1980 words • 8 minutesHow often have you run into someone who gets up on their soapbox and talks and talks and talks? Unfortunately, it happens to all of us and when you are on an airplane, for example, there is unfortunately no escape. When I think of the passion...

3300 words • 8 minutesThe 1962 hit film in the United States was a release entitled The Music Man. Based on the 1957 Broadway play of the same name, the story is set in the year 1912 and relates how a con man, “Professor” Harold Hill, arrives in a rural Iowa town with...

2300 words • 7 minutes  Imagine, just for a moment if you will, that it is the late summer of 1964 and you are driving along listening to the AM radio. Even nearing the mid-sixties, the hippest pop/rock stations were still playing a remarkable wide variety of songs....

2600 words • 8 minutes  Fellow readers and fans of Pink Floyd, I often think that I am living life backwards. While I was a serious and dedicated pessimist as a young man, now that I am older, I am quite an optimist. I say this is backward because men often become...

3200 words • 11 minutes  Dear readers, Thanks to you, the book I wrote two years ago, Steel Production in Romania 1954 to 1963, shot to the top of the bestseller lists and remained there for nearly 40 weeks. For that I am deeply grateful to you and I hope you enjoyed...

3000 words • 10 minutes  Rarely a day goes by in which we do not hear about the United States military. There is always talk about budgets, overseas wars, arguments about the size of U.S. forces, and even whether there is even a need for a full-time military.  No...

2500 words • 9 minutes  Think back, if you will, to the moments in your life when you first became aware of music. It might have been when your parents had the radio on in the car, when you attended a school concert, or when you heard a record at friend’s house. It...

3735 words • 9 minutes  Historians quip that at least 50 years must pass before one can write an accurate history of an era. History, of course, is made difficult if first-hand witnesses have died, if memories have started to blur, or if primary source documents are...

2245 words • 8 minutes  Are you annoyed by all those “best of” lists that you constantly see on the internet? Some are fun, such as The Top 20 Guitar Solos, but others are just obvious advertisements drummed up by corporations in search of revenue. It is here where we...

3500 words • 15 minutesWe all daydream. I know I do, and a recurring one for me always has two parts. The first it to be knighted by the Queen of England, even though I am not British, for my outstanding services to humanity—my founding of the Excellence in Indolence...

3600 words • 12 minutesAlthough history is made every day, there is so much to keep up with that we soon forget it—and that’s assuming we even learned it in the first place. Unfortunately, that never stops grumpy cranks on the internet from complaining that people...

3000 words • 10 minutesMany years ago, when I was an officer in the military, I attended a “talking head” conference that featured a number of high-profile speakers from the defense industry. Nearly all were gifted with impressive rhetorical skills, but there was one...

3100 words • 15 minutesImagine dear reader that you are having a nightmare in which you find yourself as a teenager back in the late 1970’s. As you look around at the cultural and musical landscape you note, with disdain, that since the movie Saturday Night Fever...

2980 words • 12 minutesAfter my recent article about the Beatles I was pleased to have received thousands and thousands of comments and emails asking about what other musical groups might have found a bit of inspiration from drugs. Thousands and thousands of comments?...

2500 words • 12 minutesIt is hard to imagine that at this point anything more can be written about the Beatles—what is there, after all, to say? It’s very possible that more ink has been spilled about the Fab Four than about wars, the rise and fall of nations, and...

Neal & The Procrastinators are pleased to announce, after 40 years in the making, their debut world tour to showcase their new album entitled Get ‘er Done…Someday with the smash new single There Will Always Be A Tomorrow.The tour will feature all the other...

1,300 words • 7 minutesIn the age of the internet, no matter what your interests or hobbies, with just a few searches you can find others who like exactly the same things as you do. Are you passionate about Romanian steel production in the years 1955 to 1965? Then no...

1, 355 words • 10 minutesWhether it is no, nein, non, Nyet, or 番号, every language has a way of expressing “I am unable,” “I’ll pass,” “sorry—I don’t want to,” or even an emphatic “fat chance.” Yet I believe that the simple word no, when properly used, is one of...

1,475 words • 10 minutesWhile reading though the comment sections of most internet forums and YouTube it only takes a second or two to stumble across someone who is bemoaning that his or her favorite artist, musician, athlete, scientist or whomever is “underrated.” I...

Music Explainers– The nicest people on the internet1330 words • 9 minutesOne day when I was in military pilot training an instructor tried to put me at ease by saying: “In flight school the ground academics are the easy part—the flying is where it gets...

1,200 words • 5 minutes When I was living in Japan, every day I would religiously read Tokyo’s English language newspapers. These were high-quality publications and ones in which the editors would, surprisingly, open the letters section to some pretty pointed...

350 words • 3 minutesFrankly I do not know. I mean no offense here as some long names are almost musical sounding, but I find the use of three names to be rather pretentious. Again, not always, but for most people a first name and last name works just fine.Please...

928 words • 7.1 minutes When I was growing up, I never heard my parents use profanity—never once. It just wasn’t used in our household and I can hardly imagine the trouble that would have been in store for me had I uttered foul oaths in front of any of my elders… I...

