January 2014 - Argghhh!

Because I know you woke up this morning wondering about artillery powder charges through the ages. Left to right - 3 inch powder bag, Revolutionary War. 155mm "White Bag" charge, used up through the 00s. One.single.charge.increment for the 16" battleship guns. They would use at least three of these. The colored bags are ignitor charges, intended to face the primer vent and to flash nearly instantly, to ensure complete and thorough burning of the powder. And no, of course, they don't...

In this post back in December 2005 , I let it be known I was searching for the wicker container for an SRD rum jug. I didn't know at the time that they were built around the jugs - i.e., I wasn't going to find one to add to my recently acquired jug. No matter - one has been acquired! A whole new jug, that is.

I was pondering this while out doing errands on Monday. Cheap money (student loans) has vastly distorted the market in education, without improving education, but giving us some pretty spiffy buildings and administrators with fancy titles, nice paychecks, who are mostly just meddlesome tools. It occurs to me we need to fix the market on the student side. A credit hour is a credit hour is a credit hour, when it comes to cost. They ought to be priced at value. Why should an hour of physics cost what...

So *that's* where my COLA went. Good to know it stayed close to home. President Obama will announce in the State of the Union address Tuesday that he will use his executive power to increase the minimum wage to $10.10 per hour for workers on new government contracts, fulfilling a top demand by liberal lawmakers and groups, according to a White House document. ... “Hardworking Americans — including janitors and construction workers — working on new federal contracts will benefit...

...is a morning well-spent.

Easy. You got the Breda armorer's parts chest before you got the Breda. Because you knew, eventually, you'd get the Breda.

In my day, these would be rapidly-cooling careers in a professional morgue. The Air Force leadership needs to figure this one out, quickly. You want to control city-busters and cheat on the exams - you prolly should be properly investigated, tried, and if convicted, frog-marched to Fort Leavenworth, post-haste. After having your sword broken over your head. 34 ICBM launch officers implicated in cheating probe.