Author: jollymonsails

Intellectual Property Attorney, Geek, Pro Bono Publico voluntario
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Farewell White Island?: White Island “Restoration”* Plan

jollymonsails

We live by White Island in beautiful Escambia County on Pensacola Bay in the very toe of the boot of Florida (about 3 hours east of New Orleans) – Pensacola, the First City, the First Settlement in the New World, The Cradle of Naval Aviation, the Sailing Capitol of the World – Sailtown, USA – The home of the Blue Angels and American Magic – and sandy white beaches, White island, and emerald waters.

Unfortunately, ALL the public access, sandy beaches and waterline on Pensacola Bay have been bought up, turned into mansions, yacht clubs, country clubs, condos, and lined with rocks and piers – no safe areas for Kayakers, SUP, or small boats to land in an emergency. White Island is the last soft, sandy beach and island(s) in Pensacola Bay. But it may be destroyed any day! 😦

Construction has begun. Thousands of white plastic pvc poles demarcating the planned destruction and rock walls have been placed all around the island. Today may be her last day. Everything in black check pattern below is to be surrounded with turbidity curtains, chains, and dredged, killing everything that lives there, sullying the water, churning up decade old poisons, pollution, and toxins, huge barges and construction, then heaping all the dead dredged sand right on the animals that might still be alive on the two islands spared from the initial destruction.

When / IF a “restored” White Island emerges – after “425” Days (provided there’s no delays) and the dust settles, they’ll have created a literal moat and wall around the island, rock barriers, submerged reefs, invasive marsh blackneedle plants, and two kill-corridors of blind, rock lined, narrow fast boat access paths and eight new islands completely covered in marsh with no sandy beach or access… instead only a “managed recreational access” on the southernmost island.

White Island has always been a safe, natural, clean area for small unpowered boats, SUPS, kayaks, sailing dinghies, kids, and schools of tiny fish escaping the bigger fish, walking in the shallows with your family or sitting on the sandy beach, sheltered under the trees, in a hammock, or wading, swimming safe from fast boats with huge wakes or the bullsharks. This is precisely because it’s so shallow that the fast boats with big wakes avoid the northern side of White Island (by Davenport Bayou outlined in blue below) and it’s too shallow for sharks to sneak up on you. Over the decades thousands of families have camped out and welcomed the Blue Angels home as the island is right by the flightline on a winds from the west day – or watching American Magic foiling by. Now, this is to be made illegal. 😦

  On the Southern side of White Island (by the Navy Channel to Bayou Grande shown in Red) There’s a nice wide channel (rocky on only one side) with sandy grade that small kayaks, sups, windsurfers, sailing dinghies from the Navy Morale, Welfare, Recreation MWR marina and surrounding community can escape a big, fast boat with wake coming through that channel.

(Red rock lined Navy channel and Blue New “Recreational Boat access”)

I’m very concerned that this White Island Restoration Plan calls for significantly narrowing both the north and south of White Island ingress/egress, creating a new “recreational boat access” (Blue) by dredging the northern area which will bring in fast boats, and adding rocks to create a bottleneck with blind turns with views obstructed by the rocks and new islands and creating a kill corridor lined with rocks on both sides of the southern Navy channel – leaving the small unpowered boats, sups, windsurf, sailing dinghies that may have to tack against the wind to navigate a very tight channel surrounded on both sides by rocks and currents with fast boats flying through. Many children enjoy this area and this seems needlessly dangerous. Literally placing the kids between waves and reefs, rocks, and fast boats 😦

Dredging and creating this new boat access (shown in blue ) will only invite fast boats into this area, the only safe place away from fast boats for kids and families.  If the goal is to reduce erosion, preserve water quality, and provide for recreation – this blue path, if it absolutely must be dredged, should be a No Wake Zone – to prevent wake-based erosion and keep it safe for dolphins, children, families, and small unpowered craft.  The fast, powered, big boats are able to use the red Navy channel to access White Island. No need for them to come up by the children and small unpowered craft in such a narrow, blind, rock-lined corridor.

