Category Archives: Technology

Technology

World War 3(?): Soviet MiG 17 vs U.S. Navy Ferrari, only in ‘Amerika’

Video

MiG 17, NATO reporting name Fresco.

U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Maxwell Daigle, 17MAY2019.

USAF video, by Staff Sergeant Philip Bryant, MiG-17F attacks Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana, 17MAY2019.

USAF photo by Staff Sergeant Damon Kasberg, 17MAY2019.

USAF photo by Airman First Class Parker J. McCauley, 15JUN2019.

MiG-17F taxis on Whiteman AFB, Missouri, June 2019.

This Soviet made MiG 17 has a U.S. made ejection seat. USAF photo by Senior Airman Lane T. Plummer, 26MAY2018.

MiG-17 at Cannon AFB, New Mexico, May 2018.

USAF photo by Senior Airman Lane T. Plummer, 26MAY2018.

USAF photo by Airman First Class Gage Daniel, 26MAY2018.

MiG-17 races a ‘Navy’ Ferrari at Cannon AFB, May 2018.

USAF photo by Airman First Class Gage Daniel, 27MAY2018.

USAF photo by Airman First Class Vernon R. Walter the Third, 27MAY2018.

(U.S. military[?] Ferraris & Lamborghinis)

Polish MiG 17PF ‘invades’ New York? USAF photo by Staff Sergeant Ryan Campbell, 18JUL2015.

MiG-17PF over Niagara Falls, New York, July 2015.

USAF photo by Staff Sergeant Ryan Campbell, 18JUL2015.

POKEY AIRPORT 02 AUGUST 2014: MIG-15 UTI & MIG-17

Kit Bashing, Technology, U.S.

Repairing 1/1 scale T-38 Talon and other Whiteman Gate Guards (and a reduced scale B-2 bomber)

Video

U.S. Air Force photo by Airman First Class Parker J. McCauley, 18JUN2019.

During the middle of June, 2019, 509th Maintenance Squadron ‘low-observable maintenance’ Airmen began work to restore Whiteman Air Force Base’s (in Missouri) T-38 gate guard named Spirit of Heartland.

USAF photo by Airman First Class Parker J. McCauley, 18JUN2019.

USAF photo by Airman First Class Parker J. McCauley, 18JUN2019.

USAF photo by Airman First Class Parker J. McCauley, 06AUG2019.

The T-38 is one of several 509th Bomb Wing static displays on base which also includes the B-29 Superfortress, B-47 Stratojet, B-52 Stratofortress and the FB-111A Aardvark.

USAF photo by Airman First Class Parker J. McCauley, 06AUG2019.

In May 2018, the B-29 The Great Artiste was restored.  According to the official report  “…the original aircraft was lost during a crash landing at Goose Bay Air Base, in Labrador, Canada, in 1949. So, another B-29 was painted as a replica for static display. The static display was eventually moved to Whiteman AFB from Pease AFB when the New Hampshire base closed in 1991.”

USAF photo by Airman Michaela Slanchik, 10AUG2017.

In August 2017, a reduced scale B-2 Spirit was donated by Northrop-Grumman.  The B-2 replica weighs 600 pounds and is 22 feet in length compared to the actual B-2’s true length of 172 feet.  It is one of 50 donated by Northrop Grumman.

USAF photo by Senior Airman Joel Pfiester, 13SEP2016.

In September 2016, the FB-111A gate guard underwent corrosion prevention painting, some calling it operation Dark Vark.

In 2015, the Missouri Air National Guard 131st Bomb Wing moved to Whiteman AFB, and brought their F-4, F-15 and F-100 gate guards with them. Missouri Air National Guard video by Technical Sergeant Elise Rich, June 2015:

Guam: 1/1 SCALE F-4 PHANTOM-2 MODEL

Wyoming Air National Guard photo by Senior Master Sergeant Charles Delano.

Down in the mud, shot-up, Wyoming SLUF

Technology

USAF A-7 Corsairs, whatever happened to?

Video

Moody Air Force Base, Georgia, George W. Bush Air Park video history tour of the A-7D, 21JUN2020:

Ling-Tempco-Vaught A-7D Corsair-2, April 1982, Tinker AFB, Oklahoma. Photo via Tinker Air Force Base History Office.

