@firmwarez.bsky.social
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All posts featuring ordnance are inert/training items or are just random pics from net. Effects not so special. Characters and events depicted are entirely fictitious. Any similarity to the real world is coincidental, consider the real world is far crazier than anything I say. Your mileage may vary.
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What's from Chicago, hates Illinois Nazis, and is holy as fuck?
It's the Pope in 1982.
It's the Pope in 1982.
November 13, 2025 at 1:37 AM
What's from Chicago, hates Illinois Nazis, and is holy as fuck?
It's the Pope in 1982.
It's the Pope in 1982.
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NEW: I wrote about Nasa's rather incredible system for detecting tsunamis, in near real-time, by *analysing GNSS signals*.
Some tsunamis are so big, they cause ripples in the Earth's atmosphere big enough to affect GPS.
www.bbc.co.uk/future/artic...
Some tsunamis are so big, they cause ripples in the Earth's atmosphere big enough to affect GPS.
www.bbc.co.uk/future/artic...
'It sounded kind of crazy': How ripples in the high atmosphere warned scientists of a tsunami in real time
Tsunamis are notoriously difficult to spot on the open ocean as they race towards shore. But in the summer of 2025, scientists watched one unfold as it happened.
www.bbc.co.uk
November 11, 2025 at 12:42 PM
NEW: I wrote about Nasa's rather incredible system for detecting tsunamis, in near real-time, by *analysing GNSS signals*.
Some tsunamis are so big, they cause ripples in the Earth's atmosphere big enough to affect GPS.
www.bbc.co.uk/future/artic...
Some tsunamis are so big, they cause ripples in the Earth's atmosphere big enough to affect GPS.
www.bbc.co.uk/future/artic...
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A very energetic X5 solar flare occured hours ago from AR 4274. This is the sixth strongest flare of the current solar cycle. A fast, full-halo CME has left the Sun and will probably hit Earth in a couple days. This week could see some fairly intense geomagnetic storming...
November 11, 2025 at 1:31 PM
A very energetic X5 solar flare occured hours ago from AR 4274. This is the sixth strongest flare of the current solar cycle. A fast, full-halo CME has left the Sun and will probably hit Earth in a couple days. This week could see some fairly intense geomagnetic storming...
"Kermit in drag singing "I've Grown Accustomed to Your Face" until being eaten by the skull from Hamlet" is not a sentence I expected to stumble across today.
November 10, 2025 at 7:52 PM
"Kermit in drag singing "I've Grown Accustomed to Your Face" until being eaten by the skull from Hamlet" is not a sentence I expected to stumble across today.
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Loving today's news that the mysterious "fedora man" outside the Louvre heist was actually a 15-year-old museum visitor who dresses like a 1940s French detective all the time, just because. apnews.com/article/louv...
Fedora man unmasked: Meet the teen behind the Louvre mystery photo
Fifteen-year-old Pedro Elias Garzon Delvaux has become an internet sensation after an Associated Press photo captured him outside the Louvre on the day of a crown jewels heist.
apnews.com
November 9, 2025 at 12:16 PM
Loving today's news that the mysterious "fedora man" outside the Louvre heist was actually a 15-year-old museum visitor who dresses like a 1940s French detective all the time, just because. apnews.com/article/louv...
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The minute Charles threw Andrew out, I was like, "Oh shit, MI-5 clearly got the files and they are a million times worse than we already think they are," so yeah.
November 9, 2025 at 3:49 PM
The minute Charles threw Andrew out, I was like, "Oh shit, MI-5 clearly got the files and they are a million times worse than we already think they are," so yeah.
I'm reminded of a Sherlock Holmes line:
"The lowest and vilest alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin than does the smiling and beautiful countryside"
"The lowest and vilest alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin than does the smiling and beautiful countryside"
1. In the wake on Mamdani’s win, we’ll see a lot more far right anti-urban sentiment. Here’s a thread on its roots and evolution.
