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Your retro virtual Italy vacation continues as Thor and I take the train from the rugged coast of Cinque Terre to the canals of Venice.

NOTE: For a virtual vacation and time-travel, join Thor and me in 2008. Italy! Starting with highlight photos posted here on Saturday, June 15, I’ll continue this rerun series every week, with occasional ( Read more... )

Let me say at the outset here that “general” is being used as a, well, general term. While I mostly mean the top commander in any military force, whatever title he (usually it’s a he) goes by, in some ways this can be applied as well to people further down the chain of command. Primarily the top levels, though, because this is about the behavior of ( Read more... )

A prime focus of mine, at least as far as this blog series is concerned, is the author-legacy thing. My own, for one. I’ve done a certain amount of fiction writing over the decades that I want people to know about, to learn about, to be reminded of, to not forget. But not limited to my my own. As a member of Book View Café, I’m spending and have ( Read more... )

Ah, holiday customs. At my house, we’ve developed one we’re very fond of: after exchanging presents and eating Christmas dinner and pulling crackers (we lurrrrve Christmas crackers!) and nibbling at dessert, we usually play a rollicking game of Cards Against Humanity. Although I would dearly love to write a Regency version of CAH some day (imagine ( Read more... )

It’s not enough merely to have officers and soldiers. You need to organize them so there’s a clear flow of authority and commands, because confusion and disorder on that front can quite literally get people killed.

This kind of thing often lends itself to a nice, clean chart, especially in well-organized armies. Larger units are commanded by higher ( Read more... )

You’re getting serious about moving overseas when you start to consider paperwork. Yeah, you can go just about anywhere on a tourist visa. Lots of people ‘forget’ to go home when that visa expires, too. But if you ever have an issue - an injury, a financial disaster, a car accident, war is declared - you may be in deep trouble. If you break the law ( Read more... )

’tis the season. Merry Christmas, and all that.

What have I been up to? well… this is a bad time of year. Ever since that pathetic pile of wrapped presents for Christmas of 2020 - the one where Deck was supposed to be home for that but wasn’t and never did come home again, all the presents that were waiting for him which he never even saw - I kind ( Read more... )

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