The Big Tuna

So with today being my Friday off I proceeded north, along the coast to Kittery, Maine. Along the way I stopped in Portsmouth, NH for some lunch (Portsmouth Brewery Restaraunt, yum). But it was a historical sign that pulled me off the highway originally. After lunch I visited it.

Hull number 569. USS Albacore. An unexpected treasure. Yes, I went inside of her. The following pictures show her off a bit.

The forward berthing area (tight bunks)

Hatch to somewhere, I forgot to actually see where it went.

Chart room

Controls

Engine room (that thing running along the center is the propeller shaft housing.

A very fine rear if I say so myself.

View from starboard looking forward.

Quite a pretty little boat isn't it?

A quote borrowed because it is just that awesome.

"The pacifist helps give war its point, to make the exercise worthwhile, by allowing you to enslave him, to take his wife to serve yours, his daughters to warm your bed, and his sons as machine gun fodder, safe in the knowledge that he will not lift a hand to stop you, lest he risk compromising his "principles.""


Colonel Kratman and R. Cruze Jr.

Yes, I do agree. --> TEMD

Epidemiology

So I whippped out my epi text this evening since all the fuss about "swine flu" gave me a good excuse to remind myself how all that stuff works. I was going to make a lengthy post (and if the news keeps being stupid I still will) on the entire topic, but there isn't really any point. Epidemiology is a fascinating subject but the more I read, the more I realize that while the governments response is appropriate, the news's response (and coverage) is not.

Consider these few facts:

1) We've had a couple of handfuls of this flu in the US (and I've spoken with a couple of folks who think they may have had it). Only one case has resulted in hospitilization. No fatalities in the US.

2) Mexico's healthcare system is decades behind ours.

3) This variant of the H1N1 virus responds to at least some of our vaccines.

4) Yearly, regardless of strain, the US has something like 36,000 hospitilizations from the flu.

It's the flu folks. It's strange in that it is striking in the spring-summer season. Cytokine storms are possible (I presume) and they do suck. It does seem to target the 20-40 year old demographic like the 1918 pandemic. But it's no pandemic maker. Calm down, have some chicken soup. Stay home from work if you think you need to. If you're elderly go to the hospital.

There are more frightening things happening out there (like global cooling).

*Edited to provide fun 1918 pandemic linkification:

http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/eid/vol12no01/05-0979.htm

Work in progress

To all those who read the blog (yeah, all four of you),

I'm researching my next major post. The topic will be Human Factors in space flight. I intend to write it as if it is the missing chapter to Doc Travis's Introduction to Rocket Science and Engineering. Should be a good one. Look for it soon.

Human Factors in Space Engineering

http://www.eraualumni.org/s/867/index.aspx?sid=867&gid=1&pgid=252&cid=1661&ecid=1661&crid=0&calpgid=15&calcid=889

ERAU Daytona is gaining support for a space transportation R&D institute. Among the fields the institute will be pushing is HFE in space flight. I'm still working on getting a contact for more info, but this is definitely interesting.

As a note, in Doc Travis's latest book "Introduction to Rocket Science and Engineering" (Travis S. Taylor, CRC Press. Copyright 2009) he covers all the basics of rocketry and space flight. He covers government acquisition phases and how detailed such acquisition programs need to be. He even slightly hints at the need for human factors... but there is no HFE chapter. :(

Maybe I should write it for him? XD