Friday, May 8, 2020

39,128,000,000 Miles Traveled¹...

(Source)
Okay, so that's an approximation and doesn't include the relatively trivial amount of miles I have traveled upon or above the Earth's surface itself. While I have circumnavigated the Earth, though not all on one trip, that's "only" 24,901 miles at the Equator and I didn't circumnavigate at the equator, rather higher up in latitude. According to the Google Maps distance measuring tool, my circumnavigating path was actually 19,720 miles (give or take a mile or two) in length.

My Path
Google Maps from the MS Edge browser
(The globe option has mysteriously vanished from Chrome.)

I've crossed the Pacific (in the air mind you) and the Atlantic (again, in an aircraft) multiple times. That gets tedious after a few hundred miles into the trip. Especially if it's cloudy, or even if it's not. (Unbroken cloud or just the sea itself is rather monotonous from 30,000 feet.) Over the Pacific I did see the wakes of shipping from that altitude, which was kinda cool. (And yes, in my mind I was a crewman onboard a PBY and had just spotted the Japanese carriers approaching Midway. My mind works that way. But you knew that dintcha?)

At any rate, to celebrate this momentous occasion, you get a short post today and maybe nothing at all on Saturday and Sunday. If the mood strikes I'll post, otherwise I'm taking a few ill-deserved days off.

See you auf der anderen Seite des Wochenendes...²

Oder vielleicht früher, ich weiß es noch nicht.³

Und ja, heute ist mein siebenundsechzigster Geburtstag.



(I'll leave that last line as an exercise for the reader.)



¹ This assumes that the average distance covered by the Earth in one orbit of the Sun to be 584 million miles. Yes, I'm sure that's an approximation.
² What you thought I'd go an entire post without tossing some foreign lingo your way? Sorry, that's just the way I roll. It means "on the other side of the weekend."
³ Or maybe sooner, I don't know yet.

56 comments:

  1. If'n you need help dousing the candle flames toss soda, not ale.....remember priorities! Congrats to your arrival on Terra.....don't forget to follow the prescribed procedure for kicking up the heels........:)

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    1. And don't use Halon or a fire-bomb as both Halon and Carbon TetraChloride are kind of hazardous to breathe and would definitely spoil the cake.

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    2. Good point! Wouldn't want to spoil the cake.

      I'm used to having my cake and eating it too!

      Delete
  2. At this point in time I'm leaning towards cupcakes for birthdays. Much, much, harder to turn them into potential Screaming Alphas! Alles gute zum geburtstag junger mann!

    /
    L.J.

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  3. The most important thing to remember about birthdays is you are not really in trouble until you stop having them. Then it becomes final. Old Guns.

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    1. I love having birthdays, except the older I get, the closer together they seem to be!

      Thanks Old Guns!

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  4. Happy birthday, Sarge. Hope you are catered to hand and foot. As we have noted before, I am right behind you. When it rains, it pours. Mother's day on the 10th, Wife's birthday on the 13th, mine on the 15th. Hooah. Like Chuck Yeager said, "Don't let 'em name a street after you at Edwards".

    Speaking of which, I had forgotten about this link. Something to entertain the "troops" while you are occupied elsewhere.

    http://victoriayeager.com/

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    1. Hahaha, good one!

      Was served pancakes for breakfast. The Missus Herself is making her world famous lasagna for dinner. I am content!

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    2. I take it the dark joke is you get a street named after you after a very unsuccessful landing?

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    3. Roger that.

      Tie the low altitude record as a USAF test pilot, you get a street named after you at Edwards AFB.

      Delete
  5. The Birthday Badger Sends Respectful Birthday Greetings!

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  6. Happy Birthday Brother!! I hope you have a most excellent one with your better half regardless of our world situation. If you keep this up, you'll be joining the rest of us in the old farts club!

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    1. Thanks Russ!

      I'm rocking the curmudgeon life-style!

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  7. All the best wishes on your Geburstag, Sarge. Enjoy the day and the weekend!

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  8. ♪♪♫ HaPpY bIrThDaY tO yOu ♫♪hApPy BiRtHdAy To YoU ♪♫ HaPpY bIrThDaY♫♪♪dEaR sArGe ♪♪♫♪HaPpY bIrThDaY tO yOu ♪♪♫ 🎈

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  9. We hope that you have a great day! You deserve a few days away from all of this. We'll talk about you whilst you're gone! Happy Birthday!!

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    1. So that's why my ears were burning!

      Thanks Dave!

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  10. Happy VE day! Happy birthday! Cummpliaños paisano. That is one long trip. it started with a rude arrival into a cold world, with a quick slap across the hindquarters. Doesn't get much better than that!! ;)

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    1. Some people would pay money for that experience! 😏

      Thanks STxAR!

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    2. Oooh, slap and tickle. Now THAT sounds like a birthday present to remember!

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    3. Well, I was awfully young. And it was a LONNNNNGGGGG time ago.

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  11. Thanks for all you do, these years, entertaining, enlightening or infuriating us with your musing, writing and ranting. All are appreciated. Many more of the above, along with birthdays, please.
    John Blackshoe

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    1. We shall endeavor to please our loyal readers. (Spoken like Queen Victoria...)

      Thanks John!

      Delete
  12. Happy Birthday, OLD AF Sarge!

    And many more...on channel 4!

    or something along those lines.

