Definitely time for a bit of supervised exercises, Fred. My mother was an OT, so I have a soft spot for both of them, pitiless darlings that they all are.
trailing wife- 05/15/2025 20:10
Just falling three times in a week.
Fred- 05/12/2025 12:39
Enjoy the dear little OTs and PTs, Fred. I swear, you have more lives than a cat — what happened this time?
trailing wife- 05/11/2025 19:26
Get well!
Frank G- 05/11/2025 15:24
My participation will be limited for the next couple weeks. I'm in rehab again.
Fred- 05/11/2025 15:18
Good catch. The passage was translated: he was also wounded, which is a correct and direct translation. But a different translation changed the phrase to: who also was wounded.
You'd figure the web translation thing I use would be identical to their Google translate page. It wasn't.
badanov- 05/07/2025 20:05
badanov: please check the translation here. The sentence that concerns me is bolded and in italics.
trailing wife- 05/07/2025 18:36
Six paragraphs is perfect for short paragraphs, Fred. But for a piece with long paragraphs, that might approach 1000 words. Is something on the order of six line breaks or 500 words, whichever is less too complex?
trailing wife- 05/06/2025 22:59
Looks fine to me, Fred,
badanov- 05/06/2025 20:26
... or maybe six, disregarding blank lines?
Fred- 05/06/2025 19:22
Before I actually do this, let me have your opinions. I want to set it up so that front page only shows six paragraphs. Hitting the Link link (I know. Redundant.) opens the full text on poparticle.php. That way super-long articles are automatically condensed. Does that make sense? Is the cutoff (six line breaks) about right? Too short?
Fred- 05/06/2025 19:19
You are a joy and a wonder, Fred Pruitt. Truly, you’ve given us a wonderful toy to play with.
trailing wife- 05/05/2025 16:20
I've got an idea how to do it better and faster. Let me give it a try tomorrow.
Fred- 05/05/2025 01:38
P.49 can be edited only from Poster and Editor, NOT from Rantburg.com.
In Poster or Editor, click on Continued on Page 49.
This will give you a new tab: Continued.
You can make changes in the scrollable top section, while the fixed bottom section shows the original text. HOWEVER, the various editing buttons don’t work, so whatever you want to add will have to be typed manually or a copy pasted from elsewhere. Subtracting is done in the usual way. When done, click on the UPDATE button, which does work beautifully.
trailing wife- 05/04/2025 23:28
Getting an error like that usually means I'm missing something that's staring me in the face.
Fred- 05/04/2025 23:03
I'm getting a real stupid error message from Firefox's debugger. The code's pretty antique.
Fred- 05/04/2025 22:55
Let me take a look at it. It's been so long since I wrote it I can barely follow the coade.
Fred- 05/04/2025 21:19
[FoxNews] 5-event test holds combat soldiers to 'sex-neutral' standards
"Army Strong" is more than just a tagline — for soldiers, it’s a requirement for duty.
The U.S. Army requires that all active-duty soldiers prove their physical prowess by passing a rigorous fitness test. There have been multiple versions of the test over the years — and the Army recently announced that a new version has been adopted.
On June 1, 2025, the military branch will roll out its new Army Fitness Test (AFT) as a replacement for the current Army Combat Fitness Test (ACFT).
The new test — based on "18 months of data analysis and feedback from thousands of test iterations" — will introduce updated scoring standards that emphasize "readiness and combat effectiveness," according to an Army press release.
Soldiers will have until Jan. 1, 2026, to meet the new AFT requirements without facing "adverse actions."
AFT scores are recorded during basic training for soldiers and initial training for officers, the Army states on its website.
Active-duty soldiers are required to complete the test twice a year, while soldiers in the Army Reserve and Army National Guard must record scores once a year.
5 COMPONENTS OF THE TEST
The AFT consists of the following five events, as described on the Army’s website.
1. Three-repetition maximum deadlift
In this challenge, the soldier must lift the maximum weight possible three times using a 60-pound hex bar and plates.
2. Hand-release push-up
The soldier must complete as many hand-release push-ups as possible in two minutes, using proper technique.
3. Sprint-drag-carry
With the sprint-drag-carry (SDC), the soldier is tasked with completing five 50-meter shuttles (sprint, drag, lateral, carry, sprint) as quickly as possible, using two 40-pound kettlebells and a 90-pound sled.
4. Plank
The soldier must maintain a proper plank position for as long as possible, testing muscular endurance and balance.
