Old Sailors' Almanac - Week 11, 2020 (Fluid Design based on percentage of screen platform

Three Flags Day on March 9 and 10, 1804

Three Flags Day: On March 9 and 10, 1804 finalization of the 1803 Louisiana Purchase was completed doubling the size of the United States.

Following the settlement of the Northwest Territory, the nation continued its progress toward the Pacific Ocean with the purchase of the Louisiana Territory from France on April 30, 1803.

On March 9 and 10, 1804, Three Flags Day was held in St. Louis to commemorate the history of the Louisiana Territory and to celebrate the official acquisition of this territory by the United States.

Spain had been in control of Louisiana (New Spain) since 1763 and in honor of that, the Spanish flag was flown for a while on March 9 until it was lowered to allow the French flag to fly. The French flag was left up overnight, and on March 10, 1804, the American flag was officially hoisted to symbolize this change in authority.

In the mural, Captain Amos Stoddard stands at attention with Meriwether Lewis standing to his left. Lewis was one half of the famous Lewis and Clark duo who led the Corps of Discovery expedition across the country to the Pacific Ocean. The other half, William Clark, was the younger brother of George Rogers Clark. Lewis and Clark still retain a reputation as the men who opened the nation to the ocean, and St. Louis still holds the reputation as the gateway to the west. However, had George Rogers Clark not been here in Vincennes in 1779, the chain of events that led to the Pacific would never have been set in motion. Without control of Fort Sackville, the British could have successfully argued for retaining possession of the land northwest of the Ohio River, and the United States might have endedimmediately west of the 13 original colonies.

The actions of George Rogers Clark and his small force of frontiersmen who marched through the flooded and freezing wilderness in 1779, completely changed the course of American history. Their actions eventually enabled the new nation to continue its progress from sea to shining sea. As a quote around the ceiling states, “Great things have been effected by a few men well conducted.”

National Park System.gov / Wikipedia / Encyclopedia Bbritannica / New World Encyclopedia.org / Monticello.org / Smithsonian / Constitution Center.org / Library Of Congress.gov / National Archives.gov / Office of the Historian.gov / History Channel / Three Flags Day on March 9 and 10, 1804 (YouTube)

Understanding Military Terminology

Objective

(DOD) 1. The clearly defined, decisive, and attainable goal toward which every operation is directed.

2. he specific target of the action taken which is essential to the commander’s plan.

The Old Salt’s Corner

“The Rime of the Ancient Mariner”

PART II

The Sun now rose upon the right:

Out of the sea came he,

Still hid in mist, and on the left

Went down into the sea.

And the good south wind still blew behind,

But no sweet bird did follow,

Nor any day for food or play

Came to the mariners’ hollo!

His shipmates cry out against the ancient Mariner, for killing the bird of good luck.

And I had done an hellish thing,

And it would work ’em woe:

For all averred, I had killed the bird

That made the breeze to blow.

Ah wretch! said they, the bird to slay,

That made the breeze to blow!

But when the fog cleared off, they justify the same, and thus make themselves accomplices in the crime.

continued ...

~ Samuel Taylor Coleridge

(originally published in Lyrical Ballads, 1798)

Full Poem

“I’m Just Sayin”

“Ideologies separate us

Dreams and anguish bring us together.”

“A nose that can see is worth two that sniff.”

“Cut off from his religious,

metaphysical and transcendental roots, man is lost;

all his actions become senseless, absurd, useless.”

~ Eugene Ionesco

“Thought for the Day”

“Our environment,

the world in which we live and work,

is a mirror of our attitudes and expectations.”

“Whatever we plant in our subconscious mind

and nourish with repetition and emotion

will one day become a reality.”

“You are, at this moment, standing,

right in the middle of your own 'acres of diamonds.”

~ Earl Nightingale

“What I Learned”

“The past cannot be changed.

The future is yet in your power.”

“You have to learn the rules of the game.

And then you have to play better than anyone else.”

~ Anonymous

Second Hand News: Articles from Week 11 - March 09, 2020 - March 15, 2020

In emergency pandemic move, Fed cuts rates to zero and will purchase $700B in bonds • Trump administration announces nationwide drive-through coronavirus testing to begin • New York City shutting down schools due to coronavirus • Anthony Fauci: National lockdown measures over coronavirus 'could be' coming

Trump considering 'full pardon' for Michael Flynn after FBI 'lost' records • Treasury eyes delaying April 15 tax deadline due to coronavirus • Governors order all bars and restaurants to close amid coronavirus outbreak

MOST READ: AOC spreads disinformation to push socialism amid coronavirus panic • AOC says she went on Fox to help 'at-risk' older viewers from getting 'coronavirus disinformation' • 'Not very COVID-19 hygienic': Matt Gaetz pokes fun at Andrew Gillum for meth incident in hotel room

