Heh

There's this...

From the Usual Source of such things.  And then there's this...

From My Buddy Ed In Florida.

Tonight's After Dinner Whiskey Hour Soundtrack...

So... there we were, sitting out on the verandah, getting quietly and pleasantly in our cups, listening to Pandora's Matchbox 20 station.  And then this came on:

Tonight was the first time I'd ever heard this tune, but it ain't the first time I've ever heard this speech.  I heard it (again) just recently, as a s'matter of fact... like this:

She: I'm VERY liberal.
Me: I know.  What I don't understand is how a good conservative girl like you could go so wrong, so quickly.
She:  I used to follow directions well; I don't any longer.
Me:  What does that mean?
She: (Standing up abruptly... and departing, leaving me with my mouth hanging open)  I shared too much and I don't want or need YOU to tell ME about me. 

So we were thinkin'... did The Second Mrs. Pennington write this tune?  Is she getting royalties?  And why am **I** not getting a piece of the action?

Sigh.  I guess the theme is much more universal than I wanna believe it is.  But the song DID make me grin.  In an evil sorta way.

No Surprises Here

My results from the I Side With test:

Wait.  I agree with Obama 53% of the time?  WTF?  Where?  When?  How did THAT happen?

h/t:  Professor Althouse. 

I (Almost) Got Nuthin'

We had a bad night last evening, the upshot of which was we didn't get to sleep until after 0500 hrs.  We've only just now finished our first cup and had seriously considered blowing this whole blog thang right the hell off for the day.  But just then the Brown Truck O' Happiness pulled up outside and the friendly driver hands me this package from Cadillac.  "Hmmm," sez I, "I wonder what this could be?"

It's a box o' Firsts.  "Hunh?" sez you?  No, really.

Each little compartment is labeled "Open after..." or "Open before..."  Some of these events have already transpired, so the Caddy people are just a lil bit late.  If I led a normal life I'm quite sure ALL of these things would have happened already, coz The Tart has been with me for a lil over a month now.  Be that as it may, I chose to open the compartment labeled "Open after first road workout."

I should have known.  My "road workout" was on the super-slab, not in the twisty-turnies.  I HAVE taken The Tart into a few corners at speed and she reacts well... which is to say she holds a line well, gives good feedback from her steering (which is heavier than I like, but not bad), and minds her manners.  My only criticism: the StabiliTrak system comes on too early sometimes and cuts power just when you wanna hang the rear end out a lil bit.  But the good news is you can always switch the system off.  Oh.  What was in that compartment, you ask?  This.  Heh.

So.  My customer satisfaction index is pretty high right now, especially with all these nice lil surprises from Dee-troit I keep getting in the mail. 

Posted Without Comment

 

h/t to My Buddy Ed In Florida.

Nostalgia of a Different Sort

I went searching in my back pages a lil while ago looking for a specific item relating to my dental history and came upon this lil blurb and a couple o' pics:

Today's Pics, Self-Indulgent Division: Well, Hell… Virtually ALL my pics are self-indulgent in one form or another. But today I'm posting the full-sized, unedited version of the pic I use on both my Blogger and Twitter profiles, plus an outtake from the same session.

Both pics were taken at an RV park just outside Oklahoma City in the Spring of 2000 (in April, to be exact). Note the old technology… which is to say humongous… cell phone sitting on the picnic table. And speaking of old technology, both pics are first-generation digital pics... taken with my old one-megapixel Kodak point and shoot, with a quality commensurate with the age.

These pics were taken back in the day when the view from the verandah changed on a frequent basis… like every week or so… sometimes more, sometimes less. It all depended on how much fun I was having wherever I happened to be…

I remember taking those pics (since replaced on both referenced profiles) and I remember all TOO well that life on the road was one whole helluva lot o' fun, at the time.  But I'm thinkin' it would be much less fun these days.  I'll take... and love... today's fixed view from the verandah.  That said, I'm glad I had that year when I ran away from home.  It was good to get away.

