Knowing your place on it is important. The World reminds us, if we listen.
Item the first: Yesterday, a Chinook helicopter flew directly over Camp Borepatch at about 200 feet altitude. The rotor noise literally shook the house.
Item the second: Last night while sitting out on the porch, I listened to the coyotes singing. At 7:45 PM.
Item the second reminds me that I have rifles that would do a dandy job on the coyotes, who have no idea that I could. Item the first reminds me that the boomstick isn't helpful in every situation.
It was an oddly peaceful realization.
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Recursive geekiness
This has it. Watch it all the way to the end, but only if recursiveness gets your geek on. Or something.
The metaphors for the Obama Campaign just write themselves.
The metaphors for the Obama Campaign just write themselves.
Excess profits
The Correct™ view is that these are profits that exceed historical norms:
A major change to the Republic's economy occurred with the New Deal. A further major change occurred with Great Society, and a third may have just occurred during the last three years of bubble-popping, international financial crisis recession. After all, never let a crisis go to waste, right?
Via Insty, we find this interesting intellectual bon-bon:
Holmes identified the cost of civilization (using his framework, which is likely a crock, but work with me here). And so to The Question: What's the price of civilization, and what's the profit? And to whom does the profit accrue?
The Price used to be 4% of GDP. Now it's 24% and rising thanks to the New Deal, Great Society, and Obamanomics. Some think that this is value for money, admittedly. But some is profit, and quite frankly you can lay almost all of the current contempt in which the population holds the Government at the feet of that sad door.
Are the profits excessive? Application of Excess Profit Theory (a six-fold increase over prior periods) would suggest that they are. And qui bono - who comes out ahead? Well, who do you think?
And while this is certainly fun snark, there would actually be considerable real social justice in such a scheme. It would devalue the elite credential, meaning that more Ivy Leaguers would go to those schools for actual learning rather than merely as a launch pad into a career of lording it over the masses. It would open up job opportunities to a much more diverse set of folks - and while they might not do a better job, Lord knows they couldn't do any worse.
And it would expose actual rent seeking for what it is. A permanent upward ratchet of great paying jobs for insiders at the expense of increasingly immiserated masses.
And best of all, this whole argument is framed in the terms currently in vogue by our Intellectual Betters! I'll just wait quietly over here for my Nobel Prize ...
Of course, classical economics says that excess profits lead to entry by new competitors, who increase supply and bid down prices. You could always just introduce choice into, oh I don't know, public education or retirement savings, or healthcare or all sorts of things. Competition would drive the price down (and the quality up), and the poor especially would benefit.
Sure, a bunch of Ivy League grads would lose their great, high-paying jobs, but what is it that we're always being told about those at the top? Eggs, omlettes. And they have some stuff and we want to take it. We are, after all, the 99% (who didn't go to Harvard and Yale).
The first effective national excess profits tax was enacted in 1917, with rates graduated from 20 to 60 percent on the profits of all businesses in excess of prewar earnings but not less than 7 percent or more than 9 percent of invested capital. In 1918 a national law limited the tax to corporations and increased the rates. Concurrent with this 1918 tax, the federal government imposed, for the year 1918 only, an alternative tax, ranging up to 80 percent, with the taxpayer paying whichever was higher. In 1921 the excess profits tax was repealed despite powerful attempts to make it permanent. In 1933 and 1935 Congress enacted two mild excess profits taxes as supplements to a capital stock tax.Sharp increases caused by external changes to the structure of an industry or nation-state's economy are the key metric, and Social Justice™ calls for remediation. You see, these excess profits accumulate in the hands of a small set of lucky individuals. Rather than earning profits (and their pay) honestly like the rest of us, they use their position to extract excess wealth from the masses who simply don't have any choice but to pay. Well, Okay then, let's follow this idea down the logical rabbit hole.
A major change to the Republic's economy occurred with the New Deal. A further major change occurred with Great Society, and a third may have just occurred during the last three years of bubble-popping, international financial crisis recession. After all, never let a crisis go to waste, right?
Via Insty, we find this interesting intellectual bon-bon:
Holmes issued his famous quote back in 1904, during the 142 year period between 1789 and 1931 when peace time federal spending as a percentage of GDP never exceeded 4 percent. I note today that under policies Professor Sachs supports, federal spending as a percentage of GDP–at 24 percent– is now six times greater than it was during Justice Holmes’ prime.The quote, of course, is from Chief Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes famous dictum that "Taxes are the price we pay for civilization". Let's think about prices for a second. A price has two components: cost and profit. While profit may actually be negative, it's a simple mathematical relationship between the three.
