Tuesday, August 25, 2015

"All the news that's fun to print."



I surprised myself last week, getting a Tuesday post out while on vacation to Southern Oregon.  I guess visiting family isn't as much of a time-sump as I thought it would be.  That can be good or bad I suppose- good in that I had time to relax and gather my thoughts into a post, but bad that I wasn't doing more exciting stuff like in the picture above.

The Rogue River runs through the city of Grants Pass on its way to the Pacific Ocean in Gold Beach.  It's a beautiful part of the country, (mostly) green mountainous landscapes, pine trees all over, wildlife everywhere, including in front of my car.  Fortunately for both my front end and the two deer I almost collided with, my brakes were good enough to ensure the wildlife stayed beautiful.  We usually go rafting on the Rogue, but the trip was a quick one and time was short, with school starting up again yesterday.  The drive is a pain though- too close and too expensive to fly, but also too far away to make it an easy day of it.  It's 838 miles door to door, which is tough to do in one day by myself, and the finish line is so close when I do wind up getting too tired to continue.

Sure, I've got two other drivers in the car, but the teenangster is still under a learners permit and drives far too slow for my taste, and my wife can't keep a steady pace so the speedometer is constantly fluctuating 5-10 mph in either direction which drives me nuts.  They're usually asleep anyway by the time I get tired so I'm pretty much the only control freak driver I can stand available.

If you do the math, the required distance should take between 10 and 11.5 hours depending on what speed limit one chooses to follow- the legal one, or the Californian one.   That doesn't include stops of course, but if you ensure that you eat, refuel and offload any beverages at the same time, you can make the trip in 13.5 hours like I did.  Don't tell the CHP please, or better yet, don't tell the FAA.

While I was up there, I completely ignored politics and the news, unless it had to do with Oregon fires, or whatever headlines my friends my have posted on Facebook.  So for today, I'm going to share what I saw, read, or found humorous as it relates to current events after I returned.

The GOOD:

I'm sure you heard about the three Americans that thwarted a terrorist attack on a French train.  While the Corps was beaming with pride of the report that it was three Marines, the adage that the first version of a story is always wrong was proven yet again.  As it turns out, it was an Oregon National Guardsman, An Airforce Senior Airman, and a civilian.  That made my brother snicker as he's an Oregon National Guardsman himself who thinks that the Marines aren't any better than the Army, but they're just blessed with better PR.

One of the heroes was injured in the act of subduing the terrorist.  While it was actually due to a box cutter, the first reports had him listed as being shot during the take-down.  And twitter was exceptionally funny while documenting it.


Did you see that the Little League World Series was underway?  For the second time in three years, a team from San Diego made it to Williamsport PA.  So those of us on the left coast have more than just a passing interest.

 Aug 21
tied record for most homeruns in one inning per



It's been removed from Twitter, but LA Angels All-Star Mark Trout even commented that these kids were putting on a home run derby.  After beating Kentucky 14-2, they lost their next game 8-4 to a team from Texas, but rallied yesterday to beat New England 10-3 to stay alive in the double-elimination tourney.

There's a great video here that shows what Little League is all about.

The BAD:

Source

Texas Police Captain Linked to Ashley Madison Leak Commits Suicide

I suppose that if you want to remain anonymous while cheating on your wife, Ashley Madison is a way to do it.  Minus the anonymous part though.  The site was hacked and names of clients are coming out fast.  This cop was no exception, but he wound up taking his own life vice face the humiliation and embarrassment from the exposure.

Of course I don't condone infidelity, or hacking for that matter, even if it gets some cheaters on the straight and narrow.  But I will also say that if you're doing something wrong, and keeping it secret is more important than your life- that you'd rather die instead of having your secret be known, rethink what you're doing in the first place.  Suicide is not an answer because it doesn't solve anything- it only ends everything.

