riggerrob

There is no point to negotiating with armies that torture prisoners-of-war. It becomes a question of: "Would you prefer to be tortured today or tortured tomorrow?" The Geneva Convention bans torturing prisoners-of-war because the practice is ultimately unprofitable. First, victims will cheerfully tell you ANYTHING in hopes of stopping torture. Whether torture victims tell the truth is .... vague ... difficult to predict .... Secondly, if they expect to be tortured, soldiers are less likely to surrender. If they expect to be tortured, they will fight to the bitter end, long after hope is lost. Thirdly, if they have tortured prisoners-of-war, those subjugated people are more difficult to rule in the long run. Many centuries ago, Western European nobles figured out that if they only displace the ruling elite, it is much easier to convince peasants to return to their plows. Apparently Eastern Europeans are not bright enough to lean this lesson. They will need to mature a few more centuries before they understand the Geneva Convention.

When was the last time a Russian ruler cared about soldier casualties???????? Ukraine only hung on to Mariupol as long as they could inflict disproportionate casualties on Russian attackers. They will hang onto Bahkmut as long as they can inflict disproportionate casualties on Russian attackers. Ukraine is only defending Bahkmut because their well dug-in troops are inflicting heavy casualties during every Russian attack. Traditional logic says that attackers need 3 times as many troops, because well dug-in defenders can inflict heavy losses. When that defensive live becomes untenable, they simply pull back a few hundred meters to the next line of trenches and resume slaughtering attackers as those attackers try to pick their way through collapsed bridges, mine fields, ambushes, booby-traps, pre-planned artillery fire, etc. A well-conducted retreat is always bloody for attackers.

One of the problems with sending illegal immigrants back to their countries of origin is that they are often soon released because their home country is too poor to house/imprison them. Catch-and-release is the norm in many countries.

Is that the same Ed White who used to work at Perris circa 2000?

Perhaps the USA needs ordinances limiting the hours that you can shoot outside. Write the ordinances similar to hunting regulations that limit shooting between sun-down and sun-rise. These limited hours reduce the number of random "sound" shots and accidental shootings. They also discourage the use of bright lights to stun deer. Also consider that most municipalities have ordinances that forbid loud noises - outdoors - after "X" o'clock. Gun fire should be treated the same way. Finally, given the current gun culture in the USA current attitudes are so deeply entrenched that they cannot be changed within the lifetime of the current generation. We are going to have to wait until the current generation of gun owners die off - from natural causes - before you can make fundemental changes.

The larger federal labs keep small samples of all of the known pathogens. These samples are kept under three or four layers of security which limits access to tiny numbers of well-qualified scientists. Samples help them identify the newest threat. Samples also allow them to immediately start testing antidotes and vaccines. Most countries do this. The number of samples is determined by budgets. Even though the Canadian Army extensively tested bio-weapons during World War 2, we officially stopped those programs many decades ago, now our federal labs only keep small samples.

I remember the summer of 1974 at Canadian Forces Base Valcartier. Some hwo a live grenade got mixed in with a box of dummies that were being used during a lecture at the cadet camp down the hill. A cadet pulled the pin on the live grenade and it killed a few cadets. I knew a few of the cadets who were in the room at the time. Bottom line, live ammo should never be allowed in a classroom. Live ammo should only be allowed on a designated range.

Short Take Off and Landing competitions started in Valdez Alaska as a way for bush pilots to demonstrate and improve their skills for landing on rough, back country airstrips. Now STOL competitions are featured events at airshows, the Reno Air Races, etc. Try to think of STOL competitions as the "swooping" side of fixed wing airplanes because they can land close to the crowd, are easy for amateur spectators to guess the scores and they involve the ocassional crash. Those crashes are from so low and so slow that they rarely result int more that prop strikes and expensive engine overhauls. Federal Air Regulations require a full engine tear-down and detailed inspection (X-ray crank-shafts, etc.) after every prop strike.

Alcoholism has significantly reduced the life-expectancy of Russian men.

Can we compile a list of the companies that hold STCs or 337s to install skydiver-specific seat-belts in jump-planes? We know that Hooker Harness' belts are widely used in American-registered jump-planes, but I am not clear if Hooker ever earned a Transport Canada STC to install them in Canadian-registered airplanes.

That Leopard 2 was wrecked during a driving accident on a range well west of the fighting front.

