birdguy

My wife and I did that on a long road trip. Met old Hangar Talk members in Jasper Texas, Dunedin Florida, Toronto, Edmonton and Calgary. Most names now forgotten but I remember meeting Bruce Briggs in Tucson Arizona, Jesse Callahan in Jasper Texas (and he was a guest in our house a number of times), and Steve Mudry in Edmonton who had his private and gave me an aerial tour of the city in a Cessna 172. Jesse was my sponsor when I joined the Confederate Air Force. I was sworn in by General Tibbets at the CAF air show in Midland TX. And Captain Bala, a B747 pilot for India Airlines. I think he lived in Mumbai. He brought his family to the United States one summer and spent a weekend with us. He and I spent half the night talking airplanes and he spoke of a UFO encounter he experienced over the Assam Valley when he was flying MIGs for the Indian Air Force. You can imagine the second looks and eye popping stares when his wife wore her sari and put the dot on her forehead for our trip to the Roswell Mall on Sunday.. Jesse Callahan was a Mustang driver during WW2 and is now deceased. So is Capt. Bala. Thanks Cubs105 for the memory jog. Noel

A uniquely preserved prehistoric mudhole could hold the oldest-ever human footprints on the Arabian Peninsula, scientists say. The seven footprints, found amidst a clutter of hundreds of prehistoric animal prints, are estimated to be 115,000 years old. So, Martin, how many times has this guy or gal been reincarnated and what do you think he or she is doing now? Noel

Boy! Do I understand that. My wife was a terrible driver. Dinged or totaled every car she had. When I had my cataract surgery I couldn't drive home myself. I had to have her drive me home. Half way home she stopped at a stop sign before crossing the street with through traffic. She made a complete stop and then pulled out into the path of the car that had the right of way. Her car was totaled. And I was scared ****less. Noel

Wow! That was fun! It triggered some nostalgia in me from a time long, long ago. There was a time when sports cars were popular. MGs, Triumps, Austin Healys, Lotuses, and even some Mercedes. It was a time when stores were closed on Sunday and auto-crosses were held in shopping center parking lots. My brother had a TR3 and I watched him enter quite a few, And road rallys. I road with him in a couple. With a wife and three kids I could never afford both a sports car and a station wagon...not even an MG TD. So I lived the sports car scene vicariously through my little brother. I think of those days sometimes. And it's always with fondness. Noel

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/blue-origin-new-glenn-rocket-satellite-wrong-orbit/ Noel

Implants maybe. But wearing glasses? When outside I walk with a cane. But Abraham and Moses are depicted with their staffs and I can even imagine a cripple caveman using a tree branch to help him walk. I would call that cyborgism. Noel

Not surprising. I assume The Flying Scotsman, a kind of robot that replaced the horse and carriage, is still carrying passengers between London and Edinburgh a lot faster. Noel

I'm a skeptic on this subject. I look at the progress we have failed to make in subduing violence since the first cave man bashed in the skull of another cave man. But in the million or so years that have past we have vastly improved the technology to bash our neighbor's skulls. I doubt it will ever slowdown. I would not want to came back in a future world where the need for such technology continues to be developed. I would think that having experienced violence in a past would make us want to subdue violence in a later life, but that doesn't seem to be the trend. I like Dillon's answer about coming back as another creature. It might be fun to be a whale for a while. But if I came back as a whale 100 years from now would the oceans still be habitable? Noel

Not exactly. An F-35 is a dangerous weapon. The B-2 bomber is a dangerous weapon. A .38 caliber pistol is a dangerous weapon. But they are dangerous only in the hands of dangerous people. At Tahkli RTAFB in Thailand I once slept off a hangover on a stack of 750 pound bombs. They were not dangerous to me at the time. But once fused and loaded onto an F-105 they became extremely dangerous. But if dropped in a safe mode with the arming wires still in place they were not dangerous. When I was a Marine EOD tech in Japan we used to sweep the artillery range once a month or so looking for unexploded rounds. They were dangerous until we exploded them. Semantics. Noel

As a former model railroader this layout is amazing. I had a layout in a spare bedroom and every time I thought it was finished I found something else to add. I guess they're never truly finished. Noel

Yes we did. Have you looked in your basement yet?\ Noel

When I lived in a house we had four cats. Everyone of them had a look that said, "I know something you don't know." Noel

When I lived in Japan and had a Japanese wife I ate a lot of things foreign to me. Most of them I liked. My wife, on the other hand, did not have a taste for American food. She had to get used to eating beef. She did like pop corn though. When we went to the movies on base we usually went through two large boxes. One day she found popcorn in the commissary and bought a package. She was going to surprise me with our home made popcorn. She was in the kitchen while I was watching TV and apparently dumped the whole package of raw popcorn into a skillet. I heard the corn popping and popping and popping. When I went into the kitchen to see what was going on there was popcorn all over the counter and floor and she was crying. We were picking popcorn out of crevices and corners of the kitchen for a month. So, it works the other way too. What is delicious extra rare prime rib for me was not delicious to someone who was used to eating raw fish and rice all her life. Noel

