Belesarius

Pak Fa Doc.  The prettiest Fighter that the Ruskies have built yet.
 
 

Everyone.

My wife and her entire family are huge Terry Pratchett fans. I've read and very much enjoyed his books myself.
 
Quick story since I have to run to pick up a load of cured horse manure - for schnerious - a year or so ago we found out Pratchett was coming to Seattle on one of his tours. And by "found out" I was reading the blog of our city's OTHER alt newspaper and found out about his appearance at Town Hall less than an hour before the event. It was one of those times where we could have talked ourselves out of going since it meant dressing up, driving 45 minutes into Seattle, finding a place to park and hoping there were tickets still left.
 
Rather than making excuses, I asked the (fiancee) "Terry Pratchett's in town. Want to go? We have to leave in less than five minutes."
 
Shannon had missed out on a pair of previous opportunities to see him speak and said simply. "Let's Go".
 
Fortunately, there was no traffic, we found a place to park less than a block away (that being the true miracle), talked our way into getting in and were only fifteen minutes into the show. It was one of the events that was more memorable for Shannon which was good enough for me. The best was the Question and Answer period where one of the audience members actually asked a decent one, whether Terry Pratchett thought that Lord Vetinari or Granny Weatherwax would win a game of chess. And you could tell it was a question that had not been asked of him a thousand previous times and he was actually stumped. You could tell he was mentally writing down the notes "to use for later".

Forbidden love of super hornet and rafale M

SA! SA! SA!
 
 
 
Obligatory

No, you're supposed to look at the supporting evidence. That book you linked? Its thesis was already featured comprehensively in a pretty good article from 2009.
 
 
http://www.salon.com/2009/06/15/neo_nazis_army/
 
And before you go "biased liberal media" the article quotes DoD documents from 2005/6:
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
   
So really, Walter's anecdote is no mere anecdote. There was in fact a Neo Nazi problem by the 2000s - as filed by reports from the US Army itself, which wasn't resolved and was being even consistently ignored by the brass.
 
====
 
Meanwhile, here are the facts of Kyle's book.
 
First of all, it is a biography, written primarily from his own experiences and recollections. Why we've turned Belton Cooper into a punching bag and haven't done the same to Kyle, I'm not sure, but I'm not too busy hero-worshipping to apply the same level of exacting fact-checking that we've applied to SS fanfiction.
 
And really, it's not a pretty picture.
 
The first and most important thing to realize is that Kyle was found to be lying about multiple statements. He in fact was found guilty of libel against Jesse Ventura - not a man known for his credibility - because his fellow SEALs testified against Kyle. 
 
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoint/wp/2014/07/29/jesse-ventura-wins-1-8-million-in-damages-against-chris-kyle-slain-navy-seal-sniper/
 
This is before we consider the fact that he also claims to have murdered two people in cold blood in Texas (in "self defense") and said he was shooting looters during Katrina. Those who say the latter is just a joke or a tall tale would be well reminded that America just went through a couple of riots because of the possibility that police may have shot unarmed black men. Here we have a US Army sniper claiming the government authorized him to murder looters in cold blood. 
 
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2014/07/30/the-complicated-but-unveriable-legacy-of-chris-kyle-the-deadliest-sniper-in-american-history/
 
But really, all that really pales in comparison to the real problem of Kyle's record: His supposed 160 "official" kill score.
 
The problem is, I have found zero US Navy sources corroborating these claims, both the official tally of 160 nor his own guesstimate of 220+. In fact, US Special Forces command said this:
 
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/film/american-sniper/facts/
 
 
 
 
 
The article then goes on to say that Kyle's co-author claims he had to verify the claims with command, but let's be frank here - we don't accept self-reported SS kill claims. Neither should we accept self-reported claims from US snipers.
 
Moreover, I have in fact tried to look for other sources to maybe try and corroborate the claims. The problem is that they all lead to even more fantastical stories and blatant inconsistencies. For instance:
 
http://projects.militarytimes.com/citations-medals-awards/recipient.php?recipientid=307606
 
One of the first things I looked at was Kyle's Silver Star citation. At first glance, looks good - 90 confirmed kills over 5 months. "Plausible". But then there's also the rough edges - only 32 overwatch missions, implying 3 kills per overwatch? Only five "snipers with scoped weapons" specifically identified? Sounds like someone is just taking Chris' words at face value and applying the loose standards for kills - which is "as long as the spotter and sniper saw someone go down, it's a kill".
 
