Russ | June 23, 2011
Having recently finished reading Shattered Sword: The Untold Story of the Battle of Midway, I decided to look up more info on the Japanese carriers lost during the battle. I went to Bing and typed in “Akagi,” and sure enough I got the links I expected to see — Wikipedia, the US Navy’s History and [...]
Russ | May 13, 2011
I’ve lately been re-reading my way through my set of Tom Clancy novels. I’ve finished The Hunt for Red October, Patriot Games, Cardinal of the Kremlin, Clear and Present Danger, The Sum of all Fears, Without Remorse, Debt of Honor, and Executive Orders, and am about 100 pages into Rainbow Six. It’s a regular Cold-War-a-palooza, [...]
Russ | September 29, 2009
I hear, lately, of people saying they will refuse to get immunized for H1N1 when the vaccine soon becomes available, either out of some sort of concern about the safety of the vaccine or — get this — because vaccinations are some sort of Government Plot™. Allow me to opine: those people are idiots. Even [...]
Russ | April 29, 2009
The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress, by Robert A. Heinlein, 1966. Quick review: I lately find myself wishing for an advantageous locale, vis-a-vis Earth’s gravity well. 5 stars. Spurred by references to Simon Jester that popped up around the recent Tea Parties, I took it upon myself to dig out my ancient copy of Heinlein’s [...]
Russ | March 6, 2009
I may be a geek, but I’ve never been a comic book geek, either as a kid, or since. Once, though, while in the throes of boredom between trips up to the DMZ during my service in Korea, I borrowed a friend’s copy of Batman: The Dark Knight Returns. I’d never heard the expression “graphic [...]
Russ | January 7, 2009
Victor Davis Hanson: It was not surprising, but entirely predictable that a nation that sixty years ago produced napalm, flamethrowers — and eventually A-bombs — to combat thousands of suicidal warriors would retain the organization and willpower to incinerate a few hundred suicide bombers and their enclaves of support. From his book Ripples of Battle: [...]
Russ | July 2, 2008
On Monday I received a package from Amazon which contained pure gold… smothered in beef fat: Eat What You Want And Die Like A Man Written by Steve Graham of Hog on Ice (one of my all-time and ongoing favorite blogs) this hilarious paean to food that’s bad for you but so very, very good [...]
Russ | October 15, 2007
On my return home from the hospital Thursday, a box from Amazon.com was waiting for me. Inside: Steve Graham’s latest literary endeavor, Keep Chewing Till It Stops Kicking. Over the next few days, when I wasn’t busy sleeping off the effects of my medical misadventures, I was reading… reading, and laughing. This is a terrific [...]
Russ | March 8, 2007
Just received: I haven’t had a chance to crack it open yet, but as soon as I do I’ll write it up. If the whole thing is as good as the previews I’ve seen (and I expect it certainly will be) I’ll enjoy it immensely.
Russ | September 7, 2006
Lately, my nightly reading has been a 6-book series, A Naval History of Great Britain: During the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. Written and published in the 1820s, the six volumes are a chronological record of every significant (and perhaps not so significant) action and expedition in which the Royal Navy participated. Gleaned by the [...]