Phil Ewing
@philewing.bsky.social
Seapower and aerospace enthusiast. Sometime photographer. Infrequent traveler. Ex-Space Shuttle door gunner.
CAVU conditions in National Capital Region = DC ANG Vipers booming around overhead = spotters motivated
a pikachu wearing sunglasses is walking down a dirt road
ALT: a pikachu wearing sunglasses is walking down a dirt road
media.tenor.com
October 9, 2025 at 1:08 PM
CAVU conditions in National Capital Region = DC ANG Vipers booming around overhead = spotters motivated
Reposted by Phil Ewing
"Goodbye, fares and queues -- I'm happy on my Hercules!"
Hercules
ca. 1950s
Hercules
ca. 1950s
September 15, 2025 at 6:30 PM
"Goodbye, fares and queues -- I'm happy on my Hercules!"
Hercules
ca. 1950s
Hercules
ca. 1950s
Reposted by Phil Ewing
Normalize giving positive affirmations to your trusted steed 🚲
new favourite hobby is solemnly going "ah, my trusted steed, I knew I could rely on you" when I use TfL bike to get somewhere then get to take the same one for the way home
September 5, 2025 at 7:54 PM
Normalize giving positive affirmations to your trusted steed 🚲
With respect to the F-35s reportedly zorching down to Puerto Rico, future events are anyone's guess, but: we're downstream of raids against North Korea (as we learn) Iran and Yemen, and who knows where else, which, if inconclusive, also were unchallenged and unpunished. Why not Venezuela?
September 5, 2025 at 5:26 PM
With respect to the F-35s reportedly zorching down to Puerto Rico, future events are anyone's guess, but: we're downstream of raids against North Korea (as we learn) Iran and Yemen, and who knows where else, which, if inconclusive, also were unchallenged and unpunished. Why not Venezuela?
Back in the day we'd have hearings to establish some of this 👇but in these times, will anything come of this extraordinary fiasco?
Two cents offered: either Other Agencies of Government didn't agree to play or wanted to do something leadership felt would take too long -- hence the action movie
Two cents offered: either Other Agencies of Government didn't agree to play or wanted to do something leadership felt would take too long -- hence the action movie
At least they didn't murder any Americans
Anyway this isn't exactly ST6's remit (definitely not by 2019 after 20 years of GWOT direct action rot) so makes me curious the internal politics of how they got the call instead of an organization better suited
Anyway this isn't exactly ST6's remit (definitely not by 2019 after 20 years of GWOT direct action rot) so makes me curious the internal politics of how they got the call instead of an organization better suited
September 5, 2025 at 3:03 PM
Back in the day we'd have hearings to establish some of this 👇but in these times, will anything come of this extraordinary fiasco?
Two cents offered: either Other Agencies of Government didn't agree to play or wanted to do something leadership felt would take too long -- hence the action movie
Two cents offered: either Other Agencies of Government didn't agree to play or wanted to do something leadership felt would take too long -- hence the action movie
Night-SSGN-sub-dive-snoop 'n poop incursions fire the imagination. They seem like a solved problem and they feel familiar from the movies. But history suggests your pWin is a coin flip at best. So many SBS mini-sub raids, even the famous one against the Tirpitz, were debacles. Often glossed over
September 5, 2025 at 1:54 PM
Night-SSGN-sub-dive-snoop 'n poop incursions fire the imagination. They seem like a solved problem and they feel familiar from the movies. But history suggests your pWin is a coin flip at best. So many SBS mini-sub raids, even the famous one against the Tirpitz, were debacles. Often glossed over
For those just getting read in, this is the NYT story: the SEALs raided North Korea to try to plant a surveillance tap but the op went bad + they killed a boatload of Korean divers. At least the *second* SEAL snoop 'n poop into NK, we learn! Congress not told. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/05/u...
How a Top Secret SEAL Team 6 Mission Into North Korea Fell Apart
www.nytimes.com
September 5, 2025 at 1:32 PM
For those just getting read in, this is the NYT story: the SEALs raided North Korea to try to plant a surveillance tap but the op went bad + they killed a boatload of Korean divers. At least the *second* SEAL snoop 'n poop into NK, we learn! Congress not told. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/05/u...