Holmes identified the cost of civilization (using his framework, which is likely a crock, but work with me here). And so to The Question: What's the price of civilization, and what's the profit? And to whom does the profit accrue?
The Price used to be 4% of GDP. Now it's 24% and rising thanks to the New Deal, Great Society, and Obamanomics. Some think that this is value for money, admittedly. But some is profit, and quite frankly you can lay almost all of the current contempt in which the population holds the Government at the feet of that sad door.
Are the profits excessive? Application of Excess Profit Theory (a six-fold increase over prior periods) would suggest that they are. And qui bono - who comes out ahead? Well, who do you think?
Still, a critic might suggest that my solution for helping the poor is one of growing the pie rather than dividing it equitably. They might ask, would it always be the case that the pie could be grown? What if it couldn’t be? Would I then favor a redistribution? Yes, I would, but I’d favor doing it in a very different way from the way that those who favor current leftism (which I call RPL, Rich People’s Leftism) would favor. They would want a big federal agency handling the redistribution, and they would want a certain type of person to be the head of that agency and to get certain things for being head. That is, the following four things can be said about the head of their redistribution agency:Excess Profit Theory (backed up by accepted notions of Social Justice) demand an excess profit tax on Ivy League graduates employed the Federal Government. They are, after all, the 1% (in Intellectual terms at least, by definition). They need to pay their Fair Share to slobs like me who went to State U.
1. They would come from a wealthy background.
2. They would have gone to an elite school like Harvard or Yale.
3. They would have a big, fat salary.
4. They would have the job permanently.
And while this is certainly fun snark, there would actually be considerable real social justice in such a scheme. It would devalue the elite credential, meaning that more Ivy Leaguers would go to those schools for actual learning rather than merely as a launch pad into a career of lording it over the masses. It would open up job opportunities to a much more diverse set of folks - and while they might not do a better job, Lord knows they couldn't do any worse.
And it would expose actual rent seeking for what it is. A permanent upward ratchet of great paying jobs for insiders at the expense of increasingly immiserated masses.
And best of all, this whole argument is framed in the terms currently in vogue by our Intellectual Betters! I'll just wait quietly over here for my Nobel Prize ...
Of course, classical economics says that excess profits lead to entry by new competitors, who increase supply and bid down prices. You could always just introduce choice into, oh I don't know, public education or retirement savings, or healthcare or all sorts of things. Competition would drive the price down (and the quality up), and the poor especially would benefit.
Sure, a bunch of Ivy League grads would lose their great, high-paying jobs, but what is it that we're always being told about those at the top? Eggs, omlettes. And they have some stuff and we want to take it. We are, after all, the 99% (who didn't go to Harvard and Yale).
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
I raise a "woof" of approval
Puppy saved from the top of a Norfolk Southern train:
I'd like to think that there's a special place in Hell for someone who would put a puppy up on the top of a train. Well done to Ms. Parker.
Tina Parker, of Pickens, said she and her family were driving home on Sunday night when they stopped at a red light by the Walmart store in Easley, S.C., as the train passed by. Parker said she spotted what she at first thought was trash on top of the train. But she said the "trash" started moving and she realized it was a puppy. Parker called 911 and then followed the train on to Liberty.The 3 month old puppy seems to be doing well.
I'd like to think that there's a special place in Hell for someone who would put a puppy up on the top of a train. Well done to Ms. Parker.
But European Ruling Elites would never be that ruthless
Right?
Because European Elites would never have dreams of a a vice-grip control over a continental empire.
And while we're talking about power grabs by the financial elite, the extra credit assignment is a 500 word essay on the implications of a generation of young people collectively holding a trillion dollars in student debt that can't be discharged in bankruptcy. The best essay gets an extra 4 inches added to the pelt of their wookie suit.
Firstly, it is becoming increasingly recognised – most notably by the French and the IMF – that, in order for the Eurozone financial system to regain a modicum of stability, the ECB must step in and back the EFSF. In essence, the ECB must become a sort of unofficial ‘Lender of Last Resort’. If this situation comes about, the Eurocrats will have the ‘unlimited firepower’ – that is, the ECB’s ability to issue currency – with which they can essentially control the bond markets.
