Friday, January 27, 2006

The new computer!

Okay, so i know this laptop is only a little over a year old, but i decided to go with a new desktop. Really i'd say there is 4 reasons: some good, some bad. The first reason is that my gf just got a new desktop over Xmas from her brother cause he replaced his and she just bought a new laptop. Yeah i know, computer envy is a bitch though. The second reason is that I really wanted to have a Windows based PC for the connectivity and the options for software. The third is that when i am at clemson, i can get alot of programs for free or very very cheap that i would otherwise have to pay for. So i really wanted to get it now. The fouth, and best reason, is that since the G4 is gonna be out of date pretty soon given the switch to intel based processors for MAC and a desktop is alot more powerful and upgradable, it seemed like a good idea to take care of my needs for several years. I can now afford it as well thanx to my student loans (repaid by the army) and income tax refund. Thanx to all the peeps who helped me pick it out and who will help my building it. Now, on to the specs!

Processor: Athlon 3200 series Venice with 1GHz Front side Bus, clock speed is 2.2 GHz
Motherboard: Asus 939 chipset that supports SATA and PCI express
Hard Drive: 160GB Seagate drive with SATA interface
Optical: Lite-On DVD reader and Lite-On DVD writer with lightscribe
Memory: 2 x 512MB Modules from Corsair for 1 GB
Sound Card: Chaintech 7.1 channel 24-bit sound
TV Tuner: Digital/Analog tuner from Kworld
Monitor: BenQ 19" LCD with digital input
Case: Rosewill silver case with dual fans, and 400W power supply

I'm a fan, and with the 939 chipset, i can upgrade the processor later if i feel the need and the graphics card will be easily upgradable if games outrun it. The fun part for me is that with the digital tuner and new monitor, its going to replace all my old equipment and be a total entertainment center for TV, DVDs, music, and computing.

Friday's Quickie

Apologies over no posts yesterday, I was busy as hell trying to get all the school stuff done as well as pick out components for a new desktop. I'll get to that in a bit. So looks like 2 big issues in the news right now. The first being Hamas and the second being Alito.

Lets start with Alito. Despite attempts by senators John Kerry and Ted Kennedy to drum up support for a filibuster, its almost a certainty that Alito's bid for a Supreme Court Justice spot will occur on Tuesday and he will be confirmed. According to ABC News, 52 of 55 Republicans have endorsed Alito and 3 Democrats with 1 more leaning. Five additional senators have said they will not endorse a filibuster. The there is not the 40 votes needed for a filibuster and there is the 50 votes needed for confirmation. Its down now to an open and shut matter with confirmation virtually guaranteed. Now we will see if the gloom and doom of many on the left comes to fruition.

The next major issue, and depending on your point of view much more major, is the issue of Hamas winning and outright majority in the Palestinian elections. I don't have any specific links at the moment but the issue is concerning on many sides. First of all, Hamas is an Islamist organization that has the destruction of Israel in its founding charter. That is concerning on many levels. They have made very subtle hints at possibly negotiating talks but most experts consider this to be just window dressing on the eve of the elections. The fatah movement, the party that lost to Hamas and formerly was in charge of Palestine, has said they will not be a part of the government. Hamas still has the majority, but is losing a large player in politics and experience. Israel has said they will not negotiate with Hamas. The US and the EU have said they will not negotiate with Hamas and could cut off all funding. Hamas itself is unsure what to do because they didn't plan on being elected to a majority but was hoping to be a minority voice with representation, instead they are running the country. My opinion is that Hamas will have too choices, either be much more moderate, or risk isolation and possible destruction by Israel. Time will tell on that one.

Iran is still an issue with an interesting new development. Russia has put forth a plan that will allow Iran to enrich its own uranium, on Russian soil with international monitors. India and China have supported this plan but Iran, after originally being much more warm on the idea, has not said it would accept this. The idea will be presented in the IAEA meeting on Feb 2nd.

As to reports of the Army being stretched, GEN Casey, in charge of the troops in Iraq, has stated that the forces are indeed stretched, but that they are not overstretched. He says that while the Army does not want to keep up this rotation forever, and would have trouble meeting a new large conflict with current deployments, the situation in Iraq is fully tenable.

Google has been accused of highly abetting the Chinese government in censoring what is allowed there. Mostly because its true that google has agreed to censor certain things on its service there. This is totally new for google in that they have touted themselves of never censoring before then. There might be more than just a public backlash as the government is looking to this. They have called google, and other large internet companies like Cisco, to a human rights caucus to discuss this practice. ABC New reports that there is possible legislation in the form of a code of conduct being purported.

