Folks,

Today is another beautiful, sunny day. What else needs to be said about it?

That darn cat took the opportunity to jump up on this desk last night while I was indisposed in the shower and knocked my new laptop on the floor. It fell about 2 1/2 feet. I clearly heard the fooomph! when it fell. Exiting the bath and mostly dry, I went in my room and found the evidence. When I opened it everything seemed ok. I shut it down and this morning it booted a bit slower than usual but it booted. As far as I can now tell it is working properly. That fall could not have been good for it and something could still go wrong. I've worked hard to socialize this lovely rescue kitty with a great deal of success. It was considered a success way back when I got her to come out from under the bed. I think she likes me. She usually acts like it, especially when she is in Estrus, as she is right now. I guess it is true that in this life, no good deed goes unpunished.

She has learned that getting on the desk is a sure way of getting my attention. I had in her opinion stayed too long in the shower. She wanted attention. As is true of most felines I've encountered, Zena understands very little about computers. It is not her fault cats are such unbelievable Luddites.

Her idea to gain my undivided certainly worked. She definitely got my attention. As far as she understands it and, despite spending the rest of the night in the bathroom, her ploy was a complete success.:)

Gents,

Roger; that is cat behaviour all right. I would be CATatonic for a moment, look the little beast straight in the eye and ask it sweetly; "do you want to go play with the lions little kitty, do you?", and grab her by the neck and physically remove her. But then, that is because I'm not a cat person. On today's ride, yes, it held dry and wasn't too windy in the wrong directions, I didn't spot a cat. Not a single one.

The car is due for annual service and I try to postpone it a fortnight so I can get the wheels changed to ones with winter tires fitted. Weekly yoga sessions progress and I've met one of my old yoga teachers and am planning on participating in a workshop a weekend in november. Hopefully my bad arm is better by then. I'm sure I need not remind Roger how I got that bad arm, and who gave it to me, eh? Roger? Does the name Nurse Ermintrude I. Procedure perchance ring any bells? If I remember correctly it was Roger who promised to fix me up with a date with the incomparable Nurse Ermintrude but neglected to inform me that I would have to climb some vegetation up to the dorm window and that is when I tore a ligament, in fact the entire muscle in my arm ripped apart.

klFolks,

Today seems to be a perfect reflection of yesterday weatherwise. Rain is coming on Sunday however. By Halloween, we should have trees wearing coats of many colors. If my trick or treat memories are correct, our Halloween nights can be a bit brisk. If I go out trick or treating with the kids this year I will at least wear a mask. The one year I didn't parents complained I frightened the kids too much.

I don't imagine they have trick or treating in Denmark. However, if they do, I think MG should dress up like his avatar. I have also long been a fan of William Claude Dukenfield. That would be WC Fields to most of you. I bet MG knew his real name. In one of his biographies, I read that he was terrified someone would steal his money so he opened special bank accounts all over the country under assumed and sometimes humorous named. Names in fact rather like the names of his on-screen characterss. After his death, it was speculated that many of these accounts were ...well...unaccounted for. They may still be there in some obscure bank in the US. If you are a banker and have access to bank records, you might look for the name Whipsnade, Wilkins Micawber, Cuthbert J. Twillie, Harold Bissonette, Bisbee or Prof. McGargle.

MG:
LOL. The cat got a good talking to and spent the rest of the night in the bathroom. Unless you are correct about the eventual feline uprising to take over the world, I do not suspect the unfortunate bouncing imposed on my new laptop was intentional. As I mentioned yesterday, cats seem to know precious little about computers and technology in general. I did hold my breath when I raised the cover and waited for the lock screen to come up. So far the only indication of a problem has been that the mouse no longer causes the sign in box to appear for some reason. I have to press the enter key. No big deal I could even skip that screen if needed. I scanned the disk for errors and none were found.

