AGI SSV-493 Balzam off Pearl Harbor 1983 The news this morning includes a fanciful tale from Moscow that runs like something from the Cold War. Allegations that former FSB agent Andrei Lugovoi whacked former Soviet KGB officer Litvenenko by means of nuclear poisoning has spiraled into a blather of obfuscation, which includes dark references to […]

Americans are famous for living in the moment. I am in one now, swilling coffee in my aerie high above the pool on the west end of Big Pink. I am dealing with the effects of a power surge from the big electrical storm that fried the amp on my home theatre system. I am […]

People’s Museum #5 Earlier this month, USS Kitty Hawk, the oldest ship in full active service in the US Navy, embarked on its last major maneuvers before being decommissioned next year. It is a matter of strategic and personal interest, since it is the last conventionally-powered aircraft carrier, and that is the reason for why […]

I had to move several rungs down Dr. Mazlow’s hierarchy of needs last night, but we have been down that road before, and I will not bore you with the details. The lack of power did not trouble the endless party across the street, and besides, power or not, it had been a nice day. […]

I got up in the dark, though strictly speaking I did not have to. The plan had been to be on the hallowed ground early, with the dawn coming up, but I checked the web site and the Superintendent does not open the gates until eight. I looked at e-mail. Faluja was awake, and had […]

I can hear the Czech lifeguard moving pool furniture around, when the din of the big motorcycles out of Route 50 diminishes with the cycle of the traffic lights. I looked down from the balcony, and discovered it is Pavel, returning to Big Pink from Medical School in Prague. It is unusual to get a […]

Line Crossing Ceremony, USS Midway, Indian Ocean, 1979 When we crossed the line the first time it was a big deal. Of course you could opt out of the ritual; this was a kinder and friendlier Navy, and I imagine there were some who huddled alone in their bunks to avoid it. Most of the […]

I had been on a fool’s errand, me being the fool. I was working on a project that will mature in 2008, after the current unpleasantness overseas, and forgot I was living in the present. I tried to get from Big Pink to one of the shining towers in Bethesda to make a late meeting, […]

When I went down to the sea, I went as an office worker. The ships in which I sailed were enormous mobile airfields, which is a remarkable capability that Odysseus would have admired. Out in the wide ocean, there was remarkable feeling of solitude when flight operations were secured and the lights of the escorts […]

The big air show was held at Andrews Air Force Base over the weekend. Military jets from all over where in town for demonstration flights, and the aircraft the taxpayers purchase were on static display. The Air Force Demonstration Team was here, too, The Thunderbirds. There were public safety messages on the radio to notify […]