Orionfoundation.org - now blocked by corporate IT!

You cannot access the following Web address:
http://www.orionfoundation.org/

[Company Name Removed]'s IT Security Operations reserve the right to restrict access to any site which presents a risk to [Company Name Removed]'s Business Processes. Unfortunately access to this site is restricted, it has been categorized for the reason Below: If you would like to submit a request to remove the filter from this site or for elevated Web access, please follow the below process. Connect to - http://webapp.us.[Company Name Removed].com/wow40/ - Complete the WOW form as yourself - Choose Next Twice - Scroll down the 'Functional Listing' and expand the 'Global Information Security Operations' selection - Choose 'Web Access Request' - Request cannot violated [Company Name Removed]'s Acceptable Use Policy, adversely impact the network, and must contain a valid business requirement.

The site you requested is blocked under the following categories:
Weapons

Well, at least it got blocked as a weapons site (which I would probably say is not exactly the case, although I have heard of other paintball sites being blocked as "weapons" - which is ever-so-ironic considering that one of my coworkers is right now as I write this on a company-sponsored offsite to play paintball. Geez.).

It's nice to know that we are getting some fans among the poor and huddled masses of corporate America!

Paintball this weekend at Dripping Springs, Sunday November 5th

We are playing this Sunday, November 5th at 3pm at Dripping Springs.

We'll plan on getting started right at 3pm (remember - it gets dark early now), so make sure your gear is ready to go at that time. We'll play around in the fields and then do some campaign-style games, so make sure to bring a backpack/rucksack/duffle and portable water source(s).

For more info on campaign style, check out the blog below from our last game.

Let me know who can make it out, especially if you are playing as a guest and you need to borrow gear - space is limited!

Some thoughts on "campaign style" games . . .

Last time we played, we did the whole session "campaign style," that is carrying all of your gear with you throughout the day, and going from one side of the ranch to the other, stowing gear and playing wherever it looks like a good spot for a shootout.

Here is the rundown of the games:

- Open field (2)
- Brush pile (2)
- Woods - trailside (4)
- Woods - old camp site (3)

The first game we played had a samurai kill (the game ends with two players shooting each other at the same time) and the last game of the day ended with a samurai kill, so everyone was in the jazz.

I think we may start doing more games campaign style (especially down at the Miller Ranch, where we have so much good area to cover).

Here are some ideas on what to bring with you for a successful campaign:

- Backpack, rucksack, or slingable bag
- Extra air tank
- Water (bottles or camelback)
- Snacks/food (MREs)
- Extra parts, repair kit*
- Extra marker (pump or pistol)*
- Pre-loaded pods*

* Not required, but recommended

Secret Fighting Arts

When I first became a medic, I didn't do it to become a professional paramedic or firefighter (though that is my Grass Is Greener job). I had two specific reasons - (1) to be able to respond to any emergencies that come up with my team when we are playing paintball or hunting and (2) so I could learn all of the secrets of being a medic.

I wasn't so concerned with number games like "is 110 BPM is not a good heart rate?" or "what level is the woman in triage if she has a 290 over 178 blood pressure," but rather what are the best techniques for helping folks in the out-of-doors when you know that the real doctors are hours or even days away.

Well, after all of these years, I finally got a glimpse of some of those techniques in a Wilderness First Aid class I took with my local Search and Rescue team (which I later joined). Now I am not advocating pouring sugar in the gaping wound of your friend or coworker, but it is nice to know that plain white cake icing has almost the same effect as oral glucose (and tastes better to boot!).

I have been a life-long martial artist and throughout my career (some good schools, some bad) I have heard many legends and tall tales about some secret fighting arts that really got my attention. Now every ninja fan worth his salt has heard of Dim Mak - the death touch - or of a ninja's ability to stop their heart or breathing while lying in wait for their quarry.

These below are the secret fighting arts that have become urban legend around our campfire . . .

The SEAL Shotgun: My buddy Allen attended a LE-only firearms training session where there was a non-descript dude with some subtle tattoos sticking out from around his shirt sleeves and shorts. Turns out he was a Navy SEAL who was taking some martial art wherein the ranks were shown via tattoos, i.e. the more tattooes, the badder the dude (wow - just like my mom always told me).

Anyway, Allen assures me that this gent was able to fire a Mossberg 500 shotgun - emptying the entire tube in one long blast (no discernable sound between shots). He asked the SEAL about it later (all of the DEA guys in attendance were too busy collecting their jaws off the ground) and he told Allen that he had taught himself to use the recoil of the previous shot to cock and fire the next shot.

Groovy.

The FrontSight Knife Trick: Another friend, Mike, was out at FrontSight instructor training at their facility near Las Vegas. There was another guy there who was interested in becoming a knife instructor (FrontSight doesn't currently teach knife curriculum).

This guy drew out his knife and was able to flip out the knife, score twenty-something cuts, and replace the knife back in concealment - all in the matter of a few seconds.

