G-Force Face....

[Alan]

You know that sort of teeth-clenching look a person gets on their face in the sprint, kinda grimacing and smiling at the same time before they die of exhaustion? Then it'll remind you of the look on the face of the pilot in this 3 minute video, shot inside the cockpit of the slot man in a Diamond formation, part of the Blue Angles US Navy aerobatic team.
When he pulls some serious positive/negative "g" forces, the "smiling" is tensing his body to stop blood pooling so he doesn't black out. Kinda like in the sprint... Shot over Seattle, Lake Washington and Boeing Field!

https://www.youtube.com/embed/u4D0yx4DvBk?rel=0

Looks like the kind of video Rolf would shoot if he was a fighter pilot.

[Rolf]

Sign me up! That looks crazy fun...

[John D]

So this morning, apropos of nothing, Alan calls to ask me whether I've been in a womens' washroom at UVic lately. Umm, no.

Now I see that he's Googling "Blue Angel" videos. Dude..what exactly are you up to?

J.

[Alan]

So this needs some explaining:
I called John because I'm working on a story of inappropriate marketing of drugs to students and it's been a long time since I have been hanging around in women's washrooms at UVIC to see what kind of birth control pills they're flogging to the students in the stalls. So I just needed an update, ya know.
I, for one, am looking forward to the days of the unisex washroom so I can do my research unimpeded by gender.

Speaking of a non-sequitur, this link below has nothing to do with women's washrooms or G-Force face, but has to do with my latest rant about binge-drinking rodents. A new guy (Rob?) on the ride today asked me if I'm retired. Hah! Who would retire from a job that only requires sitting, and typing about 'game-changing' research like this?

http://www.healthnewsreview.org/2016/04 ... reatments/

[Rolf]

I don't know if this was the non sequitur you thought it was.

That pilot looked like he was spruiking pretty hard at times... And really, isn't that what the Blue Angels are all about?

[Claire]

Really, Rolf - "spruik"?? I thought you were German, not Australian.

Spruik (rhymes with duke): Speak in public, especially to advertise to or entice customers.

I think you had something else in mind with respect to that testosterone-amped pilot dude's g-force-face...

[Rolf]

Just what do you think the Blue Angels are up to? While this dude looks like he's just chewing gum, clenching, and saying unintelligible things over the radio, what he's really doing is flying over all those impressionable young citizens, inspiring them to dream of nothing less than serving their country and sacrificing everything, even their lives, to become a cog in the militarized machine that imposes U.S. foreign policy around the world. It's metaphorical spruiking at its best—or as some people call it: propaganda.

p.s. I'm Swiss, not German. That's like calling a Canuck an American, a Kiwi an Ozzie, a Scot an English(wo)man etc.

p.p.s. Thanks, Alan. You may have single-handedly revived the historic frivolity of the General Banter forum.

[Claire]

p.s. I'm Swiss, not German. That's like calling a Canuck an American, an Kiwi an Ozzie, a Scot an English(wo)man etc.

Oops, sincere apologies. I was confusing you with your doppelganger again - Herr Kaeshammer.

I support your derision of the U.S. military machine 100%. Just not your insistence on hauling out your dog-eared thesaurus at every opportunity.

[Bosie]

I hate to put a dampener on your ground breaking research Alan, but most students since the 60s have first hand knowledge of inappropriate marketing of drugs to Students in washrooms.....

Or is this where the Blue Angels ties in....?

[Alan]

As a former "cog" in the militarized machine, all I can say is: "I resemble those remarks".
Trained as a wee lad to jump out of big wide airplanes at 800 feet with snowshoes and a rifle, (praying the chute opens and I don't land on a Soviet soldier with a sharp bayonet) and then trained to dive deep under hulls of enemy ships and plant mines, and then, like our fellow Tripleshotters Tim and Richie, trained to navigate warships armed with missiles and ordinance pointed at the sky and ready to launch at the bad guys, yup, Alan fit the definite mould as a 'cog'. Aren't we all cogs in someone's machine?
But don't get me going about the Swiss vs. Germans, Canucks vs. Yanks, etc...
save that one for future Rolf-slagging....

[Rolf]

I support your derision of the U.S. military machine 100%. Just not your insistence on hauling out your dog-eared thesaurus at every opportunity.

Ha! In defence of my irritating, sesquipedalian tendencies, Claire: this time it wasn't me! "Spruiking" came straight out of Alan's article, that to which he provided a handy hyperlink above—and on which I'm guessing you declined to click!

Given all the adventuring you did as a young navy lad, Alan, how is it that you're now so comfortable sitting about in your underwear all day, hanging out with the cat? Or is that cause and effect?

[LouiseF]

Alan - I'd be happy to help you with your research as I frequent the women's washrooms at UVic on Mondays, although not looking for birth control. But you'll have to pay me handsomely.

And guys come on, you're pretty creative word slingers, but the cliché Canadian slag of the US? And it is cliché. You can do better than that.

[Rolf]

And guys come on, you're pretty creative word slingers, but the cliché Canadian slag of the US? And it is cliché. You can do better than that.

My comments were not necessarily restricted to the impressive war-machine wielded by our dear southerly cousins; it's just that Alan's video featured the US Navy/Marine Corp Blue Angels...

Same-same for the RCAF Snowbirds (albeit with much less macho, trainer aircraft!), USAF Thunderbirds, Patrouille de France, NZ Red Checkers, Chilean Halcones, RAF Red Arrows (UK), Australian Roulettes, Saudi Hawks, Patrouille Swiss, Thai "Kaset Green Hawk" (of the Bureau of Royal Rainmaking and Agricultural Aviation), or my favourite: the Royal Malaysian Air Force "Magic Daggers"... etc.

Here's the Indian aerobatic सारंग ("Sarang", or "Peacocks")—I will never see the dopey denizens of Beacon Hill Park the same way again: