Today's Happy Hour Soundtrack, Part Deux

Well.  Not five minutes passed between the time I put up the post below and FedEx pulled up to our door, as fate would have it, and we are in possession of new and brighter birds.  Say what?  We'll get to that but first... the tune we had in mind:



Flamingos.  New ones.  Coz the old ones didn't fare well in a land without shrimp.  Notice:

Earlier today.

It's shrimp that give flamingos their pink color and we're decidedly short on shrimp in these parts, so we freed our older birds to fly away to happier climes and replaced them with these:

Just a few minutes ago.

I was taken in, yet again, in that Amazon PROMISED me these birds would be at least 32 inches high.  Well... close, but no cigar.  At least they're pink.  But, Hey!  How about the Duke?

Today's Happy Hour Soundtrack

White Boys playin' da blooze and doin' a damned good job of it, too:

Can't get the one you love, have to use somebody else.

That would be Eric Clapton and the legendary Duane Allman playin' and singin' fer YOU.  We digress, coz we were gonna be on about that line I quoted above.  There was a time when that sentiment rang true and I have a couple o' tee shirts in that space... memorable tee shirts, at that.  But these days?  No.  Coz first and foremost, we aren't into using wimmen any longer.  And second, we're not prone to "settle" in our old age given we've had the Real Thing and everything else is just so much jerkin' off.  Think about my last.

I had an alternate Happy Hour tune all cued up and ready to go but... alas.  I was waiting for Godot FedEx to visit me and deliver the stuff that my soundtrack was dependent on and they're not here yet.  So, Happy Hour is nearly over and a nap is imminent.  Mebbe tomorrow.

I Heard There Was Some Sorta Game Yesterday That Kinda-Sorta Resembles Football

About which, this:

Heh.

The h/t goes to Occasional Correspondent and Good Friend Lori.

A Rare Case...

... of a political cartoonist unclear on the concept:

Kerry is fillin' Hillary's shoes... Hagel will fill Panetta's.  This surprises me about Mr. Foden.  Or am I missing the point?

In other news... I poured my first cup of morning coffee about ten minutes ago.  I put that post about Twitter up just before I went to bed this morning, after pullin' an all-nighter finishin' up season four of "24."  (Aside: these sorts o' all-nighters are MUCH more fun than the ones I pulled ten years or so ago.)  A couple o' few observations:

• Jack Bauer is a way-badder bad ass than Chuck Norris EVER was.
• The CTU is ridiculously easy to infiltrate.
• Terrorists drive really nice cars... Mercedes, Lexuses, Hummers, and Cadillacs.
• SUVs can corner pretty well when driven hard.
• The gub'mint knows EVERYTHING about us and can call it up... whatever "it" may be... in a matter o' seconds. Except for terrorists.
• Infrared satellites can see through walls.
• "Enhanced" interrogation techniques work.
• Protagonists run out of ammunition occasionally and have to change clips. Terrorists, however, don't seem to have this problem... especially those firing MAC-10s on full auto.

This prolly is old news to folks who watched "24" in its first run.  But Hey!  I hadda say it.  And now on to Season Five.

Understanding Your Audience

So I get this e-mail from Twitter... note the subject line:

Yeah, those are similar.  Just like I'm similar to the Pope.

Today's Happy Hour Soundtrack

Mississippi Fred McDowell...

Lord, if I hap'n a-die, baby
'Fore you think my time have come
Lord, if I hap'n a-die, baby, Lord
'Fore you think my time have come
I want you bury my body-yeah
Out on Highway 61

Ah, yes.  Highway 61... whatta road.  I bought me a pair o' red, white, and blue shoestrings there once upon a time.  I got meself a telephone, too... but I got ripped off coz the damned thing wouldn't ring.

Not Your Father's Air Force XXV

From a piece at Milblogging.com:

Apparently, Team Maxwell-Gunter at Maxwell Air Force Base earned very low marks for standards in 2011.  "Disregarding them shows a lack of attention to detail and a lack of respect to our service. It shows disregard to our core values." writes Jeff Bergdolt of the 42nd Air Base Wing Plans Office.

While news of uniform violations may not be all that interesting, here's where the story gets juicy.

In the coming months, Maxwell AFB photographers will capture pictures of standards violations across Maxwell Air Force base and post them in the Dispatch.  Then readers will be challenged to identify the violation. 

Fashionistas are going to have a field day with this.

Dang.  I would have been a permanent feature on this Hit Parade, had USAF adopted this sorta thang back in the day.  From an old post...

...what used to be known as AFR 35-10... the bane of my military existence and a perpetual thorn in my non-conformist side... but is now AFI 36-2903. (Minor digression: Today's Modern Air Force doesn't have regulations; it has "instructions." This irritates me slightly, an unusual position for a non-conformist to take. Whatevah.)

