(We)b-Log B(ack-)Log

I wish I could type as fast as good ideas come to me. Alas, I have a back-log of web-log ideas.  I solicit reader feedback in the comments. Just name the one post from the following list of draft posts you'd most like to see me post next. Base your vote on the one post you are most likely to read and comment on.

1. Classical Economics and Its Religious Underpinnings      [Votes: Julie]
2. Robert Scoble's 13 Tips for Avoiding Followers          [Votes: Dave] (Published)    
3. Life Lessons My Cats Taught Me      [Votes: Q of T]
4. Twitter Digest No. 3     [Votes: 0] Published Mar 12
5. Twitter Digest No. 4     [Votes: 0] Published Sep 12
6. Twitter Digest No. 5     [Votes: 0]
7. Who are your Role Models? Part 2: Michelangelo     [Votes: 0]
8. Who are your Role Models? Part 3: Thomas Jefferson     [Votes: 0]
9. Who are your Role Models? Part 4: C.S. Lewis      [Votes: Julie]
10. Who are your Role Models? Part 5: Maxwell R. Thurman     [Votes: 0]
11. Who are your Role Models? Part 6: Fr Ted Hesburgh     [Votes: 0]
12. Who are your Role Models? Part 7: David H. Petraeus     [Votes: 0] WITHDRAWN 9 Nov 2012
13. 24 Season Two     [Votes: 0]
14. 24 Season Three     [Votes: 0]
15. 24 Season Four     [Votes: 0]
16. 24 Season Five     [Votes: 0]
17. 24 Season Six     [Votes: 0]
18. 24 Season Redemption and Season Seven     [Votes: 0]
19. 24 Season Eight     [Votes: 0]
20. Data-Driven Decision-Making      [Votes: 0]
21. Three: A reflection on the Christian doctrine of the Trinity     [Votes: 0] Published Jun 2012
22. L.I.N.K.S. that Lure, Intrigue, Nurture, Kindle, o or Stimulate, Part 5, [Votes: 0] 
23. L.I.N.K.S. that Lure, Intrigue, Nurture, Kindle, o or Stimulate, Part 6, [Votes: 0] 
24. L.I.N.K.S. that Lure, Intrigue, Nurture, Kindle, o or Stimulate, Part 7, [Votes: 0]
25. The Logic of My Belief in G_D     [Votes: 0]
26. The Tao of Dave     [Votes: 0] This should be a BOOK, not a POST
27. Love Languages      [Votes: Julie]
28. The case for classifying sake as beer, not wine      [Votes: 0]
29. A concept for a non-profit foundation     [Votes: 0]
30. Hacked and / or Scammed AGAIN! [Added 14 Sep]     [Votes: 0]
31. Angels of the Hours [Added 14 Sep]     [Votes: 0]
32. Spark People [Added 14 Sep]     [Votes: 0] Published on Do a 180 with Dr Dave
33. New(?) Zodiac [Added 14 Sep]     [Votes: 0]
34. Why I Would Go to Afghanistan [Added 14 Sep]     [Votes: 0]
35. How to Talk to Your Teen-aged Daughter about Technology [Added 14 Sep]     [Votes: 0]
36. Morality of Righteous Riots [Added 14 Sep]     [Votes: 0]
37. Small is Beautiful  [Added 14 Sep]     [Votes: 0] Published Jun 2011
38. 24 Philosophies, 24 Theologies, and 24 Geo-political Entities [Added 14 Sep]     [Votes: 0]
39. 10 Architects, 10 Climes, and 10 Styles [Added 14 Sep]     [Votes: 0]
40. Metaphysics of Quality Brain Map [Added 14 Sep]     [Votes: 0]
41. The Great Discovery Exposed [Added 14 Sep]     [Votes: 0]
42. Google+ Circles [Added 14 Sep]     [Votes: 0]
43. MAGNET Investing: Kimmel's Stock Selection Process [Added 14 Sep]     [Votes: 0]
44. Humor
45. Humor
46. Other (offer your suggestions)     [Suggestors: 0]

Thanks in advance for your input!

