Wow!!!

Posted on by November 11, 2023

This one is gonna leave a mark!!!

It’s official. Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital has been found liable for the medical kidnapping of Maya Kowalski, medical malpractice, billing fraud, and driving Beata Kowalski to suicide. In a groundbreaking decision, a Florida jury found the hospital liable for every charge brought forward by the plaintiffs and awarded compensatory damages in the amount of just over $211 million. Then they awarded $50 million in punitive damages against the hospital that colluded with DCS to falsely imprison a medically complex child over false allegations that her mother had Munchausen by Proxy.

Full article, HERE.

A lot of the backstory is covered HERE.

A member of my family has CRPS, so I know how much of a problem it is, and how much of a PITA it is dealing with doctors, pain management, et al, none of whom want to be ‘on the hook’ for treatment…

I can foresee this being another Oberlin case, taking years to wend through the courts, but I really hope they win in the end!

Veterans Day…

Posted on by November 10, 2023

At the eleventh hour, on the eleventh day, of the eleventh month…

We are the lucky ones that made it back. To all my shipmates, it was always ‘interesting’ serving with you.

And a special thanks to those maintainers who kept our birds flying and allowed us to come home safely. Without you, none of us would be here!

Thank you to those who are serving today and are standing the duty wherever they may be. Hand Salute!

Grrr…

Posted on by November 9, 2023

My YouTube channel OLDNFO where we do the ‘Bored yet’ livestreams got attacked yesterday with at least two meat sacks and a bunch of bots.

They posted racist crap in the comments section and basically disrupted the livestream to the point that we had to end 20 minutes early because I couldn’t keep up with the blocking/reporting of the bots. After checking the YouTube info boards, etc. I ended up having to delete the entire livestream to keep us from getting in trouble with YT and possibly being banned.

If we had been monetized, I’m sure YT would have killed us on the spot.

They may have hit us because I didn’t require subscription to comment, and honestly, we are a conservative livestream with honest discussions both from us and in the chat. We also observed again yesterday that YT is blocking certain comments based on wording, so we know the YT algorithms are monitoring…

Sigh…

So much for trying to just have fun and give folks a place to get away from the madness, BS, etc. that is the net on any given day/time. I think we will go to subscriber only commenting (sorry folks), and have a few volunteers to monitor the chat stream to kill the bots, etc. when they pop up.

After three plus years of doing this, including being shadow banned on FB back in Dec 2010 and moving to YT, we’re now approaching 500 subscribers, so I guess it’s no surprise that we took a hit…

Honestly, I’m surprised we haven’t been swacked before now.

Anyhoo, the Dec 9 show is now deleted, so don’t bother looking for it. We’ll try again to Tuesday with the ‘fixes’ we come up with to see if we can keep ‘control’ of the chat… Which often has a life of its own, and takes off in directions that we never expect…

/rant off now back to your regularly scheduled blogging…

Speaking of blimp hangars…

Posted on by November 8, 2023

Hangar 2 at Moffett Field has a little something that has been hidden inside that rolled out yesterday…

Photo LTA Research

As dawn breaks over Silicon Valley, the world is getting its first look at Pathfinder 1, a prototype electric airship that its maker LTA Research hopes will kickstart a new era in climate-friendly air travel, and accelerate the humanitarian work of its funder, Google co-founder Sergey Brin.

The airship — its snow-white steampunk profile visible from the busy 101 highway — has taken drone technology such as fly-by-wire controls, electric motors and lidar sensing, and supersized them to something longer than three Boeing 737s, potentially able to carry tons of cargo over many hundreds of miles.

“It’s been 10 years of blood, sweat and tears,” LTA CEO Alan Weston told TechCrunch on the eve of the unveiling. “Now we must show that this can reliably fly in real-world conditions. And we’re going to do that.”

Full article, HERE from Tech Crunch.

So the hangars ‘may’ come full circle…

Considerably larger than the GoodYear blimps, I’m really not sure what their applicability is going to be in the real world, but they would have a LONG loiter time…

Sad news…

Posted on by November 7, 2023

There was a major fire early yesterday morning in Tustin, CA…

The north blimp hangar at the old MCAS Tustin caught fire and burned.

h/t to GL for the photo.

During World War II, seventeen large hangars were built to house US Navy blimps. There were seven of these wooden hangars left: Moffett Field Hangars 2 and 3, Tustin North and South, all four in California, one in Tillamook, Oregon,  and two in Lakehurst, New Jersey. Moffett Field also has Hangar 1, which is steel.

Fuller coverage HERE from the Orange County Register.

I served in all three of the hangars at Moffett Field, and have been to Tustin and Lakehurst. Folks these things are massive! Designed to hold three blimps each, they are around 1000 feet long, 200 feet tall, and 300 feet wide!

Sadly, one more piece of history is gone now, and as of this writing, there wasn’t any mention of the cause of the fire. I just hope it wasn’t arson…

If you ever get the chance to take a tour of one, do so. Until the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) was built at the Cape, the blimp hangars were the largest free standing structures in the world.

 

 

Heh…

Posted on by November 6, 2023

Things just got a tad more interesting in the Persian Gulf area…

The aircraft carrier Dwight D. Eisenhower and its strike group, as well as an Ohio-class submarine, have entered the Middle Eastern waters of U.S. Central Command as concerns continue about a larger conflict erupting in the region as Israel’s war with Hamas grinds on.

Ike’s arrival also comes amid continued attacks on U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria that Pentagon officials have blamed on Iran-backed proxies.

