My first duty station following graduation from boot camp was the USCG Air Station located on the island of Oahu in Hawaii. Upon arrival I was hustled into a small classroom along with several other spanky new Seaman Apprentices where we were addressed by the station’s Master-at-Arms. The MA informed us that, among other things, there were certain businesses in nearby Honolulu that were strictly off limits to all Coast Guard personnel. He even provided us a list with the names and addresses of these verboten establishments. This was great. Without that list it would have taken us weeks to find all those places.

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Back in 1973, the OPEC oil cartel initiated an embargo on the sale of oil to the U.S., which caused oil prices to increase from $3 to $12 a barrel. In response, then-president Richard M. Nixon found himself in the difficult position of having to find ways to conserve the nation’s energy resources. His staff promptly advised him that driving an automobile at a speed of 55 mph, on average, uses less fuel than driving at any higher speed over the same distance. Thus, he decided to issue an executive order mandating a 55 mile per hour national speed limit.

Great.

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My son, Jay, his beautiful bride, Ashley, and my delightful five-year old step-granddaughter, Hannah, just returned home to Florida after what Jay tells me had been a marvelous one-week vacation spent in the great State of Maine. During their stay, though, Jay would sometimes send me photos of his meals via text messages. This practice of sharing the visual delights of a well-presented entree seems to have become customary nowadays, and I readily admit to doing the same from time to time. But, importantly, I could not help but notice that those photos featured, among other things, fresh Maine lobster.

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I recently viewed a television documentary on the American bald eagle (Haliaeetus Leucocephalus). This majestic raptor, which gets its name from the old English term “balde,” meaning “white headed,” was designated the official bird and animal of the U.S. in 1782. In that year, it was estimated there were 25,000 to 75,000 of these magnificent creatures in what is now known as the lower 48 states alone. But as the country’s human population began migrating in the direction of the setting sun, many of the eagles’ nesting territories and food sources were taken over by people. On top of that, farmers at the time considered the birds to be vermin and were inclined to shoot them at every opportunity. By the turn of the 19^th century, eagles were becoming increasingly rare.

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