Monthly Archives: February 2006

Farewell Friend

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I recently learned that Joe Comer worked in the same USAF career field as I did (328X1), which led to an exchange of emails comparing notes on the pros and cons of working on various different aircraft types, as well as different duty stations. I would like to have served with him, and I share Aproud Veteran’s sentiments about a man whom I’ve never met in the real world. Joe, when you arrive at your final resting place, look up another old ham operator, WA2GRQ – you’ll likely find him on the 2 or 6 meter band. You and my dad will really hit it off.

To Nurse Jenny and Joe’s other loved ones, my thoughts and prayers are with you.

Radar

My friend Joe

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Yesterday, Kevin posted the news he received from Nurse Jenny about our own Joe Comer (herkybirdman). I spent the rest of my evening thinking about Joe, and emailing friends asking them to pray for him and his family. I also posted about him on my personal blog, so that the 2-3 readers I have there can also be praying for him.

I’d like to share those thoughts with you, because Joe and Jenny are still on my mind and heart, and talking is one of my ways of dealing with my emotions.

**************
Joe Comer is a retired AF member, vietnam vet, and devout Christian. He’s also a ham radio operator, and spent a few weeks in MS last summer helping with the aftermath of Katrina. He loves to fly (has his own small plane), and loves to share his thoughts on the internet. That’s how I met him. He was a regular contributor to a milblog I’m part of, The Daily Brief . He also had his own blog at http://patriotflyer.blogspot.com/

It was thanks to a post on TDB that I learned of his current precarious status. My friend Joe had a massive stroke, and is in hospice care. My immediate response was tears, and a prayer for his family.

For all that he’s a crusty old country boy, Joe has a heart of gold, and one of the sweetest emails I’ve ever gotten in my life was from him last spring/summer, where he told me that he and his wife (Nurse Jenny, as he calls her online) considered me to be another daughter, even though we’d never met.

When I was driving back from FL last sept, we intended to meet, but he was enroute to Atlanta to buy more ham radio equipment the day I passed within 20 miles of his home, and we just never connected.

And now he’s in hospice, which means he’s just waiting to hear those magic words: “Well done, thou good and faithful servant.” and I find that everytime I think about it, I’m crying for the loss of a man I’ve never met, that I’ve only known as words on a computer screen, but who somehow was able to send compassion and caring across the void we call cyberspace, and touch another person’s heart.

Godspeed, Joe. Vaya con Dios.

Please link your heart with mine, and say a prayer for Joe and his family, and his cyberfriends. Thanks.

*****

My heart hurts, and my eyes keep leaking. I was gonna run down to Vidalia this spring, and go to the airshow with Joe & Nurse Jenny. And now that won’t happen.

What amazes me is how deeply I’m touched by the circumstances of someone I barely know, and have never met in real life.

I trust that God is comforting his family, and preparing them for his homecoming. I know that Joe’s not worried about where he’ll wind up, or who he’ll be visiting for the next gazillion years or so. Maybe he’ll find out what it’s like to fly without being strapped to an airplane – I’m sure he’d like that.

And I can smile at the picture of him gliding through the air, arms outstretched like Superman, but still, my heart hurts.

Who’s Making Our Armor?

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This Ceradyne press release via Reuters:

COSTA MESA, Calif.–(Business Wire)–Jan. 18, 2006– Ceradyne, Inc. (Company) (Nasdaq:CRDN) Chief Executive Officer Joel Moskowitz appears on KOCE in an interview on “Dialogue with Jim Doti,” which aired Tuesday, January 17, and is scheduled to air again at 10 a.m. PST on Sunday, January 22, on KOCE.

During the 30-minute interview, Moskowitz discusses his early days as a ceramic engineer, Ceradyne’s beginnings as a supplier of military helicopter armor, factors contributing to the Company’s growth and competitive position, and his outlook for 2006 and longer-term. Ceradyne develops, manufactures, and markets advanced technical ceramic products and components for defense, industrial, automotive/diesel, and commercial applications. Additional information about the Company can be found at www.ceradyne.com.

Except for the historical information contained therein, the interview contains forward-looking statements regarding future events and the future performance of Ceradyne that involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected. Words such as “anticipates,” “believes,” “plans,” “expects,” “intends,” “future,” and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties are described in the Company’s supplemental prospectuses, dated December 13, 2005, as filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, and the documents included or incorporated by reference therein.

Ceradyne, Inc.
Joel Moskowitz, 714-549-0421, Ext. 8261
or
Silverman Heller Associates
Dan Matsui/Gene Heller, 310-208-2550

This should be a very interesting show for tech-heads. But I don’t know if Dialogue with Jim Doti airs on your local PBS station. I’ll try to find a link to a podcast.

