I have been playing around with a new program that allows you to use proxies to download as many rapidshare files as you want with out having to pay for it.  God I love freeware, basically it is a two part deal that finds proxies and then uses them to download the files for you, avoiding the free download bandwidth limits that rapidshare has.  After all why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free.   As soon I can find the link for the software I will post it here.  And just for the hell of it a picture of my old but reliable laptop, named appropiately enough Naruto.

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Todays theme, If you want something done right do it yourself.

NTSFW Images below the fold.

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     Shown above is the newest piece of genuis to emerge from Kel-Tec firearms.  Called the RFB (Rifle, Forward ejecting, Bullpup) this .308 (7.62x51 Nato) rifle is a whopping 26 1/4 inches long while featuring a 16 1/2 inch barrel.  The bullpup layout has long been controversial, namely because the ejection path often meant that the weapon would only be suitable for right handed shooters.  Kel-Tec following in the footsteps of FN figured that the best solution to the proble was to simply to use a tube paralell to the barrel and push the empties down it and out the front.  The amazing thing about this rifle is not however its ejection system, but rather its size.  It is smaller than many .223 (5.56 Nato) bullpups like the SA-80, FA-MAS or FN-2000.  The mold of large calibers coming in large packages is undone with this rifle, and that promises interesting posibilities for the future.(Kel-Tec has hinted at 6.5 Grendel and 6.8 SPC chamberings at some later date.)

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     Nerima Daikon Brothers, an anime musical comedy brought to you by Nabeshin.    While not necessarily heavy on thought provoking plot or an examination of some great concept* this show is still more than worth the price of admission.  Following the two brothers, Hiideki and Ichiro from Nerima and their gold digging female cousin Mako, and pet panda (Pandaikon) as they scrape by farming Daikon (Hideki), working in a host club (Ichiro) while trying to make it big in the music business.  The humor is broad, the music catchy and uptempo.  The whole concept of  musical anime seems like something of a non sequitor.  Animated musicals always having been seen as a western genre, made famous by Disney.  Unlike the light and fluffy stuff from the house of the mouse this more like anime does Blues Brothers with a dash of Excel Saga.  Nabeshin appears as the owner of a rental shop which always has waht they need to escape from theor tight spot of the moment.  While a little episodic, the show never fails to deliver with the laughs and the commentaries by Nabeshin and some of the crast and crew are as funny as the shows themselves.

*But then has anything Nabeshin done been known for its plot?  I mean this the man that brought you both Excel Saga and Puni Puni Poemi.

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From First Multinational Force Iraq:

Iraqi forces take pride in themselves, their units.

Kindi re-opens kindergarten.

Brits helping to train Iraqi Army.

Nine suspected al-Qaeda terrorists detained.

General recognizes pilots for daring rescue mission.

Baghdad revives as surge, economic programs take effect.

Improved Ninewah security may mean fewer U.S. troops in future.

MND-B attack aircraft engage enemy rocket launchers.

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     Updates shortly, I finally have my desktop up an running again after  3 1/2 days, two recovery disks and several trips to microsoft's update site later.  I don't know exactly what happened to cause my computer to go tango uniform but I suspect it may have been accidently unplugged while installing automatic updates.  Anyway more interesting stuff to follow, oh and whoever works for gateway deserves a kick in the shins for putting the OS on one disk and the drivers on another GRRRRR!

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     Some guns become famous, some infamous, but a rare handful become iconic, and one of those is the SMLE or Short Magazine Lee Enfield aka smelly to the Brit and Commonwealth soldiers that carried her.  The melding of an American designed action courtesy of John Parrish Lee and rifling developed at RSA Enfield the rifle went through dozens of variations.  The one seen here is perhaps the definitive version.  Offically Rifle No.4 Mk. I, this gun saw a refinement of every aspect of the rifle, from the stock arrangement, sights, bayonet mounting system and bolt assembly with it unique interchangable bolt heads to control headspace.  Firing the equally iconic .303 round the SMLE made a fine reputation among its users, their allies and enemies, no mean feat.  After world war one someone noted that the Germans built the best sporting rifle, the Americans the best target rifle and the British the best battle rifle.

     This beauty was built by BSA Shirley in 1944 and came to me a number of years ago from the racks of a local gunshop.  She is a fine shooter and all matching except for a few Savage made parts she picked up during a postwar FTR (Factory Through Repair)  Ammo is handloaded match grade, using CCI large rifle primers, 55 grains of Varget powder in Winchester brass driving a 173 grain Sierra MatchKing hollow point.

