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ironbar

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Everything posted by ironbar

  1. Chain link fencing is an effective barrier against RPG's as well. http://books.google.com/books?id=GmoQ7oDwNKEC&pg=PA76&lpg=PA76&dq=chain+link+fence+rpg&source=bl&ots=OJsj_0qLq_&sig=7RcEkFBadBQL89GZvV59GSkKrt8&hl=en&sa=X&ei=ng1GU4P_GPHLsAT94IKwAg&ved=0CEwQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=chain%20link%20fence%20rpg&f=false
  2. I always thought the "1-1" (the performance manual) made for much more riveting reading. If one of your gift giving priorities is anything like mine, namely cheap, you can't beat this, free! http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/au/thigpen.pdf History of the USAF special operations C-130 force as told by a former pilot, squadron commander and group commander. By way of review I would say it's not quite as self serving as we anticipated it to be. But if he is a real herc guy, as opposed to some poseur, the best gift of course would be cheap booze. Really cheap, served warm. Leave the price tag on, " Wow 4 liters for 2 bucks, this is great stuff!"
  3. Interesting, as the SAC alert facilities had some of the best cable tv packages I ever saw in the 70's; as well as (once the VCR became prevelent) ad nauseam showings of Stanley Kubrick's "Dr Strangelove," or "How I learned to stop worrying and love the bomb." I'm pretty sure the guys out in the gopher holes (the ICBM facilities) didn't have cable or tv for that matter- but I would suspect much less a SAC mind control attempt than the fact that they were out in the middle of freaking nowhere. As for being locked in, shoot you could never park anywhere near the BX for all the spaces reserved for the alert vehicles. If you saw an alert vehicle parked in base housing, with all but one of the crewmembers present you could be pretty sure it was the equivalent of a conjugal visit. Let the Nav get finished and drive around and park in front of the EWO's house.
  4. Pretty soon they might be taking over the business, http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110706/00200314983/monkey-business-can-monkey-license-its-copyrights-to-news-agency.shtml Although if we replaced all the lawyers with monkeys, would it be much worse?
  5. No, I wasn't using a carjacking as a justification for unlimited self defense. I was pointing out that relying on the self restraint of people who are already committing one form of violent crime is foolish. You have not the slightest intimation where their threshold of behavior is. Further, allow me to offer you the same advice I gave to the wee ironbars; when confronted by some one who has a gun, or threatens as though they have, toss your wallet to them and run. Do not comply with their instructions, or cooperate with them. If all they wanted was your money, they now have it and should be satisfied. If they want more from you, by running you just made the equation a lot tougher for them to solve. "Most car jackings don't end like this," sux to be the anomaly, doesn't it?
  6. Ah but there's the rub, at 2am how do I indentify the motivations of the fellow who just kicked in my back door? Is he the run of the mill flat screen TV thief, or a Manson family wannabe? Relying on the professionalism of sociopaths who are committing burglary, armed robbery or carjacking is a dicey proposition at best. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murders_of_Channon_Christian_and_Christopher_Newsom
  7. Oh on a last note, the Disney bombs were designed and funded by the RN.- Apologies to Stalin's Organist, he made (very astutely) this very point early on in the thread.
  8. A few pictures scanned out of Roger Freeman's 'The Mighty Eighth.' According to the captions these are Disney bombs being dropped on E boat pens at Ijmuiden on 14 Mar 1945. Each Disney bomb grossed 4500 lbs and were released at 20,000 feet. They dropped conventionally to 5000 ft, at which time the roket motors ignited, accelerating them to 2400 ft per second, (according to Freeman). They were designed to penetrate 20 foot of concrete before detonating. It is well worth remembering that reinforced concrete wasn't really overcome by weaponery until 1940 with hollow shaped charges at Eban Emael. On the Allied side, the Brits tried more and more explosive weight (they of course were concerned with attacking U boat pens long before the V1/2 sites reared their ugly heads). So attacking anything made of reinforced concrete was still trial and error until the end of the war. Nice video here; Diesel; still sore about being underpaid, undersexed and under Eisenhower?
