I (heart) Airplanes

The promised ode to aircraft.


My brother and I were talking about wierd aircraft one day and he noted that there are web contests to name unusual aircraft. I found a source for these wierd pictures and this is one of the few that I was able to identify before Eric.

The rest of them are here.

Mystery meat

My big brother Aaron/Dave was at the show at MHAFB, when Thunderbird #6 had an unscheduled egress.
BTW, my buddy CJ went to the Academy with this pilot. I remember asking him about how things went for him afterwards, but I have no earthly recollection of what his answer was. CJ?

Speaking of CJ.

This horrifying video gives me the shakes, but moreso after CJ told me that the pilot in this mishap had been warned repeatedly not to perform this and a few other dangerous manuevers in the BUFF. Unfortunately, he and three other souls paid the ultimate price for his machismo.

This report, while rather long, explains how this happened.

Since I switched jobs I haven't been flying. Haven't set foot on-board in 3 months now. But if I ever get nostalgic for the good old days, I can use this screen saver.
(In fact, I've installed it at work.)

It took me a while, but I finally found my beloved Blue Angels video. Forgive me for saying so, but I think I liked the A-4s better.

P.s. The picture above is photoshopped. But keep looking. The real picture is pretty amazing as well.

I'll surf DIGG so you don't have to

I was working on a really cool collection of Airplane links, but I can't find the really cool Blue Angels video I was looking for, so that will have to wait.
In the mean time, I'm finding some truly lovely linkage. Enjoy.

This validates my struggle to find a well paying job.

This makes me love the Japanese people even more than before. Be sure to watch all the videos.

This is why blogging isn't for everyone. How many times can you use the terms 'Modern' and 'New Era' in reference to the internet before you look like a ninny. Not to mention misspelling, typos, invented words, poor grammar, and unwarranted verbosity.

And two from my Greatest Hits bookmarks.

I wish LILEKS would update every week, but sadly, it takes a while to write stuff like this.

Scientists investigating beautiful women. Who could have guessed that it would end up looking like this?

Stuntsurfing on a Tuesday

Some day I will have to analyze how I find this stuff. It all seems like a flurry of clickage followed by the occasional gem. For instance, I can find no evidence of how I found this first page.

Guess-the-google

This game promises to me more addictive than GoogleWhacking.



Here is a guy who really knows something about Sci-Fi films. Check out The Top Ten Sci-Fi Films That Never Existed. Most of it is about crappy films that SHOULDN'T have been made, but he makes some pretty compelling points as to why.

studios think video game fans will pile into the theater on opening weekend regardless of whether or not any effort was put into the film. Will that change? Come ask me after I've seen the Peter Jackson-produced Halo.

I have no idea whether this is real or a joke. For the sake of my sanity, I'm praying that it's the latter.

http://www.mailorderhusbands.net/order/


This one is probably not real, but I kinda wish it was.

http://www.huhcorp.com/ideas.htm


And finally, since I am hosting another Japanese student in a week, I've been studying their culture this week. Here is a really helpful video on how to enjoy sushi. The more useful information is toward the end.

How to enjoy sushi

Bloggers Block

I suspect that everyone is like me. You have a conversation going on inside your head with an imaginary friend who actually finds all your musings fascinating. My imaginary friend has been listening intently to my ideas for a blog entry all weekend and found them all fascinating, but I have not seen fit to put any of them on paper. But, I hate a blank page worse than a boring one, so I'll put down what has been on my mind and see what sticks.

First. We have signed up to host another Japanese student next month. This student is remarkable in that he is only 13 years old. His parents are either really cool, or just nuts. Every time we host one of these students, they come with some foodstuffs, as if they can't imagine that they will be able to eat our food, or that they wont be able to find decent Japanese food here. We have never seen either be the case. Ultimately, they leave their emergency supplies with us to make room for the loot that they are taking home and we get to try something new. Occasionally we get to try something that has no English instructions at all, just pictures. My prediction for this student is that he will bring Ramen. If he only knew how much of this my kids eat every week.

Second. The guy in the cube behind me got sacked Friday. I'm pretty sure it was for playing Fleetwood Mac and not using the headphones.

