Worth It

Progressing through Andor's two seasons then Rogue One is well worth the time.

It's the only Star Wars that acknowledges that the people who were there, in the theater, in 1977 are no longer nine year olds.

Motörhead - Load The Guns ☠️ (AI)

 

Can an AI mimic Lemmy?

Yes. AI can do Lemmy.

The Thrill Of Victory

Is It All +P?

With only a couple of exceptions, 6.8x51mm appears to all be +P.

That changes my calculations a little.

.277 Fury 7d pi.  G$0.85, 0.043 lb. per round.

.277 Fury Match 7d pi +1 to Acc.  G$1.70 per round.

.277 Fury Match HP 7d(0.5) pi+ +1 to Acc.  G$1.70 round.

.277 Fury Match +P 8d+1 pi +1 to Acc.  G$2.55 per round.

.277 Fury Match HP +P 8d-1(0.5) pi+ +1 to Acc.  G$2.55 round.

6.8x51mm XM1168 AP 5d(2) pi-.  This is the "practice" ammo that's normal pressure.  G$1.28 per round.

6.8x51mm XM1169 AP Match 5d(2) pi-.  +1 to Acc.  G$2.55 per round.

6.8x51mm XM1170 APHC +P 8d-1(2) pi-.  G$2.55 per round.

6.8x51mm XM1184 APHC +P Match 8d-1(2) pi-.  +1 to Acc.  G$3.83.

6.8x51mm XM1184A1 APDU +P 9d+1(2) pi- inc.  G$3.83 per round.

6.8x51mm XM1186 AP +P 5d+1(2) pi-.  G$1.91 per round.

6.8x51mm XM1188 APFSDS +P 11d+2(2) pi- with 50% boost to range (1,050/7,500).  G$5.10 per round.

6.8x51mm Aeroshell SLAP APDS +P 10d(2) pi- with 50% boost to range (1,050/7,500).  G$1.66 per round.

6.8x51mm HAPI API AP Incendiary +P 5d+1(2) pi- inc.  G$2.87 per round.

6.8x51mm NM142 HEIAP:  APHEX Incendiary +P 8d-1(2) pi- inc follow-up 1d-2 cr ex.  G$7.65 per round.

It should be noted that +P made the ST of both the M7 and M250 11 instead of 10.  Remember the average infantryman is going to have a ST of 10 which means they're at -1 to their (not excessively high) skill.

Unanimous

9-0 Ruling on excessive force under the 4th Amendment in Barnes v Felix.

Actual Ruling (pdf)

As someone who's long held the cops are too trigger happy, I think this is good news.

Reason on the original case. 

The tragic parts:

The toll violations were on the plate of a rental car.  Likely from before Barnes girlfriend rented it.  Not even an arrestable offense.

Despite the claims of Felix that he smelled marijuana in the car, none was found.

Barnes trying to drive off was stupid.

I cannot help but think that if Felix had returned to his vehicle and resumed pursuit that Barnes would be alive today.  If Felix had done this, he would not have been in the danger he felt he needed to shoot Barnes over.

The Supreme Court just agreed.

The HPA Is In The Big Beautiful Bill

 

All the news appears good, but all I can do is hum this song.

Also, more cynically:

 

 

6.8x51mm And GURPS

I made stats for the M7 and M250 a while ago based on the information I could find for the XM1168 round.

The list I just posted says that it can penetrate Level IV plates.

That's DR 35.

7d pi only punches 24.5 on average.  But that's a lead core ball round.  G$0.85 per round.

XM1168 has a steel core.

That'd make it an AP round and that changes the damage to 5d(2) pi-.  G$1.28 per round.

That does exactly 35 points of damage (on average) and, thus, qualifies for penetrating Level IV armor.  Damage after penetrating: 0.

Coincidentally, this is the same math that goes from .30-06 M2 Ball to M2 AP.  And M2 AP defines the NIJ Level IV standard.

XM1169 appears to be a match grade loading of XM1168.  That's a +1 to Acc.  G$2.55 per round.

XM1170 is a super-duper AP round with a tungsten instead of steel core.  That's APHC 7d(2) pi- which will penetrate an average of DR 49.  Damage after penetrating: 3.  G$1.70 per round.

XM1184 is a special purpose version of XM1170, and I don't know what the difference is.

XM1184A1 uses a DU core.  APDU, 8d+1(2) pi- inc which, on average, penetrates DR 58.  Damage after penetrating: 5.  G$2.55 per round.

XM1186 is an improved ball round.  Call it AP +P.  That's 5d+1(2) pi-, which should punch an average of DR 37.  Damage after penetrating: 1.  G$1.91 per round.

XM1188, tungsten APFSDS.  10d+2(2) pi- and a 50% boost to range (1,050/7,500).  That will go through DR 74 on average.  Damage after penetrating: 9.  G$3.40 per round.

Aeroshell SLAP is, essentially APDS.  9d(2) pi- which will go through DR 63.  Damage after penetrating: 7.  G$1.70 per round.

Fury match is the lead core ball round I originally used for the calculations with a +1 to Acc.  G$1.70

HAPI API which is AP Incendiary 5d(2) pi- inc.  Same armor performance as XM1168 with an incendiary effect.  G$1.91 per round.

