Bye bye McNair, your time has come... to go.

Agent: McNair Could Be Released Or Traded Within Next Day

Apr 30, 3:59 PM (ET)

By TERESA M. WALKER

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - Steve McNair's tenure with the Tennessee Titans could be over within the next 24 hours.

His agent said Sunday the team is considering releasing McNair or possibly trading him to the Baltimore Ravens.

"We could have something worked out later today or tomorrow," agent Bus Cook said. "We're working on some things."

http://sports.myway.com/news/04302006/v7844.html

I hate to say it like this because I always liked you a felt that you are a good guy, but "Bye bye McNair, your time has come... to go." I really think "my" Titans need a new leader.

I wish you luck and thank you for that good times... but farewell and let's get the Titan's moving forward.

This is the best day that has ever been

Be free

Be free, and savor every little grain of existence that dances before your eyes. Beauty and joy are not what someone says they are. You know them because of the way they fulfill you. Your own doubt is your opponent's greatest strength. Carry yourself beyond it and see the sparkling universe which whirls with possibility around you.

Free yourself from the burden of your own anxiety. Whatever is, is already. Whatever you will be, is yours to create right now. Live each moment with all you have, not just with whatever has survived the worry.

This is the best day that has ever been, though some may attempt to convince you otherwise. Free yourself from their addictions of limitation. Life is yours to live. Though it is gritty, it is real. Though sadness comes, it is possible only because you care so much. Let go and live the joyful experience that is yours.

http://today.myway.com/motivator.html

Dear President George W Bush You're a genius!

From the Whitehouse: "THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. I'm here in the briefing room to break some news. I've asked Tony Snow to serve as my new press secretary."

I read about this early this morning and my gut feeling was "PERFECT!" I don't know Snow; I have never read, heard or watched his reports, but from what I have read on FoxNews.com and AP reports, this is a beautiful decision. (And yes, I agree with Bush's decision to stick with Rumsfield too.)

I mean here you have a new press secretary who has publicly questioned the decisions of this administration; one who has experience in the Whitehouse too, (snow served as a speech writer for daddy Bush according to AP reports); a man who has been on the front line of news reporting just like the people he has been hired to communicate with. He's a TV personality with the confidence and training to keep cool under pressure and present a positive image.

From what I have read this guy is not going to sit quietly in the back of the conference room and pawn along. My understanding is he will have a say in decisions and speak out when something needs to be heard. This guy is going to make a huge difference and I think we will see it very soon.

President Announces Tony Snow as Press Secretary

President George W. Bush and outgoing Press Secretary Scott McClellan introduces the new White House  Press Secretary, Tony Snow, to the press in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room Wednesday,  April 26, 2006. White House photo by Eric Draper

Good luck Mr. Snow!
     Stick to your guns and do what needs to be done!

Ref: http://www.whitehouse.gov/

New look @ Soky.biz SOKYBIZ!

Soky.Biz has become more popular than I thought and as a result I have revamped the entire site to give a more professional impression. Take a look. I'll be adding more information, features and articles daily.

www.soky.biz

Using Vegetable Oil for Fuel - Greasel

Green Driving: Turning Vegetable Oil Into Greasel

By Eric Peters

A moped -- or hoofing it -- are not the only answers to the energy crunch. If you own a diesel-powered car, truck or SUV, salvation may be as close as your local greasy spoon.

It's possible to run a diesel engine on used -- albeit filtered and otherwise prepared for internal combustion -- fry oil, also known as Waste Vegetable Oil (WVO). There's also Straight Vegetable Oil (aka "SO" and a bit less stinky), a mix of grease and diesel -- or "biodiesel," which is also sourced from vegetable oil or animal fat.

The upside to "going greasy" is liberation from the tyranny of OPEC and $3 per gallon fuel; theoretically, you may never have to visit a gas station again.
 

