Message Forum

Mike M.

The case you refer to is quite interesting. A huge loss for Google. Apparrantly, Mark Zuckerberg has been quite evaisive and vague with his responses to questions while on the stand.

I must admit, I won't shed too many tears for those poor guys.

04/17/25 03:58 PM

#15431

Mary Margaret Clark (Schultheis)

Mike M.

Speaking of "The Lottery" - I never had any idea what my lottery number was. All I knew was that I had thrown myself into A-1 category by my "ingenius academic plan" and had to choose and sign up for something pretty damn quick, before they chose me.

When I finally found out about the Warrant Offider flight program, I was referred to the Army recruiting office out at old Fort Hayes. You may recall in those times "recruiting Officers" had a rather poor reputation for honesty. They had monthly quotas to fill or lose their cushy "desk jobs". So they often made very misleading "promises".

A good example is Tommy Lizinger who was promised enrolment in some sort of construction schooling by an Air Force recruiter. He ended up being sent to cook school and was terribly disappointed.

I somehow lucked out. There were four of us (from all over Ohio) applying at one time for the Flight School program. That recruiter could have signed us up, filled his quota and yelled "so long suckers". But he was an honest man and would not let us take the oath until he had arranged for the four of us to take multiple tests and exams - including an all-day series of exams out at Lockbourne (now Rickenbacher) AFBase.

After so many stories of misleading recruiting officers, I look back and think I owe that guy a big Thank You.

04/18/25 11:26 AM

#15432

04/18/25 11:57 AM

#15433

Dave:

Fort Hayes!

Those two words take me back!

My dad was a ww2 vet and we went to fort hayes for dinner every now and then, I think, as kids.

Does that sound possible?

My memory is fuzzy. All I know is my dad was in the army reserve and I think he went to fort hayes or had some connection to fort hayes over the years.

every summer he'd go to a camp of some sort for a week or so as reserve training. And I remember seeing tent supplies and his dress uniform and fatigues being around the house.

but again everything is so dang foggy memory wise.And having lived in florida for most of my life at this point, first for the newspaper in pensacola and then in orlando, that makes ohio, in general, and all the memories thereto even more of a blur.

04/18/25 01:32 PM

#15434

Mike,

If I recall correctly, Fort Hayes was originally a Civill War site - and in our childhood, it was still comprised of quite a few buildings - mostly old brownstones on a wooded campus. Maybe we have classmates who can confirm if it is still there.

04/18/25 01:41 PM

#15435

Your mention of the Google trial yesterday got me to look up the news on that topic. I had heard on the radio yesterday that it was concluded and will extract a heavy price on Meta, Google, and Facebook. But until I listened to some video of the testimony of Sarah Wynn-Williams before congress, I was only slightly aware how sordid and dishonest Mark Zuckeberg is. What an absolutly twisted slime ball.

Talk about disgusting! Various Senators presented irrefutable evidence thta they've spent millions trying to lure teenagers (especially pre-teen girls) into a number of absolutley vile websites, and they have been spending millions more trying to delay this trilal and threatening several young (former employee) whistle blowers, especially formr executivee turned whistle blower, Sarah Wynn Williams

Some of Zuckerberg's slippery refusals to answer their questions almost turned my stomach. Why they don't go to jail as "predators" leaves me wondering.

Listen to this video - talking about their collaberations with the Chinese Government.

There are more videos about their (written and recorded) deliberate plans to lure teeagers into site about sex, cutting, suicide, depression, etc.

https://youtu.be/i9T2RKmWg80?si=9XDExdzLFxrz3DyB

04/18/25 09:45 PM

#15436

Something about those Good Friday Stations of the Cross ceremonies - where we hear fellow parishioners reading those "personal eyewitness" candid accounts.

Were You there when.....?

Always gets to me.

04/18/25 11:45 PM

#15437

Mike I just wanted to pass along some news of a friend of mine who still lives in the Clintonville area. Gerald was a reporter for the Columbus Dispatch. He also was the editor of the Central Strates Numismatic Associaition newsletter, provided blogs for Coin World. But most important, he recently retired as a columnist for the weekly Coin World magazine after more than 40 years.

Now get back to work.

04/19/25 07:45 AM

#15438

Joe:

I want nothing to do with your friend and I'd advise you to keep your distance from him. Numismatism has always sounded like some sort of religious cult to me.

04/19/25 08:59 AM

#15439

John Jackson

Don't numismatists, unlike philatelists, have to register with their local police department?

04/19/25 11:46 AM

#15440

Yes Mike it is an almost cult like group. We even start our meetings with a chant, "Good eveing, My name is (fill in the blank) and I'm a Numismatist."

John I am sorry that Numismatists are thriving and growing leaps and bounds, while that group once known as Philatelists have vanished into the woods where the few of them can appear without shame.

Happy Easter.

