No Angst zone

Happiness is...

2009-05-02T22:50:00.002-05:00

Both of the following:

-a Swiss K-31 with pristine metal, 60 rounds of GP11 7.5 Swiss milsurp ammo, and a 100 yard range

-an AR-15 with a 16'' barrel, 200 rounds of M855 5.56 ammunition, and an itchy trigger finger.

Thank you Richard Whitcomb

2009-04-29T05:02:00.002-05:00

Here's what the difference between Mach 0.98 and 1.22 looks like:

YF-102 on top, area rule modified YF-102A on the bottom.

h/t: Planeshots

ANZAC Day

2009-04-25T20:47:00.002-05:00

Mid Week Rock

2009-04-15T00:00:00.000-05:00

Had to give a brief in my Naval Weapons class on the Viper...had fun wiping the floor with the JSF at the end of it by calling it out on account of the fact that no one has any idea how much it will cost. Since we were giving a brief on the Viper, I insisted that we include some music from Iron Eagle (or as I call it, Iron Awesome) at the end of the brief during question time. Here's a (surprisingly) good YouTube comment on the music: "if you put a microphone next to an american flag you'll hear the soundtrack to iron eagle playing. its true."

For those of you that don't know, Iron Eagle is possibly one of the worst fighter pilot movies ever made...the only reason for anyone to watch Top Gun is the fact that it ISN'T Iron Eagle. However, it is worth noting that the movie gave AF brats everywhere in the '80s hope that they too could steal a frontline fighter jet and pilot their dad to freedom, as has been pointed out before by commenters.

Speaking of Top Gun...

Back when men were men and Tomcats ruled the carrier deck...

Mid Week Rock

2009-03-31T22:55:00.002-05:00

A little bird told me that this has been the music used whenever Turbo Tax Tim steps into a press conference, but that he inherited it from his predecessor:

Okay, seriously, here's the real mid week rock. This song is used because a) Blue Oyster Cult kicks ass and b) I was listening to one of the local classic rock stations and the DJ screwed up and started playing one of Metallica's new ones while the song was still playing...the dichotomy was rather striking:

Standards

2009-03-31T22:46:00.002-05:00

I thought this commentary I found at af.mil was particularly fitting:

Whether you are active-duty military, Guard or Reserve, civilian or contractor, you are subject to many rules and standards. Regardless of whether you personally agree with or like the rules and standards, our leaders have determined these rules and standards are required by the mission and special demands of operations.

<...>

It is important to know what the rules and standards are from the start and make a commitment to follow all the rules all the time (even the ones you don't like). If you don't understand a rule, don't guess and ask for clarification. Try to remember that leaders see a bigger picture (a rule may be based on things we are not aware of). We don't have a right to understand why a particular rule exists (it is nice if we do, but it is not a right). If you don't like a rule, try to change it through proper channels (but follow it). And most importantly, the rules and standards apply as much on the last day of deployment as they do on the first (no freebies for being on the way out).

(Emphasis mine.)

I'm not (yet) willing to publicly discuss why I found this commentary fitting, but I'll give you a hint: it has to do with this post.

Parking (Morons)

2009-03-30T00:08:00.002-05:00

It's a good thing I don't regularly carry a cutting torch in my car, otherwise I probably would have done this by now:

2009-03-30T00:00:00.002-05:00

Usually I don't like to use clips so recently aired, but this one was too good to pass up. The worst part is that I don't think this course of action would generate less illogical outcomes than the outcomes of the plans thought up by Hammerin' Hank, Bumblin' Ben, and Totterin' Tim.

Ammo

2009-03-23T23:47:00.002-05:00

Current status:

85 rounds of Georgia Arms reloaded FMJ .30 Carbine (Lake City brass; this is first on my "to buy" list when I've got the money...I'd like to have at least 200 rounds of FMJ .30 Carbine and 5.56mm on hand at all times.)
50 rounds of Remington SP .30 Carbine
300 rounds of FMJ 8mm Mauser (Yugo surplus, for my M24/47 Mauser arriving Wednesday)
200 round battlepack of Prvi M855 spec 5.56mm
240 rounds of GP11 7.5 Swiss
~3000 rounds of Aguila .22 lr
25 rounds of Hornady XTP JHP 9x18mm Makarov
200 rounds of Sellier & Berlot brass cased FMJ 9x18mm
~200 rounds of assorted FMJ 9mm Luger
~200 rounds of assorted JHP 9mm Luger (both for my upcoming Sig P225 that should be in my possession within a few weeks.)
36 rounds of Hot Shot (Prvi manufactured) flat point FMJ 7.62 Nagant (for my recently acquired M1895 Nagant revolver.)
100 rounds of sporting clays 12 gauge shells

Altogether I have ammunition for 9 out of my 11 guns (plus ammo for 2 guns soon to be acquired.) The supply is contained in 4 .50 ammo cans and 1 .30 ammo can, all stacked full to the brim. Also, a friend across town has several hundred rounds of 7.62x54R for my Nagant, if need be.

Bring on the zombies.

South Park Monday

2009-03-23T22:08:00.000-05:00

I'm declaring shenanigans on AFPC.

Funny Death

2009-03-22T14:03:00.003-05:00

...and it involves furries. I was watching a show on Spike last night called "1000 ways to die." Basically they take police/autopsy reports of people who died in a weird or funny way and make a show out of it. There were some pretty amusing ones, but this one takes the cake.

Guy is wandering through the Mojave desert tripping balls on mushrooms. He eventually comes across a bunch of furries having a...fur pile. He tries to join in the fun, but the furries aren't having any of it because he's not a furry. He wanders off and discovers a furry sitting by itself. He tries to engage in having sex with the furry, but unfortunately for him the furry is actually a real live bear, who far from being amused at the dude's advances proceeds to rip the guy's throat out and start eating him.

Here's a video of the clip:

Baaaa

2009-03-22T14:01:00.000-05:00

This is pretty cool:

h/t: SJS

Powerthirst, RANGER Edition

2009-03-21T14:45:00.000-05:00

Comes from a commenter over at AM's place:

Seen on TV Tonight

2009-03-20T03:11:00.002-05:00

This was included in the episode of Robot Chicken I saw tonight:

I've always gotten a big kick out of the song, but the funniest part is the first 8 seconds. I think that's pretty much what the USAF has been doing since...the end of the Cold War.

Top 10 BSG Episodes

2009-03-20T01:29:00.002-05:00

Given that the series finale is approaching (less than 24 hours), I figured I'd come up with what I consider the 10 best episodes, in broadcast order. Should go without saying that spoilers for anything other than the series finale follow:

33 - Even though it was the first episode, I still consider this one of the more darker and gritty episodes, which is saying something. Between the sleep deprivation and the climax of shooting down the equivalent of a civilian jetliner (albeit one with over a thousand people on board) this episode encapsultes what the series is all about.

Flesh and Bone - Not only does this episode delve into the issue of torture, it sets up two major storylines: Starbuck/Leoben and the Cylon concept of a single God and all the other religious stuff. It also proves yet again that Laura Roslin has big brass ones.

The Hand of God - Outside of the miniseries, this is the first real big "space battle" in the show. It also shows that Starbuck is not only a good pilot but a pretty good tactician as well. Lastly, I love the lucky lighter scenes between the two Adamas.

