There is reason and purpose to all things. — A funny thing happened today as we were scrambling to get the February issue ‘off stone’ as they say in the UK. We had one important update for which we were waiting confirmation — it may not yet come, who knows — so we stopped the presses for 24 hours…

The French have a word for it. — I have long admired the French language, especially when it’s overheard while savouring an espresso on the Champs-Élysées on an April day. In particular, I love the way the streamlining is built in — the removal of extraneous letters seemingly solely to make it easier to speak it ‘trippingly on…

Back down the rabbit hole. — Some number of issues back, I provided a warning in advance when I was about to head down the rabbit hole on some sort of technical matter or another. This is another one of those times. For those who are not interested in my salty thoughts on the Zuckernaut, scroll…

Great storytelling isn’t always about what you leave in — it’s also about what you leave out. — Many years ago my late, great Aunt Joan told me a story about a flight to the Galapagos Islands she shared, quite by coincidence, with a National Geographic crew. Why my itinerant, enigmatic aunt was on that flight is another story for another day but the NatGeo folks were, of…

It’s the most wonderful time of the year. — There’s a TV ad for the Staples stationery store chain which ran back in 1996. I remember the theme music as the big, brassy Andy Williams arrangement of the Christmas classic It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year. But it wasn’t in the fall to support Black Friday or…

I dream of living in a place where olives and lemons grow. — That, and my frequent soliloquising that “if I could do my life over again, I would come back Italian” means all things Italiano instantly catch my eye and strike my fancy. However, many of them are apparently made of unobtanium, and thus remain tantalisingly out of reach. But I stand…

You can imagine my surprise when an email from the brand new CEO of Medium landed in my inbox. — Furthermore, I was really intrigued with what you said: “The first reason I’m reaching out to you is because in my experience Medium has given mixed messages over the years about how it feels about our open platform. …

So just how big is the RC soaring community? — Quite often, I’m asked “so exactly how many people are into that RC soaring thing?” In response, I’m forced to fake a coughing fit, mumble something unintelligible, do a spit take or perhaps just pretend I don’t quite understand the question. …

Let’s help those who have had the courage to turn their passion into their profession. — Recently, I received an interesting letter from a gentlemen by the name of Jim Ealy, who some of you may know by his nom-de-plume of AstroJeff. For those of you who don’t know Jim — I didn’t — he is the proprietor of the Vintage Sailplaner website (see Resources, below…