Random synapse firings . . .. . . Some political. Some not.

Army Gen. Carter Ham, head of U.S. Africa Command is in charge of the Libya military operation. Ham's headquarters are in Stuttgart, Germany. George Patton just rolled over in his grave.

I am sick of "reality" television. Most of the programs consist of patently unlikeable people plotting against other unlikeable people while watched over by equally unlikeable hosts or unlikeable groups of judges. I would not mourn the demise of The Bachelor, The Real Housewives of (fill in the blank), Survivor, Big Brother, The Real World, Jersey Shore, The Apprentice (especially the celebrity version), Fear Factor, America's Next Top Model, Project Runway, Road Rules, ad nauseum. What ever happened to stories and plots and people we could actually like?

With the attack on Libya, Barry just set a record for number of horses changed in the middle of the stream.

Billy Ray Cyrus sang the National Anthem at the Bristol NASCAR race today. Except for a country attempt at urban yodeling near the end, he did OK.

Do you find it odd the Europe is pissed when we intervene somewhere, and is equally pissed when we don't?

The United States Air Force took the time, effort and expense to fly a KC-135 tanker over the Bristol race track at the conclusion of the National Anthem. Fox Sports gave it a full five seconds of air time.

In 1986, France denied overflight of American aircraft bound for Libya. Last week, they were all aflutter because we weren't dropping bombs.

Pane Pugliese may be the finest bread made on this planet.

MARCH 19, 2003
BUSH: 'American and coalition forces are in the early stages of military operations to disarm Iraq, to free its people and to defend the world from grave danger'...

MARCH 19, 2011
OBAMA: 'Today we are part of a broad coalition. We are answering the calls of a threatened people. And we are acting in the interests of the United States and the world'...

Barry needs a new speech writer - or at least one with original ideas.

Grammar . . .
. . . fail, part 2!

From our guidance on developing project planning documents:

Please remember: spelling, grammar and style does matter.

Yes, they does.

Grammar . . .

. . . fail!

From The Daily Mail:

Gaddafi has had billions of pounds worth of his assets frozen along with his daughter and four sons.

Perhaps Gaddafi's assets should be frozen. Perhaps one of his sons deserves it also.

But his daughter?

That seems exceedingly cold . . .

From Reuters:

Late Tuesday, a California judge issued a stay-away order barring Sheen from coming closer than 100 years to Mueller and their sons.

He should live so long.

I'll be here all week, folks.

Ah yes . . .

. . . life in southern Italy

On the Med. Oranges, warm breezes, pasta, and uh . . . snow?




Ok, the photography sucks - but it was cold on the balcony in my pajamas.

When life gives you lemons . . .

. . . make a pie

A new arrival in my department was house hunting today. His prospective landlord gave him a few locally grown lemons.

Think they're large enough?

Sometime this weekend, I will pull out my mother's merangue recipe and my grandmother's pie crust recipe, and will magically transform these little specimens into a full-on lemon merangue pie.

Photos to follow.

I have . . .

. . . a new philosophy

Grant me the serenity
To accept the things I cannot change;
The courage to change the things I can;
And the wisdom the hide the bodies of those who pissed me off.

Carry on . . .

The Daily . . .

. . . birdcage liner

The U.S. Navy has been criticised for spending almost half a million dollars of taxpayers' money on a flyover at the Super Bowl - while the stadium roof was closed.

Doesn't this rag have something more important to use to flex its journalistic muscles?

Lindsey Lohan's latest arrest?

Khloe Kardashian's see through top?

The teenage boy who wanted to join Girl Guides?

Wait. That WAS today's news.

Anyone who has tiniest bit of knowledge about high performance military aircraft realizes that pilots must practice continually. That is doubled for Navy pilots because their airports are VERY small, and in constant motion.

So, it doesn't matter whether they are flying across the everglades frightening alligators, or flying over the Super Bowl, providing entertainment, excitement and a little show of patrotism. In doing so, they have added to their flight hours, their flying skills, and their command and control capability. In fact, those flight hours would have been executed whether or not the Super Bowl asked for an overflight.

But why should a "reporter" for the mail let that interfere with a little mud slinging?