For some unknown reason, I had completely forgotten about that particular nurse, MG. I do not know why. Apparently, I have forgotten that too. I sometimes sit down and sadly ponder about all the myriads of things I've forgotten over my 73 years. Of course, since these things are forgotten it is rather difficult to ponder about them specifically. Eventually, this fact is remembered and I switch to pondering about the many things I now remember but may forget about sometime soon. Because there are so many such things, I usually just get tired and stop pondering altogethe\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\-*******. Very soon I forget what I was doing and find something unforgettable to do like type here,

Let me see, her name was Nurse Ermintrude I. Procedure? Ermintrude? That sounds Danish to me. Wait, wasn't she the nurse that.... no that was the one that slid naked from her dorm into down a zip line into Duxes convertible after the HWH Summer Solstice bash. Hmmm. Was she the blonde that Olga found hiding under Dux's bed on Christmas Eve? No, her name was Anita Goodman. I remember now. Wasn't she the Nurses judo instructor? That's right, and a real looker she was too, so fit. She was also a real man hater. Are you sure I sent you up those vines to her room? Perhaps it was your Idea? We had only just seen the Erol Flynn flick Robin Hood and the scene where he climbs up to Olivia DeHaviland's room seemed to impress you quite a bit. Surely I would not have been such a swine as to suggest that you and...and.., that particular lady would be a match? Are you quite sure it wasn't Dux? He had a grudge you know.

Surely you remember that you had only recently set up a blind date with that lovely nymph from town. The one that chewed tobacco and didn't shave her legs. Dux was furious because he couldn't get the taste of tobacco out of his mouth for days. I have it now. Dux got me to send you up that tangled vegetation clinging to the nurse's dorm, Perhaps if we consider both sides you may have had it coming. Frankly, though you may not have been innocent I do not think you deserved being grabbed just as you reached the nurse's window and flipped headlong back down the same vegetation many times faster than you climbed it either.

Yes, I seem to remember that at the infirmary you swore to everyone who'd listen that the only reason that nurse bested you was because you had damaged your ligament climbing up. A thousand might not have believed you MG, but I always did.

Folks,

Cats are hard to persuade. During a brief absence, it is now obvious that said feline typed a few unprintable cat phrases in the second paragraph after "MG: " Clearly we will have to have another heart to heart discussion.

Folks,

The day here began cloudy but the clouds have burned off and the sun is doing his best to provide another warm fall day today.

My former daughter-in-law has returned with stories and souvenirs from the Corpus Christi area of storm-damaged Texas where she supervised other first responders for two weeks. Fittop, she brought my grandson who truly loves bottled fire a medium sized bottle of something called AssBlaster Sauce. Apparently, hearty Texans put that stuff on just about everything including their breakfast cereal and their ice cream. I dunno man. My tongue thinks gum with cinnamon in it is hot. I'd possibly find a use for it. Maybe as a paint stripper or toilet bowl disinfectant. I do like the taste of peppers just not too much heat. Lousiana Hot Sauce is my brand of milder heat though Tobasco possibly has more pepper taste. Texas Pete is also good and not too hot if used judiciously. At a banquet once I tasted some extremely hot Chinese mustard that set my eyes watering and removed a bit of skin off my palette. I had a sore throat for several days. That was several years ago. I have been far more careful since. Nothing stronger than 100 proof Wild Turkeyhath passed my lips.

Speaking of storms; I do hope the one headed into the Gulf area and possibly New Orleans will not bring additional destruction and misery. Some folks there have not yet recovered from the previous disaster. UH Oh. I just glanced out my windows...the sun still shines but the gray clouds are back. They are giving him a hard time. Perhaps I praised the power of the sun too soon?

MG:

I read that missing journalist's body, or rather parts of it, have been found by divers in the sea off Copenhagen. Could hungry, rebellious cats somehow be behind this dastardly deed?

Gents,

Rain all day and while doing a bit of emergency shopping for the kind of stuff that is on sale and rare I encountered a big cat which was I suppose a dirty dull brownish/ginger.

Another Cat I encountered today, although not in person is the singer songwriter Cat Stevens who is out with a new album. For 30 years he was a total musical recluse due to, I think some (mis)interpretation of scriptures that musical entertainment supposedly was not compatible with spiritual enlightenment. The latest 10 years he's released some albums under another name, but now the original Cat Stevens name is back for the first time in 40 years.

I believe it was William Claude Dukenfield himself who uttered the immortal phrase "I'll kill that cat", or was it Peter Sellers? Anyway it was after tasting a particularly bad cup of coffee.

