Lawnmower Boy

Re: Foxbat....Where can I find Him? Foxbat's in Port Moody? I thought he'd be cooler --Kitsilano cool. ('Course then he'd have no time for master plans because he'd be lining up at Safeway all day.)

Re: Democratic Republics in Fantasy Worlds? Dittmarsch, Ditmarsch, Dithmarsch are all orthographic possibilities for contemporary German. Adding the "en" at the end either pluralises it or (I think, cuz I'm too lazy to look up my list of case endings) can be a genitive that's been incorporated in the word by traditional usage. I take it as the latter, having had more than one argument over endings in weird 17th century German names and placenames. Wikipedia cites it in a crapulous article on "village communities" lifted from the 11th ed. of the Encyclopaedia Brittanica, but, oddly enough, omits the actual article, s.v. Dithmarschen. "A territory between the Eider, Elbe and the North Sea, forming the western part of the old ducy of Holstein.... about 550 sq miles including 90,000 inhabitants [in 1909]," all coastal marshland, some of which was reclaimed, some not. Like many similar communities its independence was rooted in the competing claims of local potentates like the Archbishop of Bremen and his rival, the King of Denmark. The territory was divided into four "Marks" and governed by a Landrat of 48 elective "consuls." Dittmarsch defeated several invasions by the Duke of Holstein [politics in this corner of Europe are nothing if not complicated] during the early 1500s --cue heroic peasants waging guerilla war from their marshy fastness-- before sad reality triumphed.

Re: Interesting Aircraft: Dornier 335 Pfeil As a long time lurker, this is the thread that got me to register and post. There's a reason that Crimson Shadows is a game. This is a Dornier con job. The performance numbers come from the sales department by way of the Making-Things-Up-With-Math Office. Look at the _weight_ of the plane (and reports on its flying qualities) and you will see another story. If you want a really high performance late war twin-engine fighter, look at the De Havilland Hornet, Grumman F7 or Kurt Tank's Ta154. Admittedly they look boringly conventional, but there is a reason that all the production fighters have the same configuration. Well, except for the North Amrican P-82.

Re: Strange "UFO" Granny got one of those for Tweety once. It didn't end well for Sylvester.

Re: Democratic Republics in Fantasy Worlds? Long time lurker first time ...blah blah special interest in the subject blah blah. Want a period specific republic that isn't one of those classic corrupt trading states? Look up the "Dittmarsch Republic."