Monday Music "Better be good to me" by Tina Turner

I almost didn't run this theme this week because of the war against cops, but I figured ATF ain't really police.
I have been enjoying the run of songs, I never had a theme last this long, and I am  really enjoying it in a weird sort of way,   I have several more weeks in mind, perhaps longer.  As long as I can flog er work the muse, I will, and for some reason Disco really plays well with this theme of songs for some reason.
     I am continuing my string of "bugaloo" songs.  This discussion was started in the "Monster Hunter Nation, Hunters Unite", back in December? it is a Facebook group with enthusiast of the ILOH "International Lord of Hate" A.K.A Larry Correia.  We were talking about what song would we use if we looked out of our window or glanced at our security camera and saw this.....

One of the alphabet bois lining up to take down your house...What would be your "Valhalla" song and you would set it up to play as you load up magazines and prepare yourself.

 I figured it would scar the alphabet boys if they come busting in and hearing a song that is related to Fast cars and good music in the 1980's.  What can I say, My humor is warped....just a bit. Next week will be "Love is a Battlefield  By Pat Benetar,  Now that should really cause some psych evals., hehehe, some poor ATF guy trying to explain the attraction to his mother because of Don Johnson. and the possibility of italian sports coats and an alligator named Elvis:D
      And nobody can do it like Tina Turner

Private Dancer is the fifth solo studio album by Tina Turner. It was released by Capitol Records in May 1984, and was her first album released through the label. Recording sessions for the album took place at several studios in England and was overseen by four different production teams, including Rupert Hine, and Martyn Ware and Ian Craig Marsh of Heaven 17. A radical departure from the rhythm and blues sound Turner had performed with her former husband and performing partner Ike Turner, the tracks in the album are a mixture of uptempos and ballads, inspired by pop and rock genres; it also features elements of smooth jazz and R&B.
After several challenging years of going solo after divorcing Ike, Private Dancer propelled Turner into becoming a viable solo star, as well as one of the most marketable crossover singers in the recording industry. It became a worldwide commercial success, earning multi-platinum certifications in Australia, Canada, Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States. To date, it remains her best-selling album in North America. Private Dancer produced seven singles, including "What's Love Got to Do with It", "Better Be Good to Me", "Private Dancer", and "Let's Stay Together". Positively received by critics on release for Turner's ability to give energy and raw emotion to slickly-produced professional pop/rock songs; its long term legacy is that the softening of her raw Southern soul style produced a "landmark" in the "evolution of pop-soul music". The album was promoted throughout 1985 in a 177-date worldwide tour entitled the Private Dancer Tour.

"Better Be Good to Me" is a hit rock song, written by Mike Chapman, Nicky Chinn and Holly Knight, featured on Tina Turner's fifth studio album, Private Dancer (1984). The song was originally recorded and released in 1981 by Spider, a band from New York City with co-writer Holly Knight as a member. Tina Turner's version was successful in the United States on the Hot 100 and the US R&B/Hip-Hop chart. It peaked at number five on the Billboard Hot 100 and number six on the US R&B/Hip-hop chart. At the 27th Grammy Awards in 1985, it won Best Rock Vocal Performance, Female, one of four Grammys awarded to Turner's Private Dancer at that ceremony.

In the video Tina Turner is seen performing this song on stage. She is wearing a black leather jacket, and black skin tight knee length leather pants, with leopard print high heels and spikey blond hair. Towards the end, a man appears on stage (Cy Curnin of The Fixx), grabs Tina's arms and Tina looks him in the eyes and sings the words "Why can't you be good to me?" to him and then pushes the man away. At the end of the video Tina disappears under the stage in a puff of smoke. Both Curnin and the guitarist in the video, Jamie West-Oram (also of The Fixx), perform on the Private Dancer album.



 

end of an era for my employer

MD-88

                                        Going through a retirement ceremony.

My employer took possession of the first MD-88 32 years ago and quickly grew to like the reliability of the airplane.  McDonald Douglass had quirks but they had engineered the airplane well. and the plane started out as the MD-82 with us and then there were upgrades and we changed it to the MD-88 standards and then we bought more of the airplanes and upgraded our MD-82 to the MD-88 standards

Nose View

I have worked a lot on the 88 and 90 series of airplanes, my employer is retiring both series of them.  Both are kinda long in the tooth as far as airplanes goes.  if they are maintained well, they are reliable, and we know "T" tails like nobody else.  We took the 717 that was "ok"  that Airtran had and when Southwest merged with Airtran and they "leased" us all 88 of them already kitted out in our livery ready to go for 100 million, we worked the maintenance program and *boom* the plane was a money maker for us because we know "T" tails. 

   The MD 88 and 90 series airplanes were moneymaker for my employer when we were in bankruptcy, we owned the engines and the airframes free and clear so everytime the planes took off and landed, the cash registers rang at the headquarters, it kept needed cash flowing during the dark times when we had only a week or 2 of cash on hand especially when USAIR tried for a hostile takeover during the bankruptcy hearings.  

