Opaque Lucidity

The Last Mission of PT-109 (Part One), August 1, 1943

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If you don't know the story of PT-109 and her captain, a 25-year old guy named John F. Kennedy, then you're missing out! Click, man, click!!!

I'm Not Into Quilting, Either

I know at least a few of you have done helpdesk-type work for medium and large companies. If you have, you've had this conversation (or one like it) before:

"IS Department, this is Matt"

"Matt, this is Carol. I can't log in to (insert password-protected website here)."

"Do you receive an error message when you try to log in?"

"No. In fact, when I click on the thing on my screen, it takes me somewhere else."

"Do you mean another website?"

"Yes."

"Ok, let's try this...open Internet Explorer."

"What?"

"Internet Explorer...the browser you use."

"What?"

"The icon that looks like a blue 'e'...double-click it."

"Oh! You know, I'm just not into this computer stuff."

That's when I slowly fade from consciousness and go to my happy place. I don't expect everyone to be an expert, but I do have the expectation that if you have been sitting in front of a computer for the better part of two decades, you should have learned something about it. To me, learning about the tools you use to do your job is PART OF THE JOB, not something you have the option of being "into". If you work in an office today, possessing basic PC skills is a fundamental requirement.

The company for which I work is defined rather narrowly in terms of demographics, so maybe it's just my situation. But it seems sometimes that no one wants to learn anything that might mess with their comfort zone.

By the way, I have to slap myself to keep from continuing the above conversation this way:

"Carol, are you into cars?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, you read 'Road and Track' and 'Automobile' magazine, right?"

"No."

"But you drove here today, didn't you?"

AM I ALONE IN THIS?

Sorry, ladies and germs, it's just been one of those days. Talk amongst yourselves. ;-)

Talk Amongst Yourselves

I would like you do read this and this. I'm still mulling over the contents. It all comes down to one deeply disturbing question: was Pat Tillman murdered?

The Populist As Kingmaker

Last Monday's Democratic YouTube debate is still the source of much debate among the talking-head politicos in both the MSM and online. The Republican version, due to occur on September 17th, is likely to be a less breathy affair: Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani are skipping the debate. If I were a Republican running for office, I would, too.

There was a time when political debates were actually debates. In other words, two candidates would question one another on various topics in a sort of freeform style that went out with the arrival of televisions and spin managers. Most of our debates today, while heavily moderated, are still interesting affairs. They do not, however, allow for much in-depth analysis of any issue.

YouTube-based debates allow even less. First, there is no follow-up to any question. When Senator Obama answered a question by saying that he would gladly meet with a litany of third-world dictators, no one challenged him; the comment sailed through as if he had just extolled the virtues of moon pies and RC. In this way, debates such as this only serve to help those whose followers love five-second sound bytes and easy, vague solutions.

In other words, they only help Democrats.

Jimmy Hoffa Goes Poof, July 30, 1975

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The Eastland Disaster, July 24, 1915

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Lies, Liars And The Ne'er Do Wells Who Tell Them

This post may not make much sense to those of you who don't live in Louisville. As you are aware, the city is on the Ohio River, which runs east to west in this area. The "front" of the city, so to speak, is broken in half by Interstate 64, which runs along the river through downtown. It's an ugly eyesore that keeps most of the are cut off from enjoying the river on foot. There is a large downtown park, but it is small compared to the area that would be opened up were in interstate not there.

Enter 8664.org, a group of people who want to remove I-64 from the riverfront and replace it with a surface street running through a meadow that is accessible to the public. To do this, all the traffic that goes through downtown every day would have to either be shunted to surface streets or diverted to I-264, which is a few miles south.

Currently, a 5-mile section of I-64 is closed for repair work. Traffic is so bad that even on a good day, a trip to my home from work that normally takes 30 minutes takes nearly 60. On Tuesday, it took me 80 minutes to get home because of a traffic jam on one of the surface streets downtown. The traffic is so snarled that police are directing traffic downtown for most of the day.