There is no reason that the southern deep Navy channel (shown in red above and below) can’t be the sole recreational access for fast big powered boats, while preserving the blue area for small unpowered, sail, paddle, dinghy, SUP, kayak type craft, for swimmers, pets, and people walking amongst the islands. The concern is that the Navy channel will now be a narrow corridor lined with rocks on both sides (as seen above and below in red) and small unpowered/human/solar powered boats, sups, kayaks, windsurfers, sailing dinghies which may have to tack in this area to fight the current and wind now have no safe harbor or passage in and out of the bay and Bayou Davenport (Primary Kayak/SUP launch at Civitan Park) without great risk.

(Rocks to be on both sides of significantly narrowed Navy Channel to Bayou Grande – rockpiles and breakwaters on the right).

(New Northern “recreational boat access” lined by rocks, submerged reefs, marshes, blind corners, obstructed by new islands and marsh grass).

              As a community, we feel misled. This was to protect recreation, stop erosion, and preserve the cleanliness of the water… but this new northern recreational boat access route with the dredging and being surrounded by rocks and reefs will make this significantly less safe for families and impede recreation.  Now, we are finding out that the whole of North White island will be surrounded in invasive weeds, entirely blocking off the beach access. If a child has a boat failure or starts taking on water, or, god forbid, is hit by one of these fast boats coming in the new recreational motorboat access to the north, there will be no sandy, soft, safe beach for the child to swim to to avoid drowning or a sinking kayak.

(Northern White Island to be entirely surrounded by rocks, reefs, and marsh in yellow – removing all sandy beach access even on leeward side).

              The beauty of White Island is being able to walk safely in crystal clear, shallow water, with white sand, for miles. But dredging between the islands now makes it deep, dark, and invites fast boats and sharks and precludes the ability for children to walk safely between the islands without fear of drowning or encountering fast boats, big wakes, or bullsharks. It seems, we can no longer camp out or bbq – now outlawed IN fLoRiDa!!!? – and that ONLY a “managed recreational access” will be provided? While the figures show a sandy beach on all the islands, it seems that an invasive marsh will be formed so people not only can’t walk between them, they can’t even walk or sit or land on them, even on the leeward sides as the marsh extends into the water and is known to be an invasive species known to grow out of control and clog drainage and kayak/sup access?

              Our main concerns, in order, are (1) safety, (2) preservation of the cleanliness, nature, native species of the area, and (3) preserved free recreational access with soft landing spots in case of emergency. Please reconsider your support, and politely contact your representatives to reconsider or slightly modify the current plan of creating the new Davenport Northern recreational boat access (Blue above) and wholly blocking off the Northern White Island leeward side. Please ask them to also consider extending a No Wake Zone to preserve the safety, beauty, and small boat, family activities along the northern Davenport Bayou North White Island area.

This is the last of the sandy beaches and islands in Pensacola Bay safe for waders, swimmers, small sailing, human, or electric non-emission, no wake, exercise recreational activity. To kill everything in the kill zone, surround it in rocks, open up a superhighway dredged for big, fast boaters destroys the last of these safe nurseries, cradles of Naval sailing, SUP, Yakking in Pensacola Bay – the Sailing Capitol of the US and cradle of Naval Aviation / Sailing.

There just doesn’t seem to be a need for fast motored recreational boat access on both sides of White island. Recreational, powered, fast boats could use the Red, Southern Navy Channel, while preserving the Blue Northern Davenport area for unpowered, clean electric powered, human powered, swimmers, waders, kayaks, small SUP or sailing dinghy ingress and egress safely which also reduces erosion, promotes safety and recreational opportunities.

Consider a small rental sailing hobiecat or sunfish with US Navy / Airforce dependent children and families trying to tack a small boat without motor or oars UPwind / against the current through the Navy Channel to get to Pensacola Bay (Or coming home after a sail to Gulf Breeze or Maritime Park- while avoiding poles, markers, rocks, fast boats bidirectional traffic, wakes, waves, dolphins… This is about to become very dangerous. Especially with the new “!!!KEEP 500 feet away signs!!!” deployed at Magazine Point last week.

