There are many weird and wonderful abandoned structures throughout the world, being based in Bangkok, a city of unfinished projects; I certainly see my fair share everyday. But no where has quite as many amazing abandonment’s as the former Soviet Union. The complex political, military and social history has lead to everything from buildings to entire cities being left uncared for, still standing to weather the elements until the end.

More Pictures After The Jump!

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We would like to introduce our new military and government financing partner High Tech Credit, a partner of 800HighTech. Who is High Tech Credit? Well, High Tech Credit was formed by the 800HighTech joining up with the guys who kept CompUSA alive for as long as it did. They left CompUSA after its doors closed and got right to work building up the partner base and delivering the goods under 3rd Coast Marketing LLC. With 800HighTech’s customer base growing, we needed to offer a larger product range and pre-configured computers and laptops at the best possible price for our Armed Forces and Civilian DoD customers. It was also imperative that we continue to provide fast shipping that included overseas military address and combat zones.

Military Armed Forces High Tech Credit Financing

High Tech Credit is offering new best buy computer electronics media with financing for Armed Forces and Civilian DoD government contracted employees. Regardless of adverse credit history, receive bad credit history secured loans for high performance consumer electronics at military discount rates. Low monthly payments and zero money down with allotments through mypay DFAS Mil. All orders are guaranteed approval loans and include free shipping overseas. Shipments to troops stationed CONUS also include express overnight shipping.

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THE END IS NEAR!

Of the month that is. Love it or hate it - we all respect it. Nuclear energy offers a memorizing display of force as seen in the video above. The most powerful and destructive force that man has ever been able to achieve so far. With countries and terrorist threatening to use this power for evil, where does this leave the nuclear future?

South Africa may offer insight and a staging point for the future revolution of nuclear energy. The continents only nuclear power plant is located on its southern tip in no man’s land of Cape Town. It is an obsolete, water cooled reactor that is run by the State. However Eskom is ready to change all that and become the world’s first pebble bed reactor.

Pebble bed reactor promises safer, cleaner, smaller and more affordable power than conventional nuclear power plants. They even say this style reactor is “meltdown-proof” and “walk-away safe.”

“It is physically impossible for it to suffer the kind of accident at Three Mile Island and Chernobyl,” Ferreira says.

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SLEEP LAST NIGHT?

Bed a little lumpy…

Toss and turn any…

Wish the heat was higher…

Maybe the a/c wasn’t on…

Had to go to the john…

Need a drink of water…

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Yes.. It is like that!

Count your blessings, pray for them,

Talk to your Creator

And the next time when …

The other car cuts you off and you must hit the brakes, or you have to park a little further from Walmart than you want to be, or you’re served slightly warm food at the restaurant, or you’re sitting and cursing the traffic in front of you, or the shower runs out of hot water,

Think of them…
Protecting your freedom!

The proud warriors of Baker Company wanted to do something to pay tribute to our fallen comrades. So since we are part of the only Marine Infantry Battalion left in Iraq the one way that we could think of doing that is by taking a picture of Baker Company saying the way we feel. It would be awesome if you could find a way to share this with our fellow countrymen.

I was wondering if there was any way to get this into your papers to let the world know that “WE HAVE NOT FORGOTTEN” and are proud to serve our country.”

Semper Fi

1stSgt Dave Jobe

The attached photo was forwarded from one of the last U.S. Marine companies in Iraq They would like to have it passed to as many people as possible, to let the folks back home know that they remember why they’re there and that they remember those who’ve been lost.

First introduced in 2005, the Rip Saw, an awesome all terrain vehicle is about to hit the market to the masses with a $200,000 price tag. The custom-built Unmanned Ground Vehicle can hit 0-60 in 3.5 seconds, has 80 mph top speed, and can maneuver over any surface or terrain a tank can.

The privately funded Rip Saw was first built by the Howe brothers for the 2005 DARPA Grand Challenge. Based on the original manned prototype, the newest version of the Rip Saw is now remote controlled. Though the Rip Saw didn’t win, its video certainly turned some heads, enough to find funding to build more than one.Check out the video of the original manned Rip Saw in action, watch as it drives through a barn as if it were a cardboard box….

