We've gone on a bit about how we love... in a brotherly sorta way... the relationship we have with our cigar provider. Here's another example:
Tim Blythe
2:33 PM (22 minutes ago)
to me
Tim
Buck, you’ve been nothing but a gentleman since the first time I’ve worked with you. It’s the least I could do.
Have a GREAT weekend!
Your friend,
Tim Blythe/Cigar.com
From: Buck Pennington Sent: Thursday, April 11, 2013 3:07 PM To: Tim Blythe Subject: Thank You!
Hey Tim,
I
got a nice surprise in the mailbox yesterday... those Alec Bradley
"Family Blend" sticks you sent at no charge arrived, along with the Drew
Estate Ligeros. Two boxes, same day! Needless to say, Happy Hour was
indeed happy yesterday afternoon.
Thank you VERY much for your
service and attention, Tim. My on-going relationship with you never
ceases to both amaze and please me.
Best Regards, bp
That, of course relates to the recent "cigars gone missing" episode which seriously pissed us off. But we're pissed no longer and we're smokin' 'em, since we've got 'em. Thanks to Tim.
Warm weather has returned to The High Plains o' New Mexico and that's a great good thing. "Warm," in this case, means 66 degrees but it feels a whole hella lot warmer than that when you're sitting in full sun, which we're most definitely doin'. We called Happy Hour a bit earlier than usual, mainly coz we wanted to take advantage o' this lovely day as early as possible. And so we are. Our soundtrack today is provided by Pandora's "quick mix" feature, which I dearly love. (Side note: while it's warm outside it ain't quite warm enough to open up the house and listen to our personal music collection... so we're making do. Which is much more than just making do, when ya get right down to it.) For those of you who may be unfamiliar with Quick Mix... Pandora essentially provides you with random selections from all the stations you've defined. That makes for some interesting segues... like from the Stones to Mozart to Ol' Blue Eyes to John Philip Sousa to Kate Bush to Motown... and so on. Here's what Pandora is drawing from in my case:
The sheer variety reminds me a lot of free-form FM radio back in the early 1970s, a programming option one doesn't find outside o' college radio these days, and it's pretty rare even there. The QuickMix is JUST the thing when you're in that "I dunno WHAT the hell I want" kinda mood, not to mention the surprises and quick flashes of joy that happen when one improbable selection follows another. It's great good stuff, Gentle Reader.
Which brings us to today's selection... Leon Russel singin' Bob Dylan. This might could be a case of the cover exceeding the original. Or not, depending on how yer mileage varies. I like Leon's version a lot better than one of Bob's:
That said, "Love Minus Zero" is a wonderful song and both versions speak to me... highly. Enough. Let's get back outside and continue as we've begun.
Minus the waiter, of course, and usually preceded by After Dinner Whiskey Hour. That after-dinner nap just MIGHT be the reason we normally don't go to bed until the wee smalls and wake up somewhere near the crack o' noon. I don't care... we don't have anywhere we absolutely, positively have to be in the mornings. Mornings are generally over-rated, anyway.
I kinda-sorta felt like I was in that old Ground-Pounder ad from the wayback today, in that we did more before noon (or was it 0900?) today than we usually do in a full day. Which is to say we made our blog-rounds, drank all the coffee, showered/shaved, cleaned the bathroom, and went out to Cannon Airplane Patch to make a whiskey/beer/commissary re-supply run... doing all that well before the noon hour. We thought about popping a beer and adjourning to the verandah after we got home and unloaded the groceries... and we actually gave it a shot, however briefly. Alas, it was just a lil bit too cold for our tastes, so we brought ourself inside to continue as we began. This was lunch:
One each, in this case. You'll note the "over a half pound of malt in each bottle" bits, which fulfills the promise of a "meal in a glass" when it comes to Double Bocks. I can only do one of these in a single sitting because the beer is just so damned rich... that and it's rather strong at 9.5% ABV. So we followed up the Double Bock with a 312 Wheat and called it good... after which we retired to the couch for a well-deserved nap, mainly because we COULD. The Sammy Adams Double-Bock is what Bocks should be all about... and it puts an exclamation point on our last foray into the wonderful world o' bock beers, in that there just ain't no comparison between the two. Too bad the Sammy Adams Double-Bock is a seasonal beer, coz it would merit a permanent place in our fridge were it a regular offering.
And here it is... the traditional time (around these parts) for Happy Hour. I suspect we'll pop the top on another of those Double-Bocks and attempt to retire to the verandah, as it's a mite warmer than it was three hours ago. I'm not gonna hold my breath, however.
The American women's hockey team took home the gold in the 2013 Women's World Hockey Championships Tuesday, beating Team Canada 3-2. From the Globe and Mail:
For the Canadians, the loss, which came with a silver medal, dropped
them to a still-impressive 14-8-0 record against USA in such
competition. The Canadians have also won the last three Olympic gold
medals, whereas the Americans took the first, when women’s hockey was
first admitted to the Winter Games back in 1998.
As a prelude to Sochi next year, this week in Ottawa serves as a good foreshadowing for the next Olympics.
[...]
Both teams know they will meet – they outdistance
the competition as diamonds to cut glass – and the U.S.-Canada games are
always hard fought and intense.
Here's Amanda Kessel's game-winning goal: That was a slick move around the Canadian defender and an absolute BULLET of a shot!
(Reuters) - The U.S. Air Force has designated six cyber tools
as weapons, which should help the programs compete for increasingly
scarce dollars in the Pentagon budget, an Air Force official said on
Monday.
Lieutenant General John Hyten,
vice commander of Air Force Space Command, which oversees satellite and
cyberspace operation, said the new designations would help normalize
military cyber operations as the U.S. military works to keep up with
rapidly changing threats in the newest theater of war.
"This
means that the game-changing capability that cyber is is going to get
more attention and the recognition that it deserves," Hyten told a cyber
conference held in conjunction with the National Space Syposium in
Colorado Springs.
[...]
He gave no details on the new cyber weapons, but
the Pentagon has become more open over the past year about its work to
develop offensive cyber capabilities in the face of escalating cyber
attacks by China, Russia, Iran and others.
That makes sense... weapons and weapons systems get funded, ephemeral "capabilities" not so much. It's about time the US got serious about cyber-warfare. There's a lot to do when it comes to securing our national IT infrastructure... financial systems, pipelines, power grids, the inter-tubes as a whole... not to mention our near total reliance on IT to conduct warfare in this day and age. It's a good thing we're developing an offensive cyber capability but I tend to worry more... much more... about our cyber DEFENSES. Apropos o' not much... the Air Force provided me with my entrée into the wonderful world of IT back around 1984 or so. I didn't know a microprocessor from a food processor when my management made me the point guy for rolling out the first-ever desktop computers in my lil corner o' the Air Force Communications Command's Engineering/Installations Division. The learning curve was steep... VERY steep... but that particular tasking/responsibility set the stage for my follow-on civilian career in IT, and the rest is history. I gotta say the computer biz was one helluva lot more lucrative than the radar biz ever was. Thanks, Air Force.
That's from the Usual Source of these things and there are many, many more in the same vein. I was amazed at the outpouring of condolences and comment on the death of Margaret Thatcher yesterday. At one point in time fully half of memeorandum's page was occupied with obituaries and commentary on Mrs. Thatcher, the great majority of it positive. Yeah, the usual idiots were not lacking in presence but they were decidedly in the minority. The Daily Mail ran a sampling of the stupidity that emanated from those quarters (go, if'n you like playin' in the mud) and Twitchy featured a compendium of insensitive tweets (and photos) about the Lady's death. But... as the cartoon above illustrates so well... the Lady stood up for something, something VERY important, all throughout her life. It's so very true that you can judge a person by the quality of their enemies as well as their friends.
It's with great regret that I'm forced to announce that all charges against The Old AF Sarge have been dropped as a result of the Article 32 hearing held earlier today. We, the offended, presented our evidence to the proper convening authority, Brigadier General Alphonse Newissuance, to no apparent avail. Gen Newissuance issued the following statement following the proceedings:
The Sarge, out o' uniform and wearing an offending hat.
