From our House to Yours

The Merriest of All Christmases and the Happiest of all New Years From the Leansubmariner, Sock Monkey and New Friend

For a limited time only…

This time of year is filled with anticipation. I am not sure if it’s the bright lights or the endless rounds of Bing Crosby singing everywhere you go, but one can almost be overwhelmed by the anticipation of the coming of one of the world’s truly great miracles. Yes, that’s right, I am talking about […]

Mercury Rising (Freedom Falling)

I like stealth. In military situations, stealth can be a great force multiplier. A small number of submarines strategically placed can mean the difference between victory and defeat against a far superior force. The only thing bad about stealth is that it can be used for good purposes or it can be used to overcome […]

First, they came for the copper…

I remember the famous poem by Reverend Martin Niemöller about not standing up for something because at least they weren’t coming for you. It has been used many times over the past fifty years to point out that even though your own ox might not be in danger of goring at this particular moment, after […]

GO NAVY

Beat Army A decade of dominance… sorry to all my Army readers!

Are you “Value Added”?

In the “lean” world, a lot of time is spent in determining which of your processes are “Value Added”, “Non-Value Added but Necessary” or “Non-Value Added”. There are a lot of definitions for these phrases depending on which consultant is trying to sell a new book this week. I try to keep my definitions pretty […]

Here, child, have some nice Kool-Aid

On this day in 1978 (November 18th): In Jonestown, Guyana, Jim Jones coerced the members of his Peoples Temple cult to a mass murder-suicide. This single event claimed 918 lives in all, 909 of them in Jonestown itself, including over 270 children. The term “drinking the Kool-Aid” is born and forever lives in the lexicon […]

Caught in the Crossfire

Its 3:00 AM and everyone in the control room party has managed to find a comfortable enough position to hide the fact that they are half snoozing. The room is rigged for red and the boat is plugging along at 4 knots at 150 feet. Even the Auxiliaryman of the Watch has laid his clipboard […]

Freedom of Speech You Sorry Son of a Beach

I wish I had a dime for every person on every blog that jumps up and down shouting Freedom of Speech no matter how inappropriate the comment and screams how many people served and died for to preserve it (as they burn and defecate on my flag). While I do agree that many of my […]

2.6 million… Ready or Not

Some time ago, I posted a number of articles and references for people in the path of Hurricane Irene. As usual when I post about preparedness, I got a few folks feedback about “paranoia” and “let’s not get carried away Mac”. Fair enough. But as we sat in the living room last night having our […]