It's an "Upgrade!"

Big Navy finally decided to pump some money into the computer network on our ship and what do we get? New error messages! They're different error messages and a wider variety of them, I'll grant you, but somehow I'm not impressed. Ah, variety. Is it not the spice of life?

Nice Shooting, Mr. Moore

Mr. Due Moore of Albequerque, New Mexico, put his concealed weapon permit to good use last Thursday.

Air Force Overreacts to Academy Scandal, Navy Declines

The Air Force is set to revise its policy on religious speech by banning any sort of religious speech at officially sanctioned events. Presumably this would even bar an invocation and benediction at individuals' retirement ceremonies. The Navy, however, continues to resist outside pressure to act in a similar manner.

I don't have a problem with government restricting aggressive proselytizing. My issue with the Air Force's decision is the "one size fits all" nature of their decision. In the Navy we've come to call it "intrusive leadership", and basically what it sometimes boils down to is punishing the innocent for the acts of the guilty.

Take hazing, for example. Every once in a while a handful of idiots will decide to play some games with the "new guy" and will cross a line. Inevitably when the complaint is lodged and the investigation is done, one of the idiots will assert that he was never told it was improper to strip a shipmate down to his underwear and duct tape him to a stanchion. What really amazes me is that we as the leadership of the Navy give this kind of answer any credibility at all, and ultimately force an entire ship, or fleet even, to receive training on why it isn't okay to play these stupid games, and have thousands of Sailors acknowledge in writing that they were told what the policy is.

I recognize that I've been living in something of a closed society for most of my adult life, but is the rest of society so screwed up that they can't make common sense decisions about right and wrong?

This Is Going to Be Bad

From the National Weather Service in New Orleans:

URGENT - WEATHER MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NEW ORLEANS LA
1011 AM CDT SUN AUG 28 2005

....DEVASTATING DAMAGE EXPECTED...

..HURRICANE KATRINA...A MOST POWERFUL HURRICANE WITH UNPRECEDENTED STRENGTH...RIVALING THE INTENSITY OF HURRICANE CAMILLE OF 1969.

MOST OF THE AREA WILL BE UNINHABITABLE FOR WEEKS...PERHAPS LONGER. AT LEAST ONE HALF OF WELL CONSTRUCTED HOMES WILL HAVE ROOF AND WALL FAILURE. ALL GABLED ROOFS WILL FAIL...LEAVING THOSE HOMES SEVERELY DAMAGED OR DESTROYED.

THE MAJORITY OF INDUSTRIAL BUILDINGS WILL BECOME NON FUNCTIONAL. PARTIAL TO COMPLETE WALL AND ROOF FAILURE IS EXPECTED. ALL WOOD FRAMED LOW RISING APARTMENT BUILDINGS WILL BE DESTROYED. CONCRETE BLOCK LOW RISE APARTMENTS WILL SUSTAIN MAJOR AMAGE...INCLUDING SOME WALL AND ROOF FAILURE.

HIGH RISE OFFICE AND APARTMENT BUILDINGS WILL SWAY DANGEROUSLY...A FEW TO THE POINT OF TOTAL COLLAPSE. ALL WINDOWS WILL BLOW OUT.

AIRBORNE DEBRIS WILL BE WIDESPREAD...AND MAY INCLUDE HEAVY ITEMS SUCH AS HOUSEHOLD APPLIANCES AND EVEN LIGHT VEHICLES. SPORT UTILITY VEHICLES AND LIGHT TRUCKS WILL BE MOVED. THE BLOWN DEBRIS WILL CREATE ADDITIONAL DESTRUCTION. PERSONS...PETS...AND LIVESTOCK EXPOSED TO THE WINDS WILL FACE CERTAIN DEATH IF STRUCK.

POWER OUTAGES WILL LAST FOR WEEKS...AS MOST POWER POLES WILL BE DOWN AND TRANSFORMERS DESTROYED. WATER SHORTAGES WILL MAKE HUMAN SUFFERING INCREDIBLE BY MODERN STANDARDS.

THE VAST MAJORITY OF NATIVE TREES WILL BE SNAPPED OR UPROOTED. ONLY THE HEARTIEST WILL REMAIN STANDING...BUT BE TOTALLY DEFOLIATED. FEW CROPS WILL REMAIN. LIVESTOCK LEFT EXPOSED TO THE WINDS WILL BE KILLED.

AN INLAND HURRICANE WIND WARNING IS ISSUED WHEN SUSTAINED WINDS NEAR HURRICANE FORCE...OR FREQUENT GUSTS AT OR ABOVE HURRICANE FORCE...ARE CERTAIN WITHIN THE NEXT 12 TO 24 HOURS.

ONCE TROPICAL STORM AND HURRICANE FORCE WINDS ONSET...DO NOT VENTURE OUTSIDE!

Prayers are in order for those of you so inclined.

No, I'm Not Dead...

...but I feel like it right now. My orders to USS Next Ship came in, and there are a million things to do (as CINCHOUSE reminds me a million times a day). To ice the cake, I'll be underway for 70 percent of the time I have to get everything done before transferring. We've figured out what to do with the house - we're going to sell - and we have a long list of things to fix before it's presentable. We're still debating where we're going to live for the six months I'm in school between this ship and the next, but that's narrowing down, too. The overseas screening process is dragging, though. Fifteen days to get it all done is completely unrealistic, but what else would one expect from a bureaucracy the size of the Navy?