About Me
Hi!
My name is Chris Keating. I’m a professor of physics and a 31-year veteran of the US Navy and Navy Reserve. I have traveled all over the world and the US and have had a variety of experiences and adventures. I am currently a single dad living in Maryland with my teenage son and teach at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis.
This blog started out as a memoir for my son. My father wrote his memoirs for us kids before he died and I’m very grateful he did. It told me a lot about him that I didn’t know. So, I’m doing the same for my son.
Along the way, I decided to share some of the stories, just for the fun of it. I hope you enjoy them and I would love to hear what you have to say about them.
As time has gone on, the topics of my postings have grown and I now discuss much more than just my adventures and misadventures. Lately, I’ve been spending a lot of time on science related topics. You can click on the categories on the right side of the page to see all of my postings under each category. If you find a posting to be interesting, check the category to see if there are other postings you might want to read.
You can email me at physics309@yahoo.com. I hope to hear from you.
Chris
I’ll be the first. After reading a few of your entries and your introduction, I have learned that you are a very thoughtful and compassionate man. I too have been keeping journals for many years. One reason was for my children to read them someday and realize that during a difficult time in our life, even though I was scared of how I would be able to provide for them, I held my head high, moved forward with dignity and determination, worked very hard, stayed positive, and made a beautiful life for us. I want them to realize that even when life throws you a curve ball, “you learn that you really can endure, you really are strong, you really do have worth
and you learn, and you learn, with every goodbye, you learn..” Hope to hear from you again.
Hi Chris, Do you remember me? I’m Ken Mann, fellow plank owner on the “Count”. I was first in “A” gang, then in the engine rooms, and finally ended my carrer on the Count as the fuel and water king. When I left, only Herman Loo was left as a plank owner. I now reside in North-east Ohio and work for the FAA. You can reach me at Kmann@midviewinternet.com
(What a blast to read about my past and remember the best times of my youth!)
Ken Mann
HI:
Happened upon your blogs and I’d like to know your take on why many of the the major religions of the world point to some major event or change in the year 2012? I appreciate that you are a scientist -physics professor and all- but doesn’t it seem rather odd that an ancient culture was able to predict the galactic alignment -the procession- thousands of years into the future precesely? I am also a skeptic, however, I’ll have to say, that I feel something is coming – be it the Nostradamus stuff, the Mayan predictions, the science stuff I read in relation to this alignment . I haven’t seen any of the other “sceintitsts” on the net mention what you state about the alignment or the fact that it occurs daily? Most of the scientists are giving warnings about the gravitional pulls, solar flares, etc. Who does one believe. One thing I’m sure of – in the year 2012 I bet people start going a little crazy due in no small part to all the History Channel hype.
I agree with you about people doing crazy things in 2012. I think it will be pretty ridiculous.
I disagree with you about the major religions. The major religions do not point at 2012 at all. By major religions I would include Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hindu, Buddhism, Zen, Taoism and Confucianism. This would encompass nearly the entire population of the world. Mayan is certainly not a major religion.
Also, Mayan, as I have been telling people, did not predict the galactic alignment in 2012. What people have done is to find that the cycle of the Mayan calendar ends in 2012 and they then went out to find something that was coincidental.
As for the ‘galactic alignment,’ this is really a no-starter. I didn’t say it happens every day, by the way, I said it happens every year. Come December 21 of this year, the so-called alignment will occur. Just like it did last year and will again next year. In fact, because the sky shifts so slowly, this alignment has been going on for well over a century and will continue on into the future.
If you sort through enough historical material, misinterpret enough of it, omit the things that are inconvenient, include only what sounds good, you are then in a position to predict the end of the world (or any other prediction you wish to make) for any day of any year.
That is the hallmark of the psychics. Nostradamus is a perfect example and why I keep telling people that Nostradamus never predicted a thing. I have even had people pull out quatrains and tell me how some particular quatrain predicted all of these different events. And, amazingly, they don’t get how silly they sound. If it really was a valid prediction, it would only be good once. You can’t pull out a quatrain and say that it predicted Hurricane Katrina, but it also predicted all of these other hurricanes throughout history. As far as that goes, I can predict right now that there will be hurricanes, some of these will hit land, and they will cause death and destruction. That is actually a better prediction than anything Nostradamus made.
I have two major concerns about 2012. The first is, as discussed above, people are going to be doing crazy things. That’s ok as long as it doesn’t involve me, but some of them will. The second is what are all of these crazies going to do when nothing happens and they have to go home empty-handed?
Coupled with the above challenge is how we represent agents in space. ,