SIC WC UAP.  25mm of rolled homogeneous armor is DR 18.  Not sure what they're bragging about here since the normal lead core will defeat this.  Even at 1,000m which is right at the edge of the 1/2D range.  Need more information.

NM142 HEIAP:  6.8 Raufoss!  APHEX Incendiary 7d(2) pi- inc follow-up 1d-2 cr ex.  Damage after penetrating: 3, plus 4 from the explosion in contact.  G$5.10 per round.

The real problem with all of these is the emphasis on armor penetration.  That general who was touting the lethality doesn't seem to be talking about what it does after penetrating armor.

The XM1168's 5d(2) pi- will do 8 points to an unarmored opponent.

An M4A1 firing M855A1 with 4d+2 pi+ does 24.  It won't punch DR 35, but...  G$0.50 per round.

A Vietnam era M16A1 firing M193 with 5d pi does 17.  Still doesn't penetrate Level IV...  G$0.50 per round.

A Garand firing M2 ball doing 7d+1 pi does 25.  G$0.80 per round.  M2 AP is identical to XM1168.  G$1.20 per round.

An FAL firing typical ball ammo does 7d pi and 24 to an unarmored opponent.  G$0.80 per round.

In GURPS terms, 6.8x51mm isn't very lethal compared to other rounds unless it's wearing armor.  Armor that's as good as what we wear.  Armor that covers areas 9-10, 17-18.  Both arms, both legs, the entire head and groin are outside that DR 35 level of protection.  Our helmets are a mere DR 12.  Even 'Nam era M193 can punch that! 

NOTE!  G$ translate to 2025 USD at about G$1 = US$2  Double prices in the real world.

I Keep Getting Vids Along These Lines Suggested On YouTube

This would be really strange if it's true.

10% Haircut

As Michael points out, those 1,500 people that Wal Mart is getting rid of are workers at the HQ in Bentonville.

That's 10% of the folks working there.

That IS a pretty big layoff.  I was going from a headline and couldn't see the rest of the story thanks to a paywall...  Then I snarked without looking for another source.

But I don't really think the sky is falling.

Wal Mart has been clipping the top levels for a while, especially in San Franciso and Newark.  Consolidating back to the home HQ in Arkansas.

Those reductions were happening before the bond market started giving the signals he pointed out in the, regrettably, deleted for going off on a tangent comment.

Michael!  THIS POST is your chance to re-submit that tangent!  Because it was actually a decent comment, I just have had to get brutal about enforcing my commenting rules thanks to the host of dickheads I talked about last week.

Odd

I absolutely detest the nose on a 73 Chevelle.  But the same nose on an El Camino is kinda cool.

Go figure.

The Economy *IS* Collapsing!

Wal Mart is eliminating 1,500 positions.

Sounds huge, right?

That's from 2.1 million employees.

That's 0.07% of the people they employ.

I'm willing to bet that they have a daily churn of more people than that from employees quitting or getting fired.

But reporting it breathlessly like Wal Mart is close to bankruptcy for making a tiny correction in the number of employees?

Bitch please.

Soft G

How does Gemini get a soft 'g' sound when 'g' is hard in Latin?

"In words of Greco-Latinate origin, the soft ⟨g⟩ pronunciation occurs before ⟨e i y⟩ while the hard ⟨g⟩ pronunciation occurs elsewhere." -Wikipedia

And there you go!

It's the same in Italian, by the way.

Thanks for the rabbit hole, Technomad!

Ex X

The XM7 rifle, XM250 machine gun and XM157 optic are now M7 rifle, M250 machine gun and M157 optic.

The article doesn't mention if the X has been dropped from the 6.8x51mm cartridges:

• XM1168 GPR: Ball round with hardened steel core. Capable beating armor plates of NIJ IV classification.
• XM1169 AP Sniper: Steel-cored match round for marksmen.
• XM1170 AP: Tungsten-core AP round.
  • XM1184 AP: Improved "Special purpose" AP round.
• XM1184: AP round. Target penetration range of IV plate at 600m.
  • XM1185 AP-T: Tracer version of XM11184.
  • XM1184A1 APDU: Wartime version with depleted uranium penetrator.
    • XM1185A1 APDU-T: Wartime tracer variant.

• XM1186 GPR: Improved ball round. Capable beating armor plates of NIJ IV classification at approx 400m range.
  • XM1187 GPR-T: Second-gen ball round with tracer.
• XM1188 APFSDS: Tungsten flechette able to beat NIJ-IV armor from one klick away.
• Aeroshell SLAP: Full-bore AP round with thick polymer jacket offering SLAP-like qualities while being muzzle device-safe.
• Fury Match: Match-grade load developed by SIG for .277 Fury - civilian version of their entry.
• HAPI API: Ammo Inc. API load with large reactive incendiary charge.
• SIG WC UAP: Very potent SIG-designed AP round, supposedly able to defeat 25mm of RHA from one klick away.
• NM142 HEIAP: Downsized Raufoss-like multipurpose round.

 The things the Army is going to regret about this rifle are the outrageous mass, stupifying cost per round and the accelerated wear associated with the insane chamber pressures.

This IS America, dammit, but there's limits to how much we can spend on an infantry rifle.

We Have Glock 19 At Home

Why does everyone make a Glock 19 sized gun when there's already a Glock 19?

Because they want you to buy their gun instead of giving Glock the money, DUH!

And that's really the long and short of it.