Well I always say, it would be good to go away
But if things don't work out like we think
And there's nothing there to ease this ache
But if there's nothing there to make things change
If it's the same for you, I'll just hang 

Yup, we did hang... on the road.

Former Happy (Mo'sickle) Days

I got a note from SN2 last evening, thusly:

Dad,

I'm looking forward to meeting your friend tomorrow.  I was surfing the web, researching some parts for the RD and came accross these two pics... I was moved.  I thought you might want to enjoy them as well.

ILY,

S

These are the attached pics:

I replied:

The cafe racer is cool, but that RED bike hit me where I used to live.   Yours could look just like that with a lil work.
Ily,
d 

And he came back with...

Yes... it will look like that.

ILY,

S

It's just a matter of time and priorities.  Long-time Gentle Readers know I gave my RD to Sam after the maid quit and when I was in the process of downsizing life as we knew it.  He's had the bike since about 1999 or so and managed to get it running but not fully restored.  That bike has been in the family since 1979 and has a long and storied history of back-road Hell-raising.  Some history:

YrHmblScrb and the RD, c. 1979

The Complete RD as We Knew Her

I spent the winter of 1978 in my garage working on that bike.  Most of the mods were bolt-ons, which is to say after-market shocks, new handle bars, rear-set foot pegs, a brake/shifter kit, electronic ignition, and better tires.  The cognoscenti will note the expansion chambers on the bike and those were part of the minor engine mods I did.  I didn't want to build a hand-grenade motor so I just added expansion chambers, larger carbs, and K&N air filters to improve the bike's breathing.  I also polished all the cylinder ports to improve air flow.  And that was it... but the finished product really wailed.  I should also mention coastal Oregon was a danged fine place to own a back road burner like the RD, too.

The top pic is YrHmblScrb and the stock bike, the bottom pic is as described above.  That's the state the bike is in today, except for the general decay brought on by being in storage and rarely ridden since about 1985.

I do believe she'll wail again someday.  And I'm gonna ride her, too.

Seen This?

View from the ISS at Night from Knate Myers on Vimeo.

How VERY cool.  The nighttime and northern lights bits are especially spectacular.  From the Vimeo site:

Every frame in this video is a photograph taken from the International Space Station. All credit goes to the crews on board the ISS.

I removed noise and edited some shots in photoshop. Compiled and arranged in Sony Vegas.

Isn't it GREAT to be alive in this day and age?

Seen In the Finest Establishments, Everywhere

That's apropos of the following exchange in comments to the post immediately below:

VX:  (Hey Buck--remember when the old USAF GEEIA Squadrons meant --according to one GEEIA tech guy who jokingly told me--"Get Every Electronic Idiot Available?" Were YOU a GEEIA guy? lol)

No, I wasn't a GEEIA guy. But I WAS an AFCC E&I team chief, and I was also in possession of about a dozen sheets of those old "Installed BY GEEIA" stickers. I'm CERTAIN you saw those things everywhere in Nam, every little bar and whorehouse in all of SEA had at least ONE of those stickers, somewhere. Usually in the latrine, on the toilet or on the mirror. Or on the mirror behind the bar, if the establishment was up-market enough to HAVE a mirror.

We were issued "Installed by AFCC" stickers, but NO ONE used the things. We were still too close to the GEEIA days, and most of the Old Heads were GEEIA types.

Paul Harvey Voice

And now ya know the REST of the story.  For the uninformed, GEEIA actually stood for Ground Electronics Engineering and Installation Agency.  (The exchange above was edited slightly for clarity.)

/Paul Harvey Voice.

Saturday Redux

This was yesterday's runner-up in the Viral Vid sweepstakes.

"You shouldn't have done that.  I can hear yourself freaking out."  Heh.

Rain and Linkage to More Rain

I just stepped outside for about four minutes to witness the briefest of cloudbursts, which is about all the rain we seem to be getting, of late.  This is what I saw...