04/19/25 01:08 PM

#15441

I got a "Fremont on the Rockies" plate block from John Jackson years ago in our stamp club. I'm re-naming it "Freemont on the Hocking Hills"

You say Numismatist. I say Philatelist. Let's call the whole thing off.

04/19/25 01:21 PM

#15442

I want to finish this section and let you all enjoy your weekend.

Primary Flight School - part 4 of 4

Flying solo was fun - maybe too much fun for a few of us who got ahead of ourselves. We decided we could now fly in formation - strictly forbidden at this point. We were caught by one of the Instructor Pilots who found his way into the back of our “V of 3” formation and found our radio frequency. When we heard his voice on the radio from the back of the formation telling us we were busted, we were all stunned! All of us fessed up, but the lead pilot of our formation (a guy named Paul Hodak) was kicked out of flight school. We were sick with guilt and embarrassment. But we heard he was allowed to re-enter fight school after going to OCS.

(Boy genius in back row - 5^th from right. CW2 Elliott (in flight suit) - CW2 Prevost (dress khakis)

I got along with just about every guy in my class. It was a pretty good bunch except for two racist jerks from Biloxi, Mississippi. They started baiting me with “Nigger Lover” on the bus for about three or four straight days. Then the rest of the class had had enough and turned on them. That ended that pretty quickly. I have often wondered how all their lives turned out. We were all sent to different units in Viet Nam and I never saw any of them again.

We only spent about half of the day over at our flight line. The other half was spent back on the main post, mostly in classrooms, taking instruction in many of the details of the mechanics and aerodynamics of the helicopter. Some of it was boring, some of it was downright fascinating - electronics, instruments, aerodynamics, mechanics, etc. The design and function of the main rotor head fascinated me from the beginning - and still does - one of the most complex and ingenious devices I’ve ever dealt with.

I remember sitting in a boring class behind one of my buddies, who’s head was bobbing up and down - trying to stay awake. Finally, his head dropped and hit the desk with a loud thud. The sergeant teaching the class heard it and spun around immediately and yelled, “Who was that?” A violation like that would have us all marched out of the classroom to do more pushups out in the yard by the entrance. It was not such a rare occurrence and always caused a few good laughs.

And there was of course, that time spent in our barracks area, which put us back into the hands of Mr. Elliott, our “beloved” TAC officer. His strictness and harassing nature had no end. We grew to despise him. We dreamed of a day when we would be out of his control.

Then one day after about four of those five months in Fort Wolters, Mr. Elliott called us all into the company day room. He called us to attention and then yelled “at ease”, which is an order to relax. Then he started talking about how hard things had been and how much we must have hated him. And little by little he revealed that it was all a cover - that he was intent on us becoming a “Unit”. And that getting us to hate him (each, and every one of us together) had brought us together as a “Unit”. Then he started heaping some praise on us - how well we had performed under these difficult conditions. We could hardly believe our ears. Jaws dropped open. We shot glances of utter disbelief at one another. The entire class broke out into laughter. We were hooting and hollering.

We felt like freed prisoners!

That final month was like a picknick under this kind, friendly “new guy”.

04/19/25 02:09 PM

#15443

One of my morning rituals is reading the local newspaper, The Wall Street Journal is saved for Lunch time reading. One of the areas to read will be the Letters to the Editor.

Yesterday one of the letters contained a new prospective " M.A.S.A." Make America Sane Again.

04/19/25 05:49 PM

#15444

Joseph Gentilini

David, love to read your stories - of your adventures. Frankly, my nerves would have kicked me out of any of your adventures. I would have been paralyzed emotionally and probably would have done something stupid that ended with the loss of my life.

At one point in my later college years, I went to the Navy to see if they would take me, secretly hoping that they would not. They asked about my health, etc., and I said I had asthma (true) and I also told them that, while most people have three knuckles on their fingers, on my trigger finger I only have two. Navy said I could not join. I mentioned that I might try to see if the Army would accept me (hoping that they wouldn't either) and the Navy recruiter told me that none of the services would since my 'deformity' was in my index or trigger finger. But, it was still a great feeling when I got a high draft number.

04/19/25 07:00 PM

#15445

ok seriously. tell me if you think i am a prima donna.

I don't know if the dispatch does this, but like a lot of newspapers, the Orlando Sentinel started running bylines this way:

By Michael Mcleod and Orlando Sentinel Staff

not just putting the writers name above the story. crediting everybody else who had anything to do with it for their efforts - I guess that includes editors, the paperboy, etc.

this only happened recently. but it's retroactive. when I call up stories on line it has that entire-cast-and-crew byline approach. Back when I was writing it was just the writer's name atop the story. But now it's done that way, as I have discovered recently since my kids asked me to pull together a few stories for them that i wrote in my career at the cincinnati enquirer and then the orlando sentinel, mainly. And as I am compiling my old stories I keep seeing that gang-tackle headline over each one of them.

A part of me understands. It's a team effort. Give everybody a hand. But a part of me is pissed.