It's always interesting watching the marketing people and the gun-writers (did I repeat myself?) jumping through hoops trying to differentiate between the choices and why they exist when it really boils down to the first guy nailing the market niche and everyone else trying to worm their way into it and get some market share.

Bot Reduction

All you have to do to reduce the number of bot hits from Singapore is to post a shrill diatribe and go silent for a couple of days.

Good to know!

Florida Registration

Florida, by law, has no gun registration.

But the media often refers to registered owners.

Occasionally, they mention the illegal possessor was a different person from the registered owner.

Often they mention the "registered owner" by name.

I've been mentioning this for a few years.

Kids, if they can tell whose gun it is in less than 24 hours and get that information to the press in that same time period:  You have defacto gun registration.

Fla. Stat. § 790.335(2) is meaningless. 

Time to have an unproductive conversation with my state legislators.

Gemini Cricket

Gemini really IS supposed to be pronounced Jimminy.

That's the proper Greek pronunciation.

It's not Jim-In-Eye.

I was twitching every time I heard Amy Shira Teitel saying it and thinking she got it wrong and it turns out that she had it right.  And she was just saying it the same way that NASA had been saying it since the beginning of the program.

Wait What?

"The registered owner of the weapon was unable to be contacted..."

What registered owner?

Florida doesn't have gun registration.

Or does it?

That's worrisome every time the press makes mention of it.

How Much Ammo?

There's a thread on Arfcom talking about how much ammo soldiers in Vietnam carried.

A lot is the answer.

"That can't be true, not for a normal infantryman!"

"I have a picture of me somewhere around here..."

Pic shows them carrying the near 500 rounds they claimed.

And here I am, remembering I chastised my players in Twilight: 2000  for carrying all the ammo the encumbrance system would let them as being unrealistic.

Who knew?  Not me!

Reading about the period more let me realize that the troops believed in two things.

1. MORE DAKKA!

and

2. There is no such thing as overkill.  Only 'open fire' and 'reload.'

I've become more concerned with how they carry all that than IF they carried all that.

Some methods take longer to access than others and that matters in GURPS.

There's The Door

There's a misapprehension on the part of some readers that I'm doing this for them.

That is incorrect.

My ramblings are for me.

That you might enjoy them is a coincidence and secondary to the purpose of this place.

With that in mind, you are not a critic or a reviewer of my babbling here.

You are free to start your own blog and critique me to your heart's content.

Don't expect me to show up and read it.

Your critiques are for YOU, not ME and I wouldn't dare to interrupt.

KTHANX

A ≠ R

First off...  It was hyperbole and a joke.

I keep forgetting how stupid some of my readers are.

The joke was to yank the chains of the bigots.

Apparently, the bigots are smarter than a fair number of you because they had the good sense to not open their pie-holes.

They, unlike you, did not remove all doubt.

What makes the snarky joke is that the Jews are not actually in charge of the place despite the constant screeching of the Antisemites.

But missing the joke and then inserting different group for "The Jews!" didn't make you look clever.  It made you look stupid.

I regret not publishing the comment now.  Though, so many of you missed the joke it's better if it's deleted.  Some of you did better than others, I will admit, but...

Y'all are some dumbasses.

Fucking stupid.

Without redeeming features.

Mouth breathing morons.

I look upon thee and despair!

I weep that you might have reproduced and passed this ailment down to your children.

But I do get some satisfaction from deleting the comments and reporting them as abuse to Blogger, you moral degenerates.

So, go away, don't come back and eat a bag of dicks while you do.

Recoil Therapy

Got Dissapator Dottie and Lavender Linda zeroed today.

 

12 round confirmation of the zero at a mere 25 yards.  I'm reasonably happy with it considering how bad my eyes are and Dottie only has irons.

 

Linda was a bit more aggravating.  Got the irons dialed in, then matched the red-dot with the irons and the red dot shot 2" left of the irons.  Must be a goofy affect of the carry handle mount impinging on the sight picture or using both eyes with the red dot or something.

Dialed the red dot so it hit then confirmed the irons still worked.

Odd.  Never had this happen before.

Linda is going to get zeroed again, because she's obviously got a canted front sight, and I remember having to take extra care mounting the barrel last time, that I didn't remember to do this time when I was playing musical barrel swaps for pictures of various dissipator combinations.

Marv went to the adjacent range and zeroed his Kel Tec .410.  It really hated one brand of ammo, Best Performance Shotshell.  You know it's good when they don't even have a web page!

Joke You All If You Can't Take A Fuck

Wow, there's some stupid motherfuckers in the comments.

How The H&K G11 Worked

This is required watching for OG Twilight: 2000 fans!

Well worth the more than an hour.

Good Morning Vietnam!

In addition to Singapore pouring on the hits, Vietnam has joined the ranks of readers.

I guess they don't know they play the bad-guys in two of my GURPS campaigns.

M1956 Universal Ammunition Small Arms Pouch

If you remember this post I wondered if the M1956 small arms, universal, pouch could carry 40mm grenades and, if so, how many.

I bought a book!  Vietnam War US and Allied Combat Equipment.

