King of the Monsters

Because it's just too good not to. 

Godzilla rap beat remix

Also, just for kicks and giggles, for those up to speed with the news, my wife sent me this the other day and I nearly peed in my pants laughing:

 

UMs: Murder/Unexplained Death part 1

Due to the popularity of the last post I did on the r/UnresolvedMysteries subreddit, I figure I'll do a reoccurring post on Saturdays for the next few months on similar topics. I'll likely post on about a half-dozen or less cases grouped by topic until I run out of all of the ones that I find interesting, with some being sourced from Wikipedia as well. 

Speaking of which, this week's topic will be unsolved murders/unexplained deaths, which is the topic I generally find the least interesting, but because of all the true crime nuts out there, this one will probably reoccur the most out of sheer numbers of cases available. So, here's a selection of some of the ones I found actually intriguing to read. Again, you'll have to put on the rockin version of the UM theme tune, put it on repeat, and get to reading 'em:

The Hinterkaifeck murders. If you know about it, you're already getting chills. If not, well, read on.
https://www.reddit.com/r/UnresolvedMysteries/comments/mjr6o0/on_this_day_99_years_ago_one_of_the_most_horrific/

The Box Lady of Benton County. Supposedly dropped from a helicopter no less. Pinochet was unavailable for comment. 
https://www.reddit.com/r/UnresolvedMysteries/comments/mp4ae9/on_a_fall_day_in_1976_a_farmer_harvesting_corn_in/

A random redditor claims to have killed a childhood friend, and another redditor finds evidence to support it might be true.

https://www.reddit.com/r/UnresolvedMysteries/comments/8al6hz/redditor_confesses_to_killing_childhood_pal_other/

Kent State is well known, but was it really the result of the FBI effing up and instigating (yet again)?

https://www.reddit.com/r/UnresolvedMysteries/comments/gdcmk9/50_years_ago_today_members_of_the_ohio_national/

North Korean purges. Need I say more? Sadly, the hermit kingdom is full of these stories and we may never know even after the country eventually dissolves.
https://www.reddit.com/r/UnresolvedMysteries/comments/ft588g/in_1995_the_entire_sixth_army_corps_in_north/

High altitude suicides. A well known fact that it is true, but scientists still don't know why.

https://www.reddit.com/r/UnresolvedMysteries/comments/cxx1w4/the_chilling_mystery_of_highaltitude_suicides_us/

Tax time

 It's my least favorite time of year. No just because doing taxes sucks, but income tax is blatant federal theft. Not only is it unconstitutional, but the amount it actually contributes to the national budget(deficit), is so miniscule that I'm sure the fed is paying far more in IRS agents to collect/regulate it than they ever get in return. Might as well abolish the federal income tax. Write your local congress-critter today!

As for stuff closer to reality that doesn't suck, is the latest episode of The Book of Boba Fett.  I thought they would be playing their cards a little closer to their chests, but man, the last couple episodes were pretty awesome. I can't get into too many details without spoiling it if you haven't seen it, so watch it already, we gotta talk about it!

 

Would you like a side of monarchy with that?

I believe it was George Bernard Shaw who said the famous line, "The United States and Great Britain are two countries separated by a common language." Well, if you live in Layton, Utah, that doesn't have to be the case at all. Time for a shout out/tip 'o the hat to another fantastic small business I like in my state. This time we are taking a walk across the bridge to A Little Taste of Britain. The place is really nice and is part restaurant, part groceries, part novelty store. 

pic shamelessly taken from their facebook page.

If you're in the mood for some British cuisine, they have classic European style fish and chips or sausage rolls (my favorite). If you need items for your kitchen/pantry like blackcurrant cordial, or some Jaffa cakes, you can get the from their groceries section. Or, you can try out some chilled soft drinks like Irn-Bru or Orange Tango (another of my favorites). Then you can round it all up by nabbing the typical tourist knick-knack like a little effigy of Big Ben. Any of your across the pond needs will be met...that is, anything other than dumping their tea in the lake. Go to their official site to check their menu and other offerings (they do grocery and restaurant pickup, too).

Avast, ye atom lovers!

