Nuff said…
Nuff said…
CDPcoppurr has a post up HERE about Densey Cole and his chance to get a real honeymoon…
Crucis has a post up HERE on Lt Mike Murphy’s MOH won in Afghanistan. This is the team leader that Marcus Luttrell refers to in his book ‘Lone Survivor’.
Go take the seven minutes and listen to the video…
At a certain age, everyone will understand this poor guy.
Hell, at a certain age that WILL be US…
I thought about the 30 year business I ran with 1800 employees, all without a Blackberry that played music, took videos, pictures and communicated with Facebook and Twitter.
I signed up under duress for Twitter and Facebook, so my seven kids, their spouses, 13 grandkids and 2 great grand kids could communicate with me in the modern way. I figured I could handle something as simple as Twitter with only 140 characters of space.
That was before one of my grandkids hooked me up for Tweeter, Tweetree, Twhirl, Twitterfon, Tweetie and Twittererific Tweetdeck, Twitpix and something that sends every message to my cell phone and every other program within the texting world.
My phone was beeping every three minutes with the details of everything except the bowel movements of the entire next generation. I am not ready to live like this. I keep my cell phone in the garage in my golf bag.
The kids bought me a GPS for my last birthday because they say I get lost every now and then going over to the grocery store or library. I keep that in a box under my tool bench with the Blue tooth [it’s red] phone I am supposed to use when I drive. I wore it once and was standing in line at Barnes and Noble talking to my wife as everyone in the nearest 50 yards was glaring at me. Seems I have to take my hearing aid out to use it and I got a little loud.
I mean the GPS looked pretty smart on my dash board, but the lady inside was the most annoying, rudest person I had run into in a long time. Every 10 minutes, she would sarcastically say, “Re-calc-ul-ating” You would think that she could be nicer. It was like she could barely tolerate me. She would let go with a deep sigh and then tell me to make a U-turn at the next light. Then when I would make a right turn instead, it was not good.
When I get really lost now, I call my wife and tell her the name of the cross streets and while she is starting to develop the same tone as Gypsy, the GPS lady, at least she loves me.
To be perfectly frank, I am still trying to learn how to use the cordless phones in our house. We have had them for 4 years, but I still haven’t figured out how I can lose three phones all at once and have run around digging under chair cushions and checking bathrooms and the dirty laundry baskets when the phone rings. (sounds familiar, please let it keep ringing until I find it. . . don’t laugh, I am serious)
The world is just getting too complex for me. They even mess me up every time I go to the grocery store. You would think they could settle on something themselves but this sudden “Paper or Plastic?” every time I check out just knocks me for a loop.
I bought some of those cloth reusable bags to avoid looking confused but I never remember to take them in with me.
Now I toss it back to them. When they ask me, “Paper or Plastic?” I just say, “Doesn’t matter to me. I am bi-sacksual..” Then it’s their turn to stare at me with a blank look.
I trundled up to Baltimore yesterday afternoon, in DC traffic (1 hour to go 16 miles), to meet up with AD, TOTW, and Epi at the EMS conference…
Did I mention I HATE DC traffic???
I actually found a parking place less than a mile walk to the bar even! Of course one of the ‘courteous’ Baltimore drivers tried to dive into it as I started backing up, but the law of gross tonnage won 🙂 After suitable honking and hand gestures that fine lady decided to look elsewhere…
Did I mention I HATE DC and BALTIMORE traffic???
Anyhoo, paid the King’s ransom to park and walked over to the bar- And there was AD, holding court as usual 🙂 Since it was early, and the beer had just started flowing, it was pretty quiet by our ‘standards’…
TOTW and I retired to the outdoors to indulge our bad habits and catch up on happenings since the last time we saw each other and commiserate on the condition of Lou, who literally IS a legend in EMS, one of the original medics and later paramedics at Baltimore Shock Trauma. TOTW and I discussed how to get somebody to sit down with Lou and capture an oral history from him, since he was there at the start of it all. Lou is not well, and his health is declining, please keep him in your thoughts and prayers…
Meanwhile, AD and the crowd had moved to a bigger table, and the beer was starting to flow, so we wandered back in. Since the crowd was all EMS folks, I truly felt like a third wheel, but I enjoyed watching the show, and yes Farm Girl, I did pass along your greeting 🙂
As we were ordering food, a BIG ol’ boy(as we say down South), not quiet as big as Matt, but close showed up at the table, staring intently at AD for three or four minutes. He had heard AD give a lecture on something a couple of years ago and was STILL impressed by it!!! He joined us and things got merrier as the beer continued to flow.
