It's Pretty Danged Cold Outside

I think we might have dropped into the 20s last evening; that was the forecast, anyhoo.  Speaking of... here's today's weather forecast, with Mimi!

Heh.  The thought occurred to us that we should make the Weather Girls forecast a regular feature here at EIP.  But I'm thinking that if you've seen one Weather Girls forecast you've pretty much seen them all.  We shall continue to monitor the situation and keep you informed, Gentle Reader.

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The Pentagon finally released a statement about Monday's SoCal Mystery Missile Event last evening.  Let's quote:

The Dept. of Defense statement from Col. Dave Lapan, the Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense, reads:

"While there is nothing at this time that leads the Department of Defense to believe this is a missile launch, the department and other U.S. government agencies with expertise in aviation and space continue to look into the condensation trail (CONTRAIL) seen and reported off the coast of southern California on Monday evening.

"All DoD entities with rocket and missile programs reported no launches, scheduled or inadvertent, during the time period in the area of the reported contrail. NORAD and USNORTHCOM confirmed that it did not monitor any foreign military missile launch off the California coast yesterday and has determined that there was no threat to the US homeland. 

That's good to know, innit?  I think the statement is commensurate with the issuing authority's job title, i.e., the "Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense."  I'm betting the good colonel prolly has a few deputies and assistants of his own, too.  Not to mention a couple of actors.

Which brings to mind a short little war story.  We had a senior captain... one Captain Collier...  for a Site Engineer when I was stationed at RAF Uxbridge and a major for a commander.  Capt. Collier became the squadron commander when the major was away on leave or was TDY, yadda, yadda.   So, on one such occasion I happened to overhear a conversation in our orderly room when Capt. Collier gave one of the admins a message to type up.  The admin sergeant inquired as to whether the captain's signature block was correct, to the effect of "Shouldn't that be ACTING Commander, Captain?"  "Hell, no!" replied Capt. Collier.  "I AM the commander; I don't fucking ACT at it."  "Yessir!" sez the sergeant...

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Finally... Uncle Sam's Misguided Children celebrate their 235th birthday today.  Cake will be cut at Marine Corps bases and outposts throughout the known world... with swords!  Happy Birthday, Jarheads!