With all my talk about nuclear weapons and power the other week, here's a really neat video on an early effort for a peacetime use of atomic power by one of my favorite youtubers, Mustard.  Unfortunately, he's only posting about once every month or two as he's moved off to the greener pastures of CuriosityStream and Nebula.  I'm too poor to afford that at the moment, so I have to just wait for his leftovers to be posted to YouTube. Regardless, all of his videos are very informative, entertaining, and are always about a subject I would be interested in.

Your A-10 video sucks and I can prove it mathematically

Buckle up people, this will be long and boring. So, as I said earlier, I would fight LazerPig on his A-10 videos (and I'd love to fight him on the F-35 as well). I am rather a big fan of LazerPig and I like a lot of his videos, as they are usually well researched and sourced. So, I although I do this to malign his video, it's not to malign him, but point out his inaccuracies, bad/lazy research, along with dumb/incorrect info, and biases that affected this video. I would still highly recommend you watch his videos on it (if you can spare an hour and a half), with part one here and part two here. 

That being said, I'm also not the world's biggest A-10 fan. It's certainly far from my favorite aircraft, but I can respect that it's NOT a crap plane. That out of the way, I think I should start by pointing out some things he has gotten very right in his video, and he has accurately sourced a lot of good info:

Yes, he is completely wrong on almost all things military/war. Might as well call him Walter Peck.

- Yes, Pierre Sprey and James Burton had nothing to do with the A-10 airframe design, and were also total hacks that were full of all sorts of crap opinions, false claims, and terrible thoughts about modern warfare in general. Anyone who thinks they were directly involved in the A-10 or any other production aircraft are also full of crap, and have not done their homework. You REALLY didn't have to spend an entire 30 min on this freaking subject (at least if it's supposed to be about the A-10). Should have just made part 1 about Spey and Burton as a separate subject entirely. 

- Yes, the F-111 and F-117 were/are unfairly maligned by reformers in the military, it's industrial complex, and by enthusiasts. They were both retired before their prime (or at least for the F-111, was never properly replaced). Note that the F-111 still has much better range and payload capacity than the F-15E that replaced it (as well as better top speed when internally laden). Also, the F-117 is still flying after being officially retired as it is an excellent training aid for ground sensors, weapon crews, and other aircraft in helping to detect/engage stealth aircraft.  

- Another point of contention I will completely agree with him on, is that the capabilities of the GAU-8 cannon are vastly overrated/exaggerated, and I think the USAF likes it that way. In reality, the USAF even acknowledges that it is no more effective than a 20mm Vulcan in anything other than it's effective range. As an added note, I think the A-10 would be better served by the 25mm Equalizer cannon, to vastly reduce vibrations/reverse thrust that cause the inaccuracies of the A-10, while improving ammunition capacity, or increasing space for much needed ECM and ECCM equipment (a lack of which, I admit will greatly contribute to potentially poor survivability going forward).

Now, on to LazerPig's unfortunate bullcrap, which is sadly plentiful, as he constantly contradicts himself in the 2nd video. It's also funny to hear him admit he's not an aviation expert, but puts out this long form, two-part video explaining why he says it's a crap plane, while saying there are a lack of "facts" in favor of the aircraft. 

- As he himself stated in the video, one goal of the design program was to be a lower tech vehicle with very low maintenance hours and cost, that can be operated from dirt strips and poorly prepared runways. Specifically, it was envisioned to replace the A-1 Skyraider in the "sandy" role. I would suggest this means the A-10 is massively successful from a design perspective as it has fantastically better range, payload capacity, armor, loiter time, more powerful gun, and can carry more sophisticated weapons than the 'ol A-1.

- Also, he stated the A-10 has never been confirmed to survive a SAM hit. A literal ten second google search proves him wrong.  This is also funny, because he uses another picture of this exact missile hit to the above Warthog in his video seconds after stating there is no evidence for it. All you needed was to read the caption for the pic you used, moron! Read all about it here. Another example of one being hit by a SAM and surviving is here.

