What a muddy mess I have made of the backyard
Posted By RichC on May 9, 2011
With the amount of rain we have been having this spring, we’ve had constant grass growth without hardly a day of dry weather in order to mow. I finally had to cut the soggy backyard for fear of never being able to cut it without a brush hog. After making the decision to cut it, I’m now wondering if it was a mistake?
Mississippi River before and after as observed from space
Engineers blow a Mississippi levee on May 2nd flooding farms in Missouri
Thankfully though here in southwest Ohio we’ve been spared the devastating tornadoes that hit states to the south this April, and despite the rains we haven’t had the flooding those receiving our water downstream are experiencing. My heart and prayers go out to all who have experience loss of life and property this spring.
Tuscaloosa Alabama hit hard by tornados
Having another birthday is better than NOT having one
Posted By RichC on May 8, 2011
It was nice to have my son home and finished with finals … and to have him think about me on my birthday. Thanks for the Miami Alum license plate surround, Taylor.
My aging first generation Palm Pre is still taking some pretty decent photos (above)
Of course he wasn’t the only one to wish me a Happy Birthday on Saturday, but the two of us spent the day together working on his car and reviewing his summer schedule – summer classes, hopefully a few hours a week of work, and moving into an house in Oxford with two of his college friends. It seems like just the other day that I was moving from dorm to apartment in Ada, Ohio with 3 of my college buddies, Jerry, Don and Bill. Although I don’t stay in touch with them all that much, I did get a Facebook birthday greeting from Bill’s wife Julie (so sweet offering a home cooked meal if my daughter needs one when in Columbus). It is always nice to hear from friends from college. Although I’m somewhat caught up on Jerry and Bill (and see Jeff every week), I did miss receiving the Blinn annual Christmas newspaper – it is usually long and entertaining? I hope Don and his family are ok?
Speaking of Facebook, this was the first year that I’ve paid much attention to the greetings passed along by my nieces and nephews … thanks guys, although I’m at the age where I really don’t want to be counting them each year. 
Atlas 5 launch and Jetman scrub flights on Friday
Posted By RichC on May 7, 2011
On Friday I was streaming the Atlas 5 rocket countdown on my computer while waiting for Yves Rossy to fly his jet wing across the Grand Canyon (see previous posts). NASA’s red anvil rule scrubbed the launch of the Atlas 5 (clouds) and according to an EAA article, Rossy felt he needed a bit more preparation time. Maybe next time?
May 6, 2011 — Yves Rossy, known the world over as “Jetman,” was set to make his first flight in the United States on Friday morning over the Grand Canyon in Arizona, but he scrubbed it at the last minute because he wanted more time to train. The FAA had given its approval for the flight, classifying Rossy and his jet wing as an aircraft and assigning the registration number N15YR. But even though the Las Vegas FSDO went the extra mile to shrink a weeks-long certification process down to two days, Rossy wanted to err on the side of safety.
“As with any professional pilot, before an air show I need training,” Rossy told KTTV-Los Angeles. “The Blue Angels train until [they achieve] excellence, then afterwards they go for a demo.”
The actual FAA certification paperwork arrived at the Grand Canyon just an hour before Rossy was scheduled to fly. He said he will try again but did not give a timeframe or reveal under what conditions his jet wing was given certification.
The plan was for Rossy to strap into his jet wing, ride a helicopter to about 7,000 feet AGL, fire up the four small model aircraft jet engines, then jump out. The flight would have been over Grand Canyon West near Guano Point on the Hualapai Indian Reservation – located about 2-1/2 hours southeast of Las Vegas, Nevada. The flight is sponsored by Breitling.
Jetman graced the cover of the March 2011 EAA Sport Aviation magazine (read story). He’s also flown across the English Channel (2008) and last year made a spectacular hot-air balloon-borne flight over Denezy, Switzerland, achieving the first loops with the wing.
Tech Friday ideas: Sumatra PDF and Foxit Reader
Posted By RichC on May 6, 2011
Who doesn’t struggle with the bloated Adobe PDF Reader or the pricey full-featured Adobe Acrobat Pro PDF products?
I’ve used both products over the years and have been frustrated by the cumbersome Adobe software. Although I still use an older full version of Acrobat upon occasion, I have fund Foxit Reader and more recent lightweight SumatraPDF far better choices for everyday reading or inline browser PDF readers.
