I take the Washington D.C. Metro to work every day now. There is hardly a day goes by I don't see at least one Kindle on the Metro. I've even seen the elusive DX model!
So now (okay, it's not really "news") anyone's blog can be available on the Kindle. Since I read more on my Kindle than ever before, I hope to see some of my favorite people's blogs on there. I can't access Live Journal from work, so the Kindle is the way to go for me.
Oh, and with Kindle PC you don't really even need a Kindle to read Kindle content, and posting your blog via Kindle is free. It takes about three minutes to set it up and Amazon does all the Kindle formatting for you.
And of course, yours truly, who is on the bleeding edge (the dull edge down by the grip that catches the blood running off the blood groove, that is) will be on Kindle Blogs as well in a day or so. Yeah, Amazon will charge for it, and I will get 30%. My blog will probably sell for about a penny a month. Stretch yourself, ya cheapskate!
We’re finally getting settled back into life again here at the old covenstead. I’ve gotten back to my civilian job – if you’ve been reading my blog, you know what a headache that has been!
What we plan to do is, starting about Imbolc, we will pick up our book discussions. We plan to start meeting every other Saturday at Raven’s Nest Coffee House in Culpeper. Anyone interested is invited to attend. We will be starting off talking about Progressive Witchcraft by Janet Farrar and Gavin Bone, Deepening Witchcraft: Advancing Skills & Knowledge by Grey Cat and Lady Sintana. and Coven Craft: Witchcraft for Three or More by Amber K I'll post dates and times here if anyone might be interested in stopping by.
We are as always, available for pastoral service to the local Pagan and Wiccan community, but we will not be resuming active coven leadership for the foreseeable future. We will be conducting only private rituals at the quarters and cross-quarters. We plan to have drumming circles at the fire pit here during most Solar celebrations. We will continue to conduct degree advancement only on a select, personal basis to coveners who express interest in advancement. We also intend to maintain the public face of Foxglove Circle by attending the Pagan Leadership Conferences in Washington, D.C., Open Hearth Foundation activities, which Foxglove has been a paid sponsor of for a number of years, and local gatherings.
Please keep him and his family in your thoughts and prayers. I will lift my glass, once again (too many times) to our fallen brother.
War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself.
I grew up in the Cold War. I was born the year after the Berlin Wall was begun. It was something I always knew. I had not traveled outside the U.S. until I joined the Army. At the tender age of 20 I visited Berlin and saw the wall for the first time in person.
What had been known to me from an academic perspective was suddenly very real. The horror of such subjugation, the evils of communism, the depravity of power to exercise such control over other human beings was suddenly and demonstratively real. What I grew up knowing about from books and TV was here before me. It had a profound impact on me. I knew what I was doing was right and good and noble. I understood. I was proud of what I did for a living.
I worked as a member of the US Army during the Cold War. A war that was fought with bullets and lives (it was not, as some now claim, a war that was won by never firing a shot). But mostly it was fought though knowledge and riddles and puzzles. Through playing the Great Game and playing it better than the Soviets. It was an intelligence war and a diplomatic war. It was fought mostly in the shadows and the back alleys. Served cold in places like Berlin and Prague and Budapest. Fought hot in places like Korea and Indochina and Angola. It was fought on the frontiers in places like Fulda and Panmunjom. It was fought with headphones and pencils and graph paper and GUHOR sticks by myself and my colleagues. To me, this was as noble a calling as any other warrior's. I gave it my heart and did my job as best I knew how.
I was stationed in Germany at 108th MI Bn, Wildflecken from 1988-1992. The most forward-deployed MI unit in USAREUR. We were nestled in the Hof Gap region and joked that, if the 11th ACR was, as they quipped, the speed bump for the Soviets on their way to Frankfurt, we were their weapons-check on the way to the speed bump. We had no illusions about our survival if the balloon went up.
On 9 November, 1989, twenty years ago today, the wall came down. I was working that day in the SCIF. Though I cannot go into what I was working on at the time, I was as much or more an eye-witness to those events as anyone. I had come full circle. Freedom had won.
