A Geek’s Think

Yesterday Bill and I decided to head down to Petersburg, Virginia to visit the Civil War battlefield there. It was quite the sight to see. Petersburg was one of the Confederate army’s main supply depots, so the Union army had good reason to want to ‘remove them from the picture.’ So they essentially ‘laid siege’ on them for nearly a year.

The main attractions were the earthworks, big mounds of dirt thrown up to stop bullets and cannonballs. Every Union or Confederate fort or cannon battery was surrounded by them, with dips here and there to stick cannons through. They’re kind of hard to capture in a picture, so just imagine a bunch hills up to 6 feet high with cannons sticking out every so often.

 

Speaking of cannons, here are some examples of Civil War cannons. The biggest of the cannons pictured could lob a 30-pound ball more than 6000 yards.



One of the first sights we saw was The Dictator, a civil war mortar that tossed 13 inch, 225 pound exploding shells up to two miles. During the siege of Petersburg, it sent 218 rounds into the city, causing some damage but overall being of little practical value. The mortar pictured above is a replica; click here for a picture of the original.



This is a picket line, designed to alert the soldiers in the trench when the enemy was coming in.



One of the many trails we walked down.



Step 1. Dig tunnel under Confederate lines
Step 2. Set large explosive to explode underneath them
Step 3. Run out into the crater and take over the battery.
Step 4. Run for your lives when the Confederates take back the position after an hour of fighting.

If you’re interested in learning more about the Siege of Petersburg, visit the Siege of Petersburg page at CivilWarAlbum.com.

When I was a kid, I loved eating these thin biscuits filled with raisins - something like a flattened raisin sandwich. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to find them for about 10 years now, even though I’ve looked for them in nearly every supermarket I’ve spent any significant amount of time in. I couldn’t even remember who made them or what they were called. Well, last night I decided to find out what actually happened to my childhood treat. Off to Google!

Turns out my biscuits were called Sunshine Golden Fruit Raisin Biscuits. When Keebler bought out Sunshine, they discontinued the Golden Fruit line, which explains why I haven’t been able to find them. The Wayback Machine even has a copy of one of Keebler’s old product pages describing them. So sad.

Or maybe not! It also turns out that my raisin biscuits were actually a variation of a British biscuit first produced in 1861 called a Garibaldi biscuit. While not produced in the US, Garibaldi biscuits are still sold in England and can be found via various importers such as the British Food Shop or the Vermont Country Store. As Bill and Ted would say, “Excellent!!”

I bought 5 packages.

Check out these new technologies with the potential to make life even easier for us technogeeks:

LED Projectors

Normal projectors use a really expensive light bulb to display images. While offering great image quality, they have the side effects of running really hot, requiring loud fans, and a bulb that needs to be replaced every thousand hours or so. At $300-500 per bulb, costs can soon bypass the original cost of the projector.

Enter the LED Projector. Using LED’s instead of standard bulbs for lighting removes all three of the above-mentioned issues - they’re cool running and long lasting. They’re also small enough to fit in the palm of your hand. All these benefits come with a price, however - less brightness. Every model announced thus far has a brightness of less than 100 lumens, with most outputting closer to 25 lumens. That’s not very bright, but their portability, price (less than $1000), and long life make them a powerful contender for my future spending. Check out the announced models from Mitsubishi , Toshiba, Sony, Samsung, and more.

Electronic Paper

Electronic Paper makes it possible to read from a computer without experiencing the eye strain normally associated with a computer monitor, which refreshes its image at least 60 times per second. It does this by displaying a constant image - no changes unless necessary. In that way, reading from ePaper is like reading from a book - easy on the eyes. Now imagine having a 1 GB flash memory card full of books or papers to read. Thousands of books in the palm of your hand with no eye strain? I say WOW. Pair this with Project Gutenberg and you can have more than 19,000 books at your fingertips. Plus, you’re saving trees as you go. Nice, eh?

When I entered the US Navy Delayed Entry Program (DEP), I was given a little book called the Success Accelerator, which is supposedly to teach me the basics of being a sailor before I hit boot camp. At the end of the book are listed 14 sections of qualifications, known as Personal Qualification Standards or PQS, which I’m supposed to pass off before boot camp. These qualifications have the following stated goal:

The DEP PQS system ensures DEP personnel attain, demonstrate, and sustain the basic knowledge and skill levels necessary for a smooth transition from civilian life to entry-level navy life (recruit training).

I recently did something that most (if not all) who know me will be extremely surprised to hear - I joined the Navy. I report for boot camp on 11 April 2006, a little less than seven months away, and will spend a minimum of 6 years serving my country. I will be trained in the Advanced Electronics and Computer Field (AECF), a field which during training feeds two navy jobs - Electronics Techinician (ET) and Fire Controlman (FC). Here is a PDF describing what I will be doing. I’m not sure which of the two jobs I will be assigned to, though I would prefer ET.


You may be asking yourself at this moment, “Why!?!?” Well, there are a few reasons why:

• A feeling that I should - I have been as surprised about this turn of events as many of you are. Military service had never been in my plans, but one day a couple of months ago the thought came to me to look into the Navy. Many hours of research and prayer followed that convinced me that entering the Navy was a step I should take.
• Training - I’ve been in the IT world for the past two years, and while there are aspects of it that I enjoy, there are aspects of it that I really don’t like. The hours are crazy and the responsibility is often overwhelming. Committment to keeping your systems running must be total. Nothing else should come first (well, at least the boss would like you to believe that). It’s not for me.
• Travel - I’m excited to see the world. Of all the armed forces, the Navy provides the greatest access to the world.
• No Direct Combat - When a war is on, the Navy provides a supporting role. The likelihood that I would ever see the field of combat is small, and if I do, it will be with an iron hull surrounding me.