Full article, HERE from Navy Times.
Further down in the article is an OBTW, with this little link…
https://twitter.com/CENTCOM/status/1721271207260033230
Now this is NOT a normal notification by any means…
The ‘position’ of any Ohio class boat is always classified unless it is inport, so the…warning is pretty plain. The question is, will anybody over there pay any attention?
And to throw one more wrench into the mix, there is a six ship Chinese surface group operating in the area also! From the South China Morning Post, HERE.
It’s getting just a ‘bit’ crowded over there, as that area is not all that big for large ship groups to be operating in.

A little humor…

Posted on by November 5, 2023

An oldie but a goody!

“Lexophile” describes those that have a love for words, such as “you can tune a piano, but you can’t tuna fish”, “To write with a broken pencil is pointless.”

An annual competition is held by the New York Times to see who can create the best original lexophile.

I changed my iPod’s name to Titanic. It’s syncing now.

England has no kidney bank, but it does have a Liverpool.

Haunted French pancakes give me the crepes.

This girl today said she recognized me from the Vegetarians Club, but I’d swear I’ve never met herbivore.

I know a guy who’s addicted to drinking brake fluid, but he says he can stop any time.

A thief who stole a calendar got twelve months.

When the smog lifts in Los Angeles U.C.L.A.

I got some batteries that were given out free of charge.

A dentist and a manicurist married. They fought tooth and nail.

A will is a dead giveaway.

With her marriage, she got a new name and a dress.

Police were summoned to a daycare center where a three-year-old was resisting a rest.

Did you hear about the fellow whose entire left side was cut off? He’s all right now.

A bicycle can’t stand alone; it’s just two tired.

The guy who fell onto an upholstery machine last week is now fully recovered.

He had a photographic memory but it was never fully developed.

When she saw her first strands of gray hair she thought she’d dye.

Acupuncture is a jab well done. That’s the point of it.

I didn’t like my beard at first. Then it grew on me.

Did you hear about the crossed-eyed teacher who lost her job because she couldn’t control her pupils?

When you get a bladder infection, urine trouble.

When chemists die, they barium.

I stayed up all night to see where the sun went, and then it dawned on me.

I’m reading a book about anti-gravity. I just can’t put it down.

Those who get too big for their pants will be totally exposed in the end.

An interesting take…

Posted on by November 4, 2023

On Chuck Schumer, by a Rabbi…

There are a lot of true villains in politics: people who are filled with hate and are true supporters of evil — Ocasio-Cortez, Tlaib, Omar, Pressley, et al. They seek to destroy Western culture and the United States and to prop up evil regimes and terrorist organizations. It’s especially easy to see them right now as they try to justify the evil of Hamas, as they try to destroy Israel, the only democracy in the Middle East, and they strive to tear down our country with riots on college campuses and even the Capitol.

Full article, HERE.
Personally, I’ve never liked what he stood for, nor his partisan rhetoric…
But I think this rabbi has hit the nail on the head. Absolute power corrupts absolutely, and I think this is a classic example.
In other news, I hope you remembered to set your clocks back last night, otherwise, you’re going to be WAY early this morning. Me, I’m going to enjoy that extra hour of sleep! 🙂

Book promo…

Posted on by November 3, 2023

Finally!!! It is alive! Tom Barnett benefit anthology is out on Kindle- Tales of the Oil Patch

As always, click on the cover for the Amazon link!

The blurb-

And Raconteur Press has two new anthologies out- Moggies back in Space

The blurb-

Cats go where they want. Moggies even more so. When humans go to space, obviously cats will come along to make sure their staff are doing what they’re supposed to.

Join these 10 authors as they explore what cats can do in space.

PinUp Noir 2

The blurb-

And last but not least, Cedar has the third installment of her The Groundskeeper novellas up- The Ghoul
The blurb-
Chloe Brandt got more than she bargained for when she took on the groundskeeper and caretaker position at the old cemetery of Belleview. Chloe is still learning just what her job duties at the big cemetery are, and how far they will take her. Just what mysteries are her responsibility? When the ghoul asks for help, she’s willing to try…
Buy our books, feed us starving authors!!! And please leave honest reviews! They help propagate the books across Amazon and other mediums.

One Senator…

Posted on by November 2, 2023

Is holding the Pentagon and SECDEF hostage…

Or so the MSM reports…

Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) is standing firm in blocking hundreds of Biden administration nominees as the Democrats refuse to drop illegal military abortion funding. He noted that he works for his constituents and American taxpayers, rather than his own Party leadership — or, for that matter, the Biden administration.

Ironically, even though it’s Democrats who are holding up their own nominations by refusing to drop Pentagon abortion funding, Tuberville is the one who has come under fire from both Democrats and Republicans. In May, thousands of active duty military and veterans signed a letter supporting Tuberville and opposing the Pentagon’s illegal attempt to subsidize abortions. 

The troops said that woke administration policies, not Tuberville, were impacting “military readiness,” which is 100% true. The military is not about to fall into an unparalleled catastrophe because of Tuberville, and even if it were, it would be the fault of the Democrats, who are sticking to their illegal abortion funding at the expense of all else. 

Full article, HERE.

I have to give kudos to Tuberville for standing up to the pressure from all sides, and standing for what he and his constituents believe. That the MSM and others are blaming him for Gen Smith’s heart attack is, IMHO, beyond the pale!

This whole situation boils down to Austin et al at Defense Department kowtowing to the Dems/left/progs over abortion, including giving basket leave and paying for military to go to a different state to get an abortion if desired. DOD is refusing to remove that provision, and Tuberville is saying as long as it is in the bill, he will not approve the ‘blanket’ approval of promotions.

Now the Dem Senators are trying another end run around Senate procedures to ‘beat’ him…

Wouldn’t it just simpler to take the whole abortion/leave thing off the table and just get back to business? Or am I being simplistic???

Sigh…