LTV A-7D Corsair II, isochronical maintenance at Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma, April 1982.

Apparently the USAF version of the A-7 Corsair-2 is one of the most loved ground attack aircraft, especially by the folks in Oklahoma; from November 1966, when Tinker AFB’s Oklahoma City Air Materiel Area was assigned all logistics management responsibility for the A-7D, to its final days with the Oklahoma Air National Guard in 1993 (to be replaced by the F-16).

125th Tactical Fighter Squadron, 138th Tactical Fighter Group, Oklahoma Air National Guard in 1992. Photo via Greg L. Davis.

Oklahoma ANG A-7D ‘Tulsa’, during training in 1992.

Oklahoma Air National Guard A-7D on display in the Charles B. Hall Memorial Air Park, 2017. U.S. Air Force photo by Greg L. Davis.

Oklahoma isn’t the only National Guard unit to fly the A-7 during its official last days, and even some National Guard units are still using their A-7s for other training.

198th Fighter Squadron, 156th Fighter Group, Puerto Rico Air National Guard, 1992. Photo via Greg L. Davis.

Four A-7D Corsair IIs of the Puerto Rico Air National Guard, over the Caribbean in 1992. Puerto Rico’s Air National Guard used A-7Ds up-till 1993.

Iowa Air National Guard photo by Master Sergeant Vincent De Groot.

Three happy Iowa National Guard pilots pose in front of an A-7D ‘gate guard’, 17MAR2017.  Mike Maier, Jim Walker and Larry Christensen were the last of Iowa’s A-7 pilots that, as of 2017, were still serving with Iowa Air National Guard.

Iowa Air National Guard photo by Master Sergeant Vincent De Groot, 17MAR2017.

Freshly painted gate guard, A-7D ‘Sioux City’ of the Iowa Air National Guard.

Iowa Air National Guard photo by Master Sergeant Vincent De Groot.

In 2013 the Iowa Air and Army National Guard decided to sling-load a two seat A-7 gate guard with a CH-47F Chinook.

Iowa Air National Guard photo by Master Sergeant Vincent De Groot.

At the beginning of the video is a boring press conference, then the sling load, and then somehow some old film of an A-7 (BAT 12) strafing a tank on a USAF bombing range:

Wisconsin Air National Guard photo by Technical Sergeant Meghan Skrepenski, 13JUN2017.

The Wisconsin Air National Guard used this ‘gate guard’ to practice ‘downed aircraft recovery’ in June 2017.  Note that the recovery vehicle is an old John Deere 4020 that (according to the press info) is three years older than the 1969 issue A-7.  Apparently the scenario involved a military aircraft that crashed in Wausau: “Planning this movement took approximately two years from initial concept to movement completion. This movement provided a chance to deal with something that we wouldn’t normally be able to do…”-Master Sergeant Michael J. Schmidt, 115th Fighter Wing

Wisconsin Air National Guard photo by Technical Sergeant Meghan Skrepenski, 13JUN2017.

Note the U.S. Navy refuel probe on the nose of the A-7 painted in USAF/National Guard colors.  Apparently the only USAF A-7 that had the USN refueling probe was the prototype YA-7D, which served at Edwards Air Force Base until retired to AMARC in 1992.  So is this a USN A-7 acquired for Air National Guard gate guard duty, or is it one of two YA-7D prototypes?    

New Jersey Army National Guard photo by Staff Sergeant Nicholas Young.

In March 2017, New Jersey Air National Guard TACPs (Tactical Air Control Party )used a shot-up A-7 during a training event with Maryland Air Guard’s A-10 Thunderbolt-2s, at Warren Grove Gunnery Range.

Wyoming Air National Guard photo by Senior Master Sergeant Charles Delano.

In May 2017, Wyoming Air National Guard conducted aircraft recovery training with this shot-up A-7D that was literally ‘down in the mud’.

Wyoming Air National Guard photo by Senior Master Sergeant Charles Delano, 11MAY2017.

