Jamby

Turns out it's a T-2K. And her colours are certainly remarkable; she looks like a Robot In Disguise. EDIT: As for the Sabre; she might not make you feel like a you're assaulting the Death Star, but she does come in Bumblebee yellow:

Russian seems like a fun language to learn. It looks relatively simple and down-to-Earth compared to English. What you see (or hear) appears to be what you get. It was only pretty recently that I learned Oddball's Sherman was a real one and not just a mock-up. I think it was one of a number of early turrets up-gunned with a '76 and provided to European countries as a stop-gap defense for the Cold War. It's fun to rewatch films like A Bridge Too Far and play 'Guess The Model'.

Update 1.87: Locked On Preliminary patch notes (requires sign-in): https://forum.warthunder.com/index.php?/topic/444531-update-187-locked-on-preliminary-notes/ Dev. server vehicles: Pre-order packs: The Type 74 mod. G/Kai (also in a pack with the new JASDF Saber): https://warthunder.com/en/news/6067-development-shop-type-74-mod-g-kai-and-pre-order-of-the-japanese-packs-en F-86F-40 Sabre JASDF (also in a pack with the new Type 74 mod. G/Kai): https://store.gaijin.net/story.php?title=Pre-order_JASDF-Sabre-Pack Hawker Sea Hawk Mk.100 (also in a pack with the existing Leopard A1A1 L/44): https://store.gaijin.net/story.php?title=Pre-order_Sea-Hawk-Pack IAR 316B (also in a pack with the existing AMX-30): https://store.gaijin.net/story.php?title=Pre-order_IAR-316B-Pack S.O. 4050 Vautour IIA IDF/AF: https://store.gaijin.net/story.php?title=Pre-order_Vautour-IIA-Pack Others (to be updated, pending dev. blogs): M1A1 Abrams JGSDF (only joking): https://i.redd.it/xcekyp19yaj21.png Mitsubishi T-2K: https://warthunder.com/en/news/6063-development-mitsubishi-t-2k-the-supersonic-stork-en M.D.460: https://preview.redd.it/hiazdmdqzaj21.png?width=960&crop=smart&auto=webp&s=4ed99eba9765c43ea7395fcf07c1060546153f0d KMS Nürnberg: https://warthunder.com/en/news/6075-development-kms-nürnberg-the-seasoned-sea-dog-en H-34 Choctaw: https://warthunder.com/en/news/6083-development-h-34-choctaw-a-worthy-start-en 2S6 "Tunguska": https://warthunder.com/en/news/6070-development-2s6-tunguska-better-together-en SA.316B Alouette III: https://warthunder.com/en/news/6062-development-sa-316b-alouette-iii-the-high-flying-skylark-en G.91YS: https://warthunder.com/en/news/6078-development-g-91ys-turning-and-burning-en Maps: 1. Ground battles (AB & RB) - Alaska. 2. Naval battles (AB) - Coral Islands. 3. Helicopter battles (AB) - [Enduring Confrontation] Vietnam. Misc./mechanics: Radar is being rolled out. Later-tier vehicles with a collapsible antenna will fold and stow it when not in use: https://warthunder.com/en/news/6064-development-radar-station-new-opportunities-in-the-game-en Aircraft flight model & damage 'corrections' across the board. Economy changes: https://forum.warthunder.com/index.php?/topic/444333-economy-changes-in-update-187-“locked-on”/ Squadron changes: https://warthunder.com/en/news/6081-development-squadron-activity-improvements-en Server maintenance: https://warthunder.com/en/news/6082-news-server-maintenance-05-03-2019-en Livesteam: Previous: USS Brooklyn: https://warthunder.com/en/news/6050-development-uss-brooklyn-more-means-more-en MiG-19S: https://warthunder.com/en/news/6047/current USS Somers (DD-381): https://warthunder.com/en/news/6042-development-uss-somers-dd-381-strength-in-numbers-en Challenger 2: https://warthunder.com/en/news/6035-development-challenger-2-and-rank-vii-armored-vehicles-en T-80U: https://warthunder.com/en/news/6051-development-t-80u-making-contact-en SM.92: https://warthunder.com/en/news/6056-development-sm-92-second-chance-for-a-second-tail-en Kirov light cruiser: https://warthunder.com/en/news/6055-development-kirov-light-cruiser-baltic-fleet-warrior-en SA.341F & SA.342M Gazelle: https://warthunder.com/en/news/6057-development-sa-341f-sa-342m-gazelle-light-hunter-en

