Weekend open thread
September 15, 2017
Flocking Together
A flock of pied falconets gathers on a tree branch in Wuyuan, Jiangxi, China. The small birds are only about 6-8 inches in size, and they feed on everything from insects to small rodents in their forest homes.
Photograph By Kant Liang, National Geographic Your Shot
Category: Open thread
First
ermigawd, it really was… blind luck strikes again.
You type quite well for a blind person.
you have no idea how long it took me to pass that stupid typing test with the blank typewriter keys… thought I would make E-6 first. Noiw I am much faster and can make 120 errors a minute.
Second…. PPPBBBHHHTTTTT !
3rd?
I got promoted this week, so it’s my first week wearing a red helmet. Now I have to get used to firefighters calling me “Cap.”
Congrats!
Wear it proud Whitey.
Oh and top phuqing ten, yippee.
Congratulations 🎉🎉🎉🎉
Congratulations, best job in the Fire Service.
Corngrats, Cap!
Congrats, Cap.
Congrats, TOW!
A little late to the part, but congratulations, TOW.
Also late – but better late than never.
Congrats, TOW.
Belated congrats, TOW!
Belated grats Cap, been MIA for the last week
Congratulations! (Just now catching up on TAH after being gone for several weeks for Harvey.)
Top 10!!!
DAMN LATE AGAIN !!!!
TOP 10
Top Ten?
Missed it by “that much”.
Tenth?
Join Hack Stone and 2000 closest friends as the ring in the new fiscal year on Saturday September 30 at National Harbor along the Potomac. Who knows, you may even score some of that sweet limited edition corporate swag from a proud woman owned business.
https://www.groupon.com/deals/gl-das-best-oktoberfest-dc-in-national-harbor-md
Hmm, that looks like fun.
That Groupon deal expires in 3 days, so if you plan on going, you better get them now.
Not a bad deal at all. May just have to get a room and make a date out of it with the ‘whif’. Haven’t taken her out in a while.
Hey, Hack; Bought a ticket for the ‘wif’ and me. See you there. About an hour and a half ride, from my place. Jonn, can you send him my PII? Thanks!
Semper Fi.
Groceries include chorizo sausage and kielbasa for red beans and rice, assuming it gets chilly, of course. And cornbread, and corn on the cob.
I hope this heat is not Indian Summer. Too early. No hard frost yet. Looking for acorn squash to bake. Will make shortbread cookies.
Little known fact- Kim Jong Il, NDtBF’s daddy, was a dancer. And when daddy dances…
That was actually worth the watch.
LOLOLOLOLOL
I always wondered what would happen if one of those poor goose steppers blew out an ACL in a parade.
Where does he get all those wonderful toys?
That was great! All those pointed toes.
There’s an old Korean proverb: Sometimes you eat kimchee and sometimes you boogie…
Dat’s it Hans. A rittle to da reft, a rittle more….
Gotta say they’re good at dressing right. Lines are straight…probably because you die if you’re out of line.
Stolen Valorist, Kyle Christopher Barwan, is on the run. It seems that he doesn’t like to hear young ladies say: “Frankie Cee says Hi, as they call him out. He went on the run, first with his girlfriend, from Riverview Florida, up to Seymour Tennessee, where he immediately began spreading his bullshit. He tried to hit on a young lady that was more than he could handle. She didn’t believe for a minute, that he was an international hit man, employed by the CIA, who had pulled him out of his Special Forces unit after he recovered from being shot in the face in Iraq. Not content to let her think that he was a dope, he proceeded to convince her of it. She is a competing trap shooter. When she showed him her shotgun, he looked it over and advised her that it would only be good for 140 more rounds. <<< Yep, he said that. When he couldn't win her favor, and was called out by her, he blocked her and lit out for somewhere else. He will turn up again, I am sure, and perhaps again, as has happened more than a dozen times, some young lady will contact me to ask about him, after gooooogling his name. The girl in Tennessee and I were working on a plan for some friends of hers to have Barwan party with them, when they would drive him back to Florida where he would be met by Law Enforcement who would act on the recently written warrant for his arrest. Maybe next time.
