Today is Armistice Day. Yes folks, on this date, 11 November 1918 the end of WW1 finally came. World War One was the first fully industrial war. Actually it was a huge meat grinder. Near the start of that terrible mess, they actually had horse calvary charging at machine gun emplacements! The so called "Allies" had some of the most incompetent leaders ever. Hell, they had old Winnie Churchill making the bullshit plans for the disaster at Gallipoli! He should have had his British citizenship revoked and been sent into permanent exile for that. I am sure the main reason that didn't happen was due to the fact that it was mostly the poor ANZAC troops who died in that disaster. Had the been British troops, maybe he'd have been truly punished for his crimes.

Any who, here in 'Merikkka, we now call 11 November "veterans day".  Oh, it is even a holiday in 'Merikkka now. Well shit, I don't remember it being a holiday. Maybe I need to get out more.....LOL, not gonna do it. This is one day I refuse to let anybody know I was ever in the Marines, let alone my time in the damn fool Vietnam war. Oh, and why is that, you ask? Because every damn clown and his/her brother then feels some bullshit 'need' to "thank me for my service". They have NO fucking idea just what that war cost me and many, many others who were on both sides of that shit storm. Thank me for my service? Fuck that shit. Anybody who leaves such a comment here will not get it posted and may even be disallowed to comment here for an indefinite time. If you never were in any military, you don't have a clue. If you served but didn't go to war, you have zero clue what it is like. There are me,tries I have never shared with others. If you weren't there, you cannot even imagine what it was like. If you were there, you know and don't need to be reminded, you KNOW, all too well, as I do. I came back from that mess in September 1971 and the memories are still fresh. Every time I read about the latest damn fool war, surged, whatever, the flashbacks get out of the box and the closet I'd put them in. Yeah, like the song says, memories ARE like starlight. They DO go on forever. I detest flashbacks. 
Any way, to Marines, yesterday was THE day. 10 November 1775, the birth of the Marine Corps. See yesterdays post for more.

Today I am going to give the story on old Walter P. Kronkat. 
I still was living in SoCal and Sherie was still in good health. We had been out doing our grocery shopping. When I pulled our Suzuki Samurai into the driveway of our house, we saw a cat sitting in our front yard. We'd not seen this cat before and we both thought it would run off as we opened the garage door. Had a remote opener in the Samurai. Well, I backed into the garage and Sherie looked in the yard. The cat is still there she said to me. OK, lets get this put in the house and I'll see if the cat is OK or hungry. I was bringing that last bags into the kitchen and she came from the front room to tell me I should take a dish of food and some water for the cat as it was till in the front yard. 
I took some food, water, and even a few cat treats to the garage and placed the food and water dishes near the front edge of the garage. The cat saw me, and cautiously came to see what I'd put down. He smelled the food and began to eat. Poor cat must not have had any food for some time as he (found out later it was a male cat) ate all the food in the dish then lapped up half the water. 
Now during this time, I'd been sitting on an old folding chair I kept in the garage. The cat looked at me, walked over close to me. I put my hand out towards him. He looked at me, checking me out as cats will do. He sat down and kept looking at me, deciding if I would do as somebody he might trust. Now I know he'd seen our other cats in the bay window we had on the house, so he knew I may be an OK human.
After some minutes of deciding, cats some times take a while to decide. He walked closer to me, then jumped onto my lap, looked up at me as if to say, I need a back rub. LOL, well, naturally I HAD to scratch his ears then rub his back. Old cat began to purr like a sweet running race car engine. He looked at me again as if to say "Oh yeah! That's the spot". I then noticed his right eye was messed up big time. We found out he was blind in that eye later on. He also didn't like when my hand touched his right hip. He didn't try to bite me, just gave a sound that I knew meant, don't do that. He started treading on me and then looked directly into my eyes as if to say "This is MY new home. And that is how it is". 
Now, if you are old enough to remember Walter Cronkite doing the TV news on CBS TV, you know how he ended each news cast. He'd say "And that's the way it is" and give the date, i.e.. Saturday, November 11, 2017. Well, this old stray cat gave me THAT look. 
I told Sherie we now had another cat and his name was Walter P. Kronkat. Walter Kronkat because of his Cronkite demeanor and the P., well, just because. Sort of like Alfred E. Neuman.  The P. was added by me to make Mr. cat seem more distinguished. Yeah, well, cats KNOW they rule the world, so my puny bit wasn't even needed, but hell, he was moving into OUR home, so I added the middle initial anyway.
We found from the vet, he'd most likely benefit twice. Once to mess up his eye, and then to break his hip. There was nothing that could be done for the eye. He had surgery to fix his hip. For a "free" cat, he cost us close to $600 in vet bills to get his surgery and shots. The vet told us he didn't know of anybody who would have done that for a stray cat. We told him, Walter is so sweet, and damn he looked good! He was a small cat, maybe a rag doll breed, never did find out. He had the softest long black and white fur of any cat we' ever had. he was the only long haired cat we, or I after Sherie died from glio blastoma ever had. Old Walter was a character and then some. He loved to sit on an end table in the front room of our home and as any of the other cats passed by, he'd swipe at them with his front paw. Never really hit them unless their tail was pointing up. He was just playing with them. Surprisingly, the other cats accepted him in just a few days. When he came home after his surgery, they all had to get close to him and check to see it was him coming home and not some other new cat.
His one big quirk was, he would hide if he saw my with my camera. Any photo of him I ever had was of him sleeping. Oh, that reminds me. He liked to sleep in one of the dinning room chairs, with his head hanging OFF the chair seat. If you put his head on the cushion, in about 5 seconds his head would be hanging down again. We just let him sleep whatever way he wanted to after the first week. 
He had a good life with us and died about six months before Sherie was diagnosed with her brain cancer (glio blastoma). Shit, I miss them more than words can say. Sherie most of all of course. We had 24 years together and went through things nobody should have to deal with. We got through the bad times easier than I thought we could because we were so close. We made it through some extremely rough bits because we always talked things out and we never accused each other of why things went bad.  We'd often sit and talk all day, no TV or even stereo on. After my back gave out we had many days like that. I miss that more than anything else about her. 

