Weaponeering....

I'm thinking it would be cool to make some flash animations of the various types of automatic firearms, blowback operated, gas operated and mechnically operated.

Dave Asks: What is this?

That is a M-2 .50 caliber machine gun with a blank firing attachment mounted on a M113 family personnel carrier, probably rolling around Ft. Irwin, CA.

The M-2 is blow-back operated: it's mechanism depends on the backwards force of the bullet being ejected from the barrel. Since a blank is just a small powder charge, it doesn't have the same force as the full powder charge and bullet, so the blank firing attachment covers up enough of the barrel muzzle for the blank to produce the force to operate the mechanism. It is separate from the barrel because the barrel of the M-2 moves backward (hence, "blow-back operated"). It also includes a metal piece that goes into the feed tray of the weapon, which prevents real bullets from entering the weapon, a real disaster if you have that BFA mounted.

The operation of the M-2 is similar to how pistols operate, only on a much larger scale. What is remarkable about the M-2 is that is is a highly accurate weapon, despite it's barrel moving around quite a bit. I think it is probably the largest blow-back operated automatic weapon in existence or in common usage. Some other large weapons, such as the main gun of tanks or howitzers, also use blow-back force. However, the mechanism of cannon typically is confined to shock absorption and breech opening (and the breech ejects the spent cartridge or base case). They are not truly automatic in that people load the next round in them, or are automatic on an electro-mechanical basis, in that the blow-back force does not also load the round, but a mechanical contraption powered in some other way loads the next round.

For the vehicle ID, I was confused at first by the soldier with the binoculars on the left. He is actually sitting on top of the vehicle and the metal in front of him is the characteristic upwards facing engine exhaust of the 113. The vented circular object in the center foreground is the horn.

To the far right of the picture frame, you will notice two upright and curved at the top tubes of silver metal. This is part of the cage of the "whoopie light," a signal light mounted to vehicles while using MILES gear, a militarized version of laser tag. On the M-2, just above the base of the barrel, you can kind of see the laser, which is a little metal box mounted on top of the weapon, that shoots each time it feels the shock of a blank being fired.

Since this is commonly used at large scale war games at the National Training Center (NTC) at Ft. Irwin, and the mountains in the background seem characteristic of the mountains and valleys Mojave desert there, I figured that this was taken at the NTC. The soldier to the right is wearing a CVC helmet, (Combat Vehicle Crewman helmet) and the soldier to the left is wearing a standard kevlar helmet.

In my former unit they could be mortar guys or mechanics. I think they are mechanics because they look a little bit messy (sleeves rolled up, on the guy to the left, neither he nor the track commander to the right is wearing a BDU top, despite obviously in an action pose for a picture. The binoculars look to be of an older variety, which opens up the possibility that they are cavalry scouts or mechanized infantry, since it would be before the Bradley Fighting Vehicle was fielded. An additional possibility is that they are national guard, in which the messiness and dumb looking action pose would fit as well.

It Shipped!

Click to see where it is at!

Update:

Scan Activity	Date/Time	Comments
Left FedEx RampC.K.S. INTL AIRPORT TW	01/31/2003 20:52	�
Package statusC.K.S. INTL AIRPORT TW	01/31/2003 00:05	�
Arrived at FedEx RampTA YUAN HSIANG TW	01/30/2003 16:28	�
Left FedEx Origin LocationTAOYUAN CITY TW	01/30/2003 12:37	�
Pickup statusTAOYUAN CITY TW	01/30/2003 12:21	�Package received after FedEx cutoff time

Now this is truly funny. It might take a bit to load, so wait till you're on a fast line. hahaha.

http://www.williamchu.com/movies/officeLinebacker.mov

well, nothing says 'techy' like a fireman and a monkey.

make sure the digi is strapped good to you arm as you puke up your lunch, taggart.

was up
I finally found that link for this thingy
thank you MR Serpa,
however everything worked fine on the cd you passed on to me except the f.c.p.
and I am glad the printer is working out for you.
I am currently playing around with Carls Sd9.
He is letting us take it with us on our trip to palm springs, (joshua tree while we are there)
and then tampa bay.
There are a couple of aerial shot we are doing for the Hotels.
Cant wait nothing makes me puke more than helicopter rides.

