Weekend Open Thread

| June 8, 2018

June 8, 2018

Face to Face

A parent and child share a moment with a sea lion at Smithsonian’s National Zoo in Washington, D.C. Though they may be awkward on land, the animals can reach speeds of up to 30 miles per hour while swimming.

Category: Open thread

141 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
NHSparky

First.

UpNorth

First!!

NHSparky

And to think, I beat you with my THUMBS.

SFC D

The left thumb?

NHSparky

No, my right one, because my left one is far too powerful for you.

UpNorth

Congrats, Sparky. You only won because my F5 key got tired!!

Roh-Dog

Have a GREAT weekend y’all!

ChipNASA

Whar WOT Whar?
Oh *THERE* WOT, There
Oh WOT, how you be?
Oh WOT, You so nifty
WOT always in my heart
WOT first first first?
WOT guys, don’t even start
WOT always love you
WOT I’ll always be true
WOT hug and kiss
WOT always a state of bliss.

Wilted Willy

Congrats Sparky! I wish all my friends here at TAH a very happy weekend! I am still in bed for another 2 weeks with my broken leg! When I can walk again, I still have to deal with my cancer. Wishing you all a great weekend!

NHSparky

One thing at a time, bro.

That being said, I hope you kick ass in both endeavors.

Jeff LPH 3, 63-66

@Wilted Willy; Get well soon and have a speedy recovery.

UpNorth

As Sparky said, Willy, one thing at a time. Get on your feet, then kick cancer’s ass.

Wilted Willy

Thanks Guys, I really appreciate all the good thoughts!

26Limabeans

I’m thinking you got a pretty nurse.
Get well soon.

Commissioner Wretched

Keeping you in my thoughts and prayers, Willy. Get well soon – in all respects, my friend.

Jarhead

Been through two heart attacks (last one requiring a valve replacement) back surgery and too much more to mention. My prayers are with you W W. Always throughout any such life threatening procedures I have thought and spoken freely, “I do not have to look far to see MANY that have it way worse than I.” May God be with you throughout full recovery from both conditions.

AW1Ed

Get well, WW, we’re pulling for you.

Roger in Republic

Like Roseann Roseannandna said “If it isn’t one thing, it’a another thing”. As if fighting cancer isn’t enough someone breaks your leg. As a cancer survivor I can only hope you beat both of your maladies.

Thunderstixx

I nominate WW for an honorary FIRST since he is so laid up. Trying to get the coveted first position has got to be hard when you are dealing with so much pain etc…
And God Bless you, your family and the medical people that are responsible for your care.
I pray that they do their jobs well and that their work is reflected in many positive ways…

OWB

Aye. Second. Whatever it takes. (Do we even need Sparky’s permission for “honorary?” Hmmm.) Claw? A/C??

Meanwhile, hang in there WW.

Thunderstixx

Eighth

Thunderstixx

My personal best !!! It was late today so I beat the shit out of my F5 key and then clicked off to learn something…
Drat…

Jeff LPH 3, 63-66

EIGHT

Thunderstixx

Nope !!!
Neener, neener !!!!
BWAHAHAHAHAHA !!!!!

Commissioner Wretched

Crapola! Ninth … sigh.

Sea Dragon

Top 10?

NHSparky
Ex-PH2

Oh, that is just bad news, period.

AW1Ed

Sad news indeed.

MrBill

I just saw this – I’m sad to hear it. He was one of my favorite commentators on the O’Reilly Factor, along with Dennis Miller, Bernie Goldberg and a few others.

Sj

Damn.

Sparks

Sad news indeed. A great commentator and debater. A clear, strong voice of reason. He will be missed.

Ex-PH2

T’irtyetth and proud of it.

Now – who wants brownies?

OWB

Me, me, ME!!!!!

USAF (RET)

Would be great; but I have a restraining order against me and cannot get within 200 feet of a Brownie.

Or so says Cinc House. Something about them going to waste and my waist being to big as it is.

thebesig

Originally posted by USAF (RET):

Would be great; but I have a restraining order against me and cannot get within 200 feet of a Brownie.

Or so says Cinc House. Something about them going to waste and my waist being to big as it is.