We do a lot on our reserve weekends. Military Intelligence (MI) soldiers are a little different. Most of us work in this field on the civilian side as well, so when mobilized (an increasingly frequent event. Over 40% of those deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan are reserve or gurard), we bring a lot to the fight. I never hear our troops talk about this being a part-time job, or that they are "playing Army" for the weekend. Deployments are too real and too frequent, and most of us are too fully engaged in the war on the civilian side as well. Most of us truly despise the term "weekend warrior" or other such terms, especially when it comes from soldiers themselves, and I am frankly disgusted by soldiers who say such things. And as last week's events at Ft. Hood illustrate, the potential to die in support of the GWOT here at home is just as real as it is in Afghanistan, or as it was on 9/11.
BTW, the men and women killed on Ft. Hood were not killed by some deranged gunman. They were killed by enemy action just as surly as those killed on 9/11, or on the battlefield. Do not feel pity for this man he is not a victim. He is an enemy solider. More and more evidence is coming to light all the time to support this.
But for soldiers to lose their lives at the hands of one of our own is inexcusable. If someone wants to commit suicide, please go forth and blow your brains out.
But do not take down your brothers and sisters in arms who want nothing more than to live their lives as peaceably as possible.
This is without honor of any sort. Even if it is for the sake of jihad, there is no honor in gunning down unarmed innocents.
Senseless, stupid, cowardly.
My thought are with the fallen.
My dw
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b_anderson and I have both been married before (to other people), but neither of us had made it to ten years of happy marriage. So this is pretty cool! No drama, no real weirdness. We both want to be here and married to each other. We both joke that we have "traded up" this time, and it seems like it is true.These past ten years have just flown by. It's been incredible. We're relatively successful, happy, content, comfortable. We love and support each other as equals, and we always seem to have the best times together, even if it's just going to the grocery store. I can't wait to see what the future holds for us.
So, here's to ten wonderful years with such a wonderful woman. I love you, my darling. I'm looking forward to many, many more years together. Thank you for teaching me what it is like to be loved by someone and to be able to love you back without reservation.
Of course that's not why I got them. The sound quality is so much better than my previous HAs. I've had a chance to wear my new pair of Oticon Dual Connect XW for about a week now. They are everything they are advertised to be. I am amazed at the real-life sound quality. I finally can hear when someone is talking to me from behind, and I can tell where they are now. We also recently went to a wedding. Even with my last HAs, the reception would have been a nightmare. Without aids at all, of course it would be impossible. But the new ones -- wow! I could actually make out what people were saying to me even a couple of seats away! I haven't been able to do that in years! (if you have sat with me at a DFAC, convention, meeting or whatever over the past few years and I made an inappropriate response to something you said, or just smiled and nodded and agreed a lot, I apologize. I didn't really hear what you were saying, but tried to make an appropriate response in the hopes I got it right. Feel free to talk to me again about whatever it was. I'm pretty sure I didn't hear you the first time.)
The also seem a lot smarter than the last ones. These learn about the various sound environments and adjust accordingly. It's pretty cool. Occasionally I can tell when they "figure it out" but most of the time it's pretty subtle, but makes for a much better experience in almost all situations.
Feedback is almost gone in these as well. That's huge. Here's a breakdown of all the features if you are really bored.
I also got the Streamer with them, which is more than just "handy". It's the Bluetooth transmitter for the HAs and interfaces with my cell phone. With the Connect Line accessories, I can also use it with my landline phone and TV as well. Yeah, the problems I had in noisy rooms I also had with the phone, and would avoid using the phone at all costs. I never really understood what people were saying on the phone. While still not a perfect solution, the Streamer options certainly comes close! These HAs are also T-Coil equipped if I need it. So far this hasn't been an issue, but I'll have to see what the job situation is like.
Note: I am not at all impressed with the Hilton. Sorry, Hilton, I get more bang for my buck from Holiday Inn Express. Hilton is over-priced, the rooms are small and slightly seedy in an 80's kind of way, the pillows too soft (HIE gives you two different types), no free breakfast ($17.00 for the buffet), no free Internet ($12.95 for 24 hours), and the parking is some of the most expensive in Crystal City ($24.00 per day)! I'm glad the government was paying for it!
Otherwise had an interesting, if sometimes baffling time.
