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Fri Apr 12 10:12:08 EDT 2019 Slept from ten-thirty to six-thirty. Woke briefly a couple times in the night. Rain today, with a high of sixty-seven. Work: - Replug Mizzen's SATA cables Done. - Order wifi AP's for main office Done. - FH rent increases, unit type corrections Done. - Work on inventory server No. Twenty-minute walk at lunch. Warm and windy, but the rain stopped. The sun even came out a little. Willow trees are greening. Home: - Put new license plate on car Done. - Occult magic for D&D? A bit. Decided to do intermittent fasting again — constrain my eating to about an eight hour range in the day. Skipped breakfast, and took food to work for brunch. Brisk ten-minute walk after work. Sunnier than it was earlier today, and warm enough to make a jacket uncomfortable. Half-moon in the blue sky. Saw a pair of morning doves. Daniel Boggs emailed me about one of my blog posts. Idea: silent, wifi car alarm. When an alarm occurs, your car turns on a wifi access point. Your phone, if in range, connects and alerts you. No more audible car alarms that function exclusively as noise pollution. Too bad no one has a financial incentive in this scenario. Occult D&D magic: - If the character tells someone, add a failure roll for that secret. Tell one person is 1 in 6 fail, tell two is 2 in 6, etc. - Things you know (words, chants, symbols), things you have (rare herbs, minerals, blood), things you are (a virgin, baptized, intoxicated), locations you are (sacred grove, underground), when you are (feast days, astronomical events) - Location-based - Secret word or phrase email - "shazam" once per day for +1 to hit - a poem for + something (takes 1 turn to recite) - Material-based (rare mineral expended) https://warisboring.com/before-there-was-top-gun-a-raf-pilot-once-buzzed-parliament-flew-through-tower-bridge/ > Flashback to 1968, when the United Kingdom was in a bit of a financial crisis. […] British Parliament felt it fit to treat the military like the red-headed stepchildren of the Isles, going so far as to completely dismiss the idea of celebrating the 50th anniversary of the good ol’ RAF with a fly-over: You know, the very armed forces branch that -only twenty years and change prior- had saved London from total destruction in World War II. To make matters worse, the British government had all but outright neglected the RAF, which was frequently overlooked as the British defense industry began looking towards guided missiles as the weapon of the future, leaving pilots and aerospace industry workers nervous about the future. > Although Pollock had been ordered to fly in formation with his flight, he immediately broke formation and streaked towards London at low level, a man on a mission to give the British government a unique protest, and a fitting display for the RAF’s half-century of existence. At the time, he had only an AA map of London for navigation reference, complete with a marked route. > Turning off his radio (and giving a coded message that his radio was broken), Pollock’s first stop was the Dunsfold Aerodrome, where Hawker Hurricanes were made and tested. He pitched his stick down and descended to a low level, “beating up” the airfield with an extremely low pass to remind all who worked there why their jobs were important. > After giving Dunsfold a hurrah, Pollock began his “attack” on London, displaying airmanship that would be considered top-notch by any aviator in the world. Flying below the rooftop level over the Thames river, he began a three-circle orbit of the Houses of Parliament, rattling windows and reminding the politicians inside that the British still had an air force. > “I put the power on then. I thought: ‘Stuff it, let them hear some noise!’” he later told British tabloid Daily Mail. “The funny thing was that at the time, they were discussing noise abatement.” > Breaking contact, Pollock (who by this time knew he would likely never fly again), soared low towards the Royal Air Force Memorial and wagged his wings in salute before streaking towards the Tower Bridge, an iconic landmark of the UK. As he closed in on it, he noticed a red double-decker bus crossing it and made up his mind. > “Until this very instant I’d had absolutely no idea that, of course, Tower Bridge would be there,” Pollock later recounted. It was easy enough to fly over it, but the idea of flying through the spans suddenly struck me. I had just ten seconds to grapple with the seductive proposition which few ground attack pilots of any nationality could have resisted. My brain started racing to reach a decision. Years of fast low-level strike flying made the decision simple.” > Gripping his controls, Pollock flew under the upper span, in what was likely one of the most breath-taking (and un-photographed) sights in aviation history. Servings: grains 3/6, fruit 4/4, vegetables 5/4, dairy 1/2, meat 2/3, nuts 0/0.5 Brunch: bagel with cream cheese, cucumber, carrots, tomato, mandarin, banana, coffee Lunch: migas, tomato, carrots, apple Afternoon snack: grapefruit, coffee Dinner: Thai 126/75

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