Posting, sadly, may be light, but hopefully not “lit,” for the next time span undetermined.

Fires, you know…are not just bad for pilots while airborne…

Heading north (actually NE) on I-275, heading into Tampa late yesterday, I hear a loud roaring and see a brownish smoke plume up ahead on the left. As I got closer, I looked left between the two buildings framing the south end of the St Pete International Airport and see three tail pipes of F-104 Starfighters, in a V-Formation set to roll. The flames from the flight lead’s afterburner still showing.

And me without the tools to make sure you don’t think this is but another “sea story.”

Quicksand film

Put your links to your best (or…well…anything you have) here…The sights at sea are amazing, and some one a few will witness, unless they look for them.

So, you call yourself a sailor, and you don’t believe in “the Green Flash?” Do you consider your fellow mariners who boast of such siting as more (maybe a lot more) or less on the wrong side of sanity for a moment or a lifetime?

Well, I have seen the phenomena, and now, you can know I’m quite sane, if you are an unbeliever, but at least I saw it in person a few times…

The “why/how” is here.

More real sitings captured here.

Facts and fiction about same…

Do you believe me now, shipmates?

Watch the video. Read the description of the precise Mecca orientation of the design which the press and others have been denying.

The exact Mecca orientation of the Flight 93 Memorial

A person facing directly into the giant central crescent of what was originally called the Crescent of Embrace will be facing 1.8° north of Mecca. Defenders of the crescent have used the inexactness of its Mecca orientation to dismiss concern.

•Patrick White, Vice President of Families of Flight 93, argues that the giant crescent cannot be seen as a tribute to Islam because the inexactness of its Mecca orientation would be “disrespectful to Islam.”•Both major Pittsburgh newspapers are denying that there is any such thing as the direction to Mecca.

•The internal investigation conducted by the Park Service denies that there is any such thing as “almost”:

…mihrab orientation either points to Mecca or it does not … [it] cannot be off by “some” degrees. [From page 2 of report summary. Page 1 here.]

All of this willful blindness about the simple orientation of the crescent structure has been effective in keeping public inquiry from reaching a second startling fact: that the crescent design also contains a hidden exact Mecca orientation, corresponding to architect Paul Murdoch’s own description of how the crescent structure should be interpreted.

Physical crescent tip vs. thematic crescent tip

What points not quite exactly at Mecca is the physical Crescent of Embrace structure (every particle of which remains completely intact in the Bowl of Embrace redesign). Connect the most obtruding tips of the physical crescent, form the perpendicular bisector to this line (the bisector of the crescent), and it points 1.8° north of Mecca:

Click for larger images. The green circle with “qibla” direction marked is from the Mecca-direction calculator at Islam.com. “Qibla” is Arabic for “prayer direction,” which Muslims calculate as the “great circle” or “shortest distance” direction to Mecca.

But Paul Murdoch has also given a thematic explanation for the crescent structure, indicating how the thematic or “true” upper crescent tip should be understood. In Murdoch’s description, the flight path breaks the circle, turning it into a giant crescent. Thus the thematic upper crescent tip is what is left of the crescent structure after the parts that are “broken off” by the flight path are removed. Take away the parts of the Entry Portal Walls that extend out beyond the flight path, connect the most obtruding tips of the remaining structure, and a perpendicular to this line points within a couple hundredths of a degree of Mecca (i.e. it points exactly at Mecca, as far as can be determined given the pixel resolution of the graphics).

The flight path is represented in the Crescent/Bowl design by the Entry Portal Walkway, which comes down from the NNW. The Walkway passes through the Entry Portal Walls and projects out into the crescent:

Take away the parts of the crescent structure that are “broken off” by the flight path, and the remaining crescent structure is oriented exactly on Mecca.

[The above graphic was created by laying the Crescent of Embrace and the Bowl of Embrace site plans on top of each other. This was done to accurately capture the one real change that Murdoch made in the Bowl of Embrace redesign: the lengthening of the Entry Portal Walkway. (See “Memorial riddle #2: Why did Paul Murdoch lengthen the Entry Portal Walkway?) So that the new Walkway length can be seen, the low resolution Bowl of Embrace site plan is enhanced by overlaying it with the high resolution Crescent of Embrace site plan.]

The 44th inscribed translucent block on the flight path

At the end of the Entry Portal Walkway (marking the thematic or “true” upper crescent tip, according to Murdoch’s own description), sits a large glass block, inscribed with LAFD Captain Stephen J. Ruda’s dedication: “A common field one day. A field of honor forever.”