The “universal” in the designation indicated that it held 2x M14 rifle 20-rd magazines, 4x M16 rifle 20-rd magazines, 4x M2 carbine 30-rd magazines, a bandoleer of 6x 8-rd M1 rifle clips, 8x M1 clips without bandoleer, 2x BAR or Australian L1A1 rifle 20-rd magazines (tight fit), 24x 12-gauge shotgun shells, 3x 40mm grenades (two nose down, one horizontally on top), or 3x hand grenades internally. M16 magazines were too short to conveniently withdraw, so soldiers inserted a field dressing or folded sock underneath to raise them. Some pouches were too tight and held only three magazines.

That's interesting stuff.  Exactly the kind of trivia I love for gaming.

What U.S Troops ACTUALLY Think Of Their XM-7

Early Adopter

The XM157 is a 1-8x power TL8 Computer Sight (High Tech, p. 157) without the Night Vision or Infravision; but with both a visible and IR Integral Targeting Laser (Shoulder Arm) (High Tech, p.156-157). It has a Telescopic Sight (High Tech, p. 155) with an illuminated reticule (High Tech, p. 155) and an integral compass (High Tech, p. 52).

$10,800, 4.9 lb., 2xXS/350 hrs.

What that all means...

If you're not aiming (GURPS aim maneuver, not just looking down the sights) and can see the targeting laser dot, you get a +1 to your skill.

If you do aim, you get the Acc bonus of the weapon and up to +3 from the magnification (but you have to aim for a second per plus) and the computer will give you an additional +3 to hit.

Telescopic sights light gathering ability cancels -1 in darkness penalties and the illuminated reticle cancels an additional -2.

The compass tells you what direction you're pointing.

Documentation

This is a reminder to myself that I want to take a picture of each step in the process of taking the dash apart to replace the evaporator.

I think I will help people following in my footsteps.

Castles And Crusades

I just bumped into Castles and Crusades.

It was a AD&D 3e rule set adaptation of the OG AD&D.

It's an "Old School Revival" game that's trying to get the feel of the old game with the newer, better, rules.

The current edition is "reforged" to escape the Open Gaming License and Wizards of the Coast's idiocy.

I am curious.

White Courtesy Phone

Mr Willard to the white courtesy phone.

Mr Willard to the white courtesy phone.

Mr Willard to the white courtesy phone. 

I wanna talk to you about the XM7 Boondoggle, among other things.

Missed Two Steps

The speaker covers that don't cover speakers in the corners of the dash need to be removed.  Those covers are for a sound system that wasn't available in the USA and used components with the tweeter in the corner of the dash and a woofer in the door.

To get the driver's a-pillar cover off I need to remove my spotlight.

The Gravel Bellies Are Alive And Well

https://taskandpurpose.com/news/army-xm7-rifle-round-capacity/

The gravel bellies are still out there and still saying that having more capacity encourages troops to waste ammunition.

For fuck's sake they've been making this argument since the trapdoor was adopted and it's never actually borne out in combat.

More dakka has always been a good thing.

That's Odd

There's no message from Steve Jackson Games being happy that the tariffs have crumbled and a massive trade deal with West Taiwan has been forged.

They were sure unhappy back at the beginning of April.

Seems to me that everything they complained about has been solved in about a month.

I guess they can only blame Trump, not give him credit.

Power Investiture

Power Investiture is the religious equivalent to Magery in GURPS.

Sanctity is the religious equivalent to the mana level.

To make clerics all I need to do is make some tailored spell lists for the gods and define some of the self-imposed mental disadvantages required of the pact that's built into the power investiture.

Druids, being similar to clerics, make their pact with nature instead of a specific god and will have a different kind of sanctity.

Paladins and Rangers would have lower levels of power investiture and would follow much the same path.  It becomes a character design and flavor decision.

I just need to sit down and do it.

I'm getting there.

Generic D&D doesn't even bother to define the gods or how they differ from one another or if it's monotheism or polytheism.  OG AD&D seems like a monotheism; later settings have polytheistic pantheons.  YMMV.

All of this applies to Warhammer FRP too. 

Of note:  The warlock from later versions of D&D appears to use a similar structure as the clerics, but with non-divine entities.  Since it's access to arcane rather than divine power, they'd use Power Investiture and the mana level to do their thing.

One thing I've noticed is the spell lists have a lot of overlap in what they can do.

Until I Am Blue In The Face

GURPS is not better than a role playing game specifically tailored for the setting.

It shouldn't be, anyway.

It's the embodiment of the original phrase, "a jack of all trades is master of none, but often times better than a master of one."

GURPS turned out to be better at Twilight: 2000 than the 1st or 2nd editions of those rules.

GURPS and Traveller work great!  Enough that they even made two official versions of it.

GURPS is proving to be OK at fantasy settings, but it's not D&D.

I still want to do AD&D with GURPS just to prove it can be done, but it's significantly more effort than just playing the original game.  Magic gives you wizards, but doesn't really give clerics, druids or illusionists.  I'm on the path to making that work.

GURPS: Old West is vastly superior to TSR's old Boot Hill.

GURPS: Espionage works a lot better than TSR's Top Secret. 

GURPS works well to replace just about any genre specific set of rules where those rules are poorly designed, like a lot of the games from the early 1980's.

What GURPS sucks at is attracting new players thanks to people who are terrified of math and the complexity inherent in a system that's trying to account for everything.

And it's much simpler than Hero Games attempt at the same thing.  Or Chaosium. 

I keep trying, and failing, to convince people.

I've noticed that once they're playing, it's the GM and the world that make or break the game, not the rules.

