Oh Good Lord.
It’s customary, I get that. It’s fitting that Obama’s Presidential Center has a basketball court, but no presidential library. Why did they put these people on display for the party?
Oh Good Lord.
It’s customary, I get that. It’s fitting that Obama’s Presidential Center has a basketball court, but no presidential library. Why did they put these people on display for the party?

The High Schooler Who Designed the 50-Star American Flag
It was 1958, and Robert G. Heft was a junior at Lancaster High School in Ohio. His history teacher, Stanley Pratt, gave the class an open-ended assignment: make something, anything, and bring it in. Most students chose something safe. Heft decided to redesign the flag of the United States.
Heft took the challenge seriously. He sent his flag to his congressman and began a steady campaign of letters and calls. Then history caught up with his design. Alaska became a state in January 1959, and Hawaii followed that August. Suddenly the country needed a 50-star flag, and submissions poured in by the thousands.
President Dwight D. Eisenhower selected a design identical to the one Heft had sewn in his grandparents’ kitchen. On July 4, 1960, the 50-star flag became official. It has flown ever since, the longest-serving version of the American Flag in the nation’s history.
And the grade? Pratt kept his word. The B minus became an A.
Now you know the rest of the story.

That looks awesome.
While foreigners are spreading out around North America for the Soccer World Cup, Americans can watch a fight on the White House front lawn.
Some of the people online who are butt-hurt because they say this is below the dignity of the presidency, wouldn’t be too shook up if President Trump was assassinated.
I don’t care about UFC or Soccer, but it’s good to see people having fun.

I don’t get how this can be controversial. A company that uses sophisticated materials and techniques to seal large pools, was brought in to seal the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. The project took six weeks and cost $15 million, which is quick and inexpensive.
Not a crazy idea, and if it holds up for a couple of decades, that’s great.
Fifteen years ago, Obama spent $30 million to address structural and water circulation issues. I don’t recall that being controversial because it wasn’t crazy or extravagant.
Nice stuff has to be maintained.
Lately, there have been news stories expressing alarm about the rapid progress the Trump administration is making in building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.
Really? I haven’t seen any news stories about the border wall and nobody is talking about it.
Well, Sparky’s not talking about it, and he’s the only person I talk to.

DC’s historic fountains to be restored for America’s 250th anniversary
The initiative is part of a coordinated federal push under President Trump’s “Making the District of Columbia Safe and Beautiful” executive order….
Many of D.C.’s most beloved features have suffered from decades of heavy use and weathering. NPS plans to perform deep-level upgrades, including modernizing outdated mechanical and plumbing systems, conserving historic stonework and sculptures and enhancing park amenities to ensure they are safe and accessible.
Where are those filthy pricks who keep suing to stop the construction of the White House ballroom?
The National Trust for Historic Preservation should have been advocating for the maintenance and preservation of historic fountains, parks and monuments. For the money saved by indicting a few Medicare swindlers in Minnesota, President Trump is getting Washington DC all fixed up.
A cynical person might think that some people just don’t want us to have nice things.

My Ducati accelerates like a rocket sled, and is a fun ride on twisty roads. I was having fun in the Mill Stream Run Reservation, and got pulled over by a cop. The way I handled the encounter was unsettling.

I’m doing traffic stops today. If you haven’t seen this body-cam footage of a traffic stop, you need to see it.
The cop pulls a woman over for using her phone while driving. He saw her with a phone in her right hand. The twist is that she has no right hand.

AOL: Never Admit These 7 Things When a Cop Asks ‘Do You Know Why I Stopped You?’
As an uncle and as a free-thinking teacher, I considered it my duty to pass along the practical knowledge that official authority figures won’t.
Here’s a bullet list of the 7 things:

Five Amazing Facts About the Lockheed U-2
The Lockheed U-2 has been around for decades, but much of the information was classified. A new book is coming out, and it will probably be interesting.
The amazing fact I learned is that due to the operating altitude, conventional jet fuel boils off. To research an appropriate fuel, they turned to Jimmy Doolittle, of Doolittle Raid fame, who was then a VP at Shell Oil.
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