Scribal Terror

On the way to work

If you're stationed near Ur, like Major John, you might just see a ziggurat on your commute.

Major John updates us from the dumper -- and beyond

Major John of Miserable Donuts is now posting from a hopefully secure location in Iraq. He has been hanging with General Petraeus and the man with the world's hardest job, as well as visiting something called a "bombardier station" (shown above). Interesting stuff from a completely honest, intelligent, and trustworthy person who actually knows what he's talking about as opposed to others one could mention in a snooty way if one so chose.

Bullseye

WASHINGTON (AP) - A missile launched from a Navy ship successfully struck a dying U.S. spy satellite passing 130 miles over the Pacific on Wednesday, a defense official said . . . .

It happened just after 10:30 p.m. EST.

Two officials said the missile was launched successfully. One official, who is close to the process, said it hit the target. He said details on the results were not immediately known.

The goal in this first-of-its-kind mission for the Navy was not just to hit the satellite but to obliterate a tank aboard the spacecraft carrying 1,000 pounds of a toxic fuel called hydrazine.

U.S. officials have said the fuel would pose a potential health hazard to humans if it landed in a populated area. Although the odds of that were small even if the Pentagon had chosen not to try to shoot down the satellite, it was determined that it was worth trying to eliminate even that small chance.

Via Ace

War pigs

Wikipedia reports on the use of pigs in ancient warfare:

War pigs, also known as incendiary pigs, are those pigs speculated to have been used at most rarely in ancient warfare as a countermeasure to war elephants. The pigs were allegedly covered with tar, pitch, olive oil, or other flammable materials, set on fire, and driven towards enemy war elephants, with the intention that the elephants, terrified by the piercing squeals and oncoming flames, would flee in panic through the lines of their drivers' own army. Obviously, a burning pig is difficult to command and thus easily could quickly turn into a loose cannon and cause harm to friendly soldiers. However, the hope of stopping war elephants was enough to make war pigs a desirable tactic.

Pliny the Elder reported that "elephants are scared by the smallest squeal of a pig" (book VIII ch. 9). Antipater's siege of Megara during the Wars of the Diadochi was reportedly broken when the Megarians poured oil on a herd of pigs, set them alight, and drove them towards the enemy's massed war elephants. The elephants bolted in terror from the flaming squealing pigs often killing great numbers of the army the elephant was part of (Aelian, de Natura Animalium book XVI, ch. 36). The Romans would later use the squeals of pigs to frighten Pyrrhus' elephants, thus winning a great victory (ibid., book I ch. 38). Procopius, in book VIII of his History of the Wars, records the defenders of Edessa using a pig suspended from the walls to frighten away Khosrau's siege elephants.

You can buy your own itty-bitty war pigs (illustrated above) at em4miniatures

Samurai dog armor

Pink Tentacle reports:

This suit of dog armor — identified by antique Japanese armor dealer Toraba.Com as the only known and certified authentic example of its kind — is believed to have been created for the pet of a wealthy, high-ranking and presumably eccentric samurai or daimyo (feudal lord) in the mid to late Edo period (mid-18th to mid-19th century).

Spencer Burns at Yachigusa Ryu wonders why this innovation didn't occur during the fifth Tokugawa shogunate, when Tokugawa Tsunayoshi (1646-1709) "prohibited the harming of dogs and ordered the establishment of dog kennels, [thus earning] the nickname of 'dog shogun.'"

Speculation? Anyone?

There's no further explanation at the source, which is //STATIC

The star fort of Bourtange

This magnificent landscaping project, located in the Netherlands, is in fact a sixteenth-century military fortification called a star fort. These were quite popular throughout Europe at the time, although they proved to be less effective than other arrangements and quickly fell out of favor. There is even a star fort in Japan, constructed during the Tokugawa shogunate (mid nineteenth century).  Star forts are a particular interest of Deputy Dog, who has more info and photos at the link.

Bluetooth legs

Amazing

Kiss me, comrade

Not that there's anything wrong with that. Via English Russia

Heraldic-less lion

According to the Times, the heraldic lion that represents Northern Europe's rapid reaction force was digitally deprived of his wedding tackle because of a sex discrimination complaint:

A group of women Swedish soldiers protested that they could not identify with such an ostentatiously male lion on their army crest. A complaint of sex discrimination was then lodged with the European Court of Justice.

“We were forced to cut the lion’s willy off with the aid of a computer,” Christian Braunstein, from the Tradition Commission of the Swedish Army, said.

According to the designer of the original crest,

“The Army lacks knowledge about heraldry. Coats of arms containing lions without genitalia were given to those who betrayed the Crown.”