A day of blog silence is planned as a memorial for the Virginia Tech shootings on 30 April, 2007.

Click the picture to get to the blog established.

I posted a few days ago about the Navy Together We Served portal and mentioned there was a Marine version that had led the way.

Since that post, my site meter is full of hits with the search words for TWS, and many of them “modified” to include “Army” or “Air Force,” so I sent an email to the N-TWS admin address saying there seemed to be a lot of activity. The response is that they are working the Air Force Together We Served site now, and there will be an Army Together We Served site following that.

So, be patient! Your time is near, non-sea service personnel!

Update 4/21/2007: The Admin at TWS says the set up for the sites for the USAF and Army will take time to get the databases together. Yep, that sounds right, but says the sites should be up this year. He said they would be getting the addresses to the sites up soon, at least with a banner to welcome you and let you know those other two services will be around.

Keep checking for an airforce.togetherweserved.com and army.togetherweserved.com to arrive on the net!

In researching a little bit of info today for a post, I bumped across the WikiProject Military History page. It seems the Wiki community recognizes there is lots of open ground here and are asking for inputs. Maybe you MilBloggers (or soon to be MilBloggers) have some things to contribute, so that there is some online content from fthe first person perspective, without having to write and publish your own book!

It looks like 600+ people are actively working the project now, with a list of inactive members, too.

Hey! Go for it!

Tracked back @: < ahref="http://www.yankeesailor.us">Ynakee Sailor

Living in the “i” World as we are, I have decided we need to add a vocabulary word: “iPert.”

The definition should be essentially self-discovered: “Those people who declare themselves experts on subject matter due to the use of Internet search engines to support their self-proclamation of the truth of their statements; written, spoken, or electronic in form.”

The horrible news of the Virginia Tech shootings will bring the iPerts out in many forms. I’m not saying that everyone with an opinion should be labeled one of these creatures, but some should be and their conclusions or forthright statements be taken with a grain of iSalt. In some cases, it makes sense to correct their perceived understanding with real expertise.

I predict the iPerts will come in large numbers, calling to paper over this situation with more legal dictates, which, as the standing “gun free zone” ordinance, will mostly be ignored by those wishing harm on society. That statement provides a springboard for discussion on the excessive creation of paper pulp to allow law makers to justify their paychecks, now and in the future. I’ll leave that for another day, most likely for a posting at The Wide Awakes.

iPerts are not a new phenomena, but the concept of them just came to me, helping to me grasp how the massive amounts of information on the Internet is there, yet many times, such as in the case of conspiracy theory supporters like the “9/11 Truthers,” there is so much information on a subject that just scanning a few web pages on what ever came back from the query, cannot adequately prepare you to be an “expert” in any one area.

Anyhow, feel free to propagate the use of “iPert,” and the plural form “iPerts” as it may fit your discussions. Consider, when you are the on station iPert, to identify yourself as such, proudly proclaiming your knowledge of the subject matter is merely based on scanning the first few pages you found via a web search engine.

In the meantime, pray for those who will personally suffer from the events of yesterday.

My brain color? I thought gray, but that’s the science in me…

And thanks to another take a moment quiz on the net:

Your Brain is Orange

Of all the brain types, yours is the quickest. You are usually thinking a mile a minute, and you could be thinking about anything at all. Your thoughts are often scattered and random – but they’re also a lot of fun!You tend to spend a lot of time thinking about esoteric subjects, the meaning of life, and pop culture.

What Color Is Your Brain?

Heh! It said “random.”

I like to think that’s me, but then it was only a few questions…

The “media” that is seen/heard by much of America and the world continues to pronounce doom and gloom in the Middle East. No longer “news” most of what I look at seem to be little more that editorializing at any opportunity. It bothers me.

Add to this that a common complaint from those who are defending us forward is “the story is not getting told.” I concur.

