Listen Up ...

via BLACKFIVE


Previously in Sea Stories

Burying the Hatchet

Please Rise for Our National Anthem

A local radio station here, KSON does The National Anthem each morning just at 8AM
Last week before Thanksgiving they did the Dixie Chicks Studio version and I have to say these girls do a fine job with the Star Spangled Banner.
Have a nice day.

Introducing

Chairwoman of the House Financial Services Committee
Maxine "Take the Money and Run" Waters



ROLLOVER
Dave in PB's Farging Rollover Code!

Yabba Dabba Courtesy of IOTW

Occuwhiners - Toronto

Polifrog says "Goodbye Occupy"

UPDATE: BlogBuddyAdrienne sends a link from the Daley Gator of an Occutard getting tazed and drug out of the Capital.

Just point and laugh!

Yet, He Stands There Stuttering in His Miserable Failing ClusterF@#$ery

via NewsMax

President SCOAMF’s job approval rating is caught in a funk. A new Gallup Poll shows the rating stood at 43 percent last week, identical to the prior four weeks. The president’s disapproval rating registered 49 percent last week, also unchanged from a week earlier.

To be sure, SCOAMF’s approval rating has recovered from his term low of 40 percent, which was recorded in August during the debt ceiling saga. Still, SCOAMF’s rating has sagged from the 45-50 percent range it occupied for much of the first half of the year. In January, it stood at 49 percent.

Honestly ... I can't believe there are 43% of those hootennannies that look at what this President has done and call in with approval.

Game Day

Every Freaking Day

Effective July 1, 2011, commercial and institutional properties must also recycle rigid plastics including clean food waste containers, jugs, tubs, trays, pots, buckets, and toys. Residents with City recycling service must also recycle these materials. Residents serviced by a private hauler are encouraged to recycle these items as well.

This is taken to mean every waste can in the facility needs to have a blue waste can beside it with appropriate signage identifying it as recycling. Since we can't be trusted to take our recylables into the kitchen and use that can every desk has to have it's own recycle can ... with a sign. Now there's guy from the city inspecting for compliance ... CAN WE WASTE ANY MORE MONEY ANY QUICKER?

Sea Stories

Atsugi
A typical flight takes 2 hours to get all our gear in the air. Here is how it went. Linemen and Plane Captains along with the Maintenance Chief take off in a military version of a Boeing 727. It's a C-22 I think. These aircraft had their own crew 2 pilots and several stewards. They were not attached to us but belonged to our detachment for the duration of the mission. If you were Military in Quam say and wanted to get to Hawaii you could check in and ride along if there was room. It was on our schedule not yours. Seats were taken out of the rear to tiedown our gear. An hour after the first 727, We would launch the flight of F4s. Another hour then the second 727 takes off with mechanics airframers and electricians and whomever is left behind. It was usually several plane captains that had launched the previous flight. On arrival the first crew sets up the transient line and prepares to catch the flight of F4s. The maintenance chief is already getting reports from the pilots as they land. When The second 727 arrives, we get out, Check in with Chief Towbar,fix whatever is broken and take off the next day.

AFTERBURNER

Whittle on the OWS Obamavilles

Sea Stories

Pattaya Beach
Landing in Bangkok we had to go through customs. "JusMang" they call it. Our group had been surrounded by armed soldiers since leaving our plane. We were instructed to leave everything on the aircraft except for a change of clothes it makes clearing customs very easy.

Outside the airport we hired a bus to take us to Pattaya Beach. The drive is about 100 miles on a very slow bus. We arrived in Pattaya Beach in early afternoon and checked into our rooms. These were tiny solidly built huts with thatched roofs. Very nice! Out on the beach we walked up and down the boardwalk trying local street food and drinks The favorite was a slice of grilled meat on a stick with a singha.

After dinner we toured the beer bars which were everywhere. The typical setup was a boxing ring surrounded by a bar on four sides with stools to sit. There would be exhibition kick boxing now and then, mostly teenagers. Girls too, I'm here to tell you there's a lot of nice girls in Pattaya Beach.

