June 6, 2017 -- A Quick Run Around the Web

Landing craft approaching Omaha Beach (Source). Marina Amaral's blog has some colorized photographs of the landings and battle for Normandy. The BBC has animated maps showing the course of the invasion (required Flash Player 6).

From the U.S. Army's web-page:

On June 6, 1944, more than 160,000 Allied troops [American, British and Canadian] landed along a 50-mile stretch of heavily-fortified French coastline, to fight Nazi Germany on the beaches of Normandy, France. Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower called the operation a crusade in which, “we will accept nothing less than full victory.” More than 5,000 Ships and 13,000 aircraft supported the D-Day invasion, and by day’s end, the Allies gained a foot-hold in Continental Europe. The cost in lives on D-Day was high. More than 9,000 Allied Soldiers were killed or wounded, but their sacrifice allowed more than 100,000 Soldiers to begin the slow, hard slog across Europe, to defeat Adolf Hitler’s crack troops.

 Firearms/Self-Defense:

• "The 'Real' Solution to Jihadist Knife Attacks"--Gabe Suarez. He has six points: (1) Forget the fantasy of empty-handed defense; (2) use a weapon of some sort; (3) always be armed no matter the law or rules to the contrary; (4) learn to be violent; (5) learn preemption; and (6) keep alert.
• "US Army Pursues SUPPRESSED, Magazine-Fed Automatic Rifle in New Calibers, to REPLACE M249 SAW"--The Firearms Blog. The special notice seeks input on a weapon system that will provide suppressive fire out to 600 m for moving targets and 1,000 m otherwise. The notice indicated that the new weapon will be lighter than the SAW, and will use lighter weight (but more lethal) ammunition. It must be compatible with existing optics and night vision systems, as well as the the Small Arms Fire Control system currently in development (basically, a laser range-finder combined with a computerized system to identify potential threats and provide sighting solutions for accurate shooting). Together with the recent RFI for an interim combat rifle, this notice appears to signal that we are approaching a paradigm shift in military small-arms. 
• "Julie Golob: Barriers to Shooting Competition Too High"--The Truth About Guns. An article about Golob's presentation at the NSSF Industry Summit, and her call to make shooting sports accessible to more shooters. Golob's primary focus is on making the rules less complex, and reduce the equipment costs for such competitions. I don't know about you, but I can think of a couple of things that would help: two-gun competitions (I know they exist in a few limited areas, but major support to spread them nation-wide) and competitions using .22 LR weapons so the ammo expense would not be so great.
• This isn't actually as ground-breaking as the article indicates, because others have been looking into the same types of materials to use as body armor: "Air Force cadet creates bulletproof breakthrough"--Fox News (warning: video starts automatically). According to the article, "Weir's idea was to combine anti-ballistic fabric with what's known as a shear thickening fluid to create a less heavy material to use in body armor."