TODAY'S RAMBLINGS UNWASHED MASSES SPECIAL BULLETIN OMFG congratulations to Andy Jones and Libby Baines Jones: Libby gave birth last night to Dean Andrew Jones, Jr.! 10 seconds of seriousness: it's the first baby for these two and wow. These are two of the greatest people in the world and they've wanted a baby for a long time. Congratul...

TODAY'S RAMBLINGS You might recall that earlier this year and joined by some close family, I sprinkled my mother's ashes at the grave site of her Aunt Ruth and Uncle Don Smith. It served as a degree of closure for me, as my relationship with my mother was complex - even more so than with most mothers and sons. While it's been 10 years ...

TODAY'S RAMBLINGS I had taken to using "Tr***" when referring to Donald Trump, mostly as a pithy way of demonstrating my rejection of the man himself, as well as his mendacious and catastrophic presidency. The joking and humor is over. There is nothing funny about the evidence now out. If you are not familiar with "The Eastman Memo" (d...

TODAY'S RAMBLINGS It's the weekend, so pull up a glass (after 10AM, please), and then, watch this. We want something else. Like Hawkeye Pierce, I can rant with the best of them, but I tend to focus on our problems as a country, vs. angst over having eaten a river of liver and an ocean of fish. So for a change, I present nothing but sol...

TODAY'S RAMBLINGS As we climb the week together, I thought I'd give you a well-earned break from my typical sturm und drang. Today, we're going in to the Casa Integration media room in my mind, and screening in vivid meta the best movie of all time, and then, my favorite movie of all time. And for a special, super-duper break, apart fr...

TODAY'S RAMBLINGS I was going to catalog all of Biden's missteps since taking office, but I don't have enough computing power here at the house. But as we're all throwing darts at Papa Joe, remember the French lost $90 billion when Oz decided to go with our nuke subs vs. their diesel ones. That may have something to do with their rathe...

TODAY'S RAMBLINGS (For my many younger readers: today's title is a quote from Spiro Agnew, who was Richard Nixon's vice president. Until he resigned in disgrace over . . . corruption. Read on to see why I chose that for today's post title.) As part of his big push to get me to open up a proper reader's forum for this newsletter (done!)...

No, not this. And definitely not that nutty cult group. Instead, and at the request of several kind readers, but especially Bob Scarf and Raymond Michaels, I present to you: The Portico Darwin Forum It's at my website - there's a lot of stuff there that doesn't make it into the newsletter, and now there's this. But this time it's reall...

TODAY'S RAMBLINGS Let's go through midweek with a short post and some smart, fun stuff from two very smart people. Plus, I've got a new feature I'll introduce in a special post tomorrow. How exciting for you, I know. I read and pushed this book on friends early and often upon its initial publishing in 2008 and now it's back. It was and...

TODAY'S RAMBLINGS (Yes, I did publish essentially the same article on LinkedIn over the weekend. Hey, I'm multi-platforming, but apologies to my friends that might have seen this already.) Required disclaimer so I don't get somehow canceled as a wannabe communist: I love capitalism. I've read some about the alternatives, and shocker: c...

TODAY'S RAMBLINGS Before I start, I must comment on the hysteria over President Biden's new vaccine mandates. Many are pointing to the fact that Biden and some on his staff had said previously they wouldn't impose them. Since then: • the Delta mutation of the virus exploded, and it is far more contagious and also impacts children • the...

TODAY'S RAMBLINGS And you thought it was over? Our most insane of any travel year (actually, it started in July of 2020)? No, it's decidedly not over, and in fact, it's spilling (sloshing?) wildly into 2022. Warning: this is no humble brag post. This is a full-on, beg-from-the-rooftop "Look at me!" explosion of attention-seeking bragga...

TODAY'S RAMBLINGS Happy Labor Day. I hope you'll get out enjoy yourself, as we will. The main parade ground at The Presidio may never be the same again. Despite the new SF resident Ol' Purple Label saying Adam Grant is not that cool (the big-shot executive met him personally - of course she did), I still enjoyed his book "Think Again" ...

TODAY'S RAMBLINGS Following is the fun, holiday-focused part of the blog, but I must first comment on the new Texas law outlawing abortions beyond approximately 6 weeks into the pregnancy. Texas mandates that a private business can't require a patron to don a mask, because that's too much of an intrusion on personal liberty. At the sam...

TODAY'S RAMBLINGS Who says it's always about me? I will demonstrate it isn't by turning over the reins today to the astute prose critic Primo Harvey, PhD. That's in honor of some excellent writing he did on a subject that needs more reflection by us as a country: the myth of American Exceptionalism. But it's also because he and fellow ...

