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This statement was made in the Bible and you would imagine that those who adhered to the word of God would adopt the instruction.
How come that the action taken in Gaza by the Israelis against Hamas has gone beyond the notion of self defence and inflicted death and suffering on thousands of innocent members of the population?
Even individuals displaying a white flag have been shot and then bulldozed into the ground.
Those who survive this onslaught are unlikely ever to wish to live alongside the perpetrators.

Easter has come and gone. With that, my first long time off from work came and went as well. Naturally, some people freak out over the smallest things. Often, it's stupid things. Take the whole MAGA/conservative crowd, for example. President Biden declared March 31st the International Transgender Day of Visibility. March 31st was also the same day as Easter this year, so naturally - freakout came.

"Easter is ruined", and "This is an assault on Christianity".

However, they neglected to mention that March 31st has been International Transgender Day of Visibility since 2009 - and even under Trump. Easter falls on different days every year.

Next year, Easter falls on 4/20. Blaze it, boys..

The next time International Transgender Day of Visibility and Easter coincides is on March 31st is in the year 2086. 62 years from now. By that time, everyone who is complaining about this, will be dead and buried. Unless someone finds the cure for immortality, that is.

With Easter comes my mandatory Easter holiday break. This year, it was one week. I spent my holiday going to a metal concert, catching the new Godzilla X Kong movie in IMAX and just pure relaxation. I also went to the annual Easter lunch in my family. My mother showed up rocking a cold - the kind of cold where your nose is red from all the tissue wiping. Naturally, she was asked to leave, since two small children were present.

That did not sit well with my mother, and she became offended that she was getting sent home again to rest and recover. With two small children, the youngest less than a year old, it was the correct thing to do. I'm sure my mother will be fine and see that it was the right thing to do.

Eventually.

Is that all beyond mutual understanding?
Let me know all your thoughts..

Joseph Smith was killed by a mob in Carthage, Illinois, US on 27th June 1844, while awaiting trial.
He was mayor of the city of Nauvoo, Illinois, and had ordered the destruction of a printing works which had criticised him for polygamy and calling himself the theocratic king. Public outrage of this revelation resulted in the death of himself and his brother.
Apparently, according to Smith, God had made a commandment to have multiple wives. He always stated that he only had one wife, but reports are that he had 40.
Over 16 million Mormons exist worldwide.
You may wonder why.

The condos in my community have open corridors with several points to gain access to the roof top where the air conditioners are mounted. Those doors in the ceiling open to the trusses and a crawl space where above are the hurricane rated steel hatches to the roof.
Management wants everything locked and only one centrally located hatch is to be used for contractors, inspectors and service tradesmen. When I moved in, I noticed that hatch access closest to me was always unlocked... the reason why was the guy with the key (association vice-president) was recovering from surgery and unable to get to the 2nd floor. No one was monitoring who went up on the roof. One day, the insurance inspector noticed damage to the roof, probably when an air conditioning contractor had dragged a unit. So the association president wanted some control to know who was going to the roof. It came up in an association meeting and I was asked if I would volunteer to unlock the hatch. Groan... I'm working from home most of the time and the hatch is ten feet from my front door. I see the ladders and hear them stomping around. There are signs on all the bulletin boards stating 24 hours notice is required to have the hatch unlocked.

I get the call to unlock the hatch prior to the technicians arrival. Not all the residents pay attention and I sometimes get called when the technician is standing under a locked hatch with no prior notification. Only licensed electrical or air conditioning contractors, home inspectors and insurance inspectors are allowed access. Rare occasion is when Cable TV technicians require access. Locked access is standard procedure for all the condos and contractors who know this village, know they need to call or have the homeowner call first.

One resident died last year and his unit quickly sold. The woman who moved in didn't like the procedure and became confrontational telling me she owned property elsewhere and didn't have to go through the process of calling for access. Also that she wanted the hatch nearest her unit to be unlocked. I don't have a key for that but she instructed her guy to pry open the padlocked door anyway. This became an issue with the association president who was to get the maintenance guy to reinforce the door so someone cannot pry it open again.

Last Tuesday, I open the lock for an a/c company but they didn't show up and Wednesday, while I was out on an appointment, the woman who recently moved in had her a/c guy standing waiting for someone to unlock the hatch. I told her it was unlocked from the previous day, but she said it was locked.

When I returned, I see the two of them were on the end where the hatch is always locked. Again, he forced his way into a locked hatch, ignoring the one near me that was unlocked.

