Archive for July, 2007
MSNBC.com video story:
Should U.S. civilians carry M-16 rifles?
Since the expiration of the domestic ban on assault weapons in 2004, tens of thousands of M-16 rifles have been sold, leaving many to wonder whether or not this is a good thing. NBC’s Lisa Myers reports.
“Should U.S. civilians carry M-16 rifles?” Absolutely positively not. It’s illegal. The M-16 is a military weapon. Until/unless laws are changed, it’s illegal to own one.
Oh. They’re not talking about M-16 rifles. They’re talking about semi-autos.
(Don’t worry…they make sure to mention the scary black color, pistol grip, and high capacity magazine. They don’t mention, however, that the rifles they’re so worried about are less powerful than many sporting rifles that don’t cause nearly so many journalists to wet themselves in fear.)
July 20, 1969:
This is great: Apollo 11 landing: Flight Director loop (left channel), Air-to-Ground (right channel)
From the Project Apollo Archive’s multimedia page.
Here’s some info on the Apollo 11 Program Alarms which we hear them calling (and worrying about).
Other fun stuff:
626-page transcript of air-to-ground communication
Apollo 11 Image Gallery
Apollo 11 Press Kit (and Part 2)
Apollo 11 Flight Plan
Pic from the JSC Digital Image Collection
Putting the Defense Authorization Bill on hold will surely help, though. Maybe they could have a slumber party or something.
The Democrats campaigned that they’d bring change to DC. We just didn’t know how soon it would take effect. We keep thinking ‘it can’t get any worse’, but then it does.
Harry Reid (Surrendacrat-Nevada) reacted to the Senate’s failure to pass legislation mandating a US troops withdrawal from Iraq by shelving the Defense Authorization Bill for the time being:
“I have temporarily laid aside the Defense Authorization bill and have entered a motion to reconsider. But let me be clear to my Republican colleagues — I emphasize the word “temporarily.” We will do everything in our power to change course in Iraq. We will do everything in our power to complete consideration of a Defense Authorization bill. We must do both. And just to remind my Republican colleagues — even if this bill had passed yesterday, its provisions would not take effect until October. So we will come back to this bill as soon as it is clear we can make real progress,” Reid said.
After the Congressional recess next month, the discussion can be taken up again in September, which is when General Petreaus’ report on the progress of the new strategies in Iraq is due.
Reid seems to be trying to deflect claims that the Democrats are turning their backs on the troops by saying it makes sense to wait until the report is made. This, of course, makes sense. But let’s remember a few things before rejecting criticism of Reid’s so-called leadership:
- Reid obviously didn’t think the September report mattered when he was trying to legislate a surrender. Last month, for the umpteenth time, he publicly said the effort was already a failure. Now that his own efforts have failed, he suddenly wants to hear what the report says before discussing funding for the military.
- Reid has said that if legislation to required withdrawal from Iraq fails, his next step will be to de-fund the war effort.
- Reid has said that he won’t believe any positive news that Petraeus reports.
Harry Reid says lots of things.
UPDATE: The AP news story about Reid’s plan to defund the war if he couldn’t get his withdrawal timetable was acting a bit funny earlier and is now gone. I’ve changed the link to an ABC news story from the same time.
No time today. So go read Argghhh!’s account of Oscarsborg on April 9, 1940.
Report: Al-Qaida eyes Iraq ties for U.S. attack
Top U.S. security agencies highlight ‘persistent and evolving threat’
The terrorist network Al-Qaida will likely leverage its contacts and capabilities in Iraq to mount an attack on U.S. soil, according to a new National Intelligence Estimate on threats to the United States.
The declassified key findings, to be released publicly on Tuesday, were obtained in advance by The Associated Press.
The report lays out a range of dangers — from al-Qaida to Lebanese Hezbollah to non-Muslim radical groups — that pose a –persistent and evolving threat” to the country over the next three years.
More mindless fear mongering, of course. Or released as due to the ongoing Congressional debate over Iraq. Anything anyone does to due to this report is a grab for power.
Unless, of course, an attack is successful. Then someone will be to blame for not protecting us.
Recall all the finger pointing and game playing over the 8/6/01 Presidential Daily Brief.