Cockpit

What finally got the MD-88/90 was the Kung-Flu.  We were planning in retiring the planes in 2021, because we couldn't upgrade the avionics to handle the new FAA mandated ATC system for the airports that also incorporates superior airplane tracking and the MD 88 couldn't handle it and the engines are not fuel efficient and they are NOISY. Fuel efficiency is very important because fuel cost is huge cost factor for an airline. When I first started with the company, with low seniority, we would joke that being stuck in the back by the engines was "Non-rev hell"  My son when he was little couldn't understand why we didn't get a window that didn't have an engine in the view and I was just glad to be in the airplane.  He understood when he was got older.

I never really liked working on the planes, because I am an older rounder person and the planes are low to the ground and it is hard to get into some of the areas that are required for a mechanic to get into.  On the flipside, they are "mechanical" airplanes not fly by wire so they are not susceptible to electronic gremlins like the newer airplanes.  I will miss the planes, they will be going to Arkansas for storage and eventual recycle and harvesting.   We still have the B717 which is the MD-95 before Boeing bought McDonald Douglas and and changed the plane to the B717.
    There was a running joke, when the last A350 is parked at Victorville, the crew would be flown back in an 88.

Something to do and think about while traveling...

If you are traveling, I pulled this off an early blogpost back in 2012.  I have been doing a lot of Dr visit, apparently I jacked up my back......*ouch*  I knew that I had done a post on what to do if you get caught up in a mob while walking....I will use that one next

I got this on Yahoo.com.    It has some common sense approach to travel.   I will also include some of my own opinions in Red.

(Photo: David Wilson via flickr/CC Attribution)

"Speak clearly, if you speak at all; carve every word, before you let it fall," said Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. Thinking before you speak is an excellent strategy for anyone, but it's especially appropriate for the traveling set. To fend off foot-in-mouth syndrome while on the road, banish the following five phrases from your lexicon.

(P

Do You Speak English?

There are basic foreign-language expressions that every international traveler should learn before crossing borders, and this is one of them. Even if you're light-years away from fluency, a rudimentary grasp of simple phrases in the regional tongue—like "please," "hello," "thank you," "no thank you," and "where is the bathroom?"—will work wonders. Add to this list "Do you speak English?" to be stated in the applicable language. It's a show of respect. And locals will likely be more responsive and helpful to anyone who doesn't behave as if all citizens of the world ought to speak his or her native language.  Before you travel, it is good to brush up on the layout of the city where you are going, if going to a foreign country, google something about the language, there are translation apps out there.  Also get an idea of the local customs, and check on the local holidays, if you show up during a holiday, it could make it difficult to get around.  memorize the ways out of the city in case there is a social upheaval and you have to get out fast.  I would use gutteral russian or german when dealing with the pan handlers, if they don't thing you are an American, they leave you alone.  It sounds funny, but many panhandlers also gather intel for the snatch gangs , if you flash money, you will find yourself rolled or worse.  Many people for right or wrong view Americans as easy prey. 

(Photo: Elvert Barnes via flickr/CC Attribution)

Do You Have Change for a $20?
This phrase shouldn't be spoken to your bellman, tour guide, airport-shuttle driver, hotel housekeeper, or any other serviceperson not stationed behind a cash register. Travel and tipping go together like Lewis and Clark. Thus, road warriors should make a point of obtaining small bills in the local currency at the beginning of every trip. Don't put your service person in the position of awkwardly fumbling through his or her wallet in order to receive due recompense.  Also keep your wallet in your front pocket, don"t use a purse...that screams "grab me" to the local moped gang.  Before you travel, thin out your wallet, only take the basics, drivers license, medical card, 1 credit card( notify your CC company that you are traveling so they can keep an eye on unexplained purchases) and make a copy of your passport( more about that later)

(Photo: Enrico via flickr/CC Attribution)

Can You Help Me? I'm Lost, and I'm Staying at [Name of Hotel].

Have you seen the movie Taken? It's about a girl who gets kidnapped in Paris after human traffickers have found out where she is staying. Yes, it's Hollywood. But, to some degree, art imitates life. Many criminals target unsuspecting travelers—especially in popular tourist destinations—and it's not a smart idea to tell a stranger that you're from out of town or to publicize where you're bunking down for the night. You might not get sold into sex slavery, but you could get robbed, especially if your hotel lacks top-notch security.  Remember the copy of the passport I mentioned earlier?  Most hotels that cater to tourist have a safe in the room, Leave the original passport in the safe and use the copy when you are around town.  You have to safeguard the passport, if you have to get out fast, having a passport will make things easier with the U.S. Embassy.  Also stay on the ground floor in case you have to leave in a hurry and the doors are blocked.  Also keep a basic "bug out" bag in the safe with your passport, something small that allows you to keep some money, passport, small first aid supplies.  Also dress like the locals...no bling, try to blend in with the local scene. try to stay a bit off the main drag if you have to flee in a hurry.  It is easier to haul butt, if your egress ain't blocked.  I can't stress this enough, don't dress like an American...it is easier to blend in if you are nondescript. Old NFO, Lawdog and Peter and others that have been overseas can attest to what I have said.

(Photo: Jeremy Keith via flickr/CC Attribution)

I Don't Want To Go There; There Aren't Any Reviews!

