Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

The Biden Regime is neutering the M1 Abrams Main Battle Tank

Posted: October 13, 2022 by Jon Fournier in Uncategorized
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For over forty years the M1 Abrams has been the absolute best tank.  It outclasses all others when it comes to firepower, armor protection, mobility, and accuracy.  The M1 Abrams is the gold standard all other tanks are measured against.  Thanks to Joe Biden and his climate change obsession, this will come to an end.

As you can see from this Federalist Papers article, the Pentagon is turning the next generation of the M1 Abrams into a pussified green clown car.

The tank’s “hybrid power pack” will also consume half the fuel that current versions do and run more quietly; it “even allows for some silent mobility,” according to the company.

There’s only so silent a multi-ton vehicle is ever going to be when it’s on the move, of course, but things are relative on the battlefield.

This may be making a virtue of necessity, as the U.S. military — like every branch of an out-of-control federal government run by un-elected bureaucrats and increasingly left-leaning idealogues — has climate-change-related goals it must meet.

“The AbramsX’s hybrid power pack supports the U.S. Army’s climate and electrification strategies,” the company announced.

Not only is the engine being replaced, the M1 Abrams will shed a significant amount of armor protection.

Described in the company’s news release as the “main battle tank for the next generation,” GDLS says the newest Abrams version will weigh significantly less than those currently in service, which could make the tank both more mobile and more easily transported to far-off battlefields.

The engine of the M1 Abrams is one of the  primary factors responsible for the success of this tank.  It is described  here on the M1 Abrams Wikipedia page.

The M1 Abrams’s powertrain consists of a Honeywell AGT1500 (originally made by Lycoming) multifuel gas turbine capable of 1,500 shaft horsepower (1,100 kW) at 30,000 rpm and 395 lb⋅ft (536 N⋅m) at 10,000 rpm and a six-speed (four forward, two reverse) Allison X-1100-3B Hydro-Kinetic automatic transmission. This gives it a governed top speed of 45 mph (72 km/h) on paved roads, and 30 mph (48 km/h) cross-country. With the engine governor removed, speeds of around 60 mph (97 km/h) are possible on an improved surface. However, damage to the drivetrain (especially to the tracks) and an increased risk of injuries to the crew can occur at speeds above 45 mph (72 km/h).

The tank was built around this engine[ and it is multifuel–capable, including diesel, kerosene, any grade of motor gasoline, and jet fuel (such as JP-4 or JP-8). For logistical reasons, JP-8 is the U.S. military’s universal fuel powering both aircraft and vehicle fleets. The Australian M1A1 AIM SA burns diesel fuel, since the use of JP-8 is less common in the Australian Army.

 The gas turbine propulsion system has proven quite reliable in practice and combat, but its high fuel consumption is a serious logistic issue (starting up the turbine alone consumes nearly 10 US gallons (38 L) of fuel). The engine burns more than 1.67 US gallons (6.3 L) per mile (60 US gallons (230 L) per hour) when traveling cross-country and 10 US gallons (38 L) per hour when idle.

No traditional type of power plant comes close to matching the horsepower to weight ratio of a gas turbine engine.  This has given the M1 Abrams an unmatched top speed. The new green engine, although more fuel efficient, will perform significantly worse than even a traditional tank engine, drastically reducing the performance.  This will greatly endanger the tank crews.

The armor protection of the M1 Abrams is second to none.  Because of this no Abrams has been destroyed by enemy fire.

Similar to most other main battle tanks, the M1 Abrams feature composite armor only on the frontal aspect of the hull. However, the Abrams’ turret features composite armoring across both the front and the sides. In addition, the side skirts of the frontal half of the hull are also made of composite, providing superior ballistic protection against chemical energy munitions such as HEAT rounds. The composition of the Abrams’ composite armor consists of sandwiched plates of non-explosive reactive armor (NERA) between conventional steel plates. The NERA plates feature elasticity, allowing them to flex and distort upon perforation, disrupting the penetrating jets of shaped charges and providing more material and space for a kinetic round to pass through, thus providing increased protection compared to conventional steel armor of similar weight….Armor protection was improved by implementing a new special armor incorporating depleted uranium and other undisclosed materials and layouts.[31] This was introduced into the M1A1 production starting October 1988. This new armor increased effective armor particularly against kinetic energy rounds but at the expense of adding considerable weight to the tank, as depleted uranium is 1.7 times denser than steel.  

The only way to significantly reduce the weight of tank is to significantly reduce the armor of the tank.   That will unconscionably reduce the protection for the tank crews, endangering them,

Yes the M1Abrams is a fuel hog.  Fixing that will turn the Abrams into third rate fighting vehicle.

Education as a commodity

Posted: October 11, 2022 by chrisharper in Uncategorized
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By Christopher Harper

The bond between learners and teachers has been fraying for years in higher education, but it appears that it is becoming increasingly broken.

I was always known as a tough grader. Still, it was only recently that administrators literally changed the marks for two students—one considered a star and another a woman whose father threatened a lawsuit.

That’s why I sympathize with a New York University chemistry professor whose medical students complained that his course was too challenging, and he got fired because of the criticism.

For a number of years, I taught the final course for journalism students—known in the trade as the capstone—before the budding reporters went into the real world.

