No. 74
Quotations:
"Before God we are all equally wise - and equally foolish."
"Imagination is more important than knowledge..."
Albert Einstein
"Through me you pass into the city of woe:Through me you pass into eternal pain:Through me among the people lost for aye.Justice the founder of my fabric moved:To rear me was the task of power divine,Supremest wisdom, and primeval love.Before me things create were none, save thingsEternal, and eternal I shall endure.All hope abandon, ye who enter here."
Dante
"Go, and never darken my towels again."
Groucho Marx
"A good conscious is a continual Christmas."
"Energy and Persistence conquer all things."
Benjamin Franklin
"Depend not on fortune, but on conduct."
Publius Syrus
"He who spares the wicked injures the good."
Seneca
INTRO: Breaking in the House, Mortgage Notes, Solar and Wind Grid, Disaster Training, My New Rosary and the Adoration Chapel, Nephew gets Hitched then Doesn't, Visit from Uncle, New Classes, Wreck, Expansion Project
ADMIN: Sorry for the delay since the last Newsletter. I've been swamped and pretty well jammed up. I was rather shocked to discover that by examining my Newsletter file it has been about four months since my last edition was put out. Blame it on the move, the holidays and a whole bunch of other stuff. So this is really gonna be another catch up edition. ..., if you wish to use any of the article material listed below in the Links in the sections below in National and International Affairs or Websites for your Blog, then feel free. It's all open source and can be easily found elsewhere anyway if you know where to look.
Obviously I cannot recount everything that has been going on lately over such a lengthy period of time since the last edition but I'll tell what I can, what I think important and I'll also include a bunch of catch up articles that really interested me, as well as general news and software and other relevant information. I had intended to include a couple of other items in this edition but I'm tired of writing this edition and it is already too long, even for a four month catch-up edition and so I'll save the other items for later editions. Forgive the typos and other mistakes, I'm tired of rewriting and editing this thing.
RESPONSES: There are several things I would like to respond to that ... and ... and others have sent me but unfortunately I have not recently had the time. Still just settling into the new house, recovering from ice storms, etc. I do intend though to make a few responses when I get the time and on the new Blog as well. By the way ... I liked the old Blog and when you get the new one up and fixed to a server let me know the new address and I'll link it to both my browser and my RSS reader.
... I hope your old CO found the information and advice I sent him on avoiding IEDs useful. Let me know what his opinion was. When does he leave, how long will be his tour and what will be his basic assignment? I was kind of interested given his IED concern and wondered if he might be traveling about a good deal.
And ... I'm gonna respond with some personal assessment to your interrogation story FD a little later. If you want then I can also include it in the new Literary Newsletter and let it get a wider criticism. Only if you want of course, so just let me know.
I'm also gonna briefly give my response to ... analysis of the ... I'm gonna disagree with some of his critiques in particular, but mainly just in a general, philosophical sense. I didn't think he was being too harsh, but I did think that he was flatly wrong about a couple of his assertions. First off the idea that someone must be a recognized expert in order to reach a valid conclusion is ridiculous (he did not say this directly but implied it). Recognized experts were entirely unable to predict the attack on 9/11 and have been unable to accurately gauge or predict many of the events subsequent to the invasion of Iraq, nor to be prepared for them. Some people in government and the military did predict the likelihood of the 9/11 attacks and even the means by which this would be likely accomplished and they were mostly dismissed or scoffed at, or the organizational structure was designed to purposely thwart them. Before the Iraq invasion and after it many experts declared conclusively and prematurely that bin Laden and Saddam would never collaborate because they hated each other but past and now current documentary evidence demonstrates otherwise. I never held the position that it was impossible for Saddam and Al Qaeda to not cooperate, as a matter of fact as most of you well know, I held the opposite position based on the psychological evidence regarding both men and the practicality of both ideologies. I knew they would cooperate and although I initially also held the position that Saddam was partially responsible for, cooperated on, or at least knew about the 9/11 plot I have since then been skeptical of my initial belief due to lack of evidence. But new documentary and video tape and audio tape evidence from Saddam now makes me think I was right all along. And eventually I expect this link to become more and more firmly established by history.
But I would never turn away from any idea, no matter how seemingly crazy and impossible it might seem just based upon the idea that I'm not expert enough to fully comprehend the situation. I've never known any expert in any field of endeavor who fully understood anything. It's an impossibility to fully understand anything. This last idea should always remain in the mind of any governmental, military or organizational expert (and to be fair any individual who considers himself such), the idea that your very system of operation might function in such a way as to effectively kill your ability to foresee the truth until it is too late. Organizations, institutions and systems of accreditation create experts, and by so doing mold and shape experts in the very model and mode of the system by which they operate. You cannot be an expert unless you are an expert on some recognizable "something." Yet these same systems often, more often than not, overlook the very flaws of their own method of expert creation. An expert sees what he knows, and he knows what the system has exposed him to and has trained him for. By very definition that limits him and what he is capable of seeing and understanding unless he works very, very hard to shatter the assumptions of his own expertise, and the rigidity of the system under which he labors. The idea of the "Professional Expert" is one of the most insidious and useless ideas ever spawned by an organization or institution. Experts, analysts and the training they receive are primarily good for after action assessments of events and occurrences and scenarios, they have a pitifully poor record of anticipating events or recognizing shifts in paradigms prior to the those shifts becoming glaringly evident to everyone after the fact. I call this "Institutional Arrogance" and it is the chief cause of the inability to predict and anticipate the future. Warfare in general and intelligence in particular should be an exercise of anticipating the future (in my opinion) and problem solving, or at least problem mitigation, prior to the unfolding of the actual events. If actual reality has outrun the current paradigms under which anyone operates then it is the paradigm which is expendable, not the facts or the reality of the situation. And the recognized expert should also always remember something else as well. If what you encounter is immediately recognizable, then that's extremely easy to understand and even predict, but if what you encounter is not easily recognizable then all of your expertise on what you already know is suspect. Which is to say, if you encounter the unknown, then what you know is only as good as how well it has prepared you to know that you don't know what you've just encountered. The duty of real expertise is to train men to understand that they don't know nearly as much as they think they know for certain. Nobody is an expert on the unknown, the uncertain and the unknowable. People might become very good at predicting the seemingly unpredictable, but no one should ever dismiss the unpredictable as impossible. The impossible makes fools of the wise and the self-wise alike. The wise man knows one man's impossible is another man's determination and internal motivation.
(Now, I'm not saying that new kinds of experts and analysts cannot be developed who are actually good at predicting likely future events, instead of just making educated assumptions based on current paradigms and knowledge bases, I'm just saying that is not the way our current structure is designed to operate or it would be predicting events more reliably. Investigations and infiltrations lead to thwarting terrorist attacks and terrorist crimes, not anticipation. We need a new analytical paradigm which would be helpful in anticipating future events, but now we don't really concentrate on such capacities and capabilities, rather we merely interpret what we think we know based upon past experience and exposure and the way we think the world operates. We could develop anticipatory capabilities, but this would involve changing many current methods of operation not to mention currently static mind-sets. This also doesn't mean that current analytical methods and teams should be abandoned, it merely means the new capabilities should function concurrently with the old, the old being assessment from the point of view of the old paradigm, the new methods being anticipations of likely future events based upon new or fluid or shifting predictive paradigms. then by comparative methods the most likely scenarios could be planned for and strategies developed by both logic and by intuition and counterintuition.)
Reliance upon institutional training and organizational and analytical methods and systems creates an inflexible rigidity that dismisses what is not apparently evident or does not fit the evidence profile of what is expected to be encountered beforehand. Institutional methods should be taken for what they are, useful tools in some cases and under some circumstances, useless tools or at the very least hindrances in other circumstances. You cannot entirely and certainly not accurately predict the future based solely upon modeling profiles and techniques based upon previous experience. First of all history shifts, ideas change, paradigms mutate and history is constantly in flux. Certain basic criteria will remain the same, but the details may alter drastically and new players arise with totally different, even alien ideas, ideologies and motivations of their own.
Analysis is not the method of reliably predicting the future, it is the means by which data and information and intelligence is accessed in order to gain some understanding of the full range of possibilities. Anticipation is a matter of innovation, imagination, creativity, the recognition of what others do not see or are blind to (sometimes due specifically to their training), and the assembly of the full range of possibilities in order to see patterns missed by others. Anticipation is not a matter of logic alone, for the future will not evolve logically (it may seem that way afterwards, in hindsight) but will evolve surprisingly, especially in consideration of the past and present.
A professional may very well be absolutely right on any given matter or he may be entirely wrong, but he will be neither based merely upon his credentials as a recognized expert. An amateur may be entirely right about any given matter or he may be completely wrong, but he will not be either based on his status as an amateur. An expert is right because he is correct in the matter at hand, not based on his previous record of achievements, and an amateur is right because he has foreseen the truth, not wring because he is not an expert. I never dismiss what anyone says or thinks based upon credentials or recognized status and if I do so then please correct me viciously and publicly for being so foolish and over-ripely rigid. For I will certainly deserve it. I have no desire in engaging in the idiocy of institutional arrogance nor in pursuing the ends to which it must eventually and inevitably lead. History is replete with those who foresaw the future as a function of the past and thereby became free to relive that past quite disastrously in the certainty of their own present situation. If you think you can't be wrong because of what you know then you don't know much about what you don't know. And it always pays to assume that what you don't know may just eventually prove a whole lot about what you thought you knew too.
Because of this … Yalu conclusion (and those related conclusions) are wrong in my opinion. He seems to be basing his analysis once again upon logic and reasoning, strategic in this case, as if Iran were bent upon avoiding conflicts with the US. You do not base your assessment of an enemy's (or an individual's) motives, capabilities or intentions upon what you would do in that situation, but what you think they would do and what they feel they are capable of. For instance if I sat down in a room and could without interference and confidentially discuss with Chinese military leaders what they think they are capable of achieving in a war with the US, and then compare that with what American military leaders thought the Chinese could accomplish then I'm betting there would be wide latitude in the scope and direction of conclusions. One side might or might not be more accurate in their anticipations but you can bet both sides would probably differ and how each acts will depend a great deal upon how they each individually feel, not how the other guy feels or thinks or thinks would be of advantage. This is especially true in conventional war where there is not assured or mutually assured destruction. One side or the other knows it will win or survive or achieve it's objectives, or both. You can draw in war, or fight to standstill, or even surrender under certain terms and have still achieved your long term objectives. We're not the only ones who understand this. Assessment of human behavior is a matter of psychological influences, motivations, belief systems, and faith, not a matter of logic, strategy and related means of calculations, not at least for the vast majority of human beings, or their leaders, alive. What people believe they can do they will attempt, it in no way matters what others think of their ideas and actions, how logical or illogical or strategically verifiable or unlikely they seem to another. War, and what one believes one can achieve in war is a matter of faith, not fact. And sometimes that faith is justified, sometimes it is not, but either way it does not matter, if one believes, one will eventually attempt.
Now, if I am correct in this matter, and I have faith I am, imagine sitting down in a room with those Iranian political and military and religious leaders who believe in their version of the future and comparing what they are willing to risk, attempt and achieve versus our assessments of their present or even future capabilities. Do you believe there might be a slight variance in risk assessment, in goals and objectives, in relatively levels of faith in what might be conceivable and worth attempting? What might they consider logical or wholly valid and viable compared to our version of the same goals and objectives? And do you think their actions and motivations will be determined by the results of their carefully plotted wargame scenarios or do you think their wargame scenarios will be built around their already firmly held and entrenched set of psychological motivations?
Iran is perfectly willing to fund and support terrorist organizations around the world, to fund homicide bombings in the Middle East and elsewhere which kill innocents and other Muslims, to support civil wars and insurrections, to raise and support proxy armies, to develop nuclear arms, to create and cement alliances, to defy the US diplomatically and politically knowing that this will eventually probably lead to a military conflict, to espouse publicly stated aims to wipe Israel off the map, and therefore based on this evidence one can conclude that it would be practically impossible for them to conceive of a plot to bomb one of their own mosques in Iraq or endanger other Muslims lives by sparking a Civil War in Iraq? Is this how the Iranians actually think? Would such a plot be inconceivable to them or inconceivable to us based on our own models of how we think they would or should behave? Did Saddam and Al Qaeda refuse to cooperate with each other because they could see no advantage to such a relationship or were we unable to foresee such advantages or understand what they understood intuitively, naturally, decisively?
I'd like to tell you I'm wrong. That I in fact know nothing about abnormal or subnormal psychology, human behavior, extraordinary motivations or human psychology at all, that all of human behavior, or even the vast majority of it is based on logical principals of behaviorism and mechanistic advantage and coherent and concrete actions of self-preservation and mutual advantage. That leaders of nations adopt the geo-political strategies most advantageous to their nations and themselves. That people only take those risks which seem worth taking to others and that make the most sense to everyone, instead of only themselves. But I'd be lying. I'd know nothing of history and know nothing of men to say such things or hold such positions. I do know exactly what I'm talking about. I do know how people act and behave, and I'm much, much better at anticipating how they will react and act because I know these things. I may indeed be wrong about the fact of Iranian involvement in the bombing of the Golden Mosque. But then again if I am right, then people better start anticipating the future, instead of just the past. Cause the future is coming, and it doesn't give a shit what we think of that or what our pet theories are. It's coming anyway.
Now, if you think there's a contradiction between me saying with absolute faith that I don't yet know enough to know if I'm right or wrong about what I suspect and yet I'm sure enough to know that I'm not wrong about what I think I actually do know, then you're right. I am, and I'm not. That's the way people are. If their motivations, actions and beliefs could be analyzed any other way then you could reduce em to math and train em like monkeys. I do not expect the Mullahs (or any other enemy for that matter) to act like our trained monkeys or according to our calculations. But I'd be making a real monkey of myself as well to dismiss any possibility, no matter how bizarre, without real evidence to the contrary.
And before you think my critique was designed wholly to attack … and his conclusions, let me assure you it was not. I don't even know... I'm using some of his statements to attack a set of presuppositions, a set of calculations, methods of assumption and thinking. I'm warning against the idea of having set ideas and predisposed conclusions. And I'm certainly not saying believe me because I said so, that I'm the expert. I'm saying screw your own expertise and your preconceptions. And screw mine while you're at it. To hell with expertise and logic and sanitary Western assumptions of how the rest of the world should or does think. This ain't no War of Expertise, this ain't no Cold War against industrialized Ruskies, this ain't no damned Chess Match, this ain't even a real thinking war. Our enemy is Hot in the Heart, and we won't match em with our Heads alone. Our Heads ain't the Battlefield. Their heads are. So get used to crazy, crazy, crazy and stop thinking like Soldiers and Cops and Politicians and a whole more like Terrorists and Criminals and Mullahs and men hoping to spark the End of the World. Because we're playing this Game as if it were a board called save the Old World Order, and they're already planning to burn that mutha to the ground and build the Next World. And they plan on building that World their way, not ours.
As for … other points, I'll let those ride on their own merits and he seems quite knowledgeable concerning many of the points he makes. Time will eventually tell how much so. I hope he is right, completely right. But if he isn't, I hope somebody in our military and government is already prepared for that too. And not just logically prepared, but prepared for just about everything else that ain't so naturally logical as well.
Speaking of the Mosque bombing, three questions still bother me a little about that: 1. It's rather common practice for insurgents in Iraq, and elsewhere to film IED attacks and other attacks (beheadings, etc.) in order to put those recoded attacks on Arab TV and on the internet as recruitment videos, and to discourage public opinion in the West, and to create fear in Iraq and elsewhere. I've been searching and searching but so far haven't seen any Al Qaeda or AQ in Iraq films of the bombing on the internet. Anybody know of a source where I can find an Al Qaeda filming of that attack? 2. I've been searching for AQ or insure claims of responsibility for that attack in Arab media and on the internet. Anyone know where I can find a solid responsibility claim? 3. I've seen no real reports at all with any real details on the explosive used, or possible sources for bomb components, or any other forensic details concerning the explosives, the way they were built, how triggered, etc. The last report I heard, today, was that "presumably the bombing was by insurgents in Iraq." I'd like to know a little bit more than presumably if I can get it. So if any of you know any details concerning the bomb components, materials used, possible sources for the bomb construction or forensic details then I'd be much appreciative.
BUSINESS, INVESTMENT, FINANCE AND ECONOMICS: Mainly just setting up the old home as a rental for the new tenants, which has also kept me busy.
Also since my parents gave us the last remaining acreage to the old estate aside from the small plot given to my younger brother I've had to reassess the land taxes, get everything resurveyed (which took a couple of days since most of the neighbors front lawn and part of his house actually sits on our land) and getting the legal papers disposed of.
I was rather shocked to discover the other day by reviewing my books and the amount in the various bank accounts, card accounts, etc. that I personally now have over $… in unsecured credit available to me and …has somewhere between $… and $… in credit available. Some years ago I set the goal of obtaining $… in personal unsecured credit but didn't really realize I had achieved and surpassed my goal until the review the other day. Now I've got to decide how exactly to best use and apply it.
I still want to one day set up a Business Brokerage Company (probably a LLC) but only as an absentee owner. But then again I also want to fund a company devoted to nothing but new Inventions, developing new technologies, with an attached lab (something like Edison ran) with an in-house bank to accumulate seed money and venture capital to finance those inventions. Then again I also want to start a gaming and Video Gaming company to produce nothing but TRWS games. I also wanna fund a few archaeological expeditions as well as some philanthropic organizations and mission projects. And I want to sink some money in some real estate developmental projects as well as build a set of specially designed movie theatres around here. but I don't think I'm gonna finance any of that with just … worth of credit, unless I find plenty of other investors. Still I guess I can just keep building up my credit worth till I got the time and preps made for some of these other ventures.
Oh, and I expect my taxes to be done by the 18th of March.
FAMILY AFFAIRS: Everything is going well. My oldest nephew … is getting married before he goes into Service. (Update: My nephew … called off the Wedding the week before it was supposed to occur. I am very sorry to hear this as I think they made a good couple but honestly I also always thought that they were far too young at 18 and 19 to be getting married in the first place. To tell you the truth I simply think that he had cold feet, realizing he was about to go into service, travel the world, be away from her for long periods of time. I think he is concentrating upon seeing the world, travel and new experiences and simply thought marriage would be a huge mistake at his age. I tend to agree at this point.) My other nephew is doing well, has his learner's permit now and the girls are doing very well. Their Homeschooling has put them well ahead in testing and skills and they are head of the class at the Baccalaureate Classes they take at . …has learned to ride a bicycle without training wheels and now she and …ride for hours at a time around the old pool, at the basement carport, the drive and across the fields. Apparently they love riding.
Both have restarted martial arts training and soon I'm going to teach …how to box. Both have started doing modeling assignments again as well. I'm seriously thinking about seeing if I can get me and the wife a few shots as well. Print stuff, you know.
The older I get the more and more I realize how an active social life and efforts at networking are essential to progress and advancement in society. I've always myself had a rather active (if very unorthodox) social life but I'd say it's only been in the past ten to fifteen years I've really capitalized on the advantages that offers. However I'm raising the girls to have a very active social life practically from birth and have stressed the advantages of an active social life. An active social life is nearly as good for your health and longevity as deep religious faith as well, so it has psychological and physical advantages as well as cultural and social and financial ones. I am always rather shocked by some people who consider the social life of their kids to be school and church and that's about it. We have people at the public school where my kids take art and Spanish and at church who think their children's entire social life should be just going to church and going to school. That should be more than enough socializing and play for them. I don't feel that way however, not at all and so I have tried to encourage social activates for my kids in the following venues: School/Education Classes, Church/Religious Affairs, Work/Professional Associations, Amateur/Hobby/Gaming Groups, Charitable Organizations, Developmental Organizations (Girl Scouts, Civil Air Patrol, etc.), Training, Mutual Interest Associations and Groups, Political Organizations, Business and Investment Associations, Athletics/Sports, Trips, Camps and Hanging out with Friends/Free Associations. I have seen definite advantages so far because people often express to me how well rounded, well, behaved and friendly my children are, and many people also tell me they love to have my kids around. I'm very glad of that.
The second thing of course is Skill's Acquisition. I have also emphasized this with myself and now I emphasize the same with my kids. And I think it is paying off because I have been recently told by numerous people that my children are extremely well rounded and can do almost anything. Like I did with myself, I divided sets of skills into Spiritual, Psychological, Mental, Physical and Mundane (worldly) classifications and encourage them to further perfect or gain a new skill in each category once every two or three months. This system seems to have worked pretty good and has led to rapid and wide ranging skills acquisition capabilities on their part.
…fell at church the other night while chasing kids and after a younger girl ran under her and practically football tackled her by clipping both feet out from under her simultaneously. She hit head first with tremendous force on the concrete on the left side of her face and it began to swell almost immediately. I'd never seen anything like it, it was obviously hemorrhaging under the skin like crazy. Medical treatment and attempts to reduce the swelling have only slightly reduced the swelling after two days but there were no broken bones, so her jaw is okay. She won't be doing any modeling for awhile though.
The girls and I also spent three days of studies doing nothing but training for an in-home attack by armed assailants or a possible home invasion. They were taught how to establish a defensible security perimeter, with four different means of communications (land-line, cell-phone, FRS radio and hand held CB radio), how to employ multiple means of communications simultaneously, contacts and contact points, my oldest knows how to load my revolver, 9 mm, her .22 and the tactical shotgun, the most effective method of shooting to kill with each weapon, how to finish off any dangerous attacker to assure they are dead, how to use the dogs for defense and attack, and if necessary how to escape the house and avoid pursuit by themselves through the woods to a safe locale with the neighbors. I've also finally gotten it through their heads and my wife's head that I am fully expendable and that the dogs are expendable. Their first and only priority is to survive, and that would be the best method of saving me if that were possible. That they are never to attempt my rescue.
My uncle … came to visit my mother from Houston and swung by the house with his three little kids. I've never had much truck with my uncle … because he has always been so defunct to talk with, reserved and distant. However this time he was very talkative and even almost outgoing. He related a lot of stories about the hurricane from his position in Houston and spoke even more about his time in the Army and Air Force. He served in the Army at the end of Korea as an analyst for photographic recon and bombing missions (he scored other analysts on whether they made correct analytical assessments of targets and bombing runs or not) and after the Army he went into the Air Force where they shipped him to Alaska to work on an arctic base which was part of the DEW line. He told numerous, fascinating and even very funny stories about his service on the DEW line, about how God-forsaken his base was, what life was like on the old DEW line (when I was in the CAP and studying Civil Defense I was really fascinated by the old DEW line and NORAD and later with Space Command), about flying in on those old, primitive bush bombers and having to land on an uphill slope to avoid skid off and craft loss, how lonely it was there, his time as an analyst and his work as a briefer for his Colonel, stories about his old Major Buddy and so forth and so on. It was really nice hearing those stories. Then we rode into town to get lunch for the kids and we spoke about my grandfather (his father) and the family and so forth. Came home and ate, helped the kids fly kites and then he and my mother and his kids left for Houston. He's gonna be moving back to Mississippi soon though if everything works out. I think he's lonely for his old stomping grounds and his grown daughter now that his wife recently died of MS. Which may have been the reason he was so talkative as well. In any case I enjoyed the visit.
I'm contacting a State Agency and couple of local companies about installing Solar and Wind production energy systems. Since we live in a rural area with plenty of land and sit atop the highest hill it should be relatively easy to install both Solar and Wind (and other newly emerging energy production technologies) to the house. My goal is to have this equipment installed by summer and to install a large enough and capable enough system to fully provide the house and any attached buildings with electricity for all needs, including heating and cooling. I also want to establish systems which will allow me to produce power for the local energy grid so that they can pay me instead of me paying for the enormous heating and cooling costs of this house. I know for a fact that the DOE has allocated grant money for my state and if possible I intend to tap that grant money and see if the State agency will pay for me to build the solar (and possibly wind) systems that will heat my house. I should have an entitle answer by next week.
PERSONAL AFFAIRS: I'm taking another Disaster Relief Class in March to go do some late clean up in Biloxi with the church, although if we can't get someone to keep the girls for a week or so then my wife wants me to stay here and watch the girls while she goes since I've been on Disaster Relief and Recovery/Clean Up trips before and she never has. I've also almost completely finished my CERT courses. In another year or two I'll probably up with the local volunteer fire dept. probably as their radio/dispatch/monitor in station and a brush fighter in the field. I've fought brush fires several times before and much prefer it to fighting house and building fires. I guess cause I'm outside.
Still I've been undergoing a lot of Red Cross Disaster Training lately and I'm thinking very seriously about becoming part of a local (DAT) Disaster Action Team. I got to thinking about this the other night. As a young boy I practically grew up in a Rescue Squad in ... Then later after I became a Lt. in the CAP a great deal of my training was in Civil Defense. Now I'm back to studying and assisting with Disaster and Recovery training, CERT affairs and Emergency Medical Responses along with volunteer fire fighting. Strange how things come around over and over again without us even thinking much about it until we stop to realize that no matter how much things appear to change they never really change. I'm also thinking about joining the American Radio Relay League for communications dispatch. After all I commonly monitor police, fire and EMS bands anyway. Why not just relay on those things I cannot personally respond to or that are outside my personal area of operation to others who can? Besides it will help further develop my own PIIN as well as building up new communication and informant capabilities.
By the way since I initially wrote the above I've already taken my two days worth of training classes. It looks like I won't get to go to Biloxi this time because my parents were gonna keep the girls but my father drove a steel bar through his hand at work and now requires hand surgery. I've told him over and over again since he retired not to work in shop anymore, that with his experience he could make fours times the money as a consultant and never wear a blue shirt or run a shop again. Michelin and BMW and a host of other companies have practically begged him to come to work for them, BMW even offered to allow him to design part of their mechanical assembly line but he'd rather run a shop. He's crazy in my opinion but I guess I can't really blame him in one sense because I understand that he doesn't like working for others or taking orders. That's me too and I've always done things my own way and I guess that's him as well. He was like that in service, they called him "Hell no," I believe one of his buddies once told me. But anyway, he's down and out of action now and will require surgery and no telling how long he'll undergo rehab.
Anyway to return to the training. We went to the First Baptist Church off main street in ... It was a huge facility, four stories I believe and it had hundreds of rooms. I've never seen a Baptist church like it and the sanctuary was like walking into a European Cathedral, except that the pews were staggered, theatre seating style and their was no real Nave. The stained glass windows were rather amazing. It was the way I wish a whole lot more Protestant churches were, instead of being so blank and bland and undecorated and bare. When I first got there I signed in and was supposed to get my picture taken digitally for the ID but the camera was broken. They fixed it next day but the line was three hours long and I wasn't gonna wait through that so I'm just gonna mail em my picture. After arriving I wanted to wander but had to do a bunch of paperwork, so instead I got my wife to do it for me and wandered off to explore. The people in my church group didn't much like tan but that's my nature and tough luck, I was doing it my way.I wandered down the street to Saint Paul's church, the Roman Catholic church beside First Baptist. It looked old and since I like exploring old churches as well as big and new ones I tried getting in but no-one was around. So I walked down the street towards the park and ran across the Catholic Shop which was open. I went in to see if they were associated with Saint Paul's and could get me in.
When I stepped in I saw a lot of Iconography which I really liked and looked around the place, casing it for interesting items. I love Orthodox iconography and as many of you know at one time I studied to be an Orthodox priest. I don't much care for Roman iconography that much but they had some really interesting items.
After looking around awhile the two ladies working there asked me if I was a cop. "No," I replied, "do I look like a cop."
"That, or an undercover officer." I actually get asked hits a lot more because of the beard but every now and then people will confuse me for being a beat cop. I asked them why they had asked that and they told me that a local black woman was both robbing local stores and attempting scams and shoplifting rackets and the local cops had sent in officers the day before to warn them. They thought I was the replacement, and undercover plant to catch the perp with her pants down. So I promised that I would look around and run a security sweep for them but about that time my class was about ready to start and I promised them I would return when my first class was over. They blessed me and I went back up to the classes, but because of the photo machine screw up and software glitch I got another hour to kill. So I went back down to the shop and ran both an indoor and outdoor sweep and went back in and looked around awhile. We had a nice conversation and I really wanted to buy an icon I saw and liked of Saint Francis but I only had a few bucks on me. But I did see a nice light blue bead Madonna and Crucifix Rosary I liked and I bought that after they knocked some off the price. Then they said that since I had made sure everything was cool for them that they wanted to give me the security code to the Adoration Chapel attached to Saint Paul's. They told me to go in there anytime I wanted. So they gave me the code, blessed me again, I thanked them and told them I'd watch the place when I could and revisit some time in the future and left. They were really nice old ladies. More about my new Rosary and the Adoration Chapel below.