I was always grateful for the editors who checked over my copy and saved my butt from embarrassing mistakes lots of times. i respected the artistry of and camaraderie with photographers I collaborated with to illustrate stories, the folks who lay out the pages and run the press room, and yes, the paperboy/girl who gets it to your doorstep and hell yes, you, the readers.

But a part of me is miffed about adding on that "and staff" thing atop the story. For years the byline was just a byline. Like any writer i busted my ass on it and yes I liked seeing my name atop that story. It was an acknowledged of the magic that i was able to be a part of, informing and entertaining thousands of people i'd never meet. Even now i take joy in looking back and thinking what a privilege it was, like being able to quietly walk into the homes of thousands of strangers and whisper stories into their ears, entertain them, then quietly slip away.

The magic of writing to me was the intimacy. I'm telling stories to people I'll never see and doing my best to connect with them - again, that word: intimacy. with strangers. i'm there, in their heads, saying: isn't this interesting? how can i serve you? and hoping: gee, i hope they liked it. I hope they connected with it. i hope i added something to their day. maybe i made them smile. people i'll never know. maybe lots of them.

I mean, I'm retired now so it's game over. But still, it's a sting to my ego and the way i always felt about writing. Now: I am serious, if you think i'm being ....snooty? or spoiled? or egotistical? Just say so. It won't hurt my feelings, well, not too much, and in truth I am just puzzled that it means so much to me. It's partly because writing is so damn hard. Never got easy for me. I sweated for that byline, and yes, it was cool to see my name in print and know I created something that hopefully informed and entertained people I'd never see - hundreds, thousands of them, I hope. Seeing that spotlight shared takes some of the magic away of telling people I'll never see a story, a kind of invisible intimacy with nothing but words on the page and trying my best with those words to make them see what i saw, learn what i learned, evenexperienc e some of the emotions i felt, and be entertained by the (hopefully) smooth and occasionally clever and even beautiful way in which I put the words together so they could see it clearly maybe get a chuckle or twoalong the way.

My kids have asked me to compile some of my stories for them now that I have retired so that's why this has come up as I go searching the internet to put together a collection of them. And I keep seeing that "spanky and our gang" byline. and it just bugs me. every time i see that "and staff" tacked on it feels like an insult to the magic I felt, knowing I'd entertained thousands of strangers, however briefly, over the years.

so seriously, am i being a prima donna?

04/19/25 10:51 PM

#15446

James Hamilton, M. D.

Mike,

I agree with you. The stories you wrote were your journalistic efforts, not theirs. Yes, others who are involved with production, circulation, editing and other elements of a newspaper are important and they could be mentioned in a box in other parts of a newspaper, but not in the headlines or bylines of a story.

My opinion, of course.

Jim

04/19/25 11:23 PM

#15447

Okay Mke your a prima donna, a little s---, and maybe childish. Now you've that gotten it out of your system. Stop and realize that when Mark wins an oscar they don't include the person handling the curtins, they don't include the person who washed the plates that everyone eats off of. No, they present the award to the actor, the screen writer, or the sound person.

You are the one who worked the story. It was usualy you that camme up with the right questions to ask It was you who spent hours waiting to get the correct details. You should be more than a little p------ off. However, I am sure you are the better person. Jim has said it better than I am able.

So if it makes you feel better, just go ahead and edit my reply, but keep plugging away at what you do so well.

04/20/25 12:51 PM

#15448

Dear Mister McCaryy.

you mispelled my name so I mispelled yours. ihateyouihateyouihateyou!!!!

(runs away crying).

04/20/25 01:01 PM

#15449

Mary Margaret Clark (Schultheis)

And a Happy Easter to all of you kiddies too.

04/20/25 01:09 PM

#15450

James Hamilton, M. D.

And Now, For A Visual Break

First of all, a Happy and Blessed Easter to all!

Today was a beautiful Easter morning here in Colorado Springs and as Janet and I drove to a very early Mass there was a pink hue over Pikes Peak and the Rampart (Front) Range of the Rockies. Of course, by the time we returned home, the pastel pink was gone but a steel blue sky remained and the snow which was added to the scene last night had not yet been completely diminshed by the bright sunlit day. Yes, it is a well known fact that in Colorado Springs snow - which fell about 5 inches yesterday - is more likely to occur on Easter than it is on Christmas.

So, I grabbed my Sony Camera and drove a mile or so over to Ute Valley Park's back entrance to capture a few shots before the melting snow created too much mud on the trails. In fact, I discovered some new areas above the Park that presented Pikes Peak in a new light (pun intended) that begged for a few shots framed by various trees and bushes. The fresh snow on said trees and bushes was quickly melting and dripping so I had to keep wiping off my camera between frames but that was a small price to pay for my being away from other people enjoying this splendid morning.

Enjoy your Easter Day!

Jim

04/20/25 01:14 PM

#15451

Happy Easter!

04/20/25 02:16 PM

#15452