Intel's Ronler Acres Plant

Silicon Forest
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Monday, April 6, 2015

Operation Mincemeat

The Operation Mincemeat team.
Operation Mincemeat was a successful British deception plan during World War II. As part of the widespread deception plan Operation Barclay to cover the intended invasion of Italy from North Africa, Mincemeat helped to convince the German high command that the Allies planned to invade Greece and Sardinia in 1943 instead of Sicily, the actual objective. This was accomplished by persuading the Germans that they had, by accident, intercepted "top secret" documents giving details of Allied war plans. The documents were attached to a corpse deliberately left to wash up on a beach in Punta Umbría in Spain. The story was used as plot in Duff Cooper's 1950 novel Operation Heartbreak, but revealed as a true story in the 1953 book The Man Who Never Was. The man known as Major Martin was buried in the Cemetery of Solitude in Huelva. As Mincemeat became legend the question persisted about the identity of Major William Martin. - From Histomil dot com
I remember reading a story about this, including the 'pocket litter' that was carefully selected to make it convincing, but I'll be durned if I can find the book. I mean I read it not all that long ago, I should have it lying around somewhere. Dang and blast. This is going to bug me until I find it.

P.S. Why do girls like men in uniform? It's pretty basic actually: because the army only takes able bodied men, and it used to be only heterosexuals, so a man in uniform has got a leg up, so to speak, on the riff-raff who aren't in uniform.

Workhorse

Super Stallion Helicopter carrying a Stryker Armored Vehicle during a training exercise in Yuma, Arizona.
It shouldn't be able to do that. Super Stallion payload is 16 tons. A Stryker weighs 18 tons. However, the Stallion also has a fuel capacity of 4 tons, so if they are only carrying a half load of fuel, it could work.

Sunday, April 5, 2015

In Patagonia by Bruce Chatwin

Robert Redford, Katherine Ross and Paul Newman as Sundance, Etta Place and Butch.
I borrowed this book from Jonbert when I was in Frisco. It kind of meanders along, giving us tidbits about people he meets along the way, until today, when he starts talking about Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. The movie is one of the all time greats. Watch it if you haven't seen it already.

Saturday, April 4, 2015

Micromanagement


A post by Bayou Renaissance Man bestirred me enough to comment, and since it was more than 3 words I've posted it here as well.
There is a scene in Two Years Before the Mast where the captain attempts to by-pass the first mate and give orders directly to the crew. The first mate objects, telling the captain that if he was going to continue like that, then he, the first mate, was going to return to forecastle and just be one of the crew, and the captain could have free rein to run the ship. The captain relented and returned to giving orders to the mate and left the running of the ship to him. I read that 10 or 20 years ago and it's still with me.

Bayou Renaissance Man: A contrarian libertarian?

Bayou Renaissance Man: A contrarian libertarian?: Ace of Spaces has published an interesting manifesto of sorts, describing why the author has moved from conservatism to libertarianism.  H...


White Zombie


July 2010 PIR. The White Zombie, hitting 126 miles per hour in a quarter-mile drag race.
"On the outside, the White Zombie is a humble 1972 Datsun 1200. But concealed beneath its milquetoast shell sit two 9-inch electric motors, giving the White Zombie enough power to hit 60 mph in 1.8 seconds. It runs a quarter mile in 10.3 seconds — almost a whole second quicker than a Nissan GT-R." - From DARK HORSE: THE STORY OF A RECORD-SHATTERING, ALL-ELECTRIC ’68 MUSTANG BY MICHAEL ZELENKO.
I don't particularly care for electric cars. I mean there are a lot of good things about them, but they flaunt tradition, and traditions have been falling like ten pins lately. Is nothing sacred? Besides, they are expensive, their range is limited, the batteries are big and heavy and have to be replaced every few years. And they don't do anything for carbon emissions, unless you live in Arizona and get your power from a nuclear plant. And then you're just trading CO2 for neutrons.

Via Posthip Scott.