I have been fortunate enough to be able to check out a screener DVD of THE WAR TAPES.

One word summary: Awesome. Incredible. Must see. Can’t miss. Touching. Breathtaking. Eye opening.

I hope they don’t mind if I hang on to the disc for a couple more days so I can watch it again. After I do I will have a lengthier review.

In the meantime, check out the list of locations and see this film if you can. If you’re interested in what’s going on in Iraq, you want to see this film.

Here’s the trailer:

I’ve noted this film before, most recently here.

New Aviation Brigade Takes Control of Air Operations in Northern Iraq

TIKRIT, Iraq (August 30, 2006) — A Relief in Place ceremony was conducted today to transfer responsibility for air operations in Northern Iraq from the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) to the 25th Infantry Division.

The 25th Combat Aviation Brigade from Wheeler Army Airfield, Hawaii, relieved the 101st Combat Aviation Brigade which has served at Contingency Operating Base Speicher since August 2005 in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

A lot of folks had hoped to see major reductions in US troop levels starting about now. I had hoped, too, but I was more skeptical than most. Unfortunately, we’re seeing more of the same rotations and nothing in the way of reductions. The Iraqis continue to take over more territory, but while they’ve made great strides in the past year and a half, they’ve got a long ways to go.

You may have noticed the text links in green on the left sidebars. I signed up for the Text Link Ads program some time back, but didn’t see any revenue for a couple of months. I was about to cancel when my first sale came in. I’ve had five more since.

Unlike Blogads and Google AdSense, two of the other programs I run to try and make a little scratch, you cannot see how many clicks your Text Link Ads generate. So I can’t say whether it’s really worth it for those that choose to advertise on MO. I hope so.

Anyway, if you’re looking to make a few bucks to cover hosting and expenses, consider Text Link Ads. If you’re going to sign up, please consider using the referral links in this post. Murdoc will appreciate it.

(Text Link Ads Hint: It took me three months to sell my first TLA ad. In the month since, I’ve sold five more. I can’t say what caused the bump, but about a month ago I punched up my site details a bit from the defaults. If you sign up, be sure to customize your site details.)

Finally, for readers who do not blog, I’d like to mention in a very general way that most bloggers are struggling to cover expenses. If you see ads on your favorite sites, whether they’re Text Link Ads, Google AdSense ads, Amazon ads, Blogads, or whatever, consider clicking through when you notice something interesting. You might find a good deal, and you’ll help keep bloggers supplied with fresh pajamas. Also, some bloggers utilize Tip Jars. I don’t, but tossing a few shekels in the direction of writers who you feel deserve it could make all the difference. You’d be surprised at how much time it takes to run a good site, and a little positive reinforcement will keep the good stuff coming.

This is where the Star Trek poll stands as of this evening:

I’m a bit surprised. I would have expected ‘Star Trek II’ to fare better…

If you disagree with this, be sure to vote.

This response to earlier comments was left on the post about Liftport’s space elevator development work from a few weeks back, and I wanted to toss them up so they weren’t overlooked. (Earlier comments in bold.)

And that means getting beyond our primitive space technology.

Maybe not.

In terms of material needed we can – we think – get the job done with six to eight Delta IV launches, plus on-orbit assembly.

The last is tricky – it’s not like anyone has done this before … unless you count ISS and MIR. We’ll need a place for the assemblers to work and live. Again, it’s a new application of somewhat established concepts. But it’s been done before.

This is not to poo-poo the difficulty involved, merely to note that it’s possible with technology we have now.

People would want to see that a beanstalk works, and continues to work for a significant period of time before allowing a 100000km carbon nanotube whip to be placed over their heads

Wrong imagery. Any forces that would impart enough energy to play crack-the-whip will shred the material. The stuff is going to be strong, but that level of strong it ain’t.

A break? Stuff that is below the break will come down. Stuff above goes up and might be controllable in it’s altitude by moving the cars up and down.

The stuff coming down? It’s light – kg’s per kilometer. It’s messy and there are (maybe) some long-term implications if we don’t police up the stuff. And if the break is way up there and we have thousands of kilometers coming down? The bits that survive the shock of the breakup will burn on re-entry.

Which is not to make light of any of this – we’ve got studying to do before we can say with assurance ‘yes we can do this’ but some basic physics and engineering dictate that a whip hovering over our heads it’s not going to be.