I know of someone who should get a restraining order preventing him from dating…

As of June 8, 2018, Dennis Howard Chevalier, a.k.a. Denny H Chevalier, phony Gulf War veteran, phony veteran, phony C-130 compass call pilot, phony SWAT veteran, phony retired USAF Lieutenant Colonel… That Dennis Howard Chevalier… Still was arrested on February 27, 2018, for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

He pointed a gun at his ex-wife and son, waved a loaded weapon around and pretended to shoot things, threatened an ex-fiancé with putting a round into her head, and then his arrest for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

One of these days, he’s going to point his gun at someone, like he has done before… And BHANG! They need to take this guy’s weapons away before he shoots someone.

Here is one link to one the details:

http://writer-cubed.blogspot.com/2018/05/dennis-h-chevalier-arrested-for.html

Just google “Dennis Chevalier arrested” to get additional details.

OWB

Gonna post this here on WOT because the Hollingsworth thread is getting hard to find.

We had a question there about converting a VFW membership to Member at Large. I have not secured the answer yet from my local folks. Will post this link in case it will help with this inquiry or any other of the VFW:

https://www.vfw.org/contact-us

Also, some may have a similar question for the AL. Anyone who has that answer for the AL, please let us know.

Claw

All it took for me to become a VFW Member at Large was telephonic contact with my old post Adjutant in Wyoming to drop me from their roster.

May work the same way for AL members.

Commissioner Wretched

Once again, I burden you with my latest trivia/humor column. I appreciate all feedback! DID YOU KNOW…? Was it really legal to mail children in the early 20th Century? By Commissioner Wretched There are times when even the pursuit of trivia is tiresome. Too much of anything, they say, is a bad thing. (Who are these people we lump in and call “they,” anyway?) One would think that collecting the minutiae of life would be endlessly exciting, but even tracking down these tidbits for you can be exhausting. Of course, that’s how others would see it, not me. For me, writing this column is invigorating, exciting, and endlessly enjoyable. Why? Because, like you, I learn new things when I collect the week’s trivial offerings. And as a former educator, I very much enjoy learning new things. So if anyone suggests that this is getting old, tell them to come talk to me. I’ll set them straight, straight away. You can also talk to me, via e-mail, and let me know what your thoughts on this little madcap adventure of mine might be. Send it to didyouknowcolumn@gmail.com and I guarantee a (somewhat) prompt reply. You’re not tired, are you? Good! Let’s go mine some more trivia! Did you know … … the Department of Defense is the nation’s largest purchaser of explosives? Yeah, big surprise, I’m sure. But it’s here because of who the second-largest purchaser of explosives in the country is – Walt Disney World. All those fireworks, you know. (And the fact that the Mouse has not yet fallen to invasion tells me that the purchases are working!) … the notebooks of Marie Curie (1867-1934), the scientist who discovered radium and did pioneering work on radioactivity, are themselves still radioactive today? If you want to examine them, you must wear protective clothing and sign a waiver. … the mouth of a hippopotamus is wide enough for a four-foot child to fit inside? A hippo can also bite a crocodile in half. (You have to wonder who volunteered their four-foot-tall kid to test the width of a hippo’s mouth, don’t… Read more »

The Other Whitey

Isn’t America’s largest functional blast/fallout shelter located under Disney World Orlando?

26Limabeans

No, it is located under the ass of the fat slob that took a knee on the White House lawn. Nothing can blast through that pile of blubber.

Skippy

Almost top 20

BHWHAHAHAHAHA

The Skippy clan is on a unplanned road trip

All moved from the people’s republic of Tucson

Enjoying the mountains of New Mexico

Currently roasting in the PHO on our way up north

Happy weekend all

AZtoVA

NOT FIRST. MY SOON-TO-BE RECORD SETTING STREAK CONTINUES UNABATED.

AND YES, I’M TYPING IN…..

ALLCAPS!!!!!!!!!

ChipNASA

YAY CAPS!!!!!!!!!!

Haven’t stopped tearing up since 11 last night.

AW1Ed

What the heck are these things?
P-3 External Sonobuoy Launchers
*grin*

26Limabeans

Chemtrail dispensers

Sapper3307

Chemtrail generators to protect Hillary from the sunlight.

Claw

Chaff Dispensers

Claw

Or maybe sona (?) – buoys dispensers

The Other Whitey

Maybe. Is it a P-3? Isn’t AW1Ed a subject matter expert on those?

Claw

I’m thinking it is a P-3. Also thinking the bigger holes (G row) are for flares and the others are for chaff.

