She Guided Me With Science!

Today's Google Doodle here in the US celebrates the 107th birthday of Grace Hopper, one of the pioneers of modern computer science, a US Navy Vice-Admiral, and all around awesome human being.

“Amazing Grace” Hopper would have been 107 today, and Google pays tribute with a home-page cartoon of the young computer pioneer at work. The Doodle prompts us to celebrate the great woman and mathematician and trailblazing programmer, even if she wasn’t the type to make a fuss over such things. 

Hopper once told CBS newsman Morley Safer she was not one for nostalgia. The “60 Minutes” interview was in 1983, when Hopper — who un-retired multiple times — was the oldest woman in the Armed Forces at age 76. 

It wasn’t just looking back, but also a refusal to push forward, that the ever-colorful Hopper had no time for. As a symbol of that battle against human complacency and resistance to change, she is said to have explained: “That's why I have a clock on my wall that runs counter-clockwise." 

But for a day, at least, Google lets us turn back the hands to remember “Grandma COBOL’s” groundbreaking achievements. 

Hopper received a doctorate in mathematics at Yale and was teaching math at Vassar (her alma mater) when she joined the Naval Reserve. It was 1943, she was 37, and she felt called. As Hopper once told late-night host David Letterman in an eminently entertaining interview, while describing the national effort during World War II: “There was a time when everybody in this country all did one thing … together.” 

Hopper was sent to Harvard’s Bureau of Ordnance Computation Project, where she was one of the first programmers on the Navy’s Mark I computer — a 51-foot-long, 8-foot-tall mass of relays and vacuum tubes that was on technology’s cutting edge. Hopper is quoted as saying: “It had 72 words of storage and could perform three additions a second." 

Hopper would work on Harvard’s Mark II and III computers, as well, and go on to work on the UNIVAC I computer. She led the team that invented COBOL (Common Business-Oriented Language), as she pushed for computers to communicate by language instead of numbers.

Here's that Letterman interview, by the way.

An absolutely astonishing, brilliant, and funny woman.  She died New Year's Day, 1992, when I was but a wee lad just learning how to use telnet and ftp commands, too.

Happy birthday, Amazing Grace.

Last Call: Nelson Mandela, Dead at 95

Finally put your burden down, Madiba.  The rest of us will carry it on together.

Mr. Mandela’s quest for freedom took him from the court of tribal royalty to the liberation underground to a prison rock quarry to the presidential suite of Africa’s richest country. And then, when his first term of office was up, unlike so many of the successful revolutionaries he regarded as kindred spirits, he declined a second term and cheerfully handed over power to an elected successor, the country still gnawed by crime, poverty, corruption and disease but a democracy, respected in the world and remarkably at peace. 

The question most often asked about Mr. Mandela was how, after whites had systematically humiliated his people, tortured and murdered many of his friends, and cast him into prison for 27 years, he could be so evidently free of spite. 

The government he formed when he finally won the chance was an improbable fusion of races and beliefs, including many of his former oppressors. When he became president, he invited one of his white wardens to the inauguration. Mr. Mandela overcame a personal mistrust bordering on loathing to share both power and a Nobel Peace Prize with the white president who preceded him, F. W. de Klerk. 

And as president, from 1994 to 1999, he devoted much energy to moderating the bitterness of his black electorate and to reassuring whites against their fears of vengeance. 

The explanation for his absence of rancor, at least in part, is that Mr. Mandela was that rarity among revolutionaries and moral dissidents: a capable statesman, comfortable with compromise and impatient with the doctrinaire.

President Obama spoke this afternoon on the occasion of Mandela's passing:

The world loses an actual hero, and we mourn.  Tomorrow we remember and move forward.

Diary Of A Soldier

Now here's a hell of a Memorial Day story that you won't soon forget:  90-year-old Laura Mae Davis visited the National World War II museum in New Orleans recently, searching for a possible mention of her former high school sweetheart killed in battle.  What she found was more than she could possibly hope for in his actual diary from seventy years ago, sitting on display.

