For those without a Naval background, “BZ” is signal flag code for “Well Done.”
It’s been over for a few days, but the final totals, minus some that will trickle in via the mail for the VALOur-IT was:
$92,542!!
Amazing. The beginning goal was $60K. The Army sprinted out of the blocks and blew throught their $15K “fair share” and had to bump the goal to keep it easy to see. They pushed their meter to $25K, and then the Marines, outflaked them and everybody else…..The Jarheads powered through the muck and went north of $30K to an amazed audience. Of course a nod from Michelle Malkin didn’t hurt at all, now did it?
Thanks to one and all for spreading the word on this wonderful, life changing project, that puts wounded soldiers, sailors. airmen, Coast Guardsmen and Marines back into the world via technology.
See you next year, but, donations for this, and the many other projects of Soldier’s Angels are gracefully accepted all year long.
Benoît B. Mandelbrot, a maverick mathematician who developed an innovative theory of roughness and applied it to physics, biology, finance and many other fields, died on Thursday in Cambridge, Mass. He was 85.
His death was caused by pancreatic cancer, his wife, Aliette, said. He had lived in Cambridge.
Why is this important to this blog? His work was the inspiration for the title.
I first bumped into his work, not having a clue about him in 1988. I was at Naval War College and had bought a Mac II, equipped with a graphics card which would provide 256 color displays.
I’m not sure exactly where I found it, I’m guessing on GEnie (yep, before the ‘Net), but I got a program to draw fractals, the Mandelbrot set, and later the Julia set. I’d set a bunch of parameters in the computer when I was heading to bed, then get up in the morning to see some way down inside the Mandelbrot fractal scene. They’d take 2-4 hours to draw, depending on the “magnification” factors (the power to) I had set. Then I had working material to slice up in PixelPaint.
I was fascinated by the detail, and it was not the “chaos” or disorder, but the very subtle silightly offset order.
My worldview shifted as a result, somewhat then, but moreso later. In 1996, I was sent to attend two courses in Software/Systems Safety at the University of Southern California. Wandering through the University’s book store and picked up “Chaos: The Making of a New Science”.
In reading that book, and seeing the development of this body of science, my views of life shifted quite a bit. When I hear “chaos,” I usually consider the topic and think about if it’s just order too subtle that has escaped the examination, or it’s really something out of control. Usually, it’s related to the subtle organization. Beyond that, how his formulas have affected the computer graphics world. The scenery in the background of the big screen, like the “Lord of the Rings,” and many, many others, is generated using fractal formulas.
So, in 2004, when I began blogging, the moniker of the blog, Chaotic Synaptic Activity, came from a subtle reference to the far beyond the decimal point changes, normally allocated as disorder, in those things I think about. Before I read the James Gleick book, to me, chaos was chaos. After? It just means you have to consider things further.
In addition, about a year ago, the scientists figured out what I did in 2004: The brain runs on chaos!
For years, I’ve told myself I needed to write this piece to explain my naming convention, and I haven’t. Today, on hearing of Dr. Benoit Mandelbrot’s passing, I could delay no longer.
He was a pioneer in his field, and changed mathematics forever. In mapping, in fluid dynamics, in population growth and an offshoot into market economies and how they preform.
In the 1950s, Dr. Mandelbrot proposed a simple but radical way to quantify the crookedness of such an object by assigning it a “fractal dimension,†an insight that has proved useful well beyond the field of cartography.
Over nearly seven decades, working with dozens of scientists, Dr. Mandelbrot contributed to the fields of geology, medicine, cosmology and engineering. He used the geometry of fractals to explain how galaxies cluster, how wheat prices change over time and how mammalian brains fold as they grow, among other phenomena.
His influence has also been felt within the field of geometry, where he was one of the first to use computer graphics to study mathematical objects like the Mandelbrot set, which was named in his honor.
“I decided to go into fields where mathematicians would never go because the problems were badly stated,†Dr. Mandelbrot said. “I have played a strange role that none of my students dare to take.â€
We need more minds like this.
RIP, Dr Mandelbrot.
Update: This YouTube bideo gives you a 10 minute view of the Mandelbrot math, hosted by Arthur C Clark
Now, hear from 2008 on how this math gave insights to the then coming economic collapse:
If you’re a fan of “24,” then “Unthinkable” is for you. I picked it up on Friday, not having paid attention to what it was about. It was a good blind choice.
I’ll not say much of the details. Samuel L. Jackson played his role masterfully. The supporting actress, Carrie-Anne Moss, in the role as an FBI agent did a fantastic job, too.