AW1Ed

Claw wins the internets- these are external and internal sonobuoy launchers on the P-3C Orion. The larger opening outboard of F7 is the free fall chute, and P3, P2, and P1 are for launching internal stores.

Claw

Whoo-Hooo!! Thank Ya, Thank Ya very much.

Accolades may be sent my way in the form of raspberry filled powdered sugar coated doughnuts.

26Limabeans

So what’s the hole in the floor inside mid ship that I saw at an airshow? Mr. Orion said it was for sonobouys. Which hole would that be?

AW1Ed

Free fall chute from the inside. It’s a bit larger than the sonobuoy launchers, and is used when depressurized and dropping smoke and flare markers, underwater signaling devices, and the like. Sonobuoys, too.

AW1Ed

Aft looking forward.
P-chutes and Free Fall Chute
On the right, the Free Fall Chute, and going forward the pressurized P-3, P-2, and P-1 sonobuoy launchers. Hat tip to AW1 Tim for the pic.

26Limabeans

Cool. Love the guardrail.
Would not want to stub your toe on those.

Dennis - not chevy

I thought maybe that was a knee-knocker to remind the crew they’re in the Navy.

Just a 44B

Cool helmet.

AW1Ed

On the bulkhead you see a fire extinguisher, parachute, fire axe, two portable O2 bottles, and an ICS box.

26Limabeans

Those round holes must be the “sub” woofers.

Ex-PH2

And here I was, thinking those holes were all cameras for that ultimate surround big screen theater movie event.

ChipNASA

Glory Holes for Naval Aviators?
*runs*

OWB

Vinegar dispensers, to neutralize the effects of chemtrails.

ChipNASA

Aircrew Dildo Storage Areas?
😀 😀 😀

26Limabeans

Which one goes to the shitter?

AW1Ed

None. Self contained honey bucket, and free standing urinal dumped after flight. If you actually used the shitter you owed the crew a beer.

USAF Ret

Back in my day on Rescue HC-130’s it was the First person who used it who had to clean and empty it. Amazing how fast the line formed for 2nd, 3rd and so on.

2/17 Air Cav

Connect Four or Battleship.

Sparks

Way Cool!!!!

The Other Whitey

Just got me thinking of how much my kids love aquariums.

Perry Gaskill

TOW, if you haven’t seen them, the Monterey Bay Aquarium has added a bunch of new webcams to the one for the sea otters. The one for the sharks is very good:

https://www.montereybayaquarium.org/animals-and-exhibits/live-web-cams

David

Bucket item, that…they built it after my DLI tours.

Pineywoods NCO

I will take top 50 any day.

Combat Historian

Kyle Barwan is still in jail…

And Dirt Dart Danny is still dead…

Yef

I hate WOT

CWORet

SFC D

Present, somewhere around seventyteenth.

Frankie Cee

Another week closer to summer, and another week that Stolen Valorist Kyle Christopher Barwan is still in prison. He has been moved to the Central Florida area, to the “Gainesville Work Camp”. This has to be very strange, even foreign to this turd as he has never been anywhere near any sort of actual “work”. Barwan’s image of work is to be under Mr. Tiny’s tutelage, (or whatever Mr Tiny calls that appendage), for long hours every night.
http://www.dc.state.fl.us/offenderSearch/detail.aspx?Page=Detail&DCNumber=H50625&TypeSearch=AI

Cowpill

I can hear it now, “Boy, you sure got a purty mouth”

ME, MYSELF& I

#61 reporting for duty! SIR?

FatCircles0311

Today was a good day! 😎👍🇺🇸

Ex-PH2

I have a question that perhaps some of you more enlightened souls may be able to answer… or not.

Why is it that if I ask someone who puffs himself off as a handyman to do a small job, like replace my front steps on the same plan that they were built, he doesn’t want to do it THAT way. No, he wants to do it HIS way and cheaper, too?

And don’t replace the broken commode, just fix it when the tank is cracked and the whole thing needs to be thrown out and replaced?

Am I being a curmudgeon, or is this guy just being a jerk?

I think I can get someone else to replace the treads on the front steps and then maybe next year, replace the entire front platform, but replace the two commodes first because they are both 20 years old and need to be replaced, period. If I could do this myself, I would.

Dennis - not chevy

It’s time for a new handyperson. Unless the person can explain why the job has to be done HIS way due to a safety, new technology, or some other serious reason; my “he doesn’t know what he’s doing alarm” is going off. This reminds of the time Mrs Dennis – not chevy took her car to the dealer for repair. The dealer told her it needed carburetor cleaner; the dealer changed his mind when I told him the car didn’t have a carburetor.