Note the sidewalk in front of The Green Hornet is barely wet yet the car park area is sufficiently damp, as is the road.  Or, just enough moisture to dampen down the ever-present dust and raise the humidity level, which will make our Happy Hour something of a sweaty affair later on today.  I think it rained for all of four minutes, if that, but it WAS enough to scent the air with the sweet, sweet smell of damp earth.  I'm thankful for that.

What we REALLY need here on The High Plains o' New Mexico is rain that looks like this:

The rain is heavy this morning, and big. The drops looking like a badminton birdie when they hit the street. I like it like this, and it’s full of memories. 

That's what we call a teaser, Gentle Reader, wherein we hope to entice you into reading Andy's musings on rain.  And other, not so pleasant things.  So go for the rain and stay for the other bits which are equally good, if not as uplifting.

The Usual Saturday Post, With Cookies (And Stuff)

The Guardian is back with their picks o' the week and here are the two I liked best:

Yeah, a cat.  AND a big-ass Doberman that is oh-so-gentle.  Amazing, eh?

And now for dessert:

I still haven't heard "Call Me Maybe," and I'm prolly one of only eight people who HAVEN'T.  I'm not losing sleep over this, however.

Tonight's ADWH Soundtrack...

The Duo-Tones with a remake of a 60's classic:

There's some nice surf footage in the video and that brings back memories of Hermosa Beach and Redondo Beach, c. 1962 and 1963, when YrHmblScrb was in his surfer-boy phase.  But, we'll not go there... let's focus on the music, instead.  It turns out that "Apache" was originally written and recorded by a British band around 1960 or so, but their version of the tune is virtually unknown in the US.  Here's the version I remember, made popular by the Ventures in 1962:

You don't need to remind me that the time period we're talking about was 50 years ago.  50!  That got me to thinkin'... my 50th high school reunion would be next year.  Aiiieee!  Not only do I not wanna know... I don't wanna GO, either.

Olympics and Shirts

Why, I believe we were talking about nekkid Olympians just yesterday... over here.

And yeah, Susie... where IS yer shirt made?  My 501s are made somewhere near Cairo, an offshoring decision I'm thinkin' the Levi Strauss guys MIGHT be regretting about now.  And no, I'm not taking 'em off, or otherwise givin' 'em up.

Tonight's ADWH Soundtrack...

... Bela Fleck playin' some fine, fine Bluegrass guitar banjo:

I dearly love the album cover illustration... almost as much as I like the music.  

Ain't that just COOL?  We're such suckers for nostalgia, we are.

Oh, Noes!

We had a lot o' fun with that Facebook IPO back in May, as did the political cartoonists who provided EIP with a LOT o' blog-fodder during that time.  Most of our fun centered around the immediate loss in value of FB shares, which left a lot of investors holding the proverbial bag and it's getting worse.  From Reuters:

(Reuters) - Shares of Facebook Inc (FB.O) fell about 1 percent on Tuesday, extending the previous day's losses after an investment analyst reported a decline in U.S. users for the No. 1 social network.

Capstone analyst Rory Maher said he used proprietary software to track user numbers by country over the past six months across more than 200 countries and worked out that the social network had shed users in both the United States and Europe. U.S. users declined by 1.1 percent, he said in a research note.

RTWT, as we citizen-journalists say.  What?  People are leaving FB?  Color me surprised.  Heh.

I should've posted this yesterday but didn't.  My Bad.

Vets...

... there are a lot of us.  About 21.8 million of us, according to the Census Bureau.  From the Usual USAF Source:

A Snapshot of the Nation's Veterans: There are 21.8 million veterans in the United States, 20.2 million of which are males, according to the US Census Bureau's veterans' snapshot, issued on July 17. Some 1.3 million veterans have served in more than one war, including more than 100,000 who have been in three wars, according to the data. California leads the nation with two million vets, followed by Florida and Texas with some 1.6 million vets each, states the snapshot. Killeen, Tex., is the city with the highest percentage of veterans in its population: 28.9 percent. Veterans have a median income of $35,367, nearly $10,000 higher than that of the average American, according to the Census Bureau. They own 9 percent of all US businesses, states the snapshot.

