OT Things to ponder

[Gandalf]

Check this out lizard... Ooops, Mr. Gorn

here!

[Zorch]

ORIGINAL: geofflambert

My mother, when she was singing hymns in church, she would constantly go off key. I was so embarrassed I thought maybe I should side-step away from her. When she thought no one was around she'd play on the piano in the living room and sing. She'd get to a certain point in the hymn and hit (and sing) the wrong key. She'd stop, somehow knowing that something wasn't right, and start over. She'd get to the same place and do it again. [:D] Then she'd start over once more, and it sounded like a broken record. There's probably a lot of youngsters here who don't know what a broken record is, but there's no better way of describing it.

She just needed AutoTune. [:D]

[BBfanboy]

Speaking of "birds", fall just arrived with a vengeance - high winds and cool temps - and the migration has started. It brought a kind of funny little drama ...

I just got my morning cup of coffee at 07:00 and looked down by the river where a bald eagle flew up from the shoreline and began circling over the river! A bald eagle in the city!

It went out of sight behind the building's side and moments latter a seagull went upriver flapping its wings very fast and changing course erratically like an infantryman dodging a sniper.[:D]

I couldn't see the eagle any more so I sat down with my coffee and a few minutes later there was a flock of about ten Lesser Canada Geese floating down the river, clustered very close together as though for mutual protection. They all had their necks at full extension scanning the sky, but I could not see the eagle because of building structure.

A few minutes after that I saw two large birds circling a couple of miles away but was unable to ID them before they faded off in the distance.

No pics - everything happened very quickly before I could grab a phone or camera. [:(]

[Gandalf]

If you're near central Missouri. there's a certain time of the year mid-fall when around 20 or so balde eagles gather for a week or so before heading wherever it is they go for the winter. (River side just downstream of Bagnell Dam at Lake of the Ozarks. Amateur photographers gather there every year for what they have termed "Eagle Days". It is fascinating watching those raptors go for the kill against other prey and small animals. If they're not hunting, they roost with their magnificent heads tucked under a wing.

Factoid> the name Bald eagle, comes from the old English word "balde" which means white eagle (not hairless as commonly assumed). see here!

Lizards stand no chance against these predators. LOL

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: Gandalf

If you're near central Missouri. there's a certain time of the year mid-fall when around 20 or so balde eagles gather for a week or so before heading wherever it is they go for the winter. (River side just downstream of Bagnell Dam at Lake of the Ozarks. Amateur photographers gather there every year for what they have termed "Eagle Days". It is fascinating watching those raptors go for the kill against other prey and small animals. If they're not hunting, they roost with their magnificent heads tucked under a wing.

Factoid> the name Bald eagle, comes from the old English word "balde" which means white eagle (not hairless as commonly assumed). see here!

Lizards stand no chance against these predators. LOL

I have seen one snatch a fish out of the water, and during the early spring when they are returning they will feed on the fish guts that ice fishermen leave on the ice. I think they will eat other carrion as well, if hunting is not feeding them well enough.

[geofflambert]

One time I saw a bald trying to hover over Creve Coeur Lake on a day we were having 30 knot winds. He or she was staring down intently at the water but just couldn't stay in place and kept getting blown back. I was about a hundred feet away. Another time I was a passenger in a car headed south on I-270 and this bald flew right in front of the car and down into the Meramec Valley. It had a crow right on its tail, a Cr-16 interceptor I believe. [:)]

Anyways, non eagle related an article on two new Arleigh-Burkes: http://seapowermagazine.org/stories/20160919-ddg.html

[AW1Steve]

Eagles are fun to watch, but I really enjoy watching them get "mugged" by Ospreys. [:D] Watching a thief get robbed IS a bit of a turn around. [:D] Living now in the Midwest , I'm constantly amazed by the number and variety of hawks.

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: geofflambert
It had a crow right on its tail, a Cr-16 interceptor I believe. [:)]

[:D]
Or maybe it was the SR-71 Blackbird?

[Will_L_OLD]

ORIGINAL: geofflambert

It had a crow right on its tail, a Cr-16 interceptor I believe.

