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-ZG-BUZZARD

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Posts posted by -ZG-BUZZARD

  1. Posted

    With US talk of puling out of NATO and Europe because of budgetary problems maybe it is now time for a European army.

    Eh?!? Wtf?? Weren't the US actually pushing to enlarge the NATO envelope as far as the Ukraine? That would be totally contrary to such a view, wouldn't it? wow_o.gif

  2. Posted

    I also live in an european country which forces working people to pay social security (it's so bad that if you're a considered "independent collaborator" of sorts and don't have a contract with the company but have to dish out "green receipts" for the money you earn, for each receipt you have to pay 150€ to social security, no matter if the receipt is for 1000€ or for 1 eurocent!!! ) and in my country at least social security is the uttermost bullshit crap there is with miserable retirement pay for the average person. I wish it were like Germany where the so-called "free-employed" have the choice to either pay social security, or set up their own private retirement fund+insurances. But then again in Germany at least AFAIK the system works, whereas here social security is the nightmare of lost funds where you can be sure that you way more less out of it than you have to pay for over the years.

  5. Posted

    No, I'm not arguing that soviet and U.S. forces had received training in "allied" recognition - since I had no knowledge on this I was asking and was rather amazed that that aspect had been overlooked. As for engagements between U.S. and soviet forces back then being intentional or not, that could be subject of speculation, due to the plans of General Patton - at least of him is known that he wanted to "contain" the Soviet Union's advance further east than it had been agreed to at Yalta. I wonder if there was any soviet officer with similar thoughts but in the opposite direction - though of course the limit would be the german border, I guess... then again, maybe not... crazy_o.gif

  8. Posted

    [OT] China isn't the only asian country that is able to produce cheap goods wink_o.gif Korea and Indonesia for instance would LOVE to take up all that trade and manufacturing should the world decide to boycott chinese goods. [/OT]

    And thankfully China isn't the only country in the world to have nukes so it's not like they could impose themselves on the whole world holding it hostage. So I think the world showing its discontent towards the practices of the chinese government, would neither be suicidal nor impossible, I think.

  9. Posted

    Mehman, the topic was never about the video about islam, but it's a topic about FREEDOM, in this particular case about freedom of expression. Which is actually one thing the chinese state is very actively suppressing - apparently even outside it's own borders, as Chops revealed - I must say I was shocked. I mean, I bet whatever is made in China could be done elsewhere, so I cannot understand how so many supposedly respectable nations, as well as their officials, bow to such extremes, when they defend freedom elsewhere - looking at Australia for instance, who made up the brunt of the UN forces that freed East Timor from Indonesia (of course they wouldn't have done it without it being in their interest, but at least they could still be seen as liberators, even if under the UN flag), and yet as Chops reveals their officials bow meekly to such irrational demands by chinese diplomats (which actually aren't diplomatic at all). I hope that rather sooner than later the world will give the chinese government the finger in a clear statement that such practices are no longer tolerated in the world in the 21st century... And China of course wouldn't be the only country that should be targeted, there's Burma as well, just for an example...

    Edit: Actually, IMHO, the Olimpics, whose spirit of fair-play sportsmanship is totally contrary to such authoritarian practices, should not be held in China because they don't deserve at all to be the host of such an event, and a boicott of it would indeed be a good sign of protest towards the chinese government and its practices.

  10. Posted

    BUZZARD @ Mar. 29 2008,19:58)]I've recently re-read the book "The Blond Knight of Germany", a book covering the life of Erich Hartmann, and my curiosity was aroused with regards to the fact that he stated that in more than one occasion, USAAF aircraft were involved in combat with the soviet Air Force. Also, Hartmann surrendered to a U.S. Army unit that had been farther to the east than the supposedly established border line that would separate soviet territory from that held by the western allies. Is there anywhere specific data on how many planes each allied shot down from each other? Were the ground forces also shooting at each other or just the air forces?

    With regards to Allied aircraft engaging Soviet aircraft you have to account for aircraft recognition training on both sides. Were Allied and Soviet pilots trained to recognise each others aircraft? Maybe but I would be a bit sceptical about that. Moreover German aircraft were still flying in 1945 so the could have mistaken to be enemy aircraft.

    Allied and Soviet troops did engage each other. It is mentioned in one of the books I have. An American officer suspected that they were fighting Russians so he went and got a flag, climbed to the top of a building and waved it. The firing stopped. I can post it up here if you want?

    This would be expected. The end of the war is close thus there are still German troops moving around the area so Allied and Soviet troops are still weary. Furthermore I doubt that both sides were trained to recognise each other and their equipment.

    Hehe, nice concept of being an ally if the brass knows they're sending their forces into an area where allied forces are known to be, without giving your own proper id training... Apart from the fact that the russians were also still flying some american lend-lease planes... Means the americans weren't able to identify even american-built planes?  wow_o.gif  Makes me think that's not a snafu, that's a fubar... and not a german one... Hartmann recalls in that book having attacked a flight of lend-lease Douglas A-20's operated by the soviets, being escorted by soviet-built fighters, and a squadron of Mustangs appeared. As Hartmann was flying higher than all those planes, he ordered his flight to dive through, killing whom they could along the way. As it was usual for Hartmann to use the Boom'n'Zoom tactic and fire at point-blank range, he attacked the Mustangs first, more than 1 going down, then proceeding to dive onto the bombers, diving through the soviet fighter cover. I think he got one bomber but didn't take the time to see it go down, as he and the rest of his flight kept on building speed until they hit the deck to race away for safety. Since nobody had spotted him before but the soviets discovered the Mustangs in the area, the bombers dropped their load into the countryfield and turned tails, and a scrap ensued between the soviet fighters and the Mustangs, several soviet fighters going down as a result and at least one Mustang also having been damaged. Probably those Mustangs belonged to the 15th USAAF...