The idea that the city is evil and corrupt, and the countryside innocent and pure, goes back a long way: to Theocritus in Alexandria, and to the Old Testament. 🧵
The idea that the city is evil and corrupt, and the countryside innocent and pure, goes back a long way: to Theocritus in Alexandria, and to the Old Testament. 🧵
November 9, 2025 at 4:07 PM
I'm reminded of a Sherlock Holmes line:
"The lowest and vilest alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin than does the smiling and beautiful countryside"
"The lowest and vilest alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin than does the smiling and beautiful countryside"
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Just arrived: Advance copies of the first revised edition of Cult of the Dead Cow.
November 8, 2025 at 8:48 PM
Just arrived: Advance copies of the first revised edition of Cult of the Dead Cow.
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Today in 1963, the “Twilight Zone” episode “The Old Man in the Cave” aired for the first time on CBS. Set in 1974, 10 years after a nuclear war, survivors in a remote town must choose whether to continue to follow the advice of their leader and an unseen old man or a cadre of newly-arrived soldiers.
November 8, 2025 at 5:32 PM
Today in 1963, the “Twilight Zone” episode “The Old Man in the Cave” aired for the first time on CBS. Set in 1974, 10 years after a nuclear war, survivors in a remote town must choose whether to continue to follow the advice of their leader and an unseen old man or a cadre of newly-arrived soldiers.
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At 1: 35 AM PDT Wed., the US conducted a flight test (Glory Trip 254) of an unarmed Minuteman III ICBM from Vandenberg Space Force Base, CA. The missile (from Warren AFB, WY) was launched by a crew on a Navy E-6B using the Airborne Launch Control System. www.vandenberg.spaceforce.mil/News/Article...
November 6, 2025 at 3:52 PM
At 1: 35 AM PDT Wed., the US conducted a flight test (Glory Trip 254) of an unarmed Minuteman III ICBM from Vandenberg Space Force Base, CA. The missile (from Warren AFB, WY) was launched by a crew on a Navy E-6B using the Airborne Launch Control System. www.vandenberg.spaceforce.mil/News/Article...
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Take your passions seriously and invest in yourself, even if others think it’s silly. The worst person you can ever let down is you.🫰🏻
November 7, 2025 at 4:22 PM
Take your passions seriously and invest in yourself, even if others think it’s silly. The worst person you can ever let down is you.🫰🏻
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I MAKE CHEESE, YOU COUNTRY BUMPKIN?
(I honestly have no idea what they were going for there.)
(I honestly have no idea what they were going for there.)
November 7, 2025 at 4:09 PM
I MAKE CHEESE, YOU COUNTRY BUMPKIN?
(I honestly have no idea what they were going for there.)
(I honestly have no idea what they were going for there.)
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“..You look down and see a tortoise. It's crawling toward you... for the last time will you sit down”
November 6, 2025 at 7:24 PM
“..You look down and see a tortoise. It's crawling toward you... for the last time will you sit down”
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Today in 1983, NATO began ABLE ARCHER 83, a European-wide nuclear weapons release exercise that paranoid Soviet leaders feared was a cover story for a nuclear first strike and “may have inadvertently placed our relations with the Soviet Union on a hair trigger.” nsarchive2.gwu.edu/nukevault/eb...
November 7, 2025 at 3:00 PM
Today in 1983, NATO began ABLE ARCHER 83, a European-wide nuclear weapons release exercise that paranoid Soviet leaders feared was a cover story for a nuclear first strike and “may have inadvertently placed our relations with the Soviet Union on a hair trigger.” nsarchive2.gwu.edu/nukevault/eb...
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Today in 1971, the United States conducted CANNIKIN, its largest-ever underground nuclear test. A Spartan antiballistic missile carrying a W71 thermonuclear warhead was lowered into a 7.5-foot-wide, 5,873-foot-deep shaft beneath Amchitka Island, Alaska, and detonated. The yield was about 5 Megatons.
November 6, 2025 at 3:24 PM
Today in 1971, the United States conducted CANNIKIN, its largest-ever underground nuclear test. A Spartan antiballistic missile carrying a W71 thermonuclear warhead was lowered into a 7.5-foot-wide, 5,873-foot-deep shaft beneath Amchitka Island, Alaska, and detonated. The yield was about 5 Megatons.
