I’m guessing this pilot’s pucker factor was off the charts. He probably sucked the survival kit, raft included, right up his bum. When it comes to low-level flying, the best you can ever do is tie the record.
K?br?sta felaketin e?i?inden dönüldü. Allah korusun. Çok usta bir menavra ile kurtard?#teknofest #k?br?s #f4phantom #f4 #phantom #tuaf pic.twitter.com/EKCbsDefDp
— Maytheforcebewithyou (@SailorNayad) April 30, 2025
And speaking of pucker factor, how about this?
F/A-18E Super Hornet Slides Off Deck While USS Harry Truman Was Evading Houthi Attack
The F/A-18E’s loss is the latest in a string of incidents to befall the Truman, including a collision and friendly fire shootdown as combat ops grind on.
Latest: https://t.co/GWioYScNta
— Tyler Rogoway (@Aviation_Intel) April 28, 2025
For the past few months the Houthi rebels have claimed repeated hits on, and even sinkings of, US Navy ships in the Red Sea. The way these things have been reported, their claims appeared to be nothing but braggadocio in the face of overwhelming American military force. But here we are admitting the skipper of this Empire State Building-sized aircraft carrier, the USS Harry Truman, was forced into such a hard evasive turn that a loose plane, still attached to a tow tug, rolled right off the deck and fell into the water. Maneuvering that hard to avoid some kind of incoming strike from these rag-tag Houthi rebels? What have those guys got up their sleeves? Artillery? Missiles? Rockets? Drones? Just how tense are things for our forces over there (and I’m including the strike aircraft and bombers working out of Diego Garcia)? Guessing this is a story the Department of Defense really really wanted to keep suppressed. Also giving a grudging nod to the Houthis, even though they seem to be murderous dirtbags on the order of the Taliban.
You know the Trump administration, probably at the order of Stephen Miller, has imposed immigrant deportation quotas on federal law enforcement agencies. ICE, Customs & Border Inspections, US Marshals, Border Patrol, the FBI, even the US Postal System Police … anyone they can boss around. And whenever there’s a quota system, people whose continued employment depends on meeting them will do whatever it takes to keep their jobs, including arresting legal immigrants showing up for citizenship interviews and even detaining innocent citizens of the USA. And what’s this shit about taking people’s possessions and cash when they’re wrongly raided and made to stand outside in the rain in their underwear? Just how bad do things have to get before the fucking Democrats in Congress do something? Before the media starts calling for impeachment and open revolt in the streets? I mean, Rachel Maddow, sure, but where is everyone else? At least the people … our neighbors and friends … are getting out there and protesting, leading the way in these stupid evil times.
And I have to ask, why hasn’t any major media outlet … 60 Minutes, The New Yorker, the Atlantic, even Rachel herself … done an investigative report into the obviously-faked “assassination” attempt on Donald Trump, the event that was staged to give him the photo that won him the election?
Turning to the personal, we have not made a decision on our old dachshund, Mister B. Donna’s not ready, and I defer to her. It’s a hard hard thing, and there’s still room for doubt on whether Mr. B is suffering. I know I’ve got plenty to complain about these days … AFib, arthritis pains in my shoulders, wrists, and hands … but I want to keep living. I’m simple-minded that way; life is what I know and I want to keep living it. I expect dogs feel the same way.
Happily, my doctor has put me on steroids and the inflammation in my shoulders, wrists, and hands is almost gone. What a relief! Now to tackle the AFib, with an ablation procedure scheduled for May 9th.
Our built-in microwave, part of the kitchen remodel we did a few years ago, started burning food, and we discovered it was because the turntable had stopped rotating. No one in Tucson fixes them, so Donna drove to Phoenix with the microwave in the back seat. It’s fixed now, and Donna got a girls’ night with her friend Millie, who moved up there a while back. We have an old German tube radio we’d like to restore, and, as with small appliance repair, the guys who do that are in Phoenix, not Tucson. There’s also a wristwatch I want for my birthday this October, or maybe Christmas, but it’s one I want to try on and see on my wrist before plunking down the cash. No one in Tucson has one on display and I’ll probably have to drive to Phoenix or even Las Vegas if I want to see it in the flesh first.
I swear, Covid turned me into a homebody, practically a hermit. On the one hand, I haven’t been sick once in four-plus years (and neither has Donna). On the other, the mere thought of getting on the haboob- and semi-infested freeway between here and Phoenix keeps me up at night, even though I drove up and down that deadly stretch of highway every day when I worked for the VA, thinking nothing of it.
Polly’s latest: she trained and tested for lifeguarding with Pima County this summer, and is on their roster now. What that means is uncertain: they have 200-some lifeguards on their call list, and about 120 positions to fill. There’ll be days some can’t work and others will be called in, but even if Polly gets called in a lot, it probably won’t amount to much. So she’s applying for a corrections officer position at the prison south of town. She has to test (written and physical) tomorrow morning with an oh-dark-thirty show. Keep your fingers crossed for her, okay? Ours are!
Top quality post, as always