"I sentence you to watching 30 days of TV"

Remember when cable TV first entered out lives?  We were promised hundreds of channels that would rock our world.  What happened?  Most of it is about as entertaining as a test pattern.  

Am I the only person breathing who doesn't like court TV coverage?  It just bores me to tears.  Zimmerman....case closed.  The state has had their case shot to hell.  Even the judge walked out yesterday.  Spare me any more, it's over, OK?

Now all eyes are on this Major Nidal fellow who shot up Fort Hood a few years ago.  He did it.  Fact.  He has no defense.  He offered one, but the judge said it was too silly to even consider.  Yet by law he has to plead "not guilty".  Why?  If he truly has a defense, let's hear it, otherwise spare me the noise.  Sounds like a waste of time and money to me. 

The evening news shows are even boring. The first ten minutes covers the news, the rest is just filler.  And prime time....yes, we can sing, we can dance, we can swap wives, we can watch some bimbo buy shoes and put on her makeup, and we can watch some fat guy exercise his flab away.  Big whoop.  (Note:  IMO weight loss caused by crying a river of tears on national TV shouldn't count.)

When a truly entertaining show does come along it has awards just thrown at it because it's pretty much the only game in town.  

If you like the current crop of TV shows, well, I'm happy for ya.  Me, I'm a defeated man:  I actually watch cooking shows.  (But I suspect the hottie chefs wear those low cut dresses just to bring in a male audience.  ;)

My theory is this sorry state of TV is why e-readers are so popular today.  Let's face it....Amazon didn't get where they are by producing crappy TV shows.

S

Coffee, tea, or an exit row seat?

I wonder how long it will be before some airline marketing type decides thay can charge a premium price on exit row seating?  Just one more menu item for you to choose from when booking a trip.

"Priority boarding....a mere $20."  Nope.

"A cocktail, Sir?  Only $5?"  Umm....sure.

"Would you like a sandwich....only $8?"  Eight bucks?  No thanks.

Think you might need to use our convenient in-flight toilet facilities?  Just $3?"  No, it's only a 2 hour flight.  I can hold it.

"How about an exit row seat for a measly $100 additional?  Can save your life....whatdayasay, sport?"

After the Asiana 777 crash in San Francisco I'll bet the flight attendants will have a plane full of attentive passengers when they give their pre-flight spiel about how to bail out in an emergency.  I always volunteer for exit row seating because you generally have more leg room there, but I'm not sure I'd pay for it.  But of course I always know where my exits are anyway.

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Back a dozen years ago when I was active in the airshow biz I completed ARFF (Aircraft Rescue and Fire Fighting) training at Dallas' Love Field.  The Dallas FD periodically puts on training classes for suburban fire departments that have small airports in their area.  It was a very eye opening experience.

Not me.  This was pinched off the internet for example.

We trained on the Southwest Airlines mock-fuselage at their Dallas home base.  In one exercise we were all seated inside, then they pumped in some sort of cloudy gas so thick you couldn't see the end of your nose.  Then they told us to find the exit, open it, and slide out.  You meet the nicest people crawling around on the floor of an airliner.  :)

Next we had to gear up.  We put on full firefighter "bunker gear"....heavy boots, fire coat and pants, nomex hood, air mask, helmet, gloves, and a Scott Air Pack.  Then in 3-man teams we had to climb a ladder up onto the wing (not easy dressed like we were), open the escape door from the outside, and climb in.  That opening is smaller than it looks.  It was very hard for me to get my head down and under while at the same time picking my feet/legs up and over.  I was pretty much folded in half.  And I don't fold in half very gracefully. *no*

Then we had to find the injured guy (a 160 pound dead weight dummy), unbuckle him, pick him up (it's all about leverage), get him down that narrow aisle onto a backboard, and slide him down the chute, all while being timed.  The professional firefighter teams did it in 3-4 minutes.  My team of amateurs did it in....let's just say my guy would have been dead, cold, stiff, and ripe before we got him out.  

Then we got to go out and play with the big trucks.  FAA requirements say that equipment must be able to get to any spot on the airport within 3 minutes.  Because of this some airports are so large they have multiple fire stations.  (DFW has four.)

The surprising thing to me was how fast they are!  And when they get to where they need to be they can dump a LOT of water/foam/whatever in no time.  As soon as they arrive the driver, using a joystick like a video game, can aim his water cannon and unload in seconds.  Very impressive!  I got to use the joystick and squirt water, but they wouldn't let me drive the truck.  I can't imagine why?  ;)

Bottom line:  These guys and ladies are VERY good.  And they go out on calls a lot more often than you might imagine.  Fortunately most incidents turn out to be non-events as the landings turn out OK.