They had to use airbags to raise the SLUF and use PSP/Martson Mat style steel plank to get it rolling out of the mud: “This was the first time for me doing recovery training. My job was to help set up air bags and operate the manifold. My normal job always has some sort of data and you are going to follow the book. When a plane crashes or runs off the runway into mud, you don’t always respond in the same way.”-Senior Airman Dakota Difrancesco, 153rd Aircraft Maintenance Squadron

Wyoming Air National Guard photo by Senior Master Sergeant Charles Delano, 11MAY2017.

Wyoming Air National Guard photo by Senior Master Sergeant Charles Delano, 11MAY2017.

I believe the U.S. taxpayers got their money’s worth out of the A-7.

1/48 SCALE COMPARISON A-7 CORSAIR-2: AURORA, REVELL-MONOGRAM, ESCI, HASEGAWA & HOBBY BOSS.

1/72 REVISED COMPARISON A-7 CORSAIR-2: FUJIMI, ESCI, AIRFIX, HASEGAWA, MATCHBOX, REVELL & HOBBY BOSS. MORE REASON NOT TO TRUST SCALE DRAWINGS?

Technology

Vehicle I-D: New look & name for the F-16 VISTA

Image

U.S. Air Force photo by Cynthia Griggs, 30JAN2019.

Modified/upgraded NF-16D VISTA (Variable-stability In-flight Simulator Test Aircraft) departs Hill Air Force Base, Utah, 30JAN2019.  It the future it will be called the X-62A.

USAF photo by Alex R. Lloyd, 30JAN2019.

This aircraft is the only one of its kind in the world and is the flag-ship of the United States Air Force Test Pilot School.

USAF photo by Cynthia Griggs, 30JAN2019.

It’s has been highly modified, allowing pilots to change the aircraft’s flight characteristics to mimic other aircraft.

USAF photo by Alex R. Lloyd, 30JAN2019.

 

Hill AFB: PHINAL PHANTOM PHLIGHT, NO MORE USAF F-4 PHANTOMS!

VEHICLE ID: USAF F-35A “COMBAT READY” IN UTAH

Idaho, Technology

In gun loving Idaho….Bulletproof family photos?

Image

23 MAY 2019 (11:36 UTC-07 Tango 06) 02 Khordad 1398/18 Ramadan 1440/19 Ji-Si 4717

Photos by me (AAron B. Hutchins)


In a nearly abandoned rail car repair shop, a father and son team are trying to combine machining techniques and artistry to create almost bulletproof family photos, and maybe a local artists’ gallery next to their machine shop.

Forgotten in the rafters

The rail car shop is located at the south end of the old town area of Pocatello, Idaho.  It used to be run by Alpha Pacific Incorporated (not to be confused with the Chinese company ALPHA PACIFIC ENGINEERING & CONTRACTING, now operating out of California), now a shadow of itself called Alpha Engineers Incorporated (almost killed off by the fateful decision of city and county officials to refuse Union Pacific’s request to make Pocatello its Pacific Northwest depot).

Boiler from Illinois

There’s a lot of forgotten railroad history in the building.

Coal Bunker

This is what happens when you “Go West, young man!”

Gone skiing…no more

But that’s not what I want to write about.

Chiron FZ 08 W

The good old (relatively) German made vertical CNC (computer numerical control) machine, Chiron FZ 08 W.

Explaining how the Chiron works to a willing audience…did you catch all that?

Eric V. Erickson, and his son Andrew, are using it to replicate photos and even smart phone selfie pics onto aluminum, plexiglas, anything non-fibrous.

Some ol’ dude hicktown singer, now immortalized in aluminum

At this angle you can see the engraving better

Here’s how thick (or thin) the aluminum plate is

If you prefer, you can get cool lighting affects etching your selfie into ‘plastic’.  Unfortunately it’s not ‘bulletproof’ and can get scratched up if you’re not careful with it.

With white light behind it…

…or you can be leftist liberal hip with the rainbow lighting…oooo!

The plastic has a more interesting 3D effect

But there’s a magical thing you can do with the aluminum plate, automotive grease and a glass plate!

