BLOWN AWAY AGAIN: So the state is considering making Neverland a state park. We can't balance our budget. We want state employees to work for minimum hourly wage. Every community is stretching the tax dollars as best they can. They want the state's tax coffers to cover rehabilitation and maintenance and operation of this eyesore as a park ? I am blown away with the gubmint's incomparable and idiotic stupidity.
Notice how many, many paradigms of our everyday life are tumbling: Some examples might include going from analog to digital TV, the beginning of the shift away from gasoline powered cars, and manufacturing in the US shifting to other countries (i.e. China). Ones that occurred in the past, going from being hunter-gatherers to purchasing food and meats from suppliers. We have been depending on the cheaper labor from underdeveloped counties (i.e. Mexico...) which is beginning to wane. We will have to find some other way to accomplish the same work (i.e. automation).
Remember when milk was delivered to each house?
Remember how every gas station had someone to check your oil, tires and wipe your windows ?
Remember when doctors made house calls ?
Remember when you could trust a politician ? A banker ? A stock broker ? A real estate agent ?
Remember when steel was made in the US ?
Remember when you'd miss a call if you weren't home to get it on your family's phone ?
Remember when stores gave out trading stamps that could be redeemed for small appliances ?
. . .
There's probably a lot more, but I've been conditioned to believe it was PROGRESS, so I may not have noticed.
Casual Fridays..
Week 1 - Memo No. 1 Effective this week, the company is adopting Fridays as Casual Day. Employees are free to dress in the casual attire of their choice.
Week 3 - Memo No. 2
Spandex and leather micro-miniskirts are not appropriate attire for Casual Day. Neither are string ties, rodeo belt buckles or moccasins.
Week 6 - Memo No. 3
Casual Day refers to dress only, not attitude. When planning Friday's wardrobe, remember image is a key to our success.
Week 8 - Memo No. 4
A seminar on how to dress for Casual Day will be held at 4 p.m. Friday in the cafeteria. A fashion show will follow. Attendance is mandatory.
Week 9 - Memo No. 5
As an outgrowth of Friday's seminar, a 14-member Casual Day Task Force has been appointed to prepare guidelines for proper casual-day dress.
Week 14 - Memo No. 6
The Casual Day Task Force has now completed a 30-page manual entitled "Relaxing Dress Without Relaxing Company Standards." A copy has been distributed to every employee. Please review the chapter "You Are What You Wear" and consult the "home casual" versus "business casual" checklist before leaving for work each Friday. If you have doubts about the appropriateness of an item of clothing, contact your CDTF representative before 7 a.m. on Friday.
Week 18 - Memo No. 7
Our Employee Assistant Plan (EAP) has now been expanded to provide support for psychological counseling for employees who may be having difficulty adjusting to Casual Day.
Week 20 - Memo No. 8
Due to budget cuts in the HR Department we are no longer able to effectively support or manage Casual Day. Casual Day will be discontinued, effective immediately.
Pilot wisdom
Though I Fly Through the Valley of Death ... I Shall Fear No Evil. For I am at 80,000 Feet and Climbing! (Sign over the entrance to the SR-71 operating location Kadena AFB, Japan.) You've never been lost, until you've been lost at Mach 3. (Paul F. Crickmore - test pilot)
The only time you have too much fuel is when you're on fire. ---From an old carrier sailor
Blue water Navy truism: There are more planes in the ocean than submarines in the sky.
If the wings are traveling faster than the fuselage, it's probably a helicopter -- and therefore, unsafe.
When one engine fails on a twin-engine airplane you always have enough power left to get you to the scene of the crash.
Without ammunition, the USAF would be just another expensive flying club.
What is the similarity between air traffic controllers and pilots? If a pilot screws up, the pilot dies; If ATC screws up, the pilot dies.
Never trade luck for skill.
The two most common expressions (or famous last words) in aviation are: "Why is it doing that?", and "Where are we?"
Weather forecasts are horoscopes with numbers.
Airspeed, altitude, and brains. Two are always needed to successfully complete the flight.
A smooth landing is mostly luck; two in a row is all luck; three in a row is prevarication.
Mankind has a perfect record in aviation; we never left one up there!
Flashlights are tubular metal containers kept in a flight bag for the purpose of storing dead batteries
Flying the airplane is more important than radioing your plight to a person on the ground incapable of understanding or doing anything about it.
When a flight is proceeding incredibly well, something was forgotten.
Just remember, if you crash because of weather, your funeral will be held on a sunny day.
Advice given to RAF pilots during WWII: When a prang (crash) seems inevitable, endeavor to strike the softest, cheapest object in the vicinity as slowly and gently as possible.
The Piper Cub is the safest airplane in the world; it can just barely kill you. (Attributed to Max Stanley, Northrop test pilot)
A pilot who doesn't have any fear probably isn't flying his plane to its maximum. (Jon McBride, astronaut)
If you're faced with a forced landing, fly the thing as far into the crash as possible. (Bob Hoover - renowned aerobatic and test pilot)
If an airplane is still in one piece, don't cheat on it; ride the bastard down. (Ernest K. Gann, author & aviator)
Never fly in the same cockpit with someone braver than you.
There is no reason to fly through a thunderstorm in peacetime. (Sign over squadron operations desk at Davis-Monthan AFB, AZ, 1970.)
If something hasn't broken on your helicopter, it's about to.
Basic Flying Rules. Try to stay in the middle of the air. Do not go near the edges of it. The edges of the air can be recognized by the appearance of ground, buildings, sea, trees and interstellar space. It is much more difficult to fly there.
You know that your landing gear is up and locked when it takes full power to taxi to the terminal."
