Station Commando pointed out that my comments section didn’t work. They had on the 9th, but as I dig about, I found that its not just comments. IT also has renedered the permalinks ineffective, dumping you to the top post.

I did chnage the format of the link titles to the “short form” and then things were working…problem: It negates all the track flaoting about the net….

Anyhow…if anyone has any fixes, I’d appreciate them. After 6 hours of the WordPress forum and different search engines, it’s pointing at the FrontPage extensions, but none of the proposed fixes, that others say worked for them worked for me….

I did, however, in my clicking about, completely disconnect the blog datatabse from the “world,” resulting in my getting a “It looks like you haven’t installed WordPress yet….” error…scary, but, I got in and dug about raw data files until I figured out where ti manually edit the database records, and it all came back, complete with the error of the permalinks not working.

My head hurts, but I’ll go at it more later…

Update: (I was gonna go and take and asprin, but I checked the net one more time…..) The problem is fixed. I found a post where a blogger said he had upgraded to PHP5 and his permalinks died. I then remembered that last weekend, while doing lots of reformatting for the 2996 Tribute Project post, I also changed over to PHP5 from PHP4 at my web host. I just changed it back and permalinks are now functional!

After about 10-12 hours the last three days looking at changes in style sheets, index formats, sidebars, the database and finally chasing my tail off to the MS FrontPage extensions, it was my using the newest version of the scrrpiting language that had caused the problem….go figure.

I hope this helps someone somewhere…

Try Mike Swain’s “Goggle Cam”

A news article is here and the site for the actual gear is located here.

First off, let me begin with a news flash:

There is no such thing as a “perfectly good airplane.” If that was the case, long before the Wright Brothers, Leonado could have painted more pictures rather than waste his time inventing and documenting the parachute (which, BTW, works exceeding well – See this movie to find out how the test jump went).

Don’t believe me, but will you be getting in your car to head to work, go home, or take a trip? Keep this in mind:

An important reminder for those with a fear of flying:
In America, your chances of dying in an airplane crash are 1 in 4.6 million. Your chances of dying in a car crash are 1 in 125. (Source: Institute for Pyschology of Air Travel)

(Thanks, Andy, for that tidbit of useful info!)

/rant off

Well, Jay Stokes did this past weekend. 640 times to be exact, which also is looking like a 24 hour record for number of jumps.

Why (in case you’re still wondering)?: Because he wanted to raise $60K for the Special Olympics and the Special Operations Warrior Foundation.

From North Georiga Access:

Sep 9, 11:43 AM EDT

Skydiver Completes 640 Jumps in 24 Hours

GREENSBURG, Ind. (AP) — Jay Stokes celebrated his 50th birthday by jumping out of an airplane – 640 times.

The veteran skydiver did it to break his own world record of 534 jumps in a 24-hour period. There was no immediate word when his new record might be confirmed by Guinness World Records.

“I feel a little bit tired but I think I’ll be OK,” the exhausted former Army Green Beret said Saturday morning at Greensburg Municipal Airport after finishing.
[…]

What a stud. He wore himself out to help the disabled and those families who have lost a loved one who was part of the Special Operations community.

It ain’t all “beer and skittles” as one of my favorite bloggers says, this effort takes many people to help make it happen, and it’s a serious work load for the jumper, even if the weight of equipment has come down to the mid- 20 lb range.

Packers, pilots and people to make sure the jumper is fed and hydrated as he runs between the landing spot and the waiting plane are required.

But…on top of that, it sucks to not log any significant freefall time from a total of 640 jumps, as you’re doing “hop & pops” (clear and pulls) right out the door, at the lowest legal altitude, so you can get to the ground and get back up again. For lots of other people, that would equate to at least 640 minutes in freefall, maybe longer with a twin turbo taking you to 15K feet each time (about 73 seconds/jump for formation skydiving (belly to earth stuff). My math says thats 12 h 58 m and change in seconds, with is one entire set of Gold Freefall wings, with the 58 minutes going to the next incremental award for freefall time.

If you want Jay to teach you how to skydive, he works at Skydive Greensburg in Indiana.

Don’t live near Jay’s home DZ? Find out which drop zone is nearest to you here.

Want to know more about skydiving records? There isn’t a single place to surf to, but the United States Parachute Association is making an effort to be a common repostitory for such bookkeeping.

H/T: Enlisted Swine blog

PS: I wonder if Bill Gates chipped in for the 640 jumps?

It’s Wednesday once more. Send your trackbacks!

The “sea story” of this day is not a humorous one, but is a story of my experience the one time I personally had to inform someone they had a family member in the hospital, with about 0% chance of survival. It’s one of those things you may have to do in the performance of your duties while on deployment and up the chain of command.

I was executive officer (XO) and we were deployed to the Persian Gulf. It was in the latter half of the deployment and, thankfully, they had modified the operational schedule for us to patrol the northern area of the gulf, as a reward for having spent the first half of deployment operating in the Straits of Hormuz (SOH)/North Arabian Sea (NAS). This change put us close to Mina Sulman, Bahrain and the logistics head of the 5th Fleet.

