Interesting
Well, to me, anyway! You might think so, too.
Certain subjects and activities have engaged my interest for decades, and, in some cases, since childhood. I have always been interested in the military, probably because my father served in the U.S. Army, during the Korean War. As a young boy at sleep away camp in New England, I learned to shoot a .22 rifle (earning my NRA Junior Marksman’s patch). During the 60s and 70s, in addition to a career as a textile salesman in New York City’s unforgiving Garment District, my father pursued his alter ego as an auxilliary policeman in our suburban home town, “retiring” as captain of the force. When on duty, Dad carried a .38 S&W “Detective Special,” a snub-nosed revolver usually used for under cover work, or, as back-up gun. My interest in shooting deepened after my father retired from his job as a textile salesman; he and I would spend time together at the range.
I have enjoyed studying science since my days as a curious kid, experimenting (at some personal risk) with one of those metal-cased chemistry sets that were popular in the 1960s. My other interests include history and literature, geopolitics, economics, philosophy and culture, defense and security (national and personal), as well as technology and religion.
Following are some short write-ups on terms, concepts, ideas, and practical notes, gleaned from my readings, intellectual wanderings and travels.
5 x 5
The phrase, “You’re coming through loud and clear” entered the American vernacular as WWII combat veterans, including radiomen, returned from Europe and the Far East. Similarly, the phrase “five by five,” became slang for “everything’s good.” Being interested in matters of defense and national security, and also, because I am always looking for useful insights for understanding current affairs, and for investing, I follow a number of military oriented websites and blogs. From these sources, I picked up the term, five by five (that is, 5 x 5,) which is analog radio communications shorthand for the grading of signal quality.…
OODA Loop
Boyd’s OODA loop offers a mental model for handling dynamic problems in many situations, from tactical to practical. [Image source: https://www.techtarget.com/searchcio/definition/OODA-loop]. Developed by the late U.S. Air Force Colonel John Boyd (January 23, 1927 – March 9, 1997), a fighter pilot and influential military theorist, the OODA Loop is a “practical concept designed to be the foundation of rational thinking in confusing or chaotic situations.”1 Boyd first developed the concept of the OODA Loop to improve the success and survival rate of jet fighter pilots engaged in blink-of-an-eye dogfights with Cold War-era adversaries. An acronym for Observe, Orient, Decide, and…
Cargo Cult Science
Richard Feynman (May 11, 1918 – February 15, 1988) is one of my heroes. Like my late father (another one of my heroes), Feynman was born in the then largely Jewish neighborhood of Far Rockaway, in the New York City borough of Queens. Feynman, one of history’s greatest theoretical physicists, was a genius and an iconoclast. Feynman worked on the Manhattan Project during WWII and shared the 1965 Nobel Prize in Physics for his contributions to the development of quantum electrodynamics. He was famous for his lectures to freshman year physics…
Triggers and Trigonometry
Pythagoras would have been a good rifleman, because he understood his angles. The Pythagorean Theorem states that, in a right-angled triangle, the square of the hypotenuse (“c”) is equal to the sum of the squares of the two other sides (“a” and “b”), that is, a2 + b2 = c2. The Pythagorean Theorem comes into play when shooting at an angle, i.e., uphill, or downhill, especially at distance. Here’s an interesting phenomenon: When shooting at a distant target, whether shooting uphill or downhill, absent appropriate aiming-point correction (using either an external optic or iron sights), a bullet will tend to hit high.…
Native American Archaeology in Southeastern Utah
Some 600 or more years ago, Native Americans placed a series of 14 vertical stone monoliths into the parched, high desert soil of southeast Utah desert, in a 30-yard (approx.) row, aligned with the magnetic north. Today, we know that the stones (about half of which are still standing) could be used to determine the occurrence of celestial events, although their exact purpose remains a mystery. Author’s photo. In early October 2021, my wife and I, guided by a retired BLM (Bureau of Land Management) ranger who we had previously befriended during a visit to Durango, CO, toured Native American…