We ran one of Marlow’s observations from his aerie in the Coastal Empire this morning. He summed it up nicely, which is to say he described things happening in our great nation with a sense of uncertainty and doubt. Neither are particularly unusual in the free-for-all that attends our joyful American life, and why this […]

(This diagram reflects a process we used to use on a professional basis to understand how things were going on any given day. It was based on assumptions we used to think were important. A guy named Stanislav Petrov ignored them at work in 1983. Many of these have changed in meaning since we studied […]

There was an almost inadvertent editorial meeting this morning, the one we usually celebrate for the achievements of Labor in an economy in which we appear to be compensating a lot of folks for not working. That includes us, so we will leave it at that. The holiday meant we had decided to enforce quiet […]

It is the start of a long weekend. It is a bit odd as we settle into the post-career schedules, although we only pretend to work when it is useful. And the COVID precautions thing, since we are supposed to not pay attention to the mess in Afghanistan. But the House, Senate and the President […]

Got up yesterday morning a little later than usual and hobbled from bunkhouse to the Great Room at Refuge Farm. The phone was resting quietly by the powered chair, which was one of the devices that had called out for emergency back-up electrical power so I could extricate myself from its warm embrace in time […]

03 September 2021 Out With the Old I am working on a project that surfaced with the move out of Big Pink, and selling the last of the units I lived in or owned in that stately old place in Arlington. I lived there as long as we at war in Afghanistan, and for just […]

Dawn is cool, clear and dry. The Lady in Red on the flat screen told us the tropical depression that used to be a hurricane would pass us by in Virginia’s Piedmont, and usher itself out to the north and east. It will be replaced by cool, clear and dry air coming down from Canada […]

There are tipping points in the natural world and similar events in the world of humankind. With the change of the calendar date, we now find ourselves looking toward the end of this new month, and the impending arrival of Autumn. There are all sorts of changes contained on the calendar as we get through […]

(Dana Perino is one of the few media people we enjoy these days. She grew up in Wyoming, after all. Recently celebrating her 50th birthday, she also got a neat update to her on-screen look. The Writer’s Section at Socotra House wishes they could afford something that effective. But we share a feeling she expressed […]