Credo
"Sign on, young man, and sail with me. The stature of our homeland is no more than the measure of ourselves. Our job is to keep her free. Our will is to keep the torch of freedom burning for all. To this solemn purpose we call on the young, the brave, the strong, and the free. Heed my call, Come to the sea. Come Sail with me." -- John Paul Jones
"Pardon him, Theodotus; he is a barbarian, and thinks that the customs of his tribe and island are the laws of nature" --George Bernard Shaw, "Caesar and Cleopatra"
"And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music."--Friedrich Nietzsche
"A kind Providence has placed in our breasts a hatred of the unjust and cruel, in order that we may preserve ourselves from cruelty and injustice. They who bear cruelty, are accomplices in it. The pretended gentleness which excludes that charitable rancour, produces an indifference which is half an approbation. They never will love where they ought to love, who do not hate where they ought to hate."--Edmund Burke
“You say that it is your custom to burn widows. Very well. We also have a custom: when men burn a woman alive, we tie a rope around their necks and we hang them. Build your funeral pyre; beside it, my carpenters will build a gallows. You may follow your custom. And then we will follow ours.”--General Sir Charles Napier
"Μολὼν λαβέ" -- Leonidas
"Blogito Ergo Sum" -- Neptunus Lex
You now Lex I tried to come up with something and can’t for the life of me find something to laugh about. I’ve used humor my whole life to deal with stress but its failing me now.
But rereading the posts above did bring a smile or two.
Thanks for trying to get us out of the doldrums.
Lex,
How about some Mo Debinley?
So this rabbi, this priest and this imam walk into a bar… No, wait…
While I try to remember the story, go check out the coolest Japanese flick ever, link to the youtube trailer at Rusty’s site:
http://mypetjawa.mu.nu/archives/196957.php
While I can’t come up with anything original the usually reliable Iowahawk comes through.
Lex,
You have kids, stop and take the time to talk to them. If they don’t say something to put a smile on your face, then they are just not normal.
For example:
At Christmas break I had middle son (soon to be graduate engineer) with me in the shipyard. We climbed from the pontoon top (24ft) to the drill floor (141ft) up a series of ladders and stairs. When we got there he comments “Dad, for someone as old as you, you’re in pretty good shape.” I think he has the back handed compliment down pretty well, don’t you?
Last summer, the youngest son almost falls off his chair laughing at me when the ancient senior OIM tells me I must be “older than dirt” to have used a taut wire reference while discussing the DP system. A term my son frequently used about me when I was a scoutmaster and demonstrated knowledge that he had read about in history books.
Those are hilarious and very well written.
Having been a QMOW many times during my two years in the fleet, there are certain things that happen on the bridge, and they stay there as well. When you tell about Officers called on the “carpet” on the bridge and soundly dressed down, that’s one of the things that stay on the bridge. I didn’t learn it the hard way. My first hard bitten Chief QM sat this former young pup down and laid a few things out for me, and that was one of them. I learned from an NCO father that you listen to senior NCOs as they have been there and done that and will keep you out of trouble. I was fortunate I learned that the easy way as well when I rebelled against my father and went Navy instead of Air Force and he sat me down and laid a few thing out for me. I can say I am glad I listened then. It was amazing how much my father knew when the Chief sat me down and gave me “the talk.”