You have NO ideer, Gentle Reader, how many times I shot myself in the foot over "personal appearance" issues. It took me a loooong time to grow up.  Wait.  Check that -- it hasn't happened yet.

Saturday

Boy meets girl...

Today's Happy Hour Soundtrack

^{Lightnin' Hopkins...}

^{If you ever go out in West Texas
Please stop by Abilene}

^{And if'n ya get to Abilene, come on over to P-Ville... coz we ain't that far.   We're just four and a half hours away from Abilene... and the beer is always cold.  Just for you!}

I NEED One of These!

From the Usual Hockey Source...

February 1, 2013 (Toronto, ON) – Budweiser is set to elevate game time for die-hard Canadian hockey fans beginning this Super Bowl Sunday. The iconic goal light – the red beacon of celebration during every hockey game – has been re-invented by Budweiser and is now available for purchase†. Budweiser Red Lights^TM are new, authentic-looking portable goal lights imbedded with technology that will sound off whenever a fans’ favourite city scores a goal – making the at home viewing experience bigger and more action-packed for Canadians. Goals will never be the same!

[...]

A combination of leading edge technology and innovation, the Budweiser Red Light ensures fans will never miss a goal. With a WIFI connection and the Budweiser Red Lights App – available for iPhone and Android users – the installation process is easy. Fans just need to select their city (or two or three!) and follow the simple instructions on the app. Hockey-obsessed Canadians can rest assured they’ll know when their city has scored – the Budweiser Red Light’s horn sounds and the red light flashes. Budweiser Red Lights also give fans a ‘five-minute to game time’ warning message.

That's from a Budweiser CANADA press release.  One wonders if they (Bud) will sell the things down here in the USofA.  Prolly not, I'd guess.  Mebbe I'll have to ask The Mayor (whose website is currently down) or Occasional Commenter marc in Calgary^TM to smuggle one into the US for me.

Local Plane Pr0n and a Grab-Bag

Air Frame: An AC-130W Stinger II gunship from the 73rd Special Operations Squadron at Cannon AFB, N.M., flies over New Mexico's Melrose bombing and gunnery range, Jan. 10, 2013. (Air Force photo by A1C Ericka Engblom) (Click on image above to reach larger version.)

I spent some time down in Florida's panhandle a few years ago; when conditions were right you could hear the AC-130s from Hurlburt Field on the range at Eglin, and by "hear" I mean the sound of that big 105mm howitzer letting go.  I often think about that when I see the Spectres/Stingers (there's a difference) making lazy orbits over P-Ville before they head out to Melrose or down range to White Sands.  That said, we're too far away from Melrose to hear the guys practicing.  More's the pity.

―:☺:―

And then there's this... 

That's EXACTLY what troubles me about women in the combat arms.

―:☺:―

The service guy from the appliance store stopped in yesterday and left me with a suitable substitute handle for my fridge while he orders the correct part.  He informed me that I'm not the only one with this problem... his bid'niz has been VERY busy replacing handles on these appliances.  He also told me that Frigidaire issued a memo to all dealers stating that handle replacement would NOT be covered under warranty any longer.  So if you're in the market for new appliances... I'd consider another brand, were I you.

Today's Happy Hour Soundtrack

Another two-fer, as has been our habit of late...



That's "Love In Vain" and it's Robert Johnson doin' the singin' and playin' coz the tune belongs to him.  But here's how I first became acquainted with the tune:



You can love or hate the Stones... I'm of the opinion there's NO middle ground... but even haters have to acknowledge their love of the blues and the fact they introduced many a white boy (and girl) to the genre.  I'm not exactly one of those White Boys I speak of, mainly coz I was fortunate enough to stumble into Black Radio at a very early age.  From an old post:

Fast forward to 1960. I was now 15 and living in Washington, D.C. I'll choose the James Brown single on the left as an example of the revelation that came upon me beginning sometime around 1959 and culminated in 1960. That revelation was Black Radio and the R&B music featured there… which was unlike anything I had ever heard before (sorta: see Fats Domino, above). I'd go into my room at night and listen to my crackly, staticky AM radio, marveling at the music I heard… music that was Unobtanium in my white-bread, lily-white suburban world. Once again, consider the times… you simply did NOT find James Brown, Lloyd Price, or Ray Charles in the "hits" bin at Woolworths back in the day… that day being 1958 - 1960… at least not in suburbia. I would have had to journey into Southeast Washington to get that music in my hands back then and since I was only 15 and without a driver's license, that was out of the question. My parents simply wouldn't go there… literally… but the music was on the radio, the radio was in my room, and it was ON every single night. It was an education like no other.

So there's that.  My larger point is Mick and the boys expanded what was a pretty solid base, from a strictly personal perspective.  My education continues, even unto this day.  So much blues, so little time.

