There's probably a good football metaphor here (Review: 'Hustle' 7.5)

Hustle is now coming to the end of its seventh season and I wouldn't be surprised if the show goes on past ten. It may not be a show with massive amounts of depth, but at the end of the day it's highly entertaining and that does the job for most people.

After Ash Morgan, one of the five-person team of loveable con artists, has his favourite football team go into administration, he's not happy about it and wants to go after the corrupt agent responsible. He makes a passionate speech about the state of the beautiful game, which you could quite happily use in many a serious drama with only slight changes, then reminds the team that they could get a lot of money. The latter convinces them.

The target is Don Coleman, played by David Harewood, previously best known to me for Robin Hood. Like all the marks in this show, Harewood brings the ham and brings it well. He's a thoroughly slimy piece of work, without any redeeming features, but that's par for the course.

The con is reasonably standard but good nonetheless; the group decide to pass off Sean Kennedy as an elite Canadian football player - despite the fact he can't actually play (I won't reveal how they get around that). That's the convincer. Then they try to sell Coleman a US football club and then do some switcheroo that persuades Don to give the gang a lot of money.

There's a rather large snag involving a head injury here that is a refreshing little change to the show; the team's setback here isn't faked as part of the plot and it's only Coleman's sheer hubris that actually makes the con work.

All in all, it's a very enjoyable episode. It does drag somewhat, especially around the 20-minute mark, but there's some brilliant little gags and even Eddie the barman, who sometimes feels like an unnecessary source of comic relief, is actually rather funny for a change. Now, guys, pay your tab!

Emma, the sole female in the group, doesn't get a lot to do this week. Possibly for the best; she's the weakest character in the gang.

I've wondered recently who pulls the better cons; this crew or the Leverage team. Based on this, I'd have to say that the jury is still very much out.

4/5.

Exit Mubarak

After the disappointment of last night, I wasn't expecting this.

While there are understandably concerns about the future, this is a great day for the people of Egypt.

Votes for prisoners

BBC News story.

I completely oppose the idea of giving any prisoners the vote. If you are sent to prison, you should not be able to vote to get out.

I'm not entirely sure that this vote is a good idea though; it could have serious repercussions for the devolved body elections - and the AV referendum.


I don't like the idea of this, but if it was a choice between prisoners voting and pulling out of the European Convention of Human Rights altogether, I'd have to go for the former.

Trapped in Terra

http://www.trappedinterra.com/

(Contains strong language)

I've found this via a guy advertising it at RPG site Myth-Weavers. It's worth checking it; it's hilarious and very well-written. I'm looking forward to the next episode.

Phoenix Roleplaying

Just to remind everyone that I have another blog.

Please check it out and Phoenix; you may well like it.

Lark Rise: 'tis a silly place. (Review: 'Lark Rise to Candleford', Episode 4.4)

One of the UK's main things it manufactures these days is costume dramas. The BBC have become world-renowned for them and ITV frequently produces some of high worth, most recently Downton Abbey, it's biggest hit that's not involved Simon Cowell for a while.

A few days ago, the BBC announced it would stop making its Sunday night costume drama Lark Rise to Candleford, arguing that they wanted to take it out on a high. If this is a high, I'd hate to see what a low looks like.
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For those of you not familiar with the show, it is a loose adaptation of Flora Thompson's autobiographical novels about her childhood in 19th century Oxfordshire. It follows Laura - see what they did there? - a young woman, who moves from the sleepy village of Lark Rise to work at the Post Office in Candleford in the 1890s (it's 1897 now).

Each episode, some outside visitor or technical development threatens to disrupt the good orderly nature of life, there are a few arguments and eventually the situation is sorted out with everyone learning a valuable lesson about tolerance/patience/humility/whatever.

This episode is a case in point. The fair comes to town. Farmhand Alfie becomes champion at something called shin-kicking; Laura becomes Queen of the Fair for being the prettiest woman there (OK...) and Queenie Turrell, one of the local senior citizens, wins a pig.

What follows involves the postman taking slight at Laura's boyfriend saying his wife isn't that attractive, Alfie's nice but a bit stupid girlfriend Minnie the maid realising he cheated (his foot went over some line and he didn't say anything) and Queenie's husband Twister selling the pig for 8 shillings which he promptly spends on drink. However, all of these issues are cleared up by the end and everyone is friends again.

By the way, the pig ends up being dinner; there was no discussion on vegetarianism.
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The BBC have a problem in not having ad breaks as their hour-long shows actually have about 56 minutes of content as opposed to c.42 for a commercial network. Quantity does not equal quality and it sometimes shows. Doctor Who is only 45 minutes and works exceptionally well as a result.

Here though a lot of that is here, there's other problems. It's just got silly. People constantly get the wrong end of the stick and don't find out until it's almost too late; the characters are predictable and the plots even more so. They've apparently stopped using the books and the show has done a Fonz. Yep, it's jumped the shark.

[Happy Days  fans will of course point out said show actually lasted seven years after that moment. Expressions don't need to be accurate, just funny]

Yes, this is supposed to be escapism, but it's just boring and that's the cardinal sin for any show.

It's not without its good parts; there were some genuinely funny moments, I liked the ending and the costuming continues to be brilliant. Even the moral stuff is good. However, these don't outweigh the silly parts.

I'm glad this is going; perhaps we'll get something better.
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3/5. Because I'm feeling generous.

Never let the facts get in the way of a good story...

I've just finished watching Elizabeth: The Golden Age. In it, Walter Raleigh is discovered to have secretly married one of the Queen's maids after getting her pregnant and is arrested for it.

While that did actually did happen; it didn't happen in 1588, but rather 1592. After the Spanish Armada...

Egypt

I didn't really pay attention to events into Tunisia until Ben Ali headed for the exit.

I'm paying much more attention to Egypt.

Mubarak may well be hanging on at the moment and while it seems the army aren't putting down the protests, they aren't actively supporting them either. I don't think even they agree on the right course of action.

I think the best solution might well be for Mubarak to step down, hand over power to the new Vice-President, then hold elections in a few months like Tunisia. In the meantime, the "state of emergency" (it's 30 years old; long emergency) must end and freedom of expression allowed.

I doubt any new Egyptian government will be as friendly to the USA and Israel as the old one; especially as the USA has not only been not actively supporting the protests but also supplied the equipment the authorities have been using, including the fighter jets. The support for Mubarak may well come back to haunt the USA.

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Comparisons to 1989 have already failed for one reason; deadly violence. In all bar one case (Romania) no-one died in the revolutions there, although a rumour that someone had was sufficient to bring down the Communists in Czechoslovakia.

History repeats, but it never repeats exactly. I don't know if the fall of Mubarak would cause a chain reaction elsewhere; I suspect a couple of states would be easily able to contain any demonstrations.

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I hope that the people of the great and ancient nation of Egypt can have a peaceful and democratic future.

Games won and lost

I see Andy Murray lost in straight sets in the final of the Australian Open. Is this guy ever going to win a Grand Slam.

In other news, Armchair General has just concluded "Operation Narwhal", a simulation of a Sealion-style attack on the UK in 1940, using the TOAW III system. The forum is here; you can easily find the relevant threads.

The outcome stacked somewhat with the historical analyses of the likely result; the Germans lost. However, due to focussing the Luftwaffe on the Royal Navy, they held the supply lines open for 45 days.

Holocaust Memorial Day

I recently watched a series on UKTV History called Nazi Collaborators, which as the name describes was about those who helped the Nazis rule much of Europe and carry out the "Final Solution".