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    1. BTW, does flying WITH the rotation of the earth add to the miles traveled and against the rotation the opposite? Inquiring minds want to know. And since I'm bored to tears right now (I look forward to vacuuming saw dust in my shop as a reference), I think this could be the start of a good argument...er....discussion.

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    2. For air travel, you should count air miles traveled, not ground-referenced miles. Same if he actually managed to get orbited.

      But he also, as he said, didn't factor in the bazillion miles he spent commuting, which would be far more than the air miles he had.

      Now, did he just figure out straight rotation around the Sun miles, did he factor movement around the Galactic Center, or Galactic movement? Were the miles supposedly traveled included the spin of the Earth using 2PieArrrgh? Inquiring minds want to know.

      I mean, if you just want to toss figures out there, why not get a global warming scientist or a New York Covidiot Death counter to tally them for you.

      And I'm out...

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    3. And, juvat, vacuuming out your shop can be fun, depending on how deep the dust dunes are.

      Have you gotten a magnet yet and gone yard fishing for nails and screws and other tire puncturing devices?

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    4. As a matter of fact, that's on my Lowe's shopping list for today.

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    5. juvat - If you go fast enough against the Earth's rotational direction don't you go back in time so you can save Lois Lane?

      I mean Superman did it.

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    6. Beans - I kept the math simple. I was going to factor in the Solar System's orbit through the galaxy as well but, I didn't want to go there. I didn't include the Earth's rotation about it's axis, because relatively I wasn't moving on the Earth...

      Sorry gotta run, my mental calculator just melted...

      Delete
  13. Happy birthday, Sarge - make it a GOOD one!

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  14. Sorry Sarge, your birthday is now violates the fire code so you have to either stay your current age, or just skip the candles. Happiest of birthdays and here's to many more.

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    1. I think I may follow L.J.'s path in the future. Cupcakes!

      (My daughter had cupcakes at her wedding instead of a wedding cake last October. The cupcakes were AWESOME! Just sayin'...)

      Thanks Tuna!

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  15. Happy Birthday. It amazes me, every time my birthday comes around and I think of all the stupid 'Lookee Here' moments in my life that I've made it this far. Do you have the same thoughts?

    As to your language test, I only didn't get the numbers, the rest pretty much auto-translated from Middle English. But thankfully our Germanic language adaptations didn't include all of the verb or subject tenses as Modern German has. Thankfully.

    As to cake, I (geeze, Beans, got a severe case of Obamaitis or sumthin?) have always preferred wax-free cake. And I like icing/frosting/that buttery sugary stuff covering actual cake too much to get over-enthused by cupcakes. Start at the pointy end of the cake, and work towards the wonderful icing/frosting spine. Mmmmmm.

    So what's your favorite birthday cake/cupcake/confection flavor?

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    1. I often wonder how I survived certain periods of my life. I played stupid games, didn't win any stupid prizes. For that I am most thankful.

      As to cakes/cupcakes and their ilk. Basically chocolate cake, chocolate frosting. If you wanna make it a yellow cake (not the nuclear crap, the other) I'll do it as long as it has chocolate frosting. German chocolate cake was a favorite until the nuts began to interfere with my digestive system. One could leave the nuts off, but then it ain't German chocolate cake.

      My grandmother used to make a killer chocolate cake, yellow insides, dark chocolate frosting dense enough to block x-rays. Very tasty indeed.

      Numbers in German aren't as hard as numbers in French. The Germans say seven-and-sixty, and while the French also say sixty-seven, for the odd tens they do weird stuff like for seventy-five, they say soixante-quinze, literally sixty-and-fifteen.

      Guess why I picked that particular number in French...

      Oh, thanks Beans. (Almost forgot my manners!)

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    2. To 75, could it be...

      The French 75, the first modern artillery piece?

      Or could it be how long you will be working before you retire?

      Or VE friggin Day?

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    3. Damn, might be all three...

      But the French 75 is what I was referring to.

      Delete
  16. Zum Geburstag viel Glück!
    Want to raise eyebrows - calculate the number of miles the vehicle called Earth has traveled around the sun, and the solar system around the Milky Way Galaxy, then tell people you've traveled that many miles.
    Counting the mileage the galaxy spends running around the universe would be a bit extreme, though :)
    Frank

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    1. I did want to avoid scientific notation...

      Thanks Frank!

      Delete
  17. (Don McCollor)...When I graduated from high school (rural) long ago, I sent an invitation to my bus driver to attend my graduation party. His wife called asking if it was a mistake. I had ridden 40,000 miles with him (often through appalling winter weather). Figured he had done as much as any of teachers to get me through high school...

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  18. I am late to the party--hey, I was working working and drove over 475 miles this past week in the 4 days I was working, so I went to bed EARLY on Friday night (yes, I am old, but not as old as you :)---so, yes, late to the party...story of my life, but I'm ok with it...where was I???

    Oh, yes, there is NO cake except Chocolate Cake...with LOTS of Chocolate Frosting. The rest are just wannabes. :) Unless they are chocolate cupcakes...

    Seriously, Happy Belated Birthday Sir. Hope that not only the pancakes were delish, but that the Lasagna was wonderful.
    May you have very many more rotations around the Sun.

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    1. Out on the front lines again Suz? Bless you for that. Concur on your opinion vis a vis chocolate cake, everything else is just not up to par. The lasagna was superlative!

      Thanks Suz! (Stay safe out there.)

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Just be polite... that's all I ask. (For Buck)
Can't be nice, go somewhere else...

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