March 2021 Newsletter
Van Tellfaster’s Corner
The Newsletter
–––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Spring 2021 / Issue #3 / http://www.vantellfaster.wordpress.com
March 30, 2021
Recall that community transmission of Covid-19 was first detected in America in February 2020. By mid-March, all 50 states, the District of Columbia, New York City, and four U.S. territories reported cases of the deadly virus. We’ve now been in this pandemic for more than one year, and have lost more than a half a million lives to Covid-19. However, the good news is even though we are still dealing with this horrible virus, Spring is here, and according to the Johns Hopkins University, over 150 million Americans, 16 percent of the adult population, have been administered the Covid-19 vaccination; the more Americans vaccinated, the closer we get to what is called, “herd immunity.”
In this month’s newsletter, I’ve introduced what I believe is a very interesting topic which we hear a lot about these days: Artificial Intelligence. It’s a technology that is fast impacting our lives and will likely continue to be beneficial, but may create challenges in the months and years to come. March is also Women’s History Month, and March 8, 2021 was International Women’s Day. I hope you find this topic of interest as I did. In addition, I’ve identified some trailblazers that proudly represent America in various professions.
Further, I selected a unique topic to discuss in my Interest Item article which you may also find worth reading. There is something in the scientific world called the CRISPR tool. You may ask, what the heck is CRISPR? Well, CRISPR means clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats. As you read below, you’ll learn that CRISPR is reportedly an incredible new scientific tool that humankind has ever possessed. I’ve also included information on Amazon’s recent handling of book pricing. You may find it worth reading, particularly if you are an author. And finally, I turn your attention to my first novel, entitled, The Private Investigator, and hope you will visit https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07M6BBXXD or my author page at https://booklocker.com/10136 to learn more about my thriller.
Current Hot Topic!!
Artificial Intelligence
Recently, I’ve been reading about Artificial Intelligence, also called, AI. So that we’re all on the same page, I’ll use a standard definition of AI. In Wikipedia, AI is defined as intelligence demonstrated by machines, unlike the natural intelligence displayed by humans and animals, which involves consciousness and emotionality. The distinction between the former and the latter categories is often revealed by the acronym chosen. AI isn't new, in fact, it’s been around since the early 1950s. Now, there’s lots of incredible work occurring worldwide using AI. And while AI is used in medicine, education, and in many other disciplines, having been in the service, I want to talk about AI advances in our U.S. military.
I stumbled across a highly interesting article about how the Pentagon is dealing with the challenges AI presents. There are no doubt pros and cons about virtually every useful tool to mankind. What I’m talking about here, is what some refer to as smart weapons. One of the things that immediately caught my attention in reading about the use of AI in defense systems that can locate targets, is the matter of ethics associated with using smart weapons. Let’s face it, our military fights wars and kill the enemy on the battlefield. The material I reviewed indicates that the future may well be shaped by computer algorithms dictating how weapons move and target enemies. One major question seems to be, how much authority to give the robots and how to interact with them in conflict. Our military’s ambivalence about whether and where to draw a line on letting war machines kill on their own remains a hot topic.
For example, our military components are already experimenting with autonomous machines. The U.S. Navy is experimenting with ships that can travel thousands of miles on their own to hunt for enemy submarines or ships that could fire guns from just offshore as our Marines storm beaches. The Army is experimenting with systems that will locate targets and aim tank guns automatically. And the Air Force is developing deadly drones that could accompany planes into battle or forge ahead alone, operating independently from “pilots” sitting thousands of miles away in front of computer screens. That said, there are those worried about the use of AI in war. It seems that Human Rights Watch, and a half-dozen other nongovernmental organizations have campaigned to stop the use of killer robots. An example given on how using AI to fight wars could lead to really bad things happening follows: In 2018, a self-driving car being tested by Uber struck and killed a woman in Arizona. A nearly two-year government investigation revealed that the car hadn’t malfunctioned; rather, it was programmed to look only for pedestrians in crosswalks. Jaywalking, as the woman was doing, was beyond the system’s grasp, so the car struck the woman. One can begin to understand why decisions about how much battlefield risks to embrace AI is particularly challenging. While there are those in the Pentagon that want to move forward with use of smart weapons, many are reportedly still not convinced that weapons injected with AI are ready to be put in the field. This is a topic, I’m sure we will hear more about in the future.
Family News
The first day of Spring was on March 20, 2021, believe it or not! But if you live in Colorado, you wouldn’t know it. Coloradans have been getting their share of snow over the last several days in the opening days of Spring. In my neck of the woods, however, the Fort Belvoir area’s been having rather mild weather, with a bit less rain than usual for this time of the year, according to our local weatherman. I don’t expect we’ll be seeing snow in the final days of March 2021. Be that as it may, our grandchildren, Zach and Claudia, are having the time of their lives. In fact, they can’t get enough of the snow falling in and around their neighborhood.
Now that the kids are on their Spring break, they have plenty of time to roll in the snow, have snow ball fights, and slide down snow mounds in utter bliss. But on the clearer days in the Springs when one can easily view that majestic mountain range that rises above Colorado Springs, and there is less snow, the kids ride their bikes with mom and dad, stop by Taco trucks to enjoy lunch on the go, then return home to enjoy TV, draw pictures for their parents, and simply have lots of fun indoors.
Meanwhile in El Paso, Texas, baby Lauren is getting acclimated and receiving lots of love from her parents and the rest of the family. Also, Grandpa James recently enjoyed another birthday with the family. Speaking of birthdays, Zach’s and Claudia’s Opa and grandma enjoyed back-to-back birthdays out in the greater Northwest. In addition, Salina Nadine Whitman, the proud mother of baby Lauren, enjoyed a birthday this month. Wow, lots of March birthdays! Happy birthday everyone, and may you all have many more.
Events
Women’s History Month/International Women’s Day
It’s always a pleasure to speak about America’s women, including loving mothers, housewives, members of the armed forces, women in boardrooms, scientists, and women who populate the various other professions across the nation. The National Women’s History Alliance has designated the theme of Women’s History Month 2021: “Valiant Women of the Vote: Refusing to be Silenced.” International Women’s Day, which occurred on March 8, 2021, is a global celebration of the economic, political and social achievements of women. Many countries around the world celebrate the holiday with demonstrations, educational initiatives and customs such as presenting women with gifts and flowers.