Source
The American M5 were battle-tested killing machines during WWII, in Tunisia, Sicily, Italy, France (Normandy and Provence campaigns in the summer of 1944), and Germany.  They also served in the Pacific after being replaced in Europe by newer tanks.

Well, apparently they're still deadly:

World War II-Era Tank Runs Over, Kills Man In Fairfield


California Highway Patrol says 55-year-old Kevin Wright of Suisun City was riding on the front edge of a 1944 M-5 tank at a reunion when the vehicle started going downhill. Wright fell off and was run over.  Source

I really enjoyed the movie FURY, but I never thought that it would be fun to re-enact scenes from it.

The UGLY:

Another couple of videos detailing the horrors inside Planned Parenthood Clinics were released, including one that pretty much confirms that PP is trafficking in fully intact baby cadavers, possibly born alive, then killed.  The videos have proven that certain organs are worth different amounts and if PP wants to transfer or sell parts to StemExpress, chemicals can't be used, otherwise the organs would be ruined.  That likely means that babies are being born alive, or so close to alive that a slight tap on the heart starts it beating again.  It's long past time for America to consider for a moment that PP might not be as above reproach that the left wants us to believe.

Source
Speaking of hearts, or the lack thereof, I offer you the following video.  It's along the same lines as those Hitler videos, but this one is only just over 90 seconds and has a wonderfully hilarious punchline regarding Hillary's fashion choices.



That's enough of the news for today.  

10 comments:

  1. Glad you had some time off.
    Concur on the driving thoughts. People that randomly speed up and slow down drive me nuts. Very difficult to fly good formation on them.

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  2. I didn't hear you honk when you drove through Anderson.

    I hear you re: the drive.
    My experience tells me it wouldn't nearly be so tiring if LA wasn't in the way.
    I've done the other direction, from here to Bremerton (actually Port Orchard).
    Portland's a hiccup compare to LA area.
    Now if there was only a better way to avoid Tacoma.

    Avoiding news is a must for enjoying a vacation.

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  3. As to having other drivers available on long trips, I get that but my kids are all pretty good drivers. Though my son tends to drive like Mario Andretti (his hobby is racing, for real) and that can be, let's just call it "exciting." Both daughters are good behind the wheel.

    Whenever I visit the kids, I let them drive.

    838 miles door to door? That is exhausting. Once did a thousand, door to door. Never again.

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    Replies
    1. Back in the days of the double nickle, I would drive 915 miles from College to Home. 19 hours, stopping only for gas (which doubled as eating and restroom breaks). Can't do that today. Little Juvat did the driving on our trip to Colorado (900 miles). The trip home was done in one day, Audible reading of Flight of the Intruder made it somewhat tolerable.

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    2. Worst drive I have did alone was Denver to St Louis - some 1200 miles and some change. Never again. In my defense I was about 20.

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  4. Last weekend I went with some friends to the Nantahala Outdoor Center in Bryson, NC, which is about a 5 hour drive one way. No electronics at all on the trip. White water rafting and a Zip Line with 8 runs, the longest being 1/2 mile and 350 AGL. Very relaxing weekend, though a long drive.

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  5. Not a bad idea to 'dump' the news for a while, it definitely lowers the BP :-)

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  6. As a deputy, all my squads has push bars on the front, but they were really deer smuckers.

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  7. I hate riding. Control thing. Hate airliner travel for the same reason. Kind of goofy in a way given the risky riding I did in the nav, but there's a difference between being crew and being freight. And right or wrong, I trusted the navy's front end ballast a lot more than I've ever trusted any civil-yan airbag deflector.

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  8. I'll bet the producers of Downfall (2004) wish they could have a royalty for all the parodies made off their movie!

    As far as the tank rider - I don't know whether whether to think he is a candidate for the Darwin Award or it was just a senseless accident. I guess since he had never ridden on an M5 before he had nothing with which to base his decision.

    Bet it wasn't the first time it happened although the interval was probably 70 years of so - one-2 GIs get crushed and word gets around.

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