Vic Socotra – Page 258

September 4, 2018 Vic Socotra

Life & Island Times: Immoderate Proposals In Response To The They-Prey-We-Pray Scandal

The lone wolf that plagues the Catholic Church — sexual appetite Power into will, will into appetite; And appetite, a universal wolf, So doubly seconded with will and power Must make perforce a universal prey, And last eat up himself. – Ulysses in Troilus and Cressida, Act 1 Scene 3 For many decades of my […]

September 4, 2018 Vic Socotra

Great Sea Story

Gentle Readers (and Polliwogs)- This appeared this morning from Bill Studeman with and a hat-tip to Rich O’Lear and Jake Jacoby for sharing. There are many Shellbacks who have crossed the equator on a proud ship of War or Peace, a much smaller number of Golden Shellbacks have crossed the Equator at the Dateline. I […]

September 2, 2018 Vic Socotra

Arrias: Our Moral Vacuum

It’s said nature abhors a vacuum. Strictly speaking, I’m not sure that’s true; the universe is essentially empty, only a tiny percentage of the universe has anything in it. But in politics and society it is true, if you remove one set of rules or order from a social structure, it’ll be replaced by another. […]

August 22, 2018 Vic Socotra

Swamp Postcard #46

Hurricanes Just a few months ago, my son called from Honolulu to tell me missiles were inbound. Thankfully, that turned out to be a bogus alert, but now there is a Cat 4 Hurricane bearing down on Honolulu, and it is real. We survived Hurricane Ewa back in the ’80s, and it was pretty amazing. […]

August 15, 2018 Vic Socotra

Special Swamp Post Card 3: Vacation Edition

The pool closes at Labor Day, and Kuba the Polish Life guard will be free of us again. No word on whether the Big Pink Condo Board will authorize two weekends in September for swimming. Constant vigilance is required. Also necessary in the inexorable approach of the mid-term election. I ha to flee the city […]

August 10, 2018 Vic Socotra

The Club Prepares for Demonstrations

Sunday is going to see an influx of left and right wing demonstrators on Sunday. Apparently this is the second iteration of the pro-and-counter demonstrations last year in Charlottesville, Virginia, the home of Mr. Jefferson’s University of Virginia. One demonstrator was killed in the clash. This time the right wingers have secured a permit to […]

August 8, 2018 Vic Socotra

Special Dog Days Edition 2

It is early August and I am rode hard and put away wet, which is actually part of the paradox of life. I can sim vigorously for an hour and then barely limp back to my condo. Irritating. And worse, the pool will start to shut down Labor Day weekend with no week day swims […]

August 5, 2018 Vic Socotra

Arrias: The U.S. Navy: A Leadership Crisis

Maurice Rindskopf commanded USS Drum during WWII, later rising to the rank of Rear Admiral. Commissioned in 1938, 3 years before Pearl Harbor, Rindskopf was the youngest man to command a submarine during WWII. During WWII, when communications and information technology was far less sophisticated, and commanders required large staffs to support these processes, staffs […]

August 1, 2018 Vic Socotra

Swamp Postcard #45

These are hardly the Dog Days of August. To the contrary, it has been cool and rainy. I swear I have been chilled each time I have been in the pool since Memorial Day. Despite the continued chaos of the Mueller probe, the wars are still in progress and the debt continuing to press upward, […]

July 29, 2018 Vic Socotra

Ceremony At Osan

(Remains arrive at Osan. the flag is that of the United Nations, under which US forces served. Image from Pacific Stars & Stripes) If you don’t know (or have forgotten) your Korean geography, Osan is the big USAF base about an hour south of Seoul. When I was assigned to US Forces Korea in 1980, […]

Author: Vic Socotra