Happy New Year!

Shiny!

Today the happy elves from the USPS brought me this and this.

Now all I need is the time off of work to enjoy them.

Season's Greetings

Not original, but somewhat amusing...

To All My Democrat Friends:

Please accept with no obligation, implied or explicit, my best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low-stress, non-addictive, gender-neutral celebration of the winter solstice holiday, practiced within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice, or secular practices of your choice, with respect for the religious/secular persuasion and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all. I also wish you a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2009, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society have helped make America great. Not to imply that America is necessarily greater than any other country nor the only America in the Western Hemisphere . Also, this wish is made without regard to the race, creed, color, age, physical ability, religious faith or sexual preference of the wishee.

To My Republican Friends:

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

---

Thanks to James for the email.

A Scarred Childhood

This is an old article, but it's one I hadn't seen before.

To give you the background, I was looking for a better image of a photo I shamelessly stole from Hammer because I thought it was funny. It's in the top left corner of his banner, but it's a low-res photo now. It used to be a high-res photo, which would be OK to put on a blog post. The low-res photo is just too small. Somewhere along the line I've misplaced it.

During my search, I came upon the article.

The article was a good reason to find the photo.

I have to say that I'm stunned. What kind of a world have we created when a kids show is too dangerous to show the kids? What kind of meterosexual little pansies are we raising?

Cookie Monster is bad because he has a cookie habit? Hello!?!? COOKIE Monster?????

Oscar the Grouch is bad because he's a grouch????? Like we have never known anyone like that before?

It's my firm opinion that we are doing our kids no favors by trying to shield them from reality. We try to convince them that the world is a nice shiny place filled with fuzzy bunnies. It's not. What we get is a bunch of self-centered narcissistic little bastards who think the world revolves around them, and when they get their ADD infested selves into the real world they are stunned and butt-hurt that a) no one cares and b) everyone is in fact making fun of you behind your back. Deal with it.

Sesame Street encouraged kids to read and count. What could be better? Today's mindless pap teach our kids to be visually oriented, but doesn't teach them basics. What's worse is that today's mindless pap also teaches our kids that some things are right and proper, when we as parents would like them to know that they aren't.

Of course a large part of the blame rests squarely on the parents. The kids today are being raised by the X-box and the TV with little parental supervision. As long as they are being quiet and not bugging us we don't care what the little buggers are doing.

My parents could get away with that. We had Pong and Sesame Street. Today's parents can't. My parents sent me outside for the entire day. We lived in a small town, and today's worries of the kids getting snatched off the streets and killed for entertainment was unknown then.

I have a theory that the world has always been a pretty messed up place, but until we had the Internet and CNN we didn't hear about it as much. Things then stayed more local news, but now everything is national. But I digress.

The sad thing is that the more we hear about these things on the national news, the more we want to shield our kids from the ugliness. It's natural I guess, but I think we can find a lot worse things to expose our kids to than the Cookie Monster.

Om nom nom nom nom!

Life In The Fast Lane

Sorry for the lack of posting lately, my counterpart on the opposite night shift went and got himself fired over the Thanksgiving weekend and as a result I've been informed that the terms "excessive overtime" and "regular shifts" really don't apply to me anymore.

That means I am invited to work any day that I want, for as long as I want. The upside of that is I get to pick the days I want off, the downside is that I get to work a lot of extra time. The wife keeps pushing me out the door, something about cashing in while I'm still healthy or something like that.

She was the one who told me not to retire from the Navy because we might find out we didn't really like each other. I told her I would get two jobs and we could pretend I was still in. Now I don't have to get another job, I have two jobs where I'm at.

It's a nice problem to have, I guess, especially in today's economy and with the reality of layoffs and corporate downsizing. I would rather be overemployed than under (or un) employed.

Anyway, I'll post when I can. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Hello To My Visitors

I see I have a visitor from Orange Park, Florida from a Google search for VA-81 Sunliners, which is now VFA-81. They have recently transitioned from the Lot X F/A-18C model to the new F/A-18E, going from the oldest deployed Navy Hornet model to one of the newest.

Your humble host was a Sunliner from September 2000 to October 2003, deploying on USS George Washington (CVN-73).

Orange Park is just a little south of Jacksonville FL, the former home of Naval Air Station Cecil Field until the Navy shut it down in 1999, at which time the Hornets moved to NAS Oceana, VA and the Vikings went to NAS Jacksonville.

Thanks for dropping by!

Twain Was Right

I have my grandsons living with me for the time being.

The youngest is three, and he's really a handful.

Today while "taking his nap" he managed to crawl into his pillowcase and zip the cover up on himself.

Of course his father took great pleasure in showing this to my wife and me.

And he wonders where the kid gets it. I could tell you some stories.

Electrical Safety

When installing a 115 VAC light into a control panel, it is necessary to disconnect the equipment from it's source of power by either unplugging it or pulling it's breaker.