FULL STORY @ AOL>>>

Bluegrass Institute for Public Policy

Have you ever heard of the "Bluegrass Institute for Public Policy Solutions?" I have heard it mentioned by a few people; find it readily when doing web searches on Kentucky Politics; even have had some friends in the political world express their opinion about this group. They are an interesting group I'll give you that.

About Us
Bluegrass Institute for Public Policy Solutions

We are an independent, non-partisan association of writers, speakers and thinkers who analyze state and local public policy in Kentucky, and suggest alternatives more in concert with the ideas of our founders: Individual liberty, economic freedom, personal responsibility and a respect for others.

http://bipps.org/ARTICLE.ASP?ID=1

I've been quiet in my opinions on this group for a few reasons, mainly because I'm a conservative and I thought they could be a reasonable voice in the din of political slams and dirty politics. I've quietly read their blog and watched their website evolve for some time. Shoot, I even subscribed to their newsletter. But something is not right somehow. They come off a little disjointed and frankly, a little over extreme.

I'm still reading, watching and getting to know them but if they want to come off as a "think tank", they better start thinking. Case in point; they recently published an article by Aaron L. Morris titled, " Doing business in Kentucky not a 'privilege'." I was excited by the title but as I read I lost my enthusiasm. It's the tone or language of the articles I think and to me they come off aggressive and a little too extreme.

On the topic of business and the new tax, Morris writes,

"Starting a new business is a risky endeavor. Most new businesses fail within two years, with would-be owners losing their savings or going bankrupt as a consequence."

http://bipps.org/ARTICLE.ASP?ID=551

Well, anyone who has been reading my blogs knows exactly how I feel about that subject. I recently wrote on this very subject and the fact is most businesses DO NOT fail in the first two years. The fact is (according to the United States Small Business Administration or SBA), almost half of new companies with at least one employee survive beyond four years. Also, the SBA reports that even when a small business fails in the first 12 months, a full one third were not financially distressed.

That's just one example but in my opinion, it only takes a few to lose the "think tank" credentials. Another fact... well okay apposing opinion at least,  it IS a privilege to do business in Kentucky and I gladly pay my taxes and corporate fees to do so. And yes, I paid the new LLC fee not once but two times this first year as law.

Then we have this new article posted by a local republican and another republican state representative. I think they make some great points and I learned a good deal from the article, but somehow it still seemed a little too far out on the edge. If that's what they are shooting for, then hats off to them... it worked. But for an "institute" that proclaims themselves a think tank, I would think they would want to be a little more "conservative" in their delivery.

Pork-stuffed budget train careening out of control

By Reps. Jim DeCesare, Stan Lee

There will be questions about why we decided to get off the reckless budget train now headed toward Gov. Ernie Fletcher’s desk – especially when this spending plan passed so overwhelmingly in both chambers earlier this week. We invite them.

We commend members of the budget conference committee who prepared this budget for their hard work, long days and late nights. However, when our constituents elected us, we promised them we would cast our votes in a fiscally responsible manner that would benefit all Kentuckians in the long term, not just a few during the next biennium.

Last year, we made the mistake of voting for a budget we weren’t given time to fully understand. It contained nearly $2 billion in spending for too many special projects. At the beginning of this session, we determined we would not repeat this misstep.

One of the primary challenges in casting an informed vote on Kentucky’s budget is to fully comprehend it. Following the budgeting process in use today, the General Assembly cannot act quickly enough to make reasoned decisions on how taxpayers’ dollars will be spent.

http://bipps.org/ARTICLE.ASP?ID=556

Who am I to judge? I'm no politician! I'm no think tank or institute. I'm not even a good writer. But I call em like I see em and in this one voting republican's opinion, they need to form a focus group and/or committee on public relations and consider the delivery of their message. If the Bluegrass Institute wants to push the envelope, then they can join the mass hysteria that is the political norm. If they want to reach the moderate conservative, then I think more facts, more creativity, more intellect and confidence would be in order.

