Last blog of the school year! Congratulations to anyone reading this, whether upset or relieved that we will no longer be writing blogs every other week. Though, out of my uncreativity, I will just continue off of my previous topics: military technology. This time I will also talk about two things.
PK: AK reliability in a DP-sized package
The PK machine gun: Kalashnikov’s Machine Gun, is a 7.62×54mmR caliber general-purpose machine gun (GPMG) developed in the Soviet Union and used all around the world, much like the AK (also designed by Kalashnikov). The development traces back to the 1940’s, again – a lot like the AK. After WW2 ended, the Soviets wanted a standard and caliber-matching machine gun in 7.62×39, which became the RPD. The RPD was decent, however it suffered from reliability issues and most notably the sharp range drop-off of 7.62×39. A new design was needed. A competition was hosted in the 50’s, with the requirements being a “7.62×54R general-purpose company/battalion level machine gun.” By 58, several designs were submitted; a major design being the Nikitin-Sokolov MG. Late into the competition, the Kalashnikov team joined in and stole the show, with their design being more reliable and cheaper to produce (a biggie for the Russians), and so, the PK was put into service in 1961. 
The design, as mentioned before, is incredibly simple: a gas-actuated claw snags onto the rimmed case of the 7.62R, pulls it back and feeds it into the firing chamber, the chamber locks into place with the rotating locking lugs, and it fires. Rinse and repeat. The gas system is literally an AK’s but flipped upside down. Barrel changing is easy as well, with the barrel locking into place using a sliding bar that can be pushed out to unlock. The design was a major hit, and nearly every Soviet-aligned country got in on it. The most common PK’s on the market today are Polish or Hungarian, with some copies being produced in Yugoslavia/Serbia (Zastava M84), Bulgaria (MG-series), and China (Type 80). The PK design was further modernized in ’69 with the PKM, removing the external barrel flutes and adding a rounded front trunnion, as well as simplifying the feed cover, stock, and receiver rivets. A revised shorter flash hider was also made, but is often switched out for the long-slotted one.
The next topic of discussion is the AS Val: Spetsnaz’s Silent Stalker. The AS Val, otherwise known as 6P30, “Silent Assault Rifle,” or the SA Avalanche for you weird Eastern European gamers, is an integrally-suppressed automatic rifle that specifically fires subsonic ammunition. 
Coming about in 1987, it was a long-needed rifle for Soviet specialized troops. The Val entered service with its twin, the VSS Vintorez, and was welcomed warmly by those who used it; it was reliable, quiet, accurate, powerful, and best of all – it was very cool. The 80’s, the Soviet-Afghan War; Spetsnaz commandos deep in enemy territory use AKs fitted with large suppressors that wear out quickly under extended use. Every one of these soldiers wishes they had a different rifle, a special rifle. Then comes Pyotr Serdyukov and Vladimir Krasnikov. Through black magic they can sense the soldiers’ woes, and they start on a new design. Right off the bat the prototypes already look nearly identical to the final product, with a long, tubular, detachable suppressor fitted to an AK-style receiver. The ammunition, however? 7.62×39mm; supersonic.
This would not do. Work begins separately on a new cartridge; first designs use an 8mm rimmed cartridge, then 5.45×39 but cut down, and then finally: 9×39mm. Slow-moving, but hard-hitting- it was perfect. 
By late ’86 – early ’87, the rifle was ready to go. Minor modifications throughout the design process made it what we know today. The action is simple, like an AK: long-stroke gas piston located in the handguard, allowing for a high fire rate of 900pm. The safety, also like an AK. However, the fire selector is located just behind the trigger, using a rotating catch-style of switch. The receiver is essentially an AK derivative, but the frontal end is not. The long suppressor covers the relatively short barrel and has removable internal baffles to reduce report. The barrel also has holes drilled into it to allow the gas to escape. The Val features a metal folding stock, like an AKS-74, and a large side-mounted scope rail for optics.
It saw heavy service in Moscow, Chechnya, Ukraine, etc. But most importantly, it saw heavy service in Stalker.
Thank you for reading!
M16A1E1 (Colt 645): I’ve been interested in relatively obscure rifle variants for a long time now, and one of my favorites is the Colt 645, otherwise known as the M16A1E1. This rifle came about in 1981 as a long-needed upgrade to the M16A1 and CAR-15s still in service since the 1960’s. This wasn’t the first prototype that sought to upgrade standard service rifles, but it definitely was the most influential in adopting what would later become the M16A2.
