Category: Work

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Evergreen Alpine Rescue Team

There’s been no shortage of first responder opportunities of all types ever since we moved here back in 2003. This region certainly has some challenging environmental issues, so ours are some of the best. These guys went up for a dog.

Reminds me of the first time we hiked the Buchanan Pass trail. It’s not technically an off-leash trail, but mostly in the National Forest, so customary to let dogs run free up there, from what I’ve seen. As should be expected anywhere, you are responsible for your party’s behavior. So Jax was having a great time treeing squirrels right and left for the first two hours, when at some point he dashed off after one towards the river. It wasn’t anywhere in view, but I knew we were close, because the roar from a waterfall had been growing louder for the past few minutes.

So I followed off-trail in his direction to have a look and found the river about 100 yards downstream from the falls at the bottom of a 100 foot high cliff, with Jax nowhere in sight. The butthead is way too enthusiastic for his own good, so I immediately assumed he must’ve taken a dive. I was calling for him making my way towards the falls, looking everywhere I could see before finding a spot I could descend safely. I nearly broke my own neck slipping around on the rocks at the bottom when I saw him up at the top of the falls, just sitting there with his tongue hanging out waiting for me.

He’s gotten alot better at coming when he’s called since then. šŸ˜‰

I used to fancy myself quite the little mountain man, but I’ve never even done a 14-er.
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My Redhat Certification(s)

The company started out competing with Novell Netware in the late 90s. I was lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time (RAF Mildenhall, mid-90s) to receive vendor training from both, beginning my role as the go-to guy for computer stuff in the Comm Squadron and everywhere else I ended up from then on, throughout my entire career. Becoming a Certified Netware Administrator was just the start. I still get inquiries from recruiters with resume sorters thinking CNA stands for Certified Nursing Assistant.

Alot of engineers like me picked the winner back then, following the money. I now offer my Redhat status (608003927000141) in sacrifice to the Techno Greed Gods. You don’t need to get greedy with it. There’s enough money out there for everybody. Look in the mirror for explanations on the increasing level of difficulty making it. Redhat has embarked on the Technopreneur Greed Train, so I’m done with them. No more Fedora, RHEL, CentOS, Rocky, whatever, for me.

If your code sourced from the Novell spring, Fuck you assholes.

Like I been sayin’ – let ’em know what you think.
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2nd F-22 Air-to-Air Coming Up?

Not sure how they categorized that Chinese balloon shoot-down. Should be interesting to see what happens next time a Russian Mig gets anywhere near one of our UAVs.

U.S. Air Force F-22 Raptors fly in formation with Romanian air force F-16 Fighting Falcon during joint training with Romanian and Italian air forces over CĆ¢mpia Turzii, Romania, May 23, 2023. The fifth-gen. fighters flew in support of NATOā€™s Allied Air Commandā€™s Air Shielding mission along the Europeā€™s eastern flank. (Courtesy photo)
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Tip of the Spear

I couldn’t do it – jumping out of a perfectly good aircraft. These guys take badass to the next level.

U.S. Air Force personnel jump out the back of an HC-130J Combat King II assigned to the 81st Expeditionary Rescue Squadron (ERQS) over Djibouti, May 9, 2023. The 81st ERQS is a rapidly deployable combat search and rescue force that can conduct tactical air refueling, airdrop and airland of personnel and/or equipment during day or night operations in support of combat personnel recovery within Combined Joint Task Force ā€“ Horn of Africa area of responsibility. (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Aaron Irvin)
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Overwatch Never Looked So Good

Combat Control goes viral. We been doing it around the globe for decades at altitudes up to geosynchronous orbit. It’s nice to know Stuff scales down well in some use cases. The power of photo and video surveillance from spy satellites to the smartphone in your pocket and lots of little flyers in between lead Ukraine into battle.

Russian Forces Retreat from Positions Near Storozheve, Zaporizhia.
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Fun Times Over Now!

A few days late on this, but I been busy trying to get the pond started – lots of maintenance needed this year…

The U.S. Air Force Academy Class of 2023 graduates toss their hats into the sky as the U.S. Air Force Air Demonstration Squadron “the Thunderbirds” roar overhead at the Academy’s Falcon Stadium in Colorado Springs, Colo., June 1, 2023. Nine-hundred twenty-one cadets crossed the stage to become the Air Force and Space Forceā€™s newest second lieutenants. (U.S. Air Force photo by Trevor Cokley)
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The Other Time Bosnia Tried to Kill Me

My first trip to Banja Luka in the UK sector was a real hoot. It was the longest drive, taking most of the day, so everybody’s already in a bad mood and behind schedule upon arrival. As usual, no pre-coordination had been done, so we waited outside the Brit’s HQ while our French Lieutenant played catch-up. We located the U.S. contingent in short order, drove over there, unloaded and started setting up in the clearing behind their area. Ten minutes later the Lieutenant returns and says to stop, they didn’t know where they wanted it. So we decided to just get some grub, find a place to crash and try again in the morning. They seemed to be in full NATO mode at this location.

By 10:00 the next morning the only thing I was worried about was driving through Bosnia in the dark on the way back to Sarajevo. HQ roof was obviously the best place it would actually work, but got kicked off there within minutes. The Lieutenant seemed to be doing his best in various animated conversations with one after another British officer, but making no progress. If something didn’t happen pretty soon we were gonna be here another day.