I got back to the cafeteria (where we were all meeting) in time for our group to go to their different classes. My church group was upset that I had not spent any time with them and I made the mistake of telling them, "Look guys, I didn't come here to hang around you guys, I already know all of you. I came to meet new people I've never met before and to learn new things I've never learned." Well, that didn't sit too well, especially with … (our church redhead and the gal I help teach a class with) who I think took it kinda personally, even though I didn't mean it that way at all. She's let me have it over that comment ever since, often telling me, "Well, why don't you just go on then and do your own thing, you don't need us anyway." My wife just blew the comment off though and said, "That's Jack, he does his own thing the way he wants to do it. He won't change for any of us." My wife knows the way I am.
Most of the people went to the MudOut class but I went instead to the Communications Class. I had a ball in the class, using much of the knowledge I could remember from a kid while in the CAP and my Civil Defense communications classes. My instructor was Ken … and I also had Bill …, career Army and National Guard, former radio operator and Jack … former communications for the Air Force or US Navy and Sub operations. I can't remember exactly, one guy had worked for the Navy and another for the Air Force. Bill had recently had cancer surgery, about three weeks earlier and had some lymph nodes taken out, and there he was ready to serve again for disaster relief. You gotta admire that kinda man.
There were only about five of us total, as students, including myself but it was a great class and extremely interesting. We talked about everything, including calculating relative transmission strength of omnidirectional antenna reception, beam strength of line directional antenna, transmission strengths, formula for discovery of transceiver capabilities, skips, repeaters and relays, materials, and HAM radio. Most of the classes were simply instructional classes, but this one included hands on radio work and field demonstrations. I've always wanted to take a HAM ticket and I also found that recently you don't need a Code license, you can take no-code licenses. Which is great for me because although I can read Morse written, I have real trouble with it transmitted by auditory signal due to my hearing loss and sometimes being unable to distinguish dots from dashes, or even hear high pitched sounds at all. Anyway Ken and Jack and Bill and I talked on the HAM under Ken's license and communicated with a mobile HAM from Red Cross who was giving us a demonstration. The guy we were yakking with asked how many were in the class and Ken said it was light in quantity but heavy in quality, which made me laugh. I also coincidentally got complimentary information on the American Radio Relay League which I plan to join as soon as I purchase a HAM and start studying for my no-code license since I do so much local monitoring of police, sheriff, fire, EMS, military and related frequencies anyway. With the new house and since we sit on top of the highest hill I am ideally situated to intercept signals from all over. Once I'm able to install the correct antennas I should be able to drastically boost signal interception of all scan-bands I monitor, transceiver strength of my CB base unit and when I get the HAM maybe even to operate as a local repeater. With the price of SATPHONES containing to drop I've also thought about trying to rig some capability for ground reception of intercepted satellite transmissions and getting a dedicated in home SATPHONE UNIT for doing nothing else but this. Perhaps channeling it through a SATPHONE DISH, my satellite reception dish or a dish with modified antenna array of my own devising. But that's another story for another day.
After that class I was supposed to attend a mandatory class which was really just a lecture on how the Southern Baptists were working with other groups to assist with disaster relief, blah, blah, blah. I knew all that stuff already and so I skipped it. I've never liked mandatory classes anyway, they're a big load of crap. Instead I took my first trip to Saint Paul's Adoration chapel. More on that below. Then I explored Spartanburg a little and got back together later with some of the guys from my first class and we went out.
The next morning I took a class in International Disaster Relief/Medical given by ... The class was also very good, concentrating on medical and medical missionary responses. … and several physicians and nurses in the audience gave me several good ideas about projects and ministries and missions I can get involved in concerning medical missions projects. And I plan to do just that. This class gave me an opportunity to capitalize on my previous medical/first aid/CPR/surgical (light field surgery although I've privately studied advanced surgery for years but have performed only on animals and myself) training and I would be glad to serve on Triage on a local/national or international disaster, and I talked with the leaders about getting advanced Triage and diagnostic training. So I'll be keeping in contact with those guys as well. Then I had another mandatory class on an Introduction to Disaster Relief, but I knew all that crap too and skipped it as well. Instead I went back to the Adoration Chapel. Now all I've got to do is get my picture in so they can send me my ID.
The classes also gave me the idea of forming up a Special Unit of Vigilant Scouts, similar to the Vigilants I have and am forming to assist with local police and detective work, fire, emergencies, etc. except these "Scouts" would be a civilian dispatch team to assist local law enforcement and first responders during a national disaster. Since police and National Guard units are always strained in these affairs the Vigilant Scouts would scout through areas, acting as communication relay teams, doing observation and reconnaissance, spotting and calling in trouble and emergency situations to the police by radio and other means so that the police can greatly expand their observational and patrol capabilities in such situations. The scouts would then help the police and fire and EMS responders to concentrate resources where they are most needed and to help fill the ranks of those officers deployed to access and allocate resources. The Scouts would disperse, locate, observe, reconnoiter, and communicate with local forces to more quickly concentrate those forces and resources where they are most needed. They would be Civilian volunteers of course but they could be trained in a wide variety of skills such as Civil Defense, first aid and CPR, scouting and reconnaissance, surveillance, communications, infiltration, assessment, relief, triage, survival in dangerous and disaster environments, basic SAR, etc.
RELIGIOUS/SPIRITUAL/PSYCHOLOGICAL AFFAIRS: Our church building/expansion project is nearly underway. All of the architectural plans have been put in place and completed, the only thing that remains to be done is finalizing the permits. Building should be underway in April and probably completed by August or September. Since I am in charge of the Missions House I am the one responsible for securing off-duty missionaries and their families for the Missions House until such time as they can find a permanent home or return to the field for a new assignment. I have to admit that I really enjoy this office and assignment and have been in contact with a number of Missionaries through their Blogs and via email.
I also saw Father Bertoli, I think it was, (the monk on EWTN) the other day talking about Catholic Psychology, and how the Catholics had a Systematic Psychology complimentary to their systematic Theology which he believed, and rather well demonstrated by argument and example, to be very beneficial towards patients with psychological problems who sought treatment employing this systematic Catholic approach. Which got me to thinking very long and deeply (as many of you know I both studied to become an Orthodox Priest when I was young and attending college, and spent much of my college career afterwards studying psychology as well) that it would be a very excellent thing for my church to develop it's own systematic Christian psychology and educational program.
Lastly, the classes I recently attended on Disaster Relief and Recovery also stimulated many ideas regarding what might be possible as both ministries and mission activities at my church (and what I could do individually). To that end then I have been developing ideas for new Sunday morning classes (and possibly classes at other times) for my church, some of which I might lead, teach or conduct. I call these classes ACTs for Active Christian Training. The possible classes I have developed are:
Christian Projects Class: class to develop and present missions projects; including church newsletter by email and print, writing to persecuted Christians, Missionary Blogs, a Church Blog for…, website, church technologies access and training, Christian Art, Music, Writing, Drama and Letters, Local cultural and Media Campaigns, Representing Christian and Church interests in the local community, disaster services, missions work and projects and fund-raising.
Translation Class: class devoted to a line by line and if necessary word-by-word translation of scriptures from the Hebrew and Greek into English, especially translating important scriptures, stories, sections and passages.
Lay Pastoral and Ministries Class: class devoted to the development of Christian ministries and services; such as Christian Counseling, Child Counseling, Deaconing, First Aid and Medical Services, Youth ministries, special associated or affiliated ministries (such as Release Time) preparation for the ministry and to become a youth minister, men and women’s ministries, preparation of and delivering of sermons and lay sermons.
These classes would begin after the building expansion project is completed. In addition I am working to develop an Integrated Psychology Program to act as a counseling service for my church, something both the pastor and lay persons can engage in to assist other members and the public at large.
This program would assist parishioners and people with recovery from some psychological problem and/or mastering some sin they feel is harming them or hindering them psychologically, and would also include advancement classes so that the person could pursue spiritual, psychological, mental and even physical advancement if they wished to do so. It would have two main emphases; Advancing as a better Christian and advancing as a better individual person, and the program would be an integrated, systematic approach as I stated above.
L a girl at my church (I grew up and went to school with her) was in a terrific auto wreck. Guy in the other vehicle was flying and lost control, apparently just passed out and crashed into her with his vehicle floored. His vehicle and her SUV burst into flame but both were pulled from the wreckage by passer's by. She suffered broken ribs, a cracked vertebrae, neck injuries and her SUV was totaled, but if it had been an auto she would be dead I'm sure. The other guy never woke up and hasn't to this day to my knowledge.
M another girl at my church recently went into the hospital for Transverse Myelitis. The pastor and people at my church thought it very bizarre I would know what this disorder is but back when I was studying Bovine Encephalitic Disorders and Prion malformations I did an in-depth study of the myelin sheath, the spinal fluid and the cranial fluid, and neural conduction fibers and pathways generally. Monica had previously had scoliosis and due to the curvature of her spine had a rod inserted to straighten her spinal cord. This winter she had a respiratory infection which I suspect broke loose in her bloodstream, settled in her spinal cord, infected the fluids and surrounding tissue and probably grew and multiplied in and around the rod (I suspect Mycoplasmic Pneumonia - in other words non idiopathic). The result was an acute and severe case of Transverse Myelitis. She is now paralyzed from the shoulder's down, has no sensation whatsoever in any of the effected areas, but is able to now move her toes after steroid treatments. Because of this I believe she will eventually fully recover but I would also use targeted anti-infectious agents at the spinal cord, but it's not my call. Anyway if anyone is familiar with experimental or successful treatments for this disease then please let me know as I'd be interested in studying the underlying treatment form.
Lastly a girl named A (sister in law to Lisa) has been diagnosed with possible breast cancer. They will do a full examination next week.
Prayers are gratefully accepted for all of these people.
Now for my experiences in the Adoration Chapel. The first day it was very quiet and I more or less used the chapel to sort of decompress for a short period of time before moving on to explore the city and meet with others. I didn't even sign in.
The second day however I did sign in and went and sat down quietly in the chapel. It was extremely quiet inside, almost as if the place were soundproofed. The sun was coming inside the stained glass windows with pictures of the Saints and the Lamb of Christ/Alpha/Omega. No one else was there or came in the entire time. On the altar sat the Golden receptacle for the Host (the elements of the sacrament and Mass), there was a prayer rug in front of the altar. I took my new Rosary from around my neck and began to pray moving my right hand through the beads as I prayed but holding the crucifix in my left. I knelt as I prayed on my right knee. I was there about ten minutes praying when I fell into a trance as I knelt. I cannot explain or describe the trance of course, no one can really describe such a thing, but all of a sudden I felt completely light, unfixed, as if I weighed nothing. I also felt like I was a Knight, kneeling, on holy Quest, completely filled with God and the Spirit yet also deeply at peace. I don't really know how long I knelt like that but it must have been around half an hour or so when I checked it later on my watch, but at the time time had no meaning to me. It was like a meditative trance where you loose all sensation of everything except the one thought or feeling that absorbs you completely, God. Then I burst into tears. I cannot describe why either, I was deeply humbled, deeply grateful, deeply happy and deeply sad all at once. I cried for I don't really know how long but it was enough to almost completely exhaust me. When I was finally able to stop crying and stand I moved over and touched the Vessel for the Host and had a short, mystical vision of Christ, such as the one I had years and years ago of Christ dying on the Cross. I sat down on my butt on the prayer rug but next thing I remember I was laying flat on the floor looking up at the ceiling. I stood up and realized my face was still covered in tears and yet I felt like laughing so I did. I went to the bathroom and washed my face then came back to the chapel and anointed myself with Holy Water that had been left there to anoint the priests, using it to further wash out my eyes which I figure were probably red from crying so long.
By that time I was totally exhausted but I also felt completely drained and cleaned out, light as a feather. I went to the registry but instead of signing my leave time I wrote down, "I never really leave..." That'll give the priest something to wonder about and it seemed like the right thing to say. On the way out I passed by the Rector's House, which was situated right beside the chapel, and found a tiny snake dead in the road in front of his house. I was in such an ecstatic state I didn't even bother to notice what kind of snake it was, but I took it as an excellent omen. I felt sorry for the dead snake though and picked it up and placed the little corpse in the grass beside the sidewalk. then I went to my car and got in and drove home. I guess I was in the chapel about three hours but it seemed a short time to me. It was the most pleasant and outright beautiful spiritual and mystical religious experience I've had in years and years. I'm going back when I can and have already started drawing up the design for my own private chapel in my house, something I've been planning to build for years anyway. I'm gonna decorate it with tapestries, prayer rugs I design and icons of my own designing, as well as various replicas of religious relics, artifacts and devices I have always been attracted to. I'm gonna expand the underground floor of my house and that's where my chapel will go.
NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS:
http://www.bnl.gov/bnlweb/pubaf/pr/PR_display.asp?prID=06-13
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Feb2006/20060215_4216.html
http://www.article-treasure.com/Article/NO-CARTOONS---ISLAM-vs--THE-WEST/5349
http://christianity.rinf.com/?p=114
http://www.defencetalk.com/news/publish/article_002751.php
http://www.defensetech.org/archives/002178.html
http://www.defensetech.org/archives/002169.html
http://www.defensetech.org/archives/002152.html
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/01/0125_060125_neanderthal.html
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/02/0215_060215_new_object.html
http://dsc.discovery.com/news/afp/20060206/lostworld_pla.html
http://livescience.com/humanbiology/060209_love_altruism.html
http://www.military.com/soldiertech/0,14632,Soldiertech_Cool060112,,00.html?ESRC=soldiertech.RSS
http://www.999today.com/science/news/story/2713.html?rss=1
http://www.missionary-blogs.com/200602.html#e56
http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2006/madcow.html
http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2005/nanocell.html
http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2005/muscle.html
http://www.quantumbiocommunication.com/consciousness/the-superparadigm-synthesis-of-science-and-spirit.html
http://go.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=domesticNews&storyID=11230816&src=rss/domesticNews
http://www.state.gov/e/eb/rls/rm/2006/61182.htm
http://www.conciliarpress.com/blog/index.php?title=icons_in_space&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1
http://www.jfcom.mil/newslink/storyarchive/2006/sp021406.htm
http://www.wired.com/news/technology/medtech/0,70221-0.html?tw=rss.index
http://www.world-science.net/othernews/060216_sexfrm.htm
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060215/wl_asia_afp/usasiachinamilitary
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4723150.stm
http://www.defensetech.org/archives/002177.html
http://www.ornl.gov/info/ornlreview/v38_3_05/article03.shtml
http://christianity.rinf.com/?p=110
http://www.jfcom.mil/newslink/storyarchive/2006/pa030106.htm
http://www.defencetalk.com/news/publish/article_005056.php
http://www.rssgov.com/archives/000136.html
http://www.state.gov/p/sca/rls/rm/2006/62588.htm
http://go.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=domesticNews&storyID=11423733&src=rss/domesticNews
http://www.physorg.com/news11410.html
http://www.ornl.gov/info/ornlreview/v39_1_06/article08.shtml
http://www.ornl.gov/info/ornlreview/v39_1_06/article18.shtml
http://christianity.rinf.com/?p=106
http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/mehan200603030837.asp
http://www.securitypronews.com/news/securitynews/spn-45-20060303ChertoffKnowsYouPaidYourCreditCard.html
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/HC04Ak02.html
http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110008026
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0303/p06s01-wosc.html
http://www.defensetech.org/archives/002213.html
http://www.defensetech.org/archives/002207.html
http://www.d-n-i.net/grossman/army_redesign.htm
http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB179/
http://www.strategypage.com/dls/articles/20054181659.asp
http://www.defensetech.org/archives/002186.html
http://www.insightmag.com/Media/MediaManager/laser.htm
http://switch5.castup.net/frames/20041020_MemriTV_Popup/\video_480x360.asp?ai=214&ar=1050wmv&ak=null
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060313/ts_alt_afp/
usiraqunrestreligionprotest
http://www.world-science.net/othernews/060315_sunfrm.htm
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/14.03/start.html?pg=7
http://www.humaneventsonline.com/article.php?id=13245
http://www.jfcom.mil/newslink/storyarchive/2006/pa031606.htm
http://counterterror.typepad.com/the_counterterrorism_blog/2006/03
/lebanese_army_s.html
http://www.defencetalk.com/news/publish/article_005201.php
http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2006/63272.htm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4782152.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4801842.stm
http://www.bnl.gov/bnlweb/pubaf/pr/PR_display.asp?prID=06-24
http://www.defensetech.org/archives/002232.html
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,187464,00.html
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,187977,00.html
http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/2006/03.16/11-martyr.html
http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/2006/03.16/01-asthma.html
http://www.washingtontimes.com/national/20060313-120147-9229r.htm
http://www.newscientistspace.com/article.ns?id=dn8836&print=true
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/03/12/INGS6HID5A1.DTL
http://junkyardblog.net/archives/week_2006_03_19.html#005575
http://junkyardblog.net/archives/week_2006_03_19.html#005575
http://www.missionary-blogs.com/200603.html#e63
http://www.d-n-i.net/lind/lind_3_16_06.htm
http://www.vnesterenko.com/_index.htm
http://www.studio-art.kiev.ua/ru/ico.html
http://go.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=11597256&src=rss/topNews
http://www.quantumbiocommunication.com/projects/
the-smallest-biological-computing-device-ever-constructed.html
http://go.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=technologyNews&storyID=11574079&src=rss/technologyNews
http://www.defensetech.org/archives/002248.html
http://www.defensetech.org/archives/002217.html
http://news.soc.mil/releases/06MAR/060317-01.html
http://www.physorg.com/news11953.html
http://www.defensetech.org/archives/002255.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4829842.stm
http://go.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=domesticNews&storyID=11599401&src=rss/domesticNews
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1139395648779
http://www.theage.com.au/news/sport/fans-revel-in-japans-upset-victory/2006/03/21/1142703359679.html
http://www.defencetalk.com/news/publish/article_005269.php
http://www.globalsecurity.org/security/library/news/2006/03/
sec-060320-voa03.htm
http://go.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=technologyNews&storyID=11588542&src=rss/technologyNews
http://www.irishhealth.com/?level=4&id=9181
http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,70378-0.html?tw=rss.index
http://www.physorg.com/news12009.html
http://www.physorg.com/news11996.html
http://www.physorg.com/news11993.html
http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2006/eyes.html
http://www.webmonkey.com/06/12/index4a.html
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/HC23Df05.html
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,188739,00.html
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,188786,00.html
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,188504,00.html
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Central_Asia/HC24Ag02.html
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China/HC24Ad02.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4836494.stm
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,188810,00.html
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,188812,00.html
http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=49345
https://secure.afa.net/afa/afapetition/takeaction.asp?id=191
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,188728,00.html
LOCAL AFFAIRS:
…
JOKES: NSTR
INVESTIGATIONS/CASES: I've had a few interesting cases lately. Mostly manhunting. More on those later.
For now, something else. About five years or so ago I helped the local cops and deputies crush and all but eliminate the local gangs around here, especially the Folk and others who were trying to set up distribution routes here for import of narcotics from … and out West. By crush I mean so deeply repress their operations that they were effectively eliminated as major causes of local criminal activity. But it seems that some of them simply went underground and they're active again, especially to the south and west of the county. Interestingly enough they also seem to be using pages on the internet to tag and mark cyberspaces so they can boost and slam other gangs, as well as for planning hits, coordinating crimes and for purposes of covert communications. So it looks like I'm gonna hav'ta revive my old antigang operations and start running anti-gang patrol sweeps as well as internet page sweeps looking for indications of gang activity. I'm thinking about trying to devise a program, attached to my multi-search engine program which I can also target at specific domains to sweep for data that would meet gang criteria. Then I can go from there for a filtering process, such as concentrating only upon local pages and persons. This would be a personal and anti-crime version of Echelon efforts and data mining, but in addition to mining phrases and words, etc, I'd also mine insults, catch-phrases, vocabulary, taggings, visual symbols, etc.
I'm thinking about making the internet side of the effort an entirely separate operation and if I can perfect the system, or at least create a viable and effective sweeping and internet patrol program then I can also use it for other things and expand it to other functions (for instance internet counter-terrorism or anti-ICC activity). It should prove interesting and I already have a few domains as well as specific areas of cyberspace to search. I'll keep you informed on how it works and if anyone else has any information, experience or advice on how to assist me then throw it my way and I'll see what I can do with what you send me.
EXPERIMENTS:
a. Somatic/Genetic/Physical- I've reorganized the mixtures on some of my main metaergogenic compounds. I've had the idea of possibly mixing my bio-absorptive solar radiation experiments with controlled ingestion of different metaergogenic mixtures and seeing what, if any, effect that might produce.
I've also started getting back into shape after a long winter of not much activity and a lot of busy work involving the move. In addition to my regular work out and training programs I'm also carrying logs over long dances by hand (the pecan tree that we cut down when I moved into our new house) and hitting the baseball and throwing discus. I'd like to be hitting and throwing a lot more but we've had a real spell of bad weather. Ice storms, a lot of rain compared to what we're used to and overall cold temperatures. Some days have been great, we had a day in March in the eighties, but a lot of the weather has been lousy for anything but hiking and the occasional wind-sprint. I'm looking forward to (and the girls keep after me to do this) to repairing my mountain bike so I can ride the roads and woods around here.
b. Aesic- NSTR
c. Psychaec- NSTR
d. ACUT- NSTR
e. Composition/Design- Started the new Literary Newsletter (see Opae Section below). Conditional name for the new newsletter at this point is Opus Magnus. I much prefer to keep the newsletter designation and format because the intention is to produce a sort of Journal for Review, rather than any type of standardized Literary Journal or Critical Review magazine because this product will be for the purpose of writers, artists, scientists, inventors, etc. reviewing the works of other contributors. The criticism and reviews are designed to be on-going production critiques rather than literary reviews of finished products or a simple magazine of productions. Though I guess I could devise another term, other than Literary Newsletter, I think that fits the overall purpose and structure. It will be distributed to a select group and is not designed for open publication, as all contributions will be protected and deemed absolute property of the contributor.
f. Scientific- I posted a replicate version of the same Remote Perception experiment some of you guys tried several years back on a website but nobody really tried the targets. Used the same target profiles as before. No takers though so I've got nothing to report.
MEDIA REVIEWS: Critiqued in value from 1 to 10, 10 being the best.
Film/Video/DVD- Onibi - the Fire Within: 9
Kagemusha: 9
A Beautiful Mind I've read several papers by Nash as well as a few biographies. This film was an okay, semi-factual representation of some of his accomplishments but concentrates almost entirely upon the effect his schizophrenia had upon his life and career and marriages. Crowe did a fine job and overall, considering this is the idealized biography of a scientist it is a rather excellent work comparatively. The ending was fantastic and the reason I give the film overall an 8
JRR Tolkien and the Birth of the Lord of the Rings A great little literary biography of the man and his works and the influences upon him and the influence he had upon others 8
Yoga Unveiled 7
King Arthur's Britain by Francis Pryor This was a fascinating BBC production in which Pryor posits several fascinating theories, such as there was "no Anglo-Saxon invasion of England at all" (and that's just one of his postulates) and truth be told he offers up a huge amount of data and some really, very, very solid evidence for his premises. It is the best film on modern English Archaeology I've seen in years and years. 9
Reilly - Ace of Spies: when I was a kid I watched this PBS series on this semi-biographical life of Reilly. Later I added the book concerning the series to my personal library and read several good biographies on the man. Reilly was a big influence on me in the areas of infiltration, espionage and human system's stealth (that is the movement undetected through groups of people and the infiltration of human organizations and systems). His life, his methods and his capacities also taught me a great deal about operating alone in dangerous environments and in dangerous backgrounds and how to operate independently and without backup undercover. Reilly was a deep cover spy, and he was also a master at deception, misdirection, gathering information, deflecting suspicion, escape and evasion, operating smoothly and without panic, innovation, adaptation and acting. He was also a good detective with an eye for his targets and an understanding for what others were missing. He was a huge influence on me in all of those respects and I really, really enjoyed rewatching this series. It was as good as the first time around.
The Constant Gardener: I tried really hard to like this film being under the impression that it was some type of corporate espionage film. Also it was apparently by the same guy who did City of God, which was an excellent film indeed, but this thing was another matter. It was horrifically bad from the start. he plot line had huge holes in it, which in itself would have been okay had the story been any good at all or even believable to anyone outside of 6th grade. The corporate TB-murder-silencing ring idea was so patently ridiculous that only someone with the juvenile mind-set of a Hollywood writer could have developed it. The characters were morally bankrupt, to say the least, or even worse, naive, stupid, sappy, weepy, and gullibly forgiving of actions which were degenerate at best. The acting stank as well but the film also committed the one unpardonable sin in film-making, it was boring. God in heaven it was boring. Painfully, excruciatingly boring. It was like watching a badly edited documentary about some kook conspiracy Crusade by some European dilettantes which in the end only proves that a little education is a dangerous thing for some people, and a lot of education even worse for the same. The Constant Gardener couldn't raise a decent or even a really dry, bug-eaten turnip with Miracle-Gro. My opinion is constantly avoid the thing. 4
The Wedding Crashers: it crashed, and burned. I wish it had burned before I saw it. I gave up about fifteen minutes in. 5
40 Year Old Virgin: piece of crap that would have been funny if I had been a drastically retarded 13 year old teenage viewer with severe psyhcosociosexual problems..
Ultimate Avengers: first of all let me say that I am not nor have I ever really been a big Marvel fan. I've always been a DC fan with the exception of Spiderman and Daredevil, who have only ever been the really first rate comic superheroes ever done by Marvel. Occasionally I used to read Iron Man when he would fight Ghost because I liked the idea of Iron Man's high tech mechanical and energy technologies versus the Ghost's quantum, phased and incorporeal technologies. It was a good match. And God only knows that the Avengers were no match whatsoever for the JLA (with the exceptions of the Vision and Iron Man) and by comparison the Avengers were second rate incompetents. But recently with the JLA broken up and disbanded I started reading the New Avengers and have loved the series since the first edition. Marvel has completely redone the line-up and added Spiderman and Wolverine and Luke Cage, and they've redone Captain America (a character I never previously cared for) to make him into an absolutely top-rate team commander and leader. He's really finally evolved into a great character. He's tough now, and gritty. So I've really been enjoying the series and as I've said before whereas in superhero comics the JLA is the International Special Forces Team of Superheroes, the New Avengers have become the American SWAT and Counterterrorism team of Superheroes. So it was with great anticipation that I picked up the animated Marvel film the Ultimate Avengers. In this film Nick Fury (another character I never cared for, except I like his new incarnation in the New Avengers as an on the run rogue ex-agent) is really Luke Cage and the interpretation of Fury as Cage is excellent. Fury is actually likeable as Cage. The other characters were Hank Pym, Tony Stark, Cap as Team Leader, Wasp, Black Widow, Thor (the most disliked of all major Marvel characters to me and in this he comes across more as a silly Greenie chick than a real superhero (Pym even asks who the chick with the hammer is when Thor shows up) although he does hammer the living hell out of Hulk for brief period and that was really nice to see) and Banner/Hulk. The film was excellent, from beginning to end, the artwork was extremely good, the story well paced, the characters with the exception of Thor well done and executed. The voicework was very good. The film began in retro style as a throwback to forty and forty war serials with Cap fighting in a remote Scandinavian Nazi base against aliens who were in collusion with the Nazis to strike America with a nuclear warhead via a suped up German V-Missile. The film then goes to modern times with Cap's body being recovered from the ice and Banner attempting to analyze Cap's genetic and bio-chemical structure to see if he can replicate the super soldier serum in order to use that serum to control the Hulk who on a rampage has destroyed large sections of New York City. The team then has to assembled in order to fight the aliens who had previously helped the Nazis but had never really left Earth, only been in hiding.
