Happy New Year!

To bring in the New Year, let's reflect on 2006 with Time magazine's 'Year in Pictures:'
http://www.time.com/time/yip/2006/

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree, How Beautiful Your Array Is...

Merry Christmas, everybody, from the Mildet on the USNS Victorious! Here is our group photo with the Christmas tree that our SOC Techs made out of spare array parts. Isn't it lovely?

TA-DAH!

What's up with the little-ol'-penguin in the background??

Road Bike Tip

Here's a tip for you roadies. It's a makeshift stopper to keep your bike from rolling away when you park it somewhere. It involves taking a wine bottle cork, cutting it into a 'V', and wedging it in between the brake and your handlebars in order to force the bike to stay braked. When you don't have a kickstand, this could be useful.

You can read more about it at Kevin Kelly's Cool Tools website.

Pepsi Can Stove

Here's a neat idea where can take a soda can and make it into a stove. They are lightweight, and excellent for backpacking. If you already have a stove that you rely on, this one can be used as a lightweight backup. They weigh next to nothing, you can reduce your fuel weight, it's more environmentally friendly, and most importantly, they out-perform store bought models when the temperature drops.





The fuel you can use with these stoves is denatured alcohol, which you can find at most hardware stores or outdoor supply stores. As far as the can goes, Pepsi is the preferred soda because of its shape as it helps stabalize the stove better.





Wikipedia has a comprehensive explanation of how to make the stove, how efficient it runs, how it compares to other stoves, and every other little nuance about this stove that you could think of.

Here's a website that has 3 different versions of alcohol stoves.

A guy did a review on the pepsi can stove here.

If you're feeling a bit lazy, but you still want an alcohol burning stove, there's a company called 'Trangia' that makes them, with some variations.

Choicepoint

Last year Choicepoint, a data broker, inadvertently sold over 163,000 personal records to criminals. They ended up settling with the Federal Trade Commission back in January to pay $5 million to consumers as a reimbursement for the expenses incurred as a result of the security breach. Another $10 million was tacked on as a fine for the company.

(As a side note, I did not exactly know what a 'data broker' was, so I searched for the term. I can vaguely put together what it means, but as a working definition, I did not understand exactly what these companies do with their data as a 'broker.' Evidently, these companies maintain gigantic databases of things like SSN's, birthdays, credit reports, and other sensitive data.)

The FTC has just begun mailing out forms to 1,400 victims that were identified as having spent money to clear up identity theft issues arising from Choicepoint's mistake. There is also a website where consumers can download a version of the file if they do not receive one by mail. This is for people who believe that they have had identity theft issues stemming from scammers getting their information from Choicepoint.

Alternately, if you are just concerned about the privacy of your phone records, check out EPIC's website. EPIC is the Electronic Privacy Information Center, and is a virtual clearinghouse for identity theft and privacy issues, mostly relating to the internet and other electronic forms of communication.

If you would like to have your address and phone removed from search engines on the web, you need to visit these sites independently. Here's the main ones:
Google Phone Book Removal
Infospace - On this one, you gotta search for your info, then remove
YellowPages Switchboard - Once again, search for your data, then click update
Yahoo People Search Removal
Verizon Super Pages Removal
White Pages - Search for it, then click on 'Privacy Concerns?'
AnyWho Privacy
Addresses.com
Intelius - Submit a request
ZabaSearch - You gotta submit an email on this one, & then they'll give you instructions

**These links are courtesy of Bob Rankin. He has an excellent newsletter you can catch at his website - the link is in the upper right corner.


It's interesting to note that a person's address and phone number could previously be found in phone books quite easily, but with the advent of technology like Google Earth, an address can be visually pinpointed on a map. Also, it's easy to plug someone's address into MapQuest which will give you step-by-step directions to get there. As this technology becomes more prevalent, we will begin to see more people concerned with how this data is handled. It's one thing to have your address displayed amongst thousands of others in a drab black-and-white phone book; it seems drastically different to have someone be able to see your car in your driveway, and you on the lawn when they look you up. Smile, you're on camera!

December 7th, 1941

Pearl Harbor. I cannot begin to describe the emotions I felt when I went there this summer. It is so powerful. To think of all the fallout that occured from this act is overwhelming. So many sailors and others lost their lives there, just doing their daily jobs. I think about the ones that were probably standing watch, or lying in their racks, or sitting at the mess decks having some coffee when they were attacked...It was Sunday, which is 'holiday routine.' They were completely unaware of what was about to happen.



When you get there, you hop on a boat that takes you to the Arizona Memorial. Not before you watch a video describing how the memorial was built, though. They tell you all about why the design was chosen and how they went about setting it up. It's all well-thought out. Then the boat takes you to the memorial. While you walk around the memorial, you have a set of headphones on that tells you about the sinking of the Arizona...How the men became trapped below. It is a tomb for 1,177 sailors, and that's just one battleship that was moored in Battleship Row. There were a total of 2,403 that died and an additional 1,178 were wounded in the attack.

It's such a moving experience, and I recommend if you're in Hawaii, to go. I'm so glad that I did.

I also got to meet a guy who had survived the attack. He was a charming fellow -- had plenty of jokes, and was in good humor. Here's a picture of me with him.

Looking at the results and the retaliation that was brought forth from this event is staggering. I was looking at some pictures out here of Hiroshima. Someone on the boat had taken a trip on the bullet to see the town. There was a building that was nothing but a shell which they told me used to be the Red Cross hospital. After the bombing at Hiroshima, it was the only building, albeit a skeleton, that stood for miles. There were pictures of men whose clothes had been fused to their bodies. All this while Stalin marched his way through the islands.

The interconnections and implications of all of these events accumulated into a burst of emotion when I visited the memorial. I felt at awe, but at the same time I had that funny feeling in the pit of my stomach when something's not right. It's staggering. Being in Pearl Harbor at the scene of the attack reminded me that a few decades ago, the world went crazy.

Karl Marx said those who cannot learn from the past are doomed to repeat it. I hope that my generation can keep these events fresh. I hope that we do not let their memories fade, because then we will not understand the pain of those events; that time. I got a forwarded email the other day urging people to remember the Holocaust. My generation needs to remember another's pain so that we don't feel the need to experience it ourselves.

I found Franklin D. Roosevelt's speech that he said the day following the attack. Of course his beginning statement has been forever linked to the event itself. I've included it here, along with a link for you to read it in its entirety. There's also a site that goes over how the speech was prepared.

"Yesterday, December 7, 1941—a date which will live in infamy—the United States of American was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan..."

So if you want to find out more info or read stories of survivors of Pearl Harbor, you can check out Pearl Harbor Attacked and the Pearl Harbor Survivors Project, which are both excellent sources.

Out on the Ocean Blue

I thought I'd share this picture...

I'm out on the USNS Victorious right now. We flew out to Tokyo/Narita on the 27th, and drove over to Yokohama. We had the 28th to beat around base & get a few essentials from the NEX, and then we pulled out the next day. I was really bummed that we didn't get any time in port other than on base. My roomie & I did make it to the 105 yen sushi joint before we left, but it was mediocre that day.

Not doing much out here except for trying to get into a routine. We start our full watches tomorrow, so I'm trying to get on a regular rotation of watch, working out, reading books/watching movies, and sleeping. If you don't find a routine out here, it can be maddening.