Some of these were people just trying to preserve their own people as best they could; if saying no cost you your life, you might well have to say yes. Others though were out-and-out evil people trying to gain personal power, like the Arjas Kommando in Lithuania. Many of these will burn in hell for their actions.

The details of The Holocaust are staggering. I had a look at the transcripts of the Nuremberg War Crimes Tribunal the other day; where graphic descriptions of the brutality carried out by the Nazis are present. It was also pointed out that much of the evidence used to convict the senior Nazis of crimes against humanity was of their own making; including the film footage we often see. People who film their "comrades" committing mass murder - words honestly fail. One Nazi even managed to work out an "efficient" way of mass burial to make the job easier. The whole thing was done on an industrial scale and with industrial methods.

I'm not even going to attempt to rationalise the collective mania that gripped Germany in the 1930s and 1940s. You just can't.

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At the end of the day, we are all human beings. Sadly many people still forget that.
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You can light a virtual candle here.

Clear Skies 3 Teaser Trailer

The third instalment of quite possibly the best machinanima... in the world.

Beyond Black Mesa released

Watch it here; may take a while to fully buffer. (contains bloody violence).

Excellent work; I've seen worse by professionals.

The art of politics is... timing

So Andy Coulson has resigned in what is quite possibly the worst timed resignation I've seen for a while.

The media are not stupid; they can spot someone burying bad news and this looks like it. Why place the media focus back onto you and the Tories when Blair would have been the focus overwise?

This is an own goal and a half.

Two years of Obama

Two years ago, I wrote this.

It was rather prescient in many ways, particularly the bit about conservatism. Obama's two years in office so far have been mixed at best. There's been the healthcare reforms, New START (stupid name for a treaty, IMO) and the repeal of DADT. However, there's been a distinct lack of progress in Afghanistan, unemployment remains high and much legislation had to be watered down.

It's not surprising that Obama suffered the biggest loss in mid-term elections since before the war. He needs to improve and seems to be doing so after the "shellacking" (as he termed it).

At the moment, I'm predicting Obama gets re-elected, but not in a landslide. There doesn't seem to be a stellar GOP candidate out there. I doubt Palin will get anywhere near the nomination.

Of course, I may be wrong.

Beyond Black Mesa released Friday

A follow-up to this post.

The full film will be available on YouTube on Friday; I may well embed it.

Royal Navy website

Visiting the website of the Royal Navy today to do some research for a planned RP (Carrier at Phoenix Roleplaying). The site has broken links and needs updating.

That is just not acceptable for the website of a major navy. What would Nelson say?

Revolution in Tunisia

Tunisia's President Ben Ali has stepped down and fled the country amid violent unrest.

The word "revolution" seems the correct one here. Hopefully this is the start of a new and improved future for Tunisians.

The shootings in Tucson and the reaction to it

The events of Saturday in Tucson, Arizona are a deep tragedy and my condolences are with all the victims.

What's disturbed me even more than this is the reaction on the internet. I'm a member of a political/military forum called Armchair General. The forum contains a sub-forum called "Politics Central". Discussion there is "robust" normally, although I will give kudos to their fine admin team, including Admiral and Bad Wolf, who try to keep control over things. Since Tucson, it's gotten bad even by standards there. They've had to ban people as a result.

The same has occurred at US Election Atlas, where Solar (the US General Discussion forum moderator) had to issue at least 44 "infraction points" for this.

I've seen a lot of nasty partisan rancour in American politics over the past nine years. It may or may not have caused the events in Tucson; we don't know yet.

However, it's not helping. Calm down.

We have a Josephine now. Josephines are cool. (Review of 'CSI: NY' 7.1, "The 34th Floor")

There are some characters who you gradually get to like. Others enter the cool department from the get-go.

I'll get to that in a second.

There are two broad plot-lines running through this. The first is the conclusion (sorta) of the plot of last season and the resolution of the cliff-hanger ending of Season 6.

Basically, a serial killer was holding the baby of the NY crime lab's resident whipping-people, Danny and Lindsay Messer hostage, while pointing a gun at the former. We heard a gunshot over the closing credits.

In what is somewhat of a cheat on the cliffhanger resolution (adding bits to a time gap that only appeared to be a few seconds), Lindsay demonstrated that it really isn't a good idea to threaten the baby of an NYPD cop and after some initial trepidation, shot the serial killer in the chest. (The full Mozambique drill might have been deemed as a bit excessive).

Cut to five months later. Mrs. Messer, wearing a uniform with a cap that is a size too big for her, receives a Combat Cross placed around her neck by Mac, who isn't wearing a uniform. Lindsay isn't too happy about this, feeling that she was merely doing her job. After a counselling session, she chucks her medal in the bin. Eventually, she is persuaded by Mac and Danny that she deserves the medal, which Danny gives back to her (I hope he cleaned it first). My two cents on this - doing your job generally involves a tactical vest and back-up, not a stand-off in your pyjamas. There's a thing called going beyond the call of duty.

This is arguably the weaker of the two plotlines. While I like Lindsay (who has got a fair amount of flak over the years), this wasn't the best episode she's been in.

However, this emotional plot-line was far more than made up for by the main criminal investigation one. While the team are all watching Lindsay get her medal, a new character (who didn't get the memo) arrives at the empty lab... and finds a dead body.

The new character, Josephine "Jo" Danville, a former FBI agent from Virginia, is a far better character than Stella Bonasera and her consistently low-cut tops. She hits the ground running, making quips, memorably psyching out lab tech Adam with some good guesses about his social habits (which seem to involve porn) and playing a key role in solving the case. I have a new favourite character in CSI:NY.

This very strong opener ends with a stand-off at the Chrysler Building and I'll just note that the show seems to be trying to kill people at every major NYC landmark before wrapping this up.

4/5. The show stays in a very good second place in the CSI league.

Edit 16/1: It's Jo Danville, not Jo Ward. Selina Ward is the actor who plays Jo Danville...

I don't believe this woman is a DI: a review of 'Above Suspicion: Deadly Intent'

Lynda La Plante is a rather prolific novel and television writer. Best known for Prime Suspect and more recently Trial and Retribution, her latest TV adaptations involve one of the less believable police officers in contemporary TV crime fiction.

DI Anna Travis.

I've never read the books, so I can't honestly comment on that portrayal, and I'm no expert on acting, but Kelly Reilly seems, in my humble and possibly incorrect opionion, miscast in this role, is playing it badly or has awful material. Reilly, born in 1977 according to IMDB, plays this role as if DI Travis was a teenager thrust into a suit and tight blouse, handed a warrant card and told to clean up the streets of London. She holds herself and dresses that way (as the Digitial Spy discussion points out, the make up doesn't help either). It's really rather jarring. I am supposed to believe that this woman is a seasoned detective in SCD1 (the murder squad of the Metropolitan Police Service), who is in a position to lead an entire investigation on her own. I can't do it. I just can't do it. Travis is just far too immature and unprofessional.

Leaving aside what looks like an attempt (all too common in TV) to use pretty to boost ratings and not bothering about the characterisation, let's move onto the rest of this.

The plot of Deadly Intent involves a renowned drug dealer getting plastic surgery in Mexico then coming to London and killing a few people with Fentanyl. It's a good plot and the ending was a nice twist even if not entirely convincing, particularly in the age of the European Arrest Warrant (that plane would have to put down somewhere in Europe). The dealer does a particularly audacious move that has to be seen to be believed.

There's a rather decent turn from Julian Sands and much of the rest of the cast, including Shaun Dingwall. Not an expert in the direction side of things, so I'll refrain from comment about that.

I'm going to give this 3/5. Seriously, there's a problem with the lead character that needs dealing with.

