Jim N Texas!

Right after I purchased my Ninja I ordered a set of handlebar risers for my Ninja 250 from Motorcycle Larry.

The Ninja 250 already has a fairly upright riding position, at least by the standards of modern sport bikes. I hadn’t really felt a strong need to install the risers until yesterday.

Yesterday I rode approximately 370 miles to attend a Patriot Guard Mission (full ride report latter). I kind of felt a ‘hump’ developing in my back as I rode along, which motivated me to go ahead with the installation.

(Note: Each image is linked to my Flickr page. There you can see full sized high resolutions versions of the image by selecting ‘all sizes’.)

‘Risers’ are just metal spacers that bolt between your motorcycle’s ‘triple tree’ and the handlebars. These risers raise the bars about an inch. There’s not a lot to them really.

The MCL risers appear to be very high quality machine work. 

I’m really good at fixing things and doing maintenance. Well, as long as the ‘things’ are software. I’m less confident about my ability with a wrench. After studying the one page instructions and spending a good bit of time examining my bike I decided that this farkel was simple enough to be doable by me. I mention this because you should know that I am in no way an expert. If you have any questions about how to do this modification contact MCL directly or consult an experienced mechanic!

So without further adieu, here’s what I did.

This is what the stock Ninja 250 handlebar configuration looks like:

You will want to cut the tie wrap holding the cables to the right handlebar.

The brake line passes through a clip inside the fairing. I pushed this line up through the clip to give me the slack I needed for the risers.

It’s important to have a good quality 6mm hex socket driver to do this work, I wouldn’t recommend trying this with a regular allen wrench.

The new hold down bolts are about an inch and a half longer than the original bolts.

The next step is to position the MCL riser blocks on the triple tree.

That right handle is going to work despite all those cables, relax.

Now for the fun part. Tighten the new hold down bolts. It takes a fair amount of turning. All the time I was doing this I’m thinking ‘don’t strip them, don’t strip them’. Keep the bolts in synch as you tighten, don’t tighten one all the way before doing the other. Use a torque wrench set to 8 foot-pounds to do the final tightening.

Once the bolts are tighten to specs, MCL says to start the bike and check that you can still move the bars lock to lock.

Here is the finished project:

I took the bike to the nearest big parking lot and went through the MSF slow speed exercises, and practiced parking. Everything seems to be fine, I didn’t notice any binding. I’ll be watching for any signs of chaffing on the cables. Save the original bolts in case you ever want to return to the stock configuration.

Now excuse me, while I go riding! Watch this space, after I’ve had these a while I’ll update this post with a long term verdict.

At Air Venture 2007 I purchased an iPac based Anywhere Map GPS with XM weather from its manufacturer, Control Vision.

I had trouble with it for several months, and then it seemed to start working. Last winter I posted a review of the product here. My review was favorable overall. Today I updated the review to reflect more experience with the unit.

I’ve since had a lot of trouble with my Anywhere Map. XM weather only works occasionally, and today the GPS function died (’no database found’ error).

I’ve had it with Anywhere Map. It’s a kludge of consumer parts held together with a flaky windows program.

I get sick every time I think about it. I could have had a Garmin for another $500. Garmins cost more because they are worth it. Now I’m stuck with this broken toy.

Don’t make the mistake I did.

If you need a reliable GPS/XM weather system, buy Garmin.

abr0247 answers this common question:

This performance is consistent with what I’m seeing on my Ninjette.

People talk about grass roots organizations. I’ve never heard of an organization that rose more from the grass roots than the Patriot Guard Riders (PGR) .

When casualties started coming back from Afghanistan and Iraq there were some ‘protesters’ who started invading military funerals, performing highly offensive animal acts intended to disrupt the services.   I have no idea what would motivate people to behave in such an evil manner.  I can’t see into the black hearts of these ‘protesters’, but in the end their motivation doesn’t matter, it is their actions that count.

Whatever the true motivations of the ‘protesters’, people all over the country were appalled. A group of motorcycle riders in Kansas decided that enough was enough. I suspect many of these riders were Viet Nam era vets who remembered the shameful way many of them were treated when they came home.

