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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Joe Biden. Good golly, the man just doesn't get it. Nearly every time he opens his mouth in an unscripted moment, he makes the media caricature of Dan Quayle look brilliant. One can only assume the Vice President *was* chosen as a life insurance policy for the President. Even though, in micro, his telling his family this is good advice:
No, really, he said that. Like I said, in micro, that's sound advice. In macro, as a major persona in the national government, that's straying far, far off the reservation in trying to manage the problem. The Administration needs to speak with one voice on this topic, and Biden needs a muzzle. -the Armorer
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The Washington Times covers the Milblog conference. Though I rather think that Matt will be surprised to find out that Uncle Jimbo founded Blackfive. And at least one of us, CJ Grisham, got a writing gig out of it, or as he put it - who's that new moron writing for the WashTimes? -the Armorer
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Modern Logistics. I ordered a book and some music (Tarkus, by ELP if anyone cares) and got free two-day shipping. Kewl. So, I log on to track the shipment, because I'm that kind of consumer. This is the current status. Start at the bottom and work up.
April 30, 2009 08:50:00 AM LAWRENCE KS US Arrival Scan
April 30, 2009 08:36:00 AM KANSAS CITY MO US Departure Scan
April 30, 2009 05:50:00 AM KANSAS CITY MO US Arrival Scan
April 30, 2009 05:20:00 AM KANSAS CITY MO US Arrival Scan
April 30, 2009 04:50:00 AM LOUISVILLE KY US Departure Scan
April 30, 2009 12:43:00 AM LOUISVILLE KY US Shipment received by carrier
April 29, 2009 04:54:43 PM Coffeyville KS US Shipment has left seller facility and is in transit
Mind you, Coffeyville, Kansas is 200 road miles away from Easton - about 3.5 hours or so. Lawrence is about 45. I'm sure the trucks are out already for today's delivery, so the stuff will arrive tomorrow (as promised). The package has traveled 1070 miles by air and truck to get 160 miles closer to the delivery site - and when the second leg of it's flight landed... it was only 31 miles from it's ultimate destination, and was driven 52 miles in order to get it to 45 miles away. And it will take 24 hours or so to make it that last 45 miles. Interesting window into the logistics of modern day commerce. -the Armorer
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President Obama's Facebook page - the first 100 Days. "F-bomb" warning. Courtesy of Slate, H/t, Brab - the Armorer
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Oh - his name is... Sven. -the Armorer
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While there is a sad undertone in this article from across the pond, the thrust of it is... Absolutely Fabulous! H/t, the Swiss Coast Guard. -the Armorer
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Update: The package (see above) was delivered, less than 24 hours after it was ordered. -the Armorer
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Joe Biden. Good golly, the man just doesn't get it. Nearly every time he opens his mouth in an unscripted moment, he makes the media caricature of Dan Quayle look brilliant. One can only assume the Vice President *was* chosen as a life insurance policy for the President. Even though, in micro, his telling his family this is good advice:
"I would tell members of my family, and I have, I wouldn't go anywhere in confined places now. It's not that it's going to Mexico, it's you're in a confined aircraft when one person sneezes it goes all the way through the aircraft. That's me. I would not be, at this point, if they had another way of transportation suggesting they ride the subway. "
No, really, he said that. Like I said, in micro, that's sound advice. In macro, as a major persona in the national government, that's straying far, far off the reservation in trying to manage the problem. The Administration needs to speak with one voice on this topic, and Biden needs a muzzle. -the Armorer
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The Washington Times covers the Milblog conference. Though I rather think that Matt will be surprised to find out that Uncle Jimbo founded Blackfive. And at least one of us, CJ Grisham, got a writing gig out of it, or as he put it - who's that new moron writing for the WashTimes? -the Armorer
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Modern Logistics. I ordered a book and some music (Tarkus, by ELP if anyone cares) and got free two-day shipping. Kewl. So, I log on to track the shipment, because I'm that kind of consumer. This is the current status. Start at the bottom and work up.