Concept artwork, depicting an Essex or Ticonderoga class aircraft carrier converted for launching space satellites into orbits not readily accessible from launch sites in the United States. The rocket shown is an “Atlas” type. Image was received by the Naval Photographic Center on 12 December 1961.
Never built.
Personnel Specialist 1st Class Kevin Armold, attached on board Naval Air Station Pensacola, is reenlisted by Army Maj. Shean Phelps on the main deck of the newly sunken aircraft carrier USS Oriskany at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico about 23 miles south of Pensacola. This was the first reenlistment to be held on the sunken aircraft carrier. U.S. Navy photo
Full story here: Sailor Reenlists On Board Sunken Carrier
Previous Oriskany on MO includes:
Robert and Rob EQUAL parenting bike trek!
I’ve mentioned previously the plan to bike to Washington, DC, in support of equal rights for fit dads. In less than a month, on August 11, the 600 mile trek of Robert Pedersen and Rob Mackenzie begins.
They do this to protect a child’s right to EQUAL time with BOTH fit parents! Many elected officials and supporters will see the riders off at the Lansing Capitol and over 100,000 will greet them in Washington, D.C. www.dcrally2007.com
Last month, Pedersen was runner-up Best Life Magazine’s Hero Dad Contest. (I guess the third-place finisher was only planning to bike a paltry 450 miles or something…)
Between this honor and the upcoming bike trek, the media is taking notice.
If you can volunteer to assist in this event, donate a buck or two, or just pass on a word of encouragement, head on over to Daddyblogger.
For all of Murdoc’s capitalist tendencies, Republican leanings, and derision for stupidity like Live Earth, he’s also concerned about the environment and more than happy to do a little to help protect it. Particularly if doing so saves him a bit of cash and sticks it to those who would hold us hostage with oil.
One little thing I’ve done over the past few months is begin switching over to CFL light bulbs. Not earth shaking, I know, but a number of factors help it make sense for us. First, though they’re a bit expensive up front, over the life of the bulb it will save you money. Second, we seem to go through bulbs like crazy in our house. I don’t know if it’s something screwing with our electricity (which I’ve suspected is a bit screwy since we moved into this place) or if bulbs are just cheaper than crap these days. (That couldn’t possibly have anything to do with that “Made in China” stamp, could it?) In any event, CFLs are touted to break even or possibly even come out ahead in bulb-replacement costs. If CFLs hold up against the electricity gremlins or whatever it is in our house that makes us go through bulbs like water, they’ll easily be worth it.
When I started doing this, I joined Instapundit’s One Billion Bulbs group. Head over to his front page and find the banner on the right sidebar. Joining up records your purchases as part of his legion of readers (which is kicking the tail off of Kos’ readers…you know, the crowd that’s so concerned about the environment…) and under your own username you can track your savings, which makes it sort of fun and can be a real eye-opener.
We started by just replacing incandescent bulbs with CFLs as they burned out, but today I went and swapped out a bunch of still-good incandescents. We have a lot of lights that are on dimmers or have several power settings that use regular bulbs. We also have a bunch of 3-way lamps. Regular CFLs don’t work with dimmers, and though dimmer-capable CFLs are supposedly around I’ve not found them. Regular CFLs don’t work at all with lamps that have several power settings on one regular bulb either, so my thinking is that I put CFLs into all the lights that they’ll work in and save the regular bulbs for lights that can’t take CFLs. I have a stockpile of incandescents ready to go, and in the meantime I’m saving a bit of money by using lower wattage CFLs. I’ll continue to replace the 3-ways as they burn out, as 3-way CFLs are a bit more expensive.
By the way, does anyone have any experience with dimmable CFLs? Will LEDs be a better way to solve that?
For the record, I’m opposed to a ban on incandescent bulbs. However, as the prices of CFLs (or alternatives) come down, the cost of energy goes up, and public awareness grows, I think the problem will take care of itself. For instance, I’ve changed a total of 22 bulbs now, and I was conservative on the number of hours each one was used. My total expenditure on bulbs is about $50 as many of my bulbs came in $10 6-packs. My estimated annual savings in electricity alone is $142. Before Christmas my bulbs will have paid for themselves.
A lot of times Murdoc points out stuff like books or movies and he earns a (small) bit of change if anyone purchases it through the affiliate program. This isn’t one of those cases. Murdoc just doesn’t mind saving some money and figures his readers wouldn’t either.