Seen crows tag teaming peregrine falcons in Central Park. One leads the falcon and the second trails it,
when the falcon got close to the lead the trailer would swoop in and distract the falcon. Avian dogfights [:)]

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: Will_L


Seen crows tag teaming peregrine falcons in Central Park. One leads the falcon and the second trails it,
when the falcon got close to the lead the trailer would swoop in and distract the falcon. Avian dogfights [:)]

You just described the "Thatch Weave". Maybe that is where Commander Thatch got his idea! [:D]

[geofflambert]

Now balds are fine. I read an article about this eastern Asian who rode around on his horse with a golden. He wasn't a Mongolian but someone from the north of there. Anyway, this golden could take just about anything. She'd just make them fall off there perch on a mountainside and they'd fall to their deaths. We're talking mountain goats and sheep, but also grey wolves. That's how the guy made his living.

[Chickenboy]

You know that you really can't explain puns to kleptomaniacs. They take everything. Literally.

[geofflambert]

ORIGINAL: Chickenboy

You know that you really can't explain puns to kleptomaniacs. They take everything. Literally.

Well, if they're French, we can take their consonants, they won't miss them. If you want to be really evil, you can dump some of your excess vowels on them, it won't make any difference.

Yeah, even throw an "x" on the end and see if anyone notices.

[Zorch]

ORIGINAL: geofflambert

ORIGINAL: Chickenboy

You know that you really can't explain puns to kleptomaniacs. They take everything. Literally.

Well, if they're French, we can take their consonants, they won't miss them. If you want to be really evil, you can dump some of your excess vowels on them, it won't make any difference.

Yeah, even throw an "x" on the end and see if anyone notices.

We can donate the excess vowels to Slavic countries like The Czech Republic and Slovakia...They desperately need vowels.

[geofflambert]

I remember where ever he was playing, people would hold up signs "Kent Hrbek - buy a vowel". [:D]

[Chickenboy]

ORIGINAL: Zorch

ORIGINAL: geofflambert

ORIGINAL: Chickenboy

You know that you really can't explain puns to kleptomaniacs. They take everything. Literally.

Well, if they're French, we can take their consonants, they won't miss them. If you want to be really evil, you can dump some of your excess vowels on them, it won't make any difference.

Yeah, even throw an "x" on the end and see if anyone notices.

We can donate the excess vowels to Slavic countries like The Czech Republic and Slovakia...They desperately need vowels.

An oldie, but a goodie... [:)]

Clinton Deploys Vowels to Bosnia

(originally appeared in The Onion, Number One In News)
Cities of Sjlbvdnzv, Grzny to Be First Recipients

Before an emergency joint session of Congress yesterday, President Clinton announced US plans to deploy over 75,000 vowels to the war-torn region of Bosnia. The deployment, the largest of its kind in American history, will provide the region with the critically needed letters A,E,I,O and U, and is hoped to render countless Bosnian names more pronounceable.
"For six years, we have stood by while names like Ygrjvslhv and Tzlynhr and Glrm have been horribly butchered by millions around the world," Clinton said. "Today, the United States must finally stand up and say 'Enough.' It is time the people of Bosnia finally had some vowels in their incomprehensible words. The US is proud to lead the crusade in this noble endeavour."

The deployment, dubbed Operation Vowel Storm by the State Department, is set for early next week, with the Adriatic port cities of Sjlbvdnzv and Grzny slated to be the first recipients. Two C-130 transport planes, each carrying over 500 24-count boxes of "E's," will fly from Andrews Air Force Base across the Atlantic and airdrop the letters over the cities.

Citizens of Grzny and Sjlbvdnzv eagerly await the arrival of the vowels. "My God, I do not think we can last another day," Trszg Grzdnjkln, 44, said. "I have six children and none of them has a name that is understandable to me or to anyone else. Mr. Clinton, please send my poor, wretched family just one 'E.' Please."

Said Sjlbvdnzv resident Grg Hmphrs, 67: "With just a few key letters, I could be George Humphries. This is my dream."

The airdrop represents the largest deployment of any letter to a foreign country since 1984. During the summer of that year, the US shipped 92,000 consonants to Ethiopia, providing cities like Ouaouoaua, Eaoiiuae, and Aao with vital, life-giving supplies of L's, S's and T's.

[John 3rd]

That was pretty good and made me chuckle.

[Orm]

ORIGINAL: Chickenboy

You know that you really can't explain puns to kleptomaniacs. They take everything. Literally.

[:D] [&o]

[Orm]

ORIGINAL: Chickenboy

ORIGINAL: Zorch

ORIGINAL: geofflambert



Well, if they're French, we can take their consonants, they won't miss them. If you want to be really evil, you can dump some of your excess vowels on them, it won't make any difference.

Yeah, even throw an "x" on the end and see if anyone notices.