Turns out this ol’ boy is a paramedic at Lennox Hill Hospital in NYC; and in his off time he’s a club bouncer in NYC. I asked him if he’d ever had to fix somebody up AFTER he pounded them down, and he said only a couple of times, then he casually mentioned he’d been shot THREE times bouncing! One time SIX shots in the back!!! He said thankfully he was wearing a vest when that happened! I asked him if he ever wore his vest while working for Lennox, and he just grinned and said, “No comment”.
Bottom line, that Gentleman TRULY works the mean streets, and has for 18 years… More power to him!
Epi popped in, saying she was upstairs with another group of EMS bloggers, and complained they were all younger than her and the booze and Jello shots were starting; so we started kidding her about being ‘mama’ and by coming down to OUR table, she immediately became the youngest person there…
Epi seemed much happier than last year, and did say that even with all the issues of paramedic school life is MUCH better! That’s great to hear, as she is truly one of the good (AND Nice) ones…
Meanwhile, the beer and food continued to flow, and AD continued to hold court, while TOTW and I just watched and shook our heads… He is really something when he gets on a roll, as he was last night! 🙂
I had to bolt early, as I had stuff to do this morning, and as I left I heard AD say to the waitress, “Oh, we’re gonna be HERE a while darling, just hang on to that check for me”… TOTW just rolled his eyes, and told me they had a hour drive to get to where they were staying, so there is no telling what time they got home…
So I trot my happy ass back out to my truck, to find that somebody had keyed my driver’s side door from top to bottom (I wonder if the bitch that lost ‘her’ parking space to me came back?). Then the fun began as I started trying to get OUT of the parking space, since new people had left me about ONE foot in front and in back!!!
After backing and filling ‘forever’ I finally got out, and back on the road home…
Did I mention that I HATE DC and BALTIMORE traffic???
54 miles and TWO hours later I finally get home (and this was WELL after ‘rush hour’)…
Did I mention I HATE DC and BALTIMORE traffic???
But it was definitely worth it, good times with good friends is ALWAYS worth the effort!!!
Virginia just lost a few more Brady points… 🙂
From NRA/ILA Alert-
SB 334, Senator Hanger’s restaurant ban repeal has PASSED the House UNCHANGED.
SB 408, Senator Vogel’s bill to allow non-CHP holders to have a loaded handgun in a locked container or compartment in their motor vehicle or boat PASSED UNCHANGED.
SB 3, Senator Smith’s bill to allow CHP holders to renew their permit through the mail passed UNCHANGED.
All these will go to the REPUBLICAN Governor of VA for signature next week, and go into effect in July I believe…
Also the oral arguments have been completed in McDonald and can be read HERE. Turk Turon has been lucky enough to actually be there, and has a number of posts up on his blog about the goings on!
I’ll make a prediction now- 5-4 in our favor with Scalia writing the opinion and Sotomayor writing the dissent…
And I’m stuck in Texas in meetings… sigh… sometimes Life just ain’t fair 🙁
h/t Turk Turon
Truth IS stranger than fiction…
Caller : Hi, our printer is not working.
Customer Service: What is wrong with it?
Caller : Mouse is jammed.
Customer Service: Mouse? Printers don’t have a mouse you idiot!
Caller: Mmmmm??.. Oh really?… I’ll send you a picture.
Customer Service: Oh…
This is a scary video; it shows, by county and state, the spread and the breadth and depth of unemployment from 2007 to today. It’s also interesting to note the places (CA and MS) that already had high unemployment in 2007. We need to take back control of our country and help small businesses (the real employment generators) get back to ‘business’… Just sayin…
Well, I listened to some of the “Health Care Summit” while travelling back this afternoon, and I was NOT impressed… They cost us 7 1/2 hours that could have been put to productive use, like fixing the ECONOMY STUPID…. sigh…
Neither side was very impressive, it was all rhetoric and talking points, and it didn’t help that Obama tended to talk twice as long as everyone else. He came in with an agenda that, in my opinion, DID NOT include any kind of real deal making, but was a photo op/attempt to embarrass the Republicans into giving in. I believe there is a plan B in the wings the Dems are going to push through if they fail on the current plan…
I will give the Republicans credit, they did offer a clean sheet and fresh start, or to deal from areas of agreement, but that was obviously NEVER on the table either for Obama or the Dems.
A couple of things I found interesting, were the discussions about Tort Reform- McCain brought up Texas attempts, and the success they’ve had, and Obama’s counter was “Oh, the STATES should do Tort Reform, not the Feds”; he then turned it over to Durbin, who promptly trotted out all the ‘bad’ things the medical people have done and the sob stories about loss, etc… Durbin must be a lawyer…
Another was who pays/how to pay for the people without insurance… That was just a cluster f**k… plain and simple… The dems swearing up and down it will actually SAVE money. Last time I looked, $1 Trillion + is NOT a savings…
And there was a big argument over basic accounting principals, like if you count the ‘savings’ from Medicare, you can’t then turn around and SPEND that same dollar and call it 2 dollars total…
One thing was obvious, the democrats don’t care what people (us) think. They are going to push this POS through come hell, high water, public opinion or otherwise…
I heard an outtake interview with Ben Cardin (I believe he is a dem from MD), who basically said WE WON, MAJORITY RULE, SCREW YOU, and prepare for reconciliation… And Pelosi categorically said, “It’s too late to start over!” WTF???
