Spanish Bombs

Without explanation to the police, per the article. But it is possible that the police spokesman is either lying or uninformed. Lying because juvenile cases are given broad privacy protections that most other cases do not receive and it would be improper to comment on it to the press. Or uninformed because it is entirely likely that the child welfare workers took their action without the involvement of the police at any level. Either way, inclusion of the statement from the police spokesman is misleading or shoddy journalism at best. Not only have the parents been told the reason for the action, but they have already been given, or will be given in the next 24 hours, an opportunity to be heard before a judge who will review the child welfare officials actions and can reverse them. In my state the question is whether an 'urgent and immediate' necessity exists to take the children out of the home, in New Jersey it may be differently phrased but conceptually similar. And if the children stay in state custody, the Campbells will be given an opportunity to litigate their cause within a short amount of time - 30 days or so.

Will we be able to have individually numbered cows in CM:Normandy? Or will we be stuck with all cows being number 235? If so, that really takes away from the immersion factor.

I don't see what the big deal is. We see 'elbowed' Squids on an almost daily basis at my house.

If WBS was around, I'm sure he'd be posting this. I searched and didn't see this mentioned before, but here is a short article which includes a link to audio from October, 1918 of a British artillery unit delivering a gas-shell bombardment. I don't think I have any comment aside from the fact that I found it pretty sobering. Oh, and I'm a bit chagrined at the fact that both my kids have school today, on Veteran's Day - and that just doesn't seem right. http://www.artsjournal.com/aboutlastnight/2008/11/tt_the_eleventh_day_of_the_ele.html (I couldn't find a way to post a URL like the old board?)

Just voted in Elmhurst, IL - ironically the location where Eugene Debs spent his last days - which is in one of the most conservative counties in the country. No lines, was in and out in about 5 minutes.

Take that back - an unwarranted slight on the Oompa-Loompas. Oompa-Loompas were advanced enough to handle the machinery at the world's most elaborate candy factory, learn the English language and could carry a tune to boot. No false idol-worshiping of sexually-ambiguous robots for them, unlike the Ewoks, and somehow I doubt that Oompa-Loompas were fending off vernicious knids with rocks and stones like the Ewoks with the Imperial walkers.

The Matilda is fun, as are all the new tanks, but it seems awful fast. It didn't lumber at all, like I expected. Not sure that this is accurate?

Meh, the universe is a better place without them. If we could only figure out a way to eliminate the Gungan scourge.

Downloaded/installed. Will try to give this a go soon...

Appreciate the continued input, but have settled my mind that it was a Hercules with extra fuel nacelles, hopefully on its way to some sort of covert op against Wisconsin or Minnesota. Definitely a prop sound, JP Jones, which is why I ran out to look at it in the first place. It was definitely not a Gigant, or some Blohm and Voss variant, Wicky, though I like that picture. Now, there was a time about 10 years ago when I was still living in Chicago when I was walking down the street and heard a distinctive propeller sound, and looked overhead to see a Ju 52. I was so taken that I walked into the middle of Clark Street and nearly got hit by a car, which I figure would have made me the last WW2 Luftwaffe-caused casualty.

I'm thinking Elmar must be right. I've seen a Hercules overhead before - during the Air and Water show a few years ago, the Blue Angels' one passed overhead when landing. All six nacelles sure looked the same, but like I mentioned, it was flying away, I only had a rear view, and there don't appear to be any other candidates, so it probably was the C-130. Many of the locals complain about O'Hare noise, and the pending expansion, but I see it as a plus. What was really strange was in the post-9/11 days, when there was no airtraffic for awhile, and it was so quiet.

I live within 10 miles of O'Hare Airport, and directly in line with one of the runways, which makes for occasionally noisy moments, but some rewarding ones as well. I believe its runway L22, which is one of the shorter ones, so we don't often get 747s or A-340s, though they do show up on occasion. It was, however, the runway that the A-380 landed on last year in a bit of a surprise in its first O'Hare visit, but regrettably I was not home to see it. Anyway, was making coffee in the kitchen this morning and heard a distinctive propeller sound, which I had not heard before, and ran out side to see a plane that I hadn't ever seen before. It was heading away from me, so I had a view of it from the rear, but I am almost certain that it had 6 propeller (turboprop?) engines beneath a high wing. I suppose its possible I mistook an engine for something else hung under the wing, but there were three 'things' underneath each wing, and each appeared identical. The propeller sound was distinctive as well - a few years back we had the occasional turboprop overhead, but they appear to have been phased out, and they were all smaller, two or four engines at most. My google-fu has failed me in trying to find anything that fits that category, but I know that some of those on this board are well-versed in civil aviation, and am hopeful that someone can clue me in and/or convince me I wasn't hallucinating? I don't think it was a historic aircraft - though it certainly could have been military.

There is the 'Indiana Military Museum in Vincennes, though that is much farther south. http://www.indianamilitarymuseum.org/ I've never been. I could swear that I had read an article in the Chicago Tribune within the last 5 years about a private collector that has some land in northern Indiana and had tanks including a Sherman, and maybe a Hetzer also. And I've driven by a farm house in Portage county that apparently has a small 'collection' in his front yard, though I remember it being 50's and 60's stuff, and maybe some trains too.

Udvar-Hazy!

I should been more clear above, but I've been playing with the ISU-152 on the Arad Real Forest server. Sometimes I have to wait to get on that server, but its always fun once I get in.

I held off on Darkest Hour when I heard the initial reviews. I've been playing some lately, though - toying around with the ISU-152 which is fun to shoot, but tough to aim and slow to reload.

But a fit, well-equipped 2007 US Army unit could theoretically triage, stabilize and evacuate a wounded soldier within minutes (and thus within a scenario's time limits). Cf. a wounded 6th Army soldier in the keseel in December 1942 Stalingrad who would might receive buddy aid, but would likely never really be stabilized and certainly never be evacuated. I use extremes as examples, and obviously there are infinite variables, most notably the seriousness of the wound, but the point is that there is probably a range of abilities to treat wounded efficiently, some dependant on the era and unit providing the treatment and their medical supplies and abilitis, and this would effect game play by the fact that one wounded guy = two guys removed from squad firepower.

Does 'buddy aid' usage relate to the nature of the force? In other words, I imagine US Army would always engage in it, and Syrian Uncom Combatants never or rarely. I was going to ask if Syrians would have the feature at all, but this thread answered my question since search is my friend. But I still wonder if there is a reduced efficiency of 'buddy aid' based upon the unit involved, a question Steve seemed to raise in the earlier thread as well.

Just curious, but how different is the MG in that video than the 12.7mm MG in CMBB? Or is it practically the same?

Damn. I think we're going to have to start the whole BoB Stalingrad campaign over from scratch now.

Good update, plus the blog's February output has already exceeded all of January's. A win-win!

Book length! Quit your day job, do this full time, Nietzche! Can't you see the massive income possibilities? Seriously though, very entertaining, nice work.

Jumped on for about an hour this afternoon, had fun. Hadn't played the game in over a month, sure felt rusty. Will try to log some time on Sundays, particularly if Da Bears are making their games boring by halftime!

The biggest problem with the game is that I don't find enough time to play it. But I'm curious about this 'over-marketed' thing. Not like I'm paying attention to every computer game marketing campaign out there, but I haven't seen much by way of marketing at all - compared to the ads that were posted on the Battlefront blog for ToW, for example. If I have any complaint its that I log on the network at times I wish the servers were full of players, and find them empty, and they remain so even if I stick around for an hour or so.

Darn, was furiously trying to figure out a way to make it. My odds will probably improve with another date anyhow.