Iran To Enrich Uranium In Russia

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This from Reuters:

Busher, Iran – Iran has reached a “basic” agreement with Russia on a joint venture to enrich uranium and will continue talks in coming days, Iran’s nuclear chief Gholamreza Aghazadeh said on Sunday.

My other sources believe the enrichment will be performed, at least partially, by Iranian personnel, but in Russian facilities. My only opinion, at this point, is: trust, but verify.

Montana Obviously A Net Exporter Of Bullshit

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I just awoke to the voice of Democratic Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer (who will be on CBS’ 60 Minutes tonight) on C-SPAN’s Washington Journal. He was from a flyover state, he was wearing a bolo tie, but he sounded for all the world like a San Francisco barking moonbat. I’ll have to catch the podcast, when it’s up on their website later, to get the details. But it included such gems a (to paraphrase): “and we will capture the carbon dioxide from burning coal-diesel, and pump it back into the ground.” Right,,, (assuming CO2 emissions are even a problem in the first place) we’re going to tie balloons to the tailpipes of all the cars. And: “back in the ’70s, when I was a kid, Saudi Arabia was dependent upon the US for wheat. And I thought, “ok – a bushel of wheat for a barrel of oil. But, since then, after a major program by the Saudi government, Saudi Arabia is self-sufficient in wheat. We should be able to do the same with fuel.” The truth is, Saudi is a net importer of food products (about 1,150 USD per capita annually vs. about 900 USD for US net oil imports). Further, they are only “self-sufficient” in wheat by virtue of massive government subsidies, and at the cost of critical aquifer depletion.

And, to a person, every caller was saying, “oh, this is sooo enlightening.” It’s a nation of sheeple.

And what’s really frightening is that this inveterate bullshiter might be running for President.

Entertainment Trivia For 02/26/06

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When this famous segregated country club decided to make room for this Hollywood star, one of its members is noted as saying, “can’t we at least pick one who looks like a gentile?”

Of course, feeding the quote into Google will likely give you the answer straight away. But please give the other folks a sporting chance. Oh, and hint #1 is in the question itself. ;)

Congratz (again) to reader Bill. (see comments)

Danny Thomas, you might recall, was a Lebanese Catholic.

(Relatively) New PBS Must See

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If you are at all concerned with global geopolitics, and you are not already watching Foreign Exchange, with Fareed Zakaria, now in its second season on PBS, you really should. Zakaria has long been one of my favorite MSM foreign affairs specialists (and one of the few redeeming qualities to Newsweek magazine and ABC News’ This Week with George Stephanopoulos). And his TV program, which I’ve watched from about the fourth or fifth show, has been consistently excellent.

On this week’s installment (check your local listings – not yet on their website):

  • A discussion on what US policy should be, relative to nuclear technology in India.
  • A report on Estonian high tech. Zakaria reports that they lead the world in WiFi coverage, and a “paperless” government.
  • A discussion of the Muhammad cartoon controversy with columnist and author Christopher Hitchens.

It’s Quite Rare That Barbara Boxer And I Agree

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It’s much more common that my local Representative, Dana Rohrabacher (R – Huntington Beach) and I are on the same track. But, in this case, we have something of a syzygy: it would be crazy to put C-17 production on ice.

This is called for in the new QDR, which I have already criticized. But it is a marked change from the previously held view of the Pentagon, which was that additional C-17s were critical to “transformation”. This stands to reason, as the C-17 carries far more than the C-130 (or the C-141) can, and will go places the C-5 (or the C-141) can’t. It’s a key player in rapid in-force deployment to the most remote parts of the globe.

Couple that to the limited savings to be had, due to the $5bn required just to maintain production capacity, should it be required in the future (verses about $9.2bn to continue production), as well as the cost of a planned C-5B engine refit (about $2bn for 50 planes), and logic dictates continuing with the additional 42 on order.

Hopefully, and in any case, Boeing will secure foreign orders for the C-17.

Very Bad News

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Nurse Jenny has just informed me that our own dear Joe Comer, HerkyBirdMan, has suffered a massive stroke, and is now in hospice care. His prognosis is not good. Please join me in keeping Joe, Jenny, and their family in your thoughts and prayers.

Battlestar Bloggin’ (060224)

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Frequent commenter Robin, comments in an earlier post that last night’s Battlestar Gallactica, Downloaded, was the best episode ever.

It didn’t have the most action. It didn’t have the most drama and yet, I have to say that I agree. The plot twist thrown down last night has the potential to twist everything we know about the human vs cylon conflict off it’s moral and spiritual axis. After last week’s abortion issue episode, this was a breath of fresh air to the series.

Discuss freely in comments.

Warning to all, I’m not going to delete spoilers in the comments, so if you don’t want to know, don’t read the comments.

Remember, all Battlestar Gallactica episodes are available on iTunes Video. You don’t have to have an iPod to play the episodes, you can download straight to your computer and play them using Quicktime.