Why I Keep Blogging

I posted that list of things I needed to do to get the evaporator out of The Beast to a Facebook group dedicated to the car, let me say that again A GROUP THAT'S SOLE PURPOSE IS TO TALK ABOUT THIS PARTICULAR MAKE AND MODEL CAR!

The only two comments were, "what was I talking about?" and after I explained that, "What book are you referring to?"

The comment here, "Why do you need to take off the windshield wipers?"

The comment on the blog, where nobody is expected to be a car person or know fuck all about the Holden WM Caprice is a more intelligent question than people on a dedicated car group!

For.  Fuck's. Sake.

I am really expecting someone to ask, "When I remove this nut, what direction do I turn it?"

The utility of the specialized groups is almost non-existent any more.

Primarily it's people selling stuff.  I'm about the only person trying to document what I'm doing with my car.

By The Numbers

I decided to put all the steps in order.  Most of them tell me to refer to another step first so I kept adding those to the list until I had them all.

Disconnect Aux Battery Negative Lead 2-9-703
Disconnect Primary Battery Negative Lead 2-9-702
Remove Windshield Wipers 1-4-269
Remove Lower Air Inlet Grill 1-4-268
Remove Upper Air Inlet Grill 1-4-267
Drain Cooling System 2-9-615
Remove A-Pillar Covers 1-2-76
Remove Center Vent 3-10-101
Remove Silver Spears 2-2-26
Remove Console Panel 2-2-57
Remove Shift Knob and Shifter Box
Remove I/P Center Trim 1-2-29
Remove I/P Upper Trim Panel 1-2-31
Remove I/P Center Air Outlet 3-10-100
Remove Radio/HVAC Controls 1-8-21
Remove R&L-Lower AirBag 3-12-97 and 3-12-96
Remove R-I/P Outer Trim Cover 1-2-32
Remove I/P Compartment 1-2-35
Remove I/P Lower Trim 1-2-25
Remove I/P Lower Extensions (L&R) 1-2-36 & 1-2-37
Remove Silver Box 1-8-19
Remove Console Side Covers 1-2-50 and 1-2-52
Remove I/P Lower Support 1-2-40
Remove I/P Center Support 1-2-39
Remove Air Bag 3-12-101
Remove Steering Wheel 3-14-51
Remove Steering Wheel Top & Bottom Cover 3-14-50
Remove Instrument Cluster Trim 1-2-33
Remove Instrument Cluster 1-8-43
Remove I/P Carrier 1-2-42
Remove I/P Pad 1-2-38
Ducts 3-10-102 and 3-10-104
Remove LH Floor Air Outlet 3-10-106
Remove Steering Column Assy 3-14-52
Remove Parking Brake Pedal 1-5-184
Remove Brake Pedal 1-5-141
Remove I/P Tie Bar (9C1) 1-2-43
Remove HVAC Module 3-10-74
Disassemble HVAC Module and Replace Evap & Heater Cores 3-10-84
Evaportator Core Replacement 3-10-84

I might be able to get away with leaving the steering wheel intact with air-bag and trim covers on and just lower the whole thing to the floor still attached to the knuckle.

Minutia

Champions/Hero and GURPS are both point based systems.

A significant difference between them is how the point totals are calculated.

GURPS subtracts the disadvantages from the total.  So if you spent 195 points on stats, advantages, perks and skills and -45 points in disadvantages and quirks, you would be a 150 point character.  This is the standard 150/40/5 format.

A Hero character with the same points spent would be a 195 point character.  The difference is disadvantages are added to the base point pool. 

It took a bit too long for me to internalize the difference.

What Wasn't VS What Was

Doing research for Twilight: 2000 often means ignoring things that happened in the real world because they wouldn't have happened in the Twilight setting.

But most of the materials have the answers to the real world when I actually look at them.

Three things caused the Army to divest of the M1128 Stryker MGS.

First was the autoloader was problematic.  With only 142 made, one could argue that it never really left the prototype stage.  One could also argue that with more than 20 years of development, Teledyne should have been able to get it to work.

Second, unlike the other Stryker variants, the M1128 couldn't have the hull adapted to an angled floor because of the turret taking up floor space.  This lack of protection against mines was considered a big deal.

Third, they expected the M10 Booker to be joining the light brigades and supplying the firepower the M1128 provided.  Never mind that the M10 was nearly double the weight and larger than the MGS version.  When the generals kept screaming it wasn't a light tank they were not lying.

Bonus!  Firepower upgrades to other Stryker versions were, in theory, making a 105mm armed vehicle in the formation unnecessary.  Time will tell.

No Better Feeling Than Small Accomplishments

I looked up at the vent in the ceiling and noticed how much dust had accumulated.

So I took it down and tried to brush off the dust.

No go.

Something waxy coated the whole thing.

Nicotine!

No shock, this house has had smokers in it since it was built in 1969.

Some Greased Lightning cleaner and a spritz from the hose and it's shockingly clean and silver now.

So I gave the other four vents the same treatment.

Dunno if that helped with the air flow, but they sure look better.

I am often astonished at how things can get dirty slowly enough to not be noticed as getting dirty until they're caked with crud.  The blades on the ceiling fans are another place this happens.

Didn't Think Too Hard About This Did You?

If you're talking about feeding a 30 year old into a wood chipper for wanting it to be legal to have sex with a 16 year old...