We note with a certain gravity that the charges brought forth by the appropriate authority, one MSgt Buck Pennington, USAF (Ret), to wit: conspicuous treachery, traitorous behavior, and a gross disregard for the traditions and customs of the service, while seemingly grounded in fact, do not constitute a violation of the UCMJ, as written. While we will not prefer formal charges, nor will we convene a General Court-Martial, we DO recommend the defendant be verbally counseled about his dereliction of duty and failure to uphold the good name and traditions of the United States Air Force, said counseling to become part of his permanent personnel record. We also note the defendant, The Old AF Sarge, has, in fact, posted various and sundry positive articles about the USAF on his blog, to his great and everlasting credit. We also note, with similar gravity, that he has also displayed a preference for the (ptui!) Naval Service and recommend he be further counseled to refrain from expressing said opinions to the detriment of the Air Force in future.
Dismissed.
Well, OK. So be it. But get this, Sarge: we're WATCHING you, Buddy. Toe the line, coz Gen. Newissuance might not be so charitable in future.
That would be a Goose Island 312 Urban Wheat Ale, about which my go-to guys say...
Decent for what it is, there are clearly some other American Wheat Ales
that are a few notches up. I'd still gladly order this if the selection
looked dismal.
Damning with faint praise, in other words. I concur, in that I've had better wheat beers. The beer is worthy, though, and shall be consumed without prejudice and without a thought o' foisting it off on unsuspecting guests here at El Casa Inmóvil de Pennington. Mine! ALL mine! Our cigar today is a Kuba Maduro from Drew Estate. We were just ever-so-slightly worried about the other half o' Happy Hour today, seein' as how we put fire to our very last cigar this past evening during After Dinner Whiskey Hour. Not to worry... the USPS came through and we are moderately Happy Campers. I say "moderately happy" because that shipment o' cigars that went missing is still MIA. We went down to the PO earlier today and they still haven't found the missing package. And they admitted hope was slim to non-existent of EVER finding it, to their everlasting credit. Oh, well. Stuff happens. I can afford to be ambivalent now that the humidor is fat once again. That and the fact I rest easy knowing Tim will make everything right, even when the post office cannot.
In other news... our windows and door are wide open and we're enjoying yet another beautiful day (81 degrees with moderate breezes) out on the verandah. We have a couple o' Stones albums, a Norah Jones album, and two Joan Osborne albums in the CD player, so all is right with the world.
With that in mind... here's today's semi-rhetorical question: who would you rather spend a lost weekend with? Norah? Or Joan? MY jury is out...
The Talking Heads on the Right Coast are bandying about rumors of escalating tensions and the possibility of outright war in the Old AF Sarge treason case. Escalation? We care not, for we have retained the services of that renowned desert warrior Lawrence o' New Mexico... who has come out o' retirement to lead the legions in the defense of our territory and our sacred honor.
That traitor of an Old AF Sarge is whining about how he's unconcerned about his perfidious acts o' treachery upon the service that currently provides him with a portion o' his sustenance, completely disregarding the fact he went over to the dark side, apparently for the simple purposes of currying favor from his offspring, who, not coincidentally, have ALSO gone over to said dark side. None the less, treachery is treachery and we shall prefer charges... which are NOT without precedent. Witness:
The service is harsher on senior officers, true, but we cannot let these sorts of acts go unpunished in the NCO ranks simply because loyalty is first and foremost among the cardinal virtues. Let the facts be submitted to a candid world... and we shall judge. I've advised the Old AF Sarge to retain independent counsel, mainly because the outcomes of courts-martial are often decided long before the court convenes. Like this:
Heh. I think the Old Sarge better be gettin' his mind right, coz it looks like he's in for an extended stay here:
We've been there and done that, in a manner o' speakin'. Our stay was brief, however... and pretty much enjoyable. The Old Sarge might not get that lucky.
Imagine a formation o' six o' these guys in a high performance take-off roll...
... and the bomb-burst finale.
