Arizona Road Block
If they had packs on them carrying beans, they’d be bean burritos. As is, they’re not.
President Trump lands a job at McDonald’s
Kamala (The Ho) claimed to have worked at McDonald’s, which McDonald’s has debunked. The NY Post weighs in on it here.
Wearing an apron and a red tie, the former president served up some fries and political shade against his rival during a behind-the-counter stint at McDonald’s Sunday, which drew a monster crowd to the Feasterville-Trevose, Pa. fast food restaurant.
McDonald’s has long been one of Trump’s favorite chains, but his visit to the Golden Arches Sunday doubled as an effort to re-up his doubts over Vice President Kamala Harris’ claims that she worked there in the 1980s.
Bullet Points:
** God isn’t asking you to figure it out. He’s asking you to trust that he already has.
** Elsa is talking about serious topics. Today is the day!
** Moss Agate (right) is formed from a silicon dioxide (quartz) base wherein minerals of green dendritic inclusions are embedded in the stone, forming filaments and other patterns suggestive of moss. It is not a true form of agate because it does not have concentric banding. The colors are formed due to trace amounts of metal, such as chrome or iron, present as an impurity. The metals can make different colors depending on their valence (oxidation state). It is formed from weathered volcanic rocks and can be found worldwide. It polishes nicely. My first experience with agate was shooting marbles as a boy. I don’t think that kids do that anymore, but bullseye flint and banded agate made the best shooters.
** Too many believe everything they think is essential is a “right.” They think happiness is a right. Nope. The pursuit of happiness IS a right! They believe healthcare is a right. WRONG!! It’s included in the “Pursuit of Happiness” and Life and Liberty. You have the right to achieve those things, not just to have them handed to you!
** A discussion of Higgs and the Big Bang. Follow the science?
** We instinctively know that dogs are not criminals. “He has committed 120 felonies” would make no sense next to a puppy picture, but it would make perfect sense next to a cat and even more so to a kitten.
** Airbags – no, I’m not talking about myself. Maybe they’re a good option, but as has been discussed here, it would be good to have the option of buying a simple automobile with seat belts, crank windows, and an engine that didn’t require 40 computers to make it operate (I think that there are 40 in my Honda Passport). Could we go back to carburetors in place of the fuel injectors?
** Witches demand respect? I guess under DEI, there should be quotas for witch-hiring in every company… what about necrophiles? A necrophile quota?
** Flying with the infamous MikeW (yes, Mike in Thailand). Any landing you can walk away from is a good one.
** Was it a good idea to trot out generous loans so that dumb people could go to college and then lower the standards so that those dumb people could pass?
** Should we re-introduce brass into public areas and public transport? Some believe that it would reduce the spread of viruses and bacteria. True? I don’t know, but there is a discussion of this in Arizona. Here is one response in a local rag: To reintroduce precious metals into public spaces, we need to get rid of foreigners; otherwise, they will steal them. A fire station close to me had their guttering redone in copper. It took a week, and then one day–overnight, it was gone. They stole the whole rain guttering. Who was it? F*cking Gypsies, of course. They got caught because they tried to sell the gutters to a scrap dealer in the same town.
** GUARDS!! Irradiate him until his soul escapes his flesh as gracefully as steam from a bag of popcorn!!
Dinosaur Alert
JURASSIC WORLD 4: REBIRTH (2025)
– Trailer Scarlett Johansson, Chris Pratt | Universal Pictures
Jurassic World 4: Rebirth (2025) picks up a few years after the events of Jurassic World: Dominion, where dinosaurs have begun to coexist with humans across the planet. However, this uneasy balance is shattered when a new corporation, Genomex, emerges with plans far more dangerous than before. Unlike previous threats, Genomex is not just interested in cloning dinosaurs but in merging their DNA with human genomes, creating hybrid creatures far more intelligent and lethal.
The film opens with Owen Grady (Chris Pratt) and Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard) living in a remote, dinosaur-friendly sanctuary, attempting to maintain peace between humans and dinosaurs. They have adopted Maisie Lockwood (Isabella Sermon), the genetically engineered clone of Charlotte Lockwood, and are focused on protecting her from those who might exploit her genetic heritage. However, their quiet life is interrupted when Genomex’s latest experiment — a hybrid dinosaur-human creature — escapes from a high-security facility.
