Archive for February, 2006
CGI Pictures of the new CG Cutter
Brickmuppet has the goods.
Airborne Combat Engineer has returned from his “undisclosed location” and is posting on a regular basis once again.
Those of you who thought I did away with him? Apologies are accepted but money would be better.
Bush backs transfer of U.S. ports to Dubai firm
Am I missing something? Or is this stupid?
The Colossus has a great round-up of carrier news, ship by ship. Definitely worth a look.
New uniforms easy for troops, hard for cleaners
The “wash and wear” Advanced Combat Uniform has ushered in an unexpected military transformation: dry cleaners are losing their shirts. (You know what I mean…)
“I don’t know what I’m going to do,” said Jerry Alfano, whose worst year in four decades spent selling commercial sewing machines was last year. “I’m 58 years old … I was sailing along and then, bam, this happened.”
Defense Industry Daily notes that some in the Air Force favor selling F-22 Raptors to some of our closest allies in order to bring the per-plance cost down a bit, and that Japan seems to be a logical choice.
I don’t know exactly what to think of this idea, but it does strengthen my opinions that a) The row with Britain over the secret tech in the F-35 is a crock, and b) We should sell a squadron of F-117 Stealth fighters to Israel.
Three Ohio men indicted in alleged Iraq plot
AP/MSNBC:
A federal grand jury has indicted three Ohio men linked to al-Qaida in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi on terrorism charges of planning attacks overseas to try to kill U.S. and coalition military personnel in Iraq and other countries, according to U.S. officials and court documents unsealed Tuesday.The three men, who all lived in Toledo within the last year, were arrested over the weekend, said Assistant U.S. Attorney David Bauer in Toledo. They will be arraigned in federal courts in Cleveland and Toledo Tuesday afternoon.
The recruitment took place overseas. One holds US-Jordanian citizenship, one is a US citizen born in Jordan, and the third is from Lebanon.
The DoD has a growing collection of photos featuring our military lending a hand. Worth keeping an eye on.
After traveling and then illness, Murdoc is falling farther and farther behind rather than catching up.
I had hoped to attend the Chicago Auto Show this weekend and check out the Stryker again, but I was unable to make the trip. Bummer. So you’ll have to settle for the pictures I took last year. Sorry.
I’ve got a lot of things going on and a lot of things I want to write about, so hang in there.
Upcoming comic plot: Batman takes on al-Qaida
Murdoc used to collect comic books. He still enjoys reading them to his kids. And remains a fan of the serial nature of the format. Then there’s this:
Batman will square off against an al-Qaida cell bent on destroying Gotham City in a graphic novel titled “Holy Terror, Batman!” tentatively scheduled for release sometime in 2007.DC Comics officials will not release details of the plot, but did confirm that artist Frank Miller has composed about 120 pages of the 200-page book. Miller revealed his motivations for the terrorism-themed issue at a comic book convention in San Francisco last weekend.
“It just seems silly to chase around the Riddler when you’ve got al-Qaida out there,” Miller said, according to IGN.com, an entertainment and videogame news Web site.
The artist also called the issue “a piece of propaganda (in which ) Batman kicks al-Qaida’s ass” and “a reminder to people who seem to have forgotten who we’re up against.”
Being as I’ve always seen the Batman as being only slightly less-fanatic than your typical militant extremist, this could be good. However, “Batman: Holy Terror” was a Graphic Novel in 1991 (set in an America-lost-the-Revolution alternate reality), so I guess I’m thinking they need another title.
Hopefully, though, the story will strive to remain neutral and non-judgemental. And will devote significant time to exploring al Qaeda’s side of the story.
I knew I couldn’t say that with a straight face.
And we can be sure that everyone will realize “it’s just a comic book” and not all riot or something…
