Archive for the 'Technology' Category

Will you help with the 2012 Soldier’s Angels VALOur-IT Fundraising Work (7/4-9/3/2012)

July 3rd, 2012 by xformed

If you need no introduction to this wonderful project, and want to just get on with getting your blog/website participating, the signup link is here.

Background:

This year, while there is a reduction in military action, there still are men and women in the field, who are at risk of being injured. There are those, of course, presently in the military medical system who have injuries that can be circumvented or need therapy that can be provided by technology.

Beginning this Independence Day in 2012, Soldier’s Angels will begin the annual fundraising efforts to provide funding for laptops with voice recognition software, Wiis and GPS units to be provide at no cost to military members or care facilities to help these men and women get back closer to normalcy in their lives, after serving their country and us.

Know these things about the annual fundraising:

  • All the donated funds go to the equipment, or the delivery to the people/facilities. You don’t often come across a charity project that devotes the funds right to the “end users.”
  • While the 4 “service teams” are listed for the donations, all the money goes to one account, and is spent to provide to those in need, regardless of their service affiliation. The teams are merely a ways for the supporters to have a little friendly competition among themselves to satisfy their fix for a little old school interservice rivalry.

The VALOur-IT (Voice Activated Laptops for Our Injured Troops) project was an accidental program, begun in 2005, when a blogger was injured by an IED in Iraq. From there, this project of all volunteer help, has provided over 6000 laptops to those who cannot use their hands or have vision issues. For years, they have all been brand new units, set up with Dragon Naturally Speaking software.

Please consider helping out in some (or all) of the following ways:

  • Join the list of sites/blogs and get it to your readership
  • Get the link to Soldier’s Angels VALOur-IT donation page and send it to your email list
  • Lobby your workplace to allow you to post/pass out a flyer with this information to the employees
  • See if your employer has matching funds for donations to this project and get that word out to your co-workers
  • Present this information to your social networks, the digital ones, and the real ones, too!
  • Post the information in local coffee shops/restaurants and other places with community bulletin boards (check with the management first, which is another opportunity to discuss this project with those who are not aware of the work)

Thank you for reading this and considering taking this information viral! The people who have benefited for the donations over the last 7 years have been given a precious gift and are grateful for the equipment the has helped them get back into life!

Category: Air Force, Army, Charities, Coast Guard, Jointness, Leadership, Marines, Military, Military History, Navy, Public Service, Supporting the Troops, Technology, Valour-IT | 2 Comments »

VALOur-IT 2010 Campaign Final Numbers: BZ!

November 16th, 2010 by xformed

For those without a Naval background, “BZ” is signal flag code for “Well Done.”

It’s been over for a few days, but the final totals, minus some that will trickle in via the mail for the VALOur-IT was:

$92,542!!

Amazing. The beginning goal was $60K. The Army sprinted out of the blocks and blew throught their $15K “fair share” and had to bump the goal to keep it easy to see. They pushed their meter to $25K, and then the Marines, outflaked them and everybody else…..The Jarheads powered through the muck and went north of $30K to an amazed audience. Of course a nod from Michelle Malkin didn’t hurt at all, now did it?

Thanks to one and all for spreading the word on this wonderful, life changing project, that puts wounded soldiers, sailors. airmen, Coast Guardsmen and Marines back into the world via technology.

See you next year, but, donations for this, and the many other projects of Soldier’s Angels are gracefully accepted all year long.

Category: Air Force, Army, Charities, Coast Guard, Jointness, Leadership, Marines, Military, Military History, Navy, Public Service, Technology, Valour-IT | Comments Off on VALOur-IT 2010 Campaign Final Numbers: BZ!

Project VALOur-IT 2010 Campaign Begins

October 28th, 2010 by xformed

learn more

My favorite time of the year begins today, and goes until Veteran’s Day, 11/11/10.

Project VALOur-IT was an accidental collusion of two minds, some one offering help from Soldier’s Angels and the rest is history. The story is well told across the now 6 years, and over 5000 laptops, the very large majority of them new, with Dragon Naturally Speaking are in the hands of those wounded so they are limited by sight or typing disabilities.

The laptops are theirs to keep.

