Saturday, December 05, 2015

RIP General William Grey, USMC


The death has occurred of former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General William Grey [Ret.] U.S. Marine Corps. General Grey famously served as CJCOS during a particular overt attack on the planet from extra terrestrial forces in 1996.

General Grey co-ordinated Air, Ground and even Space assaults against the Extra Terrestrial adversary and famously issued the command: "Get on the wire and inform the squadron around the world. Tell them how to bring those sons of bitches down!"

General Grey's awards included The Navy Cross, The Defense Distinguished Service Medal, The Navy and Marine Corps Distinguished Service Medal, The Silver Star [x2], The Navy and Marine Corps Medal, The Bronze Star [with combat 'V'] and campaign awards for Vietnam and Southwest Asia.

After his retirement General Grey was appointed as a senior military consultant to UNETIDA, the United Nations Extra Terrestrial Invasion Defence Agency [now SPEARHEAD] until 2001 when he made his retirement permanent.

* * * * *

Sadly veteran character actor Robert Loggia, former U.S. Army Lieutenant and star of Mancuso F.B.I. with roles in Scarface, Big, Independence Day and Jagged Edge for which he was Oscar nominated has died at 95. May he rest in peace.

Tuesday, December 01, 2015

Buyer Beware

Today a Philippine court sentenced Lance Cpl. Joseph Scott Pemberton U.S.M.C., of New Bedford, Ma. to 6-12 years in jail for the Oct 2014 homicide of a transgender Filipino sex-worker Jennifer Laude by first strangling and then dunking her head into a toilet bowl in a hotel after discovering her deception.

Judge Roline Ginez-Jabalde ordered Pemberton jailed at the New Bilibid Prison, a national penitentiary in Muntinlupa. A 1998 Visiting Forces Agreement allows U.S. forces to conduct military exercises in the Philippines, states the country can prosecute U.S. service members, but that the U.S. has custody over them "from the commission of the offense until completion of all judicial proceedings." 

However a 2009 Philippine Supreme Court decision ruled that convicted U.S. personnel must serve their sentences in the Philippines. Last year as a compromise the U.S. agreed to have the Lance Corporal detained in a compound at Philippine military headquarters in Quezon City guarded by U.S. Marines.

I have given "the talk" to grunts and junior officers under my command many times. "Watch out for the Bennyboys people! If your swapping spit with Daisy and you reach down and find out Daisy has a stem, that is a Bennyboy!". I'm really hoping that this talk is not being dismissed due to 'Obamaifcation' of the U.S. military - you know what I mean, and grunts are still warned about Bennyboys, Billyboys, Baklas or whatever else those folks are called now.

The killing has sparked anger in the Philippines, reigniting calls by lefties and nationalists for an end to a U.S. military presence in the country at a time when America is reasserting its dominance in Asia and the last thing that's needed is resistance to a U.S. military presence because some goddamn fool didn't listen to the lecture, got angry and did something stupid and is now not staying at the Hilton for the next few years. Understood?

Semper Fi

Friday, September 11, 2015

VerTecX21 launches new website and announces "Project: Sicarius"

 
VerTecX21 returned to the Internet in earnest with the launch of an advanced Google-powered website boasting several times the content of it's previous iteration including updated historical content and video presentations of it's projects. Speculation had been mounting in recent weeks when the original VerTecX21 website, not updated since 2008, suddenly went dark and was replaced with an updated page announcing a redesign and new operational links to a VerTecX21 Blog and a VerTecX21 Twitter account.

VerTecX21 also announced Project: Sicarius, the latest machine build to be constructed at VerTecX21, due to come online in the latter half of September. Project: Sicarius' specifications include:
  • a 6th generation Core i7 "Skylake" 6700K 4.0 GHz processor
  • an MSI Geforce GTX 980Ti 6GB graphics card
  • 16GB of Corsair 3000MHz DDR4 RAM
  • a Samsung SM951 256GB M.2 PCI-e 3.0 x 4 NVMe SSD
The machine is expected to power an Acer Predator 4k2k XB280HK 28” G-Sync Widscreen LED display with an obscenely high resolution of 3840x2160 classing the unit as an Ultra High Definition [UHD] 4K device ahead of the format becoming mainstream.

For full information please use the following:

Email: vertecx21(at)gmail.com
Web: www.vertecx21.com
Blog: http://vertecx21.blogspot.ie/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/VerTecX21
 
Source: VerTecX21

Wednesday, September 09, 2015

Whopper's Bunker: Tenth Anniversary



If someone had said to me when I started this, that 10 years from now I'd still be writing for it, part of me would be somewhat skeptical. But as I now look back over the past decade I see the changing face of technology and social media in particular and I also see how much things have not changed.

The rise of Twitter, Facebook, Youtube and whatever those damn kids flock to nowadays have all but replaced the need for blogs because tech like RSS and Atom feeds are all but gone so traffic is not drawn to them as much as before. Unless ever faithful readers deliberately return via url, bookmark or subscribe to update technology, I've observed minimal traffic unless a random keyword search scores a hit.

