But what was it that the Mayans saw that made them think the world would end on December 21, 2012? Here is a list of nine possible ways that the Earth might meet its pre-determined demise:

1. Chris Brogan’s Overnight Success series becomes so successful overnight that his server gets bombarded with visitors. The motherboard is so overheated that it sets off a chain reaction that quickly scorches the atmosphere.

2. The comments on Reddit become so negative that they accidentally open a gateway to a dimension of pure evil that quickly envelopes the entire universe.

3. Barack Obama bows to some far east monarch and accidentally throws out his back. The entire planet is so overcome with grief that everyone just kinda lays down and dies.

4.  The large Hadron Collider causes a gravitational anomaly resulting in a glitch on Twitter. This allows @aplusk to enter a 141 character Tweet that violates the laws of physics and shreds the very fabric of space and time.

5. The zombies come and nobody was paying attention to me!

6. The homepage for the supercomputer that controls our nation’s stockpile of nuclear weapons makes it to the front page of Digg. The traffic spike brings down the whole network.  Mistaking this for a Russian attack, the missiles launch.

7. Jean-Claude Van Damme, mad with jealousy at all the attention that Chuck Norris gets on the internets, round house kicks the Earth. Nothing happens because he’s really just a ballet dancer.  However, this causes Chuck Norris to giggle and the gale force wind created by his laughter alters the Earth’s orbit sending us careening into space.

8.  George Lucas finally does something so lame that the nerds of the world go on strike. Without the brains holding society together, humanity collapses under its own weight and dies like a beached whale.

9. The Dramatic Prairie Dog burrows all the way to the Earth’s core where his polarizing gaze causes the the iron in the core to  shift, collapsing the planets magnetic field. Without the protection of the ionosphere, three Kryptonians trapped in a big piece of glass(?) come crashing to Earth and a general malaise ensues.

~Man Overboard

Images used in this Post

Doomsday 2012 image courtesy of Flickr user one_dead_president published under the CC license.

Dramatic Prairie Dog image courtesy of GifBin.comSimilar Posts:

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Wait, What’s a Blip?

A blip is a single conversation element that helps to build an individual wave. Whenever you reply within a wave you create a new, individual blip. I am going to teach you how to utilize the inline reply technique to create a nested, inline blip.

Well, How do I Use It?

First, identify the blip where you want to nest a reply.

Next, double click the last word in that blip.

Click reply and you will see a perfectly nested inline blip where you can neatly type out your response.

That’s it. Very simple and very effective.

But Can’t This be Easier?

Yes but not right now. I wish Google Wave had a more intuitive way of implementing inline blips. Unless your read about this technique somewhere or happen to accidentally double click the last word of a blip there is no natural way of knowing how to do this. That said, I trust that as time goes by Google will address all of these little usability issues one by one.Similar Posts:

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Name:

Erwin Johannes Eugen Rommel (1891 – 1944)

Nickname

“Wüstenfuchs” (The Desert Fox)
“Ghost Division” (Nickname given to Rommel’s unit for its rapid maneuvers and unpredictable attack patterns)

Affiliation:

Nazi Germany

Conflict:

World War II

Nemesis:

George S. Patton (US)
Bernard Montgomery (UK)

Notable Victories:

Battle of Gazala
Invasion of France

Notable Defeats:

First Battle of El Alamein
Second Battle of El Alamein
Siege of Tobruk

Famous Quote:

“Sweat saves blood, blood saves lives, and brains saves both.”
“Krieg ohne Hass” (War without hate)

Famous tactics:

Rommel studied and perfected the famous German Blitzkrieg tactics. At the beginning of World War II, most of the allied forces were employing the WWI entrenchment tactics. Rather than get bogged down in a broad front like the stalemates of WWI, Rommel concentrated his tanks on a single point. This would open a small hole in the allied lines that Rommel’s tanks would quickly turn into a gaping wound. Once the enemy was on it’s heels, Rommel never let up until he had either destroyed or captured entire allied armies. During the invasion of France, Rommel captured or killed over 100,000 French troops while losing little more than 2,000 men.