It is about to be spring break 2025 with Navy MWR marina sailboat, hobiecat, kayak, SUP, Sunfish rentals – those young servicemembers and their families and visiting friends trying to navigate upwind against the current out and trapped in the narrow rock-lined Navy Channel— are going to be severely at risk if they put up chains and turbidity curtains with all the thousands of PVC poles further restricting the width of the channel.

Even worse, from a safety perspective, for Navy sailors is that the roughly 3 miles of soft, safe sandy shore to land in an emergency on the sail to and from Fort Pickens will now be entirely blocked off by rocks, reefs, marshy islands with only tiny turbulent ingress/egress routes which will be impossible to navigate safely – especially with waves, wakes, squals, inevitable aging and equipment failures of sailboat / SUP / sunfish / hobie components, motors, sails, etc. If the White Island Restoration Living Shorelines project proceeds as-is it will put sailors, servicemembers, and their families, dependents, and children – as well as the broader community- at risk.

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A Reasonable Construction of the Constitution Avoiding Absurdities and Loopholes

jollymonsails

Franklin Bryan

Franklin Bryan

The Constitution was written in the 1700s — about 300 years before Google Docs, online collaboration, github revision checking, find and replace, copy and pasta. The very last lines of the Constitution of Article VII expressly acknowledge and evince the sloppy nature of the drafting pointing out interlineations, erasures, modifications. If you look at the actual parchment, there are erasures and interlineations as acknowledged in Art. VII. This was a working document, made hastily against their remit to amend the Articles of Confederation, they hastily redrafted a Constitution. There are internal inconsistencies everywhere.

There are inconsistent uses and internal inconsistencies everywhere, especially with reference to Officer, Office, Officeholder, Executive Officer, Civil Officer, holding an Office of “Profit or Trust” (Article I, Section 9, emphasis mine throughout) or “Trust or Profit” (Article II, Section 1) or “Office or Public Trust” (Article VI). See below:

As we see above quite clearly and as plainly acknowledged in Article VII, the Constitution is a mess. Office “of Profit or Trust”; Office “of Trust or Profit; “Office or public Trust”…. What we know for sure is that they weren’t creating loopholes, they were trying to limit the president to not have a king. They were trying to separate powers horizontally and vertically through legislative, executive, judicial and between the states and federal government. They were trying to create checks and balances. And, knowing that the Constitution was to be ratified BY WE THE PEOPLE who couldn’t all read very well, it was written without flourishes to be plainly evident, short, succinct.

They even acknowledged the powers of the People — from which power flows with the consent of the governed, then their representative Legislature FIRST, BEFORE the mere president.

Now, if they believed in a limited executive officer with separation of powers, federal separation of powers, lateral separation of powers, national sovereignty for the benefit of the People, not a king or emperor,… we must consider some absurdities that arise from president trump’s lawyer’s arguments in front of the Supreme Court of Colorado in Anderson vs. Griswold 23sa3000.

Firstly, in salient part, trump has argued that he is “Not an Officer of the United States” with no duty to “support” the Constitution; and secondly that “an insurrection” is not an “insurrection” as prohibited in the 14th Amendment, Section 3.

The huge problem with this argument is that if the president is NOT an “Officer” then nothing prohibits the president from collapsing the separation of powers amongst states and fed, amongst the branches, consolidating it in himself and forfeiting our national sovereignty. Nothing prohibits the president from soliciting bribes, titles of nobility, or positions in foreign governments. Nothing prohibits the president from serving as his own elector, judge, and jury — and most importantly, even if impeached, nothing compels him to leave office? Not to mention that Congress could require he not be Muslim, Mormon, Jew, or Christian?

See for example Article I, section 2 and 3 where only “officers” are prohibited from serving in either house of Congress — and no requirements for the Speaker of the House and the President pro tempore to even be members of Congress. An unscrupulous non-officer president with the help of a subordinate senate or house could appoint himself Speaker of the House and President Pro Temp, could solicit a state to appoint him as their representative and/or senator (according to the varying state Constitution powers to fill vacancies)?

The President could further appoint himself as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court… and, in that capacity, would preside over his own impeachment trial, and vote wearing his hat as Senator. If the president is impeached, would he remain as President Pro Temp, Speaker of the House, elector, and Chief Justice unless he was convicted in multiple impeachments for each position?

