https://www.space.com/chuck-yeager-death-mourned-by-nasa-astronauts

"Roger, Sir, you are clear for departure, heading 270. Ceiling and visibility unlimited, airspeed and altitude at your discretion.

"Godspeed, General..."

Current events leave me at a loss on how to express myself.

For starters, my hatred and contempt for badge-heavy assholes goes back to my rookie year, when I had the displeasure of cleaning up after one of them screwed up a situation. (And, be it admitted, it's terrifying to look back and see how easily I could have been corrupted into a badge-heavy asshole if I hadn't had that object lesson.)

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A Fitness Report is, in the Military and Naval Services of the United States, an evaluation of an officer or sergeant's leadership. Think of it as a performance appraisal, with certain formalities dictated by regulations and customs of the service. The formal language can be dry and understated, but informal statements tend to be rather pithy,

"His men would only follow him out of morbid curiosity." - an Army First Sergeant, on a 2nd Lieutenant inflicted upon his Infantry Company.

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... Something of a crackfic, but cute.

Twilight Tries to Get Fired

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[Title comes from Tom Clancy - a prefatory comment from a naval officer asking a question about something outside his area of expertise...]

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... But the asshole didn't get it, either. It went to my partner, who's been in the business even longer than I have, with broader experience with other labs. Being as objective about it as I can, you couldn't ask for a better choice. Funny, the sloths seem to be picking up their game a bit. The asshole isn't too happy, but he seems to be dealing with it, for now. Time will tell.

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My boss made no secret of his intention of retiring at the end of July. I didn't really have much time to think about it - the backlogs keep getting worse, and the court dates keep piling up, and I was too busy sled-dogging it to lift my head to look past the ass end of the dogs in front of me.

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Most of us hate the sexual abuse of a child. Even among those who get into foalcon, the vast majority of them won't touch a story without at least the pretense of informed consent. So, I think we can take it as given that a child abuser getting busted will gain almost universal applause.

My partner is going to get to take a bow.

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Hollywood just doesn't convey what I do for a living.

Had a bad one today. Homeless man had his camp catch on fire. He was cognizant enough to try to run out of it before he collapsed and burned to death. No ID, no friends to give the PD a lead on an ID, and I've garnered a (imho, somewhat unjustified) reputation for victim identification in the hopeless cases, so I got called in.

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Things you see on the day job I hold, they break down into categories. Most of those are unpleasant, but occasionally, you get some amusing stuff on the margins.

Like the time I brought a textbook (Geberth's Practical Homicide Investigation, to be specific) to a meetup of aspiring writers. If I were writing a shooting script:

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