Rather than waiting for ‘they’ to ‘do something’, these riders took it upon themselves to act. They started attending military funerals, forming a line of individuals holding American flags, blocking the view of the ‘protesters’. These individuals did not confront the ‘protesters’, they just turned their backs to them, acting as a buffer for the friends and family of the fallen military member. Thus was born the Patriot Guard Riders. The PRG idea took root and soon there were PGR groups all over the country, supporting military families not only at funerals but at many other events.

On March 31 Sgt. Dayne D. Dhanoolal, of the U.S. Army’s 3rd Infantry Division was killed by an explosive device in Iraq.

That’s how I found myself on my little Ninja 250 motorcycle pulling into the parking lot of a McDonald’s in Round Rock, Texas (near Austin) last Friday morning. It was my turn to show that one Texan cared about a fallen solider he would never meet.

The mission would be to ride with a group of Austin area PGR members to Killeen, about 55 miles north. There we would join other PGR groups from around Texas at the ’staging area’ and proceed first to the Church where the funeral service was to be held, and then to the Central Texas Veterans Cemetery.

I’d received from the Austin area PGR mailing list a detailed email from the Ride Captain explaining where and when to meet for this mission. I noticed immediately that note said ‘KSU (kickstands up) 0925. Not 9:15, not 9:30, but 0925. They used military style time and implied a precision of +/- five minutes. I liked that.

When I was in the Air Force I was never a very ‘military’ military officer, if you know what I mean. But I was a navigator, precision planning was and is important to me. Even 14 years after retiring I sometimes get a little frustrated with my civilian friends and colleagues in the software business when things don’t happen at the advertised time. In the world of small software companies, anyway, a 9:30 meeting or event means that at 9:30 we start thinking about getting ready to have the event. It’s often closer to 9:45 or even 10 before anything productive happens at the ‘9:30′ event. There would never be anything in the small software world scheduled at 9:25.

So the 0925 scheduled KSU time was interesting to me.

I pulled into the parking lot a little before 9. There were several motorcycles there already. I have to admit that I wasn’t thinking high and lofty thoughts about duty, honor, and country at that moment. I was wondering how would I be received? Would I embarrass myself in some way on my bike? Could Baby Ninja keep up?

The PGR says they don’t care about what you drive or ride, but was that really true? The motorcycles I was seeing were all large cruisers, mostly Harley Davidsons and a couple of Gold Wings.  I was on a tiny Ninja 250 sport bike wearing not leather, but a Joe Rocket textile jacket. I was dressed more as a ‘Power Ranger’ rather than a ‘Pirate’. I was curious as to what kind of reception I might receive.

I had not had my helmet off for thirty seconds before I began to receive a warm and friendly welcome. The other riders made it a point to shake hands and introduce themselves. Many of the riders were older guys like me. They really didn’t care about my choice of motorcycle. I started to relax and feel at home. Not all PGR members are veterans, but if my experience is any guide they run their events with military precision.

I told the Ride Captain that this was my first mission, and asked him to tell me if I got out of line in some way. I told I thought my bike could hang in just fine as long as he kept in sight of the speed limit. He said he was sure I’d do fine and gave me a small PGR mission pin. He told me to take a position near the front of the group for the ride to Killeen. This surprised me, I though new guys were supposed to stay at the rear, but he was the Captain.

Just as they said in the email the Captain started to brief us on the mission at 0915. He covered the route, the staggered formation he wanted to ride. He wanted us fairly tight so we’d be less likely to be separated. He introduced the ‘tail gunner’ who would be the last rider in the group. At 0925 I put up my kickstand with the other dozen or so riders. I did have one little scare just as we pulled out, when I came closer to another rider than I’d like and I squeezed the front brake in a slight turn. That’s a good way to drop a bike, but thankfully Baby Ninja didn’t let me (literally) down.

The 55 mile run to Killeen was an interesting experience. The first half was on IH35, and we were doing the 70mph speed limit. Baby Ninja had no problem keeping up. At most all I had to do was drop to fifth gear a few times to give more than enough throttle authority to hold my position.

It’s hard to describe, but as we rode along I found myself becoming centered just the in the moment. Holding position, maintaining situation awareness, operating the machine became my world. I suppose the ride took about an hour, but it seemed to last only minutes. It was an interesting mental experience.

Before I knew we pulled in to a parking lot full of motorcycles, the staging area. I think there were close to a hundred riders. There was one other sport bike, a scooter, and the rest were cruisers or Gold Wings. People were milling around, checking out each other’s bikes, and visiting. After a few minutes we had another briefing, covering the details of the mission. The ride Captain stressed the importance of correct flag etiquette, going in to detail about how the handle the flags and how to behave while we had them.

