Pluto - The Salvage Operation

This is a fascinating site talking about the salvage of the Pluto pipeline after WW2. Link.
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Cambridgeshire Steam Rally 2012

Went to the Cambridgeshire Steam Rally in Swavesey village last weekend on the Sunday. I have been before but it was many years ago, and it is now a much larger event and at a different venue. As the name suggests there is a strong Steam influence with a large number of traction engines and small stationary rotary steam engines (of astonishing variety). It had been very wet on the run up the event so it was quite interesting getting vehicles on to the site on the Friday.  Fortunately it was dry on the Saturday and Sunday and so the ground dried out enough to allow the event to proceed without it becoming a mud-bath.
Here's my son keeping the revs up on the truck prior to us setting off whilst I did some last minutes checks.
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Driving the over about 10 miles of windy back roads to the event I picked up a tailgater for a while ! LOL
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There was a large number of vintage cars in attendance along with commercial vehicles, tractors and and about half a dozen military vehicles including my own. Quite a relaxed affair with plenty to occupy the family for a few hours.
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Stand out military vehicle for me was this very tasteful Mack recovery truck
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Most interesting classic vehicle was this little BMW Bug which was in fantastic condition.
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Rare Dunkirk photos found after 70 years

Rare photos taken by a German soldier of the devastated beaches of Dunkirk after the evacuation have been found 70 years on by the family of a British war veteran. Link
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Dungeons & Dragons & Bitches

This is an interesting (and completely unPC) take on a D&D game :)
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Dungeons & Dragons & Bitches from Peter Atencio on Vimeo.
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HMS Triumph: Life on board a Royal Navy submarine

HMS Triumph is one of the Royal Navy's Trafalgar class submarines, using its stealth on counter-piracy, anti-terrorism and narcotics operations. BBC defence correspondent Jonathan Beale has had exclusive access to the confined space where 120 crew members serve.  Article on BBC web site:  Link
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Chinook Recovers Downed AH-64D

Some great flying here in rough conditions. Respect.
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2012 Olympic Ceremony - London

Watched the opening ceremony with the family on Friday night, and felt proud of our little country of 60 million and the fabulous show that was put on. Well done to all involved.
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Entrapment - Bill Kearns

This is very good :)
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10 Creepiest Abandoned Cold War Missile Silos

Dimply-lit tunnels snake into the distance, metal steps echo with the sound of footsteps, and huge vertical drops plummet into the darkness – cavernous chambers where missiles intended to carry nuclear warheads would have once been housed. Replete with the signs of creeping decay and generally left to rack and ruin, abandoned missile bases are grim yet fascinating places to explore. Link
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We Remember

Given a link today to this rather good video on U-Tube.

Picture Of The Week - No 9 - Orc Nob who was MIA found alive and well !

You what it’s like, you have a favoured figure that you like to use in some games. He should be safely tucked away ready use, but when you open the box he’s not there…
Years ago when I lived back in Harrogate and I used to play quite a bit of Space Crusade, White Dwarf No 134 came out and gave the stats for some ‘alternative’ teams. Suitably inspired I visited my local GW shop picked up some 40k orcs and generated an 12 strong Orc Mob to use in place of the standard Space Marine 5 man squad. Individually (apart from the Orc Nob) they don’t have the staying power of Space Marines as their armour is less, but they do have the advantage of numbers and if you use the Freebooter and Frag Stikkbombz equipment cards, they have some real firepower. Anyway, getting back to the story, I keep the mob in their own plastic box tucked away with the rest of the Space Crusade gear but a couple of years back the Orc Nob went MIA and for the life of me I haven’t been able to recall what I’d done with him. Chatting with Alex at the weekend I suggested to him that we I dig out of my loft the old classic GW game Blood Bowl and I’ll try and teach him it. Opening up the associated storage box to show him the selection of teams I’ve collected and low and behold who should turn up, but my missing Orc Nob who I now vaguely recall using in my Savage Orc team when they had a outing some years back. Anyway, so all’s well that ends well :)-
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Landslide uncovers 1,000 deadly WW2 bombs and rockets

The East Riding beach of Mappleton, near Hornsea, was used as a practice bombing range during the Second World War – but the bad weather has led to ground movement which exposed one of the biggest arsenals ever uncovered yesterday. Link
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Friday Humour

 

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It's good to stretch...  :)

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UK receives first F-35 stealth fighter jet from US

It has been a long and expensive wait, but Britain has now been handed its first Joint Strike Fighter jet, also known as the F-35 or Lightning II. Link to BBC.
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Comment: Lets hope it proves to be a good aircraft because they are certainly costing enough each.
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Wedding Anniversary

I can share with you that it is our Wedding anniversary today.  My good lady (Julie) and I have been married for 24 years today.

