May 2011 - Argghhh!

People take for themselves and give to you time to smell the roses, and note the important things, and the little things. A sense of politesse. Not because big city people won't, or can't - it happens all the time - but because it gets lost in the surrounding bustle. What was exciting to me when I was younger is enervating now. As President of the Leavenworth Rotary Club, I've presided over the greatest die-off of Rotarians in the decade I've been a member of this club. That speaks...

'I bet Bin Laden regrets allowing his iPhone app to "use his current location".' "Mrs. Bin Laden just updated her Facebook status to single." "Bin Laden shouldn't have used his real address for his PSN account." "They should have captured Bin Laden alive and made him continually go through airport security for the rest of his life." "RIP Osama bin Laden, World Hide and Go Seek Champion (2001-2011)" "The 72 virgins all have headaches...

Ah - The battlefield of political ideas... Boq

Gotta love the spin here. "Gosh! We're so excited, we've pushed down the average time it takes to hire someone from 155 days to 116! Dang, we're super-good!"Heh. I'd like to know the median time it take to hire someone, as well as the metrics used to reach these numbers. Am I wrong, or is the government the only entity that can even *contemplate* timelines like this, much less tout 116 days as an *accomplishment*?Do we have someone who is knowledgeable about this who can...

I noticed, as did the Auld Soldier, that over the 80's and 90's and into the 00's,he and I would get ever-greater attention revolving around the holiday, as, in our eyes, Memorial Day and Veteran's Day got more conflated. There are lots of reasons for that, we supposed. The relative peace of the time, the national schizophrenia regarding Vietnam, then the whole 9/11 and it's aftermath thing. I am frankly uncomfortable, when around this time of year people recognize I'm a veteran...

...on the ABC's of Aging, and since there are a whole friggin' boatload several Castle residents who have passed the mid-century mark, I'd just like to offer this cautionary tale as a helpful reminder to anyone planning to visit the doc for a checkup (do that fast, before ObamaCare kicks in, cuz chances are your present doc will have switched to a more lucrative line of work, such as panhandling):An ol' guy (I'll call him Bob, because I can) goes for a physical. All of his tests...

...from someone who used to work in the field of clandestine operations. Nameless at his request.It is only 0500 on 2 May 2011 and I have already received a number of emails and calls asking me to comment on the operation that resulted in the death of Usama bin Laden (UBL.) While it is early days in the wake of the assault, and I know nothing more about it than we are all seeing on TV, I do know enough about the area and the intelligence/tactical military requirements involved in an attack like this...