As Flight 447 began its journey toward Tasil Point, the skies seemed reassuringly clear. In the cockpit, the pilots chattered with Brazilian air traffic control, calling out altitude and radio frequencies. Sometime around midnight, the waxing moon, which had been gleaming through the port-side windows, dropped below the horizon, and Flight 447 was alone in the sky.
At 1:35, the pilots called Brazil to read off their altitude and flight plan. Three seconds later, controllers called back to ask when they would reach Tasil Point. Seven seconds passed, and Brazil called again. Another six seconds, and again. Flight 447 was gone.
Friday, May 06, 2011
Marvellous Article On AF447
Getting closer to unravelling this deep mystery:
Healthy Lunch
Let's see: fried chicken, potato wedgies, biscuit, spice drops, and diet soda. Fat, salt, starch, sugar, AND grease: the five major food groups! But no roughage. God forbid roughage!
For Those Who Want To Do Old-School Aerobics On "Good Day, Sacramento"
Be at Pepper's Step One studio wearing your 'Flashback' duds at about 4:45 a.m. on Friday, May 13th. 'Coco' is televising!
Oh, and prepared to work out....
And that's A.M., as in roughly-about dawn!
[UPDATE: Kate and Nancy are excited by this]
Kate: Marc, are you going??
Nancy: Oh, how I would LOVE to do this! BUT not at 4:45 am…
Marc: I “want” to go, but at that hour, the flesh is particularly weak. Still, I will try (and also try to stay awake for the Friday morning meeting afterwards). It’s free face time on the teevee!
Kate: What time does the show come on? It’s not live, is it?
Marc: Yes, it will be live, apparently from the 5 a.m. to 6 a.m. hour (although I wouldn’t be surprised if it extended to the 7 a.m. hour too). Apparently they are showcasing different local studios on different days for Old-School Aerobics, and Pepper’s day is Friday. I guess our over-caffeinated, under-rested example is supposed to motivate the rest of Sacramento to hop out of bed. I just hope we don’t look like we are likely to feel (zombies on endorphins).
Nancy: I assume you will post on YouTube so we who are too lazy to watch live can catch the fun at a more civilized hour?
Marc: Exercise by proxy: America’s favorite activity! Yes, if I can obtain that video, I will post….
Nancy: Oh, ouch! I will exercise along with the video—just a little later in the day.
Marc: No problem! (I just hope we set a good example!)
Kate: The big question for Marc is…do you have a headband and leg warmers? :)
Marc: Believe it or not, I have a headband! Sadly, I have no leg warmers. (Wait a minute – I think I might, buried in the drawer.)
Nancy: Oh, God, when I think of the outfits I used to wear…. Of course I was much younger then…
Oh, and prepared to work out....
And that's A.M., as in roughly-about dawn!
[UPDATE: Kate and Nancy are excited by this]
Kate: Marc, are you going??
Nancy: Oh, how I would LOVE to do this! BUT not at 4:45 am…
Marc: I “want” to go, but at that hour, the flesh is particularly weak. Still, I will try (and also try to stay awake for the Friday morning meeting afterwards). It’s free face time on the teevee!
Kate: What time does the show come on? It’s not live, is it?
Marc: Yes, it will be live, apparently from the 5 a.m. to 6 a.m. hour (although I wouldn’t be surprised if it extended to the 7 a.m. hour too). Apparently they are showcasing different local studios on different days for Old-School Aerobics, and Pepper’s day is Friday. I guess our over-caffeinated, under-rested example is supposed to motivate the rest of Sacramento to hop out of bed. I just hope we don’t look like we are likely to feel (zombies on endorphins).
Nancy: I assume you will post on YouTube so we who are too lazy to watch live can catch the fun at a more civilized hour?
Marc: Exercise by proxy: America’s favorite activity! Yes, if I can obtain that video, I will post….
Nancy: Oh, ouch! I will exercise along with the video—just a little later in the day.
Marc: No problem! (I just hope we set a good example!)
Kate: The big question for Marc is…do you have a headband and leg warmers? :)
Marc: Believe it or not, I have a headband! Sadly, I have no leg warmers. (Wait a minute – I think I might, buried in the drawer.)