Humour - TO ALL STAFF REGARDING BAD LANGUAGE

It has been brought to the management’s attention that some individuals have been using foul and abusive language during the execution of their duties.  Due to complaints from some of the more sensitive staff, this type of language can no longer be tolerated. 

However, the management realizes the importance of staff being able to express their feelings when communicating with other employees.  To this end, our Human Resources department has compiled a list of code phrase replacements so that the proper exchange of ideas and information can continue in an effective manner without offence to our more easily offended employees.  The phrases are as follows:

OLD PHRASE                 NEW PHRASE

Absolutely no fucking chance                      I’m fairly sure that’s not feasible

You lying shit                                             Are you quite sure about that?

Tell someone who gives a fuck                     Have you informed the management about that?

It’s got fuck all to do with me                       I don’t think I was involved in that project

Shove a brush up my arse and I’ll

sweep the fucking floor as well                    Would you like me to do that for you as well?

Am I the only twat here                              Would someone else care to answer the telephone

You haven’t got a fucking clue                    Perhaps you need a little more training in this

This place has gone to rat shit                   The office is looking a little untidy

Eat shit and die mother fucker                   I think I told you this would happen

You over paid shit for brains                      You’re my boss and I respect that

Fuck off smart arse                                  Well-done

She’s a ball-busting bitch                         She’s a full time career woman

Get out of my face, dog breath                 I don’t think I require your assistance

Raving fucking arse bandit                       He’s very much in touch with his feminine side

Boy, are you in the shit                           Does the boss know about this?

Kiss my fucking arse                              I’d rather not if you don’t mind

Who the fuck are you?                            Are you new here?

No fucker told me                                   I wasn’t given that piece of information

What sort of clueless fuck wit are you?     You haven’t done this before, have you?

You’ve made a right cock-up of that         It’s the sort of mistake anyone could make

I’m dying for a shit                                  I’m going to wash my hands

It’s fucked                                             It’s broken but I think I can fix it

It’s completely fucked                            It’s broken beyond repair

Fuck off                                                I'd like to be alone for a while if you don’t mind

Fuck off you twat                                  You are a very rude man

Borderlands 2 - Wimoweh Trailer

The original Borderlands computer game was good, Borderlands 2 looks like it could be even better !  Can't wait until September :)
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Mussolini's bunker: Il Duce's futile search for safety

The extensive air-raid shelter that Benito Mussolini had built under his home gives a flavour of the fears that must have haunted the Italian dictator's final days. Link to the BBC.
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Alexander the not so Great: History through Persian eyes

Alexander the Great is portrayed as a legendary conqueror and military leader in Greek-influenced Western history books but his legacy looks very different from a Persian perspective. Link on the BBC site.
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The Hobbit Trailer 2012 Movie Lord of the Rings - Official [HD]

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Trailer 2012 - Official movie trailer in HD - The Lord of the Rings prequel - starring Ian McKellen, Martin Freeman, Cate Blanchett - Bilbo Baggins, a Hobbit, journeys to the Lonely Mountain accompanied by a group of dwarves to reclaim a treasure taken from them by the dragon Smaug.
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Comment:  A must see for all Lord of the Rings Fans :)
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Hadrian's Wall Podcast