Mike made him show him the technique in slow motion (it involves holding the knife with one finger on the rear lock - like a Spyderco - for a open/shut with a flick of the wrist).

It was the real deal, but the technique and the dude faded into legend when he got kicked out for advocating techniques that bordered on criminal.

The Delta Force Leg Kick: One of the many cool tidbits in Mark Bowden's Blackhawk Down is his description of the ultra-secret training that Delta guys get to go through. He mentions one technique where a Delta operator is taught to knock-out an opponent by kicking him in the leg.

Obviously, this is some kind of interupt to the femoral artery - but at what point of the leg - or how the kick is delivered isn't revealed.

The author John F. Gilbey (if actually a real person at all) describes some interesting techniques in his two books, Secret Fighting Arts of the World and The Way of a Warrior. These books have been described as both real and fiction - depending on your source.

Sometimes the legends are better than the truth.

Paintball this weekend at Miller Ranch - SATURDAY AM

We are playing this Saturday, October 21st at 10am at Miller Ranch (close to 281 and 46, west of New Braunfels, TX).

We'll plan on getting started right at 10am, so make sure your gear is ready to go at that time. We'll play around in the fields and then do some campaign-style games, so make sure to bring a backpack/rucksack/duffle and portable water source(s).

Let me know who can make it out, especially if you are playing as a guest and you need to borrow gear - space is limited!

If we are lucky, perhaps we can engage the ever shy and reserved Timo Hernandez to play guitar for us . . .

On The Drawing Board: Scary Science

Wired Magazine (Sep. 2006) recently published an article about new science projects that bump the line between scary and cool. This harkens back to the old TSR "Top Secret, S.I." supplement - The G4 File - which covered weapons available in the gaming system, as well as a really cool section called "On The Drawing Board."

This section talked to some new technological ideas (for the 80s) that would help win the war against godless communism. Ok - so it's now a bit dated, but I am sure I am not the only one who misses the time when are enemies were bound by MAD and the Geneva Convention. In either case, there were some really cool ideas there (DASER, anyone?) that seemed a little too well thought-out for a simple roleplaying game book.

Here are a few highlights from the article:

The Best: Science Projects That Scare the #%@! Out of Us

Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider
What's faster than a speeding bullet and more powerful than a locomotive? Beams of gold ions slamming into each other at light-speed. Although the thermal release from this collision is a million times hotter than the surface of the sun, scientists at Brookhaven National Lab say this won't create a galaxy-swallowing black hole or fundamentally alter the universe. Probably.

Remote-Controlled Sharks
In a Darpa-funded effort to develop the ultimate stealth spy, chips implanted in the brains of blue sharks will enable the creatures' movements to be guided by sonar. What, no lasers on their heads?

Ionosphere Heater
Here's an idea: Build an array of 180 antennas in Alaska to beam radio waves at the ionosphere – the upper layer of Earth's atmosphere – creating an electric field that interacts with charged particles. Operated by the High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program, this disruption can raise the temperature of the ionosphere by as much as 30 percent over a 9- to 40-kilometer radius. It's targeted global warming.

ITER Tokamak Fusion Reactor
This donut-shaped magnetic reactor will ignite a "burning plasma" by 2015. Sounds cool, but to paraphrase one Nobel physicist: The prob­lem with trying to bottle the sun is that we don't know how to make the bottle.

Nanobomb
By manipulating the properties of metals on the nanoscale, Defense and Energy Department scientists are figuring out how to make faster and more energetic explosions. The goal? Compact weapons that pack several times the detonative force of even the MOAB (mother of all bombs). Next up: a briefcase nanonuke.

Pain Gun
Scientists with the US military are working on an electromagnetic pulse weapon that induces the sensation of pain from a distance. Ultimately, they hope to fine-tune the pulses to control muscles as well. Fantastic: a gun that turns people into puppets writhing in a theater of misery.

Radioactive Scorpion Venom
Synthesize the venom of the deadly yellow Israeli scorpion, attach a radioactive substance called iodine-131, and inject it into patients with inoperable brain cancer. The venom is supposed to deliver the radiation only to tumor cells. Miracle cure or great origin story for a Marvel villain?

From - http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/14.09/start.html?pg=7

Ok - I included all of them. I couldn't resist.

Apparently there is some word on a few fringe websites that there are some actual pain weapons in use in the Middle East.

The source cites use by Israeli forces against insurgents there (no - I am not touching that political hot button, thank you very much - just glad for distance and oceans).

Although I do have a great deal on some aluminum foil hats . . .

Paintball this weekend in Dripping Springs - Sunday, October 8th

We are playing this Sunday, October 8th at 4pm in Dripping Springs.

We'll plan on getting started right at 4pm, so make sure your gear is ready to go at that time. This will be a normal session, so we'll do speedball and some woods games.

I'd like to try to get a "pump-only" game during the day, so bring your pump guns out as well.

Let me know who can make it out, especially if you are playing as a guest and you need to borrow gear - space is limited!

Free rock included for every third player who comes out this weekend.

Don't miss it.