Open post for those with something to share, updated through the day. New, complete posts come in below this one. Note: If trackbacking, please acknowledge this post in your post. That's only polite.
You're advertising here, we should get an ad at your place...
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Hmmmm. Are we *sure* Bill was in Pakistan last month? How about that long period last year when he was virtually incommunicado? He blamed lack of internet access - attributed to KtLW's politicking. I think he was telling the truth - about the lack of access... but I think it's because he was in a bar in Kano, Nigeria... (What's a bar got to do with it? Ah, see here)
KANO (AFP) - Mubarak Muhammad Abdullahi, a 24-year-old physics undergraduate in northern Nigeria, takes old cars and motorbikes to pieces in the back yard at home and builds his own helicopters from the parts.
While the Armorer admits to occasional schadenfreude (oh, my, that word's been used twice in two days around here!) when people who should know better, and have choices, especially rich people (I'm not very Christian in this, so sue me) get burned, so to speak, because they insist on building in fire-prone, or mud-slide prone, or flood-prone, or earthquake-prone areas, because they're exclusive, or have great views, whatever. I don't wish physical harm to anyone, and I admit it's a character flaw... That said, we here at Castle Argghhh! can't help but feel some sympathy for this family, for a rather obvious reason. We wince at this picture... I'm even toying with the idea of building a small curtain wall, with crenelations, in front of the flagpoles (the better to position the trebuchet and mangonels behind, of course). Which would *really* make this a wince-producing picture for us... much like men wince at balls-to-the-crotch in sports or on America's Funniest Home Videos. We can too easily put ourselves in the picture.
Fire consumes what is known as 'The Castle' in Malibu Knolls as strong, gusting winds pushed flames through Malibu, Calif., Sunday, Oct. 21, 2007. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon)
-the Armorer
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Um, Edwin B? Who *used* to have the cell phone number I have now? Would you *please* pay your bloody bills so *your* bill collectors will quit calling me? I'm pretty sure they think that I'm fibbing when I tell them I'm not you. It's really getting to be a pain. Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter. Heh. Who am I kidding? -the Armorer
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Interesting view on the Turkey-Kurdistan issue over at Strategy Page. -the Armorer
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*A term of art from the artillery. Harassment and Interdiction Fires.
Back in the day, when you could just kill people and break things without a note from a lawyer, they were pre-planned, but to the enemy, random, fires at known gathering points, road junctions, Main Supply Routes, assembly areas, etc - to keep the bad guy nervous that the world around him might start exploding at any minute.
*Not really relevant to today's operating environment, right? But, it *is*
The UAVs (oops, can't call 'em UAVs anymore - they're now Unmanned Aerial Systems... some Colonel got his Legion of Merit for that change...), er, um UAS's we fly over Afghanistan and Pakistan looking for targets of opportunity are a form of H&I fires, if you really want to parse it finely. We just have better sensors and fire control now.
I call the post that because it's random things posted by me and people I've given posting privileges to. It's also an open trackback, so if someone has a post they're proud of, but it really isn't either Castle kind of stuff, or topical to a particular post, I've basically given blanket permission to use that post for that purpose. Another term of art that might be appropriate is "Free Fire Zone"
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