The funds are used only for the purchase of the laptops, and now Wiis and GPS units, and the transportation to the delivery points (usually the major US Military Medical facilities). All other costs for this project are borne by volunteers. It’s a charity project where, down to the final penny, it’s put to work for the purpose of the project. I like it for that reason, but I like it more because it provides some normality back to those who have suffered for the defense of the Nation, and for those in other lands.

for the last 5 years, a large band of bloggers have taken to the net to let people know this project exists and to request your donations. Not only are they active duty/retired/former military members, but supporters, family members, and any one else who jumps in to pass the word on to everyone they know.

On the donate page linked to the button above, you can also get the code to put a button like this, or the alternative style, to post on your site/blog/etc.

Category: Air Force, Army, Charities, Coast Guard, Jointness, Leadership, Marines, Maritime Matters, Military, Navy, Supporting the Troops, Technology, Valour-IT | Comments Off on Project VALOur-IT 2010 Campaign Begins

Toys for the ex-Sailor

December 20th, 2009 by xformed

First, it was the Bionic Dolphin…but there were issues.

Now, NEW AND IMPROVED! and you can do 360 rolls in it.

Rotary engine, 215hp, 3 feet deep, 12 feet in the air are the parameters.

Let’s go to the video:

And…if you’re curious, at the end of the video, they disclose the “damage,”  somewhere about $48K and change.

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

Category: Technology | Comments Off on Toys for the ex-Sailor

Can you help this year with VALOur-IT?

October 23rd, 2009 by xformed

Do you have a website or blog?

If so, you can “join” a team (Team Navy is a great choice!) that fits your own association, or that of a family or friend.

At the end of the day and drive, all the funds go towards the same cause, VALOur-IT from Soldier’s Angels, helping those wounded warriors by prviding laptops with voice activated software, Nintendo Wiis for therapy and GPS units for those suffering short term memory loss issues from TBI.

If you don’t have a blog/site, please consider passing the word around and condisring donating yourself. Every little bit helps!

The drive begins 10/26 (MONDAY!) and runs through Veteran’s Day (11/11) this year.

Category: Air Force, Army, Blogging, Charities, Coast Guard, Marines, Military, Navy, Public Service, Supporting the Troops, Technology, Valour-IT | Comments Off on Can you help this year with VALOur-IT?

VALOur-IT 2009: It’s That Time Again!

October 6th, 2009 by xformed

This is year 4 for the Veteran’s Day fund drive to raise money for the Soldier’s Angels Voice Activated Laptops for Our Injured Troops (VALOur-IT) project.

This project came about as a result of one then Army CAPT, now Major, a blogger, being hit by an IED and ending up in Walter Reed, and being asked by a rep from Soldier’s Angels if they could get him anything. “A laptop, so I can keep blogging.” Well, from one used laptop from eBay, the addition of Dragon Naturally Speaking from a gracious and anonymous donation, then the suggestion from one of his readers about wider applicability, came the program that has helped thousands of wounded warriors with sight or hand mobility issues.

In fact, if you’ll be at BlogExpo in Las Vegas (10/13-15), you can most likely meet Chuck Z, “patient 0!” BTW, he could use a little help getting there: See this post of his.

Beginning last year, VALOur-IT began providing GPS units (helps those with short term memory issues as a result of Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI from IEDs), and Nintendo Wiis (gets them to do physical therapy like things, because they love to play games)

This year, the drive will run from 10/26 to 11/11.

We’re looking for bloggers and websites to promote the drive, and those who wold be so kind to exploit their email lists to help the cause. Effort? Punch our some emails with links to the donate site, and make some posts. Whip up the crowd, ask for a few $. Not hard, but worthwhile.

My allegiance is to Team Navy, but know these things:

голова болит секс

The project’s blog is here, if you’d like to dig in and see what the program has been and is doing now.

Thanks in advance. Please spread the word and leave a comment if you’d like to participate this year. I’ll get you to the Team Navy leader…:) Well, maybe to the other service team leaders, if I must. голова болит секс

Category: Air Force, Army, Blogging, Charities, Coast Guard, Jointness, Marines, Military, Navy, Supporting the Troops, Technology, Valour-IT | 1 Comment »

You Ask: What is WolframAlpha?

