From a reader who saw the earlier post of pictures of Canadian LAVs in Afghanistan and sent:

No, Murdoc. You want THIS.

Interesting that Canadian tanks get slat armor but LAVs do not.

Force Protection Cougars in British service:

The Ministry of Defence display the new Ridgback 4 x 4 troop carrier at the Defence Vehicle Dynamics exhibition on June 26, 2008 at the Millbrook Proving Ground, England. More than 4,000 visitors come to look at over 200 companies displaying equipment and systems for military use.

I don’t think they’re using slat armor because it doesn’t work.

Another pic below:
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Iraqi police officers stand behind an armoured vehicle during a ceremony to commemorate the transfer of the 1000th US-refurbished Humvee vehicle to Iraqi security forces in Taji, 30 kilometers north of Baghdad, Iraq, on Thursday, June 26, 2008. Iraqi security forces completed the delivery of the first 1,000 up-armoured High Mobility Multi-Purpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV), known as ‘Humvee’, previously used by the US military, as part of a program that began in March 2008. Iraqi security forces are expected to receive 8500 Humvees through this program by late 2009.

Just because.

Another below:
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I JUST SIGNED UP FOR MLB.COM’S PREMIUM INTERNET TV SERVICE. It took me about two minutes to decide to cancel.

Even though I checked the ZIP codes of home and work and both showed ‘okay,’ it tells me I’m blacked out for all home Tigers games. What someone is calling the “official MLB blackout map’ indicates that all of Michigan is blacked out for Tigers home games. I’m not sure that it’s an accurate map or that MLB.TV uses the same map, but if that’s the case MLB.TV’s ZIP Code checker needs to be fixed.

I also tried entering an Arizona zip code into my account to see if that would make a difference. Predictably, it doesn’t.

I called customer service and waited on hold for a while, then was told I’d be called back “probably within half an hour.” We’ll see. I’ve already sent an email directing them to cancel my service.

I tried to check out another game just to see what the quality was, but I’m getting error pages for all games now. Whether or not this has to do with my pending cancellation (or my zip code trickery) I don’t know.

According to the map I linked to, the entire state of Iowa is blacked out for home games for the Chicago Cubs, the Chicago White Sox, the Kansas City Royals, the Milwaukee Brewers, the Minnesota Twins, and the St. Louis Cardinals. Blacked out for six teams despite not having a single one in the entire state.

Honestly, this isn’t 1981 any more. Major League Baseball is going to have to rework the way blackouts work if they want to enter the world of 21st century media.

I’m sure they’ll get right on that.

Vote for Murdoc
Send Gun Pundit to Blackwater. Register yourself to come with.

No, it’s not a ‘new right’
The Heller decision affirmed an existing right. It didn’t create something new.

Painting by numbers: NASA’s peculiar thermometer
Here, we’ll be looking at current NASA data and why their temperature maps appear hot-red, even when others are cool-blue.

Pistons? We Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Pistons!
Pistonless internal combustion engines for UAVs. Funny, the Army doesn’t want pistons in its rifles, either. Where did this anti-piston bias come from?

Pompano Beach twins do double duty in Army
Julia and Julie Joseph enlist together.

Shameful picture of England squad giving Nazi salute still haunts British sport. Why, 70 years later, do we still suck up to dictators?
I hadn’t heard of the 1938 English football team being forced to give the Nazi salute before a game in Berlin’s Olympic Stadium.

Aerotecture International Urban Wind Turbines
I like the concept of individual homeowners using wind or solar to help power their own buildings, but I’m not sure that it’s practical for most. It sure would help cut down on transmission loss, though. And the potential for minor problems to affect huge areas.

Tree Talon
Pick up dropped items from your treestand.

U.S. handover of Iraqi province delayed
Anbar handover delayed by sandstorm that threatened to affect ceremony, not by enemy activity. I’m sure we’ll be hearing from someone claiming it’s a cover story for something.

Sigourney Weaver Wants To Be The Next Celebrity In Space
“Take off and nuke the entire site from orbit. It’s the only way to be sure.”

Carnival of Homeschooling #130: Homesick Campers’ Edition
This week’s installment at Dewey’s Treehouse. The homeschooling blogosphere is fairly impressive.

Common Sense
Indeed.

Iraqi Policewoman with AK
She seems pretty serious. But I wonder about resting the mag on the bag.