  12. Posted

    To continue my earlier post. The difference between the dog and the lumberjack machine is that the lumberjack machine can be used for actual work right now. So what I'm saying is that it is a much better product than the dog.

    It is not at all clear for what the dog could be used. I am not at all convinced that it would be a usable machine at a battlefield, for example. As mentioned already, a tracked vehicle will easily beat it. The added complexity of the legs does not bring enough usability reasons to mass-produce that kind of machines. It is very hard to imagine work tasks in which the robo-dog would be better than a tracked vehicle. For carrying stuff, certainly not good. For disarming bombs, certainly not good. To act as a platform for weapons, certainly not good. Just to mention a few points in which it clearly loses.

    The nature of the robo-dog is that its legs are in constant movement. Compare to the lumberjack machine, which only moves its legs if needed. Actually, the legged lumberjack machine could be used for the tasks which I mentioned in the previous paragraph. It is a stabile platform unlike the robo-dog. But still a tracked vehicle beats it, and so does a wheeled vehicle. The added complexity and cost is just not worth it, because there is no usability advantage in most use case scenarios.

    It might look funny and "cool" but if it can't compete with its features against wheeled and tracked vehicles, it can be said to be a product dead on arrival, in its current form. At this time it looks like it is a university research project and nothing more. Unlike the lumberjack machine which can be used for actual work: it could be used to immediately replace the wheeled and tracked vehicles which are doing a similar work task. Although that wouldn't be financially smart.

    Of course robotics will advance in the future, and practical applications will be developed. But the robo-dog looks more like a problem than a solution, compared to competing technologies. Maybe someone will develop something useful out of it some day.

    Hmm, could be used to carry something across a minefield... Though, should it take a bad step... I bet the results will be funny to watch... or not...

  13. Posted

    I've recently re-read the book "The Blond Knight of Germany", a book covering the life of Erich Hartmann, and my curiosity was aroused with regards to the fact that he stated that in more than one occasion, USAAF aircraft were involved in combat with the soviet Air Force. Also, Hartmann surrendered to a U.S. Army unit that had been farther to the east than the supposedly established border line that would separate soviet territory from that held by the western allies. Is there anywhere specific data on how many planes each allied shot down from each other? Were the ground forces also shooting at each other or just the air forces?

  15. Posted

    Nothing wrong with it, but instead of being 90 degree angles at the bottom, you could make them like the bottom half of an octaedron, or hegaxon, or something like that (since round shapes are much more polygon-intensive than angular ones), and it would still maintain a futuristic look - that's just a suggestion of mine though...  thumbs-up.gif

  16. Posted

    I might disagree with what you have to say, but I'll defend your right to say it to the death.

    THE STATEMENT of the thread!!! Couldn't have said it better myself!!! Death of Freedom of speech?? Hell no - Death to censorship!!!

    (Oops, hope my last sentence wasn't an incitement to violence... Phear...)  pistols.gif

  18. Posted

    Nice work, D@nte! Looking good!  thumbs-up.gif

    Though, I have to agree with Steele on the APC's wheel cover... "edgy-ness" - would look better if it were angle-ended, wouldn't even have to be round - just like the bottom half of a "Stop" sign (octaedron??) would be perfect IMHO.

    Unlike Steele though, I don't think that the gunship's engines are too small - it's a futuristic craft anyways, and small engines may have increased performance (look at a Gulfstream or other small bizjet engines and it'll become apparent...) .

    What I find rather awkward is the gunship's rather massive tail... Somehow reminds me of an AWACS radar radome bulge... The only practical application I could find for it other than that would be a massive fuel tank... Hope that bird has the standard-OFP-aircraft near-endless range then!  yay.gif

  19. Posted

    Ghost's Ka-26 is the best Kamov out there besides any Hokum/Werewolf/Alligator variants. Unfortunately one noticed it really was a beta because it's "derrière" was "open-ended", quite literally, so to speak... Still, I love it - and would love even more that someone would complete it (also with nicer and functioning cockpit if possible). But it seems a lot of good addons that were maybe still in WIP stage for OFP weren't released, like that Ka-29... There was also a Ka-27 Wip that wasn't released... sad_o.gif

  20. Posted

    If you do not like your internet provider's choice of access policies, perhaps it is time you either moved out of your parent's basement, or sincerely listened to their reasons for concern for your welfare.

    shinRaiden, as I said, the author of the movie made a poor choice in terms of internet host for the content he is about to publish. But make no mistake, he knows what he is doing by being willing to publish what he intends to, and will of course have to deal with the consequences. Though, the interesting thing is, he may well become a martyr - and what that spells for the extremist views that support him, which in Europe as a whole have been growing, is the real issue. Every martyr makes them stronger, and if you don't think that the past cannot happen again, you better think twice - for the past has a tendency to repeat itself. It is indeed crazy but it could be this very issue that may prompt a repeat of things which have happened already, and may happen again (remember "The Wave"! ) . If whoever is offended by what is going to be published would only answer in kind, then things may be ok. But I think that in Europe at least, one should be "Roman in Rome", meaning Freedom of speech should be respected - and any suppression of it by threats should not, cannot be tolerated.

  21. Posted

    Well in this case the website host may be in its right to not divulge that content, because it CAN be interpreted by some to be against the site's Acceptable Use policy - Geert Wilders should have chosen a different host, willing to post such a content - he even may find a host amongst his dutch supporters.

    But seriously, all this controversy tells him, and the dutch cartoonist before him, that he may be not that wrong, and since everything is open to criticism anyway, I think that noone should be afraid of expressing his thoughts, no matter what his oppinion is (for everything can be - in a civilized manner - rebuked) .

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