Someone from the neighboring building notified the president of my building that the metal roof hatch was left open. The president called me asking what had happened. I explained the woman instructed her guy to pry open the hatch nearest her unit. She asked me to call and notify her what had happened and get her guy to return to close the hatch.
(That wasn't my responsibility and management should have made the call)
I called the woman and explained her a/c contractor left the upper roof hatch open that can be seen from the street. She needed to get her guy to come back an close it. She became annoyed and thought someone else should close it for her. I repeated it was her contractor who was responsible. This started an argument and she was ranting about procedure. I reminded her (from a previous confrontational encounter) that hatch was to be locked at all times and only the central hatch was to be used. The correct access point was unlocked as I said, but her guy pried his way into the locked hatch. She insisted he didn't break in then hung up on me.

The maintenance guy needs to fix the broken hatch and signs changed to explain only the center hatch will be unlocked

I knew it. Judging by the rise in Joe Boden will change the constitution turning America into a communist, fascist, Marxist state blogs that a full moon was nearly here.
This one is called a Worm Moon and in the early hours of Monday, there will be a Penumbral lunar eclipse. What does that mean? F'k if I know, but earth will cast a shadow on the outer edge of the moon creating an eerie glow. It will peak around 3am East coast time. Visible in Europe, North and East Asia, Australia, Africa, North America and South America.

The name worm moon came by Native American tribes in reference to the beetle larvae and other creatures that emerge from hibernation in the spring.

So get your (worm) moon on and enjoy.
If you miss it, you're in luck as there will be a total solar eclipse on April 8.






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Yes, I know I spelled in Boden instead of Biden.

South Florida has 2 main east-west roads that cross the state passing through the Everglades swampland. Several stops along the way have gas, food, rest areas and all are part of the Big Cypress Wildlife Management. I know there are two Indian tribes who have land there. Seminoles and Miccosukee. They run the stores selling souvenirs like hand made jewelry, trinkets and normal things that tourists buy including things made from alligator hides.
If you have swamp, you need an airboat to travel across the Everglades. There are signs along the way advertising airboat scenic rides. Some are owned by the Indians and some by private companies.
Last week, coming back from an appointment south of me, two pickup trucks were alongside, each with and airboat in tow. One was a triple-deck and the other, really tall as it had four levels. That would put the driver/pilot about 15 feet above the water. My first thought was 'top-heavy' and a ride that would jar your organs loose.

Today in the news, an airboat flipped sending 9 passengers into gator infested waters.
The driver took a sharp turn so he could get a glimpse of an alligator, tipping the boat on it's side. Miami-Dade Fire Rescue responded and the boat's operator was arrested because he did not have the proper documentation necessary to operate the boat.

(medium size airboat pictured)



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Words fail me

I've been in and out of the model helicopter hobby a few times in nearly 50 years, overcoming a divorce, the loss of both parents, two serious car accidents and multiple job changes. I started back around 6 years ago, it was with some very small and inexpensive models that could only help me practice at a slow pace. I've since upgraded to larger models that are more powerful and fly with more authority. The only drawback is the cost... several thousand per model. It's a fact that no serious pilot can get by with only one radio controlled helicopter.

It's not possible for me to dedicate myself to the sport like I want... there are other obligations. 30 years ago, I recall levels of obsession where I would come home from work and practice on a computer simulator for 2 hours, break for dinner and get back to another 2 or 3 hours of practice.
It didn't matter how good I got, as going to competition or fun-fly events I could always find guys who were better pilots... much better. There was a guy who invented an electronic device, patented it and sold the product to a car manufacturer. His company was self sufficient to the point where he didn't have to work and would come to Florida every winter to practice flying at a local field for several hours each day.
Being exposed to that level of talent was incentive to continue improving and never reaching a plateau.

Most of us are flying 'pod & boom' style helicopters at have a fiberglass canopy to cover the motor and electronics with a long tail boom and a few fins. They aren't attractive, but fly great. There is a visual drawback, so we often wrap them in brightly colored sticky tape so they can be seen better when far away.

Often these models have names that reflect the size of the blades, like Logo 700 or RAW 580. 700 indicates the main blade length is 700 millimeters. Others have cool names like Dominator or Whiplash. There is one model that has a full fuselage to look like a real helicopter. Lots of guys have them but not too many are out flying them. Mentioned on a previous blog, a friend buys and sells models and recently picked up some used helicopters in a package deal that he plans to maintain and resell. One was a model called Kraken, named after the legendary sea monster.

I've seen them fly. They are very attractive and easy to see in the air. So, I made my friend an offer to trade one of my pod & boom models plus some cash for his Kraken.
He accepted the offer. Part of the deal was to go through the electronics and make sure all was good. He rewired a few connections because the guy who built it originally wasn't meticulous.

After initial testing, my friend flew it, made a few tweaks in the settings and handed it to me to try. Yes, smooth and predictable.

I've only got 2 sets of batteries that fit this model and this week, I'll order 2 more!
Aye, the Kraken...