- Also, he criticizes the armor and gun on the Warthog and says the fact that the armor only protects up to 23mm is lacking. Excuse me, did you not say that war always changes? They didn't have the effing 2K22 Tunguska around when the A-10 was designed or put into service. The Tunguska was only accepted by the Russian military in 1982, and they don't like admitting when they had enough units that were trained for it to reach Initial Operational Capability after that time. The A-10's primary threat was the ZSU-23-4 Shilka, which uses, guess what? 23mm cannons! Shilka's are also used by a plethora of countries in the world which is a lot more than the whopping eight that use the Tunguska. The key here being that the armor can withstand hits from it and the GAU-8 gatling cannon out-ranges the 23mm cannons. Not to mention there are still plenty of old Russian aircraft and AAA pieces in many a country's inventory (including Russia's) who are equipped with 23mm cannons.

- In the video he states the A-10C model has many upgrades that rectify many of the problems he talks about, but then says those upgrades make it so that it can't operate from dirt strips and roads, which you'll find is complete bullshit, if you do a basic google search for it (see also here). Also, even if the A-10C's more sophisticated systems break without being able to be repaired immediately, it still retains the combat effectiveness of the A-10A, as it still has the same engines, gun, payload capability, and more basic avionics systems to use. 

- He also says this "C" model makes the plane much more expensive, which defeats the purpose of the plane being simple and cheap. Well, I did some number crunching, and the basic F-16C (considered to be one of the cheapest planes in the USAF inventory) WITHOUT later block upgrades in today's money costs roughly 32 million a piece (adjusted for inflation from 18.8 million 1998 USD). The A-10C with it's C model upgrade cost INCLUDED and adjusted for inflation comes to roughly 17 million USD in today's dollar value. Seems pretty freaking cost effective to me, you dolt (you can do the math yourself here).

- Yes, the A-10A has been the subject of bad blue-on-blue incidents because it lacks sophisticated sensors, communications, and data link devices as he mentioned, but this illustrates another problem. The plane was not designed with those in mind, because of the mission set it was to perform. It was not meant to be roaming a countryside looking for targets of opportunity; it was meant to operate with other FAC aircraft and/or ground based FACs (as he mentions in the video!) to ensure target discrimination. So the problem comes about with Air force brass using it incorrectly and giving units reckless rules of engagement, making it the Air Force that is crappy, not the A-10.

- Also, as for his comparison of the F-111 with A-10 kills and the unverified nature of the A-10 tank kills, he glosses over the fact that, the F-111 generally did not fly CAS missions int he exact same flight profile as the A-10, and ignores the fact that most tank-busting was done with strike missions and not CAS missions. On a related note, just because a tank is not completely destroyed, doesn't mean it doesn't count as a kill. In military parlance, there is such a thing called a "mission kill", meaning that if the equipment is either inoperable or abandoned because damage from an attack, or threat of attack, it can count as a kill, as long as it will remain out of action.

- Now, come closer...closer still...flying low to avoid ground based radar still works in hilly/mountainous terrain and other disruptive terrain (like over water) and those mountains are the area the A-10 was designed to operate, as you stated yourself in the video, and is still a very viable thing to do in modern air combat if in that terrain. So again, it's a case of the plane not being employed in it's designed for theater of operations, while (as I mentioned earlier) not having sufficient ECM equipment to counter modern threats.

- He also neglects to mention that in the air force's own tests/flyoff between the F-35 and the A-10, despite not being fully declassified, they admitted themselves that the A-10 can't be replaced by the F-35, and that they "need to work together in the future". Some even say the test is rigged in the F-35's favor (also here), and considering the USAF history on those kind of things (also see the KC-46), I can believe it. The F-35 was a massive overreach in scope and is a compromised design, that would have been better served by a separate, dedicated design for each of the services (sounding familiar? *cough*  the F-111! *cough*).

-Another thing he neglects to mention is that the design and performance of the A-10 allow for it to loiter and provide additional fire support for the forces it provides CAS to for a lot longer than many other assets, and allows it to continue to attack new threats as they emerge. 

So, to summarize, it seems like the A-10 not only isn't crap, it's actually pretty great, as it is affordable, effective, and survivable. It has it's share of problems and issues, but any other fighter/attack plane has it's own problems, required upgrades, or has faced changes in mission sets. Heck, your fabled F-111 had plenty of those happen, and it's still an excellent aircraft. 