Whilst driving to the dentists yesterday I happened to tune into the BBC Radio 4 programme 'In Our Time' which is hosted by the well known radio presenter Melvyn Bragg. The format of this programme for those who haven't listened to it is a simple one. Melvyn Bragg and his three guests (experts in their field) discuss the history of ideas - including topics drawn from philosophy, science, history, religion and culture for approximately 40 minutes.
Must confess I found yesterdays programme about Hadrian's Wall totally fascinating. Here is a link to the BBC page concerned. Link   The broadcast is described as follows: 'Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss Hadrian's Wall, the largest Roman structure and one of the most important archaeological monuments in Britain. It was built across North England in about 122 AD by the Emperor Hadrian and, even after more than a century of excavations, many mysteries still surround it. Did it have a meaningful defensive role or was it mainly a powerful emperor's vanity project? Melvyn Bragg is joined by Greg Woolf, Professor of Ancient History at the University of St Andrews; David Breeze, Former Chief Inspector of Ancient Monuments for Scotland and Visiting Professor of Archaeology at the University of Durham and Lindsay Allason-Jones, Former Reader in Roman Material Culture at the University of Newcastle.'
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Highly recommended.
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Crumbling Soviet Military Bases: A 20th Century Empire in Decay

This is worth looking through.  Link

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Brake Pipes & Doddington Carnival

Along with most of the UK we have battered by unseasonably heavy rain of recent, but on Friday with a break in the weather late afternoon and early evening I managed to change the twisted brake pipe,

fit a new brake hose and bleed nipple and get the system bled.

With the truck now serviceable again, on Saturday morning I took it along to the Doddington Carnival.  Our MVT club had been invited along by the organisers, and myself and another member turned up to join in the festivities.

(part of the procession just prior to setting off)

Doddington village has been holding this carnival for 90 years and it is an engrained part of village life that sees the main road closed off and the carnival procession proceed from the middle of the village down to bottom, then up to the top, then back to the start position at a slow walk with 99% of the village turned out to watch.  I was thankful the truck has a crawler gear for first gear (under normal operations you start it in second) as it was a good match for the speed we were doing.

Unfortunately little Vulture was poorly and so didn't come along, so I offered a seat to the eight year daughter of one of the organisers.  Waving to her surprised school friends from the cab made her day, and with a huge smile on her face she turned to me and said "I know what the USA stands for, the United States of Awesomeness" :)   Amazingly the weather held up and was clear and warm and sunny all morning, however as I drove home at lunchtime I could see the weather fronts rolling in, so I pulled the truck over and put the canvas doors on.  No sooner had I done this and the heavens opened in a torrential downpour !  This was the first time I had driven it in really heavy rain, and its fair to say that cab is not that water-tight ! LOL  There was water dripping in from round the windscreen, round the top of the doors, round the side of the doors and also from the vent just in front of the windscreen.  A steady stream of drips from this vent landed with perfect precision on my foot on the accelerator, right on the laces, so that within a couple of minutes I could feel a pool of water gathering round my heel !  All in all an entertaining morning :)

Humour - Traffic Incident

This is sure to make you laugh/smile  :)
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Picture Of The Week - No 8 - Chaos Terminator

This weeks picture is one I took many years ago. It features one of my favourite Games Workshop figures, a Warhammer 40k Chaos Space Marine in Terminator Armour armed with a Gatling Gun.   I bought him not use in 40K but to use in Space Crusade games, where I had great fun using a small Chaos squad as my team. Still a top game after all these years.
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Five Rules To Remember In Life

The Battle of Waterloo Movie (1970)

The classic movie Battle of Waterloo (1970) is on U-Tube. Brilliant stuff !
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11 Months, 3000 pictures and a lot of coffee.

This engine strip and rebuild for an old Triumph (Spitfire ?) is quite fun to watch  :)
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Twisted Brake Pipe

You know what its like, you set your stall out to tackle one job, and give yourself another unwelcome one when you make a start. Attempting to change the passenger side rear brake hose on the truck
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resulted in this, in spite of the liberal application of penetrating oil over several days :( (Deep Sigh)
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I've arranged to pick up two new pipes on Thursday, as the one on the other side will probably do the same...

Picture Of The Week - No 7 - Schwimmwagen

In 2008 I went to the War and Peace Show. Forget your tanks and your half-tracks etc, without doubt the vehicles that impressed me the most was this WW2 Volkswagen Schwimmwagen (which literally means Floating / Swimming Car). What a fantastic little vehicle which these photos just don't do justice to. If they weren't so expensive I would so love to own one.
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Film - MY WAY - US Trailer

This film looks to have promise...
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Anti-tank Ammunition – what do all those letters mean?