I find that median income statement suspect, as far as the "average American" is concerned.  This table from USA Today sez the US per person average income was $40,584 in 2010 (Aside: I found it interesting NM ranks 43rd in average income.  We be PO'.).  But there may be a plausible explanation, aside from the statistical difference between "median" and "average:"

Median income refers to those who are 18 years and over with income in the past 12 months. Income includes not only wages and self-employment, but also Social Security, retirement pensions, VA payments, and other forms of income.

That's from the Census Bureau's snapshot graphic.  Still and even, that's a lot of vets, eh?  OTOH, that's only 7.3% of the population, assuming we've got 300 million people in the US.  And yeah, we could split hairs on this subject (demographics) from now until the cows come home.  But we won't.

Today's Happy Hour Soundtrack

New-to-me artist Alejandro Escovedo, with a Rolling Stones cover...

Hey, hey, hey now
One day I woke up to find
Right in the bed next to mine
Someone that broke me up with a corner of her smile, yeah

Its just that demon life has got me in it's sway
Its just that demon life has got me in it's sway

I heard this tune on my way back from Cannon Airplane Patch earlier this afternoon and I'm SUCH a sucker for Rolling Stones tunes, even covers, of which this is one of the best I've heard... mebbe even eclipsing the original.  So let's compare...

It MIGHT be heresy, but I think I like Alejandro's version better.  Check him out on the Tube o' You.

Ramirez Is Good Today

There are a lot o' good 'toons today at the Usual Source for such things; this was my choice for "best of."  Ya can't go wrong with Mr. Ramirez. 

Just Not Feelin' It

Obama's throwing bombs, Romney not so much.  I wish Romney WOULD throw a few bombs... and The Deity At Hand knows he has enough material... but it's still early days.  Romney needs to be smart about it, too... not like the latest dumb-assedness from the Obama campaign, i.e., "Romney might be a felon."   Yeah, and Obama might be smart, too.  There's about an equal chance of either premise being true.

So now it's off to the shower and then off to The Big(ger) City™ to see what it's gonna cost to fix The Tart.  Which is part of the reason I'm just not feelin' it today.

Update, approx 1415 hrs:  Aiiieee.  Both SN1 & SN2 were right and I was wrong... this ain't jes a lil $150 or $200 ding, it's a frickin' $724.50 MAJOR PROJECT, which means The Tart will be in the shop for three or four days or even a week, worst case.  It seems like the whole damned left side of the car will have to be disassembled, the bumper has to come off and the clear coat has to be re-sprayed up to and including the driver's side door.  So much for a lil ding.

I originally thought I'd get this fixed on my dime and save an insurance claim, but after speaking to USAA I've decided to claim it.  There's a possibility my deductible could be halved due to the hit and run nature of the damage, but I have to wait and see.  But $500 is still cheaper than $724.50.

Sigh.  It's always SUMTHIN'.

The Usual Saturday Post, My Liege

Curious: The Guardian didn't update their Viral Vids picks from last week.  So we went to (one of) the source(s) and picked two vids out of the Top 20, both of which are, strangely enough, ads.  One is cute and one is awesome.  First Teh Cute:

I think I knew that guy in the crown back in my working life.  Or someone very much like him.  Now Teh Awesome:

Bullet, indeed.  That's a pretty clever and well-executed ad, no?  The M5 USED to be my automotive lust object until the CTS-V came along.

We Can't Have Nice Things...

... because some asshat is bound to come along and f*ck 'em up.  Case in point:

That happened in the Wally-World parking lot last evening.  I couldn't have been inside shopping for more than 20 minutes and then I came out to find what ya see above.  No note, no apology, just a hit and run.  I figger that's prolly a $150.00 ding but we'll find out when we take The Tart over to our favorite body shop in The Big(ger) City™ on Monday.  

