Overheard in the Hallway...

Me: "We need a new holiday for pedants, where we explain everything to each other in tedious detail. Call it Belabor Day."

RX: "So, weekdays. Also weekends."

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Isn't It Ironic?

The Field of Dreams game, played in the iconic ball field in the middle of the Iowa corn, featured advertising on the outfield walls for Fanduel Sports and BetMGM.

Which, I mean... were they trying to torment Shoeless Joe's ghost, or what?

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Memes on a Rainy Friday!

Stupid Weather...

As you may have read elsewhere, we've been having some weather here this week.

Unfortunately, all this weather volatility has occurred during the first week of the Indiana State Fair.

Looking at the forecast, I think I'm just going to punt on the Fair this week and hope to get in some good visits Tuesday through Friday of next week.

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Meme Dump!

Important Announcement!

When burying your loved ones these days, it’s important that you inter them with a smart phone.

Placing coins on their eyes does not work anymore. Charon is apparently no longer accepting cash and wants the recently deceased to download the ETERNAL FERRYMAN app so that they can pay via PayPal or Venmo in order to be poled across the River Styx.

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Life in the Panopticon, Part 24,917...

It would appear that the government is scrutinizing anti-Flock TikTok and Instagram accounts...

"Investigative journalist Dan Boguslaw first published several fusion center bulletins about DeFlock, a crowdsourced map of ALPR cameras. 404 Media has now obtained four more recent law enforcement briefings warning police to surveil or beef up patrols of areas where Flock cameras are located (the documents are embedded below). These briefings document instances of Flock vandalism and warn, specifically, about the DeFlock “National Week of Action Against Automated License Plate Readers,” which is essentially a series of public meetings and protests about the dangers of mass surveillance."

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Reverse Lend Lease

A lack of suitable night fighters saw the USAAF operating Bristol Beaufighters in the role in Europe until enough P-61 Black Widows were available to fill the ranks. The Beaufighter Mk.VIf above is painted up as the aircraft of the commander of the 415th Night Fighter Squadron circa September of 1944.

Below is a Supermarine Spitfire Mk.Vc (Trop) as it would have served with the USAAF in North Africa.

Hump Day Meme Dump!

People’s taste is all in their mouths.

According to an email I just got, the Beretta 80X in .32ACP is fixin’ to take an indefinite hiatus from the Langdon Tactical catalog.

If you are a person of sophisticated tastes who appreciates the Trey-Deuce Browning, this might be your last chance to get the ultimate launcher for that sweet little cartridge.

EDIT: Apparently they'll be available on a much more limited basis, but not as a regular stocking item.

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Tornado

The USAF's first operational jet bomber, the four-engined North American B-45 Tornado was the main nuclear deterrent based in western Europe in the early years of the Cold War.

The B-45C at the USAF museum in Dayton is painted in the colors of the 47th Bomb Wing (Light), which was based out of RAF Sculthorpe in the 1950s. The wing had flown A-20 Havocs and A-26 Invaders in World War Two.

In today's episode of "The Internet Was A Mistake"...

What is this I can't even

Done GIFfrom Done GIFs

Meme Dump!

Automotif DCXXXIII...

I don't see a lot of second generation General Motors F-bodies on the road these days. I'd say that's probably because rust got a bunch of them and overconfident teenage throttle jockeys got a bunch more.

However carrying my Canon EOS RP and the RF 24-105mm f/4-7.1 IS zoom lens managed to summon a couple 1975 model Ponchos recently.

There was the Alpine Green Firebird Formula 400, which we've seen before.

A new-to-me one was this Firebird Trans Am in Cameo White.

The combo of the RP and the 24-105/4-7.1 is so compact and lightweight for a full-frame camera. It's very handy to tote.

Thunderjet!

Designed by Alex Kartveli, the same dude who designed the P-47 Thunderbolt, the Republic F-84 Thunderjet was an early straight-winged jet fighter that started off the Korean War flying escort missions for B-29 raids but really won renown as a rugged fighter-bomber flying close air support and deep interdiction missions. Sorta like its predecessor, when you think about it...

It was the first USAF fighter capable of carrying an A-bomb and over four thousand of the things were built. It saw export success, too, being sold to fourteen nations. Some operators, like Portugal and Yugoslavia, used them into the 1970s.

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Memes to Kick Off the Week!

Early Bird

I really liked seeing the Bell P-59B up close at the USAF museum. Its General Electric turbojets were basically American copies of English Whittle engines and its performance was relatively uninspiring, but the Airacomet was the first operational jet fighter flown by the US Army Air Corps.

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Meme Dump!

Tab Clearing...

• What a Monopoly vendor learned when making things in America.


• Flock pitched a plan to turn Uber and Lyft drivers into roving surveillance vehicles.


• Hello Local Business, your AI ads are costing you customers.

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Meme Dump!