First, let me tell you that I am not lazy. I am not lazy. Nor drunk, like the sailors in the image above. Not yet, anyway.

I was up this morning in plenty of time to do all sorts of great stuff that you will not see, not because it isn’t endlessly fascinating, but because I don’t know what it all means. Or maybe it is simpler than it appears.

The shooting down in Fort Hood might just be more workplace violence, like the Navy Yard shootings, which was almost as horrifying and baffling as the truck-driver who tried to force his way onto USS Mahan (DDG-72) last month in Norfolk. Just plain weird. I always saw people trying to get off ships, not the other way around. And I won’t bring up Major Hassan, that murdering bastard. I know what motivated him, at least.

The world appears to be shifting on its orbit as the unipolar model falls apart. It was a good run, but perhaps attempting to be the world’s cop with only 1%- the real 1%- of the population in uniform it might have been asking too much of too few.

Sometimes I have to pinch myself. Mr. Putin seems to think it is 1914, even though the President is insisting that we are in the 21st Century, not the 19th. I am getting a little queasy.

I can’t tell you what motivated the North Koreans to start shooting artillery at the ROK, but I was moderately surprised the the ROKS shot back. There hasn’t been “peace,” per se, on the Peninsula since the Armistice was signed, but this is the hottest things have been in years. There is nothing new about Pyongyang ‘acting out,’ but it is unclear what the motivation might be.

I have to be someplace else this morning, I am not lazy. I am out of my jammies and through the process of readying myself to face the world, and generally speaking, though ahead on some fronts, creatively I am out of airspeed, ideas and time. That is not a good combination while operating heavy equipment, but not that big a deal in the soap-bubble production business of The Daily.

So let me apologize to Ann Wilson, who I misidentified as Bobby Ray Inman’s wife Carolyn. Ann is a gracious lady, as is Carolyn, and my apologies to both.

There was something else that I screwed up that I wanted to correct, but I misremember at the moment. I am sure there will be plenty of errata to come, so bear with me. I will identify mistakes as people whack me with them.

Two things remain that I wanted to pass along. Yes, it was the most important single potato recipe that you ever saw on Monday. No kidding. Marty 2 left Big Pink a long time ago, but stays in touch. She is Aone of the most vivacious people I know, and she seized the day and duplicated the triumph. Here are her taters:

A recipe that works, gentle readers, and another alert reader has sworn to adapt the concept to sweet potatoes. I am awaiting the results of the great experiment with interest.

And John-with-an-H sent me a set of images that are too good to let pass. Considering what is happening out there is a brand-new multipolar world, it is an eerily timely comment.

I am not going to claim credit for it, and it comes from a marvelous whimsical site called “The Meta Picture.” It is worth exploring at: http://themetapicture.com/if-wwi-was-a-bar-fight/

Have a great day!

Vic, 2014