“I figured I’d see pictures of him and the fellows he’d served with and articles about where he served,” Laura Mae Davis Burlingame told The Associated Press.

Instead, she ran face-to-face with Cpl. Thomas “Cotton” Jones’s handwriting, and the original telegraph informing his parents that he was killed by enemy fire.

In his last entry, Jones describes winning money gambling and suggests that he would like to wire it to Laura for Christmas. There were also numerous entries about how he wished he’d married her before leaving for the war, and a note asking that the diary be turned over to Laura if it were lost.
Nearly 70 years since Jones was killed by an enemy sniper, Laura was stunned to see the 22-year-old’s diary in the case before her.

When she told museum staff that she and Jones were both graduates of the class of 1941 and dated in high school, they opened the book up to look inside, making their astonishing discovery.

Amazing.  America suffered more than 400,000 troop casualties, 22 million troops casualties worldwide,  half of them Soviet, and a total death toll of some 70 million people...more than 3% of the earth's population at the time.

And now the last people who fought in and survived that war are dying or in their 80's and 90's.  Those numbers would be incomprehensible today and yet it was reality for four grueling, blood-soaked years.

Now, one of those casualties got to say goodbye, 70 years later.

Just amazing.

Last Call, Republican Pendejos

Meet Pablo Pantoja.  He's the State Director of Florida Hispanic Outreach for the RNC.  If you're thinking "Wow, that's got to be an awful job" you've got something in common with Pablo Pantoja, because he just quit his job trying to convince Latinos to vote Republican in Florida and became a Democrat.

In his own words:

Yes, I have changed my political affiliation to the Democratic Party.

It doesn’t take much to see the culture of intolerance surrounding the Republican Party today. I have wondered before about the seemingly harsh undertones about immigrants and others. Look no further; a well-known organization recently confirms the intolerance of that which seems different or strange to them.

Ahh yes, last week's now-infamous Heritage Foundation immigration study suggesting those of Hispanic heritage weren't as bright as other folks.   That apparently was the last straw for Pantoja, but there's more:

The complete disregard of those who are in disadvantage is also palpable. We are not looking at an isolated incident of rhetoric or research. Others subscribe to motivating people to action by stating, “In California, a majority of all Hispanic births are illegitimate. That’s a lot of Democratic voters coming.” The discourse that moves the Republican Party is filled with this anti-immigrant movement and overall radicalization that is far removed from reality. Another quick example beyond the immigration debate happened during CPAC this year when a supporter shouted ““For giving him shelter and food for all those years?” while a moderator explained how Frederick Douglass had written a letter to his slave master saying that he forgave him for “all the things you did to me.” I think you get the idea.

When the political discourse resorts to intolerance and hate, we all lose in what makes America great and the progress made in society.

That's a hell of an admission from the guy hired by the Republicans for outreach to Latino voters.  He's basically saying that his job is not only impossible, but immoral as well.

Although I was born an American citizen, I feel that my experience, and that of many from Puerto Rico, is intertwined with those who are referred to as illegal. My grandfather served in an all-Puerto Rican segregated Army unit, the 65th Infantry Regiment. He then helped, along my grandmother, shatter glass ceilings for Puerto Rican women raising my aunt to become the first Puerto Rican woman astronomer with a PhD in astrophysics (an IQ of a genius as far as I’m concerned). Puerto Ricans, as many other Americans still today have to face issues of discrimination in voting and civil rights.

Regardless of what political affiliation people choose, my respect for some remains. I don’t expect all Hispanics to do the same (although I would hope so) but I’m taking a stand against this culture of intolerance. 

And yes, if I were Pablo Pantoja, I would have quit too.   I applaud his honesty and courage.  if only the rest of the Republican leadership would do the same...

Last Call

David Corn tells the story of the man who taped Mitt Romney's fundraising speech with the infamous "47%" comments, a man who has chosen to reveal himself as a Florida bartender named Scott Prouty.