Thankfully blogs still appear in Google searches when searching for something - anything. Take this for example: Frank Castle Becomes Captain America!? from March 2007 is my most hit post even to this day, for whatever reason is thrown into Google [and the one Bing user in Redmond] which manages to grab it. Either people are throwing in word combos or doing Punisher and Captain America searches or something but it's always bizarre to me that this post keeps showing up.

I considered for a number of years recently that this anomaly was far more than I was prepared to admit. Was there a more spiritual or metaphysical connection between me and this post? It could easily be argued by long-term readers that I embody many of the traits of both characters, Captain America's sense of duty, loyalty, honour and patriotism with The Punisher's passion, sense of justice, necessary brutality and finality. It took a while but I later dismissed this as a load of bollocks.

I regret that posts can't be as frequent as before but there are still many dangers to the planet that must come to light, news of various levels of import, posts to honour those who have significantly affected my life and now passed on and of course ramblings that I need to get off my chest from time to time, so the blog will remain operational.
Thank you for visiting at some point over the past decade and see you in the next.

Brigadier General "Whopper" Creedon,
09/09/15


Tuesday, September 08, 2015

Star Wars returns to The Skelligs and arrives a day early!

Despite the protestations of airy fairy environmentalists and ignorant "journalists" like that gobhshite Fintan O'Toole, Arts Minster Heather Humphreys has granted permission for Ryan "Looper" Johnson to film Star Wars Episode VIII for two to four days as J.J. Abrams did for Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

The latter film's release date has now been brought forward to December 17th!


Humphreys assured the bleeding-heart brigade [seemingly more worried more about the Skelligs heritage site and wildlife than they seemed to be about the Temple of Bel UNESCO site that ISIS blew up last week in Syria] that:

    "Those attempting to turn this into a negative story seem to be completely overlooking the fact that up to 180 people visit the island on any given day. In contrast, for the short duration of filming being proposed, peak activity levels will involve about 100 people, under strict supervision and with extensive ecological and biodiversity safeguards in place."

Now that the Skelligs will be featured in two new episodes of the saga, one of which will be seen this Christmas it's likely that visitor numbers will increase which is only a good thing for the area.

Source: The Journal

Wednesday, August 19, 2015

SPEARHEAD denounces Alien Crab and Dark Lady

"Time wasting science-fiction nerd and tinfoil-hat conspiracy-theory nonsense" is what Brigadier General "Whopper" Creedon, SPEARHEAD Assistant Commander for Intelligence and Information denounced the latest claims from the "lunatic fringe of Internet trawlers".

The General was describing new claims that have surfaced online concerning the latest Mars Curiosity photos which show a 'Space Crab' or 'Alien Face-Hugger' crawling out of a crevice and another shows a 'Dark Clothed woman' standing on a perch looking out over the sea of sand on the red planet.

The Dark Woman, whom some have even claimed is holding a weapon!

The Director of the SETI research centre Seth Shostak puts these claims down to cases of pareidolia, a form of apophenia, which is when people see patterns in random stimuli like faces in clouds. "Recognising a crab in a landscape filled with wind-weathered rocks is no more surprising - nor more significant - than seeing a winking face in a semi-colon followed by a parenthesis. ;)" he said.

It's coming to get you!!!

Scott C Waring, editor of UFO Sightings Daily, said: "It may be a crab-like animal, or it also may be a plant. "It really doesn't matter. The significance of this is that it shows signs that it is alive." 

"If you stare at my face long enough you'll probably believe I'm some kind of godamn alien freak too" added General Creedon diplomatically in a telephone interview. "We don't have time for this, these nutballs see all sorts of crazy shit in the photos, eggs, squrrels, numbers, pyramids and my personal favourite 'fake sand' - yes you heard me - a claim that someone put fake sand on Mars" before he hung up.

Source: NASA, The Daily Mail

Monday, August 10, 2015

Please switch off your phones

As an officer and a gentleman - both an educated and properly evolved life-form [mostly], I've always been fascinated by the predilection of some of society's lowest common denominators using their mobile phone devices in environments where it's obvious to anyone with half a fucking braincell it's not acceptable, like the cinema, in church or during educational instruction.

Like Benedict Cumberbatch, I've been on film a few times. You screw up you get to do it again until the director is happy but I doubt I'll ever understand how fundamentally annoying it is to be on stage, where no one yells 'cut', in front of hundreds of people delivering Shakespeare's awkwardly written prose from memory and having to contend with some inconsiderate arsehole beaming the metaphorical equivalent of the Death Star's laser into your eye.

Cumberbatch is currently starring in a production of Hamlet at London's Barbican theatre and outside the stage door after Saturday night's show addressed the ongoing crisis surrounding patron's inability to behave like proper human beings at the theatre. In his trademark polite British fashion he asked everyone to share "the shit out of this" short speech - and I'm delighted to do so.