This will be the 44th inscribed translucent block emplaced along the flight path, matching the number of passengers, crew, AND terrorists. 40 will be inscribed with the names of the 40 heroes (despite Tom Burnett’s demand that Tom Jr.’s name not be used). Three more will be built into a separate section of Memorial Wall that is centered on the bisector of the giant crescent (the exact position of the star on an Islamic crescent and star flag). These three blocks will be inscribed with the 9/11 date. Thus the date goes to the Islamic star. The date goes to the terrorists.

By having the 44th glass block mark the thematic “true” upper crescent tip, and by having that thematic crescent tip create a hidden exact Mecca orientation for the giant crescent, Murdoch is able to tie his Islamic and his terrorist memorializing design features together into a perfect bin Ladenist embrace.

TACKLE THE BARE NAKED HIJACKER!

After all, it does not get much more naked than this:

Or this:

Or this:

The Walkway riddle: When Paul Murdoch extended the Entry Portal Walkway, he was doing more than just perfecting the Mecca orientation of the giant crescent. This slight adjustment in the placement of the 44th block also perfected two other terrorist memorializing elements of Murdoch’s mosque. Anyone who can figure out either of these elements before looking at the answer wins a glorious prize.

—————

If you want to join the blogroll/blogburst for the Crescent of Betrayal blogburst, email Cao at caoilfhionn1 at gmail dot com, with your blog’s url address. The blogburst will be sent out once a week to the participants, for simultaneous publication on this issue on Wednesdays.

Crescent of betrayal/surrender Blogburst Blogroll

1389 Blog – Antijihadist Tech
A Defending Crusader
A Fine Line Between Stupid and Clever
And Rightly So
Big Dog’s Weblog
Big Sibling
Cao’s Blog
Chaotic Synaptic Activity
Error Theory
Faultline USA
Flanders Fields
Ft. Hard Knox
GM’s Corner
Ironic Surrealism II
Jack Lewis
Kender’s Musings
My Own Thoughts
Nice Deb
Ogre’s Politics and Views
Part-Time Pundit
Right on the Right
Right Truth
Stix Blog
Stop the ACLU
The View From the Turret
The Wide Awakes
Thunder Run

Listen to this podcast

SkyGod.com. I’ve met a few who thought they were…anyhow…aviation quotes by category…

Oct 13th, 1775 is a long time ago for our nation, but a short journey relative to the historical reach of many other nations. The difference? The US Navy burst onto the scene at the outset of out independence, and within a few short decades, demonstrated mastery of the ocean and navy combat. And, we’ve come a long way, baby!

Today, I’ll recount a memory of 19 years ago related to the Navy’s birthday. Dates: 10/4 – 10/10/1988 Place: Tampa, Fl. Unit: USS CARR (FFG-52). Mission: Visit Ship for the city, as requested by the Navy League Chapter.

This is the other side of a like story told by Bookie in her post about a tour of the USS SHOUP (DDG-86) this very week.

RADM Leroy Collins, USN (ret) and CAPT Bruce McDaniel, USN (Ret) were the most prominent players is getting their request fulfilled. CARR sailed from Charleston, SC on 10/1, and arrived early on the morning of the 4th at the Skyway Bridge for the long transit to Harbor Island pier in downtown Tampa. On the way in, the HMS Active, which had just spent the week in the same place, was departing. Honors were rendered between ships per naval custom.

The transit in was long, but it was the end that was most interesting. In order to get alongside the pier, we had arrived with most of our JP-5 (aviation grade fuel) pumped from the tanks, which were aft, under the helo flight deck. This caused us to be slightly down by the bow for trim, but also enabled us to get over the shallow sand bars just before the pier. We shut down our engines, and were towed stern first to the pier in the final moments of the arrival. At low tide, we would be almost on the bottom.