The fellow on the other end of the phone call pronounced his name with hesitation. For nearly a fortnight, he and I had been building a long-distance rapport via private tweets, emails, and phone conversations as we discussed how best to make public the secret video he had shot of Mitt Romney talking at a private, $50,000-per-plate fundraiser in Boca Raton, Florida. Now I was almost ready to break the story at Mother Jones. I had verified the video, confirming when and where it had been shot, and my colleagues and I had selected eight clips—including Romney's now-infamous remarks about the 47 percent of Americans he characterized as "victims" unwilling to "take personal responsibility and care for their lives"—to embed in two articles. We had blurred these clips, at the source's request, to make it difficult to tell where Romney had uttered these revealing comments, while clearly showing that it was Romney speaking. The goal was to afford the source a modicum of protection.

The source was justifiably worried about repercussions. Once the video was posted, he might lose his job. He might face criminal prosecution or a civil lawsuit. Months earlier, he had anonymously posted a snippet from the video, in which Romney nonchalantly described the work-camp-like living conditions at a Chinese factory he had visited. The source, offended by these comments, had hoped that the short clip would catch fire in the political-media world. But it hadn't, partly because its context and origins were unknown. The source's desire to remain in the shadows had hindered his ability to bring the story to the public.

And Prouty was right (and remains right) on his healthy fear of the Right Wing Noise Machine.  It's guaranteed now that they will try very hard to destroy him, his loved ones, and his entire life.   It takes real courage to stand up to the evil and speak out into the night.

Then James Carter IV, a freelance researcher (and, though I didn't know it then, the grandson of Jimmy Carter) who had been sending me public documents regarding Romney's prior business investments, had, at my request, tracked the anonymous poster down. I subsequently persuaded him to send me the full video of the fundraiser and to allow me to release portions of it, under the strict condition that I'd do whatever was possible to keep his identity hidden. He did not want to become the story. He hoped the public would focus only on Romney's words. And through all this, he had not told me who he was, though he disclosed that he had worked at the fundraiser and insisted that he was no political partisan and had filmed Romney more out of curiosity than as part of a plan to trap the GOP candidate.

I respected his desire for privacy. He was about to commit a courageous and unprecedented act of whistle-blowing. But as we neared publication, I said I had to know his name. Do you really need it? he asked. Yes, I replied, explaining I could not publish the stories without knowing his identity. I vowed I would keep it a secret.

And to David Corn's real credit, he did.   Scott Prouty told his story this evening on MSNBC's The Ed Show, with an hour;long interview with Ed Schultz.   I wish the man luck, because he's going to need it.  The Breitbart crew will go straight for him now, because that's what happens to people who stand up and do the right thing around America.

Godspeed, sir.

Last Call

Just wanted to wish all our soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines out there who served a happy Veteran's Day as we remember those who gave to their country, and those who gave all.

Godspeed.

Yankee Hospitality

When faced with a dilemma, a hotel manager in New York City made the right choice.

At first the hotel was telling guests that they would have to leave by Thursday, because they were sold out with marathon runners. But on Thursday morning, Nicotra's guests were in tears at the thought of checking out, he says.

"On Thursday morning, people were begging me and crying saying 'You can't throw me out. I have no place to go,'" he says.

Nicotra said he then contacted the marathon's organizers, the New York Road Runners, because they had a contract for rooms and told them "we have a problem here" and that "we can't just throw them out." Nicotra said he gave the group other options, including setting up a temporary dormitory in the hotel's 10,000-square-foot ballroom, which can house up to 500 people with cots.

"As Hilton says, hospitality is what we're all about. If we can make everyone happy we will, but if we can't, the choice is easy," Nicotra says. "We need to take care of our neighbors."

And take care of the neighbors, they did.  Valuing compassion over profit is rarely a wise business move.  These were some extreme circumstances, and it allowed hundreds of people comfort at a time they really needed it.

The Importance Of Voting

(CNN) - A photo of World War II veteran Frank Tanabe casting what will likely be his final ballot in a presidential election has gone viral –and captured the hearts of thousands.

Tanabe, 93, is in the final stages of inoperable liver cancer and is currently at home receiving hospice care, surrounded by his wife and children in Honolulu.

