A Little Humour

Posted on January 25, 2012 by On the North River

My Tax Return………….

IRS sent my Tax Return back!
AGAIN!!!

I guess it was because of my response to the question:
“List all dependents.”
I replied –
“12 million illegal immigrants;
“3 million crack heads;
“42 million unemployable people on food stamps
“2 million people in over 243 prisons;
“Half of Mexico
and
“535 fools in the U.S. House and Senate.”

And One Prince of Fools in the White House! (my contribution)
Apparently, this was NOT an acceptable answer.

H/T Stephen M

Siamese twins walk into a bar in Canada and park themselves on a bar stool. One of them says to the bartender, “Don’t mind us; we’re joined at the hip. I’m John, he’s Jim. Two Molson Canadian beers, draft please.”

The bartender, feeling slightly awkward, tries to make polite conversation while pouring the beers. “Been on holiday yet, lads?” “Off to England next month,” says John. “We go to England every year, rent a car and drive for miles. Don’t we, Jim?” Jim agrees. “Ah, England!” says the bartender. “Wonderful country… the history, the beer, the culture…”

“Nah, we don’t like that British crap,” says John. “Hamburgers and Molson’s beer, that’s us, eh Jim? And we can’t stand the English – they’re so arrogant and rude.” “So why keep going to England?” asks the bartender.

“It’s the only chance Jim gets to drive.”

(Don’t blame me, blame Doug) ;-}   A while ago, I got this next one off the Web somewhere, but they probably got it off another site, so What?

WW 2 Facts

1.  The first German serviceman killed in WW2 was killed by the Japanese (China, 1937), the first American serviceman killed was killed by the Russians (Finland 1940), the highest ranking American killed was Lt.  Gen.  Lesley McNair, killed by the US Army Air Corps.  .  .  .  So much for allies.
2.  The youngest US serviceman was 12 year old Calvin Graham, USN.  He was wounded and given a Dishonorable Discharge for lying about his age.  (His benefits were later restored by act of Congress.)
3.  At the time of Pearl Harbor the top US Navy command was Called CINCUS (pronounced “sink us”), the shoulder patch of the US Army’s 45th Infantry division was the Swastika, and Hitler’s private train was named “Amerika.” All three were soon changed for PR purposes.
4.  More US servicemen died in the Air Corps than the Marine Corps.  While completing the required 30 missions your chance of being killed was 71%.
5.  Generally speaking there was no such thing as an average fighter pilot. You were either an ace or a target.  For instance Japanese ace Hiroyoshi Nishizawa shot down over 80 planes.  He died while a passenger on a cargo plane.
6.  It was a common practice on fighter planes to load every 5th round with a tracer round to aid in aiming.  This was a mistake.  Tracers had different ballistics so (at long range) if your tracers were hitting the target 80% of your rounds were missing.  Worse yet tracers instantly told your enemy he was under fire and from which direction.  Worst of all was the practice of loading a string of tracers at the end of the belt to tell you that you were out of ammo.  This was definitely not something you wanted to tell the enemy.Units that stopped using tracers saw their success rate nearly double and their loss rate go down.
YOU’VE GOT TO LOVE THIS ONE….
7.  When allied armies reached the Rhine the first thing men did was pee in it.  This was pretty universal from the lowest private to Winston Churchill (who made a big show of it) and Gen.  Patton (who had himself photographed in the act).
8.  German Me-264 bombers were capable of bombing New York City but it wasn’t worth the effort.
9.  German submarine U-120 was sunk by a malfunctioning toilet.
10.  Among the first “Germans” captured at Normandy were several Koreans.They had been forced to fight for the Japanese Army until they were captured by the Russians and forced to fight for the Russian Army until they were captured by the Germans and forced to fight for the German Army until they were captured by the US Army.
AND I SAVED THE BEST FOR LAST….
11.  Following a massive naval bombardment 35,000 US and Canadian troops stormed ashore at Kiska, in the Aleutian Islands.  21 troops were killed in the firefight.  It would have been worse if there had been any Japanese on the island.