Scarlett Johansson joins the cast as Dr. Elara Vaughn, a brilliant geneticist and former colleague of Dr. Wu (BD Wong). Vaughn is morally conflicted, having helped develop the hybrid program for Genomex, only to realize the horrors she unleashed. She becomes an ally to Owen and Claire, warning them of Genomex’s plans to mass-produce the hybrids for military and commercial purposes.
As Owen, Claire, and Dr. Vaughn race against time to stop Genomex, they face a new breed of intelligent, human-like dinosaurs, which are not only deadly predators but also capable of tactical thinking and advanced communication. One of the hybrid creatures, known as “Reximus,” becomes the film’s primary antagonist. It is a fusion of a T. rex and human DNA, standing over 12 feet tall, with a terrifying combination of agility, intelligence, and brute force.
The movie climaxes when these hybrids overrun Genomex’s secret facility, leading to a chaotic battle between humans, dinosaurs, and the newly created hybrids. The film ends with a chilling question: can humanity coexist with creatures that are no longer purely animal but also human?
The dinosaurs are not (were not) all vegans… Are all carnivores toxic?
FEMA Mischief?
(Thinker) Pay no attention to the global investment corporations vying for access to natural resources—like lithium—in North Carolina’s landscape or the shadowy business with no substantial presence in the marketplace whose agents are running the property valuation operations! Confused? Allow me to explain.
On the FEMA website, one can navigate to a webpage that discloses the recipients of specific federal FEMA contracts and what services those contractors provide; here’s an explanation of the relationship between FEMA and the private sector:
FEMA Advance Contracts for goods and services are competed [sic] and awarded in advance of major disaster declarations to provide efficient, cost-effective means for rapid delivery of supplies and services for recurring disaster response and recovery requirements.
If you search for the private companies with contracts for the “Housing Inspection Services” function, you’ll see two contracts, one for “WSP USA Services, Inc.” and the other for Vanguard Inspection Services. (there is more at the link)
Identify the Vehicle
1
2
3
Identify the Aircraft
4
Over 400 built – two photos to aid you
5
Identify the Feature Film
A
Trash pandas made good hats — I guess.
B
Hint: Captain Karl Ehrlich is the master of the aging German steam freighter Ergenstrasse, home port Hamburg, docked at Sydney, Australia, on the eve of the Second World War.
C
This is a Video Hint
Parting Shot
End
A is the 1960 version of The Alamo.
B is The Sea Chase
C is You’ll Find Out
Yes
Identify the Vehicle:
1. Renault UE Chenillette with 3.7 cm Pak 36
2. M10 tank destroyers
3. Panzer IV
Identify the Aircraft:
4. Nakajima C6N Myrt
5. Blackburn Buccaneer S.2
Identify the Feature Film:
A. The Alamo
B. The Sea Chase
C. You’ll Find Out
Outstanding
Scarlett as scientist – reminds me of an old Mad Magazine spoof of some spies looking for a top scientist who went missing. Ran into a gal who claimed to be her, but the head spy knew she couldn’t be…because on TV shows female scientists are all beautiful, and this gal wasn’t. Burritos – they may not be bean burritos, but they are meat burritos???
They are definitely all meat burritos.
Channeling John Wilder with the bean burritos, eh?
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The God Particle: Axel Higgs is a character in the steampunk-ish webcomic Girl Genius. Although Higgs was (playing) an Airman Third Class in the Wulfenbach (Air) Navy, he is also referred to as Bosun. Coincidence? You decide.
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New Dino movie: That’s a joke, right? Like my Hallmark Movie outline. A bit of the old leg-pulling, a larf. Right? RIGHT?
No? O! Lieber Gott, modern franchises are the death of creativity. But I do know some good-looking girl scientists, they definitely exist. Actually I don’t know if any would call herself “a scientist” but they have at least one STEM doctorate each. (Of course, there are a lot more plain girl scientists than beautiful ones. Just like there are more plain vs beautiful people in everything.)
There’s also more to Axel Higgs than meets the eye.
Feasterville is a stone’s throw from me. I thought about going, but I heard the traffic was horrendous.
It would have been worth seeing.
In all fairness to all of you who visit, or have visited, the blog today, especially those of you who are fixed wing pilots, Larry is being facetious linking my good self with his two clips showing aircraft crashes. I can assure you that neither of the airplane’s shown crashing was piloted by me.