This was the first time the BURST setting was introduced, every previous military M16 rifle had the SSA fire selector (SAFE -SEMI – AUTO). Despite popular belief, no auto setting was included on this rifle. However, the lower receivers often were not re-engraved with the burst included, so some 645/A1 lowers instead simply had sheets of paper (with the new settings written on them) slipped over the original selector settings. One thing to note; ALL receivers used for the 645 are marked “M16A1” with the correct A1 serial numbers despite the changes. Think of these rifles as just M16A2s with M16A1 stampings and serials.
The first tank in my discussion is the Type 90 Kyu-Maru, a mix of East and West. Tracing its design back to 1976 with the TK-X program, the Type 90 was developed in order to replace the already aging Type 74 (which was adopted only a year earlier). The design was to use several key features from the Type 74; hydraulic suspension (essential for the hilly terrain of Japan), an autoloader, laser rangefinder, and a small vehicle size, among other things. Starting in 1981, a series of prototypes were developed and manufactured. The first prototype (TK-X-0001) was completed by 1982, and looked incredibly advanced for its time. It used an indigenous Japan Steel Works 120mm main gun and had a different armor layout than production vehicles, as the turret front had an odd amount of angling. Massive optics were placed upon the tank’s roof as well. The second series of prototypes (TK-X-0002) were completed by 1989, and used an exterior design similar to the German Leopard 2. 
These still retained the JSW 120mm gun, and a slightly different armor layout (i.e “false” panels on the turret cheeks, to demonstrate the addition of armor upgrades that would be present in the future). These prototypes are nearly identical to serial Type 90s, 
The Panzer 68 entered official service in 1971, but the design clearly traces its roots back to the Panzer 61, which began production only 3 years before. The Panzer 68 was generally more of a modernization of the 61 under a different name than a new tank entirely. I mean, they’re basically identical. The improvements over the Panzer 61 included a wider track setup, a stabilization system for the main cannon (why they didn’t have this before baffles me), a new suspension system, pressurized main cannon breech, new heating unit for the crew, new high-range radio, and a new engine that allowed the tank to reach speeds of up to 55 km/h. Sounds all good, right? Yeah, no. This tank sucks so much that I need an entire section about it. The technical issues were revealed in 1977 by Weltwoche, with an article so controversial that it literally caused the resignation of the Swiss defense minister. This article revealed several problems. First of all, the NBC protection in the vehicle was lacking, to the point where crews would have to wear gas masks. And the new heating system and pressurized gun breech I mentioned earlier? Yeah, when the heating was turned on, it had a high chance to FIRE the main gun on a whim. The gearbox was also horrible, with the tank needing to stop entirely just to switch into reverse, or else the gears would break. The new radio also interfered with the turret drive, causing it to spin out of control when the radio was used at full power (this, combined with the spontaneous main gun, was CATASTROPHIC.)
Edgar Allen Poe is a pretty emo guy, so my first thoughts reading this poem was “wow, this guy is an edge lord.” I mean lines like “dark thoughts of the gray tombstone,” “Be silent in that solitude,” this guy hasn’t left his Halloween phase. 
After my initial two reads of this poem, I decided to return to the main picture to better understand the theme of this poem. Since Poe states in the first line that there is a soul finding itself alone mid thoughts of a tombstone, I assume that the speaker is in a cemetery perhaps on the brink of death or already dead. In the cemetery, the speaker finds themselves amongst others deceased- but since they are dead, there is no sound or movement in the cemetery, hence “be silent in that solitude, which is not loneliness.” Poe then states that the speaker will be joined again with those who died in his life, in death: “the spirits of the dead who stood in life before thee are again.” In the third stanza the speaker becomes more removed from life, symbolized by the aversion the stars have towards them as well as the fact that the “light like hope” is weary as a burning fever. Oftentimes we think of stars and light as life and the absence of light as death, and in this stanza the stars do not “look down” onto the speaker, indicating the further spiral into death. The speaker also thinks of light as weary as a fever, demonstrating the fact that they find life perhaps tiring and want to succumb to death instead. In the fourth stanza, the speaker seems to have passed onto the afterlife as Poe states that they “now are visions ne’er to vanish,” which I assume means that the speaker is now a memory. Poe then writes that these deaths will come and go just like “dewdrop from the grass,” a natural process. Once the speaker has passed, Poe praises the mysteriousness of death, illustrating it almost as a separate realm. Poe writes that the “breath of god” is a mist; in death, many religions believe that you meet god, so thus this mist is probably related to the afterlife. Furthermore, he writes that this “mist upon the hill” is shadowy and unbroken- the use of shadowy emphasizing the dark imagery in the poem while unbroken illustrates the vastness of the shadow. This exemplifies that this misty hill is a realm of death, which is oftentimes thought of as neverending darkness in many religions. In the end of this stanza, Poe ends with an exclamation mark: “A mystery of mysteries!” The joyful tone contrasts with the earlier calm and serene tone of death, demonstrating that in death there is still good to be found.
