T___A

I'm somewhat amazed that the Star Wars EU actually got worse than when I read it. There were like one and a half actually worthwhile series ever. But that people got teary about that becoming not canon is horrible.

The only thing worth saving in Star Wars was was Thrawn and KOTOR II. Everything else deserved to burn.

JJ Abrams after spending 30 minutes in Wookieepedia:

 

 A weight lay across Jaina's chest, and the inside of one ear was being warmed by a soft, pulsing growl. The dormitory air was filled with a comforting melange of refresher soap and body smells from a dozen different species, but the predominant odor, familiar and musky and strongest, was human.

Male human.

Zekk.

 

 Jeana reached down and felt his arm across her, and his leg a bit lower, then slowly turned her head. Through a lingering fog of membrosia excess, she saw the familiar chiseled features surrounded by a frame of shaggy black hair. Thankfully, he was still clothed.

 

 The previous night came flooding back to her: Unu's arrival at Jwlio, the Dance of Union, the Taat drifting off into the Harem Cave, the Joiners leaving in twos and threes and fours, her hand in Zekk's...

 

 ...But last night had not felt like them. They had been carried along on a wave of Killik emotion. He had sought her out in the rapture of the dance, even when he knew she did not share his feelings, and found himself leading her down into the dormitory with all the Joiners-

"Zekk, we didn't do anything," Jaina said. She could have answered him more quickly and clearly just by thinking, but right now she needed the sense of sparation that came with speaking-even if it was an illusion. "It was just a little cuddling between friends. You have a problem with that?"

This was canon.

 

All of this would be easier to celebrate if the leadership of Zimbabwe hadn't proven themselves such a pack of murderous swine.

How else did you expect Jimmy Carter to get slaves for his peanut plantation?

You guys realize I write fanfiction, yes?

Pictures of the KV-220

Kotin Trolling Khrushchev:

 

When I was called to some kind of meeting in Leningrad, to the tank institute, I always dropped by the Kirov factory for personal interest. Kotin was always happy to see me, told me and showed me what they were working on. During one visit to the design bureau, I dropped by the military representatives' office where my Academy comrades were working. I had a chat with the regional engineer, Colonel A.P. Pavlov.

- Alexander Petrovich, what is Kotin up to these days.
- He's ripping off an American wheeled tractor.
- I don't understand, why? Kotin is a tanker!
- If you tell Kotin "build a spaceship", he will build a spaceship, and Yermolayev will prove that it will fly.

In this case, the result was a tractor called K-700. Its creation earned the Lenin award. Kotin offered the tractor to the Ministry many times, but for some reason, it never worked out. On September 14th, 1964, Khrustchev was coming back from a tank demonstration, and the road from the proving grounds was blocked by a K-700 tractor. All government cars had to drive around it.

The only one I would call bad on that list is the T-54 LT. If I were you I would get the bulldog and the Object 416.

Some pictures I was able to find.

Reminds me of that time someone at GAU told Khrushchev they could fit the 100mm T-12 in the T-62. Karcev had to go up to Moscow to inform him that no, it could not fit.

Oh, Khryusha. What an idiot. There's an episode in the T-62 (I think) Modelist-Konstruktor book where he insists on a drum style rocket magazine instead of a cassette style, just because. Also a sick burn that goes something along the lines of: "On XX-XX-1971, Khruchev declared cannons to be obsolete. On September 11th, 1971, Nikita Sergeevich himself became obsolete."

 

Edit: oh, and Max Popenker is looking for English and Russian speaking tank enthusiasts to do research for A video game, actually. We have a client looking to make something with solid technical grounding. The role would be to provide research and technical information on various armoured fighting vehicels (1960-present day) to our team. Looks like my name might be in some credits sometime soon

Is it for AW?

According to NKTP reports the cost of a IS-3 is only double that of a T-34; which seems to be a lot less then the cost difference of a Panther and the cost a Tiger II.

It would have made a good club, I guess.

 

Does anyone have pictures of a Soviet soldier with an AS-44 during WWII?

These troops are supposedly using AS-44s but I'm not sure if they are.

.

No, this appears to be something entirely new. Though it wouldn't surprise me if the loading mechanism used that as well.

Loading mechanisms for the IS-3 and T-10.

IKV 91 is a lot more comparable to the Object 934 than the PT-76.

Yeah. When he starts out by extolling the 6.5 Arisaka right off the bat - I own one and actually LIKE the action - he loses a lot of credibility.

I like the current "golf bag" approach. But I'm a Mark 1 civilian and am used to having one gun that does - more or less - one job.

So according to him the Fedorov is the best assault rifle ever made then?

It would be nice if Pasholok dug up that Object 907/Object 279 hybrid.

Why hippies are wrong would be a nice section.

If it wouldn't have had torsion bars, then why are the road wheels offset?

That's isn't the original armor scheme that would've required removing the torsion bar suspension.

His objection to flechettes is related to terminal effectivess.

 

Doesn't he realize flechettes are really deadly?

Is there any reason for his future is now™ cartridge Tony Williams doesn't propose flechettes or duplex rounds?

Do you think the Armata will be similar in layout to the T-74 and Object 299?

I've been building a space station to practice orbital docking and construction, it's in the area of 30 tons.

I have a question for  you.  It seems that on a lot of the Soviet tank designs in the 50's and 60's, they have uneven spacing between road wheels.  I seem to remember reading that on the T54/55, the gap between the first and second road wheels was to create space between the torsion bars for an escape hatch.  Is this true?  Also, why on later models like T-62 did the gap move back between the third and forth, and forth and fifth roadwheels?

The gap was changed on the T-62 was changed due to weight distribution reasons. You can see this on the Object 140 despite it having a T-54B suspension as they changed it as well for the same reason.

I will write an article about it tomorrow but anyway here is drawing of the IS-2U.

Apparently the original armor scheme suggested would've required replacing the torsion bars with something smaller.

I'm reading Drive to the East by Harry Turtledove. I enjoy it, though I wouldn't recommend it due to the usual Turtledove wankery.