Point is....be thankful for our first responders, pay attention to what your flight attendants say, and bring your own crappy sandwich.  ;)

S

Cars and Coffee, July 2013

I think we're in the summer doldrums.  It wasn't that hot yesterday morning, but it was uncomfortably muggy, the kind of muggy that makes you just wanna stay inside.  Still there were some diehard car aficionados like me who ventured out to see and be seen.  Some highlights:

The British contingent was rather skimpy this month.  I did see a few that turned my head, though, like this Aston Martin Vantage in the right color.  (That would be British Racing Green.)

Ditto for this modern-but-old-looking Morgan.

But what happened here?  This is a right-hand-drive Morgan with a back seat (why?) and this ridiculous looking tarp canopy.  And that color!  *gasp*

Not to worry, however, as this nice Jaguar E-Type saved the day for Her Majesty's Empire....

....with an able assist from his E-Type Coupe chum.  (Leave it to the Brits to re-define "hatchback".)

The Germans were present and in fine fettle, showing off this classic 30's era BMW 327 (?).

Kudos to whoever restored it.

And at the other extreme....

....was this little BMW Isetta 1300.  These little micro-cars are turning up more at shows here.  Wonder where they've been before now?  This one was a 3-wheeler and was actually tagged as a "Classic Motorcycle".

It adds a whole 'nuther dimension to the term "Spartan", doesn't it?  Love the little gear shift sticking out the side panel.  Haha!

How about a couple hundred thousand dollars worth of BMW Z-8's?

Raise your hand if you've ever seen one of these?  (I haven't.)

It's a 1986 Renault (French) Alpine.

And for something American I offer you this very nice Ford Model A (?).  This one was blue.  I thought Henry Ford said "You can have any color you want as long as it's black"? Maybe not the original color?

  
Or you could have this V-10 Dodge Viper in Wallflower Green.  "It'll pass everything but a gas station."

Bazinga!  Fiat 500 Abarth.  Nice wheels.

But my personal favorite of the day was one of the aforementioned BMW Z-8's....

It's hard to believe this is a 13-year-old design!

Think it will ever depreciate enough for me to afford it?  (Short answer:  NO!)

Back home later I tried to tell Luke about everything I'd seen, but he didn't seem too interested.  I guess he isn't a "car guy".

Enjoy the rest of your day.  ;)

S

The greatest invention of all time

What is the greatest invention of all time?  I suppose that depends on where you are and your circumstances.

If you go back far enough it might be the wheel.  Think about it....without wheels we'd probably still be walking.  No carts, wagons, stage coaches, cars, nothing.  We'd spend our lives just dragging stuff around.

Maybe the bow and arrow, and later gunpowder?  Then you could defeat those pesky 'ol Huns trying to storm your castle without having to ruin you nails in hand-to-hand combat.

The telegraph / telephone?  Then you could communicate with friends or do business with people hundreds of miles away.  The common man began to understand there was a big wide world out there.

The harnessing of electricity?  Then we could see and do things after dark.

Oh....these were huge!....trains and automobiles.  Where they were originally rich man's toys, Corny Vanderbilt and Henry Ford put us all on wheels.  Now we could work and play and make stuff for people far away from where we lived.  Until then most people grew up, married and raised families, worked and eventually died within maybe 25 miles of where they were born.  Easy transportation opened up commerce, created jobs, and raised the living standards of the masses.

The airplane?  A personal favorite of mine, it did the same as the automobile, but over longer distances.

Personal computers and the internet?  Now we had the knowledge of the world at our fingertips.  

And of course there are probably regional favorites, too.  I'm sure If you live in the Mid-East you're probably still amazed by toilet paper.  And judging by the way they like to throw them, rocks.  

NOTE:  This is NOT me, although the resemblance is striking.

But for me, a guy who grew up in the South and has become increasingly intolerant of heat, my personal favorite invention of all time is air conditioning.

Definitely, air conditioning.  ;)

What say you?

S

My career as an America's Cup sailor

Growing up near land-locked Dallas I was always impressed by what I didn't have....the ocean, and in particular sailing ships. They were just so foreign to anything I ever saw here.  All we have near me are lakes, which are usually packed with drunken redneck boaters doing stupid things....nothing I want any part of.  