Valley of Darkness - The tension of hunting down the Cylon boarding party is awesome, but more important is the use of one of Philip Glass' Metamorphosis pieces as background music for both a scene on Caprica and a powerful scene that closes out the episode. Also has a particularly moving scene involving some tough choices the Chief has to make with one of his wounded men. Finally, it includes one of my favorite lines of dialogue in the whole series:

Lee Adama: Sometimes you've gotta roll a hard six.
Jammer: What does that mean, sir?
Lee Adama: Uh, I don't know. It's something my dad says.

Scar - If I had to pick one episode that best illustrated the "fighter pilot" side of BSG, this would be it. Part of its allure comes from the fact that it followed the admittedly flawed Black Market, but that doesn't take away from the fact that it is a very good episode. Really, all I can say is that this is the "fighter pilot" episode of BSG. That should be enough.

The Captain's Hand - Similarly, if there was one episode that best illustrated the SWO/ship's captain nature of the show, this would be it. Lots of good leadership and personality conflicts. Plus you get to see Pegasus' forward batteries up close for the first time.

Exodus (Part II mainly, but we'll include both of them since I smash some episodes together below) - Don't think I really need to explain this one. Adama Maneuver. Pegasus fucking some shit up. Over at the CDR's place, one commenter described the "SWOner" he got when the Pegasus locked engines ahead flank and set main batteries to autofire. Can't say I disagree.

Hero - An expended pilot from a secret mission comes back from the dead. The question of just how far your duty as a military officer goes is raised. The guilt Adama faces for possibly provoking the Cylon war is revealed. Overall another episode that does a good job touching on some more military-centric issues.

Unfinished Business - A great episode in general, lots of good acting between the scenes in the ring and the flashbacks on New Caprica. Also has one of my favorite quotes from the series:

Bill Adama: "When you step on this deck, you be ready to fight, or you dishonor the reason why we're here. Now remember this: When you fight a man, he's not your friend. Same goes when you lead men. I forgot that once. I let you get too close, all of you. I dropped my guard. I gave some of you breaks, let some of you go, before the fight was really over. I let this crew and this family disband, and we paid the price in lives. That can't happen again."

Sine Qua Non/The Hub - This makes the list alone for the resolution of the Adama/Roslin relationship. Also worth it for the Adama/Tigh man fight, during which they immediately resolve their problems with each other. Baltar also admits to being the guy who is pretty much responsible for the nuclear holocaust. Oh, and they nuke the Hub. Just a minor detail.

Revelations - Besides the whole "finding Earth but its actually a nuclear wasteland" thing, this episode has Adama raging after finding out that Tigh is a Cylon as well as the very tense subsequent standoff between crazy Number Three and Lee. Lee punches Tigh in the face.

The Oath/Blood on the Scales - Don't think this one really needs much explanation either. Gaeta and Zarek mutiny, people choose sides, Starbuck and Apollo run rampant through the ship gunning down people (after raiding the mini-armory that Starbuck apparently maintains in her personal locker), and Adama and Tigh shooting from the hip standing their ground.

Daybreak - Series finale. 'Nuff said.

Even though Razor is technically the first two episodes of Season Four, I'm not counting it because it aired as a movie. If I was, it would definitely be on the list. I also lied, I guess it turned out to be 13 instead of 10. I think the only ones that might be a bit of a stretch would be The Hand of God, The Captain's Hand, and Hero. They're on my list because I've always thought BSG was at its best when the military/"aircraft carrier in space" nature of the show was at the forefront. These three episodes may not have been particularly noteworthy from a strictly critical perspective, but they got into aspects of the military side of the show that I enjoyed.

I should note that I had little trouble picking out the best episodes from season 3 (easily the weakest season of the show) and that I probably had the most trouble with season 4, primarily for two reasons. Number one, I've watched the episodes of seasons 1 and 2 many more times and have a better feel for which ones I particularly enjoy. Number two (and more importantly), season 4 has been rather mundane, in a good way. Where season 3 was just dumb (Helo stopping the murderous doctor from slaughtering the religious crazies? Really?) season 4 has been solid (even the Demetrius storyline wasn't that bad) although not many episodes really stood out, excepting of course the ones I selected.

Mustache March

2009-03-20T01:13:00.002-05:00

I didn't grow one, because a)I don't wear wings on my chest and (more importantly) b)I'm not near as manly as Robin Olds, so what's the point?

If you don't know who Robin Olds is, he's basically the USAF version of Chuck Norris. Wonder why things suck with today's AF? If Robin Olds were CSAF, things would rock.

Quotes of the Day

2009-03-20T01:08:00.001-05:00

Comes from the most recent (and last) special on BSG. The question that was asked was, "What does BSG mean to you?"

Jamie Bamber: "Where I discovered the flight suit weight loss program."

James Callis: "Kissing Tricia Helfer...a lot...a lot...really a lot."

South Park Monday

2009-03-16T22:06:00.002-05:00

Saw this episode at the 2030 South Park airing tonight. I had never noticed the subtle BSG reference with the music.

Dear God, why?

2009-03-12T12:56:00.007-05:00

If you are a gun lover (especially of the classics) prepare your eyes, for these next few pictures aren't pretty:

First up, we have a SBR Mosin-Nagant M44. Of course, it wasn't enough to SBR it, it was necessary to tactilol it out with a collapsible stock and optics, rails, vertical foregrip, and some other assorted crap on the front of the gunNext, we have a Garand that has had unspeakable horrors inflicted on it. One of the posters on the forum where I got these pictures from commented that seeing a fine old warhorse like a Garand desicrated like this reminded him of the pictures of animals wearing cute sweaters or the like and how they always have this look of abject disgust and a desire to kill the human responsible in a very cruel and unusual way. I can't say I disagree.
Here's one that's even sadder. Someone needs to either give these guns some TLC or put them out of their misery, because this state is just pathetic. These guns probably killed Nazis galore (on two fronts!), now they look like something you could buy at some crappy yuppy interior design store.
This one is just funny, because it is the ultimate in redneck ingenuity. I give you...the Remington 1740!
I've saved the worst for last. As someone who is a firm believer that John Moses Browning was God's gift to the gun world, it pains me to even look at this picture, much less comprehend that people have actually bought this crap. I post it only as a warning...just because you can does not mean you should.
Also, if you ever meet whoever was responsible for this abomination, please kick them in the nuts for me and then slit their throat. Preferably with a very dull knife.

Confusion and Misunderstanding

2009-03-12T12:48:00.002-05:00

Pretty good video here detailing the differences between selective fire assault rifles and semi-automatic "assault weapons":

One minor beef: he makes full auto/NFA weapons sound harder to get than they actually are, but I'm willing to forgive that in the interest of simplicity and on account of the fact that he is in California, where they really are that difficult to acquire. However, the real problem is that the people he was probably most interested in reaching (those in the media) can't be reached because they either a) know better and are perpetuating blatantly wrong information in support of their chosen political position or b) don't know better but have no desire to be informed otherwise because it, again, supports their chosen political position.

Still, like I said, pretty good video. Good to show to a friend or acquaintance who has a desire to be educated.

