but I'd hate to be stuck there during a typhoon.
Wednesday, March 5, 2014
Gun Porn
Or, as they say east of the Polish frontier,
Пистолет Макарова
With an 80 round magazine. That would drive the elite here in California absolutely insane with fear and trepidation. I want one.
But does it really work? Given that the Russians are famous for making simple and reliable weapons, I'm betting it does. I'd like to do my own research, however. ;-)
Nostradamus speaks
“As democracy is perfected, the office of the President represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day, the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last and the White House will be occupied by a downright fool and complete narcissistic moron.”
—H.L. Mencken, the Baltimore Evening Sun, July 26, 1920
Tuesday, March 4, 2014
The Air Force will try just about anything once.
The MX-1018 program (code named "Tip Tow") sought to extend the range of the early jets in order to give fighter protection to piston-engined bombers with the provision for in-flight attachment/detachment of the fighter to the bomber via wingtip connections.[1][2] The Tip Tow aircraft consisted of a specially modified ETB-29A (serial number 44-62093) and two EF-84B(serial numbers 46-641 and 46-661). A number of flights were undertaken, with several successful cycles of attachment and detachment, using at first a single aircraft, and then two. The pilots of the F-84s maintained manual control when attached, with roll axis maintained by elevator movement rather than aileron movement. Engines on the F-84s were shut down in order to save fuel during the "tow" by the mother ship, and in-flight engine restarts were successfully accomplished.
Wing flexibility of the B-29 as well as wing-tip vortices caused concern, and the mechanisms for attachment required modifications. The first hookup of both F-84s with the B-29 occurred on the 10th flight on 15 September 1950. The longest flight with all connected was on 20 October 1950, and lasted for 2hr 40min. All of these flights were accomplished with manual control of the F-84 aircraft. Republic received an additional contract to continue the experiments by incorporating an automatic flight control system. Meanwhile, as the modifications proceeded, additional test flights were made, including night flights. The automatic flight control modifications were ready for testing in March 1953, and a number of hookups were made with only one or the other of the F-84s while attempting to sort continuing electrical issues. On 24 April 1953, the left-hand F-84 hooked up and the automatic system was activated. The F-84 immediately flipped over onto the wing of the B-29 and both crashed with loss of all on board.
More respect from around the world
Someone needs to tell the general he forgot to shave this morning.
“The low-IQ US president and his country's Secretary of State John Kerry speak of the effectiveness of 'the US options on the table' on Iran while this phrase is mocked at and has become a joke among the Iranian nation, specially the children.”
Their rhetoric might not be so personally insulting if they feared a resolute and focused America.
Treating casualties of the Syrian civil war in Israel.
As they say, read it all, but here is the director of the Israeli hospital, an Arab Christian, speaking of their work in the embedded video below.
"Dr. Barhoum speaks with empathy of those patients who, all of a sudden, find themselves receiving help from a country they have been taught to hate.
The whole talk is worth listening to. Dr. Barhoum speaks well and is direct but understated. But here are three quotes that stood out:
- “Who are these wounded? These mysterious patients who travel in secret, the whole story is wrapped in melodrama, victims of war seeking medical salvation at the hands of their sworn enemies. Yet when they past through the gates of my hospital, the cease to be Syrians. Just as when we walk through the gates we cease to be Jews, Muslims, or, like me, an Arab Christian. They are patients, we are caregivers and nothing else matters.”
- “Arriving unconscious they awoke to a strange language and the sudden terrifying realization that they are in Israel. For every patient this fright, this mistrust is natural. They have been saved by the Israel they have been told to fear and hate. But I have seen this terror dissolve into trust, to appreciation and thanks for the Israeli doctors who saved their lives.”
- “… But still we help. Israel’s decision to provide medical care to Syrians in their time of need is recognition of a shared humanity and compassion. That to us has no race, no ethnicity, and no borders.”
While the Russians raise their flag over southern and eastern Ukraine...
Their conservative prime minister, a politician with guts.
All the western nations should be following this lead. Where ever the Russians go in the world, they should have to see the Ukrainian flag flying in solidarity with those people.
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