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    I love promo discs, you can check out new shows before they hit the stores, but even better you can stuble on to shows of which you are aware but if you hadn't seen a promo you would never have considered giving a chance.  Thus I sat down the other day with the promo DVD form the latest issue of Newtype USA and checked out a show with whose name and premise I was famillar but had always written off as not being my thing, KashiMashi Girl meets Girl.  Sure I had heard of this show, but after watching the episode and laughing my ass off at the humor and being genuinely impressed by the animators and writers abillity to convey emotion and humanity.  I wasn't famillar with the charcters or their individual stories but I was still able to find a connection with the story, which is damn hard to do in the span of thirty minutes.  That and the fact that I am a sucker for gender switching humor doesn't hurt either. (My favorite gender swap joke is in Oh! My Goddess when Keichi manages to basically turn himself into a pre-op transvetite, combined with the arrival of Urd's ex makes for some great humor.)

      The other great thing about promotional DVDs, at least those that come with magazines like Newtype and Otaku are that they have a wide range of shows from different companies.  From time to time Shonen Jump comes with free DVD's but they tend to contain a single episode of a single show, and invariably form Viz.  While that is understandable they could at least try for a little corporate cross promotion, it can't cost a whole lot more to put three episodes  on a DVD compared to one episode.  On the whole though promo DVDs are a great way to discover new and maybe not so new shows to fall for.

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     Barry Bonds put homer number 754 over the fence in the first inning of yesterdays 12 to 10 victory over the Florida Marlins.  Tomorrow the Giants continue their homestand with another game against Florida.  Barry will be facing Dontrell Willis, the best pitcher in the leauge versus left handed hitters, so getting 755 won't come easy.  Game time is 9:00pm Eastern, 8:00pm central and 6:00pm pacific time catch it on ESPN.  Just maybe you will get to see history being made in the City by the Bay.

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A shout out to my British and German Readers.

First up the Senior Service

HMS ILLUSTRIOUS and her Task Group.

Now the Deutsche Marine.

The Sachsen class frigate Seeb

RN image is fullsize, DM nearly so. unfortunately niether the RN or DM are willing to give you US like hi-res photos.  Maybe they figure it will save them in terms of bandwidth costs

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     Of late there has been something of a hullablo over suppouesdly 'dangerous' Shoujo comics in Osaka prefecture.  It raises an interesting set of issues, what exactly can any liberal, pluralistic, democratic society do to control the distribution of materials that some people may find offensive but others have the right to create and consume.  This is at best an extremely delicate balancing act.  When such a controversy arises in society that places a high value on public consensus it blurs the lines even further.  Japan is a country that at times intrigues me and at others, confounds me.  The Japanese constitution enshrines an absolute right to freedom of expression but censorship laws go unchallenged, or even if ruled unconstitutional they remain on the books.  The need for consesus and cultural tradition has largely kept the Japanese Supreme Court from becoming what the allies intended it to be.  It was hoped it would be a court not unlike the US Spreme Court, acting as a co-equal branch of government and counter balancing the power of the legislative and executive, that has not been the case.  Sadly the Japanese judiciary is lacking a Thomas Franfurter, Hugo Black or Earl Warren.  Lacking a strong proponent of individual rights on the bench a bizarre duality continues to exsist where nearly anything can be published, so long as you somehow alter or cover up genetallia.

     While I appluad Japan for all that it has done to become a more open and forward looking society I am also keenly aware that in some respects it remains trapped in its feudal past.  This leads to the contradictions noted above, and many others.  A pacifist nation with the worlds third largest navy, an enviromentally concous nation that is awash in concrete, a trading nation that remains somewhat hostile and even discriminitory toward outsiders.  I appreciate Japan for what it is, but like my own nation I refuse to view her through rose colored glasses just because she is foreign and distant.  I see both the good and bad, and I appreciate all the more for how much more good there is than bad, for no one is perfect, because perfection is boring.

Go here for full background on the Osaka story.

(And I am well aware of the irony of posting this directly above a dirty picture post.)

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Lovely pics of even more lovely Rukia.  Need I say more?

More revealing pics below the fold.   Enjoy

Below the fold is Totally NSFW!

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All Stories from Defend America.

From Afghanistan:

Afghan Soldiers Undergo 'Commando' Training, Volunteers learn infantry tactics and first aid.

Bagram Outreach Program Brings Aid to Local Villages.
Medical mission breaks barriers, builds trust with villagers.

Operation Diablo Dragnet Links People to Government.
Collaborative effort yields trust and discourse with Afghans.

Afghan Government Provides Aid to Flood Victims. Hundreds of pounds of food and water help 250 villagers.

Ready Reserve Soldiers Respond to Country’s Call. Soldiers receive recognition, promotions.

From Combined Joint Task Force Horn of Africa, Camp Lemonier Djibouti

Task Force Members Survive in Djibouti Desert. Training provides better appreciation for African weather conditions.

Civil Affairs Team Celebrates Fence Completion. Soldiers help villagers build fence around school.

Servicemembers Move into New Billets. Containerized living units improve quality of life for troops.

Be prepared, be alert, stay alive!

