Old Ironsides earns its name on August 19, 1812

Old Ironsides earns its name: During the War of 1812, the U.S. Navy frigate Constitution defeats the British frigate Guerrière in a furious engagement off the coast of Nova Scotia. Witnesses claimed that the British shot merely bounced off the Constitution‘s sides, as if the ship were made of iron rather than wood. By the war’s end, “Old Ironsides” destroyed or captured seven more British ships. The success of the USS Constitution against the supposedly invincible Royal Navy provided a tremendous boost in morale for the young American republic.

The Constitution was one of six frigates that Congress requested be built in 1794 to help protect American merchant fleets from attacks by Barbary pirates and harassment by British and French forces. It was constructed in Boston, and the bolts fastening its timbers and copper sheathing were provided by the industrialist and patriot Paul Revere. Launched on October 21, 1797, the Constitution was 204 feet long, displaced 2,200 tons, and was rated as a 44-gun frigate (although it often carried as many as 50 guns).

In July 1798 it was put to sea with a crew of 450 and cruised the West Indies, protecting U.S. shipping from French privateers. In 1803, President Thomas Jefferson ordered the American warship to the Mediterranean to fight Barbary pirates off the coast of Tripoli. The vessel performed commendably during the conflict, and in 1805 a peace treaty with Tripoli was signed on the Constitution‘s deck.

When war broke out with Britain in June 1812, the Constitution was commanded by Isaac Hull, who served as lieutenant on the ship during the Tripolitan War. Scarcely a month later, on July 16, the Constitution encountered a squadron of five British ships off Egg Harbor, New Jersey. Finding itself surrounded, the Constitution was preparing to escape when suddenly the wind died. With both sides dead in the water and just out of gunnery range, a legendary slow-speed chase ensued. For 36 hours, the Constitution‘s crew kept their ship just ahead of the British by towing the frigate with rowboats and by tossing the ship’s anchor ahead of the ship and then reeling it in. At dawn on July 18, a breeze sprang, and the Constitution was far enough ahead of its pursuers to escape by sail.

One month later, on August 19, the Constitution caught the British warship Guerrière alone about 600 miles east of Boston. After considerable maneuvering, the Constitution delivered its first broadside, and for 20 minutes the American and British vessels bombarded each other in close and violent action. The British man-of-war was de-masted and rendered a wreck while the Constitution escaped with only minimal damage. The unexpected victory of Old Ironsides against a British frigate helped unite America behind the war effort and made Commander Hull a national hero. The Constitution went on to defeat or capture seven more British ships in the War of 1812 and ran the British blockade of Boston twice.

After the war, Old Ironsides served as the flagship of the navy’s Mediterranean squadron and in 1828 was laid up in Boston. Two years later, the navy considered scrapping the Constitution, which had become unseaworthy, leading to an outcry of public support for preserving the famous warship. The navy refurbished the Constitution, and it went on to serve as the flagship of the Mediterranean, Pacific, and Home squadrons. In 1844, the frigate left New York City on a global journey that included visits to numerous international ports as a goodwill agent of the United States. In the early 1850s, it served as flagship of the African Squadron and patrolled the West African coast looking for slave traders.

In 1855, the Constitution retired from active military service, but the famous vessel continued to serve the United States, first as a training ship and later as a touring national landmark.

History Channel / Wikipedia / Encyclopedia Britannica / Naval History and Heritage Command.mil / USS Constitution Museum.org / Battlefields.org / National Parks Service / Old Ironsides earns its name on August 19, 1812 (YouTube)

First voyage of James Cook on August 26, 1768

First voyage of James Cook: On this day, James Cook appointed to command a ship called Endeavour left Plymouth, England on August 26, 1768.

Cook joined the Royal Navy relatively late in life

Cook worked on a Yorkshire farm in his youth before winning an apprenticeship with a merchant sailing company at age 17. He cut his teeth as a mariner on shipping voyages in the choppy waters of North and Baltic Seas, and spent the next decade rising through the ranks and mastering the art of navigation.

He was being groomed to become a captain, but in 1755, he shocked his superiors by quitting his merchant sailing career and enlisting in the British Royal Navy as a common seaman.

Cook was 26 - far older than most new recruits - yet it didn’t take long for the Navy to recognize his talent. He was promoted to ship’s master in only two years, and later became one of the first men in British naval history to rise through the enlisted ranks and take command of his own vessel.

Cook was an expert mapmaker

Cook first rose to prominence as a cartographer during the Seven Years’ War, when his detailed charts of the Saint Lawrence River helped the British pull off a surprise attack against French-held Quebec.

In the early 1760s, he was given a ship and tasked with charting the island of Newfoundland off the coast of Canada. The map he produced was so accurate that it was still in use in the 20th century.

Cook’s skill at charting the seas would later become a crucial tool in his explorer’s arsenal. He won command of his first round-the-world voyage in part because he could be trusted to navigate in uncharted territory and bring home precise maps of the lands he discovered.

Cook’s first voyage included a secret mission from the British government

Cook’s career as an explorer began in August 1768, when he left England on HM Bark Endeavour with nearly 100 crewmen in tow. Their journey was ostensibly a scientific expedition - they were charged with sailing to Tahiti to observe the transit of Venus across the face of the sun - but it also had a hidden military agenda.

Cook carried sealed orders instructing him to seek out the “Great Southern Continent”, an undiscovered landmass that was believed to lurk somewhere near the bottom of the globe. The explorer followed orders and sailed south to the 40th parallel, but found no evidence of the fabled continent. He then turned west and circled New Zealand, proving it was a pair of islands and not connected to a larger landmass.

Cook would later resume his search for the Southern Continent during his second circumnavigation of the globe in the early 1770s, and came tantalizingly close to sighting Antarctica before pack ice forced him to turn back.

Cook's ship Endeavour nearly sank on the Great Barrier Reef

After landing in Australia during his first voyage, Cook pointed his ship north and headed for the Dutch seaport of Batavia. Because he was in unmapped territory, he had no idea he was sailing directly into the razor-sharp coral formations of the Great Barrier Reef.

On June 11, 1770, his ship Endeavour slammed into a coral reef and began taking on water, endangering both his crew and his priceless charts of his Pacific discoveries.

Cook’s men frantically pumped water out of the holds and threw cannons and other equipment overboard to lighten the ship’s weight. They even used an old sail to try and plug a hole in their hull. After more than 20 desperate hours, they finally stopped the leak and limped toward the Australian coast. It would take Cook nearly two months of repairs to make his ship seaworthy again.

Cook helped pioneer new methods for warding off scurvy

In the 18th century, the specter of scurvy - a disease caused by a lack of vitamin C - loomed over every long distance sea voyage. Cook, however, managed to keep all three of his expeditions nearly scurvy-free. This was partially because of his obsession with procuring fresh food at each of his stops, but many have also credited his good fortune to an unlikely source: sauerkraut.

While Cook didn’t know the cure or cause of scurvy, he did know that the nutrient-rich pickled cabbage seemed to keep the disease at bay, so he brought several tons of it on his voyages. His only problem was getting his crew to eat it.

To trick them, Cook simply had sauerkraut “dressed every day” for the officers’ table. When the enlisted men saw their superiors eating it, they assumed it was a delicacy and requested some for themselves

Even Britain’s enemies respected Cook

While Cook’s journeys took place during a time when Britain was variously at war with the United States, Spain and France, his reputation as a pioneering explorer allowed him to travel the seas with relative impunity.

In July 1772, a squadron of Spanish vessels briefly detained his ships, only to release them after they realized Cook in command.

Likewise, when Cook’s third voyage set sail during the American Revolution, Benjamin Franklin wrote a memo to colonial ship captains instructing them to treat the British vessels as “common friends to mankind” if they encountered them at sea.

Cook searched for the Northwest Passage

In 1776, a 47-year-old Cook set sail on his third voyage of discovery—this time a search for the elusive Northwest Passage in the Arctic.

After traveling halfway around the world, he led the ships HMS Resolution and Discovery on a perilous survey of the upper coasts of western Canada and Alaska.

Cook came within 50 miles of the western entrance to the passage, but his attempts to locate it were ultimately thwarted by freezing weather, violent currents and heavy ice floes in the Bering Sea.

When the extreme conditions drove his crew to the brink of mutiny, Cook reluctantly turned south for the summer. He would die before he had a chance to resume his search.

Natives mistook him for a god when he landed in the Hawaiian Islands

During Cook’s third voyage, he became the first European to set foot on Hawaii, which he called the “Sandwich Islands” after his patron the Earl of Sandwich

Hawaiians at Kealakekua Bay celebrated Cook’s January 1779 landing with joyous celebrations, and for good reason: by some strange coincidence, the explorer’s arrival coincided with an annual festival honoring the Hawaiian fertility god Lono.

Since the natives had never seen white men or massive sailing ships like Cook’s, they assumed he was their deity and lavished him with feasts and gifts.

The Europeans responded by greedily stripping Kealakekua of food and supplies, but when one of Cook’s sailors died from a stroke, the natives realized the strangely dressed Europeans weren’t immortals after all. From then on, Cook’s relationship with the Hawaiians became increasingly strained.

Cook suffered a grisly death

While docked for repairs in Hawaii in February 1779, Cook became enraged after a group of natives stole a cutter ship from one of his boats. He went ashore and tried to take King Kalani‘ōpu‘u hostage, but the Hawaiians feared their leader would be killed and swarmed to his aid.

When Cook’s ship Discovery fired its cannons at another group of Hawaiians, the explorer panicked and discharged a rifle before fleeing to a waiting boat. He didn’t get far before he was pelted by stones and struck by a club.

A Hawaiian warrior then brandished a knife - a gift from Cook - and plunged it into his back. Cook fell into the surf and was repeatedly stabbed and bashed with rocks.

After he perished, the Hawaiians ritualistically prepared his corpse as they would that of a king. They preserved his hands in sea salt, then roasted the rest of his body in a pit before cleaning his bones.

NASA named spacecraft after Cook's ships

Cook explored and mapped more territory than any navigator of his era, and his achievements later saw him honored by NASA.

Cook’s HMS Discovery was one of several historical vessels that inspired the name of the third space shuttle, and NASA later named their final shuttle “Endeavour” after the ship he commanded on his first circumnavigation of the globe.

When the shuttle Discovery made its final space flight in 2011, its crew carried a special medallion made by the Royal Society in honor of Cook.

History Channel / Wikipedia / Encyclopedia Britannica / Princeton.edu / Captain Cook Society / Smithsonian.edu / Gutenberg.org / First voyage of James Cook on August 26, 1768 (YouTube)

Understanding Military Terminology

Rehabilitative Care

(DOD) Therapy that provides evaluati ons and treatment programs using exercises, massage, or electrical therapeutic treatment to restore, reinforce, or enhance motor performance and restores patients to functional health allowing for their return to duty or discharge from the Service.

Also called Restorative Care.

See also Patient Movement Policy; Theater.

Joint Publications (JP 4-02) Joint Health Services - Intelligence Resource Program

Rehearsal Phase

(DOD) In amphibious operations, the peri od during which the prospective operation is practiced.

See also Amphibious operation.

Joint Publications (JP 3-02) Amphibious Operations

Joint Publication - Department of Defense Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms

The Old Salt’s Corner

“SAILOR'S CHRISTMAS” - “Unknown”

“SAILOR'S CHRISTMAS”

T'was the night before Christmas, he lived in a crowd,/p>

In a 40 man berthing, with shipmates snoring so loud.

I had come down the Sail with presents to give,

And to see just who in this rack did live.

I looked all about, a strange sight did I see,

No tinsel, no presents, not even a tree.