Don't get me wrong, I'll continue to read, but since they don't have a way to comment on articles on their website, don't be surprised if they show up here from time to time when they torque my political screws.

 

Frankfort in Spring

IMG_1035
Originally uploaded by Cosmosis.

This is a great shot I found at flickr

wabbit hunt'n

"Monster rabbit" targets vegetable patch
Apr 8, 9:18 AM (ET)

LONDON (Reuters) - It sounds like a job for Wallace and Gromit. A "monster" rabbit has apparently been rampaging through vegetable patches in a small village in northern England, ripping up leeks, munching turnips and infuriating local gardeners.

In an uncanny resemblance to the plot of the hit animated film "Wallace & Gromit in the Curse of the Were-Rabbit," angry horticulturists in Felton, near Newcastle, have now mounted an armed guard to protect their prized cabbages and parsnips.

"They call it the monster. It's very big -- it's nearly the size of a dog," said Joan Smith, whose son Jeff owns one of the plots under attack.

"It's eating everything, all the vegetables," she told Reuters. "They are trying to shoot it. They go along hoping to catch it but I think it's too crafty."

In the "Wallace" film, which topped both the U.S. and UK box office charts and in March won an Oscar for best animated feature film, the plasticine heroes battle a mutant rabbit bent on destroying their home town's annual Giant Vegetable Contest.

Those who say they have witnessed Felton's black and brown monster describe it as a cross between a rabbit and a hare with one ear bigger than the other.

Its antics came to public attention when Jeff Smith, 63, raised it as an issue with the local parish council.

"He came along to pay the annual fee for the allotment (vegetable patch) and he said 'ooh we've got this big cross between a hare and a rabbit,'" the council's clerk Lisa Hamlin told Reuters.

Smith himself has described it as a "brute" which had left huge paw prints.

"This is no ordinary rabbit. We are dealing with a monster," he was quoted by newspapers as saying.

"It is absolutely massive. The first time I saw it I thought to myself 'What the hell is that?'

"We have two lads here with guns who are trying to shoot it, but it is very clever."

01-02-03-04-05-06

Chronological Oddity to Hit Digital Clock

By SETH BORENSTEIN, AP Science Writer Tue Apr 4, 11:51 AM ET

WASHINGTON - Call it a coincidental sign of our digital times or a reason to stay up late and stare at the clock. Either way, early Wednesday morning the time and date will be 01-02-03-04-05-06.


At 1:02 a.m. and three seconds on Wednesday, April 5, 2006, it will be the first hour of the day, the second minute of the hour, the third second of that precious minute in the fourth month of the fifth year of ... uh oh. It's not really the sixth year.

It's actually 2006 — only in our shorthand is it '06.

"It just happens to be a chronological oddity," said Geoff Chester, spokesman for the U.S. Naval Observatory, an official world atomic clock timekeeper. "If you were to use the full year, that would screw things up completely. You do have to bend it a little if you want to make it work. That's what you call 'Finagle's Law of Best Fit'."

 

C-5 Crash

All survive in plane crash

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS/MATT ROURKE

Emergency crews respond to the scene of a cargo plane carrying 17 people that crashed short of a runway Monday at Dover Air Force Base in Dover, Del. All 17 people aboard survived, though several were injured. The Air Force plane, which was headed for Spain, developed problems after takeoff, then crashed and broke up trying to return to the base, military officials said. The tail assembly landed several hundred yards away and an engine was thrown forward by the impact.

Air Force Plane Crash

The bad news is there was a plane crash... the good news is all survived.

17 Airmen survive Dover C-5 Galaxy crash

4/3/2006 - SAN ANTONIO (AFPN) -- The 17 Airmen aboard the C-5 Galaxy that crashed near Dover Air Force Base, Del., today all survived, a 436th Airlift Wing spokesman said.

However, there is still no official word on the condition of the survivors, wing spokesman 1st Lt. Jamal Beck said.

“We’re still gathering information,” he said. As of 11 a.m. EDT, firefighters, medics and security forces were still on the scene.

