(Partially Enclosed Lifeboat Similar to that from Maersk Alabama)   Richard Phillips is going to get the Easter Egg that his family told him they were saving for him. That was splendid news, and it came as I was rolling back from a jaunt over to the local pawnshop, something I should have done last […]

It is Easter, and I am risen, if not in the same divine fashion as some.   A sciatic nerve got pinched last Thursday and I have been lurching through the day. As usual, the events of the calendar snuck up on me. Having no children underfoot, the whole Spring Break thing never came up […]

(Case-Shiller Graph depicting decline of key regional real estate markets from 2006 peak)   I would have to go back and check, but I recall vividly the moment that I knew that Barak Obama was going to be the President of the United States. It was not one of those moments when you saw a […]

(Captain William Bainbridge)   It is a splendid day to be alive. I trust you are feeling frisky, like I am. The additional day-light must be at the root of it, all the flowering going on. The serious light green blossoms have emerged on the trees that rise just above the fourth floor of Big […]

The gang stopped at the bar down the street from the corporate building conveniently located I was attempting to explain the oil shock to a young professional who has no idea what inflation is like.   I tried to tell him about the strike-of-the-week from whatever Union has had enough of falling behind in their […]

(Robert Michael Gates, Secretary of Defense) There was a solid thump on the floor yesterday. The Budget of the Defense Department of the United States of America was announced by the short gray man who is its Secretary.   I like Bob Gates, even if the echo of his sensible black wing-tip shoe dropping on […]

(A Classic Loner) I have been thinking a lot about weapons lately, the ones on all sorts of scales. The North Koreans tried to assert themselves in a major way over the weekend and failed. Several Americans, or recent immigrants to America, asserted themselves successfully against family and strangers alike.   The media ominously reports […]

(South Koreans watch coverage of the rocket launch. New York Times photo)   It is entirely possible that a little metal sphere is whizzing around the earth broadcasting tinny martial music about the greatness of the Dear Leader this morning. Even if it is not, some people will claim that it is. I do not […]

Everyone in the movie knew this was not going to be a great day.   I knew that the Hubrismobile needed new front tires, and I had been shopping hard for the best price in town. I don’t know what it going to happen, and I figure that you may as well stay on top […]

  (Captain’s gig on crane)   I saw the Dalmatian Doc yesterday on one of the four visits that the health care plan is going to grant me to deal with the creeping arthritis. This officially was visit number two, and the Doc is trying all sorts of things.   He got his training for […]