We would first proceed a few blocks to the church where the service would be held. After the service we would escort the funeral party to the Central Texas Veterans Cemetery for the graveside ceremonies. At both location we would be issued flags on long metal poles and would form flag lines.

I wound up holding a flag, standing at attention near the entrance to the church. I think we stood there for about 45 minutes. PGR members were walking up and down the line offering water and offering to give us a break if we needed one. There was profound silence except for the sound of 80 waving flags.

I found it strange to be in a military style formation again, but also satisfying. My contribution was tiny, but at least I was doing something to show that the community and in particular the Dhanoolal family that someone cared, that Sgt Dhanoolal would not be forgotten.

We were relived from the first flag line, and asked to quietly form our bikes into an escort formation. We all stood at attention by our motorcycles as the funeral party left the church. We had law enforcement escort for the ride to the cemetery. I was again near the front of the formation. We wound up riding line abreast, which surprised me. I don’t recall this being briefed.

At the cemetery a PGR advance party had already set up a number of flags. We formed a semicircular flag line around the funeral party. The senior military officer, a brigadier general, went down our line shaking hands with each PGR member. I guess we were standing for about another 45 minutes, it’s hard for me to say, I was in some kind of meditation state for much of it. We stayed, standing at attention, until the family left.

On the way home I reflected that it had been a long time since I’d stood in a formation. I also reflected on how nice it would be to have highway pegs on my Ninja as my knees were pretty stiff.

I attended another service a few days latter. I plan to ride as many PGR missions as I can. I think these missions are very important on many levels.

Back in the Nixon administration my brother Dave bought a Honda Dream 305 motorcycle.  When that was stolen he replaced it with a Bultaco 250.  Our good friend Dan had a nice Suzuki 350 two stroke.  Dave and Dan let me drive their cycles frequently, which I enjoyed a lot.  I earned my ‘M’ drivers license endorsement back then, I vaguely recall being followed around the block near the 51st Street DPS office by a trooper in a patrol car who honked once for a left turn, twice for a right.  Amazingly, my driver’s license still carries the ‘M’ endorsement all these years later. 

Interest in motorcycles never really died, but it smoldered in me for many years.  Back in the 80s I put a deposit down on a Honda motorcycle, but a sudden transfer caused me to cancel that order.  Interest remained, but I never quite got around to acting on it.

A couple of decades later, i.e. fall 2007, my old friend Craig showed up at my house having driven pretty much non-stop from Tucson on his magnificent Honda ST-1300.  Craig’s Honda really caught my eye, and my long smoldering interest in two wheel travel ignited like a magnesium flare.

There followed several months of web surfing, visiting motorcycle dealers, attending motorcycle shows, and pestering with questions any motorcycle rider who crossed my path. 

All this lead me to a Motorcycle Safety Foundation beginner’s course, taught by Total Rider here in Austin.  The five hour Friday class room school was about as interesting as a driver’s ed course could be. The real fun started before dawn the next morning, when I arrived to find eight small Kawasaki 125 motorcycles waiting for us 8 exited student riders.

 The MSF course was a lot of fun, and taught me a lot that I never learned all those years ago when I was riding Dave’s bikes.  In retrospect, it is a miracle that I even survived riding with no training at all.

The MSF course confirmed to me that riding was as much fun in reality as it was in my imagination.

Hanging with the the other students was as much fun as the actual riding.  Most of our class were fairly young, one was only 16. There were a few old graybacks, I wasn’t the only one.

In any case the shared experience erased whatever age, gender, and background differences that might otherwise have existed.

At this point I have to yet again thank my long-suffering spouse.  She-who-may-not-be-named (the best tax person in Austin) wasn’t thrilled at all with the idea of her husband blasting around town on a two wheeled death machine. A lot of spouses might have just vetoed the whole idea, but not mine.  She gave her reluctant consent for me to begin shopping for my own motorcycle.

By now I knew my end objective.  I someday want what I’ve come to think of as one of the Starship class sport touring motorcycles.  Besides the aforementioned ST-1300, this class includes the BMW R-1200RT, the Yamaha FJR, and the Kawasaki Concours.  These are large highly sophisticated motorcycles. They are very fast (~150mph), very comfortable, highly maneuverable, and very reliable. They are optimized for high speed long distance travel on interstates or twisty back roads. They are expensive and most assuredly not suitable for the beginner.