TODAY'S RAMBLINGS Enough with the bad vibes in the world and let's start the week with an easy puzzle. What's unusual about this photo? And be specific, beyond the obvious . . . the answer is below KLUF. And now for something no one - and God, I mean no one - was asking for. Here is a slideshow of the first cars I ever owned, right up ...

TODAY'S RAMBLINGS I had a typically pithy post all written and ready, but that seems stupid and disrespectful now, in light of yesterday's terrorist attack in Kabul. At this point, how or why we're surprised at the barbarism of these zealots escapes me. We're leaving with our empire's tail between our legs and that still warrants suici...

I am truly grateful whenever any reader cares enough about what I write to truly engage. When that occurs, it is my privilege to share the conversation. On Tuesday, a friend and faithful reader of this blog (it's really a newsletter) sent me an email. This was in advance of yesterday's post regarding California's recall election, which...

TODAY'S RAMBLINGS Before another bitch session (however warranted), I mourn the death of Charlie Watts, drummer for The Rolling Stones. He died Tuesday in a London hospital. Their only drummer, over a career with them that began on January 12, 1963, he is considered the backbone of The Stones and their sound. RIP Mr. Watts, and sadly i...

TODAY'S RAMBLINGS I recently read this excellent article in the Associated Press about how scholars are reevaluating the presidential tenure of Jimmy Carter. I had forgotten these highlights of his presidency, which the article describes: • It was Carter, not Reagan, that began the deregulation of airlines, trucking and other major ind...

TODAY'S RAMBLINGS First, there's a new fun feature at my website. Through the marvels of automation and cloud databases, there's now a live archive at my website. It is a searchable/sortable list of my posts, with links to each and it includes the all-important KLUF music section. I hope you'll give it a whirl: Portico Darwin Archive O...

TODAY'S RAMBLINGS I know I ranted recently about Afghanistan and our pointless defeat at the hands of a bunch of fanatically religious primitives. But the speed of the total collapse at the hands of The Taliban of a government we've spent 20 years and $1 trillion + propping up riles me again. First, I place the onus of responsibility o...

Which trite phrase should I use? "A legend reborn"? "Come stay again for the first time"? In fact, neither, because the completely reinvigorated Arizona Biltmore speaks for itself. It was Killer and your stay likely will be Diamond Certified. Ours wasn't - with reasons that are funny now, not so much then - but we'll be coming back, ho...

TODAY'S RAMBLINGS Today, we fly home to SF after an epic stay here in stormy Phoenix. There will be my full take on the again-magic Arizona Biltmore in a Travel Review I'll publish tomorrow, but for now, here's a snapshot of two happy guests. Staying at The Biltmore motivates me to write about something that's been on my mind for a whi...

TODAY'S RAMBLINGS It's Friday, so why not a super long post? Later today, we fly to the convection oven of Phoenix for 3 nights. Now, some/many/all may question the wisdom of heading there in August. To that I say you should see the nice ski jacket I bought for summers here in SF. So, yeah, it'll be hot, but that's what the AC, pool, W...

TODAY'S RAMBLINGS While we thankfully have not had this yet here in SF, the wildfires and extreme heat are all around us. It's been a typically foggy and cold summer here, which is very welcome when compared with the smoke of the last two years. But I've still become really alarmed about climate change, and it's not just the recent new...

TODAY'S RAMBLINGS A fine weekend home in SF, our second in a row. For those keeping score, it was the first time I had been home for two consecutive weekends since . . . February. Queue the Emerson, Lake & Palmer. And what a weekend it was. Exploding virus numbers? They won't get me, Geddes! Friday, right out of a picture book. Saturda...

TODAY'S RAMBLINGS Happy weekend. Here are two things that might not seem related, yet are. In the first part, I virtue-signal my coolness, and then in the second part, explain why that's been so damaging to America. Try to follow me here. First, my classic list of The Best Rock Albums of All Time: 1. The Beach Boys "Pet Sounds" 2. The ...

Here, in response to my recent Teddy Roosevelt post, is the medical engineering wunderkind Raymond Michaels. Thank you, Raymond, for this rejoinder from the inside. Other than removing references to his company, his reply is unedited. “"I agree the dynamism of America is waning but see the flip side of the coin of you. I know in the me...

TODAY'S RAMBLINGS If you've been reading this blog and paying much attention, you might recall I am a big fan of a book by Dr. Adam Grant, "Think Again". In a recent post, I highlighted the book's advocacy of the role of the inquisitive Scientist, vs. Preacher, Prosecutor, or Politician, especially when interacting with those whose opi...