Why Parents Drink

A father passing by his son's bedroom was astonished to see that his bed was nicely made and everything was picked up. Then he saw an envelope, propped up prominently on the pillow that was addressed to 'Dad.'With the worst premonition he opened the envelope with trembling hands and read the letter.

Dear Dad:

It is with great regret and sorrow that I'm writing you.

I had to elope with my new girlfriend because I wanted to avoid a scene with Mom and you.I have been finding real passion with Stacy and she is so nice. But I knew you would not approve of her because of all her piercing, tattoos, tight motorcycle clothes and the fact that she is much older than I am. But it' s not only the passion...Dad she's pregnant.

Stacy said that we will be very happy. She owns a trailer in the woods and has a stack of firewood for the whole winter. We share a dream of having many more children.Stacy has opened my eyes to the fact that marijuana doesn't really hurt anyone. We'll be growing it for ourselves and trading it with the other people that live nearby for cocaine and ecstasy. In the meantime we will pray that science will find a cure for AIDS so Stacy can get better. She deserves it..

Don't worry Dad. I'm 15 and I know how to take care of myself. Someday I'm sure that we will be back to visit so that you can get to know your grandchildren.

Love,

Your Son John

PS. Dad, none of the above is true. I'm over at Tommy's house. I Just wanted to remind you that there are worse things in life than a Report card That's in my center desk drawer.

I love you. Call me when it's safe to come home.

Taking Dog and The Marines

A guy was driving around the back woods and he saw a sign in front of a broken down shanty-style house: 'Talking Dog for Sale '. He rings the bell and the owner appears and tells him the dog is in the backyard.

The guy goes into the back yard and sees a nice looking Beagle sitting there. 'You talk?' he asks.

'Yep,' the Beagle replies.

After the guy recovers from the shock of hearing a dog talk, he says 'So, what's your story?'

The Beagle looks up and says, 'Well, I discovered that I could talk when I was pretty young. I wanted to help the government, so I told the CIA and they had me sworn into the toughest branch of the armed services...the United States Marines You know one of their nicknames is 'The Devil Dogs.'"

"In no time at all they had me jetting from country to country, sitting in rooms with spies and world leaders; because no one figured a dog would be eavesdropping. I was one of their most valuable spies for eight years running, but the jetting around really tired me out, and I knew I wasn't getting any younger. So, I decided to settle down."

"I retired from the Corps (8 dog years is 56 Corps years) and signed up for a job at the airport to do some undercover security, wandering near suspicious characters and listening in. I uncovered some incredible dealings and was awarded a batch of medals. I got married, had a mess of puppies, and now I'm just retired."

The guy is amazed. He goes back in and asks the owner what he wants for the dog.

"Ten dollars," the guy says.

"Ten dollars? This dog is amazing! Why on earth are you selling him so cheap?"

"Because that dog is a fake... He never was in the Corps. He was in the Navy! "

'Wasting' Wave Invites on GMail Users

I've figured out it is a waste of an invite to Google's Wave service to send the invite to someone who already has GMail but to use their non-GMail email address.

Here is why...

To use Wave, a person is going to need a GMail account. If you send an invite to a person who doesn't have GMail (someone@example.com), they will get asked to sign up for a Google account with GMail, Google Docs, Blogger, etc. That is fine in terms of them getting on Wave and using your invite... though they may not really have wanted to sign up for a Google account.

The problem is when the person has a GMail account but perhaps you didn't know this and used their non-GMail account. When they get the invite they will be invited to join Google/GMail.... but they already have that. They won't want to get another Google/GMail account, they can't sign into Wave using the non-Google address you sent them.... and their existing Google/GMail info won't work since that isn't the email address you sent the invite to.

Which means, if the person you sent the invite to was at all motivated to use Wave, they will ask you to send another invite but to their GMail account.... which uses up a 2nd of your limited 20 Wave invites to get the same person signed up.

So, for future reference, it seems a good use of your Wave invites (if you have any) to only send them to GMail addresses or if you want to get someone on Wave be sure to ask if they already use GMail or not. If they do, use that Gmail address. If they don't, get them to join and then use the GMail address.... or send to the non-GMail address but let them know they'll need to sign-up for GMail.

Great Idea Sarge!

Here is a photo re-printed in U.S. Naval Institute's Proceedings a couple of years ago.

The caption at the bottom of the photo says:

GREAT IDEA SARGE! In Korea in 1952, Technical Sergeant John Boitnott, right, was one persuasive Marine sniper. He convinced Private First Class Henry Friday, left, to help him finger enemy snipers by running back and forth in the trench they shared - like a duck in a shooting gallery - until the bad guys gave themselves away by shooting at his pal. In this way, Boitnott bagged nine snipers with nine shoots from his M-1C, all at distances of about 900 yards. The team worked their deadly magic until the company commander learned about it, went ballistic, and put an end to the scheme.

"Lost Over Laos" and "Farewell to a Hero"

In 1971, as American forces hastened their withdrawal from Vietnam, a helicopter was hit by enemy fire over Laos and exploded in a fireball, killing four top combat photographers: Larry Burrows of Life magazine, Henri Huet of Associated Press, Kent Potter of United Press International, and Keisaburo Shimamoto of Newsweek. The remoteness of the crash site made a recovery attempt impossible. "Lost Over Laos" provides an inside look into these events against the backdrop of U.S. operations in Laos during the Vietnam War.

Starting around page 166, this book includes the story of how Associated Press correspondent Mike Putzel and Major James Newman made a flight over the crash site. Putzel continued to cover the war in Vietnam and his award-winning career included covering Watergate, the presidencies of Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan and the fall of communism. Major Newman was twice nominated for the Congressional Medal of Honor. Major Newman's military awards included Distinguished Service Cross (the nation's second-highest award for combat valor), the Silver Star, four Distinguished Flying Crosses, the Bronze Star, Purple Heart and 23 Air Medals.

In 2009, Maj. Newman died and was buried at Arlington National Cemetary on February 18, 2009. These events were captured in the book "Farewell to a Hero" by Mike Putzel with photographs by noted Washington photographer William K. Geiger. Additional photos of Maj Newman receiving the Distinguished Flying Cross and his funeral at Arlington can be found at mp.smugmug.com.

Putzel and Newman's exploits were also featured in a Vanity Fair article in Dec. 1999. You can read read excerpts and reviews of Lost Over Laos at Amazon.com - see amazon.com/Lost-over-Laos-Tragedy-Friendship/dp/B000C4T1QI. Lost Over Loas is also available using Google Books - see tinyurl.com/LostOverLaos. Farewell to a Hero can be ordered online at ww.photographybooknow.com/bookstore/detail/610045