Fort Hood Shooting

It appears that two individuals attacked the Army base of Fort Hood in Texas. So far, 12 people have been confirmed dead and 31 injured. One shooter was killed, two others are listed as caught. One of the shooters was an Army Major. Details are still a bit sketchy.

My thoughts and prayers go out to those injured and to the families of those soldiers that were killed.

Update 6:15pm
The killed shooter was Army Major Malik Nadal Hasan. He was scheduled to go to Iraq soon.
The news is finally catching up on all the sites. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8345713.stm

Update 12:24am 11/6
I am not sure How I feel about this, but i am hearing this guy was a VA Tech graduate.
The shooter is actually alive, but wounded

Why Hockey Fails in Southwest VA... and maybe VT Hockey can save it

This is just my opinion, but this is why I think hockey has failed and will probably never return to the Southwest Region of Virginia.

The area of Roanoke (and Salem) are not totally unfamiliar with ice hockey. There had almost always been a team here since the early 1980's. It started with the Virginia Lancers as part of the Atlantic Coast Hockey League. They bounced leages until they wound up in the ECHL in 1988. This team then changed names a few times to Roanoke Valley Rebels and Roanoke Valley Rampage, but was virtually the same team. One notable person was a coach who led them to record seasons in their league. John Tortorella... who is not the head coach of the New York Rangers. Unfortunately, this team folded after the 1992-1993 season.

In 1993, a new team was created. This was the Roanoke Express. During most of the 1990's, they used to sell out the 9,000 seat civic center in which they played. Into the late 90's, it was dropping to about 50%. Then in 2004, the team folded. For the 2005-2006 season another team formed called the Roanoke Valley Vipers formed and folded too.

There are a couple of main reasons hockey fails in this area. Number one to me is the quality of play. I see this a lot since I am a fan of the minor leagues moreso than the majors. In the early 2000's when I arrived at Virginia Tech, I got to watch a lot of the games. For the most part, it was just a goon-fest with people that spent more time in the penalty boxes than on the ice. Fights were more the norm than the exception. This in my opinion drives down attendance. In hockey, for fans at least, a fight gets that immediate crowd reaction. But this for the most part only really applies to the people wanting to watch fights. Your repeat customers are there to watch a good game. Those coming for the games are more likely your season ticket holders while the fight watchers tend to be a few-games-per-year type of fans. By having a lot of fights, you turned off your reliable base of fans and only got unreliable fans.

The next part was the ticket prices. I cannot recall what they are now, but I remember they were a bit high for the level of play. They were more expensive than the Oklahoma City Blazers and Anchorage Aces. But I still went anyways since I loved hockey. The only problem is this part of the state is not exactly flush with money. So they were locking out a lot of people who would want to come.

Thirdly, there was a severe lack of advertisement for the team. I don't remember ever seeing commercials for the team. I never heard advertisements over the radio. If I was not active in hockey when there were adult leagues, I would never have known that there was semi-pro hockey in Roanoke. This lack of exposure helped contribute to hockey's demise in SWVA.

There is some glimmer of hope though. Virginia Tech has a men's club team that plays up in Roanoke since it is the only sheet of ice for about 100 miles. They have been a pretty good team that I have watched even when they played in a tiny ice rink in Roanoke before that closed. I even continued to watch them after I got cut from the team when I tried out, but to be fair, there were 7 goaltenders vying for 3 slots.

There are several things I like about Virginia Tech Hockey. First off, they are a good team. They are fast, they have a good level of skill, though I wouldn't match them against the UAA Seawolves. But as a non-NCAA hockey team, they are really good. In addition to this, they are there to play and to win, not to fight. In fact, the only game that seems to have fights is the one against the religious school Liberty University. I avoid that game against them since I hate the unnecessary fights. And the best part for this area. IT IS DIRT CHEAP. If you are a Virginia Tech student, faculty or staff, you have no reason not to be there if you are looking for something to do. IT IS FREE. Now, if you are not a Virgina Tech member, the ticket prices are only $4. That is about the same price of a Big Mac, you can watch a good hockey game.

