John Kettler

Had no idea any of the gigantic flak towers survived, let alone was in use and about to sprout a hotel. https://www.msn.com/en-us/Travel/news/a-former-nazi-bunker-in-germany-is-being-turned-into-a-luxury-hotel-with-a-5-storey-roof-garden/ar-AAIYzRC?ocid=sf Regards, John Kettler

There's a KS for something called Power Up 4.0 which is a drop in unit (originally for paper planes) which combines navigation, flight control and propulsion--all run from a smart phone. Add-ons include landing gear and wing leading edge LEDs. It's so well designed you can fly a leaf of lettuce. It's not pretty to watch, but think of what has to happen to fly at all with such a contraption. Vid's on FB but links to KS, so you'll need to find that for yourself. Regards, John Kettler

Over on FB, Soldier of Fortune posted a short piece on the Jedburghs and William E. Colby's actions as a Jedburgh. He eventually rose to head the CIA. A quick trawl of CARL's catalog found this CMBN pertinent Master's thesis. It chronicles the Jedburgh ops of seven separate teams, all operating in Eastern Brittany in support of the Maquis from June 1944-September, by which time the Allies had taken over the entire area, ending Jedburgh ops there. http://cgsc.cdmhost.com/cdm/ref/collection/p4013coll2/id/1228 Regards, John Kettler

Not a my meme, but what a trip! Regards, John Kettler

To properly appreciate the immensity of Texas, youy need something to which to compare it! Regards, John Kettler

Artist Helena Hauss has done a series of weapons for her Ceramics ist Krieg project. Here is an example. Most of the items are Medieval. Things sometimes aren't as they appear to be. Behold! Note to Mods, everything's covered up. Regards, John Kettler

Stunning new interpretation of familiar romantic motifs! Not sure how durable this will be if she really opens her eyes. Regards, John Kettler

Picked up a Soviet and now Russia pertinent aircraft designator tidbit while reading the translation of the official history of the Red Air Force in the GPW. Shortly before the GPW broke out a new system was introduced for new generation aircraft. Fighters were assigned odd numbers and bombers even. Thus, MiG-3, Yak-1, La-7, etc., but Pe-2, Il-2, Tu-4. If you think about it, this held during the Cold War and is true today: MiG-15,17,19,21,23,31; Su-7,17, 25, 35 as fighter type aircraft, but Su-24,Tu-16,22,22M,160, Mya-4, Su-34 bombers. Groggery is where you find it! Regards, John Kettler

While things seem to be falling apart on multiple fronts, it's important to stick to what matters, such as this, ahem, vital news! https://www.kron4.com/news/real-barbie-malibu-dream-house-on-airbnb-for-60-per-night/ Michael Emrys, Found the anchor debacle on Facebook. Regards, John Kettler

This is a major trend for both the US Army and the Marines. As such, I believe it deserves to be here as something to be at least considered as the CM game system evolves. We had simplified sewer movement as far back as CMx1, but what's discussed here is so granular that even CMx2 may not be able to handle it. Even so, am of the opinion and belief BFC, if not already aware, and the CM players in the larger sense, need to be aware of this. There are some 10,000 known underground complexes outside of the US, which gives some idea of the magnitude of the problem. Most of these are not DUMB (Deep Underground Military Base) type zones, but rather, sewage, utility, transport and communication tunnels under cities, any of which can be a nightmare for attacking troops. Ground seized above will never be secure if what lies beneath isn't. https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-army/2019/02/26/the-subterranean-battlefield-warfare-is-going-underground-into-dark-tight-spaces/ Regards, John Kettler

Michael Emrys, The circus, right?! Don't know how many of you will be able to see this video of a ship anchoring gone disastrously awry. Regards, John Kettler

Erwin, Have you started writing yet, or do you wish to conduct some experiments to evaluate the concept? Those of you who really loved "Road Warrior", "Mad Max" and other films of that type will just love this girl. Every time you see her it'll be as though you the movies never ended. Configured the way she is, she'd best never get into a fight! Would love for someone with a good understanding of anatomy to explain to me how it's possible to get an object this long down the throat. Based on what I recall of human anatomy, there wouldn't seem to be enough room to for that balloon, since bottoming out would occur long before then. Regards, John Kettler

In the cosmic scheme of things, we are lucky to have a Cover Armor Arc, for the lack of one caused a lot of CM misery because tanks were all too often tied up shooting at infantry, which created uncontested opportunities to shoot the distracted tank with AT cannon on various platforms. Is it galling to have your tank engage, say, a 251, when the intended quarry is a Panzer IV? Of course. It would be nice to be able to impose some sort of SOP (e.g, main gun reserved for tanks, SPGs and ATGs), such as what TAC OPS had, but BFC has said nothing at all, ever, on doing such a thing in CMx2 and beyond. Regards, John Kettler

One of the things BFC did was essentially model the pouring it on fire on the FPL (Final Protective Line), while using more modest rates of fire at longer ranges. Believe it also upped the suppression effects of MG fire, making it much harder to close on the MG and more lethal if still able to fight after the mix of suppression and casualties to reach that point. I had several attempted MG stormings eviscerated under CMx2 and learned the hard way that CMx1 tactics had to be fundamentally rethought (in many cases discarded) for CMx2. Another major factor in CMx2 was that a squad could have only some members able to see and engage, with the rest of the squad effectively out of the fight until the other guys each found a position with LOS. Another big factor is that the Firepower Factor for squads and such was discarded outright in CMx2. Now every weapon is assessed individually when it comes to how much fire is generated, and the game engine is tracking every single bullet, too. Regards, John Kettler

