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Overnight Open Thread - 12/03/2024
[Roger Ball]

Greetings loyal and fabulous HORDE! The picture did not come from a web search or an AI bot. I took the picture with my Samsung S23 [not an endorsement] as I flew the last leg of the last rotation on the last day I was legally allowed to fly for a major airline. We were at 35,000 feet headed eastbound, somewhere over Tennessee at about 0600L. The sunrises are one of the things I miss, even after flying a red eye. There are, of course, some things that I don’t miss.

For example, I don’t miss the freekin’ gunfire. WTH? Spirit, Jet Blue and Southwest. You already have heard the stories but please, just stop! Now, I must admit that Haiti is really no surprise. It is a failed state. But Dallas, as far as I know, hasn’t failed yet. So, I was surprised that Southwest was hit as it was taxiing out at Dallas Love.

The cockpit of a Southwest Airlines plane was hit by a bullet at Dallas Love Field Friday night, sources and officials told WFAA.

So, I wonder if the airlines will start offering stylish Kevlar uniform items? Maybe Kevlar wrapped seat cushions for the peeps? You know, we should remember the experience of our Vietnam vets, eh?

And this, should it ever come to pass, I would not miss:
Airbus Wants to Install a Radio-Equipped Toilet in Airplane Cockpits

The potty proposal by the European aerospace giant is part of ongoing work into what the aviation industry has dubbed Extended Minimum Crew Operations or eMCO for short.
Extended Minimum Crew Operations is a euphemism for single-pilot operations in which just one pilot is at the controls of a packed widebody aircraft during the cruise phase of flight.

e=MCO. I can’t wait for the memes. What does the HORDE think? Good idea or bad idea? Having flown single-seat fighters and multi-crew transports for over 50 years, I think it’s a decidedly bad idea. Two humans are the minimum for a reason. It’s usually true that one pilot can handle everything when operations are normal. But that’s not why they get paid. They get paid to handle everything when things go wrong, as they inevitably will at some point. Predictably, the alarm bells are going off right now.

Suggestions considered by the pan-European agency included asking pilots to deliberately dehydrate themselves before starting a lone shift at the aircraft controls, as well as requiring them to eat a high-protein, low-residue diet to mitigate the risk of them needing to defecate.
The agency also looked at other outlandish solutions like making pilots wear adult diapers, or equipping cockpits with disposable urine collectors.

And y’all think riding in coach sucks. It will be interesting to see where this goes, but with AI seemingly invading every aspect of our existence, I’d say that eMCO is only a matter of time.

It’s not just the airplanes where the shenanigans are in the works: MEET AIMEE

"It starts with a digital control tower. So that is where we replace the out-of-the-window view from the traditional tower cabinets above us. That information, because it's now digital rather than an analogue view, means that we can send that information through processing. And that processing is done through our digital artificial intelligence engine, which is known as AIMEE."

It is a brave new world, eh? I wonder what happens when AIMEE becomes self-aware. I saw a movie about that once. And obviously there’s a stable supply of electrons coming from all those wind turbines, right?

BTW...off topic…what is it with lefty socialists loving rape and suicide?

Rape and Suicide Increase With Religious ‘Nones,’

"Truscott’s analysis showed a very clear correlation between increases in the rate of Americans identifying as religious “nones” and rape and suicide rates."

Now be honest, HORDE, if you are not old enough to watch, don't click!

If it isn’t rape and murder with those people, it’s global thermonuclear war, I guess.

BIDEN to PUTIN: “DUCK!”

"BREAKING: Secretary of State Antony Blinken announces "every dollar we have at our disposal will be pushed [to Ukraine] between now and January 20th" when Trump takes office."

Isn’t this called “poisoning the well”? It seems like all the lefties don’t like it and call it a logical fallacy. But I think it seems accurate here. BIDEN: “Hey, Don. Good luck with your next four years. Too bad about WW3 that I started.”

It’s like the left has determined that if they can’t rule the world, they will leave no world left to rule.

From fertile creative minds, perhaps early in 2025 (OFP).

Related: Trump to Declare a National Emergency to Conduct Mass Deportations

In response to Judicial Watch president Tom Fitton’s post on Truth Social that Trump was “prepared to declare a national emergency and will use military assets to reverse the Biden invasion through a mass deportation program,” Trump replied “TRUE!!”