(sigh)  It's always SUMTHIN'.

How Bad Is It?

This headline sez it all: "U.S. Declares the Largest Natural Disaster Area Ever Due to Drought."  That's pretty bad.  Note:

The entire states of Arizona, Nevada, Texas, and New Mexico (save two counties in TX and NM), are still in drought... as is most of the southwest and Deep South.  I've never seen it this bad in my lifetime; I've only seen pictures of the Dust Bowl years, when it was worse.  Let's hope it doesn't get THAT bad again.

Today's Happy Hour Soundtrack...

... comes courtesy of Occasional Reader Loosy-Anna Andy who e-mailed us this:

In so doing he said...

Dude, I hope the BeeGees deal don't make you vomick!

But...

Looking at Rita is worth it for me.

Ab-so-frickin'-loot-ly.  I replied thusly:

Brilliant... and this shall be today's Happy Hour Soundtrack.  As far as the Bee Gees go... I'm one of only six living Americans who will admit to buying the Saturday Night Fever Soundtrack.  That album was pure GOLD to the young Buck Pennington, in that it helped him get laid on numerous occasions in the way-way-back.  How Deep Is YOUR love?  Mine ran pretty deep back then... at least as far as quantity went.  :-)

Thank Ya!!  

I stand by that statement, for better or worse.

Teh Funny

My Buddy Ed In Florida sends the following along...

Jacob, age 92, and Rebecca, age 89, living in Miami, are all excited about their decision to get married. They go for a stroll to discuss the wedding, and on the way they pass a drugstore.  Jacob suggests they go in.  Jacob addresses the man behind the counter:  "Are you the owner?"
The pharmacist answers, "Yes."
Jacob: "We're about to get married. Do you sell heart medication?"
Pharmacist: "Of course, we do."
Jacob: "How about medicine for circulation?"
Pharmacist: "All kinds."
Jacob: "Medicine for rheumatism?"
Pharmacist: "Definitely."
Jacob: "How about suppositories?"
Pharmacist: "You bet!"
Jacob: "Medicine for memory problems, arthritis and Alzheimer's?"
Pharmacist: "Yes, a large variety. The works."
Jacob: "What about vitamins, sleeping pills, Geritol, antidotes for Parkinson's disease?"
Pharmacist: "Absolutely."
Jacob: "Everything for heartburn and indigestion?"
Pharmacist: "We sure do."
Jacob: "You sell wheelchairs and walkers and canes?"
Pharmacist: "All speeds and sizes."
Jacob: "Adult diapers?"
Pharmacist: "Sure."
Jacob: "We'd like to use this store as our Bridal Registry."

Heh.  There's a classic example of the wisdom one acquires in one's old age.  Except, perhaps, for the marriage bit.

This Just In...

... "this" bein' me, recently arrived back home after a re-stock run out to the Cannon Airplane Patch Class VI store.  Where I saw this:

Any doubt as to which demographic the distiller is aiming for?  I kinda like the ideer of bare-nekkid when it comes to skinny girls... and booze, for that matter.  When it comes to wimmen I'm more into "women of substance," but ya know what them sailors say about "any port..."  Still and even, I didn't buy any of this stuff, nor am I likely to.  I mean... tangerine-flavored vodka?  Besides that, it's pretty hard to beat Stoli when it comes to wōd-kah.

―:☺:―

We got a call on The Green Hornet today and I was pleased to hear the prospective buyer say he was looking at another Miata on Craig's List until they saw TGH, which they liked better.  I do believe there might be a reason for that.  I was kinda-sorta chagrined to hear the prospective buyer is looking for a car for his daughter.  I'll freely admit I was hopin' for a buyer who appreciates all the sporting aspects of the Miata... the sorts of things that have landed the car on Car & Driver's Ten Best list for the last 10 years or so... stuff like the buttery-smooth shifter, impeccable handling, communicative steering, yadda yadda.  But, Hey... girls can appreciate that stuff too, so I'll not be hasty to judge.