SEAL Team Six: Memoirs of an Elite Navy SEAL Sniper
Posted By RichC on May 5, 2011
With the fascination of Seal Team Six’s operation in taking down Osama bin Laden, the timing of former Seal Team Six member’s Howard Wasdin’s new book couldn’t be better. He was interviewed by WSJ’s Lee Hawkins after the successful mission in Pakistan on Sunday and offers a little bit of detail one what it takes to be someone in America’s elite special operations force. He’s well spoken and offers the “human side” of what it takes to overcome diversity to become a Navy Seal. SEAL Team Six: Memoirs of an Elite Navy SEAL Sniper is due to hit bookshelves on May 24th and will be on my summer read list (audio or video interview below).
| WSJ: An interview with Howard Wasdin, a former Seal Team Six member (mp3) May 3, 2011 |
Either prepay or bring your rental car back with a full tank
Posted By RichC on May 4, 2011
For those of us that regularly rent cars, we’ve always known that it is costly to bring a car back to the rental agency with less than a full tank. This lesson is doubly important with the higher prices at the pump nowadays. Some car companies are now charging over $9/gallon “if you bring the car back without a full tank” according to USAToday. It might just be a smart idea to pre-purchase the discounted gasoline (sometimes lower than market) just in case you find yourself pinched for time when returning to the airport.
A USA TODAY survey of auto rental gas prices at 13 big airports on April 25 found Hertz was charging $9.29 a gallon at all 13. Dollar and Thrifty were charging $8.99 a gallon at two.
At $9.29 a gallon, Hertz customers renting a Ford Club Wagon, which has a 35-gallon fuel tank, would owe Hertz $325.15 for gas if they returned the wagon with a nearly empty tank and hadn’t prepaid for the gas.
Renters who pay ahead of time for a tank of gas from Hertz or another car rental company, though, may find the per-gallon price cheaper than at many local gas stations.
Live Tweeting the Osama raid – without knowing it
Posted By RichC on May 2, 2011
Hours before the world knew that U.S. Navy Seals helicoptered into Abbottabad, Pakistan, Twitter blogger @ReallyVirtual (Sohaib Athar) fired off a tweet after hearing helicopters at 1 AM.
He continued to post comments not fully realizing what was going on … just that he was annoyed by the noise of the helicopters in the wee hours of the morning.
By morning and after hearing the news of Osama Bin Laden, Mr. Athar realized what had just happened and “who” was living in his neighborhood. Quite the interesting social networking side story to the events that had just unfolded.
Archive: Osama bin Laden dead
Posted By RichC on May 1, 2011
11:36PM Sunday night: President Obama announced tonight that the world’s number one terrorist Osama bin Laden was killed today and his body is in United States possession.
For Immediate Release May 1, 2011
REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT
ON OSAMA BIN LADEN
East Room
11:35 P.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: Good evening. Tonight, I can report to the American people and to the world that the United States has conducted an operation that killed Osama bin Laden, the leader of al Qaeda, and a terrorist who’s responsible for the murder of thousands of innocent men, women, and children.
It was nearly 10 years ago that a bright September day was darkened by the worst attack on the American people in our history. The images of 9/11 are seared into our national memory — hijacked planes cutting through a cloudless September sky; the Twin Towers collapsing to the ground; black smoke billowing up from the Pentagon; the wreckage of Flight 93 in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, where the actions of heroic citizens saved even more heartbreak and destruction.
And yet we know that the worst images are those that were unseen to the world. The empty seat at the dinner table. Children who were forced to grow up without their mother or their father. Parents who would never know the feeling of their child’s embrace. Nearly 3,000 citizens taken from us, leaving a gaping hole in our hearts.
On September 11, 2001, in our time of grief, the American people came together. We offered our neighbors a hand, and we offered the wounded our blood. We reaffirmed our ties to each other, and our love of community and country. On that day, no matter where we came from, what God we prayed to, or what race or ethnicity we were, we were united as one American family.
We were also united in our resolve to protect our nation and to bring those who committed this vicious attack to justice. We quickly learned that the 9/11 attacks were carried out by al Qaeda — an organization headed by Osama bin Laden, which had openly declared war on the United States and was committed to killing innocents in our country and around the globe. And so we went to war against al Qaeda to protect our citizens, our friends, and our allies.
Over the last 10 years, thanks to the tireless and heroic work of our military and our counterterrorism professionals, we’ve made great strides in that effort. We’ve disrupted terrorist attacks and strengthened our homeland defense. In Afghanistan, we removed the Taliban government, which had given bin Laden and al Qaeda safe haven and support. And around the globe, we worked with our friends and allies to capture or kill scores of al Qaeda terrorists, including several who were a part of the 9/11 plot.
Yet Osama bin Laden avoided capture and escaped across the Afghan border into Pakistan. Meanwhile, al Qaeda continued to operate from along that border and operate through its affiliates across the world.
And so shortly after taking office, I directed Leon Panetta, the director of the CIA, to make the killing or capture of bin Laden the top priority of our war against al Qaeda, even as we continued our broader efforts to disrupt, dismantle, and defeat his network.