WW 2 Facts at del.icio.us

Posted in All the News not fit to print., Blogbits, Jokes | Leave a comment

Walker, Unions and Concealed Carry

Posted on January 25, 2012 by On the North River

It’s Working in Walker’s Wisconsin

The governor’s controversial labor reforms are already saving taxpayers millions.

This is the same Governor Scott Walker that the Wisconsin Unions are trying to recall from office, for the selfsame crime of saving the WI taxpayers millions. (Huh?)

One way that works, now that the Union Healthcare insurance plan can no longer be mandated as the only choice available to the School Districts, those districts can make other choices. Suddenly, the Union Healthcare plan is cutting their rates to the school districts by millions. This is Good for the schools, good for the taxpayers, but BAD for the Unions. Recall the Bastard!

Of course the Wisconsin unions are accepting the changes gracefully and with respect for the process.  NOT!

Will Unions Occupy Super Bowl Over Right To Work?

As in Wisconsin, where embattled GOP Gov. Scott Walker faces a recall election over his effort to fight excessive union feeding at the public trough, and in South Carolina, a right-to-work state that fought the National Labor Relation Board’s efforts to stop Boeing from expanding there, unions in Indiana are fighting to stop what they see as an encroachment on their power…

There’s a shocker.

Another topic near and dear to my heart…

Should New York tourists have their lives destroyed because of concealed carry laws?

…while her Tennessee concealed carry license is recognized in 40 states, New York isn’t one of them. Meredith was arrested.

God, do I hate New York. Especially NYC. Looking forward to moving out of the whole Northeast and heading… (haven’t decided, but it will be South or West…very West but not all the way West, because that would be bad…Never mind)

But New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the local District Attorneys don’t seem interested in showing mercy. They take a zero tolerance approach towards these mistakes. Indeed, a week after Graves arrest, Mayor Bloomberg attacked her at a press conference claiming:  “Let’s assume she didn’t get arrested for carrying a gun, she probably would have gotten arrested for the cocaine that was in her pocket.”But that same day the Manhattan District Attorney’s office acknowledged that Graves did not have any cocaine.

One winter it was so cold that I saw a Democrat with his hands in his own pockets, but conditions have never been so dire that I’ve detected a Democrat telling the hold unvarnished truth.

Short version of this story, don’t travel to, or if possible, through New York.

Short Quiz question, which state (by far) has the worst crime statistics; New York or Tennessee?

Posted in All the News not fit to print., News and opinion, When Progressives Attack | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Wuterich Vindicated (UPDATE: The Plea) (UPDATE: The Sentence and Media Reaction)

Posted on January 24, 2012 by On the North River

Wuterich Vindicated (UPDATE: The Plea)

Frank Wuterich agreed this morning to accept a prosecution offer of pleading guilty to one count of dereliction of duty, with relatively minor penalty. “Dereliction of duty” is such a broad count that it can cover most anything, and in possible multiple counts possible in the court martial, could have resulted in Wuterich facing much heavier penalties.
This ends his 7-year ordeal at the hand of zealot prosecutors and rush to judgment media. The prosecution in this case, as in all its others, saw its own witnesses either basically testify for the defense or be demonstrated as liars or otherwise unreliable.

Comments on another blog are concerned with SSgt Frank Wuterich not receiving a Full Honorable Discharge. I would think that could not be done to him now.  He plead guilty to a misdemeanor with a maximum sentence of 90 days, if that was so then every soldier that got drunk on leave would get a DD.

Doug, any input?

(January 25th)

The Sentence Continue reading →

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Caution: Massive Solar Flare could effect the Earth.

Posted on January 23, 2012 by On the North River

Charles Boyers Gears

Planes expected to reroute following massive solar eruption

An immense blast of plasma spewed late Sunday night from the sun led to the strongest radiation storm bombarding our planet since 2005, and a rare warning from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency — and even a plan to redirect certain high-flying airplanes.

NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center — the nation’s official source of warnings about space weather and its impact on Earth — issued a watch for a geomagnetic storm expected to hit our planet Tuesday morning after a satellite witnessed an ultraviolet flash from the massive solar eruption, according to Spaceweather.com.

“A preliminary inspection of SOHO/STEREO imagery suggests that the CME will deliver a strong glancing blow to Earth’s magnetic field on Jan. 24-25 as it sails mostly north of our planet,” SpaceWeather’s bulletin read.

It could also affect navigation and the power grid.

The solar flare spat out late Sunday, Jan. 22, at 10:59 p.m. EST was rated an M9-class eruption — nearly an X-class flare, the most powerful type of solar storm.

The information concerning the Solar Flare is entirely copied from the Fox News story on the ongoing event, which itself is entirely from NASA and Space.com. I wrote no part or comment. Please follow the link to read the entire story. Even though its not about the Patriots, its still important. My only contribution is to recommend that you think about preparing for a electric surge tonight, don’t just shut the device off, unplug it.

Update: March 8th 2012

Here we go again.

 

Posted in Blogbits, News and opinion, Tech | Tagged | 1 Comment

For Doug: Saddams Ass

Posted on January 22, 2012 by On the North River

Saddam Hussein’s Bronze Butt Cheek: Iraq Wants It Back

Saddam Hussein may have been an ass, but Iraq still wants a former British special forces soldier to give a bronze butt cheek that was part of a toppled statue of the dictator.

Nigel Ely, who did the cheeky act with the help of U.S. Marines back in 2003, says he has turned Saddam’s butt into a piece of art that he wants to sell to raise money for veterans’ charities in the U.S. and U.K., according to Newser.com.

Iraq refuses to turn the other cheek and is accusing Ely of illegally removing Iraqi cultural property.

Iraqi Cultural Property? Cultural Property!?  …Now what does that say about Iraq’s cultural heritage? So is Saddam’s bronze nose part of the countries early warning system?

Posted in All the News not fit to print. | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Black, and Ghost of Energy’s Past and the Ghost of Energy Future.

Posted on January 22, 2012 by On the North River

May require WSJ subscription.

American imperial stouts are thick as molasses, and just as dark. Some are sweet as chocolate sauce; others are packed with hops and bitter grains, like syrupy digestifs. Some, like practiced drunks, hide their liquor; others slur and stumble out of the bottle. Extravagant? Sure. But when chill winds blow, it’s soul-steeling stuff. As one 19th-century British brewery proclaimed, a good hearty stout “is not only a luxury, but in many cases a useful medicine.” Pipe and foie gras optional.

Gout and stout don’t go along, so I’ve cut my personal consumption waaay back. But still, there’s nothing like a good dark stout, and not served too cold please.

Wind Energy’s Ghosts

Ghost of Energy’s Past and the Ghost of Energy Future.

Hawaii and California, built (at great expense) in perhaps the best locations in the world for wind power. Billions spent. Today a fraction are still in service, kept alive by cannibalizing their companions for parts. In some cases because one-of-a-kind machines built by failed companies for which no replacement parts are available. Others, simply because its cheaper and after all, so many have failed. 14,000 idle wind generator turbines in California alone by one accounting.

Its not surprising, the machinery is heavy, complex and (at the top of a very tall tower) very hard to maintain. A lot gets packed into what is, relatively, is a very small space on top of a natural lightning rod. I’ve seen that some supporters are saying that basing criticism of today’s wind power industry on thirty year old designs that are inferior to today’s state of the art models is unfair, very unfair (try to imagine a pout and stamping feet).  Well, all I have to say to that is, I guess it was a bad idea to build so many of them then. And on the Federal and States nickel (which is to say the taxpayers nickel).  If Federal subsides haven’t been made available, and made so lavish, to the tune of I believe $18 Billion. Then maybe in the 70’s & 80’s a reasonable number of these Bird Cuisinarts would have been built, and then by those companies that had some experience in that type of work. Instead, thanks to the Federal gravy train,  a lot of companies and people who shouldn’t, got into the game (can you say Enron?)

