San Diego Plane Crash: No, Mom, Not Near Us! - 2008-12-08 16:29:53
Since I just got off the phone with my folks it occurs to me that anyone who knows we live in San Diego is probably going to be curious about this too.
UNIVERSITY CITY – A military plane crashed into the San Diego neighborhood Monday afternoon, sparking at least one house fire, according to preliminary reports.
Two pilots safely ejected from the aircraft, but there are no reports about injuries on the ground.
Marine Corps spokesman Jay Delarosa confirmed the plane was a two-seat F/A-18 Hornet, from the 3rd Marine Air Wing's training squadron, which was returning from a training mission at the time of the crash.
He said two pilots ejected safely and have been picked up by military officials.
From the views I've seen on television it looks like there's at least one home completely destroyed, but that seems to be the worst of it. Doesn't seem that anyone on the ground was injured. But then they're also apparently still trying to find some of the occupants of the house that was destroyed.
We're nowhere near that crash by the way, though we're not all that far from the air base. It's not uncommon for people in many neighborhoods here to look up and see these types of planes flying over. Sometimes it seems like a daily occurance, but I'm unsure if that's actually how many flights they have each day. Even though it's common to see them I still find it exciting to watch these planes. In the time that I've lived here there's never been a crash - and from commentary on television I'm thinking there's not been one recent memory (if ever?). There are probably emergency landings we don't hear about - but considering how many training flights go on all the time the base still has an excellent record for safety. In other words - this is nothing I'd worry about ever happening. But then, we have enough to contemplate with earthquakes and wildfires - plane crashes are low on the list of things to worry about.
Jon pointed this out to me while we were watching the election results come in. I'd missed seeing it on CNN - so Jon found a website where he could show me a video. Because it was hard to believe that he'd just seen a hologram on a news program.
My response?
"Help me Obi-wan, you're my only hope!"
Which is the same hologram joke countless other people were making online just at that very moment - and the one the CNN people made on air. (I missed them doing that. Though technically it wasn't really a hologram - it was a nifty multiple-camera trick.) So I had an immediate feeling of geek kinmanship. But wait, so if you read that CNN article, they thought of that joke too. Which you would think would lead them to realize "this is pretty silly looking." But apparently not.
Another thing CNN did that was weird - lots of graphics all over the screen and a little ringing sound effect when it would change a reading somewhere. It was as if the show's producer had played too much Peggle and felt that flashing graphics and cute noises would keep viewers. (According to the Post, "CNN's senior vice president and Washington bureau chief David Bohrman, who was the guy behind the election-night bells and whistles." Not mentioned anywhere is whether he plays Peggle.)
It was rainy this morning, but then the sun came out a bit and it turned into another nice fall day in southern California. And here we are at my local polling place...
I waited to vote until a little after the lunch hour, because I wanted to avoid the crowds that I hear are occurring around the country. My thought was that there would be more people out early this morning to vote before going to work and then more during the lunch hour. Plus I had a lot of reading to do this morning as statewide and locally we had about 17 propositions to vote on. (Many of which, while providing good things, I have no idea how we're going to afford as the state's budget is a mess.) After reading what Sharon said in Jon's comments I kind of wished Jon and I had voted together, as it would be so cool to do it as a family. But he told me that he probably wouldn't have been able to wait that long - the man had to vote as soon as possible.
When I got to our local school I expected lines (I brought a book to read) - but there weren't any. Not that the place wasn't busy - there was a steady stream of people coming in by ones and twos, just not any lines. We had the paper electonic-scan'd ballot system - California is still quibbling over the Diebold systems and lack of a paper trail - and from what I know of the electronic methods I'm quite happy to be using paper, thank you.
I did make sure to stop and thank the people who helped me check in and handed me my ballot for volunteering their time. In years past I've meant to say thank you but always forget - and this year I decided it was time to do so. Took only about a minute, made me feel sorta goofy, but all of them smiled.
