#Aerial Assault

[johnschneiderblog]

Aerial assault

Sunday morning was a big one in the hundred-acre wood. I saw no fewer than a dozen turkeys - hens, jakes and four mature toms, one of which (bottom photo) I ultimately shot.

But the most exciting moment came when two hens squared off in a dive-bombing dog fight. I can't say what the disagreement was about, or who started it.

The feathers flew, off and on, for a minute or so, then the smaller of the two birds cried uncle, bowed and vowed to stay away from the queen's worms.

You just never know what you might witness as dawn breaks in the hundred-acre wood.

[pooepw]

stream time

elden ring to start the week

[gundamfight]

[miodiodavinci]

it is very funny how in cleaning out my blog, i found a ton of old posts from around when i was originally trying to record crevan’s vcv—the majority of which were mainly just me complaining about various interruptions like dogs and gardeners and construction and loud tvs and so on

and i say it’s funny because i’m doing voicebank recording yet again, and while my current set up (read: back seat of my car surrounded by a cocoon of blankets) has thankfully freed me from most of the old sound interference concerns, i did find out today that the new set up has one critical weakness:

rain

[therosecrest]

[tribesaerialassault]

Check out our YouTube channel for current play.

[alexeithegoat]

oc infodump incoming:

bhatair loves space taylor swift but will never admit it

merc dyes his hair with coolant (and gets told off for it endlessly)

tal’s full name, Tal Hardin, means rain & valley of the hares (?)

khadira’s birth core name was nadira and later changed when she became a sky-walker

khadira has an older brother, whom she will never reunited with

bhatair is very skilled in the art of sewing and taught himself just so he could make warmer clothes for his friends

RU5-7E, Skulk Squad’s droid, used to be a loader droid for the Republic and was reserviced to do mechanical and piloting duties for the 311th

tal can’t seem to stop getting into fights. he once lost a tooth from one and khadira had to drag him to a dentist on ryloth for a replacement. skulk squad still tease poor tal over it

skulk squad and the 311th aerial assault division sometimes team up with the 104th for rescue ops!

tal has a pet lizard and a pet ysalamir, to which he keeps hidden from the elder jedi so that he doesn’t get in trouble. they, however, already know

merc hates being called mercenary and has to exasperatingly explain what his name actually is (and it’s mercury, like mercury pink)

khadira is a closeted lesbian

sergeant kalinda, aka sergeant firebird, is the group’s sniper, demo expert and trans icon

tal is SUPER into rocks and will marry someone if they have a cool enough stone/mineral

[historyofguns]

The article "Dabbs: My Time in the U.S. Army Rotary-Wing Flight School" by Will Dabbs, MD, recounts the author's lifelong passion for aviation and his experiences in the U.S. Army's Rotary-Wing Flight School at Fort Rucker, Alabama. Dabbs reflects on his childhood fascination with World War II aircraft, leading him to pursue a career as a military helicopter pilot. He describes the competitive selection process, the various training phases, and the challenging yet rewarding journey through flight school. Dabbs particularly highlights his time training with the UH-1 Huey helicopters, his transition to flying CH-47 Chinooks, and the intense camaraderie and friendships formed with fellow soldiers. The article also touches on the inherent dangers of military aviation, including the loss of friends, and concludes with Dabbs expressing gratitude for his military experiences.

[sw5w]

PK Worker Droids

STAR WARS EPISODE I: The Phantom Menace 02:00:14

[drunk-on-starlight]

Y'know what I still unironically think rise of skywalker was a good movie and probably one of the better Star Wars films overall.

[allthecanadianpolitics]

Canada’s Department of National Defence (DND) will host trial sessions for Israeli arms technology used to kill Palestinians and maintain apartheid and occupation during a three-week “sandbox” event in Alberta next month.

From May 27 to June 21, DND is giving a select group of military suppliers the chance to test products that are designed to counter aerial drones, with direct assistance from Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) staff and experts. Among those selected is a company called “Twenty20 Insight Inc.,” which is testing the “Smash Hopper counter-drone weapon station.”

The “Smash Hopper” is a remote control weapon system developed and manufactured by Israeli arms company “Smart Shooter,” whose technology is deployed by the Israeli military in fortifications that are used to suppress Palestinian dissent in the occupied West Bank, as well as in military hardware currently being used in Israel’s assault on Gaza.

As reported by AP News in November 2022, Smart Shooter developed remote control turrets deployed by Israel that fire tear gas, stun grenades and sponge-tipped bullets at Palestinian protesters in the occupied West Bank.

Omar Shakir, the Israel and Palestine Director at Human Rights Watch, told AP: “This system will only [...] further grave Israeli human rights abuse and further the Israeli army’s abuses and the Israeli government’s crimes against humanity of apartheid and persecution against millions of Palestinians.” [...]

Continue Reading.

Tagging: @newsfromstolenland, @abpoli, @vague-humanoid

[palms-upturned]

‘Threat is not Hamas but Gazans, and Arabs of Judea and Samaria’

Oct 29th, 19:50 GMT

A leading Israeli security expert has told the country’s Maariv newspaper the “threat is not Hamas but the Gazans and the Arabs of Judea and Samaria”, referring to the occupied West Bank.

“As long as the state of Israel does not understand what the threat is – it will not be able to win,” Eliyahu Yossian, research fellow at Meshgav Institute for National Security and winner of the Israel Defense Prize, told the newspaper in an example of the discourse among Israel’s far right as the Gaza assault continues.