Today my same argument is true, if it makes sense, if its well designed and built by people who are seriously interested in producing electricity with wind or solar then let it stand on its own. And that includes a level playing field on rate compensation. In Massachusetts if they ever manage to build the ill-conceived off-shore wind project, Cape Wind, then most rate-payers in the state can expect a rate increase. That is due to the guarantees now mandated by MA state law. (18.7 cents kWh/ National average 6-7 cents kWh)

National Grid agreed to buy half of the power generated by Cape Wind for 18.7 cents per kilowatt-hour over the next 15 years, with the price escalating 3.5 percent annually…

If the state regulatory authority shifts the burden from residential to business rates (as is expected) then say goodbye to whatever manufacturing is still here.

So why? Why does this industry, with its thirty year track record, get subsides to build their business and then we are forced to buy their product at two to three times the prevailing rate?  Those pushing this, here and all around the country, fall, I think, into two categories; True believers, who worship the Green God, and profiteers of different stripes, from the vaguely dishonest to the completely dishonest.

Last.   This deal has no enforceable provision to deal with the inevitable day when someone must pay to safely and cleanly take down those menaces to navigation. So I guess we’ll in the hole for that too.

By the way, even after Cape Wind is fully built and in operation, not one gas or diesel fueled generation plant will be removed from service, or even temporarily shut off. Since Wind Power is fickle and unreliable, enough traditional plants must be kept ready to supply Wind’s output and at a moments notice.

Posted in Blogbits, Global Warming Hoax, Low Tide, Tech, When Progressives Attack | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Lightening up Boss.

Posted on January 21, 2012 by On the North River

Doug recently emailed me something going around:

FOUND ON A SEABEE MESSAGE BOARD:

* Pee on a Crucifix, you’re an “Artist”

* Pee on The American Flag, you’re a “Constitutionalist”

* Pee on a Police Car, you’re a “Freedom Lovin’ 99 percenter”

* Pee on a Taliban piece of shit that just tried to kill you and your fellow Marines, you’re a “Villain”

* Sure is a F***ed-up administration we have running this great country!!!!!

Yup! Got to agree with that, now let me pad this post out with some oldies but goodies… Continue reading →

Posted in Blogbits, Time to talk a little treason | Leave a comment

“Red Tails” Skip it.

Posted on January 20, 2012 by On the North River

Red Tails and Tall Tales

…Does it matter that the 1995 movie is largely a Hollywood production based on now-discredited lies such as the “never losing a bomber” myth? Not really. Only a Tuskegee Airmen Denier—basically the equivalent of a Nazi sympathizer—would dare question the legitimacy of the “Red Tails” story. America has racially progressed to such a point that the mere thought of questioning the official Tuskegee Airmen story would be on par with a European asking if “six million Jews” really died in the concentration camps…

Report: Tuskegee Airmen lost 25 bombers

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — At least 25 bombers being escorted by the Tuskegee Airmen over Europe during World War II were shot down by enemy aircraft, according to a new Air Force report.

The report contradicts the legend that the famed black aviators never lost a plane to fire from enemy aircraft. But historian William Holton said the discovery of lost bombers doesn’t tarnish the unit’s record…

I’m not disparaging the service of any man who served in combat for the USA, especially anyone who flew against the German Luftwaffe.  I’d buy them a drink anytime.

But I guess it’s not good enough for Spielberg that these men served, they have to be something more than war heroes. Their exploits have to prove something, something that the left endorses which ain’t going to be military service. So the great battle, the main objective of “Red Tails” is how racist the US Military and America is.  And that’s why I’m not going to see this movie.