The huge cargo plane crashed at 6:30 a.m. EDT today. The Airmen on board are members of the 436th Airlift Wing and the Air Force Reserve’s 512th Airlift Wing.

Television news reports of the crash show the aircraft's tail a distance from the main wreckage, where the fuselage and nose are adjacent but separated.

The last C-5 crash was on Aug. 28, 1990, during Operation Desert Shield. A C-5 crashed after takeoff from Ramstein Air Base, Germany, killing 13 of the 17 people on board.

The C-5 is the Air Force’s largest transport and has been in the fleet since 1969. The plane stretches almost the length of a football field and stands as high as a six-story building. The cargo compartment is 121 feet long, 19 feet wide and 13 feet high.

The aircraft has a tremendous airlift capacity. The Berlin Airlift required 308 aircraft of the C-47 vintage, the military equivalent of the DC-3. Seventeen C-5s could have completed the same operation, according to a fact sheet on Dover AFB's Web site.

A board of Air Force officers will convene to investigate the cause of the accident, officials said.

http://www.af.mil/news/story.asp?storyID=123018450

U.S. Air Force Fact Sheet
 

C-5 GALAXY

Mission
The gigantic C-5 Galaxy, with its tremendous payload capability, provides the Air Mobility Command intertheater airlift in support of United States national defense. The C-5, the C-17 Globemaster III and the C-141 Starlifter are partners of AMC's strategic airlift concept. The aircraft carry fully equipped combat-ready military units to any point in the world on short notice then provide field support required to help sustain the fighting force.

Features
The C-5 is one of the largest aircraft in the world. It can carry outsize and oversize cargo intercontinental ranges and can take off or land in relatively short distances. Ground crews can load and off load the C-5 simultaneously at the front and rear cargo openings. Other features of the C-5 are:

• Able to take off fully loaded within 8,300 feet (2,530 meters) and land within 4,900 feet (1,493 meters).
• High flotation landing gear with 28 wheels sharing the weight.
• Nose and aft doors that open the full width and height of the cargo compartment to permit faster and easier loading.
• A "kneeling" landing gear system that permits lowering of the parked aircraft so the cargo floor is at truck-bed height or to facilitate vehicle loading and unloading.
• Full width drive-on ramps at each end for loading double rows of vehicles.
• A system that records and analyzes information and detects malfunctions in more than 800 test points.

The C-5 is similar in appearance to its smaller sister transport, the C-141 Starlifter, although the C-5 is much larger. Both aircraft have the distinctive high T-tail, 25-degree wing sweep, and four turbofan engines mounted on pylons beneath the wings.

The Galaxy carries nearly all of the Army's combat equipment, including such bulky items as its 74-ton mobile scissors bridge, from the United States to any theater of combat on the globe.

Four TF39 turbofan engines power the big C-5, rated at 43,000 pounds thrust each. They weigh 7,900 pounds (3,555 kilograms) each and have an air intake diameter of more than 8.5 feet (2.6 meters). Each engine pod is nearly 27 feet long (8.2 meters).

The Galaxy has 12 internal wing tanks with a total capacity of 51,150 gallons (194,370 liters) of fuel -- enough to fill 6 1/2 regular size railroad tank cars. A full fuel load weighs 332,500 pounds (150,820 kilograms). A C-5 with a cargo load of 270,000 pounds (122,472 kilograms) can fly 2,150 nautical miles, offload, and fly to a second base 500 nautical miles away from the original destination -- all without aerial refueling. With aerial refueling, the aircraft's range is limited only by crew endurance.

Background
Lockheed-Georgia Co. delivered the first operational Galaxy to the 437th Airlift Wing, Charleston Air Force Base, S.C., in June l970. C-5s are stationed at Altus AFB, Okla.; Dover AFB, Del.; and Travis AFB, Calif. AMC transferred some C-5s to the Air Reserve components starting with Kelly AFB, Texas, in 1985; followed by Stewart Air National Guard Base, N.Y.; and Westover Air Reserve Base, Mass.  In 2004, Tennessee Air National Guard, Memphis, Tenn. retired their C-141s and converted to C-5A's.