While we appreciate the power and practicality of user-generated reviews, they have their limits. New establishments, locals-only joints, tiny B&B's, and less-traveled hideaways often get left off the reviews grid. Developing a dependence on the aggregated opinions of the faceless masses will prevent you from discovering anything remotely, well, undiscovered. It is good to explore, that is part of the charm, but it good to be prudent also.

One traveler told our sister site IndependentTraveler.com, "Some great travel memories I have are from exploring Switzerland by train. I stopped over in many towns [without] knowing anything about the place or where I would end up staying. It was liberating to fend for myself and discover all things with new eyes."

(Photo: redjar via flickr/CC Attribution and Share Alike)

Geez. It's Not Like I Have A Bomb.

Airport security can often seem like a joke—especially when young children get pat-downs or Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agents steal from passengers. But that doesn't mean you should play the part of the comedian when going through the metal detector. Travelers have been arrested for making jokes about terrorism in the airport. According to the TSA, "Belligerence, inappropriate jokes, and threats are not tolerated. Jokes and/or comments about threats to passengers or the aircraft will be taken seriously and can result in criminal or civil penalties for the passenger." Be on the safe side and save the jokes for after you've left the airport.  The TSA don't have a sense of humor.

Some Pithy Thoughts on the Recent Sporty Events

 I was working on this post for 2 days , Sorry for the delay
I gave the time required after watching the police officer kneel on the Mr Floyd Head which inadvertently caused his death while under custody.   Now some thoughts...

    When I had to go to MSP as part of my job several times, I was warned by people that lived there to avoid all contact with the police in MSP, the word was "Badge heavy" and "thumpers" was used" as was the word "assholes".  The Police department has paid out a lot of money over the years in lawsuits over citizen complaints over heavy handed use of force in dealing with the citizens, and this is just in the ones that filed complaints, not the ones that didn't bothered.  This to me showed a deep culture of corruption in the department, the good cops are either threatened into silence by the blue wall of brotherhood not to squeal on their fellow officer or they leave the dept to a different department, or find a different job or they become inured to the corruption or worse, they become like the ones that are corrupt.  It will take a strong leadership in cityhall and a strong chief to bring his or her own staff to remake the department.  and right now I don't see them doing that, they don't have the spine to make the call to do that.  To reform the department, you have to have a spine of iron and the chief will be beholden to the mayor who is a wimp and will be beholden to too many special interest groups to make the hard calls to revamp the department and you will be getting more of the same wishy stuff you have now.

        Now on the Protesting, the people protesting, they have a right to protest, it is in our constitution.  The right of peaceable assembly.   All day long, in this case, I agree with them.  Sometimes I don't agree with the protestors, in this case I do agree with them.  But the subsequent actions, of the rioting and looting? WTF?   This is totally different.  This has been totally coopted by other groups for the sole reasons for destruction and  looting.  There are businesses that are minority owned that have been destroyed, and will never return.  It will be a desert. When I see people rioting and looting and they are mostly white college aged neckbeards causing the destruction. The same college neckbeards that supported "Bernie the second coming of Lenin" Sanders for 2 runs for the democratic nomination for president of the United States of America.  We have Antifa causing the destruction and looting, they are coordinating via cellphones, I have Blogged a lot about Antifa in the past and this was found on protestors in the Atlanta area,

This shows that they are well organized and well supported, there is a lot of money behind them from Soros, to celebrities, to Biden staffers to people in the government.  President Trump has declared Antifa a terrorist organization, but I really don't have faith in the government to really pursue them with any real vigor because the government recruits from the same universities that Antifa spawns from so I don't hold out hope.  Now the Government will pursue me and my fellow veterans with more excitement than antifa I am sure of that.

    On a different note after the Obunger administration turned NASA into a Muslim Outreach program America returned to Space, We no longer paid extortion fees to the Soviets Russians to go  to the ISS.  

Monday Music "Smugglers Blues" by Glen Frey

Dangit, forgot to set the date and time on the scheduler thingie, and with blogger, you can't have "do overs"   Oh well...

Blogging has been Sporadic, I have been dealing with migraine issues and now I am going off furlough so it will be strange going back to work at a post Kung-Flu Employer.
     I have been enjoying the run of songs, I never had a theme last this long, and I am  really enjoying it in a weird sort of way,   I have several more weeks in mind, perhaps longer.  As long as I can flog er work the muse, I will, and for some reason Disco really plays well with this theme of songs for some reason.
     I am continuing my string of "bugaloo" songs.  This discussion was started in the "Monster Hunter Nation, Hunters Unite", back in December? it is a Facebook group with enthusiast of the ILOH "International Lord of Hate" A.K.A Larry Correia.  We were talking about what song would we use if we looked out of our window or glanced at our security camera and saw this.....

One of the alphabet bois lining up to take down your house...What would be your "Valhalla" song and you would set it up to play as you load up magazines and prepare yourself.