That would have been epic. Especially if they had video taped it. “Hey Kyle, there’s someone at the door for you! Oh, and Frankie Cee says Hi!”. My guess, he stays out of Florida.
If he comes back to Florida and is arrested, he WILL go to prison. He has now accrued enough Florida Department of Correction “points”, that no other punishment is sufficient for his crimes. The latest warrant charges him with “failure to report new address before moving”, and “absconding from Department of Corrections Community Control”, both felony offenses, and that causes an additional one of “Violation of Felony Probation”, because he was ordered to not break the law or the rules of his Community Control. Kyle Barwan is both a turd and a coward, along with his claims of military phoniness. He is now desperate, knowing that prison is in his future. He cannot make it on his own, and is the quintessential “HOBOSEXUAL”, needing a woman to give him a place to live, or he is homeless.
I can’t wait to hear about WHEN he ends up back in Florida to face the music and once again be the “property” of Bubba & Thor!
He’ll be Mr. “Tiny’s” prison bride…soon!
Ahh, racked up some F class offenses did he? Wonder if they would extradite. He DOES need to be in prison.
Yes, they extradite for Felony Offenses and given how he has violated his probation I’m sure the State of Florida will want him shipped back to get what’s coming to him!
Well, good then. Frankie Cee is on his ass. Frankie Cee is a relentless MFR. And he will keep us posted. Popcorn at the ready. Stay tuned folks…
Will Florida extradite him, Frankie?
Probably not. I am hoping that he will do his shit in a state that also doesn’t appreciate posers, and they just do their thing with him.
Even if it goes that way he’ll still go from State to State racking up one wheelbarrow after another full of offenses and Kyle Christopher Barwan will be just another jailbird in Bubba & Thor’s cellblock harem.
What a bad, bad, bad, bad boy!!
Sheriff Grady Judd, Polk County Florida, did this video on Kyle Barwan, and the comments are great, including several from his father, Paul Barwan.
https://www.facebook.com/polkcountysheriff/videos/10154683625251818/?fref=mentions&pnref=story
Blackjack! (21)
!!!Work!!!
Have a good weekend y’all!!
Not First!
Top 30! Actually #26.
28
Top 30!
Today, Friday, 15 September 2017 is National POW/MIA Recognition Day in the United States.
A New Jersey farm made a POW/MIA flag corn maze to honor veterans.
Check out the video (29 Seconds)about this maze (worth watching):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQHlBYBsj7g&feature=youtu.be
Story about the maze came from this site:
http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/warren-county/index.ssf/2017/09/pow_mia_corn_maze.html
POWs/MIAs: You Are Not Forgotten.
The wife and I went into Republic this morning to get some Lab work done at the community hospital. Republic is located in the mountains to the North West of Spokane Washington. We are famous for the herd of Whitetail and Mule deer that roam the town. Tourists are stunned to see Four point bucks laying in front yards or strolling down the main street. We are quite used to seeing large numbers of them browsing in the grass around the hospital and on the Courthouse lawns. Anyway, as we left the hospital there were two does on the shoulder of the road very near us. A third deer came down out of the woods, stopped on the far shoulder. I swear, she stopped and looked both ways before she crossed the street. The ‘Town’ herd is so domesticated that they have learned traffic safety. Unlike the rural deer, the townies never get hit by cars. Of course the traffic in town does not go as fast as the highway version. We lose so many deer to encounters out on the roads that it would make sense to get some of the town deer to instruct their rural cousins in the proper protocol for highway crossing.
As side note, I have killed more deer with my Dodge Durango than with my Marlin. All of the kills were of the rural variety, and none were on purpose.
