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costard

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Posts posted by costard

  1. In the former case, I would understand putting the mortar downwind from the HQ; in the latter, I would choose a "target" downwind from the actual foxhole or whatever. You seem to be mixing the two concepts... ?

    Thanks all...

    I would choose a target on the line between the mortar and the enemy unit: the dispersion of the mortar is mostly in this axis and the probability of an unsighted hit is higher. Aiming the mortar downwind of the target might be a happy coincidence in the aiming, and will lead to more rounds being fired as LOS to the HQ unit clears, but it's rounds on target that you're after - not rounds pumped out.

    I wonder, has anyone noticed a difference in the aimimg of the mortar slightly upwind? Or are the odds of a hit calculated independent of the ballistic path of the shell?

  2. "Everybody lies..."

    Yes, we do. The point is, there are times when it is essential that we tell the truth - if your justice system is set up to try to arrive at the truth of a circumstance, in order to effectively administer justice, then there is a need to provide witnesses with a motivation to not lie. If your justice system cannot deliver justice, say good-bye to a law abiding society and hello to the general poverty and misery that accompanies a lawless one.

  3. Way to be discrete, Stuka. Mutual beneficiality doesn't come along every day.

    Speaking of which - I'd be happy to slather myself in pecan butter, but I'm not too sure about being frozen, Patchy. Still, my enjoyment isn't the issue. Oh, and please accept my apologies for the breach of etiquette - without the identifying bits marking you as a Lady, I had assumed you were of the frailer sex.

    I like identifying bits, I do...

  4. Yeah, life's pretty hard. I mean, here's all these laws we're expected to obey because the man with the stick will put us in jail, and the philosophers of the age saying "Hey dude, the world's your oyster: do what you will, it doesn't matter." The people occupying leadership positions in our society all seem to be on the ball as far as serving themselves goes, and they seem to act as if expecting our contempt. Perhaps its mutual? What's an adult supposed to do?

    Being able to think, and communicate those thoughts is no answer - you just get madder when told by the ignorant that you don't know what you're talking about. It's even worse if they happen to be right.

    The judge was jailed because he perjured himself - he got on the stand, swore an oath to tell the truth, then lied. He showed contempt for the institution that holds the whole of this sorry society together, that paid for his children's education and the food on his table. He showed he was quite prepared to risk time in jail for the sake of a $77 fine and some demerit points. He took the risk, and it failed to pay off. Too bad for him.

    As far as these other clowns are concerned - sure, your legislature is owned by a class of American that has not only lost its moral compass, it has turned that absence of character into a perceived plus. So strongly is this idea held by the middle class that only those that can think get it yet - the rest still believe there is a chance they'll be able to get to the same place as these others, where there are million dollar bonuses to be gained by the prostitution of their souls.

  5. How so? The lawyers collected their money, the Chief Exec. waived rights to a future benefit (so no punishment inflicted there) and the management and accounting of the business is now to be carried out by two firms instead of one, eliminating the profit generated by the exploitation of the resource. No win for the shareholder here.

    I'm loving the news as reported of the NYSE surge today - if you read "speculator" for "investor" you get at the truth.

  6. Hi all and welcome to my first post in what... 4 years?

    G'day.

    None of the GF threads made it through to the archives, so a search will give you squat, I'm afraid. A direct appeal to John Kettler might help - I haven't seen him around for a bit, but he seems to have a head for trivia and detail and might be able to remember the website address.

    Good luck.

  7. Three years for lying about a $77 ticket?

    Gee, we had a President who got off.

    Oops, sorry about the pun.

    I thought it was the intern who got off?

    Three years for perjury, yep. A judge needs to be seen to be law-abiding, and we've had a couple in the news for doing unsavoury stuff - swapping blood samples (that was a DUI, blood alcohol test), etc. The harshness of the sentence (I think) reflects the effort that went into not paying the fine in the first place, then trying to avoid jail time.

  8. You grew up on Alcatraz?

    Michael

    I note that Michael Emrys isn't far off being an anagram for Cream Pie.

    And Stuka is enboldened to cast aspersions about the colour of my neck... for a social climber such as he, denigrating the culture of his ancestors must be considered necessary for the salvation of his mediocre ambitions.

    Nah, this rock is named for the fact that it is in the southern hemisphere. Like that took some imaginative effort...

    Like Alcatraz, it was deemed a good place to send criminals: if they could eat rocks and swim home through the sharks then good luck to 'em. Like Alcatraz there isn't a single place that can be viewed from sea that wouldn't bring the words "f*****g miserable country, where's the bloody water at?" to mind. Close to 80 percent of the fresh water run-off from this continent runs into the Gulf of Carpentaria - where the rivers are full of crocodiles and the soils are so poor that "wet deserts" exist. The rest of the country makes do with the odd sprinkle and the hope of an afterlife.

    Unlike Alcatraz, no-one surveyed the place beforehand (some bloke called Cook waved a telescope at it on his way through) to make sure there weren't, just for argument's sake, some huge piles of gold lying around waiting for some enterprising chaps with attached Chinese coolies to exploit. We live on and staff the western world's quarry: iron, coal, gold, uranium. The society is built around supplying labour to the mines and ports. "The Rock" is as good a name as "Southern Land".

  9. In a democratic society politicians are just as adept, uncorrupted and wise as is the people that elected them.

    Man, you have a bleak outlook on life.

    Are politicians any less stupid when they are not in power?

    Not if you go by the opposition parties in the Oz or the US. They haven't even worked out that they lost the last election.

  10. I think the problem with the FO's was that radios were generally scarce, and that the frequencies had to be assigned and protected. Coverage was nothing like as good as we take for granted in the era of mobile phones, and the need for secure communications to the arty was paramount: an incorrectly given target, whether by accident (incompetence) or design (espionage, disguise and interception), costs too much. Not much in the way of mobile artillery was available either - and the stuff that was available didn't have the ammo loadout that a battery of guns was supplied with - so it was the tactical commander that called the shots there: he decided which targets were suitable and issued the fire orders.

  11. Hiram, the advantages to having survived growing up on the Rock are legion. For example, any circumstance we dream of has to be better than this nightmare called reality; for some reason this would include engaging those wonderful *splutter* people from the greatest country in the world *vomit* in *cough* conversation - oh, right, that's the reality thing again.

    A lawn is something to park the car on, so's to have something to soak up the old engine oil.

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