Just shutting off the source of power to the light itself by turning the switch on the front of the panel off is not enough.

Even though the power is removed from the light, power is still present at the top of the switch, and since the light is in close proximity to the switch it is entirely possible (and probable) to touch the live wire on the switch while wiring in the light.

You will have just enough time while doing the 110 Fandango to contemplate the true reason that alternating current is measured in "hertz". Fortunately it is unlikely that the 110v will be enough to cause permanent injury, but it will get your attention for a while.

This Tim "The Toolman" Taylor safety moment is brought to you by Binford Tools.

Welcome Home

Welcome Home, Ensign Robert G. Tills. Sorry it took so long.

One Year

That's how long it's been since my wife's diagnosis.

Things have not worked out as well as we had hoped, but nowhere near as bad as I had feared.

Today we spent the whole day not talking about it.

The Final Solution

Robert Kagan, writing in the Washington (Com)Post, theorizes that perhaps the international community, in an effort to thwart terrorism, should take over areas that are shown to be hotbeds of terroristic activities and assist the governments that have theoretical control over those areas to regain their lost control. From the article:

"Rather than simply begging the Indians to show restraint, a better option could be to internationalize the response. Have the international community declare that parts of Pakistan have become ungovernable and a menace to international security. Establish an international force to work with the Pakistanis to root out terrorist camps in Kashmir as well as in the tribal areas. This would have the advantage of preventing a direct military confrontation between India and Pakistan. It might also save face for the Pakistani government, since the international community would be helping the central government reestablish its authority in areas where it has lost it. But whether or not Islamabad is happy, don't the international community and the United States, at the end of the day, have some obligation to demonstrate to the Indian people that we take attacks on them as seriously as we take attacks on ourselves?"

I have a better idea. Yes indeed, let us send in a multinational force to isolate the areas of intense terroristic support and fence the whole damn place off.

Then, nuke it from orbit. It's the only way to make sure.

And for those who are wondering, yes. I am advocating the killing of every man, woman, child, guinea pig, bat, cow, dog, cat and fuzzy bunny within the fenced in area.

Face this fact. No one in those affected areas are innocent civilians. Not a damn one of them. Every one of them shows their support by not tossing these bastards out on their ears or by staying in these areas that show this support.

That makes them guilty by association, and that makes them legitimate targets.

War is hell, said General Sherman, and then he did his best to prove it.

Which caused Bobby Lee to remark "It is a good thing that war is so terrible, lest we become too fond of it."

Adios

And now it is time to say goodbye to Kim DuToit. For personal reasons, he has hung up his blogging spurs and bid us all a fond farewell.

The Net is a smaller place because of it.

So long, and thanks for all the fish.

Happy Thanksgiving

Today is the day where we stop and think for a moment of all the things we are thankful for.

Hope your list is long and varied.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Evolation

From the Rott I see that the evolution vs. creationism debate is well underway once more.

This time it seems as if it’s actually the creationists who have the slight patina of rationality. All they want is for the evolutionists to admit that evolution is a theory, and not an established cold hard fact.

Of course that puts the evolutionists on the edge, much like the global warmingists get on the edge whenever a “denier” surfaces.

Did I mention it snowed here? Anyway, moving on.

My parents adhere to the strict creationist theory, they being ordained ministers of the fundamentalist Christian faith. Their view is that things happened exactly the way it’s laid out in Genesis, and if you don’t believe that you are a Godless heathen.

I love my parents, I don’t think I could have gotten a better set if I had had a year to pick them out. It doesn’t alter the fact that I think they are wrong. And I say that with all the respect that a Godless heathen can muster.

I’m reminded of the verse in Job, where God says “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the Earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding.”

To me that’s a commandment from on high, saying “You weren’t there, you don’t know, so STFU about it already.”

I have an idea that once we are at that place where we have those answers, they won’t really matter all that much anymore.

But getting back to the subject on hand, I don’t have a problem reconciling religion with science. One must actually credit religion with advancing the cause of science if one is to be completely honest with oneself. The best colleges and universities have historically been sponsored by the Church, and in fact many of the first scientists were monks.

Then politics got involved, and things went completely to Hell from there, if you will pardon the expression. The Church found itself at the beginning of a rise to power, and political considerations soon overrode religious ones. After that the Church began setting itself up as the absolute moral authority on the face of the Earth.

Of course any true scientist will tell you that part of science is formulating theory and then proving it right or wrong. The problem is that when you set yourself up as the absolute moral authority, you have to be right all the time. If you aren’t, people will begin to doubt.

And as any theologian will tell you, doubt is bad for the faith.

Not long afterwards the Church started persecuting scientists who disagreed with their theories and teachings. The Church taught that the Sun revolved around the Earth, and when Science proved them wrong Science was vilified. The Church taught that the Earth was the center of the universe, and once again when Science proved them wrong, Science was vilified.

