Universe is created, according to Kepler on April 27, 4977

Universe is created, according to Kepler: On this day in 4977 B.C., the universe is created, according to German mathematician and astronomer Johannes Kepler, considered a founder of modern science. Kepler is best known for his theories explaining the motion of planets.

Kepler was born on December 27, 1571, in Weil der Stadt, Germany. As a university student, he studied the Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus’ theories of planetary ordering. Copernicus (1473-1543) believed that the sun, not the earth, was the center of the solar system, a theory that contradicted the prevailing view of the era that the sun revolved around the earth.

In 1600, Kepler went to Prague to work for Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe, the imperial mathematician to Rudolf II, emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. Kepler’s main project was to investigate the orbit of Mars. When Brahe died the following year, Kepler took over his job and inherited Brahe’s extensive collection of astronomy data, which had been painstakingly observed by the naked eye.

Over the next decade, Kepler learned about the work of Italian physicist and astronomer Galileo Galilei (1564-1642), who had invented a telescope with which he discovered lunar mountains and craters, the largest four satellites of Jupiter and the phases of Venus, among other things. Kepler corresponded with Galileo and eventually obtained a telescope of his own and improved upon the design. In 1609, Kepler published the first two of his three laws of planetary motion, which held that planets move around the sun in ellipses, not circles (as had been widely believed up to that time), and that planets speed up as they approach the sun and slow down as they move away. In 1619, he produced his third law, which used mathematic principles to relate the time a planet takes to orbit the sun to the average distance of the planet from the sun.

Kepler’s research was slow to gain widespread traction during his lifetime, but it later served as a key influence on the English mathematician Sir Isaac Newton (1643-1727) and his law of gravitational force. Additionally, Kepler did important work in the fields of optics, including demonstrating how the human eye works, and math. He died on November 15, 1630, in Regensberg, Germany. As for Kepler’s calculation about the universe’s birthday, scientists in the 20th century developed the Big Bang theory, which showed that his calculations were off by about 13.7 billion years.

History Channel / Wikipedia / Britannica Encyclopedia / Space.com / Creation.com Johannes Kepler (YouTube)

Understanding Military Terminology - Military van (container)

(DOD) Military-owned, demountable container, conforming to United States and international standards, operated in a centrally controlled fleet for movement of military cargo. Also called MILVAN.

Joint Publications (JP 4-01) Joint Health Services - Joint Chiefs of Staff

The Old Salt’s Corner

Role of the Composite Warfare Commander (CWC)

In deciding the assignment and location of warfare commanders and coordinators the CWC should take into account the tactical situation, size of force and the capabilities of the available assets to cope with the expected threat. Such analysis may lead the CWC to decide to retain direct control of one or more of the warfare areas. When appropriate, a designated commander may be assigned alternate and supporting functions in addition to his primary responsibility.

1. Location of CWC

The battlegroup commander requires a clean tactical picture to control his forces effectively. To maintain such a picture the CWC must be located where he (a) has ready access to his principal assets; (b) is minimally handicapped by any emission controls (EMCON) or communications limitations; and (c) has optimum facilities for receipt, processing, and display of information concerning unit readiness and the tactical situation.

Within the battlegroup, the CWC can best control combat operations from the carrier. Tightly structured rules of engagement (ROE) may require the CWC to maintain more direct control of assets.

Methodologically speaking, the CWC doctrine provides a structure around which tactics can be executed. However, CWC is not a "tactic" unto itself. Individual mission parameters must dictate how much or how little the doctrine is employed.

2. CWC Limitations

As with any command theory or doctrine, the CWC concept has its limitations. For example, the CWC doctrine is designed for macro battlegroup or task force level operations. Smaller task units or elements may allow a separate Officer in Tactical Command (OTC) to fulfill all sea control functions himself. The CWC doctrine also developed during the Cold War for potential multi-threat combat operations against the former Soviet Union. Contingency operations encompassing lesser threats or politically selective operations involving tightly structured ROEs may require the CWC to maintain even more direct control of assets. Conceptually, the CWC doctrine provides a framework around which tactics are executed. In all cases however, the assigned mission must dictate how much or how little the doctrine is employed. Another limitation is the multiple tasking of battlegroup platforms without clear definition of priorities.

