Under Investigation

 That company from last year with the brutal contract I declined to sign...

They're getting investigated for fraud.

People who used them are also getting letters.

The lucky ones are getting a letter from a law firm telling them they might be entitled to have their fees returned because a veteran org can only charge a fixed fee and not a percentage of increase.

The unlucky ones are finding that they were coached into committing fraud by the company that helped them increase their rating.

This is an official crack down, it seems.

Lego Space Nazis

I noticed, building the Death Star, that the Imperial military is amazingly egalitarian.

Two of the seven stormtroopers are women.  Only two of them are Caucasian.

The same sort of distribution goes with the Navy personnel too.

I giggle that Lego is going out the way to have diversity in the bad guys.

Diversity that isn't present in the good guys because the actors weren't.

Surf And Turf

I only got lobster once while I was in the Army.  On Columbus Day in basic.

We got steak fairly regularly, especially on Federal holidays.

It was, generally, great for morale and let the cooks demonstrate they could actually cook if allowed.

That's a bit of undeserved snark.

The mess hall never had anything actively disgusting.  Occasionally they'd serve something I was too picky to eat, but it wasn't unwholesome, and there was normally a second choice.

But I notice the same people who hate the military all the time are the ones complaining about how much getting surf and turf to the troops costs.

It's probably no coincidence that these people are also ignoring the fraud in Minnesota and other places.

C'est La Guerre

The press keeps repeating that we blew up a school on the first day of attacking Iran.

The way they report it, and the Iranian government keeps harping on it, you'd think it was on purpose.

Even if we accept that we did hit the school and there are really 157 dead Iranian civilians from it.

C'est la guerre.

Stuff like that happens in a shooting war.

So does fratricide.

You do what you can to prevent it, but you can never completely eliminate it.

Well, WE do what we can.  Iran is flinging missiles willy-nilly and nobody seems to be whinging about civilian casualties from that.

Speaking of fratricide.  There's some indication that the three F-15E's shot down by a Kuwaiti F/A-18C were shot down deliberately.  Kuwait might have a traitor to execute here. 

Fully Armed And Operational Battle Station

I have completed my buddy's Death Star!

Huge.

It's the biggest thing I've ever constructed from Lego.

Now we have to figure out how to get it from my house to his house. 

Counting Type-S

My version of counting sheep to go to sleep is running through all the steps of bringing a Type-S scout ship from cold-iron to pre-flight.

Figuring out the ship in this level of detail has messed with a couple of my Traveller players.

Hitting them with, "Have you checked the flight manual for this problem?" really screwed up one of them after a failed skill check.  I was like, "Dude, the test is open book in real life!"

College students, amiright?

But...

To get the left fusion plant running, you need to charge the capacitors and the power for that comes from some sort of ground cart.  In this case, the air-raft your drove up to the cold ship.

As I was drifting off, I realized that I had been imagining parking it aft of the ship and climbing up to the engineering room hatch...

An air-raft is literally a flying car.  I can park it hovering AT the rear hatch!

My mental image has been amended to include cleats to tie the air-raft there now. 

Hopefully Nothing

My odd throat / thorax thrumming, while probably gastro related, is similar enough in my description to trigger further testing.

EKG and take-home heart monitor next week!

Also the VA has their own brand of gun-lock they're giving away if you even HINT you own a gun.  They gave me two and I will add them to the pile. 

Square Peg Round Hole

We ordered new lock cylinders for Harvey's gun cabinet.

At some point the company changed from an octagon lock-bar drive to a square.

So I figure I'd just swap the drive...

They changed the shaft from oval to square too.

What's to do?

I think we might just take the busted lock to a locksmith and see if they can fix it.

I Understand But

"Don't use that hand grenade, it's dangerous after it explodes!"

The Army has finally adopted a replacement for the Mk3A2 Offensive Grenade.  The original Mk3 dates to 1918 and the A2 from 1945.

"Offensive" means it's a concussion grenade as opposed to a defensive grenade which is a fragmentation grenade.

