Archive for May, 2009
Gates says next-generation bomber might fly without pilot
No way. No one saw this coming. Not even Murdoc.
Ruger SR-556
Adam Heggenstaller’s got pics and info.
U.S. blocking Israeli access to U.S. fighter-jets
Obama administration won’t disclose some technical info on the F-15SE.
DoD Study Called for 260 Raptors
Well, boys, gonna be almost a hundred planes short.
Osprey to Deploy With New Firepower
New 360 degree 7.62 rotary cannon will be mounted on MV-22 headed for Afghanistan.
Are Gun Sales Finally Leveling Off?
Umm, no.
4th Ranger Training Battalion Soldiers win 2009 Best Ranger Competition
Sgt. 1st Class Blake Simms and Sgt. 1st Class Chad Stackpole victorious.
The T48 Automatic Rifle
Great page on “the American FAL.”
Task force seizes pirate ‘mother ship’
As in “we totally seized those mother&*ckers and their ship, too!”
Navy accepts Bush after debris caused delay
Newest carrier accepted. Let’s hope the debris that delayed Bush wasn’t pretzels.
Arctic (Non) Warming Since 1958
This cannot possibly be right. For one thing, it doesn’t seem to indicate that humanity is doomed. For another, how many books could someone sell arguing that disaster doesn’t loom over all of us?
Second Amendment News Roundup for 5/15/09
The Liberty Sphere’s daily linkzookery of gun stuff. Always good.
IMAX or LIEMAX?
Very useful map showing whether or not IMAX screens are really IMAX screens or just IMAX-branded.
Berliners regret near-total destruction of wall
It’s mostly gone. Murdoc sees part of it every once in a while at the Gerald R Ford museum in Grand Rapids.
It’s LESS expensive to own a car, part II
A “walkable” community is either a luxury for the affluent, or a dismal living situation that those too poor to afford a car have to settle for.
Social Security, Medicare may run dry sooner
I thought I had been assured that the predictions of running dry were just scare tactics by those pushing private savings plans. 2010′s projected surplus has gone from $86 billion to $3 billion.
A Poof of Blue
Billiard chalk as a reactive target.
Amphib New Orleans repaired after collision
53 days in port after collision with submarine USS Hartford.
Falling flat-screen TVs a growing threat for kids
Remember this next time someone tells you this is another Great Depression. I don’t recall the Joads having to deal with this threat.
Adams Arms AR15 Fix
Got a chance to check out this piston retro-fit kit on my poodle shooter.
Beginning of the 2nd space walk
They’re outside right now on the second of five planned spacewalks. I’m keeping tabs on the video feed, which is pretty cool.
Murdoc’s been a huge critic of the Space Shuttle program and NASA in general, but I think the Hubble servicing missions are without a doubt the high point of post-Apollo NASA.
UPDATE: Came across this cool image taken before the launch. Notice the Endeavour on pad 39B.
NASA pilots Jack Nickel (in the jet with tail number 62) and Charles Justiz fly over for a bird's eye view of two shuttles on the launch pad. Shuttle Atlantis is in the foreground and Endeavour can be seen in the distance on the launch pad at NASA's Kennedy Space Center. The two are flying T-38 jet trainer aircraft. Image Credit: NASA/Robert Markowitz
Click for bigger image.
Flames erupt from the end of the barrel of a M109A6 self-propelled 155-mm Howitzer, also known as Paladin, as it fires a round on Forward Operating Base Warrior, Kirkuk, Iraq. This is the first time this particular Paladin has been fired in Iraq and it is being calibrated to ensure it can hit its target every time. Photo by Pvt. Justin Naylor Date: 02.13.2009
Don’t pictures like that bring a smile to your face?
We (rightly) heard all sorts of hue and cry over the fact that, when George Bush became President, the budget surpluses disappeared.
We heard very little about how, when Democrats retook Congress in 2006 and passed their first budget, the shrinking deficit changed directions and grew again.
We’ve heard virtually nothing about how, based on the White House’s own estimates, the 2009 deficit compares to those of the Bush years.
Via Instapundit, here’s a little graphic that’s, um, a little graphic:
Federal Budget Surpluses and Deficits
Carrier Kitty Hawk leaves active fleet
Forty-eight years and two weeks after the ship entered the fleet, the Navy’s last conventionally powered aircraft carrier officially left the active rolls Tuesday.
High-value-target hunter takes on Afghan war
Lt. Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, the former Special Operations chief who is President Obama’s new choice to lead the war in Afghanistan, rose to military prominence because of his single-minded success in a narrow but critical mission: manhunting.
There seems to be a lot of confusion over this.
“People will ask, what message are we sending when our high-value-target hunter is sent to lead in Afghanistan?” said a senior military officer at the Pentagon, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly.
I hope the message is “if you’re a high value target your days might be numbered.”
Sure, there’s a lot more to this all than just killing bad guys. But killing bad guys, particularly the upper management, is a key to making the other approaches work.
gt. Joseph Prince, a soldier from 3rd Platoon, Company A, Task Force 3-66 Armor, pulls security while Iraqi Army soldiers search a house during a patrol Thursday in Tahweela, Iraq. The IA, supported by soldiers from Company A, kicked off Operation Dark Wolf Pursuit One to execute the “clear, hold and build” strategy in southern Balad-Ruz District of Iraq’s Diyala Province. Ben Bloker/Stars and Stripes photo.
More Sage EBR photos on GunPundit.
Second Lt. Seth Maldonado, 25, of Long Island, N.Y., with Company C, 2nd Battalion, 2nd Infantry Regiment, walks through a poppy field during a patrol near the villages of Loy Kariz and Sawar Kariz, in Maiwand district, Kandahar province, Afghanistan. Drew Brown photo.
More photos at Stars and Stripes.
75th Rangers will take SCAR to war
Matthew Cox in Army Times:
About 600 members of the 75th Ranger Regiment will soon take the Special Operations Combat Assault Rifle into battle.
The 600 SCARs are the first of 1,800 that U.S. Special Operations Command began fielding in early April, SOCom spokeswoman Air Force Maj. Denise Boyd told Army Times.
SOCom chose the SCAR system — which consists of the 5.56mm MK16 and the 7.62mm MK17 — to replace weapons including the 5.56mm M4A1 carbine, made by Colt Defense LLC.
We’ve been waiting for what seems like forever to see how these perform in action. Looks like the wait is almost over.