  9. Hottest subject on most network news in the states? Will and Kate.
  10. 125 dead- by product of mine operation http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffalo_Creek_Flood Fly ash contamination http://www.postandcourier.com/news/2008/oct/26/coals_time_bomb59266/ Cancer clusters in anthracite mining regions http://southernstudies.org/2008/10/energy-watch-public-health-authorities.html The last link is the most interesting to me as Schuylkyll County Pa, is where I grew up, where both sets of grandparents settled after leaving the old countries.
  11. "deeply cynical and interested in only what is good for their country [themselves] and which sometimes means representative govts are a pain in the arse. If it is your own Govt. you skirt around it and if it another county's you subvert it." Diesel, what you describe is actually realpoltik, (per Henry K) "No friends, just interests." I do credit the early creators of what became known as the Wolfowitz doctraine, I'm thinking specifically of George Schultz and Dick Armitage, with a view toward a more principled approach. Where it went astray, well lets just say Rum's the word.
  12. Sure it has some truth to it Diesel, but wasn't that the first fallacy of the neocon's world view; representative government and economic opportunity obviate the root causes of global Jihad?
  13. KR, Just for the record, in Mogadishu of the 3 helos hit only one was hovering at the time (Super 68), Super 61 was at approx 150 feet and estimated at 40 knots in a wide left turn when hit, and iirc Super 62 was descending (approx 200 feet) and accelerating when hit.
  14. I always thought that the transport/ tanker application would be the first independent (or semi) UAV. Load an unmanned C17 with cargo, let a ground based controller get it airborne, hand it off to an automated flight router and x number of hours later another ground based controller would monitor the system for landing. Granted I wouldn't want to be a passenger on one! The same would be true for a tanker application (so long as you are using probe and drouge refuelling systems). But I guess there is a whole lot more money working in the combat systems.
  15. I'd rather doubt the criminal intent, you would hope they might be far more stealthy if the were looting (although that wasn't the case in New Orleans, except of course for the NOPD who did demand the cameraman stop filming). But then their ancestors DID get caught,,
  16. That's just it Jon, you can't use a kayak, the narrow beam rolls with almost any lateral pressure. Kayaks are for pleasure sport, but not very useful for amatuer rescue attempts. Oh, and I keep the bass boat BEHIND the garage, my canoe and kayak are the only watercraft IN the garage.
  17. with a canoe, yes I can see that (somewhat, but not very stable) you could pick up one other. A zodiac raft, even better. An aluminum or fiberglass fishing boat perfect, two to operate, you could pick up at least four or five others. A kayak? perhaps you could point out the high ground, but a kayak is far too unstable to pick someone up in( eskimo roll anyone?).
  18. Have you ever noticed that with floods in english speaking countries, there is always kayak guy paddling through the flooded neighborhoods? He was in the video coverage of the Christchurch flooding SO linked to in the forum a couple of months ago, and in the Rosalie Villiage shots in this thread. While some might debate the 'english speaking' part of my point in the next instance in our recent flooding in Nashville, he made an appearence as well. What motivates these guys to take the aquarian challenge in the urban enviroment; "Oh look, the flood waters have comprimised the city sewage system, lets go kayaking in the effluent!" Not to mention the wonderful cornacopia of hazardous stuff flowing from flooded car batteries, gas tanks, dumpsters, and the mundane toxic crap people, (usually older folks) nonchalantly store in their garages- (you know the five gallon cans of toxic cleaning solution the neighbor bought in 1965, right before the pinks in the government declared them hazardous chemicals and banned their use). We hardly ever see this in other cultures do we? Is it something in Anglo culture; the streets are flooded- go fetch the recreational water craft. And it's always kayakers, never jet skiers or scuba divers, perhaps it worthy of a study- Kayaking makes you dumberer? As a disclaimer, I own a kayak myself, and am always ready to put it in the water, but not a t the sewage treatment plant.