It gets better. Did you catch this story? I found it via Jeff Childers’ excellent daily Coffee & COVID blog.
Texas land commissioner offers 1,400 acres in Starr County to Trump for ‘deportation facilities.

Texas Land Commissioner Dr. Dawn Buckingham on Nov. 20 sent a letter to the incoming Trump Administration offering over 1,400 acres of newly acquired General Land Office (GLO) state land in Starr County, Texas, for the construction of deportation facilities and staging areas to carry out the Trump Administration’s plans to deport illegal immigrants beginning in 2025.
As Texas Land Commissioner and steward of over 13 million acres, it’s been my promise to all Texans since assuming my role at the GLO to use every tool at my disposal to gain complete operational control of our southern border,”

Giddy up, muchachos and muchachas! Oh, and all the jihadis and TDA gang members too. Bye.

But what about the other border? We seldom even consider it and the news…well, the “news” certainly doesn’t care. I found a nice little essay in The Free Press, The Other American Border Towns, by A.M. Hickman.

Seven months after the roaring success of the Woodstock festival in 1969 in Bethel, New York, a handful of concert promoters would begin an attempt to “take over” Churubusco to host a three-day rock concert they called the “Churubusco Live-in.”
The town’s attorney, J. Bryon O’Connell, warned: “That live-in will turn into a lynch-in. People up here aren’t used to long hair. They don’t fool around with legal niceties and they’re not going to put up with any nonsense from college students. If they come up Route 189, they’re just liable to get shot.” The hippies did not, in the end, come up Route 189.

‘Merica.


BTW, did you notice the temp? Two degrees warmer in Canada. That’s some tough living.

Speaking of tough living, I’ll admit I am a Taylor Sheridan fan. I don’t know how he does it or how many writers he has working, but his stuff is everywhere. It also seems that he is onboard with keeping America the ‘United States” and not “fundamentally transforming:” it into something else. His opinions are sometimes not so subtly worked into the dialog.

Billy Bob Thornton is a riot as a main character and this scene went viral immediately after it showed:

You know the writing is on target if it invokes a lib uproar and reddit poo-storm. "It's 100% propaganda".

Pretty much everything in it, starting from the opening scene, is so [far] from reality it's ridiculous…They could have made a good, realistic show, showcasing some of the history of the oil patch in Texas. Instead, they went with pure fantasy. Even though I'm in the industry, 4th generation from my family in O&G, I don't appreciate them turning the show into a puff piece for big oil. It's 100% propaganda, almost every line of dialogue.

Well, I’m sure the writers have taken some artistic license here and there to make it more entertaining. I mean, that’s kind of their job. But the “pure fantasy” part? In the opening seconds Thronton draws the difference between “clean energy” and “alternative energy...nothing clean about that”. I’d have to say I’m with Thornton on that subject. And is the commenter above trying to say that oil is not in everything? Really? From what I’ve read, the 20-year operating life span mostly seems to be through liuck. And don’t get me started on the migratory bird Cuisinart angle. Buck Throckmorton typically gives the horde pithy updates on the industry, so stay close.

Also, yes, his writers like the f-bomb and other spicey language which gets a little grating at times. But sometimes there is just a gem that pops into the script that could be missed. In the credits of season 5, episode 9 there is a tribute to “the loving memory of Billy Clapper”.
Immediately, I had to look him up, but I suspected it was the steel outfitter craftsman that made the cameo appearance.

A legend in his field, Klapper started to make bits and spurs full-time in 1968. He was specifically known in the cowboy community for his one piece spurs, the very same piece that catches Rip’s eye in the episode. He was also one of the few remaining spur makers to be trained by Adolph Bayers, another legend who made bits and spurs from the 1930s to the ’70s. Over the course of his long career, Klapper made 682 different spur patterns and 816 different bit patterns, according to his obituary. He was revered for his artistry and for his ability to replicate old designs from other makers. Klapper died on Sept. 10 of this year at the age of 87. He is survived by his two daughters, Deborah Yeates and Elizabeth Wilson, and six grandchildren.

Here’s a very nice video of Billy describing his craft. They don’t make ‘em like that anymore.

Rest easy, cowboy.

Close it out with a little music, eh? Who would have thought there's even a song about Pampa, Texas, Billy's home town?

Thanks for riding along, HORDE! Keep the blue side up!
Roger, out.