May 3rd, 2009 by xformed

.!.

Tarzan Escapes dvd

Dog Watch movie download New Nightmare dvdrip Gonna make Google look like a card catalog at a library…

Coming soon…very soon…

The Limits of Control video Wieners dvdrip

Tremors buy 30,000 Leagues Under the Sea video

Tonight We Raid Calais ipod

Category: Technology | Comments Off on You Ask: What is WolframAlpha?

Recalibration of My Concepts of War in the Modern World

February 17th, 2009 by xformed

In the summer of 1988, I walked across a stage and received an acknowledgment of 9 months of study at the College of Command and Staff of the Naval War College in Newport, RI. Basically simultaneously, I was awarded an MA in International Relations from Salve Regina. About a year later, the 9 months spent at the NWC allowed my time in the seminars and writing papers to become an MA in Strategic Studies.

I left that institution, having studying warfare from the Ancient Greeks to the 1986 Gulf of Sidra Freedom of Navigation “exercise,” with an embedded belief that major world wars were just not going to be fought anymore. It had become clear to me, with my filters of reason, that wars had been fought to acquire resources, so the complete destruction of your enemy’s real estate and revenue generating entities, public and private, was not an option, maybe other than doing some “dynamic modifications” to make the point that you could.

The premise I had formed was based on people being materialistic beings, and all wanting to covet the neighbors “stuff.”

I had not bothered to factor in a glaringly obvious piece of the puzzle, it being a part of history I had not paid much attention, until these last few years, and that was the massive years of the Holy Wars in the Middle East several centuries ago.

It has become apparent that world wars are still a very real possibility, but, to break my personal paradigm, they will not (are not as the case actually is right now) about acquiring the resources another nation possesses: It’s now about enslaving the minds, or, as demonstrated regularly, destroying them physically over the issue of what the religion wants.

Don’t follow me? Read this article, which discusses the Iranian employment of Electro-Magnetic Pulse (EMP) weapons, their basis being within the construction of nuclear weapons, which are specifically engineered to employ radio signals, and not blast effect, to achieve their destructive effect. read the article not to understand how the weapon works, but what it does.

To make is short and to the point, when one of these weapons goes off, the energy finds runs of wiring, from hi tension power lines, to the microscopic ones inside your computer and cell phones, and the interior wiring of your home, and induces electrical current via inductance. Net result: Power surges. Think about how lightning causes surges and destroys your expensive plasma TV and stereo gear. Magnify that to every electrical system around about a quarter of the globe (depending on the altitude of the detonation). All ability to deliver electricity is gone, literally in an instant.

That’s what Iran is aiming to do. Now, back to my naive thought about the primary goal of aggression is that of greed. In this case, it’s ideologically driven, and it’s all about Islam being the only political system. Political system? No typographical error there. It is a political system, with a religious component. When viewed that way, we can see it for what it is: A system designed to control the populace at all levels, not just the faith portion of a society.

Our problem? We have considered Islam a religion, rarely ever attributing to it the political component, which, is actually the predominant portion of the system it is. Therefore, we act as thought the practice of the “religion” is a free right of anyone, and specifically protected under the 1st Amendment of The Constitution of the United States. When another nation is ruled, as a political entity under Islam, we give it room as a freedom of religion concept, disregarding the fact it is the government within those national borders.

What benefit does Iran have in employing EMP weapons against the entire western world? It certainly eliminates the advantage of advanced technology at many levels, from the use of satellites to gather and process intelligence, to the production of even standard infantry weapons for the individual soldier, and the ammunition to go with them. Where we have ceased to rely on quantity over quality for the last several conflicts, and have become quite successful militarily operating in that regime, all of a sudden, we would be reduced to a middle age army, equipped with spears and pitchforks, and mostly those on the shelf. No ability to quickly move smaller units around to effectively manage the crisis, the local militias would become all encompassing of any person in decent to good health. That will even become problematic, as the supply chain necessary with have been rendered completely ineffectual.