Woman you are talking about ONE SIXTH of the total US economy! Shouldn’t you be more worried about GETTING IT RIGHT??? sigh…
If this continues, I for one, just cannot see how this country is going to get back on it’s feet and get any kind of bi-partisan legislation going on ANYTHING! This also doesn’t bode well for us as a country, when the politicians categorically refuse to listen to us; think they know better than we how to manage our own lives, and are dead set on putting government in the middle of everything we do.
Two side notes:
The Canadian minister who came to Miami to have surgery, and point blank said, “Hey, I can afford it and it’s my body, so I’m getting the best care I can.”
Now what is going to happen if we end up with the same kind of socialized medicine Canada has, where do we go then??? Australia???
And one follow up on DADT– The Commandant of the Marine Corps came out against DADT today in briefings to SECDEF, and Gen Casey, the Army Chief of Staff said there needs to be more study done. A poll that was discussed had something like a 70+ percent negative reaction to DADT (I think it was done either by or for the Army on one of the bases, maybe Ft. Bragg and only with troops). FWIW, this diametrically opposite of the many polls that have been put forward supposedly saying the troops ‘support’ DADT.
Well, it’s ‘official’ the Army investigation of Hasan has come out with their report and guess what???
The military investigation into the Ft. Hood terrorist attack has concluded what the rest of us already knew–that Major Nidal Malik Hasan was allowed to regularly violate his oath and openly promote subversive Islamic extremism since 2005…to protect “diversity.” link HERE
Next-
And this whole brouhaha over the laptops in PA is, I think, the tip of the iceburg… First the kid who was ‘confronted’ by the asst. principal over a photo saying he was doing drugs, that now the school system says doesn’t exist and the student “made up” the whole thing, to an admission that the software was used 42 times “to recover lost or stolen laptops”…
And they have disabled the functionality…
And oops, they’re sorry they didn’t tell anyone (students OR parents) about it…
Now other students are coming forward saying that they saw the green light (signifying the camera was on) at various times. Now lemme see, these were take home units, so they probably ended up in the kid’s bedrooms (male AND female)…
And now the FBI is involved…
And the school district has released a statement HERE
One can only wonder how many OTHER times that software has been used and what was seen??? I’m betting if the truth EVER comes out, this system was used on a regular basis, and somebody or somebodies probably got an eye full on more than one occasion… I’d also bet that even though the school system is saying they will preserve the “evidence”; some people at that school are sweating bullets and hoping that erase feature really DOES work on those monitoring computers…
Just sayin…
And in the latest retraction on the globull warming front…
A study claimed in 2009 that sea levels would rise by up to 82cm by the end of century – but the report’s author now says true estimate is still unknown!
“Scientists have been forced to withdraw a study on projected sea level rise due to global warming after finding mistakes that undermined the findings.”
The link is HERE in part the article states, “Siddall said that he did not know whether the retracted paper’s estimate of sea level rise was an overestimate or an underestimate.”
Announcing the formal retraction of the paper from the journal, Siddall said: “It’s one of those things that happens. People make mistakes and mistakes happen in science.” He said there were two separate technical mistakes in the paper, which were pointed out by other scientists after it was published. A formal retraction was required, rather than a correction, because the errors undermined the study’s conclusion.
“Retraction is a regular part of the publication process,” he said. “Science is a complicated game and there are set procedures in place that act as checks and balances.”
I find it rather interesting that I have seen NOTHING in the US press about this retraction… Anybody??? (crickets)
And some more history- This time WWII specifically Iwo Jima in photographs taken mostly by Air Corps photogs the link is HERE
There are some duplicates, but worth the time. I thought I had seen/studied a good bit about Iwo and Saipan, but I’ve never seen a lot of these!!!
Some of them are NOT pretty, included are some rare photos of aftermath of the last Banzi charge after the island had been declared “secure”
Think about it Squadron Commander at 23 years of age. About 100 hours of flight time when they went into air combat. This also shows the terrible conditions these guys had to live and fight in. They wrecked more P-51’s than probably today exist!
High winds, cross winds, shot up airplanes, 8 hour missions, volcanic dust and sand took their toll… AND THEY KEPT FLYING!
God Bless Them!!!
Sorry for the scattershots today, but I’m back on the road, so trying to get things on ‘paper’ that I’ve heard yesterday and today…