Why pick on poor little innocent me I might say. It is true that Larry knows I flew for many years. At one time I held an Australian Senior Commercial Pilots Licence, with multi-engine and, as it was then, Class One Instrument, ratings. I also held a United Kingdom Commercial Pilots Licence with multi-engine and instrument ratings. When I stopped flying, some years ago, I had about five thousand hours. I cannot be exact as my logbooks are at my Australian home in Sydney.
Yes, I was involved in a single engine light airplane crash in Indonesia, on Sunday 21 July 2002. We lost the engine on take-off from Halim Airport, Jakarta, at about 400 feet, which was too low to turn back to the airport. Attempts to restart the engine were unsuccessful as it was completely seized. With the airport surrounded by dense housing, of various descriptions, the only option we had was to turn to the right in an attempt to reach an adjacent multi-lane highway for a forced landing.
Narrowly scraping over a row of multi-storey apartments, we hit a row of trees which took off the left wing, causing us to roll to the left and drop, which caused us to hit the ground. We then went through a chain link fence and rolled across the multi-lane highway, hitting a number of cars in the process, before coming to a stop.
My good friend, Indonesian National Police Brigadier General Bakat Purwanto, who was pilot in command on the day, and was a highly experienced pilot, was killed and the two rear seat passengers seriously injured. I walked away relatively unscathed, suffering only extensive bruising. In fact, my body basically turned black and blue from head to foot. I put this down to several things (1) I always pulled my harness extremely tight, as tight as I could pull it, for take offs and landings. The man who taught me to fly in my youth, a former World War Two Spitfire pilot, who had had several forced landings during his career, had drilled this into me. (2) That the aircraft landed on its left side. Had it been the right wing that had been sheared off, with the airplane then crashing onto its right side, it is highly likely that it would have been me that died. (3) I was, as I always do and have done for many many years, wearing my Luang Phor Koon amulet. These amulets, which are worn by many Thai military and police officers, particularly those engaged on airborne and special operations, are widely believed to protect one from danger, bullets, and knives. Having had several close calls, whilst wearing it, and coming through unscathed, well mostly, I see no reason to contradict this.
Subsequent examination of the engine showed that the cause of the seizure was a dropped valve stem which, getting stuck between the piston and the cylinder wall, caused the engine to jam up solid. There was no way we were ever going to restart it.
Will there be more Flying with MikeW videos on VM? Don’t count it out…
Thank you kindly my good sir.
Speaking of planes and crashes, when the Sky King pic was shown the other day I almost expected a question as to the version of the plane – the original, or the one that replaced it after the original crashed. Not that I would have known the answer, but I figures someone would know.
The original Songbird, a Cessna T-50, was grounded due to rot in its wooden frame. The second, a Cessna 310B, was the one that crashed and was replaced by a Cessna 310D. I preferred the original. I thought it looked cool, but then I like the look of radial engines.
I knew someone knew :) I just remembered that the plane changed appearance at some point, and had heard a news story about the plane from the show crashing.
Reference the amulet…. Is it accurate information that you should not wear your Thai amulet to bed?
Al. I never wear mine to bed. I take it off right before retiring and put it on as soon as I get up.
Knew it couldn’t be you by the terrain and the N-number. Lovely bit of west virginia there… When the pilot did that little “Uh, I think I effed this up” blip on the throttle right before touchdown that should have been an immediate full-power go-around, at least the nearby folks at the gym just smiled and shook their head as I was growling “Go around, you idiot!”
They sky is (usually) harmless (clear air turbulence, icing, and rotor clouds excepted). But the edges, man, they’ll get you. Glad you made it.
Dorothy. Thank you kindly. Regarding the latter part of your last comment. As my old flight instructor used to say, “The only time you are near something solid that can hurt you, except if you run into some other idiot up there, is during take off and landing when you are near the ground.” The other thing that compounded our problem that day was, because the airport was very busy with a lot of arriving, departing, and circuit traffic, we had accepted an intersection take off rather than using the full length of the runway. I had never accepted an intersection take off before nor have I ever since. Pak Bakat said that he had, and that it was a common occurrence operating from Halim, particularly at weekends. Had we utilised the full length of the runway, would we have been able to put the airplane down in what was left in front of us? Who knows?