Before turning in we made arangements for breakfast to be delivered before dawn to our rooms. In the morning I got a call just as breakfast was ready. I let the waitress in as we exchanged good mornings in our own languages. She noticed the brand new Jimmy's Steak House tee I had brought to change into for the trip back to Bangkok. She had to have it. I don't know why. It might have been because of the logo from Guam or because it was American made heavy cotton. In a minute she was in under the covers inviting me in. Who am I to deny this sweet girl her Jimmy's Steak House Tee Shirt? We exchanged pleasantries for a while and she left with her brand new Jimmy's Steak House tee shirt thanking me I think. I'm like "what the heck was that"? As we mustered up for the trip back to Bangkok everyone was smiling for some reason.

Sea Stories

Guam
This is the first time we met up with the Air Force. Not a lot going on It was an overnight stop for fuel and rest. Met with and traded patches with some airmen in the barracks. We went out for dinner at a place called Jimmys Steak House. If you get the chance … Do yourself a favor and buy several Jimmy's Steak House tee shirts. You're gonna need them when you get the Pattaya Beach. Don't ask … Trust me. We all bought a tee shirt had dinner and went back to to the base at Andersen. We posted the watch's and slept. We were off again at dawn.

Black Friday

Happy Thanksgiving

Does anyone know how to cancel a bid on eBay?

via Dan on FB
I put in a $7 bid for a “Mickey Mouse outfit” and now it seems I’m only 19 minutes away from owning Obama’s entire cabinet.

Sea Stories

Olongopo City
This was our last liberty stop before returning to California with the flight of Marine F4Ns. Chief Towbar had us all gathered after clearing customs. We only had a few items with us. We were in our coveralls and had some civies for later. Chief Towbar was taking us to his bar. Actually it was Towbar's girlfriend store. We entered the Bar from the street and were escorted to the upstairs front porch. There were 8 of us sipping San Miguels. Towbar was doing interviews. One by one The chief would select a girl for each of the crew. I know what you're thinking but it was not anything like I had expected. These girls had a job to do and they would keep us safely occupied overnight in the city. Primarily They were told to have us cleaned up and present for dinner at a nearby resturant just at dark. Thats pretty much how the schedule worked. We had been to so many different places, nobody knew what time it was. We just schedule things for dawn, midday or dusk. Towbars interview was probably more about being able to trust these girls to bring us back on time or not running off somewhere. He couldn't take the chance that we might go missing or get into trouble and miss muster the next morning for the flight back to Atsugi. We had to stay togeather so we setup at the bar.

The girl Towbar selected for me was a beauty. She might have been a bit older than I. No more than 5 feet tall, very smooth jet black hair, brown eyes, a little skinny in the middle and a very nice backside. Her name was Leti. Nice Girl. All having selected a girlfriend. They took us to get cleaned up. In the bath Leti tugged open my coveralls to get me ready to bathe. My clothes were a mess from the days we spent in Tailand and Hong Kong. She took them out to be cleaned along with the coveralls. When she returned I was already in the tub and she just hopped right in. She didn't like the beard I had fuzzed up since leaving San Diego. She sat accross my middle and carefully shaved away the fuzz with a straight razor and a bit of soap. Later after the bath and a very oily massage I had nothing at all to change into so we just enjoyed each others company for a while.

My clothes came back from the laundry smelling like flowers. It was her perfume. Coveralls too. We dressed and I gave Leti a handfull of twenties to change into pesos for our dinner later. She gave me back 2 deciding it was too much. Towbar told us to let the girls change the money for us. She came back with a huge stack of money. 40 bucks buys a lot of freaking pesos apparently. It was time to head back to the bar and ready for dinner. Leti stored my gear in her little sleeping room. Everyone was smiling for some reason and all showed just at dark and off we went with the girls. After dinner we broke up into smaller groups and went dancing or listening to music then later it was back to the bar and to sleep. We mustered up in the morning, hired a bus to take us back to the airport. Nice Girl!

