Silflay Hraka

I know you’ve been tempted, but perhaps it’s best if you avoid eating the raw camel livers from now on.

With the dry summer, the birding has really slowed down around Camp Victory-or it could be that I am less interested in watching birds when the temps are up around 112 or so. No worry, as you can watch airplanes instead – one of the advantages of living at the airport. And since I brought my scanner back with me from leave at Ft Bragg, I can sit in the Ford Explorer with the air conditioning running and listen till I hear something coming in.

Baghdad International Airport, (BIAP) formerly Saddam International, has military and civilian sides, and serves as the main air hub for Coalition Forces in and around Baghdad. Air traffic into Baghdad isn’t quite routine yet, as there is still a slight threat of missile attack. Both military and civilian aircraft spiral in and out of the airfield to minimize the threat. But that may not be any worse than going into the Basrah Airport, where the AIP lists “Potential for unexploded ordnance away from hard standings”. Interestingly, there are Iraqi air traffic controllers on duty at BIAP during the daytime, and the Americans take over at night.

Here on short final to the military side at BIAP is a C-12 Huron, which the military uses as a VIP aircraft. It is a military version of the Raytheon Super King Air 200.

Not sure which VIP this one was carrying, we have no shortage of generals here in Baghdad.

Civilian traffic continues to increase here as well. The US State Department says that there were 326 civil aviation flights in and out of Baghdad for the week of 7-13 August. When you add in the military flights, it makes BIAP a fairly busy airport. There are several “new” airlines flying in and out of the city, although I’m not sure I want to try Flying Carpet Airways just yet. Here is one example, an Iraqi Airways 727 taking off from Runway 33 R back in April.

This airplane has an interesting history; like many that end up in this part of the world, it flew elsewhere first. This one, #21483, was delivered to Delta Air Lines 31 May 1978.

Air freight is really the biggest traffic contributor here, with service from DHL to several cities in Iraq, among others. Here is a Phoenix Aviation An-12 coming in to the civilian side on 21 August 2005.

The An-12 is the Soviet counterpart to the Lockheed C-130, it is perhaps more ubiquitous than the C-130, as the An-12 has been pressed into freight service by numerous carriers.

Off to Holden Beach tomorrow for a much needed and deserved week of vacation w/the family. It will be the first time this year for the saltwater side of things. Two goals: Goal #1. Catch Holden a decent size shark. Hence, the heaver will see considerable time in the water baited up with a wire shark rig and cut bait. Holden is very intent on catching Bruce the Shark. Still under the influence of Nemo. Goal #2: Citation flounder from Lockwood Folly Inlet. Still searching for first saltwater citation. The flounder down that way get really big. Standard flounder rig w/live finger mullet. Although, Holden insists that we have to release Bruce, he’s very eager to keep and eat the flounder. That’s a good sign!! Finally, this will be a good chance to work the kinks out, practice my casting w/the heaver as well as getting the gear ready for the trip to Ocracoke in another month. I’ll update any results when I get back. Tight lines and screaming drags…

The 152nd edition of the Carnival of the Vanities is hosted by Willisms this week.

And what’s a Carnival without a little contorversy?

If you’d like to host the Carnival, drop us a line. Information on how to join the Carnival can be found here. If you would like to be added to the Carnival announcement list, send an email to cotvanities-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

August 24th – The Big Picture
August 31st – Incite
September 7th – Sorta Pundit
September 14th – Silflay Hraka – The Three Year Anniversary
September 21st – the skwib
September 28th – expatriots united
October 5th – TechnoGypsy
October 12th – The Uncredible HallQ
October 19th – The World According To Nick
October 26th – Open
November 2nd – Free Money Finance
November 9th – Ravings
November 16th – The Examining Room
November 23rd – Open
November 30th – Open
December 7th – Denali Flavors
December 14th – Open
December 21st – Ravenwood’s Universe
December 28th – Chicken Soup For The Damned

All other dates are currently open for hosting. Also, be sure to check out the Carnival’s multitudinous offspring, most of which can be found via the Meta-Carnival.

Is there a scion of the Carnival missing? Drop us a line and let us know.

Finally, if submitting to the myriad of carnivals spawned by CoTV has proven difficult, head over to the Conservative Cat and take a look at his tool.

New Invention: A Battery Powered by Urine.

In this case, the necessity must’ve been a need to go. Thanks to Brother Carl for the link.

Over a decade in the making, it looks like we finally have a pretty good saltwater license. My only question: Why would either “side” (commercial or recs) oppose the provision that would allow more enforcement authority to the MFC officers? The license “as is” will go far to address declining stocks and much needed research so I’m pretty happy with the overall outcome. I certainly don’t mind contributing another $15 per year to help the cause. Tight line and screaming drags…

Golden Jackals, Canis aureus, are the coyotes of Asia and Africa, and are pretty common around the Camp Victory Metroplex, which consists of several camps surrounding the Baghdad International Airport. They seem to be well adapted to life here, I assume that rodents, small reptiles, bird eggs and trash make up a good part of their diet. They are the only jackals native to Iraq. We’ve seen them all around on the several different camps, though as things have built up, the weeds, reeds and bushes have been cut down, so they aren’t as noticeable as they were a few months back.

We saw this one on a rapidly drying lake bed. He walked aroung the entire perimeter, stopping only when he noticed that he was only about 50′ from us.

Jackal pups that have been hand-raised can be quite easily tamed. They may be housebroken and behave rather like a pet dog. However, they will not allow themselves to be petted by strangers. Unfortunately, with the US Army’s policy of “no pets”, we haven’t been able to validate the authenticy this claim. This little guy walked right out in front of us on May 29th, looked, gave a little growl and ran off into the brush.

I am unsure about the species reddish jackal that we have also seen here.

It appears it could be a Simian Jackal, a species not native to Iraq. The previous owner of our area was fairly well known for importing and keeping exotic animals; there are still old cages over near the airport as evidence of this practice.

Hmmmm… According to Ha’aretz, “Heat Dashes Palestinian Quest for Longest Sandwich.”

read more »

The 151st edition of the Carnival of the Vanities is hosted by Generic Confusion this week.

If you’d like to host the Carnival, drop us a line. Information on how to join the Carnival can be found here. If you would like to be added to the Carnival announcement list, send an email to cotvanities-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

August 17th – Willisms
August 24th – The Big Picture
August 31st – Incite
September 7th – Sorta Pundit
September 14th – Silflay Hraka – The Three Year Anniversary
September 21st – the skwib
September 28th – expatriots united
October 5th – TechnoGypsy
October 12th – The Uncredible HallQ
October 19th – The World According To Nick
October 26th – Open
November 2nd – Free Money Finance
November 9th – Ravings
November 16th – The Examining Room
November 23rd – Open
November 30th – Open
December 7th – Denali Flavors
December 14th – Open
December 21st – Ravenwood’s Universe
December 28th – Chicken Soup For The Damned

All other dates are currently open for hosting. Also, be sure to check out the Carnival’s multitudinous offspring, most of which can be found via the Meta-Carnival.

Is there a scion of the Carnival missing? Drop us a line and let us know.

Finally, if submitting to the myriad of carnivals spawned by CoTV has proven difficult, head over to the Conservative Cat and take a look at his tool.

S. Korean man dies after 50 hours of computer games.

SEOUL (Reuters) – A South Korean man who played computer
games for 50 hours almost non-stop died of heart failure
minutes after finishing his mammoth session in an Internet
cafe, authorities said Tuesday.

This little gem reminded me of someone. Can’t quite place my finger on whom it is, exactly. Hmmm…