Happy New Year

And All That Jazz.



Gentle Readers, I hope that 2013 brings you everything that you could hope for.*
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* By accepting this greeting, you are accepting these terms. This greeting is subject to clarification or withdrawal. It is freely transferable with no alteration to the original greeting. It implies no promise by the wisher to actually implement any of the wishes for her/himself or others, and is void where prohibited by law, and is revocable at the sole discretion of the wisher. This wish is warranted to perform as expected within the usual application of good tidings for a period of one year, or until the issuance of a subsequent holiday greeting, whichever comes first, and warranty is limited to replacement of this wish or issuance of a new wish at the sole discretion of the wisher.

Your Sunday Morning Jet Noise

A Saab JA-37 Viggen does a bit of an interesting maneuver on the runway.



The Viggen supposedly could operate from a 500 meter length of runway. It was one of the very few combat jets with both an afterburner and a thrust reverser. Also note the main gear as it rolls by the camera.

Rumor has it that the Swedes tried to sell the Viggen to other countries. The word was that Swedish law prohibited arms sales to "aggressor nations", as determined by the Swedish government. Other nations didn't want to run the risk of getting into a conflict and then have their source of replacement parts and aircraft cut off, so they preferred to purchase weaponry from less squeamish sellers.

Big Shock: The LAPD Lies.

A one-day gun buyback event in Los Angeles on Wednesday gathered 2,037 firearms, including 75 assault weapons and two rocket launchers, officials said.

A friend who is in a position to know (Army 11B) has informed me that the "rocket launcher" the cop is holding is the tube from an AT-4 antitank rocket. The AT-4 is a single-use system-- once the rocket is launched, the launching tube itself is useless and is tossed away.

In other words, that tube the cop is holding is about as deadly as an empty 2-liter soda bottle, and is arguably less useful. As far as Federal law goes, I believe that an AT-4 tube is considered to be as lethal as a similarly-sized length of PVC pipe.

But hey, it was a weapon, once. And that's good enough for the idiots at the LAPD and the imbeciles in the press.

UPDATE: That launcher was a training simulator. In other words, it was never a weapon and it always was as deadly as what it is: A tricked-out piece of plastic sewer pipe.

Caturday; Post-Meal Edition

It looks like just a standard old messed-up bed, doesn't it?

Except for the fact that that lump under the covers is snoring.

Shorter Mayor Bloomberg: "It's No Big Deal If a Crazy Person Pushes You In Front Of a Subway Train!"

Mayor "No Gunz For You" Bloomberg is urging everyone to keep in mind that not all that many people are pushed onto the subway tracks in front of an oncoming train.

"It's a very tragic case, but what we want to focus on today is the overall safety in New York," Bloomberg told reporters following a police academy graduation.

Riight. The overall drop in murder rates in this country hasn't stopped Hizzoner from pushing for more gun controls, though. A tragic event is all it takes for him to seize on it, if that tragic event fits in with his agenda.

Portlandia

I don't get the Independent Film Channel at home, so I've never seen this show before.

But if the city itself, in any way, resembles the depiction in the show, I would not be adverse to resuming a bit of above-ground nuclear testing there. I fear that if I had to deal with such people on a routine basis, I'd be drinking heavily.

What's Good for the Goose

You've probably heard by now that the Journal-News in the lower Hudson river valley, NY, has published an interactive map of all pistol-permit holders. If an enterprising thug wanted to scope their places out, they'd just have to flip over to Google Earth for satellite and street views. If they could have gotten information on who owned what specific types of weapons, those putzim would have published that, as well.

In response, you can now find the information on the publisher, editor, reporter, and other douchenozzles of that paper.

Serves them right.

A Christmas Story

The Shepard, an aviation Christmas ghost story, as read on the CBC.

`Bye, Oscar

Jack Klugman has died.

Charles Durning has also died. He was a character actor and a veteran of World War II. He survived the first wave at Omaha Beach and the Malmedy Massacre.

It Would Be Nice, Wouldn't It?

If we could achieve "peace on Earth, goodwill to all" for at least one day a year.

Then maybe we could do a week?

Merry Christmas, whether you are opening gifts under a tree or celebrating with the traditional feast of Chinese food, followed by a movie.

Oh, speaking of movies, a friend of mine saw "Jack Reacher". Her comment was: "It would have been a good movie if they had cast someone other than Tom Cruise." She's read a number of the Reacher books, so she had a mental image of him as this huge, physically imposing guy. Based on the opening weekend, the movie may tank, for fifteen mil with a big-ass star in the lead is dogshit.