More Pictures

Ok, the boss is still MIA, so I'll waste some more bandwidth/storage space with more funny pictures from Strategy Page.

The first picture is for the hunters who want to go after, oh I don't know, APC's or light tanks. It looks like it would be fun to shoot though.



The second item is a political statement. Its an Iraqi (read Soviet) anti-aircraft weapon and some soldiers remember a certain actress who posed with a similar weapon back in the late 1960s. I can't find the direct link to the picture but it is on Strategy Page Humor section.

Have a good day.

Since the boss hasn't been heard from, I will use more bandwidth to show some funny pictures from Strategy Page. These are all from the humor section and yes, many are photo shopped. They are still pretty funny and work a laugh.

I know the F-14 has been retired, but just think if it was designed as a typical government program, you might get the multi-seat Tomcat



or the super Tomcat



Next we have the military's new all glass/digital cockpit, or at least how the new male pilots would like it to be if just the engineers would make a few modifications, right boss?



Now I saw all the Star War movies and will someone please explain to me why that X-Wing wasn't able to make a safe landing? I mean its not like it has to catch the wire or anything, it lands like a Harrier.



And finally, this Highway Patrol department is very serious about enforcing the speeding laws

Have a good day

Airplanes and Humor

When you see the plane to the right, what do you think?

My what a pretty plane or

What allergic reaction did the plane have to its last batch of jet fuel or

That's it, no more pizza after 11pm.

Well, according to the WSJ (subscription required), its a modified 747 and not a new airplane for sale. According to the article:

"The plane is officially called the Large Cargo Freighter. The craft is a
standard 747 that received an extreme makeover in Taipei, Taiwan, last summer --
a process that involved removing the jet's passenger cabin and signature hump,
then replacing them with a cavernous cargo hold. The tail section now swings
open on giant hinges that protrude from one side of the fuselage, like elbows."

The purpose of the plane is to transport the various sections of the 787 to the final assembly plant. The plane can hold about as much cargo as 3 regular 747 freighters (in size if not in weight).

It will get the job done but it will never win any beauty contests.

James Lilek's is a columnist and author and writes a daily blog about his life. Its funny and amusing and not intended to be replace deep thinking. He also writes a daily column for the Minneapolis Tribune and in today's column, he says good buy to Target. No, no new boycott has started but rather Target has closed the store he shopped at and will replace it with a new store and building in October. I find it interesting to read about how people can become attached to their favorite store. Definitely worth a read.

Its Friday!!!

Today is Friday and the weekend will soon be upon us.

Ok, for those of us who are in school, it means more studying time. For those of us who are working, it means time to relax and get caught up on personal things. For those of us who are working full time and going to school full time (me, the boss is almost full time in school but makes up for it by having 3 young kids) it means "just another day in paradise" (if you don't get the song reference, your too young to remember Phil Collins). The weekend will be a time to catch up on homework and get bills paid etc so can survive another week.

Two news stories of interest.

Before I go into them, I need to apologize for not hat tipping the other blogs that provided leads to some of the stories I posted on this week. I will be going back to fix some of them but will promise to give proper credit from here on to other blogs I've read and got links from. I've been out of blogging for a while.

Ok, now with the confession done, back to the stories.

Thomas Lifson over at American Thinker has a very disturbing story about the Minn Airport. If a passenger has a seeing eye dog, they may have a difficult time getting a taxi ride. 3/4 of the taxi drivers are Somalians. In Islam, the dog is not a clean animal. So, they do not want to give rides to anyone who has a dog because they don't want to defile their cars with an unclean animal.

If the drivers had a no animal policy, they could and should be able to say no to animals. However, seeing eye dogs are not considered animals but rather an extension of the person. This is why they are allowed in stores, restaurants and other places where animals are not normally allowed. For the taxi drivers to say they will not carry a passenger who has a seeing eye dog because of their religion, should have their airport license or permit taken away. They can still drive a taxi, just not work the airport run. If this is allowed, what about other violations of Islam? Will the taxi drivers be able to refuse those who have alcohol (the taxi drivers have already tried that), what about a female who is traveling alone? what about a homosexual?

If we allow a government monopoly to grant permits to those who discriminate, the government monopoly should be abolished. The Minn Airport Authority should allow any taxi driver, and not just those who pay for the permits to be allowed to pick up passengers at the airport and those who refuse to take a passenger for religious reasons should be forced to go to the back of the line of taxi's.

(hat tip Lucianne)

Story Two (yes a long post, will anyone read it, not likely but oh well)

From Space.com
Super Soldiers: Tomorrow's 'Army of One' Technology by Charles Choi

Its about the new weapons and equipment being tested by the Army and how it will effect the battlefield in the future. Wow.

I hope it makes the US (our) soldiers so good that it will not ever be close to a fair fight. In combat, a fair fight means you didn't plan your battle correctly. To the soldier (so I've read, never have been one myself), a "fair fight" means all the bad guys or enemy are dead, wounded and no longer a threat or captured and all your guys are unhurt and able to go home.

(hat tip Lucianne)

Various minor items

This is the 12th post since the boss emailed and said he wanted to revive Carpetbloggers from a dormant to an active or at least a semi-active blog.

I think its time he writes something.

Part of the problem is knowing what type of blog this will be. Will it be one which reviews all the news and posts links here? Will it be a glorified Xanga site where we only write about the small goings on in our daily lives? Will it be something in between? Newsey but more commentary on the news then links and how the news relates to our (the writers) lives?

Other thing I got to ask the boss on, how to check the site meter to see if ANYONE is visiting? If you are visiting, do me a favor please, leave a comment, even if its just "I came here by mistake and won't be back", would be appreciated. Of course if you were a regular or semi-regular visitor that would be better but given the number of blogs out there, that is asking a lot.

I was going to ask if anyone could shed light on why the B-36 was accepted while the YB-35 wasn't. Both were piston airplanes in the age of jet fighters (post WW2) and both were basically obsolete before the B-36 entered service in 1949. Actually the YB-49 was more advanced then either, but being a new design, there were lots of problems and the program was killed before they could be fixed. Any ideas?

The Concourse of Hypocrisy

The Concourse of Hypocrisy is a web page looking at the cars in Berkley California and the bumper stickers on them. Berkley is a liberal city and many people there are against the GWOT saying "No War for Oil".

So what cars do the socially conscious drive in Berkley? Well lets just say I get better mileage with my Prius then any car on the page and no I don't have any bumper stickers on my car.

The difference between meer mortals and the elite

Joel Mowbray in the 2 Jan 2007 Washington Times, writes about the difference in punishment between two people when it came to the mishandling of classified data.

One was an analyst who is spending 12 1/2 years in prison plus fines and legal fees for passing low classified documents to a friendly country.

One was a high governmental official who had to pay a small fine and lied to investigators about what he did when he was caught with highly classified documents and destroyed some others so they could not be reviewed by others and possibly embarrass him or his former boss.

I thought we were supposed to be all equal before the law, but some are more equal then others it appears. Ok, to tell the truth, I know that people in this country are not equal before the law, those with money have more access to the legal system then those who are poor. Those with political power or connections to political power can get away with things that would land the rest of us in jail.

This is a case of that. One man is in jail and one is free for the same act. Actually, the one in jail should have had a lessor sentence then the one who is free because the documents he took were less valuable/embarrassing.