No

2009-03-11T17:28:00.002-05:00

Not just no, but HELL NO:

The White House budget office has asked the Pentagon to consider delaying the purchase of aerial refueling tankers by five years, a move that reflects the constraints of drawing up a budget in the midst of a recession, according to two sources familiar with the administration's discussions.

The possible delay in one of the Pentagon's most expensive programs is one of a number of options the administration is weighing, the sources said. No final budget decisions have been made, officials said.

Beat up on the USAF for the F-22 and JSF all you want, but we're one fatigued airframe away from being utterly and totally fucked. Good luck doing anything in the CENTCOM AOR without KC-135s, because the KC-10s and RAF Tristars and VC-10s sure as hell won't be able to pick up the slack. Strategic airlift? Bye-bye. The logistics of ONE would get a lot more exciting. Have fun forward deploying anything to Guam. Global Reach Global Power? Only if you've got a metric shit-ton of extra fuel tanks onboard.

There's a reason that the CSAF recently said that acquiring new tankers is still our number one priority. The tankers are the only thing in the budget that are literally non-negotiable; if we don't get new tankers you might as well sell the rest of the service off because nothing else will get done.

Did I say nothing else would get done? Sorry, I meant nothing else would get done except for VIP airlift:

The documents also detail correspondence from intermediaries for Speaker Pelosi issuing demands for certain aircraft and expressing outrage when requested military planes were not available. "It is my understanding there are no G5s available for the House during the Memorial Day recess. This is totally unacceptable...The speaker will want to know where the planes are..." wrote Kay King, Director of the House Office of Interparliamentary Affairs. In a separate email, when told a certain type of aircraft would not be available, King writes, "This is not good news, and we will have some very disappointed folks, as well as a very upset [s]peaker."

h/t: the CDR for both.

Mid Week Rock

2009-03-11T15:40:00.001-05:00

In honor of 11 March (3/11), here's some from Omaha's own. (No embed, sorry.)

South Park Monday

2009-03-09T23:56:00.002-05:00

Pretty sure I've showed at least one, if not both of these clips before, but in honor of the new season, here's the two of the better moments from Season 12, featuring Gerald and Randy doing what they do best: making complete asses out of themselves:

Post of the Year

2009-03-08T16:24:00.001-05:00

Comes from the DEW Line and contains this video:

Yes, that is a (Bollywood themed) marketing video from Israeli arms manufacturer Rafael.

I'm speechless.

h/t: ELP

What the frak?

2009-03-08T01:11:00.002-06:00

One of the cooler musical sequences on BSG...

Mid Week Rock

2009-03-05T15:16:00.003-06:00

Let's just say that there's a personal reason for the choice of this song this particular week:

And in case you didn't get the message, let me hit you over the head with the lyrics:

Ask her to stay
Ignition turns, the engine burns to life
She drives away
Away into the night
Storm rolling in
The darkness descending and then
She picks up her poison bottle
Cloudy sky, cloudy mind, now she feels at home
She drinks away her pain
As she takes your life into her hands
Out on the road
The poison has begun to settle in
She's going home
But wishes she could disappear again
She starts to swerve
The white line means nothing to her
She picks up her poison bottle
Heavy head, heavy eyes, will she make it home?
She drinks away her pain
As she takes your life into her hands
Her memories remain
As she takes your life into her hands
Losing control
Bits and pieces scatter like small toys
She'll never know
The lives she has taken and destroyed
She looks around
At flames eating bodies on the ground
She sees her broken poison bottle
Pick it up, smash it down in a pool of blood
The cops came and they took her away in chains

...or not, as the case may be. But that's all I'm going to say about that in a public forum.

Humor of the Day

2009-03-05T14:57:00.003-06:00

Comes from the letters section of the most recent issue of Air & Space. In the previous issue they had the first part of a series on the aircraft of Vietnam. It was on the Phantom. (This month's was on the Thud.) The following was anonymously sent in:

Low Flight

Oh, I have slipped through swirling clouds of dust,
A few feet from the dirt,
I've flown the F-4 low enough
To make my bottom hurt,
I've flown in the desert, hills, and valleys,
Mountains too,
Frolicked in the trees,
Where only flying squirrels flew.

Chased the frightened cows along,
Disturbed the ram and ewe,
And done a hundred other things
That you'd not care to do.
I've smacked the tiny sparrow,
Bluebird, robin, all the rest,
I've ingested baby eagles,
Simply sucked them from their nest.

I've streaked through total darkness,
Just the other guys and me,
And spent the night in terror of
Things I could not see.
I turned my eyes to heaven,
As I sweated through the flight,
Put out my hand and touched,
The Fire Warning Light.

-Poet unknown.

South Park Monday

2009-03-02T00:00:00.001-06:00

A problem

2009-03-01T20:33:00.001-06:00

How to tell you might have a problem: you own guns you still have not purchased ammunition for yet you just purchased 300 rounds of ammunition for a gun you have not yet purchased.

Choices

2009-02-28T22:06:00.004-06:00

Came into the possession of a little bit of extra change thanks to an award I received at Dining Out tonight. I am probably planning on purchasing guns and/or ammo with the money (surprise, surprise.) As usual, I'm leaning towards guns as the supply of particular surplus guns tends to eventually dry up permanently (excepting resale by private parties, of course) whereas ammunition will almost always be produced in any given cartridge, it's just a matter of price going up with time. Given my prioritization of collection (not that I'm not a shooter, just that I really like the collection side of things), I'm pretty set on purchasing firearms. I've narrowed my options down to three, with a subsequent choice in the first option.

Option one is to purchase either a Yugo M24/47 or Czech vz-24 Mauser and also purchase an M1895 Nagant revolver. Right now I'm leaning towards the M24/47 if I choose this option simply because it's in better condition for the same price. Owning the Czech gun would be fun, but not enough to justify buying a lower quality gun for the same price. The revolver is because it's a historical unique design (the cylinder moves forward when the gun is cocked) that can be had for $80. Besides, I need at least ONE revolver.

Option two is to purchase just a Yugo SKS. The Yugo SKSs are fairly good quality, but they've got two differences from most other SKSs, one of which is a definite negative the other of which I'm not sure about. The first is that Yugo SKSs are the only SKSs that don't have a chrome lined barrel. This is obviously a negative. The second is that Yugo SKSs have a grenade launcher affixed to the end of the barrel. A cool feature, but not sure if I want all that extra weight at the end of the barrel. Both this option and the first option would cost about the same ($275 or so altogether).

Option three would be to get a red dot optic for my AR (an Aimpoint CompM3 or M4 seems the most likely at the moment). On the downside this would be considerably more expensive (more to the tune of ~$400 as well as another ~$100 for a mount) but I do REALLY want a quality red dot for my AR.

Other random things I need to purchase are a few boxes of 8x56R ammo, a case of Czech light ball 7.62x54R, a case or two of 5.56 (preferably M855 spec ammo), as much GP11 as I can get my hands on (got 240 rounds in the mail, could use another thousand), and some wooden grips for my vz-82.