If the Eurocrats find themselves in this position they may well opt to keep the periphery bond markets on life support while continuing to insist on austerity… all the while, fully acknowledging – as laid out above in the secret document – what this austerity will mean in real terms: perpetual and unending suffering in the periphery.
Thus the Eurocrisis will be a financial crisis no more. Instead what we will have is the core countries tightening the vice of austerity on the imploding periphery.
And while we're talking about power grabs by the financial elite, the extra credit assignment is a 500 word essay on the implications of a generation of young people collectively holding a trillion dollars in student debt that can't be discharged in bankruptcy. The best essay gets an extra 4 inches added to the pelt of their wookie suit.
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
We all have swords!
Duke posts a story about how TSA regulations even extend to troops deploying to the Sandbox:
It reminds me of the scene in Aladdin where the monkey is being chased through the market by the city guards, and he grabs a sword to threaten them. One guard says "Look out! He has a sword!" The chief guard says "You idiot! We all have swords!"
As we were waiting to board the plane we were informed that because this was a commercial flight we could not bring knives, razors etc aboard the aircraft. On the surface this may sound reasonable seeing as we were making a layover in Bangor Maine and would be entering the terminal in the secure area where other passengers had been through security. What made it idiotic was we were carrying fully automatic weapons, every one of us had an M-16, We were boarding the plane with over 500 M-16's and 9 mm pistols and you want us to hand over knives?Because knives are dangerous, mkay? More specifically, because knives are against TSA regulations, and regs are regs. Philosopher Kings, right there.
It reminds me of the scene in Aladdin where the monkey is being chased through the market by the city guards, and he grabs a sword to threaten them. One guard says "Look out! He has a sword!" The chief guard says "You idiot! We all have swords!"
The science is settled junk! v2.0
I've posted before about the very serious problems with the temperature databases used in the climate debate. The unexplained "adjustments" to the data are very problematic. I go so far as to say that Climate Science is the only branch of science where it's considered "normal" to change the data after it's been recorded. Gridding, smoothing, extrapolating - anything but looking at the raw data.
So what happens if you only look at the raw data? Is the planet still warming?
In a word, no:
And yet we're told that the last few years are the hottest ever. How come? Because the Orthodox Scientists change the data. Sorry, sorry: "adjust" the data. It's ever so scientific, don't you know.
But the data record doesn't stand up to scrutiny, mkay?
So what happens if you only look at the raw data? Is the planet still warming?
In a word, no:
The GISS dataset includes more than 600 stations within the U.S. that have been in operation continuously throughout the 20th century. This brief report looks at the average temperatures reported by those stations. The unadjusted data of both rural and non-rural stations show a virtually flat trend across the century.This isn't "cherry picking" the data. It's picking the longest continuously reporting weather stations in the USA. The record spans the 20th century. It shows essentially no warming during the course of the entire 20th century.
And yet we're told that the last few years are the hottest ever. How come? Because the Orthodox Scientists change the data. Sorry, sorry: "adjust" the data. It's ever so scientific, don't you know.
But the data record doesn't stand up to scrutiny, mkay?
The science is settled junk!
There's a new book out that details the shenanigans of the IPCC - keepers of the Sacred Flame of Global Warming. Donna Laframboise brings the details about just how shoddy and, well, unscientific the Orthodox Science™ is. Donna, like me, is one of those beastly Deniers™ that kick sand in the faces of the scientifically orthodox. Whateves.
So what do actual, you know, Climate Scientists say about the book? Nothing good:
But like me, she thinks that the IPCC reports about the "science" (scare quotes used intentionally) of Global Warming aren't worth the Carbon Offsets you'd need if you burned them.
Check out Donna's book. The "Science" isn't settled. It's a scandal.
So what do actual, you know, Climate Scientists say about the book? Nothing good:
The book is well written with ample documentation (numerous hyperlinks in the kindle version). The target audience is the broader public, and the “spoiled child” metaphor provides a readable narrative for her arguments about the IPCC. Most (not all) of this material I’ve seen before, but Laframboise’s narrative makes a clear and compelling case regarding problems with the IPCC.Dr. Curry is the head of Georgia Tech's climate science department. Unlike me, she thinks that the world is noticeably warming lately, and that human impact is substantial. Unlike me, she knows much more about the science.
...