No stockings were hung, just a “poopy suit” close at hand,

On the bulkhead hung pictures of a far distant land.

He had medals and badges and awards from far and wide,

But one in particular my eye did soon find.

Why, they were Dolphins, with a tiny submarine...pinned on with pride,

Then a sobering thought did come to my mind.

For this place was different, it was so dark and dreary,

I had found the home of a Sub Sailor, once I could see clearly.

The Sailor lay sleeping, silent and alone,

Curled up in his rack, dreaming of home.

The face was so gentle, the berthing in good order,

Not how I pictured a U. S. Submarine Sailor.

Was this the hero whom I saw on TV?

Defending his country so we all could be free?

I realized the families that I've seen this cold night,

Owed their lives to these Sailors who were willing to fight.

“You've got high dust and low dust, and that overhead it needs cleaning!”

Soon, 'round the world the children would play,

And grownups would celebrate a new Christmas Day.

They all enjoyed freedom each day of the year

Because of these Sailors, like the one lying here.

I couldn't help but wonder how many lay alone,

On a cold Christmas Eve, under sea, far from home.

The very thought made me pause and brought a tear to my eye,

I dropped to my knees and started to cry.

The Sailor awakened and I heard a gruff voice

“Santa, don't cry for me; this life is my choice.

I'll defend the seas on this day

Then on re-inspection he explained with a huff,

And let others rejoice.”

The Sailor rolled over and drifted to sleep,

I couldn't control it, I started to weep.

I kept watch then for hours, silent and still,

And we both shivered a bit from the night's aching chill.

It seemed like eternity until reveille sounded

I didn't want to leave, on that dreary, cold night,

This Guardian of Honor, so willing to fight.

Then the Sailor rolled over and with a voice soft and pure,

Whispered, “Carry on, Santa, it's Christmas Day... all's secure.”

~ Unknown

“I’m Just Sayin”

“It is a wise father that knows his own child.”

“Hell is empty and all the devils are here.”

“Better three hours too soon than a minute too late.”

“Though she be but little, she is fierce.”

“Some rise by sin, and some by virtue fall.”

“A fool thinks himself to be wise,

but a wise man knows himself to be a fool.”

“The robbed that smiles,

steals something from the thief.”

“We know what we are,

but know not what we may be.”

“Some are born great,

some achieve greatness,

some have greatness thrust upon them.”

~ William Shakespeare

“Thought for the Day”

“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.

“Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could do only a little.”

“You can never plan the future by the past.”

“Good order is the foundation of all things.”

“Nothing turns out to be so oppressive and unjust as a feeble government.”

“Education is the cheap defense of nations.”

“Facts are to the mind what food is to the body.”

“No passion so effectually robs the mind of all its powers of acting and reasoning as fear.”

“Whenever a separation is made between liberty and justice,

neither, in my opinion, is safe.”

“He that wrestles with us strengthens our nerves and sharpens our skill.

Our antagonist is our helper.”

“When bad men combine,

the good must associate;

else they will fall one by one,

an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle.”

“Hypocrisy can afford to be magnificent in its promises,

for never intending to go beyond promise,

it costs nothing.”

“When the leaders choose to make themselves bidders at an auction of popularity,

their talents, in the construction of the state,

will be of no service.

They will become flatterers instead of legislators;

The instruments, not the guides, of the people.”

~ Edmund Burke

“What I Learned”

“Common sense is not so common.

“Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.”

“Judge a man by his questions rather than his answers.”

“Every man is guilty of all the good he did not do.”

“It is difficult to free fools from the chains they revere.”

“It is dangerous to be right in matters on which the established authorities are wrong.”

“No problem can withstand the assault of sustained thinking.”

“Faith consists in believing when it is beyond the power of reason to believe.”

“If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent Him.”

“God gave us the gift of life;

it is up to us to give ourselves the gift of living well.”

“To the living we owe respect,

but to the dead we owe only the truth.”

