Mantis

Re: Longest Running Thread EVER Tim Russ plays a good Vulcan, but a terrrible Klingon.

Re: Longest Running Thread EVER

Re: John Hancock (spoilers)

Re: John Hancock (spoilers) LAPD? They had a swag of warrants out for his arrest, they just couldn't find him until he gave himself up, which is how he ended up in jail.

Re: What Are You Listening To Right Now? Long Cool Woman in a Black Dress - The Hollies Helping Hand - Screaming Jets

Re: Need names for some magic types Intellisense. Imaginaction. Translocation. Infusion.

Re: The cranky thread

Re: The cranky thread Lemme see.... no request for a present this year, took family out to dinner instead, other than that, pretty much the same this year as last year.

Re: The cranky thread Your nose is bleeding because it is summer where you are. To stop your nose bleeding, slap an ice pack on the back of your neck. The spot directly between the tops of your shoulders is the best place. [Why this works: this spot is where your body's thermostat is located. Your body thinks it has gone cold and constricts the capillaries in your extremities to conserve heat, cutting off the flow of blood to your nose. Given it is summer where you are, the opposite effect is probably what caused the blood vessels in your nose to rupture in the first place.] EDIT: ignore reference to summer, that's where I am. Where you are, it's central heating.

Re: Musings on Random Musings Kids these days with their loud... *squints at monitor "haridos".

Re: Musings on Random Musings This thread is useless without pictures.

Re: Longest Running Thread EVER Help! I'm trying to find a Motivational poster that someone posted here. It's of "Mrs Reynolds" from Firefly and the caption is something like "THE SPECIAL HELL: Yeah, I'd go there". I've checked the usual threads but I can't find it and the Search function is no help looking for an image/attachment. Can anyone else remember this and point me to it?

Re: The cranky thread

Re: Musings on Random Musings That's my post-marriage experience.

Re: Double The Hero Excitement! I'm 1.5 hours in the future from you (Adelaide, Australia).

Re: Double The Hero Excitement!

Re: Submarine Aircraft carriers of the world! And don't forget the Skydiver.

Re: Longest Running Thread EVER Secret painkiller drug scourge.