Most importantly, the CWC and his individual warfare commanders must understand their responsibilities and how they may change in different tactical situations or as a limited engagement transitions to hot war.

“I’m Just Sayin”

“Great spirits

have always encountered violent opposition

from mediocre minds.”

~ Albert Einstein

“Thought for the Day”

“Better keep yourself clean and bright;

you are the window through

which you must see the world.”

~ George Bernard Shaw

“What I Have Learned”

“Every morning you are handed 24 golden hours.

They are one of the few things in this world that you get free of charge.

If you had all the money in the world,

you couldn't buy an extra hour.

What will you do with this priceless treasure?

Remember, you must.”

~ Anonymous

Bizarre News (we couldn’t make up stuff this good – real news story)

9-Hour Rainbow Shines Its Way Into The Record Books

A rainbow may be a wondrous sight but for most people it's also a fairly fleeting one.

“It was amazing… It felt like a gift from the sky... It's so rare!” said Chou Kun-hsuan, a professor in the university's Department of Atmospheric Sciences.

Prof Chou and a second professor, Liu Ching-huang, led the efforts to document the rainbow with the help of the department's students and the campus community.

Their observations, pictures and video recordings showed the rainbow lasted from 06:57 until 15:55 - eight hours and 58 minutes.

If confirmed, it would shatter the previous record for the longest-lasting rainbow, set in Yorkshire, England, on March 14, 1994.

That rainbow was recorded as lasting six hours, from 09:00 to 15:00, according to the Guinness World Records.

“After four hours, we mobilised all our students and began to notify everyone in the school to take pictures and send us pictures”, Prof Chou said.

“When we broke the previous record after passing six hours, I was hardly able to stay seated for lunch; it was around lunchtime. I was so excited; I wanted to make sure we captured the rainbow. But then it did something even more incredible; it went on to beat the previous record by another three hours!”

The conditions that made the rainbow last so long were a seasonal north-east monsoon that trapped moisture in the air, forming clouds; sunlight and a relatively slow wind speed of 2.5-5 metres per second.

Such atmospheric conditions are common in winter in Taipei's Yangmingshan mountain range, where the campus is located, making it an ideal place for spotting long-lasting rainbows, Prof Chou said.

He added: “I plan to contact the Taipei City tourism department to promote this, 'you can see a nine-hour rainbow in Taipei in the winter, it's amazing! Come to Taipei!'”

Huffington Post (03/13/2018)

Mr. Answer Man Please Tell Us: There's a First World. There's a Third World. What's the Second World?

We often hear about the plights of the Third World, and most of us have our share of First World problems. But is there something in between - a Second World?

Today, people use the terms First or Third World to rank the development of countries or the strength of their economy. This is a pretty recent development, and veers away from the original usage of the terms, which were coined during the Cold War as part of a rough - and now outdated - model of geopolitical alliances.

The Cold War and the creation of NATO (a military and collective defense alliance formed by the U.S. and its western allies) and the Warsaw Pact (a defense treaty between several communist states in Eastern Europe) roughly divided the major world powers into two spheres with differing political and economic structures - east versus west, communist versus capitalist, the U.S. versus the USSR - with the Iron Curtain in between them.

In 1952, the French demographer Alfred Sauvy coined the term “Third World” to refer to everyone else, the countries unaligned and uninvolved with either side of the Cold War division. With the naming of the Third World, it followed that the Cold War blocs should get numbered, too. The democratic, capitalist countries within the Western sphere of influence became the “First World”. The communist - socialist states that were part of or allied with the USSR became the “Second World”.

Later, the term “Fourth World” was coined to refer to ethnically or religiously defined populations living within or across national boundaries, nations without a sovereign state, and indigenous groups that are nomadic, uncontacted or living outside of global society.