I'm glad they found more remains of that poor, unfortunate woman. Hopefully that will help solve the case. No Roger, that was not the deed of some cats. The ill-deed was very likely perpetrated by that psycho who was in the u-boat with her. He has as much confessed he was alone and with her when she died but he is still in denial about what he actually did.

Gentlefolks:

Latest is that Nate is making The Carolinas hope for clearing weather tomorrow, now that it has been scaring folks through a wide swatch of the Southeast.

Not acquainted with that particular brand of hot sauce, JRT, but there is one left in the fridge from the stepson's stay with us. Surely it carries the same five alarm level.
Experience with an habanero pepper once destined for a salad reminded me to respect tiny pieces of green.

Glad they found the remainders of the lady, MG. May she receive justice.
The cats that come visiting here stay outside as the local resident is prone to making unfriendly noises from this side of the window.
On the bike, one is more likely to encounter snakes than cats in the bike paths around here. That may or may not be preferable to a close encounter with an automobile on the normal roads.

Folks,

Yes, Fittop, we are indeed enjoying the clouds today. A little rain has fallen last night and again this Colombus Day morning. More patchy rain and thunderstorms this afternoon and evening. Same pattern expected through Thursday. Ther is a new tropical depression that will be named Ophelia developing. This has been a banner year for big storms. Maybe it is not a trend that will continue. The RADAR seems clear at the moment.

I am and doubtless, you are glad that you are unacquainted with that sauce. It is loaded with Habanero fire. Just looking at the label causes my tongue to tingle. None of that firey liquid shall pass my lips while I'm conscious for sure. I must admit that I love the pepper taste though. Someone should market a pseudo pepper sauce without the heat for us sensitive folk who love the taste but wish to keep the enamel on our teeth.

When I was a little guy, my grandmother used to dry peppers by hanging them on a string on her back porch. Some were hot and some were mild and others had no heat at all. I learned the hard way which was which. Once I could reliably tell the difference, I took one of each red hot and heatless peppers to a pals house. This guy was always bragging how tough he was. He asked me what I had and I showed the two identical looking peppers. On the spot, he bet me he could eat more pepper than I could. OK, with me I said and I handed him the hot pepper. Let's make it interesting I was challenged. OK.My new baseball glove against your new bat. OK, this seemed reasonable to me. I took a big bite of my pepper and he took an even larger bite of his. I ate more and smiled. He just stood there sweating like a pig and tearing up. I asked him if there was a problem? He was no longer there. He had disappeared into his house.

I understand that he drank water by the gallon without relief. He should have drunk milk of course as it helps the fire go out faster. Next, he had been visited with a brief bout of Montezuma's Revenge that used up all the toilet paper in the house and must have highly irritated whoever did his laundry. He stayed home from school the next day so I did not see him for a bit. When he did show up, he was a changed boy. He offered me his new glove but I hadn't the heart to take it from him as I had clearly cheated. He was much relieved (in every sense of the word). It occured to me that if he had demanded to choose which pepper he was to eat I could have been the one in deep Do Do and not him. I never tried that "trick" again.

Fittop, you have more rattlers down there than we have here, I have seen all our snakes at one time or another in the wild other than the deadly Coral snake and the Rattlesnake. There are not many rattlers in our area I guess. My late wife was dreadfully frightened of snakes poison or not. Both were indeed "dangerous" to her as she could have easily broken her neck running away from even the most innocuous of serpents. She had some kind of inbred snake RADAR. I was often amazed by it, especially on hikes in the woods. She could sense a snake close by that I could not have found with a telescope and magnifying glass. She would eventually find the offending item and with great pleasure point it out to me. After several such events, I became a true believer in her uncanny perception. And in the end, if my dear wife had woken from a sound sleep to tell me there was a snake in the yard outside I would have believed her.