It was the Africa campaign, however, that made Rommel the scourge of the British and American armies. In the wide open desert wastelands of northern Africa, Rommel’s tanks and skillful maneuvering were unmatched by anything the allies could put in his way.

Rommel’s Afrika Korps quickly drove through the desert, demolishing everything in it’s path, until it reached the port of Tobruk. It was there that Rommel believed he could deal a deadly blow to the allies and secure victory in Africa. Tobruk, however, would prove to be no easy prey. Garrisoned there were units from Australia and the retreating British. Despite multiple attacks, the defenders held their ground. Rommel’s true undoing in Africa would prove to be logistics. Whereas the defenders of Tobruk were resupplied by sea with ammunition, troops, and provisions; Rommel’s men had only a long supply line through the desert that was constantly harassed by Allied air power. Even so, the British tank force sent to relieve Tobruk suffered heavy losses when they met the poorly supplied Afrika Korps. Eventually, Rommel would admit his overconfidence and withdraw from the siege of Tobruk instead of launching another doomed attack.

Despite later victories at Gazala and Kasserine Pass, Rommel was condemned to fighting a defensive action from then on. His plan to defend the French coast would certainly have succeeded in halting the D-Day invasion were it not for Hitler’s reluctance to station Rommel’s Panzer Divisions near the Coast between Normandy and Calais. Even so, they might have reached Normandy in time were it not for Hitler’s nap. The Fuhrer was asleep when the allies landed and his aides were simply too frightened of the man to disturb him so he could issue the order for Rommel to engage. By the time Hitler woke up and the tanks of the German Army were sent into battle, the allies had secured a foothold at the five beaches of Normandy.

Synopsis:

Rommel was one of the most decorated officers in Nazi Germany. His uniform proudly displayed the many metals he was awarded for his service in WWI and with a pair of Tank Commander goggles on his head, he won the admiration of the enlisted men he commanded.

Despite his devastating tactics, Rommel was known by his enemies as a compassionate antagonist, an uncharacteristic trait for a high ranking Nazi. Due to his fast movements, he often ended up behind enemy lines. In one case, he actually stumbled into an Allied field hospital. Rather than slaughter helpless wounded, Rommel asked the staff what supplies they required, and then handed them over from his own unit’s inventory. This earned him the respect of his allies. British General Montgomery even named his dog after the German General.

There was a well known rift between Rommel and Hitler that was demonstrated on several occasions. Both at Tobruk and Normandy, the two could not agree on a course of action. Rommel also refused to execute POW’s and Jews despite multiple orders to do so. It was this public disagreement that caused Rommel to be implicated in a failed attempt on Hitler’s life.

This placed Hitler in a difficult position. He had a choice between publicly executing a national hero, or allowing a conspirator to live. Hitler chose to use Rommel’s compassion and reputation to his advantage. He gave Rommel the choice between suicide by cyanide poisoning or watching his wife and children die. Rommel committed suicide soon after in order to spare his family. He was given a hero’s burial with no mention of an execution thanks to the Nazi Propaganda machine.

On a personal note, my grandfather, Ernest Gamble, was a Sherman Tank Commander in WWII who served in the 3rd Armored Division under Patton. His unit went up against Rommel’s tanks on more than one occasion.  Unfortunately, I never got the chance to ask Pops what he thought about Erwin Rommel, but it’s a good bet it was respect, resentment, and a mouthful of cusses.

~Man Overboard

Image used in this Post

Field Marshal Erwin Rommel image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons published under the CC license.

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Executive privilege has been a popular term over the last 30 years, and if you watch the news you’ve probably heard the term once or twice. Executive privilege is based on the notion that the President and other members of the executive branch have a right to refuse to submit to a subpoena from Congress or the courts. Recently, we’ve seen executive privilege (ab)used by:

• Richard Nixon during Watergate
• Ronald Reagan during the Iran-Contra scandal
• Bill Clinton during his impeachment trial
• George W. Bush for the U.S. Attorney firing scandal

But did you know that the notion of executive privilege was first invoked by George Washington over 200 years ago?

