Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Monday, September 29, 2008
Old posting on Military "Secrets"
Ran across this.
Newsgroups: sci.military
From: he...@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer)
Date: 26 Mar 92 01:36:36 GMT
Local: Wed, Mar 25 1992 6:36 pm
Subject: Dirty Little Secrets, a mini-review
From he...@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer)
"Dirty Little Secrets", subtitled "Military information you're not supposed
to know", by James F. Dunnigan and Albert A. Nofi, William Morrow 1990.
Quick summary: disappointing, don't bother.
There is very little in this book that lives up to either the title or
the subtitle. It would be fine preparation for a military variant of
Trivial Pursuit, but that's about all. There are interesting tidbits
here and there, but it's not worth the price. I expected better from
Dunnigan.
This was all the more disappointing because it *could* have been a
fascinating, if perhaps slightly thinner, book if the authors had really
done some digging. There *are* dirty little secrets that you're not
supposed to know. (Samples... After the first operational Polaris
missiles were already at sea, it was discovered that their nuclear
warheads were defective and would not work. Nobody knows whether
Minuteman missiles could be launched from the operational Minuteman
silos, because every attempt to launch one from an operational-type
silo failed. [The Vandenberg training silos, which have launched many,
are a totally different design.] The great USAF-USN "shootout" between
Falcon and Sidewinder ended in humiliation for the USAF when repeated
attempts failed to so much as *launch* a Falcon. Aluminum armor is so
dangerous to troops behind it that Israeli soldiers will ride on the
*outside* of their aluminum-armored M113 APCs when there is risk of
serious enemy fire... and guess what the M2 Bradley uses for armor.
Flying a jet at 50 feet -- the altitude where most of them would try
to be in a real war against a dangerous opponent -- is so different
from flying at 200 feet that it takes considerable training for pilots
to fly effectively at the lower altitude, yet only two air forces in
the world train for it [the USAF not among them]. And so on.) Don't
expect to find any of them in this book.
--
GCC 2.0 is to C as SVR4 is to Unix. | Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology
-Dick Dunn | he...@zoo.toronto.edu utzoo!henry
Newsgroups: sci.military
From: he...@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer)
Date: 26 Mar 92 01:36:36 GMT
Local: Wed, Mar 25 1992 6:36 pm
Subject: Dirty Little Secrets, a mini-review
From he...@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer)
"Dirty Little Secrets", subtitled "Military information you're not supposed
to know", by James F. Dunnigan and Albert A. Nofi, William Morrow 1990.
Quick summary: disappointing, don't bother.
There is very little in this book that lives up to either the title or
the subtitle. It would be fine preparation for a military variant of
Trivial Pursuit, but that's about all. There are interesting tidbits
here and there, but it's not worth the price. I expected better from
Dunnigan.
This was all the more disappointing because it *could* have been a
fascinating, if perhaps slightly thinner, book if the authors had really
done some digging. There *are* dirty little secrets that you're not
supposed to know. (Samples... After the first operational Polaris
missiles were already at sea, it was discovered that their nuclear
warheads were defective and would not work. Nobody knows whether
Minuteman missiles could be launched from the operational Minuteman
silos, because every attempt to launch one from an operational-type
silo failed. [The Vandenberg training silos, which have launched many,
are a totally different design.] The great USAF-USN "shootout" between
Falcon and Sidewinder ended in humiliation for the USAF when repeated
attempts failed to so much as *launch* a Falcon. Aluminum armor is so
dangerous to troops behind it that Israeli soldiers will ride on the
*outside* of their aluminum-armored M113 APCs when there is risk of
serious enemy fire... and guess what the M2 Bradley uses for armor.
Flying a jet at 50 feet -- the altitude where most of them would try
to be in a real war against a dangerous opponent -- is so different
from flying at 200 feet that it takes considerable training for pilots
to fly effectively at the lower altitude, yet only two air forces in
the world train for it [the USAF not among them]. And so on.) Don't
expect to find any of them in this book.
--
GCC 2.0 is to C as SVR4 is to Unix. | Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology
-Dick Dunn | he...@zoo.toronto.edu utzoo!henry
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Friday, September 26, 2008
Google Map Maker adds edit capability for 17 more countries, including Laos, Cambodia, Sri Lanka http://ping.fm/ODRrp
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Monday, September 22, 2008
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Friday, September 19, 2008
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Tibetan Travel Agency
Posting seen in:
ORIENTAL-LIST@hmssurprise.org
There was/is 'Tibetan Connections is an international travel agency based
in Xining, Qinghai in the traditional Tibetan province of Amdo."
I talked to them last January and they seemed knowledgable of
Qinghai/Tibet but Google, since 11 Aug 08, only finds a cache of the
website ...which could be for various reasons.
Tibetan Connections
Guo Ji Cun Gong Yu
Building 5
Lete Youth Hostel
18th Floor
Xining, Qinghai China
Email: info@tibetanconnections.com
Tel: 86 971 820 3271
The Lete hostel is handy to the middle of Xining, 15 mins walk from the
main streets. TConnection was on the 16th flr.
When back in Beijing May 2008, I was told I'd need a police permit to bus
from Golmud to Dunhuang but it was issuable within a day.
Dave Nevin, Macau.
ORIENTAL-LIST@hmssurprise.org
There was/is 'Tibetan Connections is an international travel agency based
in Xining, Qinghai in the traditional Tibetan province of Amdo."
I talked to them last January and they seemed knowledgable of
Qinghai/Tibet but Google, since 11 Aug 08, only finds a cache of the
website ...which could be for various reasons.
Tibetan Connections
Guo Ji Cun Gong Yu
Building 5
Lete Youth Hostel
18th Floor
Xining, Qinghai China
Email: info@tibetanconnections.com
Tel: 86 971 820 3271
The Lete hostel is handy to the middle of Xining, 15 mins walk from the
main streets. TConnection was on the 16th flr.
When back in Beijing May 2008, I was told I'd need a police permit to bus
from Golmud to Dunhuang but it was issuable within a day.
Dave Nevin, Macau.
Monday, September 15, 2008
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Friday, September 12, 2008
Dash Express size
The Dash site FAQ has a Q/A about the Dash Express size.
Q: Why so big?
A: "Dash Express has a large battery to support up to 2 hours of use without a power supply. Dash Express also has three antennas - GPS, GPRS and WiFi which makes the device a larger size."
The simplistic comparison is with iPhone Gen2, though.
Q: Why so big?
A: "Dash Express has a large battery to support up to 2 hours of use without a power supply. Dash Express also has three antennas - GPS, GPRS and WiFi which makes the device a larger size."
The simplistic comparison is with iPhone Gen2, though.
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Yahoo oneConnect for iPhone
Can't find Yahoo oneConnect for iPhone by App search on the phone, but iTunes shows it. Pointer from ZDNet.
Monday, September 01, 2008
Yves Klein: Leap Into the Void
It's disillusioning to read that the Yves Klein photo, Into The Void, was contrived
Ho Chi Minh Trail Laos Vietnam Travel Research
This will be the anchor for trip planning on the Ho Chi Minh Trial in Vietname and Laos.
A good start is this post on a 6 day trip by motor bike starting from Vang Vieng to Thakhek.
A good start is this post on a 6 day trip by motor bike starting from Vang Vieng to Thakhek.
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