Sea Stories

Atsugi
We stopped in Guam and Okinawa on the way into Atsugi The plan was to exchange aircaft with 3 Squadrons based in Atsugi. We give over our brand new aircraft from San Diego, then make ready 10 old F4Ns from the line. It was 1982 and the Navy and the Marine Corps fleet had been decimated by Jimmy Carter during the 70's. There were no parts. Everything had already been scavanged. Any plane that could still fly had a brother that could not. Marines will fly anything. Navy pilots will not. We had to make it back accross the ocean. This became the assembly line of motor swaps. Strut replacements. Fuel cels. Wheels and Tires. Fixing leaks. Patching holes. Polishing or replacing conopies. Some you could not even see through. The electronics had to be replaced. Egress it was a nightmare. PAPERWORK! it never ended. To this day I have no idea how we did it. I thank Ronald Reagan for the parts that we got in such a short time. We had watch's 24/7 keeping an eye on the birds as they came togeather and the parts locker as it filled up. We were working the transient line so we didn't get much traffic. We had our first 10 birds ready in just under 2 weeks. They were as ready as they going to be and were able to pass a prefilght inspection.

It was cold in northern Japan. We had some cold weather gear with us from San Diego. Except it doesn't get cold here. Marines helped us out with Jackets and gloves watch caps and such from the parachute shop. Evenings we could get off base and go to dinner. At one point the locals had been protesting something at the gate and they had to weld it shut. Liberty is coming!

For Some Reason

This makes me giggle like a school girl

via AWD

Headlines That Just Write Themselves

Shocker: Chicks Don’t Dig Camping Out With a Bunch of Smelly Losers

There are probably women who aren’t bothered much by poor hygiene, and there may be women who aren’t bothered by a lack of toilet and bathing facilities. But I think you’ll have a hard time finding women who aren’t bothered by the kind of bad stuff that happens to women when they’re constantly surrounded by a bunch of scummy, predatory cop-haters: Rape, sexual assault, sexual assault, rape, sexual assault, indecent exposure, sexual assault, gang rape . . . You get the picture.

A Public Service Announcment

Viruses are going around allover

There is one right now I seen several times it installs something that looks like Antivirus software that does nothing but break your computer. It just turns off services you need to use your computer. Kills mail the browsers network services on various ports etc. The most recent is called AV Protection 2011 Do not buy anything from these clowns the software you get only breaks the computer more than it is already and costs 29 dollars in the process. It turns into a Zombie computer.

2 Things

Avast Antivirus is fine Use the free one

You should know about when it happened. Do a System Restore to a point in time prior to that event.

If its a bad one you may need to start the computer in safe mode.
Hold Down the F8 button whilst turning on the computer.
After it boots into SAFE Mode
Choose Start > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > System Restore

You get something that looks like a calendar. Select restore point prior to that event. The computer will reboot when it's complete

Sea Stories

Kenehoe Bay
We had lost our shiney new Navy LT. It was dark already. I was standing on the hood of the jeep next to Chief Towbar. He was instructing me on the plan like he was calling a play. He was saying "Hobson you have one job right now. It needs to be done and we need to get out of here." He shoved me up and through the louvered window of the hanger and I sort of slid down the wall on the inside. There was a catwalk overhead where the SGT of the watch kept his office. I waited in the dark for a minute to make sure I had not been noticed. There were several motors in this space but only one was still spewing oil. That's mine. I slid under the rack and quickly sniped the safety wire on the main fuel control linkage and worked the bolt that secured the device. It took just a minute and was done.

Now I have to get out. I was stacking pallets end on end to climb up to the window. "I was wondering when you would be back" he said, as I froze in the dark. It was the SGT. He gave me a thumbs up and I realized this was not an ordinary Marine. I scrambled up my makeshift ladder out the window and away. I'm thinking now he probably left that window open for us. Orders had prohibited his being able to give us the part we needed, however he didn't mind at all if we took it.