Only brief excerpts in the past, I think, but I've just read what sounds like it: https://iremember.ru/en/memoirs/tankers/dmitriy-loza/ I do enjoy Red Army accounts of the war; it's a shame they seem relatively rare compared to their contemporaries.

I've seen turret number 936 before. The tank of Dmitry Fedorovich Loza, Hero of the Soviet Union? Him: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dmitry_Loza Picture and unit: https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/missinglynx/sherman-m4a2-in-hungary-austria-t102439.html I never read his memoirs, though. MORE: Scrolling down this page: https://www.worldwarphotos.info/gallery/usa/tanks/sherman-tank/ The SPG in the background looks like either an SU-85M or an SU-100, but I'm not sure at the angle of photo capture.

I subscribed to this fellow's channel on YouTube the other day. He provides interesting perspective on the use (or lack thereof) of social media by various police departments. This was surprising to me as someone who grew up in HK, where they had a strong effort by the government to clean up the reputation of the police after a corruption scandal. The result was a great amount of respect for the police, who carried the reputation of "Asia's Finest". Since the Handover, though, I hear they've tumbled downhill along with more or less everything else under the new administration. In another video, a policeman is refused service at Hasta Muerta coffee shop and the coffee shop looks stupid for your entertainment: I still think the term "People Of Color" is laughable. I typed it into Google and got this from RationalWiki: I would rather be a black dwarf than a little person of colour. One sounds like it is either some amazing astronomical phenomenon or a Tolkien character that can kill twenty men before breakfast; the other lives at the bottom of the garden, painting the flowers and insects with a tiny brush.

This is the bit I meant - I think I finally figured out how to link it: Screenshot

Why does Horstmann suspension necessarily denote bad tank design? I think it was arguably quite suitable for the speed that tanks like the Chieftain could reasonably reach, given what I've been reading here: https://archive.org/stream/Janes_Technology_of_Tanks_01/Janes_Technology_of_Tanks_01_djvu.txt The part I'm referring to is about two thirds of the way down the document - section 13 (I figured out how to link it: http://prntscr.com/iu7i68) - and seems to suggest that the appropriate choice of suspension is largely dependent on the speed you're moving at, from leaf-spring at the lowest speeds to torsion bar at the highest. Unless you were bombing along rough country at particularly high speed (even for a vehicle designed to do that to a degree), would the difference between torsion bar and Horstmann suspension really be appreciable? Are there tankers from both sides of the pond here?

Sooooo...after doing a site-wide search and perusing Google, I'm surprised not to have found anything about tank suspension, other than a somewhat doubtful thread on the WoT forums. Would my learned colleagues of SH be able to assist me in understanding and identifying the different types of tank suspension? I think I've got leaf-spring more or less mastered, as well as both VVSS and HVSS (thanks, JGT!) but was somewhat embarrassed not to be able to differentiate between the suspension of a Type 97 Chi-Ha and an FV4201 Chieftain. UPDATE: I think I understand tank suspension better now. Thanks, everyone!

...It's quickly dawning on me that I'm going to need to read a lot more about tank suspension. At a glance, the suspension types look virtually identical, though I suppose much of their inner workings is concealed behind the wheels themselves.

Fascinating stuff, thank you. It's interesting to see how tank development progressed in a country whose machines were (for the most part) used to facing only infantry without AT rifles. Some of them look rather endearingly like mobile teapots, dishwashers or Wallace & Gromit constructions. I note that they largely used what appears to be a form of Horstmann suspension, which I assume was for reasons of monetary and material expedience, and it surprised me to learn that the British Chieftain used the same...or probably similar, to be more accurate.