Eventually there is a huge SHIELD/military/Avengers fight against the aliens and Banner transforms into the Hulk in the middle of the fight. The serum is only partially effective though and after fighting the aliens the Hulk turns on the Avengers and tries to kill them all. And when I say tries to kill them all I mean he tries his dead level best to kill them all, no survivors at all. He comes within mere seconds of finishing Cap off for good. It is a great, incredible, fantastic and mature fight, not at all like typical superhero comics. This fight is obviously intended to kill, or Hulk intends to kill anyway, everything and everyone is sight. As a matter of fact there's a lot of killing in the film, from the Nazi bunker to the aliens killing off the entire staff of a military base one by one to the last attempts by Hulk to eradicate the Avengers. It reminded me immediately of the modern JLA and I have to say that I actually enjoyed it as much as a JLA comic or the modern JLA animated series. I highly recommend this. I bought it and added it to my DVD collection. 9
Spiderman 2: I rewatched this film the other night. While watching it I carefully studied the Pieta scene after Peter saves the runaway train and after the people take him down from his perch on the front of the train. The first time I saw it I had immediately recognized the religious symbolism, how Peter were positioned with arms outstretched as if he had been crucified, how the people took him down and passed him hand over hand then placed him upon the ground as if in the pieta and how the mother with the baby stood over him and looked down upon his body. But as he was placed on the ground I suddenly realized that his chest sides were open as if he had been stabbed as well. I had previously noticed much of the symbolism but had not noticed the wounds on the chest. Also when he sat up someone commented "It's good to have you back Spiderman," as if to cement the resurrection motif as well. That's far from the only religious and mythological symbolism in the film but that one scene really stood out for me. It is an excellent, excellent film. Better even than the first. 10
Saw 2: This film was horrible. Much worse than the first. The situations were stupid, anyone with any experience at all or even a modicum of survival instinct or suspicion could have easily avoided or thwarted every trap. The fact that anyone would have been impressed by the traps only shows how weak and pathetic and stupid most urbanites are, as if all their capabilities to avoid or overcome any sense of danger has been killed within them. They live in cities where everything is in effect handed to them and all they ever attempt to do is allow some specialist to save them rather than problem solving and overcoming dangers for themselves. They buy the expertise and capabilities of others and when placed in danger they are little more than confused, unobservant, domesticated sheep to the slaughter. Then to make it even worse the dialogue is written as if by some teenager in Hollywood filled with Social Darwinism and other fecal matter that I would have thought no reasonably intelligent grade schooler could seriously swallow anymore and yet this is presented as if it were the "philosophical tenet" of the film. It was a typical Hollywood act of self-affirmation, liek a heroin addict schizophrenically procliaming to himself how free and brilliant he is not to be doing anyhtign in the world other than marking himself and sucking at the diseased teat of slow suicide. The film would ahve spent it's time far better sawing it's own head off and callign that art. The horro of the film is that someone thought the script good enough to bother writing. Too much of modern film, far too much, is a Mad Cow, falling over and wallowing in it's own unending defectaion, possessed of a samll animal brain which is further diluted by lethal spongiform disorders. The film of today is more often than not written for juveniles, by juveniles, on a juvenile level. 2 for 2.
Television-
Justice League Unlimited: has returned to the air and this new season is pretty good. The stories are unusual compared to previous stories but that is one of the things that have made these new episodes so interesting. 9
Smallville: has been quite good this season. I wish Clark would meet the future Batman however. 9
Over There: they took this show off the air and it was stupid to do so. Another example of a show being too good to survive television.
Battlestar Galactica: excellent as always. As a matter of fact, even better than the previous season, though the stories have become smaller and more tactical, less strategic of late. More character exploration. The season finale was incredibly good though but it went pretty much exactly as I suspected it would so that was kinda disappointing, that I was able to anticipate the direction so easily. But then again there were a lot of seasonal clues to read. As a matter of fact it was an excellent season and an excellent finale anyways. 10
24: people have gotten me to start watching this show and I have to admit that whereas there are many things Jack does that I would never do the show is nevertheless very interesting and in many respects quite unconventional and original. Jack's main weakness to me is that he seems to lack any detective capabilities or abilities to project forward concerning the implications of what he encounters. He also seems unable to read people. He runs around putting out one fire after another instead of getting ahead of the fires, controlling the burn or starting counter-fires. The whole CTU team seems to run like that, in a constant state of frenzy and in a reactive mode. Whereas if they had a good Dick then they'd be way ahead of the game. What Jack really needs is a thinking partner, an anticipator to ride around with him in the field and say to him, "Do you see what you just missed? Think about that a second before you rush over there cause I bet if we go here instead we'll be two steps ahead of the other guys for a change." Still I gotta admit, the show is one of the most exciting and fun to watch I've ever seen. 8
Survivorman- This show on satellite is of a guy who goes to remote locations and attempts to survive and escape form potentially lethal environments after imitating a disaster scenario and being left with few, if any survival gear and resources. He vests all types of environments and usually does an excellent job of survival and adaptation. Most of you probably know of my interest in survival skills and I learn a lot by watching this show and carefully analyzing what he does, both good and bad. If this show is on at night then I'll actually quit working or whatever else I'm doing and watch it intensely. I really like and recommend it. I hope he does a few urban, suburban and rural but inhabited environments as well this season, or next. 9
This is a channel or network more than a show, but recently my satellite provider has begun transmission of the Documentary Channel. Some of the documentaries are boring and on subject matter that doesn't interest me at all but some of the docs are fantastic and I've really enjoyed them. I recommend this channel if you like documentaries.
Music- Iphigenie en Tauride 8
Der Rosenkavalier 9
Games- have had no time to play any game or even look at one.
Books/Audio- The Fortunes of War - excellent Aubrey book. Jack Aubrey fights the USS Constitution. Aubrey loses of course and becomes a POW in Boston but the fight was absolutely incredible. O'Brian can describe a fight as if you're standing at the gunnel and in the middle of the engagement. It's uncanny how he describes an action, as well as naval life in general. 10
An Experiment in Treason: Finished this and it was superb. 9
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay: One of the most imaginative and unique works of fiction I've ever read. I don't really know how to describe it except to say it involves WWII, Eastern European escape artists, comic books, artists, and the smuggling of a Jewish Golem. Rather brilliant. 9
Rose a really great period piece by Martin Cruz Smith, who wrote Gorky Park and Red Square 9
Birds of Prey: mediocre. 6
Non Fiction: The New Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain: the most useful book on improving artistic skill I have personally ever read. Has improved my capabilities immensely.
Michelangelo and his Drawings 7
Leonardo Da Vinci: Master Draftsman 10
The DC Guide to Writing Comics 9
Digital People From Bionic Humans to Androids- A good overview of modern robotics, AI and potential Artificial Beings. The author has some interesting personal theories on these matters. 9
Be Iron Fit: training for Ironmen with time efficient training programs. Interesting in parts but not as useful as I had hoped. 7
Gustav Mahler: Symphony No. 8 10
The Holy Mountain 8
The Last Byzantine Renaissance: An excellent little historical work on the Last Byzantine Renaissance and the pre-spur to the Western European Renaissance. A very interesting little book which sort of covertly posits a theory I have seen expounded upon by others, and with which I agree, that one of the chief driving forces of the both the High Renaissance in Western Europe and the eventual Age of Enlightenment were influences from Byzantium and refugees from the sacking of Constantinople. I do not subscribe to the view that the Renaissance would have never happened with Byzantine influence but I have no doubt it would not have been so great in scope or reach without the Byzantine influence. As a matter of fact I have my own theory, and if I ever get the time to finish it, I have partially written a theory paper that America is really the Byzantine Empire reborn and improved.10
A History of the Byzantine State and Society - extremely good. One of the best Byzantine histories I've read in a very long time. I'm also gonna be reading one of his other books, Byzantium and Its Army, 284-1081. 10
Elite Forces, Counterintelligence and Reorganization - I am reading this really to compare notes on a paper I am preparing, and have been for some time, that Special Forces Units and personnel should be more thoroughly integrated into regular duty units and that regular duty units should undergo a shift of emphasis from straight technical specialization and functionality to a Renaissance warrior training platform, far more similar to Special Forces training. (You might call it Special Forces light.) That is the age of wide-scale and particular specialization of (combat troops especially) should be dying and on the decline in favor of a far more adaptable, flexible and functional Renaissance soldier. I'm even toying with the idea of suggesting that command level officers and Special Forces troopers rotate into and out of (on a regular schedule) normal units in order to train ordinary and combat soldiers in functions currently served exclusively by Special Forces soldiers. Regular units would then start to assume more Special Forces duties and capabilities while Special Forces training would expand from their regular and irregular functions to incorporate a more total overall standing Renaissance capability.
Biography: God and Ronald Reagan: One of the best spiritual biographies I've read in a very long time. I highly recommend the book. 10
The Holy Mountain: About Mount Athos. It is sort of a collective spiritual biography of an area and the Greek Orthodox monks who lived there, Good. 8
They called him Wild Bill: the life and adventures of James Butler Hickok: This was an absolutely great biography of Wild Bill. The man was certainly the kind of guy you'd just love to hang around, so adventurous was his life. He gambled too much and stank at it, but at everything else except women he was about as good as they came. It's a shame America makes so few of this kind of man, relatively speaking, nowadays. He and all of his buddies were men sure enough. I'd have liked to have met and rode with him. 9
Fiction:
The Italian Secretary by Caleb Carr. Carr is the same guy who wrote the Alienist. I read the Alienist awhile back when I was just starting to force myself to read fiction again and it was so good that it read like a fictional version of the Devil in the White City (which I cannot recommend highly enough). Reading Carr is like reading history. This book is about Sherlock Holmes as written by Carr and if anyone can pull off a story about Holmes as well as Doyle it will be Carr. As a matter of fact the book was commissioned by the estate of Doyle. Better yet the story involves Mycroft, so it's twice as good.
Artmeis Fowl Four - the Opal Deception: I checked this book out with every intention of reading it because I think these are the best fantasy books since Tolkien, but I did not have the time and had to return it due to my work load. I'm gonna read it later.
Butcher Bird: another good work by Dean Ing. 8
Graphic Novels/Comics:
Batman - War Drums: okay to me. 7
Hellboy - Weird Tales Vol.2: enjoyed it very much 8
Broken City - 7
Amazing Spiderman - Skin Deep: not bad 7
Superman - That Healing Touch: 8
Batman - Wargames, Act 2, Tides: 8
Superman - Godfall: 7
Superman - Unconventional Warfare: quite excellent. 9
Ultimate X-Men - Vol 11:
Hulk Grey: interesting. An unusual approach to the Hulk. 7
Batman - Scarecrow Tales: mediocre. 5
Batman - the Greatest Stroies ever Told: this collection of seminal tales included, Night of the Stalker. A tale I originally read back in the seventies I believe, when my grandfather bought me that comic and I believe it was a Detective Comic. Even back then, as a kid this particular Batman story was formative in my own career as a Vigilant, and I never forgot it. But over the years I lost the comic in which is was written and wondered if I'd ever see the story again. Rereading it was a real thrill to me. Even though it was a seventies story, and extremely mild by today's standards I never forgot how the Batman relentlessly tracked and pursued the bank-robbers who had killed the mother and father of the little boy, or ho he used fright and fear and stalking and relentlessness and weapons. Also in the Detective comics, and this was what I most admired about Detective comics he was never the super-powered or supergadgeted hero, but rather the slow, cold, calculating, relentless, driven, fearless detective, very human and yet obsessed. Anyway as far as my own Vigilant efforts I never forgot that tale or what it told me or what it made me believe to be possible. Reading it again was almost magical to me. 10
Theory Papers/Essays/Analyses/Articles/Lectures/Sermons- Primates, Monks and the Mind: a rather fascinating lecture I watched by satellite transmission from USCB given jointly by a doctor of philosophy and a primatologist exploring the similarities between Primates in regards to possible religious and spiritual experiences and the mind and organism. One really interesting side discussion was of Neural Phenomenology, the new attempt to develop a science of the mind and psyche (soul) which is both empirical and experiential in regards to both external and internal phenomenology. I recommend the lecture if you can see it.
Chaotic Scrutiny: a lecture given by Taft Green I believe his name was who is a modern sculptor. I'm not one much for modern art or sculpture but the lecture series was rather impressive and he gave a good presentation. Plus I was very much impressed by his general level of knowledge and the way in which he approached his art in both a philosophical and technically scientific manner in an attempt to use art to capture or replicate internal human perceptions. Listening to him speak implied a level of professionalism which I've often seen lacking in modern artists and a level of scientific acumen which I sorely wish more artists possessed. Very good and interesting lecture. It's part of a whole series of lecture son modern art called Chaotic Scrutiny with different artists as lecturers. I'm extremely glad to see more and more artists nowadays moving away from the modern and post-modern and post-post modern art eras of producing crap and yet still more crap. At least some of the new stuff is interesting and far less stupid and vapid. What I'd really like to see is a Modern Renaissance though.
William Wulf, Von Liebig Lecture Series: Bill Wulf, the President of the National Academy of Engineers talking about innovation and risk taking in America and the success of entrepreneurship and the progress of technological development. Very good lecture.
I've recently read the Jan-March 2004 edition of the Military Intelligence Professional Bulletin which you edited Del. I enjoyed it a lot. I've read a couple of other editions that you sent me as I got the chance.
I also finished the Jan. 2006 edition of Informed Source. It was okay, a couple of good articles. The detailed off-edition briefings and alerts have been more useful and nice this time than the newsletter.
The latest edition of Imprimis was good. I almost always like reading Imprimis.
I read the paper on Suspicious Indicators and Security Countermeasures for Foreign Collection Activities Directed Against the U.S. Defense Industry out of the Defense Security Service, Counterintelligence Office. I had a choice between this paper and a few others but I chose this one mainly because of the Corporate Espionage element and because I wanted to see how they recommended going about formulating an effective Technology Control Plan. Didn't learn much new but it was worth a read. You might like to read it …considering your new position. If you want a copy then I'll tell you how to get it.
Read an interesting Legal Briefing out of the British Security Service called the Covert Human Intelligence Sources, Code of Practice. Gave quite a few clues to British Intelligence Methodologies. Pulled it off their new website. Both Domestic and Foreign Services now have new, public websites.
Read the Annual Report to Congress on Foreign Economic Collection and Industrial Espionage. It wasn't exactly thrilling reading but it was useful.
Read an interesting briefing on GAMESS, General Atomic and Molecular Electronic Structure System from Ames Laboratory. It was a good, solid but very basic presentation on molecular chemistry and the new software programs they're writing to predict molecular behavior and interactions in materials science. I put it in my research files.
I also read another brief presentation on Macromolecular Materials, Solid State NMR and most fascinatingly on Bioinspired Materials. The section on bioinspired Materials really gave me quite a few useful ideas, especially for inventions.
That reminds me I read another piece on Nanomachines in Liquid Solutions but can't find the paper right now. It's probably in one of my Readers. I need to check that and archive it for future use. A very interesting paper on nanomachine dispersal in liquid solutions and nano molecular cohesion and functionality in solutions.
Bard of the Middle Ages : the works of Geoffrey Chaucer - a lecture series given on tape by Professor Michael Drout of Wheaton College. Excellent series of lectures. I highly recommend them. His exposition of Chaucer as artist was not only illuminating but his reconstruction of the entire era, and of Chaucer the man's (pre) Renaissance genius, experience and intellect was highly engaging.
Sensing with Nanomaterials - Michael Sailor's UCSD physics lecture on the use of nano materials in microscopic and atomic sensing enviromenents. It was especially interesting the section on micro-packaging of nano materials for the development of cheap yet highly accurate capabilities for the sensing of one part per millions molecular scale. The lecture gave me a lot of great ideas, especially for an artificial olfactory device designed to mimic the nose of a dog for the detection and location of fresh corpses. I had been wondering just exactly what detection methodologies I might use to create such a device, but this helps alleviate some of those problems. The new problem using nanomaterials will be range and activity. I had originally intended to use electronic wave signatures developed from gas releases triggered by decay to detect odors which would have given great range and could have potentially produced a passive, always on system such as a true biological mimic. But nano-materials would be highly accurate comparatively but have extremely limited range and it would of course have to be an active system, not capable of passive detection nor biological mimicry. I might also have to develop some type of nanite projection system to overcome the severe range restrictions. Then again I might also have to develop a wave system which makes an initial detection and analysis and then the nanite system would be secondary at short range. Of course that would in actuality defeat the point since I am hoping to develop a bio-inspired system which will catch, directionally locate and to some degree analyze certain odors undetectable to humans or well beyond human olfactory ranges. Anyway I've got some potentially good ideas to work with but practical development may take some time indeed.
Epidemiology: I've watched some excellent lectures recently on epidemiology. Next month I hope to be able to catch a series of lectures on some new neurosurgical techniques I'm interested in.
Is Carcer Really Eddie Izzard? - This extremely interesting series of lectures was presented by Michael Mann, who is the head of neurolinguistic programming and criminal thought dependency at Yale-Dartmouth. Mann is the visiting professor of non-sensical self-application and sensual depression from Harvard and regularly frequents Dublin, Loch Ness and other mythical places. Starting with his premise that Carcer wears women's clothes and possibly lipsticks and doubles as an SAS sniper-glover on off-season weekends while stalking about King's College filled with beer and circumstance. I didn't quite follow this part of the lecture, nor did I appreciate the grammar of the previous sentence, but did catch up quickly in the future once I thought back on it. He then moves on from this excellent and well reasoned observational deduction to present the Druss of the matter, Carcer is really not who he appears to be, never has been otherwise than not that, and that statistical probability combined with quadrant miscalculation can deconsclusively prove that Eddie Izzard is likely Carcer's grandmother. Or snooker's partner. The fascinating thing is that 8 out of 6 of Queen Victoria's fusiliers readily agree in a straw poll taken in the hay. For those not familiar with English egghead terminology "that's buttoned up sideways." Anyways Mann then went on until he nearly fell over, then running up the clock and employing "scientific reasoning" he deconstructed the whole situation making it seem even more likely than never that Carcer is indeed Eddie Izzard posing on the internet as Druss und Drang. God Save the Queen!! I recommend this for people with better things to do but no real intention of getting anything else done, so what's the harm anyhow?
OPAE: THIS SECTION WILL SOON PROBABLY BE TRANSFERRED FOR THE MOST PART TO A NEW LITERARY NEWSLETTER I AM DEVELOPING. IF THE OTHER NEWSLETTER WORKS THEN THERE WOULD BE LITTLE SENSE IN REPLICATING WORKS PRESENTED THERE AGAIN IN THIS SECTION EXCEPT ON SPECIAL OCCASIONS, SUCH AS WHEN, FOR SECURITY OR WHATEVER OTHER REASON(S), I WANTED TO PRESENT SOME WORK IN THIS NEWSLETTER BECAUSE I WISHED IT ONLY CIRCULATED AMONG YOU.
I'LL LEAVE THIS SECTION UP FOR THAT REASON BUT YOU'LL PROBABLY SEE ANY WORK I PERSONALLY PRESENT IN THE LITERARY NEWSLETTER RATHER THAN IN THIS NEWSLETTER. SAME FOR THE GRAPHIX SECTION BELOW. I'LL BE SHIPPING OUT THE FIRST EDITION OF THE LITERARY NEWSLETTER SOON.
Fiction- NSTR
Non Fiction- NSTR
Theory Papers/Essays/Analyses/Articles/Sermons- NSTR
Scientific Works- NSTR
Poetry/Lyrics/Songs- NSTR
Musical Compositions- NSTR
Artwork/Architecture/Design- NSTR
Game/TSS Designs- NSTR
Video/Computer/TSS Game Designs- NSTR
Inventions- NSTR
SHARED FILES: NSTR
WEBSITES/SOFTWARE:
http://www.theadventuresofchester.com/
http://counterterror.typepad.com/the_counterterrorism_blog/2005/07/\alleged_london_.html
http://www.spycatcheronline.co.uk/
These are some of the new links I've added to my RSS Readers. I thought some of you might find them useful and interesting. They are all Open Source of course:
http://www.physorg.com/physorg.xml
http://newsrss.bbc.co.uk/rss/newsonline_uk_edition/sci/
tech/rss.xml
http://tracking.military.com/cgi-bin/outlog.cgi?url=http%3A//www.defensetech.org/index.rdf&code=RSS_DT
http://www.firstgov.gov/external/external.jsp?url=http://www.ornl.gov/ornlhome/rss/doepulse.xml
http://www.greatnewsnetwork.org/index.php/rss/technology
http://www.missionary-blogs.com/rss.xml
http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/topic/mitneuroscience-rss.xml
http://www.projectsafekids.org/AmberAlert.xml
http://www.orthodoxlinks.info/rss/newsites.xml
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/atol.xml
http://www.csmonitor.com/rss/world.rss
http://www.firstgov.gov/external/external.jsp?url=http://www.ornl.gov/ornlhome/rss/doepulse.xml
http://www.foxnews.com/xmlfeed/blogs/0,4333,,00.rss
http://explore.georgetown.edu/views/?ViewID=317
http://www.iranian.ws/iran_news/feed.xml
http://www.military.com/milt/0502navynews.xml
http://www.newscientist.com/feed.ns?index=robots
GRAPHIX: NSTR
DANTE'S 9TH LEVEL OF HELL
Deus Ordere et Facere Nos Verite
© 2006
Thursday, September 07, 2006
No. 72
No. 72
"There is nothing so beautiful and legitimate as to play the man well and properly, no knowledge so hard to acquire as the knowledge of how to live life well and naturally; and the most barbarous of our maladies is to despise our own being."
Montaigne
"You are as much a god as you will own
That you are nothing but a man alone."
Entry above the main gate of Pompeii
"Secure therefore in the darkness they took counsel about the treachery to be done promptly at dawn, choosing from the household of Borsiard the most courageous and bold for this crime, and they promised them great riches."
The Murder of a Feudal Lord
"Females. They'll believe everything except the obvious, and the honest."
NUMBER 72
(redacted version)
INTRO: Slideshows, My Father's House, Reclaiming the Land, New Season, Auditions, Spiderman's Webline, Get a Haircut, Medicine, Pictures and Numbers
ADMIN: I apologize to everyone about the delays in getting back to them personally on so many matters. But the move, the new school year, new work projects, new assignments, all of these things have conspired to slow me immensely and to distract me from other matters regarding my work load and responses to inquiries, project data, and information and intelligence sent to me. Intelligence and information sent to me which does not require immediate response (such as Titan Rain) goes into the appropriate files, and things requiring immediate attention get worked on. But I appreciate it all and if you haven't been able to catch me at home or in my office then this is due to the fact that I've been on the run a lot lately, especially with attorneys, paperwork and whatnot. By the way the new contacts have been helpful as well, even if I am not immediately exploiting them because I'm waiting until I get in my new offices and my new home.
RESPONSES: Glad your move came off well S (well, as well as can be expected) and let me know how you're liking your new job and assignment. We'll talk by phone as soon as we can catch each other. Major I hope your deployment to Germany went well and that everything goes well with your new command. Let me know how things are shaking with you and the family once you're fully settled. Are you guys living on base, I know we had discussed that last visit but I don't remember how you guys finally decided it? Speaking of that how are the boys taking to the new living conditions and schools and so forth? Playing sports yet? Have you guys visited any castles yet and what do they think of them? How's the little woman doing?
F, where exactly did you move to? By the way you'll find W's email address in the address line of this newsletter if you don't already have it.
BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS: I don't really want to report on these matters just yet, still developing and ripening. But have established a relationship with a guy at Blizzard E. (WoW) on the video game front. Have also begun to disseminate some of my software design ideas. Other inventions cooking and of course had the article published in the papers. Researching agents as well. Writings proceeding well.
Things happening with D too, but not gonna discuss that yet either.
Prayers for our success and for the energy to undertake all we are involved in now - definitely appreciated.
We'll pray for your guys too of course.
FAMILY AFFAIRS: Parents have already paid about 20% on their new home. Once we close on their current house and lands, then they will pay the rest and they should have a considerable nest egg left over. We have completed all paperwork and everything is in Bristol fashion, all we need now is an official closing date. We are trying to expedite and speed up everything. Mortgage appraiser is coming out next Wednesday to finalize appraisals. Attorneys are arranged. Payments are ready and I've set aside several extra grand in cash in case of emergencies.
Several interested parties in our old place but I'm trying to delay their interest until we vacate so that they can come in and see the place empty and clean. Hopefully we can move into our new house within two weeks and then have the old place ready to sell in two to three weeks as well (along the same time frame) so that everything comes off simultaneously. But we all know how that kinda thing goes, don't we?
Since the new place is gonna be much larger than the old place we are gonna need to buy several rooms worth of new furniture. Plus I'm gonna be converting the upstairs garage (the large one) into an Art/Architectural studio, and creating a weight room/exercise/training/recuperation area out of one of the unfinished rooms in the basement. I'm gonna completely redo the basement over time and finish all separate basement areas (mechanics area, weight room, area for dogs, small laboratory, private sanctuary) as well as reclaim the pool, cut down all the pine forests and replace with hardwood forests and conduct several other home improvement projects. As I get the time. One of the spare upstairs bedrooms will become a second home office for purely work related projects until such time as we adopt a boy, then that room will become his bedroom. Really looking forward to all of these things.
I bought a new tractor and have been using it to reclaim much of the landscape that my father let grow wild the past couple of years. I've spent the past week or so reclaiming lands, pushing back growth, grading, cutting trees that were let grow untended, redoing the children's play areas and clubhouses, etc. I now effectively have at least quadruple the amount of land to tend as before but I'm not minding, not yet anyway. Last night I was cutting the grass around the children's swing-set and outdoor gym when it really struck me, the old family land and home and estate were mine now. I am Master of the Manor now, all the land I wandered and played on and explored as a kid is now mine, and my children's. It's very hard to describe the feeling that gave me, to suddenly realize it was all mine, and then some. It was almost a kind of ecstasy.
Taking down some of the heftiest undergrowth however kicked out a large branch which hit the drive belt on the floating blade deck of my tractor and knocked the belt clean off the wheels. Meaning I had to take the thing to the basement and reset and replace the belt by hand (it didn't break luckily). It wasn't too difficult a mechanical job but very time consuming and tiring because of the deck design and the twist of the belt. I took about an hour to reset properly and I was able to do everything by hand using no tools because the metallic belt guard at the main drive shaft was designed to float on either side of the drive wheel. Still, I busted my knuckles pretty good a coupla times.
I think G and B suspect something is up too and somehow know that they will soon be living at the new house because they follow me over there all of the time and lay around the front yards while I'm out working. Also I have found them going over there more and more by themselves and unaccompanied by me, as if they are anticipating the move.
J has already come down and completed all of the surveying for the land and home sale and it turns out that several sections of some of my neighbor's yards actually lay on my lands. I'm not gonna bother them about it though nor upset land use rights of way.
The summer season is over for us and the girls. All of their summer camps and classes are over. Both girls did excellent at camps and both did very well in the advanced science classes. E took awards at camp and now wants a four wheeler for Christmas, having won an award for mastery of the vehicle. K delivered extremely well in acting classes and E had her first official audition, which included presenting a dance number, a song, and a memorized dramatic monologue to an audience and her various directors and choreographers.
Now we have to arrange their normal school year academic and gym classes, piano lessons, dance lessons, girl scout troops, soccer and baseball teams and all the other stuff they do during the regular school year. I've already been by FS Elementary and met the new principal there and he has agreed to let them attend various baccalaureate classes which they can then audit like last year. E wants to take Spanish and K Art, but unfortunately because of their grade levels those classes are on opposites sides of the day at the school. It will be difficult to arrange things well for a single day's worth of classes, so I might let one day eat partially into their laboratories or field trips. Something you might find interesting J is that KR is now Vice Principal at FS and she is the one handling the class set ups for E and K.
Both girls are way out ahead of their class levels but I've fallen behind on their testing. It's been hard to get everything done with the press on my time and on D's time.
PERSONAL AFFAIRS: Of course there is the move and the fact that I am also getting new offices. A great deal of work to do over the next six months or so setting everything up and preparing for longer term modifications to both my work projects and to the new home. A lot of things I will want to change to suit me.
I have also been made technical advisor to my church and they have put me in charge of the Mission's house project, meaning I will be responsible for recruiting the missionaries and their families who live in the mission's home during the off season when they are not on assignment in the field. I'm also assisting with the Challenger's class for young kids and several other projects, though right now I'm kinda swamped and anything else they ask of me at the moment I will have to decline, even a Deaconship - if they offer it.
I made both the digital film slideshow and the VHS film presentation for the loan package of the church building/expansion project. I've made slideshows before, mainly of places I have Vadded and for work, like presentations for assignment (but haven't done that in awhile) and found I really enjoyed it. I'm thinking seriously about offering my services to the public in this regard as well as creating presentations on disk to accompany articles and non-fiction works I write. That could be interesting and might even be a unique marketing ploy. I'm also gonna be creating slideshows for some of my inventions now that I have new software which practically handles all aspects of editing, formatting, arranging, etc. by itself (once programmed), highly efficiently and extremely quickly.
I've even thought about creating digital presentations of artwork, architectural designs, and to accompany musical compositions I have completed. That is visual images to accompany musical compositions and/or music to accompany the art, architecture, etc. I've developed, all on the same disk. Just pop the disk in your media player and it could present everything at once, visually and audio files included and seamed together. It could also possibly work with games I've created, etc.
I'm back at my physical training to get into trim after recovering from my injuries, though the move and constant work has prevented me from training as much as I would like. Making good progress at batting and excellent progress at throwing the discus. Shooting a good deal more nowadays, and my sensory exercises go well.