In the war on Tara we rediscovered that fragmentation is a "to whom it may concern" item and we had some fratricide on the other side of walls from it.

We were laying off using the Mk3A2's in inventory because the fiber/asphalt case had asbestos in it, thus the quote at the opening."

The new M111 has a plastic case and the latest fuse.  No more mesothelioma risk!

Huzzah!

I Am Now A Psychologist

Once upon a time, no shit there I was...

I embarked on being a psychologist.

In my senior year, I did an (unpaid) internship with a practicing psychologist and discovered that, not only, did I not have the temperament for the job; I didn't have any interest in the work.

I loved the science and the research part, but not what 99.5% of psychologists do.

While my grades were OK, they weren't near good enough to get a position at the university or to continue on to a masters with the money available to me.  So I quit with six credits of English untaken to complete the degree.

So I fell back on my mechanical design degree to keep the lights on and motored away.

About ten years later, I got a bachelor's in business administration.

The situation with The Boy prevented me from ever working with my BA, and I have been a, relatively, happy house husband ever since.

But a friend kept harping at me to put in the English credits from my BA into my first degree...

And here we are!  I am now a graduate of Iowa State University with a bachelor's degree of science in Psychology!  Class of 2026!

Hurray me...  It only took 30 years to complete.

I plan on doing the same thing with the degree I did without.

It's been a while since I looked into working in the field and I don't have any licenses or professional memberships cultivated so getting a job looks like a bigger pain than it'd be worth anyway.

That's Not What Makes You A Nazi

Owning a copy of Mein Kampf doesn't make you a Nazi.

READING a copy of Mein Kampf doesn't make you a Nazi.

Even quoting from Mein Kampf doesn't make you a Nazi.

Acting like a Nazi makes you a Nazi.

If someone owns, reads and quotes from Mein Kampf and doesn't behave like a Nazi, they're not a Nazi.

If someone acts like a Nazi, but doesn't own, read or quote from Mein Kampf they ARE a Nazi.

It seems really strange to have to explain this.

It seems self evident to me.

Oh, and in reference to a particular Congressional candidate from Texas who's in the news for owning a copy...

Mocking Mein Kampf and Nazis in general, and at length, means you're not a Nazi.

I notice that the press accusing this candidate never mock the Nazis... 

Every Other Day

Sorry about the free ice cream dispenser being down...

I am wrapped up in this Death Star build for my buddy and it doesn't have a lot of handy off-ramps to stop on.

Basically, each level is two assemblies and doesn't give a good stop point except for completing the level half.

Getting there, though.

He's got Huntington's Disease, in case you wanna find a charity that meets your needs and donate to help find a treatment.

He tapped me to make his kit because his fine-motor skills are already taking a hit.

Slackin'

I got it my head that The Day The Unbearable Light Of Lex went out was next Friday.

It was last Friday.

Make up toast of Guinness (for strength) and Jameson (for courage) was done yesterday at dinner.

Sorry about that, Lex.

Then I totally missed 3-08 day!

So...

 and

plus

 

We Have Met Them And They Is Us

Science, being well known for settling things for all time...

Wait.

Science keeps on marching on and making your reference materials obsolete.

The latest theory running through anthropology is that Cro-magnon, neanderthal, and denisovans is that they aren't separate species, but simply different populations of humans.

Dog breeds show as much difference as the different homo-sapiens species.

If they were simply different populations of humans, then the neanderthals being "wiped out" is explained by two populations merging via breeding.

It's a neat theory and completely off limits in 1973 in my oldest book on neanderthals. 

A T2K Staple

I first read about the LAV-25 in a Popular Mechanics article on the Rapid Deployment Force.

Back then, the Army was still in on the project.

Because of that, GDW included it in Twilight: 2000.

It is, by far, the vehicle my players had most often.  Vagaries of the dice, I guess.

So here's a video about it!

It's Big

 A friend of mine bought the $1,000 Lego Death Star.

He's got some physical impairments that would make building it a major effort.

So he asked me to.

I'm about half done.

Even if I quit right now, it's the biggest Lego I've ever put together.