There is an interesting article on the Battlefront - Flames Of War website about the different types of anti-tank ammo used during WW2.  Certainly Worth a read. Link
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UK Military Rules

UK Military Rules Royal Marine Rules:

1. Be courteous to everyone, friendly to no one.
2. Decide to be aggressive enough, quickly enough.
3. Have a plan.
4. Have a back-up plan, because the first one probably won't work.
5. Be polite. Be professional. But, have a plan to kill everyone you meet, even your friends
6. Do not attend a gunfight with a handgun whose calibre does not start with a "4."
7. Anything worth shooting is worth shooting twice. Ammo is cheap. Life is expensive.
8. Move away from your attacker. Distance is your friend. (Lateral & Diagonal preferred.)
9. Use cover or concealment as much as possible. 
10. Flank your adversary when possible. Protect yours.
11. Always cheat; always win. The only unfair fight is the one you lose. In ten years nobody will remember the details of calibre, stance, or tactics. They will only remember who lived.
12. If you are not shooting, you should be communicating your intention to shoot.

SBS Rules:
1. Look very cool in sunglasses.
2. Kill every living thing within view.
3. Adjust speedo.
4. Check hair in mirror.

SAS Rules:
1. Walk 50 miles wearing 75 pound rucksack while starving.
2. Locate individuals requiring killing.
3. Request permission via radio from "Higher" to perform killing. 
4. Curse bitterly when mission is aborted.

Army Rules:
1. Curse bitterly when receiving operational order.
2. Make sure there is extra ammo and extra coffee.
3. Curse bitterly.
4. Curse bitterly.
5. Do not listen to 2nd Lt's; it can get you killed.
6. Curse bitterly.

RAF Rules:
1. Have a cocktail.
2. Adjust temperature on air-conditioner.
3. See what's on Sky.
4. Ask "what is a gunfight?"
5. Request more funding from Government with a "killer" Power Point presentation.
6. Wine & dine 'key' MPs; invite MOD & defence industry executives.
7. Receive funding, set up new command and assemble assets.
8. Declare the assets "strategic" and never deploy them operationally.
9. Hurry to make 13:45 tea-time.
10. Make sure the base is as far as possible from the conflict but close enough to have tax exemption.

RN Rules:
1. Go to Sea.
2. Drink rum
3. Deploy Marines
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Amazing Looking Terrain

Check out this link to some totally amazing looking terrain.  Link
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Blade Runner: Which predictions have come true?

It's been 30 years since the release of Blade Runner and 10 years since Minority Report. Both are rich sources of predictions about the future. But what has actually come to pass? Link to BBC.
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Friday Humour - Cultural Differences!!!

On a chain of beautiful deserted islands in the middle of South Pacific, the following people are stranded: Two Italian men and one Italian woman.
Two French men and one French woman.
Two German men and one German woman.
Two Greek men and one Greek woman.
Two British men and one British woman.
Two Bulgarian men and one Bulgarian woman.
Two Japanese men and one Japanese woman.
Two Chinese men and one Chinese woman.
Two Irish men and one Irish woman.
Two American men and one American woman.

One month later, on these absolutely stunning deserted islands in the middle of nowhere, the following things have occurred:

One Italian man killed the other Italian man for the Italian woman.

The two French men and the French woman are living happily together in a menage a trois.

The two German men have a strict weekly schedule of alternating visits with the German woman.

The two Greek men are sleeping together and the Greek woman is cooking and cleaning for them.

The two British men are waiting for someone to introduce them to the British woman.

The two Bulgarian men took one look at the Bulgarian woman and started swimming to another island..

The two Japanese have faxed Tokyo and are awaiting instructions.

The two Chinese men have set up a pharmacy, liquor store, restaurant, and laundry, and have gotten the woman pregnant in order to supply more employees for their stores.

The two Irish men divided the island into north and south and set up a distillery. They do not remember if sex is in the picture because it gets somewhat foggy after a few pints of coconut whisky. However, they are satisfied because the British are not having any fun..

