"The difference between the almost right word and the right word is really a large matter." —Mark Twain
You really never leave
After a meeting at the Pima Air & Space Museum yesterday I introduced myself to the leader of the restoration team and asked if I could take a quick tour of his work area, normally off-limits to all but the volunteer staff who work there. He said sure, and even gave me a lift to […]
A Tucson friend posted this to Facebook this morning: We’re far enough from the base that we don’t hear the sirens. Actually it’s been years since we’ve heard one, but then it’s been years since we retired from the Air Force. We’re going on base to buy groceries this afternoon; maybe the exercise will still […]
More on the Hucks starter I described in an earlier entry. One of the aircraft at the Pima Air & Space Museum, a Japanese WWII fighter, used this starting method. When I was at the museum today I took a photo of the prop spinner so you could see the boss they’d hook the Hucks […]
Every 7th of December I try to think about the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, but I’m not sure why I feel I have to. Oh, it’s an important date, all right, and though I’m far too young to have been there I have some personal memories and associations with the attack … but still, […]
I didn’t fully see it until Romney started smirking during his press conference yesterday, but now I do: he’s another George W. Bush, and judging by his self-satisfied, uninformed comments on the administration’s actions during the attacks on our embassies in Libya and Egypt two days ago, every bit as smug and stupid. Well, all […]
Just so we’re all on the same page again: cultie=cult bike=Ducati. That there is a Ducati bag I’m tempted to buy. It would go on the little rack in back. Of course I’d need a magnetic tank bag as well. Oh, wait. The cultie’s going to be Polly’s ride, not mine. Time to stop thinking […]
By now, I’m sure, you’ve heard about the Special Operations Opsec Education Fund, a group of retired military officers trying to swiftboat President Obama. According to them, Obama should have kept the killing of Osama bin Laden a secret. By announcing that US forces had caught and killed bin Laden, they say, Obama compromised classified operational […]
I went to the library earlier today and found the entrance area crowded with parents and small children. I wondered, for a minute, if the library was holding a fire drill, but I was able to squeeze through the kids and get inside, where I checked out a book they were holding for me. By […]