Well, this is certainly awkward. People who have or are thinking about getting tongue piercings almost certainly didn't/don't imagine this particular application. If the hands of these two are tied or cuffed such that they can't access their mouths, then breakouts will be most difficult. In any event, an arresting image! Regards, John Kettler

This is absolutely priceless. In Roman Catholic Church parlance, this incident might well be termed "giving scandal to the faithful." As for me, I consider it hilarious and wish the picture could be blown up so I could see the nuns' faces better! This is from FB, and the caption was on the pic already. Regards, John Kettler

Church members got a free trip a few years back when... https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/gvkbjm/74-year-old-man-accused-of-getting-his-entire-church-high-on-weed-cookies?utm_campaign=sharebutton&fbclid=IwAR28nHZYuoS7KNXcpB4HahEb5xLv1LACg0vLLm4hYykH5A8tg7V9kj2_uKA Some tolerated it better than others, but please don't ask me to explain the reported saltiness. Did you know there is a gigantic feral hog problem in the US, and their population is exploding? These things are disease ridden, destroy habitat, kill practically everything and do something like 1.5 billion dollars of damage annually. The article is SFW, but the video has some pig removal sequences that have warnings about graphic imagery, so isn't. https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/gvkbjm/74-year-old-man-accused-of-getting-his-entire-church-high-on-weed-cookies?utm_campaign=sharebutton&fbclid=IwAR28nHZYuoS7KNXcpB4HahEb5xLv1LACg0vLLm4hYykH5A8tg7V9kj2_uKA Regards, John Ketller

Here is a still from a famous German movie clip from BoB. StG44 in and and rushing past a burning US halftrack! Have also seen the MP38/40 carried in one hand. All in all, I think that one-handed carry for the Germans in CM would be a good thing. Nor is it particularly difficult to show the US did the same thing. Colorized WW II pic of Marine flamethrower gunner rushing in to attack a Japanese pillbox. Marine crossing the seawall at Tarawa Storming the beach! Location not given. BAR man Iconic image and sorry for drop shadow! Have also seen a Thompson SMG carried one-handed but had some tech difficulties and now can't find the pic. Regards, John Kettler

Here a period pic showing German soldiers carrying their rifles one handed. Though it may appear otherwise , this includes the man in the foreground. Thought at first he had both hand on it, but that's an artifact of the image shadows, for I you look near the back of his left thigh, you can clearly see his left hand. As you can see from the smaller B/W pic below, Pinterest sepia tones the larger format one. i Here we have an LMG team charging into battle in what I consider a great combat pic. The caption says these are men of the 709th Infantry Division in Montebourg , Normandy coming out their shelter and rushing to their fighting positions. The MG-42 gunner is obviously in a hurry, since neither of his boots is on the ground. Have tried everything I could to get the pic at link to post, but it is an excellent quality B/W pic clearly showing one handed rifle carry. https://proxy.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fs-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com%2F736x%2F34%2Fdb%2F37%2F34db37d126f1ce52172063bd92bcd3ae.jpg&f=1&nofb=1 Famous Barbarossa pic showing the Panzer Grenadiers rushing in and holding their rifles in one hand. https://static.abc.es/Media/201211/30/nazis-2--644x362.jpg Regards, John Kettler

Good news and bad news on edibility. It's widely eaten on Pacific Islands, but it can kill you. This isn't because it's poisonous on its own, but because of certain things it eats at times. The countermeasure is akin to what the French do with escargot: They give them time to clean out before turning them into gourmet meals. Those claws are pretty scary, able to exert 60 pounds of force. https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/nz9d7w/notes-on-eating-the-worlds-largest-living-arthropod https://www.quora.com/Why-is-it-bad-to-eat-coconut-crab https://naturespoisons.com/2015/03/26/cerberin-death-by-coconut-crab/ Regards, John Kettler

If it's like regular land crabs, it's probably inedible. What a shame, given the gigantic size of the coconut crab! Looks like something from a horror movie. Regards, John Kettler

I you like architecture and innovative design, you'll LOVE this! Photo from piece at link. Zoning laws stopped the architects from going vertical, so instead this was devised. It's length will dwarf the tallest builiding on the planet. https://www.tumbex.com/culturenlifestyle.tumblr/post/158822792747 What's next on PETA's list of required fixes? Have half a mind to claim on SM that the bars on the cookie box below have been replaced by invisible force fields! Regards, John Kettler

Swine flu has wrought havoc on Chinese pig stocks, and causing some remarkable catch up measures, in the form of huge hogs. Smaller ones are now being raised to double typical weight, while certain specimens are being carefully bred to produce... https://finance.yahoo.com/news/china-breeding-giant-pigs-size-002722756.html Regards, John Kettler

A site called sanyhome (plus the usual) has a product caption beyond bizarre for a wrist cuff that deploys a float in two seconds from the wristband. Rated as being usable even by a 120 kg adult. Pretty cool, right? Anti-snoring water survival bracelet - to protect your safety Regards, John Kettler

Yet further proof common sense isn't! $70K for a police robot with a critical feature not enabled. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7538611/RoboCop-told-woman-step-way-tried-summon-police-break-fight.html?fbclid=IwAR3uPUlceka8oG2v72lhTOC-7isIDk62Pm2Vp8nax2b_PKosGpXg5MfbJHY Regards, John Kettler