April 30, 2009 08:50:00 AM LAWRENCE KS US Arrival Scan
April 30, 2009 08:36:00 AM KANSAS CITY MO US Departure Scan
April 30, 2009 05:50:00 AM KANSAS CITY MO US Arrival Scan
April 30, 2009 05:20:00 AM KANSAS CITY MO US Arrival Scan
April 30, 2009 04:50:00 AM LOUISVILLE KY US Departure Scan
April 30, 2009 12:43:00 AM LOUISVILLE KY US Shipment received by carrier
April 29, 2009 04:54:43 PM Coffeyville KS US Shipment has left seller facility and is in transit
Mind you, Coffeyville, Kansas is 200 road miles away from Easton - about 3.5 hours or so. Lawrence is about 45. I'm sure the trucks are out already for today's delivery, so the stuff will arrive tomorrow (as promised). The package has traveled 1070 miles by air and truck to get 160 miles closer to the delivery site - and when the second leg of it's flight landed... it was only 31 miles from it's ultimate destination, and was driven 52 miles in order to get it to 45 miles away. And it will take 24 hours or so to make it that last 45 miles. Interesting window into the logistics of modern day commerce. -the Armorer
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President Obama's Facebook page - the first 100 Days. "F-bomb" warning. Courtesy of Slate, H/t, Brab - the Armorer
*******************************
Oh - his name is... Sven. -the Armorer
******************************
While there is a sad undertone in this article from across the pond, the thrust of it is... Absolutely Fabulous! H/t, the Swiss Coast Guard. -the Armorer
******************************
Update: The package (see above) was delivered, less than 24 hours after it was ordered. -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 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. Of course, now I have to call them UAS's, because someone got a Legion of Merit for the name change.Anyway, I call the post H&I Fires 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.
Same for his *scripted* moments. Biden's a serial dolt.
Sven is good - I figured Powder Monkey was a long shot. :-)
It really is logistics, in terms of moving stuff in sufficient volume to keep the costs down.
I wasn't complaining, either. I was just bemused by all the handling and travel that package will undergo for the relatively reasonable cost of the movement and time it takes.
The fact is, for Amazon and the shipper, it made more sense, from a cost effectiveness standpoint, to move that package the way it moved (generalized over the system/volume) than to simply drive a truck up to Easton. Because that would have cost a lot more, overall, to do it that way.
Even more interesting would've been listening to the conversation in the cockpit:
"So, ya think we can get it on the LAX afternoon run, too, Dusty?"
What's frustrating is the double-standard being applied. We all know the hyper-critcism and ridicule that the liberal media and self-righteously smug comedians like Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert would dump on Sarah Palin, Dick Cheney, Dan Quayle, or any other Republican who made such gaffes.
Joe Biden: The Gift That Keeps On Giving :)
As to the mail, it's amazing how far we've come. Why, in 1863, a letter posted in the 1st Division, 3rd Army Corps field post office could be delivered to Portland, Maine, in just three days! Compare that to now, where a letter from Gettysburg can be delivered to Portland, Maine, in... Three Days!
Heh... I recently shipped two identical packages from my home in Maine. One went to Raleigh, North Carolina, and the other to San Francisco. Time to SF? 4 days. Time to Raliegh? 2 WEEKS!
Sigh.....
I think that might be a bit more extreme than the reality...I think he was just chosen because he makes Obama look like the smart one.
President Obama's Facebook page - the first 100 Days. "F-bomb" warning. Courtesy of Slate, H/t, Brab - the Armorer
What does "Sorry ... Lost" mean? I don't use social networking sites.
So...just curious, what's the company truck's colors?
I ordered tires from the TireRack on Tuesday indicating that I chose the stuff to be delivered from a Delaware warehouse where it would be available on 5-2, for the financial reasons - the shipping was cheaper than from Indiana where it was in stock. On Tuesday night I got an email that my tires were already shipped, from Indiana, UPS ground. Thursday morning, the UPS woked me up by delivering the tires... Go figure...