Coolest. Ship. Ever.

General Dynamics, in conjunction with Austal, has just floated the USS Independence, the second of the littoral combat ships. You could call it a corvette (my preferred term) or a frigate, but you must call it beautiful. It is a trimaran design, with a primary hull down the centerline and two outrigger hulls that provide stability. Not only that, but it has that distinctly brushed metal look that says "I am made of aluminum", so you know it must be awfully light. It is publicized as being very fast, and able to handle rough seas due to the broad support of the outrigger hulls. Of course, there is a noticeable slope to the hull and superstructure, which is du jour now as a means of lowering radar signature. From what's been written about this ship so far, though, the coolest bits are inside. The flight deck is enormous, with hangar space included. Additionally, the aft end holds a significant amount of... pretty much whatever you want to jam in there. You can carry land assault vehicles, cargo, weapon modules, ordnance, aircraft support gear... you're only limited by your imagination and budget. Better still, you have a side ramp for easy roll-on/roll-off capability. No need to worry about crane capacity at the pier.

The Lockheed Martin version, the USS Freedom (I think second grade students named the ships, the third one will probably be the USS Liberty, followed by the USS Red, White, and Blue) is a very conventional light warship, with a monohull design, primarily steel structure and adequate storage capacity in its own right. However, the Freedom is a very conventional hull design. The two fundamentally different ships built to meet the same requirements will square off in some sort of "Corvette Olympics" next year to settle which one becomes the baseline LCS. Let's hope the 'Indy' wins. The beauty to me of the Independence is that there is no need for all that space... today.

My personal belief is that the accelerating proliferation of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) will continue until manned aircraft only remain for select missions (such as search and rescue or transporting assault troops) or to act as command ships for fleets of UAVs. The open arrangement and systems architecture, along with overall killer-cool looks, is what makes the Independence so appealing. The current mission of aircraft carriers is to sail within reach of a spot where reconnaissance, saber-rattling, or combat air power is needed. In doing so, they drag over 5,000 sailors, two nuclear reactors, and escort vessels with their crew members into harms way. And 100,000+ ton ships don't exactly show up unannounced. A carrier with its air wing can accomplish a great deal, but how often, in the climate of contemporary warfare, is a full blown strike force of two dozen bombers really needed? The cost effectiveness of instead discretely slipping a handful of Independence Class corvettes near to shore, each carrying a modest number of UAVs, can provide local air support at a fraction of the cost. The capacity to carry various mission modules mean that the ships escort themselves in terms of air, surface, and submarine threats. When you think about it, the medium range strike capacity that UAVs are already developing will really negate the usefulness of one of the worst Cold War holdovers, the DDG-1000.

The Independence Class is how the Navy affords their desire for a 313+ ship fleet. Only maintain enough aircraft carriers, LPDs, and surface escorts to throw knockout punches or for sustained operations, and build more than the forecast 55 LCS to patrol and put out fires. You then have a swarm of fast, low-cost (hopefully, still working on that) vessels that can adapt to specific missions and hold down the fort until the capital ships arrive to deliver the uppercut. And, of course, you silently fill in the remaining gaps with eyes and ears in the form of nuclear submarines. Let's not forget them.

Want to see more salivating over the undeniable coolness of USS Independence? Head here.

