July 17, 2017
May 30, 2016
There Is a Difference
| Armed Forces Day (3rd Sat. of May) For those who currently wear the uniform  |
| Veterans Day (Nov. 11th) For those who used to wear the uniform  |
| Memorial Day (last Mon. of May) For those who never made it out of uniform  |
September 29, 2015
Left or Right?
Just last night I was lying down to watch some programs on my tablet; I plugged in my earphone "buds" into it, then pulled one side close to my eye so I could see if the tiny letter said "L" or "R". The first one said "R" and I stuck it in my ear...
My LEFT ear. I realized my mistake when I put the "L" one into my right ear. They're molded a little differently to better fit the slant of the ear canal and don't fit correctly if reversed. Annoyed, I switched them and turned on the tablet. I caught up on some programs, then fell asleep with the buds in my ears. At least I didn't roll over on my tablet like I've done in the past.
I get up this morning, make some coffee and rub the inside of my ear where the bud had irritated it because I slept on that side, sat down at the computer and tore off yesterday's entry on my trivia calendar and found this for today:
"One out of 4 adults can't tell their left from their right."
Hmmm....I usually don't have any trouble, but will admit to a few cases where I've had to think about it...last night's mix up wasn't typical, though. A quick search on the Internet showed that bit of trivia to be true.
There's even a test: Right - Left Confusion?
This probably explains why *some* people have trouble learning to march in the military. Not this bunch, though.
June 21, 2014
Safety First!
May 31, 2013
A Tale of Two Vets
January 26, 2012
So Far, a Lucky Week
This just hit my email inbox:
I forget why I entered the contest; I'm sure the Grand Prize was something I really wanted or I wouldn't have made the effort. A magazine subscription isn't too bad of a consolation prize - I love to get magazines and after reading, they're good to line my trashcan with or to tear pages out of and put under the Beej's water and feed bowls. I used to take my old magazines to the laundromat but they would get stolen within the day.
It's been a fairly lucky week for me; I won this magazine subscription, fifty extra points for correctly answering the movie trivia question at StartSampling and last night I won $12 on the Powerball lottery.
It was also a very lucky week for some young punk in a red car. I was out earlier and about to turn onto a busy street. The light was red and there was a car ahead of me. I started slowing as I normally do, easing to a stop. (saves gas, saves brake wear) There wasn't but a few car lengths between me and the other vehicle when the red car zoomed around me and cut in front. I had to slam on my brakes to avoid slamming into the car. I saw him glancing in his rear-view mirror and I gave him the bird. He didn't look back again. I was itching for a fight- he had scared me and that just about makes me angrier than anything else.
As we sat there waiting for the light, I got more angry. He wasn't saving any time, he had to wait anyway. When the light changed, he sped off, zipping from lane-to-lane w/out signalling. He also ran a yellow light when he got to the next intersection and turned.
I wasn't in a very good mood, anyway. I had tried to drop off my vehicle insurance payment last week, but there was a sign on the office door "Be Back Soon". I went back by several times, but there was no one there. I put the check and invoice on the passenger seat and forgot about it. When I got in my truck earlier, I noticed it and remembered that it was due tomorrow. I got to the insurance office and saw the same sign on the door. I went to the Dollar Store, did a little shopping and dropped back by only to see the business was still closed. I killed a little more time and went back - the sign was still up, the door still locked.
Fuming, I went home and called the after hours number listed on the door. Nothing. I then called the regular number and a woman answered. I told her I had been trying to bring my payment by and wanted to make sure someone was there to take it. "Oh, I stepped out for a little while." she told me. Yeah, a week is a "little while" I thought, but didn't say it. She then informed me that the boss was gone, had been for a week. That made sense then - she was enjoying her four hour lunch breaks. She's lucky I didn't lose my temper with her. She's even luckier I didn't have to file a claim for rear-ending that red car.
