June 18, 1815 (Detail from the engraved copy of Daniel Maclise’s astonishing fresco “The Meeting of Wellington and Blücher after the Battle of Waterloo, June 18, 1815). I never know where we will go after priming  the pump with a piping hot pot of Dazbog-brand Russian Coffee. I got a fine note about the history […]

Politics are pissing me off again. Politics Is? Crap. That must mean I am feeling better, and about as concerned with the fate of the Republic as getting to the kitchen for the last cup of Dazbog-brand coffee without sprawling headfirst onto the tiles. The President wrapped up his big Energy Trip, and I feel […]

(The new consolidated Army-Navy complex at Bethesda, home of the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. The iconic tower where Secretary of Defense James V Forestal attempted to fly in in the center. US Government rendering.) Ya know, I actually had an appointment with an orthopod Doc here in Arlington for yesterday- Sheila the nice […]

(French Interior Ministry personnel at the scene of the yeshiva shootings in Toulouse. Photo courtesy of the UK’s Telegraph.) The murder of children is back in the news this week, not like it wasn’t last week, too. It has happened down through the long bloody history of humankind, and in the clash of civilizations we […]

(Dramatic Detroit Skyline, seen, of course, from Windsor, Ontario, in the Dominion of Canada.) I am a political creature, as you know, and used to be comfortable in this Constantinople on the Potomac. These days, not so much. Nothing in particular seems to be working. The President seems to be surprised that people do not […]

(Earthquakes and tsunamis are part of the Japanese psyche. Living as they do on islands floating on the grinding of the Pacific tectonic plates, both are common occurrences. Mystical explanations helped explain the apparently random and frightening events. This image shows the giant catfish, Namazu, whose wiggling tail causes earth tremors and giant waves. Namazu […]

(The Great House at Stratford Hall. A place out of time, falling forward into a future we cannot know. Yet. Photo Stratford.) I did not fall out of bed with much enthusiasm, looking owlishly at the clock. I had to be on the Northern Neck by ten or so for the funeral, and I dressed […]

We were talking about Guam and slowly lowering the levels of the liquids in the glasses in front of us. Mac had a golden Bell’s Lager, from Kalamazoo, Michigan, and I was working on a pale white wine from  South Africa that Kevin the Sommelier had picked out as the Happy hour loss-leader. We may […]

It was a great day for weather and a mixed day for my personal interaction with the First Amendment. We had low eighties and sun in Arlington, and people were literally floating along the sidewalks with goofy grins, welcoming the coming warmth. I had to take the Bluesmobile to the repair shop yesterday to have […]

  (Science Project.)   I thank God that I am retired, and have the liberty to pursue my own delusions and not those of others. I got a request to comment on the Navy’s commitment to bio-fuels, demonstrated recently by a demonstration on a decommissioned Spruance-class destroyer, the ex-Paul F. Foster (EDD-964).   The ship […]