As a Representative or Senator or Speaker or President pro temp, could he have absolute Freedom of Speech and immunity under debate clause on the floor to incite insurrections again?

In fact, ALL limitations on the president are only effective if he is an “officer.”

Is it Consistent with your understanding of prudence, temperance, public policy, and our Constitution, that president Biden could freely, openly, notoriously solicit and accept bribes (“emoluments”) from ccp red china or russia or iran, saudi? Could Biden or trump concurrently serve as putin’s prince of the russian federation? If not, what stops them?

The other side makes big import that the president is not “appointed” and therefore can’t be an officer because he didn’t appoint himself… and he is tasked with appointing all officers. But the Constitution clearly spells this out as appointing “all other officers.” If George Washington grew hemp and other plants… one clearly understands hemp is a plant. If the president appoints “other officers,” clearly he himself is an officer.

If a President is NOT an Officer, then they aren’t forbidden from coups or insurrections? There is no enforcement mechanism to protect our Constitution.

If a President isn’t an Officer, then it’s not a crime or insurrection under the insurrection act to threaten or assasinate the President?

The very first US Code, 1 USC, Section 1, Congress defined an “Officer” without any pushback from any of the previous 44 presidents or the Supreme Court as “ANY person authorized by law to perform the duties of the office.”

Clearly then, the most reasonable construction of the Constitution is that the president is an “Officer” — is limited; that there are separation of powers; that there are checks and balances; that presidents are NOT above the law. That Jews, Mormons, Catholics, Christians or Muslims can’t be forbidden from the Presidency. The President can’t install himself in the House and/or Senate and/or Supreme Court with a simple majority. The President can’t serve as his own elector, judge, and jury — or pardoner. Simply follow Article VI mandate that “all executive officers” “shall be bound” to “support” the Constitution and the extra duties in Article II oath further clarify that duty to support — including faithfully executing the Constitution (“laws”), preserving, protecting, and defending the Constitution.

Article I, Section 8, Clause 18 may be oft ignored and hard to find, but is dispositive: The Constitution vests its powers only in “Officers” of the United States. If one is not an Officer, then they have no power. Clause 18 doesn’t say it vests any power in a president… only “Officers” of the United States.

Similarly, if they aren’t obliged by oath (or affirmation) to “support” the Constitution under Article VI, then they aren’t an “executive Officer.” This would be absurd.

Now to turn to trump’s other arguments that “an insurrection” isn’t an “insurrection” …

qed.

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Officers Of the United States

jollymonsails

The use of ‘Officer’ in the Constitution and temporally adjacent sources:

It is important to note two preliminary issues: (1) that the Constitution was written in plain language to be understandable by the lay people, the scantly educated farmers, tailors, blacksmiths, etc. comprising “We the People;” and (2) the drafters didn’t have computers or word processors but were instead writing the Constitution by hand and couldn’t find or replace globally with relative ease.

Preamble: “We the People…”

The Constitution starts with “We the People” the source of power, the most important part.

Article I, Section 2: “The House of Representatives shall chuse their Speaker and other Officers…” (Emphasis added).

“Speaker and other Officers” : A plain reading is such that the Speaker of the House is an Officer – chosen by The House of Representatives, the most people-adjacent and most important as first enumerated branch. Thus, contrary to the Colorado decision at Paragraph 311, not ALL “officers” are appointed or “commissioned” by the President – nor is the President the most important or people-adjacent branch or officer.

Article I, Section 3: ”The Vice President of the United States shall be President of the Senate… The Senate shall chuse their other Officers…” (Emphasis added).

Thus, from a plain reading, the Vice President – acting as President of the Senate, shall be an Officer. Contrary to the Colorado decision, neither the Speaker of the House nor the Vice President (both “Officers”) are appointed or “commissioned” by the President.

Article VI, Section 3: “The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers… shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution…” (Emphasis added).