Saturday, August 08, 2015

Milley, Richardson and Neller confirmed

General Mark Milley, Lieutenant General Robert Neller and Admiral John Richardson have been confirmed as the chief of staff of the Army, commandant of the Marine Corps, and chief of Naval Operations respectively.

[L to R] Gen Milley, LtGen Neller and Adm Richardson

Gen Milley and Adm Richardson replace General Ray Odierno and Admiral Jonathan Greenert who are retiring. Gen Neller will replace General Joseph Dunford who also has been confirmed as the next Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Of Milley, Neller and Richardson SecDef Ash Carter said: "Each is a proven leader with decades of operational experience. Our nation is stronger for their service, and the president and I will continue to benefit from their extensive expertise and strategic counsel in their new roles."

Sunday, July 26, 2015

SPEARHEAD furious over Hawking's "180" on alien contact

The Commander of SPEARHEAD addressed the UN Security Council on Friday in condemnation of the recent declarations of Russian tech entrepreneur Yuri Milner and Professor Stephen Hawking to fund "Breakthrough" a new $100 million initiative looking for signs of intelligent life elsewhere in the universe.


Hawking revealed his worry that any aliens advanced enough to contact earth would be “looking to conquer and colonise whatever planets they could reach” in May 2010 and reported here but now seems to have done an about face at last to some extent. Hawking is still sure that “A civilisation reading one of our messages could be billions of years ahead of us. If so, they will be vastly more powerful, and may not see us as any more valuable than we see bacteria.” but insists that despite the disastrous consequences: “We are alive. We are intelligent. We must know.”

Breakthrough Listen
will provide funding explicitly for the search for extraterrestrial life, scanning the million stars closes to Earth and portions of 100 neighbouring galaxies. Breakthrough Message, will host a competition in which anyone can submit ideas for potential interplanetary messages.

Lieutenant General "Stomper" Santorno who has commanded SPEARHEAD since 2012 said the new initiative was "beyond reckless" and measures should be put into place to prevent private citizens from funding "irresponsible space-projects that could invite disaster on a global scale".

Brigadier General "Whopper" Creedon, SPEARHEAD Assistant Commander for Intelligence and Information delivered a report on his current progress with Operation: First Strike revealed in December 2011. Originally then-Colonel Creedon had outlined the threat posed by Kepler-22b, the first rocky exoplanet to meet key requirements for sustaining life and had formulated a preemptive strike against this new potential enemy.

"There is no longer an immediate perceived threat from Kepler-22b," admitted the General. "Only because of the more imminent potential threat from Kepler 452b which NASA has warned is the most Earth-like alien planet yet discovered," he added.


NASA's Kepler telescope has spotted Kepler-452b 1,400 light-years away, and is the only planet known in its solar system. Researches said it's 60% wider than Earth, which gives it a "better than even" chance of being rocky, and likely possesses a thick atmosphere, lots of water and active volcanoes. "It would feel a lot like home, from the standpoint of the sunshine that you would experience," said Jon Jenkins, Kepler data analysis lead at NASA’s Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California.

General Creedon reportedly requested $14bn in funding for Operation: First Strike II against Kepler-452b.

Saturday, July 11, 2015

Go go Fightin' Joe

Marine Corps Commandant General Joseph F. "Fighting Joe" Dunford Jr. is currently fighting one of first major political battles in the upper house of the United States congress. His aim is to be confirmed by the Senate as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff [CJCOS], the highest ranking military position in the U.S. Armed Forces.

During his confirmation hearings Dunford did discuss ISIS and North Korea as threats but suggested a close eye be kept on China. As for the Middle-East, he described Iran as "the most destabilising element" in the region and "clearly a malign influence."

Dunford was explicitly asked what he thought was the primary existential against the United States and the General was quick to unequivocally respond: 

 "Russia presents the greatest threat to our national security." 

Dunford told committee Chairman John McCain that as it had a large nuclear arsenal, was destabilising Ukraine and a threat to NATO nations on its borders, Russia presents a significant challenge to the U.S. and that it would be "reasonable" for the United States to provide sophisticated anti-tank and artillery assistance to the Ukrainian government in response to the situation in eastern Ukraine.

The view that Russia was the greatest threat was in fact one of Mitt Romney's claims during his presidential bid in 2012 and decried by Barack Obama as outdated, but this was obviously before the Crimea annexation. While Dunford is Obama's pick as CJCOS, senior White House officials were quick to point out that General Dunford's opinions are his own and not those of the administration.


Tuesday, June 23, 2015

James Horner 1953 - 2015


James Horner [61], one of the most prolific film score composers of the 80’s, 90’s and 00’s tragically lost his life yesterday in an aircraft accident.

He was best known as the composer for two of the world's highest grossing films, Titanic and Avatar - both of which earned him Oscar nods, a win in the case of Titanic as well as it's song “My Heart Will Go On”. He would receive another 7 Oscar and three BAFTA nominations as well as winning two Golden Globes, three Saturn Awards and three Satellite Awards throughout his career.