“It is forbidden to kill;

therefore all murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets..”

“God is not on the side of the big battalions,

but on the side of those who shoot best.”

“Each player must accept the cards life deals him or her:

but once they are in hand,

ihe or she alone must decide how to play the cards in order to win the game.”

~ Voltaire

Mr. Answer Man Please Tell Us: What Was the Original Reason for the 25th Amendment?

SECTION 1: “IN CASE OF THE REMOVAL OF THE PRESIDENT FROM OFFICE OR OF HIS DEATH OR RESIGNATION, THE VICE PRESIDENT SHALL BECOME PRESIDENT”

SECTION 2: “WHENEVER THERE IS A VACANCY IN THE OFFICE OF THE VICE PRESIDENT, THE PRESIDENT SHALL NOMINATE A VICE PRESIDENT WHO SHALL TAKE OFFICE UPON CONFIRMATION”

SECTION 3 and 4: “WHENEVER THE PRESIDENT TRANSMITS … HIS WRITTEN DECLARATION THAT HE IS UNABLE TO DISCHARGE THE POWERS AND DUTIES OF OFFICE … SUCH POWERS AND DUTIES SHALL BE DISCHARGED BY THE VICE PRESIDENT AS ACTING PRESIDENT” AND “WHENEVER THE VICE PRESIDENT AND A MAJORITY OF EITHER THE PRINCIPAL OFFICERS OF THE EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS TRANSMIT … THAT THE PRESIDENT IS UNABLE TO DISCHARGE THE POWERS AND DUTIES OF HIS OFFICE, THE VICE PRESIDENT SHALL IMMEDIATELY ASSUME THE POWERS AND DUTIES OF THE OFFICE AS ACTING PRESIDENT”

The 25th Amendment clears up some ambiguity about the temporary or permanent absence of the President from office and, if permanently disabled from office, provides for appointment of a Vice President.

It strengthens and clarifies the line of succession as well as provides for temporary inabilities to carry out Presidential duties, such as a President undergoing a medical procedure or operation.

A President could die in office -- as has happened several times before — or be removed (impeached) and the original Constitution didn’t specify whether the Vice President was simply saddled with the duties of President or was elevated to the position of President. The 25th Amendment makes it clear that the VP becomes President.

Moreover, it also provides that the President may appoint a new Vice President to fill the vacancy in the Vice Presidential office, subject to confirmation and approval by Congress. This occurred after Richard Nixon resigned in 1974 and VP Gerald Ford assumed the Presidency, using his 25th Amendment power to appoint Nelson Rockefeller as VP.

If a President knows that he will be temporarily incapacitated for some reason, under the Amendment he notifies the leaders of both Congressional houses by written letter. He can specify when the transfer of power to his Vice President becomes effective in the letter too. Once he’s able to resume the duties of the office, he would then send letters to that effect to the same Congressional leaders. This would be the case if the President knew he was to be anesthetized for a medical procedure. Once he’s awake and recovering and his doctors believe he’s fit enough, he can “reclaim” his office.

The most interesting provision allows for the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments (or of such other body as Congress may by law provide) to declare the president unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office by written declaration to the leaders of each Congressional house (i.e. the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives).

Originally it was intended as a means to allow official transfer of power to the Vice President if the president became too injured or ill to sign such letters himself - think of a heart attack or stroke. This section allows the President to reclaim his office if he recovers. But this could also be invoked if a President exhibits signs of dementia or possibly “mental illness”. It also provides that if the President is removed under this section, if he attempts to reclaim the office, the same officers can object, in which case Congress will decide the matter (and you thought the IRS hearings were a circus!). It’s about the equivalent to having the President “relieved of his command” as military officers might do in the event a commander is unfit or unable to do his job.

The 25th Amendment doesn’t directly negate Article II, Section 1, Clause 6 of the Constitution (the old provisions) or the statutes enacted by Congress outlining the line of succession should both the President and VP be unable to fulfill their roles.

