Ruggbutt

Those are beautiful.

I shot those with a Nikon D100 and a "Bigma" (Sigma 50x500).

Nice pics! You've been busy. Thanks for sharing those, loved 'em.

..........DCS A-10 will be released tomorrow. Don't ask how I know. A birdie told me.

It doesn't work nearly as good as TrackIR does and you're constantly having to fiddle with it.

w00t! I busted my butt getting things set up for my employees so I can take the rest of the day off. Gonna treat myself to ribs at Famous Dave's for lunch.

Expensive yes, but sexy too!

No turkeys, but how about Turkey Vultures? I shot these vultures going after some kind of carcass. I'm not sure what it was and I wasn't in the mood to make my way thru the barb wire fence. When I stopped watching 3 had landed in the same spot this first one did.

Thanks!. Even though I gotta work.

Thanks all. I grew up in Arizona and when I was a kid we'd see stuff like this in our neighborhoods. We had desert directly across the street from us. You can still see them even today in town searching for prey. Luckily, some of our city planners haven't totally ruined the desert with "progress" and you don't have to drive very far to get shots of beautiful animals like this. These particular birds must have been related to each other cuz I saw them hunt together quite a bit, and in the shots that have pairs of them there were three others present. I just took the best shots and posted them. You can tell which of them are juvenile, as their breast feathers are all one dark color. As they mature they get a white pattern in them.

Nikon D100. "Bigma" 50-500 f4-5.6, , Sigma 24-70 f2.8.

I wouldn't expect that they'd update software for an outdated product. Is Microsoft still supporting ME?

Uncleal makes a good point. You have to expect that a device that uses reflected light as a means of operation will be affected by other light sources. There are several adjustments in the TrackIR software that will allow you to fine tune LED output as well as reflector size. They're a filter of sorts which helps when you're in an environment that isn't dark or dim. I happen to have blinds on my office windows because I hate glare on my computer and touch screens. That also happens to be a bonus when using TrackIR. Nothing interferes with it in dim light. I equate the TrackIR unit to a seeker on a Sidewinder (AIM-9). It's best not to use it when you've got the sun pointed directly at the seeker head.

I wanted to say also that I've tried some of the other head tracking "solutions" out there over the years. The only thing I can say is that you should just pony up the cash and buy one. There's nothing out there that does the job as well as Track IR does. Additionally, the friend I spoke of that had the check ride....................that's Cali. And Cali, come on over and try it out.

WASHINGTON — In the most dangerous valley of the most rugged corner of eastern Afghanistan, a small rifle team of airborne soldiers fell into a vicious insurgent ambush, a coordinated attack from three sides. A young Army specialist, Salvatore A. Giunta, took a bullet to the chest but was saved by the heavy plates of his body armor. Shaking off the punch from the insurgent round, he jumped up and pulled two wounded soldiers to safety before grabbing hand grenades and running up the trail to where his squad mates had been on foot patrol. There, he saw a chilling image: Two insurgents hauling one of his American comrades into the forest. Specialist Giunta hurled his grenades and emptied the clip in his automatic rifle, forcing the insurgents to drop the wounded soldier. Still taking fire, he provided cover and comfort to his badly wounded teammate until help arrived. True stories of combat defy retelling, and he leaves the recounting of the details of that mission on Oct. 25, 2007, to others. “It was one of the worst days of my life, and when I revisit it, it kind of guts me a little bit more every time,” he said on Friday. But the White House wants to honor his heroism, and announced that for his valor during that mission, Salvatore Giunta of Hiawatha, Iowa, who is now 25 and a staff sergeant, will become the first living service member to receive the Medal of Honor, the military’s most prestigious award, for action during the wars since September 11, 2001. President Obama spoke with Sergeant Giunta on Thursday, to discuss the “acts of gallantry at the risk of his life that went above and beyond the call of duty,” according to a White House statement. The date of the medal ceremony has not been set. “President Obama said ‘thank you’ for what I did,” Sergeant Giunta said in an interview from his current post in Vicenza, Italy. “My heart was pounding out of my chest, so much that my ears almost stopped hearing. I had my wife by my side. She was holding my hand. When she heard me say, ‘Mr. President,’ she gave me a squeeze.” The soldiers of Company B, Second Battalion, 503rd Infantry, were part of Operation Rock Avalanche, a classic hearts-and-minds campaign to provide food, winter clothing and medical care to remote Afghan villagers — and to assure them that the American and Afghan troops were a stronger force for security than the insurgents. The mission was described by Elizabeth Rubin, who wrote of the military’s travails in the Korangal Valley for The New York Times Sunday Magazine on Feb. 24, 2008. It is also the subject of a section of a recently published book, “War,” by Sebastian Junger. After months of patrols that cost the American military dearly, the outposts in the Korangal were eventually disbanded, and the forces in them relocated to provide security to larger population centers. Sergeant Giunta does not discuss strategy or policy when he reflects on that night, when two paratroopers died and most of the patrol received serious injuries. “I entered the Army when I was 18, and I’m 25 now — I became a man in the Army,” he said. “That night I learned a lot, and after that night I learned even more. This respect that people are giving to me? This was one moment. In my battalion, I am mediocre at best. This shows how great the rest of them are.” The official White House statement does not share in Sergeant Giunta’s modesty. “His courage and leadership while under extreme enemy fire were integral to his platoon’s ability to defeat an enemy ambush and recover a fellow American paratrooper from enemy hands,” the statement said. Sergeant Giunta has also received the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart. He has served two tours of duty in Afghanistan.