I was pretty convinced that I wanted a used bike, and I didn’t want to spend a lot of money, no more than $3000.  Every experienced rider I encountered told me that the odds were good that I’d drop my first bike.  My MSF instructor pointed out that one low speed drop of a Starship class bike could easily cost more to fix than the total price of good used starter bike. It all made sense to me, especially after I took the MSF class.

When I started looking at bikes in earnest I assumed, as did all the salesman and all my friends, that I wanted what’s called a cruiser, that is a Harley Davidson style motorcycle.  On a cruiser the rider sits on a wide low seat, leans back and places his or her feet on forward placed pegs and controls.  Certainly a cruiser like the Kawasaki Vulcan EN500 fit my budget and my body pretty well. 

I found a couple of these motorcycles in good condition. One good thing about the little Vulcan that I liked was that it was very easy for me to mount.  I have short, thick legs with not much flexibility.  It’s hard for me to mount the taller motorcycles I looked at.  For example, I really liked the so called ‘dual sport’ Suzuki VStrom 650.  The VStrom has a very comfortable, very upright riding position.  It is a cross between a touring motorcycle and an offroad bike.  Many say it combines the best of both these worlds.  The problem for me was it was a real strain for me mount it. It took three or four trys for my legs to get over the saddle, and I was unsteady once I managed to climb on it. The good ones were beyond my budget, and I’m sure I’d drop a VStrom within the first day or two of ownership.

I initially didn’t think I wanted a ‘crotch rocket’, or more correctly a ’sport bike’.  But as I researched the subject I found that Kawasaki makes two sport bikes that are configured more for beginners.  These bikes, the Ninja 250 and Ninja 500 have a fairly upright riding position and are not considered ‘tall’.   I found a very clean Ninja 500 at TJ Cycles in Austin.  I went and sat on it several times and spent a lot of time looking at it.  Except for a missing lower fairing it seemed in almost mint condition.  It was easy to mount, and felt very comfortable.  The handle bars are not extremely low, and I learned that there exist fairly low cost risers to make them even more upright.  At 50hp its powerful, but not insanely so.  Most of all the Ninja just seemed to excite me in a way that none of the cruisers did.  I looked at all the pretty chrome and the wire spoke wheels on the cruisers, and just thought they looked silly.  The Ninja seemed like it was designed for the rider, the cruisers seemed more designed to impress some audience. 

Since I’m old, fat, and dorky I know that I can have all the chrome in the world and I’ll still be old, fat, and dorky. I’m not buying this bike to impress other people. 

The Ninja reminded me of the F-4s I flew back in the day.  Simple, fast, functional. It spoke to me in a way the cruisers did not.

One thing I really liked about shopping at TJ’s is their zero pressure approach to sales.  At the larger dealers the salesmen attach themselves to you as soon as walk in the door.  You are watched like a hawk every second you are on the premises.  At TJ’s it is the polar opposite.  You are ignored completely unless and until you choose to initiate a conversation.  I sat on this red Ninja 500 on at least four different occasions. Not once was I noticed by the employees.  My problem with this red Ninja was that the asking price of $3499 represented a several hundred dollar overrun of the maximum amount I was prepared to spend.  The bike had been there for at least three weeks, so I figured there might be some seller motivation to deal.  I went in to the dealer, introduced myself, took out my check book and offered $3100 plus ‘TTL’. The salesmen took my offer ‘back to Tom’ who came out and told me that they could not go below $3400.  That was close to my budget, but still over.  I thanked them and left, half expecting them to follow me to my car as many a car salesmen had done in the past.  They just went back to dusting the shelves.  I was a little surprised. 

Almost next door to my house is another dealer, Napalm Motorsports .  They had a ‘Ninjette’, that is the 25hp Ninja 250, smaller sibling of the red Ninja 500.  They only wanted $1900 for it.  It was bright yellow and looked pretty walking up to it.  I found it very comfortable to mount and sit on.  It’s light, only 350 pounds and pretty.  Sadly the one at Napalm had bald tires and worse yet, it had been dropped hard on both sides.  There was a lot of damage evident.  I thought about offering them $1000, but I decided I wanted my bike to at least start out nice.

