MILITARYHYPE: Bomb Them!

But first, before we dispatch the aircraft, let's take a moment for a few fun pictures of the troops with the bombs.

I suppose this young lady could be a model, or maybe a USO entertainer, but I'd really prefer to think that she's one of the Air Force Ordnancemen. Or is the correct term "Ordnanceperson" nowadays?

There's nothing like having a little fun with the high explosives before dropping them on people from 10,000 feet!

TECHHYPE: WAM-V Proteus

El Cerrito firm Marine Advanced Research, in partnership with Hewlett-Packard, has developed the extremely rad Wave Adaptive Modular Vehicle or WAM-V class marine vessel. The prototype, named Proteus, is currently on its maiden voyage, having arrived in New York Harbor on September 6.

From the press release:
Unlike conventional boats, the hulls of a WAM-V™ conform to the surface of the water. A WAM-V does not push, slap or pierce the waves. She utilizes flexibility to adapt her structure and shape to the water surface. Instead of forcing the water to conform to the hull, she gives and adjusts; she “dances” with the waves.

A superstructure is flexibly connected to specially designed pontoons by several components that actually move in relation to one another. A WAM-V™ has springs, shock absorbers and ball joint to articulate the vessel and mitigate stresses to structure, payload and crew. Two engine pods, containing the propulsion and ancillary systems, are fastened to the hulls with special hinges that keep the propellers in the water at all times.

It's cool. Check it out, and imagine one ten times the size, riding on big waves:


WAM-V Proteus in action
Marine Advanced Research site
More video at PRNewswire

POLITICSHYPE: Bush In The Big Muddy

At TomDispatch.com, Tom Engelhardt has an insightful essay on the Bush Administration's changing attitude on The Iraq War's relationship to the Vietnam War. From the essay:

Sometimes it seemed that Americans in Vietnam did nothing but invent new ways of measuring success. There were, for instance, the eighteen indices of the Hamlet Evaluation System, each meant to calibrate the "progress" of "pacification" in South Vietnam's 2,300 villages and almost 13,000 hamlets, focusing largely on "rural security" and "development." Then there were the many indices of the Measurement of Progress system, its monthly reports, produced in slide form, including "strength trends of the opposing forces, efforts of friendly forces in sorties ... enemy base areas neutralized," and so on. And don't forget that there were figures by the bushel-load on every form of destruction rained down on the Vietnamese enemy - sorties flown, tonnage dropped, "truck kills," you name it. The efforts that went into creating numerical equivalents for death were endless.

Reminded me of this:

Appearing on CNN’s Late Edition this morning, Rep. Charles Boustany (R-LA), who recently returned from Iraq, asserted “some major improvements” are being witnessed in Iraq. Echoing claims made by Gen. David Petraeus, Boustany said “sectarian deaths are down.”

Host Wolf Blitzer corrected Boustany’s assertion, citing Iraqi health ministry statistics that report Iraqi civilian deaths have been climbing. The LA Times reports:

Bombings, sectarian slayings and other violence related to the war killed at least 1,773 Iraqi civilians in August, the second month in a row that civilian deaths have risen, according to government figures obtained Friday. In July, the civilian death toll was 1,753, and in June it was 1,227.

BOUSTANY: We’re clearly seeing some major improvements. Clearly in the Anbar Province, we’ve seen significant improvement. We were able to walk the streets of Fallujah. Sectarian deaths are down.

BLITZER: And Congressman Boustany, you say that the number of casualties is going down. But we took a closer look — and The Los Angeles Times did as well — citing Iraqi Health Ministry numbers. In June, it was 1,227 civilian deaths in Iraq. In July, it went up to 1,753 civilian deaths in Iraq. And in August, the month that just ended, 1,773 civilian deaths in Iraq. Those numbers are going in the wrong direction.

BOUSTANY: Well, I think what I mentioned earlier, Wolf, was the number of attacks. And, clearly, we have to look at all the metrics very carefully.

Empire of Stupidity: Seven Years in Hell printable at Truthout.org

MILITARYHYPE: Unique Glass Eye

From The Raw Feed:

U.S. Marine Nicholas Popaditch was injured in Fallujah, Iraq, and lost his right eye. His replacement prosthetic eye has something the original didn't: the MARINE CORPS EMBLEM.

DRUGHYPE: Pentagon's New Drug Weapons

They’ve got Skunk, they’ve got Special K, they’ve got Angel Dust, they’ve got Aceeeeed….and they’ve also got a whole pharmacy of extra special stuff that they’re not going to tell anyone about. They’re heavily armed, and the law can’t touch them. Because they’re the Pentagon’s own nonlethal chemical weapons developers.

Wired Danger Room Blog Post