Women’s History Month had its origins as a national celebration in 1981 when Congress authorized and requested the President to proclaim the week beginning March 7, 1982 as “Women’s History Week.” Throughout the next five years, Congress continued to pass joint resolutions designating a week in March as “Women’s History Week.” In 1987 after being petitioned by the National Women’s History Project, Congress passed Pub. L. 100-9, which designated the month of March 1987 as “Women’s History Month.” Between 1988 and 1994, Congress passed additional resolutions requesting and authorizing the President to proclaim March of each year as Women’s History Month, and since 1995, presidents have issued a series of annual proclamations designating the month of March as “Women’s History Month.” These proclamations celebrate the contributions women have made to the United States and recognize the specific achievements women have made over the course of American history in a variety of fields. I’ve highlighted below in my People section, just a few of the American women we should all be proud of. Finally, in the "Proclamation on Women’s History Month, 2021,” President Biden acknowledged this important month indicating, “Each year, Women’s History Month offers an opportunity for us to shine a light on the extraordinary legacy of trailblazing American women and girls who have built, shaped, and improved upon our Nation.”
National Vietnam War Veterans Day
I am a Vietnam era military member who served in the United States Air Force at the height of the conflict. While I didn’t get to engage the enemy on the ground in South Vietnam, I supported the war effort from South Korea in the Air Force Security Forces. I enlisted in the Air Force in the Spring of 1967, and just a little over a year later, I was assigned to a small airbase in South Korea. It was toward the end of the Tet Offensive which constituted a major enemy offensive in the war. I was among the personnel that provided close-end security for Air Force fighter jets, to include F-105 Thunderchiefs and F-4 phantoms, that landed in Korea on a temporary basis. As many people know, the Vietnam war went on for some 19 years, with direct U.S. involvement ending in 1973. When it was all over, we lost more than 58,000 service members.
This year’s National Vietnam War Veterans Day was observed on March 29 and is observed each year on the same day. It is a way to thank and honor our nation’s Vietnam veterans and their families for their service and sacrifice. If you haven’t visited the impressive memorial, located in Washington, D.C., I urge you to do so. Upon arriving at the war memorial, it immediately captures your attention, and the visual of the seemingly endless names etched in the black granite wall can remain in your mind’s eye forever.
People
Jennifer Anne Doudna
Jennifer Doudna, born, February 19, 1964, is an American biochemist known for her pioneering work in CRISPR gene editing, for which she was awarded the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry along with Emmanuelle Charpentier. She is the Li Ka Shing Chancellor’s Chair Professor in the Department of Chemistry and the Department of Molecular and Cell Biology at the University of California, Berkeley. Doudna has been an investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute since 1997. She grew up in Hilo, Hawaii, and graduated from Pomona College in 1985 and earned a Ph.D. from Harvard Medical School in 1989. Apart from her professorship at UC Berkeley, she is also president and chair on the board of the Innovative Genomics Institute, a faculty scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, a senior investigator at the Gladstone Institutes, and an adjunct professor of cellular and molecular pharmacology at the University of California, San Francisco.
Rosalind G. Brewer
Rosalind G. Brewer, also known as Roz Brewer, is an American businesswoman, who is slated to become the CEO of Walgreens on March 15, 2021; on that date, the Detroit, Michigan native will be the only African-American female CEO of the Fortune 500 company. She is currently the COO of Starbucks and the former President and CEO of Sam’s Club, a division of Walmart Stores Inc.
The 59-year-old businesswoman is a graduate of the Cass Technical High School, and went on to graduate from Spelman College, and Stanford Law School.
Laura J. Richardson
Laura Jane Richardson, born December, 1963, in Missouri, is a lieutenant general in the United States Army and commanding general of United States Army North. She previously served as deputy commanding general of United States Army Forces Command. As an army aviator, Richardson flew Sikorsky UG-60 Black Hawk helicopters. Promoted to brigadier general in 2011, she served in various commands at Fort Hood and served as chief of staff for communication in the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan. In June 2017, she was promoted to lieutenant general and appointed deputy commanding general of United States Army Forces Command (FORSCOM). Richardson served as acting commander of FORSCOM from October 2018 until March 2019. In April 2019, she was nominated to serve as the first female commander of United States Army North. She assumed command on July 8, 2019.
On March 6, 2021, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced that President Biden nominated Richardson become commander of the United States Southern Command. Her nomination was sent to the Senate on March 5, 2021. Her nomination was originally recommended by then- Defense Secretary Mark Esper and General Mark Milley, but her nomination was held off until after the 2020 United States presidential election over fears of the previous administration’s possible reaction against nominating women to such high positions.
Jacqueline D. Van Ovost
Gen. Jacqueline D. Van Ovost is Commander, Air Mobility Command, Scott Air Force Base, Illinois. The Command serves as U.S. Transportation Command’s air component, executing the air mobility mission in support of the joint force, allies and partners with a fleet of nearly 1,100 aircraft. The command encompasses Eighteenth Air Force, the U.S. Air Force Expeditionary Center, the 618th Air Operations Center, and 17 wings and two groups, which provide rapid global mobility from more than 100 locations worldwide. Nearly 107,000 active-duty, Air National Guard, Air Force Reserve Airmen and civilians comprise the air mobility Total Force, providing command and control of inter-theater and intra-theater airlift, air refueling, aeromedical evacuation, global air mobility support, and presidential and senior leader air transport in support of national interests.
Gen. Van Ovost has commanded an air refueling squadron, flying training wing and the Presidential Airlift Wing. She also served as the Director of Staff for Headquarters Air Force, Vice Director of the Joint Staff, the Director of Mobility Forces for U.S. Central Command and as the Vice Commander of the U.S. Air Force Expeditionary Center. Gen. Van Ovost graduated from the U.S. Air Force Academy in 1988. She is a graduate of the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School and a command pilot with over 4,200 hours in more than 30 aircraft, including the C-32A, C-17A, C-141B, KC-135R and KC-46A. Prior to assuming her current role, Gen. Van Ovost served as the Deputy Commander, Air Mobility Command.