The two American men are contemplating suicide, because the American woman will not shut up and complains relentlessly about her body, the true nature of feminism, what the sun is doing to her skin, how she can do anything they can do, the necessity of fulfillment, the equal division of household chores, how sand and palm trees make her look fat, how her last boyfriend respected her opinion and treated her nicer than they do, and how her relationship with her mother is the root cause of all her problems, and why didn't they bring a damn cell phone so they could call 911 and get them all rescued off this god forsaken deserted island in the middle of freaking nowhere so she can get her nails done and go shopping.
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TANK FAILS

There are some interesting positions that tanks have got themselves into on this U-Tube clip of tank fails. I can imagine recovery action on some of these will have been interesting to say the least...
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Picture Of The Week - No 6 - Orc Warlord

This weeks picture of the week is of one of my favourite fantasy figures from my 25-28mm Orc army.  Here we have my Orc General made by the now defunct Grenadier Miniatures, designed by Nick Lund.  There is nothing showy about the figure, but that's what I like.  He's there, arms crossed glowering from under the rim of his helmet.
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Ford GPW 247676 Jeep

This is a stunning little video of a restored Jeep.
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Military Vehicle Day at Duxford

On Sunday, as well being Fathers Day it was also the Military Vehicle Day at the Imperial War Museum Duxford. For those not familiar with this event, in a nutshell owners of military vehicles are welcome to bring their vehicles along to display them to the public and take part in a cavalcade display driving around a taxi track and along the main runway. The Miniature Armoured Fighting Vehicle Association (MAFVA) have a large tent with all sorts of competitions running and a large selection of trade stands. In addition there's a couple of dozen general trade and military charity stands. The museum digs out a selection of its running vehicles and puts them through their paces in a small arena for an hour. Generally there are a few thousand visitors and the whole event is a quite relaxed un-crowded affair. I’ve been numerous time before as visitor, in fact we went as a family last year, and the also in 2009 year as I reported on this blog.

The event this year took on a different slant for the Vulture household as this year we have our GMC 352 truck, and had booked it in some months back. After returning from a weeks holiday in (a rather cold) Kent on the Friday, I spent most of Saturday preparing the vehicle for its longest journey since bringing it back from Yorkshire last July. I topped up the oil and water, lubricated most of the 33 grease points (before running out of grease), lubricated the accelerator linkage, and then titivated the paintwork here and there. After starting it up to make sure everything was good engine wise, I stuck the battery on charge for good measure and retired for the night.

Sunday morning saw the Gods smiling upon our endeavours as unlike the recent weather, we had warmth and sunshine ! :) After a quick wash down to get the weather grime off, and an unusually easy engine start I set off with son (Alex) and brother-in-law (Mike) crewing with me in the cab. An hour later and with 30 miles showing in the trip-meter we pulled onto the Duxford airfield to be met by a small army of smiling marshals who directed us to the open grass area between the American hangar and the Land Warfare hall where we joined some 30 vehicles who were already there.

(Picture taken by Ken Clay)

Over the coming hours the area filled up considerably as a further 130+ vehicles joined us. Stand-out vehicle for me this year was a Humber Pig which looked just brilliant,

closely followed by a simply massive Zil (Russian) truck.

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After browsing the stands Mrs Vulture and son presented me with a fathers day present in the form of a book on the Red Ball Express, which I shall enjoy reading over the coming weeks.

An old friend of mine John Elwen was visiting with his father and they swung by for a chat late morning and then returned at 13:50 to join us as I had offered them seats in the truck for the Cavalcade.


 John, Mike and Alex opted to go in the back whilst John's Dad decided to crew with me in the less windy surroundings of the cab. We pulled out and queued up with almost 100 vehicles and then slowly eased out onto the Taxiway which runs down parallel with the crowd-line. Initially most drivers kept to a pedestrian 20mph, but as we neared the bottom of the airfield everyone got their foot down (well as much as most of us could) and after that people were belting around, it was chaos at times !
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After 3 circuits we all pulled off and parked back up. 

I  I left the truck at that point and queued with Alex for him to have a look around one of the armies newest vehicles the Coyote Tactical Support Vehicle which is based on a 6x6 derivative of the Jackal 2.