Then, last August, after years of painstaking work by our intelligence community, I was briefed on a possible lead to bin Laden. It was far from certain, and it took many months to run this thread to ground. I met repeatedly with my national security team as we developed more information about the possibility that we had located bin Laden hiding within a compound deep inside of Pakistan. And finally, last week, I determined that we had enough intelligence to take action, and authorized an operation to get Osama bin Laden and bring him to justice.
Today, at my direction, the United States launched a targeted operation against that compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan. A small team of Americans carried out the operation with extraordinary courage and capability. No Americans were harmed. They took care to avoid civilian casualties. After a firefight, they killed Osama bin Laden and took custody of his body.
For over two decades, bin Laden has been al Qaeda’s leader and symbol, and has continued to plot attacks against our country and our friends and allies. The death of bin Laden marks the most significant achievement to date in our nation’s effort to defeat al Qaeda.
Yet his death does not mark the end of our effort. There’s no doubt that al Qaeda will continue to pursue attacks against us. We must –- and we will — remain vigilant at home and abroad.
As we do, we must also reaffirm that the United States is not –- and never will be -– at war with Islam. I’ve made clear, just as President Bush did shortly after 9/11, that our war is not against Islam. Bin Laden was not a Muslim leader; he was a mass murderer of Muslims. Indeed, al Qaeda has slaughtered scores of Muslims in many countries, including our own. So his demise should be welcomed by all who believe in peace and human dignity.
Over the years, I’ve repeatedly made clear that we would take action within Pakistan if we knew where bin Laden was. That is what we’ve done. But it’s important to note that our counterterrorism cooperation with Pakistan helped lead us to bin Laden and the compound where he was hiding. Indeed, bin Laden had declared war against Pakistan as well, and ordered attacks against the Pakistani people.
Tonight, I called President Zardari, and my team has also spoken with their Pakistani counterparts. They agree that this is a good and historic day for both of our nations. And going forward, it is essential that Pakistan continue to join us in the fight against al Qaeda and its affiliates.
The American people did not choose this fight. It came to our shores, and started with the senseless slaughter of our citizens. After nearly 10 years of service, struggle, and sacrifice, we know well the costs of war. These efforts weigh on me every time I, as Commander-in-Chief, have to sign a letter to a family that has lost a loved one, or look into the eyes of a service member who’s been gravely wounded.
So Americans understand the costs of war. Yet as a country, we will never tolerate our security being threatened, nor stand idly by when our people have been killed. We will be relentless in defense of our citizens and our friends and allies. We will be true to the values that make us who we are. And on nights like this one, we can say to those families who have lost loved ones to al Qaeda’s terror: Justice has been done.
Tonight, we give thanks to the countless intelligence and counterterrorism professionals who’ve worked tirelessly to achieve this outcome. The American people do not see their work, nor know their names. But tonight, they feel the satisfaction of their work and the result of their pursuit of justice.
We give thanks for the men who carried out this operation, for they exemplify the professionalism, patriotism, and unparalleled courage of those who serve our country. And they are part of a generation that has borne the heaviest share of the burden since that September day.
Finally, let me say to the families who lost loved ones on 9/11 that we have never forgotten your loss, nor wavered in our commitment to see that we do whatever it takes to prevent another attack on our shores.
And tonight, let us think back to the sense of unity that prevailed on 9/11. I know that it has, at times, frayed. Yet today’s achievement is a testament to the greatness of our country and the determination of the American people.
The cause of securing our country is not complete. But tonight, we are once again reminded that America can do whatever we set our mind to. That is the story of our history, whether it’s the pursuit of prosperity for our people, or the struggle for equality for all our citizens; our commitment to stand up for our values abroad, and our sacrifices to make the world a safer place.
Let us remember that we can do these things not just because of wealth or power, but because of who we are: one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
Thank you. May God bless you. And may God bless the United States of America.
Politicians, the Fed, the economy and John Malone
Posted By RichC on April 30, 2011
I get so frustrated when I hear smart and successful men like John Malone speak and yet very few seem to be listening, particularly those who are in positions to implement change. His comments the other day during a business interview makes complete sense to me; he even offers up a few practical ideas. If you are reasonably intelligent and understand the fundamentals of economics, please take 23 minutes to listen to the audio edited down version of a CNBC business interview Mr. Malone did last week (see previous post).
CNBC: May 29, 2011 – Interview with John Malone
Why is it so difficult to get bright and decent Americans to see the big picture and realize how critical it is to get our elected representatives and president to cut the nonsensical spending, the insane borrowing and the devaluing our the US dollar?
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Desultory - des-uhl-tawr-ee, -tohr-ee
- lacking in consistency, constancy, or visible order, disconnected; fitful: desultory conversation.
- digressing from or unconnected with the main subject; random: a desultory remark.