Air-Minded: V for Victory

When I started conducting walking tours at the Pima Air & Space Museum a few months ago, I quickly realized I’d talk myself hoarse if I didn’t overcome a certain egotistical reluctance to use a portable voice amplifier and speaker.  The museum had two but they were big heavy things, each one powered by eight […]

Town Without Pity

Hat tip to Nancy Nall for pointing me toward this New York Times article about small town gossip run rampant on an internet forum.  People in Mountain Grove, Missouri used to swap gossip face to face at Dee’s Place, but these days they have ” … shifted from sharing the latest news and rumors over […]

Tuesday Bag o’ Links

Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell was finally repealed today, and I suppose that’s a good thing.  It’s high time the military moved on.  But another significant advance of freedom for military members, at least those in the US Air Force, is also cause for rejoicing: USAF Chief of Staff General Schwartz has outlawed unconstitutional promotions of […]

If It’s Frustrating, It Must Be Monday

Today, for the first time in 14 years, the doctor at the base clinic stood me up.  My appointment was at 0850; at 0920 I decided I had more important things to do.  Clearly wires had gotten crossed; they’ve never kept me waiting more than 5 minutes before.  I told the airman at the desk […]

Intolerant Tuesday Blogging (for Jesus!)

Last Friday, I wrote about trouble in one of the local Hash House Harrier clubs. A member known for picking fights in the past showed up at a recent event and hit two or three hashers. Someone contacted me and asked my opinion on whether the guy should be banned from the club altogether. I […]

Air-Minded: Amphibian Edition

Pima Air & Space Museum is determined to keep me on my toes.  PASM is closing the normal entrance area for a month, and guests will now be entering the main hangar from the gift shop.  Before, my walking tour started underneath the replica of the Wright Flyer.  Now it’ll start smack in the middle […]

The Villagers and Their Narrative

Just heard NPR Morning Edition correspondent Steve Inskeep cut Rep. Barney Frank off in mid-sentence (audio link here). Inskeep says (at 4:13 on the tape) “the biggest part of the federal budget is entitlements.”  Frank says “No, wrong, I’m sorry, the defense budget is bigger than Medicare, and Social Security is in fact self-financing, and […]