Argghhh!

There are twelve Medals awarded for actions on 30 December. There are two others which cover this date in the period of action, but they will be noted on the last day noted in the citation, as has been the convention for those awards in this series. There is only one posthumous award. Civil War. There is one Medal for an aggressive reconnaissance conducted at Matagorda Bay, Texas, in 1863. The remainder are for actions involving the rescue of the crew of USS Monitor, when she sank in a storm off...

As per Og's request, the rear of the recoilless rifle, all locked up and ready to go.And here is another shot showing a casing in the chamber, and the unsupported space around it - and with another casing held in the breechblock, showing the holes in the casing that allowed the gases to escape into the chamber and thus blow out the venturis while pushing the round down the barrel.And just to cap it off - this product was made by Firestone, that well-known manufacturer of ordnance......

Case and point on the inquisitive nature passivity of today's gum-shoe press political stenographers...

Yesterday was SWWBO and I's 12th anniversary. I've now gone double my previous record of six years. And, oddly enough, I've been married to SWWBO for as many years as I was married to both other place-holders (apparently intended to keep me off the board until SWWBO was ready). That also means there's some mileage on this chassis. And there have been mods to it, that like any army vehicle, means this chassis has gained weight over it's service life. Snerk. At least that's...

What? Who's a dirty girl? *I'm* a dirty girl?

Let us remember, most of us are not directly touched by the various disasters, natural or man-caused. We have more mundane problems. Usually of our own creation. Focus on what you can control...

This one is user-submitted, so there is no cat hair for scale.

...as important as Haiti is, there *is* still a war on. And we like puppies here at the Castle. Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Paul N. Krist enjoys a moment with his bomb-sniffing dog, Max, before beginning a search for homemade explosives in Afghanistan's Helmand province, Jan. 19, 2010. U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Walter Marino.By Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Walter Marino Special to American Forces Press Service HELMAND PROVINCE, Afghanistan, Jan. 25, 2010 - Their truck sways from side to side...