Monthly Archives: August 2007

Politics, Short trips

Distant memories, fond memories

Leave a comment

In memory of

Flight Sergeant J.A.B.G. (Alf) Galloway, R.C.A.F.

R/69154

March 9, 1942

Update: Effective May 8, 2010 the new name for the museum is the Bomber Command Museum of Canada.

Today the Nanton Lancaster Society Air Museum hosted an event to honor Americans who served in the Royal Canadian Air Force (R.C.A.F.) during World War II.

Canada declared war on September 10, 1939. Before the United States declared war against the Nazis in December 1941, approximately 9,000 Americans joined the RCAF. Of these, about 800 were killed in RCAF service – 379 while serving with Bomber Command.

Willie The Wolf From The West
Willie The Wolf From The West

Canada’s Bomber Command Memorial lists 10,643 names and includes all the Canadians who were killed serving with Bomber Command as well as those of other nationalities who died while serving with the RCAF in Bomber Command.

“They were colorful, those volunteers – professionals and playboys, convicted felons and husbands on the run, idealists and mercenaries, kids seeking adventure, youngsters seeking nothing but an opportunity to fly, middle-aged men looking for work – and to all of them, the RCAF’s need was their golden opportunity.” – Spencer Dunmore, “Wings for Victory”

I listened to some of the “old boys” relate memories of their comrades filled with laughter and joy and resignation. I didn’t hear one say that he wouldn’t do it all again.

It's painted black on the underside because it made its bombing runs at night.
It's painted black on the underside because it made its bombing runs at night.

In memory of

Flight Sergeant J.A.B.G. (Alf) Galloway, R.C.A.F.

R/69154

March 9, 1942

Short trips

Head-smashed-in

Leave a comment

Before the Egyptian pyramids, before Stonehenge, North American Indians drove buffalo herds to their death over prairie cliffs.

Medicine women and men performed rituals to ensure a bountiful hunt. Young runners disguised under animal skins were sent out to find and herd the animals toward the cliffs.

As the buffalo were herded down the narrowing lanes by the runners, and kept from dispersing by stone cairns along the edges of the run, hunters would jump out at the base of the run to keep the panicked animals running towards the cliff edge.

After falling, most were only stunned or wounded. Hunters below the cliffs would kill the survivors to keep them from escaping and warning other herds of the trap, or so it was believed.

The dried meat was used to prepare pemmican, but the remainder of the animal was used for tools and hides, leaving almost no part of the animal unused.

Short trips

The Whiskey Gap

Leave a comment

The Whiskey Gap

From 1916 and for the following eight years of Alberta’s prohibition, whiskey flowed through the gap in the Milk River range like water over a dam. Not to be outdone, during America’s prohibition, it flowed in the opposite direction. Now, all that remains is a historical plaque – that, and the fact that the Whiskey Gap still stands on the watershed between the Gulf of Mexico and Hudson Bay.

Where once a railway branch reached out, a store was built, elevators constructed, and to where wheat was hauled for shipping, nothing remains but a vast expanse of empty, wheat-growing prairie wilderness, punctuated by the occasional farm enterprise.

What buildings remained have been removed to Del Bonita, across the Milk River and 12 miles to the east, where a store and post office are in the same building and still serves the local area.

Uncategorized

Brigitte, 1967

Leave a comment

Here’s a link to a retrospective of Brigitte singing the song, Harley-Davidson. Here’s some information on the motorcycle in the video:

The bike was built by Maurice Combalbert who was a mechanic in a shop located in Paris, selling cars, motorcycles and furniture ! The P.A.M.A. as it was called, mainly sold british bikes, but Maurice – who is a very old man now – was always tinkering around with Harleys. Handmade ape hangers with an eagle in the middle, or with iron initials of the owner, as well as huge exhaust pipes (up to 3 on each side) were his typical trademark. The black WLA he built for this song is certainly the most important bike in France’s Harley history. All old timers know exactly that this Flathead was stolen after they finished shooting the clip, then it was dismantled and the frame and other parts were thrown in the Canal de l’Ourq in Paris. — Charlie Lecach

Rules

Taking care of business

Leave a comment

Here, prime riding season is probably six to eight months guaranteed steady riding, with the rest of it being chancy, to say the least – and it’s probably more like five good months of winter. Given the foregoing, were I a motorcycle dealership, I’d be giving her all I could for that six months and pray for at least another two months of sunshine.

I wouldn’t close for lunch and put a sign on the door saying, “Back in a hour.” Back in an hour from when? Now? Fifteen minutes ago? Forty-five minutes ago? Is there some reason that out of all the employees on the payroll, one or two can’t keep the doors open to satisfy the people who come by at lunchtime?

I’d try to get my customers their parts in a timely fashion. I wouldn’t make them wait six months for an order that had been prepaid. (See the first paragraph, above.)

When a customer buys a brand-new motorcycle with a promise that accessories purchased within 30 days are guaranteed a discount, only to have that customer find out that what he wants to buy isn’t available, I wouldn’t be telling the customer, “We’ll talk about the discount on unavailable parts when the parts become available.” We all know what that means.

Being in business isn’t easy. Being in a multi-million dollar business is even more difficult. However, if one wants to survive in that multi-million dollar business, one had better strive to satisfy their customers and keep them coming back, one at a time. Finding new customers is much more difficult than keeping the ones you have.

There’s always somewhere else to go, whether it’s OEM or aftermarket.

Is that so hard to understand?

Politics

Gimme some face

4 Comments

Look at me when I talk to you. Yeah, that’s right. Look at me! I want to see your face! Is that a frown I see? Why aren’t you smiling? You look frightened. Why is that? Are you afraid? What are you afraid of?

…Behavior Detection Officers, and they’re part of several recent security upgrades, Transportation Security Administrator Kip Hawley told an aviation industry group in Washington last month. He described them as “a wonderful tool to be able to identify and do risk management prior to somebody coming into the airport or approaching the crowded checkpoint.” — by Kaitlin Dirrig, McClatchy Newspapers

Link here.

Find a corner, sit down and watch the show, folks. But don’t forget to keep an eye on your bags lest some suspicious-looking BDO should offer to help you with them, all the while watching your face for that pissed off look.

Considering the TSA’s recent record of sippy cups, forcing women to drink their own breast milk and meat cleavers, I’m not so certain that this will go well.

Meat cleaver? Airport? C’mon. Admit it. You never heard of that one and you’re wondering just what the hell is coming next, aren’t you?

I lied about the meat cleaver.

So subject me to an inspection by a Behavior Detection Officer.

Politics

The trouble with Tribbles*

2 Comments

*With apologies to Star Trek

Updated here.

Judge Roy Bean lives!This pathetic excuse for a man – oops, err, I mean lawyer and judge – appears to be a steaming pile of the color of his own excrement.

Judge Roy Bean lives on in the annals of jurisprudence!

WASHINGTON – A judge who lost a $54 million lawsuit against a dry cleaner over a missing pair of pants continues to press his suit.

Roy Pearson, a District of Columbia administrative law judge, filed a notice of appeal Tuesday.

Jin Nam Chung and Soo Chung, the owners of Custom Cleaners, had hoped Pearson would back off the case after withdrawing their demand Monday that he pay their legal fees, their attorney said. — Associated Press via MSNBC