Bat Bombs

Here's a ten minute video about America's experiment with bat bombs in World War II. Wikipedia explains:

Bat bombs were bomb-shaped casings with numerous compartments, each containing a Mexican Free-tailed Bat with a small timed incendiary bomb attached. Dropped from a bomber at dawn, the casings would deploy a parachute in mid-flight and open to release the bats which would then roost in eaves and attics. The incendiaries would start fires in inaccessible places in the largely wood and paper construction of the Japanese cities that were the weapon's intended target.

Developed by the United States during World War II, four biological factors gave promise to this plan. First, bats occur in large numbers (four caves in Texas are each occupied by several million bats). Second, bats can carry more than their own weight in flight (females carry their young—sometimes twins). Third, bats hibernate, and while dormant they do not require food or maintenance. Fourth, bats fly in darkness, then find secluded places (often in buildings) to hide during daylight.

The plan was to release bat bombs over Japanese cities having widely-dispersed industrial targets. The bats would spread far from the point of release due to the relatively high altitude of their release, then at dawn they would hide in buildings across the city. Shortly thereafter built-in timers would ignite the bombs, causing widespread fires and chaos. The bat bomb idea was conceived by dental surgeon Lytle S. Adams, who submitted it to the White House in January, 1942, where it was subsequently approved by President Roosevelt. Adams was recruited to research and obtain a suitable supply of bats.

Much more here.

UPDATE: Coincidentally, I just saw this:



Roger Dean's album art for "Nitro Function" by Billy Cox. Via these sites.

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Master of Space Air Force patch

Wikipedia:

The 50th Space Wing (50 SW) is a wing of the United States Air Force under the major command of Air Force Space Command (AFSPC). It was activated on 30 January 1992, replacing the 2d Space Wing, which was deactivated on the same date. The unit is the host wing at Schriever Air Force Base, located east of Colorado Springs, Colorado. Their primary responsibility is to track and maintain the command and control, warning, navigational, and communications satellites for AFSPC. The 50th Space Wing also manages the Global Positioning System.

Via.

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Disney's World War II mascots

This site features a few dozen of Disney's World War II mascots. I used some of them to create the widescreen wallpaper you see above. Via.

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Link roundup

1. "Camp Century—aka 'Project Iceworm'—was a 'city under ice,' according to the U.S. Army, a 'nuclear-powered research center built by the Army Corps of Engineers under the icy surface of Greenland.'"

2. If these estimates regarding Apple employee salaries are accurate, then the employees are either totally fungible, or suckers. Via.

3. Illustrator Dan Santat talks about turning down a recent job offer from Google.

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Link roundup

1. Cupid paper toy - - part of a promotion for the new Papertoy Monsters book.

2. Cool photo of a fighter jet.

3. Apparently sharks are swimming along the flooded streets in Australia. I couldn't find photos or video, but here's a compilation of street-level videos of flooded streets.

Link roundup

1. "Love me when I least deserve it, because that’s when I really need it." Via.

2. "Military porn is China's preferred deterrence."

3. Entertainment Earth has the Mega Man model I've previously posted for $28.

Link roundup

1. Vice Magazine sneaks into the world's largest trade show for selling military-grade weapons.

2. You might want to remove your personal information from Spokeo.

3. Photo of the sun tracing an analemma through the sky over the course of a year. Via.

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Link roundup

1. The Fifth Element pin-up. (click on the image)

2. Man goes on Twinkie diet and loses weight (because he watched calories):

while 2/3 of his total intake came from junk food the professor was also eating vegetables every day, took a multivitamin pill and drank a protein shake daily. He also cut out meat, whole grains and fruit.

3. "British special forces are parachuting into Taliban strongholds in Afghanistan with dogs strapped to them, then using the dogs—with cameras attached to their heads—to scout the surrounding area."

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Link roundup

1. Colourlovers has a fancy app for customizing your Twitter page background. Via.

2. "British intelligence services experimented with using semen as an invisible ink to write top-secret letters, it has been disclosed." "Mansfield Cumming" was the man in charge of the program. Via.

3. Hilarious parody by Alan Moore of Frank Miller's Daredevil. Via these sites.

*At Toycutter: Custom Daredevil toys.

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Project Facade

Project Facade:

The First World War was a war dominated by high explosives and heavy artillery. Battlefield casualties included an unprecedented number with horrific facial injuries - injuries so severe the men were commonly unrecognizable to loved ones and friends. Often unable to see, hear, speak eat or drink, they struggled to re-assimilate back into civilian life. This secondary tragedy - the living unable to "live" - catalyzed Surgeon Sir Harold Gillies to transform the fledgling discipline of plastic surgery based on his unrivalled observation of the profoundly wounded and his ability to push the parameters of the profession beyond all known techniques.