Horner had little issue composing scores for impressive works in the field of motion pictures such as Glory and Braveheart, family favourites like Jumanji and Casper, period epics like Troy and Legends of the Fall, balls-out action movies like Commando and Red Heat, for animated movies including The Land Before Time and An American Tail, comedy such as Honey I Shrunk the Kids and Hocus Pocus, thrillers including Ransom and Patriot Games and even for comic-book heroes The Rocketeer and The Amazing Spider-Man. With over 100 scores under his belt he was one of few composers who catered for everybody and any type of movie.

In an interview in 2010, Horner said that scoring Avatar was the toughest assignment he had taken on and he needed time to get it out of his system, so he had done little of note since but he was collaborating with James Cameron in providing music for the director's Avatar sequels over the course of the next few years.

Horner was one of the first composers whose work I listened to daily. His compositions along with those of John Williams, Danny Elfman and the late Jerry Goldsmith were the four cornerstones of my musical tastes for many years. Among my favourites from Horner are Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan [‘82], Aliens [‘86], Willow [‘87], The Rocketeer [‘91], Braveheart [‘94], Apollo 13 [‘94], The Mask of Zorro [‘98] and Enemy at the Gates [‘00].

Horner was often mocked for lifting sequences and musical motifs - as well as almost entire segments from one of his own scores and adapting them to fit the musical scores of other movies he was assigned to. Throughout the years his audience became more accepting of this quirk and when recognised upon listening it can only bring a smile to the face of his true fans.

Many of Horner's detractors were critical of his use of the works of classical music composers such as Orff, Elgar and Wagner and labelled his works as derivative - but if anything he spotlighted the works of the classical greats he admired and cherished the works of, and helped them to be discovered by successive generations. I have no doubt that in the future, composers of scores will even use Horner's own cues in the same way he did, and make it part of their work as a homage and  as they take us on a new musical journey of their making.

Thank you James Horner for over 100 gifts to us over the years and may you rest in peace.





Thursday, June 11, 2015

Sir Christopher Lee 1922 – 2015



He was Scaramanga - The Man With the Golden Gun, he was Saruman - Head of the White Council & Lord of Isengard, he was Count Dooku/Darth Tyrannus - Sith Lord of the darkside and when one thinks of Dracula himself - it is the rumbling voice and menacing black and white visage of Christopher Lee you should think of.

A former intelligence officer for the RAF during WWII, Sir Christopher Frank Carandini Lee, CBE, CStJ brought many silver screen characters to life in a career that spanned seven decades and was a favourite baddie of both young and old movie-goers alike. 

Lee died on Sunday 7th June from heart failure, he was 93.

Monday, May 11, 2015

Laser satellites on the way



The recent destruction of the U.S. Air Force's 20-year-old Defense Meteorological Satellite Program Flight 13 and the resulting cloud of space debris adding to an already dangerous amount of clutter traveling at high speeds in orbit of the planet has brought to light a plan by Japanese researchers to fit a laser to the ISS.

The Extreme Universe Space Observatory (EUSO) telescope, originally designed to detect cosmic rays, could be put to use for a more 'useful' project. The EUSO which is scheduled to be installed on Japan's module on the ISS in 2017, could help the orbiting complex detect dangerous debris. Researchers say that a powerful laser under development could then help shoot down this space garbage.

Toshikazu Ebisuzaki, an astrophysicist and chief scientist at the RIKEN (Rikagaku Kenkyūsho) Computational Astrophysics Laboratory in Wako, Japan, and his team reasoned that the EUSO's wide range of view and powerful optics could also help it detect high-speed debris near the ISS. Then a Coherent Amplification Network (CAN) laser could then blast the debris. The CAN laser consists of many small lasers working together to generate a single powerful beam and is currently under development to drive particles at high speeds in atom smashers. The laser would vaporize a thin film of matter off the surface of debris and the resulting high-speed plasma would act like a rocket plume, nudging the junk downward to eventually burn up in Earth's atmosphere.

A full-scale version of the system would be armed with a 100 kilowatt ultraviolet CAN laser that can fire 10,000 pulses per second, each lasting one-tenth of one-billionth of a second. The researchers say this system could blast debris from a range of about 60 miles (100 kilometers), and the laser would need about 17 lbs. (8 kilograms) of lithium-ion batteries.

A proof-of-concept version of the system is first intended to be deployed, consisting of a miniature version of EUSO and a prototype 10-watt ultraviolet CAN laser firing 100 pulses per second. A RIKEN spokesman noted that the mini-EUSO telescope has been accepted as a project on the ISS and could perhaps go up in 2017 or 2018, but the laser system is still a concept that has not been built.

Simulation of Earth's orbiting space junk - NASA
If the concept and full versions are successful, the researchers suggest developing a satellite devoted solely to blasting space debris. They suggest the satellite should assume an orbit that takes it over both of Earth's poles, allowing it to shoot down debris all over the planet, and be armed with a 500 kilowatt ultraviolet CAN laser that can fire 50,000 pulses per second. They estimate it could blast one piece of debris every five minutes, or 100,000 pieces of space junk each year.