I have no doubt Kah-mala “worked” at McDonalds, just not inside the building. Ya follow?
damn, you know times are tough when a billionaire has to take a side job at mickey d’s!
Times are tough and you are hitting the economy right out of the ball park. Hahahaha!
Elsa Kurt should be careful. She might end up talking like that for reals. Hugh Laurie developed some sort of gait problem after playing (lame, cane-using) Dr House for so long.
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Who was it? F*cking Gypsies, of course.
I denounce this man’s flagrant anti-Romatism. The Roma are a nomadic people unjustly persecuted throughout time and space for absolutely no reason at all. Probably the settled peoples (known colloquially as “meat” to the Roma) are simply jealous of the intelligence and beauty of the Roma. On the other hand, every person I know who has had to deal with Gypsies in real life, including flaming libs, ends up wanting them rounded up and gassed. Amusing [to me] sidebar: A friend whose middle name is John worked three years in a hospital where he had to deal with Gypsies regularly. It is a tradition for the men in his family to be given the middle name John, but he broke tradition with his own son. Apparently “John” is commonly used as a surname among Gypsies, or at least the ones he had to deal with. “Steve” is another common “surname”. Friend said that he would get a twitch hearing “John” or “Steve” after those three years. [That is not the amusing part, THIS is the amusing part:] So another friend, Petros from Athens, was explained that “John” is a very common name in Greece. “I’d estimate that one in four men in Greece are Johns.” Uh, Petros, that means something else. “What?” Petros, MD, PhD, all around great guy, and so smart. Usually smart. But oddly innocent of some stuff despite a decade (at the time) in the States.
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But Gypsies are retail mischief makers. The real pros do it wholesale and under color of law. And if you notice, much less object, you’re the one who gets gassed.
Apropos of nothing: Such a tragedy in North Carolina: Can you spare $750 (million) for a Fink?
Give me a carburetor, mechanical fuel pump and points ignition any day. The computers are helpful with emissions, fuel economy and automatically adjusting air/fuel ratios. But after 10 years technology moves on and electronic parts become obsolete and unobtanium making you newer old car unrepairable. Point and carb kit are still plentyfull. Basic hand tools and your on your way. I’d take anything with a straight six made before 1987.
I don’t miss carburetor icing, fuel bowl floats sticking, condensers going bad…
Or rejetting at higher altitudes only to have to travel at sea level again..
Sigh…Dorothy is right. That whole ‘arc’ to land was a mistake. Carrier landings are ‘good’ if you can use both the pilot and the airplane again… I’m agreed on a dead simple ‘old’ car. They will still be running/able to be fixed LONG after the current monstrosities are in the junk yard. Why else does Tractor Supply still carry parts for a 1948 Ford 8N tractor?
Picture of the Burro’s must have been taken close to Oatman, although they don’t appear to be demanding handouts.
Cletus
There are burros and mustangs everywhere in Arizona. Where I live on the Mogollon Rim, you’re more likely to encounter mustangs. In lower elevations, burros are more common. Along the Salt River there are many hundreds of mustangs, but I’ve never seen a burro
Arizona Road Block – aka Wickenburg
X2
Mcdonalds is changing its name now they have such great corporate visibility: “Donalds”
MAGADonald’s
The MAGAburger…two whole range fed beef patties, no special interest sauce,….
😆
Simple vehicles easy to repair that aren’t computerized and aren’t full of safety features. Once again, Japan’s Kei series of small vehicles sounds like a perfect fit. Powered by basically motorcycle engines, all getting excellent gas mileage and surprisingly versatile. The pickup version is popular amongst the 4×4 offroaders here in the States (when and where they are allowed) as they outperform most ATVs and UTVs. Sure, they can’t do Interstate speeds, but for farm use or town or city use, they’re down-right perfect.
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But, no, not allowed or accepted in many places because they’re not overloaded with safety features and emissions reductions features yada yada yada.
Welllll….they’re kinda-sorta accepted, Beans. If you buy one that’s a certain age (25yrs?) you can import it here under an exemption. I have several friends who own them, and they’re real hoot to drive around town in. They make excellent delivery vehicles for many businesses, and are as cute as a puppy.
Problem is that various states restrict their use. Florida only allows them on roads 35mph or less.