Merry Christmas

The Star of Bethlehem on the Horizon

We are gazing at the star of Bethlehem on the horizon. It is far far away, but there is still hope. A spark of luminosity is there. The land may be dark, the sky may be gray and black. It might be chilly, and we might be cold, uncomfortable, tired and restless. But nevertheless the star of Bethlehem is over there. Human beings hope. The final hope that human beings could ever be hopeful of is enlightenment, the star of Bethlehem on the horizon.

From: The path is the goal: A Basic Handbook of Buddhist Meditation,
by Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche

Merry Christian everyone. Peace on earth, etc.

China’s first 6th-generation fighter jet — also the world’s first — has just taken its maiden flight in Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province, on December 26, (i.e., the birthday of Mao Tse Tong.) China has not yet revealed the designation of the new fighter jet, but its is dubbed “AVIC Baidi Type-B (“White Emperor”). The unveiling was public, so photos and videos of the maiden flight are already online everywhere.

On December 26, (i.e., the birthday of Mao Tse Tong,) China unveiled not one but TWO different 6th-generation fighter jets, made by two separate state-owned enterprises — both are the world’s first 6th-generation fighter jets. Both jets took their maiden flight in Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province. China has not yet revealed the designation for either fighter jet, but one of them is dubbed “White Emperor”. The unveiling was public, so photos and videos of the maiden flights are already online everywhere.

The US does NOT yet have a 6th-generation fighter jet. The US is expected to have its first 6th-generation fights in the 2030s. However, the US will have its 6th-generation aircraft, B-21 Raider, a strategic BOMBER, (not a fighter jet,) by 2027.

China becomes 1st country in the world to conduct first flight of 6th Gen aircraft:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOH8okurWgs

China’s 6th Generation Fighter Jet Maiden Flight: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2OqcGLcdIU8

China’s 2nd Sixth Generation Fighter Jet Unveiled: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWc679WaFS4

Sorry, the first and second paragraphs in my last reply were redundant.

Had a pretty good Christmas actually. Hosted a small family gathering, one group of daughter, son-in-law, two grandkids couldn’t come ’cause the grandkids got sick. But the rest of us were of good cheer, the turkey was good, had all the usual trimmings, and afterwards everyone seemed to like their presents and we had baked shortbread, ginger shortbread, gingersnaps, lebkuchen, and good moist boozy Christmas cake, which despite the jokes is actually quite good stuff IMO.

So, merry Christmas everyone!

interesting stories are sometimes told around the Christmas dinner table. The following story was told to me at our Christmas Supper. The events took place in the town of Merryfjord Noway. Everything about this story is true with the exception of the location of the events. Several days ago an xray was taken of a pregnant dog that was due to give birth in a few days. The reason is that the dog owners needs to know how many pups to expect so that the owner knows when the process was complete. Two vets looked at the xray and determined that 5 pups would be born.
The dog gave birth at the expected time. But only 3 pups were born. The owner was concerned so he scheduled an emergency visit at a vet clinic with emergency services.. Well the vet there did an ultra sound and determined that there were no pups waiting to be born or that had died before birth.
Well that made the dog owner really mad because he had to pay 400 for the emergency services. He complained to the clinic that told him to expect 5 pups. Because he held them responsible for his bill. Well a 3rd vet, the boss of the practice looked at the xray and he also thought that the xray showed 5 pups. I asked and I was told that pups can disapear early in a pregency but not shortly before birth. So the boss sent the xrays to some other vet friends of his and they also came to the conclusion that 5 pups should be born.
So, were 5 pups really born and the owner lied for some reason? What would the motive be. Unless he faked the bill from the second vet practice there would not be any financial motive. Could the equipment be faulty? The equipment has never given false information before.
I told the vet telling the story that the story is really fishy. Although there is no apparant motive the dog owner could be lying. I also asked if it were possible to hack in to the xray machine and program it to give false data. The vet thought that it might be possible to hack in to the machine but was totally unqualified to say whether or not it could be programed to give false data. But the obvious answer to that is what is the motive to that and what is the motive to do it one time only?
If Columbo were here he would investigate this story and by the time that he was finished would bringing charges against Jonas Gahr Store.

Dec. 29th and a cold rainy soggy day. Years ago this much precip in almost-January would more likely have been snow. We haven’t had any of the formerly-normal type dry powder/fluff snow for the last two winters. We have had only the heavy wet snow.
I hope we get some dry powder snow this winter.

As I look at the Weather Channel’s “radar map in motion”, I see the “next several hours” forecast showing a big-ass thunderstorm heading up into Ontario, somewhat west of Toronto. Of course, that is just a radar-in-motion forecast and may not happen. Still, if it does, is that part of the new normal?

Meanwhile, I expect sometime between now and March at least one outbreak of super cold, 2 or more nights of minus 15 degrees or colder. And that’s in natural organic Fahrenheit degrees, not those chemical plastic Celsius degrees that the rest of the world uses. Random instability and wild swings are also part of the new normal.