Roger, I always wondered whether your Republic was my Republic. Sadly not. Would loved to have met a fellow TAHer in person…
Some of us might be meeting in Baltimore next month. See Hack Stone’s message above. Have no idea how we’d all vet without fisticuffs, but I have my ID…
TOP FORTY like Casey Casem and Honorary First once again.
I think I saw Bernasty on CNN offering to represent looters in court for free.
Irma DID hit Fort Myers, thus he might be looking for clients to poach.
Speaking of which, when is he due back in court? He owes back-pay in penance.
Two weeks If I remember Correctly
SWEET!!!
I have nothing exciting to report. At. All.
Quiet, boring, dull – just the way I like it. I will celebrate the quiet, boring dullness by going out for a cheeseburger and really crisp fries.
Cassini’s mission to Saturn ended this morning at 7:55AM EDT. I thought it was an hour later, for some reason, so I missed the live broadcast from MASA. I hope someone saw the last bit from that sturdy little droid probe.
Here ya go, Ex. 20 years of an amazing program.
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2017/09/cassini-saturn-nasa-3d-grand-tour/?utm_source=NatGeocom&utm_medium=Email&utm_content=specialedition_cassini_20170915&utm_campaign=Content&utm_rd=16306857%20#intro1
Thank you, Ed!
Here are some of it’s last pics, including one looking back at Earth
https://www.newscientist.com/article/2147610-final-pictures-from-cassini-as-probe-smashes-into-saturn/
Thanks, Senior Chief!
Hi All, just wanted to let you know we just got power back on, I still have no internet. My house is really tore up, trees came down on the roof and put some nice holes in it. I’m still trying to find someone to put a tarp over it to stop the water from coming in! At least we are all still alive and all my fur babies made it thru the storm ok as well. I wish you all well and hope everyone survived as well, Highlands County had the eye wall come right over us. I think we got a tornado, all my trees are uprooted and laying every which way! I’ll try and stay in touch more when we get the internet back again?
Glad you’re back, Willy!
Good to see you back, WW!
Dude, awesome! Sorry your shit got tore up, but glad to hear you are all safe. How’s your brother, BTW?
{ducks and runs}
Glad you and yyours are safe WW
Thanks to all of you for your well wishes! Has anyone heard from Frankie Cee on how he weathered the storm and if he had any damage? I pray all of my Florida TAH’ers made it thru this mess unharmed. I can’t wait to see how the insurance company and FEMA treats us down here. I will have at least a 10K bill for tree removal. The insurance will only pay for the trees that hit the house, so that leaves me about 20 of them I will have to pay to remove. So far, I have spent about 4K to have the ones that hit the house removed and the stumps tore out. I did finally get a hold of someone that is going to come and tarp the roof on Monday, so pray we don’t get anymore rain before then!! Thanks again my brothers and sisters for all your well wishes!!!
Take care,
Willy
51rd.
Not First!!!!
Long week, short weekend. So what else is new?
Harry Dean Stanton passed away earlier today.
Great actor, and not surprisingly, a veteran who fought at Okinawa.
Into my beers now. I think I found the punk origins of This Ain’t Hell from 1964. It wasn’t the Britt’s apparently. (Can anyone translate?) I love this shit!
TAH! TAH! TAH! TAH! TAH! TAH! : YA! YA! YA! YA!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=haVaaDLwWvI
Who want’s a beer?
Top 100. But on vacay so pfffffftttt.
Enjoying the CO mtns with Mrs. GB, 3 grands and a D-I-L.
Can’t breath well tho.
You’ll get used to it soon enough. Only over 10k does it start to be a real problem.
I spent most of my “yute” in Rocky Mountain states, where most of the towns I lived in were anywhere between 5000-8000 feet above sea level.
I remember going home on leave for a few weeks, then going back to base and being able to kill it on PT runs for a while afterwards.
True enough SEA.
We have taken the kids to Engineer and Cinnamon Passes – each over 12k.
