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| Me-410 Hornisse Screenshot - IL-2 Sturmovik: Battle of Stalingrad |
It's been awhile since I've taken to the air in this old (but continually updated) flight sim which, to me, is the best I've ever "flown."
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| P-51 Mustang Screenshot - IL-2 Sturmovik: Battle of Stalingrad |
The flight models in the later version of the sim are much improved as well. No flinging the old kite about the sky with wild abandon anymore, do that and guaranteed you'll stall or go into a spin. It was much harder to crash the bird in the early versions.
So while I play, I don't write, much.
I'm also working my way through the old HBO Rome series, one episode to go. I enjoy my time with Vorenus and Pullo, they're like old friends now.
Ah well, me and my fantasy worlds.
In other news ...
We're expecting more snow here, but the forecast has been bouncing all over the place, which is typical when they try to forecast ten days in the future. Right now it's raining, which was predicted. That might turn to snow after sundown.
Oh boy.
But on the bright side, the temperatures are in the high 30s during the day. Which after the last few weeks feels downright balmy!
So there you have it.
The rest of the world keeps working while the Old AF Sarge plays with his toys.
I've waited 50 years for this!
And I'm not disappointed in how it's going!
Ciao!
"Enjoying Life, Not Much To Say" would likely be a more accurate headline. But, you did get me wondering about the word "goof." Old word? New word? According to the omniscient AI, it's sort of both.
ReplyDelete""Goof" (noun: a stupid person/mistake; verb: to blunder/waste time) originated in American slang around 1915–1920. It is likely a variant of the 16th-century English dialectal word "goff" ("foolish clown" or "simpleton"). This root may derive from the Middle French goffe ("awkward, stupid"), or the Middle English goffen ("to speak in a frivolous manner").
Online Etymology Dictionary
Online Etymology Dictionary
+4
Key Etymological Details:
Origin: The term is primarily considered a 20th-century American adaptation of older, European words for "fool".
"Goff" Connection: The word is linked to "goff," a 16th-century term for a clown or fool, which also shares roots with the Spanish gofo and Italian goffo (meaning "clumsy" or "stupid").
Alternative Origins: Some sources suggest a connection to the Middle English goffen (to talk foolishly), which might stem from the Old English ġegaf (meaning "buffoonery").
Development of "Goof" Off: The phrase "goof off" (to waste time) appeared later, with recorded usage in the 1930s.
"Goofy": The adjective form emerged around 1921, likely influenced by the already established noun "goof". "
Alrighty then ...
DeleteAh, the fine art of "Etymology," not to be confused with the bug infested realm of similar sounding "Entomology."
DeleteAs Rush Limbaugh noted "Words mean things." What they mean is important, even if a mystery to some, and of no interest to others.
The arbiter of the meaning(s) and origins of words seems to be the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), a collaborative project started in the late 19th century which tracked down first usage and meanings.
One major contributor was an unlikely chap, William Chester Minor, an American. He was a Yale educated Army surgeon in the Civil War, invalided out in 1871 for insanity. He moved to the UK and killed a man while delusional.
"Minor was committed to indefinite incarceration as a certified criminal lunatic in Broadmoor Asylum in Crowthorne, Berkshire. There, still receiving his army pension, he persuaded the enlightened governor to allow him rooms and shelving to accommodate and expand his scholarly library [of 17th ad 18th century books]." He submitted hundreds of submissions on various words each week for about 20 years.
Then, he engaged in some self mutilation. Eventually he was transferred to an insane asylum in Connecticut, where he died in 1920.
Such was one guy who was fascinated by words. His story is well told by Simon Winchester in "The Surgeon of Crowthorne: A Tale of Murder, Madness and the Love of Words." Pretty interesting, and a good audio book to pass the time when traveling. Amazingly, it was made into a movie in 2019, starring Sean Penn as the nutty doc, and Mel Gibson as the OED guy under the title "The Professor and the Madman" with the book released again under that name.
Yeah, words are interesting, and so are the people who use them.
Some people goof off, some play games, some read things, and some even write books.
John Blackshoe
Gotta watch out for those word guys, it's nuts they are. No offence, Joe. 😉
DeleteJB, ...so glad that you mentioned Simon Winchester - one of my favorite authors. For readers interested in "out of the mainstream" weird, little-known, and esoteric topics, he's wonderful.
Deletehttps://www.simonwinchester.com/adult-books
"The Perfectionists" and "The Map that Changed the World" are fascinating....
ColoComment
Thanks for that link! (Dear Lord, more books, it's never ending. Not that that's a problem.)
DeleteI'm not nuts! I'm not.
DeleteI'm peculiar.
Goofing off........naw Sarge, you're only performing much anticipated end of life experiments......yeah, yeah that's it. Valuable electronic testing, yes... of course, the production and release of Dopamine and Endorphins... yes......yes......:)
ReplyDeleteNylon beat me to it. Flood the mind with dopamine and understand why we have basement living "adults" playing them.
DeleteAt least AF Sarg actually did stuff and was productive for his adult life, unlike those living in Mommy's basement.
Sim's games are good, that's why boredom and let's do something offline stops being important.
Nylon12 - Well, one could view it in such a light.
DeleteJeez Michael, are you always such a "Debbie Downer"?
DeleteWow Sarge! Those clouds look amazingly better that the clouds I remember in a WW I air combat game in the mid-1990's.
ReplyDeleteYou did indeed work 50 years to get here. Enjoy your new career!
Had rain on my windscreen while "flying," looked amazing!
DeletePiling on here, but if you hadn't said it was from a video game, I'd have never known. I don't play flying games, but have dabbled in racing ones. It's really hard to tell it's not actual video on the Forza games, and each new release is even better than the last.
ReplyDeleteRacing games, eh? Sounds cool, which ones?
DeleteI started with Forza 4, but they're up to 7, with a series of spin-offs too, always upgrading the cars and the tech, while the graphics get almost impossibly realistic. It's been a long time since I've played regularly though, yet I still see the tech in my feeds. A co-worker does sim-racing with a fully haptic rig.
DeleteMaybe someday I'll go haptic, but then I'd need full motion and before you know it, I'd be living in a warehouse full of gear wondering why the wife left!
DeleteAh, flight simulators. Had fun with one on launching a glider off an aircraft carrier. No catapult needed with the carrier at full speed.
ReplyDeleteAnd it is your retirement. Play all you want. Too bad you don't have a group of retired guys to play wargames with at the American Legion or VFW or something.
I'm thinking about that last bit of yours, something to look into!
Delete