Finally moored, in front of a large crowd of people, we prepared to receive our guests for the week. According to the Ship’s history report, 170 people visited the ship on the 4th (a Tuesday), with daily visitors peaking at about 2000, and a total of over 700 visitors for the 6 day period. The Ship’s first Commanding Officer, CAPT Robert Horne, and his wife were there to meet the ship, as he was now stationed at Central Command at MacDill AFB.The inside story? The crew complained about having to take on the extra duty of being tour guides about the ship. Each day, most of the crew was either in the duty section, or dressed in their whites and stationed around the ship until late afternoon. The funny thing after the first day of visit ship? They were scrambling to get their whites cleaned and fighting to get assigned to help escort tour groups. It seems quite a number of phone numbers were passed to those who grudgingly went about their assignments, not realizing the opportunity at first… We were treated well.Our quarterdeck phone number was published and the city was invited to show their thanks to our crew. The line was constantly busy with offers to take a few sailors out for golf, fishing, BBQs, tours around Tampa, etc. The yellow sticky notes were posted on the weapons elevator doors in the centerline passageway by the phone watch. I can attest to the fact that you cold hardly see any exposed metal of the doors very quickly. For the sailors, there were so many great requests, they really could pick and choose from the top tier offers.

I was humbled that so many people would stand in the Florida sun in line for hours, just to walk around our ship. The sun, thankfully and unthankfully, was unhindered by clouds for most of our visit, yet they still waited patiently for the opportunity to see what their tax dollars had purchased and to meet and show gratitude to the sailors.

The week in Tampa was filled with activities. The Navy League had a formal Navy Ball, with us as the honored guests. They also hosted a wardroom party at a club on the top floor of one of the skyscrapers downtown, which was a combination Hail and Farewell for then LCDR Tom Brown (the outgoing XO) and I.

This thank you is long overdue, but thank you Tampa, FL from one of the crew members of USS CARR (FFG-52) for your hospitality in 1988. We departed Tampa, for the transit home on the 10th with a happy crew, much more open to future assignments to “Visit Ship” escort duty assignment.

The pictures? Well not the best, and located at a relative’s house these many years later. I was pretty busy, being involved in becoming both XO and Navigator, so there was no time to snap any pictures. If you note in the first picture, the skyline of Tampa, has changed radically since 1988. The club where the party was held is the tallest building in the background of the first picture.

Tracked back @: http://steeljawscribe.com/2007/10/13/open-trackback-saturday-6/trackback/

Big time H/T to Flag Gazer:

LT Michael Murphy, USN will be awarded (posthumously) the Congressional Medal of Honor.

LT Murphy was killed during the surveillance operations in Afghanistan documented in Marcus Lutrell’s book: “Lone Survivor.”It is also the first MOH awarded for combat operations in Afghanistan.

Update 10/12/2007: Official Navy Report here.

Local coverage of LT Murphy, with links to a series of 11 stories about the man who served his men and us to the end is here in Newsday, including a video interview with his parents.

Here is a tribute to Lt Murphy from the FDNY Engine 53 and Ladder 43 company, whose badge Michael wore onto combat as a memorial to those who died 9/11/2001 in his home town (Long Island).

If you’re the random selection of the first hundred commenters on the item in the blog…

Take My Tech!. The dude is listing blog entries for his games and things like wireless PC Cards and laptop bags. Put a comment under the things you would like to have a shot at and …. when there are 100 comments, then a random commenter is picked to get the item…and he ships for free…

Ian Toll, author of the excellent book, “Six Frigates” will be at Olsson’s Books and Records in Alexandria on 10/12/2007 for a reading signing event.On 10/19/2007, he will be at Bay Books in Coronado, CA, doing a reading and signing.

Check out excepts from Chapter 1. If you haven’t picked up this book yet, and love early American history, don’t miss this writing!

Linking, learning and OOPS! Information coming in!

Found at the Scientific American Mind website, the adventuring into the upper reaches of the atmosphere has a cumulative effect on the thing that makes you think.

From “Into thin air: Altitude’s toll on the brain”:

Douglas Fields
National Institutes of Mental Health
Washington, D.C.

Three attributes of a good mountaineer are high pain threshold, bad memory, and … I forget the third. – R. Douglas Fields

Climbing Mount Everest is not so difficult; the hard part is getting down intact. According to a recent brain imaging study, almost no one does. Of thirteen climbers in the study who attempted Mount Everest, none returned without brain damage. The study also scanned the brains of climbers who attempted less extreme summits. For those of us who love to climb, the results are less than elevating. It seems that almost no one, whether the weekend warrior chaperoned to the summit or the seasoned mountaineer, will return from the high peaks with a brain in the same condition it was in beforehand.
[…]

Some of us will be able, based on a propensity to “get high” in aircraft or climbing, will be able to use this as a defense in our more advanced years to cover our mental errors. But then we know the other people who “get high” also will have that excuse…

Watch Lex’s posts for signs of too many rides when he took his O₂ mask off against the directives of NATOPS.