It's amazing the stories that the mainstream media are missing...or ignoring.

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 09:15 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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"...that he lay down his life for his friends."

Quite some time after it was first announced, the mainstream media, and local media, finally have picked up on the tale of Lt. Michael P. Murphy.

More can be found in the book Lone Survivor, by Navy Corpsman Lucas Luttrell.

More stories like this can be found here and here. Seems there are still a few heroes out there, beyond the drug-addled "sports heroes" that crowd the front pages.

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 09:05 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Heard about the mysterious meteor in Peru? Sometimes a conspiracy theory is a lot more fun than the truth. more...

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 11:24 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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The air was filled with the smell of burning plastic, the smell of a million melted computers.

(Warning: Real Life, Real World, Real Event Content. Strong Situations. Strong Language. Things Are Not Pretty. Real Life Is Ugly. This is the posting that got me "moderated" on User Friendly. You are warned.) more...

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 12:00 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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Via BoingBoing, not quite worksafe flowcharts. But ones that probably best describe your day-to-day crisis management...

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 09:59 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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The list can now be viewed here.

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 01:41 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Good new story from Michael Totten posting from Iraq. The other Michael, Michael Yon, has a new one as well, Three Marks on the Horizon (if you haven't read Michael Yon yet, can I recommend Gates of Fire?).

And am I seeing things? A positive story out of Iraq from somebody other than these two? From Der Spiegel? Clearly something strange is going on here! more...

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 08:44 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Michael Yon on Iraq. He probably knows a lot more about what is going on there than your typical congresscritter.

Also...I feel a disturbance in the force...

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 08:51 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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2006 continued...

(The genesis of this will become clearer in September. However, this seems to happen to me a lot in August and it happened last night. Given that, it is time to haul this out of the archives.) more...

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 08:03 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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(2006 continued...)

Forwarded to me by my former First Sergeant...

Civilian Friends: Get upset if you're too busy to talk to them for a week.
Military Friends: Are glad to see you after years, and will happily carry on the same conversation you were having last time you met. more...

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 01:16 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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(2006 continued...)

The review can now be found here.

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 06:01 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Many people have died protecting our country. They have not only died on battlefields, but at home: saving others from criminals, saving others from fires.

Even "ordinary civilians" can be heroes.

Today I finished re-reading Robert Mason's Chickenhawk and started re-reading We Were Soldiers Once...And Young by Lt. Gen. Harold G. Moore (Ret.) and Joseph L. Galloway. I recalled a photograph that had been on the cover of an earlier edition of the book.

And then I recalled who the person was in the photograph. And what role he played in a later battle.

Even "ordinary civilians" can be heroes.

I love the caption for the photograph found at this site:

No sleep for 48 hours.
Grimy, unshaven, filthy uniform.
Canteens loose, dogtags hanging out, pocket unbuttoned, helmet strap hanging.
No insignia of rank, sleeves up.
Dirty fingernails.
His bayonet is fixed; trigger finger alert and ready for action.

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 12:16 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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In conjunction with the Robert A. Heinlein Centennial, Dwayne A. Day (writing at The Space Review) provides us with an excellent look at the relationship between Heinlein and the U.S. space program.

Particularly of interest is a memo that Heinlein wrote in 1945. Has history overlooked a piece of writing as important as the letter Einstein wrote to Roosevelt regarding the creation of the atomic bomb? more...

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 10:51 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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(2006 continued...)

The review can now be found here.

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 06:28 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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(2005 continued...)

The review can now be found here.

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 11:24 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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(2005 continued...)

The review can now be read here.

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 07:53 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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"Who am I? I am Susan Ivanova, Commander. Daughter of Andre and Sophie Ivanova. I am the Right Hand of Vengence and the boot that is going to kick your sorry ass all the way back to Earth, sweetheart. I am Death Incarnate, and the last living thing you are ever going to see. God sent me."

(Babylon 5)

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 06:09 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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If you have a cricket ball in each hand, what have you got?

Total control over a very large cricket.

(Author lost in the mists of time, alas.)

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 08:16 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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"People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf."

(George Orwell)

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 09:08 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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How To Survive Your Stint In Federal Service

(...thanks to the film version of Starship Troopers for being so bad that it inspired...)

Twenty useful tips brought to you by Gen. Paul Verhoven, C in C...

20. The enemy can drop driveless asteroids on your cities from over 1000 light years distance-presumably at FTL speeds-without resorting to any visible technology. Therefore, assume they're just stupid Bugs incapable of rational thought;

19. When piloting the ship, don't strap yourself in. When the ship is hit, you'll look cool flying through the air into the viewport;

18. Artillery? Only wussies need artillery.

17. Ignore those plasma bolts the mindless Bugs are firing at your ship-they're just "random light";

16. Be ready to shoot your buddies at a moments notice; they'll thank you for it;

15. Rest assured that, in the future, even the chicks are pumped on testosterone; more...

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 07:09 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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