The Captain called me to his cabin and handed me a Red Cross message. Generally, that’s not a good thing. In this case, it was a very bad thing. The few month old baby of one of our petty officers was in the hospital back home on life support, having been taken there when his wife found the baby not breathing in his crib. It was now my job to get things rolling to get him home ASAP, and I also would be the one to notify him of the medical emergency.

I got back to my stateroom and called down to admin and got PN1 Weber going on cutting orders. I called the Ops Boss and put him to work contacting the ASU in Bahrain. I had the Combat Systems Officer find the man and bring him to my stateroom.

In that short time, while I awaited his arrival, the crew involved had arranged for a helo to come and get him, and a seat on the contract air carrier out of Bahrain after midnight. Better yet, the helo had been flying and would be able to get to us soon. The logisitics in support of this difficult moment clicked together in less than 30 minutes.

I had the petty officer come in and sit down while I closed the door for some privacy. The moment was difficult, and it’s hard to know what to say, keeping in mind you’re 6,000 miles from home and a life is hanging by a thread. It is more than humbling to realize the right words are elusive, even if you have a good vocabulary.

I told him his son was in the hospital in Charleston and we had arranged for him to be flow into Bahrain for a flight home that night. I handed him the Red Cross message and sat silently while he read the few short lines of (bad) news from home. He said nothing. I told him how sorry I was, and he needed to get below and get a bag packed, so he could get home. He was not a man who drew attention to himself, but he was one of those who got the job done, and sort of stayed back in the shadows, but he was even quiter now. I can only figure the emotional shock was gripping him. He stood, I opened the door and told him to let us know what we could do, and to contact the squadron when he got home. We would notify them of the case.

Off he went to pack, and shortly there after, we set flight quarters for the “Desert Duck” to do the “pax transfer.”

The sad part was the baby had no hope, but he was able to be with his wife for the decision on whether to continue life support.

In the military, you are fully engaged in the lives of those you serve with. There are the good times, the parties and tactical successes to tell of in later years, but these type of moments are a part and parcel of the experience as well.

Cross Posted at:

Linkfest Haven

Stuck on Stupid

First we had the “Main Stream Media (MSM),” then I proposed the “Has Been Media (HSM)” in the “junior blog,” and Tony Snow used that term a few weeks later….but now, it’s time for a change.

Just came to me today. Maybe we should just call our friends in the press: “Media’b’Allah”

Sounds good to me: The media of God (meaning Allah). After all….that’s how the reporting seems to slant (more like lean hard over towards, like an iron object in the vicinity of a very strong magnet).

Just thinking….I hope I’m not ripping off the Hiz’b’Allah® moniker too badly….

Samsung develops an 8G NAND memory chip…

The 8GB NAND which can store 2000 MP3 files or 225 minutes of DVD-quality video is expected to be available in the third quarter of 2006.

Will that help you out any?

But WAIT! If you order now….oops…sorry…Samsung has also made non-volatile flash RAM chips, named phase-change random access memory, or PRAM, which are faster for writing data and made using a smaller die size (40nm).

Right Thinking Girl has been around awhile in the blogosphere. Before she had her own domain and took about a year off from blogging, I used to read her posts daily. I hadn’t been back there often recently, but surfed over that way this morning and found another one of her prespectives, which is worthy of your consideration. She’s a great writer, and, her new husband lost his wife and many work friends. I’m linking to one post, but her blogging of the last few days, complete with guest posts by Sean (her husband) and other freinds who had interesting positions in sociaety on that day 5 years ago, are worth taking a few minutes to read.

Try this one:

“What Nobody Wants to Talk About“.

This link is to her blog’s September 11th Rememberances.

Post your story of where you were 5 years ago this morning here.

Other related stories of 9/11/2001:
A Navy Officer who was in the Pentagon on the morning of 9/11/2001 tells his story of that morning in two posts: Part I and II.

At Little Green Footballs, an open thread to record where you were 9/11/2001..228 comments right now…

Update 9/11/2001: The 2996 Project server is hammered. Here is an alternate list of tributes at The Blogging Times.

The 2996 Project is being mirrored at http://www.madmommajen.com/ due to the ISP telling the blogger he’s way exceeding his traffic quotas..:)

A man born in 1967 died the morning of September 11th, 2001 in New York City, New York, USA. He was 33 years old by the records I can find. Web search engines don’t place this man in history other than he is in the many places where the victims of 9/11/2001 have been posted. The specifics are merely Mark was 33, and a resident of New York, and died in the vicinity of the World Trade Center buildings.

Some of the lists I found would contain a company name of job of some of the victims, but this information about Mark wasn’t posted.

The purpose of this post is to highlight Mark, separate from, but as one of those who perished that day. I intend to keep searching for information on Mark, so as to make his memory more concrete, not just as a letters on a list. Please check back for updates.