My personal reaction as a scientist is to be very thankful that I am not involved in the IPCC. I already feel duped by the IPCC (I’ve written about this previously), I am glad that I was not personally used by the IPCC..Does the problems with the IPCC mean that WG1 science is incorrect? Not necessarily, but I agree that a “new trial” is needed. WG2 and WG3 reports pretty much belong in the dustbin, as far as I can tell..I regret that so much of our intellectual horsepower and research funding has gone into supporting the IPCC assessments. Donna’s book could provide some impetus for changing this.
But like me, she thinks that the IPCC reports about the "science" (scare quotes used intentionally) of Global Warming aren't worth the Carbon Offsets you'd need if you burned them.
Check out Donna's book. The "Science" isn't settled. It's a scandal.
Monday, October 24, 2011
Bubba Smith, R.I.P.
Rick emails to say that Bubba Smith is dead at 66. Rest in peace, and thanks for the memories.
Heh:
Reason digs into just what's happening in Massachusetts under RomneyCare. It's a great success for Mitt as long as the Fed.Gov keeps paying two thirds of the cost. I'm interested in Mitt's thoughts on how he'll scale that nation-wide.
Reason digs into just what's happening in Massachusetts under RomneyCare. It's a great success for Mitt as long as the Fed.Gov keeps paying two thirds of the cost. I'm interested in Mitt's thoughts on how he'll scale that nation-wide.
The Westphalian System
On this date in 1648, the Treaty of Westphalia was signed, ending the brutal Thirty Years' War and establishing the age of the modern Nation State. Rather than the "Might makes Right" of the older system, the new age set expectations that armies would be professional, and would fight other armies rather than civilian populations.
Obviously this has been honored more in the breach than in reality, but the idea that Nations with national identities were the unit of political organization - rather than principalities with feudal identities - is an idea that comes down to this very day.
In a strange coincidence, today also saw the founding of the United Nations in 1945, perhaps the high water mark of the Westphalian system.
The system is running down. As governmental bureaucracies have gotten stronger, there has been a series of catastrophes to western populations. The trenches of World War I, the death camps and bomber fleets of World War II, the Gulag, the financial collapses of 1986 through 2008* - and the impending collapse of the Euro Zone have drained the Westphalian System of the sense of legitimacy that has stood since 1648. Indeed, today's Progressives push a trans-national, post Westphalian vision which is essentially today's system dialed up to 11.
Never mind that devolution of power has been the name of the game for a quarter century. The dissolution of the Warsaw Pact, the breakup of Yugoslavia, the establishment of the Scottish Parliament as a serious political entity, the increasing willingness of state Governors to tell the Washington to drop dead: this is where the action has been.
Add to this the inability of our current elites to deal with non-Nation State actors like al Qaeda, or with Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), and the system is clearly out of gas. What comes next is anyone's guess. The only thing that's clear is that it won't be more centralized, with more control from an unaccountable elite. Just watch them as the wheels come off the Euro, perhaps starting this week. These are not the folks who will lead us to the Post-Westphalian system.
* By another strange coincidence, the financial collapse of 2008 also occurred on October 24.
UPDATE 24 October 2011 10:27: Must read at Isegoria's on the inability of the Westphalian system to deal with piracy anymore:
Obviously this has been honored more in the breach than in reality, but the idea that Nations with national identities were the unit of political organization - rather than principalities with feudal identities - is an idea that comes down to this very day.
In a strange coincidence, today also saw the founding of the United Nations in 1945, perhaps the high water mark of the Westphalian system.
The system is running down. As governmental bureaucracies have gotten stronger, there has been a series of catastrophes to western populations. The trenches of World War I, the death camps and bomber fleets of World War II, the Gulag, the financial collapses of 1986 through 2008* - and the impending collapse of the Euro Zone have drained the Westphalian System of the sense of legitimacy that has stood since 1648. Indeed, today's Progressives push a trans-national, post Westphalian vision which is essentially today's system dialed up to 11.
Never mind that devolution of power has been the name of the game for a quarter century. The dissolution of the Warsaw Pact, the breakup of Yugoslavia, the establishment of the Scottish Parliament as a serious political entity, the increasing willingness of state Governors to tell the Washington to drop dead: this is where the action has been.
Add to this the inability of our current elites to deal with non-Nation State actors like al Qaeda, or with Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), and the system is clearly out of gas. What comes next is anyone's guess. The only thing that's clear is that it won't be more centralized, with more control from an unaccountable elite. Just watch them as the wheels come off the Euro, perhaps starting this week. These are not the folks who will lead us to the Post-Westphalian system.