Re: Submarine Aircraft carriers of the world! Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) submarines were the largest submarines in the world until the advent of nuclear propulsion. This size meant many classes included a hangar to carry a seaplane. For example the B1 Class, which was the most numerous class of IJN subs (20 built), all carried a E14Y1 "Glen" seaplane in a hangar forward of the conning tower. At 2,584 tons, it was the size of a large destroyer - by comparison, the USN Gato class was 1,500 tons and the German Type VIc U-boat (the major participant in the Battle of the Atlantic) a mere 769 tons. I-29 (which I've done a lot of research on, and written an article on for a wargame magazine) had a war that was stranger than fiction: - Her first mission after commissioning in February 1942 was to support the attempted invasion of Port Moresby in April-May 1942 which resulted in the Battle of the Coral Sea. She had barely left port when the Doolittle raiders bombed Tokyo and she was temporarily diverted to search for the strike force. - When the invasion of Port Moresby was abandoned, she continued south to a position of Sydney, Australia, while the rest of the flotilla went to Truk to pick up midget submaries. - I-29 launched her "Glen" to perform a recon of Newcastle and Sydney harbors. Damaged on landing and unable to fly again, I-29's plane performed the final recon before the midget sub attack on Sydney Harbor on May 30-June 1 1942. - I-29 then performed a number of standard commerce-raiding patrols in the Indian Ocean and Arabian Gulf over the next six months, sinking 6 ships. The IJN employed their subs primarily against warships rather than merchant traffic, so these patrols accounted for 3% of the merchant ships sunk by the IJN troughout the entire war. - In April 1943, I-29 went cloak-and-dagger, one of the members of the B1 class that were pressed into service as cargo carriers, moving strategic supplies between the Far East and Germany. She embarked 11 tons of cargo (including 2 tons of gold), plans and blueprints for the carrier Akagi and a Type A midget submarine, and two passengers (one of whom was making the return trip on U-234 when the German surrender came into force. The U-boat surrendered and the Japanese passengers commited suicide. The U-234 was allegedly carrying Uranium-235 to Japan). I-29 then sailed to the Mozambique Channel and rendezvoused with U-180. In heavy seas, sailing in daylight with their torpedo loading hatches open, the two submarines transfer their respective cargo and passengers. From U-180 comes Subhash Chandra Bose, former president of the Indian National Congress and political rival of Ghandi. He had escaped from British custody in India in early 1941 and travelled through Afghanistan to Russia and thence via Italy to Germany, seeking support for a popular uprising in India. He didn't receive it, but did help raise the Azad Hind Legion, a 4500-strong Army unit comprosed of Indian ex-PoWs. I-29 took him to Sabang (rather than back to Penang) to avoid observation by Britush spies. Bose was then flown to Tokyo and an audience with Hirohito. Bose then formed the co-belligerent Indian National Army along the same lines as the Azad Hind Legion, but much larger, and also lead an Indian "government-in-exile" recognised by all Axis governments. Bose allegedly died in a plane crash in Taiwan in August 1945, although some believe this was a deception to cover his actual escape to the USSR. - Back to I-29: after another regular war patrol and a long repair and refit period, she receives a new commander, Cdr Kinashi Takakazu, formerly captain of I-19. I-19 had also had an interesting war, being part of the patrols around Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941, then sailing to California, up to the Aleutian Islands, back to Japan, and finally to the Solomons where I-19 sunk the USS Wasp. This mission was more mundane, taking over 200 tons of cargo and 11 passengers to occupied France. Leaving Singapore in December 1943, she reached the Bay of Biscay in March 1944. As arranged by coded signal, the Germans arranged an escort to meet them - four destroyers, including a Dutch destroyer captured in 1940, and an aerial escort of Ju88 long-range fighters. Unfortunately, the code used was a variation of the Enigma which the British had broken, so the RAF aranged a greeting too - six Mosquitos, including two of the "Tsetse" variant armed with an auto-loading 57mm gun. I-29 escaped unscathed, but one Ju88 was shot down, allegedly by a single 57mm shot. I-29 also escapes further attacks by Beaufighters and Liberators and arrives safely at Lorient. - While their boat is overhauled, the crew travel to Paris, while their captain, Kinashi, goes to Berlin and receives the Iron Cross (2nd Class) from Adolf Hitler as reward for sinking the Wasp. - In April 1944 the return journey begins. Included in her cargo are blueprints for the Me 163 interceptor and Me 262 fighter, as well as examples of their respective powerplants, a V-1 “buzz-bomb”, plans for a glider bomb and for radar, radar detecting and radar jamming equipment. In a final irony, twenty "Enigma" coding machines, intended for use in Japanese-German Naval communication, are included in the cargo. She also carries 18 passengers. Her return journey is uneventful, and she arrives in Singapore on 14 July 1944. Her passengers disembark and travel onwards to Tokyo by plane, taking with them some of the plans and technical documents. These will be used to produce a copy of the Me163 (the J8M Shusui). - I-29 transmits her itinerary to Tokyo. The Allies intercept and decode the message and set a trap for her. On 22 July 1944, she is sighted running on the surface by USS Sawfish who fires four torpedoes at her. Three strike home and the I-29 sinks immediately, with only one survivor. The survivor confirmed the ship sunk instantly and took the Enigma machines with her, and the Axis continued to believe their codes remained secure. So, there you go. Japanese, Nazis, spies, political intrigue, secret codes, planes carrying honking big guns, and a link to the alleged Japanese A-bomb program. Lots of pulpy goodness, and it's all true!! Also, the IJN had a plan to send four I-400 class subs to launch an attack on the Panama canal. Each could carry two or three M6A Seiran attack aircraft, launched by catapult. They were to cross the Indian and South Atlantic oceans and attack from the east. Ten planes (six with torpedoes, four with bombs) would destroy the canal locks, rendering the canal unusable. In the event only three I-400 were completed and the plan was abandoned.

Re: Musings on Random Musings

Re: Longest Running Thread EVER

Re: Opinion: Systems Operation v. Transport Familiarity Okay, putting aside that I wouldn't use SysOps for a non-tech environment, try: Transport Familiarity is for Officers. They know what orders to give to get a desired result in a given situation. Systems Operation is for Crew. They know how to implement the orders they are given, but can't control the ship. Non-coms may have both to reflect the fact they can, in dire circumstances, take over if the officers are incapacitated.

Re: Musings on Random Musings Disturbing in the context of your tagline and signature...

Re: Musings on Random Musings .

Re: Musings on Random Musings Woooah! The new "view attachment" gizmo in the board upgrade is really something!* Oh, and, uh, pretty lady. Shame about the ugly dude in back.** [* Yes, that was the first thing I noticed, sad little techo-geek that I am.] [** Totally joking, dude.]