Not only this, but according to a Yahoo News article, the Pentagon declined to investigate the hundreds of purchases of child pornography. In 2006, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement investigated the purchases of that illegal media and more than 250 civilian and military employees of the Defense Department turned up. But, the Pentagon only investigated a handful of the cases.
As if that wasn’t bad enough, it came to light that the Reagan administration intelligence agencies engaged in the global illegal narcotics trade. 
According to the Chicago Tribune, many survivors of the 
First off, trying to shimmy through Naperville North’s exit roads squeezed sweat out of me like a wet towel. I thought that I was a patient person, but after 5 months of 20 minute exit times from school, I think I have repressed anger issues. Because there is really only one exit out of each parking lot, everyone has to bring out their generosity and practice yielding. I have learned that many people do not hold this generosity in their hearts, and oftentimes three way roads become one way roads with two lines on each side that are waiting for people in that one road to LET THEM OUT AS WELL. This selfishness will push people to try and cut into already moving cars, I am totally not speaking from experience, which proves hazardous because many cars will start honking and you may come close to grazing cars. Worth it to get out of the unnecessarily long line though. Also in the NPAC, there are two different turns at the exit, but only one line leading to the two turns. Many people who want to turn left then have to wait just as long as the people who want to turn right even though there are less people wanting to turn left. Ashley has heard me rant about this many times, but I believe we should have two roads so that people who want to turn left can just go. Otherwise, many of us will cut into the lane of cars coming in, which is a very scary thing. On that topic, I have learned that I’m pretty courageous because I will cut through anything to get out of school. Sometimes it has even crossed my mind to drive my car onto the grass. Ultimately though, I hate parking spaces and the people there and that is the biggest lesson I’ve learned.
Secondly, being a somewhat non-confrontational person in Senior Foods has made me learn to just make the most out of your situation. You see, in Senior Foods there are 4 different jobs you can take: Head chef, Sous chef, Executive chef, and dishwasher. Of course everyone hates doing dish washing and wants to cook instead, which is why we’re supposed to rotate jobs. Unfortunately, many people do not do that and the teacher doesn’t care so some unfortunate people are stuck dish washing the whole semester; that person is me. Whenever I try to cook, my group mates will tell me that they can take over and then squish me out of the kitchen so that they can ask me to wash the dishes. Then I am stuck dish washing for the rest of the period. But, I’ve learned that dish washing is not so bad. For one, you don’t get as dirty, which is nice for germaphobe like me. Second, you still get to eat delicious food and even faster because you are dish washing the whole time so you clean up the kitchen faster. At the end of the day, even if I didn’t get to cook, I get to eat and I think that is the most important part of Senior Foods. So kids, practice your optimism!
Lastly, I have realized that grades should not be as emphasized as society makes it. Ashley and I are carpool buddies, and because we are both in AP classes, we always have some summative thing going on. This leads us to rant and stress all morning and cry about how bad we did coming home. After a few days though, we have come to the conclusion that grades don’t define us. At the end of the day, we are still living fine, and after a few days the C or a B doesn’t matter anymore. So for incoming seniors, realize that it’s your last year, and you shouldn’t put all your stress onto your grades. Take time to decompress for yourself and realize your achievements outside of academics. That is the most validating thing of all.
But that didn’t stop the FBI. AK-47, car bombs, martyrdom videos, money for transportation to commit these acts of terrorism- all of it was provided by the FBI. The Hollywood-esque ending as well, where Osmakac’s villain story was ended abruptly by the heroes of justice in his final act to deliver a car bomb. He was then sentenced to 40 years in prison.
The old Medieval Latin word for depression, meant “to press down, depress”. Apart from the literal feeling of depression, I connect this to my version of depression: repressing my depression. This definition has always encircled me, and maybe that’s why I’ve never tried pushing up. I’ve always just let myself be pressed deeper down in hopes that one day I wouldn’t be able to go deeper; then maybe my emotions would be worthwhile. 
Similarly, Stewie and I both value our friends. If there’s ever a time I need to talk about anything I talk to my best friend and speak with pure emotion about it. It can be about sports, boys, or just something that randomly happened, it doesn’t matter. I will go on for hours talking about that same thing until I get to the root of my problem. Stewie is the exact same way. He talks to his best friend Brian Griffin, their dog on the show, or his stuffed teddy bear Rubbert. Any emotions shown in an episode by Stewie he usually has Brian or Rubbert around to talk about it.