Category Archives: Uncategorized

05/3/23

You, sir, are a bloody fascist!

The other day I had an amiable chat until the chap says, “You’re a bloody fascist!”

“Truly?” asks your Big Red Car.

“Yes. You’re a bloody fascist.” No exclamation point this time.

“What exactly is a fascist in this context?” asks your BRC.

The chap could not really enlighten me. Deer in the linguistic headlights sort of dumbfounded look.

I then conduct an experiment and ask pals of mine from both sides of the aisle, “What is a fascist?”

Blank stares and one good overview of Benito Mussolini’s bio. Continue reading →

05/2/23

CEO Shoptalk: Pace

Everybody is working 24/7 and fast as Hell — right?

Is that the most effective way to successfully run a business — startup or otherwise?

The answer is: it depends. It depends on a lot of things, but generally the answer is a resounding NO!

In Chinese dragon boat racing, pace separates the winners v the losers.

Continue reading →

04/17/23

In The Company Of Good Men — VMI Class of 1973, 50th Reunion

The test of every relationship is this:

Does it inject energy into your existence; or, does it hijack, kidnap energy from your life?

This is true of personal friendships, marriages, business alliances, employees, mutually owned vacation homes, hunting leases, co-oped airplanes, and all situations in which we flawed humans engage with others of the species.

It took me some time to discover and understand this, but it has served me well for many years. I consider it revealed wisdom.

Which brings me to the subject of wisdom itself. I have said this before:

Wisdom is the exercise of good judgment over a protracted period of time. It must be earned.

Good judgment is the product of experience. It must be done.

Experience entails the exercise of much bad judgment. It must be endured.

Continue reading →

03/17/23

Inferior Russian Tanks

We wrote about the numbers of Russian tanks back in December 2022. That blog post is here:

Russian Tanks By The Numbers 

Since then several things have happened:

 1. The Russian spring offensive began with attacks in southeast Ukraine and the continuing assault into the Bahkmut meat grinder where the Russians take seven KIAs for every one KIA for the Ukrainians.

This is the essence of a meat grinder.

 2. The Russians — even elite units — and the mercenary Wagner Group — powered by criminals — have made small progress, but appear to have taken a “tactical respite” for a couple of weeks.

The Ukrainians are doggedly defending and buying time for their own Spring/Summer dry land offensive.

 3. The US/NATO/West has promised Ukraine modern main battle tanks — Abrams M1A1, Crusaders 2s, Leopard IIs and others.

Deliveries are now happening.

Abrams tank — looking for work — arriving for deployment in Ukraine.

 4. The Russian tank situation has gotten worse from the perspective of raw numbers, tank crew training, and opposition. Continue reading →

02/28/23

The Russian Manpower Advantage Myth – Or Putin In Wonderland

The Russian Spring Offensive is underway. Yawn.

Let’s talk manpower like we talked tanks the other day:

Russian Tanks By The Numbers

The Basics, Big Red Car?

Of course, dear reader, let’s lay the foundation, shall we?

 1. Russia is a country of 144,000,000 of which approximately 1,000,000 men in the prime draft age range have fled.

Crack Russian conscripts eager to fight and die in Ukraine. Haha. The smart ones fled the country.

Continue reading →

01/19/23

The HP Technology Noose

So, I have an HP printer (still under warranty), nice little wireless unit that constantly requires reconnecting to the Internet, but I can handle this.

 

Yesterday, it stops working and gives me a differing set of messages and colored lights. If you get a solid amber light, the baby doesn’t work.

So, I work my magic that in the past has cracked the code and it doesn’t work.

I do it five times and finally admit defeat and call HP Support to the rescue. Takes a few minutes to present my bonafides, the serial number of the machine, the PIN, and other data.

Then I tell them the story.

Continue reading →

01/12/23

Success? You Want Success? — THERE WILL BE A PRICE

I have two conversations wrestling in my head.

Convo #1 – a young man, an impressive, guileful young man full of potential who said something close to: “I am looking for something to do for six months or so that I can immerse myself in and make a lot of money.”

Convo #2 – a salty, seasoned, scarred, wise septuagenarian who said: “It takes about ten years to become an overnight success and there is always a price.”

This got me thinking about some things which in no particular order I share with you, dear readers.

The Nature of Success Continue reading →