OK, today is also Caturday, so-----LOL cats!!

Happy Birthday U. S. Marine Corps!

Today is 10 November. This is the birthday of the United States Marine Corps. They began, according to Marine Corps history on this date in 1775. Oh, the corps began at a place called Tunns Tavern.  Yes, even from the very beginning of this military organization, one needed to be "well fortified" before one enlisted into the Marines. Yep, get them drunk enough to they have zero clue as to just what they are doing. Hey, when they get to boot camp, they'll find out damn quick just what the bloody hell they got themselves into.
After our group left the induction center in Lost Angeles, we were on a bus to San Diego to begin boot camp. When the bus stopped, an older Marine GSGT got on the bus and said (my memory of his exact words may not be 100%, this was June 1968 after all) "Gentlemen, welcome to USMC base San Diego. In a few moments you will be departing the bus. Follow the orders you will be given. We hope your stay here will be to our mutual advantage." Or something close to that. he sort of looked like Dad, not quite as old as Dad, but he had "that" sort of personal appearance.
 He got off the bus and in about 5 seconds another Marine SSGT got on and the only words I can ever say about what he yelled at us in mixed company is "yellow foot prints". Oh, and "Move it! Move it! Mover it!".
Well, holy SHIT! What the bloody hell have I gotten myself into? 
Of course the first 48 hours of boot camp were intended to totally demoralize all of us. They did so, in spades and then some. Now I was a bit fortunate. I figured out really fast to never question anything any of the drill instructors said, ever. If we were in full dress uniforms and they told us to drop into the mud in front of us, I'd have done so in an instant. You questioning such and order would have meant doing squat thrusts for about an hour straight. I can tell you from having done so, the entire platoon had to do this more than once a week for the first 6 weeks, it is NOT fun at all. It doesn't aid in your physical training (my opinion) it is JUST punishment. Punishment for what, you ask? Well, just because the DI felt we needed it.  Collective punishment WAS an option for the drill instructors back then. Not sure about now and don't much care. 
I still remember graduation day. The base commander said to all of us who were graduating boot camp that day, something like "Congratulations Marines". We sort of just stood there for some very long seconds before we realized he was talking about US. Yeah, we'd been called nearly everything you can imagine, except Marines for the previous 16 weeks.
Any way, following tradition, Happy Birthday US Marine Corps.
And YES, goddamn it, I AM still proud to have served with honor as a US Marine. No, I have no pride in having been in that damn fool Vietnam war, but I AM proud to have been a member of the Marines. I enlisted to see if I could make my own way without the possibility of falling back and going back home. I wanted to make it on my own, and by doG, I did it. I became a Marine. And if you think I wasn't damn proud of that, you have no clue about how I still feel for accomplishing that.
During my enlistment, I learned from older Marines that the Marines, and the other military services are more anti war than the hippies of any other anti war group. How so? Because they KNOW who will do the fighting, killing, and dying. THEY will be the ones at the sharp end of the damn stick. They train for war, but wish for peace. At least that is how things were in my day, 1968-72. If that has changed since, well, that would be very sad and even shameful in my view. 

