Excalibur gets it's first kill, and don't fear the Reaper.

If you are a in the service, and are a military enthusiast like myself, you may be interested to know that the new XM982 Excalibur Precision-guided 155mm shell got it's first kill in Iraq recently. The Excalibur is a very accurate shell designed to provided rapid support...and Raytheon has been having a devil of a time to get it to work right. Most electronics are not built to withstand the forces imposed on a shell flying out of a howitzer, but the contractor seems to have satisfactorily resolved the issue.

At $39k a pop, it's a bit more expensive than a "dumb" shell, but more accurate, which increases the chance of hitting the bad guys and missing the good guys(or non-combatants).

Of course, this isn't the only thing entering combat this week. The MQ-9 Reaper has arrived at Balad Air Base in Iraq, although USAF officials expect it's first combat use to be in Afghanistan. Unlike the MQ-1 Predator, the Reaper has been designed from the start as a bomb/missile truck in addition to Reecee duties. The Predator wasn't pitched as a combat aircraft, because for a lot of pilots in the USAF it would mean, frankly, that they would be out of a job. The Predator proved to be technically capable of being used as a UCAV, and impressed the Brass enough that the Reaper was ordered.

I note that all these new toys coming down the pike, the Reaper, Excalibur, and V-22, will be able to slap "Combat Proven!" stickers on them when making sales pitches to foreign countries. Might want to think fo keeping an eye on the stock of these companies...

World in Conflict, and DC Metro Passengers

The World in Conflict beta is out. As a guy who's introduction to RTS games was the original Red Alert, I am more than a little intrigued by the game. Alas, I suspect that my elderly laptop(which can play Company of Heroes surprisingly well) has finally reached the wall in games it can play. Time to turn in my Navy-era laptop for a real desktop.

So, one of the tools that the DC Metropolitan area transit system(the Metro) uses for it's frequent customers is a smart card called "Smarttrip". Besides paying for fare, your company/federal agency can also deposit fare directly onto it, which I think is neat. The third use is that it's used to pay for a parking spot at the major Metro train stops(that have parking lots/garages). In fact, it is very nearly the exclusive method of payment at these facilities. But this is no big secret, oh no, there are big signs everywhere(including when you drive in) that say "Smarttrip is the only method of payment here". This isn't frickin' rocket science. How hard is it to pay just a little bit to your surroundings?

Well, this afternoon as I'm trying to leave the station and go home, the fine gentlemen in the car in front of me pulls out his credit card(I could see the magnetic strip) and just starts tapping the reader. And then I see him pulling out different credit cards and randomly tapping it. Probably 90% of the surface area of these readers at the exits say SMARTTRIP in big letters. Then, in the lane next to me, it becomes backed up because some young lady is staring blankly at the empty booth, as if a employee will magically appear. It was a nightmare and a half to get everyone to back the eff up so these two piles of human garbage could turn around and no doubt complain that the big signs all over the damn place weren't prominent enough. Such instances of stupidity happen with depressing regularity, but rarely does it cause a massive back up like it did today.

If you can't even pay attention to the big honking signs all over the place saying what the requirement was, what makes you think you pay attention driving on the road?

Probable Treason

The President seems to have publically admitted that his administration leaked former CIA agent Valerie Plame's status to the NYT. He managed to put in the qualifier "probably" and said "And now we're going to move on".

Very few things the administration has done so far has made me enraged like this. The Administration has basically disregarded all professionalism and concern for National Security in the name of petty vendettas and spite. The President can't seem to understand why Scooty Libby deserved jail time. Not that he wasn't the only one, I have suspicions(completely unprovable) that his former boss, the Vice President, either gave the order or approved the leak. The President isn't even willing to have ones of his boys be the fall guy. Why?

Can the President be so out of touch with reality that he can't see how outing a undercover agent probably put her life in danger? Can't he see how outing a undercover closed off any and all sources through that channel? Or does he simply not care? How can it be possible that someone in his position lacks a basic understanding of right and wrong? Of concern for the safety of other people? Of National Security?

