John Kettler

During WW II there was a great Bugs Bunny episode ("Falling Hare") in which he played an aviator flying a bomber. Unfortunately, he was beset by a gremlin which gleefully did everything in its power to try to kill him. But get a load of this. Not exactly your typical wartime poster, right? But if the point of the safety poster was to make it memorable by inserting an extraordinary and unexpected approach, I imagine this was quite the success. Regards, John Kettler

In the 1950, a journalist said to Marilyn Monroe that the only reason she looked so good was because of her dresses. Here's her reply. Also, While this may''ve been inevitable, to me it's still weird. Regards, John Kettler

Haiduk, Oh, the things I could accomplish (and messes avoid) if my memory went back to something resembling normal! My faint recollection was that the bridge wasn't finished when I made the now locked post. Is my chronology right? Regards, John Kettler

Ex-Tiger ace and pharmacist when pic was taken Otto Carius holds the Tamiya 1/35 scale model of his tank. If you haven't read his excellent Tigers in the Mud yet, you owe it to yourself to do so, presuming you're a treadhead. Regards, John Kettler

ISIS is not where the mind goes when thinking of comedy, but this is hilarious! Video is embedded, but the short article provides valuable context. Regards, John Kettler

Here's a Queen angle I suspect most of you don't know about. I sure didn't. https://www.nasa.gov/feature/rock-starastrophysicist-dr-brian-may-goes-backstage-with-new-horizons Regards, John Kettler

ikalugin, Thanks for that. Please post anything else you can on this, as am keenly interested. Found this. Losing 40,000 rounds worth of 122 and 152 powder charges, plus maybe the shells as well, will put a dent in both military capabilities and the defense budget. As noted earlier, that rocket which landed on the road now shows conclusively there was more in that depot than just powder charges w/wo shells. https://www.businessinsider.com/a-russian-ammunition-dump-exploded-injuring-multiple-people-2019-8 Wicky, Ref first, what a gloriously twisted link! The video was excellent, I thought. There's a guy named Stanton Friedman who worked on NERVA, the Atomic Plane and a bunch of highly classified other stuff. Bet he'd be worth talking to about that missile--except that he died on May 19th this year! MikeyD, Would be willing to bet Stormin' Norman was referring to was the destruction of the Red Banner Northern Fleet's main ammo depot near Severomorsk. The numbers the blogger quoted on the extent of the munitions lost seems highly conservative to me, since Jane's Defense Review said something to the effect that the Red Banner Northern Fleet was left with zero missile reloads. Fairly sure there was a satellite pic of some sort, too. LANDSAT? Recall gasping loudly over the sheer extent of the destruction. From what I know of Soviet and Warsaw Pact ammo dumps and such, they were poorly protected against spread of fires and blast compared to ours, making an explosion anywhere sure to be catastrophic over a large area. Here's what I mean. There were no guards on this site at all when the pic was taken! Hope some were put there after the pic surfaced, but if not, it's Walmart for terrorists. I deem the official explanation to be the rankest BS. No idea why the reference Stormin' Norman made would've been deleted from the videos and whatnot, unless some overly zealous censor thought the general had made a gaffe by disclosing classified information, which he hadn't. https://redbannernorthernfleet.blogspot.com/2008/05/soviet-naval-disaster-of-day.html Regards, John Kettler

This is a bit bizarre, but I love it. Green Day was performing in London, but while waiting for the band, it appears that Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen was played as an instrumental over the speakers. Here's what happened in reply. The closest thing I've seen to the 65K at the stadium singing were the mere 9K singing an old Welsh hymn. Regards, John Kettler

It would appear that a) impromptu anti-drone measures by the residents are alarmingly effective and that b) the drones are being operated at ridiculously low flight altitude, by the owning police department. Regards, John Kettler

Always thought being in a rustic wooden hot tub up in the mountains in winter would be amazing. Forget that nonsense. This is living! People keep saying Road Runner is just a cartoon. Funny, but someone filmed him passing through. Regards, John Kettler

Isn't this amazing?! Having not followed the IG link, I though at first the captionless pic was from China, but it's reaslly Wat Samphran, Bangkok, Thailand. Regards, John Kettler

Don't know what caused it or why, but the ammo dump explosion in Krasnoyarsk dwarfed the US M.O.A.B detonation video I've seen. In fact, this is the single biggest non-nuclear explosion I know of, and the yield absolutely has to be at least kiloton range, which puts it well into the nuclear weapon level blast effects. Don't know what formation that ammo dump (doubtless a huge, sprawling complex) supported, but the weapon plants are likely to be working around the clock to replace an immense amount of ordnance, which the video shows definitely included rockets. To me, that looks like an air-to-ground rocket, so this may be a Russian Air Force facility or a Red Army facility which also has those for helicopter use. Regards, John Kettler

Sgt.Squarehead, That thought did cross my mind, and I certainly wouldn't reject your proposition out of hand. Since the Bal is on RT, that tells me the Russians are sending a strong message. Otherwise, they'd move at night, and RT would not only show nothing, but we wouldn't get so much as a whiff from Russian media or the government. Thanks for the vid! Regards, John Kettler

ikalugin, That was a useful and informative article. Seems to me a lot of grief could've been avoided had the Russians simply built the bridge either higher or made some sort of provision for a drawbridge, raisable section or what have you to allow unimpeded ship navigation. 50 hour delays seem obscene to me for merchant vessels, and while I get that the Russians are twitchy about their bridge (whose construction they did at breakneck speed, from what I recall), if they are flouting the rules regarding unimpeded passage of military vessels, then, in theory, that should be actionable. Regards, John Kettler

in late November of 2018, the Russians first fired upon, then seized by FSB Spec Ops, three Ukrainian vessels in the Kerch Straits. Because I was swept up in the non-stop whirlwind of a large family vacation (people driving or flying in from all over the country) and watched no TV at all, nor was on the Internet, I never knew this happened. Nor was I aware that war could easily have broken out and that Porochenko did declare martial law, but took no military action against Russia's naked Act of War. Probably just as well, given the extremely adverse Correlation of Forces. Believe it or not, I first learned something was supposedly going on in Ukraine involving a Russian attack in a TV show where an American is video dating a Ukrainian beauty who tells him she can't come meet him in Mexico because "the Russians have invaded" and "everything's shut down." The article has a picture of a bunch of Ukrainian tanks deployed near the Sea of Azov, the port of Mariupol, Ukrainian entrenchments and a war-damaged building. https://www.dailysignal.com/2018/11/26/on-the-brink-of-major-war-ukraine-grapples-with-russian-attack/ Regards, John Kettler

This is the perfect weird news item for this thread. Grandma's pretty clever! Regards, John Kettler

This isn't a news item, but it could easily have been a severe injury or even a fatality if not for Evan Longoria's quick wits. Regards, John Kettler

Here is Liberation: The Final Assault." It ends the series in spectacular fashion. Two things particularly stand out amidst the intense fighting depicted: ISU-152s and the heavy use of Panzerfausts inside the Reichschancelery. In reality, they were used for mouse holing from one basement to the next in row housing (which must've been fairly exciting) and before that tactic was developed, firing from basement windows and slaughtering a hefty portion of the ~400 tanks destroyed in Berlin. Have not ever seen any statement they were used to storm the Reichchschancelery, but with the large spaces there, it doesn't seem unreasonable to exclude them. Speaking of tanks destroyed, I forgot to mention in the prior post that the film there showed the breakthrough at Kustrin but not the massacre of Zhukov's armor at Seelowe Heights, presumably because that would've spoiled the triumphant narrative if depicted. It rates about two sentences and no visuals other than generals talking. Sadly, a good bit of the dialogue wasn't translated. SAG would never have stood for it, but there were enough explosives expended to have been a credible small battle all by themselves. Not that namby-pamby Hollywood napalm nonsense, either. Regards, John Kettler