Cheaters

So I'm browsing through the overnight mail and come across this lil blurb in a message from NatGeo, to the effect of "Is your cat cheating on you?" along with this supporting video:

^{(There used to be a video here but I had to take it down due to an annoying auto-play glitch with the audio.  Go here to see the video.)}

I suppose that's yet another reason I'm a dog person: unswerving loyalty.  We don't NEED no steenkin' cheatin' critters!

OTOH... cats do kill rats.  And eat the diseased things.

Small Treasures

We all have 'em; here's one of mine:

That would be my house beer opener... a weighty, cast aluminum artifact of considerable heft that's been with me at least 30 or 40 years, and mebbe more.  I acquired this beer opener from a bar girl in Wakkanai, Japan sometime in the 1968 - 1970 time frame, if memory serves.  OTOH, memory may NOT serve and it's entirely possible I acquired the opener at a later date, like when I was at Yokota AB in the mid-'70s.  The opener used to have a purple tassel attached to the bottom of it but that wore out and faded away YEARS ago.  That said, you've seen this opener in nearly every beer post I've ever made but I never gave the thang its just desserts until today.

And "Gold Rabbit?"  Who knows?  I don't remember and Google is no help.  I suspect that's the name of a little-known beer, and one which I don't recall ever sampling.  I was more of a Sapporo kinda guy.

Math

From My Buddy Ed In Florida...

WHY THE CHINESE KICK OUR REARS IN MATHEMATICS...

STUDY THE FIRST PHOTO VERY CAREFULLY.

THEN LOOK AT THE SECOND ONE.

IT MAY TAKE AWHILE, BUT EVENTUALLY YOU WILL NOTICE A SLIGHT DIFFERENCE BETWEEN PHOTOGRAPHS.

      Class Photo:   Shanghai University 

 
   Class Photo: University of Colorado  

   

I was NEVER very good at math.  Heh.

Update, 1518 hrs:  Here's what one of those Chinese math majors has to say about this post:

I'm just searching for this data for a little bit. Right after Six hours regarding continuous Googleing, now I bought the item in the internet site. I'm wondering what’s the Google’s trouble of which doesn’t list such type of enlightening websites much better the highest.

The best internet sites will be brimming with crap. Particularly a short while ago, following your brand new panda protocol up-date. 

Screech Engrish, Gee-Eye!  (And thank The Deity At Hand for Blogger's most-excellent spam filter, which stops most of this shit from getting through.)

Update II, 1625 hrs:  Seattle Andy brought to my attention that the photos were NOT visible in my original post.  I fixed that and I apologize; the post looked just fine to me when I first put it up.  Fucking Blogger. 

Salmagundi

In which we break out the thesaurus in search of alternatives to "potpourri," which is well and truly over-used in these parts.  Salmagundi is new to me, defined as...

1. A salad of chopped meat, anchovies, eggs, and onions, often arranged in rows on lettuce and served with vinegar and oil.

2. A mixture or assortment; a potpourri.

We're obviously using Number Two here... even though Firefox doesn't think the word is spelled quite right.  Then again, Firefox doesn't like a lot of words I use. 

―:☺:―

We're feeling kinda snake bit of late.  Last week I went to change out one of the light bulbs in the microwave and the glass envelope twisted out of its base, coming out of the nuker while said base remained firmly ensconced therein.  I stood on my head for about ten minutes doing most everything I knew to get the damned light bulb base out of the nuker... all to no avail.  So I did what any good renter would do, which is to say I tossed the problem into the landlord's lap.  The next day it was fixed.

This isn't the first problem I've had with the microwave.  Previously:

And then there's this, speakin' o' inflation... a friendly serviceman from our local appliance store just left the premises o' El Casa Inmóvil de Pennington.  He was here to replace... unsuccessfully... the handle on my microwave, which broke off in my hot lil hand as I went to open the door of said nuker last week.  Well, it only broke at the top mount and still remains attached to the door, which is a good thang... mainly coz I'd starve if the nuker went tits-up.  But the serviceman brought the wrong part and the handle that was in bench stock ain't the right one, so it's back to the drawing board for to order a new handle... further repairs to be rescheduled in the near future, one hopes.

But my point is this: the wrong handle had "57.21" marked on the bag and I asked... incredulously... is that the price or the part number for that lil piece o' plastic?  "Price," sez he.  What's worse is the new, improved handle costs 85 Yankee Dollars.  I'm glad this is a warranty repair, otherwise I'd feel a serious need for flowers and chocolates after this experience, if not a lil kiss.

Well now.  One wonders how much a handle for a Frigidaire refrigerator is gonna cost, because THAT'S the latest thing to break... on Sunday-past... in egg-zactly the same manner as the handle on the nuker (see the pic, right).  All the appliances in this apartment... nuker, fridge, stove, and dishwasher... are made by Frigidaire and so far two of the handles have snapped off.  All that's left to break are the handles on the freezer and the oven, as the dishwasher doesn't have one.  I've alerted the property management company...