The North Korea thing is absolutely jaw-dropping for so many reasons but let's dial in on just one: Korean coastal divers and fishers are world icons. Mollusk, clam, pearl diving -- it's been in National Geographic and all the others. Yet JSOC and SpecWar, per that NYT story, were surprised by it!
September 5, 2025 at 1:18 PM
The North Korea thing is absolutely jaw-dropping for so many reasons but let's dial in on just one: Korean coastal divers and fishers are world icons. Mollusk, clam, pearl diving -- it's been in National Geographic and all the others. Yet JSOC and SpecWar, per that NYT story, were surprised by it!
Reposted by Phil Ewing
very few ppl are as talented and fortunate as bill cunningham. but i often think about how he was able to live an honest life doing what he loved because he lived simply. even at the height of his career, he slept on a cot. as he once said, "if you don’t take money, they can’t tell you what to do."
September 3, 2025 at 6:27 AM
very few ppl are as talented and fortunate as bill cunningham. but i often think about how he was able to live an honest life doing what he loved because he lived simply. even at the height of his career, he slept on a cot. as he once said, "if you don’t take money, they can’t tell you what to do."
On the weirdness of the unreality of the Present Situation, vol. 2: it’s wild that the chosen simulacrum is a late-70s movie about the perception of urban violence. It’s 2025 yet our public affairs LARP is “Dirty Harry” or “Death Wish”
August 28, 2025 at 4:45 PM
On the weirdness of the unreality of the Present Situation, vol. 2: it’s wild that the chosen simulacrum is a late-70s movie about the perception of urban violence. It’s 2025 yet our public affairs LARP is “Dirty Harry” or “Death Wish”
Constructive discush on Bsky today about the weirdness of the unrealness of the ongoing situation in the District. The simulacrum of dictatorship -- and at what point does the simulacrum become reality. Ideally never! But in the meantime yes, it is another pageant for TV with that as the object.
August 28, 2025 at 3:58 PM
Constructive discush on Bsky today about the weirdness of the unrealness of the ongoing situation in the District. The simulacrum of dictatorship -- and at what point does the simulacrum become reality. Ideally never! But in the meantime yes, it is another pageant for TV with that as the object.
That rarest of rara avis -- the conservative, small-c, artist: He saw the beauty of the built environment and the railways at a time when newness madness tore down the old Euston, when Dr. Beeching ripped out thousands of route miles, etc -- and who knows what else might have gone but for Betjeman
Birthday of Sir John Betjeman. A great artist & character, yes a National Treasure but smoothed-over & reduced by it. The poetry is formal but not cosy or simple. It's physical, funny, about time, space, decay - Larkin liked him. One of the great architectural writers & advocates, of course -
August 28, 2025 at 3:37 PM
That rarest of rara avis -- the conservative, small-c, artist: He saw the beauty of the built environment and the railways at a time when newness madness tore down the old Euston, when Dr. Beeching ripped out thousands of route miles, etc -- and who knows what else might have gone but for Betjeman
Reposted by Phil Ewing
i find this image so fascinating. it is both a literal example of authoritarianism but also a second-hand reproduction of the aesthetics of other authoritarian states. it's like a simulacra of authoritarianism whose purpose is to attempt to make the simulacra real.
This is a real photograph of Washington, DC this week, where the United States president has ordered military occupation in peacetime, and ordered the display of colossal portraits of himself.
www.wsj.com/politics/pol...
www.wsj.com/politics/pol...
August 28, 2025 at 1:38 PM
i find this image so fascinating. it is both a literal example of authoritarianism but also a second-hand reproduction of the aesthetics of other authoritarian states. it's like a simulacra of authoritarianism whose purpose is to attempt to make the simulacra real.
In non-joke reax -- and I'm going to use some shorthand terms here with no wish to be needlessly cruel about it -- all the Feds and National Guard troopers have done is push the homeless people to different locations. All the same familiar street people are still around but in different spots.