I was spurred on to write this after hearing the hearing the author of “Grace Under Fire,” Andrew Carroll, on the Laura Ingraham Show this morning. He has taken it upon himself to help preserve the letters of service members and family for history. He also has a list of troop support organizations up on his book’s site.

Here’s what I’m thinking: Make your blog available for the troops who would like to share their stories, but certainly don’t have time to set up and write a blog of their own. If have a blog that gets lots of such inputs, and can’t possibly get them all out in a timely fashion, find those who will volunteer their “space” and pass the inputs out, so they are spread far and wide. More possibility of exposure to those who might not otherwise get to read the story of the platoon that takes on the task of cleaning up/repairing and outfitting a school in Afghanistan, for instance.

I haven’t set up a blog roll, but I’m on several, so I suspect one would be useful and then the cross-pollinating would be extensive (if there were lots of blogs willing to chip in.

That’s idea number one….and it just might have some leverage in turning the tide of no news on the good news. Comments?

Idea #2: I have chosen to highlight the ValOUR-IT project the 11th of each month, just to be a friendly reminder that it’s not just Veteran’s Day when we should consider contributing to this wonderful program. The follow on to this idea is to either weekly or monthly, pick one of the troop support organizations (see my compiled list here), post their charter and find some testimonials to the success of the work they have done and spread the word that way….

Anyhow, I had been planning to blast this out to the Navy ValOUR-IT blogs (and I suspect I still might this weekend), to see about getting the ball rolling at the grass-roots level.

Anyone can help in this, particularly the second idea above.

If you have friends/family serving in the Sandbox, ask permission to get their stories and post them. Let them tell their stories.

Just think: Everyday bloggers helping to tell real stories that otherwise may have to wait years for historians, or be forever lost because “I didn’t think anyone cared.”

Fire away with modifications/ideas/etc.

What better way to be a servant, particularly in this week, than to support those who are supporting us.

Check this out…..Who really did it?

In the wake of the non-flying imam’s court case to sue those private people who called airline personnel to report suspicious behavior, Michelle Malkin has posted the “John Doe Manifesto” at NRO:

Dear Muslim Terrorist Plotter/Planner/Funder/Enabler/Apologist,

You do not know me. But I am on the lookout for you. You are my enemy. And I am yours.

I am John Doe.

I am traveling on your plane. I am riding on your train. I am at your bus stop. I am on your street. I am in your subway car. I am on your lift.

I am your neighbor. I am your customer. I am your classmate. I am your boss.

I am John Doe.

I will never forget the example of the passengers of United Airlines Flight 93 who refused to sit back on 9/11 and let themselves be murdered in the name of Islam without a fight.
[…]

The statement of principle continues…

Are you “John Doe?”

Doing some idle channel surfing, looking for some mental bubble gum led me to the Comedy Central a few evenings ago, where they had Bill Engvall doing his new routine “15 Degrees Off Cool.” Bill, if you’re not lighting up on the name, is one of the three comedians featured in the “Blue Collar Comedy Tour” movies. along with Jeff Foxworthy and Larry the Cable Guy.

Anyhow, the routine is pretty good, but the last 10 minutes are the best. Bill got a call from the US Air Force Thunderbirds, inviting him to come to Nellis Air Force Base and ride along as a V.I.P.

Seek out and find the showing on the Comedy Central of “15 Degrees Off Cool” and enjoy a wildly candid, “transparent” monologue about getting a ride in an F-16 Falcon. Don’t be chugging anything liquid once he begins the tale…..

As I was chatting with a customer on site this morning, we hear a droning above and I look up to see 8 Dehaviland Twin Otters cleaning up a “V” formation, heading south, maybe around 12K ft…

So he tells me that are working this week to break the 200 way “sequential” freefall formation record (meaning making multiple, planned formations together on the same jump – all with 200 participants….). I think I might head back up this way Saturday, armed with sunscreen to see what happens.

Skydiving: When formations are that big, it is a great spectator sport….