Bob Mayer's Blog, page 14
December 19, 2022
Happy Holidays—Life’s Little Black Book is Free
Life’s Little Black BookAs we went the “we’ll circle back to that next year” time of year, I’m giving away a free book many have found useful. Life’s Little Black Book is full of things I’ve picked up over the years.
There are, as usual, other freebies, including I, Judas: The Fifth Gospel.
I’m feeling great, four weeks after my little expedition to the hospital. Not back at 100% but I’m not pushing it. Took the dogs to the woods yesterday and hiked some hills but no backpack. I’m biking but not too hard. Plus, I’ve noticed its gotten cold out. My Winter Warfare days are not looked back at with fond memories.
Wishing everyone the happiest of holidays!
Bob, and Scout, and Maggie
Scout and Maggie
December 14, 2022
What Was the Staten Island Peace Conference
Billop House Public DomanIn the painting below, Admiral Howe is on the right. On the left are John Adamas, Edward Rutledge and Benjamin Franklin.
Staten Island Peace Conference. Courtesy Wikimedia, Creative Commons by Alonzo Chappel (1828-1887)The strategic situation in September 1776 was dire for the rebelling colonists. George Washington has just been defeated on Long Island (covered elsewhere in New York City Little Black Book), and his army was being threatened across the Hudson on York (Manhattan) Island.
“They met, they talked, they parted. And now nothing remains but to fight it out.” — British report after the Staten Island Peace Conference
As a sidenote: What of the legend of a ghost in Billopp House, where the meeting was held, on the southwestern corner of Staten Island? Is there a ghost of a servant girl killed by the owner who believed she betrayed him to the Colonists?
I used this event as a mission in Nine-Eleven (Time Patrol) because in that series, I have an outside entity trying to wipe us out by changing our timeline. So, I ask the question: what if someone wants those peace talks to succeed?
And who exactly is that ghost?
What Was the Staten Island Peace Conference?A conference ...
A conference held on the southwestern tip of Staten Island, New York on 11 September 1776 A.D. in the Billop House, which still stands. This was the day Benjamin Franklin, Edward Rutledge and John Adams met Admiral Lord Howe to discuss the possibility of peace between Britain & the Colonies. Unfortunately, neither Admiral Howe nor Franklin and Adams, had any real authority from their respective governments to negotiate.
Billop House Public DomanIn the painting below, Admiral Howe is on the right. On the left are John Adamas, Edward Rutledge and Benjamin Franklin.
Staten Island Peace Conference. Courtesy Wikimedia, Creative Commons by Alonzo Chappel (1828-1887)The strategic situation in September 1776 was dire for the rebelling colonists. George Washington has just been defeated on Long Island (covered elsewhere in New York City Little Black Book), and his army was being threatened across the Hudson on York (Manhattan) Island.
“They met, they talked, they parted. And now nothing remains but to fight it out.” — British report after the Staten Island Peace Conference
As a sidenote: What of the legend of a ghost in Billopp House, where the meeting was held, on the southwestern corner of Staten Island? Is there a ghost of a servant girl killed by the owner who believed she betrayed him to the Colonists?
I used this event as a mission in Nine-Eleven (Time Patrol) because in that series, I have an outside entity trying to wipe us out by changing our timeline. So, I ask the question: what if someone wants those peace talks to succeed?
And who exactly is that ghost?
December 12, 2022
Review: White Lotus, Season 2. A Very Satisfying Ending
White LotusThey nailed it. Each character’s plot line ended up where it should have.
Spoilers ahead.
Let’s start with the deaths. Did Tanya deserve to die? Not really, who does? But she really didn’t deserve to live. That’s harsh but she was a narcissist through and through and never made the slightest attempt to change. Even the last thing she said to someone, after she shot them, was whether her husband had had an affair? No concern at all about her assistant, Portia, who was in mortal danger at the moment because of her. He survives only because Jack lets her go.
She even comments, knowing she’s in a bad place, how bad all her assistants have been. Everything was about her, even her own death because Tanya’s death was at her own hands. She could have gone down the steps in the back that the one survivor ran to and jumped off. What she did was typical of many of her decisions—not thought through.
How about the couples?
Ethan and Harper: An interesting arc that ended well. They’re dealing with their new-found wealth and not so newfound dearth of passion in their relationship. Both are brought alive by their interactions with . . .