Constitution Daily.org • Constitution Laws • Ford Library Museum.gov • Quora • Wikipedia • 25th Amendment (YouTube)

NAVSPEAK aka U.S. Navy Slang

VC: A Viet Cong: Guerilla forces in South Vietnam allied with the North Vietnamese Army (NVA) during the Vietnam War. Also called “Charlie” from phoenetic “Victor Charlie”.

VC: Fixed Wing Composite aircraft squadrons.

VD: Venereal Disease, also know as the clap, Gonnorea or syphillis.

Veal Wheels: Veal Parmesan. A.K.A. Elephant Scabs.

VERTREP: Vertical Replenishment: The taking of supplies (resupply) from a supply ship via helo pick-up and drop-off. Historically, the CH-46 Sea Knight (see “Phrog”) was used for such resupply, although any aircraft with a cargo hook installed can do. Differs from “UNREP”.

Very well: Expression of acknowledgement a senior gives a subordinate6.

VF: Fixed Wing Fighter Aircraft Squadrons. No longer in use, see VFA.

VFA: Fixed Wing Strike Fighter Squadron, made up of Legacy F/A-18C or D model Hornets or F/A-18E,F or G model Super Hornets.

Vitamin M: Motrin, which is occasionally used to combat the various aches/pains/headaches associated with military service. Compare “Corpsman Candy”.

VP: Fixed Wing Patrol Aircraft Squadrons.

VS: Fixed Wing Anti Submarine Squadrons. With the retirement of the S-3B Viking all VS squadrons have been decommissioned.

VT: Fixed Wing Training Squadrons..

VX: Fixed Wing Experimental Aircraft Squadrons..

Vulcan Death Watch: 12 hours of drills separated by 3 rotations of watches. If one is on Vulcan Death Watch, one is up oncoming as drill team, on watch then offgoing as casualty response team, potentially followed by another 6 hour watch.

Vultures' Row: The place from which people can watch flight operations without being in the way, typically the O-7 to O-9 level on an aircraft carrier's island.

Wiktionary.org

Just for you MARINE

VERTREP: Vertical Rreplenishment, the use of helicopters for cargo transfer to ships or distant outposts.

VEERP: Voluntary Enlisted Early Release Program, getting out of the Marine Corps early.

Voluntold: Being volunteered for a task without having a choice by a superior.

VTOL: Vertical TakeOff/Landing, takeoff and landing technique that does not need a runway to become airborne. See also STOL, STOVL, & V/STOL.

V/R: Very Respectfully, used as an end greeting in written naval communication to senior.

V/STOL: Vertical/Short Takeoff and Landing, a type of aircraft that can perform: STOL, STOVL, & VTOL.

Wikipedia.org

Naval Aviation Squadron Nicknames

VXS-1 Naval Aviation Squadron Nicknames: Air Test and Evaluation (VXS) Squadron ONE - nicknamed the “Dust Devils”

United States Navy - Unmanned Aircraft Systems Test Naval Research Laboratory - Washington, D.C. / December 13, 2004 - present

Wikipedia.org

Where Did That Saying Come From?

“An Englishman's home is his castle:”

Meaning: The English dictum that a man's home is his refuge.

History: The maxim that 'An Englishman's home (or occasionally, house) is his castle' is most often cited these days in articles in the British right-wing press that bemoan the apparent undermining of the perceived principle that a man can do as he pleases in his own house, which they hold up as an ancient right.

The grumbles centre about the feminist response 'what about Englishwomen?' and the public disquiet about the smacking of children, attacking of intruders etc.

The proverb was used in almost all of the articles about the court case of Tony Martin in 2000.

Martin was convicted by jury trial of murder, after shooting and killing a 16-year old who had broken into his house in Norfolk, UK.

Did Englishmen actually ever have a unique right to act as they pleased within the walls of their own home? Well, yes and no.

Yes, in the sense that it has been a legal precept in England, since at least the 17th century, that no one may enter a home, which would typically then have been in male ownership, unless by invitation.