She always demanded that I kill the animal if it was in our yard even though I knew it was harmless. Now you and I know that snakes perform a service by getting rid of rodents and other undesirables so I was loath to dispatch all of them. We had several very large black snakes pay a visit over the years. My young son was fascinated with them as I was at his age. I wrote a theme about and filled a large scrapbook with photos and descriptions of snakes in 5th grade. So when my wife was not looking, I'd catch a safe snake and let my son handle it. One terrible day I made a miscalculation and my wife saw me doing that. Obviously the irate woman did not kill me but I am certain it came to her mind. We were more careful after that. The only "good" snake was a "dead" snake as far as my wife was concerned.

This thread is deeeeeeeply, deeeeeeply confusing to me.

I feel like I'm looking at the subreddit simulator.

Gents,

FalkeEins; Very nice of you to drop by to say hello! We're all perfectly human and no chat-bots, at least not to my knowledge. We're a small group of people divided by geography but united by common interests. Amongst those interests are flying and flight simulators, history and I think, we also like to write, to share our thoughts and to construct sentences.

A new poster sometimes drops by and we welcome everyone to either to just enjoy the conversation or contribute to it as they see fit. We also enjoy to chat informally and at times in a rather unstructured manner, jumping from subject to subject on a whim, learning about each other, where we live, what the weather is like and at times we post yarns based either on some thread of truth or rooted entirely in fiction. We also enjoy to sometimes to include ourselves in said yarns, or tease a little bit.

The seemingly randomness in the conversation can at times make it a little it hard to follow what we are talking about, and can also wrongfully create the impression that we are averse to meeting new acquaintances here. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Jolly Roger who is conscientiously reposting the origins of this thread, especially when someone new drops by will tell you that this thread was created during the first period after the release of Rowan's Battle of Britain flight simulator as a safe haven and flame-free zone from grievances with the general state and the number of bugs concerning that particular sim. When the sim was working it was however a very immersive experience and on such occasions players would come here telling about "Here's What Happened". He can tell the story much better than I.

Now, a random subject I'm, going to bring up because we're all interested in flight, I'll actually post it as a question: When was the first flight ever?

Folks,

I am not a robot.... I... am...not...a...rob 274304726 2882#$#%#^% spark, zap....Mary had a little lamb bbb%%$$%^& its fleece was white az sn %^$&^.

SORRY, TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES, DO NOT ADJUST YOUR.... ZAP! ...white as snow... and everywhere that....ZAP! Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee went sailing..ZAP..set sail on a silver sea..ZAP! that Mary went the lamb wuz ..wwas..wuz.. sure to...Hiss, Pop, ZAP...... .....-,-, ... --- ...

May I welcome you unfamiliar human to these pages. And may I refer you to page one of these 1061 pages for enlightenment.

Back then the game was very much playable and this forum well attended. The source code was released or about to be and the BDG formed to carry on the work of tweaking BoB. This was the time known to many as the Flame Wars. Emotions were high and tensions palpable. Our Fearless Founder, SNAFU,. saw a need for a safe place we could all come to just to share our thoughts and after action reports. He created HWH 1 as a Flame-Free zone. It has been quite a success even after our founder went MIA somewhere over the Channel years ago. At some point after HWH had become a success, the SimHQ server crashed and we lost about 600 pages of posts. SNAFU was still around and he began another HWH thread titled HWH Continued. That is the thread you have just posted on. We have been here over 16 years now. You are welcome to come as often as you like and post what is on your mind. WE ask only that you honor SNAFU by being cordial and flaming no one, not even me when I write another HWH story which, entirely against all suggestions to the contrary, I still occasionally do. Welcome, FalkeEins, Hawk One. Hmmm I believe there is a Luftwaffe blog by that same name.

Leonardo in the 15th century proposed the possibility of flight. Someone in Italy or maybe it was Warsaw is said to have built a fixed-wing craft that actually took a cat up for a flight. Sir George Cayley was first called the "father of the airplane" in the 1800s.I think his planes were gliders. A fellow named Langley had a go. In the 1800s, Langley's Aerodrome No. 5 made the first successful sustained flight of an unpiloted, engine-driven heavier-than-air craft of substantial size. A German named Gustav ?in 1901, two and a half years before the Wright Brothers' flight, claimed to have carried out a controlled, powered flight in his Number 21 monoplane in Connecticut. The flight was reported in the local newspaper. About 30 years later, several people questioned by a researcher claimed to have seen that or other Whitehead flights.