Meghan and Cameron: This is the irritating couple you see whose public display of affection is either real or posed. Theirs’s felt somewhere in between. They had what I would call a transactional relationship. There is no doubt there was passion between the two of them but underneath that simmers hate, which isn’t that far from passion. The fact the children weren’t his? That look on his face in the last episode where she calls him to the phone to facetime them? Priceless, before he puts that smile on his face. The look on her face for a moment when Ethan tells her he suspects Cameron and Harper. Both portend danger for the future. On the bright side, they helped Ethan and Harper grow closer. Their basic philosophy of living for the moment has its positives but can be devastating long term.
The three generations of Bert, Dominic and Albie? F. Murray Abraham was excellent as the old man who has regrets but lives with them. It’s too late for him to change. Michael Imperioli does a great job showing a man who accepts his faults and his regrets and makes a decision to change. How long it will last, we know not. But to frame it as a karmic debt when he pays out the 50k was great. His son, probably the nicest character of all of them, also learned, and immediately accepted he got played. There is hope for both of them.
As there is for Portia, as she slowly realizes how dire indeed her situation had been. I liked them exchanging numbers at the end.
The escorts? They both got what they wanted. The pimp angle was bogus from the start. Perhaps not even necessary. Mia was perhaps my favorite character. She took the world as it is and was willing to do what she needed, and have fun with it, to get what she wanted. Lucia was a bit more cutthroat but you can’t begrudge her that she earned what she worked for.
The fact Valentina, the hotel manager brought Rocco back, even after being rebuffed, twice, was heart-warming. And gave Mia the singing job was also great. A true change.
Mike White has now scripted and directed two great seasons. Season Two was different than one in that it didn’t focus as much on the differences between the hotel staff and the guests and the privilege of money. He even admits the focus was different. Two was more about sex and the various aspects it presents. In fact, money turned out to be a very negative for the person who had the most.
And it gets to be different, despite some reviews I’ve read. I’m sure season 3 will focus on something new.
Highly recommended.
December 9, 2022
Happy Holidays from Bob Mayer
Pocket GuideA quick note to wish everyone a joyful holiday season.
Some thoughts on unusual and thoughtful gift ideas. The Green Beret Pocket Survival Guide makes a great stocking stuffer. I keep one in the kitchen for first aid information, in each car and in the grab-n-go bags. Also, I now have three Little Black Books which make great gifts. The one on New York City was fun to research.
I’m also clearing out stacks of books and am offering a number of signed titles, including unique galleys with covers with which only a few copies were made at cost. I’m doing this through eBay as it’s the easiest way. For a complete list click on the image below on this PAGE.
BooksThe first Area 51 book is only $1.99/Kindle Unlimited all of this month.
My year has been interesting to say the least. I did a road trip to Valley of the Gods and Monument Valley. I really enjoyed Valley of the Gods as it wasn’t crowded and the vistas were wonderful. I’ll be going back and also covering more of that area.
For the last six months or so, I’d been experiencing some chest pain while biking and finally went and got it checked out. Which is fortunate as it turns out I had a blockage on my left anterior descending artery, nicely called the widow-maker (a terrible name because women are as likely to have this problem as men). I wrote out the experience here and highly recommend going to the doctor when something is off. That’s helped me twice now—first with a torn retina I self-diagnosed and now saving my life by pushing to get help.
Thus, the holidays will be extra special this year.
Stay safe and enjoy life!
Bob
December 5, 2022
When Evaluating A Target, Such As A Power Grid, We Used the CARVER Formula in Special Forces
Power OutThe recent attack on the power grid in North Carolina raises a lot of questions and also signals how fragile our infrastructure is.
The area the attack took place, in the vicinity of Fort Bragg, home of Special Forces, in the area where the JFK School routinely trains its students across the countryside, the fictional Pineland, also is a red warning light.
As a student and instructor at the JFK Special Warfare Center and School for years, I spent a lot of time in that area. We did assessments of many targets, including power grid, ports, nuclear power plants and other facilities. We also ran a course called SOTIC, Special Operations Target Interdiction Course. The goal was to train snipers not just to shoot people, but critical nodes of infrastructure and negate enemy capability.
I’m not going to speculate on who did the attack or why. My thoughts right now are on how the CARVER formula might be applied to this attack and where the perpetrators really screwed up (besides breaking the law).
C: Criticality. They didn’t just knock down some power lines. They went for key pieces of gear that will take time to repair. There are even more significant pieces of equipment, mostly unguarded, that could take out large swathes of our grid for months. They will remain un-named, but it’s time we wake up and start protecting the grid. And we need to build the capability to replace those parts, some of which are manufactured overseas and would take a while to even get in country. So, these terrorists did find a critical node.