Ta-da!
paul had set up the studio to do some product shots, so i took advantage of it. Presenting a new look for the site, youthful, yet kinda techy. don't like?
change it.

and where's taggart anyway?

but todd, ryan and i had a blast until the power in the office blew up.

yeah, i was a little worried, but everything turned out just fine. it had to happen as soon as we had all of our ducks in a row, didn't it.

i spent some time this weekend putting together a little book of images i made at the japanese gardens in portland, which i was able to print thanks to taggart. next time i see him, he gets a little book. lucky guy.

and there's a moral to this post :: give me something i want and i will be nice to you. other wise, take your chances.

i almost forgot: this weekend was soooo cool! i had a real blast. i felt almost 'normal' for a bit. it was too bad that tag thinks his wife is more important than gaming and dave thinks having an affair with mr. green is a top priority; but todd, ryan and i had a blast until the power in the office blew up. it was extra-super-scary too considering how much of mr. green we had taken in. the "oh-shit" factor was off the charts!

i reall can't remember exactly what we played, but i do remember that paul's computer isn't very ghost recon friendly. and here i thought that playing on paul's ultra fast super computer was going to really speed things up. well, so much for that...

the breakfast the next morning (afternoon) hit the spot: a monster breakfast burrito with xtra cheese and salsa. oh man, i could eat one of those things every weekend for breakfast and NEVER get tired of 'em.

i did manage to get in a co-op mission game in with dave at carl's place. that was fun; although, i wish i could have stayed longer. i abandoned them to visit holly before i headed back to houston.

holly is as busy/frustrated/awesome as she's ever been. she's flying all over the place with tosca these days, living out of cool hotels and partying when she's not assisting.

got back into houston around 10:30 or so. took my time coming back home. i imagined what it would be like to live around everyone again. i really miss having everyone around.

both my wife and my son came back from chicago with a fever, which gives me a fantastic opportunity to take a few hours (if not the day) off of work to take adolfo iv to the dr.

he's actually fine now (knock on wood) and should sleep soundly tonight. being that this is his first fever, the doc wants to check him out anyway. more than likely it wasn't even the weather in chicago, but the fact that he's teething that gave him the fever. maybe. carol's isn't really a bug either, but a normal allergic reaction to cats.

normally, i'm the first (and only) one in the household to get sick. I can't remember the last time that carol has been sick.

their trip to chicago was fun, so i hear. adolfo iv did fine on the plane (both ways) and everyone around him fell in love with him. his aunts, uncles, and cousins in chicago had a blast with him; although, i hear that he's afraid of his cousin thalia.

i am never sick
or actually
i am very rarely sick with anything more than an itchy eye
but now i am down for the count
and i am out
chicago does this to me
killy
i'm sorry
i hope i don't make you sick
i think it's more the dry air than anything else
backing up my usual fluid head
into a solid hunk of congealed muccus
i can picture it there
it's probably no bigger than a walnut
but it's stuck up there
in my little muccus cavity
nowhere to go
and doesn't want to get out anyway
sticky and doughlike
kind of like cookie dough

but i really don't know
maybe it's this headache
never had one so big
at least that i can remember

can't wait to come home
my husband will take care of me
and thankfully
the baby looks fine

it's just mommy this time

i'm prolly not gonna get out of here any earlier than 6 or 7. i'll prolly make it to austin around 10 or so. todd: should i just go straight to your house? is there anything i should bring other than my computer?

dave: i thought that you might like this, seeing that you like games and stuff.

http://www.burkestudios.com/

the day wears on and on. carol still hasn't arrive in chicago yet. both my conferences were cancelled this thursday. i'm waiting for tech support call-backs. i'm here and...ugh. i could just fall fast asleep. i wish i could leave.

This is just funny. Really.

well, luckily this day has lasted longer than normal. adolfo iv is taking his first plane ride with mommy tomorrow morning to chicago. there, he'll be staying at the Courtyard Marriot in downtown Chicago. I'm going to miss them. this will be the frist time i'm away from both of them for real. i feel kinda weird, but i'm trying to ignore it.




a weekend (or at least a REALLY late night) of gaming should be great therapy. Speaking of gaming, I finished the third mission of the Desert Siege campaign. I played it for five days before i made any headway on it. The next mission is the 'protect the convoy mission. I tried it a couple of times tonight and got eaten up. Well, there's always this weekend.

Well, it seems that Ryan, Todd and I are going to duke it out with Taggart and Dave and anyone else they can persuade to take their side. I wonder if chuck would throw his hat in the ring?

the deal ::
paul's house is available for both gameplay and limited hospitality. there is a big bed in the guestroom, and a small one downstairs. there are also two computers (mine and paul's) one spare monitor (but i gotta check the connection, it's old) and a router with four ports.

so, who's in?

sounds good! i'll be there this weekend. i'll prolly show up around 9:30 or 10-ish. um, i'm kinda still fishing for places to stay. should i stay at dave's? should i stay with carl/tag? or should i (since it seems that we may end up gaming there) just end up at todd's?




also, if we game over on todd's side of town, does that mean taht i WON'T have to bring the imac? does paul's computer constitute an 'xtra' computer? that would be nice, but i don't have any problems with bringing my computer along for the ride.

anyway, wherever we end up i'm sure it'll be a good time.

that may actually be a posibility for this weekend. the boss i gonna be gone, so we may have the house available. this will offer a little more space (and electrical outlets) than tag's place. let me know how many playaz we're gonna have, and i'll check our hub.