I don't know how much I buy into this theory being proported by Mr Sada, but the NY Sun is reporting that he claims that Iraq's WMDs were moved to Syria. At least Sada would be the one to know as he was the #2 man in charge of the Air Force. He claims they were moved out by civilian aircraft. As I said, I would not be surprised in the least if he was lying but its something to consider, since there is no reason for him to lie at this point.

This from Defense Tech, the marine air has been running a large number of missions in Iraq. Marine air gets little attention but this is a shout out to how important and effective there job is, providing close air support is greatly appreciated by grunts on the ground like me.

Thursday, January 26, 2006

Thanx and ask for help

I just wanna say thanx to everyone that either reads or ecspecially comments on my blog. I have no problem writing what i think since i tear through the news anyway but its gratifing for me to hear others opinions on my stuff as well. So i encourage everyone that reads my thoughts here to comment, I try to respond to everyone that writes something. Also i am looking for a hand from the more computer savy peeps here as i am trying to put together a pretty decent windows desktop in the next month. Any input would he very very awesome!

Wednesday, January 25, 2006

Wednesday's Quickie including shit from Cindy

I got it! I got it! I can finally say i have caught Cindy Sheehan in a direct lie. Thanks to CounterPunch for the link to the interview. Here is the money quote from the interview:
He wanted to be a Chaplain's Assistant in the military, but when he got to bootcamp, they said that specialty was filled, so he would have to be a humvee mechanic or a cook, and he chose to be a humvee mechanic--and that's what his specialty was the day he was killed in Iraq.
Now I am a military man so i feel well qualified to call myself an expert here in that THIS IS NOT POSSIBLE. Why? Well because you pick your MOS (Military Occupational Specialty) before you sign your contract. You find out what jobs are available, pick your time to enter basic training (and you can pick where if you are not locked into a specific time period). They can tell you what jobs are available, where you will be going to train for them and how long it is expected to take. I have on my orders, which I got to pick, that i would go to Benning on May 15th, expected to get to Ft. Gordan on July 26th (not sure if thats exact) and then graduate on October 2nd. I got put on a different track because of the place of my reserve post so mine took 2 weeks longer. But this is how it is always done when you get to MEPS. Your MOS cannot be changed without your approval once you sign your contract to take it. You don't sign your contract without a MOS on it that cannot be changed without your approval. It is true that you can be put into another job when in theater such as manning a checkpoint or patrols but that happens only in theater and usually isn't done that much. No one argues that is what happened to Casey Sheehan. So this little story is a lie, it CANNOT be true. The rest of the interview is long but if you have the time, its a larf to read it all.

As an update to the post from yesterday on Joe Stein, i have the interview he conducted with Hugh Hewitt. Its pretty good and the link is here from Powerline. Watching Hugh Hewitt interview this guy and call him on his shit is fun, but the end it really telling. This is a man that has not even done his research to see what the reality of what is going on in Iraq or Afghanistan. He says that he is not an expert, but then he states that nothing of value is accomplished. Its like not opening your eyes and telling people that there are no buildings in front you. If you don't do your research, how can you even make a claim or come to a position? Unless he has an inate bias...

What sports car are you? I am a Dodge Viper! I tend to think i am more of a old style Dodge Charger but thats not bad. Thanks to Instapundit for providing the link. Go here to see what kind you are!

Two new articles from Stratagy Page. First, it appears that the hailing of the M-240B might be a bit premature as there is a new M-60. The company that makes the M-60 has changed around the aged design and has fixed the jamming issues and the barrel issues. The new barrel gets hot alot slower. Even better is that it can fire much better, the demonstration fired for over 1 minutes straight repeatitly with no jams, rough for a full auto. The second is the huge market for the T-72 tank. You can look up the history of this cold war relic on any search engine but the cold fact is that it is good looking and impressive against most other none modern tanks. Its good for bullying poor neighbors but also for keeping from being bullied. It would get its ass handed to it by any good modern tank like the Abrams.

Last point i want to make is more of a question. What do we do about Iran, if anything. I see 4 options. The first is to do nothing more than we are currently doing. Talks, rhetoric, depending on the EU3. The second option is economic means. If you know anything about the history of sanctions, you should know that sanctions are less than effective. The 3rd option is an invasion. This would be highly effective, as its virtually impossible to stop the US in the field and if done correctly, there would not be an occupation as much as go in, destroy the government and nuke facilites, and get out. Risky though for many reasons. The 4th option is to just bomb them, particularly the power, oil, and suspected nuke facilities. With our impressive air dominance, this is a low risk option in military terms but does carry political risk. It is likely to work as to shut off energy and power, as well as their only real export for cash, the nuke program essentually stops dead in its tracks. It does leave the government in power right now though. I support the 4th option as of right now, in effect roughly 6-12 montsh from now assuming no breakthroughs.