"The biggest obstacle is funding," Ebisuzaki said. "There are some technical challenges, of course, but the main issue is getting funding for development and launch."

It was noted that Major General "Jäger" Brandt, SPEARHEAD Deputy Commander for Security and Surveillance and Brigadier General "Whopper" Creedon, SPEARHEAD Assistant Commander for Intelligence and Information both visited RIKEN recently, fueling online conspiracy rumours that SPEARHEAD had deliberately destroyed DMSP-13 in an effort to fast-track extra funding for the Japanese project. Neither RIKEN or SPEARHEAD have answered questions on the issue.

Sources: Space.com

Wednesday, May 06, 2015

Dunford continues to blaze a trail to the top

Long time readers will remember the Marine General "Fighting Joe" Dunford from the past several years of posts. In June 2010 when General Amos was nominated to replace General Conway as Commandant, I expressed the opinion that Dunford, then a 3-star and CG of I MEF, may have been a better choice. He had been elevated from 1 to 3-star rank quickly [never actually holding 2-star grade] and his combat experience in Afghanistan was both exemplary and proved he wasn't just a politician but perhaps he was too young [at 55] to be elevated to the USMC's #1 spot just yet.

Dunford did however assume the Vice Commandant's position and a fourth star that October. Exactly two years later in October 2012 I blogged when he was nominated to command the ISAF which he did in February 2013 replacing General Allen and then last June when the man was nominated for Commandant, a position he assumed last October replacing General Amos.

Now only in his 7th month as Commandant, President Obama has unexpectedly nominated Dunford to replace Army General Martin Dempsey as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff when his tour ends in the Autumn. I would have expected Army Chief of Staff General Raymond T. Odinero or Navy Adm. Samuel Locklear, Commander, US Pacific Command to have been tapped for the billet but it looks like they're retiring.

General Dempsey said: I've known General Dunford for almost half of his 39 years of service,... He is a phenomenal, combat-tested leader and a man of integrity, courage and humility." He's known for keeping his cool under pressure, Marine Gen. James "Mad Dog" Mattis, former CENTCOM commander said he once saw a grenade pass over Dunford's Humvee in Iraq and explode 100 yards away. "He barely glanced up and then went right back to writing his orders."

Tuesday, March 10, 2015

The rise to power continues...


Expect some action on this list likely before 2016.

Thursday, March 05, 2015

He lived long and prospered. Leonard Nimoy 1931 - 2015

I had a rough draft of Leonard Nimoy's obituary saved here for a while now, but I deleted it on Friday. Instead it was recommended to me that because thousands if not millions of people would be writing and paying tribute to him over the following few days, my own impression of the man would be lost in a sea of lists of his extraordinary accomplishments, artistry and impact on the human race. So instead I took my time until I could say what Leonard Nimoy meant to me.

Amongst other things Leonard Nimoy was a soldier, an actor, director, photographer and poet. To me he represented the face of Star Trek, even before I watched the show or embraced science fiction in general my teens. Leonard Nimoy's characterisation of Dr. Spock [that's not an error that's what I thought he was called] has such an impact it was literally all I knew about Star Trek before the time I began a passive-aggressive bullying campaign against Dave, a school-chum because he liked Star Trek and I often drew pictures of him with "Spock ears".

To negate the bullying Dave asked me to watch Star Trek: The Next Generation it first came on TV and see what I was mocking. So I did. The bullying stopped on Monday morning afterwards. Just over 12 months later I was wearing a Starfleet Uniform in public and people were calling me "Lt. Commander", I shit you not.

I needed a fix like a drug addict. So for about 26 weeks Dave who was now my pusher/supplier had to make me a video tape with three episodes of the Original Series on it so I could properly embrace all of Star Trek. Before long I had acquired enough knowledge to begin forming my own opinion and like all Star Trek fans, the arguments and differences of opinions surfaced, but now all in good fun.


He was never my favourite Character, but due entirely to Leonard Nimoy's performance I certainly was able to identify with Spock more than any other - he was very weird, says a lot of weird shit but once you get to know him and accept him he was a friend. That's also pretty much what I think about Star Trek as a whole and I've discovered it's also actually how more than one person has described ME.

"Of my friend, I can only say this: Of all the souls I have encountered in my travels, his was the most.... human" - Adm. James T. Kirk, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

Wednesday, March 04, 2015

Hot porn right here, right now [SFW]

That's right, time for something new on the Bunker. PORN!

Well GUN-PORN [is there a better kind?]. Beretta revealed this sexy little piece at the IDEX (International Defence Exhibition and Conference) in Abu Dhabi last week, the Beretta APX - their their first full-size striker pistol.

