Continuing on a military slant, came across quite a few posts on the Lockheed Martin SR-71 Blackbird.
This aircraft was the creme de la creme of its time, and still holds records in speed til this day (march 3!), so it was nice to read some 'behind the scenes' type of stories, like this one from a pilot about flying it (into Libya?!), and this one from a pilot about a training excercise (and the art of speaking softly but flying fastest).
Best picture so far has to come from Lockheed Martin themselves.
Friday, 21 January 2011
Wednesday, 19 January 2011
C3I
The title reflects a military acronym for command control communications and intelligence and today's post concerns one of the 'c's. LOL
I was reading this blogpost on a letter published on ST's forum page and couldn't stop chuckling to myself. Basically, the blogger is commenting about information from the army, or rather lack of communication from the army. What had happened was some parade (i assume POP?) where two recruits allegedly fainted on parade in full view of spectators and how the army would need to move quickly to tell the parents.
Maybe i'm old school, but i believe a certain level of operational security has to be maintained even if this means that information flow is slowed. Of course, information has to be forth coming in due course, and does not mean that bits and bites flow freely willy nilly. Terry Pratchett once wrote that "A lie can run round the world before the truth has got its boots on." (the Truth)
The expectation of the present "i want it here and now" generation in the digital age is quite scary and turning back to this incident, at this rate, the army will have to install an electronic billboard on parade squares (like those found at expressway entrances) that will flash the name of the unfortunate recruit who has just fainted. LOL
I was reading this blogpost on a letter published on ST's forum page and couldn't stop chuckling to myself. Basically, the blogger is commenting about information from the army, or rather lack of communication from the army. What had happened was some parade (i assume POP?) where two recruits allegedly fainted on parade in full view of spectators and how the army would need to move quickly to tell the parents.
Maybe i'm old school, but i believe a certain level of operational security has to be maintained even if this means that information flow is slowed. Of course, information has to be forth coming in due course, and does not mean that bits and bites flow freely willy nilly. Terry Pratchett once wrote that "A lie can run round the world before the truth has got its boots on." (the Truth)
The expectation of the present "i want it here and now" generation in the digital age is quite scary and turning back to this incident, at this rate, the army will have to install an electronic billboard on parade squares (like those found at expressway entrances) that will flash the name of the unfortunate recruit who has just fainted. LOL
Thursday, 13 January 2011
motoring madness
Driving on the roads in Singapore is stressful (no matter what vehicle you are in) and i'm sure everyone can think of an example of silly behaviour but the topic for my post today is merging lanes. *rant alert!*
Now, i think they don't teach this at driving school here, but overseas (like NZ ), merging lanes are common and the driver rationale behind it is simple: Merge like a zip. This means that cars should merge alternating between the left and right lanes, especially in heavy traffic. This is just common sense, but then we all know that common sense is an endangered species that is being euthanized daily by idiots everywhere.
So what happens here? People are kiasu, i.e. they are scared to lose, or they want to get 'there' (metaphorical destination) ahead of the other cars, or they just don't like to give way. Either way, they use their cars like battering rams, charging up ahead into the merged lane, even to the extent of driving on the shoulder, when it is not their turn to merge. In order to do so, they tailgate the car in front of them, so much so that at the merged lane, the car in the lane next to them have no place to go. Worse instances of this behaviour is when the driver appears totally oblivious to this and plows on straight ahead (full speed ahead! damn the icebergs!), now they could be pretending to be blur. Entertainment ensues when you get two of these idiots side by side (and you're behind them) and they both squeeze into the one lane, both pretend nothing is going on, and both scrape their fenders against each other. Karma!
/rant
Now, i think they don't teach this at driving school here, but overseas (like NZ ), merging lanes are common and the driver rationale behind it is simple: Merge like a zip. This means that cars should merge alternating between the left and right lanes, especially in heavy traffic. This is just common sense, but then we all know that common sense is an endangered species that is being euthanized daily by idiots everywhere.
