Maru scores with Bush plans to build Arab “umbrella,” WWI model airplane [You have to scroll up to read the item.]

TBogg brings us the latest adventures of Atlas Jugs™ ^[watertiger].

Indecent Trial Reporting gives a peek at our local newspaper and the Christian community on the Gulf Coast courtesy of the Pensacola Beach Blogger.

CBS presents: Man in Chicken Suit Cries Foul Over Abuse “You almost have to have a calling from the Lord to do this type of work.”

The Shrubbery has ignored offers from enemies to talk because he apparently thinks that talking to people is “gift beyond price”, so when something happens there are no established channels to use.

One of the first things that happened after the Cuban Missile Crisis was the establishment of the Washington-Moscow Hotline, because everyone decided that if we were going to start a nuclear war, it should at least be intentional, and not an accident.

In The Art of War Sun Tzu says: “Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer.” That was good advice in 400BCE and just as good today.

It is more important to be understood by your enemies than your friends – your friends are not apt to start a war when you act like a jerk.

CBS has an “explainer” up, Hezbollah’s Rocket Science, talking about the weapons being used by Hezbollah.

Just as the SCUDs used by Saddam in the first Gulf War and the missiles of North Korea are variants on the World War II V-2 weapon, the rockets of the Hezbollah are essentially the World War II Katyusha‘s of the Soviet Army.

This is leading to a problem: over-sophistication of weapons. We have air-to-air missiles that cost more than the aircraft they are being used to destroy. The Patriot missile system would bankrupt the country that used it against the ballistic rockets of Hezbollah.

We received major damage to one of our newest naval vessels when it struck a World War I era mine during the first Gulf War. The old, unsophisticated weapons don’t provide the signals or “clues” that modern defensive systems use to detect them.

Most guerrilla forces use the Avtomat Kalashnikova 1947 [AK-47] and the Ruchnoy Protivotankoviy Granatomet-7 [RPG-7, 1961] which are simple, effective and can be built by a village blacksmith. Hezbollah is able to deal with Israeli armor, so technology doesn’t seem to be effective against a dedicated infantry.

It looks like the billions being spent on a few high-tech weapons systems are not going to be of much benefit.

It’s Too Hot

Couldn’t you kits find somewhere else too play?

[Editor: Ovinnik isn’t overjoyed to have the kittens piling on with a triple digit heat index.

Friday Ark