This is "Liberation: Battle for Berlin" and the penultimate film (in a series of 5) in a series which is a continuous string of victories until the fall of Berlin, beginning at Kursk. The Wiki on the series is quite a read, and the behind this monumental film epic is both complex and nuanced. Among other things, this was the reappearance of Stalin in war films, the portrayal of Germans as real people and the fact that actors had to get approval from their historical counterparts. One lost his job because the general got tired of being pestered with questions! Has tons of great visuals, including the very distinctive area around the Fuhrerbunker. It isn't every day you get to see an entire battalion of IS-3s on the screen, plus what I think were Su-100s, not to mention scads of T-34/85s. The IS-3s, though never in combat as best can be determined, sure look impressive as they crawl relentlessly forward. There is also an anomalous BTR-152. What I don't see are the distinctive broad white stripes on AFVs and other vehicles to instantly ID friendlies. Lots of skin possibilities, too, not just as to well-worn, dinged up appearance of the AFVs and other vehicles, but the buildings themselves, not to mention what the ground and forestation look like. Remember, this was shot on location, not the MGM backlot or what have you. Looked at one of the tank battle scenes and all I could think of was "Eat your heart out, Darryl Zanuck." Another great thing about this is we get to see the Polish troops in action. All the major players are represented--on both sides. Hitler looks shattered, Roosevelt looks like a corpse which missed the "you're dead" memo, Churchill maybe even more obese than historically, and Stalin is like watching the real one. He is superbly acted. Overall, I think it provides a very good look at the strategic, and operational strategic framework for the events. It also presents a useful chronology and ongoing maps of Russian actions and German attempts to stop them. Though the video won't play directly here, the YT link works fine. Finally, I can now report the Tiger 1s were built from T-44s and the Panthers--wait for it--from IS-2s, both because the filmmakers couldn't get real ones despite trying hard. Regards, John Kettler P.S. The Wiki referenced provided a tidbit regarding "Liberation: Bulge of Fire." The original plan was to shoot on the Kursk battlefield, but there was so much UXO present it was so hazardous that the shoot had to relocate elsewhere and then build the necessary trenches, bunkers, gun positions and the like.

One of my CoC colleagues brought up the Russian battlecry, which led to turning up this. Putin initiates the ura, which is then chorused back with stunning force and fervor. Gave me the chills. Regards, John Kettler

fireship4, Watched "Liberation: Bulge of Fire " last night and enjoyed it. Noticed some T-62s in the film, but was absolutely fascinated to see IS-3s as well. The Tiger 1 VISMODs were well done, and I was intrigued by the Panther VISMODs on what I believe were on IS chassis some sort. That whole Tiger live fire test was a bit bizarre, but what I think really happened was the attack was postponed until the Panthers could be rushed in--so they could do little but break down or catch fire! Was surprised to see no 45 mm ATGs at all, yet they were the single most common ATG then. Nor was there a single T-34/76 to be seen, either. That said, seeing the ZIS-3s being fought was great, and you can tell quickly why it wasn't as good as the PaK 40 when you look at the stubby cartridge case for the ZIS-3. Regards, John Kettler

Don't know when it went away or how long it was gone, but I can say The Russian Battlefield (and all its grog gloriousness) is now a) back and is functional in all respects except b)IRemember.ru on it, which goes to a dead page. If you go to IRemember.ru directly, though, there has been massive progress on the English side. The categories are now partially restored, though some are either missing or now awkwardly lumped in as Others. Back before the site redesign, you may recall that when you picked a category to explore, a page would come up with a number of names, each with a pic and several paragraphs. The new format requires more work, because there is only a pic, a name and a miserly four lines of text! While this is considerably better than the almost zero of not long ago, it's still a long way away from what we once had. Regards, John Kettler

Raven sits on a post inside the 18 mile diameter Chernobyl exclusion zone. The sign warns of radiation hazard. Pretty sure I posted this before, but it's such a marvelous cautionary tale regarding involving dangerous creatures in various artistic efforts. Believe this was a bellydancing video shoot in which the cobra and the lady would both be undulating sinuously, but it appears the snake charmer out of frame image right lost the reptile's attention and the dancer's movements became the angry focus instead. She's lucky that was a threat display only, for cobras are fast and that one could have easily outraced her, hobbled as she was by those stiletto heeled boots. Real estate has something for everyone, including a real fixer-upper: the abandoned Chateau de Baugnac. Regards, John Kettler

And here we have a highly strange news item. Must've been quite the shock to his colleagues at work when he walked in. Believe this product is from the 1950s or maybe the early 1960s. What I can say for sure, having seen ads for other products by this firm, is that the firm listed on the ad was/is real. Regards, John Kettler

Today I have a natural wonder to show you, together with a whopping annual bill for shampoo and conditioner. Behold! And for that very special Dr. Who fan... Regards, John Kettler