Phoenix Roleplaying

I'm surprised I haven't linked to this yet.

Phoenix Roleplaying is my current RPing centre, following my resignation from AJJE back in July. It's got a wider variety of sims, including Firefly, Stargate, The Wheel of Time and a few original concepts as well.

Please, check it out!

Another day, another misleading story from the Daily Mail

Fresh off alleging non-existent cuts in Downton Abbey (hattip Stephen Fry), the Daily Mail excels itself yet again in a misleading article about "Neets" (Not in education, employment or training). I'd link to it, but quite frankly, the amount of bikinis visible in the side links probably make it Not Quite Safe For Work. This is a paper that promised to stop doing paparazzi stuff thirteen years ago

The article alleges that nearly one in five 18-year-olds fall into that category, but then uses an EU study that is of 20-24 year olds. People in that category who are Neets may have no qualifications, but they may also have degrees. Graduate unemployment is about 20% at the moment.

There's also a rather archaic definition of Western Europe in there. We're beaten in this by Italy, Spain, Portugal (as well as Malta). All of these be defined as Western Europe for various reasons (EU and NATO membership pre-1989).

So, please try harder and don't contradict yourself in the same article.

Screenshot 2: Sleeping at your post

(Battlefield 2)

 

Layout updates

Made some layout changes in what is partly an attempt to increase my readership. Hattip to Jams; the Linkedwithin widget he uses is a good one.

I hope you like my reactions feature. Yes, I like Sergio Leone's spaghetti westerns.

Plans for 2011

I've got a three "series" planned to run in 2011, mainly anniversary features:

•  Late February - The Video Game War: A look back at the 1991 Gulf War (aka Operation Desert Storm)
• Around 22 June - The Biggest War In History: An examination of the Eastern Front of the Second World War. This will be probably be at least six parts.
• Around 10 December - After Pearl Harbor: there will be plenty of stuff elsewhere focussing on the attack itself, but this series will look at the massive offensive that the attack started. Singapore will get an article to itself.

I'll be doing some TV reviews. These may contain spoilers.

I might do a little more fiction too.

100 Years since Sidney Street

Today is the one hundredth anniversary of The Sidney Street Siege, a key event in the history of policing and arguably anarchism as well.

Diamond Geezer has a lot more on this, including a link to the newsreel.

"J-20": Further thoughts

I've been thinking further on the "J-20" and I've identified another aircraft it might be going for a similar role as.

The Panavia Tornado.

The Tornado is a multi-national swing-wing aircraft with two major roles; an air defence interceptor (the F3 version is about to retire from the RAF) and precision strike, including maritime attack.

While larger on estimates than the Tornado, the "J-20" could fit comfortably into both roles; going after stuff like B-52s and B-1Bs, or even having a go at an AWACS.

"J-20": A Chinese "Backfire"?

The aviation forums recently have been buzzing with discussion on the new Chinese "stealth fighter" recently spotted doing fast taxi runs.

In one of the discussions, the writer warned about the danger of "mirror-imaging", citing the incorrect evaluations of the Tu-22M "Backfire".

Now follows some slightly-educated guesses that may well be completely wrong.

I do not think, as Air Power Australia does, that J-20 is an F-35 rival. For five reasons:

1. It looks too large and too blocky for effective manoeuvrability in a situation where air-to-air combat is looking like going back into within-visual-range fights.

2. We still have no indication of the super-cruise capabilities of this thing, if it even has any.

3. Chinese missiles still aren't up to US standards. No-one is talking about any PLAAF missiles rivalling the AIM-9X/ASRAAM/IRIS-T weapons used by "Western" forces.

4. It doesn't really fit into believed and stated Chinese strategy. This talks about the defence of two "island chains", the second going out as far as Guam and the Northern Marianas.

5. There are plenty of capable Chinese SAM capabilities on the mainland and in their ships that will at least force F-35s to carry internal ordinance only. That's before we get to J-11 and J-15.

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The classic scenario for a war involving China involves Taiwan. In this scenario, the defence of the Republic of China would be assisted by US carrier groups and air strikes from as far away as Guam, but more often from Japan or the Philippines.

It would be very useful for the PLA to attack land bases and the carriers directly. The propaganda potential of sinking a US carrier would be simply huge - and right now the Chinese lack the effective assets to do it.

DF-21D, which the US now evaluates as having achieved "Initial Operational Capability", lacks key elements in the "kill chain", such as the capability to locate a CVBG without being counter-detected and attacked. The US is rapidly improving AEGIS to cope with it as well.

The Chinese need an alternative strategy. Their other attack aircraft either have limited range (FB-7) and/or are vulnerable to AAM (Su-30/H-6).

Their planned carrier force will run into similar problems, particularly from the new US SSNs, as there is currently no "Chinese AEGIS" (or Russian one for that matter)

This is where the Chinese could do with a "stealth Backfire".

The Tu-22M "Backfire" turned out to be an aircraft designed for medium-range strikes with stand-off missiles against US carrier groups and land-based targets (e.g. Keflavik, which would play host to NATO maritime reconnaissance aircraft). Any "Backfire" raid against a US carrier group, though, would have had to get through the gauntlet of a rather capable CAP (Combat Air Patrol) made up of F-14s and F/A-18s. Even F-4s would have caused it severe problems. You either need luck a lot of "Backfires"; i.e. one hundred plus, or a fighter escort. It's a lot of resources involved.

However, with a stealth aircraft, you get a decent chance of avoiding said CAP and getting into sufficient range (say 20 kilometres) to launch a missile attack that is going to be difficult to defend against.

This also applies to strikes against land targets.

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In conclusion, if this becomes operational, it will be a new and potent Chinese capability, but not because it can beat the F-35.

Screenshot 1: Bots messing about in boats

Il-2 Sturmovik: Where taking off is difficult

I got Il-2 Sturmovik (the 1946 version) for Christmas and have had a go at it over the last couple of days.

I've completed one mission so far, as I've got a bit of a problem taking off. In what I discovered was actually the game simulating torque and not a problem with my joystick; I have a strong tendency to go left or right when taking off. Off the runway and in one case, taking off and hitting the control tower with my right wing.

I'll try and get some screenshots; plus some older ones from my earlier gaming time.

Advent 5: The Holy Spirit

The final gift that God has given us, so far, is the Holy Spirit. This gift "overshadowed" Mary result in the Immaculate Conception, but later appeared after Jesus had gone up to heaven.

In Acts, tongues of fire descended on the apostles, who had been in hiding after the resurrection, waiting to see how the land lay and fearing persecution. The tongues of fire were the Holy Spirit, which not only gave them renewed confidence, but the ability to speak all the languages of a diverse crowd.

Since that day of Pentecost, the Church never looked back. Jesus' followers would take the good news all over the Roman Empire. Many would die for it and did so gladly. After all, it was only death - they would soon be with Jesus.

From a small sect to a global religion; that's what the Holy Spirit caused to happen to Christianity. It still acts in mysterious ways today; including, I would say, in my own life.

There is still one more gift to come; a new Heaven and a New Earth.
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With that, I wish all my readers a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Advent 4: Jesus

Probably God's greatest gift is his Son, Jesus Christ.

I'm currently watching The Nativity on BBC1. While it may be a bit twee, it's very biblical. Jesus' "father" was a humble carpenter. Mary was an ordinary young woman (the concept of "teenager" not quite existing back then). God chose them to provide the route where he could spread the Good News. He became a vulnerable baby, then a refugee. I wouldn't be surprised if he had problems making ends meet. He was viewed as mad by many and ultimately put to death for a non-existent crime by the Romans who were worried about his impact on their authority. I've mentioned a lot more about that last bit in my Holy Week series.