(Purpose o' this post: to counter Squidly propaganda bein' perpetrated by a traitorous former Air Force sergeant whose stripes are at SERIOUS risk for "conduct unbecoming" and "actions prejudicial to the interests of the Air Force.")
OK... it got the best o' me, so I went back and redid the quiz, punching in values from my salad days. This is the result:
Ya know what this tells me? First... I'm the personification of that "downwardly mobile in retirement" phenomenon. Next up: cat food, if trends are to be believed. Second... the quiz is obviously skewed in ways that are impossible to ascertain, on account o' because there's NO fucking way I could ever be in an "elite" category. Granted, we led a rather privileged and comfortable life when we were working. That said, we lead a life today that's not wanting in any category... be it material or metaphysical or social, or any other thing you can think of.
I'd comment on needless, insincere, and perfunctory apologies about anything/everything, but let's just go with the UCR "Heh." There's just no pleasing the perpetually-offended class.
The Usual Source o' these things is pretty lame this week... I guess it was a slow week for vids. Three of the Guardian's Top Ten vids were moldy old April Fool's Day pranks and here's the best, just in case ya missed it. I love the deadpan way Google presents these things... they seem almost plausible.
SN1 gifted me with this when he came home on leave...
My inner interior decorator is quite pleased with how well the colors on the wrap match my furnishings. The wrap... or blanket, if you prefer... features all the airframes Buck is responsible for maintaining in his role as 380AEW/EMXS commander. That would be, in no particular order, the KC-10, the Global Hawk, two variants of Eagles, the Raptor, AWACS, and the Dragon Lady. That's a pretty diverse flight line, nu?
Nothing was delivered
And I tell this truth to you
Not out of spite or anger
But simply because it’s true
Now, I hope you won’t object to this
Giving back all of what you owe
The fewer words you have to waste on this
The sooner you can go
This, by way of explanation, from a recent e-mail exchange with my cigar dealer (said in the kindest possible terms):
Buck Pennington
4:11 PM (22 hours ago)
to Tim
Hey Tim,
I'm just back from the PO and the postmaster says he thinks he
knows where that shipment is, but he'll have to break into one of his
mailboxes to get it. The long and short of it is he suspects my cigars
were delivered to 16th Street, vice 17th Street. I'll know more later
today, according to the postmaster. As for your last... the one before this note... where you said:
Damn, Buck I’m so sorry. Please keep me posted. I’ll make this right I promise.
This isn't YOUR fault. Stuff happens, yanno? Hopefully I'll have my
cigars in hand by the close o' PO bid'niz today. But, to answer your
question... Yes. I DID like those Liga Privadas.
Best Regards, bp
That would be about my latest shipment o' cigars, which the USPS said was delivered this past Saturday but wasn't... and is still not delivered, as we speak. I suppose I'll have to make a THIRD trip to the post office for more excuses. In the meantime our stash is down to three cigars and it's gonna be a near-run thing for my latest resupply to make it here before we do a Mother Hubbard impression.
There's this, too, since we're pissin' and moanin':
It may be warm outside but I'd have to wear goggles to keep blowin' dust outta my eyes if I were to take Happy Hour on the verandah. I can't seem to find those goggles, so I guess we'll remain indoors.
An EMERGING service worker, if'n you please. Like this:
That's where the Beeb sez I fall in their self-defined British class structure, assuming I'm British, which we all know I'm NOT. I'm just a lil bit hurt, in that I fall below the traditional working class. H/t to that Brighton Pensioner, who is Established Middle Class. You can take the quiz here, if'n yer interested.
We're not much on stouts as a rule (we DO like our porters, stout's brother-in-arms), but given the fact our weather has taken a wintry turn we figgered we might do a stout or two today. We saw a sixer o' these at the local beer emporium and brought one home to grace our fridge.
This is great good stuff! Lemmee quote my go-to guys:
Nice opaque black colour with a tight & patchy cream/foam head.
Aromas include roasted, day old coffee/coffee beans, black liquorice.