The students had to travel outside of their comfort zones to report about troubled Philadelphia neighborhoods. They had to do so while creating stories in text, photography, audio, video, and web design.

Most students wanted to work in less difficult environments and only in their preferred journalism sector, whether in text, photography, or broadcasting. After my colleague and I left the course we created, the class has been dumbed down so much that it’s almost impossible to gain any significant understanding of the requirements of the craft of journalism.

Because of the escalating cost of higher education, students treat teachers like a commodity. If you pay for that commodity, you should expect it to do what you want it to do.

If you want a higher grade, you complain.

If you think the work is too hard, you complain.

If you don’t like how the teacher treats you, you complain.

It’s heartening that even some liberal professors agree that the system is broken.

Feminist journalists lamented the state of academia in opinion pieces for CNN and NBC after the NYU professor got axed. 

“Faculty members aren’t commodities, and programs aren’t products. Education isn’t a raw material with a return policy,” Christina Wyman, an adjunct professor at Michigan State University, wrote for NBC.

Feminist writer and former adjunct New York University journalism professor Jill Filipovic agreed that the firing showed “what’s wrong with academia” in an opinion piece for CNN. “Turning education into a consumer product rather than a public good also subjects educators to the whims of the consuming public,” she wrote.

It’s nice to see that liberals and I can agree on something!

Report from Louisiana: Baseball is Life

Posted: October 10, 2022 by Pat Austin in Uncategorized
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Photo by Jose Francisco Morales on Unsplash

By: Pat Austin

SHREVEPORT – Random, unconnected thoughts about baseball.

I am writing this on Sunday evening while watching the Mets v Padres. It’s not looking good for the Mets at the moment. But as I watch, I am thinking about the proposed MLB rule changes for next year. And a big thumbs down to that from me.

I am by no means whatsoever the baseball expert that my friend Liz is; she is a Pirates fan from waaaayyy back and can quote stats, dates, and important events for all the players. It’s incredible. I am a different kind of fan; I just watch because I love baseball. I don’t even have a favorite team! I have some I like and follow more than others, but I’m not die-hard for any one team.

So maybe that negates my opinions on the matter. Who knows.

But I’ll express them anyway. I’m not a fan of a pitch clock. At all. Baseball is a game of strategy and the dance between a pitcher and the batter is a beautiful thing. Putting a clock on it is criminal. You think the game lasts too long? It’s not fast enough for your video-game-aged-mind? Too bad.

And another thing.

This man-on-second thing when the game is in a tie at the end of the ninth…what the heck!  I hate it. Hate hate hate. Can we say unfair advantage?! Let the teams duke it out…give me those old tie-breaker games that lasted all night! These guys are athletes, professional athletes making lots and lots of money. We aren’t talking about a T-ball game. This is professional baseball!

I really wish we would quit expecting a homerun derby every time we watch a game; batters going for the fences every time does not equate to better athleticism for me. There are merits to be found in “small ball,” in the well placed ground ball, for example. Moving the runners around the bases. You want to see a homerun derby, tune in at All-Star time and you can find one. Leave the rest of the games alone.

And this one will be really unpopular, I’m sure, especially coming from a female, but I do not like a female baseball announcer. I’m so sorry, feminists, but man, listening to some former softball player chick try to tell me what is happening in a Major League baseball game just irritates me. Fight me.

Baseball is the purest, best game we have. Leave it alone. There is no other game more American, more beautiful, than baseball. The history! The poetry! The show! I love it, even though I can’t quote stats and even though I don’t bleed team colors, I love baseball. I hate to see the season end. Spring training is circled on my calendar. Winter is long and dark.

To be honest, I love minor league baseball and even the college leagues even more. If you don’t know about the Clarinda A’s, look it up. What an amazing story!

Rule changers: sit down. Leave it alone.
Baseball is Life.

Why are Democrats in Danger in Blue Areas? Because What’s Happening is Happening to THEM

Posted: October 8, 2022 by datechguy in Uncategorized

Tragedy is when I cut my finger. Comedy is when you fall into an open sewer and die.. 

Mel Brooks

The quote above is one of the key quotes in figuring out how and why people do what they do.

You see most of what liberals do tend to happen to other people.

  • Inflation doesn’t affect the elites, they make enough so that it milk, eggs or even gas doesn’t matter.
  • Bad schools don’t affect the elites, their kids go to private or woke Catholic schools where they are immune.
  • Ukraine doesn’t affect them, they see graft and public debt as nothing that makes them blink.
  • Israel doesn’t affect them, they have other places to go and the elites were never big on Jews anyways
  • Even abortion their sacrament that they claim rules over all (at least if you look at Democrat ads) doesn’t affect them because they know that they can always travel to kill their kid

All these issues the left can take or leave.

BUT once a democrat feels that they can’t walk safely in their own neighborhood, a neighborhood that hitherto was not touched by the effects of “Black Lives Matter” and/or “Defund the Police”. Once that reality comes into play and the realization that all their comfort and health are just one crazy guy away from being gone, BOOM!

Suddenly the agenda, all the excuses and all the virtue signaling mean nothing.

Nothing motivates people like their self preservation. Cure the 11th Doctor:

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