Stephanie Diana Wilson
Stephanie Diana Wilson, born September 27, 1966, Boston, MA, is an American engineer and an NASA astronaut. She flew to space onboard three Space Shuttle missions, and is the second African-American woman to go into space, after Mae Jemison. Her 42 days in space are the most of any female African American astronaut. This exceedingly talented astronaut received the NASA Distinguished Service Medal, and NASA Space Flight Medal for her work. Wilson is a graduate of the Taconic High School, in Pittsfield, MA and went on to earn her bachelor of Science in Engineering Science degree from Harvard University.
JoAnne S. Bass
Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force JoAnne S. Bass took over as the 19th senior enlisted leader of the service on Aug. 14, marking a period of change and promising more diversity and inclusion in the ranks. Bass’ appointment makes the Air Force the first military service to have both a woman and an Asian American in the senior enlisted role, shortly after Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. became the first Black officer to lead a branch of the Armed Forces. Bass said she only expected to serve four “quick” years in the Air Force and then get out, and figure what she wanted to do in life. As Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force, Bass said she will work to “cultivate and develop” talent and ensure that the service’s processes and policies help build “the force that we need.”
Chief Bass was raised as an Army dependent, living in several overseas and stateside locations, prior to entering the Air Force in 1993. Throughout her career, she has held a variety of leadership positions serving at the squadron, group, wing and major command levels. She has significant joint service and special operations experience and has participated in several operations and exercises as well as deployments in direct support of Operations SOUTHERN WATCH, ENDURING FREEDOM, and IRAQI FREEDOM.
Captain Emily Thompson
Air Force Capt. Emily “Banzai” Thompson had never conducted a combat sortie before deploying to Al Dhafra Air Force base in the United Arab Emirates. Now, she’s the first woman to fly the F-35A Lightning II in combat. “This is my first deployment … so for me it was a pretty big deal, the first combat sortie for me. … Of course being the first female, it’s a pretty big honor," Thompson, who is assigned to the 388th Fighter Wing at Hill Air Force Base, said in an Air Force news release.
”There’re a lot of females who have come before me and there’re a lot of females already flying combat sorties in other platforms,” Thompson said. “So just to be the person who gets that honor, that first, it just meant a lot.” Thompson originally started her Air Force career as an F-16 Fighting Falcon pilot where she earned the call sign “Banzai” before moving to F-35s. Her military service was inspired by her father’s time in the Army. Although there are only a few female F-35 pilots, Thompson remains optimistic about what’s next for women flying the fighter jets.
In Memoriam
Yaphet Frederick Kotto
Yaphet Frederick Kotto was an American actor known for numerous film roles, as well as starring in the NBC television series Homicide: Life on the Street as Lieutenant Al Giardello. His films include the science-fiction/horror film Alien, and the Arnold Schwarzenegger science-fiction/action film The Running Man. Kotto, who was one of my favorite actors, was born in New York City, November 15, 1939, and died in the Philippines on March 15, 2021. He was 81 when he passed away. Rest in peace, Yaphet Kotto.
Greetings from Van’s Corner
Special Interest Item
CRISPR
I recently read a very interesting article in Book World, which discussed what is known in the scientific world as the CRISPR tool. CRISPR means clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats. According to the article, CRISPR is the most powerful DNA-editing tool humankind has ever possessed, and “figuring out if and when to edit our genes,” reportedly, “will be one of the most consequential questions of the twenty-first century.” This all sounds very scary to me, but yet it is very real, and as I read more about this technology, I learned that CRISPR is an ancient defense system that bacteria use to kill viruses by shredding genetic material. According to the article, the scientists who discovered and described it were motivated by their curiosity; however, before long, they realized that CRISPR’s ability to cut DNA also provided a means to edit DNA. That’s right, we’re talking about technology that allows scientists to edit our DNA! Interestingly enough, Jennifer Doudna of the University of California at Berkeley was one of two women to share a Nobel prize for their work on CRISPR. However, another scientist was granted a patent for using the tool to edit human cells––a decision Doudna challenged in court.
In a separate source, I read that not since the atomic bomb has a technology so alarmed its inventors that they warned the world about gene-editing. However, in the spring of 2015, biologist Jennifer Doudna, highlighted above in my People Section, called for a worldwide moratorium on the use of the gene-editing tool, CRISPR, even though she helped to create the revolutionary new technology that includes making heritable changes in human embryos. The cheapest, simplest, most effective way of manipulating DNA ever known, CRISPR may well give us the cure to HIV, genetic diseases, and some cancers, and will help address the world’s hunger crisis. Yet even the tiniest changes to DNA could have myriad unforeseeable consequences — to say nothing of the ethical and societal repercussions of intentionally mutating embryos to create “better” humans. Doudna joins Walter Isaacson in conversation about gene editing and the unthinkable power to control evolution. As for the ethics surrounding this controversial advancement, Isaacson, who authored, a book entitled The Code Breaker pushes back on alarmist fears associated with this technology. Instead, he asks, “Are we getting a bit overdramatic with all of this hand wringing?" The author even takes up the argument, without quite endorsing it, that perhaps we have a duty to edit children, rather than condemn them to the misery of disease and the vagaries of “sexual roulette.” I don’t know about you, but I’ll need to think long and hard on this one! It seems to me in editing genes, there might be just too much that could go wrong, and the ethics of it all is unsettling to me. This is obviously a topic I’ll be following in the months to come.
VT’s Special Note
Amazon’s shenanigans
Recently, I went to Amazon books, and navigated to the page that displays my novel, The Private Investigator. I do this once a month, just to check for any new comments on my thriller, posted by readers. Much to my surprise, I noticed that Amazon was advertising two different prices for the soft copy of my book. I thought this must have been some kind of mistake on Amazon’s part. Puzzled by this discrepancy, so I thought, I contacted my publisher, booklocker.com and asked it they might be able to explain Amazon’s mistake. Much to my surprise, I learned from booklocker.com that Amazon had not made a mistake. My publisher told me that this was an apparent Amazon shenanigan, which my publisher has complained about in the past. Here’s the deal: It turns out that Amazon is giving their main “Buy Buttons” to Book Depository, Which Amazon actually owns, and then Book Depository inflates the price of the book! Well, this can’t be right, because what’s really happening is that Book Depository is earning a fatter paycheck for Amazon in the end. They get more money on my book, and I, and any authors that have faced this, don’t benefit from the inflated prices. In addition, Booklocker explained that perhaps Amazon thought they were fooling people because, but when one starts digging around, you can find the actual Amazon listing at the correct price for my book, and the books of all the other authors affected. One only has to look at the “new and used” links underneath the price box on the Amazon page to see what’s going on.