 I figured it would scar the alphabet boys if they come busting in and hearing a song that is related to Fast cars and good music in the 1980's.  What can I say, My humor is warped....just a bit. Next week will be "Better be good to me  By Tina Turner,  Now that should really cause some psych evals., hehehe, some poor ATF guy trying to explain the attraction to his mother because of Don Johnson. and the possibility of italian sports coats and an alligator named Elvis:D

The video for "Smuggler's Blues" won Frey an MTV Video Music Award in 1985, and inspired an episode of Miami Vice, in which Frey guest-starred.
In the video, Frey plays a smuggler (his then-wife Janie plays the smuggler's female accomplice). The video is like a short movie, fitting the lyrics exactly and packs danger, suspense, and intrigue into a small segment of time.
It opens with Frey in a car with his friend and male accomplice, counting money. A drug deal is about to go down. Frey appears nervous, but his friend laughs off his concerns. As he goes in the building to complete the deal, Frey stays in the car. Suddenly, he hears a gunshot. His friend comes running out, shouting that they have to get out of there right away and that something has gone wrong. As Frey peels out, two men chase them, shooting. They strike and kill Frey's friend. Frey sees that his friend is dead and barely has time to react before he has to figure out a way to escape from the two men who are now chasing him down in a car.
Knowing he has to lose them somehow, Frey pulls the car over once he is out of their sights, grabs the suitcase full of money, then makes a run for it. He escapes by going to the roof as the pair chasing him run around looking for him on the ground. He makes it safely back to his hotel, but there is not much time before they catch up. As he is talking to his female accomplice in his hotel room, one of them shows up in the lobby. Oblivious, Frey is giving out instructions - "Here's a little money now, do it just the way we planned..." After she leaves, he takes a moment to grieve - "I'm sorry it went down like this, but someone had to lose" - before getting ready to go himself.
Frey hurries down to the hotel's elevator bank and presses the button to go down. In the lobby, the one pursuer has pressed the button to go up. He gets into the elevator, then the video cuts back to Frey, waiting, back to the pursuer in the elevator cocking his gun, Frey again as the elevator door opens...leading the viewer to expect a confrontation, but nothing. After Frey gets into the elevator and the doors close behind him, it is revealed that there is a second elevator, with its doors opening to reveal the pursuer who has missed Frey by seconds.
Frey escapes to a gas station restroom, where he shaves and changes from his Hawaiian shirt and casual wear into a business suit. He slicks back his full, wavy hair and puts on sunglasses. As he leaves, he throws away the clothes, looking like a different person. He gets on a plane back to Miami.
Meanwhile, his accomplice is going through customs seemingly without any problems. Unfortunately, after she drives back to her place, the police catch her and take her in. She apparently rats out Frey, because in the next scene, the cops come to his home and take him in for questioning as well.
The verse matches up perfectly, as it appears Frey really is answering questions - "They move it through Miami, sell it in LA..." The interrogation scenes of he and the girl are interwoven, and it is seen that time is passing as Frey goes from being in his suit and tie, to no suit jacket, no tie, and a partially unbuttoned shirt. Finally, he is barely able to sit up straight, his hair is a mess, and he appears exhausted. However, police do not have enough evidence to hold him after a search fails to turn up anything.
Now thinking he is home-free, Frey drives down the highway but gets pulled over by what appears to be a motorcycle cop. Frey reaches for his driver's license but when he turns to the "policeman" to show it to him, he is staring into the laughing face of the pursuer whose tail he thought he had shaken... and down the barrel of his gun. The scene then fades to a presumably dead Frey slumped over the side of the car, with the car radio blaring a news announcement stating "Here are the top news stories this hour. Dade County Police are investigating the mystery shooting of a Miami businessman. At the moment, there appears to be no motive for the slaying..." as the video ends.
 

"The Heir to the Throne of the Kingdom of Idiots."

China has been on an ascendancy, they tested "W" right after he got sworn in after his contested election.  I think they were disappointed that he won, I think they wanted "Al" to win especially since Bill was very willing to sell our our precision duel use technology to them for a contribution to his election fund.  for those that doubt, I remember when our precision missile guidance technology happened to be "available" for sale*Wink Wink, Nudge Nudge* for satellite communications..  and there was a big donation to the Clinton Foundation,and some guy named "Lee" got rolled up in influence peddling and went to prison, but Bill got his money, and the Chinese got their technology.  I believe that Al Gore would have continued that fine democrat tradition of selling out the country for personal gain.  Well China believes that the 21st century is their century, from the movies they make for domestic consumption as well for international release, and their media policy.  They believe that this is their time to shine and they want the rest of the world to pay for generations of shame heaped on China for past misdeeds and the want the rest of the world prostrate before them.  The Chinese are communist of the first order, they don't believe in an afterlife, they have a mandarin outlook on life with communist and Mao thrown in.   Sorry for the incoherant rambling, this is what happens when I am having a migraine attack. I think I fixed it....Mostly
      I got this from SSG


