Got lost at the Podiatrist, a formerly routine local errand now assuming different proportions due to changing times. Word came in that a concert had been cancelled at the Hollywood Bowl due to a “brief blackout” that also disrupted a USC football game at the Coliseum. We were comforted by the announcement from the mayor’s […]

It’s nine-oh-nine, a cheery sounding welcome to the new season! It is clear a rising bright out on The Patio near the HQ and the mugs of Chock full O’ Nuts were not yet cooled against the brisk temps in the low fifties. It was a day filled with prospects and opportunities. Some of us […]

Well, it was chill out on the patio with the first light rising under clear Sunday skies. The first Marlboro- one of the lighter ones that is as much a decorative time marker as a vice- helped set the ambiguous stage of this chaotic change of season. Congress is back, though it is the new […]

Morning! We start with Ed’s remarks about numbers, since it is relevant to discussions about all sorts of things soon to come. The number of days left before some other important things is just one of them: three more until the Debate, twenty-three to the Government Shut down now being discussed, and fifty-eight until the […]

Congress is seated again, Gentle Readers, or at least wandering around as both the House and Senate open for business today. The spokespersons claim they will attempt to order our affairs for the Fall. It therefore behooves us to recall the abive words of Mr. Twain amid a historic couple months of domestic and world […]

It is funny- The Creative Section at Socotra House got our start without any intention of so doing. We were on Midway in the IO when the embassy got taken in Tehran. We were afloat in the North Arabian Sea, out of sight of land for more than three months. Similar to what they are […]

You might recall the title of the book as something different. Modestly different. The original was borrowed from the surreal old comedy troupe “The Firesign Theater” in their signature album. That was (33RPM “Long Play”) Nick Danger from the late 1960s. The book we are talking about wasn’t about the Firesign version, or not exactly, […]

We speak a little Spanglish here at the building in an attempt to be courteous to the workers on the maintenance crew who have labored here for the last few decades. Pocito, you might say. In our limited understanding, “Que Mala!” en Espanol, means “How Bad!” Then, there was an attempt to emulate the MAGA […]

Today is Labor Day, traditionally marking the end of summer vacation. Last day in the pool, supervised by our Czech Life Guard, and the shuttering of one of Arlington’s little gems of active leisure. So, that is personal level activity. In the Endless Campaign, the first mail-in ballots are supposed to be hitting the mail-boxes […]