“If we don’t treat Gaza as an enemy, we will never get out of the rounds and each time it is going to get worse to the point that we reached the acute situation of [October 7] morning. The state of Israel needs to understand and accept that there are no innocents in Gaza.”

[arscorpii]

these aerial shots of the streets in the scene where anthy was about to jump off a building in episode 37 remind me of a network of blood capillaries gradually flowing with some foreign substance (the way the red lines were drawn certainly resembles some liquid substance). the camera panned towards anthy from the 1st to 4th picture, and the streets gradually turned from pure white to white with some red.

before the suicide scene, utena and anthy were enjoying tea and cookies at akio's place, and they were wearing their school uniforms. anthy indirectly hinted at "poisoning" the cookies. in response, utena directly stated that she had "poisoned" anthy's tea. both accepted the poison into their systems (bodies) without any hesitation or qualms. noticeably, in this scene, utena didn't wear the rose crest ring that she took off at the beginning of the episode. i'd like to think of the streets gradually turning from white to flowing with red liquid as the visualisation of the poison they consumed in this scene gradually circulating in the system (via blood vessels and capillaries); thus, these points represented utena and anthy's bond/relationship with each other up until before the suicide attempt (white) and after (flowing with red).

up to at least the moment utena found out about anthy and akio at the end of episode 36, utena and anthy hadn't been honest with each other, despite utena saying to anthy that she could come to her if anthy had any problems, and that they can help each other through anything (episode 25). from the point akio began making bold moves in grooming utena (episode 30 onwards), which led to sexual assaults and rape, utena had started to keep things out of anthy's knowledge/unable to tell certain things to anthy.

a prominent example of this would be the scene in episode 36 where anthy asked about utena's whereabouts the night utena went to the dueling arena with touga. other examples are in episodes 30 and 35. anthy, on the other hand, hadn't been honest with utena from the very beginning. from my understanding, from both sides, the dishonesty with each other came from the dire need to preserve the sanctity/purity of their bond (and the despairing inability to open up about respective sufferings). both utena and anthy didn't wish to taint their bond with their ugly stories of truths. the situation was more adverse for anthy because letting utena know the truth could derail all of akio's plans.

(note the network of streets) with regard to the series, colour theories were ever-present in every visual aspect. white was equated to purity and innocence; red was synonymous with violence and danger. i think these meanings suited the visuals of the post-suicide attempt scene, the purity of their bond was incrementally coloured with violent truths from one another. moreover, i also think the post-suicide attempt scene further reified the cantarella scene. in other words, the post-suicide attempt scene was the more literal take/depiction/iteration of the cantarella scene (if that makes sense), with the visuals of the white streets flowing with red as the connecting factor between the two scenes.

the final visual of the "poisoned streets" before anthy urged utena to leave the school. the poison was freely and fully flowing through every street. throughout the suicide scene, utena and anthy were both in their sleepwear. this may connote a more vulnerable and honest disposition without any facade, as well as a better understanding and more equal footing with one another, compared to when they were in school uniforms during the cantarella scene. utena was also wearing her ring here, which may highlight her choice to play the role of a prince for anthy's sake to the end.

in addition, i think the streets flowing with poison could also be seen as a network of empty/dried blood capillaries finally flowing with blood; akin to a dead body coming back to life. after a person dies, the first visible change would be pallor mortis (within 15 to 20 minutes), wherein the body begins to pale because blood stops moving through the capillaries. with regard to this information, the visuals may indicate a sign of rejuvenation of the bond between utena and anthy after opening up to one another. the bond between them became more human, alive (flowing with blood), as opposed to being hollow (dried out blood capillaries; like death). to me, i believe both interpretations could work simultaneously for the visuals of the streets.

[zvaigzdelasas]

[BBC is UK State Media]

The BBC is the first British media to visit the USS Dwight D Eisenhower since it began this mission in November.

"This is deadly stuff," says Captain Dave Wroe, who commands the four US Navy destroyers which provide the extra protection for the carrier.

It arrived soon after Yemen's Houthi's began to target merchant vessels - they say in response to Israel's assault on Gaza.

Captain Wroe lists the threats they've been facing over the past four months: anti-ship ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, unmanned aerial vehicles, unmanned surface vessels, and now unmanned underwater vessels, or UUVs, all loaded with explosives.

UUVs are the latest threat. He says the F-18 jets on board the carrier have recently destroyed UUVs, before they could be launched.

Captain Wroe says the Houthis have posed the greatest challenge to the US Navy in recent history.

"This is the most since World War Two," he says [sic]. That was the last time the US operated in an area where they could be fired upon every day.

The tempo of operations on the aircraft carrier itself has also been unrelenting - with dozens of sorties being flown round the clock.[...]

Up in the carrier's flight control tower, Commander George Zintac, known as the Air Boss, is having to choreograph their movements - with a jet either launching or landing in just over a minute.

He's been in the US Navy for more than 30 years, but says "this is probably the most flying I've done on a deployment - everyday we're flying a tonne".[...]

Unlike the Houthis, they're away from home with few creature comforts. Every meal on board is literally feeding the five thousand. The food bill on the carrier alone is $2m (£1.6m) a month.

Captain Chris Hill, the commanding officer of Ike, says "people need breaks, they need to go home".

But he says they don't yet have dates for when that'll happen. So one of his tasks is to maintain the crews morale and resilience.[...]

Captain Hill says: "It's difficult to define winning and losing in this kind of conflict."

18 Mar 24