Carmichael's Position

Annular Eclipse as seen from Casa de Carmichael

Tonight, as the sun set over the Rockies, the moon got in the way.  Voila’ an eclipse!  But as the moon is at apogee (the farthest away from the earth in it’s elliptical orbit) it is unable to block the body of the sun in it’s entirety, thus we see an “Annular Eclipse” instead of the more famous “Total Eclipse”.  An Annular Eclipse at it’s peak will form a ring of fire, as the moon forms the hole of a Sun Doughnut.

We here in Colorado were just outside the shadow line of a full Annular Eclipse, that privilege was reserved for our neighbors further to our west in Utah, and New Mexico.  Didn’t mean I didn’t go out and take my best shot at capturing the partial Eclipse.  Here is my result…

This was a fun challenge to photograph.  Hope you enjoy…

Shuttle Enterprise fly-by and Pneumonia

Just two highlights of an interesting week in New York.

I was in NYC for the past week taking care of my client obligations… Y’know the usual work gig.  This week however had a couple of added twists.  I already wrote about my trials in simply getting to the Big Apple… It only got more challenging from there.  On day two, I started to notice the onset of what I initially thought was a sinus infection… Upon my return to Denver and subsequent doctor’s visit I learned that nope… I have pneumonia.

One of the real highlights however of the past week, outside of some genuinely successful and rewarding client visits was that I had the opportunity to witness the last flight of the Space Shuttle Enterprise.  Although using the adjective “Space” in her naming is a bit of a stretch considering “Enterprise” never experienced space travel.  “Enterprise” was the designated test article of the shuttle program, specifically built to test the glide and landing characteristics of the new vehicle.  But still a cool piece of hardware associated with a now bygone era in America’s declining dominance in Space exploration.

Originally Enterprise was scheduled to fly from Dulles where she had previously resided as a major attraction at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center (Part of the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum Complex) on Monday of this past week, however due to the same storm front that forced my unexpected stop in Philadelphia the transport was delayed until Friday.  Enterprise was being flown to New York as the first step in transferring her from the Smithsonian to her new home onboard the USS Intrepid Museum.  The Smithsonian had received the Shuttle Discovery the week before and was swapping exhibits.

So on Friday morning I identified the flight route the Shuttle and Shuttle Transporter (a modified Boeing 747) were to fly and realized that she would be coming right up the Hudson River doing a U-turn around the Tappan-Zee bridge, about 4 miles from our office.  So there was a good chance I would be able to see this historic flight for myself if I was able to attain a good vantage point.

As the time approached, I stepped into my Boss’s office (the CEO of our company) and said, “Hey, y’wanna go see the shuttle fly by?”  To which, my slightly confused boss said “Sure!”

Out the door we went, looking for a good vantage to a westerly view.  The top level of the Parking garage at the White Plains Train Station was the perfect spot, if we couldn’t see her from there, we wouldn’t see her from anywhere in the town. We hustled on over and got to the top level right on time, we were up there only a couple of minutes when from the south approached the mated pair, Shuttle and 747.

Unfortunately I didn’t have my Big 300mm lens attached, but I did the best I could with the 200mm I had.  This first image gives you an idea about our general view…

Then with the zoom capabilities I did have I captured these…

And then as she began her final turn back to the south and her eventual home in Manhattan…

I was glad I had the opportunity to witness this first hand, yet saddened by the fact that the United States appears resigned to no longer leading the way in Space and Science exploration…

At the arrival of the Shuttle Discovery at Dulles last week, a young child asked a current NASA astronaut what he should study in school in bettering his chances of one day becoming an astronaut… the Current Astronaut simply replied “Study Russian”.

Ouch… Truth hurts…

Maybe it is about race!

This whole Trayvon Martin™ thing has me more than a little queasy lately.

If viewed from a higher Macrosocioracial point of view, a few observations are taken from this whole disgusting incident.

Never let a Racial Crisis go to waste!  Or in this case… Damn, the economy is in the tank, our foreign policy is a fools errand, we need something to polarize Americans immediately!!!  Something that shows how truly compassionate we in the media and government are in relation to Race Issues!  Y’know, because those Republicans are racist, we all know it.

Hey, there's this case in Florida where this Neighborhood Watch Nazi shot an innocent black teen… simply walking in a neighborhood before he was to help elderly folks across the road!

What?… Whaddya mean the shooter identifies himself as Hispanic?  Oh… Damn… Wait!  His dad was white!  That makes him WHITE!  and a RACIST!

What?… Whaddya mean Zimmerman a registered Democrat?… Hmmm that’s a bit inconvenient… He’s still white right?  Ok, he’s a token Democrat!  Racist!

What?… Whaddya mean Zimmerman has physical wounds indicating he was assaulted, punched, and had his head being bounced on the ground?… Before he shot Trayvon™?   Hmmm, well that’s because he assaulted Trayvon™ first by observing him and asking what he was up to in a neighborhood where he had not been seen before!  Racist stereotyper!

What?… Whaddya mean witnesses account that Zimmerman was heading back to his SUV after being advised by the Police Dispatcher not to continue following the suspicious character when he was then assaulted by Trayvon™? … Hmmmm… damn… Zimmerman is still WHITE right?  He’s a liar then!

This unfortunately seems to be the message being perpetuated by the Media and the Administration… “If I had a son he’d look like Trayvon™!”  --- Really??? Would he also have the attitude and vocabulary Trayvon™ apparently possessed? [Link to Trayvon’s™ tweets under the handle “No Limit Nigga” (his words not mine…)] ---

Granted Zimmerman had no knowledge of these character traits of this particular youth, but honestly I don’t think George Zimmerman gave a rat’s ass about this kid’s past as he lay on his back, bleeding from his nose, having his head pounded on the pavement.  He didn’t know the kid’s past, but was well aware of Trayvon’s™ “present” and in a decisive moment was about to determine the kid’s future.

Had the outcome been different and George Zimmerman been the one remaining on the ground in a pool of his own blood, what would the headline read? “Profiled Persecuted Warm Hearted African American Youth Kills Oppressor in Self Defense”?

Without having all the facts in yet, I may be leaping to conclusions… but why are my leaps (based on pretty substantial circumstantial evidence) any more heinous than the leaps being made by Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, The New Black Panther Party, MSNBC and to a degree the sitting administration and water carriers in congress?

This whole incident seems nothing more that racial opportunists run amok! The more time passes the more it is beginning to look like the facts do not support the claims by the emotionalism excelling to the point of lunacy!

The point is, investigations are continuing and now that we have meandered so far down this dirty road, what is to be the outcome when Eric Holder and his Feds are left with no choice based on REAL evidence to declare that, no civil liberties were violated, no racial motivation was present, and it is indeed under the law, a case of self defense! 

But then again, maybe that would be the best outcome… Only Nixon could go to China.

That Ain’t Good, Cuz Those Ain’t Clouds!

Looked out across the backyard this evening and a significant cloud deck to the south caught my eye.  Only a mere second or two passed when I realized, “Damn!  That’s not a cloud!  That’s Smoke!”

That ain’t good!  Especially considering we have a relative humidity somewhere near 15% and a sustained wind in the 50 knots neighborhood here today!  Gunna be a long night for residents in the Rocky Mountain Foothills here tonight.  Not to mention fire fighters!

God bless ‘em all!  Thoughts and prayers are with my fellow Coloradans tonight.

Talk Among Yourselves

It is with heavy heart and tear filled reddened eyes that I write this post this evening.  I am not sure exactly when I will press the “publish” confirm on this as the news has not yet been made public.  Of course, by the time you read this the news will have been.  But right now, I need to write…

This evening I learned of the death of a fellow Blog Buddy and writer extraordinaire Neptunus Lex (Captain, Carroll LaFon USN(Ret.)).