That’s not an old timey photo of Tesla (no, not the car, the ancient electromagnetic genius), it’s an etched aluminum plate covered in grease, then a glass plate is placed over it, sandwiching the grease between the two and turning it into an almost bulletproof photo!  There are other ways to color affect the aluminum, like anodizing (and maybe powder coating?), but it’ll drive up the price.  Oh yeah, expect to pay around $150 for a basic engraving (more for anything extra like anodizing), so it’s only for memorializing those special family moments.   I forgot to measure the examples, I think the aluminum country singer was like 5×6 inches, and the plastic selfie was maybe 9×12?

Wait, what about the art gallery?  There are a couple of areas they hope to make available for local artists to display their works, one in the small foyer….

…and a larger area up the stares.

Don’t disturb Cello Cat

For much more accurate (but you might also get more confused, because these guys speak only ‘Technical’) info call Erickson Design and Machine at (928) 299-9723, or email at [email protected].

Technology

“Unfortunately our rent is too high”: U.S. hi-tech/communications breakdown, December 2018

Image

Incomplete list of U.S. internet/high-tech/communications job destruction and chicanery announcements in December 2018:

United States and German taxpayers unknowingly hosted the Program on Cyber Security Studies from December 4 to 20.

On Okinawa, Japan, it was revealed that taxpayers helped the U.S. Marines expand its Defensive Cyberspace Operations Internal Defense Measures with the addition of three new DCO-IDM companies, as part of Force 2025 modernization ops.

WARN=Worker Adjustment & Retraining Notification

CALIFORNIA: Cohu- Everett Charles Technologies issued a shutdown WARN for its ops in Fontana, 80 jobs gone by the end of August 2019.  Fullscreen suddenly laid off 91 people in Los Angeles.  TSI Semiconductors America suddenly laid off 241 people in Roseville! Data analyst Interviewing Service of America (ISA Corp) issued a shutdown WARN for its ops in Lancaster, 58 jobs gone by February 2019.  The Sacramento Bee issued a layoff WARN, 30 jobs gone by February 2019. Honeywell Aerospace issued a shutdown WARN for its Garden Grove operations, 70 jobs gone by the end of January 2019.  Infinera Corporation suddenly laid off 53 people in Sunnyvale.

Deluxe Entertainment Services Group will lay off 68 employees in Burbank.

After eight years of online movies Fandor suddenly laid off most of its staff

After months of layoffs, San Diego based Qualcom announced another 269 layoffs in California and North Carolina, in connection to its failed data center ops!

Layoffs Hit San Diego based Daybreak Games, Rumored at 70 (the official WARN says 25)

Los Angeles based Jam City suddenly laid off an undisclosed number of video game developers

Pasadena based ad-tech company OpenX confirmed it suddenly laid off approximately 1-hundred people, mainly in New York and California! (the official WARN says 124 in California alone!)

Spanish-language Liberman Broadcasting Files Chapter 11 Bankruptcy

Santa Monica based, AT&T owned, Otter Media suddenly eliminated 10% of its jobs

San Francisco based online mortgage refinancer SoFi (Social Finance) suddenly killed jobs

Tesla has over 3,000 Model 3 vehicles left in U.S. inventory

Visionary tunnel or over-hyped hole? Elon Musk’s design unveiled in Los Angeles

Revealed: Mountain View based Google’s ‘two-tier’ workforce training document

Menlo Park based Facebook’s very bad year, explained

COLORADO: National Guard’s Cyber Protection Team 174 deployed for a year-long mission in Maryland.  CPT 174 is made up of National Guard personnel from Colorado, North Dakota, South Dakota and Utah.

FLORIDA: Centerfield Media Holding eliminating 249 call center jobs!

Ricoh USA Inc. will close its Melbourne call center – 76 Jobs Lost

IDAHO: Tech ‘bootcamp’ Coding Dojo opened a new location in Boise, which has experienced a 61% increase in its tech industries in the past ten years

Boise based Micron misses on revenues

ILLINOIS: Cars.com issued a layoff WARN, 112 jobs gone starting in February 2019!