One problem for me this trip is I am out of shape. Circumstances have prevented my normal exercise regimine. But we are doing ok for flatlanders.
Well, I ended up with pneumonia two months ago and had to get DuoNeb breathing treatments started on a PRN, (as needed), every four to six hours as needed. So since I was so sick and couldn’t breathe I locked myself in my apartment here in Austin and slept for a couple of days, watched my Amazon Fire Stick for five days on end and smoked up every cigarette, cigarette butt and anything else that would come close to being a cigarette on the first day. Then I just stayed in my apartment and refused to leave to go get smokes. So I have now quit smoking for over six weeks and have noticed a whole bunch of different things by being a nonsmoker. First of all, I can breathe easier, second, since I smoked about two or more packs a day I have a lot of extra money, it’s like being paid for working another job but not having to do more work. I also can taste food better, sometimes that is good, other times, like the potato salad I just bought, it isn’t so good. But I am finally a non smoker again. I have quit several times in the past 50 years that I have been smoking, but I have to think that this one is the last time. Also, I have a couple of friends that I am saying prayers for. One of them lost his wife of 45 years two years before he retired, he is absolutely lost without her. I have known them for over 30 years and never once saw them argue or raise a voice to each other. Randy is the nicest guy on the planet, He is so lost, it just breaks my heart. Another is a good friend whose wife is currently in an ICU unit after being diagnosed with metastatic brain cancer, he too is very lost. Again, I am heartbroken… I have no idea what to say to these friends, but nothing I can say could ever come close to giving them any sort of relief from their… Read more »
Good for you quitting. It’s been 20 years for me and I certainly don’t miss them, nor can I fathom paying $65-70+ per carton today.
Sorry to hear about your friends. Our prayers go to them.
Glad you quit.
As for your friends, your presence and continued friendship are worth more than anything you can say.
Good for you Brother. Best thing I ever did was quit smoking 30 years ago. Thing is now, a car in a lane three ahead of me can have a smoker blow out the window and I smell it. When I smoked I thought no one else really could. But then, those were the days in the military when most everyone smoked and “At ease, take five, smoke ’em if ya got ’em, I’ll be in the area all day” was the thing.
Congratulations and I hope you shake the pneumonia and get up to full speed again soon.
Congratulations on the quitting~Best thing I ever did 35 years ago.
I know how your friends feel, my wife died suddenly 4 months after I retired. The first year or two was a fog, thank God for great friends and family. I was at loose ends and for some reason had a notion to buy a motorcycle and become the lead character in Then Came Bronson, and just wander the country. A few of my friends convinced me that we should all just ride together and tour for a while then go home.
I eventually went back to work for a few years and things settled down for me. My only advice is the old sayings of day at a time and stay close as you can to your friends.
Small weather pattern change in my part of the territory. Two days ago, high temp was 90, use of A/C was routine. Yesterday, high temp was 47 and kicked the furnace on. Weather liars were calling for up to 10 inches of snow for Yellowstone, the Tetons and the Bitterroots. At least Mother Nature is helping out the deployed firefighters in their efforts.
The football kids from West Hog Flats are 0-5 so far for the year and looks like they’re headed for a perfect season of sucking it big time as the conference chumps.
It’s FUNNY how all of those weather experts can say they can accurately predict what the weather and climate will be like decades from now while they can’t even accurately tell us what it will do in the next day or two!
Here’s the URL of an interesting opinion about who REALLY won the war in Viet Nam:
https://www.nextbigfuture.com/2017/09/usa-actually-achieved-its-objective-and-won-the-vietnam-war.html
As an additional thought, mostly as a result of American G.I.s being in Viet Nam, my own chosen faith, The Church of JESUS CHRIST of Latter-day Saints, was established in the old Republic of Viet Nam, and today, after years of negotiations and unofficial volunteer efforts, official recognition and government acceptance of the “Mormon” church has now been firmly established, and the religious persecution has ended.