Randomly, does anyone else have a polling place where you're writing on what's basically a large table made of white cardboard, with cardboard walls separating you from the people next to you? I'm always worried I'm going to break the thing if I lean on it. And they use this same setup every place I've voted in CA. Guess no one wants to spend money on booths any more. (Now I'm going to get all nostalgic for the first time I voted, which was in Kansas where they actually used those machines where you have to pull a lever to make your vote go through the system. That machine looked ancient to me even then - now it's probably a collector's item or a museum piece.)
I actually took a photo of myself to mail to my folks ("hi mom and dad, I voted!") but after I look at it - well, I honestly look too darn worried. I was mostly worried about the people nearby who looking at me strangely (I was taking a photo of myself in the parking lot in front of the school after all), but meh, I look awful. So here's me proudly wearing my sticker...
I won't say how long it took me to figure out that I had it on upside down.
More..... 2 CommentsNot About Politics...I'm Pondering Random Tabletop Games - 2008-11-03 13:56:45
I had a long entry about politics I've been writing offline - and you know, I've held off on posting it and may continue to do so. Because there's really been enough politics in this two years of election newsbabble to last me an entire lifetime. I don't mean the heartfelt discussions between people (even those that disagree) - I'm just tired of the subject popping in my face on every area of the net. So for the moment - I'll keep mum. (My folks and I chat weekly about it, and Jon and I almost nightly, so that's enough of an outlet!) Besides, my grandfather always used to say that the best way to cause trouble was to discuss religion or politics, so that it was best to avoid these subjects with one's friends. Ours was never a family that had violent political arguments - even when my parents would vote for candidates from rival parties they'd laugh and just say their votes canceled each other out. And life went on, no matter who was elected.
I think I'm very ready for life to move on now.
And if the economy could do the same (preferably getting better) that'd be nice too. I'm just hoping that someone reasonably intelligent will be making some of the decisions.
(Note: I have some very firm opinions about which candidate does not seem to be making intelligent choices, and thus makes me doubt his management style and future decisions. Don't think I need to say anything more than that.)
And now for something completely different.
I'd never heard of Subbuteo until I heard an interview on the BBC (thanks to the Best of Today podcast.) I was also amused by the official site. It's also known as "flick football" - which is soccer to us yanks. Which suddenly makes me remember an old electric football game that I think was my uncle's (as a child) but which I used to play with at my grandparent's house. Or at least I used to play with the pieces - the field itself and its powers had died long ago. But apparently the game lives on at the Miniature Football Coaches Association. On the Virginia Electric Football League you can see images of what I'm talking about. (I'm assuming not everyone has seen electric football.) Except the set I played with didn't look that realistic.
Speaking of rarely mentioned tabletop games... I never hear of anyone playing tiddlywinks anymore. And in fact, now that I read that link, I realize that I've just played the simplified version. And thus I learn of the English Tiddlywinks Association. I love that on their FAQ they've already sussed out what we all are thinking with "Subject: 2. Is tiddlywinks a serious game?" right up there at the top. And then move on to "Subject: 3. What are the rules? The rules are too long and tedious to put here..." Then the site gives a few paragraphs of summing up the game, and a history of the jargon. Thus I now know that the "JOHN LENNON MEMORIAL SHOT" is "a simultaneous boondock and squop." And I now have some more named for future MMO characters. I particularly like Scrunge. Those interested in more local tiddlywinks should check the North American Tiddlywinks Association. Looking at their places to buy tiddlywinks I got caught in a nostalgia moment when I saw they listed Games People Play in Harvard Square. I can remember going there just to happily look around - they have everything. I think I went there with friends seeking a D&D manual once. Ah, memories...
Random Visuals: Literal Video - 2008-11-01 00:29:33
Thanks to the blog Music for Kids Who Can't Read Good I discovered the videos of Dustball McNeato. In particular the two videos that should give you your 80s flashback of the day. (Because you did need one, right?) And an answer to the question: "What if the lyrics just described what was going on in the video; would we still watch?" My answer: yes. For some reason I find even the phrase "pipe wrench fight" funny - which probably means I've watched that A-ha video way too many times. What's amazing about these videos is that the guy doing most of the singing has the range to actually sound good. These are not particularly easy songs to sing.