Consider this: The Russians are assisting Iran in development of their “peaceful” nuclear power generating capability. They are selling them anti-aircraft systems, too. from my time in service, I recall hearing that the Soviets discovered the EMP component of nuclear weapons before we in the west had understood that effect. This article, I found quickly on the net takes it back to 1960, when the Soviets were known to understand the phenomena. Who is it working with Iran? Who has been historically shamed as a country by the United States? Yes, the mighty Soviet Union, which is re-emerging, to some degree, under Putin. They have begun making deployments into our hemisphere by major naval and air units. They have manged to maneuver themselves into controlling our logistics train into Afghanistan. It’s all sending a message. They will not bow to us, and they will step up the challenges as they are able. In this case, I project they will return to a prior strategy of using proxy opponents, such as North Korea, North Vietnam and now, Venezuela and Iran to get back at us for forcing them to dismantle their empire.

———————–

Update 2/17/2009 PM:

My point with Iran/Islam goals:  With a single large EMP blast, or maybe one per coast, they could effectively reduce most of the nation to the 1700’s era in moments, and many, many millions of “infidels” will die at the hands of other infidels fighting over the last pre-packaged resources, and then many more from starvation, exposure and disease.  What’s left?  The infrastructure whill also be effectively destroyed.  While bulindgs and facilities may stand, the power grid will be damaged beyond the economic means of the current Third World economies, armed with EMP weapons, to restore it and use it to their advantage.  It will just become a waste land, and they can live in the MIddle East, free of anyone telling them democracy is a better way.  On the other hand, if it’s the new “bipartisan,” welfare dependant model going in place now, maybe they have a point, but at least the President never had anyone’s head cut off for disagreeing with him.

————————-

President Obama has more than “tests” ahead, and soon. He will have real history changing choices to make as the leader of the nation. And decisions like this aren’t going to make us safer, it will just let the adversaries know, we’ll get rid of an ability to deter them. Not even the tried and true “mutually assured destruction” (which is almost negated by the base beliefs of Islam anyhow) will remain to maybe convince a few leaders to back down and make sane decisions.

To conclude:  I stand corrected, and I must say, I don’t like the outcome. World Wars will be fought, and not as we have seen them before, either.

Category: Technology | Comments Off on Recalibration of My Concepts of War in the Modern World

Love Your Glock? You Should: Read This

February 4th, 2009 by xformed

DUDE! Chasing links and found this: Glock 21 Torture Test

Dragonheart

Critters 3 dvd Silent Trigger

Nothing But the Truth hd

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire trailer Is This Goodbye, Charlie Brown? dvdrip Next Day Air psp

Session 9 dvdrip

Geez! He has plenty of pics of “prepping the weapon in mud, dirt, baby powder, water, ice, etc…then fired 500 rounds without cleaning it. Before and after pics. Ran over by a car, dropped from a Cessna (Yes, while flying)! You gotta chase the link!

As Barney would say LEGENDARY! performance…

And when you finish that read, check out The Ten Manliest Weapons List.

Category: Technology | 1 Comment »

Very, Very "Lexable…"

January 18th, 2009 by xformed

Hmmm…can fly over land or water, has a more affordable price tag (no gear option, I think was $113K), two seats, truck-able, too. What’s not for Neptunus Lex Romero trailer to like about it, or some of the rest of us, too, with a little hankering for fun in a VFR world on a “conservative” budget?

I bring you the Icon A5 Sport Plane!

Click for larger Image
You only need a “Sport Pilot” rating to fly this one

buy Dead Heist

and that’s much less expensive. Stuck with flying by eyeball and below 10KFt at a max of 120 kts! Oh, yeah…another “Lex” feature: Auto-fold wings!Saw the article n the new wired.Drawbacks? Well, an F-16 “driver” is part of the design team…which may be a plus for some others.

Get busy filling his tip jar, so we might vie for an opportunity to be a “guest” in the right seat..Just read about this in the Wired Magazine

The Cell hd The Grain That Built a Hemisphere video

at the store, but it doesn’t show on the web site. Update 1/19/2009: Here’s the link to the Wired article.

Other update: “Auto-fold wings” powered by pilot and/passenger/ground crew/curious bystanders.Sideways hd

Category: Technology | Comments Off on Very, Very "Lexable…"

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