Tuesday, January 24, 2006

Tuesday's Quickie

Well lets start off with another great one from the LA Times. Joe Stein to be exact. I can only make one good comment about the whole thing, at least this is a flaming liberal who lays it all out on the line. No false fronts, no lies, just saying what he really means this time. Check out the whole thing, thanks to Mudville Gazette, here. My favorite money quote is this:
I know this is all easy to say for a guy who grew up with money, did well in school and hasn't so much as served on jury duty for his country. But it's really not that easy to say because anyone remotely affiliated with the military could easily beat me up, and I'm listed in the phone book.

Its almost ironic in that he says this yet he knows that it won't happen. He is safe in his little, eglitarian world and he knows it. So of course its easy for him to say it, he is protected by the law. But he is still an elitest, unpatriotic punk in my opnion.

In case you havn't heard, the liberal government of Canada, often making headlines by being confrontational with the US, is out. The conservatives Tories have been voted into power. The march of conservatism continues...

Alito makes the open Senate after today. He passed by a 10-8 vote along party lines. Confirmation vote should occur within the week.

After much probing on possible rendition flights, there is still no proof it occured. Just idle chatter and speculation. Apperently, unsubstantiated rumors that have been probed several times with no evidence is news.

Monday, January 23, 2006

Monday's Quickie

Well, recovering from drill this weekend is helpful, 4 hour naps usually do it. Yeah I know IM a bastard. It did help to make me feel better since I have been sick for a while. Everyone looking for an update on my deployment status, I'm don't really have one. I am still on the list to get deployed in the August time frame and we are training for it, but we have heard nothing more about being placed directly on alert status or on when we can expect to see orders. So, guess its more likely as time goes on and nothing changes but no real change.

Oh and to anyone who knows servicemembers who have been deployed, I could use input on what people are requesting in care packages because I am working on a list of stuff I would want people to send me. Any input would be helpful cause I am really bad at knowing what I will want. Thanks

Okay on to the news of the day. I'm gonna try to expand what I look into here and take what interests me (hence the truck) so ill be throwing other crap in there.

The Palestinian elections are underway and Hamas seems to be polling very strong, perhaps not only getting a few seats but also a large interest in their representative body. Everyone knows that Hamas has been a major sponsor of the terrorism against Israel, directly planning more than 60 suicide bombings and being involved in many others. Now, with their new polling, they are being a bit more conciliatory on their tone and supporting negotiations with Israel in limited circumstances. Read Zahar's comments (a spokesman) here. Israel and the US, as well as Britain, have said they will not support a Hamas government and will not dialogue with it. It makes me wonder if this, combined with Israel's elections, will set off a more more intense conflict. Iran working towards (possibly) getting nuclear weapons does not help this situation in the slightest.

Bush has told pro-life protesters that they are working for a noble cause in a phone call. Bush has never made it a secret he is pro-life but the move is important in that it comes a day after the 33rd anniversary of the Roe vs. Wade decision and during the confirmation process of Alito. Why he would do this is unknown exactly but it puts even more pressure on the issue. I, personally, don't understand all the fuss on the issue when its obvious its a matter of opinion and not science when life starts. A comprimise here seems to be the most logical solution but neither side wants to give an inch. I think it would be much more useful to argue useful issues. I think most of the country would be willing to split the difference and say that abortions are legal up to 4.5 months er so. Its very hard to make a case that the fetus is alive in the first trimester, but its also very hard to make the case its not alive in the 3rd, so a comprimise somewhere in the 2nd seems like a good legal idea. Actively encourage other options but make it availabe for 4-5 months in. Any reason this would be a bad idea?

The Steelers and the Seahawks have both rolled to massive victories in their conference championship games. Two run-first offenses that have very potent, and increasily effective, passing games with posed quarterbacks in the Super Bowl. After seeing how these teams have played, does anyone really think they aren't the best teams? I had my doubts about these teams during the regular season, but am gonna gloat that i called both of these games on friday and saturday. Now just more waiting, and i'm pulling for the Steelers, cause i love the way the organization is run, and because they piss all over the ravens!

Two new weapon developments are underway for the military. The first is an awesome, anti-armor cluster bomb that can devestate whole brigades and regiments. It splits into small high-velocity "shells" that can penetrate the thinner armor on the top of tanks and other vehicles. Check out the details on it here. Its pretty much the same idea as what Tom Clancy termed the "J-PIG" in "The Bear and the Tiger." You really gotta wonder how good his connections to the pentagon are since he called this one. The second is the "Metal Storm" cannon. You think the A-10's Gauss cannon is fast (and it is since it creates more thrust when firing than the engines), this sucker is ridiculous. 240,000 shots per minute. Yep, thats no typo. It can only fire in very short bursts but the number is phenominal. The details are located here. Its purported uses are going to be on UAVs and to intercept projectiles. Perhaps a large model on ships? Thanks to Defence Tech which has the links used.