Day: June 23, 2018

The Spruce Goose

I had a brain fart yesterday and posted one of today’s posts early…..sorry about that…..

I seem to be having some historical moments this weekend…..my daughter and I were talking about Howard Hughes and the subject of the Spruce Goose came about….how many are old enough to know what the Hell the Spruce Goose was and why was it built…..

Stop hurting yourself with the Google button……I will put it here for you……..

It was a cool California November afternoon in 1947 when the HK-4 Hercules, also known as the Spruce Goose, finally flew. It was supposed to be a simple taxi test, nothing more than motoring through the water of Long Beach Harbor to show off its speed and test out the plane in open water. But having endured years of people mocking the project and himself for trying to build a plane so massive it had no hope of flying, Howard Hughes decided to take the opportunity to extend his middle finger at them all in the most poignant way he could.

No doubt with a twinkle in his eye as the Hercules cruised through the water, Hughes turned to the 30 year old hydraulic engineer, David Grant, who he had chosen as his co-pilot that day despite him not actually being a pilot, and unexpectedly told him to “lower the flaps to 15 degrees”- the take off position.

http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2018/06/when-the-spruce-goose-flew/

I just had to share my history stuff this weekend….please go out and enjoy your day….be well, be safe….chuq

Do You Have A Cellphone?

These days that is a stupid question…of course you do.  But in case you are not sure….today they are called “Smartphones”.  We use them for everything…..staying in touch on social media, taking those irritating “selfies” and oh yeah we can make calls on them……

It is the weekend and time for some FYI….things you may have been too busy to notice or to be aware of…..

In case you have not heard SCOTUS just did you NO favor…..

It’s being described as a landmark decision in favor of privacy: The Supreme Court ruled Friday that the government in most cases needs a warrant to track a person’s location by grabbing data from cellphone towers. Chief Justice John Roberts sided with the four liberal-leaning justices and wrote the majority opinion, though he added that warrants can be skipped in emergency situations to avert an imminent threat, reports USA Today. The case stems from a series of armed robberies in Michigan and Ohio in 2010 and 2011. Under the Stored Communications Act of 1986, the government obtained cellphone records for suspect Timothy Carpenter that revealed 12,898 location points over 127 days, reports CNET. He was later sentenced to 116 years in prison, per the Guardian.

Friday’s ruling says obtaining an “all-encompassing record” of a person’s whereabouts without a warrant is a form of unreasonable search and seizure. “The Government’s position fails to contend with the seismic shifts in digital technology that made possible the tracking of not only Carpenter’s location but also everyone else’s, not for a short period but for years and years,” Roberts writes, noting that people “compulsively carry cell phones with them all the time.” In a rare move, all four dissenting justices wrote their own opinions. For example, Samuel Alito said the ruling “guarantees a blizzard of litigation while threatening many legitimate and valuable investigative practices upon which law enforcement has rightfully come to rely.”

Have you noticed that your rights are being chipped away little by little…..so guard what you have on your phone or it could come back and bite you in the ass.

Thanx for the visit and hope to see you tomorrow….chuq