AND

You have no problem with two sixteen year olds having sex...

You have not thought about your argument and seen the contradiction contained therein.

This is what happens when you let other people tell you what your morals should be.

Nothing in the above should be taken as the author endorsing having sex with 16 year olds.  Though I bet you didn't get this far before you reacted...  It's OK.  Thinking about why you feel as you do is emotional.

Mother Of Invention

The Ultimag 10R Pentagon magazine coupler.

I had never even heard of this thing until I saw one in a "junk on the bunk" picture spread from a drug bust.

Apparently it's to get around magazine size restrictions.

Oddly, our criminals were in Sarasota, Florida.  Florida doesn't have magazine size restrictions.

VE Day +80 Years

80 years ago this very minute, the World War 2 ended in Europe.

Adolf, being dead more than a week before the war officially ended, could not be reached for comment about how his reich came a few years short of the thousand predicted.

None Of That Makes Sense

Love him or hate him (and we hate him) Robert MacNamara's reasoning for making a coherent designation system for our weaponry was sound.

And we're not using it for aircraft anymore.

F-35 should have been F-24.  With the F-35B becoming FV-24B.

B-21 should be B-3.

F-47 should be F-25.

Or the F-35 should be F-25 and F-47 should be F-26 because F/A-18E should have gotten a new number and be F-24A.  But Congress is stupid.

And now...

OA-1K Skyraider II

It's not the attack version of the O-1.  The O-1 was the Cessna Birddog.

It's not the observation version of the A-1 Skyraider.

But since the last version of the A-1 was the A-1J, if this WAS a version of the A-1 then K IS the next version designator. 

But the OA-1K isn't a development of the Douglas AD.  It's a development of the L3 Harris Air Tractor AT-802!  The AT-802 is a further development of the plane that Dusty Crophopper was based on.

Since it's a totally different plane, it should be A-14A or OA-14A.

Begat

The M8 Buford started out as the FMC CCVL (Close Combat Vehicle, Light).

It beat the Cadillac Gage Stingray and Teledyne AGS (Armored Gun System).

The M8 program came out of several attempts to replace the Sheridan.

The first one that showed promise was the AAI Light Tank, which has several versions and names.  HSTV-L (High Survivability Test Vehicle - Light) is the one most familiar to most people, but T2K players call it the LAV-75.

The XM4 program sought a 105mm armed light tank and that festered while Cadillac Gage, FMC and Teledyne figured out their proposals.

The Stingray made it to production, Thailand bought about 100.

Teledyne's AGS spawned the turret that ended up on the Stryker MGS.

I do wonder if the Teledyne turret on a Buford hull might not be the way to go.

But they never ask me.

But It Does Affect You

I'm not Catholic, so whether there's a Pope or not has little bearing on my life.

But you Catholics need to pay attention.

There was white smoke, that means there's a new Pope and your sins count again.

I hope you remembered to have fun during the interregnum.

Breech Or Muzzle Loaded

Getting a cat into a carrier boils down to one of two conditions.

Is your cat muzzle loading or breech loading?

Will they go in butt first or head first?

And do you have to elevate the "muzzle" of the carrier to facilitate the loading.

Bear, Beeper and Shadow are breech loaded and go in head first without much struggle.

Mist is muzzle loaded and has to be lowered into the upright cage and rammed home down inside.

Mist is the only one not resigned once she's in.

Bear kinda likes the carrier and will sleep in there if you leave it out.

Conical Kitty

 Mist is back from the vet!

She's pooped, eaten and drank.  She's trying to groom, but is being impeded by the cone.

She's not letting the cone get in her way, but...

She hates the cone.  HATES.  THE.  CONE.

Bear and Shadow are giving her room, though Shadow seems confused that she won't play.

At The Vet

Mist is at the vet to be spayed.

She was less than thrilled by being put in the carrier.

Sixteen Pounds All Up

An XM7, loaded with 20 rounds with suppressor and XM157 optic is 16.1 lb.

3.8 kg for the bare rifle.  8.38 lb.

0.64 kg for the loaded magazine.  1.41 lb.

0.66 kg for the suppressor.  1.46 lb.

2.2 kg for the optic.  4.85 lb.

Unglaublich!

Still lighter than a WW2 M1918A2 BAR!

Yaay?  I guess.

The aggravating thing, to me, is that the base rifle only has a 13" barrel but is somehow not any lighter than a Cold War ear "battle rifle™" with a full 21" tube.

Fifth Of May

It's tradition.

 

M60A5

I already made stats for the M48 getting its turret replaced with the Teledyne low profile turret for my GURPS: Twilight 2000 conversion.

There was a planned M60 version too!

 Shaves 8.1 tons off the baseline M60A3 TTS+

Teledyne's 1994 literature says that the turret was amenable to being upgraded to 120mm. 

Teledyne actually made a prototype based on a Centurion hull.  Overall it saved 5.5 tons and had several upgrades to the hull protection.  I'm about 1/3 done with the GURPS stats for the various versions of the Centurion, and this one will get added.

Because Teledyne was operating in a post-Cold War environment, they also developed kits to upgrade T-54/55 and T-62!

Even included the French and an AMX-30 upgrade.

The Soviet tanks aren't getting the upgrade in my T2K conversion.

Setting Yourself Up

If you mention some things without giving context, you open yourself up to obvious replies.