I am getting new hearing aids tomorrow! I am so excited! I am test-driving demos today, and should be able to pick mine up from my new audi tomorrow.
I am getting the Oticon Dual Connect XW. Bluetooth enabled, better bandwidth, better signal processing, they learn as they go and adjust to different sound situations. These do a much better job at helping me sort out where sounds are coming from, since they also interact with each other to analyze situations. Although still a BTE style, the speakers are actually in the ear, so feedback is almost eliminated, and they sound so much better! They can also interface with my TV and landline telephone as well as my MP3 player, the Bluetooth, and apparently have built-in t-coils as well.
I love my ReSound Air HAs and they have made a huge difference in my life, but have been running up against their limitations lately. The new ones are some great HAs and I am really pumped about getting them.
I never imagined I would be so excited about new medical instruments
It's the rest of you I want to shame into reading this and discussing it. If you think you understand the issues surrounding the situation on the ground - read it. If you say you support the troops - read it. If you are against the war - read it. If you have a friend or loved one who has served - read it. If you have no connection to the military - read it. If you are at all a part of this society - read it.
It's a bit long but echos much of my sentiments about the war. So read all of it, and comment. It's important. We may be there a long time and almost certainly someone you know will be involved.
If you are looking for another Hitchhiker book, this isn't it.
It's as if the author, Eoin Colfer has read all the Hitchhiker books, but didn't really "get it". If you put all of DNA's aphorisms, sayings, characters and so on into a box and shook them up, this gives a fair approximation of what you get.
Way too much introspection by at least two of the most deeply and professionally superficial of DNA's characters, Wowbagger the Infinitely Prolonged and, wait for it: Zaphod.
Introspective and self-conscious Vogons?
Way too much time dedicated to developing very minor DNA characters and far too many hugely significant personality changes to the major characters. I know DNA evolved and changed the major players quite a bit over time, and even the movie was a departure from the books in several places. But the movie was still canon, having been mostly written by Adams.
It's rambling and disjointed, but not in a good way. It does border on funny in a few spots. I almost smiled here and there. Overall however, Colfer seems to be grasping (too hard!) at Adams-like humor and missing. It just isn't clever, and isn't funny. In short, it isn't a Hitchhiker book. It's not even particularly good if you aren't familiar with the Hitchhiker books.
I love Douglas Adams' books and really wanted to like this. It was written with approval from Adams' widow, Jane Belson and I understand Eoin Colfer is quite a good writer. I knew it wasn't going to be Adams, but this just isn't good. It's a lot like the movie Starship Troopers. The character names are the same, but otherwise it's really kinda like a bad fan-fic. The characters you know and love from the other books aren't really recognizable. It's like when I eat at most German restaurants. I love German food, but most of the time after I eat at a German restaurant in the states, I leave thinking I'd sure like to have some German food.
Don't bother. Really. It's a disappointing waste of time.
Since the topic is still in the news, here's one of the funniest things I have heard so far about Obama winning the Nobel Peace Prize. I don't watch 30 Rock because I don't watch much network TV, and I am unfamiliar with Tracy Morgan, but I understand he is a comic. I thought he was a liberal given that he is on 30 Rock, but this is a hilarious dig at Obama and the Nobel. This is in this week's Time Magazine, under 10 Questions (emphasis mine):
Q: What do you think of President Obama's winning the Nobel Peace Prize?
A: I think he deserves it. I think he's really trying to stop nuclear war. I love Obama. You see how cool he is? You see the way he gets off Air Force One? He kicks that leg just like Richard Roundtree. Ain't no other countries gonna mess with us. And as far as health care is concerned, tell them to put cocoa butter on it. Those old remedies still work!
"Seeing the elephant" is a term used often in connection with the military usually associated with combat. But it really has to do with any similar kind of experience.
There have been several such moments for me. Being shot at, mortared, almost blowed up more than once. Several experiences with a high pucker-factor, certainly. But an even earlier moment came during the Cold War when they sent me to NBC Defense School. Now I already knew a great deal about this class of weapons (now referred to as CBRN, or WMDs). It was always part of my job to know about all classes of weapons and weapons systems. At the school we watched several training films from back in the 1950's and 60's when we were still developing understanding about these weapons and their effects and how to defend against them. The films usually included rabbits, goats or pigs.