A: Accessibility. They knocked down a gate. Easy accessibility. Hell, they could do damage just shooting from the road. This happened before, by the way in California in April 2013, with gummen destroying 15 million dollar’s worth of gear at a substation. No one was ever caught.
R: Recognizability. Anyone with rudimentary understanding of the grid can locate these nodes. They’re not hidden.
V: Vulnerability. The results show how soft these targets are. No hard wall around them that would at least require breaching. Almost our entire grid is extraordinarily vulnerable given how critical it is to everyday life. If the grid in a large area goes down for a couple of weeks, we’ve got big trouble. Much worse than most people know,
E: Effect. This is where they screwed up. There are a lot of pissed off people living in the affected area. A basic maxim is just because you can blow something up doesn’t mean you should. If the goal was to stop a drag show, as some say, it was overkill. They hurt the lives of everyone in the area. Whatever their cause is, they didn’t gain allies.
R: Recuperability. How long will it take to fix what was destroyed. Again, they went overboard if their goal was to stop a show. Lots of people are going to be without power for days. Almost all who had nothing to do with the show.
I told my wife this might be part of the beginning of guerilla warfare by extremists that has been prevalent the last few years. We had an attack on our capitol two years ago, that, politics aside, contained well planned elements by terrorist organizations. Recent convictions of sedition by some planners make that a fact.
We need to prioritize our vulnerable nodes using CARVER and harden them accordingly.
I cover CARVER in The Green Beret Guide for Success: The Strategies of the Quiet Professionals which is free today, 5 December.
November 30, 2022
Book of the Day: D-Day: Time Patrol
DDay‘Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.’ Winston Churchill
The bulk of the Time Patrol books focus on one day in six different years. In this case, it’s 6 June.
The title mission is, of course, set in 1944. Since I have a background in Special Operations, I chose to use a special ops mission on the night before the day of days. Behind the beaches of Normandy, an OSS agent (who is actually a member of the Time Patrol) and the Resistance must destroy a bridge to insure the last ‘good war’ ends the way history records. The Shadow wants that bridge to stay intact. This could change what happens to the entire invasion. Mac’s mission is one of the most poignant in the Time Patrol series.
6 June 478 B.C.: Pythagoras is murdered in the entrance of the Oracle of Delphi’s cave. Who did it and why? How will this change history?
6 June 452.: In the great hall Heoret the very real Beowulf battles Grendel, proving reality is more dangerous than poetry. I love this mission for Roland because it introduces a different kind of monster that the Time Patrol has to fight after having already faced creatures such as the Kraken.
6 June 1843: At West Point, a middling cadet, small in stature, named Ulysses S. Grant is trying to survive and graduate. Someone wants to prevent that. Grant not graduating my alma mater would most definitely change our timeline!
6 June 1998.: A secret nuclear weapons depot in Pakistan, where the saber rattling of nuclear tests is getting ready to escalate into Armageddon; a war to end all wars. We actually do have special ops personnel with their eyes on the nuclear arsenal in a country that could go rogue. What happens if they have to act?
6 June pre-recorded history. And, strangest of all, thousands of years into pre-history, to the day Art is born. Moms mission to save the very first artist is one of the most unique missions for the Time Patrol. The Patrol has always been interested in art because if art from the past changes in the present we know something has gone wrong in the past. They are even headquarters underneath the Museum of Modern Art in New York City and check Cleopatra’s Needle behind it in Central Park every day.
If you’re looking for a strong dose of history in your science fiction thriller, give the Time Patrol books a whirl.
Nothing but good times ahead.
Unless the Shadow changes our timeline.
November 28, 2022
Book of the Day: Did Jefferson and Hamilton Know the Constitution Was Flawed in Term of Halting An Imperial President?
Jefferson AllegianceYears ago I pondered the problem of increasing Presidential power. It seemed we were losing our ability to hold in check the executive branch.
The Founding Fathers for all their genius also had flaws. Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton were opposed ideologically. But what if one thing they agreed on was a way to hold in check a President who bent the law in a way that was private and wouldn’t cause a public scandal?
Together they brokered the Jefferson Allegiance. And then hid it away. The key to finding it? The pieces of the Jefferson Cipher.
The 4th of July 1826. As Thomas Jefferson lies dying, he gives his part of his Jefferson Cipher to Edgar Allen Poe, with instructions to take the disks to West Point. In Massachusetts, John Adams entrusts his part of the Cipher to Colonel Thayer, the superintendent of the Military Academy. As Thayer rides away, Adams utters his final words: “Thomas Jefferson survives.”
