The Pledge-"zOMG, It's Under Bog!!!1!!"

Because "Bog" is the Russian word for "God":

Я обещаю преданность Флагу Соединенных Штатов Америки, и в республику, которую это обозначает, одна Страна под Богом, неделимом, со свободой и справедливостью для всех.

Just as "Allah" is the Arabic word for God. So if someone says the Pledge in Arabic, they indeed are going to use the word "Allah". Christians who speak Arabic pray to Allah.

But you don't have to go very far to find pants-shitting going on over a bunch of students saying the Pledge in Arabic. Or conservatives calling out the pants-shitters for being, well, imbeciles.

"Your Honor, I Move to Have the Bailiff Shoot the Witness!"

OK, this is a deposition, not a trial, but still:

Chair Force Security

Must be nice.

I can't think of any other service where a flight line security guard would be permitted to stand post while seated in a leather executive swivel chair.

To the Air Force, "roughing it" is having to stay in a three-star hotel.

A General Announcement For Those Who Desire to Discuss "Star Wars VII"

In the immortal words of William Shatner.... (well, you know).

UP #4014

On the move to the restoration shop!

There is video at the link.

(Photo credit)

Note the engine number of the lead diesel. (The trailing diesel is #4884.)

Steam locomotive 101, in case this is a new topic to you.

XP and IE

If you are runing Windows XP, you need to stop using Internet Explorer, as in right the fuck now. Switch to Firefox or Chrome or Opera or something else.

As in now, all you motherstabbers and fatherrapers.

Borepatch has the details.

Flip-Flop Mitt: 3rd Time's a Charm; Harold Stassen Edition

Mitt Romney has said time and time again that he has no interest in running for president a third time.

But, on Sunday morning, CBS' Bob Schieffer said not to write off the idea of a 2016 campaign by Romney so quickly.

"I have a source that told me that if Jeb Bush decides not to run, that Mitt Romney may actually try it again," Schieffer said.

Really. What is the Incredible Elastic Mitt going to run as? A moderate Republican? A "severe conservative"? A Tea party acolyte? If you look at the stances that Rmoney has held over the years, about the only two political poles he hasn't touched are Pinochet-grade Fascism and Communism.

I find it hard to believe that the Republican base would, even for a picosecond, consider going with this guy again. But it's probably wise to not overestimate them.

Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Rememberance Day)

Started at sundown yesterday.

Many more people than Jews were murdered by the Germans in the Holocaust. But it cannot be forgotten that the Jews were the principal reason for the industrialization of mass murder by the Third Reich.

In Israel, air-raid sirens sound at 10AM for two minutes. People stop what they are doing and stand in remembrance.*

____________________________________
* Except for a few assholes.

Your Sunday Morning Jet Noise

F-104 Starfighter:

The Starfighter probably killed more Luftwaffe pilots than did the gunners in B-17s. To be fair, though, the Starfighter was designed to be a VFR fighter/interceptor. The Germans were using it for all-weather combat, including ground attack. Those were tough missions for an airplane with twitchy handling and a need to go fast or fall out of the sky.

"Gouger" Mountain

A trip to a store for a wedding present brought me to a shopping complex that also held a Gander Mountain. Of course, I wandered in.

A look at the handgun offerings persuaded me to wander the fuck back out. They had a Beretta Neo for $320, which is a sub-$300 gun in almost every other gun shop. They had a Ruger 22/45 with molded grips priced at $330. That's also a sub-$300 gun almost everywhere else. Local gun shops sell the 22/45 with removable grips for $300 to $325.

I'd have expected a "big-box" national retailer to be able to beat the little guys on price. Guess not. Which is why I won't be going back to Gouger Mountain anytime soon.