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It was 1972, and America was ready for a caffeine revolution.

For years, we’d been drinking coffee the same way we had since the early 1800s: from a percolator, which worked by repeatedly forcing boiling water through a chamber full of grounds. The process was slow, and sometimes resulted in a bitter, burnt-tasting brew, but it was preferable to the only alternative — the bland, granular swill that was instant coffee.

But Vincent Marotta Sr., a real estate developer with some time on his hands and a yen for a decent cup of joe, changed all that.

With the help of his business partner and two engineers, Marotta designed Mr. Coffee, the world’s first electric drip coffee maker. Then he used his salesman’s combination of hard work and chutzpah to accomplished a second unlikely feat: He talked Joe DiMaggio, baseball Hall of Famer and coffee-abstainer, into being the appliance’s spokesman.

via Mr. Coffee creator Vincent Marotta Sr., who revolutionized the way we caffeinate, dies at 91 – The Washington Post.

Bless you, Mr. Marotta, for vastly improving my life, and the lives of so many others.

OK, now you can start to freak just a tiny bit.

https://twitter.com/MPullen_WJTV/status/628933489937805312

An alert has been issued by the FBI to all law enforcement agencies in Colorado and Wyoming involving U.S. military families and concerns about who may be watching them.

The alert says Middle Eastern men are approaching families of U.S. military members at their homes in Colorado and Wyoming. It mentions Greeley, Colorado, and Cheyenne, Wyoming, as the specific areas.

In one case last May the wife of a military member was approached in front of her home by two Middle Eastern males. The men stated that she was the wife of a U.S. interrogator. When she denied their claims the men laughed. The two men left the area in a dark-colored, four-door sedan with two other Middle Eastern males in the vehicle.

“The woman had observed the vehicle in the neighborhood on previous occasions,” the alert states.

via FBI: Middle Eastern Men Intimidating U.S. Military Families In Colorado & Wyoming « CBS Denver.

Remember your personal security, folks. Situational awareness is your best friend.

The Tampa Bay Times’ Politicfact.com site undertook an inquiry recently (“Anatomy of a talking point: the smallest Navy since 1917”, Monday, August 3, 2015) into the truth of a statement made by GOP Presidential Candidate Lindsey Graham in June, when he said “”I’m going to rebuild our military. We’re on a course to have…the smallest Navy since 1915.” Author and site Deputy Editor Louis Jacobson pointed out that this is the second presidential campaign cycle in which references to the Navy’s fleet size have been made in comparison to its size before World War I.

via Information Dissemination: Politifact.com Takes On Fleet Size.

Authorities are searching for two suspects that allegedly fired shots at a group of soldiers at the Camp Shelby Joint Forces Training Center.

Mississippi National Guard Director of Public Affairs Lt. Colonel Christian Patterson did not confirm that soldiers were targeted.

via Shots fired at Camp Shelby soldiers.

No injuries.

And before you freak out, it’s entirely possible Tucker and Dale were just out driving around being stupid. People shooting road signs from a moving vehicle has been known to happen in the past.

The two-and-a-half year period in which the Marine Corps’ Infantry Officer Course became gender-integrated for research will end without a single female graduate.

The final iteration of IOC to accept female Marines on a volunteer basis began April 2 with two female participants. One was a volunteer and one was a member of the newly integrated ground intelligence track.

Both were dropped that same day during the grueling initial Combat Endurance Test, said Capt. Maureen Krebs, a spokeswoman for Headquarters Marine Corps. Nine of the 90 men who began the course were also cut.

via Last IOC in Marine infantry experiment drops female officers.

A lot of time and money wasted, but… the Marine Corps now has significant evidence to support its likely recommendation to not open certain ground combat career fields to women.

Of course, the feminist argument will be that the standards of IOC are arbitrary and  capricious, and should be watered down.

The Army plans to open to women all but one field artillery MOS, the service’s top officer said Monday.

With the exception of the 13F military occupational specialty, “we have decided … we are not going to ask for a waiver to keep it closed,” said Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ray Odierno.

This decision, which opens up MOSs such as cannon crewmember (13B) and field artillery automated tactical data system specialist (13D), comes just weeks after the Army opened the combat engineer (12B) MOS to women.

It also follows a decision from more than a year ago to open all field artillery officer positions to women.

via Odierno: Army to open most field artillery jobs to women.

I suspect once you start getting a few women in 13B, cannon crewmember, you’re going to see injury rates that outstrip those of men by a mile. An M107 155mm projectile weighs just shy of 97 pounds. The newer M795 weighs over 100 pounds.

Women will suffer sports type injuries at higher rates than men given a similar task involving significant upper body strength. That costs the Army in terms of direct medical expenses, and indirect costs such as lost time available for service. That’s to say nothing of the costs to taxpayers for higher rates of service related disabilities treated by the VA.

Again, I’ve yet to see a coherent argument that shows what the Army gains from opening combat arms  MOS to women.

Now I’m a bit of an odd duck when it comes to this subject since I’m someone very interested in hunting who has not actually ever gone hunting – mostly due to time and logistics than anything else. But I have read most of the classic hunting literature from Hunter to Ruark to Capstick as well as various modern reference guides to safaris so I believe I know more than the average person in this area.

I am also indebted to a friend of mine from South Africa who has put me a lot of knowledge on the subject. He’s a professor here in the US who goes back to South Africa during summers to work as an assistant to a PH (professional hunter), and is very familiar with the on-the-ground realities when it comes to managing and hunting big game. One thing that becomes clear from the hunting writers and my friend is that they all have a respect (even love) for the animals they hunt as well as a deep knowledge of how they live, breed – and eventually die, which means they are also decidedly unsentimental about individual animals.

via Ace of Spades HQ.

As the saying goes, the road to hell is paved with good intentions.

The killing of Cecil the lion was one of those internet outrages all good people were supposed to join in. The dentist who killed the lion was doxxed and held up for vituperation. Calls to end the barbaric practice of big game hunting circled the web. One US airline today announced a ban on carrying big game trophies.

And yet, the reality of big game hunting is a good bit different than the shallow thinking of virtually all the morally upright scolds of the internet.

Domestic US hunters know that nothing promotes conservation like the hunting community. Why  on earth would anyone think it any different in Africa?

And consider this. The outrage community is so utterly wrong on the issue of hunting lions in Africa. Why on earth would you even consider for a moment they might be right on another topic.

I have found for myself, it is almost always beneficial to be patient, and wait a bit to learn more on any given topic of the day, before condemning or praising.

Stolen from a friend.