From the poodle post:


"The European Dwarf Poodle is not a true dwarf"

"Nobody tosses a Dwarf Poodle!"

I thought that since we were talking about poodles...

yipes, stripes!

paul's in! and he sucks at french!

Hey this is le pablo writing from france. this place is great, except for the french people that seem to be everywhere. there is this one cool french person I met. his name is le jac and he claims that his great, great, great grandfather invented the french poodle. but that is bullshit because the french poodle was invented by a scotsman in 1671.




This is the color of my sissy french toilet paper

why did you do that to our background todd?! why?!

yeah, todd. i knew you would hate it; although, i wasn't so sure that you would want to abandon the andale mono font you had become fond of. people change, i guess. appreciate the link to halcyon lounge, but i would to really like to see some photos taken with YOUR camera todd. speaking of, i'll post the 'house of pies' photos so everyone can see how creative you,diana, and i are after we've had a good breakfast.

yeah, it's cold here too. even eleo put her heater on. i've got 17 rolls of film to process tonight. might not be around till around 10 or so. i'm going to pick up some supplies, process & contact, then coming home.

todd: if you are coming into town let me know when.
adolph: what are your plans?

tag is in town too, but only till sunday? or is it sat night? don't remember. we had dinner last night at niko's with adolfo iv. he was cuter than ever when he spilled liz's lemonade all over the table. his reach is long.

cold cold cold cold cold.
i really should have had my heater fixed.
i was downtown yesterday, near 4th street, so i swung by the place that used to be ruta maya's. it is now the halcyon lounge. i guess the revolution isn't cool anymore.
on the plus side, they let you smoke indoors, a feature damn near impossible to find in austin these days.
i just read killy's earlier post about how i'll recode the layout. am i so predictable?

Other Obsessions:

I used a MacWorld half off anything coupon I found on DealMac to pick up a Nostromo N50 GamePad. They didn't have any stock of the Nostromo N30 Game Mouse (you got to love a mouse touted as having a "rugged, aggressive feel") when I bought the game pad, so I will make due with my optical PocketMouse Pro.
Once the N50 comes in, I am going to work on my Ghost Recon skilz. I wonder if it will work w/ Illustrator/Photoshop/Fireworks. If it did, I would probably use a real mouse more than the trackpad since both hands would be off the keyboard.
It should be here tomorrow. Hmmm, I should find and download the driver...

That is so money adolph! Hey, where's taggart anyway?

finally got the printer up on the network. it prints like a champ now, but not if i try printing a pdf or an eps. don't know what's up. something tells me it has something to do with indesign. hmmm....

Hmmm, I wonder if this would work in a certain G4 tower north of Austin...

not even uhaul's site is THAT orange. how about this nice green? huh? like green?

green indeed.
everyone know its oranges for apples.

woo hoo
it worked

let's see if this works

not even uhaul's site is THAT orange. how about this nice green? huh? like green?

haven't been drawing much lately. not to happy about it.
speaking of drawings and whatnot, if we are going to do this, we might as well do it right.
check out verve. they have real cheap, reliable hosting with PHP, Perl, and all sorts of stuff like that. 200Mb for $10 a month, cheap, and plenty of space for lots of files.

what's wrong with orange? now we look like we're sponsored by uhaul.

oh you're so right todd! this IS so much better. but the background is still oragne...yuck.

so last night i dreamt that i was murdered. i was hit on the back of the head in a dark room and then stabbed in the back multiple times in the back. the person sat on my back and seemed to be holding knives, or whatever he was sticking in me, actually in my back. he was stabbing me but not taking the stabbing device out of me. so whenever i would writhe in pain (i actually felt pain) it would hurt worse...it was really terrible and extremely graphic. my blood pooled around my face; all i could do was weakly kick my left leg. i would lift it and then it would fall to the ground again. i was saying carol's name, but it came out funny. the person was sitting on my back saying really awful things to me. and all i could do was just lie there and die.

i could almost understand having this dream after having watched a good scary movie, but that just wasn't the case. weird. now i have a headache and a really unpleasant vision in my head.

v2.0.
man i love the ability to edit my butt

me too, todd! i like to edit my butt!

this is better.

just go to the 'template' button right above where you post. then save changes and publish the page when it takes you back to the posts page. real easy. it'll take just a bit to load up, but if you just hit the refresh button the changes should eventually take...it's kinda cool.

is black better for you todd?

i think you should call every hour, at least. i mean, what if (heaven forbid) something bad happened to it?

i remember, one long ago file nite, a young adolph wearing the outer case to his little beige mac, peering out the diskette slot, and wondering aloud what it had seen in its short life.

the file. sheeeesh.....

uhh....does it have to be orange?

