Sailing the Last Voyage with Newton and Pascal
The European left can't get traction in the current depression: Yet as Europe goes to the polls, left-leaning parties across the continent are looking likely to falter. That's true both for those in government, such as in the U.K. and Spain, and in the opposition -- such as France, Germany and Italy. France's Socialist Party …
Continue reading "Maybe Europe Doesn’t Need Real Democracy Either"
The sad article in the L.A. Times about our fading legacy in the Pacific brought many things to mind, especially for someone whose father fought in that theatre. From the time that FDR, with the usual British connaivance, decided to put the main emphasis on the European theatre, World War II in the Pacific has …
It seems that the issue of Sonia Sotomayor's idea about the relation between her ethnicity, gender and life experiences and her decisions on the bench won't go away. Why? Because she keeps bringing it up: The federal appeals court judge divulged new details about her finances and provided three decades of writings, speeches and rulings …
Continue reading "Sonia Sotomayor: The 100 Person Referendum on White People"
I spend a lot of time on this site talking about yachting around South Florida and the Bahamas. As a family we were privileged to do so in an era when things weren't so crowded—or regulated—as they are now. We also got to miss the thrill of the piracy wave that swept over the region …
This was originally written for Christmas 2001--right after 9/11 and the anthrax scares--but deals with the whole political and social dynamic of the Middle East, before and after Islam. It's good to think about this after Barack Obama's Cairo speech, and should be a caution to the unbridled idealism that dominates the rhetoric of too …
Continue reading "When the Sheep Have Anthrax: A Reflection on the Politics of the Middle East"
Southern Joy Over the Next Hill (Sounding Board SJ 1020) I suppose a site like this isn't complete without some Southern Gospel, and this is a nice example of that from the mid-1970's. Southern Joy was a gospel group from Greenville, SC. Performed well without too much affectation, with a lively tempo to keep your …
Tom Autry is a Texas Christian performer who put out several very smooth albums in the 1970's and 1980's. Tom Autry (Star Song SSR-0001, 1975) Tom Autry's début album (and evidently that of Star Song Records as well) is a laid back, beautifully performed album that constantly reminds one of its Texas origins. His mellow …
Continue reading "Tom Autry: Tom Autry, and Blood of the Lamb"
Recorded 29 August 1975 These are unreleased recordings as opposed to a polished production. But some explanation is necessary. The Answer is Jesus Christ was started by M.B. Flippen (that's right, "Flip" Flippen, the motivational speaker) as a Christian counselling centre in College Station, Texas, in 1972. At the same time it was a coffeehouse …
Continue reading "The Answer is Jesus Christ Coffeehouse Rehearsal"
The Queen, participant though she was in the original festivities, is not amused at being left out of the D-Day commemoration: Indeed, she is decidedly displeased, angry even, that she was not invited to join President Obama and France’s president, Nicolas Sarkozy, next week at commemorations of the 65th anniversary of the D-Day landings in …
Continue reading "If Anyone Needs to Skip D-Day, It’s Obama"
Our family business' first trip to the then Soviet Union was an interesting experience. Our objective was to sell the Soviets (as they were called then) our offshore pile driving equipment for their offshore oil production work. Their idea was to get us to sell their diesel pile driving equipment and other Soviet technology in …
Positive Infinity 