He has always been a true patriot, his daughters said. In 2010 he was among a group of Japanese-Americans who were awarded the Congressional Gold Medal as part of the Military Intelligence Service Unit during World War II.

According to his daughters, Frank has never missed a presidential election, and wasn't about to let his illness deter him from voting this time around.

When his absentee ballot arrived on Wednesday, his daughter, Barbara, sat at his bedside and read aloud the candidates and issues.

"I helped him. He either nodded 'yes' or shook his head 'no'," Barbara said. "He didn't always vote for my candidate."

Nonetheless, she followed his directions and mailed in the completed form. He hasn't been able to speak since.

When you face death, every  moment is precious.  This is important enough to spend his time on, to use his last words for.  He held on to make sure his vote was counted, and if that doesn't make you appreciate our right to be heard, nothing will.

Victory In War Against Stupidity

(Reuters) - Governor Jerry Brown has signed a bill banning a controversial therapy that aims to reverse homosexuality in minors, his office announced on Sunday, making California the first state to ban a practice many say is psychologically damaging.

The move marked a major victory for gay rights advocates who say so-called conversion therapy, also called reparative therapy, has no medical basis because homosexuality is not a disorder.

Brown said in a short message on Twitter that he supported the bill because it "bans non-scientific 'therapies' that have driven young people to depression and suicide."

The bill's sponsor, state Senator Ted Lieu, a Democrat from Torrance, said the law was a gesture of remembrance for a man who committed suicide after undergoing the therapy.

Seriously, it's about darned time.  It not only sends a message that normal people can love others of the same sex, it shows progress in understanding the truth of homosexuality.

The reality is, this treatment was abusive and terrible in every regard.  It should be banned, and kids should be given time to understand themselves.  They also deserve counseling that doesn't start based on the premise that they are wrong.

Cheers to you, Jerry Brown.

This Is What A Hero Looks Like

A veteran awarded two Purple Hearts was struck and killed while pushing his wife away from an oncoming car. 80-year-old Rubin Baum, who served as a medic in the Korean War, was standing with his wife, 62-year-old Denise Baum, trying to hail a cab in New York City.

The New York Daily News spoke with the newly widowed Baum about her late husband. According to Denise Baum, a sedan crashed into a minivan, causing the sedan to lose control and go into a spin. It hit the couple. Denise was thrown into a parked car. Her husband was pinned under the sedan.

Two Purple Hearts says a lot about a person and their commitment to doing the right thing while facing mortal risk.  This man knew what he was doing, and in the process he saved the life of someone he loved very much.

Reading this right after the University of Maryland article where students are flipping out about how their sandwiches are wrapped put it into even sharper focus.  In this screaming background noise we have in the world, these are the stories that should get our attention.  Do good, be good, make good.

Hero Kid Stops Kidnapping

QUESNEL, B.C. - A quick-thinking teenaged girl stopped an elderly woman from trying to abduct a seven-year-old boy in British Columbia's Cariboo region, say police.

RCMP Const. Krista Vrolyk said the boy was with other youth and a parent in Spirit Square in the downtown core of Quesnel, 672 kilometres north of Vancouver, when the incident occurred just before 10 p.m. Thursday.

The woman tried to shake the boy's hand, but grabbed him by the wrist and pull him towards a nearby pickup truck, said Vrolyk.

That's when the teenaged girl, the boy's 13-year-old friend, took action.

"It just so happened that the 13-year-old was a little bit closer and kind of quick to act," said Vrolyk.

She said the girl, who is of slight stature and thin, physically pulled the boy away from the woman.

"This seems to be an isolated incident with this female," she said, adding that police are investigating her motive.

Thanks to that little girl, we'll never know what would have happened.  I admit I'm curious as to what caused this to come about, but I'll trade that for relief any day, every time.

Good for you, kid.  

Hero Kid Saves Father, Sister

PEABODY, Mass. — Massachusetts state police say a 12-year-old boy steered his family's car to safety along Interstate 95 after his father suffered what appeared to be a seizure while driving.