5. Two-mile run
The soldier must complete a timed two-mile run on a flat outdoor course in a test of aerobic endurance.
The standing power throw event, which was part of the previous version of the test, is no longer included as a requirement.
[JustTheNews] Top oil and gas executives in Canada and the United States confirmed Alberta's top industry companies would love to get past any tariff issues and begin building pipelines.
(ZeroHedge] In another clear indicator of just how drastically everything has changed in Syria in the wake of Bashar al-Assad's ouster in December last year, a militant group attempted to storm Russia's Hmeimim air base on Syria’s coast on Wednesday. Already the future of the base is uncertain, but Russia has still been maintaining it - given also Hmeimim is Moscow's only airbase on the Mediterranean.
"Militants attacked a Russian air base in Syria, killing two soldiers, a Syrian government official and a local activist said Wednesday," according to The Associated Press. Russian statements, which offered little detail, did not indicate if the slain were Russian soldiers or possibly foreign nationals who were contractors.
At least two militants were killed during their assault on the airbase. They are being widely reported as foreign Islamist fighters affiliated with the new Syrian government's military under President Sharaa (Jolani).
The Jolani/HTS government has tried to distance itself from the attack, as it is still seeking diplomatic normalization with Russia and a reset in relations:
The government official said the two militants who were killed were foreign nationals who had worked as military trainers at a naval college that was training members of the new government’s military. He said they had acted on their own in attacking the base and were not officially affiliated with any faction.
Damascus has on Thursday deployed additional forces in an effort to stabilize the security situation in villages near the airbase.
"The city of Jableh and the villages surrounding the Russian Hmeimim air base in the Jableh countryside are witnessing a security alert. Heavy deployment of public security forces has been observed in the villages of Al-Sharashir and Al-Qubaisa, both close to the base," the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) says.
SOHR had further described "clashes in which medium and heavy machine guns were used, coinciding with the sounding of alarm sirens inside the base" - when the incident unfolded.
One regional outlet has said Russian soldiers were killed, and that it was Uzbek terrorists behind the assault:
According to a report by the Erem outlet, the 20 May attack resulted in the killing of three Russian soldiers and the injury of at least six others. The report says the attack was carried out by an Uzbek-led faction, which afterwards began to mobilize in the village of Al-Sharashir, just two kilometers from the base.
Erem also said the Uzbek armed group, responsible for past atrocities including the killing of children, have displaced and intimidated scores of residents and have seized homes in in the nearby town.
#BREAKING | Islamist militants reportedly affiliated with ruling HTS attacked Russia’s Khmeimim Air Base in Syria around 4–5 AM. Russian forces returned fire, reportedly killing four militants. https://t.co/UQGcfjWqt0pic.twitter.com/JorasQW3My
This coastal area near Latakia has for months seen attacks and massacres conducted by Islamic militant factions against the minority Alawite community of Syria. Christians and Druze have also been targeted.
Thousands of Alawites have been reported killed, and while the Jolani government has formally condemned the killings, eyewitnesses have consistently said the attacks had the involvement of HTS (Hayat Tahrir al-Sham) fighters, which remains the ruling faction in Damascus.
During the height of the sectarian killings, Alawite families sought refuge at Hmeimim air base in large numbers. Many thousands have been camped out on the base tarmac, with at times Russian troops seen handing out food and water and necessities of survival.
Back in March, Alawites expressed their distrust of HTS provided "security"...
HTS AlQaeda reps try to convince Syrian Alawi refugees to leave the Russian Hmeimim air base and go home. "Trust us now, mistakes happen, things got out of control". pic.twitter.com/JIpzSHpAB0
— tim anderson (@timand2037) March 18, 2025
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov earlier this week expressed particular concern about the chaotic situation in Syria, where he said extremist militant groups are carrying out "real ethnic cleansing and mass killings based on ethnic and sectarian identity". He blasted what he called the West’s "stunning" indifference to mass killings acts of terrorism.
The strong comments followed in the wake of President Trump meeting with Syria's Sharaa while in Saudi Arabia earlier this month. This stunned even some Washington officials, given that Sharaa/Jolani has long been a US-designated terrorist. Trump has said he wants to give Syria a fresh start, and also announced the US will drop sanctions.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio this week told a Senate hearing that Syria could collapse within just weeks; however, he didn't acknowledge in the testimony that it was the CIA's Operation Timber Sycamore which served to weaken and destabilize the country in the first place.