Article [Link]

My words this evening I’m sure will not come easy, which is somewhat ironic considering that for Lex the opposite always appeared to be the case.   I first started reading Neptunus Lex some nine years ago now, back in the early days of the Blogosphere… There were fewer of us then and his prose stood out as something to take note.  He used polysyllabic words in proper context and could offer up a Latin phrase without consulting wikipedia!

Truly a renaissance man, his blog became a regular daily read for me and… as the years advanced, for literally thousands of others.  I first found myself drawn to his Blog due to his fantastic yarns of Naval Aviation daring do known as Rhythms.  It wasn’t so much the plot, as I have heard many a similar tale over the years, but more in the way he spun the words.  Rather than bringing the story to you, he brought you to the story.  It is said that a picture is worth a thousand words, yet Lex could create a picture in far fewer.

Lex died this morning doing what he loved to do, fly!  We knew this as his love was so skillfully rendered in his years of digital pages, and we were captivated by his love affair.  We all anxiously awaited his next post telling us how his flying day went.  There will be no more posts…

Lex’s writings were not solely dedicated to Naval Aviation, no… as I said Lex was truly a renaissance man, he shared with us philosophic insight few scholars can match.  He had a way about him to boil down what many of us were thinking about an issue but we lacked the vocabulary or literary dexterity to convey properly in prose.  Lex nailed it time and time again! 

One of my favorite posts of his was on “Belief” and exactly what he believed in… http://www.neptunuslex.com/2003/10/22/beliefs/.  I walked away from that post concurring with… well hell… All of it!  Wishing I could learn to write well and assemble my thoughts a little more productively.

Another perhaps a proper legacy is Lex’s account of Ulysses… the hyperlinks are important.

I will miss him.  I know I will catch myself looking wantonly at my links in the left pane here of Carmichael’s Position looking for Lex’s next post… knowing grudgingly it will never come.  I will resign myself to reading his archives once again, enjoying his legacy, his advice, and his turn of a phrase. 

A few days ago, Lex himself expressed concern and prayers be shared for the victims and their families of a tragic helicopter accident in the training grounds of Yuma Arizona.  Little did he realize just how prophetic his words would be…

“It’s a dangerous business even in peacetime training, but you never quite grow used to this sort of thing…Prayers for their families, if you’re the praying sort.”

My prayers are surely with, The Hobbit, Son Number One, The Biscuit, and Kat.  His family… and thanks to his words… ours too!  We have always been here for Lex, now we are here for you!

God Bless… And thank you for sharing him with us all these years, you are not alone in your grief!

On days when Lex did not have the time to publish profound works of art, he was always kind enough inform us that his posting would be sparse for the time being.  He often would throw us a bone in the form of a controversial news link and then allow us all to voice our commentary in his comments section.  His final words would be “Talk Amongst Yourselves” as he proceeded to carry on with his life.  Now we are left to only… talk amongst ourselves, but you know he’ll be following the threads.

Thank you Lex… Here’s to you, and those like you… damn few left!

For more tributes to the man… (recommend having a hanky handy) might I suggest:

• Instapinch: Lex
• SteelJaw Scribe: Ave Atque Vale
• Steve Ambrose: Don’t Blink
• Chap at USNI Blog:  Pardon Him
• Susan Katz Keating: Neptunus Lex: 1960-2012
• Castle argghhh!!!:  A Fraternity of Aviators
• CDR Salamander: Thank You and Farewell
• The Sandgram: Cleared West
• John Donovan: We were Bloggers Once
• USNI Blog: A Remarkable Man
• Homefront Six: Fair Winds
• AW1 Tim’s Blog One of our own
• Padre Dave Harvey: Requiescat in Pace

Close to the News…

Hmm… little news story.

Poughkeepsie High teacher stabbed multiple times by co-worker…

…The stabbing, he said, took place in a hallway of the school at approximately 10:03 a.m. Almost immediately, teachers, students and staff began to intervene. English teacher Ronette Ricketts managed to stab Glozier 16 times in total, he said.