While The Roanoke area of Virginia will probably never have another chance at professional hockey again, there is that glimmer of hope. Virginia Tech continues to have a strong level of participation with their hockey team. They also are getting more and more people out every year. I remember when I first started coming, I might have been one of 10 fans there, if not the only one. Now it is into the hundreds. It would be even better if they could find a good way to advertise for cheap... because I would like to see the crowd reach into the thousands. There are 9,000 seats in that civic center, they should be full again.

Gee Whiz stuff

This isn;t really of any interest to anyone but myself, but I had a weird spike in what people were looking for when visiting my blog.

Most people arrive here looking for Diagrammatic Cipher information, followed by Blacksburg Rugby, then VA Tech Ice Hockey. But this week, I had a surge of people looking for Bifid Cipher information from Asia/India/Middle East.

A sniper's end is nigh

For several weeks shortly after I left the military in October of 2002, a sniper had terrorized Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia. Lee Boyd Malvo killed at least 10 people in our area under the tutilage of John Allen Muhammed. For his part in the crimes, he was given the death penalty. The shooter was too young to face the death penalty, so he received life imprisonment.

Come seven long years later, the end is near. Lawyers for Muhammed are trying to plea for clemency for the execution. Normally I am against the death penalty. If there is ever a case of mis-identification we could kill the wrong person. For this case, there was no ambiguity. But, I would have to say I am still against his execution.

Why, do you ask? I think execution is the easy way out. He was party to the murder of at least 10 people we know of. And what is his sentence? Seven years in jail and that is it. If he is atheist, then his life ends and that is it, no more suffering for his crime. If he is Christian, then if he accepts God and Jesus into his heart and asks them for forgiveness, he gets rewarded with lifetime in Heaven. So lifetime of happiness after only seven years of suffering for killing 10 people.

If someone commits an atrocious crime, I would want them to suffer for as long as they live. But with executions, we are rewarding those who commit the most heinous of crimes.

Path to the ACC Championships

After yet another week that has gone by, not much has changed. But, things do seem to be solidifying after completing week 8 of 15.

Since I am a VT Alum, I care more about the Coastal Division of the ACC. Unfortunately for Virginia Tech, things are still looking bleak. For Virginia Tech to even have a chance to make it to the ACC Championship, Georgia Tech has to lose against either Wake Forest or Duke. Neither of those teams has really proven themselves as a team that can stop a ranked team. Though, anyone can win at any time, so we shall see. In theory, Duke is still able to make it to the Championships too, but I just don't see them taking out Georgia Tech and Miami AND Virginia Tech has to lose one more ACC game too.

For the Atlantic Division, the teams vying for the championships are a bit more neck to neck in their rankings. Right now, the top contenders are Boston College, Clemson and Wake Forest. As of right now, I don't see Wake Forest being able to hold their own against Miami or Georgia Tech, so that would knock them out. If both Boston College and Clemson win the remainder of their ACC games, then Clemson will be the team to go to the ACC Championship from the Atlantic division. Looking at their remaining ACC games for both teams, that will probably happen too. Boston College needs to take down Virginia, North Carolina and Maryland while Clemson has to knock out Florida State, North Carolina State and Virginia. None of their opponents seem to be much of a powerhouse at this time.

ACC Championship Prediction (based off Week 8)
Clemson v. Georgia Tech




*As a side note, North Carolina doesn't need to worry about going to the Championship. After losing to Florida State, they clinched one of the 'stay at home to watch the game' slots.



*results subject to change ;)

ACC Football and Virginia Tech

A lot can happen with the remaining 8 weeks of the regular season. But there is already a decent possibility of VA Tech not making it to the ACC Championships. If Georgia Tech wins their games against UVA, Wake Forest and Duke, then, Virginia Tech will not make it to the conference championship game.

Virginia Tech Rugby, Hazing and Personal Responisbility

Unfortunately, Virginia Tech Rugby has been suspended until Fall 2010 for "hazing". While I was only with this team for one year before moving over to Blacksburg Rugby, I still feel some sort of bond to some of my friends from the team and the team itself.

