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.
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Too bad I live at the end of a mile-long dead-end gravel road. A sign like this would be fun. I'm a bitter gun owner and I vote! Of course, posting it at the Old Castle would also be like posting a sign that said, "Rob me!" so maybe these signs aren't that good an idea...
The Milblogging Conference is coming up, ICW the Blogworld Expo in Las Vegas this September. I will be doing the "Are milblogs still relevant?" panel. Registration instructions are up at the Miblog Conference Blog. Andi is running it again this year, with our buds at Military.com as the major sponsor.
The Institute for the Study of War has released Iraq Report #9, the Battle for Basra - worth the click, if you've the interest.
Comic relief - a Blackwater aviation affiliate, trying to dodge corporate responsibility for hiring cowboys as pilots, vice people like Dusty and BillT, is trying the novel approach of seeking a shield by using Sharia... H/t, the Flea
Had I not been so busy with the mortgage-paying job of late, I would have written this article on the subject of the Afghan prison breakout and the Coalition response - and how the stories are so different, depending on where you source them. Chuck Simmins has it covered over at Northshore Journal.
The Cylon Menace, or, the pending attack of the fat kid with a controller in his hands... Orson Card, call your agent. -the Armorer
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Mon Dieu! What would Cassandra say? In Britain - 10 years for... wolf whistles?
Meanwhile new laws could see wolf-whistling builders placed on the sex offenders register. The Sexual Offences (Scotland) Bill will create a new offence of "communicating indecently", punishable by up to 10 years in jail.
The legislation is intended to punish sexual harassment by text, emails and letters, but ministers also aim to include sexually explicit comments to strangers. It is expected that the law would only apply to persistent offenders.
It must be nice to have so little real crime to worry about that we can consider putting inveterate whistlers in jail for... 10 years. The cells must be empty of real criminals. The seeming implosion of Great Britain continues apace, it would seem. -the Armorer
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Woot! We made the Map! That makes us... oh, it doesn't change anything. It's just interesting. H/t, Cassandra, who made the map too. -the Armorer
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Is anybody having a problem leaving comments? If so, please drop me a note at johnbethd-at-yahoo.com and let me know. I'd like to know your browser type, too, if you're having a problem. -the Armorer
*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 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 that particular topic. Another term of art that might be appropriate is "Free Fire Zone".
Soooo there.
Sarah is not allowed to have a glass this year...:)
Pat
At the old house, which is in a declinging neighborhood and on a major street, it would be an invitation to stupid people.
But yes, I suspect around here in the county, most houses have a shotgun and a rifle or two. May not have any handguns, but most all of us have some form of dual-purpose predator-control.
From the cockpit conversation transcript, they were doing the absolutely worst things you can do when valley / canyon flying -- right to the end...