Belesarius

I saw it.  Wasn't overly impressed. Was hollywooded up a bit more than I would have liked. Does draw attention to the abysmal treatment of american vets returning home, so there is that.  How western countries treat returning combat troops is shameful.  Probably my single biggest beef with the Harper Gov't is how they have completely and utterly failed our vets coming home from 'stan.  I view it as a national disgrace and a violation of the covenent between service memebers and the government. 

I decided to dig a bit into the Chris Kyle thing myself.  I found this rather interesting review of his book on Amazon:
 
I embedded twice with Seal Team 3 in Ramadi and frankly this is just a BS novel. There were no signs advertising a bounty on his head. I saw none and nobody else I know who was there whom I've contacted ever saw one. I never even heard of Kyle until I read his book, yet I'm to believe I was sharing Metropolis with Superman or Gotham City with Batman! Hah! The fake punch-out with Ventura cost his estate a fortune. The alleged attempted carjacking somehow slipped past both the police and sheriff in the town where he claims it took place and where he killed the two carjackers. The shootings in New Orleans? No witnesses. The 160 "confirmed kills?" NOBODY confirms kills except the Air Force with pilots. Therefore he had zero confirmed kills. We have no idea how many people he sniped, but based on the rest of the book it may well have been just a handful. My first firefight was with ST3, and included heroes such as Marc Allen Lee and Mike Monsoor. (Ryan Job was in the other platoon and I never saw him until the Monsoor MOH ceremony in the White House.) I have incredible respect for them, and they showed their respect for me after the ceremony. But they have a few losers, too, and Kyle was one of them. Weaving tale after tale until finally he got the attention of a publisher and then Clint Eastwood, whose movie itself has almost nothing to do with Kyle's book. Fiction layered atop fiction like a wedding cake.
 
Normally I would not put much faith into an Amazon book review.  However, this one is by someone who used their real name and is a public figure.  The authors name is Michael Fumento, his wikipedia page backs up his claim of having been embedded in Ramadi.  Assuming this is all legit, it's rather interesting.   

I see this is a Starship appreciation thread.
 
Good. Good! GOOD!!!
 

Fuck guns, missiles are the ~*FUTURE*~.
 
May or may not include fissile materials;
 

(stolen from SA)
 
 
 
 

Regarding the whole people constantly on their smartphones thing, it's the same dopamine loop that our Illustrious Predecessors who Clearly had Everything Figured Out™ were riding when everyone was buried in a newspaper on the train back in the day. It's the same one I was riding back when it was a paperback I was cheekbones deep in. Boredom sucks. I'd really rather not be left alone with my own thoughts for company for too long (that changed but more because I'm not as good company as I used to be now that I have stress and responsibilities to deal with than any technonanism though).
 
I've got to say I find it uncanny and hilarious how it's almost impossible to find an article about not doing something popular without a seriously, severely smug tone to it. I'm glad his mental echo chamber is so superior to spending half my time on the phone reading about history. We live in an age of unprecedented access to information and to people who hold different views. May as well use it. Just for once I'd love to see someone not going along with the crowd for reasons that don't have to do with their clear mental or moral superiority.
 
I find it helpful because no matter what I'm going to be distracted. I'm a programmer, I work on a computer. It's much better if I have to go to the effort of picking up my phone, unlocking it and getting in reading position than just twitch and hit alt-tab. Plus, my screens are still showing the test output I'm running so I don't miss my cue to get back to work.

A1 Skyraider is a pretty neat plane, and it had a lot of variants. 

I saw it.  Wasn't overly impressed. Was hollywooded up a bit more than I would have liked. Does draw attention to the abysmal treatment of american vets returning home, so there is that.  How western countries treat returning combat troops is shameful.  Probably my single biggest beef with the Harper Gov't is how they have completely and utterly failed our vets coming home from 'stan.  I view it as a national disgrace and a violation of the covenent between service memebers and the government. 

As far as truth goes, I can say that owning Chickens has reinforced my previously held conviction that life is not sacred. 

Going to see them in May, actually.