And it will get bigger!

Spring Forward

Today the government steals an hour from us in a vain attempt to "save daylight."

Shifting the sun an hour today doesn't really change the overall day all that much come summer, and by the solstice it really wouldn't matter.

We should just stay on standard time, I think.

Don't Throw Me In The Briar Patch

I double dog dare you to do it!

Go on.

Go back to wherever you came from and deprive us of your presence here.

I wanna see if we can do without you so bad.

Worth It

The Beast has a 19 gallon gas tank.

Gas going up about 50 cents a gallon thanks to bombing Iran means that it will cost me $9.50 more for a full tank from empty.

WORTH IT!

Especially since I know it's going to be a short lived increase.

Captain Vulnerable

 

Armor Coverage

Hit Locations

Captain Vulnerable gets his name from an image similar to this one for hit locations in Champions.

This is the GURPS 4e version and shows the hit locations from The Basic Set.

Low Tech changes the coverage for armor.

Skull (hit locations 3-4) remains the same.

Face (hit location 5) remains the same.

Legs (6-7 for right leg, 13-14 for left leg) change.  You get Thighs (5-6), Knees (4), and Shins (1-3).  For arm and leg hits, roll 1d and the result shows you where on the limb the blow strikes.

Arms (8 for right arm, 12 for left arm) change.  You get Shoulders (6), Upper Arms (5), Elbows (4) and Forearms (1-3).

Torso (9-10) changes.  First it becomes areas 9-11 then Chest takes over locations 9-10 and Abdomen takes over 11.

Groin (11) changes.  Groin is covered by Abdomen, but is given it's own location because you can armor JUST the groin.

Hand (15) remains the same.

Feet (16) remain the same.

Neck (17-18) remains the same.

Vitals are covered by Chest, but can be armored separately.

If you look at Capt. Vulnerable, you will see that torso coverage includes the shoulders.

Lots of armor doesn't in real life.  The M12 vest and the Ground Troops Variable Armor don't.

That means I need to remember to note "shoulders" when they have such coverage.

It's also striking how few flak vests have abdomen coverage.

PS: The illustration from 3e was clearer.

Issued Before It Was Type Classified

You'd think that a piece of gear designated M1969 or M69 would see its first issue not before 1969, wouldn't you?

Well, you'd be wrong in this case.

Armor, Body, Fragmentation Protective Vest with 3/4 Collar was first fielded in 1962 and gets continually tweaked until they finally settle on type classifying it as Body Armor, Fragmentation Protective, Vest with 3/4 Collar, M-69 in 1969.

First it had no stiffeners.  Then stiffeners were added.  Then they replaced the zipper (and pocket snaps) with velcro.

The stiffeners were added to keep the ballistic nylon innards from bunching up and leaving the upper part of the torso unprotected.

It's A Tactic

A great deal of noise is being made about the rate we're expending our fancy munitions in Iran.

One idea about its lavish employment early on is that by the time you've expended the last round, you could use dumb bombs from WW2 dive bombers because air supremacy had been irrevocably achieved.

In case that wasn't obvious, we found out that dive bombing is the most dangerous way to bomb with dumb bombs because of how predictable the bomber's flight path is.

It is also the most accurate means of employing dumb bombs, but the vulnerability is why we figured out stuff like CCRP and CCIP.

Besides, I'm not worried about our rate of consumption.

Shoot all you want, we'll make more.

I am also 95% certain that we're using "first in, first out" methodology and firing the oldest rounds first.

This gets forgotten when some pundits talk about us using or giving away munitions.

For example, Ukraine got a lot of Javelins that were going to expire and have to be either tossed or reworked extensively.  We were going to have to buy new ones anyways...

Some munitions can be reworked affordably, some are cheaper to buy new and have a shoot-X of the old ones.

Trends

While I'm doing the Great GURPS Body Armor list...

I've noticed a trend in several nations and how body armor gets used.

First it becomes available, but not widely issued or used.

Then it becomes widely available, but neither issued or used.

Then it becomes widely issued, but left behind in the barracks.