  19. George Soros is credited with forcing the firing of Juan Williams from NPR after Williams' comments about Muslims on airliners. So I rather give points to Soros on actually implementing something as opposed to just having high priced soiree's. "Wealthy philanthropist dabbles in politics," true, but really the oldest of stories, if they are effective I would guess is the difference. It makes me think of the story about the New York Times Christmas cocktail party in December of '72; "How could Nixon get re-elected without cheating, nobody I know voted for him." Surround yourself with like minded individuals, or folks cagey enough to say they are like minded so long as you continue to dole out the goodies, and I'm sure soon enough you think you can change the world. As for changing the climate of discord, and the viciousness of politics, I wonder if that would ever be possible. The caning of Sumner, Abe Lincoln the ape, the attacks in popular media on the Truman family (particularly his daughter), and on and on to the present day. I think it's more interesting to wonder what direction media will go in. Already internet usage has outstripped TV time in parts of Europe and the US. Will the next generation of voters take their news from a demographically sliced, pre oriented outlet that will only tell them what they want to hear? Or will variety rule, less political orthodoxy and more like a "Cafeteria Dem/Repub"? The danger here is not being able to determine quickly just how much bias is involved from a given outlet. A point I made in our previous, "Fox News makes you dumberer," debate is at least Faux doesn't hid it under a bushel, there is absolutely no doubt about their orientation. In the early eighties, there was a great letter to the editor in Playboy, about the 'new' political realities of the divide in that class known as Yuppies. How half of that class fell into the category of "Neo liberals," and the rest were the "Neo conservatives," ( although the intended meaning was much closer to what Mr Webster had intended, neo conservative meaning nearly conservative- not the current far right meaning). "The difference between the neo liberals and neo conservatives is; neo liberals listen to Bruce Springsteen, while neo conservatives listen to John Cougar Mellencamp. They both read the Washington Post, but are outraged by different stories." I can't help but think a lot of people watch/listen the talking heads of talk radio and 'The Dirty Digger's Evil Empire" just to get outraged. A lot like Howard Stern on WNBC in New York, half listened because they thought he was hilarious, the other because they thought he was terrible.
  20. Why Gifford? Perhaps because she was across town? Not 14 hours away like Nancy Pelosi, although nut jobs do seem to like driving across country, re Lisa Nowak the Femme Fatale of the NASA love triangle. Maybe he couldn't raise the gas money. This loon had no more an appreciation of Representative Gifford's positions than any of the other conspiracy freaks. She was the government to him, but she could just as easily been, THE MAN, the ZOG, shape shifter, Brandenberger, what ever, or Berkowitz's black dog. If you want to muzzle Rupert Murdoch, fine by me, but shouldn't we also declaw George Soros? And if you really want to pin the blame on a media tycoon shouldn't we heap some on Ted Turner? That's the guy who brought us the 24 hour news cycle and started us down the path to 'news' networks as entertainment outlets. Althogh honestly I don't think any media can be unbiased- Civil War era vitrol was pretty potent and the lines were clearly drawn, Col McCormick's Chicago Tribune was hardly 'Fair and Balanced' toward the New Deal. The problem we face in some of the more heated parts of the states now is that political messaging has gone broad spectrum. A lot like horizontal escalation; you bid FAIR, I raise you AIM, bring out one academic study, say UC Berkley,and counterpoint it with one from UCLA. Add to this the vultures who profit directly from the fray, O'Reilly (TV contract, book sales, and Pay Per View on his website) or Al Franken who managed to parlay it into a Senatorial office (ha, the jokes on him, show us how easy it is Al). And of course the granddaddy of them all- Rush, who I am beginning to suspect is the smartest person in that particular game. He developed his own brand, (which I doubt he really subscribes to, I think he falls into the same category as TV preachers), he never allows his brand to be co-opted, at least as far we the peasants can see. But in the end how much impact do the dreck purveyors have? Obama got elected didn't he? The Republicans made gains in the House, but that happens almost every mid term doesn't it (the party that holds the White House loses some sway in Congress), but certainly not the red state landslide Bill Orally predicted. So final tally; lunatic creates a tragedy, innocent peoples lives changed forever and some craven folk look to make political headway out of it.
