Friday, March 23, 2007

American Freedom

Imagine all the time I could have spent just the past three years training our sailors and soldiers.

If you are preventing my family from contacting me directly, then you are undeniably a domestic terrorist.


The difference in the photos of Aldrin and Armstrong works out to about a height difference of a foot. As other images below illustrate, Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong are just about the same height. It could be the photo from the Moon surface is distorted causing a difference in height, but I don’t believe that is the issue, as I did not see any such indications. You might have to download and open the image in a photo viewer to see the illustrations I made to the images.

























































I made some calculations about the height and noted that in my journal. I also noted in my journal about the average height of a 10 year and compared that to the illustrations I made in that one Apollo 11 photo. Based on that rough measurement of the photo, I determined that one astronaut is about 1 foot taller than the other one. I'll note some other clues in my next blog post. As it is now, I am about average height, but I wonder if I would have grown a few more inches if I had led a normal life, so I might have been taller than other 10 year olds. That 530 days in space starting when I was 16 years old may have had some influence on my height, but I think there might have been a greater reason. I have been thinking for a while that I had some kind of eating disorder for a long time. It’s now more of just a shadow of something that probably bothered me a lot in the past before that whole string of memories was suppressed. My hunch is that it started when I was a captive in Vietnam. My hunch is also that I was held captive over two periods. The first time they captured me, I pretended to be a regular kid - separated and lost from my family who were there as tourist’s - and they threw me in with other civilians into some kind of re-education camp. I led a revolt and many of us escaped.

My theory is I went back to school at Princeton University and then returned to Vietnam the following summer. They captured me again, and knowing who I was then, they threw me in with U.S. Navy pilots at Hoa Loa Prison, the so-called Hanoi Hilton. That is why for a few years, I was only buying Hewlett-Packard computers for home use: the H-L-P. I bought the first one shortly after I started working at Microsoft and that was all I bought from then on. We knew King County, especially Dave Reichert, was corrupt so I was without a doubt going into hostile territory - against an armed force - because King County wasn’t going to lose their cash cow no matter how much domestic and international terrorism Microsoft-Corbis was responsible for.

So anyway, it was only because I was held there for so long, I was then overdue to return to school and it was only then that Governor Reagan found out that I had been going over there. My hunch is some people in my family had found out earlier I had been flying with the South Vietnamese and thought I must have lost my mind to do something so crazy. I lied to them that I wouldn’t go back over there into combat.

I believe President Reagan would remember all that when he made his Freedom Fighters reference to the Afghan’s that were resisting the Soviet invaders. I think I had flown the F-5 Freedom Fighter jet in Vietnam, among my other activities over there. I think also that he had me working a lot with the Afghan Freedom Fighter’s, teaching them what I learned in Vietnam. From what I can tell, George H.W. Bush dropped support for those same fighters after he took office and that led to the rise of the Taliban.

So anyway, when I saw a photo of an F-5 Freedom Fighter jet the other day, with South Vietnamese Air Force markings, I was reminded of a “memory” from my symbolic youth. I “remember” a day at the lake in Arkansas and I had a toy airplane that I liked a lot and I dropped it in the water and couldn’t find it. I started thinking that in reality, I had been flying combat operations for the South Vietnamese Air Force and I was shot down by enemy forces somewhere over a lake.

Statement on the Situation in Afghanistan

December 27th, 1981

Our current concern regarding Poland should not cause us to forget that 2 years ago today, massive Soviet military forces invaded the sovereign country of Afghanistan and began an attempt to subjugate one of the most fiercely independent peoples of the world. Despite the presence of 90,000 Soviet combat troops, a recent increase of some 5,000, the courageous people of Afghanistan have fought back. Today they effectively deny Soviet forces control of most of Afghanistan. Efforts by the Soviets to establish a puppet government in the Soviet image, which could govern a conquered land, have failed. Soviet control extends little beyond the major cities, and even there the Afghan freedom fighters often hold sway by night and sometimes even by day. The battle for Afghan independence continues.



