Author: Vic Socotra

Fifteen Minute County:Lines of Communication

Fifteen Minute County:Lines of Communication

DeMille had a list this morning. He told Rocket to see if he could get Vic and Vapor to do something to explain the strategic importance of the Pakistani port of Gwadar. Actually, it was the Omani port of Gwadar until 1958, part of the disintegration of British India that erupted in 1948. So, they […]

Fifteen Minute County: Plan Bee

Fifteen Minute County: Plan Bee

DeMille sighed. This was supposed to be a sort of wrap-up week to get the old business out of the in-basket and get set for some holiday routine for next week. And let the Transition sort itself out. Then, apparently Mr. Elon Musk got out of bed around 0400 local and sent a five-word Tweet […]

TMC: Cone cars & the Omnibus

TMC: Cone cars & the Omnibus

The thought had been that the drone thing would be the mid-week messaging center of gravity but there were other things. We knew something about the “Government Shut down” was going to come up and it will be fairly big, if fleeting, today. So, there was that issue and then what was passing in the […]

Fifteen Minute County: Holiday Volume & Wide Spectrum

Fifteen Minute County: Holiday Volume & Wide Spectrum

The messaging had started rapidly on Monday with holiday volume and wide spectrum. Thankfully, it is restricted air space here, so no drone-related activity in the Fifteen Minute County’s night. Well, the part of it north of Rt. 50. Clouds obscured the Moon the Cowboy State Daily published. It was along with the news about […]

Moon Over Big Pink

Moon Over Big Pink

Well, sort of. We thought we might run out of money this coming Friday at midnight, leaving us dry for the holiday. Panic was setting in, both at the HQ at Big Pink and virtual until DeMille reminded us the whole thing was imaginary, since if they shut down the printing presses in that building […]

Three Beard Night

Three Beard Night

(It would be four, if Santa’s were not plastic. These are Timmerman, Vic and journalist Austin Tice, all with similar beards within the Damascus time zone, though Vic’s was in 1980. Times change?) Busy morning, for an Advent Sunday. Rocket’s phone had bounced off the concrete corner of the HQ entrance near where that person […]

Safely Delivered

Safely Delivered

It’s Friday, Dec. 13, and Taylor Swift’s birthday. There are other things to celebrate, of course, but this is also the anniversary of the 1st battle at Fredericksburg. We like this one since it is a reminder of how a really miserable day in December can be if you are in a dugout in Urkraine’s […]

Fifteen Minute County: Transitions

Fifteen Minute County: Transitions

DeMille was tapping his LaCrosse pen on the paper tablet he puts on the picnic table to signify he is going to actually take a note, rather than a few haphazard presses against a chill screen. He rose to an erect posture the way he does when he has an announcement to make at the […]

Fifteen Minute County: Project Two Oh Five

Fifteen Minute County: Project Two Oh Five

DeMille was laughing at the Production Meeting, since the Boomers pranked him this morning. The Ladies understood something was going on, so Melissa and Kristina were aware enough to step back and stay out of the frag pattern, since Kristina had a wrap-up on the shooting at the Rosslyn Metro yesterday and that was as […]

Looking Up at the Hebron Massif

Looking Up at the Hebron Massif

Vapor looked concerned at the picnic table. There was a light fog in the air as the big Cold Front comes in behind the almost-normal mid-December temperatures. Last weekend there was a pleasant feel on the patio and extended one of the Happy Hours into an evening of seasonal. Merriment completely unpredicted. Like tomorrow. That […]