They were very graphic.
You can find bits and pieces of these films on YouTube, though I don't know why anyone would want to watch them. We have many ways to make people dead. That's a big part of the job in the military, to kill people and break things. Bullets, bombs, even nukes are pretty straight-forward. If you are fortunate, they make you dead in a hurry. Game over. Chemical and biological weapons are different. If you are extraordinarily fortunate, you will get dead right away. But that's not the point of these weapons. They are designed to make you a casualty. To make you suffer and to be a burden on the system until you eventually die. A dead soldier is a dead soldier. A wounded soldier takes at least two other soldiers to carry him, then all the medical resources after that to keep him alive. I resent these weapons deeply.
If you didn't buy into Reagan's "Evil Empire". If you thought searching for WMDs, on even a rumor of a county having them - a country which admitted to having them, and used them on their own people - is not worthy of a response. If you think it's no big deal that Iran seeks nuclear weapons, or that chemical and biological weapons are no big deal, The Dead Hand: The Untold Story of the Cold War Arms Race and its Dangerous Legacy is a book you should read. If you have an interest in Cold War history, the fall of the Soviet Union and the continued threat posed by the existence of these weapons, this is a book that should be part of your library. It is an excellent book. Well researched, lucid, fair - and absolutely terrifying.
There are several websites which extol the virtues of 550 cord as well as hundreds of videos on YouTube. This blog entry from a military spouse is one of my favorites. This page is interesting, but very civilian-ized. This one originally from Airman Magazine is predictable light on tactical uses. (BTW, while I have seen lots and lots of guys wear 550 cord bracelets - it keeps several feet of cord "handy" - they should NEVER be referred to as "buddy bracelets".) And of course there is this thread from Army Study Guide.
I've used 550 cord for so many things it's hard to remember them all. I've used it for boot laces, lanyards for various stuff, cord-wrapping for knives and tomahawks, securing things to MOLLE loops, tying things up, tying loads down, and even combined it on many occasions with 100 mph tape for various things.
One of my favorites most recently was to make an automatic door closer with 550 cord, nails, a 1-liter water bottle filled with sand and 100 mph tape.
So how about you? What's your 550 cord story?
Burger King
When I was stationed in Germany in the late 1980's - early 1990's the only fast food on post, especially on the little post of Wildflecken, was Burger King. If you didn't want to eat at the mess hall your choices consisted of, the Rod and Gun club, the snack bar or Burger King. So one day, another soldier and I went to BK.
BK: Welcome to Burger King, can I take your order?
Other Soldier: I'd like a Whopper, fries...
BK: I'm sorry, we're out of Whoppers
Other Soldier: Okay, a double cheeseburger, fries...
BK: I'm sorry. No cheeseburgers.
Other Soldier: Huh?
(At this point I am expecting the beginnings of the Cheese Shop skit)
BK: Actually sir, we are out of hamburger
Other Soldier: You are out of...hamburger?
BK: Yes sir. I am sorry. We have fish sandwiches.
Other Soldier: But this is Burger King, isn't it?
BK: Yes sir.
Other Soldier: And you are out of hamburger.
BK: Yes sir. I am sorry.
Other Soldier: If you are out of hamburger you can't really call yourself the Burger King can you?
Me: [ ** snort **}
BK: Excuse me sir?
Other Soldier: Well, if you are out of hamburger you can't really be the Burger King, can you? Maybe the Burger Jack-of-Hearts or something, but hardly the Burger King...
Like I said, I wish I had said that.
So now, if you are looking for the actual, unvarnished literal Word-O-God, you will have even more "literal translations" to choose from!
Someone tell me again which literal translation is literally the Word-O-God?
So, being a good NCOIC, I tried to get them for my team. Of course we couldn't have the teal or reds ones (the only colors they had last year. That wouldn't be tactical! The Snuggie people were nice, but apologetic in the matter.
Now - finally. According to this week's Army Times, the Tactical Snuggie is coming out! it's not on the website yet, but I am sure it will be available soon. Too late for my team, but if you have a soldier downrange, I'll bet it would make a great Christmas gift this year!
