Open Thread – May – 2013

Open Thread – May – 2013

Could Body Armor Have Saved Millions in World War I?
The follies that led to poor helmets and a lack of torso protection for men in the trenches.
MICHAEL VLAHOS
APR 30 2013

Steel fragments do not come at the soldier like rifle or machine gun bullets, at high velocity (up to 3000 feet per second). Nearly all of them move at less than 1,000 feet per second. The best helmet steel could and did defeat these. But helmets only protected the head — and Allied helmets covered the head poorly.

Still, 18 to 20-gauge helmet steel (.036-.040 inches) could stop a hot cupro-nickel jacketed 230 grain slug from a .45 Automatic Colt Pistol (ACP) fired pointblank. So alloys like silicon nickel or nickel-manganese-vanadium could protect against almost all fragments. With such steels already in high production for helmets, why not protect the torso too?

What If We Never Run Out of Oil?
New technology and a little-known energy source suggest that fossil fuels may not be finite. This would be a miracle—and a nightmare.
CHARLES C. MANN
APR 24 2013

Johnny Rico, combat photographer:

No Skin

Everyone I see is missing something.

Not Boston’s Finest Hour

I’m a little disappointed by the reactions of many Bostonians and Americans to what happened. The evidence is in the comments on a lot of posts. The bloodlust and Murika-Fuck-Ya! attitude is disturbing.

I’ve seen a bunch of stuff, but the classic was last night at Brigham Circle. I was going to a small get-together for a friend’s…(to be continued, sorry I’m watching the Bahrain GP)

I am trying to get a friend to give me video she took of the “celebrations” on Boston Common Friday night. It is both hilarious and sad. But until then, I’ve got this:

Warning. Don’t click on the link to the photo necessarily. It is irrelevant. Read the story and comments.

http://www.ibtimes.com/tamerlan-tsarnaev-death-photo-surfaces-autopsy-picture-reddit-slain-boston-bombing-suspect-no-1

 

Wow! That almost never happens

Update: April 17th -

The random decision to walk in the street and eventually outside the yellow tape ended up being key here. I had no idea what was up ahead. Anderson Cooper with a pressure cooker. So I guess I made a guest appearance on CNN’s new live Boston cooking show… uh-haha, not funny, I know. But wait til you see Erin Burnett and Jake Tapper yukking it up in the next one.

Copley Pt.I

Copley Pt.II

April 15th

I was 140 yards [I've revised this to 125 yards, I thought initially the blast was more in front of bank of America] from the first bomb when it went off. I turned and saw the dust cloud coming at me as I heard the second one go off. Weird day. Have tons of video of the area from Saturday and this morning.

Open Thread – April

Korea

Don’t Break the China
We need Beijing as an ally against anarchy.
By WILLIAM S. LIND • March 28, 2013

If this proposal seems radical, it in fact reflects the way Britain accommodated a rising United States. The possibility of war between America and Britain was taken seriously by both sides well up into the 20th century. But instead of clashing, as British power weakened after World War I and, more dramatically, after World War II, London incrementally passed the task of maintaining order to the United States. Britain eventually did this even in areas she had long regarded as vital to her interests, including the Mediterranean and the Persian Gulf.

Just as a return to spheres of influence can replace conflict with alliance between the United States and China, so it can harmonize relations elsewhere, again with the goal of allying all states against the forces of the Fourth Generation. We should recognize Russia’s “near abroad” as her sphere of influence. We should work actively to bring Afghanistan into Pakistan’s sphere of influence. While contested spheres of influence can exacerbate conflicts, agreed spheres reduce them. By acting as an honest broker to facilitate such agreement—including between China and Japan—rather than joining either side, the U.S. can do more for her real interests, including her vital interest in maintaining the state system.

As the abominable snowman of foreign-policy idealism, made up of Wilsonians, globalists, and moon-gazers melts in the sun of serial failure, realism awakens from hibernation. The destruction of states in the name of “democracy” and “human rights” may not be an unmixed blessing. Results matter—not merely intentions.

Syria says rebels set fire to three eastern oil wells

DeiezZor2

Syria has produced heavy-grade oil from fields located in the northeast since the late 1960s. In the early 1980s, light-grade, low-sulphur oil was discovered near Deir ez-Zor in eastern Syria. Syria’s rate of oil production has decreased dramatically from a peak close to 600,000 barrels per day (95,000 m3/d) (bpd) in 1995 down to less than 140,000 bbl/d (22,000 m3/d) in 2012.

