dieseltaylor

http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/test2.html There are others, and interesting facts. I just thought it interesting to see that like othe "discoverers" not all may be as it seems "Marco Polo's famous Description of the World was written around 1298. It was Polo's account of the many years he had spent in China. According to the book's prologue, Marco Polo first travelled to China in 1271 with his father and uncle who were both merchants. While in China, he met the great ruler, Qubilai Khan, and so impressed him that the Khan made Marco his special emissary, sending him on missions throughout the various far-flung provinces of China. Marco Polo finally returned to Venice with his family in 1295. He wrote the account of his travels in 1298 while imprisoned in Genoa (or rather, he described his travels to a French writer named Rustichello who wrote the actual book for him). Marco Polo's book became enormously influential and served in Europe as one of the primary sources of information about the Orient for many centuries. Christopher Columbus, for instance, took the book with him on his fateful voyage to the Americas. It also inspired a number of legends, such as the idea that Marco Polo brought the secrets of spaghetti and ice cream with him back from China (he didn't). Some scholars now suspect, however, that Marco Polo never went to China. The argument for this case has been laid out by Frances Wood in her book Did Marco Polo Go to China? The basic argument against Marco Polo involves a set of telling omissions. First of all, no reference has ever been found in Chinese archives to an Italian visitor like Marco Polo, despite the fact that China's bureaucrats kept numerous forms of documentation and recorded the presence of many other westerners. If Marco Polo really did serve as a special emissary to the Great Khan, it seems unusual that his presence would never have been noted. Second of all, Polo's account omits many details about Chinese culture that seemed very important to almost all later European travellers. For instance, Wood notes Polo's "apparent failure to pick up even a few Chinese or Mongol place-names in his seventeen-year stay in China." Nor does he ever mention the Chinese style of writing, despite the dramatic difference between Chinese script and the Roman alphabet. Marco Polo does not mention seeing woodblock printing, which was then unknown in Europe. He never mentions the Chinese custom of drinking tea (also unknown in Europe at that time), despite the fact that he discusses varieties of Chinese wine. He never mentions the practice of foot-binding, even though this custom fascinated all other Europeans who travelled to China. He never mentions the use of chopsticks; and finally, he fails to mention the Great Wall of China. Marco Polo did, however, identify some important features of Chinese society. For instance, he described porcelain, the use of coal, and the use of paper money—all unknown to Europeans in the thirteenth century. Nevertheless, it is still hard to imagine that someone could actually go to China and manage to miss all the details that he missed. Wood suggests that Marco Polo probably never travelled further than his family's trading posts on the Black Sea, but that he had access to Persian or Arabic guidebooks to China from which he was able to piece together his account of China. He probably wrote his account in response to a growing demand for geographies during the late thirteenth century. http://www.museumofhoaxes...e_travels_of_marco_polo/ Wood, Frances. (1995). Did Marco Polo Go to China? Westview Press.

And what is wrong with psy-ops? : ) Actually I would imagine bayonet drill IS useful for morale purposes - psy-ops for the friendlies. The theme here is that UK troops run out of ammo ...0.?

JC will love that.

Liked the cartoon. I actually think multiple wives could be good! : )

CM is noticeable for not allowing ramming to flip. I was very put out to find that ramming a BA64 [armoured car weight 2.4tons] side on with a STugIII resulted in no damage. That is plain silly, one suspects Jeeps would also be invulnerable!. OK game engine constraints etc but when fighting in dense fog , dust, or smoke this sort of incident does arise.

Indians accounted for 326 out of 0.5M died wagon-training through between 1840-1860 according to "Indians & Emmigrants" [2006] by M.L.Tate. Obviously that is a closely defined period so the overall figure would be larger. It is interesting to note though the discrepancy between the Wikipedai article in overall numbers with the later research [my guy] probably being more accurate as the Wiki notes there is a shortfall in numbers. You will also see the comment regarding the people on the wagon train leaving their guns on the wagons because the guns were heavy to wear. So not only were attacks possibly over-egged but Indians riding around and round a circle of wagons was due to the need to fit the Wild West show into the rings of the circus! Some of the famousn "massacres" like killing some 7 of the 12 wagons drivers taking supplies to a fort ignore the fact that an anbulance wagon train had been allowed to pass the same day by the same Indians. However other sources say it was an escort for Sherman that passed ahead and do not mention the ambulance convoy at all. That was the Warren Wagon Train massacre 1871 also known as Salt Creek Massacre. Not to be confused with another biggy when 4 settlers were killed in the Salt Creek Canyon Massacre 1858. There is a lot of bumf and Mr Buntline was responsible for a lot of it as he wrote his novels. He invented the fast-draw, the fanning action, and shooting from the hip. In 15 years 1870-1885 there were 45 killings in Abilene. Ellsworth, Wichita, Dodge, and Caldwell. Thats 45 total. Bat Masterson also transferred from gunfighter to became a journalist and died in 1921 at his desk - he was Sports editor for a New York newspaper. Pestered by a gun collector he had bought as a joke a second-hand Colt and carved twenty notches on to it to sell to him.

http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?f=47&t=144696 This linky of nox's is definitely worth reading as it also contrasts the official story versus the main mans.