This is one of the best poems about it. Short, but worth reading.

Through all this, Jesus took the punishment for every sin that was ever committed or will be committed on himself. No need for animal sacrifices any more - we could now talk with God directly.

Jesus did not achieve a tremendous amount in his lifetime on Earth, but he set the stone rolling (literally on Easter Sunday). Three centuries later, even the Roman Empire, which had done so much to persecute Christians, became Christian. Even in our increasingly "Godless" society, people still have their children baptised and go for church weddings.

For all the problems that some in the Church has cause - Christianity has done a tremendous amount of good. From Jan Hus to William Booth to Mother Theresa, Jesus was God's ultimate present.

North Korea apparently has some sense

I see that we haven't got a war in Korea.

Stuff like this over a disputed border is always prone to get out of hand. The side doing the exercise feels it has to show that has to freely operate in all of its "territory", the other side feels that it can't let the other get away with it. It's really a case of ego writ large - and sadly often writ in blood.

I still feel the Rubicon has been crossed here. Any further DPRK attack on South Korea is going to trigger something very large indeed. Probably best to not give the regime an "excuse" for a few months.
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That is my 400th post. I'll do something bigger when I hit the big D.

Advent 3: The Law

This is the third post in my series on the Gifts of God.
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We move onto the third gift; the Law. By which I'm referring to the regulations in Leviticus.

Everybody focuses on the grain offerings and the stuff about being unclean, as well as the food rules. These rules certainly had a reason at the time; often to do with hygiene and health. I must admit I'm not entirely sure about all of them; I'm sure some Bible scholars could explain better.

The purpose of the law was more serious though; to give people rules and regulations to live in a just society. It was not to enslave them, but to ensure that all could live in decent conditions, free from violence and oppression.

Of course, we completely broke it either in letter or in spirit. The Pharisees at the time of Jesus were following the letter, but not the spirit; ensuring their own power and not protecting the interests of the poor.

Thus we needed Jesus, the next gift.

We are no longer subject to the Law, but are now free in Christ, the ultimate sacrifice. That is not a licence to sin freely, but to live to our fullest for God.

We can also eat pork.

Bob Ainsworth and drugs

Former minister calls for legislation of hard drugs.

I think this is a bad idea. Not only would those who had been deterred from doing drugs because of the illegality take it up; the prescription system would be prone to abuse, because addicts want more and more. They may well go through alternative means when refused. We already have tobacco smuggling problems in this country, where people will risk their health even more for cheaper cigarettes.

Narcotics kill people here and aboard; opium sales fund the Taliban and other terrorist groups. Addiction wrecks families. That wouldn't change.

We may not be winning the war on drugs, but that does not mean we should give up.

Don't mind me, I'm just here for the tram crash

Northern-set soap opera Coronation Street celebrated its 50th anniversary yesterday with a live episode in a week that "started" with a rather over-the-top scene where an explosion brought down a viaduct and a tram then went down through the gap.

I don't usually watch soap operas; but I tuned in for this. I might start watching this a bit more often.

I'm the sort of guy who treats his television watching like he's Joel from Mystery Science Theatre 3000, only without the robots. I like to snark.

Corrie's got a lot to snark about: [spoiler]'s death yesterday, along with [spoiler]'s birth scene and [spoiler] and [spoiler]'s [spoiler] wedding. All were ultimately clichéd and corny.

My TV watching can't all be stuff like Mad Men and Downton Abbey; we all should have a bit of fast food every so often.

Advent 2: The Promised Land

A tad later than planned, this is my second of five Advent posts.

The story of the book of Exodus is probably fairly well known to most "Western" adults; it's even been the subject of a Disney film (Prince of Egypt).

In it, Moses leads his people out of pretty harsh slavery in Egypt with the help of a considerable amount of divine intervention from God. There's comedy and deep tragedy; when the first-born Egyptians all die.

After 40 years in the desert (a delay caused by their own disobedience to God's instructions), they arrive in Canaan, the Promised Land. It's the start of a long story involving Temples, exiles and a lot of idol worshipping (even Solomon ends up doing it).

Giving a dedicated area of the world to his "own" people is one of God's most noticeable gifts. The fact he didn't renege on it despite the number of times the Israelites annoyed him is a true testament to his mercy.

We will soon have a new Promised Land; the Kingdom of Heaven - and it will be open to anyone who believes.

Bird-Brained and Pig-Headed

Maybe the Angry Birds Should Rethink Their Strategy.

I have Angry Birds on my phone; it's rather addictive.

Wikileaks, Anonymous and DDOS

I haven't actually made a comment on the Wikileaks affair here (I've limited my discussions elsewhere to the legal aspects around the rape allegations).

There's a place for whistle-blowing in journalism; I'm not sure that what Wikileaks is doing entirely qualifies. There's a fine line between exposing abuses and causing embarrassment. I know full well that I wouldn't like some of my private comments about people published over the Internet. Is the US government that different? I'll allow people to differ on that.

I make no comments on Mr. Assange's guilt or evidence; I just want a fair trial for him like anyone should have.

My ire today turns onto Anonymous. I'd seen some of them in Chicago two years ago protesting against Scientology; I wasn't fully aware of their hacking activities then.

To quote a member of this group: "As an organisation we have always taken a strong stance on censorship and freedom of expression on the internet and come out against those who seek to destroy it by any means".

Apparently, they don't want people to be able to exercise their freedom of expression in choosing to pay via Visa or Mastercard - many have no real choice to change at this time. Or tweet; Twitter being a great (if at times inane) tool for freedom of expression.

Anonymous may not like the Swedish prosecutors, but they have freedom of expression too.

At last, something to make putting out the washing fun!

I found these mentioned on the SFX website.

They're hand-painted, which explains the price-tag and really rather adorable.

Advent 1: The World

This is the first of five posts I'll be doing on the subject of Advent, as we approach Christmas 2010.

I won't be going on the traditional Advent Candle meanings, but focussing on five "presents" that the LORD has given to his people:
1. The World
2. The Promised Land
3. The Law
4. Jesus
5. The Holy Spirit

These may be a bit rambling; I'm just letting it flow.

****
I look out of my window at the latest batch of frozen water that has landed on my street and caused travel disruption. While it's easy to get annoyed, it does actually look rather nice.

Travelling around my home area, you can't go too far without running into a "rural area", even in central London, which has some wonderful parks. While these rural areas may at times be muddy and hard to navigate, they definitely look far more varied than the umpteen high streets round here with their samey cheap shops and pawnbrokers.

I don't know very much about trees and flowers, but I know what I like.

This green and blue world is one of God's greatest gifts - and his first. We were given it to look after (as talked about in Genesis). Shame we've rather failed on that over the years.

World AIDS Day

It's World AIDS Day today; focussing on the worst disease to hit this planet in the last half century.

I hope one day soon there's a vaccine for this. No-one deserves a disease like that, regardless of what they do - and many children in Africa didn't do anything.

Thoughts on the Irish bailout

If we're having to bail so many people out, we need some new boats.

There's got to be a new world financial system that stops people from getting into these situations.

Day of Defeat GunGame

It's been a while since I've had a good deathmatch and today I had one.

Or rather "GunGame". I only got up to level 8 in this, but it was still seriously enjoyable.

I should have noted the name of the server; it was a good time.

Wow. Just wow.

A trailer for a fan-made short movie set in the Half-Life universe. Seriously, this is pretty impressive.