Without warning (or final paychecks) ServiCom suddenly shutdown its call center in Machesney Park, employees report they haven’t been fully paid for a long time

IOWA: After 80 years The Varsity Theater shutdown, the owner said running a family owned theater is hard work: “Its been kind of grueling. It`s a 365 day a year operation and I’ve done it for last 10 years every single holiday and the majority of weekends and I think it’s just time.”-Denise Mahon

MAINE: Spectrum — the cable television, internet and phone service company — will be closing its office Madawaska office because it is “used infrequently by customers”

MICHIGAN: Detroit Free Press continues layoffs and buyouts

Eagan based Thomson Reuters eliminating 3-thousand-2-hundred jobs by 2020!

Taxpayers unknowingly created 34 new jobs at the National Guard Battle Creek Air Base, in the name of cyber security: “Because of its importance to the Air Force, we’re going to begin standing-up this mission very quickly. The fact that Battle Creek was chosen as a host for this mission is a direct result of our highly-skilled Airmen, their perseverance, commitment, and ability to capitalize on opportunity.”-Colonel Bryan Teff

MINNESOTA: Centurylink to eliminate 32 jobs by the end of February 2019. ECI JobBOSS revealed it eliminated 29 jobs in Bloomington.

MISSOURI: Keller 8 Cinema shutdown with less than a day’s warning: “Unfortunately our rent is too high and we aren’t able to keep up with the payments”-facebook post 

NEBRASKA: Civil Air Patrol cadets, at Offutt Air Force Base, are inspired to take part in the National Cyber Patriot Competition, an event designed to inspire students toward careers in cyber-security, or other science, technology, engineering, and mathematics careers.

NEW YORK: Lucky 8 TV issued a layoff WARN, 110 jobs affected due to a cancellation by Discovery Network! CBS EcoMedia issued a shutdown WARN for its NYC ops, 32 jobs gone in March 2019.  Fullscreen suddenly began eliminating jobs, at least 71 affected at two locations.

British empire Canada influenced ConsenSys plans to spin out most of its startups, and it’s going to mean layoffs 

Xerox eliminating more jobs at its Webster operations

Verizon eliminating 10-thousand-4-hundred jobs by mid-2019!  (Can you hear me now?)

OHIO:  Contracted e-commerce (online shopping) ‘fulfillment’ warehouse operator Radial eliminating 2-hundred jobs in 2019!

OREGON: Thompson Reuters issued a shutdown WARN, 98 Lake Oswego jobs gone by September 2019, due to consolidation ops.

PENNSYLVANIA: Bartash Printing Closes Its Doors After a 66-Year Run

TEXAS: Amazon owned, Austin based, Whole Foods canceling its contract with California based Instacart delivery services, killing at least 240 jobs!

At Fort Bliss, U.S. Army personnel try out experimental man-portable electronic warfare/cyber electromagnetic equipment.

VIRGINIA: It was revealed that taxpayer funded Defense Logistics Agency’s Information Operations Cyber Resilience Integration considered cyber security recommendations from five University of Virginia students, in regards to protecting the military’s food supply.

WASHINGTON: Thompson Reuters issued a shutdown WARN, 58 jobs in Bellevue gone.  Online beauty products company Julep suddenly shutdown, 102 jobs gone!

Tacoma News Tribune Will Layoff 67 People 

Update now! Microsoft patches another zero-day flaw

Washington DC: Anti-President Trump, yet conservative, The Weekly Standard expected to shut down

Google Data Collection testimony

U.S. Tech/Communications breakdown, November 2018: ‘ROUTINE TESTS’ & ‘LOGISTICS HELL’

Kit Bashing, Technology

Robot Wars Vehicle I-D: Giant R-C tanks seen tearing-up Washington state!

Video

At the end of April 2019, Yakima was torn-up by highly modified M-1 robot tanks!

U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Corporal Nathaniel Q. Hamilton, 26APR2019.

The new ‘robot’ Assault Breacher Vehicles were being tested by the U.S. Marine Corps (USMC) and the British empire’s (Commonwealth of Nations) Royal Australian Army.

USMC photo by Lance Corporal Nathaniel Q. Hamilton, 26APR2019.

These ‘robot’ tanks are not fully autonomous as they’re controlled by human drivers inside a modified M577 Command Post (M113).

USMC photo by Lance Corporal Nathaniel Q. Hamilton, 27APR2019.