Ex-PH2

No carburetor? And the guy was selling cars? That is a giggle and a half!

Thank you!

NHSparky

Oh, some of the “Jiffy Lube” stories that are out there would curl your hair.

My fave personal experience involved them trying to sell me a new air filter when the truck I was driving had a permanent one installed.

Needless to say, did not return to that particular location.

Hondo

Ditto some of the Firestone auto shops. I once had a Firestone shop try and tell me I needed new plugs and a new air filter. Problem was, I’d replaced both personally less than 3000 miles prior. (Air filter change interval was annual/10k miles, and the plugs was 30k; the car had been driven on-road only, so no heavy dust conditions.)

When I brought that to their attention, I got a “they looked dirty to me” line of BS. I’d bet $50 against a cup of coffee they didn’t bother to look at either. My guess is that they just automatically told customers for certain services that they needed plugs and new filters too.

Needless to say, I never went back to that shop. And the only time I’ve been to any Firestone auto shop since was when I needed emergency tire repair (picked up a nail) on a Sunday while away from home and they were the only ones in the area open and available to do the job. (To their credit, the second shop seemed honest and did a decent job repairing the tire in question.)

AW1Ed

The customer is always right. Have him do the steps your way- you’re the one paying. And if he dosen’t want to earn $$$ replacing your commodes, finding someone who will should be easy enough.

If he won’t work with you, fire him.

Ex-PH2

Thank you. My frustration is not as high as it could be.

You’re right – I’ll just find someone else.

David

Cracking is a whole other thing than when we chatted before about these. Cracking porcelain tends to let go all at once, and has razor sharp edges. The tank goes, you have flooding. The base goes while your on it, you have potential for life-threatening injuries. He’s not just a jerk, but dangerously stupid.

OWB

Absolutely agree with everyone else – absent a good reason (code requirements, for instance), doing it your way is what you are paying for. Yep, a different guy is in order.

Ex-PH2

Yes, indeed, and thank you!

I don’t want it done cheaply. I want it done correctly, so that I don’t have to fix it in two years.

Perry Gaskill

I’ve been working on a house renovation for a couple of years. Builders and handymen aren’t all formed in the same mold. It seems to me it’s sometimes important to keep in my that it’s your house that’s being worked on and not theirs. You are the one who is going to have to live in it. I’d be reluctant to offer advice without seeing what’s involved, but here are a couple of general comments: If you have broken steps, and the goal is to simply fix them without it being part of a larger porch change/remodel, you’re probably better off sticking to the original design of the steps and materials. If, for example, all the decks, steps, porches or whatever of the house use, say, 2×6 redwood lumber for a surface, it’s probably best to stick with that and not switch one set of steps to something such as Trex or PTL. It’s also important to check the condition of not only the treads of the steps, but also the stringers supporting them. Something to consider when replacing a toilet is that newer ones now, at least in California, come with low-flow water restrictions which means they sometimes don’t work very well. Meaning you have to flush twice to get rid of solids, and which defeats the purpose of saving water. On the other hand, if you live in an area of hard water, you can get a calcium buildup which means a toilet is going to have a limited life span. It’s rare for the actual porcelain of a toilet to break short of being hit with a big hammer, or subject to a hard freeze. More usual leaks are due to either a failure of the wax base ring or the rubber seal between the upper tank and the lower base. Water on the floor might seem like a leak but can also be a faulty float valve which shows up as an overflow around the flush handle. Such a valve is not an expensive part to replace and can also eliminate a shut-off problem if the… Read more »

Ex-PH2

The stringers on the steps are still solid. The treads need to be replaced, and a cross piece needs to be put on the front of the stringers at each step. That will stabilize it. It wasn’t built with redwood, which it should have been, which is why the whole thing needs to be replaced. It is 13 years old and has sat through harsh summers and harsher winters, so it’s going to have to be replaced next year, period. I found a set of plans that will do. I will just replace the treads this fall.

The toilet tank cracked when I asked someone to replace the tank bolts for me, because I couldn’t get them loose. He tightened one of them two tightly, and it cracked the porcelain all the way through. So now it has to be replaced completely, because it’s an off brand, no manufacturer’s mark, nothing to ID a replacement part. We don’t have water saver rules here, so I either get a good flow or it won’t work. The age on these things is part of the problem.