The Background

The year was 1791, and the young republic was only eight years removed from the Treaty of Paris, which officially ended the Revolutionary War and recognized U.S. sovereignty over the land east of the Mississippi River and south of the Great Lakes. Unfortunately for the Native Americans in that region, they were not a party to the treaty, and viewed the new American settlers as invaders from a foreign country. George Washington initially allowed the local militias to handle the conflict independently, but by 1791 he decided it was time to used military force to pacify the area.

St. Clair’s Defeat aka the Battle of the Wabash

Arthur St. Clair

Washington, along with Secretary of War Henry Knox decided it would be best for General Arthur St. Clair to lead the army against the Indians. St. Clair was a revolutionary war general, most famous for being court-martialed for surrendering Fort Ticonderoga in 1777. However, by 1791, he had recovered his image and was governor of the Northwest Territory. So, Washington sent St. Clair a contingent of 2000 men, mostly made up of local militia. Unfortunately, the War Department did not supply these troops well, and morale was low. By October 1791, many of the local militiamen had deserted, and St. Clair was left with 52 officers and 868 enlisted men. On November 4, 1791, the Indians launched a surprise attack against the American forces, and although the battle only lasted three hours, the results were devastating. Of the 920 American soldiers, 632 were killed and 264 wounded (a casualty rate of 97.4%), and Arthur St. Clair would be forced to resign his commission. Nearly 1/4 of America’s standing army had been killed. St. Clair’s Defeat remains the single worst defeat suffered by the U.S. Army in its history.

The Birth of Executive Privilege

The House of Representatives decided to launch an investigation into the events surrounding St. Clair’s Defeat. It was the first Congressional investigation, and also the first of the executive branch. As part of the proceedings, the House of Representatives subpoenaed various documents from the War Department. In response, Washington summoned all of his department heads (considered the first Cabinet meeting), and they established executive privilege based on the separation of powers. Essentially, the President could keep matters secret from anybody whenever it was required for the greater good. Washington would eventually submit the documents anyway, but the notion of executive privilege was here to stay.Similar Posts:

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You see, when I was in college, I had a tendency to ramble, blabber, and mumble about anything and everything I retained from my countless hours watching the Discovery and History Channels. It was because of this that my college buddies, fond of ridicule, gave me the nickname Cliff. This was of course in reference to Cliff Claven, the quotable Mailman who sat next to Norm at Cheers and graced us with many obscure factoids; some true, some embellished, and some completely made up.

So when I let my mindless banter evolve into the higher form of Babeling, I suggested the answer that was Cliff’s undoing on Jeopardy as our site motto.  The rest is history.

Now, without further adue, I give you the story that inspired our catch phrase:

~Man OverboardSimilar Posts:

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In nuclear terms, poison is used to describe a substance that has a strong ability to absorb neutrons. Think of neutrons as the oxygen needed for a fire to burn. Put water on the fire, and you rob the fuel of the oxygen needed for the fire, and the flames cease. Likewise,  when you remove the free neutrons from a fission reaction, the reactor goes sub-critical and shuts down.

Xenon 135 is one of the most common and troublesome poisons found in nuclear reactors. It is a radioactive isotope of Xenon which is predominately formed by the beta decay of Iodine 135.  The iodine is a common byproduct of the fission of Uranium 235.  When the Uranium splits, it releases several neutrons and also two smaller daughter elements, among them Iodine 135.

Once it appears in the reactor, Xenon is removed in one of two ways.  The first is by neutron absorption. When Xe-135 captures a neutron, it becomes Xe-136, a stable isotope which does not absorb neutrons.  This process is referred to as the burn up or burn out of Xenon, where the poisonous Xenon is removed.