Rising: Rebuilding Ground Zero | Discovery Channel

If you have access to Discovery Channel, watch this beautiful series of three each hour-long shows which document the rebuilding the World Trade Center site. The memorial will be dedicated on the 10th anniversary of the attack and will then open to the public on Sept 12th. Construction of the museum, transportation hub, and the surrounding towers will continue for a couple more years.

A link to the Discovery Channel website is here: Rising: Rebuilding Ground Zero

Nearly a decade after the September 11th World Trade Center attacks, Discovery Channel's The Rising will bring updates from the construction site. A massive effort is currently under way to reshape ground zero into an expansive 16-acre complex the likes of which has never been seen. To document this historic effort, Discovery Channel is on the ground alongside the men and women who are making this vision a reality. 

This powerful documentary series about rebuilding Ground Zero will be repeated before the nationally televised unveiling of the new ground zero with President Barack Obama on Sept. 11, 2011. Watch for this series. I highly recommend it! The three, hour-long segments clearly explain the design aspirations and the construction challenges of rebuilding the World Trade Center site. Steven Spielberg produced the documentary. The spiritually charged and highly symbolic story is told with amazing scenes and real humanity.

Honoring the past; Inspiring the future; and Engineering the impossible.

Master plan architect is Daniel Libeskind, whom I have profiled in an earlier post. The principle designers of the site's main components are detailed below with information gleaned from Wikipedia and from the documentary. All of the people make appearances in the movie to explain their designs. Many family members, surviving first responders, and construction workers also provide their reactions.

• One World Trade Center tower was a collaboration between Studio Daniel Libeskind and Skidmore, Owings and Merrill architect David Childs. Childs acted as the design architect and project manager for the tower, and Libeskind collaborated on the concept and schematic design. The tower will rise to 1,362 feet, the height of the original World Trade Center south tower, and its antenna will rise to the symbolic height of 1,776 feet. The antenna's height refers to 1776, the year in which the United States Declaration of Independence was signed. 
• British architect Norman Foster designed Tower Two, also known as 200 Greenwich Street. The building's distinctive slanted, diamond-shaped roof echoes Libeskind's original sketches for the building. 
• Richard Rogers Partnership designed Tower Three, or 175 Greenwich Street, which stands across Greenwich Street from the Memorial's two reflecting pools.
• Maki and Associates designed Tower Four, also known as 150 Greenwich Street.
• Tower 5 was designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox and will stand where the Deutsche Bank building once stood. On June 22, 2007, the Port Authority announced that JP Morgan Chase will lease the 42-story building for its investment banking headquarters.
• 7 World Trade Center stands off of Port Authority property. David Childs of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill designed the tower, which opened in May 2006.
• A memorial called "Reflecting Absence" honors the victims of the September 11 attacks and the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. The memorial, designed by Peter Walker and Israeli-American architect Michael Arad, consists of a field of trees interrupted by the footprints of the twin towers. Pools of water fill the footprints, underneath which sits a memorial space whose walls bear the names of the victims. The slurry wall, which holds back the Hudson River in the west and was an integral part of Libeskind's proposal, remains exposed.  Walker and Arad were selected from more than 5,000 entrants in the World Trade Center Site Memorial Competition in January 2004. Construction of the memorial is due to be completed by September 11, 2011. From watching the documentary, I learned that a pear tree which survived the towers' collapse has been replanted in the memorial garden. I also learned that the Pentagon victims' names are located together on the bronze rim around the south tower void waterfall.  
• On October 12, 2004, the LMDC announced that Gehry Partners LLP would design the site's performing arts complex. Gehry's performing arts complex will house the Joyce Theater. 
• The LMDC also announced on October 12, 2004 that Snøhetta would design the site's museum. The Snøhetta-designed museum will act as a memorial museum and visitors' center. I learned from the documentary that Libeskind designed a schematic "wedge of light" placing the building's side walls at a significant angle. On Sept 11th each year, the sun will align with the northern wall at 8:46, and with the southern wall at 10:28. This 102 minute gap represents the time when the first (North) tower was hit  and  when the last (North) tower collapsed.
• Transportation Hub. Santiago Calatrava designed the World Trade Center Transportation Hub to replace the old World Trade Center station. One will be able to walk most of the way across lower Manhattan. The cost for the transportation hub is estimated at $3.44 billion. The design is visually stunning and technically astounding.

