Newsbites.

[theweaselking]

After all the studies showing that US soldiers are dying because the Army is supplying inadequate armor, soldiers are purchasing their own armor. This has shamed the Army into taking action: If you're killed wearing non-standard armor, they cancel your family's benefits.

Also,
UK court nails hitman for breach of contract after he *doesn't* kill a suicidal woman as he agreed to, and she sues him.

Also,
Doctors discover the purpose of the appendix: Storing buckshot!

Also,
Florida man dives from overpass onto highway. At least 8 motorists run over the body and keep going without stopping.

Also,
Free tip: professional cartoonists draw really good police sketches after you rob them without a mask.

Also,
CNN mistranslates Iranian government statement "We have a right to nuclear energy. With civilisation, we do not want or need nuclear weapons" as "We have a right to nuclear weapons."
Hilarity ensues.

Also,
Millie Bonilla and Sheila Foster said they were denied access to the beach at Greenwich Point Park on June 7 because of their skin color. Mrs. Bonilla is Puerto Rican and Mrs. Foster is African American. They were part of an exercise group meeting at the beach.

Kelly Houston, the town's affirmative action officer, dismissed the complaint on grounds that the women were not carrying the $25 resident beach cards that are required to enter the park.

Ms. Houston might have been able to sustain her ruling had she not sent an e-mail three weeks earlier to the exercise group leader the women had hired for their class. Her e-mail advised him to be discreet about bringing "black people" to the beach and to cut the number of black participants in the class.

Also,
"Ariel Sharon opens eyes, sees shadow, goes back to sleep for 6 more weeks."

Comments

[speck.livejournal.com]

Mommas, don't let your babies
grow up buying armor
don't let them buy breastplates
or helmets and such
make 'em wear issue, that's claimed up to snuff

[spartonian.livejournal.com]

Regarding the armor thingy...

http://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htinf/articles/20060112.aspx

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

Defense Tech points out that the only other armor that weighs 24 lbs is 1990-era stuff that's since been discarded.

Also: The armor they're buying? The private stuff, that they've been ordered to leave behind? It's lighter (16-18lbs instead of 24+ for the official ceramic), allows more mobility, *and* protects better against hits. It's just more expensive.

[desdenova.livejournal.com]

The Florida story does not surprise me, having seen the way people drive down there.

Last time I was in FL, I saw somebody do a U-Turn. On the Interstate. By driving across the grassy median. In a sedan.