Now I hope this gets some sort of wide dissemination, and I hope everyone that sees this answers and answers honestly.  It's a poll of sorts.   Who here ever wanted Crackerjacks or bought Crackerjacks solely for the prize at the bottom.  Raise your hand.   * OckhamsRazor raises his hand *    

Just a quick blog to emphasize a point that I'm sure we all agree with.  It's very important to teach our kids what to think about a lot of stuff.  After all, they aren't born with the ability to reason, so things like religion and political affiliation and other various belief systems need to be put into them while they're young. That's the great thing about having kids.  You've already got it all figured out, and so it saves them a lot of trouble if you just tell them what to...

Just for kicks I'm going to put up several quotes. The subject, as you will see is religion. Don't let that bother you. I'm not out to debate the statements made by the authors of the quotes, they just happened to be on my mind recently. Play the game. Try not to cheat by googling them and guess who said them. 1. I don't try to imagine a personal God; it suffices to stand in awe at the structure of the world, insofar as it allows our inadequate senses to appreciate it. 2. The...

I have proclaimed that 31 January is Inanity Day in Ock's World. Next year it may be a different day, or there may not even be one next year - such is the nature of such a holiday. At any rate, I wanted to warn people to be especially careful in their lives today. I plan to divide 6.23 by 0 later, so if anything bad happens to you, you can blame me. Of course, if anything good happens, I get the credit. Cheers.

Yeah folks, the title is not a ploy. Apparently having a white asshole is now important, so Anal Whitening™ is becoming the latest rage among a really insecure species. Here's just one article about it. Anal Whitening I don't know what else to say, really. In fact, I'm just not going to say anything. Except maybe "God dammmnnn" But that's all I'll say. Really.

Someone, somewhere, had an idea one day. They said "Hey...what if...just what IF! NO no no...hear me out. WHAT IF we actually helped some third world countries take care of themselves so that LATER they didn't become a breeding ground for all manner of ne'erdowells?" It's a pretty good premise. I can attest now, first hand, that security, at least in the seas that surround many West African countries, is in a sad state of disrepair. Here's what that causes to the West Africans. There...

Naval tradition. The two words are often synonymous in the US Navy. Particularly for a musician, hereafter referred to as “MU.” Much of what MUs do is so wrapped up in ceremony that, for us, the line between tradition and the Navy is a very thin, very fuzzy one. One look at non-MU sailors at work (which you’ll never see on the 7 o’clock news) is different from one look at an MU (which you just might see on the news). Coveralls are well named if you’re referring to paint and other unknown...

In about a week, I leave home again to float around the coast of West Africa bringing American rock and roll to the denizens of several African countries. I'll be back (hopefully) before Christmas (not that Mari and I are really attached to the holiday, but friends and family are, so we celebrate it with them.) LW and MM, I'll send you an e-mail from the ship once we have e-mail addresses there. Letters are always appreciated on deployments. Be well, all. Ock

I've said it before. I use this site to spew a random amount of stuff into the blogosphere. And once again, I thank the creators of it for the space to do just that. Today's spewage is a dedication to a wonderful woman. I am a lucky lucky man, and I'll tell ya...it took me a long time to get lucky. (*rimshot*) Dear Mari, I just wanted to tell you that I love you - here - in public. You're brilliantly intelligent. You're an awesome cook. You put up with me, and that, by itself,...

Somewhere around 1994 I began to read a fantasy epic series called "The Wheel of Time." I learned a really good lesson about reading series of books - namely - don't start the series until it is finished. It's a really good series if you like the genre, but five books into it, I found out that I'd have to wait to continue. Two years passed before the next one came out, and I bought it immediately and finished it in short order, and then....two more years. Good god. Write faster, RJ..."...

The sad thing is, my Dad, a retired full bird Colonel in the USAF who was in Viet Nam, was born on September, 11. Now he doesn't want to celebrate his birthday anymore. I've asked him, on my wife's suggestion, to have a half-year birthday on March 11. Maybe he'll go for that. In any case, I started looking at 9/11 in history, and thought some people might be interested in the other things that have happened on that day. So here it is. September 11, 1995 Eastern Tennessee begins...

Did you ever have those moments when you stopped to analyze where you were, right now, in your life, and in your retrospection, you found some decisive moments that directly resulted in who you are today? It's an illusion, really. Because of course what you did before led to what you did next, and next, and next, and suddenly you're where you are. So it makes perfect sense that you see some previous event as being pivotal. But dammit. They WERE pivotal! I played music in high scho...

Re my previous article about anchors. The results are out, and no luck for me this year. Maybe next time. Cheers, All

This article is pretty much just for me to get something out of my system - even though I know it won't do much good. Background: The Navy enlisted rank structure goes like this: Seaman recruit, seaman apprentice, seaman, petty officer third class, second class, first class, chief, senior chief, master chief. I am a first class. It's the worst rank of all because you have to convince your superiors that you're worthy of being a chief while taking care of the juniors below you. These...

When I got to Naples 2 years and a few months ago, one of the first persons I met was a guy I'll just call MH. I'm just calling him that, because what I'm about to describe is illegal, and I don't want to dime him out for his service. MH deserves a blog entry all his own. He's a thinker - very astute. He's absolutely hilarious...a wit faster than greased lightning and sharper than a razor. But perhaps I'll save that for another time. MH and I became friends immediately, and he told me...