von Lucke

Palin / Couric interview Seen this? Yah, that's what I want as the #2 leader of the most powerful nation on Earth. Great choice. Just brilliant.

Carter's Army 1970 --- stars Stephen Boyd(!) as a Southern officer assigned to command an all-black infantry unit in WW2 Italy. The troopers are filled out by Richard Pryor(!), Billy Dee Williams, Moses Gunn, and Rosie Greer. A great cast in a so-so story (it was the 1970's, after all), but still better than Spike's bizarre hybrid of war movie / mystical realism / black historical revisionism.

Only if you expect Georgia to allow those territories to go their own way, with no possibility of an invasion anytime in the near (or middle) future. Given the region's history, I'm not so optimistic as you seem to be. Your second sentence (minus the question marks) seems the most likely outcome, to me. The question is, will it be instigated by Georgian government troops or "militias", and how far down the road.

This just in: Russia recognizes the independance of South Ossetia and Abkhazia: The Plot Thickens "This is not an easy choice to make, but it represents the only possibility to save human lives," Medvedev said Tuesday in a televised address. Ummm, huh? Seems like the greatest possibility to lose human lives, as it will only encourage more fighting.

STALKER: Clear Sky is finally being released Sept 5.

Three words: Read. The. Book.

I thought that was yet another Seven Samurai remake?

What's that old saying? No combat ready unit ever passed inspection? Even in the US Army, what goes in the field would never be permitted in garrison. Like how? Condie's "If Russia doesn't stand down, we will take appropriate action" is the emptiest of threats. Define "appropriate action"? Kick them out of the G8? Haw! Exclude them from negotiations with Iran / North Korea? Never happen. Ya know, this is just the sort of opportunity Putin has been looking for to show that the US is all talk and no action. That Russia still controls it's borders. I think he's proven his point.

Not familiar with the 1956 Olympics water polo match between Hungary and USSR? Blood in The Water The Olympics has always been analogous to war --- it's just more obvious at times. Yes, why would an organization formed for the specific purpose of uniting in common defense against an emergent USSR, want to admit a member they might have to defend against an emergent Russia? Boggles the mind, it does!

In an attempt to unite the two skeins of this thread: The origin of the word "trophy" comes from the ancient Greek military tradition of the winner of a battle creating a monument on the battlefield out of the defeated enemy's armor and weapons. Derived from the word "Tropaion", from the verb "trope" (to rout). Things haven't changed that much. And: Ukraine is practically the only CIS country to openly back Georgia demanding that Russia immediately withdraw its troops from the territory of Georgia. Yesterday Kiev threatened to block the returning of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet to Sevastopol in case the ships take part in a sea blockade of Georgia. I wonder how far the Hunkies are really willing to go to support their pals in Tiblisi? And what is the US doing --- besides the hypocritical rebuke from our ambassador, that is. We going to leave another East European semi-ally hanging in the event of a Russian invasion? Not like there isn't a precedent...

Ah, must be they don't accept any Herman Goering look-alikes into the ranks, then.

Yamato vs. USN airpower comes to mind. And this, from the previously cited wiki article on the INS Eilat, seems particularly relevant: Design to meet the threat, not design something and hope the threat never materializes.

Simple, yet addictive. My kind of time-waster.

About the only Vietnam War related game I've played that was any good is "Vietcong" (and it's expansion "Fist Alpha") by Pterodon. A mission-oriented FPS, you start out in the early sixties (with WW2 era equipment), work yr way up through some vintage French and / or Warsaw Pact armaments, and finally, the venerable M16. Some of the later missions --- especially the Firebase Apache mission --- are extremely challenging.

Don't be suprised if Ledger is up for an Oscar at years' end. The condolences-vote worked for Peter Finch back in '76, and Ledger's performance is several levels above what Finch portrayed in Network. Interestingly, they both played nut-jobs pandering to a public breathlessly awaiting their next over-the-top exploit...

The story is a mash up of The Long Holloween (minus every villain but Two Face), overlaid with the Joker from The Killing Joke. Which, really, ain't that bad an idea. Heath Ledger nails the Joker as the anarchic homicidal maniac that the best Batman stories have portayed him as: Sort of A Clockwork Orange with more face paint and 'splosions --- but plenty of random ultra-violence. If there's a #3, wonder if they're setting it up for the Catwoman story-arc? They did kill off Bat's civilian love-interested, and there was a throw-away reference to his new armor being cat-proof...

Watchmen Trailer #1 The hi-def trailer is out there, and I'd recommend watching that one, but YouTube works for direct links like this one. Music is "The Beginning is the End is the Beginning" by Smashing Pumpkins. Appropriate, no? Trailer looks good --- from what I can tell, many shots look straight from the graphic novel. One thing I've read tho, is that they've changed the ending for the movie. Why, and how, I have no clue. I do know that at present, it's a 3 hr film --- tho the studio want's it cut to 2hrs 25min. Damn, personally, I think it could go 6 hrs and still not cover every aspect of Allan Moore's seminal work. Guess we'll see come next year.

com check...

I did one on the Bruneval Raid (British para commando mission in France, 1942), that involves blowing up a radar instalation, escorting a radar techie to the beach, taking out the beach defenses, and then embarking on landing boats to exit. Involved a few "special rules" to make it work properly, but in the end, I thought it came together well. Bruneval Raid at the Senario Depot. (Hmmm, I notice there are two other Bruneval scenarios up at the Depot. Just like to point out that mine is from 2004 --- despite the recent upload date.

2400 yds short range? 2000m is extreme for yr typical CMAK / CMBB scenario. Now, the meager 500 yd distance between the Shermans and Tiger is more remarkable.

Here's an easier answer: Short barrel guns (i.e; L/11) are good against infantry (HE and C type ammo). Long barrel guns (i.e; L/71) are good against tanks (AP, T, and HC type ammo). Just about everybody has "S" ammo (smoke), which can be used to blind the enemy. As a rule of thumb, the larger the shell, the slower the reload time (i.e; 20mm = fast / 150mm = slow).

There's a small chance any stationary unit in an adjacent tile will spot a minefield. Don't think the % is cumulative over time --- just recalculated every turn. Not sure if Engineers have a higher % chance than other units.

Ah, yes. The 'ol light auto-cannon vs. bunker debate. Been around since the CMBO days. Here's a little discussion from a few years back that drew a response from the Brain in a Jar himself.

True, in the case of radio equipped AFV's. It's the non-radio, flag-waving, get-out-of-the-tank-and-pass-a-note style of command I was refering to. With no viable communication among vehicles, a tank platoon is still just five individual AFV's wondering what to do next.

I'm mostly raising a point about consistency in the model. A squad that is out-of-command is just as disadvantaged as a radio-less tank that is out-of-command, but the squad doesn't get a double penalty. A nonplatooned radio-less T-34 suffers no penalty at all, even if buttoned, or even if shocked. Yet, to my mind I can't see how that tank is able to make command decisions so much faster than a similar tank that is platooned but out of command. They are both on their own. At most I could see a one-step penalty for the platooned tank due to some disorientation about suddenly being on it's own. </font>