Tight lively carbonation. Smooth, creamy and robust with an astringent
roasted barley flavour, smoked malts, wood, black liquorice and
molasses. Sweetness is mild. Hop bitterness is thin with a limey
backbone that peaks and puckers for a brief moment. Dry, crisp, grain
and raw on the edges of the palate. Finish brings some dryness to the
mouth, as well as some lingering burnt flavours.
Dry, complex and damn tasty ... a real nice stout.
What more could I add? Well, this: it doesn't take all day to pour a pint, like SOME stouts we know (but don't necessarily love). Heart of Darkness is RIGHT up my alley: malty, smooth, and there's no overpowering hoppiness to be found. This is a very well-balanced brew. While I was makin' the beer run I noted with great appreciation that the WX, while on the chilly side at 52 degrees, is entirely suitable for an outdoor Happy Hour. The bright sunshine and lack o' wind makes the al fresco beer-drinking experience quite tolerable... and downright enjoyable. So we shall now continue as we've begun.
It's a re-re-run, too. You'll note there's a reference in the first line below about haircuts bein' all the rage these days... well, that's still true. But we digress.
The Saturday Re-Run
Haircuts and barber shops seem to be all the rage lately. And yeah, we has us a barber shop blogging tee shirt or two. From January of 2006... one of my earliest efforts:
I
forgot to tell you a couple of things about my barber shop experience
yesterday, chief among which is the price. Inflation being what it is,
the price of a haircut in Portales went up from nine dollars to ten.
Still cheap, after all. But I pay about half again as much as I used to,
when I patronized the sheep-shearers at the Cannon AFB Base Exchange.
The upside is I get a much more personal experience and better service,
to boot. The average time-in-the-chair at the BX was about seven
minutes, on the outside; I spent at least 45 minutes in the chair
yesterday. Yesterday my ten dollars (plus tip, of course) bought me a
beard trim, too. The downside is Jay doesn't quite have the physical
attributes of my former barberess, who occasionally treated me to
inadvertent and unintended, in a lascivious way, brushes with her soft
bits. Those were nice.
Which
leads me to tell you about the best haircut I ever got in my life, a
birthday gift from a very eccentric friend of mine from days gone by,
Rick Hovarter. Before I tell you about the haircut, let me digress and
give you a flavor for what Rick was like.
I
first met Rick in Klamath Falls, Oregon. We were both stationed at
Kingsley Field, he a meteorological equipment technician, me a radar
guy. I’m not quite sure how we first met, but I’ll never forget the
first time I walked into his room in the dorm. Rick was a bit older
than the average young enlisted troop, being in his mid-twenties. Old,
for a two-striper. Rick was also, to put it mildly, a bit strange. He
had a fascination for antique Americana, and by that I mean his prized
possessions were, just to name three, a fully-functional Underwood
typewriter, circa 1925; a beautifully finished and immaculately
lacquered propeller from an old Jenny biplane; and an original and
pristine 1941 Mercury two-door sedan that had been in his family since
it was new. The prop and the typewriter were prominently displayed in
his dorm room. I used to love riding around in that old Merc, too. Rick
had an antique 30-caliber revolver in the glove box of the Mercury and
had the disconcerting habit (to me) of occasionally pulling off to the
side of the road while we were riding around the Oregon countryside to
pop off a few rounds at gophers and other assorted varmints. Out the
window of the Merc. Most of the time he’d fire out of the driver’s
window, other times he’d lean across the seat and fire out of the
passenger window. Drove me nuts, that did.
Anyway.
We became fast friends. As is the case in military life, I left
Kingsley Field and was reassigned to Yokota AB, Japan. A few months
after I arrived at Yokota I walked into the dining hall for lunch and
who did I see in the line ahead of me? Rick. A great and good surprise,
and we took up where we left off.
Fast
forward a couple of months, to my birthday. I had the day off and was
lying in my bed in the dorm early in the morning, wondering what I was
gonna do, when someone knocked on my door. I got up, answered the door,
and let Rick into the room. Rick told me to get dressed and come with
him; he was going to give me my birthday present.
We
went to breakfast first, brunch, actually (Rick bought), then got into
Rick’s old Toyopet Cedric and drove off-base into The Ville (Fussa
City, right outside Yokota’s main gate.). Rick parked the car, we got
out, and he said “follow me.” We then walked down an alley and into a
barber shop. There waiting for us was an old man, the barber, and two
young Japanese maidens, all three smiling broadly. The old man waved me
into one of the barber chairs, and I dutifully sat. The old man
reclined the barber chair and I stretched out, fully supine. One of the
girls then proceeded to take off my shoes and socks, while the other
fetched a large handful of steaming towels from a container. She
artfully wrapped my entire head in those towels, leaving a small space
for me to breathe through. All the while this is going on, the other
girl is washing my feet. After a few minutes, the second girl unwraps
my face and the barber proceeds to shave me. The first girl is still
working on my feet, giving me a pedicure and ending up with a prolonged
and wonderful foot massage. After the barber finished shaving me I was
escorted to a wash stand where the first girl washed and towel-dried
my hair. Then it was back to the barber chair for the actual haircut
while the two girls gave me a manicure. The whole experience ended with
both girls massaging my entire upper body. I walked out of that place
feeling like a million bucks, and I’ve never had a “haircut” like that, ever again. A truly unique experience, and classic Hovarter.
I
lost touch with Rick after leaving Yokota and have often wondered what
became of him. We certainly had some wild times, equal to or exceeding
the haircut experience. I miss the boy!
I
added the image today; we didn't do all that much picture posting in
the beginning. The pic is obviously NOT related to the post, coz that's
SN3 getting his first haircut. He was a real trooper about the whole
thing, too.
I'll be glad when my muse gets back from wherever she ran off to with whomever she's with. I hope she's having a good time.
You could call me bitchy today were I of the female persuasion. But I'm male, so call me Grumpy. Or Crotchety. Or too late for breakfast. Or sumthin' like that. To begin with... I shouldn't have gone on about how nice our weather has been coz it got real shitty overnight, which is to say cold and dreary. Here it is well after the noon hour and we haven't topped 40 degrees:
I don't hardly think we'll make 60 today, let alone 66. Just for comparison's sake: we were well over 75 degrees at this time yesterday. Ma Nature and me need to have a talk. And then there's the post office. I pay attention to the cigar inventory quite closely and take great pains to order my cigars in such a manner as to NEVER get caught short. This practice presupposes that the freakin' post office will actually deliver my cigars on time and... wouldn't you know it... my latest shipment that the PO claims to have delivered this past Saturday has gone missing. We're not in panic mode yet, given we still have eight sticks in the humidor. That said, having to get all bundled up and make a trip down to the post office didn't do my attitude any good and neither did their response to my "where is it?" query... of COURSE they don't have a clue where my cigars are... but they'll call me if they find them. Thanks, guys. It's always SUMTHIN'.
John Lee Hooker and Van the Man: It's about the third or fourth consecutive day o' beautiful weather here on The High Plains o' New Mexico and we have our windows and door open wide with John Lee on the stereo at a suitable volume... "suitable" meaning capable o' entertaining both me and the neighbors... but no one's home next door or even anywhere else in the complex, given that everyone's out earning a living. Except me, coz MY living's already been earned. Still and even.
But about our day...
You'll note we'll be in the 70s and 80s for the foreseeable future (just ignore Wednesday, mmm-kay?) and that's a great good thing, yanno? We did this today to celebrate our continuing great weather:
It's April Fools... but ya knew that... and I celebrated by staying abed until the literal crack o' noon. I JUST now poured my first cup, have finished working through the overnight mail, and searched the vast EIP archives for this (from 2008):
It’s April Fools’ Day. But ya knew that. One thing you might not know, Gentle Reader, is there’s a web site that lists the “Top 100 April Fool’s Day Hoaxes of All Time.” Great good stuff there. Blog-Bud Barry,
from whence I got the link, likes Number Five on the list…and I have to
agree with him, being the language person I am (or like to think I am, anyway).