Armored vehicles are taking paint balling to the next level, all hail the Paintball Tank, otherwise known as ‘Paintball Armored Vehicles’ or PAV. There are a few types of tank available ranging in size from large automobile-based machines to lighter models, some of which are portable by foot but act more like personal armor than a fully fledge tank. But no matter which tank you take to the battlefield you will be sure of one thing, to unleash a barrage of pain.

Check out the video of a light paintball tank in action>>>

Paintball tanks may be armed with either single or multi paintball marker’s, carbon dioxide-powered cannons, grenade launchers and sometimes even rocket launchers. Many different types of projectiles have been used in the past; however Nerf cannons are more commonly replacing the PVC cannons that fire regular paintballs.

The tanks provide impenetrable armor for the user but that’s not to say they can’t be ‘destroyed’ or ‘killed’. Most tanks have kills zones which will sound an alarm or disable the tank when hit.

Rules for using the tanks differ from field to field but they are strictly enforced. Some places will not allow the heavy automated-tanks on the field and most places have speed limits. Some places may also let tanks be invincible where as others require the kill zones to be active.

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A bionic hand that can also help restore the sense of touch to amputees could soon be developed thanks to new research that has enabled two patients to feel sensations.

Both patients Claudia Mitchell, 27, a former U.S. Marine who lost her left arm at the shoulder in a motorcycle accident three years ago, and Jesse Sullivan, 60, who lost both arms to electrical burns, were fitted with prosthesis by Dr. Todd Kuiken of the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago this past year. These two patients are the first patients to receive this revolutionary new process that is leading the advancements in prosthesis.

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It has always been a goal to improve our military strength and skill over our soldiers. DARPA has been at the fore-front of technology that is taking this to a new level. A robotic exoskeleton that would let GIs run faster, leap further and carry more is starting to materialize and become reality. A very practical and ambitious idea that is allowing many more options for our military.

According to DARPA, the exoskeletons will be delivered for Army testing in 2008. After 14 companies and universities initially (circa 2001) came up with different designs, they have selected the firm that will build the beast: Sarcos of Salt Lake City in Utah, US.

Sarcos has come up with a system that uses just one engine instead of lots of them. The engine, and a tank containing a 24-hour supply of fuel, will be slung “beneath your rear end”, says Main. The engine (a turbine, two-stroke or four stroke - they haven’t decided yet) will then drive hydraulic fluid via high pressure lines to servo valves on each joint, amplifying the force used to move each limb when the wearer’s motion is sensed.

“It makes you feel really, really strong. You get the sensation that you have a lot of strength. I sort of felt like The Hulk and I’m a skinny guy. I wore a 100-pound weight on my back and it felt I was carrying nothing like that amount,”

In 2006, Engineers in Japan were perfecting a wearable power suit that amplifies human strength to help lift hospital patients or heavy objects. It was driven by portable batteries, micro air pumps and small body sensors that pick up even the slightest muscle twitch. Lead by project researcher Hirokazu Noborisaka, the Stand-Alone Wearable Power Assist Suit was designed to help nursing home workers lift patients of up to 180 pounds while cutting the amount of strength required in half.

However, that suit needed to be more flexible for easier movement and protective cover that shrouds the suit’s sensitive or sharp areas.

Sent to my Email that has by now I am sure cycle the globe of Email inboxes of many military members already, but if not I wanted to include them here.

During the WW I years, Arthur S. Mole and John D. Thomas made some incredible human pictures
by using thousands of sailors or soldiers in uniform to create the following images.

Click the photo to view the images:

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As a son of 2 Marines and who is still an active participant in the military community, I get to witness first hand the hard work, dedication, and honor that each one of these Marines exhibits day-in and day-out. Even when they are off duty they are still a Marine. Sacrifice of all types is made by each one and their families, with the majority of these tales going unnoticed and unrewarded.