At the end of the Cold War, the three worlds model (not to be confused with Mao Zedong’s differently structured Three Worlds Theory) took on more of an economic context, rather than a geopolitical one.

The First World now usually refers to Western, industrialized states.

The Second World consists of the communist and former communist states.

The Third World still encompasses “everybody else”, mostly in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East, and tends to be a catchall for “developing nations” that are poor, less technologically advanced, dependent on the “developed countries”, or have unstable governments, high rates of population growth, illiteracy and disease, a lack of a middle class, a lot of foreign debt, or some combination thereof.

Harvard Business Review • Mental Floss • Nations Online.org • Quora • First_World - Second World - Third World - Fourth World - Wikipedia • First World. Second World. Third World. (YouTube)

NAVSPEAK aka U.S. Navy Slang

SCWS: Seabee Combat Warfare Specialist.

Sea and Anchor Detail: Every sailor has an assigned duty station to be manned when the ship is either pulling into or out of port. On submarines it's called the Maneuvering Watch. (Coast Guard: Special Sea Detail.)

Seabag: SA large green canvas bag issued to the sailor during boot camp as part of his uniform issue, the nearest civilian equivalent would be a suit case or several pieces of luggage, the seabag is constructed to hold close to 150 lbs.

Seabag Inspection: Formal uniform/personal item inspection for an E-4 and below sailor upon check in to a new command. In reality, consists of an E-5 signing a piece of paper and giving the warning, "if you go up for mast, I will testify under oath that I inspected and saw every item.

Seabag locker: A room, usually on board ship, where extra uniforms, or item materials are placed until needed.

Seabee: A member of the Construction Battalions.

Sea chest: A trunk or storage container used for a sailor's personal property.

Seachest: Ballast intake/discharge portals below the waterline of a ship.

Sea Dadd: Senior, more experienced sailor who unofficially takes a new member of the crew under his wing and mentors him. Senior Enlisted Advisor, a CPO in charge of one's career.

Sea Lawyer: (1) A sailor or his buddy, making eloquent but completely spurious arguments at Captain's Mast, or in response to some disciplinary action.

(2) An argumentative, cantankerous or know-it-all sailor. A sea lawyer is adept at using technicalities, half truths, and administrative crap to get out of doing work or anything else he doesn't want to do, and/or to justify his laziness.

Sea Otter: eaOpDet-er; a member of a Sea Operational Detachment (SEAOPDET).

Sea Pussy: A yeoman or personnelman - akin to a secretary - who does clerical work. See “titless wave”. Also, a wet dream induced by ship's motion.

Just for you MARINE

Utilities: Field and work uniforms(currently the MCCUU), formerly called dungarees, inappropriately called the Army term BDU.

VERTREP Vertical replenishment, getting out of the Marine Corps early.

Naval Aviation Squadron Nicknames

VFA-97 - “Warhawks”
Naval Air Station Lemoore, Kings / Fresno counties, near Lemoore, California - Established June 1, 1967

Where Did That Saying Come From?

“Apple of Your Eye:”  Meaning: To be “the apple of someone’s eye” means to be their “favorite”, the cherished object of their affections, and to be regarded as especially precious and dear to them. The phrase can be applied to anything, even inanimate objects, but it’s probably most frequently used in reference to a favorite child or an unrelated but fondly regarded younger person.

Origin: As English idioms go, “apple of one’s eye” is about as old as they get. It first appeared in print in the writings of King Aelfred way back in the ninth century, and crops up, in the modern sense of “cherished favorite”, in both the King James Bible (numerous times) and Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”.

But before “apple of one’s eye” was used to mean “favorite”, it was used literally, as an anatomical term. The “apple of the eye” was the pupil, the aperture at the center of the human eye. At the time the phrase came into use, the pupil was erroneously thought to be a solid, round object, and it was called the “apple” because apples were the most commonly encountered spherical objects.

Because sight has always been considered the most important of our senses, and the center of the eye is thus arguably the most valuable bit of our anatomies, “the apple of one’s eye” quickly came to be used as a metaphor for “that thing which is most precious.”