USMC video interview (by Sergeant Sylvia L. Tapia) explaining how the Robotic Complex Breach Concept (RCBC) is about reducing the expected massive casualties in the upcoming Third World War:

USMC photo by Lance Corporal Nathaniel Q. Hamilton, 26APR2019.

They can be equipped with different types of plows, and ERA (Explosive Reactive Armor) blocks.

More video by Sergeant Sylvia L. Tapia, 26APR2029:

USMC photo by Lance Corporal Nathaniel Q. Hamilton, 27APR2019.

More video by Sergeant Sylvia L. Tapia, 28APR2029:

Robot Wars VEHICLE I-D: ROBOT HEMTT ROLLING ALONG!

M777 : PROOF THE UNITED STATES IS THE TOOL OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE!

Technology

Labor shortage/Logistics shenanigans? The U.S. Army has been prepping for driverless supply trucks for the past several years!

Video

In 2021, the U.S. Army conducted Project Convergence (PC-21), yet another step towards driverless robot (Leader-Follower) supply trucks.  U.S. Army Futures Command video report from November 2021:

U.S. Army video report, 04MAR2020, one year Leader-Follower robot truck experiment begins at Fort Polk, Louisiana:

“The technology demonstrated today will be incorporated in the Army’s Next Generation Combat Vehicle as the Secretary of the Army recently stated that ‘autonomy is paramount and certainly critical’ to its development.”-Colonel Jered P. Helwig, U.S. Army

Autonomous Leader-Follower HEMTT navigate a roadway on Camp Grayling, Michigan, 28AUG2019. U.S. Army photo by Jerome Aliotta.

The Army M-O-S 88M will soon be needing less human capital as new robot HEMTT (Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Truck) take to the road as part of a new ‘command’.  The ‘Autonomous Leader Follower’ trucks have automated lane-keeping, adaptive cruise control, driver warning systems(? but no driver).

Official U.S. Army video report, 09APR2019, note in the report that it is admitted that developing robot trucks is causing many engineers to “get burnt out”:

16 experimental vehicles, each fitted with robotic ‘appliqué’ kits developed by engineers at the U.S. Army Ground Vehicle Systems Center (GVSC) in Michigan, were dedicated to human drivers killed in the occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq.  The ceremony, and testing of the robot HEMTT, took place in New Mexico at the beginning of April 2019.

Video from 25OCT2018, U.S. Army driverless tractor-trailers speeding down Michigan highways:

U.S. Army Futures Command (AFC) was created in 2018, just for the new driverless supply truck operations.

In February 2016, various trucks were equipped with roof mounted sensors, to turn them into robots, on Fort Bliss, Texas. The U.S. Army was hoping to robot supply trucks in operation by Summer 2019. U.S. Army photo, 01FEB2016.

The robot truck operations are being tested in conjunction with the United Kingdom’s Defence Science and Technology Laboratory. (For the latest British empire shenanigans proving that U.S. taxpayers are the Tools of The Commonwealth see WHY IS A leader OF A BRITISH EMPIRE MEMBER NATION INSPECTING A U.S. MILITARY BASE IN COLORADO?)

Ukraine Crisis? NATO POLAND’S NEW U.S. ARMY TANK ACADEMY IS MORE PROOF U.S. TAXPAYERS ARE CONTROLLED BY FOREIGNERS!

Labor Shortage, 2022? U.S. ARMY BEGGING SOLDIERS TO TRANSFER TO PANDEMIC PLAGUED KOREA!

U.S. Logistics Shenanigans, April 2022: CONTAINER SHIPS GOING DOWN, U.S. TAXPAYERS TO THE ‘RESCUE’!

Robot Wars: THAT’S NO FLIR POD, THAT’S A ROBOT FLYING THAT HELICOPTER! OR, WHATEVER HAPPENED TO A-A-C-U-S?

OPERATION JUPITER: ROBOTS WILL SAVE US?

DOG ROBOTS CAN TELL IF YOU HAVE CANCER?

SELF DRIVE CAR FAIL! HUMAN DRIVERS UNABLE TO REGAIN CONTROL FROM ROBOT DRIVER?

DON’T HAVE A HEART ATTACK, SOON ARMY ROBOTS WILL SAVE YOUR ASS!