The foregoing is but one reason why it's better to rent than own at this stage in life.  For me, anyhoo.

―:☺:―

I had the strangest dream last night, wherein I got out of bed and went into the living room to find someone had broken in and stolen everything off my walls, including some stuff that wasn't there... but stuff that USED to adorn my walls in Former Happy Days.  Weirder still was the fact The Second Mrs. Pennington was standing in the living room, crying over lost art.  TSMP rarely visits me in dreams, yet there she was, bemoaning the fact that "we" had been burgled.  "We?" sez I, in the dream...  At which point in time we woke up, thoroughly baffled and confused.  Ah well, it was time to get up, anyhoo.

―:☺:―

Blog-Bud Lou has a post up today about the murder rate in Chicago and the city's response, which would be to further tighten their already restrictive firearms laws.  I dropped a link to this video in comments at her place...



... sayin' that Milwaukee and Chicago ain't that far apart, geographically, but the cities are WORLDS apart when it comes to reality. 

Why Not Minot?

Air Frame: A B-52H Stratofortess comes in for a landing at Minot AFB, N.D., on Jan. 7, 2013. (Air Force photo by SrA. Brittany Y. Auld) Click on image above to reach larger version.  (Ed: And don't that look COLD?)

The answer to the question is "Freezin's the reason."  That's an old AF saying, one I heard many, MANY times when I received orders to this gawd-fersaken place, which was 138 miles northwest of Minot.  Like this:


View Larger Map

Minot was my support base and we... my Fortuna-Friends and I... used to go down that way to party when we weren't headed north to Regina, Saskatchewan (both "cities" were about equal distance from Fortuna).  But yeah, freezin' WAS the reason.  I never really knew what "cold" was until I spent a winter up that way.

In other news... I poured my first cup at 1312 hrs today, a new personal worst for me (without a hangover).   But I'm one-third of the way through Season Three!

Today's Happy Hour Soundtrack...

... is a rather long one.  Here's one of my favorite semi-classical pieces:



We heard this while out on our semi-monthly big commissary run (big = $100+) earlier today, courtesy of Sirius/XM's "classical pops" station.  Once we got home and put all the groceries away we dug out our Gershwin CD, put it in the CD player, opened the door and windows, poured a beer, lit a cigar, set out for the verandah, and proceeded to enjoy ourselves.  Which we did, and mightily so.

The version you see/hear above isn't the version I listened to; mine is an Elmer Bernstein recording.  The Deity At Hand knows there are MANY versions of this piece... I googled "best version of Rhapsody In Blue" and came across the version above.  Just for the record:  I don't believe I've EVER heard a bad version of this piece.  Further for the record:  Mom introduced me to Rhapsody In Blue... I can never listen to this piece without thinkin' of her and that's a classic case of Saudade.  Chase that link if'n ya don't get it.

Small Stuff, Objectivism Division

William Buckley on Ayn Rand & Atlas Shrugged...




The ONLY reason I'm posting this occurs around the one minute mark when Buckley sez "I had to flog myself to read it."  I've tried to read "Atlas" three times in my life and never got further than a couple of hundred pages in before I quit.  There's no other book written in the English language with more turgid prose... none.

I do believe WFB vindicates my position... even if he finished the damned thing and I didn't.

Confession Is Good For the Soul, Part Two

We're not gonna be quite as racy as we were in Part One, nor are you in danger of reading many more of these confessions, Gentle Reader, mainly coz (a) we're not Catholic, so this sorta thang isn't a habit (groan) with us and (b) I like to hide my dirty laundry.

I shall now take a deep, deep breath and continue.  Those of you who have been with me for a while know that I'm not a movie kinda guy and I'm not much on teevee, either... unless it's to poke fun at annoying commercials or praise PBS, both o' which I do semi-frequently.  The astute among you might have noticed I made a rather opaque statement about my sleeping habits of late, mentioning in a post yesterday that I have remained abed until noon or later every single day this week.  That's because I've stayed up into the wee smalls... the WEE smalls, like 0430 ~ 0500 hrs... every day this week.

Watching Amazon streaming video.

Watching Amazon streaming video of a freakin' teevee show.

Watching Amazon streaming video of  "24."

Is there some sort of support group out there I can join?  I've watched 45 episodes this week: all of Season Two and 21 episodes of Season One (why I began with Season Two is unknown to me, I just did).  I never once saw this show when it was in prime time but I sure as Hell am addicted to it now.  All eight seasons are available for viewing on Amazon (free!  Coz I'm Prime.) and I'm thinkin' I've gone and ruined my life by takin' that first hit/drink.

"Hi.  My name is Buck and I'm a junkie..."