FYI, check the interwebs for a short pamphlet, it IS on the web and you can read it free, just do a search for "War is a Racket" by Smedley Butler. He was a US Marine officer for 33 years and his pamphlet is well worth your time to read. He tells it like it still is. Yes, he wrote it back in the early 1930's, but it is still worth a read.
Semper Fi!

Just because I had this wild idea, so here we go again. Yeah, another post from the old broken down SOB.  Hey, this time there is not much to read. I figured to just link to some good tunes and toss in a LOL cat or maybe a bunch of LOL cats. You cannot have too many LOLs in a day.

First up I give you a very nice song with what I think is one of the absolute funniest scenes from any movie ever. Yes, from the film "Life of Brian", here is a link to the song with the video clip from the film. Watch this and if you don't laugh, you are either brain dead or very religious. Hmm, in my view, no difference between those options, Hey, I said up front, I am and old SOB!

Always look on the bright side of life

Next a very nice song by The Byrds. This one has a nice video to accompany the song. Enjoy. 

Wild Mountain Thyme

I am adding this one just to piss off the war lovers. You can follow the lyrics on this one, they are on screen for you.

Sky Pilot   This is the long, or I should say, the full version. There is a shorter version on You Tube and it did get some radio play back during the damn fool Vietnam war.

Now I give one last song.  This one is by Heart, yes Ann and Nancy Wilson. After I got the album, we had 6 cats and Sherie and I both watched the cats walk into the room while this was playing on the stereo. It fit our cats so well. No, they were NOT bad in any way, mostly. It just fit their attitudes. The lyrics are on the page of this song link. 

Bad Animals

The song begins; They walk into the lobby. The pack in black. Heads are turning. But they don't look back.  They must be crazy. Not  buying in. Why those outsiders.  Got to shock and offend.
(No our cats were not all back, 2 were black with grey stripes, the others were orange and mama Patches was try colored.)
Hey, that opening fits me too. I guess that I am a very bad animal. 
Just because, here is THE LOL cat photo to go with this song.

Now, some extra LOL cats. Why? Because I said above, you CANNOT have too many LOLs per day. That's why.

Well, until next time. Live your life and allow others to live theirs. 

Yeah, I know, another post from me. Well, sorry about that, but unfortunately I ain't dead yet so suck it up and either read  on or just go to another web site or blog. Of course I'm in a nasty assed mood. As I told my immediate boss while in the damn fool Vietnam war when he mentioned my attitude; I know I don't have a great attitude, I don't even have a good attitude, but goddamn it all, it's MY attitude. By the way, he never, ever was in any way critical of my work/job performance. He even told me that he knew without any doubt that I could keep any of the generators we needed to run our radio relay sites going better than anybody he'd ever worked with in his entire, at that point 7 years in the USMC. So there ya go. Never, ever call me a "good person". I am not by any means. But by doG, I can do damn good work.

OK, some article I'm going to link to today. First off, this one I feel needs to be read by any who actually care. Care about what you ask? Well, life, world peace, little children, hell, pick something to give a shit about. It is worth your time. Well, I think it is. You decide for yourself. I will never demand any of you read/follow any links I post here. As I stated before on this little blog, I am NOT a boss/leader.

The colossal cost of Washington's unending wars

Before you freak out, YES, this is from WSWS---World Socialist Web Site. Geeez people, deal with it. There ARE multiple sources of good information beyond the shit spewed out by US of A media. I don't understand how any sane human can stand to listen to or watch that insane Maddow critter, she is as bad as old Bill O. 
Total loon and crazed moron who is hung up on "the vile Ruskies did it" bullshit.

The next link is also from outside 'Merikkka. Hey, if you think the media in 'Merikkka will ever cover things like this, oh boy, you need serious intervention in my opinion.  You should have read the very first post I put on this blog. I told you up front, your favorite ox probably will be gored here. So, here goes with one for all the "Bernie folks", yeah, those goddamn FAKE "progressives" who are as full of shit as Hi-Larry.

Bernie Sanders boots Kiriakou
Holy crap on a stick! Can you say hypocrites? Damn straight I sure CAN! Progressives for Bernie? What kind of "progressive" is this? I call it sour grapes, well, no, I call it goddamn fucking cowardly bullshit. 