It’s going to be fun doing this. I just love fixing other people’s mistakes. Grrrr!

BUT – I can ask my neighbor to the south who rebuilt his front steps and small deck and maybe they’ll be more understanding than the first guy I talked to.

ME, MYSELF AND I

I needed to repair the Master Bath. The toilet was slightly loose and would let water leak out. and I wanted to replace it with a high toilet with a power flush option. I went on ‘HOME Advisor dot com’ and found a company that would do the toilet switch and repair the floor and remove and reset the sink with a new top I provided for a set fee with a cost allowance for the new toilet of $300. When the job was done the final price was reduced by the cost of the extra vinyl plank flooring returned the difference in cost of toilet and the allowance and the lumber and plywood not needed to repair the joists under the subfloor.

Ex-PH2

Well, I kept doing due diligence last night in re: the commodes, both of which should have been replaced a while back, and found that American Standard makes a tank that (per their claim) will fit all toilets, and Ace carries it. So I will drag my cracked tank to Ace, find out if it’s true, and if so, replace both tanks for now.

That will keep me happy and it is something that I can do myself, if I take the time and put some BBQ beans w/smoked sausage into the crockpot to simmer for supper.

This will tide me over for a couple of years, and make me feel good about myself. (Look! I fixed the cacatoria all by my lonesome!)

I want to replace both of the commodes because that stuff all ages over time, but next year would be more practical.

Then I will see if I can find someone through a local handyman group who can simply stabilize my front steps for another year and I will get the plans for a new deck from Menard’s plans catalog. Then if I’m happy with what I got on the repair job, I can go through that group again and have them build a new one out of redwood, more suitable for outdoor weather in this area. More expensive, yes, but it’s meant for outdoors, and the lumber used for what I have now was not suitable for an harsh outdoor winter climate.

The real problem is finding someone who gives you the results you want and uses some common sense in the process.

Meantime, I can finish my stories and clean house, like my horoscope tells me to do today. It’s chilly and raining and the cat has burrowed under a warm blanket on my bed. Good day for indoor stuff.

A Proud Infidel®™

75rd and Honorary First once again.

LC

Sharing bad news on a WOT sucks, but it seems there’s been an American KIA and multiple injuries within a team from 3rd Group today:

https://www.thedailybeast.com/1-american-killed-4-wounded-in-somalia-attack

https://sofrep.com/104381/breaking-us-special-forces-attacked-in-somalia-by-al-shabab/

Hope the injured recover fast, and the retaliation is swift and thorough.

Ex-PH2

When do we get our people out of there?

it’s one thing to try to rebuild a country that is trying to recover from the Bad Guys. It’s entirely another to put our people in harm’s way when the entire area is in chaos, which will NOT end until everyone is dead.

Sparks

Thanks for the news LC. God rest them in peace, heal quickly and be with their families.

Thunderstixx

So sad about Dr K. He was a great man, the things that he overcame to be what he is now is just incredible.
Whatever anyone here ever does is to not give up on God or life if you prefer, because life hasn’t given up on you yet…..
After my health scares and the things that it did to and for me is that you just have to do as Alan Rickman said in the cult classic, Galaxy Quest, never give up, never surrender !!!
Classic words to live by and with from people a thousand times as smart as I am…

2/17 Air Cav

I see that Anthony Bourdain hanged himself with a bathrobe belt in France. I’m thinking that there could be a whole series of TV shows in which the common denominator is the star’s suicide.

OWB

Who? Another lefty who can’t reconcile their delusions with the real world maybe?

Suicide is always sad. Usually it is a permanent solution to a temporary problem. And almost never worth the pain and aguish it leaves for others.

LC

We get it, you hate lefties and think they’re delusional, but given that many conservatives -and many veterans- also take their own lives, maybe this is one issue we could keep apolitical?

OWB

Nope. You lefties demand that everything become political. Why would suicide be exempt from that prism? Makes no sense.

Reality check, LC. Are the recent celebrity suicides lefties? Are they the ones refusing to accept the results of the last election? Has enough time now elapsed for some of them to come to a realization that all the folks they hate and vilify are just ordinary Americans who don’t want to see harm come to anyone?

In other words, the lies are coming home to roost, and too many lefties just can’t handle it. How are you going to address it without looking at the political delusions they created for themselves?