I went home to ponder my options.  About this time I had purchased an HJC CL-Max helmet, a Phoenix armored jacket, some heavy black work boots, and a pair of Alpinestar motorcycle gloves.  I had everything I needed except a motorcycle.

I’d also discovered ninja250.org , a large and busy web site devoted to the Ninja 250.  I was certainly impressed with the volume of information and the enthusiasm of the owners.

By now it had come down to a question of a Ninja 500 at the top of my budget, or a 250 that would fit well inside my wallet.

My MSF instructor Jim had told us to call him if we ever had a motorcycle question.  I took him up on this offer, and called to get his take on my dilemma.  Jim told me that he had been friends with Tom, the owner of TJ’s, for many years, and believed that Tom wouldn’t knowingly sell a defective bike.  Jim had a lot of enthusiasm for the Ninja 250.  He was sure that it would have enough performance for even a fat old guy like me. That was a Friday afternoon.

The next day I resolved that I would buy a bike that day.  I first went back to TJ’s, climbed on the red Ninja 500, and sat for about 10 minutes.  I had to assume that they wouldn’t come down from $3400.  With tax and title this would eat up $4000, leaving me no budget for the ‘farkels’ or accessories I knew I’d want, let alone any budget for repairs should I drop it going off the dealer’s lot.  I remember an old math professor I had who used to say ‘to any number you can always add one’.  The 500 was just a little too spendy for me at this point.

Just around the corner from TJ’s is another used car and bike dealer, Whiteside motors.  I learned from the internet that he had three Ninja 250’s in stock.  I had not yet gone to visit him because his list prices on his website were insane.  He wanted more than the 2008 MSRP for a used 2006 model.  But, since he was so close I figured I ought to at least stop by.  He did indeed have three 250s, all in good condition.  The one he was so proud of was indeed very pretty, and had less than 1000 miles. Still, a quick call to a Kawasaki dealer confirmed I could have bought a new 2008 model for the same price.  Good luck selling at that price, Mr Whiteside. 

I wound up looking at his cheapest Ninja 250. It was a 2004 silver colored model.  It seemed in excellent shape, except for tires that were getting thin. The silver and orange wasn’t as pretty as the bright red of the newer model, but it wasn’t a disgrace, far from it.  No rash on it that I could detect, and it started and ran fine. His asking price of wasn’t  more than what I’d seen similar ones go for on eBay.  I was able to dicker a few hundred dollars off the price, keeping it well below what I had budgeted. A hand shake, some paperwork, and I drove off the lot on the motorcycle I’ve come to call La Niña or ‘Baby Ninja’.

 I was very glad that Whiteside adjoins a quite residential area.  I drove La Niña around the neighborhood for about half an hour, never going above about 35mph.  The bike was very well behaved, it was very easy to drive, and very comfortable.  A few of my stops at stop signs were a little wobbly, but she is so light that its easy to catch a mistake before the bike is on its side.  Once I had some feel for the bike I took a deep breath and pulled on to busy Burnet road.  The SUVs were sure big, but I had zero problems keeping up with traffic.  I went north on Burnet to Braker Lane, where I pulled in to the outer of two left turn lanes.  I think I stumbled a little pulling into the intersection, and my left turn veered wide, almost to the curb, giving me a little scare.  I recovered and continued until I got to the MCC building, where I work.  This building is encircled by a two lane road and has a number of parking lots.  I drove this circle in both directions, pulling in and out of the parking lot practicing some of the MSF maneuvers I’d learned in class.  I was quickly gaining confidence in the little bike.  By now it was clear that it handled like a dream, and that it had plenty of power. To get to the power you had to be willing to use all six speeds to keep the engine rpms high. The power is there.

Over the last week I’ve driven her almost 400 miles. I’ve commuted in heavy traffic, been up to an indicated 85mph (with lots of room until redline), and zoomed along twisty country roads, where I had a little bit of a flash back to the fast jet low levels I used to fly in my glory days.  It’s been a blast.  I’ve learned a lot in this short time, and I know I have lot more to learn before I’m ready for that Starship.

 I’m still a little nervous at times, especially in heavy traffic.  I wear all my gear, even strap on knee protectors, all the time.  I always wind up with a gin on my face. 