Since 2004, Artist and Project Façade Leader Paddy Hartley has researched, responded to and interpreted the personal and surgical stories of some of the servicemen who underwent this pioneering surgical reconstruction under Sir Harold Gillies.

Hartley works from original patient and surgical notes, sketches and photographs of the men that form part of The Gillies Archive, Queen Mary's Hospital in Sidcup along with personal testimony from the families of some of the men. He produces digital and hand embroidered sculptures using uniforms similar to those worn by the injured men, to present fragmented personal histories of the men who endured long and painful reconstructive surgery developed by Sir Harold Gillies and his surgical team.

Hartley works in partnership with Gillies Archive Curator Dr Andrew Bamji at Queen Mary's Hospital Sidcup and Biomaterial Scientist Dr Ian Thompson in the Oral Maxillofacial Dept, Guys Hospital London, This ground-breaking project provides a unique opportunity for Paddy Hartley to examine and respond artistically to the origins of surgical facial reconstruction with a view to tracing further Gillies Veterans families and seeking a greater acknowledgment of the experiences, sacrifices and of the patients and medical staff in the care of Sir Harold Gillies.

You can see the case studies here. Via.

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Vietnam War army patches

Gallery of Vietnam War army patches.

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German army practices for battle

I don't know where the picture's from, but I found it in connection with this headline:

A TOP Taliban commander in Afghanistan with links to the killers of several British Army soldiers has escaped from German special forces because they were not authorised to kill him.

Via.

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Link roundup

1. Thomas Barnett:

China does control--currently--about 95% of production [of rare Earth oxides], but only because it's cheap prices drove other mines out of competition.

But in reality, China accounts for only 30% of the world's known reserves, and existing mines can all be restarted within a couple of years. So China only "controls" because it keeps the price low.

2. Ecstasy is being used to treat soldiers with PTSD.

3. A Miami Dolphin lost a $50,000 diamond earring during practice.

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Link roundup

1. "A few weeks ago, according to official and private reports, the Iranian air force shot down three drones near the southwestern city of Bushehr, where a Russian-supplied nuclear reactor has just started up. When the Revolutionary Guards inspected the debris, they expected to find proof of high-altitude spying. Instead, the Guards had to report to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei that the air force had blasted Iran's own unmanned aircraft out of the sky."

2. Deadspin revealed that the Marlins took the people of Florida for suckers and tricked them into funding a new stadium.

3. Operators lost control of a US Navy drone for about a half hour - - it flew into restricted airspace before they got it back under control.

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Task Force ODIN military patch

Patch for Task Force ODIN - - a team of killer drones, manned spy planes, and intelligence analysts.

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Lockheed Martin's silver airship

HALE-D:

High Altitude Long Endurance – Demonstrator (HALE-D). The HALE-D is a proof of concept for the U.S. Army’s Space and Missile Defense Command’s High Altitude Airship (HAA) program.

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Submarines rotting on a beach in Scotland

Aberlady submarines:

The submarines are XT-Craft, training versions of the X-Craft that attacked the Tirpitz in 1942. In 1946 two of these vessels were towed to Aberlady Bay and moored to a large concrete block, then used as target practice and gun tests by RAF aircraft. Afterwards their badly damaged remains were simply left to rot.

Via.

Link roundup

1. Nick Denton's latest advice to Gawker staff on pulling in a big audience.

2. Terrible story about an Air Force general forced to retire and stripped of his rank for supposedly ordering unauthorized airstrikes against North Vietnamese military targets. He actually acted by order of President Nixon. Via.

3. How conservatives bury liberal stories on Digg. Via.

Link roundup

1. Strawberry Shortcake is depressed.

2. Sounds like a publicity stunt, but supposedly a family facing foreclosure found a copy of Action Comics No. 1 in their basement and will be able to auction it off for enough money to save their house. Via.

3. "Dozens of North Korean land mines loosened by heavy rains have washed ashore on South Korean riverbanks and beaches near the border, presenting a lethal new threat to residents already wary of surprises and nefarious motives from the North." Via.

Link roundup

1. This really is a great start to a story.

2. Fox News reports that "BMWs" or "Big Mexican Women" have been smuggling Afghan soldiers from Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas, to Canada. Via.

3. "Starting with an old cell phone a friend gave him, 17-year-old Steven Ortiz of Glendora, CA, used Craigslist to trade up 14 times over two years to eventually end up with a Porsche Boxster. Here's how he did it."

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