LC

I’m literally saying not everything should be political, and you’re saying I make everything political? That makes no sense.

Reality check, OWB. The roughly 120+ suicides that happen in the US every fucking day aren’t only amongst ‘lefties’ who ‘refuse to accept’ the results of the last election. They’re the ordinary Americans who are left, right, middle, apolitical, whatever. Picking political sides in this fight is as stupid as waiting to see whether a soldier killed in Iraq or Afghanistan is a Democrat or a Republican before either side can honor his or her sacrifice.

If you think Bourdain or others killed themselves because of our current political state and not because, you know, depression is a terrible and ugly thing, you’re an utter fool. There was just a report in the news that suicide rates have increased 30% since 1999 – under your theory, is the increase in suicide during the Obama years because conservatives couldn’t ‘handle the reality’ of an Obama presidency?

Or, maybe, it’s just a stupid thing to associate politics with why the majority of suicides happen.

David

Good friend killed himself in Germany for apparently minor reasons in ’83 and it still bothers both of us today. No politics involved, and that’s a pretty offensive and insensitive inference.

OWB

You saying you are offended by my words above, or by LC’s response? Yeah, words make a difference. If you find my original words offensive, then I can’t help you. LC’s projection of words I did not say are offensive to me as well. But, that is what LC has long done around here – ascribe things to others that they have not said or done, then pretend to be all upset about them.

David

Have had a few suicides through the years, and a couple suspected. None of them were politically motivated. That someone on the left kills himself is likely no more to do with politics than a conservative Cold War vet killing himself does.

OWB

And I was talking about celebrities, not your friends or mine who, sadly, saw suicide as the only option for them. Evidently you missed that part of my comment.

The pain left with the survivors just never seems to go away.

LC

I’m sorry for your loss. I’ve lost friends to it, too, and never once was politics a factor.

OWB

Nice to see your ability to comprehend simple English sentences has not improved. Not. Until you can address what I actually said (as in “celebrity suicides” and in “another lefty”) instead of extrapolating it to things I specifically did not say, there is no reason to even pretend to be able to converse with you. Especially the part about me being a hater.

“Suicide is always sad. Usually it is a permanent solution to a temporary problem. And almost never worth the pain and aguish it leaves for others.” Yeah, I say stuff like that because I am such a hate filled person. Also a huge, fat NOT.

LC

I’ll make it really easy for you – you brought politics into it, and politics has no bearing on suicide. Period.

26Limabeans

Vince Foster would
disagree.

Hondo

So would every terrorist who ever offed themselves in the process of committing a terrorist act. Like the 9/11 terrorists, for starters.

Ditto the Buddhist monks and nuns who self-immolated in Vietnam in 1963 to protest Diem’s rule.

2/17 Air Cav

He had a history of cocaine and heroin use which he reportedly kicked some years ago. He didn’t have two dimes to rub together for much of his adult life and struck it big with a book. From there, he was off and running, with no money worries. No doubt, it strikes many people as odd that someone who overcame drug addiction and poverty to go on to have the world by the short hairs would kill himself. He had an 11 year-old daughter, a hotsy-totsy girlfriend, and traveled the world for free taping shows from both exotic and crummy places. But when the devil is inside, no drug or relocation, nor all the fame and money in the world can get him to unleash you.

2/17 Air Cav

Today is the Belmont Stakes. There is one colt who could win join an elite group of thoroughbreds who have won the Triple Crown. His name is Justify. I didn’t like him in the Derby. He won. I hoped he would get beaten in the Preakness. He won. I still don’t like him. I guess that makes him a lock. Still, I will try to beat him with a hoss or two. Justify likes the front end and the Belmont Stakes is 1 1/2 miles long. It has killed the hopes of many a Triple Crown contender. BTW, if you have never been to Belmont and you like horse racing, it is a gorgeous track.

OWB

Any truth to the rumors floating around that George Soros is the owner of Justify? Not seeing anything abut that on the news this morning. Not that that means much.

2/17 Air Cav

Not a rumor. One of Soros’ many companies has a 15% share.

Perry Gaskill

I’ve long been a casual fan of horse racing, and find it remarkable how bad news media coverage of the sport tends to be. I just glanced at Google News, for example, and the top sporting stories are:

LeBron James is feeling bad after losing in the NBA finals.

Current NHL buyout candidates.

Julian Edelman of the Patriots issues an apology for flunking a piss test.