American motto
This is an older post that was updated after the mass killing in Lost Wages recently. It is an excellent article, not too long, but Mr. Davidson says oh so much in it. The new 'Merikkkan motto; Free, Armed, and Stupid. And damn right I place great emphasis on the STUPID portion. 

Now for some lighter bits, courtesy of the good old, always worth MY time, the Onion.
While I may disagree with his choice of words
If you read this, scroll on down to see three extra links about Paul Ryan. Yes, I know, it is almost too easy to pick on poor lil' Paulie. Well, sometimes you DO go after the low hanging fruit. An easy target just helps me stay in practice. 

How the world has changed
This isn't very long either. The Onion usually keeps them short and to the point. Unlike me. Yeah, I know, I talk too much, online, in comments I post at other blogs/sites, and for sure in person. Kay Sara Sara. 

One more just because.
Heaven slides to sixth place

Before I stop, some extra LOL cats. Just because. 

Just finished reading the article I will link to and it is a must read by any who detest what 'Merikkka is doing and may do sooner than we'd want. 
It is by a major in the US Army. Oh, want to know who in the US of A is the most anti war of all? It is the troops who will have to fight the next goddamn useless, idiotic war of choice. They will be the ones doing the killing and dying, NOT any member of either house of congress nor any other rich asshole. 

War making in the age of the imperial presidency

Now, just so you don't get too bummed out, a few extra LOL cats. Just because I feel like it.

Until next time. Well, just live your life your way I guess and let others do the same.  As a neighbor of mine told me the other day; I'm so broke I cannot even afford to pay attention.

Not that it matters, since it really doesn't at all. You may have noticed a change in my profile. I decided to replace the photo with one that fits me much better. 

Just because I felt like doing so. Here is the new, improved photo.

Well hell, I woke up and goddamn, I'm ain't dead yet.....again. This is getting old. 
Today, I give you two more from the old satire site, yes folks, the Onion. I think they are worth the short few minutes it takes to read them. Now, IF they make you think, well, that just may take a good bit more time. If so, then it will be worth it. Any who, that is MY opinion. Yours will vary no doubt. If you are getting tired of my links to that site, well just go read some other blog. Nobody forced you to read this one. Hell, nobody even asked you to read it. Well, I'd best backtrack some on that last comment. I did email a very few select group of long time friends that I was starting a new blog and sent them the address of this blog. I am sure I only sent this web address to three, yes, three long time friends I have on the old interwebs.  I will NOT name them, they know who they are and that is enough for them and me. Oh, they all have been to this blog and either posted comments to it or emailed me about it. 

The first link is about the mass shooting/killing this past Sunday. 
The politicians in 'Merikkka are about THE most craven ever in all of human history. 
Paul Ryan quickly runs tweet about Texas shooting

This one was made after the larger mass killing/shooting in Lost Wages, BUT it still applies in my view. 

this shooting isn't about gun control we refuse to pass

Now I am going to give a link to a reliable news source. This was posted at Counterpunch, but was originally on the site Tom Dispatch. I've been reading that site for years and while I don't always agree with some of the folks who post there, to me that is a good thing. Think about it for a few minutes. If you agree with everything a person or web site puts up for you, there may be something wrong with how you think. Just as I am a dues paying member of the ACLU, for decades now, I told them in emails and even a phone call or three that while I support them and know they are doing much good, I do not agree with everything they do or stand up for. I told them that to me, this is a very good thing. If we all agreed on everything, this would be such a miserable boring assed world, most of us would kill ourselves before the age of 14. There would never be any debate, no discussions needed, since everybody would always agree to everything. Give me a fucking break! I'd be bored to death over 60 years ago. No, I don't mean to get angry, but honest, civilized debate is a damn good thing. Too bad that is nearly impossible in 'Merikkka today. We need honest, open debate now more than any time in my nearly 70 years of this life. We won't get it from what passes as our leaders though. Nope, they are way too deep in the pockets of the super rich to allow such to happen. 
My only quibble with what Tom says is this. He still refers to the "war ON terror" that W. Shrub and Mr. 5 deferments (Cheney) started after "9/11". NO! It IS a war OF terror. Always was, always will be. Terror FROM 'Merikkka ON the rest of the world, well, at least against nations that can not do any harm to 'Merikkka. Yes sir boys and girls, 'Merikkka, the "exceptional" nation, the "indispensable" country is a huge father fucking COWARD! Deal with that.

the making of bin ladens america

I want to say, as usual, that I'd like you all to treat everybody you come in contact with every day the way you want to be treated, but I suppose all the folks who read this little blog are getting tired of me asking this. Well, until i hear differently, I will no longer ask that of you. I'd probably have better success banging my head against a brick wall any way. If you feel like doing it, then try. If not, well, just wait a day or so until the next mass shooting/killing to happen in the only nation where that shit happens regularly. The choice is yours. It IS your life and you need to live it your way. Fuck me AND the sheep I rode in on. 