August 20, 2025 at 10:21 PM
In non-joke reax -- and I'm going to use some shorthand terms here with no wish to be needlessly cruel about it -- all the Feds and National Guard troopers have done is push the homeless people to different locations. All the same familiar street people are still around but in different spots.
Is there a way to craft a wisecrack along the lines of, “with all these National Guard troops and Feds on every corner now I know how the Afghans felt” or is that a plane with no landing gear?
August 20, 2025 at 9:06 PM
Is there a way to craft a wisecrack along the lines of, “with all these National Guard troops and Feds on every corner now I know how the Afghans felt” or is that a plane with no landing gear?
Reposted by Phil Ewing
“No other invention combines the useful with the pleasant as closely as the bicycle.”
- Adam Opel (1837-1895), founder of Adam Opel AG, which originally produced sewing machines and bicycles, and later automobiles
- Adam Opel (1837-1895), founder of Adam Opel AG, which originally produced sewing machines and bicycles, and later automobiles
August 18, 2025 at 7:25 PM
“No other invention combines the useful with the pleasant as closely as the bicycle.”
- Adam Opel (1837-1895), founder of Adam Opel AG, which originally produced sewing machines and bicycles, and later automobiles
- Adam Opel (1837-1895), founder of Adam Opel AG, which originally produced sewing machines and bicycles, and later automobiles
Thank goodness we have the increased police presence here in Georgetown because when I was headed back from Vineyard Vines to get my salad at Sweetgreen a family of European tourists looked at me disrespectfully. Fortunately ICE was right there.
August 13, 2025 at 9:25 PM
Thank goodness we have the increased police presence here in Georgetown because when I was headed back from Vineyard Vines to get my salad at Sweetgreen a family of European tourists looked at me disrespectfully. Fortunately ICE was right there.
In non-joke reax, Tom's characterization is correct 👇. In all likelihood, to the degree any of it is real, this "means" (tho wat does anything mean anymore) an Atlantic boat out of Kings Bay and a Pacific boat out of PacNorWest.
Don't panic over this. (We don't even know if the subs are really moving, or if they're just where they were headed to anyway)
August 1, 2025 at 7:37 PM
In non-joke reax, Tom's characterization is correct 👇. In all likelihood, to the degree any of it is real, this "means" (tho wat does anything mean anymore) an Atlantic boat out of Kings Bay and a Pacific boat out of PacNorWest.
Based on the multiple vectors of potential threats posed against the United States, I have ordered that the headquarters of our Department of Defense be given five sides -- that way no one can attack by surprise. Thank you for your attention to this matter!
Probably the first time that idle shitposting has resulted in concrete changes to an adversary’s nuclear posture.
August 1, 2025 at 7:26 PM
Based on the multiple vectors of potential threats posed against the United States, I have ordered that the headquarters of our Department of Defense be given five sides -- that way no one can attack by surprise. Thank you for your attention to this matter!
Don't be surprised if the same Best Buy with big outdoor placards that claim Switch 2 and Mario characters are "available here" also has a placard on an easel inside announcing the Switch 2 consoles are out of stock because this world is a sandcastle of lies
June 16, 2025 at 3:36 PM
Don't be surprised if the same Best Buy with big outdoor placards that claim Switch 2 and Mario characters are "available here" also has a placard on an easel inside announcing the Switch 2 consoles are out of stock because this world is a sandcastle of lies
Reposted by Phil Ewing
Terminal velocity, full freefall, bottomless pit cray-cray.
April 2, 2025 at 3:27 PM
Terminal velocity, full freefall, bottomless pit cray-cray.
Might actually become spring around here
March 11, 2025 at 11:53 AM
Might actually become spring around here
METAPHOR ALERT
Not a warship, but.... SS United States leaving from Philadelphia for her final resting place in Florida as an artificial reef - February 19, 2025
SRC: various
SRC: various
February 19, 2025 at 6:17 PM
METAPHOR ALERT