But, just to address a couple of other issues he brings up in the 2nd video:

- Also, if he had done his homework, he would have known the 0 loss record of the F-15 Eagle is possibly also likely a fudged number, for the sake of national prestige and propaganda (whether Israeli or US, or both), as LazerPig himself pointed out, it has been done by the USAF before. Granted, the source for the losses is via a War Is Boring author, but it's two part article is still worth considering the circumstances of the unconfirmed kills. That, and he says no other plane has come close to it's kill/loss record, but the F-14 he talks about has a much higher kill record with only 4 confirmed A2A losses, which compare VERY favorably to the kill/loss record of the F-15. 

- In his video he states that with the advent of (reliable) long range missiles, dogfights are now a thing of the past. Yes, they have been far less common, but far from eliminated. Despite long range missiles, dogfights still occur on a regular basis in aerial combat, the only change being that guns are no longer as often being the weapon to end it. That, and especially with more countries now obtaining/developing their own stealth aircraft and with the advent of more commonly available, more advanced ECM and ECCM in the hands of more counties, it's likely the dogfight will be back in fashion with a vengeance (not to mention when you include things like current decoys on top of that).  

- Also, John McCain is an moron that deserves no respect, as he was both corrupt, evil, and stupid, despite the Vietnam POW status. Also, the B-1B WAS performing CAS missions in Afghanistan in almost the EXACT same manner/mission profile at medium to high altitude (in a majority of cases) that your fabled F-111 would have, ya dolt.

That no work!

I'm not a huge car guy, but I can appreciate the finer things in life, like nice cars, along with the fun and iconic movie car. My all time favorite still being the Black on Black Interceptor from Mad Max. 

Anyways, I saw this picture on the *name redacted* subreddit today, and figured I have to post while it's still fresh. The title of the post was "That's not right" and most of the comments insisted it was an intentional troll. See if you can find what's VERY wrong with this picture:

Trick question. There are TWO things wrong with this picture. One, the Ectomobile shown in the pic is from the 2016 movie, which is garbage that no one cares about. Two, is that they show the Spinner from the crappy Blade runner 2049 garbage movie, and not the iconic classic from the original 80's film. Original reddit post here.

Who knew Austin Powers was educational?

 Also, just to make you're not missing out on a good laugh, here's the funniest thing I've seen all month (even though it s few days old by now):

Thanks for the pro-tip, Austin.

Look, I've always been of the opinion that you can do what you want with your life as long as you aren't hurting anyone, including yourself (screw you, libertarians). But being delusional about your reality then insisting that others buy into it, is nothing short of a class of mental problems. To those in professional circles, that is either a "Delusional disorder" or straight up "Psychosis". 

Feel free to make believe all you like, but to insist that some guy is a girl, is the result of only four things I can think of: abusive parenting, some form of trauma (or other abuse), a horrible trick/joke, or straight up delusions. All of those things in and of themselves are hurting the individual who is claiming to be what they aren't, and they need help.

So, sorry that I'm not sorry for laughing my ass off at someone who just got a nice pimp-slap full of reality to hit them right in the face (pun intended). 

Rewinding

It just hit me that I'm old enough that if I try to use that word in the title of this post with someone half my age, they will have no idea what the hell I'm talking about. Fun.

As for the music this week, I'm putting up a double feature of a couple of the coolest video game themes ever made. Because I'm pretty sure I've posted it here before, but so many of my older music posts are broken, and I could't see any with them in it that were working, so here ya go:

Max Payne Theme

...and of course, the sequel version:

Max Payne 2 Theme

As I said before, the first two Max Payne games were some of the few games that I played for the story they were so good. The gameplay was revolutionary and it's what got me to start playing, but the story is what got me to complete it.

All the missed SHOTs in the show

 For all the cool crap that is shown off at SHOT show every year, there's an equal (if not greater) amount of puzzling, odd, or outright dumb things shown off there too. Here's all the stuff I saw that was either confusing to me, had an indifferent reaction, or were just outright silly:

There seem to be a lot of people introducing (or-reintroducing) their own PCC/SMG type guns that really want to chase that HK MP5 (and clones) market, but to me offer no real advantage over it. I got no problem with competition, but these are kinda puzzling to me.