So I took a look at the involvement of the SEALs in the above battle - Ramadi 2006 - and found this book:
 
http://www.amazon.com/The-Sheriff-Ramadi-Winning-al-Anbar/dp/1591141389
 
Which claims, on the flap cover, this:
 
 
 
 
At which point any sane SS fanfiction hunter goes "hold it, the SEALs claimed a total of 300-400 kills in Ramadi, stretching to a period beyond Chris Kyle's tour" (Kyle's tour ended in August 2006. The book and the battle stretches to Nov 2007). Is Kyle seriously someone so superhuman that he accounted for 1/3 of all SEAL kills at Ramadi despite participating only in 5 of its 24 months?! Something's fishy here.
 
And guess what? I managed to get a partial copy of the book (more specifically Google Books) and found Chris Kyle's name wasn't even in the index or in the entire damn book. You have Michael Monsoor, who won the MoH by falling on a grenade and a few other SEALs mentioned, but not Chris Kyle.
 
http://books.google.com.ph/books?id=C7rbAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA83&source=gbs_toc_r&cad=4#v=onepage&q&f=false
 
At which point, I really just have to call bullshit. How the hell can the sniper who supposedly accounted for 1/3 of all SEAL kills in just 5 months of operations be not included or mentioned at all in a book about SEALs in that very battle? 
 
It just doesn't come together. Worse, when I look at USMC accounts of the battle, there's hardly any mention of SEALs, so even the "Sheriff of Ramadi" version may already be overglorifying the SEAL's overall achievements as it stands.
 
Hence, there really is serious doubts about Kyle's kill count or supposed heroic status. Nobody just has the courage to actually look and call it out. And really, given his public record it looks like he made it up. Or worse, if you transplant his Katrina fantasy to Ramadi, you have Kyle acting like a terrorist sniper gunning down people as it pleased him; which the Navy then papered over with a Silver Star that none of his colleagues ever thought was deserved (again, his own fellow SEALs testified against him over Jesse Ventura). The latter is a particularly disturbing possibility when one considers April '06 coincides with the Marines deciding to loosen the rules of engagement around Ramadi with predictably bad results for the civilians - something that was realized to be a mistake.
 
So, yeah, sure, let those families with Iraq War vets try and pretend that this "American Sniper" movie is some kind of catharsis. Me, I would find it supremely ironic if the film which they thought "honored" their families was in fact featuring a protagonist who was ultimately a gun-nut fraud that in fact dishonored all of the actual serving members of the military. Life can be real cruel like that; which is why people keep buying lies in the first place.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQ5KnAV9teU

Still holding out for wargame:1945

Duffelblog is a national treasure

http://land.dfns.net/2015/03/04/soldier-dies-from-massive-erection-after-firing-50-cal-for-the-first-time/
 
Soldier dies from massive erection after firing .50 cal HMG... 

Dear readers,
 
It has come to my attention that a shameful incident occurred in South Africa recently.
 
Accordingly, and on behalf of my entire country, I wish to apologise unreservedly for this dishonourable display by my fellow countrymen.
I cannot rectify this wrong, but I can promise this: that the next time one of our citizens is boneheaded enough to mug someone on national television, he shall at least be armed to the teeth.
 
We cannot see from the footage whether these reprobates were packing heat of some sort, but barring evidence to the contrary we are forced to conclude that they carried out an otherwise unremarkable crime without posing an immanent threat of bloody, screaming death to the citizens they robbed.
This will not stand. 
 
As a South African citizen, I can assure you that these men - who convey the impression of being lazy simpletons rather than properly murderous hell-spawn - are not in any way representative of the dark tide of mind-searing criminal horror that daily washes across our beautiful landscape. Given the way in which these disgraceful felons have besmirched our national character, I can promise everyone in the international community that we shall do all that is within our power to reform them.
At the very least we will ensure that, the next time they engage in antisocial behaviour, they shall be capable of brutally murdering the presenter and camera crew.
 
I close by humbly begging your apology, and beseeching you to forget this terrible incident. I ask that you continue to think of us in the way that you always have: as a dystopian nightmare of war-torn city blocks; ravaged by unhinged, violent lunatics and isolated amidst a sea of tragically fragile natural beauty.
 