This was established as common law by the lawyer and politician Sir Edward Coke (pronounced Cook), in The Institutes of the Laws of England, 1628:

“For a man's house is his castle, et domus sua cuique est tutissimum refugium [and each man's home is his safest refuge].”

This enshrined into law the popular belief at the time, expressed in print by several authors in the late 16th century:

Henri Estienne's The Stage of Popish Toyes: conteining both tragicall and comicall partes, 1581, includes:

“[The English papists owe it to the Queen that] "youre house is youre Castell."”

Richard Mulcaster, the headmaster of Merchant Taylors' School in London, echoed this in his treatise on education - Positions, which are necessarie for the training up of children, 1581:

“He [the householder] is the appointer of his owne circumstance, and his house is his castle.”

Judged against the standards of his time, Mulcaster was an enlightened educationalist. His charges were nevertheless terrified of him and he condoned methods in the 'castle' of his school that would result these days in a visit from Social Services.

His own experience in castles wasn't that happy either - he was imprisoned for theft in 1555 in the Tower of London and probably tortured into a confession.

What was meant by 'castle' was defined in 1763 by the British Prime Minister with an admirable selection of names to choose from - William Pitt, the first Earl of Chatham, also known as Pitt the Elder:

“The poorest man may in his cottage bid defiance to all the forces of the crown. It may be frail - its roof may shake - the wind may blow through it - the storm may enter - the rain may enter - but the King of England cannot enter.”

It is clear from the above that the law was established to give householders the right to prevent entry to their homes. Like the 'rule of thumb', which was popularly and mistakenly believed to be the right of a man to beat his wife, the 'Englishman's home is his castle' rule didn't establish a man's right to take actions inside the home that would be illegal outside it.

Exalt the citizen. As the State is the unit of government he is the unit of the State. Teach him that his home is his castle, and his sovereignty rests beneath his hat.

The principle was exported to the United States where, not unnaturally, the 'Englishman' was removed from the phrase. In 1800, Joel Chandler Harris's biography of Henry W. Grady, the journalist and writer on the US Constitution, included this line:

“Exalt the citizen. As the State is the unit of government he is the unit of the State. Teach him that his home is his castle, and his sovereignty rests beneath his hat.”

These days, with all the news of banking collapses and mortgage foreclosures, men and women, English or American, might be glad to have somewhere to call home, even if they have to obey the law when inside it.

Phrases.org UK

Science & Technology

FEATURED: Genes that may be helping bumblebees adapt to environmental change pinpointed • The tiny structures that mimic a cell's natural environment

Scientists discover new mechanism involved in learning and memory • Higher temperatures may decrease antidepressant pollution in waterways • Co-occurring droughts could threaten global food security

Scientists create a global repository for cell engineering • Ranking the efficacy of hair loss drugs • Tiny antenna enables portable biomedicine, food analysis, and other nano- and terahertz technologies

Protective mutations in COVID-19 • Can we harness intestinal cells to treat endocrine disorders? • Researchers restore function in a gene that can suppress liver cancer and enhance immunotherapy Phys.org / MedicalXpress / TechXplore

FEATURED: A noninvasive iRFP713 p53 reporter reveals dynamic p53 activity in response to irradiation and liver regeneration in vivo • Chasing after methane’s ultra-emitters

European fusion reactor sets record for sustained energy • A Beijing think tank offered a frank review of China’s technological weaknesses. Then the report disappeared

Can scientists repair their relationship with Native people as they probe the past? • These sponges survive the deep sea by feeding on remains of long-dead animals

Next-generation spinal implants help people with severe paralysis walk, cycle, and swim • A human antibody reveals a conserved site on beta-coronavirus spike proteins and confers protection against SARS-CoV-2 infection Science AAAS

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

Do we live in a simulation? Here's why we may never know.

Let's say we build some ridiculous planet-sized computer - one so powerful it could simulate our entire universe.