That’s when I got the light bulb thing again, staring at the defunct antenna tower right behind the building there. They weren’t even using it – for anything. I was about to find out why, the hard way. We didn’t have nearly enough coax to reach the hut from there, but I figured if we could just get it set up and running they would have no trouble humping the radio around until later, whenever. It was only gonna be used for 5 minutes once a week anyway.

So I got the Tacsat antenna up there and connected with a few zip ties to keep it in place when I notice Sgt Willis down at the bottom yelling for me to come down. I’m like, “just a minute, I’m almost done!!” He’s yelling frantically for some reason, and by then there’s around ten people gathered below. I was met at the bottom of the ladder by a British Colonel with a very stern look on his face. All he said was “That’s a good place for the antenna, but now’s not the time to put it there. We had sniper activity here last week.” Turned and walked away with his gaggle, including our Frenchman this time. All was right in our little world once again.

They obviously had more important things to worry about than whatever the fuck we were doing. I received another talkin’ to from the U.S. Lieutenant after we got back to Butmir. Something about language barriers and patience. I had no clue what she was talking about. Me ‘n the French Lieutenant got along great – he loved my music! šŸ˜‰

The one I climbed in Banja Luka had nothing on top until i was done with it.
Time Out of Mind -Steely Dan
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AI Code of Conduct

So powers-that-be (Euro union, etc.) are getting together to gen up some AI control measure. Sounds like a great idea. I’m pretty sure no code of conduct ever deterred determined evil cocksuckers from bending legitimate means to their selfish ends.

I might suggest a better approach to AI could be simply acknowledging the fact this genie is out of the bottle. Assume it will be leveraged for crime, political skullduggery and ordinary scam purposes, with the upshot eventually being human extinction and/or enslavement. Considering how dependent we are on techno-driven society, some of us already felt enslaved to chatbots and byzantine telephone answering systems.

Created with DALLĀ·E, an AI system by OpenAI X Fausto ā€” The earth quaked as the monster lumbered closer, appearing to grow with each step. ignorant of the humanity that fled before it. It didnā€™t care for their screams or their_ begging as it destroyed everything in its path. Reaching out a hand, the monster grabbed hold of the earth and tore it in two. In a single gulp, it devoured half of the planet, crushing buildings and Relief effort organization put cities beneath its teeth. The skies darkened as thick dust and debris filled the air, blotting out the sun. For miles around, all was quiet except for the sound of the monsterā€™s footsteps as it headed back into the shadows.
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Lakenheath Heavy Duty

Had my 1st surgery at the Lakenheath hospital. That went well, but it’s also where I met my 1st bad doctor, incapable of diagnosing a collapsed lung just prior. They said he’d been asking for alot more chest x-rays lately.

U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Norberto A. Gonzalez, Senior Airman Curtis A. Rhoden and Airman 1st Class Katlin G. Anders, assigned to the 48th Civil Engineer Squadron at Royal Air Force Lakenheath, United Kingdom, represent Team U.S. Air Forces in Europe – Air Forces Africa during a Mobile Aircraft Arresting System challenge April 25, 2023, at the Air Force Civil Engineer Readiness Challenge IX at Silver Flag Training Site, Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla. Eight teams representing various major commands battled it out for the title of Readiness Challenge champion. (U.S. Air Force photo by Samuel Robbins)
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Turning Point

Bakhmut has been a contested city in Eastern Ukraine for many months. Assuming the Uke plan was to exhaust Wagner and the Russians in a costly attempt to take a ruined town, it worked spectacularly. Now we’re waiting to learn just exactly how overstretched, confused and demoralized the Russian forces have become at this point. It’s going to be a bloody Ukrainian summer for alot of unlucky Russians.

KYIV, May 21 (Reuters) – Ukraine said on Sunday that its forces were still advancing around the edges of Bakhmut, aiming to encircle the ruined eastern city after Moscow congratulated the Wagner private army and Russian troops for capturing it.

It’s on now. “Meanwhile, the ā€œFreedom of Russia Legionā€ took responsibility for the attack and claimed it had even ā€˜liberatedā€™ a settlement.”

Congratulations to the Russkies! You occupied a destroyed city, for a few days.
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A-10s Coming

Everybody and their brother’s been trying to retire these birds for a decade. Gawd help the Russians if Ukraine manages to establish air superiority in the coming months. Somebody’s gonna be waiting right next door on a tanker’s tail, ready to rain carnage on up to 64 ground targets in one mission. Did I mention we’ve been qualifying their pilots on these for the past few months?

The plane that keeps flying, no matter what.

The flares are just for show. They won’t see or hear the SDBs until stuff starts exploding all around them. Maybe shoot up some tanks on the way home, like how the P-47s handled the Germans back in the day. A-10 was made for this. Welcome home, ladies.
On the Hunt -Lynyrd Skynyrd
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Need More Badass Women II

Been sayin’ it for quite some time. Pretty sure the dearth of women in leading roles is at least one factor culminating over the years in today’s culture war upheaval rooted in misogynistic OWG politics. They line up blondie propagandists all across right-wing media, and parade morons like Boebert and Greene in the government. Then they make abortion a keystone platform point with a Supreme Court to back it up. Pretty sure the women are the only thing that’s gonna fix this.

LATE UPDATE: Fuckin’ eh.