Here’s another URL of a news report promoting the new television series about the war in Viet Nam:
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/entertainment/tv/tv-guy/os-et-vietnam-war-daytona-beach-vet-shares-vivid-saga-20170914-story.html
What do you think about the new Ken Burns documentary series?
Is it going to be worth watching?
I seldom watch television anymore.
Favorite show tune weekend.
https://youtu.be/-uoQFQed-4I?t=145
Dude. Paul Hogan shooting Julie Andrews playing Maria von Trapp is way out of line. It so happens I once met Maria von Trapp years ago in Vermont. She was a pleasant elderly lady who didn’t deserve to be shot, although some of her husband’s friends should have been fed to crocodiles…
This was from when Paul Hogan was doing a sitcom in Australia. Way before Crocodile Dundee. I saw it years ago and, expecting to see the usual, I saw this and it made me laugh. I don’t know why, it just did. I know Maria von Trapp is a wonderful person and it was in no way a bad reflection on her. Just a bit of sideways humor.
No worries, Sparks, just yanking your chain. It might have been possible to go with a Clint Eastwood riff, but the Baroness was easier.
Also, it wasn’t a clip of the real Julie Andrews but an actress for the sitcom with the background song playing.
I just now received an alert from my computer’s calendar reminding me that TOMORROW, Sunday 17 September 2017, is the 230th Birthday of our divinely inspired “CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA” ! ! !
https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/constitution
And, how appropriate it is that we will observe this occasion on the Sabbath.
As a patriotic gesture, authorized by Army Regulation 670-1: 23-6, it is also appropriate for military veterans to wear their decorations on their finest civilian Sunday-go-to-meetin’ suits when attending church services and/or other patriotic public functions.
JRM, you are wrong….again.
AR 670-1 states: “Retired personnel and former members of the Army may wear all categories of medals described in this regulation on appropriate civilian clothing. This includes clothes designed for veteran and patriotic organizations on Veteran’s Day, Memorial Day, and Armed Forces Day, as well as at formal occasions of ceremony and social functions of a military nature. Personnel may wear either full-sized or miniature medals. Personnel who wear medals on civilian clothes should place the medals on the clothing in approximately the same location and in the same manner as for the Army uniform, so they look similar to medals worn on the Army uniform.”
Going to church does not qualify as a social function of military nature…nor does the “birthday” of the Constituion” qualify as a military nature.
Additionally, the phrase “occasions of ceremony” means occasions essentially of a military character, at which the uniform is more appropriate than civilian clothing. These functions include, but are not limited
to: military balls, military parades, weddings, and military funerals; memorial services, meetings, conferences, or
similar functions of associations formed for military purposes, of which the membership is composed largely or entirely of current or honorably discharged veterans of the Armed Forces of the United States.
Why can’t you just wear regular clothes without your “medals and ribbons” to church instead of a “Look at Me!” Sunday-go-to-meeting suits? One goes to Church to worship God, not worship JRM.
So sad, JRM. So sad. So very sad. Why?
As I read the reg you quoted it would seem to me to be be two independent items (brackets added):
“as well as at (formal occasions of ceremony) and (social functions of a military nature)”
Item (1) does not appear to be dependent on item (2) as I read it.
“Formal occasions of ceremony” could be rather widely interpreted, wedding for example
Or should it be read as:
“as well as at (formal occasions of ceremony and social functions) of a military nature.”
Thus they are both supposed to be “military”
I have observed miniatures on a tux at non-military formal events (weddings, funerals, corporate events), so I am leaning towards the “1&2” interpretation above. I would agree that church is hardly “formal” in that sense.
To the forum: which way is the right reading?
The “birthday” of the Constitution is not a military event.
The functions should be military of nature.
This is from an Army Regulation. Can’t speak for the other Sister Services.
JRM always justifies his wearing of his ribbons and medals on clothes (to include a Scottish outfit) by using AR 670-1 on events or places that are not Military in nature. He also wears the Air Assault Badge, the Infantry Blue Cord and the Leadership Green Tabs, all which he never earned.