Everyone nowadays considers the first machine flight of length and time was here in 1903 at Kitty Hawk, NC by the Wright brothers. It depends on variables I guess and what kind of flight. You may mean first controlled powered flight or something else, Or you may mean perhaps "lighter than air" ships, balloons, gliders etc. The name Montgolfier springs to mind. Yours is kinda a tricky question to answer. I've done my best. Enlighten us please MG, my knowledge is quite limited and likely rather faulty. Thanks for proposing the question.

Folks,

MG:

OOOPS! You did not mean the "first Flight" EVER as in the "Very" first flight that took place on Earth did you? That would be after the first egg hatched and the first fully fletched birdie or Tyrodactile jumped out of the first nest. Hmmmm. I dunno. That question in and of itself poses so many other questions, does it not?

Who, or what would have built the nest? Where did that first egg actually come from, etc?

Gents,

Roger; Excellent! I was indeed thinking about powered flight and in especially Gustav Whitehead, or Weisskoph as was his real name. Yesterday I caught a television programme about this pioneer and learned that apparently Whitehead performed a powered flight in 1901. I would question if the flight was controlled as it seemed to me that he did not have the ability to steer his apparatus away from a building that came across his path, and so he crashed into it. Perhaps he could have flown over it instead? That would have been an achievement!

Also the programme claimed that we only have the words of the Wright brothers, and some random hired hands as documentation that the Wrights actually flew in Kittyhawk that day in 1903. Oh, I'm sure they flew but how long was the real, and largest distance flown that day in any of the four flights flown that day? Experiments with replicas seem to indicate that while the No. 21 was indeed capable of flight, the Wright's first flier was quite a handful due to the leading aileron. Wilbur even crashed with it I think. So as far as dirigibility, I would say even the Wrights didn't yet get it..... Right. Photos remain inconclusive in so far as irrefutable documentation and proof but it looks like it wan't until ca. 1908 that a Wright flier could actually fly reasonably well to stay aloft for a sensible amount of time and even carry a passenger.

As for snakes..... well I think we do have one type of snake living in the wild here but nothing as fearful as in other parts of the world. I am reminded of the leader of an expedition appointing a person as scout for the expedition. "But I'm afraid of snakes" the poor person stammered. "Exactly! That is why you will be an excellent scout! You'll spot the snakes before anyone else!"

Folks,

Still cloudy here this morning but skies did clear some yesterday afternoon. A little stormy. The power went out for a few minutes, something like a power sub-station reset I'd guess. Humidity is still high but night-time temps much cooler most nights. Will November and the end of the hurricane season ever get here. Actually, and technically there could be hurricanes in the Atlantic in Dec. with global warming but in the past conditions have never as far as I know been conducive for large storms to form off Africa. THe water has been too cool I guess.

MG:

Thank you. I hope I got most of that right. It would be a terrible shame and expense if they dug Wilber up and he admitted they actually failed. North Carolina would go broke changing all those "First in Flight" license plates to "second or third in Flight".

That is bad news about the cop being shot and killed after a drug bust in Texas. I wonder which is the greater danger to our society; N. Korea from without or the Opioid crisis still building from within? The so-called Korean Conflict should have been fought as Macarthur wanted to fight and end it for good and all. Maybe that wasn't possible without nukes and maybe Truman was right but if that "police action" was fought until the N. Koreans knew they had been completely licked we would not be looking at doing the same thing today. One of the reasons IMHO for WW2 was that the Germans did not accept that they had been truly beaten in WW1. They blamed other causes rather than military defeat.

The threat of further Chinese intervention back then prevented Truman from pressing what advantages we had though our military was far more powerful. We had far fewer troops than China of course. After losing so many men a decade before in WW2 the President did not feel the American people were ready for another humongous casualty list. Part of his decision was political. OK. There is the possibility that had Truman let Doug fight his war his way we, the children born during the war that were survivors, would all glow in the dark these days and our pets would have 3 heads but N. Korea would be a safe and sandy desert. Yes, Macarthur was a "little Ceasar and gave Truman a headache but was he not also right? Just my opinion. No one should care what I think. I was born late in the 2nd World War, so what do I know?