On the anniversary of the 9-11 terror attacks in the United States, a former associate of Osama bin Laden has written a lengthy open letter to the Al Qaeda leader, highly critical of the organization’s actions, and laying out all the negative repercussions of them, on the entire world, both Muslim and non-Muslim. Noman Benotman, a former Libyan Islamic Fighting Group commander, who fought in the Afghan war against the Soviets alongside Osama bin Laden, writes to the Al Qaeda number one: “I write to you as a former comrade-in-arms. We fought together. We were ready to die together. Under the banner of Islam, we came to the aid of fellow Muslims in Afghanistan. To this day, I take pride in having fought against the Soviets and the Communists. We were in the right and no enemy could have stood in our way. This is no longer the case. After our victory, we became a curse for the very people we sought to help.” Ed Husain, Co-Director of the Quilliam Foundation, a well-known counter-extremism think tank in London, says this letter is highly significant. “This letter has been written by someone who was once a personal guest of Osama bin Laden. In personal and political terms, this document will trouble bin Laden because the letter asks questions that will embarrass al Qaeda and expose its failures. Will bin Laden respond. Time will tell.” Benotman argues that bin Laden’s actions have brought disrepute upon Muslims. He sees no benefit to the people of Afghanistan—basically that nothing good has come from its being the training ground for the 9-11 attacks. Bentoman now lives in London. He and his group never embraced the ethic of global jihad, rather they turned to trying to overthrow the Gaddafi regime, and replace it with an Islamic state. Subsequently, the group renounced violence altogether and has been granted amnesty for that by the Libyan government. Benotman warned bin Laden in Kandahar in 2000 against using violence and attacks outside Afghanistan. In his letter he points out that Taliban leader Mullah Omar asked Bin Laden on several occasions to stop provoking and inviting American attacks on his country, but that bin Laden ignored him. Benotman, in his letter, asks, “What has the 11th of September brought to the world except mass killings, occupations, destruction, hatred of Muslims, humiliation of Islam, and a tighter grip on the lives of ordinary Muslims by the authoritarian regimes that control Arab and Muslim states? “ He goes on. “Your actions have harmed millions of innocent Muslims and non-Muslims alike. How is this Islam or jihad? For how much longer will al-Qaeda continue to bring shame on Islam, disrupt ordinary Muslims’ lives, and be the cause of global unrest?” Many people have asked since September 11, 2001, why there haven’t been more credible voices from the Muslim world speaking out against Al Qaeda. Benotman firmly does that in this letter. “Muslims across the world have rejected your calls for wrongful jihad and the establishment of your so-called ‘Islamic state’ when they witnessed the form this has taken in Iraq. Even the Palestinians consider your ‘help’ to have had negative repercussions on their cause.” Finally, Benotman brings consequences of the 9-11 attacks right up to the current moment. “In New York, your un-Islamic actions have caused hurt, loss, pain and anguish to thousands of innocent people and their families. One consequence is that those Muslims seeking to build a House of God in New York are today being compared to Nazis. And now we hear that on the anniversary of your attack, an American preacher is even planning to burn the Koran in revenge!” Benotman thinks it is time to engage in a debate with bin Laden himself as military interventions have not stopped Al Qaeda in its tracks. He is calling for Al Qaeda to stop its operations for six months to take a good look at itself, to find out really how the rest of the Muslim world sees it, and to seek counsel and guidance from Islamic scholars. Clearly these words are not going to get Al Qaeda fighters to drop their guns on the spot. But there is no apparent harm in an old friend laying out a whole list of informed arguments to Bin Laden. It’s not clear he is listening. But he has been challenged to answer to someone who once fought with him in the trenches. http://liveshots.blo...test=latestnews