Barrage of rockets hit Iraqi base holding U.S. troops: Report • 'Very secretive': Hidden coronavirus 'disaster' brewing in Syria • Ohio governor says schools could be closed for rest of year due to coronavirus outbreak Washington Examiner

Why The Pelosi Wuhan Virus ‘Deal’ Is A Near-Total Republican Surrender For Blue-Collar Entrepreneurs • As Trump Spoke, Stocks Soared, But CNN Won’t Tell You That • President Trump Declares National Emergency Over Wuhan Virus

• Hey, De Blasio, Close The Freakin’ New York City Schools • I Work From Home. Here Are Some Tips To Make It Easier • Why Are Fancy Groceries Madhouses, But Regular Chains Humming Along As Usual? • 17 Diseases Named After Places Or People

MOST READ: Did Spygate Source Stefan Halper Work For The Hillary Clinton Campaign? • Vodka Ain’t Sanitizer, But These Classic Vodka Cocktails Will Keep You Healthy Through Delicious, Delicious Quarantine • 6-Step Quick-Start Guide To Substituting For Your Kid’s School While It’s Closed • Communist Chinese Propagandists Now Claim U.S. Military Made Wuhan Virus The Federalist

Trump urges Americans to stop coronavirus stockpiling and insists the outbreak is under 'tremendous control' as Pence says stores WILL stay open indefinitely as cases hit 3,400 and deaths top 60 • Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders start with an elbow bump as they face off in a Democratic 2020 debate dominated by coronavirus - and both slam Donald Trump's response • New York City schools will CLOSE from Monday until at least April 20, non-emergency surgeries are cancelled and bars and restaurants could be CLOSED as coronavirus cases in the city hit 326 with five deaths

Federal Reserve slashes interest rates to nearly ZERO as part of extraordinary global response coordinated with the Bank of England and the European Central Bank • Dr. Fauci tells Trump he wants a 14-day national shutdown as part of an 'overly aggressive' response to the coronavirus that would see millions hunker down • Panic on Europe's borders: Germany and Poland tighten controls, France puts limits on public transport travel and Slovakia declares state of emergency as continent's coronavirus death toll soars towards 2,000

Pope Francis walks through Rome's deserted streets and delivers blessing above an empty square as Italians remain indoors amid coronavirus lockdown • Italy's coronavirus death toll leaps by 368 to 1,809 in a day as terrifying video shows how a Lombardy newspaper obituary page has expanded from one to ten pages and secret memo reveals over-80s could be 'left to die' • Italian airforce plays Pavarotti singing Nessun Dorma as they put on incredible air display to lift the spirits of their nation during coronavirus lockdown

Donald Trump says he's considering 'full pardon' for his disgraced national security adviser Mike Flynn claiming the FBI 'destroyed his life' • Artist installs 1,000 lights across Ireland's Connemara mountains to transform the landmark into a sea of colour ahead of St Patrick's Day Daily Mail UK

Mr. Answer Man Please Tell Us: Why Are the Keys On a QWERTY Keyboard Laid Out As They Are?

What is commonly called QWERTY (more properly, the Sholes layout) was designed by Christopher Lathan Sholes, then modified through a series of business relationships. Sholes's original keyboard was alphabetical and modeled after a printing telegraph machine. The alphabetical layout was easy to learn, but not easy to type on.

The construction of the “Type Writer” had two flaws that made the product susceptible to jams. Firstly, characters were mounted on metal arms or typebars, which would clash and jam if neighboring arms were pressed at the same time or in rapid succession.Secondly, its printing point was located beneath the paper carriage, invisible to the operator, a so-called “up-stroke” design. Consequently, jams were especially serious, because the typist could only discover the mishap by raising the carriage to inspect what he had typed.

The solution was to place commonly used letter-pairs (like “th” or “st”) so that their typebars were not neighboring, avoiding jams.

The QWERTY layout was not designed to slow the typist down, but rather to speed up typing by preventing jams.

Aside from the issue of jamming, keys being farther apart increases typing speed on its own, because it encourages alternation between the hands. Almost every word in the English language contains at least one vowel letter, but on the QWERTY keyboard only the vowel letter “A” is located on the home row, which requires the typist's fingers to leave the home row for most words.

But the biggest rivals to ever challenge QWERTY is the Dvorak Simplified Keyboard, developed by Dr. August Dvorak in the 1930s.

Dvorak users reported faster and more accurate typing, in part because the system dramatically increases the number of words that can be typed using the “home” row of keys where your fingers naturally rest - also known as the keys you type when you’re just trying fill space. asjdfkal; sdfjkl; asdfjkl; asdfjkl; dkadsf. asdfjklasdfjk. More recent research has debunked any claims that Dvorak is more efficient, but it hardly matters. Even in 1930 it was already too late for a new system to gain a foothold. While Dvorak certainly has its champions, it never gained enough of a following to overthrow King QWERTY. After all, the world learned to type using Remington’s keyboard.