Back during World War 2, WALLIED leaders like Churchill and Roosevelt (sp?) decided that it was less expensive to supply weapons to the USSR - and have millions of Soviet soldiers die on the Eastern Front - than to have American and British Commonwealth soldiers die on the Western Front. Germany had about 200 divisions on their Eastern Front, but only 26 divisions on their Western (French Front. During onen mid-war conference, Churchill commented to Stalin about the high casualties among Russian soldiers and Stalin poo-pooed his comment with "It was much worse during the 1930s purges." Bottom line, Russia has always been willing to sacrifice hundreds of thousands of soldiers to achieve political objectives. Sad.

Dear Gowlerk, Why do you hate China so much ... to inflict a part of Russia on her? Hah! Hah!

This morning's CBC news radio said that about 200,000 Russian soldiers have died in Ukraine over the last 14 months. Meanwhile about half as many Ukrainians have died. Why? What is this war accomplishing???????????? The Russians completed de-nazification when they bombed the Azov Battalion flat during the siege of Mariopul.

A tiny number compared with the total number of Ukrainian citizens killed by Russia during the same time period.

That is because Russia is forced to sell oil at deep discounts after NATO, European Economic Community, etc. refused to buy Russian oil. India and China may still be buying oil from Russia, but they can demand deep discounts on otherwise un-sellable oil. Neither China nor India are honestly reporting the prices they are paying for Russian oil.

Rigging Innovations and Wings have also built longer versions of their medium-volume containers.

If I were the sheriff or chief of police in that district, I would lay a beating on the murder weapon - with a large and heavy hammer - before handing it to the auctioneer. IOW destroy the gun or render it inoperative before handing it to the auctioneer.

Stock Cessna seat-belts can do a reasonable job of restraining skydivers, provided that you route seat-belts between harnesses and bellys. The best restraining method invovles wrapping special, skydiver-specific seat-belts around the hip joints of their harnesses. American operators of jump-planes changed their attitudes towards seat-belts after a couple of fatal crashes in 1992. Most now have "Hooker" belts installed (aka. the "tag-line" belts that are standard on PAC 750XL and Quest Kodiak). Jack Hooker (Hooker Harnesses of Illinois) invented the single-point restraints now used in most North American jump-planes. Pssst! I have also invented a couple of other methods of restraining tandem students ... but please don't tell Transport Canada.

When you think back to the year that I was born, the Catholic Church still provided the bulk of the social services in Quebec: elementary schools, high schools, universities, hospitals, orphanages, soup kitchens, etc. Ergo the Catholic Church had plenty of political and economic power. Just like "you cannot sue city hall" it was almost impossible to sue the Catholic Church in Quebec. Granted, the Jews had their own hospital in Montreal and Protestants also had their own separate school boards. As tax revenues increased, the Quebec Provincial Gov't eventually took over most of those social services from the churches.

MIL SPEC 2 shot Capewells were invented during the 1950s to allow pilots to release their parachute canopies after landing ... to prevent being dragged to their deaths. The Military Specification Capewell 2-shots on my student gear were almost rusted solid. Totally useless when you wanted to get rid of a miss-behaving main. MIL SPEC 1 1/2 shots were an improvement. My impression was that Security tried to improve on the 1 1/2 shot Capewells by making them 1 shot. ... by attaching the cable to the sheet metal cover. How close is my guess to reality??????????????

Does anyone remember why Security's "One-Shot" Capewells fell out of fashion?

Italy did that many years ago when they banned civilians from owning military caliber guns. Basically if a particular caliber had been used by the Italian Army, civilians were forbidden to own that caliber of ammunition or any gun capable fo firing it. ... because the Italian police and army did not want to be out-gunned when facing criminals. The exact opposite happened in North America after the Boer War (ended circa 1900) when the professional British Army got their @$$e$ shot off by Boer farmers firing the latest in Mauser military rifles. Many Boers bought these rifles simply to chase hyenas, etc. away from their cattle. During the 20th century, the Canadian and American Armies assisted civilians in getting their hands on full-bore military rifles. The North American objective was to train large numbers of civilians in the basics of rifle shooting in preparation for the next war.

You can take a Vancouver city bus to the top of the stairs leading down to Wreck Beach. Wreck Beach is a clothing-optional beach overlooked by the University of British Columbia.