However, at the moment I'm leaning towards the M24/47 and M1895 combo. The red dot isn't really a realistic option due to my firm belief in the need to buy quality (which is why I don't feel bad about spending $17 a piece on AR mags from Brownells). Unfortunately the cost of buying quality makes it a little hard to justify at this moment. If I can't buy quality, I'd rather just wait. The SKS is attractive, but I'm not entirely sure I want a Yugo SKS for the reasons listed above (grenade launcher and lack of chrome lined barrel). It's unlikely that SKSs will dry up any time soon, even if the supply of imported ones goes away, due to the large amount in circulation.

Bottom line is that I "need" (really want) a Mauser. Given this desire and my penchant for picking up unusual mil-surp firearms available for fairly cheap (see my random purchase of the Steyr M95) the M 24/47 and M1895 Nagant option seems the best fit. However, feel free to talk me out of it or into something else.

What a Moran

2009-02-26T10:55:00.002-06:00

Seriously, is Eric Holder dumb or just plain stupid?

The Obama administration will seek to reinstate the assault weapons ban that expired in 2004 during the Bush administration, Attorney General Eric Holder said today.

Our illustrious Attorney General is apparently so stupid he can't even remember 15 years into the past. Ask Bill Clinton how well the '94 ban went over. Even better, ask the Democrats in Congress at the time how well it went over. Wayne LaPierre has it right:

In a brief interview with ABC News, Wayne LaPierre, president of the National Rifle Association, said, "I think there are a lot of Democrats on Capitol Hill cringing at Eric Holder's comments right now."

In any case, I am glad I now possess a EBR with a collapsible stock, bayonet lug, pistol grip, and flash suppressor, as well as several "high-capacity" magazines. All of these features make the gun that much more deadly in my hands when I inevitably snap and start killing people. Of course, the OTHER EIGHT FIREARMS I own are not nearly as deadly and are thus okay for a serf like me to possess.

And by the way, ABC News, a clip is something used to load an internal magazine. Every gun banned by the '94 AWB uses an EXTERNAL MAGAZINE, which is what your dumb ass is referring to when you say "clip." Put down the Ahnold film and actually do some fucking research. We're not talking about rocket science here, but then again, we're also talking about journalists. I should just be glad they included the phrase "semi-automatic" instead of implying that the ban is on full-auto rock 'n' roll guns like they usually do.

Mid Week Rock

2009-02-25T00:00:00.001-06:00

Given the rant on my previous post, seemed necessary to have some Rush this week:

Probably the best example of a non punk major band that has a libertarian message in some of their music.

The Presidential Address

2009-02-24T22:25:00.002-06:00

I didn't watch it (had better things to do with my time, like watch South Park while pretending to do homework) but I heard it went something like this:

Seriously, halve the deficit by 2013? The war in Iraq might be expensive, but it's not THAT expensive. I see a month in office hasn't stopped his campaign habit of making promises that he knows (along with all the adults in the room) he can't keep. I'm at the point where I don't even care anymore...thanks to policies started under the last few years of Bush and that will only be expanded under Obama, the country is fucked. The best case scenario ends with several years (a decade or more, at least) of economic and social mediocrity, thanks to creating a whole new class of citizen who lives in a post moral hazard America, suckling at the government teat.

South Park Monday

2009-02-23T00:00:00.000-06:00

This is all the funnier because my French professor has used the "telephone" as a teaching tool in class.

The Lonely Island

2009-02-22T22:46:00.003-06:00

This is some pretty funny shit:

Shades of Gunther but much heavier on the sarcasm. Yet more proof that Samberg is pretty much the only funny thing to come out of SNL the past 5 years.

Reminder

2009-02-21T17:35:00.001-06:00

Taking Chance is on tonight at 1900 CST. Unfortunately it doesn't appear that I'll be able to watch it as I'm a poor college student as are all of my friends, so none of us have access to HBO. Still, if you've got the opportunity I highly recommend it.

Quote of the Day

2009-02-21T17:12:00.002-06:00

"Perhaps race relations would improve, Lester said, if black people lightened up a bit: "They're not too good (at being) made fun of. We can all take a joke.""

From this story about editorial cartoonists discussing the problem of drawing caricatures of Obama. I think there's a clarification that needs to be made in the quote: "...if black people WHO AGREE WITH AL SHARPTON lightened up a bit..."

h/t: Radley Balko

Conan's last show

2009-02-21T16:03:00.002-06:00

In honor of Conan O'Brien's last show on Late Night...

I can remember watching this bit when it first aired...just as funny now as it was then.

Mid Week Rock

2009-02-18T12:55:00.000-06:00

Some Freddie for your Wednesday...

Beer

2009-02-16T19:05:00.000-06:00

Your result for The If You Were A Beer Test...

Guinness

(100% dark & bitter, 67% working class, 100% genuine)

Okay, we all know Guinness is the best possible score on any "What Kind Of Beer Are You" test, so you can just go on and pat yourself on the back now. Like the world's most famous brew, you're genuine, you've got good taste, and you're sophisticated. What else can I say, except congratulations?

If your friends didn't score the same way, get ready for them to say: Guinness is too heavy; it's an acquired taste; it's too serious--and they probably think those things about you at times. But just brush 'em off. Everybody knows Guinness is the best. Cheers.

Take The If You Were A Beer Test at HelloQuizzy

Sounds good to me.

h/t: Lex

Programming Note

2009-02-16T12:45:00.002-06:00

Looking at the TCM schedule for the remainder of the month and a few movies caught my eye...

This Wednesday I have the choice of either watching this at 2100 (CST)

Or going to bed early/waking up early and watching this at 0300 (CST)

At the moment I'm leaning towards waking up early, but we'll see.

And then on Friday at 0930 (CST) there's this

If you haven't yet seen it you really should make time.

South Park Monday

2009-02-15T20:25:00.004-06:00

Had to do something aviation related as apparently someone (who may or may not have been an AFROTC Cadet) was flying a remote controlled airplane around the Armory tonight and pissing off the hippies. I might have a little more sympathy if they didn't insist on building a house in the Armory every Sunday night...

UPDATE: I can indeed confirm that there was an r/c airplane being flown around the Armory, as I may or may not have buzzed a few of the hippies with it. We even thought ahead to maintain plausible deniability...the aircraft is modeled on one of those inferior Navy/Marine Corps short legged plastic bugs. The designers of the model also accurately modeled the type's poor performance and difficulty to fly by only allowing control along the yaw axis (although ironically enough, it actually does have fairly good high alpha control, just like the real Bug).

Knowing enough to be dangerous

2009-02-14T22:03:00.003-06:00

...is usually the worst level of knowledge: enough to think you know what you're doing but usually missing some key piece of information. I demonstrated this tonight when cleaning the cosmo off of my Steyr M95 (spare me the psychoanalysis of cleaning guns alone on Valentine's Day). Anyway, my gun is absolutely CAKED in the stuff, so I bust out the mineral spirits for the small metal parts and get a heat gun for the furniture and larger metal parts (barrel/receiver). Unfortunately, I hit a snag early when the front barrel band won't come off. This is the very first step in disassembling an M95, so we've got a problem. Three hours later, it's finally off (dried and hardened cosmo acted like superglue). Llike I said, everything is absolutely coated in cosmo, so I start giving the barrel/receiver the business with the heat gun. The cosmo is coming off nicely until I realize that there is some smoke in the air, just a few wisps. Shut off the heat gun, wipe off the gun, everything seems fine. Check the heat gun settings...low is 750 F and high is 1000 F. That's considerably higher than I thought. Oops. Cosmo MELTS around 120 F and has a flashpoint of 365 F...that might explain the smoke.