I was at work and I was scheduled to turn a brand new home over to the homeowner. Usually we could listen to the radio all we wanted at work but when the homeowner is closing that was a no-go. I made sure I looked busy and put my headphones around my neck and cranked my radio, so I could hear what was going on. I felt helpless, angry then scared for what was happening to my country. It was the worst work day in my life, surpassing the destruction of the shuttle Challenger (and I'll never forget where and what I was doing that day). After turning the house over I had an hour left in the day so I had to check on what the rest of my crew had done that day with the new builds. There were two illegals working for the company (on my crew, I wouldn't take any more) who were chattering in spanish about how great it was that America was attacked. I don't speak spanish as well as I read or understand it so I addressed them in english. I'd just left a new build that had no electricity, I was carrying a four D-Cell Maglite flashlight. I was on a full sprint with it screaming at the spanish speakers that it was time to declare war on Mexico. My foreman had to physically restrain me by taking me to the ground cuz I was well on my way to committing ADW (assault deadly weapon). He got them to take off and he kept me from following them. The next day they showed up sheepishly with an american flag sticker on their back window. I never said a kind word to them again, only told them what to do and to do it well and quick. When I was told a year later it was time to lay them off it was the only time in my life where I enjoyed telling someone they no longer had a job. Mess with my country, mess with me. That being said, I will never forget my countrymen that lost their lives that day. I'm fortunate in the fact that no one I personally knew was in that attack. But I take it to heart and still take it personal because my countrymen lost their lives to a bunch of cowards.

I think the courses are every bit as difficult as they're showing. Because it's only an hour show it may not seem like much but in the last show (Force Recon) you gotta remember that Alpha squad took 9 hours to complete the task of fitting their scuba gear in under 10 minutes.

That's awesome Dave. I don't think at that age I left the bathroom that clean, even if it was just washing my hands in the sink.

I have Black Shark, bought it the first day it was available. It's awesome in all it's button pushing splendor. I'm looking forward to DCS A-10 as well. I love ground pounding and it's gonna be great to have to do things like the real fighter jock. I would imagine there will be an arcade mode like in Black Shark.

TrackIR worked in ArmA, so I would imagine it works in 2 and Arrowhead.

You shouldn't have a problem with the motion sickness unless you get carsick easily. However, you can get disoriented easily until you get used to the unit. I never knew how much I flopped my head around till I got a TrackIR. It only took me a week (or a bit less) to get used to it. I started with the IR2, now I have a 4 and the 5 is coming. I'll post back with info after I get it setup. The difference between flying w/out the TrackIR and with is the difference between flying with a keyboard vs. a joystick/HOTAS. It's that big of a change.

HBD Foobs. No midget hooker this year for ya. Pockets are tight. However, Dave and I and a couple others scraped together enuf cash so that a homeless guy will clean your windshield for ya. Remember, it's the thought that counts. :)

So now that they're wearing uniforms (even if it's our uniforms) they good to go for Gitmo, right?