Game Day

Sea Stories

Wake Island
Skipping ahead here ... We had already been through Wake Island several times. This time it was a return flight with 10 or so busted marine F4ns. Those things leaked from everywhere as soon as the motors started cooling down. We were meeting up with the Airforce crew that had been doing the inflight refueling for us. Before leaving Olongopo City Chief Towbar made arrangements for securing several dozen cases of San Miguels and a couple of suckling pigs dressed out and packed in Ice. Wake Island is beautiful now. It's actually 2 islands separated by a lagoon and a bridge. Peal Island I think it's called. On the Island there were 3 Philipino men that handled the airfield and 2 American Doctors. There is a barracks / Hotel A cafeteria ... A barber shop with a bowling alley behind it. Every Bowling ball in the place had like 30 holes drilled into it in various sizes oh and a bar. Drinks were 50 cents a piece no matter what you ordered. It's a coral island and there are still bullets everywhere you step. Nice island but no chicks for thousands of miles in any direction. Bummer!

This was our last flight through so the the Skipper made arrangements with the Airforce crew for an epic softball battle and barbeque. The Airforce actually brought in there own bus to transport between the airfield and the village. We would go on to liberate that bus later that night after the ball game to go fishing. The philipino guys from the airfield lived a ways out from the village and kept a little man made pond where they raised what they called milk fish. Delicious ... with whatever the sauce was that they made. Epic game that nobody kept score. Fun night. Later I went fishing off the bridge with Pete. He managed to catch a small shark with his dropline. We ate it for breakfast. Thats all I can remember. We may have attempted to put shark in bed with one of the younger crewmen before taking it to kitchen.

Wasted

I'm heading into the office later to finish a project that needs doing. I work the weekends when I have a deadline to meet. It strikes me odd that these people have no ambition at all. They may well be educated but its all wasted.

Sea Stories

Back in the early 80's I was honored to have served with the US Navy. TAD to the VF121 TransPacSupDet. Mechanic or Aviation Machinist Mate AD3. We were tasked with receiving, making ready and transporting brand spanking new F4S' at the time from the Naval Aviation Rework Facility in San Diego to several Squadrons based in Atsugi Japan. Marines! During the first Transpac our first stop was in Honolulu for fuel and rest. It was the first time I had been to Hawaii. I spent the entire time in the hanger. Working. One of the birds had blown a main bearing seal during this leg of the flight and needed a motor replacement. The J79 Gas Turbine Powereplant is more of a wind machine than it is a motor. This one needed replacing and the only ones around with a fresh motor on a rack were the Marines over at Kenehoe Bay.

Everyone heads out for liberty except the the Watch, airframers and mechanics. NICE! Engine Replacement is not difficult with the right gear. We brought every thing with us. Short of Seals, clamps and safety wire the fresh motor comes with everything and we literally just jack it up and roll it in. EXCEPT ... the Main Fuel Control Linkage is still hanging on the old motor and is on its way back to the marines in Kenehoe. The Maintenace Chief was a giant everyone just called "Towbar" "SUCK BANG and BLOW ... Lose any one of those and yer not flying anymore ... Yer Falling" He had the duty in the hanger overnight supervising the crews. I explained the stiuation about the missing Fuel Control link and He went off and returned later with a Jeep and a brand new Navy LT. I grab some tools and jumped in the jeep.

To the watch at Kenehoe we tried explaining our need for the fuel control linkage and how it was the only one on the Island and that we needed to leave the next day and all. NOPE! "CHESSUS" Explained again to the SGT of the Watch and then again to the OOD. "Fricken Marines!" Most of the time these guys are standing around looking for food or ammo ... and where do they come? Yep they come to the Navy. The truth was our broken motor now belongs to the USMC. It was secured and we were not allowed to take anything from it. Later, after dark we were able to reaquire the fuel control linkage and that could be a whole other story. There's only 3 people on the planet that know how that went down.

Back in Honolulu we were able to buttonup the bird pretty quick, do the proscribed CDI inspections,paperwork low and high power turns in the hush house and were off to Wake Island.

This Would Sell Itself

Please Rise for Our National Anthem

Game Day

It Aint Funny

Prank Call

Capture the Flag

The TEA Party Edition

Doing it Right - Bruins

Saw This Over at

Fishersville

and couldn't Resist

SCOAMF

via SondraK and the Republic
TORONTO — Canada has stepped up its lobbying after the SCOAMF administration delayed a decision on an oil pipeline critical to the country's economic future.