At the end of the Clinton administration and the beginning of George W. Bush’s administration, it was possible to imagine that America was permanently ascendant.  The Cold War was over, the tech boom was going, and the worst stories in the news were of a slight increase in the number of shark attacks at the beach.  The Soviet Union had collapsed, China was just beginning to emerge from Communist-made poverty into the light of capitalism, and surely they would swing our way.  America had such a head start, though, who could catch up to it?
Sadly we know the answer.  After 9/11, the United States embarked upon a series of ruinous wars.  The wars did not have to be ruinous, but wars often are.  Rather than keeping our footprint in Afghanistan limited to small special operations groups to hunt Al Qaeda, we embarked on what is now a nearly twenty-year industrial-scale program to remake the country.  It has proven a vast sinkhole of American wealth, and cost the lives of many of our best youth.  The Iraq war could have been avoided, or at least it could have been won in 2010 with a status of forces agreement that would have kept us from having another decade of war against ISIS and Iranian proxies.  Yet then for some reason the Obama administration, which had run against the wars, decided to open new fronts in Libya, and then in Syria.
As a consequence of these multiple deployments, and the fact that the Afghan one required Russian support for our logistical route through the Central Asian republics, we were in no position to respond to Russia’s invasion of Georgia.  Nor Russia’s invasion of Crimea.  Nor Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. As a wise man once said, only the heir to the throne of the kingdom of idiots fights a war on many fronts.  Even two fronts seriously burdens a nation’s capacity for winning its wars.  The United States made a series of costly blunders over the previous two administrations.
China appears to be about to embark upon a set of blunders of its own.  The Security Studies Group has warned that the Chinese state could be readily embroiled upon three fronts at the decision of the United States and without the United States having to fight any of the wars.  China appears to have elected to open a fourth front, and to have accelerated two of the others on its own.
The first three fronts were Taiwan, where China is conducting aggressive war games and protesting American and French weapon sales; the Uighur, where China is engaged in genocide against a large ethnic minority group that extends beyond its borders into Central Asia; and Hong Kong, in which China has ‘altered the deal’ by imposing decades-early direct control from Beijing.
The fourth front is the border with India.

Thousands of Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) troops are reported to have moved into sensitive areas along the eastern Ladakh border…. In response, the Indian army has moved several battalions from an infantry division usually based in the Ladakh city of Leh to “operational alert areas” along the border, and reinforcement troops have been brought in.

From the American strategic perspective, this is good news.  Every additional front China entertains makes it less likely that it will accomplish its goals on any other front.  Taiwan can breathe a little easier as it watches Indian battalions digging into the Himalayas.  Hong Kong, nervously awaiting the crackdown, can hope for better fortunes if either of those other fronts becomes hot.  And should the Uighur find a large cache of arms, and perhaps some plausibly deniable trainers across the border in Afghanistan, not only will China be more likely to fail in its genocide but everywhere else as well.
This is in fact the strategy that ‘made America great’ in the first place.  In two successive world wars, America avoided fighting the conflict until near the end of the fight.  Instead it preserved and built out its industrial base by selling arms to its preferred victors.  Though propaganda from the era suggested that it was war material merchants who were pressing for America to enter these wars, in fact the opposite was true.  American war merchants of the era had every reason to let the conflicts drag, while they sold replacement ships and planes and tanks from an industrial base that faced no aerial bombardments.
If the Chinese Communist government insists on going down this road we should at least not stop them.  We should, at least, be making outreach efforts to their proposed enemies to see how we might support them.  One should never interfere with an enemy who is making a mistake.  If one can instead profit off their mistake, all the better.

what an adventure...

Came back from vacation and finished it in the Emergency room....What a deal...What a deal....LOL

We went to Alabama for our family vacation to meet my brother and his family, they rented a lake house house and we split the cost on Lake Martin and it was a nice lake but the lake was huge.  We had this grand plan to rent a pontoon boat for 24 hour and drive all over the lake and let the kids have a good old time,well the rain that Old NFO summoned from Texas hit Alabama and scotched that idea.  No biggie. we just hung around and enjoyed being around family. My son and his friend had brought various fishing poles and lures to match their wits against the local fish so they were stoked.  It was a good vacation...except on the last night, there was a trip to the Emergency room...Mine.  I am susceptable to migraines and they are vicious.  I take maintenance drugs to keep them at length.and if they fail, I have "Old Faithful"

Well "Old Faithful" didn't work so I took what is called "Breakthrough" medication and it didn't work so off the the ER I went. second time to the ER ever for me, first time was because of a car accident.  That was no fun, lemme tell you.  Heck of a way to round off my family vacation LOL.  Wife is planning another trip in July. 

New Post for Mack

This is on my scheduler thingie in case I am out of contact where there is no WiFi and this drops so my blog has something to fill in the spot so my little corner of the internet has something for the coffee drinkers to peruse while they energize for the day.

 This was back in 2015 when my son joined the Order of the Arrow

My blog buddy Mack is my friend both in blogspace and in Meatspace.  We both knew each other in the Scoutcamp world before we realized that we also knew each other from knowing Old NFO and commenting on his stuff on his blog.  Funny how that worked out.  Well anyway besides my razzing Mack on his love of tupperware guns and his adoration of 1911's, he is a really good friend to have and I count myself honored to be one of his friends.

Mack and Old NFO at the Original ChickFila in Hapeville back in 2017

We got together with him to swap lies and other stories while Jim was passing through to do his annual pilgrimage at the Masters in Augusta.  

      Well anyway Mack Always had this thing for the Rogue squadron from Star Wars and I saw this video on YouTube and I immediately thought of Mack and his thing for Rogue Squadron.