The United States Marine Corps traces its institutional roots to the Continental Marines of the American Revolutionary War, formed at Tun Tavern in Philadelphia, by a resolution of the Continental Congress on November 10, 1775, a date regarded and celebrated as the birthday of the Marine Corps. At the end of the American Revolution in 1783, both the Continental Navy and Continental Marines were disbanded, and although individual Marines were enlisted for the few American naval vessels left, the institution itself would not be resurrected until 1798. In preparation for the Naval War with France, Congress created the United States Navy and Marine Corps. The U.S. Marines’ most famous action of this period occurred during the First Barbary War (1801–1805), when William Eaton and First Lieutenant Presley O’Bannon led seven Marines and 300 Arab and European mercenaries in an effort to capture Tripoli. Though they only reached Derna, the action at Tripoli has been immortalized in the Marines’ hymn and the Mameluke Sword carried by Marine officers.

On 1 November 1921, General Lejune, 13th Commandant of the Marine Corps, issued Marine Corps Order No. 47, Series 1921. The order summarized the history, mission, and tradition of the Marine Corps, and directed that it be read to every command on 10 November each subsequent year in honor of the birthday of the Marine Corps. This order has been duly carried out and always been a wonderful opportunity to attend.

The celebrations were formalized by Commandant Lemuel C. Shepherd in 1952, outlining the cake ceremony, which would enter the Marine Drill Manual in 1956. By tradition, the first slice of cake is given to the oldest Marine present, and the second to the youngest Marine present.

“Semper Fidelis”

British defense researchers have invented a means to cloak tanks and make them invisible tank. London’s Daily Mail, Daily Telegraph and Sun all report on tests conducted by the Ministry of Defence last week in which a tank rolled across a field, completely invisible to observers standing at a certain point.

“This technology is incredible,” an unnamed soldier was quoted by the Daily Mail and Sun. “If I hadn’t been present I wouldn’t have believed it. I looked across the fields and just saw grass and trees — but in reality I was staring down the barrel of a tank gun.”

Although as you first heard this topic, it is not as mystical as it might seem. The technology relies on heavy use of camera and projectors. Basically, a camera films the background, which is then projected upon a special surface applied to something in the foreground — in this case, a tank.

You can see the similar technology in the following video that has gained a lot of popularity on the internet

Sir John Pendry of Imperial College London, one of the world’s leading experts on surface reflectivity and lead author of a widely reported paper last year that said:

“Cloak of invisibility is theoretically possible. The drawback at the moment is the dependence upon cameras and projectors,” the Sun quoted Pendry, who did not confirm an implied connection with the defense project. “The next stage is to make the tank invisible without them — which is intricate and complicated, but possible.”

Ever since I was a little kid, I knew this type of technology would eventually surface if it hadn’t already. Below in the video by General Dynamics you can see Trophy Active Defense System in action. It offers an invisible force field for military vehicles that disables incoming RPG rounds.

The system can simultaneously engage several threats, arriving from different directions, is effective on stationary or moving platforms, and is effective against short and long range threats (such as RPGs and ATGM). Trophy was designed to be effective in open or closed terrain, including urban area and can be operated under all weather conditions

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) are always pushing the boundaries; continuing to develop Defensive Technology, and their latest invention is no exception.

At some point in the not too distant future, a moth implanted with a computer chip will take flight into enemy territories in hope to spy and transmit a video feed as well as other information back to base. The computer chip implanted whilst the creature is still a pupa, in the cocoon, enables the moth’s entire nervous system to be controlled remotely. The moth will thus be capable of landing in the camp without arousing suspicion, all the while transmitting information back to its masters via what its developers refer to as a “reliable tissue-machine interface.” More importantly however, this Cyborg Moth will help bring down terrorist and thwart future terrorism plots.

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The AC-130 gunship is a heavily-armed ground attack airplane. The basic airframe is manufactured by Lockheed, and Boeing is responsible for the conversion into a gunship and for aircraft support. It is a variant of the C-130 Hercules transport plane. The AC-130 Gunship II superseded the AC-47 Gunship I in Vietnam.

Well, the Spectre crew members have never been this HOT!

Mufasta Ali and Bin Ladin Better Watch Their Tails!

Vanessa Dobos is a gunner on a USAF AC-130 Gunship. She has seen action in Iraq and Afghanistan. She likes long walks on the beach, men who are not afraid to cry and puppies.

Her dislikes include feed tray stoppages, tracer flareout of her NVGs and premature fixed-wing strikes scattering her high-value targets.

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