USS R-7 Submarine, launched in 1919, on maneuvers with Palos Verdes Hills in the background.

After construction of the San Pedro breakwater was completed in 1912, Los Angeles outer harbor was used to support U.S. naval operations. As early as 1913, submarines would berth along the San Pedro waterfront. But it was not until 1914 that the Harbor Commission allowed the Navy the use of City Dock No. 1 and part of its transit sheds as a temporary base for submarines.

Marymount California University is a private Catholic four-year university situated on the picturesque bluff on the Palos Verdes Peninsula that once served as an all-girls Catholic high school and a Catholic two-year junior college. MCU embraces is Catholic identity in the tradition of its founding order, the Religious of the Sacred Heart of Mary. The chapel on campus conducts weekly services and special holiday masses which the community is welcome to attend.

Our Moon, the moon of planet Earth, is special. The fifth largest moon in our solar system, our Moon is an old soul sister of planet Earth. She has been in orbit around the Earth since the time the early solar system took shape. Our Moon was born in a fiery tangle between a Mars-sized object and Earth, during the early period, when our solar system looked more like a free-for-all shooting gallery with bullets the size of planets whizzing around, and no sheriff in charge. She has been slowly tamed and nurtured over four and a half billion years, and now, literally embraced in a waltz that we call tidal locking, with her face toward mother Earth.

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There is little doubt that Southern California has played a significant role in aerospace history. Much of that can be traced to the South Bay and other areas of Los Angeles County. The first airshow in the United States was held on a hilltop on a parcel of land that was once included in a Spanish Land Grant known as Rancho San Pedro and later developed by Manuel Dominguez.

Have you ever thought about the universe? How big is it? How and when did it begin? What does it contain? How will it end? Will it end? These “cosmic questions” were once the domain of philosophers. Remarkably, in the 20th century, such questions became the purview of science fiction and TV comedies.

In our modern world, people often lose sight of the past or remain entirely unaware of the trailblazers and pioneers who paved the way. For decades, Mary Pickford’s name was associated with her appearance. She was viewed as “the girl with the golden curls” and the picture of sweetness and light. What few may have realized is that she was a powerful titan of industry, a creative force, and a visionary ahead of her time.

Even when the world is calm or ridden by an Armageddon, people always have a choice in all the things they do.

Wonderful opportunities arise when you ask yourself the right questions.

In 1965 Lucille Ball not only spent time at Marineland of the Pacific she actually filmed an episode of The Lucy Show. In that episode she tried to retrieve a ball from the tank. Of course as always things didn't go as planned and she found herself in another a predicament. In this case in the tank with the dolphin and soaking wet. While far from glamorous in this particular episode she spent much of her early career as a beautiful movie star.

Isolation at half A MILLION miles from earth

Fifty years ago this month we learned the crucial lessons of what a “successful failure was. Apollo XIII showed us surviving skills for managing any crisis. The five “‘ations” Anticipation, Isolation, Communication, Application and Participation.

The NASA Astronauts of Apollo XIII and their support teams showed us how to overcome a crisis and survive.

In the late fifteenth century, Spanish author Garci Rodriguez del Montalvo wrote a best-selling fantasy novel titled Las Sergas de Esplandian (The Exploits of Esplandian). In it the hero visits an island named for Queen Califia, an imposing Amazon.

We are all at home now, in the place that should be our happy place, our soft spot to land. How does it feel? Are you overwhelmed because the clutter you are accustomed to leaving behind when you go to work is surrounding you 24/7?