If you mention your dishwasher died, expect people to ask if you're going to remarry.

If you mention your lawnmower died, expect people to say that you can always have more kids.

If you didn't expect it, and got those replies, how did you miss you had that kind of friends?

Due Process

Isn't it amazing that the Dems care about due process for illegal aliens but don't care about due process when it comes to gun owners.

I'm sure I'm not the only one who noticed how the language changed to create a thin veneer of "due process" for red-flag laws; but if we use the older terminology there's none.

Did I say Dems?  I'm sorry, I meant fucking politicritters in general, because the R side of the aisle passed themselves a lot of red-flag laws too.

At least the Dems are honest about it and call it gun control.

How Many Years Is It Now?

When did the 82nd turn in their last M551A1(TTS) Sheridan?

1997.

How many attempts have there been to replace it?

At least two versions of the LAV-25 with a 105mm gun.

The Ares light tank beloved by Twilight: 2000 players as the LAV-75.

The M8 Buford was type classified and accepted for procurement, but never produced.

The M1128 Stryker Mobile Gun System was fielded, but not for airborne use.

And now the M10 Booker has been type classified and accepted for procurement... and won't be produced.

It doesn't change that there's a need for something like a Sheridan and has been for 27 years.

The funny thing about the M551 is all of the early newsreels of it don't tout it's ability to go toe to toe with main battle tanks.  They tout it's mobility and speed with oversized firepower for its weight.  They issued them to non-airborne units.

Then found that a light tank isn't a good substitute for a main battle tank when one is called for and nuked the entire idea for everyone BUT the airborne who could show they needed a light tank they could bring with and drop with.

Maybe if we had more than one airborne division we'd care more?

Drip Drip Drip

The drain valve on the water heater had a very slow drip.  Like a drop on top of the dryer every week kind of leak.

Like all leaks, they don't get better over time.

Like most people, I put off doing anything.

Harvey had noticed it too and today the top of the dryer had about a 1/8" deep puddle on top.

She made a note to herself to tell me and continued with her projects.

I came out and noticed the soaked towel and a drip every minute or so... 

Consulting the internet, I read that, occasionally, sometimes, opening and closing the drain can reseat the rubber washer that seals the valve.

Today was not occasional or sometimes.

Cycling the valve made it worse.

So I hit the internet again.  I had time to look because I'd hooked a hose to the drain running to the sink and the stream was going to the sink and not all over the top of the dryer. 

A couple videos mentioned replacing the washer, but nobody mentioned the size.

Neither Home Despot nor Louie's stock the replacement valve, but both are happy to get one to me in 2-5 days.

Home Despot had a bronze valve that would replace the entire drain assembly.

By this time I had Marv helping me with the draining process.  He was slipping in a fresh bucket while I took away the empty.

When the stream got slow enough to leave Harvey in charge of watching the bucket we hit Home Despot.

Marv suggested looking for rubber washers, so I got the $13 variety pack and I got the $11 bronze drain assembly.

And left the $11 bronze drain assembly sitting on the counter because I missed the bag at check out.  Marv ran back and got it from the counter employee who noticed my fumble.

While he was doing that, I found the correct washer to replace the, "washer not found error" one that came with the water heater.  Not sure if it fell apart and went down the sink drain or if it went into the yard when we emptied the first bucket.

The correct washer is 3/8L Flat Washer Stk# 88576 11/16" OD.  Just for the record.

That was three and a half hours ago and no sign of water in the drain valve!

WOOT! 

Marv earned his dinner at the local Mexican place!

Buckets of Modelo on sale for Cinco de Mayo weekend too!

I Thought The L Stood For Light

There's some rumors that the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) will be cancelled.

I had not been paying much attention, so I looked it up.

First there's the eye-watering price.  $370 to $399 thousand each.

Then there's the L part.

When your light vehicle is heavier than a fully laden CCKW (deuce and a half for you non geekers) you've lost your way.

The JLTV is 22,500 lb.  An empty CCKW is 8,800 lb. and fully loaded is 16,400 lb.

The M925 5-ton truck from when I was in the Army is 22,030 lb. empty.

When your HMMWV replacement is the same weight as a cargo truck, you done fucked up.

The Humvee is less than 6,000 lb. curb weight.  They were $30k in 1989 and that'd be $76k today for a basic cargo version.

I think we need to remember what the Humvee was for.  It replaced the Mutt, which replaced the Jeep.

They're not for combat at the front.  They're for running errands and light transportation.

That role still needs done.

What this program appears to be is a "we tried to use Humvees as combat vehicles and that didn't work out, so let's make a vehicle that can be used like we tried to use the Humvee for."

Which is fine as long as you don't go on to say, "Since this replaces the Humvee in that one, specialized, combat role, let's replace ALL Humvees with this!"

Which they didn't manage to do, but...

Speaking Of Weight

Changing from A2 handguards and an aluminum USGI magazine to the M5 RAS and a gen 3 PMAG adds 13.2 ounces to an M16A4.

That's a bit of an abbreviation.

That's an M5 RAS, 2x 5-rib panels, 1x 11-rib panel, some Magpul rail cover and a vertical grip.

The bare RAS should only add 7 oz.  But that'd leave your hands exposed to the cheese-grater effect of the p-rails.

Some Good News

One good piece of news from the docs.