Dual Citizenship

I have read articles in a few publications lately, Time Magazine, CNN.com, a Ben Stein film, and the Washington Post, that have had extensive coverage of the ongoing debate between the scientific and Christian communities. I say debate, but it's really more like a marital spat with both sides yelling and neither side attempting to make logical points. I also single out Christians as a religious group, but only because I am not sure if Hindus and Muslims and such are engaged in the same brouhaha.
I happen to be a card carrying member of both communities. I was raised Baptist and continue to attend a gospel preaching church. I also was a Salutatorian (confound you for that A-minus, Mrs. Della Pia), attended Space Camp, and worked my way through a Masters of Science degree in mechanical engineering). And to me, there is no need for the animosity.
First of all, both camps ignore their own foundational principles when confronting the issue of a God-driven or physics-driven universe (trust me, bio/zoo/ecological students, it all falls back on physics). Scientists are supposed to be open to all ideas, no matter how seemingly unrealistic, and only cast those ideas from consideration after extensive experimentation allows proof that the hypothesis is inaccurate. We haven't disproven the existence of God, and shan't soon, so please have a seat, Dr. Bunsen Honeydew. In the meantime, Christians are supposed to focus on the essence of Faith as laid out in the Bible, ignore any dogmatic window dressing created by man, and show childish love for everybody. ESPECIALLY those you don't like, and that means you, Church Lady. Neither camp abides by those tenets. Many Scientists roll their eyes at the mention of God, let alone Jesus, and many Christians turn red in the face at any attempt to lift the veil from the workings of the universe around us.
So, if we agree to relax a bit and have a civil discussion, more people would join the debate, good points could be made, and we'd all walk away... (wait for it)... a little smarter!
Why is Science evil? Yes, Scientists want to determine what happened the femtosecond before time began, or whether the universe will tend to collapse on itself in billions of years. Does that mean they are trying to overthrow God? They also want to know what happens to things when they are cooled to absolute zero, or when you wire a computer straight to a person's brain, or if by some chance there are little tiny bacteria living in the presumed water under the ice they think is on some God-forsaken (ooh, ironic phrase!) moon of another planet. I fail to see some Manchurian Candidate-style plot to corrupt all Christian Faith here. Anyway, by it's logical essence, Science cannot be evil, so now what?
On the other side of the coin, Christians are not ignorant because they look to something that cannot be proven. They live with the recognition that there is perfection in the form of a Sovereign and Omnipotent God, and every step of life is to know his Will for our lives. The whole concept is balanced by first admitting our own imperfection, then acknowledging Jesus's role in bringing us full circle. That ethos is hardly a threat to science, eh? Of course, some of the governing principles of scripture (the Christianity of I speak is a muscular variety, scouring out relativism) do address ethical concepts that bring Christians into confrontation with Scientists. However, it's good that they do so, because, by it's logical essence, Science cannot consider that some things can even be immoral, much less that research should perhaps be discontinued on grounds other than lack of funding.
I Tell You What, what it all comes down to is a lack of perspective on the part of both groups. It is evident that there are laws (physical laws, hence physics) by which our universe, our reality operates. It is the role of Scientists to define those laws. For instance, water boils at a given temperate when at a consistent pressure, every time. That should be no threat to Christians, who with their own eyes observe the same thing, and with their hearts believe that if God wants that water to boil, He will make it so, and for reasons we can't truly comprehend. It is the role of Christians to define the ends to which those laws work, even though as I just said we cannot predict which means will be used to work toward those ends.
See, this little blog is hardly even an adequate forum to BEGIN the discussion. After all, I only had a half an hour to write it! There are scriptural references, texts by the great scientific minds of the twentieth century (all physicists, interestingly), and even personal experiences of my own that could be brought in to consideration. It's just a brief thought or two on the matter. How do you feel?

Bummer

This morning I enjoyed a beautiful pre-7:00 bicycle ride in to work. I crested the last hill before heading down to the Shipyard, and took in the view of the fort. Like most battlefields, it had been cleared of trees for clear firing lines long ago. There was a single sentinel on the grounds, an ancient tree with limbs stretched in a 30 foot radius around it. And, in the branches at the utmost top of the tree, was snared a simple red kite. It was something straight out of Charlie Brown.
I thought to myself "that kite represents one hard lesson about life for some kid."

Debacle at Wabashra

Computer is back online, fully effective. Dig it.

You may have read recently that the Iraqi Army is a bunch of quitters. This is probably largely true. A young, notionally legitimate and sovereign government goes to enforce its will upon local ruffians. It turns out, though, that those ruffians are tougher than they looked on paper, and know the lay of the land rather well. In fact, the snot-nosed babes wearing the government uniforms are in way over their heads. Horrendous casualties and a complete collapse by the government forces ensue, followed by finger pointing and political wrangling.
What isn't so obvious is that from the third sentence on, my description more closely resembles the fledgling military operation of THE world's fledgling democracy. That's right, the United States of America. Our first large-scale military operation as a sovereign nation was a bajillion times worse than our Iraqi puppets.
After we sent those warm beer and tea drinking Redcoats back from whence they came, we had a slight problem with our neighbors staying on our side of the fence. Apparently, the Indians living in Ohio (not to be mistaken with the Cleveland Indians), didn't think the British had the right to give the upstart Americans ALL the land east of the Mississippi river, on the ridiculous premise that they already lived there. The USA decided to settle the issue by force, and marched 1000 men right into Indianville. Unfortunately, the soldiers were far from their logistics base, poorly trained, and despite being led by a commander with good credentials, doomed to die. And die they did. In American history, there is Pearl Harbor, there is Little Bighorn, and then there is the Battle of the Wabash, standing far out on its own as the worst disaster in American military history. I cannot recall a loss of such strategic magnitude in our history, even the loss of the Philippines was not so devastating. One quarter of our active army was dead! We learned our lesson and ultimately prevailed in the war, but it was a lesson dearly paid for.
So Basra was not so bad for the Iraqis. What made the difference? My suspicion is that the patronage of the world's oldest democracy playing mother hen with intelligence, logistics, training, and fire support. In other words, we passed along the lessons we bought with blood.