Then it becomes accepted by the troops who nearly always wear it.

In the Korean war we had enough vests to equip all of our combat arms troops.  Hardly any units issued any vests.

In Vietnam, there was plenty of body armor to go around, but only the Marines insisted the troops wear it.  Most M69 vests sat under the bunk of the soldier they were issued to. 

For the US, troop acceptance and near universal use of body armor starts with the PASGT gear.

The common phrasing of "hot and uncomfortable" disappearing from the description of the armor correlates well with troops wearing the armor more. 

That's Handy

I was surprised to learn that the US Army developed and issued body armor for infantry in 1945.

Just in time to miss combat.

This was the Armor Vest, M12.  It's aluminum plates mounted like ship sails in brigandine fashion in a canvas carrier.  It was exported and Turkey used it in Korea.

The US also issued flak vests in Korea.  The M1951, M1952 and M1952A vests were all issued, first to Marines then to Soldiers.  These vests are very similar to one another in appearance but differ in construction and materials.  The M1952A is the first US vest to have no rigid materials as protection.

The Marines and Army diverge for Vietnam.  The Marines going with the M1955 vest and the Army the M69.

Making GURPS stats for these means I've also made stats for many other nation's vests because they got our vests as military assistance.

Notably Britain, who issued the M1952A and M69 to troops in Northern Ireland.

I'm a bit surprised that a book that I've owned for years has been more useful than the internet.

Worth Repeating (Updated)

KurtP reminds us that the United States Navy has doubled its number of commissioned warships which have sunk an enemy ship in battle.

Two.

USS Constitution and USS Charlotte.

It would have been deliciously ironic if it were USS Jimmy Carter (SSN-23), oh well.

Charlotte is a 34 year old flight III Los Angeles class boat.  Not bad.

Just Keep Churning Churning

The NAS accepted the reseating of the recalcitrant drive and rebuilt the RAID5.

I now have 4 drives and an NAS no longer running in degraded mode.

The bad news is that I was unaware of how long it had been running in degraded mode.

The web based app that lets you run it kinda sucks and makes it difficult to figure out what might be wrong because it gives constant "warnings" about things it would like you to do that you start ignoring because you've made a conscious decision to not do those things because the brand has a reputation for shitty security with those things enabled.

So you don't notice that you have a new warning that a drive has left the chat.

I believe that the drive "failed" because the cats keep triggering unscheduled power-offs by standing on the button for the UPS.

Eyes crossed.

If it fails again soon, we get our first upgrade in drive size.  Then a slow progression of repeating that until all four 4tb drives are replaced with 6tb units.

Battle Stations Torpedo

 

Secretary Hegseth reports that this is the first torpedo sinking by a US warship since WW2.

He didn't need to tell ME that. 

Also we're the second member of the Nuclear Submarine Sinks Enemy Warship club! 

I am wondering at the video.

Did someone put a bug in the Captain's ear and say, "you know, since we haven't done this since WW2, we really SHOULD do it at periscope depth and make it old-school!" 

Helmet History

A neat, brief, rundown of the Pickelhaub.

 

One Eight One

181 years ago, Florida became a US state.

Here's to 177 years as part of the USA!  (Too soon?)

Six state constitutions...  The most recent dating from 1968.

Mumbai Is A Better Value Than Norway

Hat tip to Willard.

Blink Blink Blink

 

While checking for updates on my NAS I noticed a "Warning" message.

The app had decided that one of the drives no longer exists and the RAID would be in degraded mode until I fixed it.  There were no indications on the lights on the NAS box...

Well, the drive physically exists...

The app suggested shutting down and reseating the drive.

I did that.

During the shut-down I noticed that the "missing" drive's light was steady while the other three flickered.

The reboot took forever!

Now all four of the drive lights are flickering and the status light it alternating red/green.

The app indicates "WARNING"!

Great, why are you warning me?

The sub-app that gives that information, apparently, is greatly slowed by what was causing the warning.

The RAID is rebuilding and while it is, the status light will do the red/green thing.