But, this brings me to the subject of this article. Personal Responsibility. While I do not know the explicit details of the situation, I am familiar with environments where 'hazing' has been prominent, such as the military. From what I have seen at previous events in rugby, other sports I have played and the military, the word hazing is abused more so than not.

In my situations, I have participated in some events. Some might have considered it hazing if it was something I HAD to do to join the team or be part of a unit. But these were things I WANTED to do and would have done them anyways whether or not I was part of the organization. Hazing is something that is forced on someone...through threat of violence or some denial of position, or telling someone they can't join without doing the act, etc. There have been times (both military and civilian) it was suggested I do something I wasn't comfortable with and I said, "No." And you know what, I wasn't forced into doing it anyways. They respected my answer. I was not kicked out of the unit, club or team. I was not ostracized for not doing something I didn't want to do. Therefore, that event is not hazing.

What I see is a slightly different possibility. Some kids did something they wanted to do. They never said no. They went along and did whatever was asked of them. Then after having a good night at a party, they got in trouble in the dorms or downtown. Then, instead of taking responsibility for their actions, they blamed someone else for their actions. This spiraled into a series of events which got the rugby team into trouble.

If you want to go out and drink and have a good time, go for it. If you want to do something (that isn't illegal), go for it. If you don't want to do something, prove you have a spine and SAY NO. Don't do something you don't want to do. These people are not your masters and you are not their slaves. They hold no authority over you if you do not want to do something. And, if you do something you wanted to do and you get in trouble, be a man and fess up to YOUR actions and not blame someone else.

As to my former team, I will not lose respect for it. It gave me some of my best friends while I was here at school. It taught me a new sport that I now love, though I will probably always suck at even if I can get healthy enough to play again. And unfortunately for many members of the team, they will lose their Senior year of playing with Virginia Tech Rugby due to the actions of only a couple people. I hope the team will persevere through this. I know their new coach puts A LOT of time trying to make VT Rugby a contending team. So, I know this hurts him a lot being told how 'bad' the team's actions were. I just hope the team can somehow stay involved with non-school-related rugby events so they can come back next year and not lose too much of their stride.

Sick of being on the sidelines...

This is my feeling as of late. I tried to get into rugby and have played ice hockey for years. Unfortunately, I have a fun recurrent issue called gout. It is probably one of the most painful foot issues you can have outside of completely crushing your foot.

This item has taken me out of the games and put me on the sidelines. I have stayed somehwat involved with doing some pickup in hockey and out-of-season touch rugby to try to stay in some shape. I have also been doing photography of the two sports.

I enjoy doing the pictures, but it is a constant reminder of what I am not doing. I would like to get back into rugby even though I know I will probqably never be great at it, but even more I want to get back into ice hockey, but I have to move since there is no real adult leagues around where I live... and hope I don't get another bout of gout. Nothing like having a foot so swollen that you can't fit it into a shoe, much less skates.

But I don't think I can really keep with doing the pictures. It is one of those things. It takes my focus from really enjoying a game to focus on particular plays. Then it takes a lot of my time going through the pictures and see what I like. And with the ice hockey pictures, they requre so much post-processing stuff to account for being indoors under bad lighting... I am burned out of it. And then, only a handful of people have shown appreciation for the pictures I put up. That almsot makes it still worthwhile for me since I know how much that can mean to someone. I regret no one ever taking pictures of me during my games (with a few exceptions that Chris did for me).

I guess I am just sick of rooting for people and doing something few people even appreciate when I would rather be out on the ice (or field) playing the game.

Food Review - Black Jack Taco from Taco Bell

Well, here is a new item from Taco Bell. The Black Jack Taco. It is served like a regular taco except that it is in a black taco. I think the taco color is only cosmetic and done with dye, I doubt it is even black corn. The cheese on top is a mix of a white mozzarella and cheddar cheese. I could not taste anything special about the difference in the taco by mixing the cheeses. Then there is this white goo that they put between the meat and the lettuce. It is supposed to be their "creamy pepper jack sauce". Well, I love pepper jack cheese. This sauce, I do not know what it was, but it was not pepper jack. It might has well been flavorless mayonnaise adding calories to a taco.