Boys Will Be Boys

What's about 14 feet long, underwater, and the single thorn in my side for the past few weeks? These things ( credit to www.bubbleheads.blogspot.com ):

Anyway, the bright side is that I have been afforded an unusual opportunity to work in some new areas of the field. Refitting stuff that has already been built is not so easy as getting it right the first time, as I'm sure any car mechanic can tell you. Anyway, the first crew I was introduced to were the divers. A very gung-ho, motivated group of individuals there. I got to spend some quality time hanging out on their little barge and observing their work methods. The 10' x 15' barge did not allow for any sort of plumbing, so the men resorted to a carafe/chamber pot when needed. As one of the gents finished using that facility topside, a diver had the misfortune of rising to the surface. The topside fellow shouted "WHOOPS" and dumped the steaming carafe mere inches from his surfaced comrade. I'm pretty sure that missing was his intent. That led to a waterfight, and work resumed a few minutes later. The next time this diver prepared to surface, the topside fellow, thoroughly soaked from the waterfight, poured hot water from the circulator and some soap suds into the carafe. The diver breaks the surface, foamy hot water is thrown, and a chase ensues. The lesson: a wet suit is not suited for a chase. The villain escaped... for the time being.

A few days later, the Steel Trades were reworking some plates the divers removed. Their Foreman had some questions about the instructions I had written so the Planner (guy organizing the work) brings me down to the shop to square things away. Nothing new, and certainly not a problem. The twist was the shouting match the Planner and Foreman got into. I've seen enough posturing like this to know to just stand a few feet away and look unimpressed until it was my turn to get involved. Amazingly, they weren't really even arguing with each other about anything. They were just sort of shouting about things, and complaining about what their bosses were doing to them. These were a couple of omega males at the top of their game. Towards the end they threw a couple of profanity-laden direct challenges at each other, but I could tell their hearts weren't even really in it. After all, it was afternoon, and lunch is more important than chest thumping. The most surreal turn was after the last f-bomb cleared the air, and both turned to me, smiled, thanked me for making the trip to help out, and we parted ways. It's like the whole thing was a show.

Cargo Pants, the SUV of Clothing

Consider this comparison between sport utility vehicles and cargo pants:

• Both offer cargo capacity far in excess of what will ever be used
• Both are rarely seen dirty
• Both peaked in popularity about 5 years ago
• Both are seen most often in the suburbs

I think we've got a good correlation here.

The Stock and Stone

Recently, some friends of ours gave Sweetness a chalk roller for her birthday. It's a great gift, one of those things that encourages both outside play and creativity. Below you will see a sketch in our driveway that made me quite proud, it was her rendition of a hand:
After I took the picture, though, I thought "I've seen this before". Sure enough, a quick search turned up this from the Lord of the Rings movie "The Two Towers":

That's right, the dreaded White Hand of Saruman. Hopefully there's no real connection here. Don't get me wrong, Saruman was a great character, just not somebody I want my daughter modeling herself after. With power only matched by vanity, Saruman was sent to do a good work, only to fall because of his pride and greed. Interestingly to me, he's one of the earliest literary characters I can think of that was used to push an environmental message. He took a hallowed land and exploited it to serve his selfish ambition, leaving a poisoned and barren waste behind him after his plan failed. It was his blinding belief in himself that lead him to neglect the same natural order he initially loved.

My recent readings in the book of Daniel (especially the first 6 chapters) provide a great case study of somebody with enormous God-given talents who seeks to serve others with his abilities and pass the credit on up the line where it belongs. Check it out.