Lift Off!

From NASA:

Space shuttle Discovery launched March 15, 2009 at 7:43 p.m. EDT, carrying a crew of seven and the final set of power-generating solar arrays to the International Space Station. The successful liftoff highlighted a day of perfect Florida weather and a smooth countdown.

Because Otis is a possible landing site if the Space Shuttle got into trouble, our FD went on full-alert tonight. There is a window of time after lift-off from Cape Canaveral that if the shuttle needed to land, it could land here. Our runway is one of the longest on the east coast, but I was glad that we didn't need to test that it was long enough tonight. All the bells and whistles, apparatus and equipment were dispatched out on the runway, while all of us in the COMM center were closely watching NASA TV. It brought back the memories of when I was a kid, watching the Apollo Moon Landing.
I remember how I was in complete and utter awe at the fact that I was watching a man walk on the moon. I remember sitting close to the TV, watching the grainy black and white figures and I can still hear Armstrong's words, "The Eagle has landed". The excitement is still there for me, as I watched this launch, in full-screen mode on my computer. The countdown, the lift-off... all an intrical part of a larger picture; man's technological advances so evolved that we are now able to put an object as large as the shuttle into orbit. At launch, the Shuttle, external tank, solid rocket boosters and all the fuel combined has a total weight of 4.4 million pounds! It can also carry a 65,000 payload. To me, that is an awesome feat! Tonight's only regret? If I had been able to be outside, I could have witnessed the streak across the sky, along with the others who knew and watched.

A Northwest Wind Blows

These photos were taken today on the northside of the Cape. Things are still looking rather brown and dull on the nearby marsh and except for the pine trees that dot the road up through the sand dunes to the beach, there is very little green vegetation.


The wind is out of the northwest and as you can see the surf is up on Sandy Neck Beach.





I caught a glimpse of a group of divers making their way to the beach, carrying wetsuits, masks, air tanks. Not for me, I thought. Too COLD! Even in the middle of the summer, the water temperature at Sandy Neck only gets up to 50-60 degrees.

9-1-1 is for EMERGENCIES ONLY

I am hoping to shed some light here on what does NOT constitute an EMERGENCY.
These are some of the types of calls that we field every day. Please remember that for every call that ISN'T an emergency, there is someone with a real life or death emergency waiting to be helped. We don't want to discourage anyone from calling 911 - we are always willing to help, no matter how big or how small the problem. We would however, really appreciate those calls that are NOT EMERGENCIES to be called in to the NON-EMERGENCY business number that can be found by calling 411 or looking in your local directory.

Please do not call 911 to tell me that your power is out. Or to ask me why your power is out. Please call your electric company.

Please do not call 911 to report that your husband found a HUGE RAT in your garage. Please call an exterminator.

Please do not call 911 to report that there is a dead skunk on the side of the road near your home. (yes, I know it stinks and you want it removed) Please call the Department of Public Works Roads Division.

Please do not call 911 because your phone service was shut off. We know that we are the only number that continues to work after phone service has been terminated, but we can't call your phone company for you. Please go to another phone to make that call.

Please do not call 911 to obtain the NON-EMERGENCY number of your local fire/police department. Please check your local directory or call 4-1-1.

Please do not call 911 to find out when the storm is going to arrive. Please watch the news, check the weather channel or call the weather desk at your local newspaper.

Please do not call 911 to find out if your child has school today.

I'm sure everyone has seen the latest 911 debacle about the woman who called 911 about her unhappy experience at Burger King.



Please do not call 911 to complain about a food order. Please speak to the manager or contact the owner of the business.

Hope this helps clear up any misconceptions on when to call 9-1-1.

A fully loaded Russian IL-76 cargo plane...... payload 1 million pounds --- 500 Tons!!
This really raises the pucker factor....

Listen to the "controllers" in the tower who are Australian: Ya gotta love it.
"The Vodka Burner" as the Aussies call it, literally uses every inch of runway....... WATCH THE WHOLE VIDEO.. (shot from the tower) You can HEAR THE CONVERSATION IN THE TOWER. They are incredulous--that it makes it....

