadly, this one is STILL pretty much my life, except there is no one left at home anymore…


I envy y’all that actually have stable lives, surrounded by family, friends and actually able to PLAN things more than two days in advance…


Oh well, enough of this mauldin crap… Y’all have a good weekend!!!

Marines…

Posted on by March 6, 2013
This is a poem sent from a Marine To his Dad. For those who take the time to read it, you’ll see a letter from him to  his dad at the bottom. It makes you truly thankful for not only the Marines, but ALL of our troops.

We all came together,
Both young and old
To fight for our freedom,
To stand and be bold.

In the midst of all evil,
We stand our ground,
And we protect our country
From all terror around..

Peace and not war,
Is what some people say.
But I’ll give my life,
So you can live the American way.

I give you the right
To talk of your peace.
To stand in your groups,
And protest in our streets.

But still I fight on,
I don’t bitch, I don’t whine.
I’m just one of the people
Who is doing your time.

I’m harder than nails,
Stronger than any machine.
I’m the immortal soldier,
I’m a U..S. MARINE!
 
So stand in my shoes,
And leave from your home.
Fight for the people who hate you,
With the protests they’ve shown.
Fight for the stranger,
Fight for the young.
So they all may have,
The greatest freedom you’ve won.

Fight for the sick,
Fight for the poor.
Fight for the cripple,
Who lives next door.

But when your time comes,
Do what I’ve done.
For if you stand up for freedom,
You’ll stand when the fight’s done
By: Corporal Aaron M. Gilbert , US Marine Corps USS SAIPAN, PERSIAN GULF 



And here’s the letter…


Hey Dad,
Do me a favor and label this ‘The Marine’ and send it to everybody on your email list. Even leave this letter in it. I want this rolling all over the US and Canada and The World. I want every home reading it. Every eye seeing it. And every heart to feel it. So can you please send this for me? I would but my email time isn’t that long and I don’t have much time anyway. 

You know what Dad? I wondered what it would be like to truly understand what JFK said in his inaugural speech. ‘When the time comes to lay down my life for my country, I do not cower from this responsibility. I welcome it.’ Well, now I know. And I do.. Dad, I welcome the opportunity to do what I do. Even though I have left behind a beautiful wife, and I will miss the birth of our first born child, I would do it 70 times over to fight for the place that God has made for my home. I love you all and I miss you very much.  I wish I could be there when Sandi has our baby, but tell her that I love her, and Lord willing, I will be coming home soon. Give Mom a great big hug from me and give one to yourself too.
Aaron 

Please let this marine (and all our military) know we care by passing his poem onto your friends even if you don’t usually take time to forward mail…do it this time!
Thanks,

So here it is… Let’s fulfill Aaron’s wish…

WTFO???

Posted on by March 6, 2013
ANOTHER reason not to visit Philly, unless you’re carrying a gun and in Condition Orange at the minimum…

No hate charges in Center City cab attack

BY STEPHANIE FARR
Philadelphia Daily News
[email protected] 215-854-4225
THREE JUVENILES accused of assaulting a cabdriver and his passenger in Center City Saturday night while shouting racial slurs will not be charged with a hate crime, the District Attorney’s Office said yesterday.
The teens, who are black, were not charged with hate crimes because there was no evidence that the assault had been motivated by the race of the victims, who are white, said Tasha Jamerson, D.A. spokeswoman.

Full article HERE…

This pretty much points out the Dem’s agenda and response to crime in Philly, and as indicated by Wyatt and Capt America, it is TRULY becoming Filthydelpia…

You NEED to go read this one…

Posted on by March 6, 2013
Mule Breath has a post up HERE, that I guarantee will piss you off…

This is just the start…

The Susan G. Komen for the Cure® Foundation has been developing somewhat of a reputation as a bully… threatening and filing lawsuits against anyone using their “trademarked” pink color (without a license from Komen) in product packaging, and even other groups using the term “cure” as part of their name or in the advertising of an event even when they were trying to fundraise for breast cancer.

I’m sorry, but just because you are doing some good, THAT does not give you the right to bully those other organizations that are also trying to do good…

Unless, it’s REALLY all about money, and not about providing anything other than big salaries to the few at the top…

One of THOSE days…

Posted on by March 6, 2013

This was one of those days it just didn’t pay to chew through the straps…


The morning started THIS way…



And then it went totally South as I lost TWO !@#&* years worth of work email because they decided to upgrade the email version…


And killed my .pst file on the server…


Not only some historical stuff, but also current and ongoing projects that I was ‘forced’ to move off the main email because we are size limited in our mail boxes…


After four hours, one on-site tech, two remote techs, one tier two escalation, the answer was…  “You’re screwed”


They not only killed the original .pst, they also corrupted the backup to the point that it is not salvageable either…


When the tech started trying to BS their way out, well I guess I looked kinda like this…



So the sum total for the day??? 



Not by choice…


Going to drink now…

A Flying Tribute…

Posted on by March 6, 2013
This one is for all those who served and flew in the military…





We may be old, but we DO remember what it was like to climb into those birds and go do our jobs…  


You might need a Kleenex too…

Negligent Discharge…

Posted on by March 6, 2013
Yep, I had one…


First, what I did wrong…


On the great Hog Hunt down in Texas, we kept going out and coming back with no shots on any hogs. 


FIRST mistake was that I kept loading the ejected round in the chamber back on top of the magazine.  STUPID!


(After the fact, in conversation with both Army and Marine troops that go back to Vietnam era, they ALL told me the first thing they did was dump the round that had been in the chamber to either a practice mag, or into a bucket for the ammo monkey to load into mags for use on the range.)


Every other time I’ve been hunting with a semi-auto rifle, we’ve gotten shots off and I didn’t think about what was going on with the round I reloaded, as I usually got shots off on the next cycle.


Note the amount the firing pin protrudes from the locking lugs!



Because I wasn’t thinking about primer strikes…  REPEATED primer strikes, 6 or 7 times (3 trips out at night and 4 during the day)!  Below is a round after just 2 primer strikes on a military round.  Note that it is definitely indented. And I was shooting commercial ammo, not military grade ammo… So in all probability, I created a soft primer situation by reloading that same round…



All of them (and tech support at the manufacturer) agreed I was lucky that I didn’t have a slam fire earlier, and that I was stupid for forgetting that ‘rule’ when shooting semi-auto rifles.


SECOND mistake, we were unloading for the final packout coming home, and the round in the chamber didn’t get picked up by the extractor.  


With the Mag out, turning away from everyone and in a safe direction, I dropped the bolt, and the rifle discharged.  


Note- I DID obey all the rules and turned the rifle away in a safe direction (e.g. I knew what the backstop was, earth).


What I ‘should’ have done was stop when the round didn’t extract, take a rod and push the round out; then figure out why the extractor didn’t pick it up….


When I got back to the hotel, I partially disassembled the rifle and noted the extractor was partially broken! Whether this happened before or after, I’m not sure…


On return I called the manufacturer, they gave me an RMA and the rifle was returned to them for inspection.  They ended up replacing the sear and the extractor was replaced. 


Bottom line, MY stupidity, nothing else caused this ND. It was not the gun’s fault, not the ammo’s fault, it was MY FAULT… 


Thankfully, no one was hurt, and other than ringing ears, no damage was done.


Trust me, I won’t ever make either of those mistakes again…  And once again, we are NEVER too old to learn.

Posted in ND