Well, thanks loads once again 'Merikkka. Thanks for showing the entire world how goddamn fucking STUPID you really are. Oh, and thank you so very much for showing the entire world how "sacred" you hold life. 
I always want to ask the clowns who protest the absolute right of a woman to abort her unborn child, will they adopt the kid if the woman decides to let her pregnancy go full term? if not, why not?
Hypocrites. 'Merikkka is plum FULL of them. Yesterday, Sunday 5 November, 2017, 'Merikkka once again, and way too soon, how fucking STUPID it is. Hey, 'Merikkka, the world has known this fact for decades. Quit showing off your stupidity! ENOUGH!!

Yes, this is about the mass shooting at that church in Texas. Well, I cannot but post 2 links to the Onion again. You already know what the first one is. Yes, I used it here after the bigger mass shooting in Lost Wages (that is Las Vegas to you who don't read this blog).

No way to prevent this

If you scroll down this page you will see previous times this same headline has been used. No, I am NOT making light of this most recent mass shooting, just reenforcing how bloody goddamn STUPID 'Merikkka IS.

Now, one more Onion link. Man, this one fits so well with EVERY other mass shooting in 'Merikkka. It isn't the proper geological age to discuss gun control.  OK, how about maybe oh, say 10,000 years from now? Too soon? Probably. Holy shit, 'Merikkka sure loves the killing of other folks. Some love can be very, very bad. This "love" sure as hell counts as bad in my opinion. 

Nation to wait for more facts

Yes sir boys, we needs to get us some more of them facts before we do.......absolutely NOTHING at all about this shit.  Well, hell, no doubt some of the folks who got killed this past Sunday were on welfare, were disabled, too old to be productive, or maybe they prayed to the wrong doG. Who knows why this recent shooting took place. Yes, I have seen where the Air Farce said they "messed up" by not reporting the supposed, now dead, shooter to the NCC of his physical violence against his wife and child. Had that been done, he would not have been able to purchase a gun legally. Um, excuse me here, but there are so many unlawful firearms in 'Merikkka that he still could have got one. Of course buying a gun illegally may cost more and it may jam or not function properly. Oh, and you can't just go back to the person you paid for it and get your money back if said gun doesn't work properly. Hell, try doing that and you may be killed. Works for me.

OK, honesty time. I own firearms. I own a 12 gauge, double barrel shotgun. It is aa legal short barrel type, it was called a coach gun as stagecoach drivers, shotgun riders used them in the 1800's. I also own a .45 cal. single action revolver, 6 shot cylinder. Another short barrel gun. Not that short, 6 inch barrel length. Yes, like the old western men carried. I always liked the looks of these guns and was trained very well in the use of all sorts of firearms by the US Marines. Other than the odd hours at an authorized shooting range, the only time I'd ever use either of my guns would be to protect my family in a matter of life or death. I hope like hell I never am in that situation. I am an old combat vet, Vietnam 1970-71. I know first hand what bullets do to a human being. It ain't pretty folks. Trust me. If you don't, I know you can find all sorts of gory images on the net. Go look at them and try very hard to not puke your guts out. 
This mass shooting/killing in the country I was born in, and still am so fucking dumb that I still live in it makes me despair. I fear for the little children. One of the dead from this most recent killings was a small baby. Jesus H. fucking Christ on a goddamn crutch! What could a babe in arms have done to deserve this? I wonder, OK, this is going off on a tangent now. Are there mass shootings/killings some pererted way to make me try and believe in some damn fool doG? Well, if so, it will NOT work. However, I can say in all honesty, I am deeply ashamed of my country. Not just for these mass shootings/killings right here at home, but for ALL the needless deaths around the globe by US forces. I am ashamed for my own participation in the damn fool Vietnam war. Shit folks, this crap brings the old memories back from the closet where I'd put them. Fuck this shit 'Merikkka! Fuck it now! I'm sick of the damn flashbacks! 

