We've got some US Navy, hi-tech, science, invention of the year, awards, humor and GANGNAM!

How's that for a double trifecta + 1!

"Meet CHARLI-2, Virginia Tech’s skinny, five-foot tall humanoid robot. His balance

is enviable: Jostle him, and he’ll right himself — which is one of the reasons the Navy

is using him for research on its firefighting robot of the future.

You have to see it to believe it and you have to click on the story to watch. I'm having problems including pictures and/or videos with my posts. The pic I want to use right now, may or may not show up. Command Central for Google blogs (of which this is one) won't answer my Mayday! calls and I can't figure out the problem.

Not so great news about our military capability

"A major international naval exercise last month in and around the Persian Gulf and

Arabian Sea, led by the U.S. Navy with more than 30 other nations participating,

located fewer than half of the practice mines laid at sea.

This outcome of the highly publicized military drills — not publicly known until now — 

underscores how difficult it may be for the United States and its partners to detect and

incapacitate waterborne explosive devices that Iran has threatened to plant if its nuclear

facilities come under attack."

U.S.S. Enterprise (The "Big E")

I don't see this as a weakness of our Navy. I see it as an example of why they conduct "exercises." They practice and they learn. They fix problems and get stronger. I'm thankful they discovered something that needs fixing under circumstances that won't get somebody killed.

I do have one concern. Why do we continue to tell the world about a weakness? Shut up and fix the problem. I have no idea who thought this was a good idea or what they hoped to accomplish.

The US Navy believes in planning for unforseen eventualities

Today's modern, sleek Navy leads the world in cutting edge, technologically designed and equipped machines of warfare. There is no other navy that can boast of better equipment. While much of it is costly, it is effective and protects us from our enemies.

Because personnel of the Navy are far-sighted they plan for unforseen eventualities. They know "Stuff Happens." They refuse to be victims of Murphy's Law. Their planning frequently involves unique solutions. Creativity is usually called for. And our Navy has that in spades.

For instance: Modern Navy ships today are guided by a very sophisticated and complicated computer system. It's very important for these marvels to be guided accurately and correctly. If the Captain requires his vessel to proceed in the port (what we civilians know as left) direction, he orders the Helmsman to input data which will cause the ship to turn left. When a change of direction to the right is called for, he orders the Helmsman to input data which will result in the ship turning to Starboard (right).

After intensive studies, experimentation and investigation, a fiendishly clever and simple solution was found. It was deemed to be cost-effective.