(Contains strong violence)

47 Years of Doctor Who

23 November always holds a large significance for science fiction fans; it's the anniversary of the airing of the first episode of Doctor Who.

I'm still amazed today at how big the show still is; especially as I became a fan during the hiatus years. The stars of the show are among the most recognisable people in the UK and a show that was once only remembered for wobbly sets is now loved by millions.

The five years since the revival have seen the show grow from strength to strength.

Long may it continue.

The shelling in South Korea

I woke up at 8am this morning to hear the news of the North Korean shelling of a South Korean island.

Kim Jong-Il and his cabal are acting completely beyond the norms of international behaviour; you don't shell someone for a regular military exercise, even if you don't like it.

I hope and pray this doesn't escalate. I may be thousands of miles away, but others aren't...

Mr. Cable, that's about as transparent as a document wallet

Vince Cable claims Lib Dems did not make promise on transparent fees.

No-one ever thought the Lib Dems were going to win the election outright (even in the Cleggmania days); they'd best be part of a coalition government.

His waltz scores low with this judge.

Friday Update

I've just played a few rounds of Day of Defeat: Source and as usual been killed far more than killed myself (to give you an idea; my kill/death ratio in Battlefield 2 is 1 to 5 and this was considerably higher.

Perhaps it's lag, perhaps it's my not hugely fast reaction times. Oh, well, I don't do it for the money.

I've got another new RP up at Phoenix; a medieval sim called A Kingdom for A Stage. I'll be kicking this off around the beginning of December.

Schism report is on a hold due to ongoing matters linked to it.

eRepublik

Signed up for this today.

I'm hoping this doesn't turn into a boring level-up game like O-Game. It looks pretty interesting and dynamic, but if my time contracts, this will be first to go.

How I would solve the US deficit

Interesting thing from the New York Times.

I've got a nice balance between tax increases and spending cuts, IMHO. I tried to eliminate "unnecessary spending".

Rememberance: Where they fell

A very interesting BBC article on the wars Britain has fought since 1945.

Aung San Suu Kyi

Aung San Suu Kyi's release from house arrest is a great moment for all democrats.

I hope that further change will come to Burma. However, following the rigged elections of last week, I'm worried about how fast that change will come.

Still, a good day. Power is starting slip away from this junta.

A worthy article on the deficit

From Channel 4 FactCheck.

Like my header says - concentrate on what cannot lie.

Question of the day

Stacey Solomon appearing on I'm A Celebrity: a step up or a step down?

RAF Bomber Command

Jams made an excellent choice of picture on his blog today and while having a look for information on casualties that Bomber Command suffered, I found this website.

Very interesting and a reminder of the multiple roles that Bomber Command played; not just the attacks on Germany, but air support and the U-Boat War.

Armistice Day

Today marks the 92nd anniversary of the end of fighting in the First World War.

While all the veterans from that time have passed on, the legacy of that war still impacts our society and our world.

Today, British soldiers continue to fight for freedom in a foreign land.

We will remember them.

Harpoon: Ultimate Edition

I got this on Friday from Matrix Games and am currently playing through all the versions, doing a scenario in each.


Here's the in-progress AAR.

Tea. Republican. Black. There is a deficit on after all - Ten things we've learnt from the mid-terms

1. Pulchritude is not in itself an election winner. Especially if you dabbled in witchcraft.
2. Do not race-bait in Nevada.
3. Harry Reid is a political Time Lord.
4. Sarah Palin is not very good at getting people elected.
5. Just because you can make fake wrestling does not mean you can make real votes.
6. Even robo-polls can go wrong.
7. Sometimes it's even worse than you expect.
8. I'm no prediction master (but that doesn't mean I'll stop trying).
9. Personal votes are tricky things.
10. Californians aren't hippies.

Mid-term elections: final prediction

Republicans gain 8 seats.

I'll find out if I'm right in 48 hours. Or longer if a race or two ends up in court.

Harriet Harman's comments

This is going a little too far.

Choose your words more carefully in future, Ms. Harman. This does not help us.

US mid-terms prediction

Here we go:

Senate
6 GOP gains, including Nevada. Murkowski wins narrowly in Alaska. Democrats retain control narrowly.

House
45 Republican pick-ups; enough for narrow control of the lower chamber.

Fighting Flattops

Just signed up for this:

Fighting Flatops.

It's a multiplayer carrier combat game.

Let's see if it's any good.

Too many mavericks

I've just finished watching thorne: sleepyhead (complete with trendy no-caps title!).

It's another tale of a maverick police officer who is fully willing to disobey orders and in some cases the law in his investigations. In this one, he's party to an assisted suicide.

One colleague beats up a suspect.

I'm getting a bit tired of these sorts of coppers. For once, I'd like a copper who sticks to the rules. They're tempted to cross the line, but they never do. Perhaps they put their principles over their friends.

Please, I just want a change.

The Strategic Defence and Security Review

As a card-carrying member of the opposition party, I'm naturally bound to say that I don't like this review. It's cutting too much at a time when we're at war. Especially Ark Royal.

However, there is one good thing. We may have to wait a decade for it, but come 2020, we're back in the CATOBAR business.

Now, if you excuse me, I've got an RP to create... :)

Chile Mine Rescue

It could so easily have been another mine disaster that got a few lines in the paper.

The fact that it instead was a global media story and a true tale of triumph in difficult circumstances speaks volumes of the miners and the rescuers.

Congratulations to all of them - you deserve every peso you're going to get.

The Central Line

I had to travel on the Central Line of London Underground today. That place is an oven at the best of times; and excessively noisy too.

It's a reason for Crossrail in itself.

Unity Day

I'd like to wish the reunified Germany a Happy 20th Birthday.

Alles Gute zum Geburtstag!

AJJE Report update

I've had a large amount on; I won't be able to get it done this month. My current target is November.

Ed and Ken

I didn't vote for the two winners of the Labour leadership and mayoral candidacy. I have strong concerns over both of them.

That said, they are infinitely better than David Cameron and Boris Johnson. I wish them every success. I will judge them on results.

Hopefully the infighting will end; but the result in the leadership contest was too close for that.

We need to focus on the more important issue now. Getting the Coalition out of office.

The War in 2012

This mail-based wargame that I'm involved in is looking for more players.

It's a bit slow, but still enjoyable.

Quote of the day 1

From Lucy McGough on Gallifrey Base, discussing Merlin:

But someone should tell Morgause (from a safe distance) that eyeliner looks daft with chainmail.

"Pop Star" radar spotted on ship about to sink

Remember this?

Well, they've started filming. Yes, that is Rihanna and I did consider an "Umbrella" reference for this post.

H/T Galrahn.

A question on carriers

Could someone please explain to me why we're building two 65000 ton carriers instead of three or four Harrier Carriers at 20000 ton each?

Marie Revolver - Part Two: Bike failure

The revolver was stored in a plastic bag in the cistern. This was generally considered a good place to hide things; although law enforcement had long got wise to that. Marie did not plan on having the police visit her anytime soon.

She pulled it of the cistern and threw the empty bag into the bin; she'd get another one later. She checked the revolver was loaded and then stuck the weapon into her waistband.

She headed out of her flat and locked the door. Walking over to the central area, she pressed the button to call the lift. It actually was working, but this wasn't a surprise to Marie. Even graffiti artists didn't like using the stairs.

Six floors down to the ground. She opened the door out into the warm night and walked towards her Suzuki motorbike. It had its advantages if you wanted to escape, but it was an absolute nightmare when it rained.

She kicked the starter a couple of times. The engine stuttered and failed to start. Three more times all yielded the same result.

