Life is still good in Northern Virginia. I am going swimming this afternoon, rain will not be here for another several hours, I have no statues in my neighborhood, and no one is marching around. Certainly not the way tropical storm Harvey is stomping on and punishing Texas, which has changed and my whole idea […]

(Looking and feeling my best on a Sunday morning). I sent along one of Arrias’s fine ruminations this morning about what happened after the American Civil War. It was an affirmation of how the wounds of a nation could be bound up, and let the healing begin. It was particularly poignant, considering the current hysteria […]

How the heck did it get to be Wednesday again? Dog Days of August and the uneasy realization that the pool is going to close in less than two weeks. At least one problem is deferred: Congress is back home raising money, and not much is happening here in the muddy flats by the Potomac. […]

Everyone was kind of nuts yesterday about the heavens, and the accidental passage of the moon between us here in North Americ and the solar orb. We were not quite in the sweet spot, and I was not going to join the other lemmings seeking darkness at noon, though naturally I am not opposed to […]

There is a lot of talk about monuments these days. The direction it is going- more demonstrations in Boston this morning, results unknown at press time- amounts to an assault on the country where I thought I grew up. I am OK with the debate, though not the direct action taken against monuments to causes […]

(You could look these guys up in the Cruisebook, if you had the right one. Here is a chance!) Shipmates and fellow travelers, I could rail on about what is going on this week- and which has been going on for some years in the context of the Conference theme of “Cognitive 5th Generation Warfare” […]

This is going to have to be short- I am in between panel discussions at the big Defense IT conference and have many networking obligations this morning. Still, I have to say that the news from Durham got me going this morning. The bullshit confrontation between Nazis and Commies in wonderful little Charlottesville- both groups […]

Editor’s Note: we have a peripatetic correspondent named Jim whose jottings reflect a life of service. This is a gem, and he has allowed me to forward to both the professional website and the Socotra distribution. For those who have not done a tour at sea, it may be a revelation. For those that have, […]

(President Chon Tu Hwan of the Republic of Korea) As you well know, there is more talk about nuclear weapons than in a long time. DC is not in range, according to what they are reporting, but apparently the little fat guy thinks he can hit Guam, which makes this all personal. So, I was […]

As you are doubtless aware by now, I am privileged to be a mostly passive participant in a bunch of email strings with other retired Navy spooks (I generate too much of my own blather), and generally respect (and protect) their privacy and stories. I have saved several of the strings about places like Cambodia […]