Bad For You

Well, yeah.  Every-freakin'-thing we like is gonna kill us... eventually.  But like Jim Morrison said: "Nobody gets outta here alive."  I don't worry about this sorta krep very much, if at all.  But I DO get a kick out of the "organic" people, tee-totalers, and risk-avoidance types... aside from bein' good for laughs they always make me wonder what in hell it is they do for fun.

Today's Happy Hour Soundtrack...

... without music?  What's up with that?

We were out on the verandah a few short moments ago and decided to capture the sound of a gentle falling rain here on The High Plains o' New Mexico.  It was (and still IS) quite pleasant out on the verandah and we shall continue as we've begun... as soon as we can post this video.  We could LIE and say we were listenin' to sumthin' like this during Happy Hour, but the truth is we were listenin' to one of the Strauss Boys' waltzes before and after the video was shot.

Yup... Day Three of our Classical Music Jag.  Ongoing, as we speak.  It's a beautiful thang.

You DIDN'T!

I did.  Last night.  I got kinda weepy about it, too.

A Couple o' USAF Items

From the Usual USAF Source, of course.  First, more on the Russkis at Red Flag:

More Details on "Nyet Flag": Russian news reports—and other news outlets that picked up the story last week—claiming that Russia would send fighters to an upcoming Red Flag exercise are "a complete fabrication," said Air Force spokeswoman Jennifer Cassidy. Russia was indeed supposed to send "working-level observers" to last month's Red Flag-Alaska 12-2, but their participation was canceled "due to reciprocity issues," she told the Daily Report on July 9 without elaboration. Observers at this "unit leadership" or "worker bee" level normally watch the exercise in order to prepare for possible full participation a year in advance, she explained. However, Red Flag participation by actual Russian air force fighters and strike aircraft "was never considered," she said. And, "no further . . . observation/participation" by the Russian air force in Red Flag "is planned at this time," she noted. Nevertheless, a Russian air force one-star general did watch the June exercise as part of an executive observer program. The Air Force could not immediately say whether this was the first time a Russian air force general observed a Red Flag at any level.

—John A. Tirpak 

The photo as captioned at Air Force Magazine: "Here, Col. Marc Caudill (left) speaks to the head of the Russian air force, Col. Gen. Alexander Zelin, before Zelin's tour of an E-3 AWACS aircraft at the 2012 Singapore Air Show in Changi, Singapore, Feb. 15, 2012."

And then there's this...

Tiny Air Commandos Invade Hurlburt: Air Force Special Operations Command recently hosted its first-ever "Bring Your Child to Work Day" at Hurlburt Field, Fla. "Everyday we drop our kids off at daycare and kiss them goodbye in the morning," said event organizer Capt. Kristina Sawtelle in a July 9 Hurlburt release. She added, "This event takes the mystery out of what mommy and daddy do." The honorary air commandos began their day with physical training by running in formation with their family members. From there, it was off to the headquarters building for a pancake breakfast. The kids then rotated between an AFSOC command brief, an air park tour, and a battlefield airman exhibit showcasing special tactics gear. "I really appreciate that the command takes an interest in the families and makes them a priority," said SMSgt. Samel Brown, a security forces airman, who brought his five-year-old daughter Aniah to the June 29 event. (Hurlburt Field report by Rachel Arroyo)

Cute, eh?  No word whether or not the tykes were given KA-BAR training. 

Teevee

I'm missin' all that krep... coz the last time I turned on my teevee was for Game Five of the Stanley Cup Final (I watched Game Six on SN1's teevee).  That was on June 9th.  I don't think I'm missin' anythang, actually.

Tonight's After Dinner Whiskey Hour Soundtrack...

A cheesy cell-phone pic, me bein' too lazy to go get the real camera.

