The following came to me in an email from a friend. I thought it well worth repeating:

Last week I was in Atlanta, Georgia attending a conference. While I was in the airport, returning home, I heard several people behind me beginning to clap and cheer. I immediately turned around and witnessed one of the greatest act's of patriotism I have ever seen.

Moving thru the terminal was a group of soldiers in their camo's, as they began heading to their gate everyone (well almost everyone) was abruptly to their feet with their hands waving and cheering. When I saw the soldiers, probably 30-40 of them, being applauded and cheered for it hit me. I'm not alone. I'm not the only red blooded American who still loves this country and supports our troops and their families. Of course I immediately stopped and began clapping for these young unsung heroes who are putting their lives on the line everyday for us so we can go to school, work and home without fear or reprisal.

Just when I thought I could not be more proud of my country or of our service men and women, a young girl, not more than 6 or 7 years old, ran up to one of the malesoldiers. He kneeled down and said "hi," the little girl then she asked him if he would give something to her daddy for her.

The young soldier, he didn't look any older than maybe 22 himself, said he would try and what did she want to give to her daddy Then suddenly the little girl grabbed the neck of this soldier, gave him the biggest hug she could muster and then kissed him on the cheek. The mother of the little girl, who said her daughters name was Courtney, told the young soldier that her husband was a Marine and had been in Iraq for 11 months now.

As the mom was explaining how much her daughter, Courtney, missed her father, the young soldier began to tear up. When this temporarily single mom was done explaining her situation, all of the soldiers huddled together for a brief second. Then one of the other servicemen pulled out a military looking walkie-talkie. They started playing with the device and talking back and forth on it.

After about 10-15 seconds of this, the young soldier walked back overto Courtney, bent down and said this to her, "I spoke to your daddy and he told me to give this to you." He then hugged this little girl that he had just met and gave her a kiss on the cheek. He finished by saying "your daddy told me to tell you that he loves you more than anything and he is coming home very soon." The mom at this point was crying almostuncontrollably and as the young soldier stood to his feet he saluted
Courtney and her mom.

I was standing no more than 6 feet away from this entire event unfolded.As the soldiers began to leave, heading towards their gate, people resumed their applause. As I stood there applauding and looked around, their were very few dry eyes, including my own. That young soldier in one last act of selflessness, turned around and blew a kiss to Courtney with a tear rolling down his cheek.

The following is an article from “Scientific American” entitled “Monumental Error” by Steve Mirsky. I have omitted the names of about a hundred non-icons such as The Statue of Liberty and the Empire State Building.

On May 31, the Department of Homeland Security announced their 2006 antiterrorism funding grants to U.S. Cities. New York City had its funding cut by 40% from last year.

Homeland Security officials said that they had determined the amound of each grant based on a formula. The formula counts the presence of “national monuments or icons”. Homeland Security officials determined that New York City had no such monuments or icons. Scientists also develop formulas. When a formula produces results that are obviously nonsense, scientists examine the data.

Responding to a hurricane of criticism, Homeland Security Secretary Michaeld Chernoff explained that the Empire State Building was purposefully placed in the “large office building” category rather than the icon category because the designation helps to generate a higher risk score. Here is a flash for the folks generating their formula: the Empire State Building is both an office building and an icon.

When a formula produces results that are obviously nonsense, scientists may also scrutinize, modify, or even discard the formula itself. It's not easy, but somebody has to do it. Seriously, somebody has to.

We went to my wife's fiftieth high school reunion. (see picture in the gallery) It is the first time we have been to a high school reunion. Other than the fact that everyone seemed so much older than us, it was a ball. I did not know her in high school but she must have been very popular as well as being a spectatcularly beautiful girl. Every one greeted her with such sincere warmth. If you get a chance to go to your reunion, by all means, go.

The second is Ernesto passing through the area. It was a frog strangler. Lots of rain. The news coverage was extensive. So many scenes of folks helping others. It makes me proud of living in the area. Lots of the stalled cars got pushed out of the water by guys, many of them kids, with their soaked shirts off. A hospital lost its backup generator when the regular power went off. Local folks brought their personal generators so critical equipment could be kept working. People are pretty nice.

Ben Franklin (see the gallery) said in Poor Richard's Almanack of 1738, “Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both.”

The same could be said of those who sacrifice our constitution in order to save it.

This came to me from a favorite cousin. Neat stuff. And the picture (See it in the gallery.)is spectacular. It is my new wallpaper.

The Red Planet is about to be spectacular!

This month and next, Earth is catching up with Mars in an encounter that will culminate in the closest approach between the two planets in recorded history. The next time Mars may come this close is in 2287. Due to the way Jupiter's gravity tugs on Mars and perturbs its orbit, astronomers can only be certain that Mars has not come this close to Earth in the Last 5,000 years, but it may be as long as 60,000 years before it happens again. The encounter will culminate on August 27th when Mars comes to within 34,649,589 miles of Earth and will be (next to the moon) the brightest object in the night sky. It will attain a magnitude of -2.9and will appear 25.11 arc seconds wide. At a modest 75-power magnification Mars will look as large as the full moon to the naked eye. Mars will be easy to spot. At thebeginning of August it will rise in the east at 10p.m. and reach its azimuth at about 3 a.m.

By the end of August when the two planets areclosest, Mars will rise at nightfall and reach its highest point in the sky at 12:30a.m. That's prettyconvenient to see something that no human being has seen in recorded history. So, mark your calendar at the beginning of August to see Mars grow progressively brighter and brighter throughout the month.