1 Annie, you have set up us the bomb!

2 Absolutely brilliant. ROFL, indeed. The Nirvana one is probably the one that actually sounds most like it could have been a real song by them.

3 You've GOT to quit the drunk/stoned posting. I know, me too.

4 Ouch, my stomach actually hurts from the laughing.

5 Those are absolutely the funniest things I have seen or heard this month.

1 Well, perhaps if one lacks the skill to park a car. Let me give you a hint... put down the cell phone.

2 I. hate.. you... Why did you do that to me? There's so much that I need to get done. Now I have no choice but to steal it...

3 Ok...I need to grade those papers...yes...need to get back to the papers...well...maybe I can finish them in the morning.... Thanks Annika...yea...thanks a lot... P.S. - I took it...posted it...gave you credit...would've trackbacked but I kept getting an error... Ok...back to the parking...oh...I mean papers...

1 10,000 rds/min (though it doesn't sustain that rate for a full minute, uses bursts that average 4500 rds/min) of depleted uranium bullets (heavier than lead) or now tungsten bullets.

2 There are some seriously dead fish in that part of the ocean now. I liked that deck mounted minigun. Sure, the CWIS is pretty damn awesome, but you push a button somewhere a hundred feet away and electronics does the rest. That deck mounted thingie is a hands-on weapon. Anyway... Look, I know it's shootin' Cheerios in a cereal bowl to pick on Robert Fisk, but since you're talking about the Phalanx CWIS: Did you see the Albawba article where he says, "...so contemptuous of their enemy were the Israelis that although their warship was equipped with cannon and a Vulcan machine gun, they didn't even provide the vessel with an anti-missile capability..." This is the Israeli ship. This is the "Vulcan machine gun" the great god of accuracy was talking about: The Phalanx Close In Weapons System. "It was developed as the final line of defense (terminal defense) against anti-ship missiles (AShMs), including high-G and maneuvering sea-skimmers." True genius at work. Anyway, since the topic was the CWIS, I thought it was relevant...

3 I agree El Mondo, and further assert that there is nothing scarier than a sailor with a weapon, because you KNOW that he has no idea what to do with it. I don't know what retail is on a phalanx depleted uranium round these days, but I'd hazard that it's got to be $1k a round. All that moolah, and the best they can do for a target is a fucking cardboard box. Finally, if any of you runny-nosed civilians and sailors EVER find yourself on the right end of an M2 Browning .50 Cal or our 7.62mm machine gun du jour, a burst is defined as TEN to TWELVE rounds of WELL AIMED FIRE! The only rustpicker on that boat who deserved to be pulling a trigger was the asshole smoking the barrels on that minigun. At least he had the right idea. That is all.

4 Hello, I wonder if the CWS has ever had a chance to prove it if works? In 1985 a destroyer in the Gulf got hit by an Iraqi missle but the system was not turned on. There were sea skimmers used in the current Iraq war but not against ships. The only other times I recall these missles being used was in the Falkland Islands and I don't think they had the CWS defense system available. Also I'd rather not be in a position to depend on it...

5 "...there is nothing scarier than a sailor with a weapon, because you KNOW that he has no idea what to do with it." That's what prostitutes all over the world keep saying. Ba-da-BING! Oooooooooohh! I went there!!!!! Slapped at the squids!!!! Now watch me get my ass kicked by some sailors tonight! Actually... I may be way the hell inland (Indiana), but Crane NSWC is not that far from here. Yikes...

6 Ahh, Girls and their guns.