As many of you guys know I haven't been to a barber or to get a haircut in about 15 to 20 years, having taught myself to cut my own hair a long time ago and everytime my hair got long enough I just pulled out the clippers and either buzzed myself or shaved my head bald. Well, my hair grew out a bit because I really haven't had time to cut it and once it reached my ears I decided to have a whack at it. But my wife said, "this time go to a barber and see what happens." (I think she just wanted some kinda new style for me.) So I looked around for a barber, not one of those man-fancy, metrosexual prancy boys who smell like perfume and hair "product," but a real barber, a real man. But they are extinct just about and I couldn't find one near me, even Garrett's in FI is gone. But when I went to get my oil changed and my car lubed I saw this place called Great Clips. E said, "Dad, why don't you get your hair cut while the car is being washed and serviced." So I walked down and took a seat and some woman cut my hair (first time I can ever remember where a woman cut my hair, not a trim - but a real haircut). She was really nice, fast, efficient and pleasant, a young, good looking blonde. She rubbed her hands through my hair while cutting it and put some kinda gook in my hair and massaged it in after the cut. She asked me if I wanted the top spikey like the models in the pictures in the shop, but I told her I didn't much care to look like a pretty boy, I had a brother that handled that kinda thing. But I told her she could rub some more whatever it was in my head, and massage that around a little bit as I kinda liked that. And she did. It wasn't an altogether unpleasant experience.
Afterwards she put me in the computer and we yakked a bit, and she spoke with the girl's too, suggesting things to me to do about their hair, but I told her it would be best to speak with their mother about that as hair wasn't exactly my field of expertise. I'm cosmetologically illiterate. The haircut was only ten bucks though and I reckoned that was about what I paid my for last haircut 15 years ago, so I asked if she was actually working off tips and when she said yes, I suggested she put as big a tip as she deserved on my card. Even so it was steal and I told her that and that she had done me a real service and that it was enjoyable to boot. I might even go back someday. Anywho the wife and my daughters and gals at the church say it looks nice and I've gone out several times lately and chicks have said my hair looks good so I guess she really did her job. Which is all you can ask.
Then I walked back up to AutoX, talked with TT about his business and how things were going (I always visit his shop if I can since I went to school with him ever since 6th grade, and we used to play ball together), got my car (did his usual fine job) and we headed home.
On the way I stopped by one of the new construction sites in town, yakked it up with one of the foremen, got a couple of construction boys to let me and the girls tour the parts of the building they had already finished and so we got a little industrial archaeology and daytime Vadding in before the afternoon was finished. Very enjoyable day.
Also, as for other matters, I have been having a number of interesting observations over the internet with authors like Gary Wassner and Steven Oliverez on subjects ranging from writing to literary criticism. Been a lot of fun and thought provoking in many respects. I've ordered books by both men, have already received the book by Steven but Gary's hasn't arrived yet. Don't know when I'll get the chance to read and really analyze them closely though, because of all that is happening right now. Maybe after the move.
NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS:
1 http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2005-08-31-bridge-collapse_x.htm?csp=24
Good Lord, that's a lot of people to die in a stampede.
From the Magazine World
2 The Invasion of the Chinese Cyberspies (And the Man Who Tried to Stop Them)
An exclusive look at how the hackers called TITAN RAIN are stealing U.S. secrets
By NATHAN THORNBURGH
SUBSCRIBE TO TIMEPRINTE-MAILMORE BY AUTHOR
Posted Monday, Aug. 29, 2005It was another routine night for Shawn Carpenter. After a long day analyzing computer-network security for Sandia National Laboratories, where much of the U.S. nuclear arsenal is designed, Carpenter, 36, retreated to his ranch house in the hills overlooking Albuquerque, N.M., for a quick dinner and an early bedtime. He set his alarm for 2 a.m. Waking in the dark, he took a thermos of coffee and a pack of Nicorette gum to the cluster of computer terminals in his home office. As he had almost every night for the previous four months, he worked at his secret volunteer job until dawn, not as Shawn Carpenter, mid-level analyst, but as Spiderman--the apt nickname his military-intelligence handlers gave him--tirelessly pursuing a group of suspected Chinese cyberspies all over the world. Inside the machines, on a mission he believed the U.S. government supported, he clung unseen to the walls of their chat rooms and servers, secretly recording every move the snoopers made, passing the information to the Army and later to the FBI.
The hackers he was stalking, part of a cyberespionage ring that federal investigators code-named Titan Rain, first caught Carpenter's eye a year earlier when he helped investigate a network break-in at Lockheed Martin in September 2003. A strikingly similar attack hit Sandia several months later, but it wasn't until Carpenter compared notes with a counterpart in Army cyberintelligence that he suspected the scope of the threat. Methodical and voracious, these hackers wanted all the files they could find, and they were getting them by penetrating secure computer networks at the country's most sensitive military bases, defense contractors and aerospace companies.
Carpenter had never seen hackers work so quickly, with such a sense of purpose. They would commandeer a hidden section of a hard drive, zip up as many files as possible and immediately transmit the data to way stations in South Korea, Hong Kong or Taiwan before sending them to mainland China. They always made a silent escape, wiping their electronic fingerprints clean and leaving behind an almost undetectable beacon allowing them to re-enter the machine at will. An entire attack took 10 to 30 minutes. "Most hackers, if they actually get into a government network, get excited and make mistakes," says Carpenter. "Not these guys. They never hit a wrong key."
Goaded by curiosity and a sense that he could help the U.S. defend itself against a new breed of enemy, Carpenter gave chase to the attackers. He hopped just as stealthily from computer to computer across the globe, chasing the spies as they hijacked a web of far-flung computers. Eventually he followed the trail to its apparent end, in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong. He found that the attacks emanated from just three Chinese routers that acted as the first connection point from a local network to the Internet.
It was a stunning breakthrough. In the world of cyberspying, locating the attackers' country of origin is rare. China, in particular, is known for having poorly defended servers that outsiders from around the world commandeer as their unwitting launchpads. Now Chinese computers appeared to be the aggressors.
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From the Sep. 05, 2005 issue of TIME magazine
I found this article fascinating and extremely useful from various points of view, including national security, corporate espionage and military and private intelligence networks. I think Spiderman is another prime example of the very real aspects of the many discussions and proposals we have all had and made (and many of us have advocated) regarding the use of private individuals as vigilantes (of various kinds) employed by government(s) and the military to do jobs no professional would be in a good position to work.
Give me a thousand of these types of vigilantes and we could severely hobble our foreign enemies and cripple domestic crime.
3 I've been following the evacuation of New Orleans closely and much of the storm damage elsewhere, as well as efforts to rescue individuals and at emergency relief. I've also been assisting with relief efforts here and helping get some supplies out through the SBA. I'm thinking the damage to New Orleans may be so extensive that the city which arises from this disaster, assuming it is inhabitable in most respects in the future, will be an almost completely different city than the New Orleans of the past, which can only be a good thing.
Incredible loss of life, most of which was unnecessary had people simply prepared and evacuated prior to the storm's arrival. Always be prepared.
It is also time to hunt down and kill those armed looters and criminals who are interfering with security, supply distribution and rescue efforts. SWAT teams should be sent in to restore order, liquidate the thugs and help the soldiers and cops and rescue workers complete the evacuations.
Another interesting result of all of this has been rising gasoline and petroleum prices. After the storm everyone went out and began to buy huge quantities of gas, attempting to hoard the fuel, which only drained supplies rapidly and drove prices up further and faster. It boggles my mind how little in general people living in this nation and in other "educated" nations seem to understand markets and supply and demand and price structures. Supplies and refining capacity were reduced by the storm and so as a fix large groups of people rush to the gas pumps to fully extinguish supplies instead of operating moderately to allow supplies to be regenerated or transferred from reserves elsewhere. What do they teach in schools nowadays and how could that possibly pass for either basic economics or just plain common sense? The temporary draining of all supplies as an answer to shortage? Lines all across the county yesterday, as if I was watching the seventies again, with the same foolish herd mentality and foreshortened outlook you would expect of children and perennial idiots.
And we don't even have a moron like Carter egging us on this time. Of course I can hardly blame the younger kids and teenagers, they haven't really seen this kind of thing, and you can hardly expect insight or long term planning out of them due to their youth and lack of experience, but to see people my age running around draining supplies bare (meaning it will only take that much longer to replenish those same stocks) would have been funny if not being so absurd and ridiculous. Even my six year old daughter asked me, "Daddy if everyone buys all of the gas up, won't it become more expensive?" And I've only been teaching her economics for about 2 to 3 years. Instead of answering I asked her a question. "Well, K, if everyone buys up all the gas available right now, what will that mean?" After hardly a moment's thought she said, "It will take longer to get more gas and the price will stay higher."
One good result of all of this, since the main problem is not supply but refining capacity, is that maybe now liberals in Congress can be overwhelmed in their reactionary objections to progress and new refineries can be built immediately. 5 to 10 new large scale refining facilities should be built in the next 3 to 5 years to alleviate the immediate problems (as well as increasing domestic sources and stocks) and hopefully major refining capacity will no longer be "clustered" in and around production and extraction facilities, so that refinery capacity can be spread out over larger areas to avoid refining loss during localized disasters. But, we'll see.
Also hopefully this will spur new technological development and inventions research for energy sources providing power to homes and businesses and well as locomotion to transport vehicles. But again, we'll see what the lessons learned actually are and whether the nation as a whole can figure out what actually needs to be done versus what they just feel good about doing.
LOCAL NEWS: It looks like I'll be teaching the RT classes again this year. I don't mind, kind of enjoyed it last year, but teaching is time I could be in the field or doing something else, but I guess that's the price you pay. I've never minded teaching, but it doesn't thrill me either.
JOKES: NSTR
INVESTIGATIONS/CASES: Been patrolling a lot when I've had the opportunity. I've had to put some of the cold cases I've been working on hold due to the move. Once I get settled into the new house and have my new offices it should be much easier to pursue any number of things. But overall the crime rate has been remarkably low and this has also given me the opportunity to work my contacts and informants in preparation for future events and has allowed me to exercise some measure of experimentation. For instance I have been able to undertake, though only sporadically, three near simultaneous anticipation projects and to partially observe and measure the effectiveness of each.
EXPERIMENTS: Little time to conduct any experiments due to time constraints.
a. Somatic/Genetic- K had another outbreak of eczema. It was my fault really, as over time, after using the treatment method and medicine I had originally invented cleared her eczema up nearly completely, I simply stopped manufacturing anymore and discontinued treatment. But she re-flared recently (probably due to hot and humid weather) and so I've created a new batch of medicine but this time I improved the formula through the addition of small amounts of Epsom salts, citric acid, calcinated and chelated zinc, antihistamines, sulfur and albuterol sulfate. It has had even better effects that the original medicine I created.
I've also discovered by experimentation that this medicine is extremely useful as both a topical antiseptic and helps minor cuts, scrapes and scratches to heal faster than normal. I've been testing it on both K and on my own minor wounds. I estimate healing speed to be about 30 to 50% higher with the medicine alone, and I can raise that rate to about 150 to 200 % faster if I use a lotion I have developed along with bandaging. The anti-eczema treatment is delivered in the form of an aerosol, mostly water based spray.
b. Aesic- NSTR
c. Psychaec- NSTR
d. ACUT- Got three anticipation projects running simultaneously, but haven't been able to fully test any of them due to other work demands and the move.
e. Composition/Design- NSTR
f. Scientific- This isn't really an experiment per se but I have been making a number of close order lunar observations through my telescope and have also been sketching my observations and digitally recording some of the images. When I get the money I'm gonna buy a telescope big enough to put in a personal observatory, build a personal observatory, and design and construct a telescope which can digitally focus and record visual images and one which also can receive radio transmissions and convert those signatures into digital images. I'd also like to take up len's grinding and I'm interested in testing some designs I've developed as well as seeing if compounded and composite lenses might have properties exceeding normal optics.
As for real experiments I'm devising some functional outlines for some of the experiments I've been envisioning as described in the OPAE section below under Scientific Works.
MEDIA REVIEWS: Critiqued in value from 1 to 10, 10 being the best.
Film/Video/DVD- King Arthur- I was pleasantly surprised, especially by the ideals of chivalry and communion at arms among the comrades, as well as by the historical speculation. Nice. 8
A Night at the Opera- the Marx brothers and Three Stooges are the funniest men to have ever lived. The brothers at their best. 10
13 rue madeleine- extremely good period piece. 9
The Man who Corrupted Hadleyburg- very good. 8
Bill Monroe - Father of Bluegrass Music- excellent musical history 9
The Pirates of Penzance- always entertaining. 8
The X Files Movie- I think I like this film better now than when I saw it at the theatres. The Vadding aspects (always my favorite part of the show) were superb. 9
Russian Ark- a Russian film, so be warned, it ain't your typical blow me up. Still, I gotta thing for Russian film. 8
History's Ancient Legacies, volumes 3,4,5,6 9
Hitch- this romantic comedy was not very good at first but kept getting progressively better until at the end it was so good it remained me of fifties' era romantic comedies. Will Smith came off as a sort of Cary Grant like figure and I thought he did an excellent job. The chick lead was simultaneously one of the best looking (prettiest) and sexiest women I have ever seen on screen. I recommend this film. 8
The Pacifier- 6 My daughters loved this, I didn't like it so much, but am giving it a 6 because kids like it.
Are We There Yet?- 6 Very funny in some scenes, not so hot in others, but mostly just a heartwarmer/kid film.
Dead Man's Walk- prequel to the Lonesome Dove Western series. Probably the best and most accurate fictional series about the later Western frontier ever written or filmed. As good as Lonesome Dove. Superb 10
A Brilliant Madness- a true life biography of John Nash, with commentary by Nash. Extremely good 9
The Serpent's Egg- Ingmar Bergman. What else do I need to say? Same for Hour of the Wolf. 10
Hour of the Wolf- 9
Jupiter's Wife- this is one of the most bizarre, realistic psychological portraits of an individual I've ever seen (and you know I've seen a few) - especially on film. Watch it if you can. 9
The Jacket- I highly recommend this. As good in many ways to me as the Machinist. Great ending. 9
The Life of Leonardo Da Vinci- very good biography 10
Youth of the Beast- 9
Lagaan: Once Upon a time in India- I don't know if this is a Bollywood production or not, I doubt it, but regardless of who made it I really enjoyed it. 8
Majikat- this is a restored concert and archival film of Cat Stevens in concert in 1976. I found it to be extremely entertaining. I especially liked the versions of You may be Right, Wild World, Moonshadow (including the animation he made), and the Archival footage. The man was an old style minstrel, a medieval bard. Man could he write a song. 9
Mystic River- I really didn't have much hope for this film, especially given the fact that I didn't expect it to hold up well to the book at all. But I was really surprised. I even liked Bacon and Penn in their roles and I don't care much for either actor, nor Penn as a man. 9
Rivers and Tides- beautiful piece of work. Wish I had made it. 10
Television- Justice League Unlimited - this entire new season of JLU has been incredibly good. It only gets darker as it goes along. It, and Battlestar Galactica are the only shows I videotape or have the wife videotape if I'm not around. 10
Battlestar Galactica- this show is so good that it is almost exactly the way I would have made it if I had made it. I've already figured out several of the plot mysteries though. But even knowing that the show has to be the best one of Sci-Fi series ever, tied with the original Star Trek. It even exceeds Space: Above and Beyond in most respects. It is so gritty that you almost forget you're watching Sci-Fi at all, so realistic is it. 10
Stargate Atlantis- I like this show better than the original Stargate. Major Shepherd, or is it Lt. Colonel now, is really a great character. I like the new guy in dreads, and Tayla (not really sure of the spelling) is easy on the eyes. I also like Skinner as commander of the Prometheus. It's good they have a little naval bite in their arsenal. 9
Stargate SG1- I really like the addition of the new female. She's extremely entertaining, and attractive in an odd, hard to describe way. I miss Jack though.
Smallville- I haven't been watching it during rerun season but I'm looking forward to the new season. 8
Over There- this show just keeps getting better and better in my opinion and everytime I think it is going to go south they pull it out of the ringer and end up making it more realistic and good than I had anticipated it would become PC and wussie. I especially like the Sarge (Scream) and Angel and Dim and Smoke. Tariq is growing on me and truth be told he's he best field soldier in the fire team. Good for just about any duty. Dim's wife is a real twisted piece of work though, she needs a good thorough beating to get straightened out. So far I have especially liked the episode about Roadblock duty and the conclusion to the attempted hostage rescue of the reporter. 10 so far.
Music- The Chieftains 3
Elijah and Elias
Beyond Chant: Mysteries of the Renaissance
Gloria in D Major - Vivaldi
Magnificat in D Major - Bach
Brandenburg Concerti - Bach
Pictures at an Exhibition - Mussorgsky
Symphony No. 9 - Dvorak
Greatest Hits of Neil Young
The Civil War soundtrack
Water from the Well - Chieftains
Symphony No. 3- Bruckner
Tchaikovsky and Korngold: Violin concerti for orchestra
The Best of Tom Jones
Glenn Miller Greatest Hits
Britten- The War Requiem, Opus 66
Wagner- Der fliegende Hollander
Looking to the East- compositions based upon Oriental and Middle eastern Music- very interesting and enjoyable, has given me a few ideas for compositions of my own especially the Habiru sections of my opera Lord Storm and Beauty.
The Beatles Anthology, volume 2- I especially liked the versions of the following works appearing on this CD; Norwegian Wood, Eleanor Rigby (strings only), I'm Only Sleeping, Strawberry Fields Forever, Penny Lane, A Day in the Life, Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite, The Fool on the Hill, Lady Madonna, and Hello, Goodbye (one of my favorite Beatle's songs)
Prokofiev, Symphony no. 1
Games- Batman Begins- finally finished this. Excellent first effort in the franchise, but I could see many things worth improving. 8
Spiderman 2- extremely entertaining if not very realistic in many ways. Haven't finished it though, still stuck on the Statue of Liberty and haven't had time to play any games in the past month or so. 9
Books/Audio-
Non Fiction:
Men in Black- excellent send up and exposition on the American judiciary.
The Wormwood File
Desert Father - very good spiritual comparative biography of Saint Anthony
Chronicles Volume One, Autobiography of Bob Dylan- a very different man than the hippies would make out. I've always loved his lyrics and songwriting ability but after reading his biography I have real respect for the man. He's actually anti-hippy, which makes the whole, erroneous personna and myth which the hippies developed around him that much more amusing and ironic. But what do you expect out of hippies?
The True Life of Johann Sebastian Bach- solid biography
World Poetry- some fairly modern poetry from others parts of the world ain't half bad. Far better than he modern crap put out in America and Europe.
America's Secret War
A Pirate of Exquisite Mind; the Life of William Dampier- one of the best biographies I've read in a long time about a truly fascinating man.
The House You Build
Spy Handler- Memoir of a KGB Officer- good, solid Intel and espionage exposition from a personal point of view.
Kepler's Witch - this is a biography of Kepler that was so good I would rank it right up there with Galileo's Daughter. Every bit as fascinating and brilliant and devout a man as was Galileo, and Newton, and Bacon. A scientist's scientist in the same way Michelangelo was an artist's artist. He was also a type of Renaissance genius like Da Vinci.
Miles Gone By- literary biography of William F. Buckley Jr.
The Watchman - biography of serial cracker Kevin Poulsen. Very interesting.
How to Write Horror Fiction
How to Write Action Adventure Novels
The Magazine Article
How to Write and Sell True Crime
Writing: Craft and Art
The Sell Your Novel Toolkit
Writer Tells All- extremely useful
Oxford Dictionary of Nicknames- very interesting.
Game Art: The Graphic Art of Computer Games
Writing and Illustrating the Graphic Novel
Music Theory
100 Greatest Poems of All Time- a very good selection of what poetry should be.
Writer's Market Companion
The Invisible Web- one of the most interesting and especially useful books on the history and development of the internet and web I've ever read.
Ghost Soldiers- the book the Great Rescue is based upon. One of the best military biographies and expositions I've ever read. Highly recommended. A brilliant glimpse at war, Special Forces, and imprisonment as a POW in Asia.
Brunelleschi's Dome- about the Renaissance genius who built the dome of Santa Maria del Fiore. An engineering and personal biography I couldn't put down.
On Writing
The Confident Hope of a Miracle- a biography of the Spanish Armada. Extremely good biography of an historical event and fleet.
God on the Quad
Cracking More Cases- by Dr. Henry Lee
Lyrics- Bob Dylan
The 28 Biggest Writing Blunders
The Medieval Reader- extremely good.
On Becoming a Novelist - probably the best book I've ever read on writing
100 things Every Writer Needs to Know
Where Shall Wisdom Be Found - excellent literary critiques by Harold Bloom
Under and Alone - a terrifically good read about an undercover ATF/SRT agent, Billy Queen, infiltrating the Mongols.
Inside the Minds of Mass Murderers - a good book by the forensic psychologist Katherine Ramsland. I don't always agree with her but Ramsland is a pretty good writer and has some fascinating theories.
The Twenty Six Dramatic Situations
Compass- an excellent study of early and later naval exploration focusing upon the compass as the chief instrument of naval exploration and navigation. I loved it, it was a treasure trove of nautical trivia and data.
Fiction:
Brimstone
The Mauritius Command
Artemis Fowl- I've enjoyed the Fowl books to an enormous degree, especially considering they are fiction. I'm trying to read the whole series and often listen to the books with the girls. Butler is by far my favorite character, Fowl is more his foil than the other way round.
Artemis Fowl: the Arctic Incident
Artemis Fowl: the Eternity Code
Dead Man's Walk
Mr. Norrell and Jonathan Strange- an extremely interesting take on fantasy. I wish more fantasy writers, or writer's period, could be this original. It is a talker of a book though, you can tell a woman wrote it.
BOLO- the new book by David Weber, not the original. As good as the original series of stories however.
The Big Sleep - need I say more? 10
Farewell My lovely - 8
Graphic Novels:
Superman: Red Son - probably the single best graphic novel I have ever read on Superman
Superman: President Lex - very good Superman graphic novel
Superman: Return to Krypton - a very mediocre Superman GN
Catwoman: Crooked Little Town - I've never been a real fan of Catwoman but this was alright.
Gotham Central: in the Line of Duty - a very good GN about the GCPD and the detectives on that force. Very accurate portrayal of Dicks in some cases, very inaccurate in others. My Criticism though is that it placed far too much emphasis on Batman. Batman should have played either a support role or no role at all in any of the encounters except for the case against Freeze when Freeze murders a GCPD Dick. The homicide cases weren't badly written at all, and I liked the Firebug juvenile homicide case especially well. It read almost like a real case and was well handled by the Detectives.
Batman: Tales of the Demon
Superman: Secret Identity - One of the best Superman graphic novels I may have ever read. Rivals Red Son. Very original.
Batman: Detective No. 27
Batman: Black and White Vol. 2
Batman: Hush, volume 1
Spiderman: Sins Past
Spiderman: The Book of Ezekiel
Spider Man: Doctor Octopus - Year One
Theory Papers/Essays/Analyses/Articles/Lectures/Sermons- I saw a lecture from the Center of Japanese and Far Eastern Studies on Godzilla. I thought the lecturer did a fairly good job but that my own theories on Godzilla are far better. I won't bore you with them though, I know you guys and dolls get sick of me talking about the Japs and Godzilla and Superman.
The Global Rise of Religious Violence - Mark Juergensmeyer, extremely good lecture without a lot of political hand wringing and pansification.
Faith and Organization - a sermon given by my own pastor. Very interesting juxtaposition between the ideas of faith and organization and organizational ability. I'd never really considered the issue of organizational ability in the context of how faith shapes organizational structure and planning for future events. It has led me to begin formulating the outlines for a series of metaphysical sermons of my own. I haven't written a sermon since I was studying for the priesthood. I'm kinda excited about what I'm developing so far.
Sniper Training: Iragi Insurgent Tactics
PSIC Handbook
I haven't had any time lately to keep up with my trade magazine or special articles so I haven't read any of those.
OPAE:
Fiction- have written scenes for the following works: Doppleganger, The Basilegate, Terra G., Curae, Tiamat, The Vadder (working title, or possibly I'll call it Green and Black), The Composite Angel, Three Lands and Cache of Saint Andrew. I've also written or finished a couple of short stories and have begun to outline a couple of new plots.
Non Fiction- I have been working a little on my autobiography and memoirs, and have begun work on the essays, The Duties and Education of the Renaissance Man and Woman, The Renaissance Soldier, The New Vigilante, The Political Nature of the Republic, The Education of the American Citizen and the sister essay, The Public as Individual, as well as Chimerical Aspirations (creating new hybrid genetic structures and species and what this will mean for Man) I'm also sketching out a true crime book on the murder of Charlie Russel. I'm thinking of calling it a Crime of Dissonance. And also thinking about writing a true crime short story or small novella on the murder of DF. I'm thinking I might present or develop a new kind (or genre) of book detailing as yet unsolved Cold Cases, with each book presenting factual presentations of let's say 6 to 10 unsolved Cold Cases with my conclusions on likely perps or suspects for each case at the end of each book.
Theory Papers/Essays/Analyses/Articles/Sermons- Outlining a new series of sermons on metaphysical matters which I'm thinking about creating using some of my theory papers on spiritual matters.
Scientific Works- working on some of my gravity proofs but recent studies in geometry have led me to the conclusion that I might be able to develop some theorems combining geometrically restructuring matrixes spread over the curvature of a gravitational field projected as interacting mass/force waves produced from each object. (The idea that light moves as both waves and particles gave me the idea that in certain circumstances gravity might act as both the commonly accepted space time curvature surrounding a massive body and yet at other times might act as an accelerating mass-wave projection field.) The basic idea is that as two objects of sufficient mass to produce their own attractive gravitational fields approach one another the overlapping fields produce shifting mass signatures in both bodies which increase in a directly proportional manner related to proximity calculated as area and velocity. That the overlapping fields produce small but measurable mass disruptions in both bodies greatest at the points of common interface and that if these bodies could also be spun in similar or opposite directions while at the same time the separate body electromagnetic polarities could be simultaneously or separately shifted rapidly enough that a certain effect could be achieved. (I'm not saying what I believe that effect[s] to be at this point.)
I'm also trying to calculate and imagine what effect subatomic spin might have in relation to electromagnetic polarity in a mass shifting dynamically increasing gravitational field and if it might not be possible to use such a field to produce high energy shifting polarity electromagnetic particles (which are also shifting spin states) for energy production and communication signals.
One assumption is that a steady stream of polarity shifting particles might be fed outwards but the subatomic spin shifts could be read in communications beams as an underlying on-off code, the duration of a steady spin or the frequency or speed of shift serving as an encryption burst.
I've also got some ideas on energy production but I'll have to work those later.
It would be nice to get access to a high energy particle slab but I guess I could always suggest an experiment or set of experiments to some friends of mine and let them play with the ideas and results. I've ideas for a number of physics experiments like this but since I have no access to particle and collision labs I was thinking about running these experiments by people I know at JPL (who worked on the NASA Scramjet project) to see if they can suggest university or private labs that might be interested in conducting research and experimentation on gravity, electromagnetic fields and spintronics.
Poetry/Lyrics/Songs- I've written maybe two or three poems lately. No real time.
Musical Compositions- No time to work on any of my musical compositions other than a bit of editing on older works and compositions.
Artwork/Architecture/Design- I've made some modifications to the church I designed after reading Brunelleschi's Dome and reviewing my own theory paper on the Ship of the Soul.
Game/TSS Designs- Proceeding on the Terra Ghantik project. Slowly though.
Video/Computer/TSS Game Designs- working scenes for the Vadder as well as outlining a plot for a game about being an undercover detective.
Inventions- a few software/program designs as well as putting together a presentation for a company.
SHARED FILES: I'd like to mention a few quality software products I've recently installed and/or downloaded.
Google Earth - extremely useful
Navaho Lock with Voice
Move on Boot - recommended to me because of XP's tendency to randomly lock files
Dound's Steganographer - updated from my original program
B's Recorder Gold 5
System Mechanic - after an initial adjustment period I'm actually coming to like this product better than Nortons. It works very well, the problem is a very complicated GUI.
WEBSITES/SOFTWARE:
http://www.vfinance.com/
http://developer.intel.com/technology/easeofuse/index.htm
http://www.hg.org/
http://www.rotteneggs.com/re_index.php3
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/
GRAPHIX: See attached file - images from my digital camera converted to GIF files. - excised
DANTE'S 9TH LEVEL OF HELL
Deus Ordere et Facere Nos Verite
"There is nothing so beautiful and legitimate as to play the man well and properly, no knowledge so hard to acquire as the knowledge of how to live life well and naturally; and the most barbarous of our maladies is to despise our own being."
Montaigne
"You are as much a god as you will own
That you are nothing but a man alone."
