Author: Vic Socotra

Life & Island Times: Grands

Editor’s Note: We are in a curious time. There is War on the Continent unseen in generations.. Marlow contributes this note from the Coastal Empire to tell the tale of women who have lived in times of trouble and who gave us our lives. – Vic My grandmother on the German side of my family […]

Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?

(Entrance to the National Conference Center, Leesburg, Virginia. Soon to host an interesting conference sponsored by our Department of Homeland Security). As you might imagine, several of the key nodes of communication at Refuge Farm include military planners and veterans of other conflicts. Ukraine has their attention this morning, as it does ours. But we […]

No Such Thing

We were working on the “Weather Report” chart we use weekly to keep track of what is going on around us. It is deliberately intended to be non-partisan to avoid rhetorical attacks on people who seem to intentionally be doing many of the things that pass without comment. As a point of order, we try […]

Life & Island Times: Les Françaises

Author’s Note: As luck would have it, W and I were out west in Napa Valley last week for the cyber and electronic warfare beginnings of WW III (Euro version). Select scenes form this visit this will be shared toute suite. During our stay, a dispatch appeared in my inbox from a recently retired shipmate […]

Life With Numbers

Lot of “number 2s” in the news this morning. They even rhyme, in a crude sort of way. Which is interesting, since we have been counting the number of flash points in today’s world in the number “3.” We have been muttering about that for months, and readers have only complained moderately. Rocket was unusually […]

Arrias: For the Children

Editor’s Note: A war in Europe is unfolding. The crowd at Refuge Farm is uneasy, memories of old times of great sadness rising under gray skies. In keeping, Arrias finds his Muse to be in a harsh mood on a morning filled with the number “2.” – Vic For the Children Comes in many shapes […]

Arrias: 54-40 or Fight

Editor’s Note: The matter in question that Arrias addresses below is summarized in this chart from long ago: – Vic 54-40 or Fight The Olympics are over. And the first round of the real “world games” may be about to kick off in Ukraine. Perhaps they’ve already begun by the time you read this; there […]

WHO’s on First

(A Retrospective viewed from 21 February 2022) I am leaving the original copyright date on this one, a two-part evolution I was not sure we would get to this morning. There has been a vigorous discussion between old Cold Warriors whose service lingered into the age of the Sole Remaining Superpower. You may remember that. […]

The Brilliance of Day

It is a brilliant morning at The Farm. The waning moon- waning but still bright enough to cast shadows in the darkness- rules in the western sky as the new bright sun floods the fields with life to the east. It was bright enough to cause sleep to be light and filled with illumination and […]

A Busy Day (SARS, Part One)

01 April 2003 This morning there are big events to report, The Queen of English is ailing from something that might be Covid and could be a fatal affliction, given her age. The Olympics we did not watch have just concluded in Beijing, and that may be a signal for the Russians to play their […]