Canada's prime minister said he made it clear in a weekend meeting with U.S. President SCOAMF that Canada will step up its efforts to sell oil to Asia since the SCOAMF administration delayed a decision on the proposed Keystone XL pipeline.

UPDATE:

The Media is the Enemy

via IOTW

I couldn't not post this.

Just listen for a while

Welcome

to the Association of Miniscule to Middling Conservative Blogs


The blogging Squirrels have added a new member to the Association
We welcome innominatus

An Instant Classic

via The Burning River Blog

Watch the language ... no bleeps at all

Game Day

The College Edition

Professor+Media+Woodshed

via DougM @ KISP
Some Assembly Required

Thank You

VJ Day Honolulu Hawaii August 14th 1945
via Curmudgeonly Skeptical

VJ Day, Honolulu Hawaii, August 14, 1945 from Richard Sullivan on Vimeo.

Happy Veterans Day!

Please Rise for Our National Anthem

Veterans Day 2011

Game Day

Please Rise for our National Anthem

Happy Birthday Marines

Fast and Furious on Fox

This Pinal County Sheriff says a Mouthful

Getting It

Mike Rowe: America Has a Dysfunctional Relationship with Work

He mentions his testimony in Washington however its the same message.

OWS Headlines

via American Digest

Sunday Morning Reads

As SondraK would Say "There Is A Word for This"
Ineptocracy: The Pelosi Edition
A system of government where the least capable to lead are elected by the least capable of producing, and where the members of society least likely to sustain themselves or succeed, are rewarded with goods and services paid for by the confiscated wealth of a diminishing number of producers.


I'll admit ... This is Lame. I was trying to finish Game of Thrones.
For some real Sunday Morning Reads go visit Adrienne whom has posted a nice essay by JR Dunn ... Rumors of a Coup

Game Day

with Chicken and Dumplings tonight!

Expectation vs Reality

ROLLOVER
Farging Rollover Code!

There is a bug in this code or possibly browser related ... if you hover over the upper right of the image the rollover completely freaks out.

Tea Party vs OWS

Watch the language ... they do a fair job with the bleeps

Your First Job?

I was inspired the other day with a post via PISSED at The Feral Irishman
My First Job
I was twelve or thirteeen years old. My parents worked on Sunday morning after church at a place called Mr Snacks. It was home to a dozen or more lunch wagons that would bring coffee, fresh food and snacks all over the Boston area. My parents, aunts, and all us kids made sandwiches for the trucks and the men to pickup on Monday morning. It was an assembly line with kids at either end lining up the sliced bread or rolls and at the far end wrapping the finished goods. My aunt would call out the sandwich orders "Toasted or Not?" and my dad handled the slicer for meats and cheeses. Later my dad introduced me to one of the drivers, a fellow named Mr. Nick. He ran a lunch wagon through the construction sites of Medford,Somerville and Cambridge. After school most days I would help Mr Nick with the truck, boiling out the coffee urns, hosing down the soft drinks bins, restacking the cokes and yohoos and restocking the candy. Then clearing out the hot sandwiches and pastries from the warming cabinet in the back. A top to bottom scrub on all surfaces every day. On Saturdays a kid could make 5 bucks a truck just doing a wash and wipe on each vehicle. The hot food could not be refrigerated and/or resold so I was often sent back up the house with armloads of sandwiches and pasteries like meatball subs, steak and cheese, lemon squares and such. I was lucky enough to do this for several years before highschool and is something I won't ever forget

Calm at OccupyOakland in a not so Calm sort of way

Presented Without Comment

This is What Catching a Break Looks Like

She's a bit worn but runs like a top. This'll do for a while

Update: Adrienne wants the details ... so she shall have them.

It's a 1995 Honda Passport, 190K miles, clean as whistle and only 500 bucks. A coworker offered it up to me when his dad gave it to him. Beats the heck out riding the bus.