The Winter of My Discontent

Lately, I have found it nearly impossible to write anything of substance for this blog. Every feeling, thought, idea, word, seems to have been already written, discussed to the max, explored, dissected. I am fighting the time constraints; my work and general living. I find myself pushed to the brink of closing the blog. Yet, the connection with those who graciously comment, and read what little I do post, stops me from succumbing to that temptation. I admit it. I have been in a funk since the election. It has crippled my writing ability. I am in a state of depression over the way the president has chosen to address our emergic issues. I am full of fear for our future, each day growing more and more concerned about the decisions that have been made. It is in each and every post that I read; news, blogs, emails. I don't understand the people with blind faith, the people who are so biased, who have unjustifiable faith in the ONE, who can't see what is happening to us as a country because of his policies. I don't understand their continued admiration and acceptance? Every day I find factual information that should scare the bejeezus out of any normal person. It is pointed out to not only me, but to anyone who wishes to learn, in emails sent to me, by articles posted by respected authors, in pictures taken...things that have been done that just don't seem to be appropriate... the words are whispered, "revolution" - doesn't that scare anyone or is it just me? I am frightened by what that might mean! Am I ready to stand up for what I believe? Are You? Socialism is a dirty word in this country. Yet, for those of us who see it blossoming in our own back yard, are we strong enough to stand up and say NO? There are so many in this country, who voted for this man. This man who brings so much change, so fast, in such a great quantity that there is no time to react, to actually understand those memorandums, (how many pages were in the stimulus bill?) I am afraid of what has happened to us as a country! The American citizens have elected people into political office that have desecrated our constitution, who are trying to put laws into place that rescind our liberties, that will devour our civil rights. I see it every day, in the headlines, the financial reports, and in the lives of my close friends and relatives, all touched in someway by what is happening. The specifics of what I am talking about have already been discussed as I said when I began this post. I could cite many examples of what I am talking about... but you already know these things.... you have already read about them, talked about them. I know this because I read, every day.
I have a very good life. I am healthy, my family is relatively healthy, I work, I have a roof over my head, food to eat. All of this can change in one defining moment... as could your fate, and the fate of those around you. Will you be ready? Have you done all that you can do? What is our responsibility to each other? I feel as if I am an alien in my own land. Practices are being put into place that I do not agree with. Laws are being changed that will affect our future and our children's future. What do you believe in? What are you willing to risk? The real question is how does one survive when all that one believes in is in jeopardy?

Tabletop computers... Awesome!

The Enterprise - Then and Now

In 1976, NASA's space shuttle Enterprise rolled out of the Palmdale manufacturing facilities and was greeted by NASA officials and cast members from the 'Star Trek' television series.

From left to right they are: NASA Administrator Dr. James D. Fletcher; DeForest Kelley, who portrayed Dr. "Bones" McCoy on the series; George Takei (Mr. Sulu); James Doohan (Chief Engineer Montgomery "Scotty" Scott); Nichelle Nichols (Lt. Uhura); Leonard Nimoy (Mr. Spock); series creator Gene Rodenberry; an unnamed NASA official; and, Walter Koenig (Ensign Pavel Chekov).

Art Director Matt Jefferies designed the original Enterprise. The first miniature built for the pilot episode "The Cage" was unlit and approximately 3 feet (91.4 cm) long. It was modified during the course of the series to match the changes eventually made to the larger miniature, and appears on-set in "Requiem for Methuselah". The second miniature built for the first pilot measures 11 feet 2 inches (3.4 m) long and was built by Richard Datin. Initially, the model was static and had no electronics. For the second pilot, "Where No Man Has Gone Before", various details were altered, and the window ports and running lights were internally illuminated, except on the port side of the model, which was left unfinished.

From Wikepedia

USS Enterprise (CVN-65), formerly CVA(N)-65, is the world's first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier and the eighth U.S. naval vessel to bear the name. Like her predecessor of World War II fame, she is nicknamed the "Big E." At 1,123 feet (342.3 m), she is the longest naval vessel in the world,[4] though her 93,500 tons displacement places her as the second heaviest supercarrier, surpassed only by the Nimitz-class. Enterprise is currently the oldest active vessel still in commission under the United States Navy, excluding the ceremonial commission of USS Constitution.

Enterprise is currently homeported at Norfolk, Virginia. As the oldest carrier in the fleet, she is scheduled for decommissioning some time in 2012-2014 depending on the life of her current reactors and when the construction of her replacement, the USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78), is completed.[5]. Enterprise's current commanding officer is Captain Ronald Horton.