I've lost 10 pounds since the last time they weighed me.

Not really sure how, but I will take it.

Breaking Willing Suspension Of Disbelief

When wondering if Knight's Armament Corporation had survived the 1997 nuclear war, I looked up where in Florida had taken hits.

MacDill AFB took a 1 megaton hit.

Crystal River took nothing.

That's important, because in 1997 Crystal River had an 860 MW nuclear power plant.

St Lucie has a similar generation capacity and is outside the radius of both Atlantic coast hits.

Even Turkey Point should be safe.

Why is Florida as bad as the rest of the nation, where nukes did take out things like power plants?

The near to the Tampa Bay area 1,112 MW Anclote River Power Plant is unscathed.  No supply of natural gas, but it's intact.

Florida didn't get hit as hard as the rest of the nation and I'm having a bit of trouble understanding why it's so bad off.

Or maybe it's just the Tampa area that's descended into savagery...

New America is insidious, and that, alone, could explain it.

A 13.3 Pound Gun That Offers No Advantage Over An 11 Pound FAL Is A Bad Plan?

Who knew?

The FAL isn't suppressed and doesn't have optics, but the XM157 has a failure rate high enough that you're using the irons as a matter of course anyway...

I, for one, am shocked, SHOCKED, to discover that getting .270 Winchester velocities out of a 13" barrel causes excessive barrel wear.

If only the entire reloading and wild-cat communities had not already figured that out.  If only they had not noticed that recently but decades ago.

Physics is an unforgiving bitch.

The ghost of SLA Marshal is saying, "I fucking told you so!"

It's The Sights

Dissy Dottie ends up 1.5 oz. heavier than Valentine with the same handguards

3.7 oz. are from Dissy Dottie having a big block of aluminum UTG fixed rear sight and Valentine has the much more svelte folding KAC 600m.

The M16A1 trapdoor stock is 1/2 oz. heavier than the A2.

The rest is from the barrel profile and extra gas-block conspiring to eliminate the weight savings from chopping 4" of barrel (which should be a weight savings of 7.3 oz.)!

Update: Looking at the profile, the 4" comes out of the pencil section and should only account for a weight savings of 4.9 ounces.

Explain It To Me

How is it that a district judge can make a national ruling, but a circuit decision is limited to the circuit?

I thought that any decision was supposed to be limited to the jurisdiction the judge was appointed to.

I guess not.

I Don't Believe That's What They Had In Mind

I am morbidly fascinated by watching both the hyper-liberals and the libertarians citing the Constitution in such a way as to make it a suicide pact.

I don't think the founders intended it to be a suicide pact.

I am pretty sure they intended to create a nation and government that would survive forever.

But, no, the people who want to have and keep political power are willing to kill it just to keep the other guy from winning.

Same Difference

In AD&D Devils and Demons are different.

Interestingly, demon is derived from daemon which is just Greek for devil.

You Might Be A Fighter Pilot...

But I'm a draftsman who converted LOTS of ordnance to GURPS for Twilight: 2000.

The controversy at hand is a claim that the PGU-28A/B 20mm SAPHEI (semi-armor piercing high-explosive incendiary) is as good as a hand grenade.

One poster commented that a grenade the size of their thumb wasn't very impressive.

Our pilot countered that an M67 fragmentation grenade had 6.7 oz of explosive and the PGU-28 has 4.5 oz.

I remembered how the 25mm round for the XM25 was often criticized for a lack of boom so I wondered if our pilot was correct.

So I looked up the PGU-28A/B.

The manufacturer says the total projectile weight is 3.5 oz.  That's the body, explosives, detonators, incendiaries, tracer, the whole shebang.

I also found a drawing of the round:

If you scale that you'll find the Comp A-4 filler is 11mm in diameter and 24mm long.  That gives us a mere 0.21 oz. of explosive.  Not a big boom.

Also any fragmentation is going to come from breaking the projectile body instead of using a pre-fragmented wire, like the M67.  That's uneven and erratic fragmentation, and there won't be much of it.

Can't Spell Barbie Without AR

I moved the M5 RAS over to Dottie because it looks cool and Valentine will be rocking the Brownell's A2 handguards that came with the barrel.

 

 If I need a War On Terror A4 clone, it only takes a couple minutes to switch back.

This puts Valentine more in the form of a Twilight: 2000 version since the RAS doesn't come out until after November 1997.  The NSN is issued in February 1998.  Technically, some might be around, but...

I almost said they were in the blast that takes out Kennedy Space Center, but I remembered they were in Vero Beach back then, not Titusville, like today.

Waste Of My Time

Drove the hour down to Bay Pines Hospital CW Bill Young Medical Center thinking I was going to be getting tested for my apparent nerve problem.

NOPE!

It was a consult with a neuro doctor to discuss getting the testing scheduled.

Nothing is actually scheduled, of course.

I'm getting sick of repeating my symptoms to these people.

I thought that was what the computer was for.

Mayday Mayday Mayday

It's May first, or May Day!

So in opposition to my socialist brothers and sisters, I'm being whimsical!

M16, XM16E1, M16A1, M16A2, M16A4.  Semi-auto clones, of course...

Princess Luna, Princess Celestia, Princess Twilight Sparkle, Princess Luna, Fluttershy, Pinky Pie, Rainbow Dash, DJ Pon-3, Rarity.