I'm lucky to win the few things I have this week. To be honest - I'm even more lucky I haven't stroked out. I seem to be getting more and more angry at things here lately. I got a little angry earlier at a reply to my license plate post on Facebook. An old friend and schoolmate wrote "Why would I want a license plate with 'Mike' on it?" It shouldn't have, but it hit me wrong. I started to reply "Well, it would be just as well....'smartass' wouldn't fit." I've been a little snarky on Facebook myself lately, though, and didn't want to be a hypocrite.
To top all that off, the stray cat I've been feeding has been in heat. (I thought she was pregnant, but she is just fat. I've cut back on her food- all she gets is B's leftovers now) I love cats, but the only thing more disgusting than the smell of cat urine is a female cat in heat. Thanks to her "condition", there has been a dozen tomcats hanging around. I've been woken up a dozen times this week by the caterwauling; it's either her and a male cat or two males dueling for her affections. I've discovered one thing about cats; you can't tell whether they're fightin' or foolin' around by the sounds they're making.
It would probably help a great deal if I quit frequenting political forums. If the Republicans nominate Gingrich, then they will have to give up the "party of family values" label they brag about. If they nominate Santorum, then they'll lose any chance of getting a gay person to vote for them ever again. Both of them are a little...let's say "ethically challenged". The Republicans definitely need to stop touting that they're for limited govt. and need to quit pretending they're conservative. (and the TEA Party has allowed itself to be hijacked by the neocons) I'm lucky I'm too old for the draft, because we'll need one for the war machine if we take on Iran.
I know I lowered my blood pressure at least fifty points by not reading posts in Dallas Cowboy forums. The "Tony Homo" posts infuriated me. Probably Santorum supporters.
January 22, 2012
No, Thanks
I already have a set.
Couldn't sleep, so I got up to check my reader and noticed a new posting from WikiHow, my subscription to their "How to of the Day" feed. I had to laugh because it looked like they were talking about either obtaining some incredible intestinal fortitude or making something that could only be made on an expensive and advanced lathe or milling machine.
Back when I was active in MSN Groups, the help group "Community Feedback" had a Wiki listing. They had a description that went like this: "Community Feedback is dedicated to giving help to MSN Group managers." along with a bunch of other self-congratulatory crapola. I used to go in and put "dubious" in front of "help" in the sentence. Petty of me, I know (some might say infantile or even passive-aggressive), but I loved to annoy them. It was cheap entertainment.
Speaking of brass balls, I watched one of my favorite History Channel programs Saturday morning: "Heavy Metal". The show is about all things military, but my favorites are when they highlight ships, tanks and airplanes. This program was about the B-17, one of the best U.S.bombers of WWII. One segment detailed the heavy losses incurred during the raids on the Schweinfurt ball bearing plants.
After the program was over, it made me think of ball bearings and different situations in my life involving them. One time when I was a driller on a rig I had a bearing out of the drawworks and was about to replace a couple of the small ball bearings when one of the guys who worked for me accidentally kicked it and sent them rolling everywhere. We were down for quite a while until I could scavenge enough to replace the ones that we couldn't find. Wasn't my fault, but guess who got the butt-chewing? I passed it along, of course.
Thinking of the rigs - and ball bearings - reminded me of a joke about a govt. man sent out to test the intelligence of rig workers. He started the tests out with a roughneck, giving him three steel balls and told him to do something with them. The govt. man turned his back, but when he turned around again, the roughneck was gone. He looked around, but couldn't find him.
Getting another three balls from his briefcase, the govt. man went to the roughneck's immediate boss, the driller, gave him the three balls and told him to do something with them. The driller looked at the balls for a while, scratched his head and then put two balls side-by-side, then balanced one atop the bottom two. It was a fairly difficult and ingenious feat, so the driller got a good score.
The govt. man looked around for the roughneck, but still couldn't find him so he then gave the three balls to the driller's boss, the tool pusher. The pusher looked at the balls for just a little while, then stacked one on top of each other, nearly impossible to do...but that was why he was the tool pusher. He got a great score from the govt. man.
