Thursday June 1, 2017

Blog time 1140 at Panera

The sun came streaming through the slider early this morning. Sunrise today is 0605. In Alpena sunrise is 0549. 15h 10' of daylight

Nancy headed out early to a busy morning. Swim at MVP, then a visit to foot doctor followed by lunch with Linda Moleski.

My morning followed normal routine. Bike to the Y, shower and head to Panera for some reading. I think every retiree has a routine they like. Mine is coffee and some time to read the papers.

Rich guys are really fascinated with space travel. Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos have their space rockets. Now Paul Allen cofounder of Microsoft unveiled his plane. This plane is the world's largest surpassing Howard Hughes' Spruce Goose. 385 foot wing span with six engines. The purpose of a the plane is to launch satellites. Apparently it is much cheaper than launching satellites from land. Oh what a billion dollars can do. At least they are not spending their loot on houchy gouchy girls.

Speaking of Elon Musk, he has said he will withdraw from some committees he was appointed to by President Trump if the USA withdraws from the climate change accord.

Did you know that the USA is ranked 114 of 163 nation on the Global Peace Index. Apparently our fractured and nasty political environment is the reason.

The law school grads in CA are whining because only 30% pass the bar exam. Folks want the exam made easier. CA has always had difficult Professional exams. Only 30% of the folks taking the Professional Engineer's exam when I took it in 1966 passed. I was one of the lucky ones. The Engineer's exam is now a national exam with a passing rate well above 50%. I think it is too easy.

Eric Prince wrote an op-ed piece in the WSJ today on Afghanistan. I thought it was very good. Eric Prince is the brother of our Sec of Education and a former Navy Seal and founder of Blackwater.

One of reasons I did not vote for Donald Trump was his belittling of John McCain for getting shot down. Trump said his heros don't get shot down. Mr Trump should have looked at several recent US Presidents. Navy Lt John Kennedy had his PT boat cut in half by a Japanese Destroyer and Navy Ltjg George HW Bush had his plane shot down by the Japanese during WW II.

As soon as I got home took a quick walk around the block followed by lunch. After lunch I got in Escape and headed to Dick's Sporting Good to look for a chin-up bar that hooks into a door jamb. I found several but need to get some dimension of several doors in the basement of our condo.

I took a short nap. For dinner tonight Nancy and I walked to Shepard's Grill. I had a lake perch sandwich and Nancy a bowl of soup.

We watched an episode of Shetland on Netflix and now I am watching the NBA finals.

The evening news tonight had as their lead story President Trump's decision to drop out of the Paris Global Warming Accord. I think this was a bad decision by President Trump.