MINORITY REPORT: YOUR NEXT JOB INTERVIEW WILL BE WITH A ROBOT NAMED NEOFACE?

OPERATION PACMAN: U.S. ARMY TAKES NAZI ERA ROBOT TANKS TO NEW LEVELS!

U.S. JOB LOSSES & CLOSINGS 10 – 12 NOVEMBER 2015: ROBOTS TO KILL 80-MILLION JOBS! 

Technology

‘routine tests’ & ‘logistics hell’: U.S. hi-tech/communications breakdown, November 2018

Video

Incomplete list of U.S. internet/high-tech/communications job destruction and chicanery announcements in November 2018:

WARN=Worker Adjustment & Retraining Notification

Facebook documents seized by British empire

Mexico’s tequila council pumps the brakes on Elon Musk’s ‘Teslaquila’

5 Reasons Cryptocurrency Prices Are Plunging Again

CALIFORNIA:  Tobi.com issued a shutdown WARN for its ops in San Mateo County, 62 jobs gone by the end of January 2019.  SMK-LINK Electronics issued a shutdown WARN for its ops in Camarillo.  ‘Truth in Data’ company Merkle Group issued a layoff WARN for ops in Burbank, 82 jobs gone by the end of the year. Communication tech company Polycom suddenly shutdown its operations in Tracy.  Cisco Systems suddenly laid off 462 people in San Jose and Milpitas!  Universal Electronics issued a layoff WARN, 38 jobs in Santa Ana gone in February 2019. Source Broadband Services eliminating 44 jobs right after xmas.  Warner Music finally told state unemployment officials that it killed 58 jobs, back in July.  Madhouse Entertainment shutting down its Los Angeles office right after xmas.

Taxpayer funded Amtrak to close Riverside call center, eliminating 550 jobs!

New tech start-up Moogsoft lays off 30 people

Broadcom eliminating 2-thousand jobs as part of its take-over of CA Technologies!

Defy Media Shuts Down (90 jobs gone according to WARN)

Disney Digital Network Hit With a New Round of Layoffs

Facebook claims outage was the result of a ‘routine test’

Facebook admits years-old messages are randomly coming back

Elon Musk scraps plans for Los Angeles tunnel after lawsuit settlement

Tesla was near death during Model 3 ramp-up

Tesla’s ‘Delivery Logistics Hell’ 

FLORIDA: Tampa Bay Times cuts more jobs

Global security and detection firm L3 to lay off 70 workers 

Syniverse lays off 3-hundred!

Duke Field, USAF video attempts to explain Synthetic Expeditionary Communication Training (SECT):

HAWAII: Commercial printer Hagadone Hawaii blames New tariffs, rising costs for layoffs of 93 employees

IDAHO: Ivanka Trump gets a first-hand look at Boise elementary school’s tech partnership with Apple

Tech. co. with Boise office sold to bankrupt radio firm

Why this Idaho chipmaker is suddenly at the center of the US-China trade war

INDIANA: Q-Edge Corporation and Foxconn notified the state that they would be cutting approximately 155 jobs by the end of February 2019!

IOWA: Varsity Theatre closing after 80 years of business

MARYLAND: The state’s Army National Guard 110th Information Operations Battalion celebrated 10 years of operations: “This unit is on the cusp of the U.S. Army’s movement to a new information warfare strategy concept…..our adversaries attack us within the information domain every day.”-Lieutenant Colonel Kristine L. Henry, 110th Bn commander

MINNESOTA:  Thomson Reuters suddenly laid off 140 people in Eagan!

Downtown Minneapolis newspaper closing after 48 years

NEVADA: Tesla will live and die by the Gigafactory

NEW JERSEY:  CA Technologies issued a WARN, 54 people in Ewing jobless by January 2019.

NEW YORK: Mic Network shutdown its NYC ops, 120 jobs suddenly gone due to loss of digital publishing contract (according to official WARN)! Broadcom issued a mass layoff WARN for ops in Islandia and NYC, at least 280 employees affected!   Without warning low priced tablet maker Bak shutdown ops in Buffalo, 78 jobs suddenly gone according to the WARN, even the website is offline.  The founders of the company wanted to prove it was possible to make profits off of low priced tablet computers, they failed.

