Blathr Wayne Lorentz

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Showing blathrs with the tag “U.S. Air Force.”

Not scary at all

Thursday, March 4th, 2021 Alive 18,209 days

Vapor trails from fighter jets over Las Vegas

Sometimes fighter jets from one of the nearby military bases screech overhead and leave contrails over the city.

It's supposed to be a patriotic show of support for first responders and other essential workers. But that only works if you know it's coming ahead of time.

With everything locked down, and sensible people on high alert, it just makes me feel more like my whole world is under attack, with shades of 9/11.

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Having a blast

Tuesday, September 1st, 2020 Alive 18,025 days

Screenshot from the Las Vegas Review-Journal web site

Things like this are why itʼs hard to have work-from-home conference calls in Las Vegas.

I was on a call yesterday when this went by my apartment, and it derailed the whole event for everyone. Itʼs not just the noise, but you canʼt explain to someone in Chicago whatʼs going on. They just canʼt wrap their brains around it.

When I drove for Uber, I spent a lot of time in the neighborhoods on the eastern edge of town, right up against Nellis Air Force Base. They have to live with this sort of thing all day long, every day. Again, not so much the noise; but I found the sight of these things rocketing right over the homes disturbing.

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Crickets

Sunday, March 8th, 2020 Alive 17,848 days

The good thing about the plague is that itʼs made things quiet again.

When I first moved to this block, almost all of the homes were military households; mostly Air Force and Nevada National Security Site people (mathematicians, nuclear physicists). Couples, no kids. It was always so silent around here, and I would sit on my bench on the front stoop and read my newspapers in peace.

Then last year all of the military households were relocated en masse. New people moved in. An architect family. A massage therapist family. A guy running some kind of fleaBay business out of his garage. A family from New York via Malawi, Frankfurt, and Copenhagen. Ordinary people and many many kids.

As recently as last weekend, the block was alive after 3pm and on weekends. The guy tinkering on his car. The knot of ladies and their fashion accessory dogs. The guy flying model airplanes and home-made drones at the end of the street. Mexican polka music wafting through the palm trees. And about 20 children running, jumping, throwing things, and playing at murdering one another. Noise. Noise Noise.

Now everyone is afraid to go outside. The block is silent. Once again, the block belongs to me, my newspapers, and my coffee.

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Sunday, July 22nd, 2018 Alive 17,253 days

A susiciously-formed egg

This morning my egg formed itself into a perfect circle. And I donʼt even own a ring mold.

Itʼs also Red Flag week on the other side of town. Coincidence?

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