When the first generation of computer keyboards emerged, there was no longer any technical reason to use the system – computers didn’t get jammed. But of course, there’s the minor fact that millions of people learned to type on the QWERTY keyboards. It had become truly ubiquitous in countries that used the Latin alphabet. Not only that, but way back in 1910, the system had been adopted by Teletype, a company that would go on to produce electronic typewriters and computer terminals widely used around the world, thereby ensuring QWERTY’s place as the new technological standard.

When a design depends on a previous innovation too entrenched in the cultural zeitgeist to change, it’s known as a path dependency. And this why the new KALQ proposal is so interesting. It attempts to break from the tyranny of Christopher Latham Sholes, whose QWERTY system makes even less sense on the virtual keyboards of tablets and smartphones than it does on a computer keyboards.

Is the new KALQ system any different? In some ways, the answer is obviously yes. It has been designed around a very specific, very modern behavior – typing with thumbs. Like the telegraph operator QWERTY theory, the user is determining the structure of the keyboard. But it could still be argued that the KALQ system, or any similar system that may be developed in the future, is also a product of path dependency.

Because no matter how the letters are arranged, they basic notion of individually separated letters distributed across a grid dates back to Sholes and co. tinkering away in their Milwaukee workshops. But it’s just not necessary in a tablet. If you gave an iPad to someone who had never used a keyboard and told them to develop a writing system, chances are they would eventually invent a faster, more intuitive system. Perhaps a gesture based system based on shorthand? Or some sort of swipe-to-type system? This is not to say that such a system would be better, it’s merely an observation that our most bleeding edge communication technology still dates back more than 150 years to some guys tinkering in their garage.

Truly, the more things change, the more they stay the same.

Quora / Wikipedia / Digital Commons.edu / CNET / Smithsonian / Forbes / Why Are the Keys On a QWERTY Keyboard Laid Out As They Are? (YouTube)

NAVSPEAK aka U.S. Navy Slang

Lifer: A name given to both officers and enlisted men who love the Navy and make it clear they want to be in for 20 or more years;

lifers will try to convince others to re-enlist.

Also lifers say things like “there is nothing a sailor needs that is not in his sea-bag”;

this usually is a comment implying a sailor does not need to see his spouse or children, more rarely acronym associated with people coasting through their Navy career, stands for:

• “Lazy Incompetent Fuck Expecting Retirement”,

• “Lowly Indignant Fuck Evading Reality” see also “The ROAD program”.

• see also “The ROAD program”.

Lifer cup: A coffee cup stained brown by repeated use. Never washed, except as a prank by disgruntled juniors.

Lifer Dog: (See “Lifer”, above) “Call me an asshole, call me a cocksucker, call me a son-of-a-bitch; just don't call me a Lifer Dog.”

Lifer Locker: Large Heavy Object. Useless piece of machinery.

Lifer Stripe: The stripes located just above the cuff of the right sleeve on the service dress uniform that indicates four years of service per stripe.

Wiktionary.org

Just for you MARINE

Leg: Servicemember who does not rate to wear the Parachutist Insignia, borrowed from the Army Airborne.

Leggings: Leggings Leg coverings made of canvas with eyelets and laces or buckles to secure the trouser legs over boots.

Liberty: Authorized free time ashore or off station, not counted as leave, known in the Army as a “pass”.

Liberty List: List containing the names of Marines entitled to liberty and those employed by the guard during the liberty period (and thus not entitled to leave post).

Liberty Risk: A Marine with a high risk of getting into trouble on liberty.

Lifer: Career servicemember, as opposed to one who serves for a single enlistment.

Wikipedia.org

Naval Aviation Squadron Nicknames

HSC-14 Helicopter Sea Combat (HSC) Squadron FOURTEEN - nicknamed the “Chargers”

United States Navy Naval Air Station - Helicopter Sea Combat (HSC), Naval Air Station - Helicopter Sea Combat (HSC), Naval Air Station North Island, Naval Base Coronado - San Diego, California / Coronado, California / Squadron Lineage: HS-14: July 19, 1984 - July 2013 / HSC-14: July 2013 - present.

Where Did That Saying Come From?

“A rolling stone gathers no moss:”

Meaning: Someone who does not settle in one place rarely prospers.

History: This proverb refers to what is well known about mosses and lichens - that they are slow-growing organisms that don't thrive on disturbance. A sure way to prevent a colony of moss from growing on a stone is to move it about. As with all proverbs, it isn't the literal meaning that conveys the sense but the metaphor. A 'rolling stone' refers to a wanderer, unable to settle to any job or lifestyle and therefore characterised as unreliable and unproductive.