The Colorado decision at Paragraph 301 states that the 14th Amendment lists the people to which it applies in decreasing order of importance, and finds that surely the President wouldn’t be listed after less important positions or lumped in with a group in a catchall phrase. However, the very nature of our Constitution was to depart from having a King or an executive of supreme import. Rather, We the People are the most important (for the people, by the people) and other branches are enumerated in importance with respect to adjacency to The People. For example, the President and Executive are NOT defined in the preamble or the First Article, but are relegated to the Second Article. The enumeration in Article VI and the 14th Amendment follows this order of importance subordinating the president AFTER the 1)Senators, 2)Representatives, 3)Members of the several state Legislatures, and only then 4) “all executive…Officers”. But nonetheless requires that “all executive and judicial officers” must take an Oath “to support this Constitution.”

Article I, Section 8: “…all Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof.” (Emphasis added).

The powers are vested in “Officer[s] thereof” meaning Officers of the United States… including Speaker of the House, President of the Senate, and President of the United States.

Article II, Section 1: “The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America. He shall hold his Office….” (Emphasis added).

“In Case of the Removal of the President from Office,… and the Congress may by Law provide for the Case of Removal, Death, Resignation or Inability, both of the President and Vice President, declaring what Officer shall then act as President, and such Officer shall act accordingly,…” (Emphasis added).

Thus, an “Officer” shall then act as President.

“Before he enter on the Execution of his Office, he shall take the following Oath or Affirmation:-“I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of the President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States.” (Emphasis added).

Clearly then, this contemplates “his Office” the “Office of the President of the United States” -> an Officer of the United States.

Article II, Section 2: “The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy…”

Thus, the President holds both a civil Office and serves as the head Officer (“Commander in Chief”) of the Army and Navy (Military).

Article II, Section 2: ”[The President] shall have Power…shall appoint…all other Officers of the United States….” (Emphasis added).

Thus, clearly, from a plain reading the President shall appoint all *other Officers of the United States* … what “other?” “Other” clearly modifies the President and includes him in the category of “Officers of the United States” in the same manner as Article I where the Speaker of the House and the President of the Senate are both “Officers” and each house shall respectively choose other “Officers.”

14th Amendment, Section 3: “No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States… who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States…to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof….” (Emphasis added).

The Colorado decision (Section C, Paragraph 301) states that the President (being of such importance) wouldn’t be listed after Senators, Representatives, or electors. (“The disqualified offices enumerated are presented in descending order starting with the highest levels of the federal government and descending downwards.”) However, this is precisely the order of the Constitution itself listing the most We-The-People-adjacent Offices first and only then describing the executive office in article II (after the Senators, Representatives, and electors in Article I precisely because the executive office is NOT a king or supremely important, but a limited executive deriving its power from the people and the people’s representatives.) The Court at Paragraph 304 states that “it is unpersuaded that the drafters intended to include the highest office in the Country in the catchall phrase “office…under the United States.”

At paragraph 306, the Court says that “[t]o refer to the President of the United States as a mere ‘civil officer’ is counterintuitive.” However, the President is described as both the civil Office AND as a military Officer (to wit: “Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy”).

Moreover, the Colorado opinion says they wouldn’t have lumped the President in with a group (or “catchall phrase”) as an “Officer of the United States…” but the President is clearly listed as BOTH holding a civil executive AND military “Office” under the United States and is lumped in under the catchall phrases throughout the Constitution.  The President is limited, described only AFTER We the People and the People’s servants in both houses of congress and the President is obliged to serve, support, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution… thus his “office” is “under the United States.”

Thus, to say that the person who holds the Office of the President, who takes the Oath of Office, the head executive Officer, the head civil and military Officer is NOT an “Officer of the United States” and is exempt from any consequences for breach of their oath to The Constitution is absurd.

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Who Can You Trust?

jollymonsails

It’s getting very difficult to trust anyone. We don’t trust politicians, the media, the lawyers, the churches, the police, our neighbors… Can we even trust our own minds? Inevitably, we will get older and our minds may fail us. Our own minds may poison us with fear, anger, pain.

It’s quite possible we don’t know what we think we know or that what we are being told is incorrect.

How can one navigate this world while our own minds and those around us may be lying to us?