In the present, Green Beret Paul Ducharme has been recalled from Afghanistan after the ‘accidental’ death of his best friend, the son of one of the Philosophers. While Ducharme is visiting his friend’s gravesite in Arlington, an old man is executed by a member from the Society of Cincinnati known as the Surgeon, who is seeking to gather all the pieces of the cipher. In a nearby restaurant, former CIA and now Curator at Monticello, Evie Tolliver, waits anxiously for her mentor to arrive, but he’s killed by the same assassin at the Zero Milestone. His heart and the Philosopher’s head are displayed as a grisly message on top of the stone, echoing Jefferson’s famous head-heart letter.
Ducharme and Tolliver, the unknowing heirs to become the next generation of caretakers of the Jefferson Allegiance, team up and must battle the Surgeon to assemble the Cipher and find the Jefferson Allegiance, a document that has kept the balance of power in the United States for over two centuries.
When this book came out, it became the #2 national bestseller at Barnes and Noble.
If you enjoy a thriller steeped in history, pick up this book.
Enjoy! The Jefferson Allegiance
Also in Kindle Unlimited and followed by The Kennedy Endeavor
November 24, 2022
Giving Thanks For: Having My Life Saved Yesterday
Heart BeforeI went into the University of Tennessee cardio unit yesterday for a scheduled appointment to check out my heart. I ended up getting a stent in my left anterior descending artery. More commonly known as the “widow-maker”.
This is a terrible term because women are just as likely, if not more, to suffer heart attacks as men. In fact, women are five times more likely to die of a heart attack than breast cancer. 600,000 people a year die from heart attacks.
Bottom line—I had what would have most likely been a fatal heart attack in the near future pre-empted by the excellent work at UT cardio.
For most people, the first sign they have a heart problem is a heart attack and far too often it’s too late.
I’m writing this to pass on what I’ve learned and hopefully help someone else.
First, don’t think it can’t happen to you because you eat right and work out. etc etc.
I’ve always worked out hard, especially cardio. I ran marathons when younger, including sub 2:50. I only switched from running to biking several years ago due to damage to knees and a torn Achilles from my military deployments. And I don’t tool along on the bike. I push.
I bike hard, around 100 miles a week. Knoxville is a great place to bike with many miles of greenways. I also do the Little River trail from Walland to Townsend and up into Smoky Mountain National Park past the Cades Cove Wye and take the turn to climb up a thousand feet in altitude via Middle Prong road. Or Foothills Parkway up to the middle top and turn around.
On days I don’t bike, I “ruck” with the dogs on hilly trails for several miles. It’s what we called a “nerf” ruck in Special Forces where we normally carried over 100 pounds. My current one is maybe 20-25? I actually list what I carry in it on my free slideshows page, making it basically a small grab-n-go backpack. It’s a good workout, not just cardio but for the leg muscles to work the ones not covered in the biking.
So what was wrong? My family, on my mother’s side (she did at 67) has a very bad history with the heart. I have high cholesterol but not high enough to set off alarm bells after my physicals. I’ve never smoked, which is a big contributor. I was actually in pretty good shape, my weight was good, and I was working out. I figured my working out trumped the higher cholesterol plus my diet wasn’t that bad.
But. About two years ago I noted I was biking slower. I didn’t feel like I was slower. I wasn’t any more out of breath. I was just slower. Not by much. Being the Asperger person I am, I note all my workouts on my calendar and my speed was averaging about 1 mile an hour slower on the same routes. Less than 8% slower. I put it off to getting older.
Then this past year, another mile an hour slower. About the same rate.
But the first true alert was I started having chest pain while biking about two and a half months ago. Center, high pain that radiated down both arms. Not unbearable. More irritating.
I’d have blown it off except it was real pain and I didn’t know what was causing it. So, I went to my doctor and he did an EKG. The results were perfect. But I insisted we figure out the pain, so I was referred for a stress test which included a nuclear heart test. I’d had the treadmill stress test before. I aced that according to the EKG. But about a week later I got notified that something was spotted off on the nuclear heart test. That’s where they inject radioactive dye via an IV and an imager does a scan for like twenty minutes moving all around. They do it twice. At the start and then after the treadmill.
In a way, I was relieved. Because I knew something was wrong. I was starting to get out of breath doing simple things, like bringing the garbage can up the driveway. I hadn’t stopped biking, of course, because I am an idiot. I use workouts not just for the physical benefit but as an anti-depressant because I am a writer. Goes with the territory. As a young Meryl Street says in Postcards from the Edge, I’m in it for the endolphins.
