Monthly Archives: March 2011

Some staggeringly gorgeous aerial photos

March 31, 2011UncategorizedSteve Stern

no, not from me, from a French aerial photographer, Yann Arthus Bertrand.

I think the shoots are just knockout and, as a bonus, a nice shoot of Syria showing lots of satellite dishes. No wonder the Syrians are trying to revolt; they can see the world they are not part of.

These shots were taken from Buzz Feed which has a larger sample or you can go to his? website.

The Sonoma Historics are on the weekend of June 4th and 5th

March 29, 2011CarsSteve Stern

Be sure to pass this on to Al Grubbs if you know him and his whereabouts.

This year the Sonoma Historics will feature McLaren cars. McLaren – like Ferrari in the 60s – is a company who exists to race and has made some very memorable race cars. Their late 60s early 70s Can-Am cars are especially fun to watch. Sporting huge American V-8s stuffed into lightweight, mid-engine, racing chassis (es?); they were loud and spectacularly fast. McLaren has raced in Formula One since 1980 and will bring several F1 cars to Sonoma. It should be great fun for anyone who really loves cars and racing – that means you, Al.

It was a women’s war

March 28, 2011UncategorizedSteve Stern

March is Women’s History Month and, in that spirit, for the last two years, a friend – Kathy Dieden – has organized a lunch to honor women veterans. As an aside, it is also nice that this month – for the first time – two women are the top commanders in a military operation. End aside. Meanwhile, at The First Methodist Church in Alameda, the honorees ranged in age from the oldest who served during WWII to women who are still in the service. I was there to take photographs. Partially as a favor and partially because I am interested – maybe obsessively at times – at how our society is changing from a primarily white male society to a multi ethnic male/female – polyglot – society and because I enjoy taking simple portraits.

I was fascinated, especially, by the older women, a couple of who were wearing white gloves, from World War II. They seemed so staid and formal. So old fashioned. It is nice to to remember that – in a formerlife – some of them had ferried war planes across the Atlantic to England and were were anything but staid.

The main speaker for the day was Vice Admiral is Jody A. Breckenridge and the guest of honor was former Petty Officer 2nd Class Kristin Lunkley. Admiral Breckenridge was the first woman to command the Coast Guard Pacific Area and Petty Officer Lunkley – who saved a man, trapped under a boat, in our own San Francisco Bay in 2008 – was just awarded the Coast Guard Medal for heroism. According to the Coast Guard, To justify this decoration, the individual must have performed a voluntary act of heroism in the face of great personal danger of such a magnitude that it stands out distinctly above normal expectations.

After the ceremony, everybody retired for lunch and I got a chance to shoot some portraits.

Including Petty Officer Lunkley was also anything but staid and also had a very nice tattoo.

It’s a Women’s War

March 25, 2011UncategorizedSteve Stern

There is something very unusual in our Air War against Libya. Both the top naval commander and air commander have the same first name.

Pause.

Margaret! Oh, and the other unusual thing is that they are both women. The top US air commander is Major General Margaret Woodward

and the top US Navy commander is Rear Admiral Margaret Klein.

If we put aside for a moment the question of Should we be fighting in – or above, if you want – Libya? and only ask How is it going? the answer is terrific. Because it is going so well, it looks like a simple exercise, but co-ordinating an attack like this can’t be simple. A week ago, Libya had a very robust air defense system; now it has been destroyed with no causalities on our side. Nine different country’s air forces – United States, Britain, and France with Canada, Belgium, Denmark, Italy, Norway, and Spain: ten if count Qatar – and additional planes from a couple of navies are in the airspace and need to be co-ordinated.

I’ve read comments that General Woodward is a logistics specialist, not a fighter pilot, and shouldn’t be in charge. Sour grapes; I think. One of my favorite military aphorisms is – very roughly – Amateurs study strategy; professionals study logistics, and my very favorite general is General U. S. Grant who started out in the Quartermaster Corps and was a logistics expert. That worked out well.

I read that NATO will take over now and the next commander will probably be a man, but General Margaret Woodward seems to have done a hell of a job.