My publisher believes that listing a book at an inflated price, and making it appear that the main buy button is controlled by a third party is, in Booklocker’s opinion, a deceptive practice. According to Booklocker.com, this practice of inflating prices of the books is a huge win/win for Amazon. The bottom line is, this is an apparent dirty practice; it’s fooling readers (and overcharging them), and it’s fooling authors as well.
Buy My Book!
If you haven’t had a chance to pick up a copy of my book, The Private Investigator, here is a synopsis of my thriller: A.J. Williams, a former military police investigator, is now a skilled private investigator employed by one of the nation’s well known international investigative firms. He never pursued a college education after leaving the U.S. Army, but he’s smart, and is a self-starter with a good instinct for ferreting out the facts and solving complicated cases.
After Hutchison and Satterfield International Investigations relocates to Washington, D.C. from Philadelphia––following the murder of the firm’s senior partner––Jerry Satterfield reluctantly has to run the firm. A.J. and his new boss are often at odds over just about everything. But Satterfield understands that A.J. is his top investigator, and doesn’t want to lose him. He assigns A.J. to investigate a new case which requires the PI to visit two Asian countries as he pursues a North Korean spy, who recruited an American government employee to commit espionage.
New Book Trailer
**My book trailer is now on YouTube and can be found at the following YouTube site: https://youtu.be/dT_ec8bQdt0. I encourage everyone to check it out.
My author page:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07M6BBXXD.
or
www.barnesandnoble.com/w/books/113005...
or
https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/id14...
Another place to look is on the BookBub Official site at www.https://partners.bookbub.com. You can sign in with your email address, then search for my novel.
Please also follow me on my Goodreads Profile Page at:
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show....
If all else fails, you can Google Van Tellfaster and view my Website. I look forward to hearing from you!
Until next time,
Van Tellfaster
References
1 www.cdc.gov > mmwr > volumes, Geographic Differences in Covid-19 Cases, Deaths, and Incidence … en.wikipedia.org > wiki > Covid-19_pandemic
2 en.wikipedia.org > wiki > Artificial_Intelligence; The Washington Post Magazine, dated Feb 21, 2021, article entitled, Weapons of Change, by Zachary Fryer-Biggs
3 history.com editors, article entitled, Women’s History Month 2021, updated: Mar 9, 2021, Original: Dec 30, 2009
4 www.whitehouse.gov > presidential-actions > 2021/03/01, article entitled, A Proclamation on Women’s History Month, 2021
5 https://en.wikipedia.or > wiki > Vietnam_Wa, article entitled, Vietnam War; https://military benefits.info/national-vietnam-war-ve...
6 en.wikipedia.org > wiki > Jennifer_Doudna, article updated on March 13, 2021
7 en.wikipedia.org > wiki > Rosalind_Brewer; The Insider, article entitled, One of the only 4 Black Fortune 500 CEOs just stepped down––here are the 3 that remain, dated July 20, 2020 by Dominic-Madori Davis
8 en.wikipedia.org > wiki > Laura_J._Richardson
9 en.wikipedia.org > wiki > Jacqueline_Van_Ovost
10 en.wikipdeida.org > wiki > Stephanie_Wilson
11 Air Force Magazine, article entitled, Bass Becomes First Woman, Asian American to Serve as CMSAF, dated August 14, 2020, written by Brian W. Everstine; Official United States Air Force website, Biographies, article entitled, Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force, JoAnne S. Bass
12Military Officer, March 2021 edition, article entitled, Leading the Way, page 42, by Amanda Dolasinski, staff writer
13en.wikipedia.org > wiki > Yaphet_Kotto
14 The Washington Post, Outlook Section (Book World), Sunday, March 14, 2021, Page B6; Aspen Ideas Festival of 2017, Session entitled, “A Crack in Creation: Gene Editing and the Unthinkable Power to Control Evolution
15 Writer’s weekly.com, article entitled, Is This Even Legal?! Amazon is giving their Main “Buy Buttons” to Book Depository Which Amazon owns and they are Inflating Those Book Prices Angela Hoy, Publisher, dated, September 19, 2019
Photos were taken from the Internet, and my family’s personal photo album.
Newsletter Overview photo: Spring Flowers, clipart-library.com
Artificial Intel Article Photos
Photo #1: economic times.indiatimes.com
Photo #2: British brimstone missile, en.wiipedia.org
Photo #3: The Pentagon (In photo library)
Women’s History Month article photos
Photo: Women’s History Month, blogs.loc.govwhm20/files/2017/02/wome...…
womenshistorymonth.gov
Photo: National Vietnam War Veterans Day 2021 …
military benefits.info
People
Doudna article Photos
Photo: From Wikipedia article on Jennifer Doudna, article updated on March 13, 2021
Brewer article photo
Photo: The Insider, dated July 20, 2020; photo by Jason Redmond/AFP/Getty Images
Gen Richardson photo
Photo: From Wikipedia Article entitled Laura J. Richardson
Gen Van Ovost photo
Photo: Gen Van Ovost from Wikipedia article entitled Jacqueline Van Ovost
Jacqueline Van Ovost - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Jacqueline_Van_Ovost
Wilson photo
Photo: From Wikipedia article entitled Stephanie Wilson
CMSgt Bass photos
Photo #1: CMSAF Bass, from USAF website, Biographies
Photo #2: CMSAF with USAF Chief of Staff, dated August 14, 2020
Capt Thompson photos
Photo: From Air Force Times, dated Jun 20, 2020: U.S. Air Force Capt. Emily Thompson, 421st Expeditionary Fighter Squadron pilot, dons flight equipment at the Aircrew Flight Equipment shop on Al Dhafra Air Base, United Arab Emirates, June 5, 2020. (Tech. Sgt. Kat Justen/Air Force)
Photo #2: Lockhead Martin F-35 Lightning II
en.wikipedia.org, Wikipedia Article entitled Lockhead Martin F-35 Lightning II
Yaphet Kotto photo
Photo: Yaphet Kotto/James Bond Wiki/Fandom
jamesbond.fandom.com
CRISPR article
Photo #1: Berkeley Professor Jennifer Doudna, berkeleyside.com
Photo #2: Nobel Prize Figure, Prize awarded to Jennifer Doudna, synthego.com
The Newsletter
–––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Spring 2021 / Issue #3 / http://www.vantellfaster.wordpress.com
March 30, 2021
Recall that community transmission of Covid-19 was first detected in America in February 2020. By mid-March, all 50 states, the District of Columbia, New York City, and four U.S. territories reported cases of the deadly virus. We’ve now been in this pandemic for more than one year, and have lost more than a half a million lives to Covid-19. However, the good news is even though we are still dealing with this horrible virus, Spring is here, and according to the Johns Hopkins University, over 150 million Americans, 16 percent of the adult population, have been administered the Covid-19 vaccination; the more Americans vaccinated, the closer we get to what is called, “herd immunity.”