The first one is just WTF territory IMO. The YKMF-5 is just kind of silly, in that it's meant to just LOOK like an MP5. It uses MP5 mags (so there is no bolt hold open), and is straight blowback, so recoil is likely to be worse. It comes with no sights, and retails for nearly $1800, so you're better off just getting a PTR MP5 clone for cheaper that likely shoots far better (and sure as hell looks better). What market did they think they were going for? The more money than sense people? Same goes for the Dead Foot Arms MP5-like thing. 

Why make an MP5 competitor if it has literally no advantages over the MP5, not even price?

Another that's on the "but why?" scale of MP5 wannabes is the MDP-9. Now, don't get me wrong, it seems like a straight up high quality product. It's part of the concept that puzzles me. Why make a PCC/SMG type weapon if you are gonna use freaking Glock mags, unless the sale price is super cheap, like the AR PCCs? There are plenty of better alternatives out there (like CZ Scorpion 2 mags), but people keep doing it. That, and for this particular gun, you are again getting something that'll cost you a ridiculous amount (MSRP $2700), so I'd still rather straight up buy a freaking G36C or an actual HK SP5 for nearly the same price (or a Pistol AR for far, far cheaper). Same goes for the Czech CSV-9 Four Peaks is importing. Really cool gun, just stupid that I'm stuck with those Glock mags.

To continue on the same topic, the excellent company B&T has again released a new PCC/SMG, that being the SPC-9. It's another high quality gun (I mean, it's Swiss, of course it is), but the thing I just don't like about it is the same thing as the MPX or MP7. Why in the world do you use that same charging handle style from the AR? It's just an awful feature on an otherwise amazingly great gun. 

Another thing that was still pretty surprising (or at least WTF) in the world of rifles, was the announcement that the other competitor in the Army's NGSW program, the bullpup RM277, will also be offered for civilian sale soon. Gosh, that thing is ugly, and I'm still just not a fan of bullpup rifles at all, despite the advantages they offer. 

On a related note, I mentioned earlier that the RM277's competitor the SIG MCX SPEAR is also coming to the civilian market, but I only now found out the price. It's also going for the outrageous MSRP of nearly $8000; and that's for something that ultimately equates to nothing but a fancy AR upper, so I can't imagine the price the RM277 is going to go for. Freaking idiots. 

Just a big "I don't really care" from a lot of the stuff at this year's show, unfortunately.

I don't hate the 5.7mm cartridge, and I am kinda glad to see more people making new platforms for it, but as for buying one, I still just shrug my shoulders at it. So I guess the new PSA 5.7 Rock pistol, despite looking really good, even better than the kinda dumb Ruger 5.7 pistol, it gets just a big 'meh' response from me. That, and I don't exactly equate PSA with anything resembling "quality" after a few incidents experienced by myself and friends.

Then there is Fabrique Nationale re-releasing their semi auto M249S for the civilian market. Not only that, but they are also offering a para model as well.  I guess I'm just on the fence with this one too, as I love the idea of a belt-fed gun without a tax stamp, but being that it's not full auto just kinda takes all the fun out of it along with the very point of a belt-fed.

Another thing is all the Glock kits, clones, and custom Glock parts. Glock is a good gun, I just don't like 'em at all, so I just think "ho hum" whenever I see the ever increasing onslaught of those kind of products at SHOT, when they really don't do much than just offer a copy of the same ergonomics, takedown, trigger, etc. I didn't link to any specific examples, as there's just too many being announced/shown to even list them here.

Going back to FN Herstal, remember the really nice new Hi-Power they were re-releasing? Well, I finally got wind of the MSRP for those things and it's gonna be a whopping $1270-1370 for that effing dumb thing! I'd rather buy a freaking used Desert Eagle or anew  USP .45 Tactical, or a really nice rifle for that price! I was expecting it to be pricier than the other offerings out there, but jeez! So, screw those guys sideways at FN for making you pay for their name and not the gun.

Everyone's reaction when FN says they'll make the Hi-Power cost more than novelty and gucchi guns!

Although not really a big thing at SHOT show this year, the Springfield Saint Edge ATC was recently reviewed by the Military Arms Channel. Just a shame it appears to be a bit a of a disappointment, as I had high hopes for that one.