Marie swore silently. This was not helpful. She'd have to take public transport. She might well get there too late.

The tube station was a bus ride away; the buses were running, but not too frequently.

She had to wait twenty minutes for the bus to arrive. Were assassins supposed to use buses? She got on board and used her Oyster card; cash would have looked suspicious. She took a seat and reached for an MP3 player in her jacket.

The automated announcer told her the number of the bus and its destination, a Tube station.

She would be there in twenty minutes. She was still an hour away from Simon.

Australian elections

Well, this is a bit of a situation; both parties need the support of independents to be able to form a government; independents who might not all go the same way on any issue.

This makes May's election here look simple...

Labour leadership contest

Think I'll be voting for Ed Balls; not too keen on the others.

It seems that all the candidates want to move us to the left. Considering the reasons why we lost, that's not the world's best idea...

The sound of war (Farnborough: Part Four)

(Part One, Part Two, Part Three)

As a person who has never experienced actual battle in any way, shape or form, particularly an air raid, I don’t have a real appreciation of the sensory environment of modern (or for that matter ancient) warfare, particularly the noise.

The next aircraft adequately demonstrated that. The F-16. This was the third loudest aircraft of the day. I was standing near a hot dog vendor when this thing swooped over at high speed – and managed to set a car alarm off just by the sheer level of vibration.

It then proceeded to do the usual acrobatics. It’s worth pointing out that this aircraft is still in production for non-US customers and still operating in American service. While I don’t like single-engine fighters and the range isn’t brilliant, I can appreciate that it provides value for money. I wonder if the RAF ever seriously considered purchasing any (the idea gets mentioned in The Third World War).

Following this were the Army Historics. Three old Army Air Corp helicopters and a prop aircraft I can’t really identify. Helicopter construction has really come on apace since the Korean War; you can’t imagine any new military chopper with what is essentially scaffolding for a tail.

My camera battery was starting to run a bit low at this time, so I didn’t take any more photos for a while.

The “Red Devils” were next, an Army parachuting team that did a rather impressive display – I’ve never seen a real life parachute jump before and this was a bit of an experience for me. Probably something I wouldn’t want to do myself – the landing always looks a bit heavy and I don’t like unsupported heights.

Next up was the Great War collection, a collection of First World War era fighters from both sides that engaged in mock dogfights complete with trailing smoke and an interesting commentary over the top. With the number of surviving veterans from this period very close to zero, it’s a timely reminder of this very early period of air warfare.

The big rotary wing presence was the Chinook. I’ve seen these fly a few times in London; they have a distinctive sound due to their counter-rotating twin rotors. This demonstrated fast-roping insertion and casualty evacuation; both practices that it has to employ on a regular basis in the dusty environs of Afghanistan.  I didn’t get a brilliant view of this (I was heading somewhere else, mainly somewhere where I wouldn’t need ear plugs for the F/A-18); but impressive nonetheless.

Then came the Super Hornet. The flight deck of a carrier must be a very noisy environment; I felt actual vibrations in my chest when this thing took off. I was right up next to the flight line, but this was half-way down the runway and it was still cover the ears loud.

Then we took a step back in time to the Battle of Britain, 70 years ago this year. A Hurricane was first up; these aircraft primarily went after the bombers in the Battle while the Spits took care of the escorting fighters. It probably brought memories for the oldest people there; who saw these aircraft fighting in this area in 1940 – remember that Farnborough was a long-standing testing base as well.

Then we had a Spitfire and an Me-109 doing formation flying. The Me-109 wasn’t a Second World War veteran, but rather a Spanish example that was used in the Battle of Britain movie. They made interesting companions; two of the key opposing aircraft of the war flying side by side.

Then came the Battle of Britain Memorial flight, including a Lancaster, a Spitfire and a Hurricane. I was in the Diamond Paddock for this; the aircraft flew all around the arena and did level flights over the crowd; the only aircraft that did any crowd over flight at all. There was some turning and climbing, but not a huge amount – the programme pointed out that this are planes you don’t take risks with.

Then we had something nice and modern; the Eurofighter Typhoon. Now this was another loud one, but not too loud. I’m a Typhoon fan; the aircraft is unfairly maligned as a Cold War relic when it’s better than the F-35 in some missions.

This thing, a BAE test plane, was apparently fully loaded for a combat mission – it does a short (400 metre or so) take off and goes pretty much to 70 degrees climb straight off the runway! Then the pilot hurls around like it’s a much lighter aircraft, with burner on throughout and making a fair amount of noise. Seriously, that is an agile aircraft.

Following the Typhoon’s short display, I had fish and chips for dinner – it was early, but I wanted to keep an eye on the display at 4.30pm and I couldn’t do that while eating. Good fish and chips by the way; even if a bit hard to eat (you can’t really eat cod with a chip fork).

Yep, the Red Arrows; the RAF’s display team. They did a full half-hour display in their Hawk trainer jets, including all the classic moves, with a useful commentary and cockpit radio provided as well. Red, white and blue smoke was prominent; the display ended with a staggered peel-off for the final approach and landing to ensure a safe separation. Very impressive.

I started to make my way towards the exit; I suspected it was going to a long time to get out of this place. As I made my way through, an RAF King Air did a display to the tune of “Mister Blue Sky”. Not too impressed with that personally.

I was halfway to the exit when the Vulcan was ready. My binoculars certainly got a lot of use here.

The four Olympus engines that powered this made a very loud noise on take-off, nearly F/A-18 loud and I was further away! If you lived near one of the Strike Command bases and you heard a lot of those take-off, you’d know that the Third World War had started.

The display was graceful and elegant, showing the agility of what was a strategic bomber design. Winters didn’t barrel roll it (that has been done on a Vulcan), but he certainly flew it like a fighter.

It landed and that point I made the long journey to the exit; having to queue for a bus back to North Camp and my journey home.

The sunburn may have gone, but the memories won’t – it was a great day out.

The big guys come out to play (Farnborough: Part Three)

Part One

Part Two

Once The Blades were done, the bigger aircraft were coming out to play.



Like this particular bad boy. Providing the core of US strategic air power for almost 50 years now, this is a B-52H Stratofortress, one of the world's most capable bombers. This was only doing a straight West to East fly-past and not a full display, but was spectacular nonetheless. I'm glad I brought my binoculars for this.

I headed off to look at some of the other areas, as a Catalina flying boat, without its floatation tanks (they needed repairs) flew about. These played a key role in the anti U-Boat campaign, protecting Allied shipping from the German submarines - one of them spotted Bismarck as well.



A Sea Hawk (a 1950s carrier jet fighter) and a Seafire (a naval version of the Spitfire; which I didn't know that they'd actually done) did their display, but I wasn't too interested in this- I'd never heard of the Seafire and I'd have probably paid more attention if I had.

I headed into the BAE Systems area after looking at a Typhoon mock-up. The area was dedicated to the controversial company's products and included models (not to scale with each other) of their new warship designs, including their Khareef class corvettes for Oman, a patrol vessel for Trinidad & Tobago and the two new British carriers (if they're not cancelled).



I talked a bit of shop with the guy there and asked him about the Type 26 frigate proposal model they had there. He said ('Pooners may want to take note) they were looking at 5-6,000 tons displacement and CAAMS armament, but not PAAMS - so an FF, not an FFG.

Then I saw something that was also making its debut here; it may well feature in some Harpoon scenarios. Two of them in fact. I wondered what it was (some kind of Mirage, perhaps?) until I recognised the Pakistani flags on the pilots' uniforms.



The JF-17 Thunder, the new Chinese-Pakistani fighter, making its Western debut here. It didn't fly on that day.