About that time, the roughneck came ambling up. "Where are those balls?" asked the govt. man. "What balls?" replied the roughneck. "Those three balls I gave you an hour ago!" exclaimed the exasperated govt. man.
"Oh, THOSE three balls." the roughneck sheepishly said. "Well," he went on "I lost one...broke another..."
"But the other one's here in my lunch box!"
May 28, 2010
Don't Ask, Don't Tell
This just popped up in my reader:
Ron Paul, three Texas Democrats buck parties on gays in military
It caught my eye because Ron Paul was mentioned in the title, but also because of the "DADT" policy that's been in place since the Clinton administration. I didn't agree with the previous policy of banning gays outright and I didn't agree with the DADT policy either. There should be no "policy" at all in regards to gays in the military. (and without researching it, I would wager that's Ron Paul's stance, too.)
Granted, the military is a special case and civilian laws don't always apply, but this is more of a human rights specific case. Isn't "all men are created equal" one of the tenets of our society?
Also, I've seen argued that unit cohesion and effectiveness would be damaged with the overt inclusion of gays. I wonder how "covert" inclusion was any different? I'd think that in most cases, people wouldn't know others are gay unless they were told by the gay person. Contrary to TV and movie stereotyping (and some by gays themselves), all gays don't lisp when they talk nor mince when they walk. Sheesh. I've known gay guys who were more "manly" than were some of my hetero friends. (I've also known some lesbians who were more manly than ME, but that's another story)
It also seems a shame to waste talent and manpower (or womanpower, to be fair -grin-) Not all, but many of the gay folks I know are smart, creative and hard-working - good qualities to possess for the military (or for civilian life). I never was in the military, but I was and still am a good shot. I also like to think I'm fairly courageous, semi-smart, and, in my youth, quite physically fit - good soldier material.
That doesn't mean I would've been a good soldier. No, I can also type like a big dog and I expect it's easier to find someone to pull a trigger than it is to type and file the morning report.
In other words, if I had been drafted or joined the military, I'd have probably been some colonel's clerk. And I'm not gay.
What I'm trying to say is it's silly to stereotype all gays into the "gawking, lecher" type that would destroy a platoon of fighting men. Plus, I would think it would be easier for heterosexuals to accept a fellow fighting man in the unit than it would be to include females.
(and I'll admit I don't think women in direct combat units is a good idea. Pilots of fighter planes, captains of warships, etc., sure, but not fighting alongside of men. )
Plus, there are military regulations that severely curtail interpersonal relationships between people in the service. A captain can not have a personal relationship with a private...even if they are of opposite sex. I don't understand why these rules can't simply apply to all in the military. Catch two gays in a compromising position? Drum them out, same as would/should happen with an opposite-sex couple.
Off the soapbox; I'm prejudiced in many ways, but this "gays in the military" controversy has always bothered me...not just because the policy is wrong, but because we feel the need to have a policy at all.
On a related, local note: Our own Mac Thornberry voted against the bill. While I very, very seldom vote Democrat, in this next election I will have to do as I've done the last few elections and either vote Libertarian for the office, or leave all boxes unchecked. He's been in office since '95. I won't criticize his record here, but it's my opinion he's been in there long enough.
Update
Texas lawmakers explain why they bucked their parties on vote
Rep Ron Paul,
R-Lake Jackson
Paul, the maverick libertarian, ditched his Republican comrades and voted for the repeal.
"I have received several calls and visits from constituents who, in spite of the heavy investment in their training, have been forced out of the military simply because they were discovered to be homosexual," Paul said.
"To me, this seems like an awful waste. Personal behavior that is disruptive should be subject to military discipline regardless of whether the individual is heterosexual or homosexual. But to discharge an otherwise well-trained, professional, and highly skilled member of the military for these reasons is unfortunate and makes no financial sense."
Them's my sentiments, 'zactly. Thank you Dr. Paul.
May 15, 2010
Armed Services Day
Armed Services Day
I know the above poster/graphic is old, but I liked it.
Support Our Troops!