Well, I've been having a smashing time with two games that went through Kickstarter and Steam's Early Access program: War For The Overworld, the spiritual successor to the Dungeon Keeper series; and Planet Coaster, the spiritual successor to the Rollercoaster Tycoon series. I'm delighted to say that both series appear to have landed on their feet from an impressive aerial cartwheel. Both are worthy successors that have been snapped up by dedicated developers who are continually adding interesting new things, and both enjoy a good supply of Steam Workshop custom content. On top of this, the developers of Planet Coaster are now working on a new Jurassic Park management game, which I feel the urgent desire to hawk at you: 5/5, life has indeed found a way.

When winter comes to Scotland and we bring in the roads for the long dark, my mother likes to celebrate having the family together by preparing pigs-in-a-blanket, crackling roast lamb with mint sauce, and Brussels sprouts with a coating of melted cheese and crispy bacon bits. The mere fact that she has converted me into a believer in Brussels sprouts is testament to her culinary wizardry. She's like the Hermione of making things I thought I hated taste amazing. Back in Hong Kong, we used to get up on weekends and walk down the road to the local eatery that served a breakfast of boiled white rice, char siu (ancient Chinese wisdom pork) and a fried egg plonked on top, with a dash of soy sauce. You broke the yolk of the egg, mixed the whole concoction together and spooned it down your gullet with gusto. After that breakfast of champions, you felt like you could invade Japan.

Error Facebook? Must be one of those foreign correspondents. Do you have an alternate version or a screenshot?

Well, he did upload and then de-list a YT video of a talk he gave for the C-SPAN channel in the last couple of months. I can't find it anywhere else, but it was called something like 'US AFV development in WW2', and I know you'd like it because it explained why the Sherman was the tank it was, there was a (slightly) indignant audience member who disagreed, and someone else in the audience asked about Belton Cooper. EDIT: Oh, what am I talking about, all I had to do was Google it. https://www.c-span.org/video/?433629-2/design-history-m4-sherman-tank-world-war-ii And the best thing about this video is that the introduction and part of The Chieftain's first sentence aren't cut off.

Holy mackerel, I can feel my face burning from the anger condensed into the pages of that site. I haven't really been following that game for a while, so I'm astonished to read that they managed to annoy so many of their players and that the entire NA branch is apparently being shut down. I rather enjoyed the videos and talks The Chieftain's YouTube channel from The Tank Museum and other places. It'll be a shame if those all go the way of the dodo, though I can't say I'm particularly fond of the company itself.

I find a lot of Russian paintings, like their music, to be simultaneously beautiful and haunting. I suppose it comes with the territory. Strangely, the only other place I've encountered landscapes this affecting was in The Witcher III: Wild Hunt, a game that is head and shoulders above the competition in making you feel as though you're running, riding or sailing from one end of a vast country to the other. A Birch Grove, Arkhip Kuindzhi, oil on canvas, 1879. A Rye Field, Ivan Shishkin, oil on canvas, 1878. Evening Bells, Isaac Levitan, oil on canvas, 1892. View of Constantinople and the Bosphorus, Ivan Aivazovsky, oil on canvas, 1856. Viktor Bykov. Ravishing. One day I hope to take a journey on the Trans-Siberian Railway to see this vast and storied land for myself. Hm, must revisit that game.