Phrases.org UK

Science & Technology

Stephen Hawking had pinned his hopes on 'M-theory' to fully explain the universe - here's what it is • Uber patent application discusses intention signaling system • Living sensor can potentially prevent environmental disasters from fuel spills • Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+ is latest member with same affordable price • The Swiss army knife of smoke screens • Rare metals on Mars and Earth implicate colossal impacts

Phys.org / MedicalXpress / TechXplore

The Strange, Mysterious or Downright Weird

Live Bee Sting 'Acupuncture' Triggers Lethal Allergic Reaction

An “acupuncture” session using stings from living bees triggered a lethal allergic reaction in a 55-year-old woman at a clinic in Spain.

During the treatment, the woman was deliberately stung by live bees to treat her muscle contractions and stress, according to a recent case report. The blending of bees and acupuncture is a type of "apitherapy" — a term that describes an increasingly popular practice of treating various medical conditions with substances derived from honeybees.

However, there's scant clinical evidence that there are any benefits to these procedures, and in fact, they may be harmful. In this case, bee venom from the stings led to a severe allergic reaction that caused the woman's death, researchers explained in the report. [Spider Bites and Bee Stings: Symptoms and Treatments]

Following a sting administered at a private clinic, the woman began to wheeze and then lost consciousness. She was transported to a local hospital, where she was diagnosed with a massive stroke that resulted in a permanent coma; she died several weeks later from multiple organ failure, the researchers noted in their report, which was recently published in the Journal of Investigational Allergology and Clinical Immunology.

Therapies using bee venom date back thousands of years, and can be traced to ancient civilizations in China, Greece and Egypt, according to a July 2012 study. Today, apitherapy is most commonly practiced in Asia, South America and Eastern Europe, and is used to treat immune-related diseases, some types of cancer, and conditions that affect the musculoskeletal system, such as rheumatism and arthritis, researchers reported in a study published in May 2015 in the journal PLOS ONE.

But bee venom therapies are often linked to adverse reactions, and there is little published research to support their safety and effectiveness, according to the new case report.

For people who are sensitive to bee venom, the venom's compounds can trigger allergic reactions that range from mild to severe. In extreme cases, they cause anaphylaxis, an allergic reaction that can strike within moments after exposure to the allergen, and can be life-threatening. During anaphylaxis, the body floods with chemicals that induce a state of shock; blood pressure drops and the tongue and throat can swell, making it difficult to breathe, according to the Mayo Clinic.

The hormone epinephrine, also known as adrenaline, can ease anaphylaxis symptoms, but the apitherapy clinic in Spain did not have any on hand. And though the unconscious woman was given epinephrine once medical help arrived, the ambulance didn't show up until about 30 minutes after the clinic workers placed the call, according to the case report.

Curiously, this wasn't the woman's first visit to the apitherapy clinic; in fact, she had been visiting the clinic and receiving bee acupuncture every four weeks for the past two years, with no adverse effects reported.

What likely happened is that she developed a sensitivity to honeybee venom over the course of her treatment, “and the last sting was the clinically relevant one that was fatal”, Dr. Andrew Murphy, an allergist with the Asthma Allergy and Sinus Center in Downingtown, Pennsylvania, told Live Science in an email. In other words, people can develop a sensitivity to allergens such as bee venom through regular exposure.

“What was even more galling and sad is that this clinic did not even have epinephrine available to treat the patient in case of a reaction”, Murphy added.

The study authors suggested that more rigorous measures should be taken by apitherapy clinics to identify people's sensitivity to bee venom - particularly if they have been receiving stings over time - and that people should be informed of the inherent hazards in these largely untested procedures. In fact, those on the receiving end of a bee's stinger should probably consider avoiding bee acupuncture entirely, the physicians added.

“The risks of undergoing apitherapy may exceed the presumed benefits, leading us to conclude that this practice is both unsafe and unadvisable”, the researchers wrote.

Live Science (03/16/2018)