One approach might be to simply make yourself happy. Try to be happy. Try to have fun. Take it easy. Take a breath. Slow down. What’s the point to life, if not to have fun and celebrate it? Make everyday a party. Treat yourself.

No one can fault someone trying to have fun – especially if they are considerate of their neighbors. Maybe the neighbor doesn’t want to have fun. It’s generally polite to either put better music on, turn the volume down, or go for a boat ride to give them some space.

Every hero I’ve looked to has failed me. Perhaps there were truly no great actual people in history – perhaps we all eventually succumb to the evil around us or within us? Perhaps we either die early or become the tyrant? George Washington preached that all men were created equal and had inalienable rights; he voluntarily ceded power and resigned his commission…. yet he raped, beat, and literally stole the teeth of his neighbors for vanity and comfort. Ghandi did some weird shit with kids. Gates and Groening associated with epstein. Einstein and MLK cheated on their wives (maybe I’m not one to judge – who knows what their relationships truly were). Who can we look to as a role model? A fictional, alien, ai robot from the minds of a union of previously nuclear war rivals… 1980s Japan and the US teamed up to bring us Optimus Prime. Embodying honor, compassion, empathy, respect, unity, kindness, love and strength and valor. “Autobots unite!” E Pluribus Unum. Dude sacrificed himself so many times for the greater good. His words ring true: “Freedom is the right of all sentient beings.” WWOPD?

Have fun, try not to hurt others, and help if you can. It’s truly that simple even a kid can understand it. Even I get it. Be good to each other. Don’t delight in the pain of others – even if they are decepticons. Spread love and respect.

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Microsoft Surface Duo is a Game Changer

jollymonsails

Photo By BulbousSum – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=124764374

While the Microsoft Surface Duo may have some issues, it is a game changer as a phone / tablet / laptop all-in-one and at the incredibly low price of only $100-$300 (for a $1500 phone) refurbished with Ebay or Amazon guarantee and unlocked to work on any carrier. No other phone marries the benefits of being pocketable or chest-mountable, yet folding out to provide two 5″ 1080P+ glass Oled screens OR one 3.2K+ Oled 8.1″+ display while retaining the strength and resilience of Gorilla Glass or Victus. All other phones focus on ultra-wide screen displays making landscape or horizontal use quite limiting, especially when trying to use an onscreen keyboard.

All other foldable phones without a gap between displays necessarily require a plastic scratchable display with scratches at a level 2 and deeper grooves at a level 3 Mohs hardness (Thanks Jerry;) – therefore keys, a grain of sand, anything can scratch the fragile Samsung Fold 4 screens. Even a specialized s-pen stylus is required to avoid scratching the delicate folding Samsung screens. In constrast, the gorilla glass of the Surface Duo holds up to a level 6 or 7 – much more resilient than the Samsung Fold / Flip, Pixel Fold, Oppo N. The Surface Duo, on the other hand, is solid, slim, very light, very thin, great displays, great batteries, and uniquely offers the ability to dual boot into the latest Android 12L and/or Windows 11. Moreover, when paired with the surface pen slim 2 (or the Adonit jot or other stylus) truly facilitates multi-window, multi-tasking, note taking, document creation, markup, sketches, atak/wintak/civtak/winlink or other use on the go even in gloves or rain. The phone is so slim and lightweight, and with the folding, allows some very unique use-cases and modalities. With the constant updates, like clockwork every month, allows good security relative to a CCP device like the Unihertz Atom devices. With dual batteries and OLED screens, the power can last quite a while.

I’ve been looking forever for unique / nonconventional computing platforms for use outside, navigating at night in kayaks or dinghies, sailing, windsurfing, or hiking while actually using my hands or while woodworking, soldering, or cooking and keeping hands clean during the pandemic.

Surface Duo 1 with Seek Thermal infrared camera (left top)

I had previously used the Samsung S22 Ultra and the Unihertz Atom XL (DMR uhf phone) or Atom phone (the smallest android device ever made at only 2.45″ screen and 110grams) which includes a lanyard loop – allowing the phone to serve as a backup device on a neck lanyard hidden under your shirt. The problem for me, other than the obvious Chinese CCP opsec concerns and the utter lack of security updates and deprecated Android version, was that there is only one hardware lanyard connection point so when the phone is on your chest serving as a flashligh or camera, it was prone to rotate- limiting the usefulness of a hands-free camera, flashlight, or PTT comms device in the field. Night use with the light-leak prone LCD killed my night vision.