A question I've had a few folks ask me -- what's the difference between a "gas gun" and a "grenade launcher"?
37/38mm "gas guns" are essentially 1.5" flare launchers, an evolution of the 26.5mm/1" flare guns, descended from the Very Pistol. One might assume this naming was about being "very" useful
37/38mm "gas guns" are essentially 1.5" flare launchers, an evolution of the 26.5mm/1" flare guns, descended from the Very Pistol. One might assume this naming was about being "very" useful
As another aside, Federal Labs and Lake Erie Chemical were the inspiration for the US military M79 grenade launcher, 40mm. Neither got the contract to make it, but I suspect (need to research it) either or both got contracts to make 40mm CS projectiles for it, or at least made the CS
November 6, 2025 at 3:28 PM
A question I've had a few folks ask me -- what's the difference between a "gas gun" and a "grenade launcher"?
37/38mm "gas guns" are essentially 1.5" flare launchers, an evolution of the 26.5mm/1" flare guns, descended from the Very Pistol. One might assume this naming was about being "very" useful
37/38mm "gas guns" are essentially 1.5" flare launchers, an evolution of the 26.5mm/1" flare guns, descended from the Very Pistol. One might assume this naming was about being "very" useful
Many may not realize that as smooth-bore 37mm launchers, these aren't "guns" in the US (in the legal sense), they are in the same category as flare launchers. That's at the high level, there are some complicating details where they can be considered NFA "destructive devices".
Now, this plethora of gas guns was clearly marketed to a police and prison market.
November 5, 2025 at 5:10 PM
Many may not realize that as smooth-bore 37mm launchers, these aren't "guns" in the US (in the legal sense), they are in the same category as flare launchers. That's at the high level, there are some complicating details where they can be considered NFA "destructive devices".
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OK, as promised, here's my thread about the links between tear gas/pepper spray and the arms trade and gun industry.
November 5, 2025 at 10:39 AM
OK, as promised, here's my thread about the links between tear gas/pepper spray and the arms trade and gun industry.
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Last night shows us that change is coming, and it means workers rights, affordable healthcare and food, and a good education for our kids. 
I’m the farmer running to unseat Tom Cotton in the U.S. Senate.
Join me, and let’s take back AR for real people!
#ussenate #politics #arkansas #filing
I’m the farmer running to unseat Tom Cotton in the U.S. Senate.
Join me, and let’s take back AR for real people!
#ussenate #politics #arkansas #filing
November 5, 2025 at 2:12 PM
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Soviet republic of New York takes first key step towards total communism by publicly owning Andrew Cuomo
November 5, 2025 at 3:38 AM
Soviet republic of New York takes first key step towards total communism by publicly owning Andrew Cuomo
"for the same reason no one ever pointed a telescope at the sun"
November 5, 2025 at 3:18 AM
"for the same reason no one ever pointed a telescope at the sun"
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@hallieshoffner.bsky.social files paperwork in bid to unseat U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton, who has gone 8 years without holding a town hall: “What we know about Tom Cotton is that he doesn’t care about the state of Arkansas."
#arpx #Arkansas
buff.ly/aJ3811i
#arpx #Arkansas
buff.ly/aJ3811i
November 4, 2025 at 5:46 PM
@hallieshoffner.bsky.social files paperwork in bid to unseat U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton, who has gone 8 years without holding a town hall: “What we know about Tom Cotton is that he doesn’t care about the state of Arkansas."
#arpx #Arkansas
buff.ly/aJ3811i
#arpx #Arkansas
buff.ly/aJ3811i
"tightrope" is one of my US nuclear test themed server names
Today in 1962, the United States conducted TIGHTROPE—its last fully-atmospheric nuclear test—as part of Operation Fishbowl. A Nike Hercules SAM was fired 69,000 feet into the sky, where its W31 warhead exploded 2 miles south-southwest of Johnston Island with a reported yield of 10 kilotons.
November 4, 2025 at 5:41 PM
"tightrope" is one of my US nuclear test themed server names