In this month’s newsletter, I’ve introduced what I believe is a very interesting topic which we hear a lot about these days: Artificial Intelligence. It’s a technology that is fast impacting our lives and will likely continue to be beneficial, but may create challenges in the months and years to come. March is also Women’s History Month, and March 8, 2021 was International Women’s Day. I hope you find this topic of interest as I did. In addition, I’ve identified some trailblazers that proudly represent America in various professions.
Further, I selected a unique topic to discuss in my Interest Item article which you may also find worth reading. There is something in the scientific world called the CRISPR tool. You may ask, what the heck is CRISPR? Well, CRISPR means clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats. As you read below, you’ll learn that CRISPR is reportedly an incredible new scientific tool that humankind has ever possessed. I’ve also included information on Amazon’s recent handling of book pricing. You may find it worth reading, particularly if you are an author. And finally, I turn your attention to my first novel, entitled, The Private Investigator, and hope you will visit https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07M6BBXXD or my author page at https://booklocker.com/10136 to learn more about my thriller.
Current Hot Topic!!
Artificial Intelligence
Recently, I’ve been reading about Artificial Intelligence, also called, AI. So that we’re all on the same page, I’ll use a standard definition of AI. In Wikipedia, AI is defined as intelligence demonstrated by machines, unlike the natural intelligence displayed by humans and animals, which involves consciousness and emotionality. The distinction between the former and the latter categories is often revealed by the acronym chosen. AI isn't new, in fact, it’s been around since the early 1950s. Now, there’s lots of incredible work occurring worldwide using AI. And while AI is used in medicine, education, and in many other disciplines, having been in the service, I want to talk about AI advances in our U.S. military.
I stumbled across a highly interesting article about how the Pentagon is dealing with the challenges AI presents. There are no doubt pros and cons about virtually every useful tool to mankind. What I’m talking about here, is what some refer to as smart weapons. One of the things that immediately caught my attention in reading about the use of AI in defense systems that can locate targets, is the matter of ethics associated with using smart weapons. Let’s face it, our military fights wars and kill the enemy on the battlefield. The material I reviewed indicates that the future may well be shaped by computer algorithms dictating how weapons move and target enemies. One major question seems to be, how much authority to give the robots and how to interact with them in conflict. Our military’s ambivalence about whether and where to draw a line on letting war machines kill on their own remains a hot topic.
For example, our military components are already experimenting with autonomous machines. The U.S. Navy is experimenting with ships that can travel thousands of miles on their own to hunt for enemy submarines or ships that could fire guns from just offshore as our Marines storm beaches. The Army is experimenting with systems that will locate targets and aim tank guns automatically. And the Air Force is developing deadly drones that could accompany planes into battle or forge ahead alone, operating independently from “pilots” sitting thousands of miles away in front of computer screens. That said, there are those worried about the use of AI in war. It seems that Human Rights Watch, and a half-dozen other nongovernmental organizations have campaigned to stop the use of killer robots. An example given on how using AI to fight wars could lead to really bad things happening follows: In 2018, a self-driving car being tested by Uber struck and killed a woman in Arizona. A nearly two-year government investigation revealed that the car hadn’t malfunctioned; rather, it was programmed to look only for pedestrians in crosswalks. Jaywalking, as the woman was doing, was beyond the system’s grasp, so the car struck the woman. One can begin to understand why decisions about how much battlefield risks to embrace AI is particularly challenging. While there are those in the Pentagon that want to move forward with use of smart weapons, many are reportedly still not convinced that weapons injected with AI are ready to be put in the field. This is a topic, I’m sure we will hear more about in the future.
Family News
The first day of Spring was on March 20, 2021, believe it or not! But if you live in Colorado, you wouldn’t know it. Coloradans have been getting their share of snow over the last several days in the opening days of Spring. In my neck of the woods, however, the Fort Belvoir area’s been having rather mild weather, with a bit less rain than usual for this time of the year, according to our local weatherman. I don’t expect we’ll be seeing snow in the final days of March 2021. Be that as it may, our grandchildren, Zach and Claudia, are having the time of their lives. In fact, they can’t get enough of the snow falling in and around their neighborhood.
Now that the kids are on their Spring break, they have plenty of time to roll in the snow, have snow ball fights, and slide down snow mounds in utter bliss. But on the clearer days in the Springs when one can easily view that majestic mountain range that rises above Colorado Springs, and there is less snow, the kids ride their bikes with mom and dad, stop by Taco trucks to enjoy lunch on the go, then return home to enjoy TV, draw pictures for their parents, and simply have lots of fun indoors.
Meanwhile in El Paso, Texas, baby Lauren is getting acclimated and receiving lots of love from her parents and the rest of the family. Also, Grandpa James recently enjoyed another birthday with the family. Speaking of birthdays, Zach’s and Claudia’s Opa and grandma enjoyed back-to-back birthdays out in the greater Northwest. In addition, Salina Nadine Whitman, the proud mother of baby Lauren, enjoyed a birthday this month. Wow, lots of March birthdays! Happy birthday everyone, and may you all have many more.
Events
Women’s History Month/International Women’s Day
It’s always a pleasure to speak about America’s women, including loving mothers, housewives, members of the armed forces, women in boardrooms, scientists, and women who populate the various other professions across the nation. The National Women’s History Alliance has designated the theme of Women’s History Month 2021: “Valiant Women of the Vote: Refusing to be Silenced.” International Women’s Day, which occurred on March 8, 2021, is a global celebration of the economic, political and social achievements of women. Many countries around the world celebrate the holiday with demonstrations, educational initiatives and customs such as presenting women with gifts and flowers.