So, I went to see the consulting Cardiologist and he didn’t seem overly concerned but he said I did have a blockage, they didn’t know how bad, but they thought it wasn’t that bad given my condition etcetera. BTW—these first appointments took months to get. I got scheduled for the cardio catheterization for a week later. Yesterday.
I was the first one in at 0630 for an 0800 procedure. I liked that we crossed the LD/LC at exactly on time at 0800 after prepping. Military people will know what I’m talking about.
I had my first inkling this was serious when they rolled me out of the prep room to the area where the real work is done. It reminded me of walking into an SFOB, Special Forces Operations Base, on deployment that was in the midst of running multiple important missions. People there moved with a purpose. You could sense the atmosphere of professionalism.
When they moved me onto the table, everyone knew what they were doing, and you could feel the efficiency of a team working in rhythm. Unlike my heart. My meeting with the doctor was her standing at the foot of the table, masked, with goggles and apparently very short, telling me she was going to take care of things. Really, I’ve got no idea who Dr. Litton is in person other than that. I would have asked if she had tiny little instruments, aka Seinfeld, but it wasn’t the time or place.
Frankly, a day later, I’m still groggy. As my wife says, Sleepy Time Tea knocks me out. So whatever they gave me yesterday still has my head a little woozy.
BTW—they went in through the wrist rather than the groin which is relatively new from what I’ve read and I’m glad. But they are going into a large blood vessel. So I have to keep an eye on that.
I didn’t even get to talk to the doc afterward because she was on to the next case. But my wife did and said the surgeon was really happy about finding the blockage and fixing it. Me too.
How do I know this was deadly serious? They gave my wife the before and after images. The arrow on the before points to the peak of the blockage. Note the massive difference in blood flow in the after.
AfterHonestly, it hasn’t sunk in yet.
Don’t think you’re immune from a heart attack because you have a healthy lifestyle. You’re better off, but not immune.
Listen to your body. Pain is not weakness leaving the body, which was a saying on my Special Forces A-Team. Pain is an indication that something is wrong. Find out what that is.
Don’t take the people in your or anything else for granted.
And enjoy the day!
November 21, 2022
What If The Second Coming/Armageddon Is Something No One Expects?
JudasOne of the mantras of my Area 51 books, indeed all my science fiction, is we don’t know as much as we think we know. And here is some truth hidden in myths and legends. Thus: I, Judas: The Fifth Gospel. Which, by the way, is now in Kindle Unlimited.
Having spent 12 years in Catholic School, done the altar boy thing, studied such esoteric theologians such as Erasmus, I had to put such knowledge to use. Especially when I combine it with my physiological psychology classes in grad school. Most religions have some sort of cataclysmic events written in their sacred texts. Whether its Armageddon or Ragnarok.
I asked myself several questions to write this book:
What if Jesus wasn’t who he appeared to be?
What if Judas did a good thing by betraying him, even though he didn’t want to?
And Judas is still alive?
And what if the event they both anticipated is finally occurring?
As a massive object appears in space heading directly toward Earth, the Brotherhood—a religious order, heralds it as Wormwood, one of the signs of the Rapture and it’s just three days away. They’ve been preparing to implement the Great Commission as designated by Jesus—where everyone on the planet must hear the word of God before the end in order to be saved. They will use advanced technology to broadcast that message directly into the minds of every human on the planet. The question is: will the message kill everyone who gets it or save them?
I like the inherent paradox there of using technology to impart something of faith.
Believing that Judas, the anti-Christ, is alive and well and living in the Amazon, they send a team of assassins up the Amazon to find the Great Betrayer and kill him before Armageddon.
Opposing the Brotherhood is the Triumvirate of the Illuminati. They believe they must stop the Great Commission and the assassination team. At the same time, they rush to gather nuclear weapons and launch missiles into space to divert the Intruder, as they call the object, believing it to be a natural phenomenon over which technology will prevail.
Science versus faith.
As the object nears Earth, both sides become locked in a worldwide battle for the future of the human race, as Judas prepares in the jungle for the Second Coming, the fulfillment of his Fifth Gospel.
Which is not at all what anyone expects.
I’ve noticed some harsh reviews based on faith. I feel about those the way I feel about my marriage. I’d rather have my wife pissed at me than apathetic. Pissed means she’s emotionally engaged. And that she loves me.
Enjoy! I, Judas: The Fifth Gospel.