Entry above the main gate of Pompeii
"Secure therefore in the darkness they took counsel about the treachery to be done promptly at dawn, choosing from the household of Borsiard the most courageous and bold for this crime, and they promised them great riches."
The Murder of a Feudal Lord
"Females. They'll believe everything except the obvious, and the honest."
NUMBER 72
(redacted version)
INTRO: Slideshows, My Father's House, Reclaiming the Land, New Season, Auditions, Spiderman's Webline, Get a Haircut, Medicine, Pictures and Numbers
ADMIN: I apologize to everyone about the delays in getting back to them personally on so many matters. But the move, the new school year, new work projects, new assignments, all of these things have conspired to slow me immensely and to distract me from other matters regarding my work load and responses to inquiries, project data, and information and intelligence sent to me. Intelligence and information sent to me which does not require immediate response (such as Titan Rain) goes into the appropriate files, and things requiring immediate attention get worked on. But I appreciate it all and if you haven't been able to catch me at home or in my office then this is due to the fact that I've been on the run a lot lately, especially with attorneys, paperwork and whatnot. By the way the new contacts have been helpful as well, even if I am not immediately exploiting them because I'm waiting until I get in my new offices and my new home.
RESPONSES: Glad your move came off well S (well, as well as can be expected) and let me know how you're liking your new job and assignment. We'll talk by phone as soon as we can catch each other. Major I hope your deployment to Germany went well and that everything goes well with your new command. Let me know how things are shaking with you and the family once you're fully settled. Are you guys living on base, I know we had discussed that last visit but I don't remember how you guys finally decided it? Speaking of that how are the boys taking to the new living conditions and schools and so forth? Playing sports yet? Have you guys visited any castles yet and what do they think of them? How's the little woman doing?
F, where exactly did you move to? By the way you'll find W's email address in the address line of this newsletter if you don't already have it.
BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS: I don't really want to report on these matters just yet, still developing and ripening. But have established a relationship with a guy at Blizzard E. (WoW) on the video game front. Have also begun to disseminate some of my software design ideas. Other inventions cooking and of course had the article published in the papers. Researching agents as well. Writings proceeding well.
Things happening with D too, but not gonna discuss that yet either.
Prayers for our success and for the energy to undertake all we are involved in now - definitely appreciated.
We'll pray for your guys too of course.
FAMILY AFFAIRS: Parents have already paid about 20% on their new home. Once we close on their current house and lands, then they will pay the rest and they should have a considerable nest egg left over. We have completed all paperwork and everything is in Bristol fashion, all we need now is an official closing date. We are trying to expedite and speed up everything. Mortgage appraiser is coming out next Wednesday to finalize appraisals. Attorneys are arranged. Payments are ready and I've set aside several extra grand in cash in case of emergencies.
Several interested parties in our old place but I'm trying to delay their interest until we vacate so that they can come in and see the place empty and clean. Hopefully we can move into our new house within two weeks and then have the old place ready to sell in two to three weeks as well (along the same time frame) so that everything comes off simultaneously. But we all know how that kinda thing goes, don't we?
Since the new place is gonna be much larger than the old place we are gonna need to buy several rooms worth of new furniture. Plus I'm gonna be converting the upstairs garage (the large one) into an Art/Architectural studio, and creating a weight room/exercise/training/recuperation area out of one of the unfinished rooms in the basement. I'm gonna completely redo the basement over time and finish all separate basement areas (mechanics area, weight room, area for dogs, small laboratory, private sanctuary) as well as reclaim the pool, cut down all the pine forests and replace with hardwood forests and conduct several other home improvement projects. As I get the time. One of the spare upstairs bedrooms will become a second home office for purely work related projects until such time as we adopt a boy, then that room will become his bedroom. Really looking forward to all of these things.
I bought a new tractor and have been using it to reclaim much of the landscape that my father let grow wild the past couple of years. I've spent the past week or so reclaiming lands, pushing back growth, grading, cutting trees that were let grow untended, redoing the children's play areas and clubhouses, etc. I now effectively have at least quadruple the amount of land to tend as before but I'm not minding, not yet anyway. Last night I was cutting the grass around the children's swing-set and outdoor gym when it really struck me, the old family land and home and estate were mine now. I am Master of the Manor now, all the land I wandered and played on and explored as a kid is now mine, and my children's. It's very hard to describe the feeling that gave me, to suddenly realize it was all mine, and then some. It was almost a kind of ecstasy.
Taking down some of the heftiest undergrowth however kicked out a large branch which hit the drive belt on the floating blade deck of my tractor and knocked the belt clean off the wheels. Meaning I had to take the thing to the basement and reset and replace the belt by hand (it didn't break luckily). It wasn't too difficult a mechanical job but very time consuming and tiring because of the deck design and the twist of the belt. I took about an hour to reset properly and I was able to do everything by hand using no tools because the metallic belt guard at the main drive shaft was designed to float on either side of the drive wheel. Still, I busted my knuckles pretty good a coupla times.
I think G and B suspect something is up too and somehow know that they will soon be living at the new house because they follow me over there all of the time and lay around the front yards while I'm out working. Also I have found them going over there more and more by themselves and unaccompanied by me, as if they are anticipating the move.
J has already come down and completed all of the surveying for the land and home sale and it turns out that several sections of some of my neighbor's yards actually lay on my lands. I'm not gonna bother them about it though nor upset land use rights of way.
The summer season is over for us and the girls. All of their summer camps and classes are over. Both girls did excellent at camps and both did very well in the advanced science classes. E took awards at camp and now wants a four wheeler for Christmas, having won an award for mastery of the vehicle. K delivered extremely well in acting classes and E had her first official audition, which included presenting a dance number, a song, and a memorized dramatic monologue to an audience and her various directors and choreographers.
Now we have to arrange their normal school year academic and gym classes, piano lessons, dance lessons, girl scout troops, soccer and baseball teams and all the other stuff they do during the regular school year. I've already been by FS Elementary and met the new principal there and he has agreed to let them attend various baccalaureate classes which they can then audit like last year. E wants to take Spanish and K Art, but unfortunately because of their grade levels those classes are on opposites sides of the day at the school. It will be difficult to arrange things well for a single day's worth of classes, so I might let one day eat partially into their laboratories or field trips. Something you might find interesting J is that KR is now Vice Principal at FS and she is the one handling the class set ups for E and K.
Both girls are way out ahead of their class levels but I've fallen behind on their testing. It's been hard to get everything done with the press on my time and on D's time.
PERSONAL AFFAIRS: Of course there is the move and the fact that I am also getting new offices. A great deal of work to do over the next six months or so setting everything up and preparing for longer term modifications to both my work projects and to the new home. A lot of things I will want to change to suit me.
I have also been made technical advisor to my church and they have put me in charge of the Mission's house project, meaning I will be responsible for recruiting the missionaries and their families who live in the mission's home during the off season when they are not on assignment in the field. I'm also assisting with the Challenger's class for young kids and several other projects, though right now I'm kinda swamped and anything else they ask of me at the moment I will have to decline, even a Deaconship - if they offer it.
I made both the digital film slideshow and the VHS film presentation for the loan package of the church building/expansion project. I've made slideshows before, mainly of places I have Vadded and for work, like presentations for assignment (but haven't done that in awhile) and found I really enjoyed it. I'm thinking seriously about offering my services to the public in this regard as well as creating presentations on disk to accompany articles and non-fiction works I write. That could be interesting and might even be a unique marketing ploy. I'm also gonna be creating slideshows for some of my inventions now that I have new software which practically handles all aspects of editing, formatting, arranging, etc. by itself (once programmed), highly efficiently and extremely quickly.
I've even thought about creating digital presentations of artwork, architectural designs, and to accompany musical compositions I have completed. That is visual images to accompany musical compositions and/or music to accompany the art, architecture, etc. I've developed, all on the same disk. Just pop the disk in your media player and it could present everything at once, visually and audio files included and seamed together. It could also possibly work with games I've created, etc.
I'm back at my physical training to get into trim after recovering from my injuries, though the move and constant work has prevented me from training as much as I would like. Making good progress at batting and excellent progress at throwing the discus. Shooting a good deal more nowadays, and my sensory exercises go well.
As many of you guys know I haven't been to a barber or to get a haircut in about 15 to 20 years, having taught myself to cut my own hair a long time ago and everytime my hair got long enough I just pulled out the clippers and either buzzed myself or shaved my head bald. Well, my hair grew out a bit because I really haven't had time to cut it and once it reached my ears I decided to have a whack at it. But my wife said, "this time go to a barber and see what happens." (I think she just wanted some kinda new style for me.) So I looked around for a barber, not one of those man-fancy, metrosexual prancy boys who smell like perfume and hair "product," but a real barber, a real man. But they are extinct just about and I couldn't find one near me, even Garrett's in FI is gone. But when I went to get my oil changed and my car lubed I saw this place called Great Clips. E said, "Dad, why don't you get your hair cut while the car is being washed and serviced." So I walked down and took a seat and some woman cut my hair (first time I can ever remember where a woman cut my hair, not a trim - but a real haircut). She was really nice, fast, efficient and pleasant, a young, good looking blonde. She rubbed her hands through my hair while cutting it and put some kinda gook in my hair and massaged it in after the cut. She asked me if I wanted the top spikey like the models in the pictures in the shop, but I told her I didn't much care to look like a pretty boy, I had a brother that handled that kinda thing. But I told her she could rub some more whatever it was in my head, and massage that around a little bit as I kinda liked that. And she did. It wasn't an altogether unpleasant experience.
Afterwards she put me in the computer and we yakked a bit, and she spoke with the girl's too, suggesting things to me to do about their hair, but I told her it would be best to speak with their mother about that as hair wasn't exactly my field of expertise. I'm cosmetologically illiterate. The haircut was only ten bucks though and I reckoned that was about what I paid my for last haircut 15 years ago, so I asked if she was actually working off tips and when she said yes, I suggested she put as big a tip as she deserved on my card. Even so it was steal and I told her that and that she had done me a real service and that it was enjoyable to boot. I might even go back someday. Anywho the wife and my daughters and gals at the church say it looks nice and I've gone out several times lately and chicks have said my hair looks good so I guess she really did her job. Which is all you can ask.
Then I walked back up to AutoX, talked with TT about his business and how things were going (I always visit his shop if I can since I went to school with him ever since 6th grade, and we used to play ball together), got my car (did his usual fine job) and we headed home.
On the way I stopped by one of the new construction sites in town, yakked it up with one of the foremen, got a couple of construction boys to let me and the girls tour the parts of the building they had already finished and so we got a little industrial archaeology and daytime Vadding in before the afternoon was finished. Very enjoyable day.
Also, as for other matters, I have been having a number of interesting observations over the internet with authors like Gary Wassner and Steven Oliverez on subjects ranging from writing to literary criticism. Been a lot of fun and thought provoking in many respects. I've ordered books by both men, have already received the book by Steven but Gary's hasn't arrived yet. Don't know when I'll get the chance to read and really analyze them closely though, because of all that is happening right now. Maybe after the move.
NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS:
1 http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2005-08-31-bridge-collapse_x.htm?csp=24
Good Lord, that's a lot of people to die in a stampede.
From the Magazine World
2 The Invasion of the Chinese Cyberspies (And the Man Who Tried to Stop Them)
An exclusive look at how the hackers called TITAN RAIN are stealing U.S. secrets
By NATHAN THORNBURGH
SUBSCRIBE TO TIMEPRINTE-MAILMORE BY AUTHOR
Posted Monday, Aug. 29, 2005It was another routine night for Shawn Carpenter. After a long day analyzing computer-network security for Sandia National Laboratories, where much of the U.S. nuclear arsenal is designed, Carpenter, 36, retreated to his ranch house in the hills overlooking Albuquerque, N.M., for a quick dinner and an early bedtime. He set his alarm for 2 a.m. Waking in the dark, he took a thermos of coffee and a pack of Nicorette gum to the cluster of computer terminals in his home office. As he had almost every night for the previous four months, he worked at his secret volunteer job until dawn, not as Shawn Carpenter, mid-level analyst, but as Spiderman--the apt nickname his military-intelligence handlers gave him--tirelessly pursuing a group of suspected Chinese cyberspies all over the world. Inside the machines, on a mission he believed the U.S. government supported, he clung unseen to the walls of their chat rooms and servers, secretly recording every move the snoopers made, passing the information to the Army and later to the FBI.
The hackers he was stalking, part of a cyberespionage ring that federal investigators code-named Titan Rain, first caught Carpenter's eye a year earlier when he helped investigate a network break-in at Lockheed Martin in September 2003. A strikingly similar attack hit Sandia several months later, but it wasn't until Carpenter compared notes with a counterpart in Army cyberintelligence that he suspected the scope of the threat. Methodical and voracious, these hackers wanted all the files they could find, and they were getting them by penetrating secure computer networks at the country's most sensitive military bases, defense contractors and aerospace companies.
Carpenter had never seen hackers work so quickly, with such a sense of purpose. They would commandeer a hidden section of a hard drive, zip up as many files as possible and immediately transmit the data to way stations in South Korea, Hong Kong or Taiwan before sending them to mainland China. They always made a silent escape, wiping their electronic fingerprints clean and leaving behind an almost undetectable beacon allowing them to re-enter the machine at will. An entire attack took 10 to 30 minutes. "Most hackers, if they actually get into a government network, get excited and make mistakes," says Carpenter. "Not these guys. They never hit a wrong key."
Goaded by curiosity and a sense that he could help the U.S. defend itself against a new breed of enemy, Carpenter gave chase to the attackers. He hopped just as stealthily from computer to computer across the globe, chasing the spies as they hijacked a web of far-flung computers. Eventually he followed the trail to its apparent end, in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong. He found that the attacks emanated from just three Chinese routers that acted as the first connection point from a local network to the Internet.
It was a stunning breakthrough. In the world of cyberspying, locating the attackers' country of origin is rare. China, in particular, is known for having poorly defended servers that outsiders from around the world commandeer as their unwitting launchpads. Now Chinese computers appeared to be the aggressors.
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From the Sep. 05, 2005 issue of TIME magazine
I found this article fascinating and extremely useful from various points of view, including national security, corporate espionage and military and private intelligence networks. I think Spiderman is another prime example of the very real aspects of the many discussions and proposals we have all had and made (and many of us have advocated) regarding the use of private individuals as vigilantes (of various kinds) employed by government(s) and the military to do jobs no professional would be in a good position to work.
Give me a thousand of these types of vigilantes and we could severely hobble our foreign enemies and cripple domestic crime.
3 I've been following the evacuation of New Orleans closely and much of the storm damage elsewhere, as well as efforts to rescue individuals and at emergency relief. I've also been assisting with relief efforts here and helping get some supplies out through the SBA. I'm thinking the damage to New Orleans may be so extensive that the city which arises from this disaster, assuming it is inhabitable in most respects in the future, will be an almost completely different city than the New Orleans of the past, which can only be a good thing.
Incredible loss of life, most of which was unnecessary had people simply prepared and evacuated prior to the storm's arrival. Always be prepared.
It is also time to hunt down and kill those armed looters and criminals who are interfering with security, supply distribution and rescue efforts. SWAT teams should be sent in to restore order, liquidate the thugs and help the soldiers and cops and rescue workers complete the evacuations.
Another interesting result of all of this has been rising gasoline and petroleum prices. After the storm everyone went out and began to buy huge quantities of gas, attempting to hoard the fuel, which only drained supplies rapidly and drove prices up further and faster. It boggles my mind how little in general people living in this nation and in other "educated" nations seem to understand markets and supply and demand and price structures. Supplies and refining capacity were reduced by the storm and so as a fix large groups of people rush to the gas pumps to fully extinguish supplies instead of operating moderately to allow supplies to be regenerated or transferred from reserves elsewhere. What do they teach in schools nowadays and how could that possibly pass for either basic economics or just plain common sense? The temporary draining of all supplies as an answer to shortage? Lines all across the county yesterday, as if I was watching the seventies again, with the same foolish herd mentality and foreshortened outlook you would expect of children and perennial idiots.
And we don't even have a moron like Carter egging us on this time. Of course I can hardly blame the younger kids and teenagers, they haven't really seen this kind of thing, and you can hardly expect insight or long term planning out of them due to their youth and lack of experience, but to see people my age running around draining supplies bare (meaning it will only take that much longer to replenish those same stocks) would have been funny if not being so absurd and ridiculous. Even my six year old daughter asked me, "Daddy if everyone buys all of the gas up, won't it become more expensive?" And I've only been teaching her economics for about 2 to 3 years. Instead of answering I asked her a question. "Well, K, if everyone buys up all the gas available right now, what will that mean?" After hardly a moment's thought she said, "It will take longer to get more gas and the price will stay higher."
One good result of all of this, since the main problem is not supply but refining capacity, is that maybe now liberals in Congress can be overwhelmed in their reactionary objections to progress and new refineries can be built immediately. 5 to 10 new large scale refining facilities should be built in the next 3 to 5 years to alleviate the immediate problems (as well as increasing domestic sources and stocks) and hopefully major refining capacity will no longer be "clustered" in and around production and extraction facilities, so that refinery capacity can be spread out over larger areas to avoid refining loss during localized disasters. But, we'll see.
Also hopefully this will spur new technological development and inventions research for energy sources providing power to homes and businesses and well as locomotion to transport vehicles. But again, we'll see what the lessons learned actually are and whether the nation as a whole can figure out what actually needs to be done versus what they just feel good about doing.
LOCAL NEWS: It looks like I'll be teaching the RT classes again this year. I don't mind, kind of enjoyed it last year, but teaching is time I could be in the field or doing something else, but I guess that's the price you pay. I've never minded teaching, but it doesn't thrill me either.
JOKES: NSTR
INVESTIGATIONS/CASES: Been patrolling a lot when I've had the opportunity. I've had to put some of the cold cases I've been working on hold due to the move. Once I get settled into the new house and have my new offices it should be much easier to pursue any number of things. But overall the crime rate has been remarkably low and this has also given me the opportunity to work my contacts and informants in preparation for future events and has allowed me to exercise some measure of experimentation. For instance I have been able to undertake, though only sporadically, three near simultaneous anticipation projects and to partially observe and measure the effectiveness of each.
EXPERIMENTS: Little time to conduct any experiments due to time constraints.
a. Somatic/Genetic- K had another outbreak of eczema. It was my fault really, as over time, after using the treatment method and medicine I had originally invented cleared her eczema up nearly completely, I simply stopped manufacturing anymore and discontinued treatment. But she re-flared recently (probably due to hot and humid weather) and so I've created a new batch of medicine but this time I improved the formula through the addition of small amounts of Epsom salts, citric acid, calcinated and chelated zinc, antihistamines, sulfur and albuterol sulfate. It has had even better effects that the original medicine I created.
I've also discovered by experimentation that this medicine is extremely useful as both a topical antiseptic and helps minor cuts, scrapes and scratches to heal faster than normal. I've been testing it on both K and on my own minor wounds. I estimate healing speed to be about 30 to 50% higher with the medicine alone, and I can raise that rate to about 150 to 200 % faster if I use a lotion I have developed along with bandaging. The anti-eczema treatment is delivered in the form of an aerosol, mostly water based spray.
b. Aesic- NSTR
c. Psychaec- NSTR
d. ACUT- Got three anticipation projects running simultaneously, but haven't been able to fully test any of them due to other work demands and the move.
e. Composition/Design- NSTR
f. Scientific- This isn't really an experiment per se but I have been making a number of close order lunar observations through my telescope and have also been sketching my observations and digitally recording some of the images. When I get the money I'm gonna buy a telescope big enough to put in a personal observatory, build a personal observatory, and design and construct a telescope which can digitally focus and record visual images and one which also can receive radio transmissions and convert those signatures into digital images. I'd also like to take up len's grinding and I'm interested in testing some designs I've developed as well as seeing if compounded and composite lenses might have properties exceeding normal optics.
As for real experiments I'm devising some functional outlines for some of the experiments I've been envisioning as described in the OPAE section below under Scientific Works.
MEDIA REVIEWS: Critiqued in value from 1 to 10, 10 being the best.
Film/Video/DVD- King Arthur- I was pleasantly surprised, especially by the ideals of chivalry and communion at arms among the comrades, as well as by the historical speculation. Nice. 8
A Night at the Opera- the Marx brothers and Three Stooges are the funniest men to have ever lived. The brothers at their best. 10
13 rue madeleine- extremely good period piece. 9
The Man who Corrupted Hadleyburg- very good. 8
Bill Monroe - Father of Bluegrass Music- excellent musical history 9
The Pirates of Penzance- always entertaining. 8
The X Files Movie- I think I like this film better now than when I saw it at the theatres. The Vadding aspects (always my favorite part of the show) were superb. 9
Russian Ark- a Russian film, so be warned, it ain't your typical blow me up. Still, I gotta thing for Russian film. 8
History's Ancient Legacies, volumes 3,4,5,6 9
Hitch- this romantic comedy was not very good at first but kept getting progressively better until at the end it was so good it remained me of fifties' era romantic comedies. Will Smith came off as a sort of Cary Grant like figure and I thought he did an excellent job. The chick lead was simultaneously one of the best looking (prettiest) and sexiest women I have ever seen on screen. I recommend this film. 8
The Pacifier- 6 My daughters loved this, I didn't like it so much, but am giving it a 6 because kids like it.
Are We There Yet?- 6 Very funny in some scenes, not so hot in others, but mostly just a heartwarmer/kid film.
Dead Man's Walk- prequel to the Lonesome Dove Western series. Probably the best and most accurate fictional series about the later Western frontier ever written or filmed. As good as Lonesome Dove. Superb 10
A Brilliant Madness- a true life biography of John Nash, with commentary by Nash. Extremely good 9
The Serpent's Egg- Ingmar Bergman. What else do I need to say? Same for Hour of the Wolf. 10
Hour of the Wolf- 9
Jupiter's Wife- this is one of the most bizarre, realistic psychological portraits of an individual I've ever seen (and you know I've seen a few) - especially on film. Watch it if you can. 9
The Jacket- I highly recommend this. As good in many ways to me as the Machinist. Great ending. 9
The Life of Leonardo Da Vinci- very good biography 10
Youth of the Beast- 9
Lagaan: Once Upon a time in India- I don't know if this is a Bollywood production or not, I doubt it, but regardless of who made it I really enjoyed it. 8
Majikat- this is a restored concert and archival film of Cat Stevens in concert in 1976. I found it to be extremely entertaining. I especially liked the versions of You may be Right, Wild World, Moonshadow (including the animation he made), and the Archival footage. The man was an old style minstrel, a medieval bard. Man could he write a song. 9
Mystic River- I really didn't have much hope for this film, especially given the fact that I didn't expect it to hold up well to the book at all. But I was really surprised. I even liked Bacon and Penn in their roles and I don't care much for either actor, nor Penn as a man. 9
Rivers and Tides- beautiful piece of work. Wish I had made it. 10
Television- Justice League Unlimited - this entire new season of JLU has been incredibly good. It only gets darker as it goes along. It, and Battlestar Galactica are the only shows I videotape or have the wife videotape if I'm not around. 10
Battlestar Galactica- this show is so good that it is almost exactly the way I would have made it if I had made it. I've already figured out several of the plot mysteries though. But even knowing that the show has to be the best one of Sci-Fi series ever, tied with the original Star Trek. It even exceeds Space: Above and Beyond in most respects. It is so gritty that you almost forget you're watching Sci-Fi at all, so realistic is it. 10
Stargate Atlantis- I like this show better than the original Stargate. Major Shepherd, or is it Lt. Colonel now, is really a great character. I like the new guy in dreads, and Tayla (not really sure of the spelling) is easy on the eyes. I also like Skinner as commander of the Prometheus. It's good they have a little naval bite in their arsenal. 9
Stargate SG1- I really like the addition of the new female. She's extremely entertaining, and attractive in an odd, hard to describe way. I miss Jack though.
Smallville- I haven't been watching it during rerun season but I'm looking forward to the new season. 8
Over There- this show just keeps getting better and better in my opinion and everytime I think it is going to go south they pull it out of the ringer and end up making it more realistic and good than I had anticipated it would become PC and wussie. I especially like the Sarge (Scream) and Angel and Dim and Smoke. Tariq is growing on me and truth be told he's he best field soldier in the fire team. Good for just about any duty. Dim's wife is a real twisted piece of work though, she needs a good thorough beating to get straightened out. So far I have especially liked the episode about Roadblock duty and the conclusion to the attempted hostage rescue of the reporter. 10 so far.
Music- The Chieftains 3
Elijah and Elias
Beyond Chant: Mysteries of the Renaissance
Gloria in D Major - Vivaldi
Magnificat in D Major - Bach
Brandenburg Concerti - Bach
Pictures at an Exhibition - Mussorgsky
Symphony No. 9 - Dvorak
Greatest Hits of Neil Young
The Civil War soundtrack
Water from the Well - Chieftains
Symphony No. 3- Bruckner
Tchaikovsky and Korngold: Violin concerti for orchestra
The Best of Tom Jones
Glenn Miller Greatest Hits
Britten- The War Requiem, Opus 66
Wagner- Der fliegende Hollander
Looking to the East- compositions based upon Oriental and Middle eastern Music- very interesting and enjoyable, has given me a few ideas for compositions of my own especially the Habiru sections of my opera Lord Storm and Beauty.
The Beatles Anthology, volume 2- I especially liked the versions of the following works appearing on this CD; Norwegian Wood, Eleanor Rigby (strings only), I'm Only Sleeping, Strawberry Fields Forever, Penny Lane, A Day in the Life, Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite, The Fool on the Hill, Lady Madonna, and Hello, Goodbye (one of my favorite Beatle's songs)
Prokofiev, Symphony no. 1
Games- Batman Begins- finally finished this. Excellent first effort in the franchise, but I could see many things worth improving. 8
Spiderman 2- extremely entertaining if not very realistic in many ways. Haven't finished it though, still stuck on the Statue of Liberty and haven't had time to play any games in the past month or so. 9
Books/Audio-
Non Fiction:
Men in Black- excellent send up and exposition on the American judiciary.
The Wormwood File
Desert Father - very good spiritual comparative biography of Saint Anthony
Chronicles Volume One, Autobiography of Bob Dylan- a very different man than the hippies would make out. I've always loved his lyrics and songwriting ability but after reading his biography I have real respect for the man. He's actually anti-hippy, which makes the whole, erroneous personna and myth which the hippies developed around him that much more amusing and ironic. But what do you expect out of hippies?
The True Life of Johann Sebastian Bach- solid biography
World Poetry- some fairly modern poetry from others parts of the world ain't half bad. Far better than he modern crap put out in America and Europe.
America's Secret War
A Pirate of Exquisite Mind; the Life of William Dampier- one of the best biographies I've read in a long time about a truly fascinating man.
The House You Build
Spy Handler- Memoir of a KGB Officer- good, solid Intel and espionage exposition from a personal point of view.
Kepler's Witch - this is a biography of Kepler that was so good I would rank it right up there with Galileo's Daughter. Every bit as fascinating and brilliant and devout a man as was Galileo, and Newton, and Bacon. A scientist's scientist in the same way Michelangelo was an artist's artist. He was also a type of Renaissance genius like Da Vinci.
Miles Gone By- literary biography of William F. Buckley Jr.
The Watchman - biography of serial cracker Kevin Poulsen. Very interesting.
How to Write Horror Fiction
How to Write Action Adventure Novels
The Magazine Article
How to Write and Sell True Crime
Writing: Craft and Art
The Sell Your Novel Toolkit
Writer Tells All- extremely useful
Oxford Dictionary of Nicknames- very interesting.
Game Art: The Graphic Art of Computer Games
Writing and Illustrating the Graphic Novel
Music Theory
100 Greatest Poems of All Time- a very good selection of what poetry should be.
Writer's Market Companion
The Invisible Web- one of the most interesting and especially useful books on the history and development of the internet and web I've ever read.
Ghost Soldiers- the book the Great Rescue is based upon. One of the best military biographies and expositions I've ever read. Highly recommended. A brilliant glimpse at war, Special Forces, and imprisonment as a POW in Asia.
Brunelleschi's Dome- about the Renaissance genius who built the dome of Santa Maria del Fiore. An engineering and personal biography I couldn't put down.
On Writing
The Confident Hope of a Miracle- a biography of the Spanish Armada. Extremely good biography of an historical event and fleet.
God on the Quad
Cracking More Cases- by Dr. Henry Lee
Lyrics- Bob Dylan
The 28 Biggest Writing Blunders
The Medieval Reader- extremely good.
On Becoming a Novelist - probably the best book I've ever read on writing
100 things Every Writer Needs to Know
Where Shall Wisdom Be Found - excellent literary critiques by Harold Bloom
Under and Alone - a terrifically good read about an undercover ATF/SRT agent, Billy Queen, infiltrating the Mongols.