Troopers say the boy, who's from Dracut, took the wheel Saturday, steered it into the southbound breakdown lane and applied the brakes. He also used his dad's cellphone to call 911 and described his surroundings to a dispatcher, then brought his 9-year-old, special needs sister to safety behind a guardrail.

That's a kid who was raised well, and taught how to handle a crisis.  Many adults would be overwhelmed under such circumstances.  What a brave boy, I hope his father is okay and can tell him in person what a great job he did.

Thanking A Vet - Doing It Right

Dennis Hall is dying.  The 63-year-old veteran has terminal cancer, and one of his final wishes is to see the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington, D.C.  It is a simple request, but one the man is unable to afford.

His family held a garage sale and a bake sale as well, hoping to raise enough money to help him accomplish his goals.  Local news broadcast the story, and the total donations reached thousands of dollars.  Enough to send him on his trip, with the remainder to help with his medical bills.  His daughter will go with him to the memorial, where he can pay his respects to those who fought beside him, and those who fell.

It warms the heart to see people rally to show appreciation for those who risked their lives for us.  Perhaps our government will be inspired to do more of the same.

Stephen Baldwin, Hero

Rarely do the words "Baldwin" and "hero" collide in the same sentence, so let's enjoy this one while there are no photographers around.

Stephen Baldwin was visiting his publicist when he heard a loud sound, which startled everyone.  He then did something sweet, kind and brave and took care of the woman, recognizing the signs of an epileptic seizure.

"All of a sudden every head turned," Baldwin told the New York Daily News. "It was this girl, fallen on the floor." 

A young woman had suddenly gone into violent convulsions which Baldwin, who grew up with an epileptic family member, immediately recognized as an epileptic seizure. As other patrons ignored the episode – "A guy right next to us was just sipping his martini and didn't look up," Taylor said – the actor rushed to her aid. 

"I held her hand and said a few prayers," said Baldwin. The seizure lasted three terrifying minutes before the young woman came to. Baldwin was on hand to comfort her. "She started going, 'Where am I? What happened?' And then I asked, 'Do you have epilepsy?' and she said, 'Yes.' Then she started crying," he said. 

There is little a regular citizen can do besides comfort and make sure the person's environment is as safe as possible.  He comforted her and gave her a light physical contact, and that's all there was without the benefit of drugs or medical equipment.

Could you imagine a person in such distress and not looking up from your martini?  Frankly, that's more what one might expect from a celebrity family member who has enjoyed privilege and fame.  Our littlest Baldwin is growing up.  *sniff*  Good for him.  And in this case, good for her.

Another Brave Boy Survives Intruders

An eleven-year-old boy was sitting at home, waiting for his father to return with dinner.  He heard a window break, and men's voices as they tore through the house.  The boy grabbed a phone and hid himself and the family dog, and called 911.

If you hear his voice on the call (it's a very short video) it will break your heart.  He is scared and collected at the same time, and the relief when he hears police outside the window was enough to bring tears to my eyes.

The hero tag is both for his strength and for thinking of the dog, who most assuredly wouldn't have made a criminal blink if they thought to kill it.

Teenage Hero Saves Siblings From Intruders

Teenage and hero don't often collide in the same sentence.  This young man did everything right, and I hope his parents are proud of him.

PHOENIX — Police say a 14-year-old boy shot an intruder who broke into his Phoenix home and pulled a gun on him as he was watching his three younger siblings.

Police Officer James Holmes said Saturday that the teen and his brothers and sisters were at home alone when a woman rang the doorbell Friday. The teen didn't open the door because he didn't recognize her.

Soon after, the teen heard a bang on the door, rushed his siblings upstairs and got a handgun from his parent's bedroom. When he got to the top of the stairs, he saw a man breaking through the front door and point a gun at him.

If he had done anything differently, it's hard to say how it may have turned out.  But anyone who puts a gun on a boy that age wouldn't have spared them much.  Good for this kid.  

Three Gazillion Miles On The Odometer

The Car Talk guys, Tom & Ray Magliozzi, are hanging up their mics after 25 years.