Bach was one of the most gifted composers of all time. What would you show him, musically, if you could bring him back to life?

1,600 words • 12 minutes Ardency is one of my favorite words in the English language both for how it sounds and for what it means. Sadly though, we do not hear it much anymore—at least not in the United States where it has been replaced by its more popular cousins...

1,365 words • 7 minutes “I prefer to read books” was the rather snippy and haughty response on the pilot chat forum. Even though they were nothing more than five words on the computer screen, their sheer dismissiveness was obvious to all.The question had, quite...

1,350 words • 9 minutesWhen we think of the most important year of the 20th century we probably think either of 1918 or 1945. The first was the end of the first world war and, in many ways, it set the stage for the further European conflict that followed just two...

1,145 words • 5 minutes Have you ever paid attention to some of the clichés that politicians, business leaders, celebrities, and motivational speakers use when they talk to the public? Some of these poor souls have to deliver so many speeches that I imagine that they...

1,295 words • 7 minutes Well, the easy is answer is that while he technically has not been in every single movie since the early 1980’s, it just seems that way at times. Occasionally I fear going to the cinema for sure enough, with the regularity of a clock, the...

2,195 words • 12 minutes There is an old quip, apparently originating with the disgraced U.S. president Richard Nixon, that even paranoid people have enemies. He certainly would have known for he was an extremely paranoid man. Yet we do have enemies who wish to do us...

1,235 words • 5 minutes If you are like me, you frequently refer to books and videos to learn how to fix a thousand and one things—like repairing the car or setting up a new phone. Not only do we save money this way, but we also enjoy the satisfaction of doing...

1,395 words • 9 minutes In 1965 the up and coming British rock band The Who reserved the 7th track on their debut album for a song called The Kids are Alright. This 1966 proto music video to accompany the song is a great place to start in understanding the era and...

1675 words • 10 minutes Ah, finally we get to the meat of an airline accident investigation—when the investigators arrive on the scene and start determining what went wrong and why. In the United States, the Federal Aviation Administration sets the rules for aviation,...

1,531 words • 9 minutes Imagine that reports are trickling in that an airliner has crashed. The details are still sketchy and the number of casualties is unknown, but it sounds bad—very bad. The airlines, the regulatory and investigatory agencies, and a host of other...

1431 words • 8 minutes As I write this, experts around the world are poring over the preliminary report on the Ethiopian Airlines 737 MAX accident. This is the second 737 MAX to have been lost in recent months and both the air transport industry and the traveling...

1,230 words • 6 minutes One of the greatest time savers for anyone who has ever worked in an office is the beloved Executive Summary. When a big report lands in the inbox, whether one is a worker bee or a manager, we all breathe easier if there is an Executive Summary...

1,350 words • 6 minutesIn 1907 at an English fatstock and poultry show, Sir Francis Galton asked 787 villagers who were in attendance to guess the weight of an ox that was on display. Not a single person got the number exactly right, but when he averaged the guesses,...

1,250 words • 6 minutesReading internet comments can be a real eye opener. Some are intelligent and some are downright scary. Opinions can range from those of a genuine expert to people who think the earth is flat, that airplanes emit special tracking chemicals, or...

1,455 words • 9 minutesGloom, despair, and agony on me Deep dark depression, excessive misery If it weren’t for bad luck I’d have no luck at all Gloom, despair, and agony on me Although England’s Cambridge University lies over 4,000 miles from the legendary Opryland...

Would it have been better if Absalom had been bald? Also, a lesson from the French 1,375 words • 6 minutes Last year, in an attempt at self-betterment (don’t laugh please), I reached for William Faulkner’s heralded novel Absalom, Absalom! Now I know that there are...

The tragedy of the three-minute pop song 1,675 words • 8 minutes For those of us of a certain age (and I use the word certain very loosely mind you), we have good memories of listening to pop/rock music on a transistor radio. Surprising as it is to young people, apart...

How do we always seem to remember our hotel room number? 1,106 words • 5 minutes The next time you are traveling and staying in a hotel, I ask you to notice a little quirk of human memory. For some reason, most people find it remarkably easy to remember their hotel...

Two of the very few still living memories of Hollywood’s Golden Era1,235 words • 5 minutes Take a moment, if you will, to imagine that you have been transported back to the year 1939 and that you are standing on the movie set during the making of Gone With the Wind....

Words that annoy us and do last names predict a career? Miscellany Part 21,510 words • 8 minutes Annoying words, people with certain names in certain careers, and other miscellaneous thoughts and questions.1) We all appreciate the etymology of the various words that...

Boniface the Dog shares thoughts on style - Part 1 1575 words • 8 minutes Boniface absentmindedly pawed at the ham-bone that he had been snacking on—much as how Winston Churchill would have twirled his cigar in his fingers. He and I were having lunch and just...

Let's Dance - Although I Do Not Know How To 1425 words • 7 minutes Even now, 40 years later, using the phrase “Let’s Dance” rings hollow for me. It reminds me of David Bowie’s 1983 song and his shift away from the cool and edgy rock riffs of Ziggy Stardust and Moonage...