It is funny that the fans have done a better job with Star Wars than the Studio has, especially with the last couple of offerings were so ate up with PC nonsense it turned off a lot of fans in disgust.  I saw this and figured that Mack would enjoy this one.

Returning home

I and my son went to Tennessee to visit my Mom and Pops for a couple of days and while we were there I happen to go into a thrift store and walked around and picked up a few books...

I am looking forward to reading these books.  I also stopped at the Smokey mountain Knife works and picked up another knife for work.

I remembered a conversation that we had on Farcebook about Lawdog making a comment about Dolly Parton and how she much work she has done for the Appalachian community since the early 90's and I had commented that "She is the closest thing to a saint in that community.  By her personality and force of will and vision, she has built an empire that has done much for her community.

She has her own license plate in that area of Tennessee.  This one came off my Moms car.   And speaking of License plates. while we were driving from Tennessee to Georgia, a huge percentage of the cars I saw on the interstate were from "Blue States" that are under lockdown and they are driving down to the red states where we ain't locked down to actually do stuff.  Funny how that actually works out...

Memorial Day weekend

This post is scheduled for Sunday morning on the Scheduler thingie.  I will not have a Monday Music like I normally do.  To me it would be inappropriate because it is Memorial Day.

    I'm going to explain "Memorial day" compared to the other holidays that involve the Military.

      Armed Forces Day honors those that are serving now.
      Veterans Day honors those of us that are no longer serving but still around to thank us for our    service.
   Memorial Day honors those of us that died in service to our country or those of us that have died since.
     To me Memorial day is a somber Holiday,  It gets worse the older I get because I attribute it to "survivors guilt".  We miss our comrades that will never grow old and one day we will join them.  Like I said, I attribute this to "survivors guilt" or basically why me and not them, why do I grow older and they don't.  What made me special that I lived and they didn't.  This goes through my mind and I just leave it to the guy upstairs because I figure that he still has plans for me.
     I do what is called "Honor Guard" missions with my employer, where we greet all remains coming off the airplane with a flag line and a prayer.  I am honored to do that. 
     I don't begrudge the people using the Memorial Day as an excuse for a vacation or the "Start of Summer".  At least they say the words "Memorial Day" in their conversations. 

There is a phrase I saw in the Movie "Gardens of Stone" that came out in 1987, and we in my unit started using it because it resonated with us. Here is  the trailer of the movie "Gardens of Stone".  I really like the movie partly it ties in with my Dads experiences because he was a member of the "Old Guard", although for him it was 1962-1964 for him.  He had told me that the things that the "Old Guard" did was accurately portrayed.

I hoist a glass of whatever beverage I drink on Memorial Day and say "Here's to us ...and those like us.....Damm few of us left."   I honor my friends that got killed during  the war and my friends that died after  the war from accidents, disease or suicide.

 I will have some post on Tuesday and later.  I will be out of town until Friday, and I will try to load the scheduler thingie if I don't have WiFi-acccess.

I made a booboo

 This along with 2 older post are scheduled to drop on my scheduler thingie. since I am out of town in Tennessee visiting my mom and my pops.  

   This post is hard for me to write...

Several weeks ago I had gone to meet a good friend of mine at a city south of where I live, we met at a diner in the small city in the middle of the state.  I was there as was my wife and my son.  It was a good visit.  We were talking about many different subjects and he happen to mention that he bought a new pistol, a Sig and he had a new holster and pulled it out of his briefcase and showed it to me and I with out thinking about it pulled put my "Smif" holster and all and held it like this...and compared it to his holster, and it was a very nice holster made with some really exotic leather

                                                                   This is how I held the "smif"

then put it back on again.  Didn't think about it until we were leaving, and I happen to see one of the waitresses, she was terrified, All I could see were her eyes, she was wearing a hat and a mask, her eyes wide open and pinging back  and forth at me and everyone else.  I immediately felt like crap.  I had made a subconscious assumption that everyone is "people of the gun" because it was middle Georgia and everyone are "country people" and everyone else acted normal except her, and it did bother me immensely.   I try to be very considerate of other people because you don't get converts if you scare the crap out of people and I am called "Mr. Manners" by my wife, I can't help it, I try to be polite to people at all times unless they are dicks then the manners stop.  I was troubled by this and my wife picked up on it and I explained what happened and she responded that she didn't even notice and I replied "Well I did and I feel like crap because of it"   I am troubled because I scared the shit out of someone by my having a braincramp.  I berated myself for my momentary mental slipup and swore I wouldn't screw up again.  Perhaps I didn't do anything wrong, but in my mind I messed up and embarrassed "the people of the gun" by my poor manners.

Nine ways to become more Courageous

I shamelessly snagged this off "Art of Manliness"

Courage is a universally admired quality. It is has been celebrated in every culture in the world, in every age. It’s one of the four “tactical virtues” of masculinity. And it serves as not only the foundation of masculine excellence, but of every type of it, for as Winston Churchill observed: “Courage is rightly esteemed the first of human qualities . . . because it is the quality which guarantees all others.”
While we often think of courage in terms of physical bravery — risking life and limb to save a child from a burning building — we also call upon this quality in moral and social situations. We need courage to talk to new people, stand up for our beliefs, start a business, change careers, move to a new place, or voice dissent in a church, club, or business meeting. It’s a quality we use in any situation, big or small, in which exists even the tiniest bit of fear and risk, and these come up nearly every day.
Fortunate it is then, that courage isn’t something you’re just born with or not. It’s a quality that can be deliberately developed. As Robert Biswas-Diener puts it in The Courage Quotient, “courage is a habit, it is a practice, and it is a skill that can be learned.”
Today we’ll show you how. 