Syria exported roughly 200,000 bbl/d (32,000 m3/d) in 2005, and oil still accounts for a majority of the country’s export income. Syria also produces 22 million cubic meters of gas per day, with estimated reserves around 8.5 trillion cubic feet (240 km3). While the government has begun to work with international energy companies in the hopes of eventually becoming a gas exporter, all gas currently produced is consumed domestically.

DeirezZor1

Prior to the uprising, more than 90% of Syrian oil exports were to EU countries, with the remainder going to Turkey. Oil and gas revenues constituted around 20% of total GDP and 25% of total government revenue.

-Wikipedia

Oil Wells Set Ablaze in Eastern Syria: Govt Blames Rebels
Rebels Reportedly Fought Over How to Split Revenue

by Jason Ditz, March 31, 2013

Syria says rebels set fire to three eastern oil wells

Top general urges caution on Syria options, rebels

More Calls for Intervention in Syria
MARCH 21, 2013

Syria – April 2013

Rebel_Map1

Why the U.S. Has Stayed Out of Syria (So Far)
By DANIEL LARISON • March 30, 2013

THE ROVING EYE
Crisis? What crisis? Let’s hit Syria
By Pepe Escobar

Syria’s Civil War and its Unintended Consequences

Kerry Hypocritically Chides Iraq for Meddling in Syria’s Civil War

US Training Syrian Rebels in Jordan

Tricksters

LIFE

…………….AGRICULTURE

………………………………………..HERBIVORES

………………………………………..RAVEN AND COYOTE

………………………………………..BEASTS OF PREY

…………….CARNIVORES

DEATH

Editors note regarding the above: Levi-Strauss said that in Native Amercian mythology, coyotes and ravens show up to play tricks, and mediate the place between life and death. Duality. Contradictory personalities. Tricksters. Carion eaters.

Check Your Six

Leaked Pentagon Report: The F-35 Won’t Stand A Chance In Aerial Combat

Aviation journalist David Axe has published an insightful piece about Lockheed Martin’s marketing efforts to keep up “the much-delayed, over-budget” F-35 Joint Strike Fighter reputation.

The Tragic Story Of Outpost Restrepo Sums Up The Whole Afghan War

Does Torture Work?

This is also one of those Hollywood films in which fifty kinds of brutal hell are thrown at the “natives,” but you’re supposed to care most about how the good-looking Americans feel about witnessing it. Are they okay? In the opening torture scene, Jessica Chastain’s character literally answers that question while watching a bloody half-naked guy suspended from the ceiling getting the works: “I’m fine,” she quavers bravely. Then at the end, as she’s going home at last, Mission Accomplished, we get a big gorgeous close-up of her as she sheds large round Hollywood tears.

That poor, poor CIA agent! What she’s had to go through! Will she ever be truly whole again?

Petraeus’ Torture Teams

Send Them Behind the Sun

Egpt 3

Egypt’s President Could Win a Trip to Space, Whether He Wants One or Not

http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/02/22/egypts-president-could-win-a-trip-to-space-whether-he-wants-one-or-not/

The scheme, unveiled Thursday by members of the April 6 Youth Movement, is to garner enough support in an online competition to win Mr. Morsi a trip to space sponsored by the deodorant company Axe.

The ancient pharoahs would have jumped all over this opportunity.

Update: Even though he was well out in front on the leaderboard, and destined to win a trip into space, the Axe deodorant promoters have removed Mr. Morsi from the contest, disqualifying him.

The pharoah’s journey to the heavens - foiled – by the ad agency to a deodorant company.

Egpt 2

No. You Don’t.

Even Nissan Has Decided That Today’s Battery-Only Cars Are A Dead End

http://www.businessinsider.com/nissan-moves-to-hybrid-2013-2

Vice Chairman Takeshi Uchiyamada, the “father of the Prius” who helped put hybrids on the map, said he believes fuel-cell vehicles hold far more promise than battery electric cars.
“Because of its shortcomings — driving range, cost and recharging time — the electric vehicle is not a viable replacement for most conventional cars,” said Uchiyamada. “We need something entirely new.”

No. You don’t.

February Chi9nese Man Post

Hep hep Chinese New Year. The year of the Burmese python.

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