There are some pictures from the Eastern front showing tanks that were meant to have rammed. Given how close Russian tanks had to get hardly surprising. If memory serves it was a particularly massive battle where dust etc made ranges very short. Incidentally I bet they ban stacking T34's on top of each other to cross a river. That did happen : ) Unfortunately i lack the desire to find open my books to find the pictures. In game context though I think it is a fair enough. How do they cover though people parking vehicles to prevent road movement? I assume shunting is allowed?

Mattel produces the Transformer called Spastic like WTF and as for Toypedo Toypedo Bandits are hydro dynamically designed rubber torpedoes and will provide endless fun for boys and girls- big and small!

I also believed sharks don't get cancer, and guess what they do but that does not stop a fraudulent quack , and others, make money from wiping sharks out. http://www.science20.com/science_paradise/busting_marine_myths_sharks_do_get_cancer

I am ashamed to admit that I have generally assumed from my TV learning that wagon trains through the West were always in danger of Indian attacks - not always but reasonably often. I was surprised to see that in fact the largest massacre was by Mormons and far more cold-blooded and disgusting it is hard to imagine: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mountain_Meadows_massacre Not included in Wikipedia is the fact that the only one punished was in 1961 reinstated into the Church. Nice. Anyone want to hazard a guess as to how many settlers out of the 0.5M who traversed the Indian territories died from hostile action?

http://hubblesite.org/gallery/behind_the_pictures/meaning_of_color/index.php but perhaps not at all : ) I suspect we are too close and that focussing on us would be like wearing nightgoggles at midday on the Equator8 *Added precision for those quoting Artic/Antartica

Absolutely nothing on the 1st SS - I was disappointed. Still the pictures made up for it. : ) Good link

There is a report from Italy that discusses troops in the field which says [i have forgotten the name of] essentially only so many actually fight and the rest are sheep or skirters. The skirters are not wanted as they are dangerous to the platoon so will be sent to do something else. But apart from that battalions were never at full strength so the idea that a full battalion ever fought at full strength is quite unlikely.

Incidentally Ithink casualties on is a good thing!. Random is best but many players baulk at going past 10%. Casualties on: 1. Adds Fog of War as an infantry squad could be full or half strength but the enemy cannot be sure 2. Stops players cherry-picking. Well at least reduces the chance someone will just buy single units for specific roles as there is a chance they will not appear. 3. If you consider the purchase screen - where 50% casualties gives you double the points to spend - it also would increas the amount you could spend in each section. This again increses FoW and gives the player more flexibility with spending decisions.

Have you got casualties on? It works like this. If you ask for 500points you will receive 1000points to spend but by casualties you will only receive 500points value. Sometimes you may be missing vehicles. a gun perhaps, but most often its a mix with infantry generally being reduced in men.

Interesting stuff

Sounds more of a thoughtful game than most.

To save time here are the Manhunt "executions" Well, a beneficial game!

Elmar IIRC then correctly is redundant : ) The Russians used them aggressivley and considered vision slits legitimate targets. Of course they were favoured by the type of terrain in Eastern Europe where long sight lines were far more common than Italy or Western Europe. I also would imagine horses would be a legitimate [and tasty] target.

Good find. It really is quite shocking that the police are piggy-backing in on the licensing laws. As for Texas!! Unbelievable.

http://www.historyfacts.biz/en/04_Publikationen/LeseprobeStuGIII/StuG%20III%20History%205%20Combat.pdf Some interesting snippets. The authors are quite fun ...

US murder rate : 1963 murder rate lowest at 4.6, below 5 1961-64, hovering at 5.5 in 2000's US Violent crime rate 160 in 1960 , 2007 466. I could argue that the violence would be even less without games and violent films. Why the US crime rates are higher than Western Europe I attribute to American society and the larger inequalities in society. This is exacerbated by the dream world as portrayed by TV programs and adverts to which the majority of the country cannot reach. Also the level of general corruption, higher than most of Western Europe, and the way media and political felons are resurrected leads to a possible feeling that the only way to get ahead is not being honest. Rubbing the faces of the have nots in the glossy world of the haves by an all pervasive media may well be divisive and disruptive of society. That is my feeling about violence and general lawlessness. As for violence by film, TV, and video games - is that just showing how it can be done, and commonly it is done in TV land http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=c...esult&resnum=8 Interestingly this psychology books claims that 99.5% of the 3500 studies 1950-2000 show a negative effects of violent entertainment.

http://www.bigdownload.com/games/victoria-2/pc/victoria-2-demo/ Downloadable demo which shows just how deep it is. I mean population of 200 countries in 1836! play Peru, Persia, Prussia. Worry about the walloons and Flemish in Belgim. This is way way deep.

http://stugiii.com/home.html Interesting stuff if not directly to the point. the additional time to add Zimmeritt is a laugh.