From the comments on the blog “Taki’s Magazine” on the article “Red Tails and Tall Tales”…

Mauro Cella

I, an aviation history buff, always wondered at the veracity of this myth. The USAAF went through a nasty learning curve to learn how to properly escort bombers over Germany. Numerous experiments and exercises were carried out before reaching the perfect formula. The Germans themselves didn’t just sit back and waited but kept on improving their tactics until lack of fuel, around the clock strafing of their airports, hasty training and the slaughter of the most experienced pilots broke the Luftwaffe’s back.
In this situation it’s impossible to believe a single fighter group just stepped in and proved invincible. Even admitting the Tuskegee Airmen were more skilled than others on average they had to adhere to the USAAF standard doctrine, use USAAF standard tactics, training and equipment. That meant they went through the same learning curve as anybody else. The legendary Marines squadron VMF-214 (Boyington’s “Black Sheep”) isn’t surrounded by a similar myth and produced 9 aces. Boyington himself, a hard fighting, hard drinking rowdy Marine flyer, scored 22 victories while leading the Black Sheep before having to bail out during a mission and spending the rest of the war in Japanese captivity.

Both squadrons were subject to Hollywood’s attentions. But while Baa Baa Black Sheep (starring Robert Conrad as Boyington) was halfway between war drama and comedy with no pretension of showing how things really went (and allegedly Boyington told Robert Conrad he wish he were twenty years younger so he could kick his cocky ass: interesting match since Conrad was by no means a sissy himself), Red Tails is nothing short of cheap propaganda. Screw all the countless hours poured in by countless men to improve USAAF tactics, screw all the men who gave their lives to test those same tactics, screw the advanced training routine. All it took was fielding a squadron made up of the “right” people who didn’t even need to go through a learning curve themselves since they were fighting for what was “right”: defeating the evil Nazi and, much more importantly, Jim Crow.

I know war films aren’t supposed to be accurate or anything but the big problem is Red Tails takes itself far too seriously. Even the gory, ultra-realistic German flick Stalingrad has some lighter moments thrown in to relieve the pressure on the viewer. But there isn’t much humor allowed in the august presence of the invincible Red Tails.

 

Posted in All the News not fit to print., Blogbits, Military, Movies, planes, War | Tagged | 2 Comments

Old photos, dim shadows.

Posted on January 20, 2012 by On the North River

As I have mentioned before, the only trace of any photos I took before August of 2004 are mostly copies of photos I printed and gave to friends or that I did for some of the charities I shot pictures for.

Two old 4X6’s have turned up, not of course any of the 8X10 copies. These were two images I had always liked. Scanned from the photo since there are no negatives.

The First.

The date I took this is easy to remember. First light on January 1st, 2000. The Charles Street Bridge between Cambridge and Boston, taken from the Cambridge side. I was standing in the cold on the Parkway ramp. Sun is up but not over the horizon, the surface of the Charles River is lightly iced over. Donie is at the hotel, sleeping. We stayed in Boston for the festivities; the ice sculptures, fireworks and music.  I think I got the composition right or at least pretty good.

The Second.

One of my few computer composites. In April (2002 I think) I went to Lexington for the Patriots Day reenactments, and as thousands of others do, I took a photo of the Minuteman Memorial on the Green. Against a cloudless blue and boring sky.

Later that year (in August)  a terrifically dark and threatening mass of thunderclouds formed over the house in Weymouth.  With the roof peak of my old house poking up out of the bottom of the picture.

Put the two (carefully cropped) images together, a dramatic patriotic image.

I did better composites later, none exist now. Of course in those days everything started out as film, this was Velvia Slide Film, 100 ASA if I remember correctly. Great grain and vibrant color.

The slides were scanned into my computer, I can’t remember the model film scanner I had then. Today’s digital cameras can achieve results just as good as the 35mm slide and negatives, but my medium format negatives and slides were still superior. Of course I can’t supply the proof any more.

Anyone need some seven year old Velvia? I had my monthly shipment arrive a few days after the fire. Its in a drawer somewhere, about forty rolls I think.

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Haditha end game

Posted on January 19, 2012 by Doug

FLASH! Prosecution For The Defense: Wuterich Haditha Court Martial

From Maggies Farm.

 

 

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