Diversity

2009-02-14T14:18:00.001-06:00

The Navy seems to be having some more issues with "diversity"...here's one of my favorite takes on that horrible word:

6th SOS Pic o' the Day

2009-02-12T07:25:00.002-06:00

source (Click for high-res)

Going along with that, here's a pretty good article on the USAF and FID.

Mid Week Rock

2009-02-10T19:18:00.001-06:00

The hippies actually had some good music playing at the Armory tonight...Layla, Dylan's Hurricane, and then this:

South Park Monday

2009-02-09T22:58:00.002-06:00

Needed to do something referencing the homeless since my truck currently looks like a hobo is living out of it. The AFROTC Regional/CC is coming to visit Tuesday and there's a ton of random crap from around the Det that needed a temporary home out of the way that he wouldn't see. That home happened to be the bed and/or passenger seat of my truck.

Since V-Day is coming up, here's an extra vid...

Yeah...you like that? Yeah...

More on Taking Chance

2009-02-08T21:44:00.002-06:00

An interview/conversation between Kevin Bacon and the Marine he plays in the movie, Lt. Col. Strobl:

Me - 1 Gun Grabbers - 0

2009-02-08T17:38:00.002-06:00

Well, I suppose the closet full of C&R mil-surps would beg to differ with the "1" notation, but in any case, I now have in my possession a Superior Arms mid-length S-15 (their version of the AR-15). 16'' bbl, 6 position telescoping stock, also got 2 3o round mags (one Colt, one Brownells, got another 2 on the way from Brownells).

In other gun news, in the past few weeks I've taken possession of a Swiss K-31 with EXTREMELY rough wood but pristine metal and a brand new bore, a Hungarian Steyr M95 Carbine with a few small cracks in the wood in front of the receiver but gorgeous wood on the butt, and a Mosin Nagant M91/30 hex receiver with a nice surprise: brass inlays on the metal at the front and rear of the handguard. I might have a problem, but my logic is that I'm not going to buy hardly any ammo for any of these guns until I've got more money. In effect, the ammo for a few of my earlier purchased guns has been deferred in order to buy more guns. Heck, in the case of two of the guns I'd like to buy ammo for (the AR and M-1 Carbine) ammo is almost impossible to find, and that which is available is through the roof on price so I'm probably saving myself money in the long run by buying guns instead...minus the additional ammo costs from buying more guns.

Owww...my head hurts...

2009-02-05T23:44:00.002-06:00

One suspects that these might be the human equivalents of the Dodo...setting aside personal religious beliefs, the real irony here is that a belief that a higher power created everything IS NOT INCOMPATIBLE WITH EVOLUTION. Treating them as mutually incompatible identifies you as the fundamentalist idiot you are.

h/t: Radley Balko. Make sure to check out the "Ex-Masturbator" t-shirts.

Mid Week Rock

2009-02-04T21:39:00.001-06:00

We get letters...

2009-02-03T22:19:00.002-06:00

It would appear that the letter to the Daily I wrote (linked in the hippie post below) got a bit of a response, at least from an ISU alum. Got the following email tonight from the email address idiosynchronic@gmail.com:

Awww . . . poor baby. You never ask, I notice, if the Design students enjoy the frickin' Armory. Too bad you'll no longer be at ISU when they finish their nice big studio space and finally leave you whiners to your own damn facility. About frickin' time, IMO. I hated that damn studio and your mil sci passive aggressiveness.

-id.

Oh, what's that? You were finished? Well, then allow me to retort...

I just assumed, given the pristine condition the design students keep their studios in, that they love the Armory. /sarcasm. In fact, they keep it in such fine condition that the ROTC units were ready to demand that the University put some sort of a covering over their studios so visitors to our units wouldn't be put off by the absolute shit hole that the studios are. I understand that it's a working space, but apparently taking a little pride in your public appearance is too much to ask. (Given the personal appearance of many of them, I can't say I'm surprised.) Also should note that not only do the design students feel the need to keep their part of the Armory a pig sty, but they take the liberty of using (and trashing) space ROTC pays for as well.

I can see why he would call us whiners, though. We get SOOOO much support from the University compared to your sorry selves.

Oh, and for the record? This time when you design the facility try not to fuck it up like you did the Design Building...

South Park Monday

2009-02-02T20:28:00.002-06:00

Because apparently every fucking hippie is in the Armory tonight making as much goddamned noise as they can. Seriously, it sounds like there's a house being built in here. The best part is that since they're worthless design students, all they'll have to show for it is a few pieces of foam taped to a piece of wood and, if they really push themselves, maybe some squiggles on a piece of paper. That will be the sum total of the massive project they've spent "all week" working on...in between the movie breaks, TV breaks, music breaks, frisbee breaks, and brushing their teeth in the Armory restroom breaks because they're dirty hippies that don't have an apartment to live in and who wouldn't take a shower in it even if they did.

Did I mention I REALLY hate design students?

On the topic of design students, here's a link to a letter I sent in to the Daily regarding a design student's column bitching about the College of Design taking away some of their facilities. It was basically a polite way of saying "too the fuck bad, your shitty College has taken away facilities from the ROTC units for going on two decades."

Genius

2009-01-29T12:22:00.002-06:00

It's been said that the best way to understand the actions of a bureaucracy is to assume that it is controlled by a cabal of its enemies. There's something of that in this story:

The CIA's station chief at its sensitive post in Algeria is under investigation by the U.S. Justice Department for allegedly raping at least two Muslim women who claim he laced their drinks with a knock-out drug, U.S. law enforcement sources tell ABC News.
The suspect in the case is identified as Andrew Warren in an affidavit for a search warrant filed in federal court in Washington, D.C. by an investigator for the State Department's Diplomatic Security Service.

A CIA station chief....RAPING MUSLIM WOMEN. If I was an al-Q propagandist, I really couldn't do any better than this. Whatever punishment they give this guy is entirely too good for him. I'd love to turn him loose in one of the seedier neighborhoods in Algiers or Cairo, or maybe southern Lebanon, or maybe even the FATA and just let things take their natural course.

Mid Week Rock

2009-01-28T15:57:00.001-06:00

Open Letter

2009-01-28T15:29:00.002-06:00

To the idiot design professor (but of course I repeat myself):

The main hallways in the Armory are NOT in fact classrooms. Holding class and preventing any passage of others in that hallway not only inconveniences everyone else who uses the Armory, but poses a fire hazard. I suppose you really don't care about the inconvenience though, seeing as how your College has been inconveniencing ROTC cadets for 19 years and counting.

Just Because

2009-01-26T22:10:00.000-06:00

Yes, that is in fact (at the time) U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft.

South Park Monday

2009-01-26T00:00:00.000-06:00

A Bet

2009-01-25T22:36:00.001-06:00

Given the subject matter of next week's BSG episode, what do you think the chances are that at some point at least one of the Adamas utters some derivative of the phrase, "Sometimes you have to roll a hard six"?

