The Off Topic Topic

[Tonitrus]

The US army is eliminating the black beret for non-special forces troops.  Hooray.

They're replacing it with a badge that says "I'm special "

For all the crap I could give the Army, "I'm special" badges would be more an Air Force kind of insanity.

The Army would just use lame slogans like "Army of One" and "Army Strong"...and call themselves warriors.  They will probably upgrade to "warlords" next.

[Tonitrus]

Lego said Friday that it will begin selling a new Star Wars model seat featuring Darth Vader's own personal ship, the Super Star Destroyer Executor. The set will go on sale on September 1 on Lego's Web site and in its branded retail stores.
This will be the longest Star Wars Lego model at 50 inches, and it takes 3,152 bricks and pieces to put together. All told, it will weigh eight pounds. One feature will be a command bridge underneath a removable section of the top of the model. Inside will fit mini-figures of several Star Wars characters--Vader himself, and a few others.
   
The set will cost $400 when it goes on sale.


Read more: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13772_3-20072100-52/darth-vaders-personal-lego-spaceship-flies-sept-1/#ixzz1PmcvH0ls

[Tonitrus]

Still used by all troops in the service uniform, just no longer in the ACUs.  And can still be mandated by the local commander if they want to keep it.

First the air conditioning units, then the service uniforms.  Incremental progress.

And we can piss Timmah off at the same time. 

MILITARY
Military spends more to air condition tents than NASA's entire budget
BY JESS ZIMMERMAN
17 JUN 2011 1:15 PM

Steve Anderson, a retired brigadier general who was Petraeus' chief logistician in Iraq, says that the Pentagon spends $20 billion a year just to air condition tents and temporary buildings in Iraq and Afghanistan. That's more than NASA's entire annual budget.

There's an easy fix, says Anderson: Spray tents with polyurethane foam. An existing $95 million contract to spray-insulate tents is providing $1 billion in cost-avoidance, Anderson says. But insulating tents instead of air conditioning them is still not official military polic

[Caliga]

There's an easy fix, says Anderson: Spray tents with polyurethane foam. An existing $95 million contract to spray-insulate tents is providing $1 billion in cost-avoidance, Anderson says. But insulating tents instead of air conditioning them is still not official military polic

His services were no longer needed.

[Josquius]

I've found a history of a nearby town. Its funny in how close its description of the way it was is compared to how it is today.
1844:

In passing the Highgate public house I witnessed a sight which was not uncommon in those days. In the lower rooms of the public house, there was not a table or chair but had its legs broken off, and these a number of mad, drunken fellows were wielding to some purpose on each other's heads. The landlord, Mr. Moore, was in his shirt sleeves, and his arms, from his hands to his elbows, were just as though they had been dipped in blood. I have stood in my own doorway and counted a dozen fights all going on at the same time. The road in front of my house was, in winter, knee-deep in mud and in many places a horse was in danger of disappearing altogether.

Parts of the houses in Puddlers' Row were built; as were also one or two of the rows in the rear of what is now called Front Street. Two and three families were then living in each house. A railway, which had been laid along the side of the road, brought the stone from the common quarry to the houses. There was also a railway to the quarry at Carr House. A small engine was used for pumping the water out of it, and one night this was stolen, and it could never afterwards be found. Consett at that time was one of the wildest places to be found in the North of England.
.

[Lettow77]

 I feel so worthlessly sad. I can't stand death- I think it'd effect me less if I got to know more people, but it's so hard for me to get close to people.Or rather, it's hard for people to get close to me.

I distinctly remember feeling humiliated one night sleeping over with the missus- I cried like a child, loudly and for hours. But while it was embarrassing, being so open about loss made things better. Except, now I can't really speak to her- everything is terse, and I don't imagine we'll ever be close again. It more than undoes the closeness fostered by sharing loss, but rather compounds the sense of loss in the first place.

Languish, i'd love to love somebody. I wish my best friend wasn't leaving in the fall, I wish it wasn't father's day, and I wish I had a home to go to. california, ugh. what was I ever thinking?

[Razgovory]

You'll say the same thing once you've been in Utah a few weeks.

[garbon]

ABSOLUTELY NORMAL BEHAVIOR.

Note I was drunk.
But hey, it was bleeding out anyway. Might as well doodle.

And when does one decide if one has a drinking problem?

[garbon]

california, ugh. what was I ever thinking?

I've no idea.

[DGuller]

There's an easy fix, says Anderson: Spray tents with polyurethane foam. An existing $95 million contract to spray-insulate tents is providing $1 billion in cost-avoidance, Anderson says. But insulating tents instead of air conditioning them is still not official military polic

His services were no longer needed.

[DGuller]

Seriously, WTF?  How can you spend $20 billion just on air conditioning?  Do they fly in the cold air from US?

[Zanza]

$20 billion is about as much as Canada spends on their military. All of it, not just the aircondition.

[Josquius]

And when does one decide if one has a drinking problem?

When this is a regular thing?
Everyone gets drunk on occasion.

[The Brain]

Seriously, WTF?  How can you spend $20 billion just on air conditioning?  Do they fly in the cold air from US?

Makes sense. The Pentagon spent numberless billions to stop Saddam from using a rusty gas shell from the Iran-Iraq war.

[Tamas]

I just had a great idea: Jerusalem Languish Meet