I saw the C-27J Spartan do its display; an good light air lifter that has yet to get many sales and then went to look at a Battle of Britain display, rushing out when I heard the M346 light attack aircraft/trainer arrive.

The C-130J Super Hercules then did its display. Both this and the Spartan did steep ascents from take-off; a key element in hostile areas where someone might be waiting in the bushes with an Igla hand-held SAM launcher.

Then, the noise was brought.

(Part Four)

Walking around a funfair (Farnborough: Part Two)

 Part One

Once the Airbus A380 had done its thing, it was followed by the Blades, a display of ex-RAF pilots flying four small Extra 300 LP piston aircraft.

Acrobatics in tiny aircraft is something I find a little boring after a while (IMHO), but this one was particularly notable for aircraft changing roll positions at blinking speed. Apparently, 10g was being pulled at times.

That one, a kind of mini-Red Arrows (I'll get to them later), was pretty impressive. During the display; which I kept an eye on, I started to look around the rest of the very large site.

This air show was simply huge. It would take a good fifteen minutes to walk from one end to the other. There were multiple food stalls, several dedicated huts for some of the larger companies and a small funfair for the children.

The US military had its own collection of static aircraft, including an UH-1Y, a MH-60R Seahawk, a F-15E Strike Eagle, a F/A-18E Super Hornet and an F-16C Fighting Falcon Viper.

The biggest thing in the airshow business at the moment is XH558 Spirit of Great Britain. A restored Avro Vulcan nuclear bomber (although it ended its RAF service as a maritime reconnaissance aircraft), it has been wowing air show crowds for the last couple of years, mainly because it looks like a stealth fighter, flies like a stealth fighter and does both of these things despite being built in 1960. It is flown by Martin Winters DFC, who flew XM607 in the first "Black Buck" mission against Port Stanley in May 1982 (read Vulcan 607 for a brilliant account of that)

I've seen a Vulcan before at the RAF Museum in Hendon, but it was pretty impressive to see a flying one, even out on static display. It was due to fly on both public days and had flown earlier in the week, but the plane was found to have a faulty brake on landing that evening and couldn't fly on Sunday.

I looked around the shop, but didn't find anything to buy. Found it a bit odd that it had a 3M logo in the bomb bay.

Seriously though, it's extremely agile for its size.


Part Three

Marie Revolver - Part One: Calls at nine

This is going to be a new irregular series of fiction set in the present day about a woman named "Marie". Warehouse worker by day, assassin by night.

This will either be very good or very poor. We shall see.

Tuesday 27 July

She opened the door to her flat in a tower block somewhere in the heaving, cloud-covered metropolis that called itself London.

Removing her denim jacket and hanging it on the coat rail, she looked at her answerphone. Two messages.

It had been a horrible shift. Mike was making utterly crude remarks and insisted on reading the Daily Sport in her presence. Flat on the table, so she could see everything in there. What a... Philistine.

Marie - not her real name - was amazed that she remembered that word. Mike was a large brute of a man who would appreciate a stone in his head.

She played the messages. One was a call reminding her about her pedicure tomorrow afternoon.

The other was more urgent.

"Marie, it's Simon", the male voice said, sounding very desperate, "I'm in some serious trouble. Come quickly".

Not again, Marie thought as she headed for the bathroom to get her revolver.

Season 31 of Doctor Who: Box of Delight

A rather late review of this; see earlier posts for an explanation for the delay.

OK, some elements to discuss.

The Eleventh Doctor

I was sold on Matt Smith right from the last scene of "The End of Time", as he burst into life (and the TARDIS burst into flames). It's a brilliant opening scene that takes you completely away from the sad end of the Tenth Doctor.

The fact that he's the youngest actor to play the Doctor ever didn't throw me; he has proved more than up to the task.

This Doctor's persona of an old man in a young man's body, more alien than some other Doctors, is just different enough from David Tennant to keep the character fresh, while true to its roots.

I like Eleven. He's witty, but brave too. He doesn't bluster, but has a quiet confidence about him. It occasionally turns into arrogance, but that's a fault of the Doctor in general.

Amy Pond

Alright, I'll just say it here; Amelia "Amy" Pond is the first out-and-out sexy female companion we've had since Peri. Her legs will be particularly well remembered. It isn't all her character, that's for sure.

Amy's got a clear sassy (there's that word again) vibe to her and really is very forthright. She's best in the Moffat stories; the Moff has a far firmer handle on her as she's his creation- other writers will be able to write her better next season.

Not my favourite of the post-2005 companions, but not a bad companion.

Rory Williams

Somebody's got to be the Shaggy to Amy's Daphne (wow, that's the first time I've made that connection and it's a good one) and Arthur Darvill handles it with aplomb.

Rory is definitely the junior partner in the TARDIS, but has some awesome moments, especially as an Auton.

I like three in a TARDIS; it allows for a character to be captured and still have witty repartee with the other two. Glad he's sticking around.

The new TARDIS

I like the new set; it's got some great features, including multiple levels and a typewriter (typewriters are cool).

Episodes in general

Nearly everything written by The Moff is brilliant; "The Eleventh Hour" started the series with style and the Weeping Angels two-parter was truly superb.

I didn't like Gatiss' Dalek episode; the Daleks are overused in the current show.

Richard Curtis did a wonderfully emotional job with "Vincent and the Doctor" and "Amy's Choice" wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.

Overall thoughts

I think the best word to sum up this season is "confident". The show knows what works and delivers it. It's not afraid to experiment, but not for the sake of it.

I'm looking forward to a very interesting sounding Christmas special - and Season 32.

I didn't know that A380s could dispense chaff... (Farnborough: Part One)

Yesterday, I went to the Farnborough Air Show, one of the big air shows, where big deals are done and new aircraft displayed. Five of the days are dedicated to trade stuff, but the Saturday and the Sunday are open to the public.

As a subscriber to AIR International, I took advantage of an offer they were running to get a ticket to the airshow, including access to the Diamond Paddock, with deckchairs, a position right next to the flightline and toilets that you didn't have to queue for.

Getting there

I made my way from my home in Havering to London Waterloo station; having to go via Bank and the once-BR-run Waterloo and City Line as TfL have shut the Jubilee Line this weekend for engineering works (part of it's like the Tube's version of Charles de Gaulle; barely a decade in service before needing a major refit).

London Waterloo used to be the boarding point for the Eurostar services to the Continent; until a new high-speed route was completed and the services diverted to London St. Pancras, a station that frankly needed some love (refit is seriously impressive). The Eurostar platforms are now being used for performances of the classic children's story The Railway Children.

Boarding a Class 450 EMU (that's Electric Multiple Unit to the non rail fans out there) just as it was about to leave, I travelled in a fairly empty train through the suburbs of South West London and past the headquarters of a certain intelligence agency, before reaching Guildford.

Guildford isn't a particularly well signposted station; I had to ask where the platform was for North Camp.

I started to get an idea of the size of the crowd I would be encountering when boarding the DMU at Guildford; it was standing room only on board.

The organisers were laying on shuttle buses and it took us half an hour to get there due to sheer volume of traffic; a one-way system was in place. Then there was the queue to get in; and this was for the people with pre-paid tickets!

I finally got in around 11.30 am. With an hour until the flying was due to begin, I headed into the exhibition halls to have a look round; the trade stuff was done, but the stalls were still there. I'm pretty sure that most of the attendees weren't exactly in a position to buy fighter-bombers or UAVs, but having the stalls there generates good PR for defence and aviation companies.