Finally, if you feel as I do then please support us in this time of national shame. You can do this by donating weapons and remedial training materials to the underprivileged youth who are most in danger of growing into morons who mug people with their fists on camera. Remember that every starving, uneducated child has the potential to commit a violent, untraceable murder spree if given the proper instruction and an AKM.
 
You, too, can make a difference.
 
Thank you,
 
Toxn

It is I, Arthur, King of the -- oh, never mind. Nothing to see here, just Hognose from Weaponsman. 
 
The only reason anything at all is accurate over there is that Daniel E. Watters upbraids me when I step on my weapons-history equipment with hockey skates on. 
 
I just found this site (well, Collimatrix posted in my comments and I tailed him back here using my peerless ASO skills, and the fact that he left the link, but mostly the fact that he left the link). I was considering this for the Wednesday Weapons Website of the Week at Weaponsman (we like alliteration) but dunno if you want to be called out. The signal to noise ratio here is outstanding.  

There's still the time between the radar bouncing off the inbound, the computer processing everything, the gun accelerating the projectile up to speed and the decidedly non-zero travel time.
 
The P(k) may be high, but it isn't going to be 1, and at that point the question is how many tries do you get? Gatlings fill an area with a nice density of projectiles to get that P(k) high.
 
The refire rate on the railgun is likely the constraint on the system.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQ5KnAV9teU

Soviet Obj. 299, Jordanian Falcon, British COMRES, various American projects...
 
Except for the stryker MGS, none of them has entered service.  I wonder if there is a problem with the concept.

Oh yeah, I can see Gwar doing a really superb live show.
 
Out of respect for the next artist's litigious tendencies towards youtube videos, I will not be posting any audio/visual material.
 
In the 1970s there was a terrible threat to civilization and apple pie and freedom and life itself.  No, I'm not talking about punk rock or disco or Jimmy Carter's presidency, although those were all terrible mistakes.  I am of course referring to that great rainbow scourge, the gays.
 
The 1969 Stonewall riots began the campaign of gay imperialism.  Things that had been safely heterosexual suddenly, overnight, became gay.  The color purple.  The word "gay."  Song and dance numbers.  Nazi uniforms.  Tight pants.  Dressing well.  Reading books.
 
By the end of the decade, only men with disgusting walrus mustaches, poor personal hygiene and no words in their vocabulary over four syllables long were safely straight, and the gays were coming for the mustaches too.  Breeders were in retreat, and given that the gays had claimed grooming as part of their lebensraum, attracting a mate was getting pretty difficult.  The entire globe would be partitioned between celibate, culture-less morlocks and an expanding army of flouncing, hard-bodied interior decorators.  This is how the world ends; not with a bang, but a... a sound that is like a whimper, but gayer.
 
But then in the 1980s, God stopped the gays in their tracks.  The Moral Majority interpreted AIDS as God's judgment against the gays, but you shouldn't listen to them because they're retarded.  God's instrument against the gays in the 1980s was Prince.
 
Yes; Prince, who's early hits included "1999" and "Little Red Corvette," was in fact the defender of heterosexuality who allowed the next generation to be born (that generation would turn out to be the Millennials, but that's hardly his fault).  Yes, the man wore a lot of purple and lace, which at first glance seems dubious, but you've got to understand that he was making those things straight again.  Yes; Prince was the leader of the heterosexual reconquista.  Let that sink in; without Prince, straight people would have been wiped out by the mid 1990's.
 
Yes, the guy is a weirdo and a vegan, but I think that's entirely permissible in light of the fact that he saved humanity from extinction.

I know what you mean. I was just pointing out that that dude was a goner in any case.
I'm still plugging for a reduced backblast system which ejects a whole bunch of confetti or something out the back. Or else a bunch of 'this burning tank brought to you by...' stickers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQ5KnAV9teU

Little did they know that the lions were South African and simply wanted to hijack the car.

Oh, I get paid to write, I just don't get paid to make up stuff like Kratman does.

I realize that this is supposed to be a thought exercise that's more about risk management, but how exactly is the pill supposed to be able to halt aging, but be at the same time unable to reverse previously accumulated damage?  If we think of aging as the failure of the body to perform upkeep on itself, this distinction doesn't really make that much sense.

So this is what happens when an assault rifle and a nightstick fall in love, mate and have children.

This Tom Kratman?
http://196800revolutionsperminute.blogspot.com/2014/05/are-us-soldiers-dying-from-inadequate.html?m=1