“When a man does a thoroughly stupid thing, it is usually done from the noblest of motives or while trying to get laid.” –Oscar Wilde
Monthly Archive for March, 2005
From the sandbox, we see this most satisfying report of insurgents getting their asses handed to them after they ambushed a supply convoy:
About this time, three armored Hummers that formed the MP Squad under call sign Raven 42, 617th MP Co, Kentucky National Guard, assigned to the 503rd MP Bn (Fort Bragg), 18th MP Bde, arrived on the scene like the cavalry. The squad had been shadowing the convoy from a distance behind the last vehicle, and when the convoy trucks stopped and became backed up from the initial attack, the squad sped up, paralleled the convoy up the shoulder of the road, and moved to the sound of gunfire.
They arrived on the scene just as a squad of about ten enemy had moved forward across the farmer’s field and were about 20 meters from the road. The MP squad opened fire with .50 cal machineguns and Mk19 grenade launchers and drove across the front of the enemy’s kill zone, between the enemy and the trucks, drawing fire off of the tractor trailers.
[...]
Those seven Americans (with the three wounded) killed in total 24 heavily armed enemy, wounded 6 (two later died), and captured one unwounded, who feigned injury to escape the fight. They seized 22 AK-47s, 6x RPG launchers w/ 16 rockets, 13x RPK machineguns, 3x PKM machineguns, 40 hand grenades, 123 fully loaded 30-rd AK magazines, 52 empty mags, and 10 belts of 2500 rds of PK ammo.
[...] Of the 7 members of Raven 42 who walked away, two are Caucasian Women, the rest men-one is Mexican-American, the medic is African-American, and the other two are Caucasian-the great American melting pot.
These fine men and women make me so proud to be an American. Way to go!
It’s widely acknowledged that the earbuds that Apple includes with the iPod basically suck. In my own experience, they have no bass response at all–and they hurt my ears. So I went shopping for headphones. My basic requirements were:
- Full-size, over-the-ear headphones
- Good sound
- Comfortable (one would think this would be automatic with full-size headphones, but alas…)
- Under $100
First, I tried a pair of Sony MDR-V150 headphones. Their sound was decent, but they pinched my ears against my glasses so badly that I could only wear them for 30 minutes or so.
I then compared two different Sennheiser HD headphones and two different Grado Labs SR headphones. The Sennheiser headphones were comfortable, but either produced blaring, muddy mids from the iPod, or couldn’t be driven by the iPod at a reasonable volume. Sennheisers are obviously intended for use with an amplified hi-fi system. The Grados, on the other hand, produced very nice sound with good volume, even from my little iPod mini.
I settled on a set of Grado SR60s, and I am digging these headphones. The best words to describe their sound is clean, accurate, and balanced. The bass is punchy, fast, and clean; it has quite a presence, but it doesn’t get in the way. The high stuff (especially cymbals, which, being a drummer, I’m picky about) sounds great and is supurbly accurate. And finally, the mids are sweet! For years, I’ve done the “V” thing when it comes to EQ: crank the bass and treble, and turn down the mids. Not with these Grados. To my ears, they sound best with a flat EQ or just a mild boost to the bass. That’s balance.
The sound is also incredibly rich. I can hear individual picks, the overtones in the bottom head of a tom-tom, and the deep but delicate tone of a bass guitar. In music I’ve listened to for years, I’m hearing things I’ve never heard before.
Wow.
“Redesign shows mercy on everybody’s favorite car”
That’s the cover headline on April’s Car & Driver featuring the new BMW 3 series. This is the most succinct and damning indictment of Chris Bangle’s “flame surface” styling (starting with the current 7 series) that I have seen.
While back-handing BMW’s recent design direction, C/D is also expressing the relief that all of us feel now that we know BMW isn’t going to fuck up the 3 series. If the 7 series is ugly and the 5 series looks like a 5-year-old Pontiac, it’s not the end of the world for BMW. But the 3 series is BMW’s bread and butter; to mess it up would probably sink the company.
I think it’s no accident that the front of the new 3 series bears a strong resemblence to the 6 series, which is BMW’s first “flame surfaced” car that is actually beautiful.
I too have joined the cult… the cult of iPod that is. On Saturday I purchased a silver 1st-generation 4GB iPod mini from MacSuperstore here in SLO. With the release of the 2nd-generation minis, retailers (including Amazon) are liquidating their stock of 1st-generation units. I got mine for $179.
I looked hard at the iPod Shuffle as a replacement for my USB keychain drive. But with the 1GB model priced at $149, the 4GB mini is just $30 more for a much more capable device… so I went with the mini.
Note: the primary improvement on the 2nd-gen mini is battery life: an improvement from ~8 hrs. to ~18 hrs. This is a major improvement, but I don’t believe that the shorter battery life of the 1st-gen will be a major issue for my situation.
The challenge now of course is to not piss away a bunch of money on accessories for it! 
From CNN, we see this:
ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) — A defendant grabbed the pistol of a courtroom deputy, shot the deputy and fatally shot the judge and a court reporter Friday at a downtown Atlanta courthouse. The suspect then fled into the streets in a carjacked vehicle after killing another deputy outside the courthouse.
It sounds like the Atlanta Sheriff’s office needs to think about (remedial) training in handgun retention techniques.
Reuters and CNN are reporting that Tung Chee-hwa, Hong Kong’s Chief Executive, is resigning. Tung, who was hand-picked by Beijing to lead the Hong Kong S.A.R. after the British handover in 1997, has been widely unpopular with the majority of Hong Kongers, who view him as a puppet of the mainland’s Communist leadership.
Hong Kong now faces a possible Constitutional crisis, depending on how Beijing attempts to name a successor to Tung:
According to Hong Kong’s Basic Law, a permanent successor must be chosen within six months.
Legal experts have argued the law clearly says the next elected leader should get a new five-year term, rather than serve out the two-year remainder of Tung’s term.
Beijing — which favors the two-year option — might have to provide a constitutional interpretation.
Although Tsang could step in as a temporary leader, it is uncertain how a permanent replacement would be decided, according to CNN’s Senior Asia Correspondent Mike Chinoy.
Pro-democracy forces in Hong Kong do not see Tung’s departure accelerating the pace of democratic reforms; rather, it is widely expected that Hu will tighten the central government’s control on the city.
The cadre added that as for “political and economic guarantees,” Beijing was looking for candidates who had a good record of loyalty to the central authorities or whose families and companies had substantial investments in Hong Kong and mainland China.
[...]
Chairman of the Hong Kong Democratic Party Lee Wing-tat said if Beijing were adamant about picking a loyal chief executive, “this will go against the principle of ‘one country, two systems’,” which late patriarch Deng Xiaoping had pledged for Hong Kong.
Wouldn’t it have been nice if Margaret Thatcher had simply told Deng Xiaoping to bugger off?
Slashdot is reporting that Kashmir terrorists were planning to attack several Indian tech facilities. Fortunately, they were foiled by police in New Delhi before they could carry out their atrocities.
“Never look at the trombones — it only encourages them.” — Richard Strauss
Apparently I’m not the only one to notice the outbreak of Lebanese protester babes in the media; Instapundit takes a look at the phenomenon. This is a trend that all freedom-loving guys should welcome.
In all seriousness, the image of comely young people (both men and women) demanding their freedom stands in stark relief to the usual image that the phrase “Middle East politics” brings to mind: ugly bearded men with black hearts and bloodied hands.
You can be certain that the population of the Middle East is noticing this as well.