UFC middleweight Robert Whittaker will keep his title because championship opponent Yoel Romero has failed to make weight.

What the actual fuck, over? Potentially winning the Triple Crown should be a very big deal. It’s only happened five times in the past 70 years.

AW1Ed

Here are the odds, according to Horse Racing Nation:

Justify 4-5
Bravazo 8-1
Hofburg 9-2
Vino Rosso 8-1
Tenfold 8-1
Noble Indy 30-1
Blended Citizen 15-1
Gronkowski 12-1
Restoring Hope 30-1
Free Drop Billy 30-1

Ex-PH2

Well, for those living on deserted islands or contemplating the Universe, Justify did win the Belmont Statkes, and became the 13th horse to wind the Triple Crown.

He picked a spot right out of the gate, and never looked back. (Neither did his jockey.) And from what the story says, he just kept opening space, and won the race going away.

https://www.cbssports.com/general/news/belmont-stakes-2018-winner-final-results-justify-pulls-away-to-win-13th-triple-crown-gronkowski-second/

I do not think he’ll be wanting for carrots or an occasional beer for the rest of his life.

He’s the reason for the term “stud”.

AW1Ed

I was pulling for Gronk, who came up from the back of the pack to place. Great race!

Sparks

I’m late for formation, yes Sergeant. Now, Sergeant I could try to lay some bullshit on you, but knowing you’ve heard it all before, here’s the truth. I was out till 4AM, drunk and just now made it here. I’ll stand tall before the man if that’s what it comes to and take my due. To end Sergeant, late and present.

5JC

Somebody is kicking the good idea fairy to the curb.

https://www.military.com/daily-news/2018/06/08/holiday-vehicle-inspections-among-dozens-army-regs-being-chopped.html

See what happens when you put a war fighter in charge of DOD?

AW1Ed

Hope the DON is paying attention!

OWB

Had to chuckle at some Hollywood actress opining that she would rather have armed robots instead of armed people. Wonder who she thinks control robots, armed or not.

Claw

Wonder who she thinks control robots:

Not a who, but a what: Sky Net

Hondo

Or as Harlan Ellison termed that entity, “AM”.

If you want to read a story that certainly should (and likely will) scare the hell out of you, read his short story “I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream”. Last time I checked the text was available on the Internet if you searched long enough.

AW1Ed

Bird brain Jody Foster is the actress. She’s just projecting her own insecurities onto the rest of us. She opines:

“Isn’t it possible that we all have that bit of insanity in us? That’s why I’m for gun control,” she said at the time. “Absolutely. Hunting, I get that – let’s protect hunting. But I don’t believe that people should have access to life-or-death situations at any emotional time in their life. I don’t really believe that a human being who feels [things] should have the option at their fingertips.”

Link

Hondo

OK then, Jody – then gimme your car keys. All of them.

And we’re going to install locks on your medicine cabinet and the cutlery drawer in your kitchen, too. And I’ll take those keys as well.

You want to go somewhere, take meds, or use a knife? You’ll have to ask permission first.

Don’t like that idea? Well, it’s 100% consistent with what you said above.

You said that you “don’t believe that people should have access to life-or-death situations at any emotional time in their life.” Last time I checked, many people off themselves using pills. And cars kill far more people annually than firearms – especially when road rage, depression, drugs, or alcohol get thrown into the mix.

Think before you speak next time, lass. If you’re capable of thinking.

Claw

My thoughts on Jodie Foster:

I do not have ducks

Or a row

I have squirrels

and they’re

everywhere

OWB

Wow. Watching history unfold. Never thought we would see the US this close to ending the Korean War. It may still not happen, of course, but we haven’t been this close before.

Ex-PH2

If you’re wondering even a little, Google is celebrating garden gnomes today. Hence the odd little pointy-hatted things in the Google spot on your screen.

Garden gnomes. Don’t they get enough notice?

Sparks

Nothing like…the last word.

ChipNASA

Hardly
😉

2/17 Air Cav

Last what?

Ex-PH2

Hah! Not even!

ChipNASA

NEW GAME!!!

Ex-PH2

Heimlich maneuver!!!

Claw

Anybody else notice that the time stamp/real world posting times has been moved by an hour?

I’m thinking that is going to play Holy Hell with the F5 key punchers come WOT posting time.

Who knows, maybe even Yef will be able to get a “First” on the WOT and stop his incessant whining about “I don’t like this game.”/smile