It will also do this if I save too much data on it.

It's not very informative and it takes too many steps to get the the problem it's telling you about on the front page.

There's Always A Standard

I'm familiar with the NIJ standards and developed GURPS stats for them.

NIJ is not the only standard, but thankfully Wikipedia had a list.

It's looking a lot like steel helmets.

The level of protection is pretty consistent and the weights are very similar.

Almost as if the technology + human limitations = almost the same thing.

In A Small, Secure Room

Somewhere in Iran there's a shrinking group of people playing the nation-state version of musical chairs; last man standing gets to be the Supreme Leader.

Or they're all shouting, "NOT IT!"

It also reminds me of this:

It's True

"When you study history you realize people have been this stupid for thousands of years."
—Old Vaquero Saying

Taken from Bob Boze's site. 

While I Enjoy Them

While I enjoy a good conspiracy theory, I don't indulge in them.

I also don't much tolerate the theorists either.

I will smile politely while they spew, occasionally grunting or nodding, but mostly I'm waiting for them to run down and talk to someone else for a while.

It has been so for me since I discovered Occam's Razor.

So, using the barometer of "the simplest explanation that fits all of the known facts is likely the truth."

The holocaust happened.

Lee Harvey Oswald, working alone, shot and killed president Kennedy.

The United States, in six separate missions, landed 12 men on the moon and returned them safely to earth.

The white cloud behind an airplane at high altitude is just the water vapor from the exhaust freezing.

All helicopters are black under the paint.

Every train full of armored vehicles is on a rail line that leads to or from a depot or training center. 

Not every time US and Israeli interests align means that Israel controls Washington DC.

It's almost never "The Jews."  Antisemitic conspiracy theories have their own section in many lists.  I've covered USS Liberty before.

Near as I can tell, enthusiasts for such theories don't read history or pay much attention to politics.

I Can't Be The Only One

Am I the only person who's a little disappointed that Jimmy Carter didn't live to see Iran toppled?

I am pleased to see that Obama did. 

I Know Why

 

Why didn't POTUS tell Congress?

So they wouldn't tell Iran the exact moment it was going to start.

But, OK, Tom, the president needs Congress to approve of a war.  What are you waiting for?  Tehran to get nukes and make a parking lot out of NYC?

Iran has been pushing for this fight for nearly 40 years, where have you been on stopping it?

Go on, Tom, tell me you would have authorized these strikes if you'd been asked.

But we both know better, don't we?

You've a stated position that the US should do nothing militarily until Congress votes.  Regardless of how timely that vote might be.

I read your bill.

The bill that failed.

Stop acting like it passed and was signed into law. 

A Little Nervous

 Tampa is the home of MacDill Air Force Base.

MacDill is the home of CENTCOM, which is the command that's responsible for the Middle East and, therefore, Iran.

I worry that, thanks to some idiots on the blue side of the aisle, we've let in cells of sappers and saboteurs who will attack the base and its surrounds.

Controlling the border is important.

Getting Mexico to stop being a sieve for every foreign national on the planet looking to get into America would be good too. 

It's On

Israel and the US are attacking Iran as I type this.

Ain't really sure how I want to feel, but I do feel that we've owed them a couple since they attacked our embassy.

It'd be great if the Iranian people got rid of their theocracy and resumed being our friends.

Chasing The Zero

Went shooting with The Lovely Harvey today.

We did rifles again and she's learning where to put the stock into her RoboShoulder® on her AR and her groups are about half what they were last time we took out her AR.

Huzzah!

I decided to bring Dottie to get the SPARC AR zeroed.

It seemed as if I'd done so at 25 yards, but it was massively high and left at 50 yards.

No problem, just dial the knobs a bit...

I then proceeded to send the group back and forth past the point of aim for another 20 rounds.

The adjustment on the SPARC is coarser than I thought and I was cranking the knobs too far.

The last ten rounds actually went where I wanted, but I was getting irritated and I vertically string when I'm irritated.

It's a known problem and I'm working on it.  Most of the time, I'm successful.