The second way Xenon is removed is by beta decay.  Xe-135 has a half life of about 9 hours.  I-135 has a half life of about 6.5 hours. This time differential is one of the factors that makes Xenon such a problem for nuclear reactors.  Since Xenon takes longer to decay than the Iodine takes to build in the Xenon, then there is a natural tendency for Xenon levels to increase in a reactor when not at equilibrium.

When a reactor is at equilibrium Xenon, the rate that Iodine decays into Xenon-135 (build in) is equal to the rate Xe-135 decays plus the rate of Xenon burn out.

The real problem with Xenon comes into play when power levels in the reactor change.  When power rapidly decreases in the reactor, the rate of Xenon burn out drops.  However, the existing I-135 continues to decay and produce more Xe-135.  This causes Xenon levels to increase, bringing the available neutrons down and lowering power.  A few hours later, as I-135 production slows, the Xe-135 levels off and power rises again.  So you havn’t touched anything, but power is now higher than you left it.

The converse is also true.  When power is rapidly increased, the rate of Xenon-135 burn out rises sharply but the I-135 decay remains unchanged.  This causes a lowering of Xe-135 concentration and an increase in power.  Eventually, the rate of I-135 production and decay along with the rate of X-135 production and burnout reach equilibrium.  Now power is lower than you left it because Xenon has built back in.

The end result of this is Xenon 135 is a major nuisance to Nuclear Reactor Operators and Core Engineers.  The solution is placing limits on the rate at which a plant raises and lowers power.  This enables operators to keep a close eye on Xenon and make sure the reactor is running in a safe and controlled manner.  The operators at Chernobyl didn’t.  As you will see in a later post, Xenon-135 was one of the many factors that combined to cause the catastrophe at the Russian reactor that would change the nuclear industry forever.

~Man Overboard

Image used in this Post

Xenon image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons published under the CC license.Similar Posts:

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Method 1: Embedding Videos with the HTML Gadget

1. Open up a Wave. It can be a new Wave or one you’re already actively collaborating in.

2. Within the Wave, select Add Gadget by URL – it’s the green puzzle piece icon located at the very top of your text editor.

3. Type in the following address:

http://wave-ide.appspot.com/html.xml

4. Now you are free to embed any video source code you want into your Wave. You would do this the same way you would add a video to a blog post.

Note: Using the HTML Gadget you are free to add whatever HTML you would like to your Waves. This would be especially useful for embedding tables and any other markup you would like.

Method 2: Video Embedding Extension

1. Open a Wave.

2.  Add Gadget by URL.

3. Type in the following address (I am using Vimeo for my example):

http://wave.initialblip.com/vimeo/VIDEO_ID (where VIDEO_ID is replaced by the ID of your video).

For my Wave I wanted to embed the Auto Tuning video which has a VIDEO_ID of 3718294, so my link would be:

http://wave.initialblip.com/vimeo/3718294

Note: You can still use Method Number 1 when embedding videos from Vimeo, however Method 2 is a slightly faster option. That said, I have noticed that Method 2 does not always work as advertised. I suspect this is an early issue with the Extension and Google Wave and I’m sure it will get resolved.

Auto Tuning from Casey Donahue on Vimeo.Similar Posts:

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Here’s my suggestion for the quote of the week:

“In war, uncertainty gets you killed. It just did” said Daniel Henninger, (WSJ 11/12/2009, p. A23) when he talked about the Fort Hood attack last week.

Jack Gamble in his article here, Media Refuses to call Fort Hood Shooting a terror attack, points to the same direction. You can’t blink around suspected terrorists. Hasan (please stop calling him Major) wasn’t born a lunatic. He acted in a mission as directed by an Islamic terrorist group. The bad news is that they might be still operating on American soil.