Inside the Minds of Mass Murderers - a good book by the forensic psychologist Katherine Ramsland. I don't always agree with her but Ramsland is a pretty good writer and has some fascinating theories.
The Twenty Six Dramatic Situations
Compass- an excellent study of early and later naval exploration focusing upon the compass as the chief instrument of naval exploration and navigation. I loved it, it was a treasure trove of nautical trivia and data.
Fiction:
Brimstone
The Mauritius Command
Artemis Fowl- I've enjoyed the Fowl books to an enormous degree, especially considering they are fiction. I'm trying to read the whole series and often listen to the books with the girls. Butler is by far my favorite character, Fowl is more his foil than the other way round.
Artemis Fowl: the Arctic Incident
Artemis Fowl: the Eternity Code
Dead Man's Walk
Mr. Norrell and Jonathan Strange- an extremely interesting take on fantasy. I wish more fantasy writers, or writer's period, could be this original. It is a talker of a book though, you can tell a woman wrote it.
BOLO- the new book by David Weber, not the original. As good as the original series of stories however.
The Big Sleep - need I say more? 10
Farewell My lovely - 8
Graphic Novels:
Superman: Red Son - probably the single best graphic novel I have ever read on Superman
Superman: President Lex - very good Superman graphic novel
Superman: Return to Krypton - a very mediocre Superman GN
Catwoman: Crooked Little Town - I've never been a real fan of Catwoman but this was alright.
Gotham Central: in the Line of Duty - a very good GN about the GCPD and the detectives on that force. Very accurate portrayal of Dicks in some cases, very inaccurate in others. My Criticism though is that it placed far too much emphasis on Batman. Batman should have played either a support role or no role at all in any of the encounters except for the case against Freeze when Freeze murders a GCPD Dick. The homicide cases weren't badly written at all, and I liked the Firebug juvenile homicide case especially well. It read almost like a real case and was well handled by the Detectives.
Batman: Tales of the Demon
Superman: Secret Identity - One of the best Superman graphic novels I may have ever read. Rivals Red Son. Very original.
Batman: Detective No. 27
Batman: Black and White Vol. 2
Batman: Hush, volume 1
Spiderman: Sins Past
Spiderman: The Book of Ezekiel
Spider Man: Doctor Octopus - Year One
Theory Papers/Essays/Analyses/Articles/Lectures/Sermons- I saw a lecture from the Center of Japanese and Far Eastern Studies on Godzilla. I thought the lecturer did a fairly good job but that my own theories on Godzilla are far better. I won't bore you with them though, I know you guys and dolls get sick of me talking about the Japs and Godzilla and Superman.
The Global Rise of Religious Violence - Mark Juergensmeyer, extremely good lecture without a lot of political hand wringing and pansification.
Faith and Organization - a sermon given by my own pastor. Very interesting juxtaposition between the ideas of faith and organization and organizational ability. I'd never really considered the issue of organizational ability in the context of how faith shapes organizational structure and planning for future events. It has led me to begin formulating the outlines for a series of metaphysical sermons of my own. I haven't written a sermon since I was studying for the priesthood. I'm kinda excited about what I'm developing so far.
Sniper Training: Iragi Insurgent Tactics
PSIC Handbook
I haven't had any time lately to keep up with my trade magazine or special articles so I haven't read any of those.
OPAE:
Fiction- have written scenes for the following works: Doppleganger, The Basilegate, Terra G., Curae, Tiamat, The Vadder (working title, or possibly I'll call it Green and Black), The Composite Angel, Three Lands and Cache of Saint Andrew. I've also written or finished a couple of short stories and have begun to outline a couple of new plots.
Non Fiction- I have been working a little on my autobiography and memoirs, and have begun work on the essays, The Duties and Education of the Renaissance Man and Woman, The Renaissance Soldier, The New Vigilante, The Political Nature of the Republic, The Education of the American Citizen and the sister essay, The Public as Individual, as well as Chimerical Aspirations (creating new hybrid genetic structures and species and what this will mean for Man) I'm also sketching out a true crime book on the murder of Charlie Russel. I'm thinking of calling it a Crime of Dissonance. And also thinking about writing a true crime short story or small novella on the murder of DF. I'm thinking I might present or develop a new kind (or genre) of book detailing as yet unsolved Cold Cases, with each book presenting factual presentations of let's say 6 to 10 unsolved Cold Cases with my conclusions on likely perps or suspects for each case at the end of each book.
Theory Papers/Essays/Analyses/Articles/Sermons- Outlining a new series of sermons on metaphysical matters which I'm thinking about creating using some of my theory papers on spiritual matters.
Scientific Works- working on some of my gravity proofs but recent studies in geometry have led me to the conclusion that I might be able to develop some theorems combining geometrically restructuring matrixes spread over the curvature of a gravitational field projected as interacting mass/force waves produced from each object. (The idea that light moves as both waves and particles gave me the idea that in certain circumstances gravity might act as both the commonly accepted space time curvature surrounding a massive body and yet at other times might act as an accelerating mass-wave projection field.) The basic idea is that as two objects of sufficient mass to produce their own attractive gravitational fields approach one another the overlapping fields produce shifting mass signatures in both bodies which increase in a directly proportional manner related to proximity calculated as area and velocity. That the overlapping fields produce small but measurable mass disruptions in both bodies greatest at the points of common interface and that if these bodies could also be spun in similar or opposite directions while at the same time the separate body electromagnetic polarities could be simultaneously or separately shifted rapidly enough that a certain effect could be achieved. (I'm not saying what I believe that effect[s] to be at this point.)
I'm also trying to calculate and imagine what effect subatomic spin might have in relation to electromagnetic polarity in a mass shifting dynamically increasing gravitational field and if it might not be possible to use such a field to produce high energy shifting polarity electromagnetic particles (which are also shifting spin states) for energy production and communication signals.
One assumption is that a steady stream of polarity shifting particles might be fed outwards but the subatomic spin shifts could be read in communications beams as an underlying on-off code, the duration of a steady spin or the frequency or speed of shift serving as an encryption burst.
I've also got some ideas on energy production but I'll have to work those later.
It would be nice to get access to a high energy particle slab but I guess I could always suggest an experiment or set of experiments to some friends of mine and let them play with the ideas and results. I've ideas for a number of physics experiments like this but since I have no access to particle and collision labs I was thinking about running these experiments by people I know at JPL (who worked on the NASA Scramjet project) to see if they can suggest university or private labs that might be interested in conducting research and experimentation on gravity, electromagnetic fields and spintronics.
Poetry/Lyrics/Songs- I've written maybe two or three poems lately. No real time.
Musical Compositions- No time to work on any of my musical compositions other than a bit of editing on older works and compositions.
Artwork/Architecture/Design- I've made some modifications to the church I designed after reading Brunelleschi's Dome and reviewing my own theory paper on the Ship of the Soul.
Game/TSS Designs- Proceeding on the Terra Ghantik project. Slowly though.
Video/Computer/TSS Game Designs- working scenes for the Vadder as well as outlining a plot for a game about being an undercover detective.
Inventions- a few software/program designs as well as putting together a presentation for a company.
SHARED FILES: I'd like to mention a few quality software products I've recently installed and/or downloaded.
Google Earth - extremely useful
Navaho Lock with Voice
Move on Boot - recommended to me because of XP's tendency to randomly lock files
Dound's Steganographer - updated from my original program
B's Recorder Gold 5
System Mechanic - after an initial adjustment period I'm actually coming to like this product better than Nortons. It works very well, the problem is a very complicated GUI.
WEBSITES/SOFTWARE:
http://www.vfinance.com/
http://developer.intel.com/technology/easeofuse/index.htm
http://www.hg.org/
http://www.rotteneggs.com/re_index.php3
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/
GRAPHIX: See attached file - images from my digital camera converted to GIF files. - excised
DANTE'S 9TH LEVEL OF HELL
Deus Ordere et Facere Nos Verite
No. 71
This won't be everyone's cup of tea. So if it ain't then avoid and ignore. If you like it you do, if not you don't.
If it goes over well I may put up other editions later. If not, C'est la Vie.
Otherwise this is a redacted version of a Newsletter that goes out to all of my friends, business associates, partners, etc. I used to pump it out once a month or so but with current workloads it has been 3 or more months since my last edition. It covers most of what I do and encounter, my experiments, contacts, case files, international affairs, work, etc... within a given time period. It looks like I've read a lot or maybe accomplished a lot lately but this edition covers a three month or more lapse.
If I can get my musical composition files attached then they will be attached, if not, I won't.
NSTR is the acronym for Nothing Significant to Report. No current action taken.
Here is 71.
"Lay on, Macduff,
And damn'd be him that first cries 'Hold enough!'"
"Knowledge comes, but Wisdom lingers."
"What man is so wise that he cannot abide the company of the Dead?"
INTRO: Change of Education, Development Completions, Sports, Camps, Summer, etc, Finding of the Scroll, Preparing to Move and Landscaping, New screens and Eye Exercises, new SUV, New PS2, Theatre Design Idea
ADMIN: Word 2000, Dragon Naturally Speaking 7, New Flatscreen Monitors
RESPONSES: None
BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS: I've entered into a sort of loose Idea Exchange/Business partnership with... (which is the way I prefer to do business, rather than trying to work every angle myself). He seems bright, capable and possessed of good ideas. I hope that in the near future once he completes some of his projects that we can work more closely together on various projects which so far seems to include ideas on games, software designs, video and computer games, inventions and so forth.
I'm also talking with ... about his new project and a possible start up venture in which I would take a passive investment role but also possibly help secure more investors, and reinvest in his project in the future. We've already exchanged documents and had a call on the matter. It sounds interesting though I'm still waiting on a full schematic and design release.
Continuing to reduce our personal and family debt and I have set aside a couple of grand for help with the move.
Thinking about investing again in real estate, possibly in some REITs I've been studying. But I'm mostly considering mortgage (paper) buys right now and, possibly also land with a side attachment.
FAMILY AFFAIRS: Things seem to be moving quite well on the efforts to secure the new house. Appreciate all the prayers, advice and assistance from everyone. We may even be able to get a good deal through the Farm Bureau since it is a rural estate. Keep praying. If there is anything you would like our prayers or help on, just ask.
The wife got a new SUV, a huge mother called a Sequoia, though I call it my Canyonero. She came home one day and said, "Can I get a new SUV, I'm tired of the old one." I told her sure, you handle it because I'm tired of handling vehicle purchases. She got a sweet vehicle and believe it or not even though it is newer than her old SUV and far, far larger, it is less in payments and the insurance is cheaper. She can really put together a good deal when she tries. The thing is so big and you sit so high up though that I actually have trouble at ATM machines, having to reach way down to get my money. Toyota is a great vehicle though, really good Jap make. It's also funny to me to be driving down the road and looking down on all the other SUV drivers because I sit so high up. Now I get to be one of those ass drivers in the monster SUVs who I used to complain so much about. Which makes me laugh to myself everytime I think about it. But I think we're gonna keep this baby awhile. I'm even thinking of installing special compartments in it like the modifications I made in my car so I can carry extra equipment.
My old PS2 kept going on the fritz, and even after taking it apart, cleaning the boards, checking all of the circuits and changing the batteries it would still on occasion act up. So I bought one of those new slimline PS2s and baby, that thing rocks. Plays far better than the original. And incredibly small and compact. I've made some modifications to the old one but haven't had the time to test them yet. If the modifications work I'll dump the old PS1 and give the old PS2 to the girls for their entertainment center.
The girls have already started their summer activities. 4H Camps, Soccer camps, classes at the Science Center (my oldest is taking rocketry, biology, robotics and AI, my youngest chemistry and natural science- since I have friends at the observatory they also get special trips to the observatory- I love that telescope myself), Vacation Bible School, Acting Classes, a Gymnastics camp, cheerleading camp, some Girl scout stuff and whatnot. They really love what they get to do in the summer. They are also looking forward to the move.
Got a couple of letters from Juan, our foster son in South America. Seems the presents we sent him and his family for Easter and his birthday got him a lot of neat new stuff, including a real bed with mattress. This is his first ever bed. His health has improved dramatically as well as the artwork he does for us. I understand from the mission workers that he's now competing at soccer and is big enough and healthy enough to play well. It's good to see our charity money used to make a kid strong and healthy and capable and competitive. One day I'm gonna have to bring him to the States for a summer. the girls would love that. He's gonna grow into a fine young man if he keeps this up.
PERSONAL AFFAIRS: Attended Lecture by Thom Barnett, author of The Pentagon's New Map. Perhaps the best Naval Analyst I have ever read and seen speak. He has an absolutely fascinating theory on how to connect Military power and Economic market forces to recreate the global socio-political-military zones. I highly recommend his book and watching him speak if you get the chance.
I also purchased large, new flatscreen monitors for both computers in my home network. Extremely good purchases. I can work for hours and hours without any eyestrain at all. I have also noticed that I can go straight from these screens to my sensory exercises without any strain at all. With all the new tech upgrades I've made lately I've also become hugely more efficient.
I've taken to hitting the baseball again, but I'm out of stride so I'm still working back up to my old records. I injured myself throwing the discus as well, but I'm still throwing anyway, just gingerly. And I'm back up to hiking 2 to 3 miles a day in full pack. So I'm getting into good shape again after injury and laziness. I've taken up Tai Chi again too and practice when I can. Boxing will probably have to wait until the summer.
I'm also trying to reestablish some of my old international contacts, people I haven't heard from in years. Especially some old buddies at the University of Saint Petersburg and some old Russian contacts.
LOCAL AND STATE AFFAIRS: I actually had a dream about this happening two nights before it did, but in my dream it was my kids and I was the one who was drown trying to save them. In my dream both my daughters were saved.
Upstate Pastor Drowns Trying To Rescue Kids
Father Of Four Had Been Pastor For Four Months
POSTED: 11:23 pm EDT May 26, 2005
UPDATED: 6:00 am EDT May 27, 2005
WARE SHOALS, S.C. -- An Upstate pastor died Thursday while trying to rescue two of his children from the Saluda River in Ware Shoals, authorities said.
Tim Bailey, a father of four, was sitting along the river in a Ware Shoals park watching his son and daughter slide down a rock into the water when just before 1:30 p.m., they needed help.
"He went into get them and had both kids under his arm," said Police Chief Mickey Boland. "He was struggling to keep himself and two kids above water and water was up over his head. It's about an 8-foot-deep hole there."
Another man at the park helped Bailey's son and daughter out of the water. Boland and others searched for Bailey. "Approximately about 5 to 10 feet area from where he went under, we found him," said Boland. "It did make it tougher when I found out it was my pastor." Bailey, 34, had been a pastor at Calvary Baptist Church for the past four months. "He was a fine young man who was fitting into the community well," said church member Buddy Wiles. "Loved people and was very friendly. He will be missed, but the church will go on, because we believe that is what he would want us to do." Tim Bailey is not the first person to drown at the park. Four years ago, a 17-year-old boy walking on the rocks slipped into the water and drowned.
Funeral services have not yet been set.
NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS:
http://www.dawn.com/2005/05/23/int10.htm
http://www.wired.com/news/medtech/0,1286,67599,00.html
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=8575548&src=rss/topNews
http://www.the-scientist.com/news/20050520/01
http://www.the-scientist.com/news/20050517/01
http://www.isis-innovation.com/licensing/2386.html
http://www.isis-innovation.com/licensing/12.html
http://www.isis-innovation.com/licensing/1330.html
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=8578521&src=rss/worldNews
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=8577173&src=rss/worldNews
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=domesticNews&storyID=8620588&src=rss/domesticNews
http://www.rfcomm.harris.com/news/view_pressrelease.asp?act=lookup&pr_id=1590
Glad they kept this "Silent"
CIA war game simulates major Internet attack
Thu May 26, 2005 03:21 PM ET
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By David Morgan
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The CIA is conducting a cyber-war game this week geared to simulate a major Internet attack by enemy computer hackers, an intelligence official said Thursday.
Dubbed "Silent Horizon," the three-day unclassified exercise is based on a scenario set five years in the future and involves participants from government and the private sector.
"These are people who could likely be affected or enlisted in a real situation," the intelligence official said.
"Its goal is to help the United States recognize indicators of a large-scale cyber attack." The exercise was being conducted in Charlottesville, Virginia, by members of the CIA's Information Operations Center, which evaluates foreign threats to U.S. computer systems, particularly those that support critical infrastructures. It was expected to conclude Thursday.
The federal government has conducted various attack simulations since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington, which killed about 3,000 people and prompted the U.S. war on terrorism.
Top U.S. intelligence officials say it may be only a matter of time before the United States is attacked again by terrorist groups including Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda. Cyber attacks, which have drawn less publicity than possible chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear attacks, are viewed by U.S. officials as a potential al Qaeda weapon against the U.S. economy. Online crime has exploded in recent years, a result of organized crime groups based in Eastern Europe. But investigators so far have uncovered few links to Islamic extremists. "We have not uncovered any significant links to terrorism," said Brian Nagel, assistant director of investigations for the U.S. Secret Service, in an interview with Reuters last week. But there are some signs that Islamic extremists are getting into the act. An Indonesian man named Imam Samudra, who was found guilty of the 2002 Bali nightclub blasts, included a chapter entitled "Hacking: Why Not?" in his autobiography. While hackers have uncovered holes in power plants and other infrastructure, experts say terrorists are likely to favor conventional attacks as long as they are possible. "When it's really too hard to bring kinetic weapons in ... the bad guys will turn to cyber attacks," said Allan Paller, chief executive of the SANS Institute, a nonprofit security-training organization. JOKES: Joe was moderately successful in his career, but as he got older he was increasingly hampered by incredible headaches. When his personal hygiene and love life started to suffer, he sought medical help. After being referred from one specialist to another, he finally came across a doctor who solved the problem. "The good news is I can cure your headaches... The bad news is that it will require castration. You have a very rare condition which causes your testicles to press up against the base of your spine. The pressure creates one hell of a headache. The only way to relieve the pressure is to remove the testicles." Joe was shocked and depressed. He wondered if he has anything to live for. He couldn't concentrate long enough to answer, but decided he had no choice but to go under the knife. When he left the hospital, his mind was clear, but he felt like he was missing an important part of himself. As he walked down the street, he realized that he felt like a different person. He could make a new beginning and live a new life. He walked past a men's clothing store and thought, "That's what I need: a new suit." He entered the shop and told the salesman, "I'd like a new suit." The salesman eyed him briefly and said, "Let's see... size 44 long." Joe laughed, "That's right, how did you know?" "It's my job." Joe tried on the suit. It fit perfectly. As Joe admired himself in the mirror, the salesman asked, "How about a new shirt?" Joe thought for a moment and then said, "Sure..." The salesman eyed Joe and said, "Let's see... 34 sleeve and... 16 and a half neck" Joe was surprised, "That's right, how did you know?" "It's my job." Joe tried on the shirt, and it fit perfectly. As Joe adjusted the collar in the mirror, the salesman asked, "How about new shoes?" Joe was on a roll and said, "Sure..." The salesman eyed Joe's feet and said, "Let's see... 9-1/2... E." Joe was astonished, "That's right, how did you know?" "It's my job." Joe tried on the shoes and they fit perfectly. Joe walked comfortably around the shop and the salesman asked, "How about a new hat?" Without hesitating, Joe said, "Sure..." The salesman eyed Joe's head and said, "Let's see... 7-5/8." Joe was incredulous, "That's right, how did you know?" "It's my job." The hat fit perfectly. Joe was feeling great, when the salesman asked, "How about some new underwear?" Joe thought for a second and said, "Sure..." The salesman stepped back, eyed Joe's waist and said, "Let's see... size 36." Joe laughed, "No, I've worn size 34 since I was 18 years old." The salesman shook his head, "You can't wear a size 34. It would press your testicles up against the base of your spine and give you one hell of a headache."
INVESTIGATIONS: Interesting Coinkydink, though this case has taken some strange and fascinating turns so far, including the links it has dredged up regarding previous cases.
Most every other case in the area the locals or Feds have closed down quickly so I've returned to working some Cold Case files as well as assisting some people with their stuff.
I'm working some old murders and still following the homicides outside my jurisdiction (I use that term loosely and in a self-imposed fashion of course) to see what if anything will be turned
on those multiple homicides. Especially as regards the motorcycle murders. Like many of you guys I still think about the possible links to that multiple homicide at the bank, but nothing has shaken loose yet.
EXPERIMENTS:
a. Somatic/Genetic- I've returned to my personal experiments on solar radiation as a possible food source to bypass chemical absorption. Because humans are not genetically constructed like Lizards and because I cannot genetically modify myself by the introduction of alien (external) genetic material it has occurred to me that the best way to proceed might be to find some way to measure solar radiation doses in conjunction with how that radiation might assist with the more efficient digestion of and chemical consumption of chemical food. Since I cannot at this stage produce a human being with the ability to directly absorb solar radiation for energy like a lizard does and because solar radiation causes cellular degeneration of human skin tissue it occurs to me that perhaps I can develop within myself a sort of hybrid reaction which still burns chemical food but uses solar radiation to assist with breakdown and efficiency in chemical food reactions. Either to cause more complete digestion and absorption or to lessen my requirements for chemical food sources so that my intake can be reduced, thus increasing my endurance to starvation. A Hybrid reaction seems quite feasible but only real experimentation will prove the matter. Summer is a good time to proceed.
I've also returned to my metaergogenic experiments with the intention of once again reducing my need for sleep and to increasing my speed of recovery from training injuries.
Also I guess I should mention my experimentations on my dogs to increase their intelligence and augment their capabilities. J. can tell you how successful they have been in the sense of security training and possible overall intelligence increases, as he has seen them in action. I'm also trying to teach them to read by association based upon a modification of experiments conducted by an English Lord who taught his dogs to read word placards.
b. Aesic- NSTR
c. Psychaec- NSTR
d. ACUT- I've undertaken some non-localized tracking experiments, based on prior experiments of mine. This time I will be narrowing my focus and trying to enhance my anticipatory abilities.
e. Composition/Design- various experiments underway mainly in regards to musical composition and to relating human alphabetic, script, and speech patterns to musical notation and composition. I'm starting to develop protocols for foreign languages now as well, not just for English only
And I've had sort of a breakthrough on pattern arrangement for my encryption machine and the Trans-Phonocyphatypic alphabet. That stuff that has been sent to me regarding quantum encrypting has been very useful research. Thanks for the stuff you sent me.
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While attending Revenge of the Sith with my nephew I had an idea for a new type of theatre. See Inventions.
I've also found a way to transcribe all of my Old Notebooks onto files by projection. Working on the crossover now.
Working on the New Media Project and the New Module Project. I'll discuss those separately and later.
MEDIA REVIEWS: Critiqued in value from 1 to 10, 10 being the best.
Film/Video/DVD-
I, robot - not bad for a Hollywood effort but a complete screw up of Asimov's very good work. As a film a 6, as an adaptation, 2.
AI - the best sci-fi movie Spielberg has yet to make. 9
Hornblower: Retribution, Duty, Loyalty - one of the best works in the whole Hornblower series. 10
Capturing the Friedmans - an excellent case study for a film 9.
Brother's Keeper - also an excellent case study/documentary. 9
Top Dog CD - as you know I've been training my mastiffs. This was an extremely helpful training CD.
Saw- This could have been a good film and it had it's interesting dramatic moments and a very clever conclusion. It juts never quite got there intact. 6
The Village - extremely good, psychologically creepy and far, far, far more frightening than Sixth Sense which put me to sleep and bored me with it's depictions of the dead. The dead in Sixth Sense made me yawn in apathy. I give the Village a 9.
The Bourne Supremacy - better in many ways I thought than the original. The fight sequences were excellent for a Hollywood version of hand to hand combat. The economy of motion was good, you could feel the fluidity and actually sense some of the personal danger of close combat. One fight in particular reminded me of our old sword fights. It was still far too Hollywood for a real depiction of espionage but his preparations as an agent were good, though to be honest he often walked into situations he could have easily avoided with a little forethought and better intelligence up front. At times he seemed a brilliant agent, at times clumsy and amateurish. 7Napoleon Dynamite - I cannot recommend this film enough. In some ways it was like reliving my childhood. I mentioned it to the guys I grew up with and they all agreed. We never had a Pedro, but I wish we had. The funniest film I've seen in years and years. Now one of my favorite comedies. I laughed at some scenes till I nearly puked. 10The Last Samurai - excellent historical piece. Recommend it. 7The Core - God almighty this stank. I blew ten minutes of my life on this load, all I could stomach. Forget it. It's too stupid even for teenagers. 2
Blade Trinity - It's is difficult to assign a numerical rating that will accurately reflect the deproverty (combination of depravity and poverty) of this film, or whatever it is. Negative numbers don't quite reflect the vacuum of this thing because they still evoke negative values. This thing is without value. So I'm giving it a complete Cipher, 0.
Alone in the Dark - This could have been an excellent film given the premise and because I am a very big fan of the video game for PS1 I had high expectations. They were completely crushed. This movie had nothing about it which even remotely resembled the mystery, horror, atmosphere and tension of the video game. It's one redeeming factor was that it was not Blade Trinity. -3
The Incredibles - excellent crossover child/adult/family movie. Loaded with allusions to comics which most adults and many kids will understand. I like films written on multiple levels, the comedy is usually very sophisticated and usually very good. 8
The Grudge - interesting, but like most American remakes of Japanese horror films it is of lesser quality than the original. The Ring is the only American remake I've seen which competes nicely with the original, and I have both the Ring and Ringu in my personal film libraries. A couple of really good fright scenes though. 8
Godsend - bad. very bad. couldn't watch it all. 4
Collateral - stank. ditto. 3
Suspect Zero - whereas this film is possessed of an interesting premise (I too have conducted such experiments and still do) it is mucked up in typical Hollywood fashion. The film does have an interesting sequence on a Remote Viewing experiment which is far more presentable than anything in the film and far more dramatic than anything in the film. If the film had followed the lines of the actual experiment it could have been good, done almost in a documentary fashion. 6
Septem8er Tapes - this has one of the most realistic small arms and small group combat sequences I've ever seen in a fictional film. It is documentary quality and the whole production is documentary quality. 9
The Lion in Winter - with Patrick Stewart. I liked this version as well as the original and I can't even stand Glenn Close. She was a real hag. Stewart did a Shakespearean job. Brilliant 9
Revenge of the Sith - excellent film. As good as the Empire. Tied for best of the series in my opinion. 10 While in the theatre we also saw a preview for the film, the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. It looks form what I saw to be a fantastic work and I can hardly wait to take my kids to see it this Christmas. A fine time to debut such a film, Easter would have been good as well. I'm beginning to take hope in filmmaking again; what with the Star Wars, LOTR, Batman, Spiderman, Master and Commander films and so forth. We may be in the early stages of a new Renaissance in film, even in kid's films like the Incredibles and Narnia. About time.
The Train (Burt Lancaster) - extremely good. 9
Ironclads - Monitor versus the Merrimack. First real engagement of semi submersible boats. Excellent film about the early development of submarine warfare and a good Naval warfare picture. 8
Master and Commander - along with Damn the Defiant (which makes me long for the sea and the sails) this has become my favorite among Naval Combat films. 10
Return of the King: the extended director's cut - the extended scene in the Houses of the Dead made the whole thing worth viewing just by itself. He should have left that whole sequence in the theatrical version. 10
The Nest- about a small combination police/military force who are ambushed by an ICC (organized criminal cartel) in an armored vehicle while transporting an Eastern European terrorist and serial rapist in Albania. After fleeing to a warehouse the escort force discovers that the warehouse was being robbed of computer stores by a gang of armed robbers. The robbers and the escort force must work cooperatively to avoid being overrun and slaughter by the Cartel intent on rescuing their former boss/general. Not bad. 7
Infection- This is another Japanese horror film, and since the Japs are making the best horror films in the world right now, I always try to study their films. This is purely ingenious and it is so horrific at times that even I can't watch it without turning sideways, and as you guys know I've seen some horrific stuff. I don't want to say anything about it except for this, it is so horrific and bleak that in many ways it reminds me of the hospital scenes in the original Silent Hill Game. Incredible and I highly recommend it. 10
Primer- another ingenious film that I don't want to describe except to say that it has to do with time experiments and that it has an incredibly good plot. 10
Lemony Snicketts: A Series of Very Unfortunate Events- the girls made me watch this movie with them and after it was over I was glad they did. It was a terrific film, as good for adults as for kids. Carey was brilliant, and the cut scenes were even funnier than the stuff in the film. The man is ingeniously funny. 9
Television- As you guys and dolls know I don't watch a lot of television, aside from lectures and the news, no time for it. But what I have seen worth mentioning is this:
Stargate Atlantis - Season Finale: an excellent piece of work. Finely done. The entire show is extremely well done.
