Brett Rants

Air Show

Showing off our dominion over, what? The sky?

Jet Fighters, the next three slides, all the same shot, the only difference is the filter, a primary color shift filter that picks up the contrails better I took a lot of photos of the air show, this is Fleet Week in San Francisco, 2017 edition, and I am guessing I took around five hundred photos on the day Since the three images are color variants of a close up of the Blue Angles, four in a grouping, I am just going to go on about picture taking, I wonder if I take too many, most are deleted, I actually am maybe ahead of the game in that I review all of my pictures, review them again, and slowly edit them down to a few keepers, the keepers in this case not having much to do with the originals, sometimes I wonder if I would enjoy the event more if I took less photos, but it is a hard question to answer, in the moment, probably, just an hour later, probably not

The old technology is easy to see.

I know, it's hard to think of it as the old technology.

But it already is... quite old... and it's quite easy to see.

Do you see it?

San Francisco Bay, Fleet Week, a Military Vessel passing by Alcatraz, the next image the same thing, only a close up, image has been put through a filter that encloses areas of interest and chops up the rest, this filter is very image specific, but I like how it turned out on these two, and it likely the effect, the feel that I got from viewing these that set the tone for the text

And of the new technology, well, one only really sees what they want you to see.

Were you there?

Did you see it?

It is sort of a fractal effect, but really, more like a jigsaw puzzle that is still missing a lot of the information, I like the way the sail boats pop, it was a good day to have a sail boat out on the bay, nice and sunny, and a front row seat for all the action

Of course, if you are wise, you only saw what they wanted you to see?

I mean, you can see that?

Can't you?

Same fractal watermark effect as the last two, which traces outlines, and fills them with image, leaving the rest blank, here handily cutting out the faces from most of the crowd, the reason I took this is because a few times during the show, the jets would come in from behind and fly over the crowd, which was very disorienting the first time around, but I knew it was coming again, so I took the shot, trails come alive in the effect, the sign in the distance if of Ghiradelli Square, SF, 2017

So, the real question remains.

What did they want you to see?

The sonic boom?

Is that what they wanted you to see? A sonic boom, as the planes roared over the crowd, coming in from the backside, such a surprise?

I know I didn't see that coming.

So, maybe that's what they wanted us to see.

Deep fried pork, I do not think it was breaded, covered in a sweet hot suace, so hunan or the like, it is the fried fat which makes the dish, hard to keep the meat moist enough while frying the fat to an edible crispiness, and the pool of sauce, so good, first time around, I had this twice, I ordered egg rolls to mop up the sauce

Back in the Real World, that commonly agreed upon Reality, they have a saying.

Now, what do they say there?

Ah, yes. Now I remember.

An army travels on its stomach.

And since this is the Internet, let me show you what I had to eat that day: deep fried pork from a cozy little place deep in the Heart of Chinatown.

So, anyway, as to the picture, it's clearly a reference to the adage.

An army travels on its stomach.

But as to an army actually travelling on its stomach, in this day and age, it doesn't really hit the nail on the head anymore. So, we need to update the wording and say something more along the lines of:

A Military Industrial Complex thrives on the morale of its people.

And what better way to judge the morale of a people... than a showing of force, the taking over of a city for a day... or a week... plus or minus a few days?

After all, what's a few days... among friends?

Statues of ghosts or spirits, downtown SF, Union Square ways, towards Chinatown, three on each side of the building up top, close up view, one can be in a place for a long time before they notice such things, or be walking down the road for the first time

Reminds me of a time, back in the day, for a few days, when all the boys went out onto the green to smoke a bit of smoke.

You remember smoking a bit of smoke, don't you.

They had a good name for that little celebration. They called it Hash Wednesday. And some of the fools (and they were young, so all of them were fools) thought it was a day of general amnesty, that everyone had agreed, even those guys on the rooftops... with their telescopic lenses... odd what a camera can see, record, and keep track of, that even those guys had agreed... to a general amnesty on the day.

And sure enough, true to their word, their exact word, it had turned out to be a general day of amnesty. But it didn't last: not more than that single day, that afternoon, certainly not into the weekend, nor through the next week, when all of the papers were suddenly full of stories, countless stories of drug dealing debauchery... and arrest.

The biggest seizure in twenty years... or, you know, at least... since they'd held this little 'Amnesty Celebration' the year before.

'Boys. That worked so well, I think we might just do it again next year.'

And sure enough, they did... not that the same folks were there, if you know what I mean.

SF Bay on the Ferry from Oakland to SF, looking off the back, container ship to the left, which in this case would be starboard, odd how port was actually on the port side, or SF Harbor, Oakland harbor is what is actually shown, just a little bit, showing the cranes in use, but mostly it is a picture of the American flag

So... at this air show, fleet week, Cesar and his troops in town for the day, a week, maybe closer to a fortnight, well, I don't know what they were doing here (or was it there), besides showing off, that is. But I'm pretty sure, you know, my Spidey Senses are telling me, there was something more to it all than met the eye, much-much more.

Heck?

Maybe you saw it? That more?

And if you did, are you willing to tell, break ranks, and give up your security clearance?

Or maybe you're just a civilian who saw a bit much, a bit too much... at which point, you have to ask yourself where your loyalties lie.

It's not a coincidence that a bit of food, of savory delight, lands smack dab in the middle of this post. I know on which side my bread is buttered... and mighty fine bread it be.


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So, it's root-root
For the home team,
If they don't win
We'll all be screwed.
And it's one, two,
Three fly-byes
And they're gone
At the old air show.


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