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| D. Hazerli Photo (Source) |
My thanks to all of you who offered words of wisdom, advice, condolences, etc., etc.
I thank those who also basically told me to "suck it up and drive on." I'm all better now, I rubbed some dirt on it, I walked it off, etc., etc. Okay, it was The WSO who offered that advice.
I can always count on my kids to keep me grounded in reality. I can also count on them to give me a ration of crap when I need/deserve it.
I do have material I'm working on, a number of irons in the fire as it were, but for the next few days I'll probably keep things light. Short posts, attempts at humor, really just providing a pulse so you all will know that I'm still alive, active, and trying to stay sane in an increasingly insane world.
Again, thank you for your patience...
Here's a tank...
A big tank...
For all you Tiger fans...
I have this need to have a post every day, every damn day. Irrational? OCD? Perhaps, but it's just the way I am. Since I quit smoking, this blog has become my addiction.
In a further postscript, yesterday's whiny/bitchy/crabby post generated a most satisfying number of hits and comments. Damn, I really am an attention hoor.
A sign of being of a much different age is that I knew what every word in the title meant, and I could use them in a sentence. (sigh)
ReplyDeleteThe armor video is only one extra "g" away from a Winnie the Pooh pun.
And no, buying an armored fighting vehicle is not going to happen, no matter how much I whine and cry to my wife. Although I understand that a track conversion kit for winter driving your AWD vehicle is out there. The quad fifty mount might just make the Forester a tad top heavy.
Just thinking out loud here John but wouldn't converting the Forester to a fully tracked vehicle lower its center of gravity enough to allow a quad fifty mount without making the vehicle too top heavy?
DeleteYou could also go with quad .30s, they're lighter and...
I've probably said too much. (If you try any of this don't tell your wife it was my idea. I get in enough trouble with my own wife!
The thing I would want a tank for is heavy traffic. Those not convinced to get out of your way by the armament can just be run over. Track maintenance would be a nightmare though...
Well, that's got me thinking. A rubber track conversion system. http://www.americantracktruck.com/ According to the website, each wheel position adds about 180 pounds so that lowers the COG, but the kits raise the ground clearance by about nine inches, so the COG moves up. Sadly, we will have to give up the quad mount and go with a lighter weight mount using a 5.56 MM minigun. (GE designed one in the seventies, but I think it did not pan out) I am sure we could link the powered mount to a google glasses thingie.(It seems the IDF has something called the Samson mount, and we have one called the Crow mount) Of course some sort of firing limit stops will be needed. Now I have to calculate the payload of the Subaru versus a gazillion rounds of 5.56.
DeleteOne the other hand, I think the Apache or Cobra nose gun mounted upside down on the roof would be quite the lane opener!
I think the CIWS shipboard mount would end up being just a little bit heavy.
You have given this some thought!
Delete(Yeah, CIWS would look awesome, but it's way too heavy...)
Glad to see that you've taken our comments to heart and pulled up your big girl panties, grew a set and ate your Snickers. We love you, man...
ReplyDeleteHahaha!
DeleteMy readers inspire me. Or something.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KuStsFW4EmQ
ReplyDelete0:25
;)
Hahaha!
DeleteIndeed, yesterday I allowed myself to be overly influenced by all those negative waves.
The Tiger was a bit of a maintenance nightmare in the early going. Piece of junk is perhaps going too far, the 88mm gun gave Allied tankers nightmares. With good reason.
The tank would look better with the turret blowed off. Just sayin'
ReplyDeleteHhmm, I wonder if there is a GIF for that?
DeleteStay tuned...
Let's be thankful that Hitler was enamored with all the bigger, faster, stronger wiz-bang toys whipped out by German industry. Instead of the thing that really ended the war. In the end, it was something unseen to Hitlers eye, and thus (to him) unimportant. The atom.
ReplyDeleteI shudder to think what the world would look like now if the Germans had pursued the bomb the way we did...
Delete"I have this need to have a post every day, every damn day. Irrational? OCD? Perhaps, but it's just the way I am. Since I quit smoking, this blog has become my addiction."
ReplyDeleteIronically, my blog start corresponds with the date I stopped smoking.
I may have even mentioned it in an early post . . .or two?
Why yes, I think you have.
DeleteIf you had been Navy, you would have been thought truculunt, like a Truculent Turtle.
ReplyDeleteExcellent word, I wish I had included it in the title.
Deletetruculent: adjective - eager or quick to argue or fight; aggressively defiant
As to the Truculent Turtle - The P2V Neptune was a long range maritime patrol aircraft developed during World War II and operated by Navy patrol squadrons across the world throughout the Cold War and Vietnam. Its first milestone came as a modified P2V-1 dubbed the "Truculent Turtle," now on display in the National Naval Aviation Museum (in Pensacola), made a record-breaking endurance flight in September 1946. The Turtle flew nonstop without refueling from Perth, Australia, to Columbus, Ohio, a distance of 11,235 miles, in 55 hours and 17 minutes, a record it held until 1962. From the Museum's website
Then there's this:
HMS Truculent was a British submarine of the third group of the T class. She was built as P315 by Vickers Armstrong, Barrow, and launched on 12 September 1942. Truculent was lost following a post-war accident with a Swedish oil tanker in the Thames Estuary in January 1950. Wikipedia
Badgers, perhaps the most erudite in the family Mustelidae
55 hours and 17 minutes without stopping OR refueling?? I bet THEY used a piddle pack!
DeleteOnly a guy who's held it flying across both ponds would think of that.
Delete(I won't be taking that bet!)
Didn't the P2V have persistent problems with excessive fume build-up in the wing tanks resulting in several fires/explosions and loss of aircraft? Still, I guess it couldn't have been all that much of a problem as they were used straight thru the Vietnam war in Laos on night Ho Chi Minh trail truck hunting..
DeleteInteresting, I couldn't find any references to that specific problem but did find a couple of references to fuel leaks causing fire near the wing roots. One incident the fire burned through the wing spar causing the loss of the aircraft and the crew.
DeleteThis bird also had jet AND piston engines didn't it?
True, true. Good thing we are humble and self effacing about our natural superiority, or we would become tiresome.
ReplyDeleteHahaha!
DeleteTrue.
Apologizes, Sarge, but I had my 97 yr-old Mother down for the Holidays and my wife became ill with a Lupus flare-up, so I've had my hands full. Finally have gotten Mother back home and my wife is getting better, but she's not back to normal-normal yet, still, I should soon be back in the rotation (to use a base-ball term) Hope all had a Merry Christmas and are looking forward to a Happy New Year!
ReplyDeleteNot a problem Virgil, the bar's always open no matter when you get in. Hope your missus is okay.
DeleteI did have a very nice Christmas and so far (with the exception of that whiny post the other day) the New Year is going well. (Saying "Knock on wood" as he taps the side of his head.)
Here is this Tiger being started,
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROnb5ouBjNc
Nice!
Delete