…Wilson said Ricketts had come earlier in the morning to the district office looking for a personnel action sheet. "Somehow she was under the impression that she was being terminated," he said, adding he did not know why….

…Glozier, 54, a Rhinebeck resident, also an English teacher at the school, is listed in stable condition and recovering at Saint Francis Hospital. No students were involved or harmed in the incident, said Wilson…

Ok, so why am I conveying this story to you my semi-interested readers?…

Well, I just found it interesting that I… who resides some 1,000 miles from today’s crime scene, was at both of these locations today for a couple of business meetings… St Francis Hospital first followed by Poughkeepsie City Schools (particularly, the Admin Building).   Small world…Huh? Sometimes I really wish it was bigger.  Oddly enough, both of my clients were a little late to my meetings…  Can’t imagine why?  (Actually, I knew exactly why, we were briefed on the situation in detail by my client at Poughkeepsie City Schools… hard not to discuss something like this…)

Man, what is wrong with people?

So Long as it is on Someone Else’s Back!

I get disgusted every time I read a poll taken that says Americans want the wealthy taxed more and Businesses taxed more. 

Well they didn’t ask this American’s opinion!

A CNN/ORC poll reportedly found the following:

Most Americans want a special congressional committee tasked with drafting a long-term solution to the nation's mounting federal deficits to include tax hikes for the wealthy and businesses and deep cuts in domestic spending, according to a new national survey.

… [it] also indicates that the public doesn't want the super committee to propose major changes to Social Security and Medicare or increase taxes on middle class and lower-income Americans.

My gawd… Did they take a poll of 3rd graders?

Little lesson for you here folks, we need to stop with this “Wealthy need to pay their share!” bovine scatology!  They contribute way more than their fair share!  Yes they have nice houses, yes they live a life of luxury, yes they may not suffer as much as the local McDonalds worker with 4 kids.  SO WHAT?!

Once he is content in his personal interest he has to do something with all that money!  Usually this excess is invested!!!  Look it up!

That wealthy bastard, more than likely owns a business or two that hires any number of employees who earn and contribute to the economy!  He buys capital items for his business with the funds his business earns!  Those capital items come from other companies who hire workers to manufacture them.  If the Wealthy isn’t a direct business owner/runner he more than likely owns shares in companies, these shares are offered to people like you and me to help fund the operations of said businesses!  Want to feel the power of ownership?  Buy a stock!

If we tax these so called wealthy more, that is mathematically less money that employer will have to hire someone.  Look, lets say we tax multi-millionaires another $500,000.00 per year… would that make you feel better that they didn’t have it and the government did?

Why? … Because the government will be so much more efficient with those funds? 

Think about it.  That’s 10 people that employer cannot hire!  That’s 10 more people in the unemployment line, that’s 10 more people taking from the government for literally doing NOTHING!  Except maybe for looking for a job that is not out there because we’ve taxed the wealthy more!

Seriously get off your stupidity horse!

Second part… Let’s tax business more!  Face-Palm-Smack!

There is NO SUCH THING AS BUSINESS!!!  It is PEOPLE!  By taxing business more, we are taxing people more!  Whether they be the consumer of or the employee of that business!  Again for every $30,000 in taxes levied on a “BUSINESS” that is one less employee to be hired!  One less piece of equipment purchased.  That OR the business has to raise prices of goods or services to compensate for the tax increase.  (Ergo a tax on the consumer!)  The monies to pay these taxes don’t magically appear like a fart from a pixie!  They HAVE to come from hard working Americans! 

Now as for… “the public doesn't want the super committee to propose major changes to Social Security and Medicare or increase taxes on middle class and lower-income Americans.”

It is precisely these entitlements that have the “Government” in the pickle its in.  But noooo we can’t touch these because they are so… What?…  effective????   Obviously you are giving the donkey one of your patented cranial enemas!

Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid absolutely need to be re-visited!  Increase the tax on EVERYONE if this is supposed to be for everyone!!! Raise the age of receiving these benefits!!! We’re living longer damn it!  It should ALWAYS be a function of the average lifespan!  And should be revisited every 10 years!  Whoever is born in “X” year is eligible for benefits in “Y” year!

“Don’t tax the Middle class or lower-income Americans…” Why not?  Do they not benefit from government services more than anyone?  Shouldn’t they be called upon to contribute their “Fair Share” too?

I say TAX EVERYONE EQUALLY!  Either a 20% income tax on everyone period!  No deductions!  or… let’s really simplify the tax code and institute a 9% sales tax on all goods sold to an end user (wholesale is exempt).  You pay a tax on that which you can afford!  Also we capture that missing trillion dollars in uncollected revenue from under-the-table employees and illegal aliens.

Also… this method greatly reduces the cost and the size of the IRS!  We could save 100’s of Billions in that alone!

Some good videos from a guy named Milton Freidman follow… good food for thought, if you’re willing to eat it.

The Free Lunch Myth--

Soak the Rich --

There you go…

Annual Camping Trip!

My friends and I have a bit of an annual ritual… Every summer we all give up many of our daily trappings and retreat to the near wilds of Colorado for a few days of R&R, fly-fishing, steak eating, beer swilling and fire poking!

This year we spent 3 glorious days at the base of the fourteen thousand feet Colorado Collegiate Peaks along the Arkansas River.

As I’ve gained in age, wisdom, and waist size… I’ve migrated away from the more rugged style of camping, sleeping in the tent on the ground in a 1972 psychedelic sleeping bag, to mooching off of a friend of mine, ‘Scooter’- and occupying one of his two double beds in his pop-up trailer- complete with heater!  (Yeah I know it’s August, but I’ll have you know that the ambient at 3:30am was indeed registering 38 degrees!)  Odd I know coming from a guy who does not wear waders when fly-fishing in 52 degree river water!

And speaking of wading, there was indeed opportunity to do that as well in Colorado’s Arkansas River… Note I specifically did not say fishing!  Because even though I had my fly rod in hand, casting any number of feathered bug-avatars into said flowing torrent… I’m convinced there were no fish to be wrangled this year!  (My wife and Clay, who both claim to have caught something, beg to differ -- I never witnessed either acquisition so I’m still convinced it was the river and not my angling skills!)  The rest of our herd is inclined to agree with me!  Lest their angling skills be impugned as well!

But the views more than made up for my shut out!

Alas, the closing day of the long weekend was upon us all too soon, and the campsite required we yuppie nomads to vacate the wilderness… with electric hookups, flush toilets… and coin op showers… no later than 11:00am.  We departed at 10:55 for our 2 hour journey back to civilization, all of us proud in the fact that not one of us deposited a single quarter in their Shower Racket!

Besides there is something immensely satisfying to arriving home, unloading the SUV and proceeding to spend 20 minutes in the master bath shower, rinsing off the smoke smell of 200+ store bought pine logs sacrificed to the meditation god known as the “campfire”! 

I bid you all a good evening, as I hope to dream of star-filled skies, gentle breezes, and the trickle of a nearby tributary… 

Thanks again to Scooter for setting this whole decompress up!  You’re a GIANT among men in my book!

Cigar Aficionado Moment

Last Saturday Clay and Dana, became Clay and Dana Pfrangle.  I had the privilege of being their Best Man.  The wedding was a fine occasion, with the pending thunderstorms dissipating in plenty of time to facilitate the planned outdoor nuptials. 

The ceremony itself was short and sweet (as is best) and the reception provided ample opportunity to socialize, eat, and drink (not necessarily in that order).  Friends of Clay and Dana flew in from all points across our country to share in their great day.  I, of course, performed my duties flawlessly as Best Man… issuing the rings on command and issuing the proper toast to the Bride and Groom when appropriate (Again… short and sweet!).