What he wears in his own apartment is his business (the Santa Claus outfit with the Air Assault Badge). But when he uses AR 670-1 as a “crutch” to wear Military decorations in public for nonmilitary events, that is a “Look-At “ME”!! and is mocking the Army Regulation as well as insulting those who EARNED the Air Assault Badge and Blue Cord.
I have attended West Point Reunion Events. I have attended ROTC Reuinon Events. I have attended POW events. No one showed up with civilian clothes all decked out with their medal and ribbons. That is why I am asking JRM, “Why?” He probably won’t read this anyway. He has yet to answer as to why he wears the Blue Cord since he was ever Infantry.
I will proudly wear my National Defense Service Medal everywhere dang it! 🙂
Ha-Ha. Go for it. You are not Army.
Go Army. Beat Navy.
😎
To which I reply….
Statistics
Meetings total 117
All-time record Navy leads 60–50–7
Longest win streak Navy, 14 (2002–2015)
Current win streak Army, 1 (2016)
Wow, Army is on a 1 game win streak! LOL!!!
Go NAVY! 😉
Good One! Army will have another win..soon…over Navy!
Go Army! Beat Navy!😎
Well, if you want to have an Academy football “appendage measuring” contest, there’s always this.
NCAA Football National Championships:
Army – 3 (1914, 1944, 1945)
Navy – 0
http://www.ncaa.com/history/football/fbs
Get back to us Army vets when Navy gets off the schneid. (smile)
Interesting, the only time Army could “win” the NCAA is during WWI and WWII when most were serving. Hondo, how about some stats from a period of time when some of us were alive? LOL!!!
Don’t know what is precisely right, but can tell you that my career Army father taught me that no part of a US Army uniform, to include awards, should be worn except with the complete and correct uniform. He didn’t do it after he retired.
Awards belong in a shadow box, not on civilian clothing.
What we got here is failure to communicate.
Some men just cain’t be reached.
So it would seem.
This just in- Dozens of St. Louis U2 Fans Disappointed!
http://www.u2.com/news/title/st-louis-show-cancelled
‘Live Nation and U2 regrettably announce their St. Louis show scheduled for tonight, September 16, 2017 has been cancelled.
“We have been informed by the St. Louis Police Department that they are not in a position to provide the standard protection for our audience as would be expected for an event of this size.”‘
Yeah, I also read about a group of goblins gathering on the St. Louis Mayor’s lawn to scream and go apeshit until the SLPD showed up to give them some well deserved tear gas and pepper spray.
Somethings going on in Cuba:
https://www.yahoo.com/news/raul-castros-surprising-response-harmed-us-diplomats-182555390.html#mycomments
So, just got back from a trip to Alaska, wasn’t able to keep up with the blog, has rhymes with Cars been banned? A quick look through the last week I don’t see anything from him. Should I check the Democratic Underground or the Antifa site? Maybe he took my advice and signed up with https://socialistpassions.com/
Asking for a friend….
Meh, I’d all but forgotten about that obnoxious screech, the threads are so much more sane and civil without him!
Do not raise the spectre of the rhymes with bars, I beg you. He’s gone. He’d better stay gone.
He who’s name sounded very much like “Mars” seems to have found the edge of Jonn’s patience envelope, and pushed beyond. Results were predictable.
Happy trails, Commissar.
Meh, I for one do NOT miss him.
Just a quick question… What has happened to the DRC and our favorite Lawyer? I haven’t heard much since the last time Don Shipley had the incident. Just trying to stay current…
I heard rumors that they have more than worn out their welcomes as well as everyone’s patience in every courthouse they’ve ventured into and have landed themselves in mucho legal trouble in more than one State.
Mr Bernath was deemed a vexatious litigant by a judge in Florida and hasn’t had the opportunity to do much.