Is everything we know and experience, up to and including reality itself, a simulation created by some unseen and unknowable entity? This idea, known as the simulation hypothesis, was first posed by University of Oxford professor Nick Bostrom in 2003.

But does the simulation hypothesis offer a compelling argument, or is it just interesting food for thought? Let's find out.

Let's assume our computers will continue to grow ever more powerful, efficient and capable. Let's say that at some point in the deep, deep future (for this argument to work, it doesn't matter exactly when this happens), we build some ridiculous planet-sized computer - a computer so powerful that it could simulate our entire universe, recreating all the physics, chemistry and biology that we experience in the natural world.

If we also assume that consciousness is consciousness, regardless of where it resides (in either an organic brain or a digital one), then any simulated entities within the computer that gain consciousness will experience a world that is indistinguishable from ours.

You know, the Matrix.

Once our descendants build such a computer, they will inevitably create countless simulated beings - just try to count how many creatures in video games have appeared and disappeared since we first developed the technology.

Very quickly, the number of simulated conscious brains living in a computer will vastly outnumber the organic brains living in the real universe. If this ends up happening, we are left with three possibilities:

1. Our descendants (or other intelligent beings in the universe) will never be able to develop the technological ability to faithfully simulate the cosmos.

2. Our descendants (or other intelligent beings in the universe) will develop the technology but choose not to simulate the cosmos.

3. The vast majority of all conscious entities, including you, are living in a simulation.

The simulation argument is the latest in a long tradition of philosophical thinking that questions the ultimate nature of the reality we experience. Through the ages, philosophers have wondered if our reality is the construct of a malicious demon, or if we live inside of someone else's dream. It's the ultimate form of skepticism and is useful to remind ourselves that there are limits to the empirical study of nature.

As philosophical arguments go, the simulation hypothesis is a good one. But the hypothesis ends with a trilemma - three statements, one of which must be true (if you accept all the assumptions in the argument), but we can't tell which one.

You're allowed to throw your hands up and say you don't know which possibility is the most likely to be correct. You're also allowed to argue for one option over another. For example, you could say that computers will never be powerful enough to faithfully simulate the universe or that advanced civilizations will always find it morally reprehensible to simulate consciousness. Or you could say it's all inevitable and we do live in somebody else's simulation of a universe.

No matter which option you choose, however, you need to bring in extra arguments beyond the original simulation hypothesis. Or, you could question the assumptions that go into the argument itself.

Resetting the computer

Perhaps the biggest assumption in the simulation hypothesis is that simulated brains will quickly overwhelm the number of organic brains. Assuming that there are no differences between the experiences of simulated and organic consciousness (another big assumption), this is what allows you to calculate the odds that you live in a simulation. In the far future, for example, there could be 99 billion simulated conscious beings for every 1 billion organic ones. That would mean there's a 99% chance that you are among the simulated ones.

But in 2017, Brian Eggleston, an undergraduate systems analysis student at Stanford University, discovered a major flaw in Bostrom's accounting. The simulation argument relies on our descendants building superadvanced computers, because we are the only known species to build computers in the first place. Once our descendants build such computers, we'll know for sure that we're not among the simulated beings in those computers, because we can point to those computers and conclusively say we're not inside them.

No matter how many simulated conscious entities our descendants make, whether 10 or 10 trillion, we can't use them to calculate the odds that we are in a simulation. In other words, their future ability to create simulated universes doesn't tell us a single thing about whether we are in a simulation. We can't use the future numbers to calculate odds. And if we can't calculate the odds, we don't have a trilemma and thus can't say anything more.

Instead, we can only look to our past - either humans living in some time before us (in a nonsimulated, real universe) or some alien creatures who enjoy making simulated humans. While either of those realities is possible, we have absolutely no evidence that either is true, and we have no way to calculate the number of simulated entities in existence.

Do we live in a simulation? Ultimately, we don't know, and the simulation hypothesis doesn't provide a compelling argument that we might. So you can go back to enjoying your life.

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Live Science (01/31/2022)