It’s a thinker. Be ready to wrestle with significant questions from start to finish. I’m going to pray no one ever has to face a reality posed in the movie, which is exceptionally plausible at every turn of events.
I felt the balance of the opinions of how the circumstances should be handled never got to a point of preaching to the audience, but manifested a real struggle to walk a knife edge in decision making under onerous circumstances, with the real possibility of the people in the pretend scenes, if they were real government personnel, may well be dragged before the world as having done unthinkable things.
“Unthinkable” has the same quality I found in “Crimson Tide,” where both the CO and XO on the sub were right, and yet they still were on opposite ends of how to handle the circumstances.
Different from what had been. Some very insightful men drafted the documents to make something new, that drew on the good that had come before, and blended it together.
I often marvel at those who would think we want it “our way.” I consider the things that have become a part of our everyday lives, drawing the best from around the world. It comes in saying, in chai tea, in jazz and rock and roll, which Elvis pretty much stole from the African American style of Gospel singing and made it something “new.”
Look at the plethora of types of food from all over the world in just about anywhere you go. We saw them, and had them imported by immigrants, or brought back by those Americans who traveled abroad, and yes, sometimes because of war. We are the melting pot, culturally, at many, many levels, subtle and some very obvious.
Well, one bad thing: We’ve been really slow to adopt the GSM cell phone standard, so our phones work when we go outside our national borders.
It’s what America does: Takes the best and absorbs it and makes it a part of the American experience. What’s not to marvel about that?
So, I will point you now to an incredibly well done HD video on the FaceBook page for the US Navy. It’s a moving tribute to our flag, in the many places it is flown or used as a symbol of this great Nation.
For those who have long supported the Soldier’s Angels Voice Activated Laptops for Our Injured Troops (VALOur-IT), this is one of the things the program has been addressing, along with the coputer contact with the world, by providing GPS Units for those wounded service members who are getting out and about. The reason: TBI has an associated symptom of loss of short term memory, and the GPS Units help remind the driver where they were headed. (Note: You don’t have to wait until this November to donate to VALOur-IT…SA will be happy to accept donations all year long…even today to help this great cause)
Below is the article Chelsea asked if I could post to help get attention to the cause:
Traumatic Brain Injuries in the Military
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is becoming a common wound of modern warfare. It has even been coined the “signature wound†of the War on Terror. While TBI is becoming more prevalent in wartime activity, many service men and women continue to go undiagnosed. Institutions, like the US Department of Veterans Affairs, are working to make quick and accurate diagnoses in order to prescribe appropriate and effective treatment.
TBI is caused by forced trauma to the head, either by being shaken or hit. The severity of a TBI varies from case to case, but symptoms range from mild concussions to a debilitating state. The majority of TBI’s acquired by military personnel are classified as mild traumatic brain injuries (MTBI). Initial symptoms of MTBI consist of loss of consciousness, disorientation, loss of memory, headache, and temporary loss of hearing and vision. They are often partnered with anxiety, irritability, difficulties processing information, limited concentration amongst other problems experienced down the road. While MTBI is most common amongst the men and women of the armed forces, more severe cases of TBI are happening much more frequently and often require the victim to attended specialty rehabilitative nursing centers, like CareMeridian.
The most common cause of a TBI in the military is due to blasts. There are three degrees of blast injuries where a TBI is common; Primary (due to blast itself), Secondary (due to objects being propelled by a blast) and Tertiary (due to a collision with a third party object). According to the Veterans Health Initiative, active male members of the military from the ages 18-24 are hospitalized with a TBI at a rate of 231 per 100,000 and females 150 per 100,000. Based on military force projections this would mean that 4,141 military personnel are hospitalized on average each year with a TBI, and these numbers often rise during wartimes.
The best prevention for veterans to avert the long-term effects of a brain injury is to recognize the symptoms of a TBI. Once the symptoms are identified an individual should take basic precautionary measures in order to begin the healing and recovery process until a more specific diagnosis can be made.
Service men and women give so much to protect this country and they deserve to come home to a happy and healthy life. Creating awareness about TBI will help ensure their long term health. By helping our veterans, their friends and their families recognize the early warning signs of a TBI, treatment can be sought as early as possible.
Special event: Memorial service morning of 19 March. This will be held on the 65th anniversary of the attack off the coast of Japan.
Registration closes1 March, 2010.