One of my hobbies is writing short stories. Usually about my boyhood growing up in San Francisco and a few of my military experiences. A couple or so have been published. The thread about the schoolchildren seeing those UFOs reminded me of my one attempt to write a sci-fi story. It's quite short. Captain Tillman's Birthday Captain Joseph Tillman was making his final pass in his FA-18 at the target range at Fallon Naval Air Station. He was thinking, “Today’s my birthday and Mary is baking my favorite chocolate cake. As soon as I land and refuel it’s back to Miramar and a four day pass.” All of a sudden the FA-18 began to shake and become uncontrollable. Captain Tillman woke up in a small room. It was bare except for the chair he was sitting in. The door opened. “Captain Tillman?” a voice asked? “Yeah, I’m Captain Tillman. Who the hell are you?” “Oh my! I’m sorry. I’m Mister Farqua. There’s been an accident. Please wait here captain and I’ll be back shortly.” Mister Farqua left the room and left the door open. Captain Tillman look out the door and saw a huge office with perhaps 100 men an women all punching their fingers at something embedded in the tops of their desks. They all seemed very intent on what they were doing. Then Captain Tillman heard someone coming down the corridor. He stepped out and saw Mister Farqua escorting someone down the hallway. They were chatting about something. The man walking with Mister Farqua seemed disturbed and was speaking in a raised voice. “What the hell am I doing here? How dd I get here?" “All in good time Captain Tillman.” As they got closer Captain Tillman stepped out of the room and confronted the pair. He looked at the man next to Mister Farqua and thought he was looking at himself in a mirror. “Who the hell are you and what kind of flightsuit is that you’re wearing?” “I’m Captain Tillman. Who the hell are you?” “Bulls***! I’m Captain Tillman!” “Oh my,” said Mister Farqua. “Captain Tillman, come with me. Captain Tillman go back in the room and sit down until I come for you.” Captain Tillman went back into the room and sat down. His head was buzzing. He didn’t know where he was or what was coming. Fifteen minutes later Mister Farqua came into the room and said, “Captain Tillman, come with me. They went into a small room where a young woman was sitting at a console. In the corner of the room was a small booth. “Captain Tillman, go into that booth and sit down in the chair.” Captain Tillman sat down in the chair and waited. After a minute or two he felt a buzzing and became light headed. As Captain Tillman rolled out to line up with the tank on the range he felt a slight shudder of the aircraft. He thought it was probably nothing. He lined up on the tank and fire his remaining rockets. A direct hit! Captain Tillman’s thought went back to his birthday and Mary. “I’m a lucky guy,” he thought. “I’m a bigamist married to two lovely women. My FA-18 and Mary. I can’t wait for that chocolate cake.” Captain Tillman rolled out to line up with the bunker on the range he felt a slight shudder of the aircraft. He thought it was probably nothing. He lined up with the bunker on the range and fired his laser gun. A direct hit! Captain Tillman’s thought went back to his birthday and Anya. “I’m a lucky guy,” he thought. “I’m a bigamist married to two lovely women. My GXT-235 and Anya. I can’t wait for that coconut cream pie.” Mister Farqua was standing next to Maria at the console. “Maria,” he said, “That’s the second time you’ve done this. And this time both men met each other. Once more and I’ll have to let you go from Universal Time Central. Is everything back to normal now? “Yes sir,” said Maria, “All 18,492 Captain Tillman’s are back in their proper universes and time periods. Noel

So many sightings! So many reports from around the world! So many people from so many countries with similar stories of UFOs landing and beings walking around them! But the best evidence of their existence is the government secrecy and the lengths they go to to try and make us believe there is nothing to them. Except for the greys the humanoids probably look a lot like us. And with so many varieties of Earth born human beings think how easy it would be for them to be walking amongst us. We've probably seen some of them and not noticed. Some may have eaten dinner at the table next to yours in a restaurant and you never noticed. A couple might have helped us with Artimus II. Some might have come to Earth as children and grown up here and have written science fiction stories and maybe some of them are flight simmers. Some might even be replying to these posts. The truth is out there and we may have found it and not realized it it. Think about it! Noel

I remember when our adopted stray had her kittens. Four of them. She would sometimes nurse them on the coffee table in our living room. Noel

I still don't get it. Noel

Almost makes my boot camp days seem like a picnic. Noel

Good one Fielder. The end gave me a start! Noel

! could brush up on the Latin I learned in high school. Noel

Hey! Whatever works! Noel

In 20-30 years I'd be 112 or 122 years old and probably wouldn't care. In fact I don't care much now. They were beautiful natural spots when I was there. Noel

Well, Martin, I would have more fun with those purple haired beauties in a sleeping deep in the woods under the stars. Noel

I spent most of my leisure time when I was still alive hiking and backpacking in the mountains and forests or wading rivers and streams fly fishing. Skiing in the winter was something to look forward to in late Fall waiting for the first snowfall as I watched the aspen leaves turning to bright yellow and orange. I would find living in a sterile, enclosed, man-made environment abhorrent. Even with purple-haired honeys I would pass on that. Noel

I like that. Since I retired I fell no stress at all except a bit perhaps when I lose at BINGO or go to my room here in the warehouse a couple dollars short after a poker game. After living here for three years now with no obligations save paying the rent there is nothing to stress me out. This place is a like a daycare center where I have activities and games to play and am fed three times a day. Healthwise I've been pretty lucky. Maybe if I contract something that is finally gonna get me I have my DNR (Do Not Resuscitate) card so I can die happy realizing I've no unfinished jobs or things to do except perhaps the last item on my bucket list...sky diving. Haven't done that yet. Noel