Remarks on Signing the Afghanistan Day Proclamation

March 10th, 1982

Coincidentally, the day after Afghanistan Day, this country plans to launch the third Columbia space shuttle. Just as the Columbia, we think, represents man's finest aspirations in the field of science and technology, so too does the struggle of the Afghan people represent man's highest aspirations for freedom. The fact that freedom is the strongest force in the world is daily demonstrated by the people of Afghan. Accordingly, I am dedicating on behalf of the American people the March 22d launch of the Columbia to the people of Afghanistan.



The F-5A may have been the first jet I later flew on 5/1/67 and in 1965, I was already training for that flight. The year 1965 is when I think I started at Princeton University, whose mascot is the Tiger. There is also something about the use of the Japanese code name. I think one of my close relatives is of Japanese heritage and I think one of my instructors at Princeton University was from Japan and was teaching me aikido. I think that is why they had a woman named Akiko introduce herself to me at Microsoft and something seemed odd about that. That would also explain why Microsoft-Corbis had Vince Maraia sitting in the cubicle next to me all that time. Across the aisle from me was the guy who resembled the lead cartoon character from “Family Guy.” Vince Maraia was the guy who wrote that book that has the Knight in shining armor on the cover and that reflects the date 3/3/2059 in the ISBN number. Vince Maraia once told me that his father is an American and veteran of the U.S. Navy. He said that his mother is Japanese.

The F-5A/B Freedom Fighter, and F-5E/F Tiger II are part of a family of widely used light supersonic fighter aircraft, designed and built by Northrop in the United States, beginning in 1960s.

The USAF made a combat evaluation of the F-5A under the Skoshi Tiger ("skoshi" is derived from the Japanese word sukoshi, meaning "little," thus the program was "Little Tiger") program in 1965.



http://blogs.msdn.com/vincem/

Tuesday, October 25, 2005 10:08 PM

The meaning of the Knight

Hi, I've been asked this a few times about why we chose to have a Knight on the cover of The Build Master. Here is my explanation that for some unknown reason was left out of the book:

By definition a Knight is a nobleman or noblewoman, a seeker of virtue, defender of the crown (metaphor would be corporate or group culture), a protector of faith or philosophy. Knights carry themselves with chivalrous conduct and can be a very formidable warrior if needed. The suit of armor is a good defense for the unjust attacks they may receive (from non-build team members).

Knights are also known to have been seated at the round table (WAR meetings) with the King to discuss peace and the well-being of the common folks (the employees doing the work). I see Build Masters or SCM personnel as the modern-day-high-tech Knight.

Speak softly but always carry a big sword!


Build Master, The: Microsoft's Software Configuration Management Best Practices
Published by: ADDISON-WESLEY
Author: Maraia, V
Number of pages: 248
Group: SOFTWARE ENGINEERING
ISBN: 0321332059/9780321332059





As for the time I think I was a POW in Libya in 1986, I noted this announcement about "Pan America Week" a while back in my journal. I noted that it might have something actually to do with Pan Am airlines. The day 4/14/86 is when U.S. forces bombed Libya and I think that is the day I escaped by running into the desert. Just now I noted that Pan Am Airlines was formed on 3/14/1927, which was 59 years, 31 days, before 4/14/86. The announcement also includes 59 in the title.

Pan American World Airways, commonly known as Pan Am, was the principal international airline of the United States from the 1930s until its collapse in 1991.
...
Pan American Airways Incorporated was founded on March 14, 1927, by Major Henry H. "Hap" Arnold and partners.



Proclamation 5459—Pan American Day and Pan American Week, 1986

April 14th, 1986

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

The peoples of the Western Hemisphere are bound together by a shared belief in peace, prosperity, justice, and freedom.



Address to the Nation on the United States Air Strike Against Libya

April 14th, 1986

My fellow Americans:

At 7 o'clock this evening eastern time air and naval forces of the United States launched a series of strikes against the headquarters, terrorist facilities, and military assets that support Mu'ammar Qadhafi's subversive activities. The attacks were concentrated and carefully targeted to minimize casualties among the Libyan people with whom we have no quarrel. From initial reports, our forces have succeeded in their mission.

Several weeks ago in New Orleans, I warned Colonel Qadhafi we would hold his regime accountable for any new terrorist attacks launched against American citizens.





Transcript - Futurama “Space Pilot 3000” - March 28, 1999

IPGEE
Well that's your job, whether you like it or not and it's my job to make you do your job whether I like it or not - which I do - very much! Now get to work! Life is good!