Nancy: Oh, God, when I think of the outfits I used to wear…. Of course I was much younger then…
Troops In Afghanistan Get Their Britney Groove On
Michelle writes:
Check out this YouTube video made by an Albuquerque native, Marine Cpl. Andrew Tarin, who is in the marines in Afghanistan. There was a front page article on this guy in the 4/27/2011 Abq Journal....
Lawrence O'Donnell's Testy Interview With Condi Rice
Rice still reiterates that Saddam Hussein was a threat to the United States! The zombie lies of the Bush Administration live on!
Thursday, May 05, 2011
Regarding Obama's OBL Death Pix Decision
I'm all in favor of keeping the pictures under wraps. The pictures would prove nothing to a conspiracy theorist, but they would aggravate people, and serve as good Al Qaeda propaganda. Not good for what we hope to build: a decent society. Good enough reason to keep them under wraps.
The Last WWI Veteran
He's the last of his combat generation:
Claude Stanley Choules, the last known combat veteran of World War I, died on Thursday in a nursing home in Western Australia. He was 110.
...World War I was raging when Mr. Choules began training with the British Royal Navy, just one month after he turned 14. In 1917 he joined the battleship HMS Revenge, from which he watched the 1918 surrender of the German High Seas Fleet, the main battle fleet of the German Navy during the war.
...Mr. Choules and another Briton, Florence Green, became the war’s last known surviving service members after the death of Frank Buckles, an American, in February, according to the Order of the First World War, a United States-based group that tracks veterans. Ms. Green, who turned 110 in February, was a waitress in the Women’s Royal Air Force.
...Mr. Choules eventually settled in Australia and served in the Navy there until his retirement in 1956.
During World War II, he was the acting torpedo officer in Fremantle, Western Australia, and chief demolition officer for the western side of the Australian continent. Mr. Choules disposed of the first mine to wash ashore in Australia during the war.
Despite the fame his military service (and longevity) brought him, Mr. Choules became a pacifist later in life, refusing to participate in anything that glorified war.
Wednesday, May 04, 2011
Honor Thy Father?
Well, maybe not:
A 10-year-old Riverside boy charged with fatally shooting his father, local neo-Nazi leader Jeffrey R. Hall, had past problems with aggression and violence after being caught in the middle of a bitter divorce fraught with abuse allegations, court records show.
Tyler Robinson On "The Voice"
Go Folsom, CA! And very much part of the local musical theater scene too: "Personals, The Musical", and RSP's "Rent", among other recent shows!
Tuesday, May 03, 2011
THIS Is Why I'm Glad Obama Won In 2008!
John McCain's and Hilary Clinton's faith in the good intentions of the leadership of Pakistan was misplaced. Who looks naive now?
It's also important to give credit to Obama's national security team for the success of the Abbottabad mission. They are better, in general than Clinton's or Carter's teams were. Part of that improvement is due simply to experience, since so much Obama's team once worked for Clinton.
The Abbottabad mission was simpler than the Iranian hostage rescue mission of 1979. For one, there were shorter travel distances (because we now have access to bases in Afghanistan and Uzbekistan), and that helped. Obama gave the military what they needed to do their jobs, unlike Carter. The 1979 helicopter collision killed that hostage-rescue mission, but the 2011 helicopter crash did not kill this mission, which reveals greater depth of capability and planning. Carter had a nearly-neurotic obsession with keeping his mission secret, for strategic reasons, and kept downsizing the mission to lower its profile, so in the end there was no room for error and mishap. Obama had a nearly-neurotic obsession with keeping his mission secret too, but for tactical reasons, because he knew he could not trust the Pakistanis.
What tended to give the Republicans the national security edge for so many years, particularly after the conclusion of the Vietnam War, was their depth of experience in all matters of national security. But, as in all things involving ideology, rigidity has slowly-impaired the GOP, to the point where they no longer have that critical edge. The results speak for themselves: Bush let Osama escape at Tora Bora in 2002, because he and his team trusted the Pakistanis too much, by allowing them to set up the (highly-porous) perimeter at Tora Bora. That hard lesson still hadn't penetrated through GOP skulls as late as 2008, as the video gives witness. Obama repaired that disastrous, naive, puppy-dog trust at Abbottabad in 2011.
Americans like success. Obama brings America success. Americans will like Obama all the better for it. And the 2012 election isn't too far away either....
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