Smallville - Season Finale: an incredibly good finale. After that I got to see a ten minute preview of the upcoming Batman film. I know now and am confident that somebody who can make a film finally understands enough to make a real film about the Batman. I am in anticipation. I want to see utter darkness, grit, terror, isolation, a great deal of Vadding, good tool making and tool using skills, manhunting and real detective work. Everything all the other films completely lacked. Plus I've seen Christian Bale at work recently. He's dark enough and crazy enough to make it work. He's possessed. Only the insane and possessed could ever be the Batman, as you already know. So I know this will work as a film. It has certainly taken long enough to get to this point.
Battlestar Galactica- season finale: an excellent final episode for the season. This is without a doubt the single best Science Fiction show for television since the original Star Trek. It's deep, deep frontier.
Music- The Mikado 8
Genesis, the Way we Walk, Live in Concert 7
Vivladi, 12 Sonatas for Violin and Continuo 9
Thelonius Monk at Lincoln Center 8 - Misterioso was especially good track
Mussorgsky, orch by Ravel: Pictures at an Exhibition- one of my favorite works by Mussorgsky, especially the Great Gates of Kiev 9
Games- NSTR
Video Games-
Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater - completed it finally. I'd say it was as good if not better than previous Metal Gear Games. The camo selection was excellent even if a bit unrealistic at times. The ability to use adaptive camouflage, even in a primitive form was great fun. The equipment and weapon selections were fantastic though Snake was able to carry far too much gear for any sense of realism, especially for a stealth operative. Snake is an extremely good and interesting character. Fascinating even. 10
Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow- I'm nearly finished. I'm at the last mission, I think. Because of my work load I only get to play video games about once every month and then only for about an hour or so. I have a huge backlog of both console and computer games I wonder if I'll ever even get to play, much less finish. This game had some really good infiltration missions, the Submarine and the Submarine complex were extremely good. I was actually nervous making my first move into the sub, it was such a restricted environment with so little room to maneuver or hide. Stealth was difficult. Overall the game is more realistic as an infiltration simulation than Metal Gear but far less fun to play because Fisher has such narrow mission and operational parameters, and he lacks the tactical and mission felicity of Snake. I hear though that in Chaos Theory Fisher is allowed to cut loose and the player can determine how he infiltrates, fights and plays. I will like that much better. 8
Books/Audio Books/DVD Books- .
On Intelligence
The Last Knight - I highly recommend this book. A true display of real Knighthood and what real Knights were like.
The Private Prayers of Pope John Paul II- the former Pope had developed some really, really interesting prayers especially as concerns human and personal suffering. Gave real insight.
Memory and Identity- also by John Paul. Not a theological work but a sort of theo-political thesis. Very interesting. Had some fascinating chapters like; Mysterium Iniquitatis, Ideologies of Evil, Towards a Just Use of Freedom, the Mystery of Mercy, Patria, and the Relationship between Church and State. Stuff we've all discussed before at length. He also had a fascinating chapter on the Evangelization of Eastern and Central Europe which was especially interesting to me. One of the best of all of John Paul's books.
History of the Church by Eusebius - excellent ancient source eon the history of the church. Wish I had read this years ago.
Why I am a Muslim - by a female Sufi. Personally I think Sufism is the great, overlooked possible internal salvation of Islam. Although I have been pleasantly impressed with Shia in Iraq lately, as opposed to the Shia of Iran (or I should say the Shia leaders of Iran, who are a very real danger rot the whole world). Sufism has the potential to liberalize and reform Islam if Wahhabism can be crushed.
Prayer of Jabez - one of the most excellent small studies I've ever undertaken.
Winning the Future by Newt Gingrich - as usual Gingrich's genius is as readily apparent as in the classes I watched him teach. The best first person, direct book on politics I have read in ten years or more
Byzantium The imperial Centuries By Ron Molly JenkinsThe Churches of Eastern Christianity By Rev. B. J. Key Ed.
Swear to God,The Power and Bright Promise of the Sacraments By Scott Hahn - an excellent if somewhat unusual exposition and spiritual analysis of the SacramentsByzantium By Tamara RiceEusebius the Church History Translated By Paul Maier - a different translation of and annotated analysis of EusebiusRaising Rover By Judith Halliburton - an excellent resource for basic dog trainingBeating Back the Devil By Maryn McKenna - an excellent little book on bioterrorism and on communicable pathogenic disease organisms, especially the more newly created modern infections
The Byzantine Commonwealth Eastern Europe 500 To 1453 - probably the best general history of the Byzantine Empire I have read in my researches.Samurai By StephenTurnbullThe City of Constantinople - the best book on the city proper and her history I have readA Concise History of Byzantium - the best concise or small history I have read on Byzantium.Byzantium the Empire of New RomeThe Early Creation of the Byzantine WorldThe Compleat Gentleman - an exposition of the Art and Virtues of being a Gentleman. This is one of the better books I've read in a decade and the author is brilliant. I very, very highly recommend this book. Ties together all aspects of the Gentleman, Chivalry, Knighthood and Manhood; military, physical, political, social, personal and spiritual. Extremely well done and a very spiritual book for men. Anatomy Lessons from the Great Masters - a good primer on anatomy representation in high art and how to imitate from the works of the masters themselves.
The Miracle Detective - extremely interesting book from an extremely interesting journalist
Illustrated Guide to Edible Plants - Department of the Army - very useful survival manual.
The Right Nation - one of the better third party books on politics I have read in a long time. Very provocative. Couldn't agree with everything but the analysis was incredibly well done.
This Man's Army
Crime School: Money Laundering by Chris Mathers (undercover officer) foreward by Norman Inkster, Former Commission of the RCMP and former President of Interpol. Good primer on basic tracking of fund laundering. Also had some interesting insights on undercover work.
Inside the Asylum : Why the UN and Old Europe are worse than you think - read this book.
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The Pentagon's new map : war and peace in the twenty-first century - truly excellent analysis. Best Naval Intel analyst I have ever read. I give this book a 10.
London 1849 : a Victorian murder story
Jewish spirituality : a brief introduction for Christians
The Encyclopedia of Survival Techniques- extremely interesting and useful. I actually learned a few new things. I may add this to my personal library.
The Tipping Point: How Little things Can Make a Big difference - read this book
The Barbarian Conversion: From Paganism to Christianity- very well done, a bit pedantic, but extremely useful.
The Second Creation- a work on cloning and biological control
The Second Tree: Stem Cells, Clones, Chimeras and the Quest for Immortality
Hunting the Jackal- especially good book
America's Secret War- good book
Warrior Soul- not a bad first hand account form a Navy SEAL. Well written I thought.
Shadow Warriors: Inside the Special Forces
Blowing My Cover- an entertaining and interesting look at the Company from a former female agent. Realistically exposes a lot of the crap of Company life.
Death's Acre- another good book on the Body Farm and forensic study of somatic degeneration
Lab 257- I may have already mentioned this book, but if I haven't then read it. It's on Plum Island. Excellent bit of Research. 9
Germs- another book on pathogens and biological warfare
The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham - reread it - read it
On War by Clausewitz - reread it
Hardboiled Hollywood
The Biographies I Have Read of Late:
King Alfred the Great - very scholarly work filled with much useful historical and psychological information.
The Bush Family: Photographic Biography
Brahms his life and work: biography - the best biography I have recently read on any composer
Darwin by Desmond and Moore: biography - one of the better biographies I have ever read on Darwin. Extremely well annotated and researched.
Swamp Fox: The life and campaigns of Francis Marion - one of my favorite guerilla commanders. We need far more Marions to fight terrorists.
St. Patrick of Ireland- I've read better biographies on Patrick but this was a good short biography
Devil in the White City - this is a biography of Henry Holmes (Mudgett), of the Chicago's World Fair, of the abattoir he created to slaughter and dissect human bodies, and the Detectives (like Geyer) who hunted Holmes to ground and execution. It is the single best and most creatively original biography of a serial killer I have ever read. 10
My Life Among the Serial Killers- very interesting as both a biography and theoretical construct on criminology and serial killers
Somerset Maugham: A Life- an extremely good biography of an extremely good writer. Like Sir Isaac Newton he worked for awhile as a secret agent for the British Government. Fascinating man.
As you know I read almost no fiction of any kind at all but recently I have been trying to force myself to do so. I can read literature easily enough but modern genre crap
both bores and disgusts me. No work of fiction is ever as interesting as the real world.
Nevertheless these are my recent efforts at reading Fiction:
Ivanhoe - my third reread of the book
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde - my fifth reread of the work
The Runes of the Earth
A Princess of Mars- Burroughs and Doyle are some of the few fiction writers who I can read with pleasure.
The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes, Volumes 1 and 2- extremely useful. Doyle was a Renaissance Man and it definitely shows in his writings and annotations.
Trinity- a graphic novel about Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman. Excellent.
World Tour- a graphic novel about the X-Men
Rebirth- about the end of Hal Jordan as the Spectre (one of my favorite comic characters) and his return to the Green Lantern Corp. Very Well done.
Breakout- I have been reading this series off and on form Marvel in various books. The only tow works by Marvel I have ever really liked were Spiderman and Daredevil (who is the Marvel Batman). Never cared for the other books much. But many of the Avengers have been destroyed and they have formed a new team which includes Cap, Spiderman, Iron Man, (maybe DD later) and some other actually interesting team members like Luke Cage. Now don't get me wrong, the New Avengers are no Justice League of America, but if this keeps up then they might just make the book interesting enough to add to my monthly reading list of comics. It's dark, gritty and the heroes are interesting, even Cap is becoming fun to watch. It's still sappy sometimes but at least not consistently.
The OMAC Project- a very interesting mini-series offering through DC. I'm following it mainly through the Batman books and the JLA. It starts out very well with the assassination of the Beetle.
It's funny, my wife used to hate comics when we first married. Now she often sends me out to the comic book store to fetch her comics, even when I don't want to go. Luckily we have the same tastes in this regard.
Theory Papers/Essays/Analyses- Turning Open Source Data into Knowledge About Global Threats
Collection and Preservation of Evidence for Unusual Disorganized Crime Scenes
Behavior Evidence: Understanding Motives and Developing Suspects in Unsolved Serial Rapes through Behavioral Profiling Techniques
Geographic Profiling and Asset Development
The Recovery of Human Remains
Central Asia: Terrorism, Religious Extremism and Regional Stability
Kidnapping and Hostage Taking
The Novel Craft of Intelligence
Abductive Inference
Fuzzy Approaches to Abductive Inference
The Musical Languages of Elliot Carter
Four Dubliners
I also read Mendelssohn's score of his Octet for Strings. I have had it in my library for some time but never had the time to read it fully. It's a copy from the original in his own hand and since his script is spidery like Tolkien's sometimes it's difficult to read.
Also articles on the Creation of the Bose-Einstein condensate and an excellent one on Bio Fluid Magnetism. Also a good article on Probiotics, and one on Gibberellin Growth Regulators and their possible Effect on Prion Disorders and Cellular Necrosis.
OPAE:
Fiction- I've written some more on the Rage stories and I've gotten some ways on the Assault on Hell.
I'm still working on my Curae novels and on Tiamat. I've also rewritten some scenes in the Basilegate.
I've written some on the children's stories; the Dog Who Would Be Man, the Secret Egg and Three Lands.
Non Fiction- I have written much on the case of the Interesting Coinkydink, at least up to this point in the case. Many seem to like the way I have approached detailing the case.
I've also finished my interview questions which will allow me to conduct a recorded interview with J this week on his missionary work in South America and his new job working with Leper Colonies in South East Asia. I'm looking forward to doing the interview.
Theory Papers/Essays/Analyses/Articles- I have rewritten parts of the Aye of God. I have also rewritten and edited to a much better form The Wailing Lance and Gnostic Realism. As for my Theory Papers about the only one I have had time to work on is my Biological Process Theory, on which I've made a few strides forward thanks to some online debates and I've worked a little on the mathematical calculations for my theory of Mass Gravity Hyperdimensionality and the curvature of Space (aka Gravity of God) but haven't got far due to time restrictions and having to work on other things.
I've worked to a small degree on my papers regarding God Technology, and it gave rise to a second work, Christological Relationships between Science, Scientists and God Technology.
I'm working slowly on my overall Political Strategy, Individual Education Accounts and some on the essay of the Three Supermen.
Scientific Works- see above.
Poetry/Lyrics/Songs- Nearly finished with the book of poetry Horror of Great Darkness. I could leave it as it already is but would like to edit and include some older works in the book. Same for the Bliss of Terror (though I'm gonna retile that to avoid misunderstandings by others in this day and age).
Have also written some new blues songs and a couple of rock/folk songs. Continuing to work on the Libretto for Lord Storm and Beauty.
Musical Compositions- I really haven't had much time to compose lately, what with other things going on. I have worked out the basic melody on the piano of a piece I'm calling, Betokened and I've written a few more measures for Falling Away Blues. I've attached both files but not much more than that.
My MIDI files won't upload. Can't post my compositions here. You're lucky.
Artwork/Architecture/Design- Rather than working in my sketch books or developing some of my pieces I have spent most of my developmental time in reworking design drafts both for my personal estate and for the New Church, for which I have added two upper areas running along the length of the lower Nave and across the two Wings.
Game/TSS Designs- Mainly working on Terra Ghantik. Good deal of progress in my free time, have put much of it in format and ordered for eventual publication. Also have ordered some new historical books to enhance my research of the time frame and milieu.
Video/Computer/TSS Game Designs- mainly been working on the outlines and plot developments of the Vadder. Have made some progress, but not as much as I would like due to other things.
Inventions- New Theatre idea/design. While attending the showing of the Revenge of the Sith in the first all digital theatre in town (I can't say enough about these all digital theatres, even the projection ones, because the picture was like HD and digital and watching it caused no eyestrain for me at all- it was beautiful) I was struck by an idea for the construction of a new type of film theatre. I probably got the idea from my sensory exercise routine, along with the sheer size of the place, which was mammoth. A single showing room (single theatre) sat over 600 people and the ceiling was huge as well, very high, which had a strange but pleasant effect on the acoustics. Anyway I'm working on a preliminary architectural sketch for my idea now. More on that later, when I get my notes in order.
Also working on a Non Lethal. the basic design will use subsonic acoustics at overlapping frequencies to create a sense of extreme disorientation, loss of balance and nausea in the target. The main focus will be loss of balance to an extent capable of rendering most targets so disoriented that they will be unable to stand. With hostages and with civilians and non-combatants this will hopefully force them off their feet where they will be more easily discriminated from the combatants/suspects and also they are less likely to be hit by either hostile or friendly fire. For the combatants or suspects this sense of extreme disorientation will limit their combat/hostile capabilities and render them more susceptible to either subdual or lethal attack. The weapon will have both military and law enforcement applications and the weapon will be designed as a tactical area attack anti-personnel less than lethal/non-lethal, though it could be used as a lethal against aggressors if set to the proper frequencies.
SHARED FILES: NSTR
WEBSITES/SOFTWARE: Dragon Naturally Speaking 7 - 9, I cannot recommend this Dragon VRS highly enough. I suspect most of the Dragon apps would be just as good depending on the OS. I know I've already spoken about this but this is great technology and extremely useful, especially for transcription.
http://www.ksu.ru/archeol_en/index.htm
http://art.net/~stalker/index.html
http://www.nrl.navy.mil/nanoscience/programs.html
http://www.nrl.navy.mil/nanoscience/nanochemdyn.html
http://www.csail.mit.edu/research/abstracts/abstracts04/PDF/67.pdf
http://cicentre.com/
http://www.admin.ox.ac.uk/po/news/2003-04/mar/09.shtml
http://www.loc.gov/
http://arxiv.org/PS_cache/cs/pdf/0003/0003029.pdf
http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,67629,00.html
http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,67652,00.html
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=scienceNews&storyID=8603864&src=rss/scienceNews
Also I wanted to mention a couple of other things.
I have been gathering much of my news and information by RSS reader. I cannot recommend this technology highly enough since it saves me from a great deal of research time and navigational effort from one web site to another because the Reader downloads everything to your reader for you.
The RSS reader I use is SharpReader, but many good ones are available. I use SharpReader because I find the formatting to be clear and concise and useful and the linking system to be easy and flexible.
And secondly I also spend some time, when I can spare the time, watching web cam sites all over the world. I have several apps which allow me to do this but one of my favorite programs is WebCam Viewer 3.61 (current Version). I have used this program to great effect because of it's flexibility and because it allows easy tracking of host sites and contact information.
For instance at certain times of the year I watch an Antarctic Research Station. Once I made contact with some of the team/expedition members and corresponded with them by email while also watching their site (from a camera mounted external to their main building). It was great fun for me and I was able to learn a good deal about their research while simultaneously watching their outpost.
Also I enjoy tracking satellite positions which the viewer allows me to do. There are better and more specialized Web Cam programs but this is an excellent tool for the average guy.
Some of the sites/locales I personally enjoy watching are:
Air Force Institute of Technology
Aish Ha Torah's Wailing Wall Site
Antigua
Bahnhof Zoo
Big Ben
Chandra X-Ray Satellite Observatory Site
DeLorean Motor company
Dome of Cologne
Einstein's Cafe in Austria
Euro Space Center
Frankfurt
George Washington University
Ground Zero- New York
Hong Kong
Hubble Satellite Tracking Station
International Space Station
Jet Propulsion Lab (I've got friends there)
Lloyd's of London
Loch Lomond and Loch Ness
Madrid
Manilla
Moscow (a rotated site. They have one camera set up at a small, white Orthodox Church which seems to double as a police station. With a high refresh rate you can see some pretty amazing stuff go on there. I like the Kremlin camera's as well- interesting.)
Mt. Fuji Cams
NASA TV (lately I've been watching launch preps for the Shuttle)
Nikko Guam
Various NOAA stations (I often Vad the local NOAA site at the jetport)
Panama Canal
Pershing Site
Prague
Riga
Royal BC Museum
Sacre-Coeur
Scripp's Pier
Statue of Liberty
Thessalonniki
Trafalgar Square
USS Intrepid (I've been watching some of Fleet Week)
Washington
Weimar
GRAPHIX: NSTR
EXIT:
DANTE'S 9TH LEVEL OF HELL
Deus Ordere et Facere Nos Verite
This won't be everyone's cup of tea. So if it ain't then avoid and ignore. If you like it you do, if not you don't.
If it goes over well I may put up other editions later. If not, C'est la Vie.
Otherwise this is a redacted version of a Newsletter that goes out to all of my friends, business associates, partners, etc. I used to pump it out once a month or so but with current workloads it has been 3 or more months since my last edition. It covers most of what I do and encounter, my experiments, contacts, case files, international affairs, work, etc... within a given time period. It looks like I've read a lot or maybe accomplished a lot lately but this edition covers a three month or more lapse.
If I can get my musical composition files attached then they will be attached, if not, I won't.
NSTR is the acronym for Nothing Significant to Report. No current action taken.
Here is 71.
"Lay on, Macduff,
And damn'd be him that first cries 'Hold enough!'"
"Knowledge comes, but Wisdom lingers."
"What man is so wise that he cannot abide the company of the Dead?"
INTRO: Change of Education, Development Completions, Sports, Camps, Summer, etc, Finding of the Scroll, Preparing to Move and Landscaping, New screens and Eye Exercises, new SUV, New PS2, Theatre Design Idea
ADMIN: Word 2000, Dragon Naturally Speaking 7, New Flatscreen Monitors
RESPONSES: None
BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS: I've entered into a sort of loose Idea Exchange/Business partnership with... (which is the way I prefer to do business, rather than trying to work every angle myself). He seems bright, capable and possessed of good ideas. I hope that in the near future once he completes some of his projects that we can work more closely together on various projects which so far seems to include ideas on games, software designs, video and computer games, inventions and so forth.
I'm also talking with ... about his new project and a possible start up venture in which I would take a passive investment role but also possibly help secure more investors, and reinvest in his project in the future. We've already exchanged documents and had a call on the matter. It sounds interesting though I'm still waiting on a full schematic and design release.
Continuing to reduce our personal and family debt and I have set aside a couple of grand for help with the move.
Thinking about investing again in real estate, possibly in some REITs I've been studying. But I'm mostly considering mortgage (paper) buys right now and, possibly also land with a side attachment.
FAMILY AFFAIRS: Things seem to be moving quite well on the efforts to secure the new house. Appreciate all the prayers, advice and assistance from everyone. We may even be able to get a good deal through the Farm Bureau since it is a rural estate. Keep praying. If there is anything you would like our prayers or help on, just ask.
The wife got a new SUV, a huge mother called a Sequoia, though I call it my Canyonero. She came home one day and said, "Can I get a new SUV, I'm tired of the old one." I told her sure, you handle it because I'm tired of handling vehicle purchases. She got a sweet vehicle and believe it or not even though it is newer than her old SUV and far, far larger, it is less in payments and the insurance is cheaper. She can really put together a good deal when she tries. The thing is so big and you sit so high up though that I actually have trouble at ATM machines, having to reach way down to get my money. Toyota is a great vehicle though, really good Jap make. It's also funny to me to be driving down the road and looking down on all the other SUV drivers because I sit so high up. Now I get to be one of those ass drivers in the monster SUVs who I used to complain so much about. Which makes me laugh to myself everytime I think about it. But I think we're gonna keep this baby awhile. I'm even thinking of installing special compartments in it like the modifications I made in my car so I can carry extra equipment.
My old PS2 kept going on the fritz, and even after taking it apart, cleaning the boards, checking all of the circuits and changing the batteries it would still on occasion act up. So I bought one of those new slimline PS2s and baby, that thing rocks. Plays far better than the original. And incredibly small and compact. I've made some modifications to the old one but haven't had the time to test them yet. If the modifications work I'll dump the old PS1 and give the old PS2 to the girls for their entertainment center.
The girls have already started their summer activities. 4H Camps, Soccer camps, classes at the Science Center (my oldest is taking rocketry, biology, robotics and AI, my youngest chemistry and natural science- since I have friends at the observatory they also get special trips to the observatory- I love that telescope myself), Vacation Bible School, Acting Classes, a Gymnastics camp, cheerleading camp, some Girl scout stuff and whatnot. They really love what they get to do in the summer. They are also looking forward to the move.
Got a couple of letters from Juan, our foster son in South America. Seems the presents we sent him and his family for Easter and his birthday got him a lot of neat new stuff, including a real bed with mattress. This is his first ever bed. His health has improved dramatically as well as the artwork he does for us. I understand from the mission workers that he's now competing at soccer and is big enough and healthy enough to play well. It's good to see our charity money used to make a kid strong and healthy and capable and competitive. One day I'm gonna have to bring him to the States for a summer. the girls would love that. He's gonna grow into a fine young man if he keeps this up.
PERSONAL AFFAIRS: Attended Lecture by Thom Barnett, author of The Pentagon's New Map. Perhaps the best Naval Analyst I have ever read and seen speak. He has an absolutely fascinating theory on how to connect Military power and Economic market forces to recreate the global socio-political-military zones. I highly recommend his book and watching him speak if you get the chance.
I also purchased large, new flatscreen monitors for both computers in my home network. Extremely good purchases. I can work for hours and hours without any eyestrain at all. I have also noticed that I can go straight from these screens to my sensory exercises without any strain at all. With all the new tech upgrades I've made lately I've also become hugely more efficient.
I've taken to hitting the baseball again, but I'm out of stride so I'm still working back up to my old records. I injured myself throwing the discus as well, but I'm still throwing anyway, just gingerly. And I'm back up to hiking 2 to 3 miles a day in full pack. So I'm getting into good shape again after injury and laziness. I've taken up Tai Chi again too and practice when I can. Boxing will probably have to wait until the summer.
I'm also trying to reestablish some of my old international contacts, people I haven't heard from in years. Especially some old buddies at the University of Saint Petersburg and some old Russian contacts.
LOCAL AND STATE AFFAIRS: I actually had a dream about this happening two nights before it did, but in my dream it was my kids and I was the one who was drown trying to save them. In my dream both my daughters were saved.
Upstate Pastor Drowns Trying To Rescue Kids
Father Of Four Had Been Pastor For Four Months
POSTED: 11:23 pm EDT May 26, 2005
UPDATED: 6:00 am EDT May 27, 2005
WARE SHOALS, S.C. -- An Upstate pastor died Thursday while trying to rescue two of his children from the Saluda River in Ware Shoals, authorities said.
Tim Bailey, a father of four, was sitting along the river in a Ware Shoals park watching his son and daughter slide down a rock into the water when just before 1:30 p.m., they needed help.
"He went into get them and had both kids under his arm," said Police Chief Mickey Boland. "He was struggling to keep himself and two kids above water and water was up over his head. It's about an 8-foot-deep hole there."
Another man at the park helped Bailey's son and daughter out of the water. Boland and others searched for Bailey. "Approximately about 5 to 10 feet area from where he went under, we found him," said Boland. "It did make it tougher when I found out it was my pastor." Bailey, 34, had been a pastor at Calvary Baptist Church for the past four months. "He was a fine young man who was fitting into the community well," said church member Buddy Wiles. "Loved people and was very friendly. He will be missed, but the church will go on, because we believe that is what he would want us to do." Tim Bailey is not the first person to drown at the park. Four years ago, a 17-year-old boy walking on the rocks slipped into the water and drowned.
Funeral services have not yet been set.
NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS:
http://www.dawn.com/2005/05/23/int10.htm
http://www.wired.com/news/medtech/0,1286,67599,00.html
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=8575548&src=rss/topNews
http://www.the-scientist.com/news/20050520/01
http://www.the-scientist.com/news/20050517/01
http://www.isis-innovation.com/licensing/2386.html
http://www.isis-innovation.com/licensing/12.html
http://www.isis-innovation.com/licensing/1330.html
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=8578521&src=rss/worldNews
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=8577173&src=rss/worldNews
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=domesticNews&storyID=8620588&src=rss/domesticNews
http://www.rfcomm.harris.com/news/view_pressrelease.asp?act=lookup&pr_id=1590
Glad they kept this "Silent"
CIA war game simulates major Internet attack
Thu May 26, 2005 03:21 PM ET
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By David Morgan
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The CIA is conducting a cyber-war game this week geared to simulate a major Internet attack by enemy computer hackers, an intelligence official said Thursday.
Dubbed "Silent Horizon," the three-day unclassified exercise is based on a scenario set five years in the future and involves participants from government and the private sector.
"These are people who could likely be affected or enlisted in a real situation," the intelligence official said.
"Its goal is to help the United States recognize indicators of a large-scale cyber attack." The exercise was being conducted in Charlottesville, Virginia, by members of the CIA's Information Operations Center, which evaluates foreign threats to U.S. computer systems, particularly those that support critical infrastructures. It was expected to conclude Thursday.
The federal government has conducted various attack simulations since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington, which killed about 3,000 people and prompted the U.S. war on terrorism.
Top U.S. intelligence officials say it may be only a matter of time before the United States is attacked again by terrorist groups including Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda. Cyber attacks, which have drawn less publicity than possible chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear attacks, are viewed by U.S. officials as a potential al Qaeda weapon against the U.S. economy. Online crime has exploded in recent years, a result of organized crime groups based in Eastern Europe. But investigators so far have uncovered few links to Islamic extremists. "We have not uncovered any significant links to terrorism," said Brian Nagel, assistant director of investigations for the U.S. Secret Service, in an interview with Reuters last week. But there are some signs that Islamic extremists are getting into the act. An Indonesian man named Imam Samudra, who was found guilty of the 2002 Bali nightclub blasts, included a chapter entitled "Hacking: Why Not?" in his autobiography. While hackers have uncovered holes in power plants and other infrastructure, experts say terrorists are likely to favor conventional attacks as long as they are possible. "When it's really too hard to bring kinetic weapons in ... the bad guys will turn to cyber attacks," said Allan Paller, chief executive of the SANS Institute, a nonprofit security-training organization. JOKES: Joe was moderately successful in his career, but as he got older he was increasingly hampered by incredible headaches. When his personal hygiene and love life started to suffer, he sought medical help. After being referred from one specialist to another, he finally came across a doctor who solved the problem. "The good news is I can cure your headaches... The bad news is that it will require castration. You have a very rare condition which causes your testicles to press up against the base of your spine. The pressure creates one hell of a headache. The only way to relieve the pressure is to remove the testicles." Joe was shocked and depressed. He wondered if he has anything to live for. He couldn't concentrate long enough to answer, but decided he had no choice but to go under the knife. When he left the hospital, his mind was clear, but he felt like he was missing an important part of himself. As he walked down the street, he realized that he felt like a different person. He could make a new beginning and live a new life. He walked past a men's clothing store and thought, "That's what I need: a new suit." He entered the shop and told the salesman, "I'd like a new suit." The salesman eyed him briefly and said, "Let's see... size 44 long." Joe laughed, "That's right, how did you know?" "It's my job." Joe tried on the suit. It fit perfectly. As Joe admired himself in the mirror, the salesman asked, "How about a new shirt?" Joe thought for a moment and then said, "Sure..." The salesman eyed Joe and said, "Let's see... 34 sleeve and... 16 and a half neck" Joe was surprised, "That's right, how did you know?" "It's my job." Joe tried on the shirt, and it fit perfectly. As Joe adjusted the collar in the mirror, the salesman asked, "How about new shoes?" Joe was on a roll and said, "Sure..." The salesman eyed Joe's feet and said, "Let's see... 9-1/2... E." Joe was astonished, "That's right, how did you know?" "It's my job." Joe tried on the shoes and they fit perfectly. Joe walked comfortably around the shop and the salesman asked, "How about a new hat?" Without hesitating, Joe said, "Sure..." The salesman eyed Joe's head and said, "Let's see... 7-5/8." Joe was incredulous, "That's right, how did you know?" "It's my job." The hat fit perfectly. Joe was feeling great, when the salesman asked, "How about some new underwear?" Joe thought for a second and said, "Sure..." The salesman stepped back, eyed Joe's waist and said, "Let's see... size 36." Joe laughed, "No, I've worn size 34 since I was 18 years old." The salesman shook his head, "You can't wear a size 34. It would press your testicles up against the base of your spine and give you one hell of a headache."