I have lots of plans for her, I’m looking forward to thousands of miles riding this wonderful little machine.

Words can not express how grateful I am to my wonderful spouse for letting me have this new toy.

Today is primary election day here in Texas.  For the first time in my life I voted Democrat.  Rush advised me to vote for Hillary, so as to keep the Dems at each others throats for as long as possible.  That’s probably good advice, but I didn’t take it.

I cannot stand the sight of that power mad, crooked, witch.  I can’t take any chance that she might get elected dogcatcher, let along President.

I voted for Obama.  He’s even more socialist than Hillary, but he doesn’t make me want to puke.

I’d like to go with the conventional wisdom, which seems to be that tomorrow a stake will be driven into her political heart.  Just like we heard before New Hampshire.

Prediction, based on gut feeling: 

Texas:  Hillary by low single digits, due in part to her operatives taking over the caucuses. 

Ohio:  Hillary by a comfortable margin

Result: Hillary is very close to Obama in delegates, but still a little behind.  I’ll be upset, but the pundits will be happy.

Image by Isobel T, used in accordance with a CC license.

In my last entry I wrote the following:

I found myself wishing I had some kind of magic ability to hover without machinery. Something that would just suspend me silently in a transparent bubble at about 5000 feet so I could just absorb the sights.

I was just describing a sort of day dream I had while flying a Piper.

It turns out that up the road in Dallas someone is really working on making my day dream possible, although the hovering would involve a machine, and would occur at a much higher altitude than 5,000 feet:

It turns out that Armadillo Aerospace up in Dallas is working on a suborbital vehicle that might implement my hovering bubble idea. 

There are a lot of technical nits to pick with this concept, for sure.

On the other hand, there could not be a more ultimate ride than this!

I had gone a month without flying, so on the spur of the moment I did a short flight last night.

I went from Austin (KAUS) to nearby Taylor (T74), did a couple of full stops, bought gas, and went back to Austin. It was a cool night, the sky was perfectly clear, not a trace of mist or cloud. There was no moon. The stars that night were big and bright, deep in the heart of Texas!

I must have seen over a hundred airplanes. They were everywhere I looked.

I slowed down for a couple of minutes over Taylor and just tried to take everything in. I started to find the noise of the Archer’s motor to be bothersome. I actually considered shutting it off for a brief moment before sanity interposed itself.

I found myself wishing I had some kind of magic ability to hover without machinery. Something that would just suspend me silently in a transparent bubble at about 5000 feet so I could just absorb the sights.

There was so much to see! Police cars with flashing lights on the ground. Rotating beacons flashing in all directions. Airplanes of all sizes all around. And the stars and planets arrayed in their full glory.

I love flying at night. I know its dangerous which is why I rarely take passengers. But it can be magic.

Image courtesy Dr Moores, used under CC license

When I first heard that Ann Coulter was going to support Hillary over McCain my reaction was “The apocalypse is here!”.

But the more I thought about it, the more I see her point. McCain is an open borders RINO. He makes President Bush’s domestic policies look conservative. I think the one thing that pushed me into Ann’s arms was McCain’s crack in the recent debate that he ’served for patriotism, not profit’.

Only an asshole liberal with no private sector experience would say something that stupid. Who does McCain think bought the several airplanes he crashed? Who does he think generates the ‘jobs jobs jobs’ in this country? It’s clear McCain completely shares Hillary’s view that the private sector is evil and must be crushed.

I think Ann nails the reasons for me to stay home next November if McCain wins the nomination:

If Hillary is elected then we face at least four more years of internal fighting, four more years of civil war just short of bullets. Hillary and McCain put Americans in one of two groups: supporters or enemies.

If we are to have a fight, I want the fight to be a clear cut battle between socialism and freedom. We can have that fight with Hillary.

If we elect McCain we still have a fight, but it will be desperate rear-guard attempt to slow the advances of ever expanding government tyranny.

I am desperately hoping for Obama to win the Democrat nomination. He’s just as left wing as Hillary, but I don’t think he hates those of us who disagree with him. I think he really wants to try and reach out across party lines and heal the country. Under President Obama I have dreams of a civil battle of ideas, rather than the kind of civil war that Hillary or McCain would incite.

Lastly, let me give Obama credit for having the best political ad I’ve seen since ‘Morning in America‘:

Hat tip: Captain Lex