Save the Date - March 28, 2009

Earth Hour

What its all about
It’s as simple as a flick of the switch.

What began as a campaign to get Sydneysiders to turn their lights off, has grown to become one of the world’s biggest climate change initiatives. In 2009, at 8.30pm on March 28, people around the world will turn their lights off for one hour – Earth Hour. We’re aiming to reach one billion people, more than 1000 cities, all joining together in a global effort to show that its possible to take action on global warming.


Earth Hour started in 2007 in Sydney, Australia with 2.2 million homes and businesses turning their lights off for one hour. Only a year later and this event had become a global sustainability movement with up to 50 million people across 35 countries participating. Global landmarks such as the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, Rome’s Colosseum and the Coca Cola billboard in Times Square, all stood in darkness, as symbols of hope for a cause that grows more urgent by the hour.


Earth Hour 2009 is a global call to action to every individual, every business and every community. A call to stand up, to take responsibility and to get involved in working towards a sustainable future. Iconic buildings and landmarks from Europe to The Americas will stand in darkness. People across the world will turn off their lights and join together in creating the vital conversation about the future of our precious planet.


Over 64 countries and territories are participating in Earth Hour 2009. This number grows every day as people realise how such a simple act, can have such a profound result in affecting change.


Earth Hour is a message of hope and a message of action. Everyone can make a difference.

Join us for Earth Hour 2009, turn off your lights at 8.30pm Saturday 28 March and
sign up hereto be counted.

A request....

Last night, in the course of reading my usual blogs, I read a post on the Intrepid Reporter's blog that piqued my curiousity. So much so, that I dived into Googleworld to find out as much as I could about the subject. Here is an excerpt from that post:

“By executive order, President Barack Obama has ordered the expenditure of $20.3 million in migration assistance to the Palestinian refugees and conflict victims in Gaza.

The "presidential determination" which allows hundreds of thousands of Palestinians with ties to Hamas to resettle in the United States was signed on January 27 and appeared in the Federal Register on February 4.

President Obama's decision, according to the Register, was necessitated by "the urgent refugee and migration needs" of the "victims."

Few on Capitol Hill took note that the order provides a free ticket replete with housing and food allowances to individuals who have displayed their overwhelming support of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) in the parliamentary election of January 2006.”

You can read the full post here. But be warned, this is a milblog... and the gentleman uses ALOT of profanity. The part of the post that most intrigued me was this:

We don’t even have the ability to take care of the fucking people in our own country, and now we’re gonna import a Whole Horde of Dirty Hajj into the States?

Ok... now, bear with me folks... here is the actual Presidential Memorandum taken directly from the White House Website.

THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
­
For Immediate Release February 2, 2009
January 27, 2009
Presidential Determination

No. 2009-15

MEMORANDUM FOR THE SECRETARY OF STATE
SUBJECT: Unexpected Urgent Refugee and Migration

Needs Related to Gaza

By the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, including section 2(c)(1) of the Migration and Refugee Assistance Act of 1962 (the "Act"), as amended (22 U.S.C. 2601), I hereby determine, pursuant to section 2(c)(1) of the Act, that it is important to the national interest to furnish assistance under the Act in an amount not to exceed $20.3 million from the United States Emergency Refugee and Migration Assistance Fund for the purpose of meeting unexpected and urgent refugee and migration needs, including by contributions to international, governmental, and nongovernmental organizations and payment of administrative expenses of the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration of the Department of State, related to humanitarian needs of Palestinian refugees and conflict victims in Gaza.

You are authorized and directed to publish this memorandum in the Federal Register.

BARACK OBAMA

Maybe I'm missing something but I don't see anything in the words above that indicate we are bringing refugees into this country. So, back to Googleworld I went, searching for anything official looking in regards to refugees. I was shocked! Hundreds of blog posts declaring Obama was inviting the terrorists to live in America! Yet,no official governmental documentation could be found stating this as fact? I was so disturbed by what I had read that I emailed my blog friend, Buck, who in my opinion, is very well informed on these kinds of matters, to ask him what he knew about this development. He hadn't even heard of this. So what to believe? Does anyone have any credible information about this?

Pets In Uniform?

Ok, so now I can say "I've seen it all"....Pets In Uniform