Glamour to Cease Publishing Regular Print Mag in Condé Nast’s Latest Digital Shift

Vice Media is cutting its staff by up to 15% amid missed revenue and a traffic slump

3-year-old Roomi lays off more than half of its workforce after start-up funding falls through

Thomson Reuters closing office in Rochester

360i Goes Through Round of Layoffs Across Multiple Departments

More than 50 positions in NBCUniversal’s advertising sales group are expected to be eliminated as the company works to allocate more resources to digital

NORTH CAROLINA:  Cisco’s large Research Triangle Park campus braces for layoffs

OHIO: Motel operator closing Clintonville call center, laying off 150!

OREGON: Ergontron issued a shutdown WARN for its office in Tualatin, 103 jobs gone by March 2019!

PENNSYLVANIA: Dash Solutions offers to rescue data customers of bankrupt CloudMine

WASHINGTON: Tacoma Tribune News issued a layoff WARN, 67 jobs gone by March 2019.

crypto-currency pioneer GigaWatt now chapter 11 bankrupt busted

Microsoft Accidentally Downgrades Windows 10 Pro

Microsoft’s Office 365 MFA security crashes for second time

The Washington Air National Guard’s 262nd Cyberspace Operations Squadron was tasked with providing cyber security for the state’s electronic voting system during the November elections.

Washington DC: Facebook’s latest scandal has Washington’s full attention

WEST VIRGINIA: State Army National Guard video explaining their new ‘cyber center’:

U.S. Tech/Communications breakdown, October 2018: “EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY”

International, Technology

Vehicle I-D: THAAD (updated)

Video

In the 1990s, the THAAD originally stood for Theater High Altitude Area Defense, but it has changed.  Lockheed Martin: “…Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) interceptor to the Missile Defense Agency (MDA). THAAD is a highly effective, combat-proven defense capability against short, medium and intermediate-range ballistic missile threats, and is the only U.S. system designed to intercept targets outside and inside the atmosphere.”

Possibly in exchange for Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu promising not to attack nuclear operations in Iran, on 13OCT2024 U.S. President Joseph Robinette Biden Junior confirmed he deployed the THAAD system to Israel.

Bravo Battery-62nd Air Defense Artillery Regiment, Fort Cavazos (aka Fort Hood), July 2024. U.S. Army photo by Private First Class Josefina Garcia.

Estimated cost (as of 2017): $1.25-Billion per battery (48 missiles, six truck-mounted launchers, a radar, a command-and-control platform, 95 soldiers), $12.6-Million per missile.

THAAD command & control vehicles, Dededo, Guam, 12MAR2024. U.S. Army photo by Major Trevor Wild.

Difference between a rocket and a missile: A ‘missile’ is a guided rocket, a ‘rocket’ has no guidance system.

THAAD launcher somewhere in The Middle East, November 2023. USA photo by Duy Nguyen.

In March 2019, the U.S. Army deployed (supposedly for the first time) a THAAD  battery to Israel for a U.S.-Israeli wargame.

Somewhere in the Negev Desert, U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sergeant Cory D. Payne.

THAAD radar units of the U.S. Army’s Bravo Battery-Second Air Defense Artillery Regiment-11th Air Defense Artillery Brigade, Israel, 04MAR2019.

Somewhere in the Negev Desert, USAF photo by Staff Sergeant Cory D. Payne, 05MAR2019.

Fort Bliss, Texas, 23FEB2019. USAF photo by Staff Sergeant Cory D. Payne.

THAAD load-up on C-17 for deployment from Fort Bliss, Texas, 23FEB2019.

Official U.S. Department of Defense music video of 2019 deployment to Israel:

Anderson Air Force Base, Guam. USA photo by Captain Adan Cazarez.

THAAD deployed to Guam, 05FEB2019.

AN/TPY-2 radar on Kwajalein Atoll, 11AUG2012. Photo via U.S. Missile Defense Agency.

The THAAD also uses the Army/Navy TPY-2 radar.

GREAT RENEGER: TRUMP DEPLOYS THAAD TO ISRAEL

VEHICLE I-D: USAF C-21 LEARJET, YEAR OF THE LEAR