Update 9/12/2006: Because of the power of the net and this project, Naya posted a link to a letter of Dec 7, 2002, to a Rockaway newpaper that told who Mark Gilles is:

Loss That Slipped Thru Cracks

Dear Editor;

Many local heroes and victims of the 9/11 tragedy have been honored in our community. The loss of Mark Gilles has slipped through the cracks. Mark, a resident of the Shoreview Cooperative in Far Rockaway, formerly lived in Canarsie, Brooklyn, and moved to Rockaway in November 2000.

An accountant with Pricewaterhouse Coopers, Mark was very interested in cooperative living and management. Shortly after moving to Shoreview, Mark joined the Board of Directors and volunteered his accounting skills.

In the process of making a career change, Mark was employed by Account Temps and assigned to Cantor Fitzgerald in the WTC on 9/11/01.

Mark was 33 years old. He is survived by his fiancé Sherice, their daughter Jasmine, who is now nine, and his mother Giselle, of Brooklyn.

Mark’s life ended too quickly for him to really enjoy the new community he joined.

NORMAN SILVERMAN

Mark’s daughter, Jasmine is 13 years old and without her father today. By his assignment that day, he was one of the many who perished working for the financial firm Cantor-Fitzgerald.

Mark also had a sister. She was quoted:

“It’s been over two weeks, and we haven’t heard anything,” said Myriam Gilles, whose brother Mark Gilles, 33, of Brooklyn, is missing. “We’ve got to get some closure instead of waiting, waiting, waiting.”

The death was hard enough, but I imagine his temporary work status was cause for confusion and lack of notification, and more anxieity for his fiancé, daughter, mother and sister.

At Legacy.com, there are several entires by Mark’s friends:

July 19, 2002
Your infectious laugh and sense of humor always made people smile. Nothing was ever wrong in the world when seen thru your eyes. I can’t believe you are gone but I know you are up there making everyone laugh during these trying times. The one regret I have is that we never got back on the court and played one more game. God bless and when my time is finished here, have the ball and your laugh ready for me. I will always be proud of the way you lived your life, my friend.
Ray Whiteman (Dallas, TX )

Mark played pickup ball, and he was an optomist, and most likely a cut up, as well as a good friend.

August 28, 2002
Coming up on almost a year and I still have the hardest time believing you are not around.

You have come up in so many of our conversations. Those good ole days – back in the days – riding through the Stuy in the Buick, going to the Shadow, Finn Bogging on the Deuce, balling in the Nine, 211.

You’ll always be miss Finns.

Gregory Bentham (Brooklyn, NY )

Ray comes back again to talk to his friend:

September 10, 2004
another year, another tear. want you to know that there are still folks missing you. seems like yesterday when i last heard “come on b” from you. keep laughing “big man”, keep laughing…..
Ray Whiteman (washington, DC )

At the 911 Heros site, I found this post to Mark:

I miss you; it took a long time for me to accept that I was never going to see your face. I regret all the things left unsaid and undone between us. All this time has passed: nearly three years now. And I am vacant and lost without you. I have read the reports and sorted through all the paper work, only to realize there is no comfort in them. I long for Justus and I am striving to find my way without you.
May God Have Mercy on Us All

*** Posted by Teri Johnson on 2004-07-24 ***

Other Posts of note:

Steeljaw Scribe was at the Pentagon on 9/11 and remembers some of his shipmates here and here. He tells his story of that morning in two posts: Part I and II.

Black Five has a memorial to retired Army Officer and former British Army soldier Rick Rescorla, who died while “running to the sound of the guns” on the morning of 9/11/2001. He wasn’t there and he didn’t have to go, but, like the first responders and other heros of that day, he put others above his own life. He is credited with savings thousands, for pushing an evacuation plan for his company after the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. Rick is a real hero, serving the Queen, our Presidents, the Constitution in Vietnam and then his fellow Americans on 9/11/2001.

Trackbacked at:
Stop the ACLU

The 2996 Project Blogroll site is here.

From Little Green Footballs, a report from someone who attended a reception for former Iranina President Khatamis, hosted by CAIR in DC.

This quote is absolutely striking:

But one thing above all stood out when Khatami was speaking (I don’t know if it was Arabic or Persian). Apparently his language has no equivalent for the English word because he always said the word in English.

Democracy.

Interesting…the question now for me was the spoken language Fasri or Arabic? The cultures that spawned those languages have multi-millenia of history, and at least one doesn’t have the word “democracy” in its lexicon. Both cultures were in contact with the Greeks, who, from my knowledge of history, formulated the concept of democracy, or were at least the first ones to claim practical experience in it. The fact thse two cultures didn’t absorb a word like that would most likely have a reason for not doing it, as it certainly has become a concept hard to ignore.

Read the entire report for some real insights to the complex issues of Iran, but meditate on the quote above and consdier the implications…