The mall shooting *may* have been stopped by an armed citizen

 blather, news, politics, weapons  3 Responses »
Dec 152012
 

Independent verification of the claim would seem to be called for, but if this story is accurate, it’s important:

Clackamas man, armed, confronts mall shooter

In short: an armed citizen claims that when the mall shooters gun jam, he drew down on him. He did not pull the trigger since he saw people behind the shooter (y’know, know the backstop). But the shooter saw *him,* and the next shot was the shooter capping himself.

Again… if true.

And if true… expect to see no more media discussion of this than the local press. Doesn’t fit the narrative.

 Posted by at 7:02 pm

Errrrmmm…

 Hmm..., humor, youtube, ಠ_ಠ  2 Responses »
Dec 152012
 

“NASA Johnson Style.” I’m stuck halfway between amused and concerned. The phrase “your tax dollars at work” keeps popping into my head for some reason…

[youtube 2Sar5WT76kE]

 Posted by at 3:59 pm

Never let a tragedy go unexploited

 AARRRGH, blather, Forward!, Gah., I'm from the government, news, Obamazombies, politics, religion, weapons, ಠ_ಠ  3 Responses »
Dec 152012
 

So, here we go again. A couple of nutjobs shoot a bunch of people and the political vultures come out:

Dem. lawmaker: To get gun control, Obama must ‘exploit’ shooting

New York Red. Jerrold Nadler (D:umbass) suggests that Obama should use this fantastic opportunity, brought on by a kid who *stole* guns in a state with some of the strictest anti-gun laws in the US, in order to further the civilian disarmament cause.

Of the many things I find curious about the two most recent mass shootings: at least from what I’ve seen so far, the media hasn’t been touting them as Tea Partiers, Right Wingers or other related Republican-related members, as they did with prior mass shooters. Is this because they learned their lesson? Or is it because the election season is over, and the next set of elections are too far away for the media to waste even more of their credibility in an effort to sway the electorate with fraudulent claims of political partisanship on the part of clearly apolitical whackos?

UPDATE: But Wait! There’s More!

Huckabee: Schools ‘A Place Of Carnage’ Because We ‘Systematically Removed God’

So on the one side we have leftist politicians who want to use this tragedy to cram more Government into our lives; and on the the other side we have rightist commentators who want to use this tragedy to cram more God into our schools.

Feh.

 Posted by at 9:16 am

Nuclear powered recon drone (GE 1954)

 aircraft, drawings, nukes, projects  5 Responses »
Dec 152012
 

In 1954 General Electric studied a nuclear powered unmanned aircraft for a photo recon role. One design considered was the ACA-8, a fairly conventionally configured airbreathing supersonic configuration with small canards and unswept wings mounted well aft. For propulsion the ACA-8 was equipped with a single ACM-1C-Mk II nuclear turbojet with a chemical afterburner. With 9,000 pounds of chemical fuel, 3000 pounds of guidance and control equipment and 3000 pounds of photographic equipment, the gross weight was 50,000 pounds. While the design seems to have some similarity with the Pluto nuclear ramjet, it was a nuclear turbojet, and thus restricted to slower speeds. Maximum nuclear-powered speed at 35,000 feet was Mach 1.57; at design cruise altitude of 40,000 feet, speed was only Mach 1.40. By using the afterburner, at 45,000 fee the max speed was Mach 3.6; at 57,000 feet, Mach 2.5. This could only be maintained for a relatively brief period, however. Note that the design is equipped with landing gear, indicating that it was to be recovered and presumably reused.

At nuclear cruise speed, it was quite interceptable, but the opposing country would have to think long and hard about just how much they wanted to shoot a nuclear reactor out of the sky over their own territory. The best option would be to follow it out and down it over the ocean.

 

Midgetman

 history, nukes, rockets, weapons  12 Responses »
Dec 142012
 

The things you find when you’re not looking for ’em. For instance, a Martin Marietta Small ICBM, a.k.a. “Midgetman.” Designed to be transported, erected and launched by large trucks, the Midgetman would carry only a single warhead. But by being so readily transportable, it could be scattered around the Western US and would be very difficult to effectively target. The end of the Soviet Union led to the end of the SICBM program in 1992.

This example is not exactly on display… it’s sitting out back of the Strategic Air & Space Museum in Ashland, Nebraska, in a non-obvious parking lot, clustered with turbojets, an Avro Vulcan and a somewhat beat-up H-Bomb.

 Posted by at 10:11 pm

“Wings of SAC”

 aircraft, art, awesomeness  9 Responses »
Dec 142012
 

A painting by Mike Hagel on display at the Strategic Air & Space Museum in Ashland, Nebraska. This would have been one hell of a scene in real life, though almost certainly impossible to actually pull off. The multiple simultaneous ICBM launches, for example, would have required a *lot* of paperwork.

 Posted by at 8:06 am

Jim Hoffa makes the case…

 blather, Crazy, Forward!, Gah., news, politics, youtube, ಠ_ಠ  9 Responses »
Dec 132012
 

Jim Hoffa, head of the Teamsters Union,  had this to say about the new law in Michigan that makes it illegal to force people into unions:

[youtube 2trIypROnSw]

Q: “What’s wrong with giving workers a choice?”

A: “It’s basically creating a free rider status. When people vote and the majority votes, that should be the people that control in that particular company.”

What he’s basically saying is that every single worker should be *forced* under color of law to join a union and pay dues because if people are allowed to not join, then they will reap the benefits of the Unions efforts without paying their share.

Hmmm. The same view is expressed by the first fella interviewed here:

[youtube u_F3oev06i0]

Now… replace “union dues” with “income taxes.” Do you think the Union guy might support the idea that those who draw more from the government than they put in shouldn’t be allowed to vote? Or maybe he’s of the view that what the US needs isn’t a progressive income tax, but a flat poll/per-head tax. After all, the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines protect the bum every bit as much as the billionaire.

I’m not sure, but I think he’d make a great figurehead. “If you’re on welfare, Union Goons will beat you with ballbats if you try to vote!” I’m sure someone better at PR could punch that motto up a bit.

Additionally, the reasoning here would also make it fair to automatically sign up every US citizen into the National Rifle Association, and to make them pay annual dues that the NRA can then use to support the political candidates of *their* choice.

Anyway, please to enjoy Union activists trying real, real hard to avoid acting  like cliched Union thugs. Bless their little hearts and littler brains, they tried… but failed.

[youtube GtbWbw66KrI]

[youtube N1PjVILHNa4]

[youtube 33W6NhNYCx8]

We can learn a few things from this:

1) Union members – these ones, at any rate – believe that violence is an appropriate response to speech they don’t like.

2) These highly-skilled, worth-every-penny Union members take freakin’ *forever* to tear down a tent. Is it any wonder that road repair is a never-ending process?

 Posted by at 6:48 pm
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