It’s often been said that courage isn’t the absence of fear, but the ability to feel fear, but act anyway.
Fear itself isn’t a bad thing. It sometimes warns you of legitimate threats and primes you physiologically to be ready and alert for whatever comes next. As Biswas-Diener puts it, “the very experience of fear itself is the tip-off moment, the signal that a possibility for action is opening up and so a choice needs to be made . . . fear is the first step towards courage. It can be the catapult that launches us forward into heroic actions, both large and small.” Fear awakens us to the fact that an opportunity has arrived.

Fear only becomes a problem when it isn’t proportional to the actual risk and/or it hinders you from doing something that is right or will be for your betterment.

While it’s true that courage isn’t the absence of fear, your ability to act in its presence is very much contingent on your ability to suppress and control this emotion. The lower and less paralyzing your fear is, the more able you’ll be to step through it to take action.
The skill of courage thus consists largely in developing your capacity to manage your fear.
Here are some time-tested and research-backed ways to do that:

1. Do reconnaissance to remove aspects of the unknown.

The less we know about something, the more we inflate our risk-assessment of it. Uncertainty breeds fear.
To reduce uncertainty, and thus diminish your nerves, do as much reconnaissance as you can into an event/situation you’ll be walking into. Gather as much information as possible. Do a dry run.
For example, if you’ve got a job interview coming up, drive over to where it will be held the day before, so you know how to get there, how long the drive will take, and where to park. Do some research on the company, and on the interviewer too, if possible. Figure out how current employees dress (watch them leave the office at the end of the day if needed), so you can gauge how to dress yourself.
Or if you’re nervous about a public speaking event you’ve got coming up, visit the classroom or auditorium in which you’ll give the speech beforehand. Stand on the stage to envision what it will be like to give your address.

Things are less scary, the more you know what to expect. 

2. Use relaxation techniques.

A little fear amps you up. Too much shuts you down. To reduce your fear to manageable levels and keep your physiological response in check, use various relaxation techniques. These can include tensing and relaxing all the parts of your body, “tactical breathing,” and meditation.

3. Get skilled.

You’ve likely heard of the “bystander effect”; the well-documented phenomenon in which people are less likely to render aid or address a wrongdoing when they’re in a crowd, than when they’re by themselves. Research has found that part of the reason for this effect, is that folks figure someone else will step in to help — someone who’s more qualified than they are to do so. People may want to help, but don’t know how. Conversely, and not so surprisingly, research also shows that bystanders who feel competent, are more likely to come to the aid of others.
Given the diversity of scenarios that involve risk and danger, it pays to develop a wide range of skills, from self-defense and first aid, to automative repair and the ability to speak a foreign language. The greater your degree of savoir-faire — the knowledge of what to do in any situation — the braver a man you’ll be.

4. Buddy up.

Though the power of being in a group context is usually thought of in a negative way — people using the anonymity of the crowd to hide or give in to their worst impulses — it also works the other way around too; the presence of friends and family can increase your willingness to act in positive directions.

Loved ones provide accountability; if you tell them you’re doing something, the dread of shame will spur you to keep your word.

The presence of family and friends can also impart a source of comfort and confidence that tamps down fear. This is true if they’re just present with you, and doubly so if they’re willing to participate alongside you. Much courage is gained in the “If you do it, I’ll do it too!” dynamic. There’s less to fear when you’re doing something together, with others who have your back.
Indeed, research shows that the more cohesive the members of a group — the better friends they are — the less likely they are to be inhibited by the bystander effect and the more likely they are to take positive action in a critical, dangerous situation. This is particularly true of an all-male group. Call it the “band of brothers” effect.

5. Carry a talisman.

You might think that the use of lucky charms or religious totems is irrational, but if they’re scientifically proven to give you more confidence, their use might be thought of as anything but. Research has indeed shown that good luck charms effectively improve performance in both mental and physical tasks. Turns out there’s something to athletes putting on lucky underwear or eating a ritualistic meal before games after all.
To harness the power of magical thinking, wear or carry a special “totem” in situations where you’re feeling nervous. This could be a piece of clothing or jewelry (like Grandpa’s old watch), a souvenir, memento, coin, or photo. Anything that has special meaning for you and makes you feel more calm and confident — anything you believe has even the smallest chance of providing protective powers, giving you good joo-joo, or simply putting some pep in your step. Even if you’re not much of a superstitious thinker, it may still provide an extra sense of comfort and resolve.

6. Think of yourself less.

The more you think about yourself, the more scared you get about acting. Egocentrism ratchets fear up and makes your performance go down. When you focus on how you’re doing and how you’re feeling, when you believe everyone is watching you, you get self-conscious, and when you get self-conscious, you get paralyzed and awkward.