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     TNT has three of the best shows on TV, hands down.  If you have yet to catch Heartland, The Closer and Saving Grace get your TV listings out and make it a point to check out these great shows.  While the networks have continued to pump out bland, predictable sitcoms and dramas¹ cable has seemingly cornered the market on high quality programming.  With the possible exception of some of Fox's animated shows, HOUSE and 24 the best of everything is on cable.  The afore mentioned shows, plus Mind of Mencia, South Park, Rescue Me, The Shield, Rome, The Sopranos, Dirty Jobs, MythBusters, Dallas SWAT (and other cities) The First 48, The Bronx is Burning and Deadliest Catch all have homes on cable channels.  The networks have been left in the dust because cable is free to take risks that they can't or won't take.  More importantly the Cable channels have also hit upon the fact that you don't have to structure your seasons according to the flawed and highly questionable nielson ratings system.  If you wnat a season to begin June or July you can basically sieze the field and viewers well before the networks roll out their fresh episodes in the fall.  God save the Networks!*

¹ER is a prime example of a show that was once great that should have gotten the ax at least 5 years ago.

*The traditional call from the crowd at the coronation of a British monarch is to call for God to save the King (or Queen), who has died.

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From First Multinational Force Iraq

Three insurgents killed emplacing roadside bomb.

Statement from the Multi-National Force-Iraq to Iraq’s National Soccer Team.

36 suspected al-Qaeda terrorists detained.

Al-Qaeda cell leader killed, seven insurgents detained near Karmah.

Stallion Engineers lend hand to Iraqi Army counterparts in Al Awad.

Soldiers, NAC work together to refurbish School in Saliyih.

Mortar tube, cache seized in south Baghdad.

20 suspected al-Qaeda terrorists detained.

Keep the dreaded call from coming, Keep it to yourself!

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From First MNF-Iraq

     Soldiers, Marines pour their hearts into helping local Iraqi boys.

       AL TAQADDUM — In the United States things can be relatively simple. If someone is ill, he goes to the doctor. If a person is very ill, then they go to the hospital.

      In Iraq, on the other hand, it is not always that simple. Medical care is very expensive and many times the wait to be treated can be weeks long.

      While on patrol, soldiers from Company A, 2nd Combined Arms Battalion, 136th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Marine Logistics Group (Forward), stumbled upon two boys who were truly sick, took a stand,  and decided to help them.

      One of them has a serious heart condition.

      “He has what’s called Tetralogy of Fallot,” said Spc. Eric Rasmussen, a medic with the company and Maple Grove, Minn., native. “It’s pretty much a hole that keeps the heart from receiving oxygenated blood.”

      Mohommed Yesier Abdula Essa has been living with the hole in his heart for quite some time.

      “Once we decided to help him we contacted a group called the National Iraqi Assistance Center in Baghdad,” said Army 1st Lt. Gordon P. Giswold, a civil affairs officer with the battalion.

      “They said they could sponsor these kids to receive surgery.”

      Once the ball began to roll, it was a matter of getting the children to Baghdad to receive treatment.

      “The (commanding general) made things happen,” said Giswold, a Cold Spring, Minn., native. “Pretty much everyone was trying to make this work.”

       Once they arranged for transportation, the company went out and retrieved the sick children and family.

Read it all here.

     The story speaks for itself.  It still amazes me what the average American service member is willing to do for someone he has never met before, with no expectation of recieving anything in return.  If you see a service member or veteran give them a thank you for their service, they deserve it.

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Pointless dirty picture post

Most assuredly not safe for work, view them in all their glory below the fold. more...

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     Steady progress on the still nameless 16DDH continues apace with new photos showing how work is progressing.

Here we can see that she has gained her mast and a number of antenas.  She also appears to have recieved her first coat of paint up to the flight deck edge level.

Here we see another angle giving us a better view of her mast, stack tops and bridge.  Also new are the covers on the phased aray radar appetures, indicating that her radar gear is being installed.

Finally I dug up this scan of a Japanese newspaper with this great overhead view allowing us to see that her elevators are assembled on deck prior to being fitted to their lifting gear.  Not readily obvoius is the location of her VLS cell though, just foreward of the bridge where several work vehicles are parked at the moment.

First two photos came from this Japanese blog.  Previous construction photos from the same source, wish I read Japanese sorry, no source for the newspaper scan.

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     Viz will be hammering North America with a virtual tsunami of Naruto beginning in September, with twelve volumes of manga being released between then and December, plus another DVD box set, and plenty of related merchandise.  So could this be too much of a good thing?  I don't think so, after all Naruto is insanely popular, and given that all of this will be hitting during the fourth quarter (christmass shopping season) Viz has hit upon a marketing master stroke that will please both their bean vounters by raking an insane amount of jack and hardcore fans by bringing the US releases of Naruto to be near concurrent with the Japanese releases.  I for one say bring it on, there can never be too much manga in US bookstores for me.

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