Book Review #3
In the translated book Planning in the USSR by I.A. Yevenko, the communist hyperbole and delusion begins immediately with the Author's Notes on page 5: The system of socialist planned…
Book Review #2
A Brief History of Freemasons: the true story of the World's Most Powerful Secret Society: From the back cover: An illuminating and unbiased history of this most enigmatic secret society.…
Random Learnings #65
Reading the otherwise underwhelming The Freemasons: The True Story of the World's Most Powerful Secret Society by Jasper Ridley, the author uses the folk tale Cinderella when discussing the French…
ADS-B Feeder Attempt 2
Hosting an ADS-B feeder has intrigued me for some time but only did so in September 2025. My first feeder was a Raspberry Pi with an RTL-SDR v4 dongle running…
Constitutionality
Donald Trump's continual declaration of national emergencies that he uses to declare executive orders of dubious legitimacy harkens back to similar usage in Germany following World War I. This was…
Book Review #1
The cover description of Retreat From Glory by R. H. Bruce Lockhart in tantalizing: By the author of British Agent. Mr Bruce Lockhart continues the fascinating story of his career.…
Random Learning #65
From the book Palo Alto: A History of California, Capitalism, and the World by Malcolm Harris I learned the etymology of the term redlining: In his acclaimed 2017 book, The…
Goodbye, Old Friend
Music, music, MUSIC After "graduating" from elementary school and entering middle school, sixth graders took a class on good study habits: creating a personal "study area" in your house, ideally…
Random Learnings #64
In 2016, the government of the Czech Republic declared that Czechia is the country's short name in English. Yes, Czech Republic remains the country's official name and yes, Czech Republic…
Unexpected Continuity
From the Brittanica Book of the Year 1968, p376: Another in a series of legislative measures designed to establish the separate statehood of East Germany was passed by the People's…