* By another strange coincidence, the financial collapse of 2008 also occurred on October 24.
UPDATE 24 October 2011 10:27: Must read at Isegoria's on the inability of the Westphalian system to deal with piracy anymore:
When not even states’ elites believe in the state anymore, why should anyone else? Piracy not suppressed represents history lifting its leg on the whole state system.Nothing says that the Westphalian system can't be replaced with international chaos.
Sunday, October 23, 2011
HuffPo shocked - shocked - to find their Progressive Jesus can't raise the dead
Even the fever swamps are waking up to GunWalker:
Because ideology kills, as the sad history of the last century (and previous centuries) shows. That some people are so enamored of their ideology that they blind themselves to the possible - even likely - outcomes.
Because some people [*cough* HuffPo *cough*] seem to suffer from their own ideological blinders, able to expound at length about Weapons of Mass Destruction being used as an excuse for an ideology, while mystified why "our federal officials" don't just man up and admit a mistake. I mean, the Right People were finally voted in!
Mark hits center mass:
[Uses quiet, patient voice reserved for talking to slow, small children] Because, Punkin, while we like to say that we're a nation of laws, not men, the Organs of the State are not staffed with Philosopher Kings. Nor do the election ballots offer us a choice between Philosopher King A or Philosopher King B.
Who in their right mind would think using criminals to smuggle thousands of guns in to Mexico was a good idea?
Our Justice Department refuses to reveal the creator or cost of Operation Fast & Furious. Why?
What the hell is going on in this country? And why don't our federal officials just man-up and admit when mistakes have been made?
Because ideology kills, as the sad history of the last century (and previous centuries) shows. That some people are so enamored of their ideology that they blind themselves to the possible - even likely - outcomes.
Because some people [*cough* HuffPo *cough*] seem to suffer from their own ideological blinders, able to expound at length about Weapons of Mass Destruction being used as an excuse for an ideology, while mystified why "our federal officials" don't just man up and admit a mistake. I mean, the Right People were finally voted in!
Mark hits center mass:
Progressives are invested in the idea that the Intellectual Class should rule, because of their intelligence and higher learning. While conveniently ignoring the problem of the obvious lack of wisdom, they also (conveniently?) ignore Lord Acton's dictum. No, not that power corrupts, although it does. This one:
It's not as though Obama was at all shy about his intent to destroy the American economy, eviscerate the Constitution, and in general vitiate his oath of office.
Did you think he was lying to you when he told you he was going to make coal-fired electrical power so expensive as to drive it off the market?
Did you think he was kidding when he (in the person of hisharridanwife) told you he was going to put the lie to American history, to revise our national ideals, to, in short, redefine the American experiment to one in socialism, rather than freedom?
Did you think Obama was mistaken when he told you he would gladly accept being a one-term president, so long as he could wreak his havoc in that one term?
The problem is not that any particular class is not fit to rule. The problem is that no class is fit to rule.
- Lord Acton
Wasting taxpayer money
The real problem with the trillion dollar "stimulus" and the multi-trillion dollar deficits is that is encourages a sense of "it's good to spend money" among the Organs of the State.
Case in point: The Center for Disease Control has funded a graphic novel describing how to prepare for the Zombie Apocalypse:
Here we see the problem in action. Money is spent on something "fun" that is plausibly (but unconvincingly) related to the organization's mission. High-profile press events are staged. Any metrics as to the effectiveness of the ostensible mission (teaching the importance of emergency preparedness) are nowhere to be seen.
But c'mon - it was probably only a few tens of thousands of dollars. Don't you have a sense of humor?
Multiply by the 3 million public employees, and you see the impossibility of reform. The elimination of entire agencies is one option. Another option is to freeze all government salaries for ten years and let attrition take care of the overstaffing. These options are not mutually exclusive.
Case in point: The Center for Disease Control has funded a graphic novel describing how to prepare for the Zombie Apocalypse:
CDC has a fun new way of teaching the importance of emergency preparedness. Our new graphic novel, "Preparedness 101: Zombie Pandemic" demonstrates the importance of being prepared in an entertaining way that people of all ages will enjoy.Really?
Here we see the problem in action. Money is spent on something "fun" that is plausibly (but unconvincingly) related to the organization's mission. High-profile press events are staged. Any metrics as to the effectiveness of the ostensible mission (teaching the importance of emergency preparedness) are nowhere to be seen.
