Was Barack Hussein Obama the coolest president of all time?
Answer is “Yes” let me explain ..barack obama coolest pics• He collects Spider-Man and Conan the Barbarian comics• His favourite meal is wife Michelle's shrimp linguini• He won a Grammy in 2006 for the audio version of his memoir, Dreams From My Father• He is left-handed – the sixth post-war president to be left-handed• He has read every Harry Potter book• He owns a set of red boxing gloves autographed by Muhammad Ali• His favourite snacks are chocolate-peanut protein bars• He can speak Spanish• His favourite drink is black forest berry iced tea• He promised Michelle he would quit smoking before running for president – he didn't• He kept a pet ape called Tata while in Indonesia• He can bench press an impressive 200lbs• He and Michelle made $4.2 million (£2.7 million) last year, with much coming from sales of his books• His favourite films are Casablanca and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest• His favourite music includes Miles Davis, Bob Dylan, Bach and The Fugees• He took Michelle to see the Spike Lee film Do The Right Thing on their first date• He enjoys playing Scrabble and poker• He doesn't drink coffee and rarely drinks alcohol• He hates the youth trend for trousers which sag beneath the backside• He says his worst habit is constantly checking his BlackBerry• He uses an Apple Mac laptop• He wears $1,500 (£952) Hart Schaffner Marx suits• He owns four identical pairs of black size 11 shoes• He has his hair cut once a week by his Chicago barber, Zariff, who charges $21 (£13)• His favourite fictional television programmes are Mash and The Wire• He plans to install a basketball court in the White House grounds• His favourite artist is Pablo Picasso.David Cameron and Barack Obama take selfie with Danish PM
Has Ronald Reagan become an American myth?
Ronald Reagan absolutely qualifies as an American myth, probably as much as JFK. This conservative icon tripled the national debt in peacetime, something Barack Obama won't come close to doing. By doing this he put us on the path we are on today, 19 trillion dollars in debt. His cutting taxes on the rich has now become an irreversible mantra in the Republican Party. The trickle down economics hangover he started is something we may never overcome.Kicking off his campaign in Philadelphia Mississippi, the site of 3 murdered civil rights workers showed a remarkable insensitivity to African Americans. It sent a message that perhaps he wasn't fully engaged in what was going on.He has a history of supporting gun control and immigration reform which would make him an anathema in today's Republican Party.Crediting Reagan for winning the Cold War does a tremendous disservice to the millions of troops who actually did the job of protecting this country since the end of WWII. The Soviet Union collapsed under its own weight no matter who the president was at the time.Today's Republicans also conveniently gloss over the Iran Contra affair in which arms were sold to Iran from the Reagan White House. If the president didn't know this was going on it paints the picture of a completely disengaged president.Like all myths, Republicans tend to exaggerate and overemphasize the good and forget the bad. History will be the ultimate judge.
United States Navy (USN): What does it mean when "X has the conn"?
It means that X has assumed the watch as the Conning Officer. He basically drives the ship. He directs the helmsman, who steers the ship (a distinction that becomes clear once you’ve stood a bridge watch or two) and controls the engine orders (on bigger ships, there’s a separate watchstander for that, called a Lee Helm), and takes navigational advice from the Quartermaster of the Watch and direction from the Officer of the Deck to carry out the Captain’s intentions.The Conning Officer is the only person allowed to issue orders to the helm or lee helm. Literally. The Captain could be on the bridge, issue me a direct order, and my response would have to be “Orders to the helm?” Which is the very formalized way the helmsman requests that the Conn issue the order. There’s also a long, involved spiel that the helmsman has to give the conning officer when they take the conn, basically giving them the entire ship’s navigational configuration. If memory serves (and I haven’t been a helmsman since 2005), it’s “X has the conn, aye. Steady on course [whatever], checking course [whatever]. Rudder angle is [rudder angle]. Engine [ahead/all stop/astern/abaft] [engine order] indicating [current speed]. [Active SGU] steering gear unit active, [standby SGU] in standby. Steering is by [whatever mode].” I know I’m missing a whole bunch of stuff there, but for the life of me, I can’t remember. 13 years, you know…This whole “no one but the conn can issue orders to the helm” issue has only ever happened once to me, and the Captain (who was righteously pissed at the conn) told me to decrease the engine to 1/3, I said “orders to the helm” the Captain jumped out of his chair, shoved the conn out of the way like he was a middle school dweeb, and said “THIS IS THE CAPTAIN, I HAVE THE CONN. STOP THE SHIP. NOW.”(me, meekly) “All stop, aye sir… Sir, the engine is stopped, indicating zero knots.”“Very well.”……“Captain, would you like the turnover?”“The OOD will take the conn until we can get someone else up here.” The… Conn was relieved of his station. I don’t want to throw it out there, but even I knew that he shouldn’t have been trying to do what he was doing with the engine indicating 8 knots. It was an all-stop evolution, in that sea state. It was endangering at least a dozen crew. I mean, they were happy to attempt it, it had a whole pirate-y vibe to it. Very Age of Sail, trying to conduct an evolution in challenging, uncooperative conditions. But it was an awful risk.