Gentlefolks:

Glad you guys got the first flight information right. Think I had the right fact, but perhaps the wrong nationality?

Yesterday I attended a memorial to a hero.
Nice attendance, including some Ravens who traveled from all points to make the memorial to the life of a colleague.

A missing man fly-by by two Bird dogs was made. Don't know how they managed such a feat over a city but glad they did.
(Yes, it was at legal altitudes.)
The fellow we honored will be missed.

Folks,

More clouds, more drizzle today. Yet this Wednesday promises to be a good day, as of course, all days truly are. Today may not be one of the best days. It probably won't be one of the worst either. It will be just what we can make of it. The current temp is 76° here in eastern NC and the humidity is a smothering 97%. Someone please remind the weatherman it is FALL already.

Speaking of being reminded, it just occurred to me that someone mentioned Ophelia yesterday. Hmmm. Quite correct, LeRoy, it probably was I who dood that. Doing that should have reminded me about our Dux who had quite a fling with a nurse by that very name. He has written several very good posts about Ophelia Hardrod in the past. I recommend them to you.

Ophelia was quite the opposite from Dux's real femme fatal, Olga, in many ways. Yet, in other ways, they were like two peas in a pod. I always liked Ophelia for some reason. That reason was definitely not her nasty habit of always demanding the absolute truth at all times. She had the unnerving habit of doing so even when that truth would hurt her or more likely hurt someone else who was within swinging distance.

I also did not like her because she always told the absolute truth even in front of anybody. I discovered to my discomfort that she was apt to do that even when it was clearly hazardous to my own health. The reason I liked her certainly was not because Ophelia had a deadly uppercut that could have sent a white Rhino into Serenghetti slumberland.

No indeed, it was none of the above that caused me to like the girl I can assure you. It was probably because dear Ophelia was a delightfully gorgeous, kind, friendly creature 99% of the time.This being entirely true unless you failed to meet up to her rather rigid standards.

She was helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, brave, clean and also fairly reverent. Ophelia would have made a very good boy scout but for one, no, make that two large and quite obvious differences in gender, She was always nice to me when she had no need to be. I have often thought you could tell so much about a person's character by how well they treated someone they did not have to treat well. We might all learn and benefit from that.

Ophelia was, IMHO, of very good character indeed. At least she was in my book. The lass was an excellent, caring nurse, A veritable paragon of both medicinal and affectionate aid to all. That girl was loved by just about everyone I knew... and some loved her more than once. Her only vice, if you could force yourself to call it that (and many considered it a virtue) was that Ophelia Hardrod was a blazing nymphomaniac. I might add that, in reference to that, she had certain rigid standards there as well. Do tell us another hilarious story about Ophelia Dux, Please, please, please.

Fittop:

Condolences on your missing. I believe my well-decorated first cousin flew the Cessna O-1 Bird Dog as a FAC pilot in Vietnam. He was a Mustang who rose from Private to the rank of Captain before being told his services were no longer needed. He objected all the way to the Pentagon and remained flying a desk for a few years longer.

He also flew other aircraft. And some would no longer fly when he got back to base. As a younger cousin, I was far more impressed by the fact my cousin had actually met Elvis in Germany. I met him once too many years later but for some reason, he did not remember meeting my cousin. Dig Elvis up and he will remember the place and the reason he was there but he won't remember meeting me either.

Perhaps I should have been clearer.
That was a missing man formation, where one of the aircraft in formation pulls up and peels off the formation.
It is an impressive salute to a fallen mate.

I had only seen it from a four-ship previously, usually fast-movers.
In this case there were just two aircraft, with the leader flying on straight and the wingman peeling off.
Seeing that little unarmed, under-powered thing peeling off, engine roaring, one could easily imagine a pilot clawing for altitude to avoid lead.

Folks,

Fittop:

I totally understood and meant only to offer condolences for whomever the burial service was for. I guess he wasn't actually missing since you knew precisely where he was. My error. Sorry. Yes, that particular honor is indeed impressive. I've seen it with jets and prop planes on film.

Gentlefolks:

JRT. I figured you knew, but it was a case of bad English on my part. :smile2 :