Do you feel lucky, punk? Well, dooyah?
The Ministry has another pic that appears to be from the same event. The only problem is that the Dirty Harry expression while delivering that line won’t show through the layers of clothing…

WOOD-TV: Could lower speeds spur gas efficiency?

With gas prices climbing, one Michigan lawmaker says its time to roll back the speed limit.

A Democrat from the east side of the state has introduced a resolution in the state house urging the federal government to enact a 55 mile per hour speed limit nationwide.

The government did just that in the 70’s during the oil crisis setting a 55 mile per hour speed limit to conserve gas.

That went up to 65 miles per hour in the 80’s, and was lifted altogether in the 90’s allowing states to set their own limits.

So far there has been no vote on the resolution.

And they have a poll on the subject. Here’s a screenshot:

The problem with this poll, and the 55 MPH speed limit resolution in particular, is that the slight mileage improvement that would result from a lowered speed limit will do nothing to change the price of gas. Not in a noticeable way. Sure, you may save a few bucks personally, and all of that savings will add up. But it’s not going to do much to increase the supply of oil/gasoline.

The number I usually seem to hear about the mileage benefits of a 55 MPH speed limit is “up to 15%.” So let’s say, for the sake of argument, that it really is 15% instead of the 5-10% that “up to 15%” probably really means.

If you’ve got a vehicle that gets 30 MPG and you drive 12,000 miles a year, you will burn about 400 gallons of gas getting wherever it is that you go. Up your mileage by 15% and you’ll be getting 34.5 MPG, saving yourself about 52 gallons of gas. At $4.00 a gallon, that’s 208 dollars, or about $4 per week.

You aren’t going to be buying many extra groceries each week for $4, and gas prices aren’t going to shift much (if at all) because of a tiny decrease in demand.

Meanwhile, gas tax revenues will fall, as will the profit of gas stations and oil companies. This decreased revenue will actually give governments and gasoline suppliers an incentive to RAISE prices to make up for lost income.

Recall that when a county-wide initiative to conserve water in the Atlanta, GA area succeeded in lowering water usage by 30%, the country hiked water rates to make up for the lost revenue. If water usage goes back up, do you think the country will lower rates accordingly?

Here’s a hidden cost to drivers: Driving 12,000 miles at 55 MPH takes about 218 hours. But if you drive 70 MPH, it only takes 171 hours. In other words, to save $4 each week, you’ll need to spend 54 extra minutes driving each week. $4 for 54 minutes comes out to somewhere in the neighborhood of $4.40 per hour. Would you work for $4.40 per hour? Would you give up 54 minutes of family time or free time or sleep each week for $4?

The actual savings (and time cost) experienced by most drivers will be far less, as most people drive a large percentage of their miles on roads other than highways. So maybe you’ll save $1.75 per week. Is that worth lowering the national speed limit?

Personally, I spent the past three tanks of gas driving 65 MPH on the highway instead of my normal 70. I’m shifting back up to 70 for the next three tanks and will see if I notice any difference in my mileage.

I encourage people to do some math before deciding to go forward with this. If someone feels strongly about driving 55, I have a suggestion for them: Drive 55. No one’s stopping you.

Can I drive 55? Sure. Do I want to? I don’t know for sure, but I doubt it.

Do I want to have to? Not a chance.

UPDATE: Bram correctly points out that the federal government did not set a 55 mph speed limit in the 1970s. They actually set a new limit that the states were required to adopt if they wanted their national highway funds. It was a de facto federal speed limit, though Washington couldn’t just set the limits in each state on their own.

(Cross-posted from MichiBlogger.)

U.S. Air Force Senior Airman Charles Howell, front, looks over the munitions to be destroyed while other airmen and Australian army ammunition technicians prepare light anti-armor weapon rockets for disposal before a controlled detonation at an explosive ordnance disposal range in Southwest Asia, June 20, 2008.
U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Patrick Dixon

More photos here.

U.S. Air Force veteran Gail Halvorsen aka The Candy Bomber gives two thumbs up at Tempelhof airport of Berlin, Germany, 26 June 2008. Halverson starred in the commemorative events on the Berlin Airlift 60th anniversary. The Candy Bomber became famous and beloved by Germans as he dropped chocolate and other sweets attached to little parachutes during the Berlin Airlift in 1948/49.

Not only alive, getting around and looking ready to kick some ass. That’s freaking awesome!