But c'mon - it was probably only a few tens of thousands of dollars. Don't you have a sense of humor?
Multiply by the 3 million public employees, and you see the impossibility of reform. The elimination of entire agencies is one option. Another option is to freeze all government salaries for ten years and let attrition take care of the overstaffing. These options are not mutually exclusive.
P.D.Q. Bach - The Art Of The Ground Round
I'm home after being away too long, and enjoying the company of the family. When you think classical music and family, you think of J.S. Bach and his many musical sons. Like, err, P.D.Q. Bach.
In actuality, P.D.Q. Bach is a satirical creation of "Professor" Peter Schikile (not a real professor). It is musically faithful to the period while at the same time skewering the pretentiousness that wraps the modern classical concert. It is classical music inside baseball, but insanely clever - not to mention very funny - classical music inside baseball. This is one of my favorites.
In actuality, P.D.Q. Bach is a satirical creation of "Professor" Peter Schikile (not a real professor). It is musically faithful to the period while at the same time skewering the pretentiousness that wraps the modern classical concert. It is classical music inside baseball, but insanely clever - not to mention very funny - classical music inside baseball. This is one of my favorites.
Saturday, October 22, 2011
I simulate an infantryman
Ft. Benning is the location of Army infantry basic training, and also hosts the National Infantry Museum. The intersection of these means that the museum has some seriously cool simulators:
The EST 2000 is an M4/16 electronic simulator used by recruits before they go to the live fire range. It provides a very realistic rifle, with removable magazine, charging handles, select fire (Safe/Semi/"Get you some of that") with a projected display of a firing range. Targets appear, and some of them move. Laser designators score hits and misses. You have to score 10 out of 20 to qualify as an infantryman.
Well, I qualified. Barely. #2 Son (of course) handily beat be. He's almost 16 - they wanted his phone number for the recruiter.
I'd talk about how my mistake was bracing the M4 on a sand bag, and that what I gained in stability I lost in target acquisition time. But I can already hear you giggling, so I'll just move along ...
There are even cooler simulators:
Assemble your team for a HMMWV mission. Yeah, baby! Sadly, one of the compressors went out, and we'll have to go back. But think about that for a minute - you use a compressor to make something move via air pressure. Something like a HMMVW. Feedback!
The rest of the museum is nothing short of spectacular. The exhibits are a great mix of artifacts (Saddam's double barrel Buffalo rifle!), interactive touch screen displays, videos, and immerse experiences - the Vietnam night patrol is a little hair raising.
The best part: it's free. Donations are encouraged. (You pay for the simulators)
It's 2 hours from Atlanta. We'll be back, maybe with #1 Son. There's a Blackhawk simulation mission I hear calling.
Plus, there are mil-surp stores everywhere. I came back with one of these:
"Anything worth shooting is worth shooting a second time." "Active ingredient: lead. Typical side effects: death."
It was a good day.
The EST 2000 is an M4/16 electronic simulator used by recruits before they go to the live fire range. It provides a very realistic rifle, with removable magazine, charging handles, select fire (Safe/Semi/"Get you some of that") with a projected display of a firing range. Targets appear, and some of them move. Laser designators score hits and misses. You have to score 10 out of 20 to qualify as an infantryman.
Well, I qualified. Barely. #2 Son (of course) handily beat be. He's almost 16 - they wanted his phone number for the recruiter.
I'd talk about how my mistake was bracing the M4 on a sand bag, and that what I gained in stability I lost in target acquisition time. But I can already hear you giggling, so I'll just move along ...
There are even cooler simulators:
Assemble your team for a HMMWV mission. Yeah, baby! Sadly, one of the compressors went out, and we'll have to go back. But think about that for a minute - you use a compressor to make something move via air pressure. Something like a HMMVW. Feedback!
The rest of the museum is nothing short of spectacular. The exhibits are a great mix of artifacts (Saddam's double barrel Buffalo rifle!), interactive touch screen displays, videos, and immerse experiences - the Vietnam night patrol is a little hair raising.
The best part: it's free. Donations are encouraged. (You pay for the simulators)
It's 2 hours from Atlanta. We'll be back, maybe with #1 Son. There's a Blackhawk simulation mission I hear calling.
Plus, there are mil-surp stores everywhere. I came back with one of these:
"Anything worth shooting is worth shooting a second time." "Active ingredient: lead. Typical side effects: death."
It was a good day.
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