In contrast, the Surface Duo with it’s unique split-screen OLED with gap design allows the connection of TWO lanyards on opposing lateral sides allowing for a minimally-intrusive chest-mounted hands-free heads-up flashlight, camera, tactical navigation, mapping, night vision, and communications device which doesn’t rotate promiscuously off-sight, but instead keeps the light or lens where you want it.

Advantageously this allows for completely hands-free video recording, flashlight, weather mapping, atak use, thermal night vision display and other unique use-cases. Even as simple as hands-free podcasts while doing dishes, cooking, walking or sailing. No other phone offers these features for $100.

To get something similar for ATAK or Gotenna Pro use requires a plate carrier with molle mounts, a juggernaut phone case ($1000), pivotal connector (big, bulky, expensive, and doesn’t blend well going through customs or operating inconspicuously). In contrast, the Surface duo offers a chest-mounted, concealable, hands-free, heads-up, always on display (OLED without light leakage and truly OFF dark-mode) for $100-$300 with more than enough horsepower to run atak mapping on one screen while on the move and a whole second pivotal screen for typing, swiping, notes, or other applications such as Seek thermal nightvision / thermals with a usb-c thermal infrared camera. No other device allows an operator to point the (visible or infrared) camera or flashlight AND see the screen simultaneously. But with two pivotally connected displays, the camera, flashlight, or thermal camera can be pointed where you want while the other half of the device acts as a live display.

Some issues that may be a game breaker for some are the lack of Mil-Spec 810G or IP68 water-resistance, let alone water proofing – but the lanyard chestmount somewhat mitigates this issue by keeping the phone out of a hip-pocket well-above the water line. Using a hat or hoody keeps the phone protected even in a moderate amount of rain- but waterproofing would definitely help operate better in the rain or for full submersion.

Another issue is the rudimentary stylus support relative, for example, to the very mature Samsung S-pen approach. While the Samsung offers an internal silo for keeping, retrieving, and charging the stylus and ensuring you always have it ready to go, the Microsoft Surface stylus is an additional $100 or so, does not silo into the phone, it barely magnetically attaches, and requires a separate charger (at least on the Surface Duo 1, but the Surface Duo 2 has the option of a charging case to charge on the go). Still, the system integration is nowhere near as robust or intuitive as the Samsung S-pen approach. The full 3d airmouse 6dof features of the spen bluetooth are not replicable by even the Surface Slim Pen 2. This airmouse feature is great on the s22 ultra, Note 10 ultra, or even the Note 9 for discreetly using the the phone without touching it. But, for people who only envision using the stylus at home or in the office and conspicuously, this may not be a deal-breaker. I’ve found that the Adonit Jot line of styluses work sufficiently well, are inexpensive, waterproof, and require no separate charger.

Lastly, the camera is not GREAT, but it’s limitations are greatly exaggerated online. Depending on your use, it may be sufficient. It works decently well in well-light outdoor, sunny environments but your mileage may vary inside, in the dark, and at night time. I will note that the Gcam mod seems to provide much needed HDR and better pictures and is available for free and regularly updates to work with these devices.

If you want a pocketable or chest-mountable, civilian looking hands-free, inexpensive computer that can run the latest Android and/or full-blown Windows 11, with an amazing almost 4k 8″ OLED display (or two great 5″ displays) works with a stylus, bluetooth mouse and/or keyboard, this is the only option on the market. At 200g and only 5″, being only 4mm thick, it beats lugging a laptop and a phone into the field. Even the several years-old Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 (being a previous flagship processor) is more than sufficient to run full 4K video, dual applications without lag, and yet power efficient enough to operate all day or night.

I’ll write a review of the Atom and Atom XL dmr uhf phones shortly and upload some pictures of the chest-mounting options shortly – but wanted to share thoughts on anyone who might need hands-free heads-up computing options.