We were pleased to watch a storm roll into P-Ville this evening and dump some much-needed rain on our parched earth.  Not a lot, mind you, but enough to wet the streets, dampen down the dust, and render the air sweet and fragrant.  It was also enough to produce the rainbow pictured above after the storm had passed.

We're still on our classical music jag, this being the second day of God-Only-Knows how many.  I was reminded of this particular piece as I watched the rain come pelting down, even though I didn't hear it this evening...

Storms are almost always violent in the southwest and Grofé captures the essence of a southwest storm perfectly in "Cloudburst."  And so it was this evening... there was the proverbial calm before the storm, then heightened wind and rapidly dropping temperatures, followed close-on by pelting rain... rain of such force and violence that it renders conversation impossible due to its very noise... and thunder, of course.  All very, very entertaining from my safe and dry vantage point on the verandah.  And all too short, alas.  But we takes what we gets and we're grateful for it.

About my classical music jag... this could go on for weeks but I suspect it won't.  There was a time in the way-back when we went for about two years without listening to any pop or rock 'n' roll at all... only classical and jazz, with a little country and bluegrass thrown in.  That was immediately after the maid quit, when it seemed every goddamned pop/rock song I heard carried some sort of painful memory with it.  So we did what was only natural: we avoided the genres.  That was actually pretty pleasant, for as long as it lasted.

In Today's Mail

A nice touch...

It never hurts to thank your customers.  Note the stamp, too.  Pretty cool, no?

Hot! And Not.

People on the Right Coast really must feel this way.  As for us here on The High Plains o' New Mexico... it's bid'niz as usual.  Our high/low of 90/68 yesterday was very slightly warmer than usual (89/63), but not a lot.

―:☺:―

I about fell outta my chair when I read this (from the Usual USAF Source)... 

No Krasni Flag: Russia won't be participating in an Air Force Red Flag exercise this year, according to an exercise spokesman at Eielson AFB, Alaska. What? Russia at Red Flag? Several media outlets—including the Voice of Russia radio network's English-language website—ran stories last week suggesting Russia would indeed be sending fighters to a Red Flag exercise in October, either at Nellis AFB, Nev., or in Alaska. This would be an extraordinary first if true, and a watershed development in US-Russian relations. But, alas, no red-starred Flankers and Fulcrums will be populating the ramps at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Eielson, or anywhere else. Air Force officials told the Daily Report on July 6 that Russia had requested sending observers—not aircraft—to a Red Flag exercise this fall, but it won't be happening. While it would have been interesting to see those Sukhoi and MiG fighters at Red Flag—playing Red Air, perhaps?—modern Russian-designed fighters have already played in a Red Flag. In 2008, India brought its Su-30s MKI fighters to Nellis.

—John A. Tirpak

That would have been the very HEIGHT of stoopid.

Today's Happy Hour Soundtrack

Dvorak's Ninth Symphony... fourth movement... which is just perfect for watching the thunderstorms gathering to our southwest.  But it's the  music we're on about...

It's oh-so-sultry outside at the moment and we're hoping these gathering storm clouds will dump some rain on P-Ville.  Note:

The storms are all around us at the moment, but our forecast sez there's significant hope for rain.  Like this:

Note the humidity: 24%.  That ain't Mrs. Hippy or Loosy-anna territory, but it's humid enough, Gentle Reader.  So much so that we've foregone the beer and are drinkin' G&Ts for today's Happy Hour.

Apropos o' that... I always flash back to Chiang Mai, Thailand and the pool at the Prince Hotel whenever I drink G&Ts.  We... about 40 close friends and YrHmblScrib... were in the habit o' buying Tanqueray and tonic water by the case back in Former Happy Days, Part One.  The staff at the Prince would keep us supplied with cut limes and ice as we lounged by the pool and indulged.  Those were some great good times, Gentle Reader... but it's one of those "ya hadda be there" stories in order for you to appreciate the full import of that which we speak.  We shall go no further, lest we incriminate the innocent.  Or the guilty, if or when it comes to that.

Oh So Briefly

Hopefully there won't BE another four years.