In my yout I always looked forward to watching the America's Cup races on ABC's Wide World of Sports.  The America's Cup was the most prestigious event in sailing, and the boats were sleek racing yachts crewed by intrepid sailors hanging on for dear life.  To me they were the most beautiful, exotic things in the world.

One summer around this time we were invited to go with our friends Ingrid and Bill to Galveston Island where Ingrid's aunt and uncle had a beach house.  Best of all, they also had a sailboat, and I was determined to launch my America's Cup racing career in that little boat.  It wasn't much, but it was a start....a little tiny thing that was just big enough for two people.

It looked something like this.

I bought a book on sailing and learned all there was to know on the subject, or so I thought.  In my mind I could "reach" and "tack" and "run", all those nautical things I would need to know during The Big Race. 

After a few days lying in the dirt on the beach I broached the subject to Ingrid:  "Why don't we take your uncle's little sailboat out?  I know how to sail."

Always game in a sort of wonderfully ditsy way, Ingrid and I lowered our racer into the water and pushed it out a ways, then I raised the mainsail and we were off!  Down the canal, into the marina, then out into the open bay we flew.

I was doing nicely until I realized we were getting uncomfortably far from land.  Time to turn back. That's when I realized sailing into the wind was a lot easier said than done.  I tried to act cool, but Ingrid and I both soon knew it was time to start paddling.

After what seemed like forever we finally made it back inside the protected bay where the wind changed on me again.  I don't care which way I turned the rudder, my boat was going where it wanted to go, my input be damned.

And where it wanted to go was straight into a covered boat stall on the far side of the marina.  Somehow by the Grace of God I "sailed" straight into the only one vacant.  The relatively soft impact with the dock threw me out of the boat....into water about 4 feet deep!  It was a humiliating waist-deep walk back across the marina pulling that little boat with Ingrid still perched on top.

That day I learned a valuable lesson:   It's a very short walk from being a Hero to a Zero.

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Today I was reading about the Louis Vuitton Challenge Cup currently underway in San Francisco to determine the next America's Cup challenger.  Now their boats are huge catamarans and they're flying through the air about as much as they're skimming over the water.  Just amazing!

I'm still impressed!  Maybe in my next life.  *sigh*

Happy Independence Day everyone.  ;)

S

Viva Egypt!

The news is full of reports and photos from Egypt showing huge crowds protesting against President Mohammad Morsi, and they keep referring to Egypt as one of America's "key allies".  Now I don't profess to be a Mid-East expert, but I have no idea what Egypt has done to deserve the designation of "key ally".  Anybody help me out?

True, we always seem to have a couple billion of those pesky 'ole Greenbacks littering the Washington landscape and every year Egypt sends a delegation over to Hoover 'em up for us.  And they're not taking pot-shots at Israel, so I guess that's good. 

And they do allow us to send busloads of tourists to see their really old rock piles....that's pretty cool.  But otherwise....?

Here's an idea that might calm them down:  Why don't they buy some paint and spruce the place up?  Have you ever seen a more blah looking landscape?  If I lived in Cairo I'd be protesting in the streets, too.  How depressing!  Makes you want to grab a Molotov cocktail and burn something up, doesn't it?

But back on today's theme....what does Egypt have to offer that makes them a critical American ally?  Isn't Egyptian cotton supposed to be the best in the world?  So without their cotton we wouldn't have 1200-thread-count sheets?  Is that their contribution to world peace and prosperity? 

*Ding!*  I get it now!  I hope they can work things out, 'cause the world needs their fancy sheets, you know.  

Meanwhile, here's hoping you have a safe and happy July 4th.  :)

S

"Rode hard and put away wet"

Last night K and I babysat two of our wonderful grand-kidlettes while the parents took some "kicker" dance lessons.  My only advice to my daughter and SIL:  They should limit those kids to decaf ONLY.

After a full 15 rounds....er....3 hours, I think an impartial judge would have called it a "draw".  K actually stood her ground....I was behind the curve all night.  Hers liked to play baseball and basketball, so they pitched and batted and shot baskets all evening.  Mine liked to point and grunt and wet herself, and I soon realized I've lost my proficiency in speaking "point and grunt", but the diaper thing I nailed!  Fortunately I learned she liked my iPhone, which saved me.  

The important thing is nobody got hurt.  Yes, I'm fine, thank you for asking.  (Seriously, they're great kids! ;)

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The weatherguesser this morning noted the West is having one of its hottest summers on record, and the East is having one of its wettest summers ever.  I wonder what the summer holds for Texas?

This morning here in Dallas we're within one degree of setting a record low temperature for this date.  Do I dare hope?

S