INVESTIGATIONS: Interesting Coinkydink, though this case has taken some strange and fascinating turns so far, including the links it has dredged up regarding previous cases.
Most every other case in the area the locals or Feds have closed down quickly so I've returned to working some Cold Case files as well as assisting some people with their stuff.
I'm working some old murders and still following the homicides outside my jurisdiction (I use that term loosely and in a self-imposed fashion of course) to see what if anything will be turned
on those multiple homicides. Especially as regards the motorcycle murders. Like many of you guys I still think about the possible links to that multiple homicide at the bank, but nothing has shaken loose yet.
EXPERIMENTS:
a. Somatic/Genetic- I've returned to my personal experiments on solar radiation as a possible food source to bypass chemical absorption. Because humans are not genetically constructed like Lizards and because I cannot genetically modify myself by the introduction of alien (external) genetic material it has occurred to me that the best way to proceed might be to find some way to measure solar radiation doses in conjunction with how that radiation might assist with the more efficient digestion of and chemical consumption of chemical food. Since I cannot at this stage produce a human being with the ability to directly absorb solar radiation for energy like a lizard does and because solar radiation causes cellular degeneration of human skin tissue it occurs to me that perhaps I can develop within myself a sort of hybrid reaction which still burns chemical food but uses solar radiation to assist with breakdown and efficiency in chemical food reactions. Either to cause more complete digestion and absorption or to lessen my requirements for chemical food sources so that my intake can be reduced, thus increasing my endurance to starvation. A Hybrid reaction seems quite feasible but only real experimentation will prove the matter. Summer is a good time to proceed.
I've also returned to my metaergogenic experiments with the intention of once again reducing my need for sleep and to increasing my speed of recovery from training injuries.
Also I guess I should mention my experimentations on my dogs to increase their intelligence and augment their capabilities. J. can tell you how successful they have been in the sense of security training and possible overall intelligence increases, as he has seen them in action. I'm also trying to teach them to read by association based upon a modification of experiments conducted by an English Lord who taught his dogs to read word placards.
b. Aesic- NSTR
c. Psychaec- NSTR
d. ACUT- I've undertaken some non-localized tracking experiments, based on prior experiments of mine. This time I will be narrowing my focus and trying to enhance my anticipatory abilities.
e. Composition/Design- various experiments underway mainly in regards to musical composition and to relating human alphabetic, script, and speech patterns to musical notation and composition. I'm starting to develop protocols for foreign languages now as well, not just for English only
And I've had sort of a breakthrough on pattern arrangement for my encryption machine and the Trans-Phonocyphatypic alphabet. That stuff that has been sent to me regarding quantum encrypting has been very useful research. Thanks for the stuff you sent me.
.
While attending Revenge of the Sith with my nephew I had an idea for a new type of theatre. See Inventions.
I've also found a way to transcribe all of my Old Notebooks onto files by projection. Working on the crossover now.
Working on the New Media Project and the New Module Project. I'll discuss those separately and later.
MEDIA REVIEWS: Critiqued in value from 1 to 10, 10 being the best.
Film/Video/DVD-
I, robot - not bad for a Hollywood effort but a complete screw up of Asimov's very good work. As a film a 6, as an adaptation, 2.
AI - the best sci-fi movie Spielberg has yet to make. 9
Hornblower: Retribution, Duty, Loyalty - one of the best works in the whole Hornblower series. 10
Capturing the Friedmans - an excellent case study for a film 9.
Brother's Keeper - also an excellent case study/documentary. 9
Top Dog CD - as you know I've been training my mastiffs. This was an extremely helpful training CD.
Saw- This could have been a good film and it had it's interesting dramatic moments and a very clever conclusion. It juts never quite got there intact. 6
The Village - extremely good, psychologically creepy and far, far, far more frightening than Sixth Sense which put me to sleep and bored me with it's depictions of the dead. The dead in Sixth Sense made me yawn in apathy. I give the Village a 9.
The Bourne Supremacy - better in many ways I thought than the original. The fight sequences were excellent for a Hollywood version of hand to hand combat. The economy of motion was good, you could feel the fluidity and actually sense some of the personal danger of close combat. One fight in particular reminded me of our old sword fights. It was still far too Hollywood for a real depiction of espionage but his preparations as an agent were good, though to be honest he often walked into situations he could have easily avoided with a little forethought and better intelligence up front. At times he seemed a brilliant agent, at times clumsy and amateurish. 7Napoleon Dynamite - I cannot recommend this film enough. In some ways it was like reliving my childhood. I mentioned it to the guys I grew up with and they all agreed. We never had a Pedro, but I wish we had. The funniest film I've seen in years and years. Now one of my favorite comedies. I laughed at some scenes till I nearly puked. 10The Last Samurai - excellent historical piece. Recommend it. 7The Core - God almighty this stank. I blew ten minutes of my life on this load, all I could stomach. Forget it. It's too stupid even for teenagers. 2
Blade Trinity - It's is difficult to assign a numerical rating that will accurately reflect the deproverty (combination of depravity and poverty) of this film, or whatever it is. Negative numbers don't quite reflect the vacuum of this thing because they still evoke negative values. This thing is without value. So I'm giving it a complete Cipher, 0.
Alone in the Dark - This could have been an excellent film given the premise and because I am a very big fan of the video game for PS1 I had high expectations. They were completely crushed. This movie had nothing about it which even remotely resembled the mystery, horror, atmosphere and tension of the video game. It's one redeeming factor was that it was not Blade Trinity. -3
The Incredibles - excellent crossover child/adult/family movie. Loaded with allusions to comics which most adults and many kids will understand. I like films written on multiple levels, the comedy is usually very sophisticated and usually very good. 8
The Grudge - interesting, but like most American remakes of Japanese horror films it is of lesser quality than the original. The Ring is the only American remake I've seen which competes nicely with the original, and I have both the Ring and Ringu in my personal film libraries. A couple of really good fright scenes though. 8
Godsend - bad. very bad. couldn't watch it all. 4
Collateral - stank. ditto. 3
Suspect Zero - whereas this film is possessed of an interesting premise (I too have conducted such experiments and still do) it is mucked up in typical Hollywood fashion. The film does have an interesting sequence on a Remote Viewing experiment which is far more presentable than anything in the film and far more dramatic than anything in the film. If the film had followed the lines of the actual experiment it could have been good, done almost in a documentary fashion. 6
Septem8er Tapes - this has one of the most realistic small arms and small group combat sequences I've ever seen in a fictional film. It is documentary quality and the whole production is documentary quality. 9
The Lion in Winter - with Patrick Stewart. I liked this version as well as the original and I can't even stand Glenn Close. She was a real hag. Stewart did a Shakespearean job. Brilliant 9
Revenge of the Sith - excellent film. As good as the Empire. Tied for best of the series in my opinion. 10 While in the theatre we also saw a preview for the film, the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. It looks form what I saw to be a fantastic work and I can hardly wait to take my kids to see it this Christmas. A fine time to debut such a film, Easter would have been good as well. I'm beginning to take hope in filmmaking again; what with the Star Wars, LOTR, Batman, Spiderman, Master and Commander films and so forth. We may be in the early stages of a new Renaissance in film, even in kid's films like the Incredibles and Narnia. About time.
The Train (Burt Lancaster) - extremely good. 9
Ironclads - Monitor versus the Merrimack. First real engagement of semi submersible boats. Excellent film about the early development of submarine warfare and a good Naval warfare picture. 8
Master and Commander - along with Damn the Defiant (which makes me long for the sea and the sails) this has become my favorite among Naval Combat films. 10
Return of the King: the extended director's cut - the extended scene in the Houses of the Dead made the whole thing worth viewing just by itself. He should have left that whole sequence in the theatrical version. 10
The Nest- about a small combination police/military force who are ambushed by an ICC (organized criminal cartel) in an armored vehicle while transporting an Eastern European terrorist and serial rapist in Albania. After fleeing to a warehouse the escort force discovers that the warehouse was being robbed of computer stores by a gang of armed robbers. The robbers and the escort force must work cooperatively to avoid being overrun and slaughter by the Cartel intent on rescuing their former boss/general. Not bad. 7
Infection- This is another Japanese horror film, and since the Japs are making the best horror films in the world right now, I always try to study their films. This is purely ingenious and it is so horrific at times that even I can't watch it without turning sideways, and as you guys know I've seen some horrific stuff. I don't want to say anything about it except for this, it is so horrific and bleak that in many ways it reminds me of the hospital scenes in the original Silent Hill Game. Incredible and I highly recommend it. 10
Primer- another ingenious film that I don't want to describe except to say that it has to do with time experiments and that it has an incredibly good plot. 10
Lemony Snicketts: A Series of Very Unfortunate Events- the girls made me watch this movie with them and after it was over I was glad they did. It was a terrific film, as good for adults as for kids. Carey was brilliant, and the cut scenes were even funnier than the stuff in the film. The man is ingeniously funny. 9
Television- As you guys and dolls know I don't watch a lot of television, aside from lectures and the news, no time for it. But what I have seen worth mentioning is this:
Stargate Atlantis - Season Finale: an excellent piece of work. Finely done. The entire show is extremely well done.
Smallville - Season Finale: an incredibly good finale. After that I got to see a ten minute preview of the upcoming Batman film. I know now and am confident that somebody who can make a film finally understands enough to make a real film about the Batman. I am in anticipation. I want to see utter darkness, grit, terror, isolation, a great deal of Vadding, good tool making and tool using skills, manhunting and real detective work. Everything all the other films completely lacked. Plus I've seen Christian Bale at work recently. He's dark enough and crazy enough to make it work. He's possessed. Only the insane and possessed could ever be the Batman, as you already know. So I know this will work as a film. It has certainly taken long enough to get to this point.
Battlestar Galactica- season finale: an excellent final episode for the season. This is without a doubt the single best Science Fiction show for television since the original Star Trek. It's deep, deep frontier.
Music- The Mikado 8
Genesis, the Way we Walk, Live in Concert 7
Vivladi, 12 Sonatas for Violin and Continuo 9
Thelonius Monk at Lincoln Center 8 - Misterioso was especially good track
Mussorgsky, orch by Ravel: Pictures at an Exhibition- one of my favorite works by Mussorgsky, especially the Great Gates of Kiev 9
Games- NSTR
Video Games-
Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater - completed it finally. I'd say it was as good if not better than previous Metal Gear Games. The camo selection was excellent even if a bit unrealistic at times. The ability to use adaptive camouflage, even in a primitive form was great fun. The equipment and weapon selections were fantastic though Snake was able to carry far too much gear for any sense of realism, especially for a stealth operative. Snake is an extremely good and interesting character. Fascinating even. 10
Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow- I'm nearly finished. I'm at the last mission, I think. Because of my work load I only get to play video games about once every month and then only for about an hour or so. I have a huge backlog of both console and computer games I wonder if I'll ever even get to play, much less finish. This game had some really good infiltration missions, the Submarine and the Submarine complex were extremely good. I was actually nervous making my first move into the sub, it was such a restricted environment with so little room to maneuver or hide. Stealth was difficult. Overall the game is more realistic as an infiltration simulation than Metal Gear but far less fun to play because Fisher has such narrow mission and operational parameters, and he lacks the tactical and mission felicity of Snake. I hear though that in Chaos Theory Fisher is allowed to cut loose and the player can determine how he infiltrates, fights and plays. I will like that much better. 8
Books/Audio Books/DVD Books- .
On Intelligence
The Last Knight - I highly recommend this book. A true display of real Knighthood and what real Knights were like.
The Private Prayers of Pope John Paul II- the former Pope had developed some really, really interesting prayers especially as concerns human and personal suffering. Gave real insight.
Memory and Identity- also by John Paul. Not a theological work but a sort of theo-political thesis. Very interesting. Had some fascinating chapters like; Mysterium Iniquitatis, Ideologies of Evil, Towards a Just Use of Freedom, the Mystery of Mercy, Patria, and the Relationship between Church and State. Stuff we've all discussed before at length. He also had a fascinating chapter on the Evangelization of Eastern and Central Europe which was especially interesting to me. One of the best of all of John Paul's books.
History of the Church by Eusebius - excellent ancient source eon the history of the church. Wish I had read this years ago.
Why I am a Muslim - by a female Sufi. Personally I think Sufism is the great, overlooked possible internal salvation of Islam. Although I have been pleasantly impressed with Shia in Iraq lately, as opposed to the Shia of Iran (or I should say the Shia leaders of Iran, who are a very real danger rot the whole world). Sufism has the potential to liberalize and reform Islam if Wahhabism can be crushed.
Prayer of Jabez - one of the most excellent small studies I've ever undertaken.
Winning the Future by Newt Gingrich - as usual Gingrich's genius is as readily apparent as in the classes I watched him teach. The best first person, direct book on politics I have read in ten years or more
Byzantium The imperial Centuries By Ron Molly JenkinsThe Churches of Eastern Christianity By Rev. B. J. Key Ed.
Swear to God,The Power and Bright Promise of the Sacraments By Scott Hahn - an excellent if somewhat unusual exposition and spiritual analysis of the SacramentsByzantium By Tamara RiceEusebius the Church History Translated By Paul Maier - a different translation of and annotated analysis of EusebiusRaising Rover By Judith Halliburton - an excellent resource for basic dog trainingBeating Back the Devil By Maryn McKenna - an excellent little book on bioterrorism and on communicable pathogenic disease organisms, especially the more newly created modern infections
The Byzantine Commonwealth Eastern Europe 500 To 1453 - probably the best general history of the Byzantine Empire I have read in my researches.Samurai By StephenTurnbullThe City of Constantinople - the best book on the city proper and her history I have readA Concise History of Byzantium - the best concise or small history I have read on Byzantium.Byzantium the Empire of New RomeThe Early Creation of the Byzantine WorldThe Compleat Gentleman - an exposition of the Art and Virtues of being a Gentleman. This is one of the better books I've read in a decade and the author is brilliant. I very, very highly recommend this book. Ties together all aspects of the Gentleman, Chivalry, Knighthood and Manhood; military, physical, political, social, personal and spiritual. Extremely well done and a very spiritual book for men. Anatomy Lessons from the Great Masters - a good primer on anatomy representation in high art and how to imitate from the works of the masters themselves.
The Miracle Detective - extremely interesting book from an extremely interesting journalist
Illustrated Guide to Edible Plants - Department of the Army - very useful survival manual.
The Right Nation - one of the better third party books on politics I have read in a long time. Very provocative. Couldn't agree with everything but the analysis was incredibly well done.
This Man's Army
Crime School: Money Laundering by Chris Mathers (undercover officer) foreward by Norman Inkster, Former Commission of the RCMP and former President of Interpol. Good primer on basic tracking of fund laundering. Also had some interesting insights on undercover work.
Inside the Asylum : Why the UN and Old Europe are worse than you think - read this book.
.
The Pentagon's new map : war and peace in the twenty-first century - truly excellent analysis. Best Naval Intel analyst I have ever read. I give this book a 10.
London 1849 : a Victorian murder story
Jewish spirituality : a brief introduction for Christians
The Encyclopedia of Survival Techniques- extremely interesting and useful. I actually learned a few new things. I may add this to my personal library.
The Tipping Point: How Little things Can Make a Big difference - read this book
The Barbarian Conversion: From Paganism to Christianity- very well done, a bit pedantic, but extremely useful.
The Second Creation- a work on cloning and biological control
The Second Tree: Stem Cells, Clones, Chimeras and the Quest for Immortality
Hunting the Jackal- especially good book
America's Secret War- good book
Warrior Soul- not a bad first hand account form a Navy SEAL. Well written I thought.
Shadow Warriors: Inside the Special Forces
Blowing My Cover- an entertaining and interesting look at the Company from a former female agent. Realistically exposes a lot of the crap of Company life.
Death's Acre- another good book on the Body Farm and forensic study of somatic degeneration
Lab 257- I may have already mentioned this book, but if I haven't then read it. It's on Plum Island. Excellent bit of Research. 9
Germs- another book on pathogens and biological warfare
The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham - reread it - read it
On War by Clausewitz - reread it
Hardboiled Hollywood
The Biographies I Have Read of Late:
King Alfred the Great - very scholarly work filled with much useful historical and psychological information.
The Bush Family: Photographic Biography
Brahms his life and work: biography - the best biography I have recently read on any composer
Darwin by Desmond and Moore: biography - one of the better biographies I have ever read on Darwin. Extremely well annotated and researched.
Swamp Fox: The life and campaigns of Francis Marion - one of my favorite guerilla commanders. We need far more Marions to fight terrorists.
St. Patrick of Ireland- I've read better biographies on Patrick but this was a good short biography
Devil in the White City - this is a biography of Henry Holmes (Mudgett), of the Chicago's World Fair, of the abattoir he created to slaughter and dissect human bodies, and the Detectives (like Geyer) who hunted Holmes to ground and execution. It is the single best and most creatively original biography of a serial killer I have ever read. 10
My Life Among the Serial Killers- very interesting as both a biography and theoretical construct on criminology and serial killers
Somerset Maugham: A Life- an extremely good biography of an extremely good writer. Like Sir Isaac Newton he worked for awhile as a secret agent for the British Government. Fascinating man.
As you know I read almost no fiction of any kind at all but recently I have been trying to force myself to do so. I can read literature easily enough but modern genre crap
both bores and disgusts me. No work of fiction is ever as interesting as the real world.
Nevertheless these are my recent efforts at reading Fiction:
Ivanhoe - my third reread of the book
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde - my fifth reread of the work
The Runes of the Earth
A Princess of Mars- Burroughs and Doyle are some of the few fiction writers who I can read with pleasure.
The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes, Volumes 1 and 2- extremely useful. Doyle was a Renaissance Man and it definitely shows in his writings and annotations.
Trinity- a graphic novel about Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman. Excellent.
World Tour- a graphic novel about the X-Men
Rebirth- about the end of Hal Jordan as the Spectre (one of my favorite comic characters) and his return to the Green Lantern Corp. Very Well done.
Breakout- I have been reading this series off and on form Marvel in various books. The only tow works by Marvel I have ever really liked were Spiderman and Daredevil (who is the Marvel Batman). Never cared for the other books much. But many of the Avengers have been destroyed and they have formed a new team which includes Cap, Spiderman, Iron Man, (maybe DD later) and some other actually interesting team members like Luke Cage. Now don't get me wrong, the New Avengers are no Justice League of America, but if this keeps up then they might just make the book interesting enough to add to my monthly reading list of comics. It's dark, gritty and the heroes are interesting, even Cap is becoming fun to watch. It's still sappy sometimes but at least not consistently.
The OMAC Project- a very interesting mini-series offering through DC. I'm following it mainly through the Batman books and the JLA. It starts out very well with the assassination of the Beetle.
It's funny, my wife used to hate comics when we first married. Now she often sends me out to the comic book store to fetch her comics, even when I don't want to go. Luckily we have the same tastes in this regard.
Theory Papers/Essays/Analyses- Turning Open Source Data into Knowledge About Global Threats
Collection and Preservation of Evidence for Unusual Disorganized Crime Scenes
Behavior Evidence: Understanding Motives and Developing Suspects in Unsolved Serial Rapes through Behavioral Profiling Techniques
Geographic Profiling and Asset Development
The Recovery of Human Remains
Central Asia: Terrorism, Religious Extremism and Regional Stability
Kidnapping and Hostage Taking
The Novel Craft of Intelligence
Abductive Inference
Fuzzy Approaches to Abductive Inference
The Musical Languages of Elliot Carter
Four Dubliners
I also read Mendelssohn's score of his Octet for Strings. I have had it in my library for some time but never had the time to read it fully. It's a copy from the original in his own hand and since his script is spidery like Tolkien's sometimes it's difficult to read.
Also articles on the Creation of the Bose-Einstein condensate and an excellent one on Bio Fluid Magnetism. Also a good article on Probiotics, and one on Gibberellin Growth Regulators and their possible Effect on Prion Disorders and Cellular Necrosis.
OPAE:
Fiction- I've written some more on the Rage stories and I've gotten some ways on the Assault on Hell.
I'm still working on my Curae novels and on Tiamat. I've also rewritten some scenes in the Basilegate.
I've written some on the children's stories; the Dog Who Would Be Man, the Secret Egg and Three Lands.
Non Fiction- I have written much on the case of the Interesting Coinkydink, at least up to this point in the case. Many seem to like the way I have approached detailing the case.
I've also finished my interview questions which will allow me to conduct a recorded interview with J this week on his missionary work in South America and his new job working with Leper Colonies in South East Asia. I'm looking forward to doing the interview.
Theory Papers/Essays/Analyses/Articles- I have rewritten parts of the Aye of God. I have also rewritten and edited to a much better form The Wailing Lance and Gnostic Realism. As for my Theory Papers about the only one I have had time to work on is my Biological Process Theory, on which I've made a few strides forward thanks to some online debates and I've worked a little on the mathematical calculations for my theory of Mass Gravity Hyperdimensionality and the curvature of Space (aka Gravity of God) but haven't got far due to time restrictions and having to work on other things.
I've worked to a small degree on my papers regarding God Technology, and it gave rise to a second work, Christological Relationships between Science, Scientists and God Technology.
I'm working slowly on my overall Political Strategy, Individual Education Accounts and some on the essay of the Three Supermen.
Scientific Works- see above.
Poetry/Lyrics/Songs- Nearly finished with the book of poetry Horror of Great Darkness. I could leave it as it already is but would like to edit and include some older works in the book. Same for the Bliss of Terror (though I'm gonna retile that to avoid misunderstandings by others in this day and age).
Have also written some new blues songs and a couple of rock/folk songs. Continuing to work on the Libretto for Lord Storm and Beauty.
Musical Compositions- I really haven't had much time to compose lately, what with other things going on. I have worked out the basic melody on the piano of a piece I'm calling, Betokened and I've written a few more measures for Falling Away Blues. I've attached both files but not much more than that.
My MIDI files won't upload. Can't post my compositions here. You're lucky.
Artwork/Architecture/Design- Rather than working in my sketch books or developing some of my pieces I have spent most of my developmental time in reworking design drafts both for my personal estate and for the New Church, for which I have added two upper areas running along the length of the lower Nave and across the two Wings.
Game/TSS Designs- Mainly working on Terra Ghantik. Good deal of progress in my free time, have put much of it in format and ordered for eventual publication. Also have ordered some new historical books to enhance my research of the time frame and milieu.
Video/Computer/TSS Game Designs- mainly been working on the outlines and plot developments of the Vadder. Have made some progress, but not as much as I would like due to other things.
Inventions- New Theatre idea/design. While attending the showing of the Revenge of the Sith in the first all digital theatre in town (I can't say enough about these all digital theatres, even the projection ones, because the picture was like HD and digital and watching it caused no eyestrain for me at all- it was beautiful) I was struck by an idea for the construction of a new type of film theatre. I probably got the idea from my sensory exercise routine, along with the sheer size of the place, which was mammoth. A single showing room (single theatre) sat over 600 people and the ceiling was huge as well, very high, which had a strange but pleasant effect on the acoustics. Anyway I'm working on a preliminary architectural sketch for my idea now. More on that later, when I get my notes in order.
Also working on a Non Lethal. the basic design will use subsonic acoustics at overlapping frequencies to create a sense of extreme disorientation, loss of balance and nausea in the target. The main focus will be loss of balance to an extent capable of rendering most targets so disoriented that they will be unable to stand. With hostages and with civilians and non-combatants this will hopefully force them off their feet where they will be more easily discriminated from the combatants/suspects and also they are less likely to be hit by either hostile or friendly fire. For the combatants or suspects this sense of extreme disorientation will limit their combat/hostile capabilities and render them more susceptible to either subdual or lethal attack. The weapon will have both military and law enforcement applications and the weapon will be designed as a tactical area attack anti-personnel less than lethal/non-lethal, though it could be used as a lethal against aggressors if set to the proper frequencies.
SHARED FILES: NSTR
WEBSITES/SOFTWARE: Dragon Naturally Speaking 7 - 9, I cannot recommend this Dragon VRS highly enough. I suspect most of the Dragon apps would be just as good depending on the OS. I know I've already spoken about this but this is great technology and extremely useful, especially for transcription.
http://www.ksu.ru/archeol_en/index.htm
http://art.net/~stalker/index.html
http://www.nrl.navy.mil/nanoscience/programs.html
http://www.nrl.navy.mil/nanoscience/nanochemdyn.html
http://www.csail.mit.edu/research/abstracts/abstracts04/PDF/67.pdf
http://cicentre.com/
http://www.admin.ox.ac.uk/po/news/2003-04/mar/09.shtml
http://www.loc.gov/
http://arxiv.org/PS_cache/cs/pdf/0003/0003029.pdf
http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,67629,00.html
http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,67652,00.html
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=scienceNews&storyID=8603864&src=rss/scienceNews
Also I wanted to mention a couple of other things.
I have been gathering much of my news and information by RSS reader. I cannot recommend this technology highly enough since it saves me from a great deal of research time and navigational effort from one web site to another because the Reader downloads everything to your reader for you.
The RSS reader I use is SharpReader, but many good ones are available. I use SharpReader because I find the formatting to be clear and concise and useful and the linking system to be easy and flexible.
And secondly I also spend some time, when I can spare the time, watching web cam sites all over the world. I have several apps which allow me to do this but one of my favorite programs is WebCam Viewer 3.61 (current Version). I have used this program to great effect because of it's flexibility and because it allows easy tracking of host sites and contact information.
For instance at certain times of the year I watch an Antarctic Research Station. Once I made contact with some of the team/expedition members and corresponded with them by email while also watching their site (from a camera mounted external to their main building). It was great fun for me and I was able to learn a good deal about their research while simultaneously watching their outpost.
Also I enjoy tracking satellite positions which the viewer allows me to do. There are better and more specialized Web Cam programs but this is an excellent tool for the average guy.
Some of the sites/locales I personally enjoy watching are:
Air Force Institute of Technology
Aish Ha Torah's Wailing Wall Site
Antigua
Bahnhof Zoo
Big Ben
Chandra X-Ray Satellite Observatory Site
DeLorean Motor company
Dome of Cologne
Einstein's Cafe in Austria
Euro Space Center
Frankfurt
George Washington University
Ground Zero- New York
Hong Kong
Hubble Satellite Tracking Station
International Space Station
Jet Propulsion Lab (I've got friends there)
Lloyd's of London
Loch Lomond and Loch Ness
Madrid
Manilla
Moscow (a rotated site. They have one camera set up at a small, white Orthodox Church which seems to double as a police station. With a high refresh rate you can see some pretty amazing stuff go on there. I like the Kremlin camera's as well- interesting.)
Mt. Fuji Cams
NASA TV (lately I've been watching launch preps for the Shuttle)
Nikko Guam
Various NOAA stations (I often Vad the local NOAA site at the jetport)
Panama Canal
Pershing Site
Prague
Riga
Royal BC Museum
Sacre-Coeur
Scripp's Pier
Statue of Liberty
Thessalonniki
Trafalgar Square
USS Intrepid (I've been watching some of Fleet Week)
Washington
Weimar
GRAPHIX: NSTR
EXIT:
DANTE'S 9TH LEVEL OF HELL
Deus Ordere et Facere Nos Verite
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