The gorgeous 7.55-inch-long APX is a striker fired pistol built on a chassis system.  The just over 4.25 inch long barrel is cold-hammer forged with nitriding surface treatment on all the steel parts. Beretta describes the operation as semi-auto, tilting barrel locking system using a non-pre-cocked striker block.

The serialized stainless steel chassis is encased with a fiberglass reinforced polymer frame and this helps to reduce the weight. With an empty magazine loaded, the APX weighs about 26.8 ounces in the 9 mm versions and just over 26.8 ounces in the .40 S&W variant.

To accommodate different hand sizes, there are three sizes of removable backstraps and grips. Each option provides a different palm swell and length of pull for the user. For those wearing heavy gloves, the trigger guard opening is designed to make that possible. APX also features coarse slide serration making cocking with cumbersome gloves easier.

The trigger, designed to be flatter and wider than others in the striker-fired pistol space, has a pull weight of about 6 pounds. The trigger travel is 6 mm, with reset at 3.

The weapon has the standard 1913 Picatinny rail for accessory mounting. Sights will be a standard three-dot combat sight system with a unique mounting system. For one handed slide cycling, there’s a rear sight ninety-degree face. 

Fieldstripping and switching components should be super easy. Triggerless disassembly is one of the advantages of striker-fired pistols and the APX has enhanced safety with the ability to disassemble without pulling the trigger. There is a disconnector pin on the rear right side of the pistol under the breech.

Christmas is just over nine months away folks :)

Wednesday, February 25, 2015

RIP John Cooper

The death has occurred of John Cooper at 73. He was a British comic book artist from West Yorkshire that was most famous for his work in the '70's and '80's. Chances are if you read any British weekly comic books around that period, you'll likely have seen his work as he drew strips for Valiant, Action, Starlord, Tornado, Battle, Eagle and one of the first Judge Dredd strips for 2000AD.

While he's known for Johnny Red and One-Eyed Jack - what I'll remember him for is the hundreds of pages of Action Force which he drew for ICP's Battle: Action Force in the mid 80's featuring all the G.I.Joe characters from that period, long before anyone in this neck of the woods had ever heard of G.I.Joe.

As he wasn't bound as his American counterparts were by the Comics Code Authority, Cooper had free reign to draw everything from realistic bullet wounds to suicide bombers in a comic book based on a child's toy. - And it was fucking awesome! May he rest in peace.

Wednesday, February 18, 2015

Commie alien star threatens freedom!

...or at least the freedom of Neanderthal man who shambled the planet 70,000 years ago.

A team of international astronomers led by Eric Mamajek at the University of Rochester, New York and supported by SPEARHEAD say that Scholz's star, a red dwarf, travelled through a region at the edge of the Solar System filled with trillions of comets known as the "outer Oort Cloud" and passed within 0.8 light years of the Sun. No other star is known to have approached this close to us - five times closer than our nearest neighbour - Proxima Centauri.

The researchers determined the trajectory of the star by analysing the change in distance from the Sun to the star and the star's motion across the sky. As Scholz's star now lies 20 light years away but it showed very slow motion for a star as close. This indicated that it was either moving away from us or worse - TOWARDS a future close encounter with the Solar System.


Once the panic that this generated among the senior scientific community and world governments which began working on ways to prolong the human race away from the doomed Earth had died down: the velocity measurements of the red dwarf confirmed that it was in fact speeding away from us. However after tracing its movements back in time, the astronomers found its close shave with the Sun occurred some 70,000 years ago.

While it was theorised that a star passing through the Oort Cloud could potentially play gravitational havoc with the orbits of comets there, sending them on trajectories into the inner Solar System. Dr Mamajek believes the effects of Scholz's star on our cosmic neighbourhood were "negligible". 

Director of Scientific Research,  Dr. "Quantum" Pataal cautioned that just because Scholtz's star will unlikely be the object of our doom "it won't be the last time we're threatened by rogue celestial bodies that we may be ultimately powerless to defend ourselves against.

Source: BBC


Thursday, January 01, 2015

2014 - The Year in Review

We say goodbye to 2014, the 70th Anniversary of D-Day and 75th for Batman, a year of Ebola, ISIS, The Ukraine, Frozen, Ferguson Missouri and where Colbert "won" Television.


Where the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Germany won the World Cup and Luis Suárez was hungry. 

When Boko Harem were prompted to Bring Back Our Girls. Crimea was annexed by Russia. Israel and Palestine fought again and the Syria crisis worsened. 

A year of the Ice-Bucket Challenge, the Pistorious verdict, Irish Water charges, when Scotland is united yet divided, MH370 is lost, MH17 is shot down and QZ8501 crashed.

Kim Kardashian's huge oiled ass didn't break the Internet, but we landed something on a fucking comet [which you can even listen to] - there is hope! 