That notion was known to the ancient world and Greek and Latin versions of the phrase are cited by Erasmus in the third volume of his collection of Latin proverbs - Adagia, 1508.

The proverb may have come into colloquial English before then, although early records are incomplete. We do know that it was in use by 1546, when John Heywood published A dialogue conteinyng the nomber in effect of all the prouerbes in the Englishe tongue:

“The rollyng stone neuer gatherth mosse.”

Heywood's claim in the title to include all the proverbs in English is a little overstated, but Dialogue is the most comprehensive early collection and the source of many previously unrecorded proverbs. They were assembled from various sources, including Erasmus' Adages and from his own collecting amongst the Tudor populace.

By the early 17th century, a 'rolling stone' was referred to as a type of wastrel - one who would amount to nothing. In A dictionarie of the French and English tongues, 1611, Randle Cotgrave listed the French word 'rodeur' and gave it this definition in English:

“Rodeur: A vagabond, roamer, wanderer, street-walker, highway-beater; a rolling stone, one that does nought but runne here and there, trot up and downe, rogue all the country over.”

Quite a good name for a rock band you might think, and Brian Jones thought just that when he formed the eponymous blues/rock band in 1962. Despite what appears to be Mick Jagger's impressively dogged attempt to sleep with most of the models in London and despite his long-standing friendship with Kate Moss, journalists have not yet had occasion to wheel out the inevitable headline 'Rolling Stone gathers Moss'.

Phrases.org UK

Science & Technology

Musk unveils SpaceX rocket designed to get to Mars and back • Going underground in Slovenia ... to prepare for outer space • Additional heart artery stenting reduces risk of future heart attacks • Study explores the meaning of humanoid sex robots

Observations of Rydberg exciton polaritons and their condensate in a perovskite cavity • Checkm8 iPhone exploit becomes talk of jailbreak town • Harmful metals found in vapors from tank-style electronic cigarettes • Million-mile battery unveiled by ground-breaking research Phys.org / MedicalXpress / TechXplore

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

Watch Supersonic Shock Waves Launch from a Bottle of Champagne

“Scientists used a high-speed camera to record the moment the cork pops.”

Popping open a bottle of bubbly creates shock waves like those in the supersonic exhaust of a fighter jet, according to a new study.

The split-second pop of a champagne cork is created by a quick escape of high-pressure gas long stuck in the bottle's neck. Now, a group of researchers has used high-speed photography to visualize the chemistry behind that iconic pop.

For the experiment, they acquired six champagne rosé bottles, two of which they stored at 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit) and two at 20 C (68 F) for three days. These bottles had been previously aged for 42 months, undergoing what's called “prise de mousse”, a type of alcohol fermentation. During this process, yeast feeds on sugar to create carbon dioxide, giving champagne its fizz.

The researchers then used a high-speed camera to record the moment the corks popped. The high-speed camera was attached to a microphone that recorded the bang and triggered the camera to snap a series of photos.

Here's what the scientists saw: When the cork popped out of the bottle, it was violently shoved by rapidly expanding carbon dioxide and water vapor that had long been confined in the neck of the bottle. This sudden change in pressure caused the carbon dioxide and water vapor to cool down into ice crystals and condense into a fog that wafted out with the cork.

But to their surprise, the researchers found that within the first millisecond of the cork pop, this sudden drop in pressure inside the bottle led to visible shock waves, called “Mach disks”. These Mach disks, which are also created in the exhaust of fighter jets, form because the escaping gas expands into the air extremely rapidly - at over twice the speed of sound. They vanish just as quickly, when the pressure in the bottle returns to normal.

The formation of these Mach disks “was a big surprise”, said lead author Gérard Liger-Belair, a professor of chemical physics at the University of Reims Champagne-Ardenne in France. “The physics [of Mach disks] was already known in aerospace engineering, but not [at] all in champagne science.”

What's more, the researchers discovered that the bottles stored at room temperature created quite a different "pop" than those stored at hotter temperatures.

Because carbon dioxide is less soluble at higher temperatures, there is a greater amount of the gas sitting in the neck of the bottles stored at warmer temperatures. So the gas inside bottles stored at 30 C is under greater pressure than those stored at 20 C. When the cork in the 30 C bottle releases, the drop in pressure and temperature is greater than in the bottles stored at cooler temperatures.

The hotter bottle creates large ice crystals and, thanks to how those crystals scatter light, a greyish-white fog. The room-temperature bottle, meanwhile, creates smaller ice crystals, forming a bluer fog. “Hopefully, people will feel touched by the beautiful science hidden in a simple bottle of champagne or sparkling wine”, Liger-Belair said.

• Here's How 10 New Year's Eve Traditions Got Started

• Holiday Drinking: How 8 Common Medications Interact with Alcohol

• Supersonic! The 11 Fastest Military Airplanes

Live Science (09/26/2019)