If the 8664.org folks get their way, this will be a permanent condition. To hear them tell it, the current situation is not representational of what would occur if their plan was carried to fruition. Really? Why not? The section of interstate that is now closed is the very section they want to remove for good.

I was thinking about this today (as I do every day while I drive home) when I remembered there was going to be an 8664 demonstration on the Great Lawn by the river. I drove by the park and got a good look at some of the protesters. As I suspected, many of the cars were from counties outside of Jefferson (the county in which Louisville is located); most of them were from east of the downtown area, the same area that is fighting against a much-needed east end bridge. The other group present was the old hippie crowd, the same losers who protest almost everything: Vietnam, Iraq, the G8, Bill Gates, mom and apple pie.

The point is that NONE of these people use I-64 on a regular basis, so they have no trouble imagining a fantasy downtown full of green grass and happy people. While I certainly agree that the interstate should never have been built where it is, it has been there for over 40 years. The cost of re-routing it would probably run to nearly a billion dollars and it can not simply be removed without creating an alternative highway south of downtown. But these protesters don't seem to care about any of this. In their shiny, happy world, those of us who live in Indiana and work in Kentucky or who commute to or from downtown Louisville will simply have to make other plans.

That'll be the day.

Children of Flower Power

Dean Barrett, the blogger who fills in for Hugh Hewitt when he is on vacation or otherwise occupied, has an article in the latest Weekly Standard. It is not to be missed.

What struck me most was not the content of Barrett's article, but the response to it. Say what you will about liberal Baby Boomers: they're consistent. When an article appears primarily focused on the 9/11 generation in which the Baby Boomer generation has a small mention, they make the story about themselves. Typical, but nothing new. Look at advertising aimed at Boomers: since the oldest of them is near retirement age, a being from another planet would assume that theirs is the first generation to live longer than 62 years. One financial institution whose name escapes me has Dennis Hopper as their spokesperson because, groovy dude, he's the coolest cat to crawl out of the dystopian mess his generation left all over nation. To hear him tell it, HIS generation's retirement is going to be different. Old Boomers are going to sky-dive, travel the world and have mind-numbing sex until they're 107 thanks to the miracle of modern pharmaceuticals.

There are millions of Boomers who went to Vietnam, either by volunteering or because they were drafted. They did their duty not because it was fun, but because it was right. Unfortunately, as Barrett said, they did not become representational of their generation in terms of historical perspective because those Boomers who now try to spoon-feed us their views disguised as news were mostly the very hippies that the Boomers should be ashamed of today.

Don't let the sun go down on your generation without a fair accounting of your real achievements.

Pee Wee Reese Born, July 23, 1918

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If you're a baseball fan and/or a Louisvillian, you need to check this out.

The Lost Colony, July 22, 1587

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Geek Nuc Joke

Mini-Putt

Give this little dude a whirl when you have a few minutes:

Mini Putt

By the way, here's my top score:

Bad Liars' Club

Before I talk about my main issue today, I want to apologize for not updating the list of our fallen service people in Iraq. The source for the names is Military City, so make sure you check there often. I discovered a few weeks ago that I missed some names, even though I'm not sure how that happened. I decided then to stop, as I didn't want that to happen again. I hope that makes sense. Thanks for your understanding

I had worked at my previous job for a few years when a new guy was hired to work in the packing area. One day, one of my friends poked his head in and told me that this new employee, like me, had been in the Navy. Then, my friend sort of smiled that knowing smile, a look that told me that guy was a bullshitter. Of course, I couldn't let it go, so I headed over to his work area.

Here's a rough estimation of our conversation:

"When did you go in?"
"February 1990"
"We were in boot camp at the same time. Where did you go?"
"Orlando"
"Wow! Me, too. What division were you in?"

Silence. This was troubling. There are two things about boot camp no one EVER forgets---company number and division number. I was in C057, Division 5. My father, a Korean War veteran, can rattle off this information today at the drop of a hat. He's 74.