Women’s History Month had its origins as a national celebration in 1981 when Congress authorized and requested the President to proclaim the week beginning March 7, 1982 as “Women’s History Week.” Throughout the next five years, Congress continued to pass joint resolutions designating a week in March as “Women’s History Week.” In 1987 after being petitioned by the National Women’s History Project, Congress passed Pub. L. 100-9, which designated the month of March 1987 as “Women’s History Month.” Between 1988 and 1994, Congress passed additional resolutions requesting and authorizing the President to proclaim March of each year as Women’s History Month, and since 1995, presidents have issued a series of annual proclamations designating the month of March as “Women’s History Month.” These proclamations celebrate the contributions women have made to the United States and recognize the specific achievements women have made over the course of American history in a variety of fields. I’ve highlighted below in my People section, just a few of the American women we should all be proud of. Finally, in the "Proclamation on Women’s History Month, 2021,” President Biden acknowledged this important month indicating, “Each year, Women’s History Month offers an opportunity for us to shine a light on the extraordinary legacy of trailblazing American women and girls who have built, shaped, and improved upon our Nation.”
National Vietnam War Veterans Day
I am a Vietnam era military member who served in the United States Air Force at the height of the conflict. While I didn’t get to engage the enemy on the ground in South Vietnam, I supported the war effort from South Korea in the Air Force Security Forces. I enlisted in the Air Force in the Spring of 1967, and just a little over a year later, I was assigned to a small airbase in South Korea. It was toward the end of the Tet Offensive which constituted a major enemy offensive in the war. I was among the personnel that provided close-end security for Air Force fighter jets, to include F-105 Thunderchiefs and F-4 phantoms, that landed in Korea on a temporary basis. As many people know, the Vietnam war went on for some 19 years, with direct U.S. involvement ending in 1973. When it was all over, we lost more than 58,000 service members.
This year’s National Vietnam War Veterans Day was observed on March 29 and is observed each year on the same day. It is a way to thank and honor our nation’s Vietnam veterans and their families for their service and sacrifice. If you haven’t visited the impressive memorial, located in Washington, D.C., I urge you to do so. Upon arriving at the war memorial, it immediately captures your attention, and the visual of the seemingly endless names etched in the black granite wall can remain in your mind’s eye forever.
People
Jennifer Anne Doudna
Jennifer Doudna, born, February 19, 1964, is an American biochemist known for her pioneering work in CRISPR gene editing, for which she was awarded the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry along with Emmanuelle Charpentier. She is the Li Ka Shing Chancellor’s Chair Professor in the Department of Chemistry and the Department of Molecular and Cell Biology at the University of California, Berkeley. Doudna has been an investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute since 1997. She grew up in Hilo, Hawaii, and graduated from Pomona College in 1985 and earned a Ph.D. from Harvard Medical School in 1989. Apart from her professorship at UC Berkeley, she is also president and chair on the board of the Innovative Genomics Institute, a faculty scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, a senior investigator at the Gladstone Institutes, and an adjunct professor of cellular and molecular pharmacology at the University of California, San Francisco.
Rosalind G. Brewer
Rosalind G. Brewer, also known as Roz Brewer, is an American businesswoman, who is slated to become the CEO of Walgreens on March 15, 2021; on that date, the Detroit, Michigan native will be the only African-American female CEO of the Fortune 500 company. She is currently the COO of Starbucks and the former President and CEO of Sam’s Club, a division of Walmart Stores Inc.
The 59-year-old businesswoman is a graduate of the Cass Technical High School, and went on to graduate from Spelman College, and Stanford Law School.
Laura J. Richardson
Laura Jane Richardson, born December, 1963, in Missouri, is a lieutenant general in the United States Army and commanding general of United States Army North. She previously served as deputy commanding general of United States Army Forces Command. As an army aviator, Richardson flew Sikorsky UG-60 Black Hawk helicopters. Promoted to brigadier general in 2011, she served in various commands at Fort Hood and served as chief of staff for communication in the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan. In June 2017, she was promoted to lieutenant general and appointed deputy commanding general of United States Army Forces Command (FORSCOM). Richardson served as acting commander of FORSCOM from October 2018 until March 2019. In April 2019, she was nominated to serve as the first female commander of United States Army North. She assumed command on July 8, 2019.
On March 6, 2021, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced that President Biden nominated Richardson become commander of the United States Southern Command. Her nomination was sent to the Senate on March 5, 2021. Her nomination was originally recommended by then- Defense Secretary Mark Esper and General Mark Milley, but her nomination was held off until after the 2020 United States presidential election over fears of the previous administration’s possible reaction against nominating women to such high positions.
Jacqueline D. Van Ovost
Gen. Jacqueline D. Van Ovost is Commander, Air Mobility Command, Scott Air Force Base, Illinois. The Command serves as U.S. Transportation Command’s air component, executing the air mobility mission in support of the joint force, allies and partners with a fleet of nearly 1,100 aircraft. The command encompasses Eighteenth Air Force, the U.S. Air Force Expeditionary Center, the 618th Air Operations Center, and 17 wings and two groups, which provide rapid global mobility from more than 100 locations worldwide. Nearly 107,000 active-duty, Air National Guard, Air Force Reserve Airmen and civilians comprise the air mobility Total Force, providing command and control of inter-theater and intra-theater airlift, air refueling, aeromedical evacuation, global air mobility support, and presidential and senior leader air transport in support of national interests.
Gen. Van Ovost has commanded an air refueling squadron, flying training wing and the Presidential Airlift Wing. She also served as the Director of Staff for Headquarters Air Force, Vice Director of the Joint Staff, the Director of Mobility Forces for U.S. Central Command and as the Vice Commander of the U.S. Air Force Expeditionary Center. Gen. Van Ovost graduated from the U.S. Air Force Academy in 1988. She is a graduate of the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School and a command pilot with over 4,200 hours in more than 30 aircraft, including the C-32A, C-17A, C-141B, KC-135R and KC-46A. Prior to assuming her current role, Gen. Van Ovost served as the Deputy Commander, Air Mobility Command.