Courageous

2009-01-24T18:18:00.001-06:00

If you're going to be a new officer sometime soon, you should probably read this. More than a few good lessons contained therein.

Seen in Ames

2009-01-22T19:34:00.004-06:00

On a license plate:

BSG 75.

I think that might just be better than MANBRPG.

When the ATF pisses you off...

2009-01-22T14:20:00.002-06:00

...just be glad you don't live in Canada. I'm doing some research on what, if any, of my firearms I will be able to take to Alaska with me (I'm planning on driving up there and would like to avoid shipping them if at all possible). Looks like I should be alright except for my AR, possibly my Carbine, mags for both the AR and the Carbine, and both my CZ and Sig handguns (no handguns with a barrel length under 4'' are permitted into Canada...the P225 has a barrel length of 3.9''). Of course, all firearms and ammunition will have to be locked up securely while in transport, but I expected that. It would probably be easier to just ship them all, but I don't like the idea of turning over a considerable investment to UPS or FedEx.

Dien Bien Phu

2009-01-20T22:10:00.003-06:00

Ever since reading Bernard Fall's Street Without Joy and Hell in a Very Small Place, I've been fascinated by the French experience in Indochina. In fact, I'm doing a research paper on the subject for a French history class I'm taking this semester. This fascination makes it all the more annoying that I have not yet been able to view this film:

A clip depicting the final fall of the fortress used to be on YouTube, but got pulled awhile ago.

Mid Week Rock

2009-01-20T21:19:00.003-06:00

...at least as long as we can keep printing money. After that...maybe you can't have everything you like.

Ew, that left a bad taste in my mouth...

That's better. Make sure to check out the live version of this song that's available in the related video list. The infamous Heat (who is a Major now apparently) makes an appearance.

Amusing

2009-01-20T15:04:00.002-06:00

As previously stated, the Carbine has been replaced by my CZ handgun as the home defense gun, at least temporarily until my Sig gets here. What's amusing is that prior to this, I had been keeping my handgun in the drawer of my desk away from my bed. I figured that the proper place for a home defense gun is as close to the bed as you can get (my Carbine had been leaning up against my desk about a foot away from my bed), so I moved the handgun to the other drawer. What's funny is that this drawer already contained my Ka-bar, as well as a few other knives. This drawer is now known as the "someone's breaking down the front door" drawer.

Although really, all of this stuff is for show because my roommate has a newly acquired 18'' barrel extended mag Remington 870.

Firearm PSA

2009-01-20T14:05:00.003-06:00

Something to remember...when you are using a firearm, there are immense pressures being released inches from your face. Even a relatively low powered round, like .30 Carbine, can have a pressure of up to 40,000 psi. Always inspect your ammo, and think long and hard before you shoot non factory produced ammunition. My general rule of thumb is that I will only shoot handloads from someone I trust with my life, because that's in effect what you are doing.

If you are going to be stupid and shoot handloads from someone you don't know, you really shouldn't shoot them in a Garand, a firearm with a gas system that must use specific ammunition, so much so that even most standard commercial .30-06 ammo will cause damage to the rifle if fired in a Garand, abeit non-catastrophic damage.

What happens when you don't follow these simple rules?

You get to thank God you're only out a $1000 rifle and some pain in your hand.

Yes, that is in fact what's left of an M-1 Garand (Springfield Armory reproduction, thankfully, although they still used many USGI parts). You should really follow the link and read the whole thing, as the other pictures are even more incredible. The force of the explosion was enough to blow sections of the handguard 35 feet to both sides of the shooter.

South Park Monday

2009-01-19T00:14:00.002-06:00

A look back...

Ha ha ha, he died like a pig.

Beauuutiful money, ha ha!

And a look forward...

PSA

2009-01-18T02:44:00.002-06:00

Dos Gringos are getting back together for a benefit concert in Las Vegas on 30 Jan. I know I've got at least one guy from the Vegas area who occasionally reads the blog who might be interested in attending, so if you're in the area, you should go.

Range Report

2009-01-17T23:37:00.003-06:00

Hit the Ikes range today (going to get a membership there soon) with a few friends. Took the Carbine out and put a few rounds through it, as did some of the friends. She worked fine as always. Also got to shoot one of the friends' XD-9, which was enjoyable. As previously stated whenever I get around buying a new manufacture handgun an XD will be at the top of the list, although probably in .40.

More exciting was shooting my CZ vz.82. Initial impressions are very good. Trigger pull in SA was crisp and fairly short. DA was an eternity, but given the fact that it has an external safety and no decocker, carrying cocked and locked would seem to be the best option anyway. Grip feel was acceptable, but could be much improved with some quality wooden grips. The plastic ones are more than a little chintzy. Probably going to be heading here for those. Only one FTF; it occurred with the Sellier and Bellot ammo. However, I think this was a fluke, and in any case this will be the ammo I choose to use as the Silver Bear stuff seemed to give the gun a much sharper recoil. While I'm sure part of this was the fact that my hands were frozen by the point I started shooting that ammo, the cold can't explain the fact that sparks would occasionally fly out of the ejection port as the gun ejected the spent shell. This is probably a combination of the blowback action (no delay between cartridge firing and the slide separating from the barrel) and some poor quality powder. Regardless, this didn't occur with either of the other two manufacturers I fired and occurred more than once with the Silver Bear. The 25 Hornady XTP JHPs that I put through fed without a hitch. While 9x18 Makarov isn't the best choice for a personal defense round, it's better than using .30 Carbine and will do for now until I get my Sig P225 in 9mm Luger.

Most exciting, though, was getting to shoot my friend Patrick's Nagant 91/59. For those of you that don't know, the Nagant was the standard Russian/Soviet battle rifle from, as you might have guessed, 1891 until right around WWII. However, it continued to serve around the world after WWII. One of the most interesting variants is the 91/59, which has a carbine length barrel. What makes the 91/59 interesting is that unlike the purpose built Nagant carbines, the 91/59 was manufactured from cutting down a full length 91/30. 7.62x54R is a man's round if you are shooting it from a full size rifle. Shooting it from a carbine borders on the insane. I shot around 10 rounds out of it today and my shoulder is still feeling it. I can honestly say that the carbine length Nagants kick like mules. The other interesting thing about the carbine length Nagants is that firing a round from a barrel shorter than it was originally designed for means there is a lot of unburnt powder still behind the bullet when it exits the barrel. As you might expect, this powder becomes a fireball that projects a few feet beyond the end of the barrel, which is visible even when shooting in broad daylight. If you haven't yet experienced a carbine length Nagant, I highly recommend it.

Best. Movie. Ever.

2009-01-17T17:50:00.002-06:00

I know there's at least one reader that will appreciate this:
h/t: x-planes

Fun with Bureaucracy

2009-01-16T23:00:00.002-06:00

I think the people in the ISU bureaucracy may be some of the stupidest on the face of the planet. I was given the task of revising the constitution of the AFROTC student organization on campus (we have a "separate" student organization that is university affiliated so we can get the benefits of being a stuorg). It is no different than the cadet wing associated with AFROTC Det. 250, it's just a technicality paperwork thing to get us benefits.