In March 1989, the last of 50 C-5B aircraft was added to the 76 C-5As in the Air Force's airlift force structure. The C-5B includes all C-5A improvements as well as more than 100 additional system modifications to improve reliability and maintainability. All 50 C-5Bs are scheduled to remain in the active-duty force, shared by comparably sized and collocated Air Force Reserve Associate units.

Based on a recent study showing 80 percent of the C-5 airframe service life remaining, AMC began an aggressive program to modernize the C-5. The C-5 Avionics Modernization Program began in 1998 and includes upgrading avionics to Global Air Traffic Management compliance, improving navigation and safety equipment, and installing a new autopilot system. Another part of the plan is a comprehensive re-engining and reliability improvement program, which includes new engines, pylons and auxiliary power units, with upgrades to aircraft skin and frame, landing gear and the pressurization system.

This modernization program will restore aircraft reliability and maintainability, maintain structural and system integrity, reduce cost of ownership and increase operational capability well into the 21st century.

General Characteristics
Primary Function: Outsize cargo transport
Prime Contractor: Lockheed-Georgia Co.
Power Plant: Four General Electric TF-39 engines
Thrust: 43,000 pounds, each engine
Wingspan: 222.9 feet (67.89 meters)
Length: 247.1 feet (75.3 meters)
Height: 65.1 feet (19.84 meters)
Cargo Compartment: height , 13.5 feet (4.11 meters); width, 19 feet (5.79 meters); length, 143 feet, 9 in (43.8 meters)
Pallet Positions: 36
Maximum Cargo: 270,000 pounds (122,472 kilograms)
Maximum Takeoff Weight: C-5B 769,000 pounds (348,818 kilograms) (peacetime), 840,000 pounds (381,024 kilograms) (wartime)
Speed: 518 mph (.77 Mach)
Range: 6,320 nautical miles (empty)
Crew: 7 (pilot, co-pilot, two flight engineers and three loadmasters)
Unit Cost: C-5A - $152.8 million (FY98 constant dollars) C-5B - $179 million (FY98 constant dollars)
Deployed: C-5A - 1969, C-5B - 1980
Inventory: Active force and Reserve, 126

Point of Contact
Air Mobility Command, Office of Public Affairs; 503 Ward Drive, Suite 217; Scott Air Force Base, Ill. 62225-5335; DSN 779-7843 or (618) 229-7843


February 2006
 

http://www.af.mil/factsheets/factsheet.asp?fsID=84

 

Time change... SPRING forward

When does Daylight Saving Time/Standard Time begin?

Note: Daylight Saving Time rules will change beginning in the year 2007.

Daylight Saving Time (DST) begins each year at 2 a.m. on the first Sunday of April in most of the United States and its territories. Clocks must be moved ahead one hour when DST goes into effect. DST is not observed in Hawaii, American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and the state of Arizona (with the exception of the Navajo Indian Reservation, which does observe DST).

Standard Time begins each year at 2 a.m on the last Sunday of October. Move your clocks back one hour at the resumption of Standard Time. Daylight Saving Time and time zones are regulated by the U. S. Department of Transportation, and not by NIST.

On August 8, 2005, President Bush signed the Energy Policy Act of 2005, which includes changes in Daylight Saving Time, effective March 1, 2007. Therefore:

• In 2006, DST will begin at 2 a.m. on the first Sunday of April (April 2, 2006) and Standard Time will begin at 2 a.m. on the last Sunday in October (October 29, 2006), as under the current rules.
  
   
• However, beginning in 2007, DST will begin at 2 a.m. on the second Sunday in March (March 11, 2007) and Standard Time will begin at 2 a.m. on the first Sunday in November (November 4, 2007).