My #1 Christmas Song

Merry Christmas everybody!

Christmas Song #2

Waaaay back when I first started working for Boeing on the Sea Launch program, I stumbled across this video during the trip back from the launch of the XM-3 satellite.

After the launch, we're all pretty burned out, and this launch, my first, was especially stressful, as we sat at the launch site for TWO WEEKS waiting for the sea currents to calm down so the Dynamic Positioning System could hold the Launch Platform in position.

Finally, after all the stress, we received launch clearance, and began the automated countdown. The launch vehicle was erected, the LP cleared of people, and the fueling began. We got down to T-8 minutes, and an abort was called due to some issue with the launch vehicle.

MAJOR bummer, as if an abort was called after fueling was started, it was a minimum two day turn around, The tanks had to be drained, then flushed and purged, and the issue with the launch vehicle resolved.

We wound up being there another week, and were really burned out by the time we launched, secured our gear, and headed home.

Hence, this video, as annoying as it is, seemed to fit our mood, and became a Sea Launch "Christmas Classic".

It's silly, stupid, and annoying, but then so were we after all the stress, missed sleep, 12~14 hour days, and being stuck on the ACS for over a month.......


I promise my next "Christmas Song" will be much more enjoyable!

Christmas Song #3

One of the two "Favorite Christmas Songs" I posted over on Miss Lisa's blog when she asked is "Christmas Wrapping" by The Waitresses.

It's a cute little song with a happy ending, and always makes me smile.

WestJet Merry Christmas to Passengers on a Flight

This is amazing. Brings "Customer Serice" to a new level!

58 Years Ago Today

The Boeing 707 first flew.

I've flown in them many times, and always got quite a thrill out of it.

The one pictured above is owned by John Travolta, and has been lovingly restored to its full glory.

The 707 was based on the famous "Dash 80" that Tex Johnson barrel rolled, and was the prototype for the KC-135 tanker that the US Air Force still flies, although they've all been rebuilt and re-engined so many times that I wonder how much of the original airplane is left!

Truly beautiful aircraft, and they made possible the rise of low-cost transatlantic and transpacific air travel.

Two For Saturday

The music video was found over on LL's blog, while the sign came from Common Sense Evaluation.


I just thought they kind of went togther.....

After doing some Googling for "The American's Creed", and finding several versions of what's been called "The American/s Creed", I found that this particular version was written by a man named Dean Alfange.

His brief bio here is from "Good Reads".


Dean Alfange was born in Constantinople (now Istanbul, Turkey) of Greek parents, December 2, 1897. His family migrated to the United States and settled in Utica, New York, when he was very young. He attended Hamilton College where he graduated Phi Beta Kappa in 1922. Later he attended Columbia University Law School and was admitted to the bar in 1925.

Alfange's interests led him to pursue a career in politics as well as law. He was also deeply involved with the Order of Ahepa, a Greek-American cultural organization, acting as its national president from 1927-1929. He ran for New York State Governor on the American Labor Party ticket in 1942 against Thomas E. Dewey and was a strong advocate of the New Deal and a great admirer of Franklin D. Roosevelt.

During World War II he was the Vice-Chairman of the Emergency Committee to Save the Jewish People of Europe. He made speeches for aid to the Jews against the Nazis, and at a hearing before the Foreign Affairs Committee in the House of Representatives submitted a plan to save the Jews in Europe. After World War II he became chairman of the Committee to Arm the Jewish State, a group aimed at lifting the arms embargo on Palestine.

He was instrumental in the formation of the Liberal Party in 1944 when the American Labor Party split between pro-communist and anti-communist factions. Alfange held nominations or appointments
from Democrats and Republicans as well as the Liberal and American Labor Party. As early as 1954 he expressed opposition to the American policy of military aid to the French government in Indochina, his position being one based on anti-colonialism. This position continued throughout America's involvement in the Vietnam Conflict.

Other positions held by Alfange were: Deputy Attorney General of New York State, Trustee of the Fashion Institute of Technology and New York State Quarter-Horse Racing Commissioner. Among his awards are the Freedom Foundation Award (1952) for his composition “My Creed” (included in Box 5, folder 3) and the Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Award for his book The Supreme Court and the National Will (1937).

He died in New York City on October 24, 1989 at age 91.

______________________________________________________

This man helped found the modern "liberal" movement, which bears little resemblance to the "liberal" parties of today.

He's probably spinning in his grave like a gyroscope over what the "liberals" have become...........

Housing Market Bubble Inflating Again

At least it is by my observations.

When the housing market blew up last time, the real estate listings I get were loaded with short sales and foreclosures. Over the last few years, these slowly went away, and 95+% of what I received were just regular sales.

Over the last two months or so, I'm seeing a rising number of short sales and foreclosures again, along with hearing things on the radio and in blogs about the "0% Down" loans, and even some sub-prome loans being offered again.

This morning's listing of 5 properties in the 60435 area code had two foreclosures, two short sales, and one regular sale.

Looks like it's starting again, and when this one pops, I suspect it will be worse than the last time....

112 Years Ago Today

This happened:

And the world changed forever.

An uncle on my Mom's side was about 10 years old when this happened, and I remember him crying when we landed on the Moon.

He simply couldn't believe that in his lifetime we had gone from a fragile little 12 Horsepower machine, to a giant, thundering rocket (still the most powerful machine ever built) that carried three men to the Moon.

I'll always remember his fascination with television, and the fact that it "had NO moving parts".

Finally Got My Windows 7 PC Back Up and Running Stable

GROAN.....what a PITA.

After doing a restore to the last previously known "good" configuration, it seemed to be running OK, but with a ton of almost continuous  hard-disk activity, and requiring numerous "updates", and reboots.

It was so sluggish that I was about to rip out what's left of my hair, and start on my beard....

Finally, after letting it run for about 12 hours total, it's settled down, and is operating more-or-less normally.

At least all the installed software on it works without blowing up, and I can use my Flex Radio Systems 5000A again. I haven't tried any of the digital programs, like FLdigi, or the slow-scan/wefax/RTTY programs yet, so I might have to reconfigure the program that runs the virtual serial ports.

And this time, rather than going through and removing all the Windows Updates by hand, I went ahead and took several people's advice and installed the GWX Control Panel, which makes rooting out and killing the Windows 10 "upgrade" notifications and included spyware as easy as a few mouse clicks.

I even sent to guy $10 and thanked him!

The User Guide is located here, and I highly recommend getting this fine utility if you're running Windows 7, 8, or 8.1.

Back to checking if *all* my Amateur Radio software is working......

Toe Tappin' Time!

Enjoy....

One For Old_NFO.......

GO NAVY!

Courtesy of Wally Schirra and Tom Stafford during the Gemini VI mission