On Friday, hosts Tom and Ray Magliozzi, known as "Click and Clack, the Tappet brothers," announced that they would be retiring from the popular NPR program in October.

"We've decided that it's time to stop and smell the cappuccino," Ray wrote on the show's website.

"As of October, we're not going to be recording any more new shows. That's right, we're retiring," Tom added, noting that "Car Talk" is celebrating its 25th anniversary on NPR this year.

However, fans will still be able to enjoy the show after the brothers' retirement. New "Car Talks" will be assembled from archival material, the brothers wrote.

They'll also continue their regular website column.

"Car Talk" debuted in 1977 on Boston radio station WBUR and was picked up by NPR 10 years later. It regularly ranks as one of public radio's most popular shows -- including the most popular weekend program -- with about 4 million listeners.

Many a Saturday errand trip in the car with dad and my brothers consisted of listening to Car Talk on the way around town, getting everything from mulch to paint to groceries.  Tom and Ray pretty much defined my weekends growing up.  My brother?  Manages an auto parts store now.  I blame these guys.

I'll miss them, that's for sure.  I still turn them on when I'm running errands myself on weekends.

Hero Kicked Off Bus For Protecting Handicapped Girl

On the bus, Rich was shocked by how some of the younger middle school girls were treating a student with mental disabilities.

Rich complained about the bullying to the bus driver, then to school officials, but says the adults took no action.

Rich told Fox 35 about the mean middle school bullies: "They would be mean to her, tell her she couldn't sit on certain spots on the bus. They were giving her food that they put in her mouth. I actually had to tell her to spit it out because she didn't understand."

"When the school didn't do anything, I told the girls, if the school didn't do anything, I was going to do something."

However, that warning got Rich into trouble with school officials, who have now banned her from riding the bus.

Clearly, this kind and protective soul is the real threat.  The school has complained that only one side of the story is being told, but what a side to tell.  If these facts line up, it's hard to imagine what other side could explain how common assault is tolerated but threatening to stop it is punished by banishment.

She did just what we'd want, in a perfect world.  She stood up, she followed the channels, and when those channels failed to protect the innocent she made sure someone did.  She was punished for doing the right thing, at an age when she is learning how to step out and be independent.

Rich isn't in nearly as much trouble as the girl she was protecting.  If the bus driver isn't trying to control the situation, that poor child is at the mercy of the others, now without a buffer to help.

Rethinking The Phrase "I Can't"

A woman named Lee Hee-Ah started playing the piano when she was seven.  She was born without limbs below the knee, and only four fingers.  It was likely suggested in hopes it would encourage dexterity and range of motion, but turned her into an amazing classical musician.

Please click here to watch the video.  It's ten minutes long, but the first ninety seconds is enough to show you the heart of her story.  With ten musical fingers I could never come close, and for those who play if you notice how perfect her timing is it will blow your mind.

The next time you want to say you can't, realize you may well be using the wrong word.  You may (even rightly so) be making a choice or drawing a line on what you are willing to do.  There are only a few people like Lee Hee-Ah, who make life happen after being dealt a few serious setbacks.  She's amazing by any standards, but I hope you go see for yourself.  

Saving Truman

This is one instance in which sad puppy eyes really come in handy. A four-year-old Golden Retriever, "Truman," was rescued by Los Angeles Sheriff Department's (LASD) volunteer deputies Sunday. The dog was suffering from dehydration and cut paws while hiking Switzer Falls with his owner, according to the station's press release.

The Crescenta Valley Sheriff’s Station received a call at about 6:30 p.m. Sunday and assigned reserve deputies from the LASD Montrose Search and Rescue Team to the mission.

Rescuers hiked deep into the Angeles National Forest, placed Truman on a gurney and wheeled the poor guy all the way to his owner’s vehicle.

It just made me smile when I read this.  I've gone through incredible lengths (and more than one bribe) to help animals who are in pain.  Though they don't tell just how his paws became injured, whether it was from the terrain or one specific thing, but the response and the caring shows that good folks do good things.

Thanks, guys.  I needed that.