If the U.S. people, media or leadership, would not react now and investigate any spiritual leaders, cultural groups, or any organization that calls for the destruction or killing of U.S. civilians, attacks will follow. Take Israel for instance, the country has suffered many attacks from terrorist organizations that fight in the name of Islam. These groups tried in the past (with no success) to establish cells within the Israeli cities. One thing would always be a great help for this plan: Ignorance

Countries that fighting this blood war are subject to wide criticism, mainly by educated UN policy makers and former judges in the form of numberless reports and sanction votes. Among the latest one is the famous Goldstone report for Israel’s actions in Gaza. The report is a pure criticism on Israeli diplomacy and its actions in Gaza last year. Nobody remembers, however, that more than 30,000 Israeli citizens were in danger of rocket attacks before the Operation Cast in Gaza. Today, they can sleep better. Israel’s government did what it was supposed to do and no one can judge them for that.

Here in the U.S., the government is bound to “political correctness” when treating these organizations and their members.  For years, policy makers try to define the enemy, the enemies rights and the legal status and scope of method if you want to fight the enemy, says Henninger. By doing this, you avoid the main question: how did Hasan grow among us?

And one last thing, don’t let the “national grief” and sad feelings go over your head. For 13 families, life won’t be normal ever again and we might be able to feel just a bit. But excessive grief might lead your actions and that is very dangerous.

Image Used in this Post

Shut up courtesy of Flickr user Tiago Rïbeiro published under the CC license.Similar Posts:

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Keywords: Stability, Permanence, Form, Structure

The Emperor sits on a stone throne surrounded by mountains. He has a golden scepter in his right hand, a golden ball in his left hand, and a golden crown on his head. Beneath his red robe he is clad in full armor, prepared to fend off potential usurpers of his throne. He keeps his eyes focused on his peripheral surroundings.

This is a tricky card because on the surface all the symbols seem to suggest that the Emperor’s rule is stable and under his control. However, this is only an illusion. Though the Emperor’s rule appears to be as permanent and enduring as the highest mountains of Earth, in time, like the mountains, it too will eventually crumble, disappear, and fall forever out of memory. Therefore, the lesson of this card is that control and permanence are nothing more than temporary illusions.

In a tarot spread the Emperor represents experiences in your life that make you feel stable and in control. It can also signify a period of accomplishment after spending time struggling to achieve a desired goal. However, it can also negatively represent a period where you resist change or find yourself clinging to the past because of attachment and comfort.Similar Posts:

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When Army Major Nadil Malik Hasan gave away his worldly possessions and cleaned out his apartment it was not an act of desperation or a moment of immense psychological stress.  It was in preparation for carefully calculated premeditated mass murder.

When he spread anti-American propaganda to mentally distressed soldiers returning from war instead of providing medical treatment, it was not a man who was distraught about the horrors of war.

When he walked into a hospital and shouted “Allahu Akbar” as he fired more that 100 rounds killing 13 and wounding 29 unarmed soldiers who were about to go home after years of deployment, it was not a desperate act of a man afraid to face a war the likes of which no one has ever seen.

It was an attack on our military by a Radical Islamic Terrorist known for pro-jihad sentiment that was carried out on American soil – the first of its kind since 9/11.

So why then is Dr. Phil on CNN talking about the immense pressure that a soldier faces after war (i.e. PTSD) even though this murdering bastard has never been deployed and never seen combat?

Why is the media still afraid of portraying Muslims in a negative light for fear of backlash?

Why did the New York Times headline read “Told of War Horror, Gunman Feared Deployment?”

Why does CNN act like the soldiers in this war are so much more distraught then the men in WWII, Korea, or Vietnam?

Why are we pretending that this evil son of a bitch is a victim?

The lengths the media will go to politicize this brazen act of murder is sickening.  These men died serving their country in an ambush by an Islamic Terrorist.  They were not the unfortunate bystanders when a man was overcome by the horror of a war that he never even fought in.

I don’t want to feel sorry for this extremist.  I want to see Major Hasan swing from a noose on national television.  I want to see the look in his eyes the second the rope squeezes the life out of him.  I want the executioner to tie the wrong knot so he slowly chokes, denied a swift execution befitting a warm blooded human being.  I don’t want this story to be used as fodder for the media cannons aimed at demonizing our military while evoking sympathy for the people who would set this world on fire.  I don’t want CNN making excuses for him.

~Man Overboard

Image Used in this Post

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