  21. Elmar, you couldn't have picked a better Daily Show clip; John Stewart has been the most vociferous commentator on the these 'news' networks edging in on his turf. Twisting and stretching, coverage, viewpoint, and spin on issues and presenting them as the word. Sadly you would think other news organizations would be the most vocal, however they leave that to the late night comedians and occasionally their own spin doctors. As for the NBC bias, http://newsroom.ucla.edu/portal/ucla/Media-Bias-Is-Real-Finds-UCLA-6664.aspx and MSNBC http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1983901,00.html but, I don't think anyone who has watched Keith Olberman's show was left in any doubt from the first moment ( it's a damned funny show- especially the daily 'Worst person in the world segment'). And as a disclaimer, I think NBC really delivers the best news product- but I think the idea of a completely impartial news organization is an impossibility. The very choice of what to cover and not cover (it would be impossible to cover everything) relies on the bias of the members of the organization. I must question the survey in the OP; it was good of the authors to extend the survey to the 'Birthers', after all lunatics deserve to be heard as well, but I think that skewed the results a bit. Selective sampling I believe it is called. Now if you care to argue that the birthers aren't lunatics, (just google LTC Terrance Larkin) that will be an interesting point for sure. When discussing Murdoch's big stick, I must say it doesn't seem too well organized. While the Faux News Network is rabidly right wing, their local affiliates, especially here in Chattanooga, didn't apparently get the right marching orders. When our little tree hugger club (Save Our Cumberland Mountains, just in case you want to kick in a few bucks) wants to get someone in front of a TV camera, the Fox affiliate is usually the first to return the call. I'd be cautious about giving them too much credit for political success in the US. While some see Bush's reelection as a triumph of Karl Rove/Fox News, this blue dog Democrat thinks it had more to do with Terry Mcauliffe's flawed "Battle ground strategy," and a candidate who was capable and experienced but too stiff to be an effective communicator outside of his comfort zone. Something I find interesting is how offended everybody is by O'Reilly, Beck, and Hannity- people who really qualify as commentators (Hey it's an opinion, everybody has one , just like,,,) . The Fox morning newscast (6am to 9am eastern) is really the worst offender in terms of disinformation. With Karl Rove making regular appearances, the morning cast is very politically laden. The day time news is generally pretty benign, cutting away to local affiliates for live feed on stories that might not be national in importance, but keep in line with Fox's tabloidish approach. Of course the evenings are the province of the indignation meisters, replete with their schtick. And that's what it is, schtick, their performance to keep their contracts and little bennies rolling in. Caveat Emptor, is just as true in TV news as it is in buying a used car. Or taking an op ed piece written to motivate the party faithful to cough up more money because, "Look at what we are up against, the omnipotent evil Fox news," and making a scientific treatise out of it. Politics is politics.
  22. So the whole thing boils down to, "Fox's kettle is blackest, film at 11."
  23. But isn't "worst"/"best" tied to the author's own bias? Who would you expect to write 'Rush Limbaugh is a big fat,,,,' Al Franken or Bill Beck. I'll say this for Fox, they don't try to hide it under a bushel. It is right out there, if Colbert were on Fox, it wouldn't be a parody.
  24. "How far should the bias be constrained by honesty." OK, who gets to be the arbiter of that? Mr Hu? seems to be keeping the Chinese press honest, doesn't he. Wikileaks stopping Hitler, in the thirties, nah, ain't gonna bite. I always thought it was like Strachan said, societies exhausted by the Great War unwilling to risk another.
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