In my opinion, just skip this promotion. It sucks and it isn't anything special. If you are looking for comparable foods at Taco Bell, I would recommend the Fresco Crunchy Taco. That actually has a good flavor and isn't hideously bad for you.

Item	Calories	Total Fat (Saturated/Trans)	Cholesterol	Sodium	Carbohydrates	Protein
Crunchy Black Jack Taco	210 cal	17g(4.5g/0.5g)	35mg	430mg	6g	8g
Crunchy Taco	170 cal	10g(3.5g/0g)	30mg	330mg	12g	8g
Fresco Crunchy Taco	150 cal	7g(2.5g/0g)	20mg	350mg	13g	7g

Republican Hypocrisy

Well.. it is more the norm than the exception nowadays.


But this time, the hypocrisy comes in the form of Obama's stimulus package that was passed. All of the Republicans voted against it. That is right, every Republican representative voted against the stimulus. Well, now the hypocrisy starts.

I saw an interesting article in Think Progress. Representative Cornyn, who also threatened to secede from the US for claiming the government is interfering with Texas state rights and Representative Hutchison are now demanding that the government give Texas $3 billion dollars from the stimulus they voted against. Representative Wolf of Virginia is also harping on Governor Kaine for not doling out the stimulus money fast enough. From quotes that were noted by Think Progress, Rep Wolf states, "We could use that money desperately," and, "We're in a critical situation." Yet, the situation was not all the critical to him earlier when he joined hand in hand with his Republican cohorts trying to squash the stimulus from ever being passed. Now he has the audacity to stake a claim to this money he was against.

The Republicans should rename themselves the Hypocrite Party. Plain and simple.

Rugby Pictures - Blacksburg B v. VA Tech C finally up

After several weeks of delays, I have finally finished going through the pictures. But here there are.

Warhammer 40K

This is one of the hobbies taking up my time. I finally have my first figure done. I am starting with the "single" characters, then I will progress to the squads where I can "assembly line" them.

Here is my Space Marine Captain.

From Warhammer 40K

Rugby Pictures - Blacksburg B v. VA Tech C

Whew.. I just finished whittling down the pictures. I went from about 700 and down to the 200 that I want to save. Now, I jsut need to crop or "level" those pictures. Then I can get them posted.

Rugby Pictures coming soon

Last weekend, the B side of Blacksburg played Virginia Tech's C side. I got a ton of pictures I am sorting through. But, I should have them up this week. Unfortunately, I didn;t make it out to BBurg's match a couple days ago against Tech...more of an A-side situation.

But...with work, school and trying to have some semblance of a life, I should get them up as soon as I can.

8 years ago

It is hard to believe so much time has passed. I remember I was at Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia. It was in the afternoon, we came back to the dorms doing something outside for a bit. We might have even gotten back from a late lunch. We turned on the TV to one of the CNN broadcasts of the attacks.

At first, the group of us thought that it was not real. We thought maybe it was some movie. But when we did realize we were on CNN, we were fixed watching the news. Then, the 2nd plane hit. When that happened, we originally thought that was footage of the first tower being hit. We didn't realize that was the second being struck.

While I was in Saudi, I volunteered to stay behind to make a joint crew of Alaska and Japan AWACS members. The rest of my crew was actually called back to the US to perform NORAD missions. Then, Operation Infinite Justice had started. I remembered that changing immediately to Enduring Freedom as not to upset the Muslims in Afghanistan...since only Allah's justice is infinite.

We wound up flying mostly Southern Watch missions along Iraq's border for the remainder of my time there before coming back to the US. After getting back to the States, that was when the majority of the Afghanistan mission started.

My Disgust of Politicians

Politicians today are such a lousy lot. I would actually put them a step below accident chasing lawyers. They should be someone I respect since they are the leaders of our nation, but they are just scum.

You may ask why I am so disgusted at them? That is easy. If you are the minority party, you are seeking ways to get back in power. The ways they use today are what disgust me.

