Temperatures will be in the high 90’s today with little chance of rain and alot of sun. I’m cool with that, as t’were – no pun intended! We had a mild wet, spring and early summer. There was a good, soaking rain here in Frederick just a few days ago and things are really green’d up well this year for a change. I still wonder if climate change isn’t going to turn this place into a rain forest in another hundred years.
Back to the Mother Ship
Lockheed has a ton of business going on in the greater Denver Metro area: United Launch Alliance, Coherent Technologies, Space Systems, SBIRS, DISA and numerous other commercial and government contracting activities – not to mention the one I just left -a tiny drop in the Lockheed bucket, as t’were. SBIRS is one of the larger DoD programs, exceeded only by GPS in terms of government dollars budgeted to the space world.
After a week on the new SBIRS job in Boulder, all I can say is I am sooooo glad to be back!
Final Thought on Ikonos
The Ikonos program proved to be a very successful, pioneering advance for the country’s space imaging business, not surprisingly originally named “Space Imaging,” as it was spun off from Lockheed. Despite the 1st vehicle’s launch failure, Ikonos2 went on to produce imaging products for hundreds of customers around the world and provide an invaluable source of ISR material for our nation’s warfighters. It was a key enabler for recovery efforts in countless man-made and natural disasters among many, many other successful endeavors utilizing it’s products. Ikonos continues in that role now approaching 15 years on orbit and for that, everyone ever involved with the program can be proud. My only reservation is leaving a very viable asset going to waste as DigitalGlobe shuffles it into the background of low priority and neglect.
Adversarial Security Attitudes
The more things change, the more they stay the same. That old saying rings true for me today during one of my last few day in the customer facility on the Ikonos program. Back in the day, systems security and the people running those programs were generally seen as impediments to be tolerated, humored and avoided at best, productivity killers and adversaries to be vanquished at worst. These days, with all the advanced security technology available – encryption, monitoring, vast databases of security-relevant information on all nature of things – we still have not attained the ability to effectively manage security. Case in point…
The 3-letter business customers (NGA & DSS) have recently become alarmed at an increasing frequency of violations reported to them for carrying personally owned electronic devices into the closed areas. Additional training was ordered, cheesy audible warnings appear at the doors including clumsy keypad covers and of course, the threat of harsher consequences including device confiscation, ostensibly for the purpose of examination to clear the electronic violator of any wrongdoing. Swing-and-a-miss, strike one.
A portion of the training contains a missive from the local DSS rep about how staffing and budget issues prevent addressing the problem from a technical standpoint. There are too many different dangerous devices out there and they just don’t have the time, people or money to come up with a real technical solution to this problem. So the only way to deal with it is just say no. Put the onus on the users once again, and make it hurt. Strike 2!
In all the hubbub surrounding this fiasco, I wonder who considered the simple fact that for every violation reported to them, probably 10 or more go unreported? How often do you think Joe Blow or Suzy Schmoe is tapping away at their workstation in there when they realize their cellphone is still in their pocket and they suddenly feel the urge to go to the bathroom? Strike 3 – you’re out!
The more things change the more they stay the same. That’s one reason why I’m getting out of the security business, professionally at least. I have the background to be the safest, most secure user any white-hat could ever wish for. But I’m taking the hat off now. Won’t be needing it in my new job and it will very likely be my last. Interestingly enough, today the Supreme Court ruled on some cellphone cases that now make the Government’s cellphone security quandary even more controversial:
(Justice) Roberts noted in his opinion that cellphones “are now such a pervasive and insistent part of daily life that the proverbial visitor from Mars might conclude they were an important feature of human anatomy.”
One thing that will never change in the security business is the simple fact that the most dangerous security vulnerability is the one that goes undetected. Think about that next time you consider punishing users for your inability to get the job done.
Off to the Mountains
This morning I’m on my way up to Rocky Mountain National Park for the annual camping trip. It’ll be just me after the first day since the women have finally all three elected to get out of the camping business. They will come up for the afternoon and a BBQ dinner, then back to the flatland this evening.
Michelle stopped doing any more than one-nighters or day trips about five years ago, and the girls have taken turns skipping a year on-and-off since around that time as well. What a bunch of spoiled tenderfoot pikers they are!
I’m hoping I’ll be late enough in the season at mid-June to get across the snow field on the upper Fern Lake trail this year. Water will be very high everywhere due to higher than average snowfall last winter. Also this year I will be trying out a new site in the Moraine Park campground: B166. Should be a good trip. Looking forward to coming back Friday and steeling myself for my last six Mission Planner shifts to wrap up my portion of the Ikonos ops gig after that.
