I am somewhat defined by this term

Military brat (or in my case, Air Force brat)

Nice to see that Wikipedia has an article on the pros and cons of having been raised in a military sub-culture. So much of my life was shaped by my experiences on base and moving around so much. I attended two kindergartens, two elementary schools, three junior highs, and two high schools. Little wonder that even though I was in college for a total of 16 years, I stayed in only one.

Apparently there is a limit to how long a post can be, and I hit it

so I broke the last one and this in two.

Here's a quiz where I came out Air Force, which makes sense, because I grew up as an Air Force brat. Besides, they're the smart ones. :)

74 % aiming high, 28 % deck swabbing, 11 % army strong, 0 % grunting

Congratulations! Way to push your "man-up" button and see how you'd fit in the DoD.

The scores are self-explanatory, but it you don't get it, you may want to join the Army regardless. (I kid.) For those not familiar with the US armed forces, "aiming high" is your Air Force aptitude, "army strong" is so obvious it's Army-proof, "grunting" is your Marine Corps ranking, and "deck-swabbing" is your Navy percentile.

If you scored about the same in two categories, you're fairly average. (Unless you scored highly for both Air Force and Marines, in which case God help you, because there is no safe place for you.) More than likely, your Navy and Air Force aptitudes were similar. Those are the two branches of service that know how to have a laugh or two, chill when possible, and still get the job done and done right.

You may also have similar Army and Marine Corps aptitudes. Nothing wrong with that at all; you're probably just more on the straightforward and practical (Army) or humorless and ruthless, but badass (MC) side of life.

If you were split between Army and Air Force or Army and Navy, well, you're odd, but you may find happiness as a Department of the Army Civilian. First, ask yourself an important question: are you okay with another person being the lord of your fucking universe just because they pinned on their last rank - which is the same as yours - a day before you did? If the answer is yes, run, don't walk, to join that Army of One, because you don't belong a damn place else.

Finally, if you came out even across all four, don't mistake yourself for "average" as a result. You're a freak. Square peg, kid. You may want to spend a few years on a mountaintop, just figuring shit out.

Link: The Which Armed Service is for You Test written by embraceitall on OkCupid, home of the The Dating Persona Test

and a video...

Forget knitting. Here's something really cool to do with yarn and other fibres:



[to the tune of AM Syndicate's 'To the Peasants of the Emperor'. Check out more animation at Clear Productions.]

Here's another of his, this one entitled 'Waltz', by Seth Bedford [performed by the Elastic WasteBand] (which brings us back to murder):

The world needs more Hazel Kings

From yesterday:

Service today for coal country activist

She served as a WAC in World War II, then for 21 years in the Air Force at a time there weren't many women in the service. She retired to her native Harlan County and took up the fight to keep strip mining and other coal-related environmental hazards from happening--or at least from going unnoticed. She fought for the 1977 Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act and became a citizen enforcer, blowing the whistle on spills and the like. She worked so closely with the inspectors from the Office of Surface Mining that some people thought she was a government agent.

Imagine living a life where so much of what you did bettered life for others, really made an impact. Not many of us can say as much, can we?