"What company were you in?"
"Ummm...I don't remember"

See my comments above.

"What ship did you end up on?"
"A gator-freighter"

'Gator-freighter' is a slang term for a helicopter assault/dock ship---think small aircraft carrier. They have a landing well in the stern that can be flooded to allow landing craft to sail in and out. They can carry helicopters and/or Harriers. They also carry Marines. I don't know much about them other than the fact that my oldest brother once spent a summer (he was in NROTC at Purdue) on board the USS Tarawa.

"My brother spent some time on the Tarawa. Which one were you on?"
"_____" (He named one, but I don't remember).
"I've never heard of her. What class is she?"
"I never paid attention to that stuff."

Strike three. The only ship I spent any time on was a submarine being used as a training ship to train nucs. She never left the pier. She was the Sam Rayburn, SSBN 635, a James Madison-class ballistic missile submarine. No one told me this; you learn it because it's all around you, every day. I learned so much about the back end of that sub that I could probably cold-start the reactor today from memory.

My point is that it's pretty easy to pick out a military liar if you have served in the same branch as him or her. Even though I was in the Navy, when I saw this Weekly Standard article about a writer for The New Republic, I knew we were dealing with a liar, and a bold one at that. Yes, there bad people in the military just like there are bad people everywhere. However, I knew no one in the military who was intentionally cruel, even those men old enough to have seen combat in Vietnam.

If you or someone you know might be able to shed some light on the incidents described in the article, please contact the Weekly Standard. Our military has enough problems without some loser making up stories of this type. Even if you don't know anyone over there, please take a moment and read the article. A commenter over at Hugh Hewitt's blog wrote the following BS Checklist that is, in my opinion, dead on:

1) Anonymous source.

8) World where many military personnel from high to low are aware of and unconcerned by completely aberrant behavior.

Numbers 7 and 8 are important. I know very few liberals who have served in the military. Thus, they don't know enough to question stories such as these. Also, the stories assume that everyone in the military would find these acts funny; there is no way that's the case. Despite what the MSM says, the military is made up of people who represent every corner of American society, not a group of sadistic losers as portrayed by the writer.

Let's crush this guy.

Corrigan Makes His Wrong Way Flight, July 18, 1938

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The Hitler Rap

There was a time when conspiracy nuts were isolated people, living in dank basements and communicating with each other over shortwave radio and poorly-made newsletters and magazines. But thanks to the miracle of the internet, these crackpots have reached the mainstream. And now, during the first decade of the 21st century, one has to wonder what has happened to our nation when one of these nutjobs manages to get elected to Congress:

America's first Muslim congressman has provoked outrage by apparently comparing President George W Bush to Adolf Hitler and hinting that he might have been responsible for the September 11 attacks.

"It's almost like the Reichstag fire, kind of reminds me of that," Mr Ellison said. "After the Reichstag was burned, they blamed the Communists for it, and it put the leader [Hitler] of that country in a position where he could basically have authority to do whatever he wanted."

Of course, it IS Minnesota...

The District of Columbia Created, July 16, 1790

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The Medal of Honor Created, July 12, 1862

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lolcats

I can't leave this alone.

Look at the cat in the background. My caption? "Quick, the mothership is back in orbit."

Our New Royal Family

Hey, England, what did we ever do to you? Huh?

Seriously, it would seem that Posh and His Footiness have arrived in L.A. which is a good thing since it is the only city in the country wherein they can "blend" and get lost in a crowd of over-paid, over-sexed, great-looking people. And, for the record, Victoria is a hottie. Had to throw that in.

Morality's Intercession

I stole this story from NPR; it gave me pause:

1. You are standing beside a railroad track. To your right is a 'Y' in the line. One side of the 'Y' is being worked on by five men and the other side is being worked on by only one man. To your left is a fast-approaching train. As it stands now, the train will run over the five men on the one track. You are too far away to yell a warning and the train is too close for you to run over to the men. However, you have a switch in front of you that will make the train take the other side of the 'Y', causing it to hit and kill the man working alone. If you throw the switch, one man dies. If you don't throw the switch, five men die. Do you throw the switch?