#5: San Serriffe
In 1977 the British newspaper The Guardian published a special seven-page supplement devoted to San Serriffe, a small republic located in the Indian Ocean
consisting of several semi-colon-shaped islands. A series of articles
affectionately described the geography and culture of this obscure
nation. Its two main islands were named Upper Caisse and Lower Caisse. Its capital was Bodoni, and its leader was General Pica. The Guardian's
phones rang all day as readers sought more information about the
idyllic holiday spot. Few noticed that everything about the island was
named after printer's terminology. The success of this hoax is widely
credited with launching the enthusiasm for April Foolery that gripped
the British tabloids in subsequent decades.
I
could see this particular hoax flying long and far in the USofA, given
our woeful geographic knowledge. But it surprises me the Brits were
taken in, what with the fact the British are very well-traveled
(compared to us), and especially the blatantly obvious “Upper Caisse,” “Lower Caisse,” yadda, yadda.
Also from the list… the first internet hoax, ever:
#12: Kremvax
In
1984, back in the Stone Age of the internet, a message was distributed
to the members of Usenet (the online messaging community that was one of
the first forms the internet took) announcing that the Soviet Union
was joining Usenet. This was quite a shock to many, since most assumed
that cold war security concerns would have prevented such a link-up. The
message purported to come from Konstantin Chernenko (from the address
chernenko@kremvax.UUCP) who explained that the Soviet Union
wanted to join the network in order to "have a means of having an open
discussion forum with the American and European people." The message
created a flood of responses. Two weeks later its true author, a
European man named Piet Beertema, revealed that it was a hoax. This is
believed to be the first hoax on the internet. Six years later, when Moscow really did link up to the internet, it adopted the domain name 'kremvax' in honor of the hoax.
Who said Commies had no sense of humor?
The Wiki also has an impressive list of April Fools’ Day pranks… Also from The Wiki is this bit of trivia, with which I have personal experience, given I lived in Paris as a boy: “The April 1 tradition in France includes poisson d'avril
(literally "April's fish"), attempting to attach a paper fish to the
victim's back without being noticed.” You cannot imagine, Gentle
Reader, the lengths young boys will go to just to attach a paper fish to
another boy’s back (or girl’s…but not so much at ages 8 ~ 10). It’s
pretty danged difficult to spend an entire day with your back to the
wall, so to speak.
As expected, Google's Gmail rolled out a fake "custom time" feature, which purports to let users send e-mails into the past
and consequently never miss important deadlines again. The new feature
"utilizes an e-flux capacitor to resolve issues of causality," Google
wrote.
"I
just got two tickets to Radiohead by being the 'first' to respond to a
co-worker's 'first-come, first-serve' email," a fake testimonial on the
Custom Time site read. "Someone else had already won them, but I told
everyone to check their inboxes again. Everyone sort of knows I used
Custom Time on this one, but I'm denying it."
April Fools' Day is something that the Gmail folks take very seriously--the product's real beta launch was, in fact, on April 1, 2004.
Fun
at the Googleplex… I use G-Mail but I missed the prank. Google must
have taken “custom time” down by the time I rolled out of bed.
―:☺:―
That was a few years ago... this year Twitter and The Tube O' You join the fun.
Yesterday was Mr. Hockey's 85th birthday and the Wings celebrated by wearing number nine on everyone's jersey during the pre-game skate at The Joe. It's too bad they didn't honor Gordie by actually PLAYING RED WINGS HOCKEY, what with being humiliated on national teevee and losing to the Hated 'Hawks by the miserable score of 7-1. Yesterday's game was an early one and I set my alarm for 1030 hrs to be sure I didn't miss anything. I got up, opened the blinds, turned on the teevee, and put the coffee on. Well, the score was 3-0 before the freakin' coffee pot had finished doin' its thing and it's a great good thing you weren't in the immediate vicinity, Gentle Reader, coz the combination of lack o' sleep, ZERO caffeination, and piss-poor play made Buck a VERY surly and foul-mouthed boy. I turned the game off four minutes into the second when the 'Hawks went up by 5-0. There are some things in life I just don't wanna see.
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