Author: Vic Socotra

Weather Report: Morning, Folks!

A relatively quiet week as the powers that be assemble themselves for the larger and more hysterical antics that will come with the end of Sping and the coming summer. We note with regret the passing of Senator Joe Lieberman, a courteous centrist civil servant. There was some discussion yesterday about how things might look […]

Arrias and His Muse: Good Morning and Weather

Rain is Falling Rain is falling, a constant tapping, A flash of lightning splits the dark, Thunder rumbles, shakes our house, The dogs uneasy, answer with a single bark. Holy Thursday in the Dismal Swamp, A good friend and true under the knife, Bypass surgery never routine, A prayer – Dear God, safeguard his life. […]

The Bridge to Nowhere

(Above is what stood last week at the entrance to the inner harbor in Baltimore. The security cameras would have reflected the 1.6-mile tursses of the bridge before the massive container ship began to experience outages on power and navigation systems. The span is considered a vital portion of the East Coast north-south traffic corridor. […]

In Between War and Peace

So, the above montage is Dad’s work in the mid-1950s as he rose to be assistant Chief of Design at George Romney’s American Motors Company. He had started by establishing a relationship with Betty in New York City in 1948. His buddy Bob Veryzer mentioned there were jobs available in Detroit- “The Paris of the […]

Arrias and his Muse: My Muse is in a dark mood…

We See Money for your missiles, A billion for another floating beauty, Billions for bombers and AI, But none for corporals on duty. Politicians take their pictures With some PFC who lost an arm, Spread that picture around, The voters for to charm. But the PFC still has no arm, And his buddies are still […]

Wall Street Won’t Bail Him Out

(They say these entrepreneurs are still bailing out Wall Street from the 2008 Financial Crisis. You can see the complications if someone with authority hits you up for a half billion bucks by lunchtime tomorrow! Image BusinessInsider). We thought the former Chief Executive was going to get a bail-out yesterday from the fiscal mess he […]

Maybe We Can Go to Lunch?

(This is a visual representation of $1 trillion bucks, represented by stacking $100 bills on top of each other in neat rectangular stacks. In the single-stack vertical version, the stack would be 631 miles high. Congress passed a bill last night bringing the discretionary component of our budget to nearly a thousand miles in height). […]

Earth’s Axial Tilt or Obliquity

This is a big day. We are not going to let go of the tilt, which has dogged us through the winter season. There was an announcement from the Expert teams at the Park and Weather Services (they each have one that periodically make joint announcements). They say the cherry trees at the Basin on […]

Recapping the Parade of Fools

(New York State Attorney General Letitia James announces she does not want to take possession of Trump Tower in Manhattan in order to satisfy a preliminary ruling that will be appealed on a variety of Constitutional Issues against a former senior Administration official). Tough morning, and we beg your forgiveness for our lack of preparation. […]

Jenny Diver

(That is Bobbie Darin, the pop crooner who released the single “Mack the Knife” back in 1958. Mom and Dad had purchased the 45 RPM single and played it on the record player that sate on the table in the corner of the dining room in Birmingham, Michigan). The tune had a remarkable arc in […]