The soldier from the Parachute Regt showing the kids around the vehicle was a top guy, and spent quite a time with each of them answering their questions. According to his colleagues he’d been hard at it since the doors opened at 10:00 and hadn’t even had opportunity to eat his lunch !
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Around 17:00 we left and gently cruised back home at a steady 35-37 mph with the sun still shinning. A top day all in all :)
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Picture Of The Week - No 5 - Lords Of Midnight

My picture of the week is the front cover art of an old ZX Spectrum computer game called 'The Lords Of Midnight'. This was a very very early graphical adventure wargame which I recall spending hours and hours and hours playing with some friends in the early 80s. We mapped out the entire world and where the character's and their armies could be found. Happy days when the world seemed less complicated :)
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Here's a screen shot from the game itself:

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Afghanistan's 'graveyard of foreigners'

Few countries in the world have been invaded as often, and by so many other nations, as Afghanistan, where many soldiers and civilians of various nationalities are buried in Kabul's Kabre Gora, or "graveyard of foreigners". Link to BBC.
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Forthcoming Event - 2012 Duxford Military Vehicle Show - 17 June

A quick reminder to everyone that it is the Duxford Military Vehicle Show next Sunday, the 17 June 2012. Put it in your diary :) Weather and vehicle serviceability permitting, I'll be there with my truck, so if you see me, stop by and say Hi :)
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Picture Of The Week - No 4 - Jeep To Normandy

Back in 1977 when I was still at school, I used to sit next to a lad called Chris Jenkins in my O Level History lesson. Chris and I have have been friends ever since, and have shared may adventures over the years, including going to Normandy in his Jeep for the 60th D-Day celebrations in Jun 2004. Boy did we do some mileage in that Jeep! In the space of 4 days we drove south and caught the Chunnel across to France and then drove to Normandy all in one day. For two days we toured the sites, and then drove back home on the fourth day.  The weather wasn't great and most of the time it was pretty cold, but we still had a great time.  Here's a (rather grainy) photo of the two of us setting off on our adventure.
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Prometheus Viral Videos

Just discovered these on U-Tube.  They are worth watching whether of not you have seen the movie yet.
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Special FX Miniatures

Amazing modelmaking that has taken place for some films. Link
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WWII veteran recalls fighting at Cassino, Anzio

When Kansas weather turns cold, Bing Powell still wears three pairs of socks to warm his feet that suffered trench foot during the bitterly cold fighting at the Battle of Cassino in Italy 68 years earlier. Link
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Prometheus - Short Film Review

Last night a small posse of us saddled up and dropped-shipped into the latest of the Alien film franchise Prometheus. Myself I have deliberately not watched any of the trailers (even the one on this blog) or read any of the reviews, so that I could see the movie unencumbered by pre-conceptions.

The first thing to say is that, if you are a fan of the Aliens movies, this IMHO is a MUST see film.

On the up-side it is real visual treat; the sets are gorgeous and the way the script answers some outstanding questions from previous films is very well done.  Camera work is good, and so are the special effects.  The lead actress provides quite a gritty (Ripley like) performance.

This is the point I now say, don't read any further further if you think my criticism might spoil your enjoyment if you haven't yet seen it.. Plus there is some plot spoilers...
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On the down-side the script is such a disappointment :( Character development is poor, in fact really poor in some areas, plus some of the characters are rubbish along with big chunks of the story. For instance one of the guys starts feeling unwell and spots a tiny creature in his eye. Does he mention to anyone, his partner for example ? NO, he just presses on. Why the Android decides to experiment with contaminating the crew is simply not explained. And so it goes on...

I have seen many of Ridley Scott's films, and consider this to be the worst scripted one I have seen.

Overall ratings out of 5:

Value For Money (for sheer entertainment): 4.5
Linkage Into Existing Alien Movies: 4.9
Overall Quality Of Script: 2.5
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Picture Of The Week - No 3 - BattleMaster Mech

One of my favourite pieces of Battletech artwork is the picture of this BattleMaster taken from the front cover of the Rolling Thunder supplement.
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Goodbye To The Lancaster

Check out this footage I found on the British Pathe film site
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