"We'll have lower gas prices, we'll have lower gas prices..." they sang.

Pete Seeger just threw up in his mouth a little.

I totally hit the ground running this morning, but now I need a nap....

I'm not really sure this belongs in Press or whatever, but work is sponsoring a couple of teams in the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life.

Anyway, I know we've had a bunch of "Cancer sucks!" around here-too much, in fact too much. Part of what we're doing is lighting a luminaria for people we have lost or who have been touched by cancer. I haven't lost anyone to that particular disease, but I know some of us have.

I'm donating $40-that's 8 luminaria. If anyone would like me to light it in honor of their loved ones, e me and I'll put their name down.

There was a nighborhood lab he'd taunt into chasing him around a tree, and then turn the tables so the dog was running in circles trying to flee the murderous cat to the point of exhaustion. (Dog wasn't the brightest bulb.) The dog would finally give up and sit there whining while Sky sang his war cry and continued to scare the crap out of the poor canine.

I think I've told this before, but a friend had a little Scottie puppy that loved to chase their cat. The cat would get annoyed and run upstairs, McGuffey would follow, and then the cat would casually saunter about halfway back down. Leaving McG trapped, because his wee little puppy legs were to short to go down the stairs.

It wouldn't surprise me. Each Carrier Group is supposed to have at least one, possibly two attack submarines giving it cover, but they can't get too close to the Carrier and the rest of the Battle Group because of fratricide concerns. If you are willing to throw away a couple of submarine to get at a carrier (which actually would be a reasonable trade military wise) it should be possible (though the difference between possible and likely relies on training, equipment, personnel and luck.)

The easiest way would be park some submarines ahead of the projected path of Carrier group, and let them turn everything off and become black holes in the water. Attack subs tend to be passive listeners to avoid giving away their positions, making it hard for them to find a diesel sub if it is turned off (unlike nukes, who always at least have to keep their reactor pumps on) and the Carrier escorts try to keep their own active sonar off, because your own sonar can 'paint' friendly subs at ranges far beyond the ship's ability to detect enemy subs. If you have a sufficient number of submarines that can keep quiet when told to, achieving a shot should be possible.

That is part of the reason everyone is so hot for hyper-cavitation. Fire one of these, no one has time to react to stop it from hitting a Carrier. Thus the US Navy wants them, because using one as a counter torpedo may be the only thing that stops one.

I am actually not sure if the Navy would wargame it out, since the submarine and carrier factions are fighting over the budget pie. For the carrier faction, there is no upside to wargaming it out. If they win, they gain nothing, if they lose, the submarine faction may get points in the next budget battle. And any radical redesign of the Carrier would delay the replacement of the next retirement, dropping the size of the Carrier fleet.

Worse yet, the Navy and Air Force has be getting worried. Due to Pentagon politics, it's budget is cut roughly in thirds. So right now the Army and Marines are getting hammered, since they are expending equipment like there is no tomorrow in the Middle East, whereas the Air Force's and Navy operational tempos are less. The Army is spending millions, if not billions, weekly just replacing worn out equipment, and they are falling behind. The Navy and Air Force are spending their thirds of the budget on the next gen aircraft and ships. While the budget supplemental are mostly for the Army/Marines sooner or later some bright guy in Congress is going to realize that we could maybe live without the F-22 for a couple years, or that the future cruiser isn't really needed to fight Al-Qaeda, since they do not seem to be challenging our naval or air superiority. The logical conclusion would be to reallocate some of those funds to stuff we need now.

Logic has very little to do with the Pentagon's budget wars...

Smoooth, Mr. Kitteh. Very smooth.

That's the kind of cat who deserves some Chip & Dale/Tweety Bird treatment.

I see that Tuesday has been replaced with CriticalMassofStupidityday.

CriticalMassofStupidityday

HA! And oh no.

I didn't get conned for too much, ita. $20 6 years ago barely matters now.

I am TIRED this morning.

I see that Tuesday has been replaced with CriticalMassofStupidityday.

My Tuesday has been replaced with IWillNeverGetOverThisFuckingColdday.

On the plus side, Tuesdays are one of the days that my bitch from hell co-worker works at home, so at least the office is more pleasant.

Thanks, CaBil - that was interesting.

I read a book by a US submarine captain - his sub was assigned to make a mock attack on a US carrier battle group as part of an exercise. He managed to get his sub into a good firing position, and the judges awarded him a "kill" of the carrier. His superiors were mad at him, as he was supposed to let the carrier battle group win. Instead he made the carrier people look bad.

This book was written by the captain of the sub that rammed and sunk that Japanese fishing boat near Hawaii - very sad....