More seriously and of longer-term impact – we’ve got to live here too. We’re working hard not to build something that could wrack the planet. Many eye-balls help – and I hope you and other bloggers like you will keep an eye on us and keep us honest.

Enron I don’t want to be.

A lot of good discussion on that post if you’re interested in such things…

POGO Blog points out a report (57 page PDF) on the status of this beast. Chicago Tribune story here.

The problems with this seagoing platform have been noted on MO before, most recently here.

Via Defense Industry Daily.

Nearly three years ago, in the early days of this site, I noted the effort to bring the heavy cruiser USS Des Moines (CA-134) to Milwaukee as a museum. Sadly, the effort failed.

Last Monday, the old ship was towed out of Philadelphia Naval Shipyard on her last voyage. It’s a trip to the breakers in Texas. I had thought maybe I might be able to check her out when I go to Texas in October, but the scrapyard is just on this side of the Mexican border in Brownsville (better to use immigrant labor) and I won’t be making it that far south.

The Des Moines’ rapid-fire 8″ guns could still be useful, I think, but the cost of renovating the ship would be prohibitive (if even possible). Some have suggested that maybe the Des Moines would be a cheaper, more-realistic alternative to reactivating a battleship.

Maybe the turrets (three triples) could be used on inexpensive shore bombardment monitors? I’ve long thought that something along those lines might be handy, especially if you give them a turret up front and a MRLS in the rear. Though the lower range of the 8″ guns would make the ship far more vulnerable to shore missiles than a battleship with 16″ guns would have been.

Many more pics at ussdesmoines.com.

UPDATE: Here’s an overhead shot of the Des Moines in Philly from Google Maps. Across the way from Des Moines is the USS Inchon (LPH 12, MCS 12 at the end), which was sunk in late 2004.

It’s the old “I supported Afghanistan but I don’t support Iraq” bit. Several people that have told me that I know for a fact did not support Afghanistan at the time.

See Expat Yank for more.

MO has received unconfirmed reports of a new and terrifying device now in use against US forces in Iraq. No known defense is available, but you can bet the military is working overtime to figure something out.

Picture below. Not for the squeamish…
(more…)

The three Navy ships currently equipped for ballistic missile defense, the cruisers USS Shiloh, USS Lake Erie and USS Port Royal, will be joined by three destroyers with matching capability by the end of the year. The ships getting the upgrade are USS Stethem, USS Decatur and USS Curtis Wilbur.

The Navy’s ballistic missile defense system, based on the AEGIS tracking and targeting suite and Standard SM-3 missiles, has scored pretty well in tests so far, far better than the land-based systems. It’s hit seven out of eight targets.

In response to the ramping up of naval anti-missile defense, Ships’ crews undergo tactical missile training:

Rear Adm. Alan B. Hicks, head of the Aegis ballistic missile defense program, said the new mission means ships will take on the role of seaborne defenders against ballistic missile attack on the U.S. or allies.

“You change the aperture of how not just the commanding officer but his crew looks at the mission because the implication of not being successful are staggering,” he said. “What I tell the crews is ‘You cannot fail.’ ”

The Navy plans to have 18 missile defense-equipped cruisers and destroyers by 2009.

Finally, Austin Bay has a piece up on TCS Daily today: Hit or Missile:

Our limited anti-missile system isn’t what it should be or could be, and yes, myopic, wrong-headed politics played a key role in delaying program funding, testing and deployment.

The anti-ABM cant of certain influential major media — in the case of The New York Times, a fossil of its 1980s opposition to the Reagan administration — certainly hindered development.

Resistance from McGovernite Democrats was a potent and problematic factor in Washington. The Cold War’s “balance of terror” strategy created a “strategic culture” wedded to the notion of “Mutual Assured Destruction” (appropriately named MAD). If the Soviets launched a missile strike against the United States, U.S. retaliatory capabilities ensured that Moscow would be turned to radioactive glass. An ABM, in the MAD minds, altered the certainty of mutual Armageddon. An ABM “destabilized” the ability to assure Moscow and Washington they would both perish in a nuclear exchange.

The rise of rogue states and fanatic, “suicide” terrorist organizations, combined with the proliferation of ballistic missiles and WMDs, turned MAD into utter madness.

A suicide bomber cannot be deterred by the threat of “mutual destruction.”

Read the whole thing.