Let's Talk Gun Control
Courtesy DNEWTON from BITOG:
Let’s start here:
http://www.fbi.gov/stats-services/crimestats/
It’s also important to understand how the FBI defines “violent crime” for what it is, and isn’t … In the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program, violent crime is composed of four offenses: murder and non-negligent manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery, and aggravated assault. Violent crimes are defined in the UCR Program as those offenses which involve force or threat of force, taken from here:
http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/cri…e/violent-crime
Please note that not all violent crime uses firearms, and in fact, the definition is not predicated on the use of any weapon. While predominant, weapons of any sort are not a requirement for quantification of the event in the “violent crime” definition. For example, forcible rape may not have any weapon present at all; it may be achieved by physical brute force. Same goes for “aggravated assault”; physical beatings do not necessitate a weapon, or could be a non-firearm weapon such as a baseball bat. Roberies can also be committed with a knife as well as a gun. Etc, etc. … The thing to understand here is that not all violent crimes encompass a firearm. Firearms are inclusive in the group, but they are not exclusive to other methods of inflicting “violent crime”.
In addition, few folks know about the BJS, which actually has even “better” data:
http://www.bjs.gov/index.cfm?ty=tp&tid=31
There is GREAT data here:
http://www.bjs.gov/index.cfm?ty=pbdetail&iid=4616
Did you know that slightly less than 60% (it varies a bit year to year) of ALL gun-related deaths are suicides? Yes – well more than half of ALL deaths caused by firearms are self-inflicted. And of those, the majority are Caucasian elderly men. Suicide is sad to be sure; any loss of life is undesirable. But it kind of puts things in perspective, does it not? If the firearm were not available to the person, they likely would have found another cause to inflict fatal harm.
There are always some notable gun-related crimes that make newsworthy events; typically the school shootings, etc. Often those are committed with guns that were procured legally at least in the first-person cycle. You’d never know it by news promotional standards, but violent crime committed with “assault weapons” is a VERY SMALL fraction of “violent crime”. Super-duper small, in fact.
And what of accidental gun-related deaths? This is one of my favorite topics because it is simply S-H-O-C-K-I-N-G when folks see the math for the reality of what it is. Hold on to your seats, because I’m going to take you on a wild ride here … You are way more likely to die from interaction with the medical profession than you are to be shot to death from an accidental discharge of a weapon. Think I’m wrong? Then you don’t know me well, because data rules in my world; facts are what I live my reality by. Consider these facts:
Doctors:(A) Number of physicians in the US are around 700,000.
(B) Accidental deaths caused by physicians per year are 120,000. (This number could be larger according to the AMA article, but I used the conservative number.)
(C) Accidental deaths per physician rate is about 0.171
Statistics courtesy of several sources:
https://www.bls.gov/bls/overview.htm
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/lcod.htm
JAMA vol 284, #4; B. Starfield – MD/MPH
Gun Owners:
(A) Number of gun owners are around 80,000,000. (Yes, that’s 80 million)
(B) The number of accidental gun deaths per year, for all age groups, is 1,500 events. The number of homicides via firearms per year is about 12,000. Suicides account for nearly 57% of all gun deaths, per the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics.
(C) Accidental deaths per gun owner are .0000187
(D) Intentional deaths per gun handler are .00015
Statistics courtesy of multiple sources:
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/00046149.htm
http://www.tincher.to/deaths.htm
http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/dataonline/
https://www.fbi.gov/services/cjis/ucr
Now let’s do the math:
Iatrogenic death divided by accidental gun death = exposure risk factor
.171 / .0000178 = 9144
And so, statistically, the medical profession is approximately 9,000+ times more dangerous than gun owners when you look at accidental deaths. Even if you consider homicide by guns, you are MUCH, MUCH more likely to be killed by a health-care provider than a gun. Homicide (as well as violent crime) has been going down for 20+ years, and does not even make the top 15 causes of death annually in the US! Yet, the third leading cause of death in the U.S. is iatrogenesis! (Iatrogenic causation is that which is induced in a patient by a physician’s action, treatment or therapy.)
– If you fear the thought of going into a theater or restaurant where someone may be carrying a handgun, then you need a serious reality check, because you’re so very much more likely to be killed accidentally by the guys and gals with the stethoscope hanging around their neck than the person with the Colt on their hip or Glock in their purse.
– If you fear that more guns and gun permits means more crime will occur, then you need a serious reality check, because violent crime has been on a downward trend for decades while personal protective rights being exercised have been on the continual rise.
– If you fear that access to guns means more kids will die, then you should really concern yourself with the white, older, man who seeks to end his own life.
– If you fear being a victim of a gun crime and live in an area with very strict gun laws, you should move because you are also statistically in an area with higher crime rates. The states/cities with the tightest gun laws also tend to have higher incidents of gun-related crimes (CA, IL, NY, NJ, MD …).
Use these links to find TRUTH about the topics, and leave the lies and distortion to the media, folks. The best weapon may well be an informed mind!