Anyway, the constitution needed to be revised in order to fully comply with ISU rules regarding stuorgs. To start off, one of the issues was that the name of the organization was not listed. Having "Air Force ROTC Constitution" at the top of the document wasn't a clue? To deal with this stupidity I included the following sentences:

"As stated two lines above, the name of this organization is "Air Force ROTC." In case you didn't catch it the first time, the name of this organization is "Air Force ROTC."

The next stupidity I had to deal with was adding a section extolling our desire to fully comply with all ISU rules and regulations. Fair enough, but I felt compelled to add the following at the end of that sentence: "...and any other arcane bureaucracy that is foisted on us."

We are apparently required to provide for the election of stuorg officers. Since it is a military related organization, there are obviously no elections. However, in that section I did include what happens in case of a coup or insurrection.

Finally, I was required to add a section providing descriptions for the officer positions. To the wing commander position I added "Also generally acts like a bad dude." The treasurer is described as "the master of treasure." My favorite was the description of my position, the IG. As soon as the new constitution is approved, I am authorized to "engage in skullduggery and shenanigans as required."

PSA

2009-01-16T12:54:00.004-06:00

The radio show has changed time slots. The show is on from 1600-1800 CST, I'll be on during the political portion of the show, which is 1700-1800. Like before, the show can be listened to in the Ames area on 88.5 FM or via webcast, which can be found at the station website.

EDIT: Forgot to add, the show is on Fridays now.

Really Cold, Part Deux

2009-01-15T23:37:00.002-06:00

At the moment it is currently SIXTY-ONE degrees colder here in Ames than it is in Anchorage. 56 degrees colder here than it is in Fairbanks. To be fair, they are in the middle of a chinook, but still...sixty-one degrees? While we're making the rounds of places that should be colder than Ames but aren't, Fargo is currently at -22 compared to our -27.

Go ugly early?

2009-01-15T15:14:00.003-06:00

Who said the A-10 isn't a beautiful bird?

h/t: x planes. There's a few other cool ones like this over there, including one featuring a P-40 AND a Garand.

Pluses and Minuses

2009-01-15T13:26:00.003-06:00

Number of times "Diversity" appears in the NROTC classroom: 1

Number of times "Diversity" appears in the AFROTC classroom: 0

Number of times beer pong has been used as an educational example in the NROTC Naval Weapons class: 1

Number of times beer pong has been used as an education example in any of the AFROTC classes I've taken: 0.

Like I said, pluses and minuses.

Mid Week (Folk) Rock

2009-01-15T13:20:00.002-06:00

Not quite rock, and I've posted it before, but it is a funny song...and topical too. It is definitely NOT hot in here. How cold is it?

Cold enough that the air is so dense that I could hear a train like I was standing right next to it...at the Armory. Usually all you can hear at that distance is the horn and maybe a rumbling. I could hear every clank of the cars. Cold enough that grabbing an outside door handle with bare skin for the second it takes to open the door results in your hand hurting for 5 minutes.

Intelligent Humor

2009-01-13T23:32:00.002-06:00

First, this video satiring a popular Econ textbook:

Next, this report on the comparative efficiency of Bon Scott vs Brian Johnson.

Both these come from this NYT story on stand-up economists, including one from ISU.

South Park Monday

2009-01-12T00:00:00.000-06:00

Going back to school makes me a saaaaaad panda.

Need to find a way to watch this

2009-01-09T15:34:00.003-06:00

Anyone wanna let me borrow some HBO sometime in February?

If you aren't familiar with the true story the film is based upon, check this out.

A few of the comments I was reading on another story about the movie disparaged it for being cliche and overly melodramatic, which, if it was purely a work of fiction, would be completely correct. The difference is that this is based on a true story, and not an isolated one at that. This happens every time a service member is KIA. It's nice to see the story finally getting told on film.

h/t: The CDR

Why?

2009-01-08T19:15:00.003-06:00

Why does the USAF have XXXL PT t-shirts? Height/weight standards anyone?

While we're asking rhetorical questions, why is there what I think is a search and rescue dog running around the Armory?

UPDATE: Now the dog is barking and I can hear the trainer talking to it...must be doing training or something. Nice looking border collie.

Hallelujah!

2009-01-07T15:55:00.002-06:00

The USAF FINALLY has a web presence outside of their official .mil site. The ones I think are the most significant are the official USAF blog, Air Force Live, the official USAF YouTube Channel, AF Blue Tube, and the official USAF twitter site, AFPAA. First, a big BZ to Capt. Faggard and his team for getting this project up and running. As George Smiley at In From the Cold notes, this is a sea change in AF thinking (if not a complete 180 degree shift). We're not quite all the way there, thanks to the idiotic filtering that prevents the viewing of any sort of blog from USAF computers. I won't discuss that any further other than to again state that it is an idiotic policy.

What I do want to discuss more in depth is something that Galrahn over at the USNI Blog brought up, which is the complete lack of a USAF blogosphere. While there are a fair number of active and retired USAF personnel who blog (the least of which would be myself), there are two important distinctions between this group and the Naval blogging network. First, the Naval side of things is an actual network. There is communication between the various writers, both on and off the blogs. On the USAF side of things that really doesn't exist, with a few very low order exceptions. Second, the Naval side of things actually seriously discusses matters of importance to Naval policy. With the exception of In From the Cold, ELP and (VERY occasionally) myself, I'm not aware of any active or retired personnel discussing issues of policy in depth. There are the industry reporters, like Danger Room, Ares, and David Axe over at War is Boring; these fill a related but distinct niche.

The full point that Galrahn brought up is that since the USAF blogosphere is, to use his words, "non-existent," the USAF PA folks are forced into trying to jumpstart one. This will dovetail with a point that George Smiley made which was that the effort by Capt. Faggard and his team has so far consisted largely of repeating canned stuff put out by the PA establishment that has already been released via the service's official .mil page and that it appears unlikely that they would be able to tackle a controversial subject, such as the recent nuclear troubles at Minot. Obviously if a blog (or a blogosphere, for that matter) does nothing other than repeat official .mil reporting, it serves no purpose. As I see it, there are three main ways in which less official new media can compliment the official .mil stuff.

First, new media provides a more personable way to communicate, leading to more personal stories, such as this account of a USAF combat photographer who at the site of a bombing in Sadr city which killed six coalition personnel, this series of stories from a flight surgeon assigned to Operation Deep Freeze, this story of a 1st Lt. teaching English in Korea, this video of fast roping from a CV-22, or this video of a mock commendation awarded to an airman for sacrificing his foot to save another airman's TV. By the way, the Operation Deep Freeze and teaching English stories come from PACAF's official blog, which isn't too shabby either. The point about these stories is that to my knowledge, none of them were disseminated through official .mil channels and that they provide a more personal look at USAF personnel, which is always a good thing when you are trying to connect with people.

Second, new media provides much more interaction, meaning you can communicate WITH your audience instead of TO it. This might seem like semantics, but it really is an important distinction. By themselves, Information Dissemination, CDR Salamander, or any of the other Naval blogosphere members would not be nearly as informative and useful as they are together and, more importantly, with their stable of regular commenters. AF Live has done this a little bit; I've seen Capt. Faggard comment on a few of the posts at other sites about some of the stuff his team is doing, but more could be done. Encouraging an actual conversation, by putting a post up on AF Live that is about a post elsewhere discussing something USAF related (bonus points if it talks about AF Live directly), would be a good way to start. Aim Points gets this half right, as it links to and provides outside perspectives (including blogs in the mix). The trick for AF Live will be to provide a commentary at their own place directed back towards the authors of the outside piece.