It is time to remember those we have left behind in 2014...
General Carl E. Mundy Jr, former USMC Commandant, former Taoiseach Albert Reynolds, outspoken Northern Irish Unionist politician Ian Paisley, Shirley Temple the child actress who would grow up to be come a U.S. ambassador, Ralph H. Baer engineer, inventor and pioneer of video gaming, author Maya Angelou, artist H. R. Giger, announcer and movie trailer voiceover artist Hal Douglas, TV producer Glen A. Larson, actors Eli Wallach, Mickey Rooney, Philip Seymour Hoffman, James Garner, Bob Hoskins and Lauren Bacall. Comedians Joan Rivers, Harold Ramis, Rik Mayall and Robin Williams. They changed the world and our lives.

Elaine Stritch and Donald Sinden both starred in the British ITV comedy series Two's Company from 1975-1979, both legends passed away in 2014 only 8 weeks apart
We also lost the following people from the world of entertainment:
Elaine Stritch, 89, American award-winning actress (30 Rock, Two's Company)
Sir Donald Alfred Sinden CBE FRSA, 90, English actor (The Day of the Jackal, Two's Company) Roger Lloyd-Pack, 69, English actor (Trigger in Only Fools and Horses)
Hal Sutherland, 84, American animator (Star Trek: The Animated Series), co-founder of Filmation
Sarah Marshall, 80, British actress (Janet Wallace Star Trek: TOS, "The Deadly Years")
John Cacavas, 83, American television score composer (Kojak, Hawaii 5-O, The Bionic Woman, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century)
Bernard Stanley "Acker" Bilk MBE, 85, English clarinetist ("Stranger on the Shore")
Campbell Lane, 78, Canadian actor (Baron Wolfgang von Strucker in Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.)
Richard Bull, 89, American actor (Mr. Oleson in Little House on the Prairie, The Doctor in Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea)
Ralph Waite, 85, American marine and actor (The Waltons, NCIS)
Cliff Bole, 76, American television director (MacGyver, T.J. Hooker, Star Trek: The Next Generation)
Christopher Malcolm, 67, Scottish actor (The Empire Strikes Back, Highlander)
Jimmy Murakami, 80, American animator and film director (The Snowman), co-founder of Murakami-Wolf Films
Malcolm Tierney, 75, British actor (Lieutenant Childsen in Star Wars, Braveheart)
Aaron Allston, 53, American game designer (Dungeons & Dragons) and sci-fi author (X-Wing)
James Rebhorn, 65, American actor (Independence Day, Homeland)
David A. Trampier, 59, American fantasy gaming artist (Dungeons & Dragons)
Arthur Smith, 93, American musician and songwriter ("Duelling Banjos" from Deliverance)
Efrem Zimbalist, Jr., 95, American actor (Alfred in Batman: The Animated Series and related shows/video games)
Terry Richards, 81, British actor and stuntman (Arabian Swordsman in Raiders of the Lost Ark, Star Wars, James Bond movies)
Casey Kasem, 82, American radio jockey (American Top 40) and voice actor (Shaggy in Scooby-Doo)
James Shigeta, 85, American actor (Takagi in Die Hard)
Patsy Byrne, 80, English actress (Nursie in Blackadder II)
Bob Hastings, 89, American actor (Commissioner Gordon in Batman: The Animated Series and related shows/video games)
Joe Viskocil, 61, American visual effects artist (Independence Day, Star Wars) Oscar winner (1997)
Cassandra Lynn Hensley, 34, American model (Playboy Miss February 2006)
Arlene Martel, 78, American actress (T'Pring in Star Trek: TOS "Amok Time")
Stephen Lee, 58, American actor (The Negotiator, Chorgan in Star Trek: The Next Generation "The Vengeance Factor")
Brian G. Hutton, 79, American actor and director (Kelly's Heroes, Where Eagles Dare)
The Rt Hon. The Lord Attenborough [Richard Samuel Attenborough], CBE, 90, English award-winning actor, producer and director (Gandhi, The Great Escape, Jurassic Park)
Buster Jones, 71, American voice actor (Blaster in The Transformers, Winston in The Real Ghostbusters and Lothar in Defenders of the Earth)
Polly Bergen, 84, American singer and actress (Rhoda Henry in The Winds of War and War and Remembrance) Emmy Award winner (1958)
Geoffrey Holder, 84, Trinidadian actor (Baron Samedi in Live and Let Die)
Jan Hooks, 57, American comedienne and actress (Saturday Night Live, Batman Returns, 30 Rock)
Carol Ann Susi, 62, American actress (Mrs. Wolowitz in The Big Bang Theory)
Richard Kiel, 74, American actor (Jaws in the James Bond movies)
Christine Cavanaugh, 51, American voice actress (The Critic)
John Robert "Joe" Cocker, OBE ("With a little help from my Friends", "Up Where We Belong")
Maximilian Schell, 83, Austrian-Swiss Oscar-winning actor (A Bridge Too Far, Cross of Iron)
Elizabeth Peña, 55, American actress (The Incredibles, Modern Family)
Mike Nichols, 83, German-born American director (Catch-22), Oscar winner (1968)
Don Pardo, 96, American radio and television announcer (Saturday Night Live)
Menahem Golan, 85, Israeli director and producer (Operation Thunderbolt, The Delta Force, Masters of the Universe), founder of Golan-Globus and the Cannon Group
Edward Herrmann, 71, American actor (Nixon, The Lost Boys, The Aviator)
The Ultimate Warrior, 54, American Hall of Fame professional wrestler (WWE)
Warren Clarke, 67, British actor (Firefox, Top Secret!)
Dennis Lipscomb, 72, American actor (Under Siege, Wiseguy, In the Heat of the Night)
Jimi Jamison, 63, American musician (Baywatch theme, Survivor "Burning Heart")
Lee Marshall, 64, American radio personality, professional wrestling announcer and voice actor (Tony The Tiger)
we appreciate the legacy of their talents and creativity.