Third. My son asked me to record the documentary on A&E last night about the Skinheads. I watched about the first half of it and came to the conclusion that the producers had made it their mission to find the dumbest slack-jawed yokels in Alabama and then make them look even worse by featuring them making fools of themselves. The highlights included them sitting around the single-wide, drinking beer and watching old Nazi propoganda films. Drinking beer and dancing like idiots to death-metal. And singing and saluting the Nazi flag. Probably while drinking beer. Here is my question. If the white race is really supreme, why are they so concerned about the Zionists (and the mud-people and the fags) controlling their country? Shouldn't this just work out to the benefit of the superior people? Maybe I'm missing something.

Tomorrow, back to the links.

Linkage

My buddy EFP tells me I'm squandering the domain name by not having links to fun stuff, so here's some stuff I found, and some stuff from my bookmarks.

This confirms what I always suspected.
http://www.hamsterrepublic.com/james/technomancy/


My buddy from Cinci reminded me of this today. I have no idea how to introduce this. So be sure to read the introduction on the site.
Jeeebus. That's with 3 e's.

Album Art for iTunes without breakin a sweat. You can't beat the instructions for simplicity.
Artie

This seems to be the solution that we have been seeking for IM on the road without having to load clients.
http://www7.meebo.com/

OK, that will have to do for a while. I'll get back to some more intense surfing soon.

Classic Blunders

Remember what Vizzini said in The Princess Bride?

You fool! You fell victim to one of the classic blunders! The most famous is never get involved in a land war in Asia, but only slightly less well-known is this: never go in against a Robinson when money is on the line!

Why don't people listen. Specifically the hopeless petty thief who stole my daughter's wallet at work. Let's go over what she did wrong.

1. Stole the wallet from Sara's backpack in the ski lift shack that only about 4 people had access to. Two of these people being supervisors. One of these people worked the rest of the night, one left early.....
   
2. Went on a shopping spree that totalled more than the $700.
3. Committed 7 counts of Forgery. (I'm pretty sure that's a Felony)
4. Committed 3 of these on videotape.
5. Returned items to one store, and signed HER REAL NAME on the return slip.
6. Applied for a job at another store, at a time that coincides with the time she bought clothes on Sara's card.
7. Showed up at work the next day wearing new clothes and new ski boots.
8. STOLE FROM A ROBINSON!!!!

Sara spent a few days visiting stores, talking to cops, gathering evidence, inciting retailers. The usual. In the end, the Sherriff thanked her for doing his job for him, and told her she should apply for a job as a detective when she turns 21. She tells me the only thing holding her back right now is that it might make her husband upset if she got to carry a gun and he didn't.

In the mean time, some very sad little girl is going to jail, and several of the stores are pressing civil charges. What a waste.

P.s. For you well meaning friends who have cautioned me about using my child's name on the blog, remember that this is a girl who grew up in Kellie's house, and may soon be carrying a firearm. Nuff said.

Never Dull

The IT business is many things, but for me, it is never dull. This last month has been noteworthy. Consider the case of the accidental job.

I was working with a recruiter for Unisys in December, and she had a job doing automated systems monitoring and scripting. Sounds like a job made for me. When I got my telephone interview, the person who was doing the tech screen was from the Windows group, so we talked a lot about fixing Windows. A mere 4 weeks later I got an offer letter and on Jan. 23rd I started the job. They walked me in and set me down and we talked about getting trouble cases out of the queue and closing them and such. Mind you, this is the WINDOWS Incident Queue.
Now, not wanting to make waves, and being thankful to have a job, I didn't complain. But three weeks into the job, the pressure of the job was getting to me. I had a followup interview scheduled with the boss, to discuss my coming on board process, so at the end of the interview I brought up the issue of the apparent bait-and-switch .

Footnote

OK, the first part of this interview was mostly the boss telling me to quit worrying because my case closure numbers are right on target and I'm already doing better that some recently-former employees.

So, the boss literally has no idea what I'm talking about. But he agrees to go to the big boss and figure it out. The Big Boss was not aware of the problem either, but she looks at the job that I described and figures out that it is for another department, who just happens to have an unfilled personel requisition. Hmmm.

So she agrees to forward my contact information to the correct manager, and I happily promise to lick her feet if she will let me go.

Stay tuned.

Oh. And an hour after that happened, my buddy in SEA called and offered me a job.

It's never dull.