Contact for Questions:
Sam Rhodes 772-334-0366 or
Beth Conard Rowland (daughter of crewman) 740-524-0024Â (please leave message)
These men who went to war, preformed well, suffered a horrible blow, yet sailed their ship home may not be around much longer to share their stories. If you’re close by, I’m sure they wouldn’t mind a visitor or two who would thank them and listen to a story of two for history’s sake. Take your camera and notepad and post the things you learn!
The story of the day the ship was struck by a kamikaze off Japan is “Inferno.”
As a warm up to getting your hands on “Inferno,” SteelJaw Scribe provided an excellent synopsis of that horrible day in his 2008 post:Â “The Crucible.”
Seaman 1/c Omer Dee Simms, USN died that day, after saving 12 of his shipmates, by relentlessly working to free them from the internal compartment they had been trapped in by damage and fire. After he led them to safety, he re-entered the skin of the ship to save more people. He did not survive. His son graciously shared with me family photos and letters to enable me to post some personal history of the battle not otherwise published.
I received an email from a member of their Advanced Information Systems Department, letting me know he works with the LCS program and also provided a link to a video of the LCS-2 on the GD website.
Here’s the text of the communique (sent Tuesday, December 22, 2009 2:51 PM):
With an interest in Navy affairs, I have read posts from your blog and thought you might find this video interesting. The LCS or Littoral Combat Ship is a program the Navy is developing for relatively small surface vessels intended for operations in the littoral zone (close to shore). It is “envisioned to be a networked, agile, stealthy surface combatant capable of defeating anti-access and asymmetric threats in the littorals.”. Two ship classes are the first examples of the LCS in the U.S. Navy: the Freedom-class and the Independence-class.
The company I work for is part of the team designing and building the Independence-class which took the unique course of using a trimaran design. When facing pirates, terrorists or other asymmetric threats, this unique and forward design makes the ship fast, highly maneuverable and geared to supporting mine detection/elimination, anti-submarine warfare and surface warfare, particularly against small surface craft. Wanted to share this video we produced in case you found it interesting.
I’m sure he has a vested interest n naval affairs. I call it a paycheck in these lean times.
Anyhow, General Dynamics is putting their workforce in play to even let us little guys know, how special a ship almost as big as an FF(G), with a 57mm gun, is going to work great in the close in, shallow waters, chasing pirates.
Yeah…that’s the main threat of the future. I sure hope the Chinese wake up and smell the coffee and begin to employ small groups of men in small boats, armed with RPGs to take us on. It sure would save a lot of money for them.
I did respond with a polite “I don’t think this ship fits the bill…too big for close in, too little for real sea battles, and and that the 57mm gun was a joke, at best” message.
The desecration has begun. A ground-breaking ceremony was held at the Shanksville crash site on Saturday. Bulldozers will start reshaping the land this week. Never mind that the only rule for the Flight 93 memorial’s design competition was that the landscape had to be left as it was. In order to complete the full arc of the Crescent of Embrace (now called a broken circle, but still a giant Islamic-shaped crescent), an earthen causeway will have to be built across the wetlands that lie about 50 vertical feet below the crash site.
A contractor posted recently about his decision to turn down work on the memorial, despite economic hard times. Our friend Jeff just could not stomach the idea of helping to build a tribute to the enemy, a sentiment that is easy to understand and much appreciated. To anyone else who might find themselves in this situation, just be aware that there are other options. Someone is going to do the work, and if the pay is lucrative, it could be better for our cause to have that money go to someone who is on our side.
Blogburst author Alec Rawls has succeeded in driving driving quite a bit of Western Pennsylvania news coverage through the purchase of a half-dozen half-page full-color ads in the local Somerset paper. If anybody wants to fund another, Alec will gladly put the ad together. Call it anti-dhimmi jiu-jitsu. We can use the Park Service’s own money against them.
If we don’t succeed, then you have to live with knowing that you helped to build an abomination. There is no simple answer.
On the subject of worthy causes, long-time blogburst participant Curt at the excellent Flopping Aces blog is helping to orchestrate fundraising for Project Valour-IT, which helps provide voice-controlled computers and other technology to Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines recovering from hand wounds and other severe injuries.
Soldiers Angels, which hosts Valour-IT, is also fundraising for the victims of the jihad attack on Fort Hood.
To join our blogbursts, just send your blog’s url.
Category: Leadership, Political, Public Service |
Comments Off on Stop the Murdoch (Flt 93) Blogburst: Ground broken for Terrorist memorial mosque
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=0a7b7e67-151b-49f0-9044-db0aeb4e7747)
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=5819fac6-fa2d-4077-8686-0446aa02fc3e)
