James emails to point out a very good article on how the bombs for Operation Midnight Hammer were designed. This bit was particularly interesting:
“In the beginning of its development, we had so many PhDs working on the MOP program, doing modeling and simulation, that we were quietly and in a secret way, the biggest users of supercomputer-hours within the United States of America,” he said.
Recommended.
17 years is a long time. Not just for a blog, but in a lifetime.
In 2008, my youngest was at Parris Island becoming a Marine.
All my children were adults and healthy.
My parents were about to retire and were still doing well.
I was shooting enough that I had started reloading. That didn't save me any money but it did allow more time at the range.
I had started a martial art and had no idea if I was going to be able or willing to get very far.
I was working in I.T. , still mid-career.
I blogged about all these things, as well as about politics, the economy, world events, and anything that caught my attention. {SQUIRREL!!!}
Borepatch and I had our first contact within a month, a comment I left telling him to flee Massachusetts at the end of a long rant of a post he had made.
We joined our blogs along the way.
Now it's 2025. There have a lot of changes and losses along the way. But here we stand.
I grew up in a great time in a great country and I have had an amazing journey. And I still have hope.
Thanks to all of you have been our readers and commenters over the years.
Dwight (your go-to guy for obituaries) posts on the passing of Lalo Schifrin. Dwight lists the astonishing themes that he composed (spoiler alert: you have heard many of these). Most famous was Mission: Impossible theme; this song was one of the five Grammys he won:
He also composed the score for The Four Musketeers, which was great fun.
I encourage you to click through to Dwight's post for the list of his compositions which is simply astounding.
17 years ago I put up my first post here. Around the same time, ASM826 - my brother from another mother - put up his first post on his blog, Random Acts Of Patriotism.
17 years later, we are still here. I almost hung up my blogging shoes but realized that the world needed Dad Jokes. Err, or something.
And ASM826 is still here, too. And a lonely place it would be, too, without him. We both need to do more firearms related posts. Range Reports, that sort of stuff. I shall endeavour to improve my output here.
It's weird that in another year, this blog would be old enough to vote.
I guess we will eventually know what damage the Iranian nuclear program suffered. I expect we will have to wait a while.
While we await the verdict of History, skepticism seems prudent for all "news" and Internet bloviating.
History is a set of lies we agree to tell each other.
- Bernard Le Bouyer de Frontenelle
Today is the day with the longest period of daylight (in the Northern Hemisphere; in the Southern it's the longest night).
Here in the Sunshine State we're not far enough north to really see much difference. Today's daylight will last 13-ish hours which isn't too noticeable. The reverse is true in Winter, when the daylight only lasts 11-ish hours.
But in Maine where I grew up (pretty close to 45 degrees North latitude) it will be 15:30 hours of light. Mom always hated winter because with only 9 hours or so of daylight it got dark around 4:00 in the afternoon.
But could be worse: Oslo (in the absolute south of Norway) will have almost 19 hours of daylight today. Maybe this is why Scandinavian films are so depressing - winter gives them only 5 hours of daylight.
So enjoy the sun (assuming you don't live in the Antipodes). And be thankful you don't live near Stonehenge. The freaks come out in force today.
Image re-enacted from the Wik
But eventually the sun will go down today (OK, not if you're in Fairbanks). Take us away, Kenny ...
Congratulations to the Florida Panthers - and particularly to Panther Center Sam Reinhart who tied a Stanley Cup record with four goals last night. The Stanley Cup now returns to its rightful home in the Sunshine State.
So on Saturday there was a "No Kings" protest at the local library. The Queen Of The World said that they posted pix on Facebook, so there were there in the morning.
But I went by there on my way to the supermarket at 11:00 AM and there was NOBODY there. Nada. Zip.
That's some righteous protest, right there. [rolls eyes]