Thus endeth the lesson in reality. I now return you to your regularly scheduled rhetoric.
Nuclear Stress Test Negative
No ischemia or other damage potentially stemming from my circulatory condition was found. This was pretty much expected. The stress test is basically a precautionary first step and my heart is still doing OK. CAT scans image a radioactive marker’s uptake into the heart and surrounding blood vessels before and after exertion to illuminate possible areas of damage. Next step in the diagnosis process will be an angiogram. This is where they inject a dye marker and take x-rays to locate and determine the nature of the blockage(s). It involves a catheter, typically in the leg, so a minimally invasive operation. I imagine it will involve a day or possibly an over-nighter in the hospital. Awaiting appointment with instructions ATT…
The Job Search is Over!
Woo-hoo!! Landed a spot with the SBIRS SEI&V group.
Back to the mother ship…
The "D's" in the Shop
Our 335D illuminated the SES (Service Engine Soon) light again last Saturday. Takes almost a week to get an appointment with loaner at the closest BMW dealer. I’m afraid this will be “the big one.” Engine’s idling bumpy and fuel mileage is down. Probably time for injectors along with intake and head cleaning. We’ll see what they say…
Isla Vista Stupidity
Re; “Megan Came to Visit” – five posts down…
So I see one of the victim’s fathers from last Friday’s shooting rampage is distraught about this, demanding more gun control. He also wants to meet with the other victim’s parents so they may begin addressing some vague concept about how their children’s deaths “will mean something.” What their children’s death means – just a wild guess – is the killer’s parents are careless, irresponsible assholes. Here’s the synopsis:
Only (spoiled) child of divorced lawyers goes berserk. Ya think?
Stupid parents strike again. And don’t forget the old random chance factor. Nobody is immune to it. Being in the wrong place at the the wrong time has always been an unfortunate fact of life and death for those affected by it. Shit happens.
Blaming guns and lack of gun control is like blaming starvation on food that doesn’t exist. Alot of these type problems laid at society’s doorstep simply would not exist if parents put a little more effort into raising their offspring. Attempting to deflect responsibility for this tragedy in this way isn’t doing anyone any good.
Spring Stuff Almost Done
Spring flower renewal is nearly finished and the backyard pond project is complete. The pond somehow turned out way better than anyone imagined. A winding stream feeds the inlet with a waterfall at the outlet making it quite the sophisticated little backyard waterscape. It has a few tadpoles, goldfish and floating plants in it now. I’ll post a dedicated pond photo page with some better pics in a couple months after the flora around it grows out. In the meantime there are a few pics of what it looked like right after most of the work was done on the current Frederick page.
Back on Shift
So Marty’s gone to SBIRS and I’m back on planner shifts covering schedule backfill for the next three weeks. Nice change of pace. Still no takers on my job applications.
In the Home Stretch
Just around the clubhouse turn looking to finish up the IKONOS gig in little more than a month. The 13th of June should be my last day on the job with Lockheed as I hope to be headed up into the mountains for a camping trip the following Monday and expect to take vacation for the remainder of the time until the layoff takes effect on June 30th. Being around the guys I’ve worked with all these years those last days would just feel too awkward.
The only fly in the ointment is that little cardio condition of mine just now coming to the fore. It’s quite likely I’ll be on disability leave at some point during that time if the chest pain turns out to call for the standard angioplasty treatment I’m expecting. A couple more visits to the hospital for some tests should have that scoped out (literally) soon. I’m going to be disappointed if I have to postpone the camping trip because of it.
Advanced Landscaping
This year’s big spring project is a backyard pond, complete with a stream and waterfall. I’ve come up with what I believe are some quite good ideas utilizing a few custom (as usual!) engineering features that should make it a way cool addition to the now nearly complete outdoor environment around our home. Stay tuned to replies on this post for further details…
Megan Came to Visit
And it took less than half a day for them to get into trouble. Juvenile delinquent friends obviously tend towards this propensity, but then again teenage girls are from all indications I see, borderline sociopaths in many cases anyway. Put two of them like that together (Phoebe and Megan) and the stage is set.
So they decided to disappear in the middle of the night ostensibly to visit Phoebe’s boy toy Dom, who claimed to be having another one of his “episodes.” I just hope he’s not really suicidal. When the boys get unstable too, all bets are off. Why does raising kids seem to be so challenging for so many (other) people? I’ll take a WAG and put it on stupid parents. They either had kids too early and/or had too many of their own issues to sensibly add kids to the mix. Add it to the list of things I find rather annoying when other people’s stupidity infringes on my world.
2014 Job Search
Having been officially notified of our pending layoffs June 30th, the job search is proceeding apace. I’m phone interviewing for a Lockheed position at Deer Creek Tuesday and a hiring manager from the USDA has indicated my resume appears interesting for a Ft. Collins position they are hiring for.