We can donate the excess vowels to Slavic countries like The Czech Republic and Slovakia...They desperately need vowels.

An oldie, but a goodie... [:)]

Clinton Deploys Vowels to Bosnia

(originally appeared in The Onion, Number One In News)
Cities of Sjlbvdnzv, Grzny to Be First Recipients

Before an emergency joint session of Congress yesterday, President Clinton announced US plans to deploy over 75,000 vowels to the war-torn region of Bosnia. The deployment, the largest of its kind in American history, will provide the region with the critically needed letters A,E,I,O and U, and is hoped to render countless Bosnian names more pronounceable.
"For six years, we have stood by while names like Ygrjvslhv and Tzlynhr and Glrm have been horribly butchered by millions around the world," Clinton said. "Today, the United States must finally stand up and say 'Enough.' It is time the people of Bosnia finally had some vowels in their incomprehensible words. The US is proud to lead the crusade in this noble endeavour."

The deployment, dubbed Operation Vowel Storm by the State Department, is set for early next week, with the Adriatic port cities of Sjlbvdnzv and Grzny slated to be the first recipients. Two C-130 transport planes, each carrying over 500 24-count boxes of "E's," will fly from Andrews Air Force Base across the Atlantic and airdrop the letters over the cities.

Citizens of Grzny and Sjlbvdnzv eagerly await the arrival of the vowels. "My God, I do not think we can last another day," Trszg Grzdnjkln, 44, said. "I have six children and none of them has a name that is understandable to me or to anyone else. Mr. Clinton, please send my poor, wretched family just one 'E.' Please."

Said Sjlbvdnzv resident Grg Hmphrs, 67: "With just a few key letters, I could be George Humphries. This is my dream."

The airdrop represents the largest deployment of any letter to a foreign country since 1984. During the summer of that year, the US shipped 92,000 consonants to Ethiopia, providing cities like Ouaouoaua, Eaoiiuae, and Aao with vital, life-giving supplies of L's, S's and T's.

[:)]

Pretty good and not an inch of PC.

[geofflambert]

I have this daydream I do when I have nothing to read or do. I’m a self-financing industrial magnate back in the 1920’s but I know what’s coming and when. I get the contract (however I have to do, I do it) to scrap the four Lexingtons under construction. I pretend to scrap them by gutting what I don’t want out of them, and ultimately fully scrap the Ranger. On a foggy night I tow the others out and take them to a secret facility with enclosed dry docks. Now slowly (I have lots of time) I begin building an aircraft carrier. Just one. It would utilize all three hulls. The flight deck and the hangar deck would span all three. The flight deck would consist of a reinforced concrete deck plated top and bottom with steel. The whole structure would be reinforced by I-beams transversing across a deck halfway to the waterline. These beams would have nothing bigger than man hole doors (like on a sub) cut into them and kept closed most of the time. Probably just crews quarters on this deck. There might be a further deck just below the hangar deck transversing all three hulls which would allow most of the air delivered munitions to be stored in magazines in the center hull and distributed to the other two hulls. Both this deck and the hangar deck would have walls separating each hull with blast doors of sufficient size for moving aircraft and etc. as needed across the ship. The blast doors would be open only as needed and certainly closed if an incoming attack were spotted. The avgas would also be stored in the center hull. There might be additional armor over the center hull, perhaps on the floor of the arming deck. There would be vents for the hangar deck and arming deck in the seams between the hulls in case of a penetration over the center hull. I just thought of this, those vents could vent downward. The island would rise over one side or the other of the center hull.
Each hull would have its own engines, screws, rudders and fuel supply. Obviously the center hull would be nearly impervious to torpedoes. Appropriate mine defenses would be called for there (vented bulges perhaps). Once the Japanese renounce the Washington treaty, serious construction could begin in earnest. Because I would not want the existence of this monster public before it was unavoidable, I would be constructing a secret base somewhere in Alaska’s Inner Passage for her. I would accelerate the production of the Hudson if I could, and purchase enough for one squadron with spares, then modify them so they were essentially Harpoons with folding wings. Their roles would be search, ASW and medium bombing. They would be capable of torpedo attacks. Probably a squadron of 24. I’d fund the construction and purchase the first Wildcats, Avengers and Dauntlesses I could lay hands on. I’d fund the USN with whatever it took to train the requisite number of crews (of all types including mechanics and ship’s crews) on other carriers as needed.

That’s mostly it, you can run day-dream scenarios of various sorts starting there.