Sleep? What’s So New About It? Part I 1675 words • 8 minutes Well, now that you mention it there is quite a bit new in sleep research. So before you doze off might I be allowed to “catch you up” with what is going on? No doubt you enjoy those great “S” words that have...

Why Is a Manhole Cover Round? The Fun of Interviews1475 words • 6 minutes Although I felt as if I had way overprepared for the airline pilot interview, just like every other candidate who was sitting nervously with me in the waiting room, I was still steamrolled when...

Many of you have heard me mention that I am a musical zero—a level completely immune to any of my attempts at self-betterment. Thus I am sure that you will be surprised to learn that after college and before I joined the military to take up flying, I spent two years in what might loosely be described as the music business. 

Do you make to-do lists every day? I do and am so dependent upon them that when I forget to do something my only excuse is that I failed to put it on my list!

I do not know anyone who belongs to the class of the idle rich—those who do not need to work and can spend their days doing whatever they wish. My friends, even those who are pretty decently paid, still get up early and tuck into their tasks. There are bills to pay and, as Ringo Starr sang, you know it don’t come easy.

Have you ever noticed in just a single week how many recommendations come flooding your way—most without you even asking for them? Yet come they do and in such torrents that you ask yourself “Is it me?” “Is it something I did or said?”

I make no secret for my love of modern conveniences—I would not want to be without them and I have no desire, as do many people, to wave a magic wand and be transported to live out my days sometime in a past era—the time of King Henry VIII for example or ancient Greece.

Success Survivor Bias- Emulating our heroes is a tricky business Length: Approx 1300 words/6 minutes I consider scientists who can write for the layman to be a national treasure. This task is, from what I can tell, pretty hard work. Can you imagine trying to bring the...

If You Ain't a Pilot... Length: 1850 words/9 minutes "There were great numbers of young men who had never been in a war and were consequently far from unwilling to join in this one." These words, chiseled into one of the walls at the Imperial War Museum in London,...

Mission Statements - Spare us the misery please!Length: 1200 words/5 minutes We all like to occasionally raise our fists against big bad corporations. We certainly have good right to seeing as how they frustrate us with their dead-end phone menus, wait times, and...

The sounds of silence—How France teaches us not to be afraid of them Length: 2,300 words/10 minutes As an average gent, I have not spent any time in the limelight which is actually quite nice as it affords me the opportunity to step back, reflect, and observe. Yet...

A Ride on an Airliner and a Lesson in Leadership Length: 930 words/4 minutes Like many kids, when growing up I was fascinated with the “old” black and white films. I say “old,” for this was the early 1970s and those days of movies without color were really not that...

The Book of Ecclesiastes—Grim? Nah, not for us average folk! lthough ours is a modern world, it is enjoyable to see what the ancients can teach us about life. Readers of biographies and listeners to podcasts well know that most of our modern...

Desert Island Discs and Books—they never asked me! magine that you are to be stranded on an uninhabited island. You can take with you eight records, one book, and a single other cherished object that could not be used to help rescue you. You will...

An enjoyable lesson in subtlety at a German airport I  was floundering—there was no question about it. I was standing in the main train station in Frankfurt, Germany and although the posted schedule was a true masterpiece of Teutonic organization and precision, I was...

The South’s goodness in a to-go cup for your tea "Want some more tea hon?” Well, this is what I wanted to hear, but that was not happening. In fact, it was something completely different and it was putting the damper on my expectations for another glass of iced tea on...

English as a language for the layabout e as English speakers can be forgiven for thinking our language to be one of history’s greatest developments. Although I am sure that both the French and the billion-plus speakers of Mandarin Chinese might...

Is time on our side? A fun way to look at the past, present, and futureAs a rather average Gent, I am pleased to say that I don’t have weighty responsibilities in life. This means that in my free time I do not have to do the things the Elite do—such as read the...

Once when the late Christopher Hitchens was asked to comment on the works of Ayn Rand he quipped “Why? Does the world need any more selfishness than it already has?” No, it really doesn’t does it? I will leave the discussion of Hitchens versus Rand to others as I know that the Russian is the favorite human of all time for many, but I know that as an average gent…

“So” she seethed. “You really do know everything don’t you?”

I have to say that I was touched by her assessment of my intellectual ability even if I did think that she was overestimating it a bit. I mean to know absolutely everything is indeed a tall order.

H.L. Mencken once said that when he reached middle-age that what he wanted to encounter most in life was competence—simple competence. “From A to Z” he quipped. “From A as in adultery to Z as in Zoology” and everything in between.” Well, we can hope he was exaggerating about the adultery and he probably was not that interested in zoology.

When I was in the 7th and 8th grade I started to read with a passion. I had already discovered the joy of reading, even if it just had been the headlines on the newspapers that I was delivering daily in the neighborhood, but by the end of 7th grade it became my life.

As a pilot who primarily flew the long-haul routes, I knew that the cockpit could be a place of some of the most interesting conversations imaginable. Since we had plenty of time to chat as we cruised along, there was no limit to the level of detail or the rabbit trails that we could follow during a conversation.