Stephanie Diana Wilson
Stephanie Diana Wilson, born September 27, 1966, Boston, MA, is an American engineer and an NASA astronaut. She flew to space onboard three Space Shuttle missions, and is the second African-American woman to go into space, after Mae Jemison. Her 42 days in space are the most of any female African American astronaut. This exceedingly talented astronaut received the NASA Distinguished Service Medal, and NASA Space Flight Medal for her work. Wilson is a graduate of the Taconic High School, in Pittsfield, MA and went on to earn her bachelor of Science in Engineering Science degree from Harvard University.
JoAnne S. Bass
Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force JoAnne S. Bass took over as the 19th senior enlisted leader of the service on Aug. 14, marking a period of change and promising more diversity and inclusion in the ranks. Bass’ appointment makes the Air Force the first military service to have both a woman and an Asian American in the senior enlisted role, shortly after Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. became the first Black officer to lead a branch of the Armed Forces. Bass said she only expected to serve four “quick” years in the Air Force and then get out, and figure what she wanted to do in life. As Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force, Bass said she will work to “cultivate and develop” talent and ensure that the service’s processes and policies help build “the force that we need.”
Chief Bass was raised as an Army dependent, living in several overseas and stateside locations, prior to entering the Air Force in 1993. Throughout her career, she has held a variety of leadership positions serving at the squadron, group, wing and major command levels. She has significant joint service and special operations experience and has participated in several operations and exercises as well as deployments in direct support of Operations SOUTHERN WATCH, ENDURING FREEDOM, and IRAQI FREEDOM.
Captain Emily Thompson
Air Force Capt. Emily “Banzai” Thompson had never conducted a combat sortie before deploying to Al Dhafra Air Force base in the United Arab Emirates. Now, she’s the first woman to fly the F-35A Lightning II in combat. “This is my first deployment … so for me it was a pretty big deal, the first combat sortie for me. … Of course being the first female, it’s a pretty big honor," Thompson, who is assigned to the 388th Fighter Wing at Hill Air Force Base, said in an Air Force news release.
”There’re a lot of females who have come before me and there’re a lot of females already flying combat sorties in other platforms,” Thompson said. “So just to be the person who gets that honor, that first, it just meant a lot.” Thompson originally started her Air Force career as an F-16 Fighting Falcon pilot where she earned the call sign “Banzai” before moving to F-35s. Her military service was inspired by her father’s time in the Army. Although there are only a few female F-35 pilots, Thompson remains optimistic about what’s next for women flying the fighter jets.
In Memoriam
Yaphet Frederick Kotto
Yaphet Frederick Kotto was an American actor known for numerous film roles, as well as starring in the NBC television series Homicide: Life on the Street as Lieutenant Al Giardello. His films include the science-fiction/horror film Alien, and the Arnold Schwarzenegger science-fiction/action film The Running Man. Kotto, who was one of my favorite actors, was born in New York City, November 15, 1939, and died in the Philippines on March 15, 2021. He was 81 when he passed away. Rest in peace, Yaphet Kotto.
Greetings from Van’s Corner
Special Interest Item
CRISPR
I recently read a very interesting article in Book World, which discussed what is known in the scientific world as the CRISPR tool. CRISPR means clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats. According to the article, CRISPR is the most powerful DNA-editing tool humankind has ever possessed, and “figuring out if and when to edit our genes,” reportedly, “will be one of the most consequential questions of the twenty-first century.” This all sounds very scary to me, but yet it is very real, and as I read more about this technology, I learned that CRISPR is an ancient defense system that bacteria use to kill viruses by shredding genetic material. According to the article, the scientists who discovered and described it were motivated by their curiosity; however, before long, they realized that CRISPR’s ability to cut DNA also provided a means to edit DNA. That’s right, we’re talking about technology that allows scientists to edit our DNA! Interestingly enough, Jennifer Doudna of the University of California at Berkeley was one of two women to share a Nobel prize for their work on CRISPR. However, another scientist was granted a patent for using the tool to edit human cells––a decision Doudna challenged in court.
In a separate source, I read that not since the atomic bomb has a technology so alarmed its inventors that they warned the world about gene-editing. However, in the spring of 2015, biologist Jennifer Doudna, highlighted above in my People Section, called for a worldwide moratorium on the use of the gene-editing tool, CRISPR, even though she helped to create the revolutionary new technology that includes making heritable changes in human embryos. The cheapest, simplest, most effective way of manipulating DNA ever known, CRISPR may well give us the cure to HIV, genetic diseases, and some cancers, and will help address the world’s hunger crisis. Yet even the tiniest changes to DNA could have myriad unforeseeable consequences — to say nothing of the ethical and societal repercussions of intentionally mutating embryos to create “better” humans. Doudna joins Walter Isaacson in conversation about gene editing and the unthinkable power to control evolution. As for the ethics surrounding this controversial advancement, Isaacson, who authored, a book entitled The Code Breaker pushes back on alarmist fears associated with this technology. Instead, he asks, “Are we getting a bit overdramatic with all of this hand wringing?" The author even takes up the argument, without quite endorsing it, that perhaps we have a duty to edit children, rather than condemn them to the misery of disease and the vagaries of “sexual roulette.” I don’t know about you, but I’ll need to think long and hard on this one! It seems to me in editing genes, there might be just too much that could go wrong, and the ethics of it all is unsettling to me. This is obviously a topic I’ll be following in the months to come.
VT’s Special Note
Amazon’s shenanigans
Recently, I went to Amazon books, and navigated to the page that displays my novel, The Private Investigator. I do this once a month, just to check for any new comments on my thriller, posted by readers. Much to my surprise, I noticed that Amazon was advertising two different prices for the soft copy of my book. I thought this must have been some kind of mistake on Amazon’s part. Puzzled by this discrepancy, so I thought, I contacted my publisher, booklocker.com and asked it they might be able to explain Amazon’s mistake. Much to my surprise, I learned from booklocker.com that Amazon had not made a mistake. My publisher told me that this was an apparent Amazon shenanigan, which my publisher has complained about in the past. Here’s the deal: It turns out that Amazon is giving their main “Buy Buttons” to Book Depository, Which Amazon actually owns, and then Book Depository inflates the price of the book! Well, this can’t be right, because what’s really happening is that Book Depository is earning a fatter paycheck for Amazon in the end. They get more money on my book, and I, and any authors that have faced this, don’t benefit from the inflated prices. In addition, Booklocker explained that perhaps Amazon thought they were fooling people because, but when one starts digging around, you can find the actual Amazon listing at the correct price for my book, and the books of all the other authors affected. One only has to look at the “new and used” links underneath the price box on the Amazon page to see what’s going on.