2. Same scenario, except you are on a foot bridge standing directly above the rails and there is no 'Y' in the tracks. The five-man crew is working down the tracks in front of you and the train is speeding up behind you. Next to you is a man who is leaning over the foot bridge railing, watching the scene. He is leaning forward and is obviously off-balance. If you push him, he will fall off the bridge and onto the tracks where he will be hit by the train, causing it to stop before it reaches the five-man crew. If you push him, one man dies. If you don't, five men die. Do you push him?

One thing I'll throw in here for the sake of clarity: you don't know any of these people---they are random strangers.

Razor (Geek Alert)

Until this morning, I believed that the fourth season of Battlestar Galactica was not due until 2008. While this is true, the Sci-Fi channel is releasing a movie about that other crew in November---the crew of the Pegasus. For those of you not in the know, Pegasus was another ship, newer and much larger than Galactica, that also survived the Cylon attack. When Galactica and her civilian fleet met up with Pegasus, she was alone. Come to find out, she had also started out with her own fleet of civilian ships, but the Pegasus crew had stripped them of parts, supplies and civilians with military skills and left everyone else to their own devices, presumably to die the next time a few Cylon ships came along. Keep in mind that the human race has been reduced to about 50,000 people at this point.

I used to listen to Ronald Moore's (producer of BSG) podcast, and he said at one point that we shouldn't be so quick to condemn Pegasus and her commander, Admiral Cain. After all, we don't know what they went through in the six months between the beginning of the war and the time they met up with Galactica. This tells me that the backstory of Pegasus is complicated and probably worthy of our time. Either way, I'm jonesing for some BSG, so I'm sure I'll watch it.

Am I hopeless, or what?

Zheng He Sets Sail, July 11, 1405

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Arrive Alive

The Road Less Taken

I mentioned some time ago that a friend of ours was soon to deploy overseas as a civilian working closely with Army and Marine Corps combat units in the field. Now, that time is upon us---she will leave in the next 10 days. Although she is a civilian, the work she will be doing is dangerous because it requires her to be near the places where our military interacts with local populations, the very areas that terrorists use to ply their trade. I have little doubt of her safe return, but her trip will certainly not be a vacation.

Once again, the old feeling creeps in. It has been with me for almost six years now. It's the weird feeling that comes with the knowledge that a war is being fought and I am sitting here in an air-conditioned office in flyover country that might as well be on another planet. Had the attacks in 2001 taken place on 9/11/1991, I would've been in the middle of the conflagration; as it is, the fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan is little more than background noise, like two people talking in cubicle a little too far away.

Of course, I am possibly the world's least-ready person with regard to the physical demands of military service. But if my employer were to suddenly ask me to go to one of these places, would I be eager to go? Not at all. Would I go? You bet.

The Hoover Dam Begins, July 7, 1930

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Proud Bias

As the fireworks begin in our neighborhood on this July 4th evening, I am reminded of a conversation I had with a friend several months ago. In the course of our talk, I made the statement that the United States has done much more good than bad in the world over the course of its existence. My friend told me that I probably have a biased view. I don't know if he believes our country is more harmful than helpful (it would not surprise me), but he's right about one thing: I am biased. If you're an American, you should be as well.

So happy Independence Day. You live in the greatest nation that has ever existed. A world without the United States would be a much, much darker place. We are not perfect; we have much to be ashamed of. But those who condemn us have neither a firm grasp of history or an appreciation of our contributions to the spread of freedom around the world.

Lou Gehrig Day, July 4, 1939

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Sick Call

I'm sick. I have no voice. I haven't done a podcast since Tuesday, I think. I feel guilty when I don't do shows regularly. People e-mail me to find out if everything is OK. I should be back at my post on Monday.