-but we�re making great time. So goes one of the great mottoes of the navigator training school at Mather AFB, c. 1981. I am not quite sure where I am this week, but I think I am making some small progress in giving that Philippa Gregory byotch a run for the money in the historical… More »
(Part One of several to come) “From ancient grudge break to new mutiny, Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.” I have been thinking about the Civil War, lately; most particularly because I am plowing through a great tall pile of books about all aspects of that most bitter national division. I have just finished… More »
No one has my name on a list with any sort of “vulnerable for deployment date.” I’m back in a civilized city that has more than one Jack In The Box. JITB Tacos are a guilty pleasure of mine. I know they’re bad for me 9 ways from sideways, but they were the first taco… More »
Via TJIC: Scouts follow training and common sense, flim at 11:00. Eight Scouts, ages 11 to 14, and their three adult leaders emerged unharmed from the dense forest Monday morning after an intense overnight search by 28 rescuers and nine dogs. Rescuers who were not, as it turns out, were not needed. They rescued themselves.… More »
There must be something in the water, or a phase of the moon. One of my neighbors blames it all on the comparatively wet summer – another sign of global warming or cooling or whatever. A co-worker from the radio station blames it all on that old devil, the sex drive. Whatever the rationale, it… More »
Carnival of Space – Week 21 is up at Why Homeschool. My favorite is the Cynic’s post The Space Cynics getting tired of “announcements” of great things space agencies intend to do that are 20+ years from now (and somehow never seem to materialize…) in their post Anyone Can Take a Reservation. Cross posted to… More »
What is it they say; the first time tragedy, second time farce? What do they call it when it was a farce the first time around – only dressed up in the high seriousness of a Searing Sixty Minutes (dum-de-dum-dum!) Expose? Here it comes around again, with Mr. Rather’s suit against CBS News for making… More »
We acquired a company earlier this year and I have been spending a lot of time on the road trying to integrate all things legal, hence limited blogging time. It’s kind of interesting because they are a tech company with a lot of the stereotypical traits, as in attire consisting of bermuda shorts and sandals.… More »
To all who shall see these presents, greeting: Know Ye, that reposing special trust and confidence in the fidelity and abilities of … You know the rest. Congratulations to Sergeant First Class Reece Gordon – the finest SSG SFC it is my pleasure to know. He’s a hell of a good son as well. Doesn’t… More »
Apparently, it comes as an earth-shattering surprise to this student writer that the service academies… you know, West Point, Annapolis, the Air Force Academy (and mustn’t forget the Coasties as well) are run by the various military services as a means of producing officers… and that the students of the various academies are, in fact,… More »
So I’m driving home, looking for something to listen to on the radio, and I flip over to WJZZ, the “smooth jazz” station. And they’re playing HALL AND OATES?!?!?!?! When did they move into the “jazz” category of music? I just don’t see it. Is this another sign that I’ve become an old fogey, out… More »
Thinking about mowing the lawn always fills me with some dread. I mean I KNOW I’ll be much happier about the appearance of the house once I’m done and will have no small satisfaction that the job is done, but damn…the time before I do it really blows. I never know what time is too… More »
And someone throw another quart of liquid soap in the bubble machine, the madness of the writers’ life waltz has just been ratcheted up another couple of notches. No, wait… that’s the Tylenol cough syrup kicking in… that blue stuff does have a kick, doesn’t it? Yes, sports fans, I seem to have contracted the… More »
From: Sgt. Mom To: Various Re: Making an Exhibition of yourself in the News 1 – To Sandy “The Pantsman” Berger, on the occasion of joining Hilary Clinton’s topmost advisory circle: Are those top secret archives in your shorts or are you just happy to see us? 2 – To O.J. Simpson; What, are you… More »
How many kids with ADD does it take to change a lightbulb? Wanna ride bikes?!!!
Do you remember that Radio Shack Commercial where the folks are sitting in Santa’s chair and one of them goes off on a rant about, “What is Bluetooth anyway?” Okay, most of the folks who come here already know basically what Bluetooth is. It’s a wireless technology similar to the networks created by wireless computer… More »
The Fancher-Baker party were nearly the last large emigrant party of that year. They had the astounding ill-luck to be traveling south as tensions in the Utah settlements mounted in anticipation of an all out apocalyptic war between the Saints and the forces arrayed against them. Brigham Young had declared martial law, sealing the borders… More »
Article Volunteers and National Park Service rangers on Saturday discovered a “light, oily” substance on the memorial’s wall panels and the paving stones in front of it, Bill Line, a Park Service spokesman, said yesterday. The substance, which has not been identified, was spread over an area of about 50 to 60 feet, mostly on… More »
all photos taken 9/18/2002
A Tuesday morning in September, one of those autumnal days when it has begun to cool down and the skies in Texas are a deep, clear blue. There is rain predicted for today, so at best the sky will be spotted with tufts of cloud, perhaps overcast all together. I am going to work today,… More »
(part 1 here and part 2 here) The execution of approximately a hundred and twenty men, women… and yes, children also… of the Fancher-Baker wagon-train party stands out particularly among revolting accounts of massacres in the old West, and not just for the number of victims. The most notorious 19th century massacres usually involved Indians… More »
It’s sadly been taken down but there was a DailyKos story whose protagonist clearly saw this ad in the Navy Times … Global organization has a full-time Landing Signals Officer (LSO) position available. This position is responsible for providing quality guidance to a variety of aircraft. Duties include but are not limited to: Support for… More »
Always fun to land a blow on an ever moving target, with a wobbly lance. And no horse to speak of, just me at a dead run across the hillside, this being the perils of the low-budget POD author, when cleverness and creativity try and make up for not being able to do what the… More »
(Part one is here) The start of the trail season, spring of 1857 saw a number of prosperous but restlessly ambitious emigrants taking the trail west, many of them linked by ties of kin and friendship: the Bakers of Caroll County, Arkansas, and the Huff and Fancher clans, from Benton County, were joined at some… More »
This is what defeat sounds like … … in Phnom Penh former Cambodian prime minister Sirik Matak wrote to John Gunther Dean, the American ambassador, turning down his offer of evacuation: Dear Excellency and Friend: I thank you very sincerely for your letter and for your offer to transport me towards freedom. I cannot, alas,… More »
Ran across this a couple of days ago, via Rantburg – if World War Two had been a real-time, on-line strategy game, this how the chat-room might have appeared: Hitler[AoE]: america hax, u had depression and now u got a huge fockin army Hitler[AoE]: thats bullsh1t u hacker Churchill: lol no more france for u… More »
Considering all those cinematic or literary occasions in which an emigrant wagon train on the California/Oregon trail was pictured being attacked by a war-party of Indians, it actually happened as represented on very few occasions. That is, a defensive circle of wagons, with the pioneers being well-dug in while the Indians ride around on horseback,… More »