(The Makeshift Memorial)   It has been more than seven years since United Airlines Flight 93 went into the ground on the south-central plateau of Pennsylvania. There is no formal monument at the petered-out strip mine where it crashed. It is lot closer to one of those home-made highway memorials. The reclaimed soil is covered […]

(Champs)    The compilation of memorable things that happened this year will be proliferating as internet lists as we get to the moment that the Ball drops in Times Square. Accordingly, I will leave that to the professionals. I don’t know how to account for the airstrikes yesterday in Gaza, and where that stacks with […]

27 December 2008   Stop Being Stupid (PowerPoint slide on Stupidity)  The Caroling appears to have stopped. I listened closely to the radio this morning and did not hear a Fantasia on Greensleeves once. It may be safe to poke my head up again, now that the mass intoxication has passed. We have entered into […]

26 December 2008   Technical Drive (Flurries from the Lincoln window) It was an interesting technical drive on a Christmas Day. I had accomplished what I needed to do, and had a wonderful Eve with the parents, opening gifts and feeling some holiday cheer.   This had been an un-programmed visit to the Northland, and […]

I always sleep like the tomb up here. It is quiet, for one, and maybe it is the energy expended in getting here. I flew to Detroit from Reagan National, and the land below the wings quickly turned white with new fallen snow. It was colder than hell at Detroit Metro, and the snow was […]

21 December 2008   The Shortest Day   (The observatory at Stonehenge)   Winter blew across Big Pink just after seven this morning. I felt a brief shiver as it went by, and sleet came with it, rattling on the parking lot below.   There is plenty to talk about this morning, but the President […]

(Manger Square, Bethlehem)   Saturday morning normally starts with the shows about pets and young children, since it is the people who have both that are awake at the same ungodly hour. There is news about Bernie Madoff and his scam, and the bail-out of the car companies that Mr. Bush has announced to prevent General […]

(1972 Promo Ad)   Mark Felt died yesterday. He was Deputy Director of the FBI back in the days of Watergate, and he worked for J. Edgar Hoover and his fey pal Clyde Tolsen when the long reign of the cult of the personality that built the Bureau was ending. “Jedgar,” as we called him […]

I am not going to buy a new car this month. It was a hard decision, actually, since this is about the best time in the world to pick up things on the cheap, if you have a little cash. The car companies are on the ropes; GM needs billions to get to the end […]

(Lucky Seven Logo)   Are you feeling lucky?   I suspect not. The best we can hope for this holiday season seems to be one of caution. I shopped more than I wanted though not for what I wanted. Some of the last items to hit this credit card billing cycle will be an airline […]