In the old days:
If you were the minority party, you would try to find ways to get legislature through that would show you were the better party. For instance, the Democrats are trying to push this medical insurance reform through. If this were the old days, Republicans would try to find ways to make it better, cheaper and easier for people to use. That way, they show their ideas are better then the majority.

Today:
If you are the minority party, you do absolutely nothing. To drag your feet and try to stall everything that comes up for a vote. You hope that so little succeeds, that you can claim you should be the party in power since the majority party is a 'failure'. An example would be how Republicans are spreading lies and fear about the medical insurance issue about euthanizing grandma and forced abortions on non-genetically pure babies that people are scared of this medical insurance plan. Not for any rational reason though.

That is just one example, but there are tons more. It seems that politics has become a game of how you can hurt this nation the most while you are not in power. After you have ruined the nation as much as you can, you hope that maybe you can get back in power the next election cycle.

This has got to end. We need to get politicians who are looking out for the good of our nation. If you don't like the budget, draft up your own plan...and not a 4 page memo on what you think it should be. If you don;t like the government medical coverage (that the military and politicians do themselves enjoy), draft up your own rebuttal plan. Don't be like that three year old child in the food store throwing a tantrum because mommy won't give you your Cap'n Crunch cereal. Be productive members of our government, not a group of whiny people trying to tear it down in hopes of regaining power.

Woohoo.. Interview!

I just got a call today for an interview with Bank of America. I am so excited. The only downside is that it is in Richmond on Monday, but still. I will more than drive 4 hours each way for this.

Plus, I get to see Chris again without having to wait another month.

Cryptology Challenge - Vigenere finale

-----Encrypted Message Begins-----
qfgvw eptci xqevs plpto rkxtt mkzkh mpffr rfgxw ietut szarn kblfm izhen izmzo rphet lbgvw flqko xexwa bqhno vhyzn eiepg sqhee clndi kemna rqmft vvffr ilkce wpvfm qxlkh eqbjw lxmkh iyhfk wxrji jvhlc ekezs xbgko mqrfu qfzyt fbtsl iqhke pited hlgkf sozvt mcpvd skmca ydane hxecg sfgja rb
-----Encrypted Message Ends-----

We will finish by doing the Chi-Square Test on Segment 5 in an attempt to find which shift provides something close to the standard English distribution.

Segment Number	Segment Letters
1	qexprmmriskiirlfxbvesckrviwqeliwjexmqfiphsmsyhsr
2	fpqlkkpfezbzzpbleqhiqleqvlpxqxyxvkbqfbqilockdxfb
3	gtepxzfgtalhmhgqxhyehnmmfkvlbmhrhegrzthtgzpmaeg
4	vcvttkfxurfezevkwnzpednffcfkjkfjlzkfyskekvvcncj
5	wisothrwtnmnotwoaongeiatremhwhkicsoutledftdaega