I wonder if I should call about it every day. Maybe I should try and forget that somewhere across the Pacific little metal, plasic, glass, and silicon parts are being put together. I imagine that I can see the lower aluminum hull on an assembly line, the motherboard being set in it with little zipps and whirrs of electric screwdrivers...

By the way, to get words to wrap around images with this theme, you need to place the image and wrapping text within a set of <p> tags.

so, that's how you do it.

i don't know

Last night i couldn't sleep. I kept staring at adolfo iv and his mother. i got up and watched some bad tv. i ended up drinking a 'dose' of nyquil to finally knock me out. i lay in bed staring at adolfo iv, and then i coughed. he startled awake and cried. his diaper was heavy with pee. i changed him quickly and he turned to carol to eat.


Earlier in the day, i took on the second mission on ghost recon. it was the ethiopian factory that paul, dave, chuck, and i had so much trouble with the first time we played. i didn't finish the battle, but i did make my way into the factory and destroy the bomb squad. then, thinking i had the entire place secure, i moved too quickly and was chopped up. it was ugly...no screenshots.

how do i put some of my drawings on this thing anyway

personally
i would like to see more of killy's recent work posted on this spot
he's got some good stuff out there
waiting to be eyeballed by those who love him
and those who would love him if they knew him

i am the mother hen
and all of you are my chicklets

why am i the only girl on this blah blah blogger

this is for colin
butt is very tender and juicy
it is best served roasted with any dressing you like
as it pairs well with different flavors
as a meal
it should be served with crispy vegetables
to provide interesting texture to keep your diners involved

where do I sign out?

hello operator, yes I would like to buy low and sell high.

the sequence has been dissrupted, my gold chain is missing, this dance song shall be a number one on the charts, who is responsible for the charts.


eat my butt.

colin.

Why is it that we would do this form of communication as opposed to the established
-send-respond- emails. Is there benifits, preferrably hidden,

this note was written with pencil,
sent via the postal system,
to a grade schooler who entered it into the komputer,

colin.

I'm glad to see my tax dollars being put to good use. Brady Bunch Lyrics and music with which to sing along, One each. One of the cool things you can do is to get two windows of something like The Barney March Song running: hey presto, instant Reich-ian phase music!

the new post.

just like the old post.

experiments in blogging.

hmm...only adolph has anything to say.

I've often thought that these are not heroic times in which to live. Political parties seems as if they are screaming "Less Filling" to one and "Tastes Great" to the other. The differences aren't substantive because there are few demons left to be slain. On the other hand, this is a pretty nice situation. It could be like Venezuela, where it seems like the liberating general is refusing to step aside like that noble Roman warrior-farmer. "It's grim, it's really grim," writes the author of the weblog Caracas Chronicles. What is even grimmer is that in these non-heroic times, the desire for perfect ethics trumps passion, and the New York Times doesn't want the author to write a weblog while being a correspondent of the Times.

ugh...why isn't this posting?!

blogger still isn't publishing the page. i would hate for this to work out this way. i'll try this again from home later tonight. maybe i'll have better luck then. i would hate for us to be reading each other's posts in the 'posts' page.


yeah, killy gets top billing. but i made adolph an admin as a token of good will. maybe i'll make todd an admin too. once the page finally gets posted he'll prolly be so 'frustrated with the shitty layout' he'll code up a new template like he's always wanted to anyway.


meanwhile, adolph will dazzle us with his semantic flash skills.

so killy gets top billing

i also made adolph an admin.

for some reason, it's not 'posting' the page. reading through the discussion boards, there was a problem posting 'some pages', but there hasn't been an update to that post. so i don't know what's really going on.

i changed the name to killyandfriends.blogspot.com

These are like little letters to no one in particular. A letter to ourselves whenever we get around to thinking "what is it that I was doing before what I am doing now?" In some ways, I'm constantly thinking about putting the little things I think about into something like a blog, but the chronological order of weblogs is really unappealing. It reminds me of the worst aspects of periodical publishing: you got a be periodical rather than when-everly. Maybe in fact, a blog can indeed be a pure when-everly. However, I would prefer something that wasn't based in chronology but semantically. I'm imagining it would look like Kurtzweil's "The Brain." It is a Java applet; I wonder if it would be possible to execute it in Flash?

Here I am again. I have another blog floating in limbo here, somewhere. I forgot the login and password. I wonder if blogger will take down a site that hasn't been touched in however long? i wonder...

houston is becoming mild again this week. it won't be until thursday that the temperatures drop again and perhaps, more rain. but till then, the clouds are disappearing and the sun is coming back, which means that i can take the baby for a walk without having to bundle him up silly.

i'm heading to kimberly's right after work today to process some film. hopefully, there isn't so much. i like the money, but i like my time much better.

here's one: