Go to the Big Picture for the rest of the series. [Big Picture]

They've developed this prototype human powered machine that can charge an XO-1 laptop while in use, and it's easy enough for most 3rd graders to pedal. The OLPC Freeplay hand crank is connected to pedals underneath, and no backup battery is required.

They hope is to shrink the idea down, and deploy it to the many rural areas where under-privileged kids don't have electricity. Nice work…I wonder how much peddling it would take to read Gizmodo? [OLPC Afghanistan via OLPCNews via CrunchGear]

In this picture, taken Tuesday, he's being carried out of the University of Maryland Medical Center's R. Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center to be transferred to the Kernan Orthopaedics and Rehabilitation Hospital in Baltimore, where he'll be fitted with a prosthesis. What a striking image of a man using his craft to get through a horrible experience. Hang in there, Emilio. [The Big Picture]

[Big Picture]

In our original post, we speculated that using a gun stock for shooting a camera seemed like a good way for a photographer to get shot. And we wondered how common these stocks could be. Duran wrote back with a short, informed response, but I was able to twist his arm into telling us a bit more.

Pointing a long lens mounted on a stock is indeed a recipe for getting shot if you're not careful. In fact in training at Fort McCoy, Wi., I was "shot" by Soldiers on practice missions.

I was not where they expected me to be... i.e. mixed in with the opposition who happened to be shooting at them at the time. Thus, I was "shot" at with blanks during the training even though I was in uniform. They *saw* what they assumed was a rifle in an area where bad guys were shooting at them..

This, of course, is why we train. Even as military media, we need to train in realistic conditions. It was a learning event for both myself and the Soldiers in training.

At Kajaki Dam in Afghanistan, I was there to get some on the ground coverage for the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) and the Afghan National Army. The Afghan National Army troops there are "spot on" as the Brits say and the dam has great strategic importance. There are lots of bad guys.
I took my Bushhawk stock along for the ride out to Kajaki. The stock is of limited use as in remote regions such as this, the local population has never seen a DSLR so they limited trust when you're pointing a long lens at them. In operations where we were going patrols or at night with night vision I'd use it a lot. However, when going where the bad guys are, there is little worry as I was with some of the best Soldiers in the world.

Okay, so why risk losing your life. Good question. Lemme see if I can figure it out.

Ok. It is an extremely stable platform to shoot pictures with (i.e. that's why rifles are designed that way). It is very natural and comfortable which results in good images. When using long lenses, holding the camera steady is damn important.

Plus, you can sling the camera stock while walking. This is very important when trying to keep up with Soldiers that are in *much* better shape than you (lost 20 pounds during the tour). Although I'm a Reservist, there's only one standard... so I have the keep up with Olympic-grade athletes when on Active duty.

Monopods work very well but are a pain in the ass when on the move. You have to open them, then close them when you're going to roll out. Which happens unexpectedly at times :)

Handholding with two hands is about the only way and how most of the world gets it done. I would not advise *any* media in a war zone to use a stock. In my case, I'm a member of the armed forces and I'm with the guys with the guns. We used to joke about it in that the Taliban would wonder if we bought some some secret weapon since we were the only Americans at Kajaki. Either way, the bad guys would shoot at me anyway on any patrols with little regard if I had a camera or a rifle.

My main thing was not to make the local population feel threatened...
I have to say that there is something inherently fun about shooting a camera like a rifle. It is really more fun than I should admit. I found myself grinning every time I used the darn thing.

I guess there's just something obsessive with me and rifle stocks for cameras. I actually designed one in drafting class in high-school but it wasn't until this last tour that I ponied up the cheese to buy one. It's just a lot of fun.

- Jeff Duran

or Staff Sgt. Jeffrey Duran one weekend a month, two weeks a year (unless called to go to far away places and meet new people... and take their picture).

A special thanks to Staff Sgt. Jeffrey Duran for writing in and sharing his experiences. You can see more of his photos here and here.

Here is the XM982 Excalibur precision-guided artillery projectile. Soldiers are able to program map grid coordinates into an Excalibur round and use GPS to guide it to target with pinpoint accuracy.
The Objective Gunner Protection Kit (OGPK) is a motorized, rotating turret mounted on top of Humvees and MRAP vehicles. According to the Army it offers protection from IED fragmentation and small-arms fire, includes transparent armor, a sling for the gunner, and super handy rear-view mirrors.
The HMMWV Egress Assistance Trainer (that's better known as "Humvee") is a mockup of a Hummer's cabin, and can be spun around to simulate an upended vehicle. Soldiers use this invention to practice disembarking from damaged or overturned vehicles before they're deployed. [CNET]

Not content to stop with home protection, Molavizadeh has expanded his unique and painful approach to crime fighting to the automotive realm. In fact, he has already constructed a system that can deliver a non-lethal electric shock to a car thief via his cellphone. Despite interest from private individuals and local news sources, the Afghan government isn't taking his work seriously—which shows you just how bad the situation is in Afghanistan. This is the kind of dude you keep your eye on. [NPR via Gizmag]

Thanks to the 24-year old Royal Marine's pack and armour, he escaped with nothing more than a bloody nose. The rucksack, however, was not so lucky. Explains Croucher:

"It was blown straight off my back. The blast shunted me a full metre. The lithium battery for my communication equipment took the brunt of the shrapnel—it landed 10 metres away with sparks and flames flying from it. I was completely disorientated. All I could hear was a loud ringing and the faint sound of people shouting 'Are you ok? Are you ok?' Then I felt one of the lads giving me a top to toe check. A minute later someone said 'you were f****** lucky'. They were like 'what are you doing, you nutter?' But you could feel their relief."

Apart from the burst blood vessels in his nose caused by the shockwave from the explosion, Lance-Corporal Croucher was unscathed. His selfless actions have caused him to be nominated for the Victoria Cross, the British army's highest award for bravery. If the committee in charge agrees, he will be only the ninth man since World War II to receive it. [News Of The World]

The Taliban, which wants the networks to go dark between 5pm and 7am each night, is convinced that Allied troops are using the cellphone networks to track down its remaining fighters. It has told the four companies responsible for the mobile networks—Etisalat, Areeba, Roshan and the Afghan Wireless Communication Company—that if its demands are not met, then great vengeance will be wreaked (or something.)

With a largely defunct landline network, Afghanis rely heavily on their cellphones—not least the Taliban, who use theirs to contact the media as well as co-ordinating their attacks. Were the Taliban to succeed, it would be a blow for the fledgling democracy. Ironically, coalition forces rely on satellites to locate their foes, not the cellphone companies, three of whom have their head offices situated outside Afghanistan. [Ars Technica]