I would have had any number of photos of the occasion as my reader’s have come to expect here on the pages of Carmichael’s Position, but alas being part of the ‘Official Party’ and not the ‘Official Photographer’ I left my trusty Nikon at home.  Besides, the two professional photogs filled a flash drive or twelve with images of the festivities, posed and un-posed… I’m looking forward to seeing some of those.  Especially the one that posed all of the party holding lit stogies and drinking 18year old single malt… suitable for rendering in the back pages of Cigar Aficionado Magazine.

Now that is not to say I didn’t capture a couple of images using my first generation iPhone- you know that 64k of resolution focused through that high quality- translucent as a cinderblock lens!

I do like the subject matter though…  In a bit of a mini-Cigar Aficionado moment, I had a friend take a picture of me, my lovely Bride Ginger and one of the 2 Best Men at our wedding, Stu.

The second image was taken by Ginger of 4 good men, well 3 good men and me.  (L-R: Ken Schoeni, Your Humble Scribe, Stu Sweet, and the Groom himself-Clay Pfrangle… still smiling after a hour of marriage!)

Good times…

And to Clay and Dana… I wish you a lifetime of love and happiness!

At What Point Is Enough, Enough?

“Politically Correct” are two diametrically opposed words forced into grammatical copulation!

Every day we are faced with more and more incidences of our Overly Sensitized – Oprah Worshiping – Bravo Channel Watching – Pacifist Celebrating – Fairness Focused – Macramé Wearing, Medical Hemp Tote’n, Rainbow Wearing,  un-informed public declaring indignation over some perceived wrong and demanding immediate JUSTICE be served!  And like lemmings our knee jerk reaction is to kowtow these pansies and comply with what we perceive THESE Twits would like to have happen!

The latest installment in this is the sacking of US Navy Capt. Owen Honors, the Commanding Officer of the USS Enterprise.

I’ve been holding off on publishing my opinion on this subject due to what I thought initially to be proper temperance on my part.  Better to understand the whole picture before I go off in defense of the Captain or join the lynching.  But the more I restrained my contempt for the situation at large the more frustrated I became.

Honestly… I don’t give a RAT’s ASS what the good Captain said or did in this video production on board OUR most historic warship of the line!  And… NEITHER SHOULD YOU!!! 

We’ve all seen worse on the Tonight Show, The Daily Show, or Comedy Central and we sure as shit didn’t give a crap then!  Actually we probably laughed and told a friend about it the next day at work!

Grow Up!  Sometimes, just sometimes… lewd, demeaning, humorous references about almost every special interest and repressed group are made for the cause of humor, entertainment, and just plain salaciousness.  And you know what?  Sometimes it’s DAMN FRIGG’N FUNNY! (ever watch South Park? and laugh?)  And other times it is a bit embarrassing!  Don’t believe me?  Watch MTV for 7 minutes!  Watch Comedy Central! Watch Cinemax after 10:00pm! Watch Bravo… EVAH!  Or “The 700 club” for that matter too!  It is all Offensive!  To Someone! Somewhere!  That is their (the producers’ the investors’ the corporations’) intent!

Why are we (and I don’t really know who the “WE” is in this scenario) eager to call for the head of a well served, highly decorated, well worth our tax money for the task’s we’ve asked, man, and yet we immediately turn around and ignore much more heinous actions of people like… John Murtha, David Letterman, Tiger Woods, John Edwards, Charlie Rangel… and quite frankly 70% of the sitting elected officials in that cesspool Washington DC!

Here’s what we as TAX PAYERS should demand of our NAVY and those investigating this Oh My God – High Crime!  Find something better to do with your time!!!  Slap this man on the wrist!  (Which was already done 3 years ago!) and let him learn from a VERY SMALL mistake in judgment and get on with carrying out his assigned and well earned duties as a caring CO of a Nuclear Aircraft Carrier!  And if any of the offended SWO’s, Female Sailors, or other wuss’s who can’t take some ribbing would like to… They can leave the boat!  Preferably after she’s cleared the marker!

That is all…