(Admiral James D. Watkins as Chief of Naval Operations. Photo USN.)   My pal Joe shipped a note to me this morning, which he does regularly about issues in the Community, either government or contractor. This was different. It was an obit, and it was one of a famous guy. I looked at it with […]

I thought the story was so cool when I saw it that I had to clip it electronically and review in detail. It was a candidate for yesterday’s story until I got off on other technologies that don’t deliver on what they promise. I suppose I should reserve judgment until the new washers and dryers […]

(The Coinmach empire began with a single row of front-lading machines in Long Island in 1947. Now it is coming after me. Photo Coinmach.) I am starting to panic. The issues cascading over us- the nonsensical tax bills wending their ways to nowhere in the Senate and House, the controversy over whether there is an […]

(Russian fast attack submarine in the Barents Sea. Photo Provda online.) I know I have at least two people that read this drivel, since they wrote to ask whether I had got tired of assaulting the sensitivities of my friends and fellow travelers. In my defense, yesterday was the day from hell. I had to […]

It was a gray steel-wool colored weekend. Saturday was surreal. Not because of the weather, since the persistent drizzle was a bit of a novelty. We have been sharing a touch of the drought that has ravaged this year’s crops in the Midwest. Up in Michigan, the early Spring killed off the cherry crop. Bad […]

(Arlington’s vibrant Wilson Boulevard Corridor, looking east to Rosslyn and The Disctict.) I live in a Blue County and drive a Blue car. That is as political as I am going to go this morning. The issue of civic virtue has been percolating in the back of my brain for a long time, rising each […]

21 July 2012     I do not want to talk about politics, and it seems that all there is to do is talk about politics, or the politics of tragedy, or the other way around. I am going to stay away from it.   There was a tantalizing story out of troubled Syria. I […]

It was a dark night in Colorado. There has been another one of those periodic American events. This one has some vaguely interesting nuances. The location was not far from Littleton, to a town in which I once lived. It happened in Aurora, at the Century 16 multiplex theater. A “lone gunman dressed in black” […]

  Shipmates and Gentle Readers, this is a guest post from the Master Chief to complete the action after the end of the American War in Southeast Asia:   The last helos were on board and Midway Magic headed south to return the Air Force Jolly Greens the base at Utapao and finally get some […]

The First Day of the Rest of My Life started yesterday. I got done with the morning rant- why aren’t those bankers and financiers in jail?- and looked up at the clock. I realized I had 31 minutes to be in a place I had never been before. Crap. Double crap. Every movement takes extra […]