So what happens here? People are kiasu, i.e. they are scared to lose, or they want to get 'there' (metaphorical destination) ahead of the other cars, or they just don't like to give way. Either way, they use their cars like battering rams, charging up ahead into the merged lane, even to the extent of driving on the shoulder, when it is not their turn to merge. In order to do so, they tailgate the car in front of them, so much so that at the merged lane, the car in the lane next to them have no place to go. Worse instances of this behaviour is when the driver appears totally oblivious to this and plows on straight ahead (full speed ahead! damn the icebergs!), now they could be pretending to be blur. Entertainment ensues when you get two of these idiots side by side (and you're behind them) and they both squeeze into the one lane, both pretend nothing is going on, and both scrape their fenders against each other. Karma!
/rant
Monday, 3 January 2011
Start of the new year
Season's greetings! I thought it would be a good start to the new year to dedicate this post to my family and what i'm thankful for.
One of the most significant events of 2010 (and also of my life) was the birth of our daughter. She is really the light of our lives and brings us plenty of joy daily. It has been kind of a rollercoaster ride, but most of it has been taking place above the clouds so parenthood has definitely given us more smiles and laughters. Overall, we have changed, along with our priorities, for the better (i hope) and find it amusing that both the wifely-person and I are quite self-conscious as we seem to be constantly asking ourselves: "is growing and learning well?", "is she eating enough?", "are we spoiling her?". I guess we just want to be good parents and provide her the best without producing a brat, which is a difficult balancing act, but we'll try.
Recently had a New Year's day party at our place with both sets of grandparents in attendance. Mother-in-law prepared a turkey while my mum prepared the veges and it was a grand old time at home, especially with our daughter being very happy the entire night. I put it down to having her favourite people all under one roof, like playing futsal at East Coast with one's soccer heros i guess. LOL
One of the remarks made at the party inspired this post, as my father-in-law said during his time, his memory and enjoyment of watching his daughters grow up while infants were limited to ferrying them around and watching them sleep at night. This was common among our parents' generation as they all came from relatively big families (more than 6) so their parents could not help with their grandkids the way our parents could. So they had to hire babysitters and nannys in order to cope with making a living at the same time. These days, we are blessed and I am always grateful as we have my in-laws helping to take care of her during the weekdays, ensuring that she is well fed, well taken care of, and well watched over. If that's not enough, they also cook dinner for us. I guess with the changing times, the makeup of the family is evolving and so we have smaller nucleus families but closer core family ties, and for this i am thankful. I only hope that one day when our daughter grows up, she looks back and is just as thankful for all this as I am now.
Have a great 2011!
One of the most significant events of 2010 (and also of my life) was the birth of our daughter. She is really the light of our lives and brings us plenty of joy daily. It has been kind of a rollercoaster ride, but most of it has been taking place above the clouds so parenthood has definitely given us more smiles and laughters. Overall, we have changed, along with our priorities, for the better (i hope) and find it amusing that both the wifely-person and I are quite self-conscious as we seem to be constantly asking ourselves: "is growing and learning well?", "is she eating enough?", "are we spoiling her?". I guess we just want to be good parents and provide her the best without producing a brat, which is a difficult balancing act, but we'll try.
Recently had a New Year's day party at our place with both sets of grandparents in attendance. Mother-in-law prepared a turkey while my mum prepared the veges and it was a grand old time at home, especially with our daughter being very happy the entire night. I put it down to having her favourite people all under one roof, like playing futsal at East Coast with one's soccer heros i guess. LOL
One of the remarks made at the party inspired this post, as my father-in-law said during his time, his memory and enjoyment of watching his daughters grow up while infants were limited to ferrying them around and watching them sleep at night. This was common among our parents' generation as they all came from relatively big families (more than 6) so their parents could not help with their grandkids the way our parents could. So they had to hire babysitters and nannys in order to cope with making a living at the same time. These days, we are blessed and I am always grateful as we have my in-laws helping to take care of her during the weekdays, ensuring that she is well fed, well taken care of, and well watched over. If that's not enough, they also cook dinner for us. I guess with the changing times, the makeup of the family is evolving and so we have smaller nucleus families but closer core family ties, and for this i am thankful. I only hope that one day when our daughter grows up, she looks back and is just as thankful for all this as I am now.
Have a great 2011!
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