The more you shift your focus outward, the more courageous you’ll feel.
Focus on other people’s feelings instead of your own. Rather than thinking about how you’re coming off to someone new you’re talking to, think about how she’s doing. Is she having a good time? What can you do to put her at ease?
In other situations, focus on a mission or purpose, a sense of service, instead of your own vulnerabilities. Subsume yourself in a cause greater than yourself.
Courage is at its strongest, when you’re courageous for something.

7. Lean into your role.

Related to the above point, an effective way to become less self-conscious is to think of the actions you need to take as growing out of the role you’re in, and what that role requires in terms of your responsibilities and obligations to others. This creates a more impersonal mode of operation that can liberate you to greater boldness.
The reaction of first responders, who run towards danger instead of away from it, is facilitated by the fact that they know that that’s their role. In such situations they become less Tom, Dick, or Harry, and more a firefighter, a police officer, a medic; their identity becomes less personal and more about the job they have to do.
A father who feels a little intimidated about standing up to his child’s principal, may feel more emboldened in remembering that he is the patriarch of his family, charged with protecting his children. A guy who often feels shy as a party guest, may actually come out of his shell more as a party host, who has a specific role, and clearly-delineated duties to tend to. A supervisor who believes his job is to look out for his subordinates, can feel empowered to stand up for them against an unfair edict handed down by the higher ups.

8. Exercise 20 seconds of insane courage.

In the movie, We Bought a Zoo, Matt Damon’s character tells his son, who’s struggling to share his feelings with a girl he likes, “You know, sometimes all you need is twenty seconds of insane courage. Just literally twenty seconds of just embarrassing bravery. And I promise you, something great will come of it.”
Fear can seem overwhelming if you think you’re going to have to experience it for days or hours. But everyone can face their fear for just 20 seconds. Or even less. Oftentimes, you just have to take one simple action, knock down the first domino, and that sets the whole course of things in motion. The die is cast! You force your own hand; you burn the bridge behind you; you have no choice but to engage with what follows next.
All you need is a single moment of crazy courage to press send on a text apologizing to an old friend, or to dial a number to ask a contact about a job opportunity, or to confess your feelings to a long-standing crush.
And that can literally be all it takes to change the entire contour of your life.

9. Do something scary once a week.

Courage is well thought of as a muscle that needs regular training to be kept strong. You can’t expect never to exercise your bravery, and then somehow be able to call upon it in an emergency. It has to be kept “in shape” through small choices, for you to be able to employ it in the service of big ones.
You can keep your courage strong by challenging yourself to do one small thing each week that requires a bit of fear and risk — anything that makes you a little nervous. This could mean eating at a restaurant that intimidates you (like a very authentic Chinese place where you’re not familiar with the dishes and the employees don’t speak much English), talking to a stranger, negotiating the price of something (even your morning coffee), visiting a house of worship you’ve never been to before, inviting people over for dinner, etc.

See how many consecutive weeks of this “courage challenge” you can string together, and when a truly scary situation gets thrown at you down the road, you’ll find you have the ability to face it with a braver heart.

still more projects...

This ties into the door project that was in the prior post.  This should have dropped, but for some reason I got the date off by one...*oops*, and I didn't catch it until I came home this afternoon to finally do my daily blogreading and coffee drinking. 
  
     I had decided to change the bathroom downstairs from the old color, it really didn't translate well and it just look *blah*.  Since I am furloughed,  the spousal unit picked out another color for me to use in the bathroom.  I proceeded to take things apart and cover things..

Started taping up.

More Taping.

Put a Tarp down to keep paint off the floor...What a pain, lemme tell you.

 I had moved the light and removed the exhaust fan and cleaned and painted it white.

More Paint.

Finished Bathroom, I also replaced the outlet covers,light switch cover repainted all the trim along the floor, reglued the wood on the cabinet, and replaced the cabinet hardware.  Faucet is next, I am not excited about squeezing my old round shape in that space to install it.*ouch*

One of my projects

I have been doing improvements to the house while I was on furlough, We have a pocket door on our ground floor bathroom and I was never happy with it. The hacks that installed it were very sloppy with the installation and for 22 years I just looked past it, until one day I finally decided to fix it.  Here are the before and after shots.

Bottom of Door

See the Gaps around the door and the Frame?

What it looked like recessed

See how battered the door casing looked?

So I proceeded to pull out the...

And started filling in the gaps, and also took the striker plate off and the latch assembly, and totally filled in the opening in the casing because when the hacks installed the door, they installed the striker off center and misinstalled the latch so you could never lock the pocket door.

I proceeded to use my tablesaw to measure out and cut new pieces of trim then start to fit them.

Looking up 

I continued laying trim. As you can tell, the bathroom wall has been painted, that is another blogpost;)

Continuing running Trim

The Trim installed.  I let it dry for a week before I sealed it then primed it and painted it,

Painted.

Sealed and painted, I also had replaced the latch assembly with a new brushed aluminum latch after repairing the door from where the hacks had mis screwed and mis drilled the original latch 22+ years ago.  I also replaced the striker plate on the casing

The Casing has been repaired and painted and the door tracks much better.