My publisher believes that listing a book at an inflated price, and making it appear that the main buy button is controlled by a third party is, in Booklocker’s opinion, a deceptive practice. According to Booklocker.com, this practice of inflating prices of the books is a huge win/win for Amazon. The bottom line is, this is an apparent dirty practice; it’s fooling readers (and overcharging them), and it’s fooling authors as well.
Buy My Book!
If you haven’t had a chance to pick up a copy of my book, The Private Investigator, here is a synopsis of my thriller: A.J. Williams, a former military police investigator, is now a skilled private investigator employed by one of the nation’s well known international investigative firms. He never pursued a college education after leaving the U.S. Army, but he’s smart, and is a self-starter with a good instinct for ferreting out the facts and solving complicated cases.
After Hutchison and Satterfield International Investigations relocates to Washington, D.C. from Philadelphia––following the murder of the firm’s senior partner––Jerry Satterfield reluctantly has to run the firm. A.J. and his new boss are often at odds over just about everything. But Satterfield understands that A.J. is his top investigator, and doesn’t want to lose him. He assigns A.J. to investigate a new case which requires the PI to visit two Asian countries as he pursues a North Korean spy, who recruited an American government employee to commit espionage.
New Book Trailer
**My book trailer is now on YouTube and can be found at the following YouTube site: https://youtu.be/dT_ec8bQdt0. I encourage everyone to check it out.
My author page:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07M6BBXXD.
or
www.barnesandnoble.com/w/books/113005...
or
https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/id14...
Another place to look is on the BookBub Official site at www.https://partners.bookbub.com. You can sign in with your email address, then search for my novel.
Please also follow me on my Goodreads Profile Page at:
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show....
If all else fails, you can Google Van Tellfaster and view my Website. I look forward to hearing from you!
Until next time,
Van Tellfaster
References
1 www.cdc.gov > mmwr > volumes, Geographic Differences in Covid-19 Cases, Deaths, and Incidence … en.wikipedia.org > wiki > Covid-19_pandemic
2 en.wikipedia.org > wiki > Artificial_Intelligence; The Washington Post Magazine, dated Feb 21, 2021, article entitled, Weapons of Change, by Zachary Fryer-Biggs
3 history.com editors, article entitled, Women’s History Month 2021, updated: Mar 9, 2021, Original: Dec 30, 2009
4 www.whitehouse.gov > presidential-actions > 2021/03/01, article entitled, A Proclamation on Women’s History Month, 2021
5 https://en.wikipedia.or > wiki > Vietnam_Wa, article entitled, Vietnam War; https://military benefits.info/national-vietnam-war-ve...
6 en.wikipedia.org > wiki > Jennifer_Doudna, article updated on March 13, 2021
7 en.wikipedia.org > wiki > Rosalind_Brewer; The Insider, article entitled, One of the only 4 Black Fortune 500 CEOs just stepped down––here are the 3 that remain, dated July 20, 2020 by Dominic-Madori Davis
8 en.wikipedia.org > wiki > Laura_J._Richardson
9 en.wikipedia.org > wiki > Jacqueline_Van_Ovost
10 en.wikipdeida.org > wiki > Stephanie_Wilson
11 Air Force Magazine, article entitled, Bass Becomes First Woman, Asian American to Serve as CMSAF, dated August 14, 2020, written by Brian W. Everstine; Official United States Air Force website, Biographies, article entitled, Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force, JoAnne S. Bass
12Military Officer, March 2021 edition, article entitled, Leading the Way, page 42, by Amanda Dolasinski, staff writer
13en.wikipedia.org > wiki > Yaphet_Kotto
14 The Washington Post, Outlook Section (Book World), Sunday, March 14, 2021, Page B6; Aspen Ideas Festival of 2017, Session entitled, “A Crack in Creation: Gene Editing and the Unthinkable Power to Control Evolution
15 Writer’s weekly.com, article entitled, Is This Even Legal?! Amazon is giving their Main “Buy Buttons” to Book Depository Which Amazon owns and they are Inflating Those Book Prices Angela Hoy, Publisher, dated, September 19, 2019
Photos were taken from the Internet, and my family’s personal photo album.
Newsletter Overview photo: Spring Flowers, clipart-library.com
Artificial Intel Article Photos
Photo #1: economic times.indiatimes.com
Photo #2: British brimstone missile, en.wiipedia.org
Photo #3: The Pentagon (In photo library)
Women’s History Month article photos
Photo: Women’s History Month, blogs.loc.govwhm20/files/2017/02/wome...…
womenshistorymonth.gov
Photo: National Vietnam War Veterans Day 2021 …
military benefits.info
People
Doudna article Photos
Photo: From Wikipedia article on Jennifer Doudna, article updated on March 13, 2021
Brewer article photo
Photo: The Insider, dated July 20, 2020; photo by Jason Redmond/AFP/Getty Images
Gen Richardson photo
Photo: From Wikipedia Article entitled Laura J. Richardson
Gen Van Ovost photo
Photo: Gen Van Ovost from Wikipedia article entitled Jacqueline Van Ovost
Jacqueline Van Ovost - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Jacqueline_Van_Ovost
Wilson photo
Photo: From Wikipedia article entitled Stephanie Wilson
CMSgt Bass photos
Photo #1: CMSAF Bass, from USAF website, Biographies
Photo #2: CMSAF with USAF Chief of Staff, dated August 14, 2020
Capt Thompson photos
Photo: From Air Force Times, dated Jun 20, 2020: U.S. Air Force Capt. Emily Thompson, 421st Expeditionary Fighter Squadron pilot, dons flight equipment at the Aircrew Flight Equipment shop on Al Dhafra Air Base, United Arab Emirates, June 5, 2020. (Tech. Sgt. Kat Justen/Air Force)
Photo #2: Lockhead Martin F-35 Lightning II
en.wikipedia.org, Wikipedia Article entitled Lockhead Martin F-35 Lightning II
Yaphet Kotto photo
Photo: Yaphet Kotto/James Bond Wiki/Fandom
jamesbond.fandom.com
CRISPR article
Photo #1: Berkeley Professor Jennifer Doudna, berkeleyside.com
Photo #2: Nobel Prize Figure, Prize awarded to Jennifer Doudna, synthego.com
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