Just for fun, have any of you fine fellows ever come across a book called For Want Of A Gun: The Sherman Tank Scandal of WWII? I'm surprised to find no mention of it via the forum search bar. The author, Christian DeJohn, was doing the rounds and posting links to his book in the comments section of various WW2 tank-related sites, including the Sherman Tank Site and TankAndAFVNews, sometimes posting under a different username and talking of the book as if he wasn't the author. Allegedly this book is just a rehash of a failed master's thesis the author submitted for Temple. He didn't receive a degree, and sued Temple, winning $1 in damages toward his remaining $49,999 of student debt. The Reception: http://www.amps-armor.org/SiteReviews/ShowReview.aspx?ID=4114 http://www.armchairgeneral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=170890 https://www.reddit.com/r/ShitWehraboosSay/comments/6dlt5b/for_want_of_a_gun_the_sherman_tank_scandal_of/ The Recriminations: https://temple-news.com/student-wins-1-in-free-speech-suit/

I've developed quite a fondness for art deco architecture over the last couple of years. Even the grayest, gloomiest and most monolithic edifices can be given an impressively majestic presence through the judicious use of angels, grotesques, bold geometric forms and gracefully pointy bits. Fewer things do a better job of saying "BOW BEFORE CHRIST". Boston Avenue Methodist Church And that art noveau's not bad either - specifically Gaudi's stuff around Barcelona.

The Magach is truly an attractively rotund tank - like the Patton that went on the Big Mac diet - but I admit it would have been nice to have gotten the model with what I firmly believe were co-axial rave spotlights for psychological warfare.

Noah's video game uploads on YouTube are excellent, but his videos about driving across America are equally fascinating, both to watch and listen to. Playtesting Adventure: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgC-KCGkMPM The Desert Bus: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-naJR_rhkUM The Other Half of the West: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FD_-b06JJtE

Well, I for one say that if Pluto feels it appropriate to be "shitting radiation" in our solar system, we should be prepared to defecate right back. How soon can we have rockets capable of almost-planet killing?

I've seen some interesting videos on YouTube from people who have working dogs, complaining about others who constantly try to pet, offer treats to and generally interfere with their dogs (and respond in an uppity manner when asked to stop doing what it says not to do on the dog's jacket), or who put a jacket on their own untrained pets (because you can allegedly buy such jackets at stores like Walmart if you feel like being treated with undue deference) and causing trouble like this. Below is a particularly unhappy incident that left me feeling a little gobsmacked: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RY0IGYPz0nw

Here's a news post from the dev blog today about how the devs worked in modern MBTs - Modern Tank Realism and Balance: https://warthunder.com/en/news/5385-development-modern-tank-realism-and-balance-en Some rather interesting technical documents are linked. Update: Release! Dev blog post: https://warthunder.com/en/news/5381-news-meet-update-1-77-advancing-storm-en

Guns still worry me, and I really don't think I'd like to live in a state where people can walk about openly carrying them. Then again, I think a lot of that worry likely stems from two things: a lack of knowledge about or experience with firearms, and a (largely) unfairly dim, cynical view of people. If you'd asked me five years ago about guns, I'd probably say that since I wouldn't trust myself with one, why would I trust anybody else? I like to think I've mellowed with time and come to see how unhealthy this attitude is. At the same time, I've become rather more interested in the workings of bolt-action, WW2 and Cold War firearms, and would like to at least fire a handful at a range one day. As far as I know, handguns are illegal in Scotland, and I've been having Hell's own game trying to find out just what kind of firearms other than hunting shotguns and some air rifles it's legal to own. If there's information about the Firearms Act on the Scottish Police website, I haven't found it. I think that education about the nature of firearms is ultimately far more beneficial to society at large than simply having an outright ban. I think we should get over it like we got over our other irrational fears and boogeymen, and I think it's inevitable that firearms will fade away as a convenient scapegoat like homosexuality did. And quite frankly, it's embarrassing that so-called professional news outlets and political leaders don't know the first thing about the firearms they're discussing or deciding whether we should ban them from society. Our government benches runneth over with overweight, overpaid and undereducated people trying to look good by looking busy. I have a perfect Sunday that I will wake up, polish off my egg and soldiers and walk down to the local firing range to practice my Lee-Enfield marksmanship for the Mad Minute, under the watchful tutelage of one of the Army sergeants who runs the range (because civilians can't be trusted, and it gives retired soldiers something interesting to do). I wouldn't even have to take the thing home with me; I could just buy it, keep it at a range armoury and visit to clean, maintain, use and take lessons on it.