I cannot wait to make my next trek to Manhattan to check on the progress of this most important project. 

SEPTEMBER

By all these lovely tokens

September days are here,

With summer's best of weather,

And autumn's best of cheer.




Excerpt from SEPTEMBER

by: Helen Hunt Jackson (1830-1885)










Hat tip to Blue Lou

Captcha Talks Back | Arts and Life | SlateV

"Next time you contemplate your existence, consider what human validation software has to say about it."

                                                                       --Ray Daniels of Cicerone.org

Ever been frustrated by captcha? Who HASN'T?! Watch this funny video from Slate V: 

Captcha Talks Back

c.a.p.t.c.h.a. = completely automated public Turing test to tell computers and humans apart

"Hats," by Micael Reynaud

The image is a still from an absolutely mesmerizing animation created by Micael Reynaud. I figured out how to get the .gif to run once inside this page, but I am still working on getting it to loop.

Meanwhile, here is what I want you to do:

1. Prepare to be amazed.

2. Follow this link:  Hats_Micael_Reynaud.gif

3. Be amazed.

This .gif could just as easily have been called "Eyes," as the dozen or so images are sized and oriented in such a way that as they flash forward, everything moves except the eyes. Quite hypnotic!

I like faces and portraiture. I like paintings and movies and technology. I like to be amazed. This, I love. I wish I had thought of it first.

Something about hats?

ENJOY!

Human Systems Integration Symposium 2011

I'm thrilled to report that my abstract was selected and I will be speaking at this symposium. My paper is entitled:

Measuring Success with The MANPRINT Analysis System (MAS): Transparent Multi-Objective Decision Analysis in an Uncertain Environment

Abstract:

MANPRINT is the Army’s Human Systems Integration (HSI) program. HSI programs in all the services face similar challenges when it comes to documenting the value-added by HSI practitioners on defense acquisition programs. This presentation describes how the Army MANPRINT Directorate measures success in its HSI program. The MANPRINT Analysis Suite (MAS) is a system of purpose-built tools used for measuring and evaluating the program effort. This presentation explains the components of MAS: a Qualitative Value Model (QVM) based on MANPRINT’s Seven Tenets; a Knowledge Management System (KMS) maintained by practitioners; and a Dynamic System Model (DSM) to discover areas where resources could be best redeployed. The QVM is built using Value-Focused Thinking (VFT), a decision analysis technique used in many complex decision making situations to include Operation Iraqi Freedom. The QVM draws data from the KMS, a web-based database, to calculate a system score. The DSM uses Monte-Carlo Simulation (MCS), enabling stakeholders to determine how well processes are meeting the mark, test improvement initiatives, and manage portfolios of process improvement projects. The presentation describes the three purposes of MAS: (a) Communicate Strategic Intent to internal and external audiences; (b) Enable a Community of Practice to be more efficient and effective; and (c) Improve MANPRINT’s Overall Impact on the Army’s acquisition program for the benefit of our ultimate customer, the Soldier.
Keywords:

Acquisition Program Management, Analysis System, Assessment Framework, Continuous Process Improvement, Decision Analysis, Dynamic System Model, Human Factors Engineering, Human-Systems Integration, Knowledge Management System, Lean Six Sigma, MANPRINT, Measuring Success, Monte-Carlo Simulation, Qualitative Value Model, Value-Focused Thinking.

For more information: Human Systems Integration Symposium 2011

8000 Views!

I am so grateful to see that PhilosFX is connecting with so many people from around the world. It took about 75 days to get the first 1000 views. This last 1000 came over a 23 day period. Visitors from 42 different countries and 38 of 51 US states have graced these pages with their presence. I appreciate all the comments and suggestions. Here's to LIFE!