People, PLEASE, please TRY and treat ALL the other people you come in contact with EVERY day the way you want to be treated. It isn't that hard to do. We have got to stop this bullshit of grabbing a goddamn gun every time we get pissed off.

Just a short one. OK, for those who are getting towards my sort of twisted thinking (do you often wonder if I actually do think?)  "quickie" then.
It ties in with the last LOL cat posted here earlier.

The next are extras, just because Caturday was a good day. Of course it was a good day, it was Caturday!!

OK, let me say this up front. If anybody wants to know about that baby thingy from yesterday, it went off just fine. Yeah, yeah, I took more than enough photos and so far they are all just what they will like.
Aha! Says somebody reading this 53rd rate blog, he doesn't sound all that cheerful. Well, guess what? I ain't very cheerful. I'm NOT  people photographer. I enjoy the living crap of taking photos of race cars, any type, same for motorcycles and old trains, ell, even old rusting machinery. Landscapes are also high on my list of fun to shoot photos. People, not so much. I do NOT ever do portraits. Why? Because a good portrait photographer MUST be a boss. The same applies, even more so, for a good wedding photographer. Notice I said "good" for those two types of photographers. There are way too many who "do" portraits and even weddings, but oh, yeah, they "do" them. Just not very good.
I am not a boss. Shit on a damn stick, the Marines wanted to promote me to Sergeant about 70 days before my enlistment was over. I told the promotion board when they asked me the first question, which was why did I want to be promoted, that I did NOT want a promotion. I had to exit that room, wait in the lobby of the building for 45 minutes while they tried to decide what todo. The decided to just ask me the rest of the questions any who. Why? Because the highest ranked person on that board was only a 1st Lieutenant. Nobody, it seemed, had any authority to do much else. They did tell me they'd never had anybody refuse a promotion before. Hey, somebody HAD to be the first.
his story is too bloody long and its not quite done. In the end, the regimental colonel promoted me any way. It came down to this; I was standing at attention in front of his desk. He points to his collar and asks what is on it? I say, An eagle sir. He says, what is on y sleeve? I say corporal stripes sir. he says, so, now you ARE a goddamn sergeant and get the hell out of my office! Sir! Yes sir! and out I go.
So, I ain't no bloody goddamn boss. That makes me a crap portrait or wedding photographer. BUT, since the first time in this idiot state of Louisiana (I often call it Loosie Annie) that I got suckered into shooting photos for a family reunion, they all just loved them some shit over the shots I took. The only reason I can make sense of this is, I don't do "set" shots of people. Nope, I catch them as is, or acting naturally. No warning, yes siriee Bobbie, Have camera, will shoot photos. Have camera will travel. You ever see me with my camera, you may have just had your photo taken. Damn right, I ARE sneaky that way. Catch them off guard. 
OK, I do this for certain folks. Well, they end up asking me to do more for other friends of theirs etc., etc., etc.......and on, and on....
Yeah.  Every time, they tell me how much they like the shots I get and say how they are al on farcebook. I sometimes have to ask somebody I know who has an account with that farcebook thing since I refuse to deal with them. I've seen some of my shots posted there, so, the folks who say they like my work ain't lying. The ting is, I might be half assed good at this, but I don't get that much fun doing it. I think it feels like I'm hunting the prey and damn, a hunter cannot be pals with the prey. What? You'd kill a pal?  Holy shit, I am not looking for any new pals, so, pass. In my Marine days, I'd have given my own life to save a buddy, but kill one of them? Fuck NO!! No way Jose! 
Ah, the better semi olden days. The days when I went to the drags once, sometimes twice, a month. Could breath a hell of a lot better back then. Now THAT was a blast on steroids! Open exhaust pipes/headers, burnt rubber, the smells, sounds, and oh YEAH, the sights! Plus, the people racing and/or working on the cars are some of the friendliest folks you'll ever meet. Made me feel welcome from the very first time at what passes for my local track. That includes the track staff. 
Turn me loose in an old train museum or yard and I'm set for the day and then some.Got a field of rusting old machinery? Tell me how to get there! 
So, how come I keep doing this for the folks who ask? Because they asked me to. And hell, if I can't be nice back to them, then I'd be a damn hypocrite. What do I say/ask almost every post? Try and treat all those you meet each day the way you want to be treated. If I am going to talk the talk, I better goddamn WALK the walk!  And that is why I keep doing as I did yesterday and will until I am physically unable to any longer. Like about 15 minutes after my carcass has been turned into ashes.

Now that cat has his act together!