Third, new media provides a way for discussion of issues outside of official dissemination channels. This is most often referenced in regard to controversial issues, issues that official channels won't touch or cover very cursorily. (Minot, the other nuke troubles, and Maj. Jill Metzger immediately come to mind.) Here the AF effort has a larger struggle, as it seems unlikely that the official blog of the AF would be able to call for the resignation of leadership in the wake of a scandal, as other more unofficial blogs have done. However, there is still a role for an official blog to play here, albeit a more indirect one. By encouraging communication among (and growth of) USAF focused blogs, AF Live can indirectly effect this type of discussion of controversial issues. They can also affect it more directly by linking to posts discussing these issues in a professional manner. Linking to something and pointing out that it is interesting and bears a look does not necessarily confer absolute approval. Obviously this third way will be the most dependent on the level of approval from the brass and top cover from superiors, but there are still ways to make it work.

Overall, I feel that AF Live (and the other official AF new media efforts) are doing fairly well on the first point, although they could use more of those stories and less of the canned PA pieces, starting on the second, with more involvement from them this could be a good area, and nonexistent on the third, although to be fair this is going to be the toughest nut to crack. To be honest I'm just happy that the USAF has finally embraced new media instead of shunning it. I'll be very interested to see where Capt. Faggard and his team take this.

Quote of the Day

2009-01-07T15:49:00.002-06:00

Comes from this USA Today story on DoD involvement with the new Transformers movie (thus providing the only reason to see the movie: lots of military hardware):

"Plausibility!" Bishop bellows. "It has to be realistic!"

Army Sgt. Matt Hibbert, holding a prop sniper rifle, calls down: "But sir, this is Hollywood! I'm shooting at invisible aliens and firing a gun that never runs out of ammo!"

Bishop bursts out laughing and lets him stay.

h/t: the AFPAA twitter (more on that later).

Mid Week Rock, Beginning of School/Milestone Edition

2009-01-07T15:14:00.002-06:00

First, a song to try and get me psyched up for the semester...you can't grow up in NE and not get psyched up by this song. Even if you hate the Huskers (as I do) this particular part of the brainwashing to join the cult is too strong for anyone to resist.

Second, this is the thousandth post I've put up, so...

Thanks for reading! (The whole three of you...)

Black Eye

2009-01-06T13:15:00.002-06:00

Thanks ignorant fearful hicks. You've just furthered the meme that all Americans are exactly like you. Comparing Arabic to committing bank robbery is quite intelligent. I'm sure that will really make our foreign policy efforts in certain parts of the world much easier.

Support the troops? Care about the security of America? Don't make the job harder by being a stupid bigot.

(Belated) South Park Monday

2009-01-06T01:15:00.001-06:00

It was on the other night, an oldie but a goodie:

(Educational) Time Wasters

2009-01-05T23:52:00.003-06:00

If you've got some time to kill, Google's Authors@Google series is a good (and educating) time waster. (h/t: Chris) Two I've enjoyed so far are Christopher Hitchens:

And Randall Munroe (if you aren't reading xkcd you should be):

Mid Week Rock, Christmas Edition

2008-12-24T20:06:00.002-06:00

Merry Christmas/Happy Hanukkah...the other one is a crock thought up by a Black Nationalist Communist. If you haven't actually lived in Africa (particularly its garden spots), you shouldn't be allowed to celebrate it. And so ends the rant.

South Park Monday

2008-12-22T00:54:00.002-06:00

Nothing kills evil Christmas Critters better than 00 buckshot.

This one's just good ol' fashioned South Park poop and fart joke humor.

Happy Hanukkah

2008-12-21T01:15:00.001-06:00

Link to a good Stewart/Colbert bit...gets a bit slow in the middle but the end is hilarious (no embed because Comedy Central's code was busted.)

Awesome

2008-12-20T02:45:00.002-06:00

Simply awesome. Whatever DJ is on KURE around 2300 on Fridays, I salute you. You pretty much made my night by playing this song:

Quote of the Day

2008-12-20T02:43:00.002-06:00

Comes from the original "Mall Ninja":

"If Plan A is to take multiple .338 shots to the back, you really need to come up with a Plan B.”

If you haven't read the story, you really should. That quote is probably the least funny part of that article, which is saying something.

Comrades!

2008-12-19T01:23:00.003-06:00

The time for action is now! I have just returned from a sojourn across the vast expanse of Ames. In that time, I did not see one single snowplow. Not a single plow! Can you imagine such a thing? Furthermore, the snow/sleet has been falling for several hours, yet South Dakota was not yet plowed. Not a bit! Lincoln Way was hit maybe once, and let us not even talk about Mortensen. We must take swift action to rectify these wrongs of the capitalist bourgeoisie! It is necessary to begin a People's Liberation Democratic Snow Plow Army! We will soon throw off the chains of immobility and begin the Revolution necessary to ensure freedom of transportation for all!

For our leader, I propose...The Plow King!

(Thanks Jeff)

Mid Week Rock

2008-12-17T00:00:00.000-06:00

Aha!

2008-12-16T20:09:00.002-06:00

I have often bitched about the lack of snowplowing acumen in the Ames area. Generally speaking it is a safe bet to assume that most, if not all, of the snow clearance you see on city streets within 6 hours or so of snowfall is from people driving on it, not from the plows. Today, I figured out why this is the case.

Ames does not use plows on their trucks. No, seriously, I saw it myself. There was a truck driving around this morning spreading sand/salt mix that DIDN'T HAVE A PLOW. It wasn't just driving with the blade up, it DIDN'T HAVE A PLOW. At all. I mean, Jesus Christ...

Dose of Dirty Harry

2008-12-15T23:13:00.002-06:00

Who's we, sucka?

Smith...Wesson...and me

...Only with humans.

h/t: ELP

Indeed

2008-12-15T22:59:00.002-06:00

Cool Plane Pictures

2008-12-15T22:54:00.001-06:00

Lots of cool ones at this site.

h/t: Danger Room

Snicker...

2008-12-15T22:18:00.002-06:00

h/t: Radley Balko

South Park Monday

2008-12-15T00:00:00.000-06:00

Triple feature today to make sure we get in as many of the Christmas essentials before the 25th that we can...

Monty Python vid dump

2008-12-14T02:21:00.002-06:00

Vids that have provided some scant amusement during the past couple of weeks of slaving away at my Pol S project...

How I feel about ~~hippies~~ Design Students:

Would've been nice to have this guy at FT:

I don't even know what my favorite part of this sketch is...

I suspect this would be a lot funnier if I actually understood Cricket (and Americans think football [the real kind] is weird) but a guy getting his head lopped off by a machete in a sporting event is funny no matter what country you're from...

Suitable comment on the state of the British military at the moment, I think:

I think these two are tied for my favorite Flying Circus sketches...

One of the local PBS stations used to show Flying Circus later at night on the weekends when I was in junior high. Not having many friends and no cable had its benefits, I suppose.