Shadow Hawk

Re: Jokes
 

 
One of the questions is wrong. The Canary Islands are in the Atlantic.
 
And I got five right. But I'm a know it all.

I'm suddenly reminded of the great Navajo electrician, Many Hands, who brought the first public toilet with electrical lighting to his people, thus becoming the first man to Wire A Head For A Reservation.
 
As we all know, Many Hands make light work.

Re: what non-fiction books have you read? please rate it ...
 
I just finished re-reading "Neptune's Inferno" by James D. Hornfischer. It tells the story of the U.S. Navy's efforts to keep the Marines supplied on the island of Guadalcanal, and cut the Japanese supply lines.
Between 07 August 1942, and 31 December 1942, over 6000 USN and RAN sailors gave thier lives in navy battles near the island.
Less than 2000 Marines would die on the island.

Re: What Non-Fiction Book have you just finished?
 
Just finished "Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors" by James D. Hornfisch.
 
Taffy 3, equipped with 6 converted cargo ship aircraft carriers (CVEs), escorted by 3 destroyers (DD) and 4 'escort destroyers' (DE) were preparing for thier morning ground support for the troops ashore on Leyte and anti-submarine patrol when over the horizon comes 4 battleships (including Yamato, world's largest), 6 heavy cruisers, 2 light cruisers, and 11 destroyers.
The American carriers immediatly launch whatever aircraft they have ready for combat, however they were armed (Mostly fragmentation bombs, napalm, and depth charges) while the destroyers ("Tin Cans" in navy slang) first laid smoke then closed into torpedo range. Last stand time indeed, as destroyers first launched torpedoes then turned around and *pretended* to launch more torpedoes. Aircraft dropped bombs etc. then turned around on fake bomb runs.
 
Drama on the high seas, told almost entirely from the point of view of Americans who were there. As history, it's shaky, since it relies almost exclusively on American sources, but as action/adventure, well, they should make a movie of it.
(Clint Eastwood as Admiral Clifton Sprague. "Admiral, look! They're getting away!"

Re: Genre-crossover nightmares
 
Mr. Roberts Neighborhood
"Hello, boys and girls. I just threw the captain's palm tree overboard. Can you say 'overboard'? (pause) I knew you could."
 
21 Sesame Street
Undercover muppets?
 
Reading Rainbow Six
 
Aladdin and the King of Queens

If you are a normal human, never get into a romantic relationship with a superhuman.  The best you can hope for is being used as a hostage; at worst you'll be stuffed in a fridge.

Re: Quote of the Week From My Life.
 

 
I was promoted to NCO in 1986.

Tailgating in -20°F (-29°C) temperatures while your team is playing in Tampa.

"What do we want?"
 
"CLICKBAIT!"
 
"When do we want it?"
 
"THE ANSWER WILL SHOCK YOU!!"

And that's where I lost suspension of disbelief....
Music on MTV? 
ha!

A conspiracy theorist died and found himself at the pearly gates. Saint Peter welcomed him to Heaven and said, "You may ask me any one question from your Earth life, and I will answer it honestly."
 
The conspiracy theorist immediately asked, "Was George W. Bush responsible for 9/11?"
 
Saint Peter replied, "No, he was not. The 2001 terror attacks were planned by Al-Qaeda and orchestrated by Osama bin Laden.  No Americans were involved.  There were no explosives in the World Trade Center towers, and there were no missiles launched at the Pentagon.  The United States government was not involved in the attacks in any way, shape, or form.  Neither George W. Bush nor any other American leader knew anything about the attacks before they happened."
 
The conspiracy theorist stood and stared in amazement.  "Wow," he said to himself, "this goes even higher than I thought!"

"Be on Trump's cabinet...just $9.99"

The Little Prince

"As you have done for the least of these, so have you done for me."

The second translation team reports that the title "To Serve Man" may have a different meaning in context.
 
New Topic: As we come to the end of year that has brought us Brexit, President-elect Donald Trump, and the Cubs winning the World Series, what does 2016 have in store for its grand finale?

The Rheinland.

Time Machine...
(And suddenly the deadline seems possible!)

1863: "Four score and seven years ago..."
 
1932: "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself."
 
1960: "Ask not what your country can do for you."
 
2016: "No you're the puppet!"

Mating with the Opportunity rover.  Prepare now for our coming robot overlords.
 
 

The times today did an article on Judicial Watch. This organization was set up to hound the Clintons. And it has been doing so for forty years. The original bank roller is dead. The original director was ousted via law suit. They keep digging. In forty years and numerous lawsuits and FOIA servings, all they have found is the private email server.
 
Hillary is supposed to answer twenty five questions in writing thanks to them appealing to a judge for this.
 
40 years and all you got is a private email server. Maybe they should try others who might be easier targets
CES     

Hillary was listing the various good things about the Affordable Care Act as a way of showing what would be lost by Trump's "repeal and replace". Things like no pre-existing conditions, no higher premiums for women, the ability to put children up to age 26 on their parent's plan, and so on would be wiped out with a total repeal. The major talking points about ACA needing fixing are that premiums have gone up, benefits have gone down, and co-pays have gone up. That's an unfortunate consequence of trying to push healthcare reform using for-profit insurance companies. Perhaps, the "fix" should be either to model the Swiss system (not for profit insurance companies compete for customers with added wellness benefits), or just bite the bullet and go single payer.

I think the GOP has been on a self destructive path for a while now. Trump is symptomatic, not causal.

Oh, absolutely. But she'll at least try. And compared to what the GOP has in store? These guys are talking about disbanding the IRS and they're deadly serious. Their objective is nothing short of crippling the federal government. That is not an exaggeration.

I kind of like things like roads, decent education for my kids, police/fire department/ambulance if I need them, vaccinations and the resultant lack of plague, social safety net so I don't starve in the street, and having things regulated so I know what I'm buying theoretically won't poison/electrocute/explode me. Lots of other things too, but you get the idea.
 
Obviously other folks may prefer a more adventuresome lifestyle. But not liking some aspects of government doesn't strike me as a reason to burn it all down.