In Northern Virginia, eveng the jogging trails are bumper-to-bumper traffic

Believe it or not, and this will come as a shock to many of you, I have put on a few pounds since getting out of the navy. I know I know, you're thinking "Matt? Fat? That's un-possible!" Well shipmates, it's true. And 40 minutes on the elliptical just ain't cutting it. So I came up with an alternative, one that I think is better.

Not far from my place is Burke Lake Park, and I thought (temporally forgetting that summertime in Virginia makes my nose clog up and my eyes puffy. Huzzah) "What better than a 5 mile run/walk on a jogging trail along the lake?"

Well, I got about a mile before I started to feel it, and it was pure agony every step of the way. That's okay though, if I fell the masses of yuppies that had the same idea as me would break my fall. Assuming the angry, hissing Canadian Geese didn't get me. Or the cyclists clipping me. Why would I continue to subject myself to this?

Why, it would be because of the attractive urban professional chicas that also jog on said trail. See you tomorrow!

As I was.

I believe the term for what I'm feeling is Schadenfreude!

This is an outrage

Chris Rock used to have this bit about OJ Simpson. His line was something like "If OJ was a bus driver instead of rich and famous, he wouldn't be OJ Simson, he would be "Orenthal the wife-murdering busdriver""

Sadly, it seems that once more the justice system has been made a mockery out of. Paris Hilton has been let out of prison for"undisclosed medical reasons". No doubt the whore thought she could tough it out and then decided that not getting gangbanged in a dirty bathroom stall nightly wasn't for her. Instead, she'll be wearing an electronic bracelet while under house arrest. Poor baby. I should be so lucky to be under house arrest at my mansion.

Of course, if I had gotten a DUI, I'd be in jail for a while and lost my job because I would have lost my clearances. Then again, my parents aren't wealthy socialites who are enraged that the judge rules that she has to be punished under the law.

I wonder what would have happened if she killed someone while under the influence. 6 days instead of 3

Cox or Cocks?

It wouldn't be Monday without horrible customer service.

So, first off I call the vendor my company sent me to for class on a certain 4-letter certification, and tell them I'm all set to schedule the tests for it. The woman on the phone, slurping something ever so loudly, goes "You have a voucher number?"

First, a little background. It was a nightmare trying to get a response from these guys(who my company had directed me to) just to sign up for the class, then finally the receptionist sends me an email stating that the class started on such and such date, and the tuition paid by my company included a voucher for all the tests. Of course, I came to found out that the start Date in the email was the second day of class, which put me behind, but whatever. They handed me the books, and class started. No indication that I was not suppose to be there.

So I respond to the lady on the phone "I never got a voucher number from you." To which she replied "Yes you did." A quick opening of my *.pst file proved that my original recollection was correct. "Well, I can't find any evidence of a voucher code for you."

"Fine, I'll pass this along to my company's HR folks. I'm sure they'll be real pleased to hear you're trying to charge me for something they already paid for."

"I'll call you back tomorrow." *click*

So basically, I think next cert I work on I'll just take the course at the community college and have the VA pay for it.


So, I get home and just to add to the fun, my Cable interweb crapped out. That is, to say, the splitter between my TV and modem once more died. Knowing that this would be the third damn time I replaced it on my own(as the phone reps mumbled something about coming out "sometime later in the week" and I didn't want to wait that long) I called them and told them "hey, the splitter is busted it. This will be the third time I've replaced it on my own, come out and replace it."

To which the woman on the other line said. "Let's go through some basic troubleshooting..."

Now, I personally hate asshole customers, but I was a bit of a one then. "Look, I've done this this and this. Bottom line, I can get Cable TV with the splitter, but not internet, and I only get internet with the modem plugged directly into the drop."

"Okay, we'll send someone out tomorrow, between 1500-1900*click*


If it wasn't for the fact that Cox Communication's internet was so damn great, I would have dropped them a long time ago.