SpaceX, the Space Launch company created by PayPal co-founder Elon Musk, is taking giant strides to make space exploration and research affordable and practical. They have already done more as a company (without government funding) than all but three countries have been able to do. Getting a capsule to orbit, then successfully bringing it back and recovering …
Category Archive: OpEd and Rambling
Nov 10
On Eternal Patrol
Nov 10
November 11th – Time again to remember
Many gave, some gave all Please take the time to remember our veterans this November 11th. There are two bugle calls attached to this web page. The first is “Retreat.” This is the song that is played as the American flag is lowered. The second is “Taps.” Both of these are pretty ingrained in to …
Nov 09
Remembering My Brother George’s Regiment
A Veterans Day Thought The 5th Battalion of the 7th Cavalry Regiment spent late 1967 and early 1968 fully engaged in some of the most difficult combat of the Viet Nam War up until that time. Not the best place and time to be an 11B (infantryman). My brother George sometimes referenced that he was …
May 20
Memorial Day
As we approach the memorial day weekend it is important to remember why we celebrate this holiday. Three years after the Civil War ended, on May 5, 1868, the head of an organization of Union veterans – the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) – established Decoration Day as a time for the nation to …
Apr 24
SpaceX Brings a Booster Safely Back to Earth
Imagine what it would cost to fly from Denver to Orlando if the airplane could only be used once and a new one had to be built for each flight. This is the cost model that we have historically used when it comes to space flight. Even the Space Shuttle (which was intended to address …
Feb 03
Is it Friday yet?
Forklift Safety A long time ago, when I was a soldier in Germany, one of the warehousemen in the unit had an accident involving a forklift that shattered his leg, leaving one leg shorter than the other. The incident changed my mind about how silly ‘Forklift Training’ was. I ran across this animated .gif file …
Jan 01
Telephone Epiphany
So things in the world have changed while I was sleeping. It seems that I have always assumed that the old copper pair telephone was just one of those things in life that would never go away. With a significant number of American households moving from copper to smart phones it is probably time for …
Jul 14
Apple Ford “Customer For Life” program–Epic Fail
Customer For Life? I’m a Ford guy. From my first car in 1973, everything has been either a Ford, Lincoln, or a Mercury. When Cindy and I were relocated to the Baltimore area we spent some time trying to find a dealer with a sales staff that we could work with and a service department …