First cab off the rank turned out to the Russian section of the hall:



The Russian presence at Farnborough was very limited; there was only one flying aircraft there, a Sukhoi Superjet and it wasn't flying on the Saturday. They made up for this somewhat with their trade stuff; United Aircraft Corporation had models of most of their for-sale aircraft except the T-50.



Not that I'm intending to buy Russian anti-shipping missiles or any others for that matter.

I skipped over most of the rest of the halls; with the exhibition of the Flight Gear-using Tornado simulator provided by Panavia. I took off from Farnborough and headed for Central London before crashing past the end of 27R at Heathrow.

I headed outside at 12.15pm and got pretty close to the flight line on the eastern end - it runs west to east - for the A380 display. The A380 is a very large aircraft, but surprisingly quiet (which they're aiming for) especially to some of the other stuff.

The aircraft powers up and I think a fly has gone in my mouth...

Turns out the engines were blowing dried grass into part of the crowd. It did the same on landing. Didn't get in my food though...

The aircraft takes off and does a graceful impressive display. It'll certainly be popular; orders were announced there.

You wouldn't be moving it around like that in the sky on passenger service though...

Part Two

Some justice for the Trafigura victims

I'm sure Jams will be pleased to hear this

It sounds like something out of a kid's show; but it's real.

AJJE: A fuller summary

But not complete. That will have to wait until the report, which will be about 20 pages long.

Basically, LOTW's Parliament Leader decided to ban a player from the club after he defamed another player in a bunch of emails; both were operational leaders and the former was trying to persuade the latter to resign.

The entire team bar the player agreed to the ban, after gaining legal advice from three separate solicitors.

AJJE's President announced a review of the ban. The Parliament Leader submitted a 28-page legal defence of it. Most of the review panel chose not to read it; the President (who took the decision solely by herself without a wider vote) overturned the ban and the review panel actually considered blacklisting the defamed player.

We decided to launch a peaceful protest as we felt the overturning of the ban was unfair; not RPing in LOTW from 30 days and the CO's replacing or adding strike messages to their pages. The President and the Board of Founders accepted our right to protest.

Four days into the protest, the President posted messages of her position on the sims without permission from the COs and in violation of written policy, as well as common practice. The defamee announced his resignation from AJJE. Other players started to resign as well.

Shortly after that, LOTW went down for "maintenance". I resigned Sunday lunchtime when it became clear that the head Webmaster had lied to me. He told players to either end the strike, return to AJJE and accept the decision, or leave. So we left, our accounts being scrambled as we left; the Parliament Leader had to get his wife (a fellow AJJE player) to post his resignation as his account was scrambled before he could do it himself.

Basically, I left AJJE because, in my opinion, the leadership violated its own rules and ignored the facts, then tried to suppress the issue.

No, Mr. Bond, I expect you to choose another level...

IGN Video: CollegeHumor: Videogames Video - GoldenEye Stand-Off

First of an irregular series of links to the internet's best stuff.

(Contains bloody violence)

Absence from the blog

Apologies for the rather large gap in blogging; something truly nasty went down in AJJE Games that required a lot of my attention.

In simple terms, I and a lot of others walked from the site after the leadership took a totally unjustified decision regarding a ban, telling people to either accept it or leave.

A fuller explanation will follow in due course. It'll be fascinating reading, but in the meantime, I refer you to this blog, which goes up to my resignation yesterday.

60 Years of War in the Korean Peninsula

Today is the 60th anniversary of the North Korean invasion of South Korea. The war has yet to formally end and could flare up again.

I hope that one day soon Kim Jong-Il and his ilk will face justice for their crimes against the people of North Korea.

Last survivor of "The Great Escape" dies

BBC News Story.

We lose more of these heroes every day. Their deeds must live on, though.

Perfect Storm of Stupidity

So, an unarmed vessel decides to try and run a blockade by a highly capable navy to get news coverages. Said navy then decides to use commandos for riot control.

As a result, several people are dead.

I despair at times.

Pentecost

Tomorrow is the day Christians mark the coming of the Holy Spirit to a bunch of scared guys in a room- and the Church's birthday.

Jesus had gone to heaven, but they were still worried about the Jewish authorities. Then the room turns distinctly flamy and tongues of fire land on all of their heads.

They're transformed after this, speaking in dozens of languages to a large crowd- the disciples don't do public speaking before that, I believe.

They were transformed by one element of the Trinity, that still transforms people today.

Happy Pentecost!

BA Strike Injunction

Just my two cents:

If you want a deal, it's not a good idea to keep taking legal action against the people you are in dispute with.

Change of Government

Well, 13 years of Labour rule are over. It's made a big impact on British politics, much of it good, some of it bad.

We're back in opposition now and it's probably a good thing. We ran out of steam in the last two years and the recession really finished us off.

Congratulations to Mr. Cameron.

VE Day

65 years ago today, the Second World War ended in Europe.

The biggest historical event ever, one man's megalomania resulted in millions of deaths.

May it never happen again.

A coalition from the jaws of a landslide: an early analysis of the 2010 election

Before we start, I want to say that I feel that David Cameron has, by gaining the most votes and the most seats by a fairly clear margin, earned the right to try and form a coalition with the Liberal Democrats. He will probably be our next PM and should be congratulated for that.

However, he managed to throw away a commanding lead and now has a very hard task ahead of him.

Basically, everyone lost this election. I'll try and give three possible reasons for each of the parties doing badly in.

Conservatives
1. Europe, specifically Lisbon: Cameron's change of policy on the issue of the Lisbon Treaty and strange position with the European People's Party block was a fudge that pleased now. The result was a rise in BNP and UKIP support, which in at least three seats including Gedling and Eltham was greater than the Labour majority. Worth a serious study that.
2. Scotland: Still has bad memories of the Thatcher years. Cameron needed to win seats up there and didn't. Probably didn't focus enough on it.
3. Too slick: Cameron came across as too slick and smooth. For an electorate who'd spent ten years with Tony Blair, it wasn't the best idea.

Labour
1. 13 years in office: Only one government since the war has exceeded that period and that was the Thatcher-Major one. Most administrations have been far shorter. After that time and a third term that frankly wasn't brilliant, many people had enough of Labour. A hung parliament in 2005 might have been better for Labour.
2. The economy: You do not preside over a major recession and expect to remain in office. Full stop.
3. Gordon Brown: While the soon-to-be former Labour leader and PM has some strong qualities, charisma isn't one of them. Brown could have worked better in a radio age, but politics has changed. He also was too associated with the previous 13 years.

Liberal Democrats
1. The electoral system: What gain in the Liberal Democrat vote was spread too thinly across the country to swing seats.
2. Immigration and Europe: The Liberal Democrat views on them are not in tune with the rest of the electorate and the third debate's discussion on the subject was
3. Lack of publicity apart from the debate: I didn't see one publicly displayed Lib Dem billboard and never received a leaflet from them.

Summary
Despite the support of Ashcroft's millions and most of the British press against a tired government in a weak economy, David Cameron failed to gain an overall majority due to policy problems and a poor campaign.

It's going to be a fun next couple of years.

Election Day

Vote for a secure recovery. Vote for experience. Vote for a future fair for all.

Vote Labour!

The General Election Result

For the first time that I can remember, it's not entirely clear who will be PM come Monday.

That's a rather unusual feeling.

More repression in Iran

Critical director arrested

I think that time is running out for the regime one way or another. However, every day that regime attacks its own people and destabilises the Middle East is one day too many.

Reason to Vote Labour #3

We introduced the minimum wage.

The Third Debate

If you've not decided how to vote yet, please make your decision on the issues, not who looks best in a debate.

Good government is more than style.