Shift	Shift Result	Chi-Square Value
A	wisothrwtnmnotwoaongeiatremhwhkicsoutledftdaega	0.4764
B	vhrnsgqvsmlmnsvnznmfdhzsqdlgvgjhbrntskdcesczdfz	7.6425
C	ugqmrfpurlklmrumymlecgyrpckfufigaqmsrjcbdrbycey	3.8951
D	tfplqeotqkjklqtlxlkdbfxqobjetehfzplrqibacqaxbdx	24.5757
E	seokpdnspjijkpskwkjcaewpnaidsdgeyokqphazbpzwacw	4.6704
F	rdnjocmroihijorjvjibzdvomzhcrcfdxnjpogzyaoyvzbv	7.3230
G	qcminblqnhghinqiuihaycunlygbqbecwmionfyxznxuyau	10.7946
H	pblhmakpmgfghmphthgzxbtmkxfapadbvlhnmexwymwtxzt	5.0620
I	oakglzjolfefglogsgfywasljwezozcaukgmldwvxlvswys	4.4547
J	nzjfkyinkedefknfrfexvzrkivdynybztjflkcvuwkurvxr	6.5240
K	myiejxhmjdcdejmeqedwuyqjhucxmxaysiekjbutvjtquwq	14.0325
L	lxhdiwglicbcdildpdcvtxpigtbwlwzxrhdjiatsuisptvp	2.8444
M	kwgchvfkhbabchkcocbuswohfsavkvywqgcihzsrthrosuo	2.8987
N	jvfbguejgazabgjbnbatrvngerzujuxvpfbhgyrqsgqnrtn	6.6066
O	iueaftdifzyzafiamazsqumfdqytitwuoeagfxqprfpmqsm	12.4571
P	htdzescheyxyzehzlzyrptlecpxshsvtndzfewpoqeolprl	8.2359
Q	gscydrbgdxwxydgykyxqoskdbowrgrusmcyedvonpdnkoqk	5.7817
R	frbxcqafcwvwxcfxjxwpnrjcanvqfqtrlbxdcunmocmjnpj	11.5290
S	eqawbpzebvuvwbewiwvomqibzmupepsqkawcbtmlnblimoi	8.1689
T	dpzvaoydautuvadvhvunlphayltodorpjzvbaslkmakhlnh	2.6827
U	coyuznxcztstuzcugutmkogzxksncnqoiyuazrkjlzjgkmg	12.5589
V	bnxtymwbysrstybtftsljnfywjrmbmpnhxtzyqjikyifjlf	4.3302
W	amwsxlvaxrqrsxasesrkimexviqlalomgwsyxpihjxheike	8.7568
X	zlvrwkuzwqpqrwzrdrqjhldwuhpkzknlfvrxwohgiwgdhjd	11.3857
Y	ykuqvjtyvpopqvyqcqpigkcvtgojyjmkeuqwvngfhvfcgic	17.4451
Z	xjtpuisxuonopuxpbpohfjbusfnixiljdtpvumfeguebfhb	4.7379

And... Looking at this set of tests, it appears that the only shift that fits into a standard English distribution is the A shift. Now that we have all of our shifts, we need to assemble the message. Start by taking the first letter of each row, then the 2nd letters of each row and so forth. Then after the message is assembled, if it looks like it is a correct message, then you would try to determine where the word breaks are. If it doesn't appear to be a message, then you need to try another key length.

Segment	Shift	Segment Text
1	E	matlniineogeenhbtxraoygnresmahesfatimbeldoioudon
2	X	istonnsihceccseohtkltohtyosatabaynetietlorfngaie
3	T	nalwegmnahsotonxeoflouttmrcsitoyolnygaoangwthln
4	R	elecctogdaoninetfwiynmwoolotstosuitohbtnteelwls
5	A	wisothrwtnmnotwoaongeiatremhwhkicsoutledftdaega

----- Decrypted Message Begins-----
minewasalittleslowconnectingthismorningwehadtochangesomeconne
ctionsonthenewboxtothefaxtoworkfinallygotoneyoumightwanttotry
moreorlesscommasthatiswhatthebooksaysifyoucanlistentoityoumig
htbeabletotellanddontforgetifwedontlaughwedallgoinsane
----- Decrypted Message Ends -----

So, it looks like the message is as follows:
Mine was a little slow connecting this morning. We had to change some connections on the new box to the fax to work finally. Got one you might want to try. More or less commas, that is what the book says. If you can listen to it, you might be able to tell. And, don't forget, if we don't laugh, we'd all go insane.

(Punctuation and word breaks are assumed).

Also, since we discovered the keyword of "extra", if I interecpt any more messages from my friend, I would consider using that keyword before doing any work since people usually don't change their methods if they do not know their information has been compromised.

But that wraps up this challenge. And now back to other posts.


Previous Posts:
- Intercepting the Message
- Determining Key Length - Index of Coincidence
- Breaking into Segments
- Running Segment 1 with keylength of 8
- Running Segment 2 with keylength of 8(failing test)
- Running Segment 1 with keylength of 7 (failing test)
- Determining Key Length - Kasiski Analysis
- Running Segment 1 with keylength of 5
- Running Segment 2 with keylength of 5
- Running Segment 3 with keylength of 5
- Running Segment 4 with keylength of 5