It didn’t take long for Science to develop an attitudinal problem with the Church, as could be expected.

This adversarial relationship exists to this day. The sad thing about it is that there can be no separation between religion and science, because one Supreme Being created them both. This schism is political, and therefore man-made.

I don’t know how God created the Heavens and the Earth, I wasn’t standing beside Him that day to see how He did it. It could have very well been that He said “Let it be so” and it was.

On the other hand, He could have said “Hey, hold my beer and watch this!”

It could be that the Heavens and the Earth were all created in six magnificent days, or it could be that it took eons. Who among us has the audacity to take a stopwatch to the Almighty, after all?

(If that’s you, kindly stand well away from me. Thanks.)

For all we know we are a science experiment gone horribly wrong and God only keeps us around to serve as an object lesson to the rest of the Cosmos (“Watch yourself there buddy or you’re gonna end up like that Earth place!”), in which case Einstein was way off; not only does God play dice with the universe, but occasionally even He craps out.

The science of evolution is not set in stone, but neither has it been disproven. It could be that God uses evolution to refine the product, at least that is what I believe. And when it is written that God created life from the dust of the Earth, he could have been talking about how life evolved from the primeval ooze. We don’t know.

Keep in mind that the book of Genesis was written by someone (or some ones, the latest thing I read is that there may have been as many as five original authors and the final product is an amalgamation of their works) who couldn’t grasp the fact that thunder is caused by lightning. This is the greatest engineering mind that has ever existed, the very mind that created engineering itself, trying to explain the creation of the world to someone who doesn’t even have the understanding of an infant in comparison.

Even today, not only would we (still) not understand the answers, we don’t even have enough knowledge to ask sensible questions. All we can do is stand around like two year olds asking “Why? Why? Why?”

I’m a parent, I have no problems believing that God finally threw His hands up in exasperation and said “Because that’s the way I made it!”

So it was written, so it was done.

In this instance both sides need to admit that neither one of them was there. The evolutionists need to admit that yes, evolution is in fact just a theory, and the creationists need to acknowledge the fact that the Bible was written to the lowest common denominator, and even Einstein couldn’t wrap his head around quantum mechanics.

In short, both sides need to admit that yes, they can in fact be mistaken. It happens every day, to all sorts of people.

And then they need to STFU about it already.

Picture shamelessly stolen from somewhere off the internet.

Where Are We Again?

Snow this morning.

In North Carolina.

What happened to all the Global Warming? Seriously?

My grandson was excited, it was his first time seeing snow (he's from Florida) and I was happy for him.

I was also happy that the snow was gone when I got up.

Another New Link

Please welcome The Gonzman, from Gonzo's Bar and Go Go Grille.

The link is on the sidebar.

Go, read, enjoy.

Class 1 beverage alert in effect.

You have been warned.

This photo shamelessly stolen from Jenn of the Jungle.

Entropy

Greg from 454 Monte tells a story about how not using certain skills causes them to degrade.

I was unpleasantly brought to the same conclusion recently myself.

I am taking a course on industrial electronics to be a better technician where I work as an equipment technician on semiconductor manufacturing equipment. When I got my list of the topics in the course I thought to myself "This will be easy!"

Over half of the topics are basically reviews of what I learned in my Navy tech courses many years ago. Of course, it's been almost 20 years since my last tech course, so I expected to be a bit rusty.

What I didn't expect was to have completely forgotten, except for a vague memory, entire swaths of the subject material.

I have been able to refresh myself on the subjects that I had forgotten, but it took a bit of study to do so. In the end it will be a good experience, but in the meantime it's a humbling one.

Project Valor - IT

It's that time again.

Actually, it's past that time and I'm slow on the uptake.

Of course, for obvious reasons, I'm plugging for Team Navy.

Please go and make your donations. Thank you.

Link Updates

Since I got the sitemeter turned back on I have been able to see who has been visiting my little corner of the world.

I also have been able to see where they are coming from, and I am a little surprised to announce that I am linked elsewhere.

So, without further ado, I would like to welcome Pam from Iraq War Today and Annie from Purely Politics to the old blogroll. Welcome aboard!

Unexpected Blessings

I have just gotten an email from my daughter who I haven't spoken to in many years. I am hopeful that this is a trend that will continue.

Her mother and I divorced when she was two, her mother got full custody since I was in the Navy and couldn't provide a full-time stable home, they moved away and we haven't lived in the same state since. In fact, we have usually been separated by 2000 miles or more.

I've lived long enough that I've gotten over the blame game. Suffice it to say that Navy life is not easy for a spouse, she was miserable in the Navy and found her own way out. I haven't been good at keeping the lines of communication open, so I kicked my own dog in that respect.

It's enough to know that she's healthy and happy, anything above and beyond that is a bonus.