A couple of cool pics:
Two Shuttles
Space shuttle Atlantis is shown suspended from a sling in the Mate-DeMate Device at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center during preparations for its ferry flight back to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The shuttle landed at Edwards Air Force Base, concluding the 13-day STS-125 mission to service and repair the Hubble Space Telescope. Image Credit: NASA/Tony Landis
Missing F-35s Replaced By F-15 Refurbs
Didn’t I just link to a story about retiring some F-15s early? This is all so confusing.
$118 Million in New M777 Howitzer Orders
More lightweight 155mm towed howitzers. You can never have too many be guns.
Official: National D-Day Memorial may close
Shortage of funds threatens it. They should apply for a bailout.
Popular Mechanics 40th Anniversary of Apollo 11 Coverage
Looks to be pretty good series.
The Case for Taxing E-Mail
Riiiight.
Shipbuilding Program is a Mess
Award for Understatement of the Year.
More than 10,000 welded joints on at least eight U.S. submarines and a new aircraft carrier might need to be reinspected after the discovery by Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding that one of its inspectors had falsified inspection reports.
It’s almost like the Shipbuilding Program is a Mess.
Report: Over 20,000 died in Sri Lanka battle
That place is a wreck.
Centralia, the mouth of Hell
I remember hearing about this at some point in the past, but the pics and video are cool.
Russian ship accidentally shells village
Oops.
Russian Customs Expose Massive Arms Smuggling Ring
The criminal ring had smuggled parts of S-75, S-125, S-200 and S-300 air defense missile systems to Russia’s ex-Soviet neighbors of Belarus, Kazakhstan and Ukraine and also to Bulgaria.
Last Utah ANG KC-135E Stratotanker retires
R-models will continue to carry the gas until new tankers arrive shortly after Hell freezes over.
Woman calls 911 three times when McNuggets run out
“This is an emergency, If I would have known they didn’t have McNuggets, I wouldn’t have given my money, and now she wants to give me a McDouble, but I don’t want one,” Latreasa L. Goodman told police. “This is an emergency.”
The Greatest American Heroine?
Believe it or not!
Oil Is Plentiful, Demand Weak. Why Are Gas Prices Going Up?
Drivers have faced rising prices at the gas pump in recent months, as investors and oil-producing countries hoard supplies in anticipation of a global economic recovery later this year…
If the U.S. and other major industrial economies rebound, oil supplies could be depleted because the recession has prompted producer nations to freeze hundreds of projects to open new oil wells or upgrade existing ones.
Regular unleaded was $2.759 at Murdoc’s local station this morning.
Here’s Gas Buddy’s temperature map:
U.S. Gasoline Prices as of 05/29/2009
As Crisis Deepens, U.S. Bolsters South Korea’s Arsenal
On Tuesday, the U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency — the Pentagon arm that manages foreign military sales — made public plans to sell the South Koreans more surface-to-air missiles and upgrade its F-16 fighters so they can drop Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) smart bombs.
The proposed upgrade of 35 F-16s, the agency said, would allow the Republic of Korea Air Force “to adequately operate the F-16 weapon system to its fullest and utmost capability in both a deterrent role and a coalition role with United States Forces Korea and the Combined Forces Command.”
In other words, it will allow South Korean F-16s to hit artillery and anti-aircraft systems that are often hidden in bunkers and caves north of the DMZ. South Korea’s fleet of F-15Ks (pictured here) already have a precision strike capability; upgrading F-16s would allow the Republic of Korea Air Force to take on more “hardened facilities” in North Korea.
Also see North Korea: The Mother of All Stability Ops? and Inside America’s (Mock) Attack on North Korea
The original post got this comment:
You want to hear something funny? The trigger pullers that actually made the shots got a hold of this poster and laughed out loud. This is also hanging in Maersk’s main office. I know because I made the poster and a buddy of mine is VP at Maersk. It’s also now they’re official computer wallpaper.
That’s awesome. There were a lot of folks here at home cheering those guys and all of those that helped make it happen.
Iraq (May 17, 2009) Iraqi Navy defender-class patrol boats are moored to a pier at Umm Qasr, south port terminal in Basra, Iraq. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Andre N. McIntyre/Released)
Here is some info on the Defenders at BoatTest.com. I’m not sure how many differences, if any, there are from the USCG version.
Christine Brashier wanted to start a gun-rights group at the Community College of Allegheny County in Pennsylvania. She was told that trying to “sell” students on the idea was solicitation, and solicitation was against school policy. She was told to cease, desist, and to destroy her remaining pamphlets.
You can subscribe to Dilbert here.
On the road this weekend visiting family with limited internet connection, but here’s an item I posted a few years back and is worth another look.
The men and women who have died in our wars were fighting for me and my family, even though they didn’t know us and we didn’t know them. I possess merely a tiny fraction of the understanding needed to comprehend the sacrifice that they made. With that tiny fraction, I do my best to remember them. Every day, of course, but on this day especially.
Several years ago my family and I visited the USS Yorktown in Charleston, South Carolina. While wandering the great ship, I happened to notice this among the thousands of displays:
It says WITHIN AND NEAR THESE EXHIBIT COMPARTMENTS 32 MEN DIED AND 71 WERE WOUNDED 16 APRIL 1945 WHILE FIGHTING 50 KAMIKAZES.
Right there. Right where I and my family were standing.
Sixty years ago. Before my kids were born. Before I was born. Before my parents were born.
And those men died fighting for all of us.
I don’t know what else to say about it.
