Photo: Andrew R. Whalley/Flickr CC

Blackwater, among the most tainted blood-soaked brands out there, is now slapping its pay print logo on pro shops.

The shops are located near military bases along the East Coast.

In an effort to distance themselves from the name which many felt was tainted, Blackwater executives came up with the inert name “Xe” to help revamp their tarnished image. Here we are a little over a year later and although Xe didn’t seem to do much for anyone, it seems that the name Blackwater still has some life in it. Despite negative connotations almost everywhere else, the firm still enjoys a great deal of support from the gun owning public. So it only seems natural that the Blackwater name and iconic bear paw logo would begin to see a resurgence. Poised to open are combination pro shops and indoor ranges in Fayetteville, North Carolina and Salem, Connecticut. What is the significance of these two disparate locations you might ask? Fayetteville should come as no surprise as it is home to Fort Bragg. However, many would not know that Salem is right up the road from the Navy’s submarine force based in Groton, Connecticut.

via Blackwater Pro Shops – Coming to a Town Near You « Soldier Systems.

SIGINT (Signal Intelligence) aircraft such as this one, bristling with antennae, swirled above New York after this week's failed bombing attempt. Photo: US Navy

That’s how officials caught up with the stumblebum Times Square terrorist:

“In the end, it was secret Army intelligence planes that did him in. Armed with his cell phone number, they circled the skies over the New York area, intercepting a call to Emirates Airlines reservations, before scrambling to catch him at John F. Kennedy International Airport.”

via Army Intelligence Planes Led To Suspect’s Arrest – wcbstv.com.

Photo: Cory Doctorow/Flickr CC

A British army sniper got lucky in Afghanistan last year, when he plugged two enemy fighters more than one-and-a-half miles away, with his 8.59 mm long range rifle.

The rifle has a 25X scope.

The Times of London, in a piece that furthers the sniper mystique, says the soldier scored his record kills in November of last year, in a piece that reads like something ran today.

“Tom Irwin, a director of Accuracy International, the British manufacturer of the L115A3 rifle, said: ‘It is still fairly accurate beyond 4,921ft, but at that distance luck plays as much of a part as anything.’”

via Hotshot sniper in one-and-a-half mile double kill – Times Online.

via I am Military on Twitter.

Now in Second Life. Photo: US National Guard

The US Air Force, which already owns 12 regions in the virtual world, Second Life, now plans to give each new recruit a duplicate copy of himself to manage for the rest of his career.

The Airman in the first run of a proposed, permanent shift by the US military into virtual reality, will be assigned to a base that matches the one he has outside of Linden Lab’s servers, almost exactly.

The Airman’s avatar, meanwhile, will have a face that crinkles with age. His avatar will also rack up kills, and receive medals, in parallel with his real world rewards.

From a story about the proposal:

“This would take place in simulated worlds that mirror the service’s actual facilities. ‘Everyone who comes into the Air Force will be given an avatar, and that avatar travels with them, grows with them, changes appearance with them,’ said Larry Clemons, of the Air Education and Training Command. ‘It will provide them a history of where they’ve been and a notion of where they’re going.’”

The experiment also reiterates the US military’s commitment to mastering virtual reality — after most people are unable to distinguish between their first and second lives.

That’s what will happen in the Singularity, a forthcoming period of advanced technological development, in which genetics, nanotechnology and robotics converge, and humans achieve immortality.

The Singularity has been explored and described by Ray Kurzweil and others in the transhuman movement.

And only two years ago, the US Army attempted to define what it might mean to be a leader in the Singularity.

via Airmen to Live Out Their Careers In Cyberspace.

Photo: Esparta Palma/Flickr CC

Mexico, Argentina and Brazil are winding-down their roles in the no-win-scenario, war on drugs being waged (purportedly on Latin America’s behalf) by the United States.

And the UN is frustrated:

“The Vienna-based International Narcotics Control Board (INCB), in its annual report released today, stated its concern over Latin America’s “growing movement to decriminalize the possession of controlled drugs, in particular cannabis.”

via UN: Latin America undermining drug war by decriminalizing drugs / The Christian Science Monitor – CSMonitor.com.

MOSCOW – Russia admitted on Thursday that its much-touted Bulava intercontinental missile failed another test, after unusual lights were spotted in Norway across the border from the launch site.

via Russia admits missile caused UFO lights – Space- msnbc.com.

The Michael J. Armstrong Memorial Foundation was established in loving memory of Michael J. Armstrong, who made the ultimate sacrifice as a victim of the World Trade Center tragedy on September 11, 2001.

The family, fiancée and friends of Michael have created this Foundation in his name to preserve his memory and the core values that Michael exemplified – love, generosity and loyalty. The Foundation’s goal is to perpetuate the principles by which Michael lived every day and through which he made a profound impact on many lives.

via MJA: Home.

The US government’s allegations back-up the explosive testimony of two former Blackwater employees. Gov’t says Blackwater shot Iraqis as “payback for 9/11”

Photo: John Brian Silverio. Flickr/CC

Another wacky one, courtesy of DARPA:

The Defense Sciences Office (DSO) of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is seeking approaches to allow a small (Nano Air Vehicle to Micro Air Vehicle scale) air vehicle to be Teleoperated and Hover In Place (TeleHIP) in GPS denied environments. It is anticipated that the flight environment for this capability will be primarily in buildings or similarly sized enclosures. The development of a small unmanned aircraft system (UAS) capable of such missions would add a new capability to urban intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) and provide increased situational awareness for warfighters.

via Defense Sciences Office.