Hello, my name is Betty

by on May 3, 2016 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Diaries

The United States Army’s original Jane 1.0 was a highly secured software system similar to the other voice interface programs of the 1900s and early 2000s. They used a voice actress to record her speaking parts and Jane spent most of her time warning the tank crews about problems they already knew about since they could read their instruments. Soldiers saw her as distracting rather than supportive in battle and came up with a number of derisive nicknames for her. Hanoi Jane was one such name that certain elements of society objected to. Attempts to replace the nickname with more politically correct variations failed spectacularly and Hanoi Jane stuck.

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Thankful

by on May 2, 2016 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Diaries

I nearly died a month ago. My appendix burst. It burst big. I blew a 1.5 centimeter hole in the side of an organ that is only 2 centimeters thick. I have been healthy my entire life. I have never needed doctors to live. I have never had illnesses bad enough to go to the hospital. But that one hole in one organ nearly ended my life at the age of 41. Do not pass Go. Do not collect 200 dollars. I would be dead if I had not won life’s lottery. I was born in the United States of America. When two-thirds of Earth’s population lives in India and China, I was born in the American Midwest. I live in Rochester, Minnesota, home of the Mayo Clinic. People travel from every corner of the globe to get the healthcare that is a five-minute drive for me. I am not bitter that Obamacare took my insurance away, or that people are making every effort to destroy the best healthcare system on the planet. I am thankful that the doctors at Mayo continue to save lives every day. Including mine. I am thankful that the number 41 will not measure the sum total of my life. I am thankful that I get to look to the number 42 and beyond for the answers to life’s greatest questions.

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Hello, my name is Charles

by on May 1, 2016 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Diaries

The Fleet 2300 Project did not have an easy life. Many politicians did not even see the need for it. Our fleets were larger and more powerful than ever, and every warship was sturdier than older designs. Improved technologies had even made some ship classes obsolete. Or so the politicians thought. They only agreed to fund the project on three major ship classes. Battleship. Cruiser. Destroyer. It is the standard challenge of a peacetime navy. The politicians want to spend less money, but use them for peacetime missions, so the military must do more with fewer hulls. It is a testament to the designers and engineers who worked on the project that their creations would lead us into battle for more than a decade, and that they still survive to this day in countless system militia and corporate security forces.

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Hello, my name is Jack

by on April 30, 2016 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Diaries, The Indian Nations

The Apache Nation that rebuilt itself after Yosemite fell was far different from the urbanized culture they had before. Most of their young men and women went to War for one thing. And those who stayed behind wanted to make certain nobody hit them that hard ever again. So they rebuilt with an eye towards mobility. Everything from homes to factories are now built on gravplating that allows them to move anywhere they want to go. Modern Apache villages are ever-evolving affairs of individual families picking up their homes and leaving whenever they want to. Most villages can pack up everything, including the sidewalks, and begin moving to a new location within hours. They can move within minutes in an emergency. That’s pretty amazing to see actually.

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Hello, my name is Betty

by on April 29, 2016 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Diaries

Bitching Betty became the primary name of voiced computer systems in America for nearly half a century. Then Apple released Siri to the consumer market and everything changed. Microsoft answered with Cortana and Amazon made Alexa. They became mascot and marketing in one, and soon every major company developed one. The United States Army soon joined the race with Jane, derived from G.I. Jane. That name for a standard female recruit was derived from the older World War II term of a soldier, General Issue Joe. And that of course was the genesis of the famous action figure toy line.

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