We took a trip over Memorial Day to the North Fork of Long Island to get some very needed R&R, and to go to many of the wineries out there. We had a list of places we both wanted to go, but the best place we went was the one we just pulled into on a whim:
www.bedellcellars.com
They have two wineries-Bedell and Corey Creek. These were easily the best wineries we went to all weekend. Their Main Road Red was excellent. It was complex, and a surprising value for the price. I'd recommend the North Fork to anyone looking to avoid the scene in the Hamptons, and I would absolutely recommend these vineyards if you enjoy wine tasting.
We went to see Velvet Revolver Saturday night at Jones Beach.
http://www.velvetrevolver.com
Hoobastank (sp) opened, and I frankly could have cared less if they had been there or not. Velvet Revolver put on a good show, doing just about all the songs off their only album, Contraband. They also did a few STP songs, and also broke out It's So Easy and Mr. Brownstone for some of us who remember when Guns and Roses was something more than Axel Rose just trying to make some money and playing with people other than Duff and Slash. All told, they put on a great show. Let's just hope they keep the music going and Scott Wyland stays out of rehab!!
I received a NOTAM (notice to airmen) today from the FAA about Camp David this weekend. This generally means the President will be there. I am a pilot, so I keep up on these to make sure anywhere I might be flying will not be affected. I noticed on the map associated with the NOTAM that there is an airport near Camp David I know of, and I wanted to see how close. I pulled the are up on http://maps.google.com and noticed they have satellite imagery. When I went to the area near Camp David, nothing came up! I thought to myself "wow, that is really good information security!" I wanted to see what else in the Washington area the government may have requested this for, so I tried the US Capitol building:
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=washington,+dc&ll=38.890060,-77.011018&spn=0.012982,0.018153&t=k&hl=en
You can see that the Capitol has been blurred out of the image, but the areas around the Mall are visable. Not bad security. I decided to take it a step further, to something I think would be considered far more critical to secure than the Capitol:
http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=35.309114,-101.574440&spn=0.051928,0.072613&z=3&t=k&hl=en
The area in this image is called Pantex Plant. It is a US DOD installation in North Texas. It is the only place left in the US that disassembles and assembles nuclear weapons. It also probably stores more weapons-grade material than anywhere else in the world outside of Russia. The area in the white border is the main assembly area. The rows of small buildings on the bottom are hardened concrete bunkers where Plutonim pits are stored. This image can also be zoomed in on further.
Pantex is not a secret, but the work they do inside is, and the area is heavily secured. My question is, why is a very well-known building obscured in these images, but a facility the US Government would want to keep quiet shown clearly???