Jackie Healy-Rae, charismatic former Fianna Fáil politician who left the party to become an Independent TD and founded a political dynasty.

We also acknowledge those who died in 2014 who devoted much of their lives to military, scientific, industrial or public service:
Vicente T. Blaz, 85, American USMC general and politician, delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives from Guam (1985–1993)
Captain John J. McGinty III, 73, American Marine Corps officer, recipient of the Medal of Honor
Major-General Patrick Guy Brooking CB CMG MBE DL, 76, former Commandant of the British Sector in Berlin [1985]
John Carty, 63, Irish politician, FF TD for Mayo (2002–2007), Senator (2007–2011)
Captain Dale Gardner, 65, American naval officer and astronaut (STS-8, STS-51-A)
Valeri Kubasov, 79, Russian engineer and cosmonaut (Soyuz 6, Apollo-Soyuz Test Project/Soyuz 19, Soyuz 36)
Lieutenant Walter D. Ehlers, 92, American World War II soldier, recipient of the Medal of Honor
Major Kurt Chew-Een Lee, 88, American military officer, first Asian-American officer in the Marine Corps, recipient of the Navy Cross
Staff Sergeant William Guarnere, 90, American World War II non-commissioned officer and author, key figure in Band of Brothers
Leutnant Hermann Schleinhege, 98, German Luftwaffe ace during World War II [97 aerial victories]
Colonel Ola L. Mize, 82, American army officer, Korean War recipient of the Medal of Honor
James R. Schlesinger, 85, American government official, Director of the CIA (1973), Secretary of Defense (1973–1975), Secretary of Energy (1977–1979)
Rear Admiral Jeremiah Denton, 89, American politician and naval officer, Senator from Alabama (1981–1987), recipient of the Navy Cross
Colonel James H. Kasler, 87, American Air Force officer, three-time recipient of the Air Force Cross
General of the Army Vladimir Popovkin, 56, Russian military officer, General Director of the Russian Federal Space Agency (2011–2013)
Avraham Shalom, 86, Austrian-born Israeli security official, Director of the Shin Bet (1980–1986), commander in the capture of Adolf Eichmann and the Bus 300 affair
PFC Chuck Tatum, 87, American WWII Marine, Iwo Jima combatant, provided source material for The Pacific
Denis Lyons, 78, Irish politician, FF TD for Cork North Central (1981–1992)
Colonel Henry Hartsfield, 80, American air force officer, NASA astronaut and test pilot (Columbia), commander for Discovery and Challenger missions
Major Theodore Van Kirk, 93, American military officer, navigator and last surviving crew member on the Enola Gay
Sergeant Major Jon R. Cavaiani, 70, American NCO and prisoner of war, Army Special Forces, recipient of the Medal of Honor
Yitzhak Hofi, 87, Israeli general, Director of Mossad (1974–1982)
Colonel Anatoly Berezovoy, 72, Soviet cosmonaut (Soyuz T-5)
Lieutenant General Lincoln D. Faurer, 86, American air force officer, Director of the National Security Agency (1981–1985)
Flight Lieutenant Bill Green, 97, English Battle of Britain RAF fighter pilot
General Ramsey Muir Withers, CMM, CD, 84, Canadian army officer, Chief of the Defence Staff (1980–1983)
Jackie Healy-Rae, 83, Irish politician, fmr FF, IND TD for Kerry South (1997–2011)
Ariel Sharon, 85, Israeli politician and general, Minister of Defense (1981–1983), Prime Minister (2001–2006)
Karl Albrecht, 94, German billionaire grocery executive, co-founder of Aldi
Brian Farrell, 85, British-born Irish broadcaster and journalist
we thank them for their service to their respective fields.

I must also mention the passing of Angalifu, a Sudanese-born American rhinoceros, and was one of two remaining male northern white rhinoceros, Julia O’Donnell, “Ireland’s most famous mammy” mother of singer Daniel O’Donnell who died at 94 and O Sang-hon, a 50 year old North Korean deputy security minister in the Ministry of Public Security, who was bizarrely executed by flamethrower in the political purge. May they rest in peace.

And now we look forward to

2015

Happy New Year




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