cab67
cab67's JournalUkraine is teaching the world how to do psy-ops.
I don't know if it's coordinated or if it's individual Ukraine servicemen working on their own, but their use of social media to send messages to attacking Russians, while letting the whole world listen in, takes the whole concept to a new level. It's a work of collective art.
Partly, I think it's because Ukrainians understand their enemy. We haven't understood ours since perhaps the First World War.
And Ukrainians certainly understand Russians more than Russians appear to understand Ukrainians.
language question out of curiosity
Something I've wondered for a while - are the Ukrainian and Russian languages mutually intelligible when spoken?
I realize it's not an important question.
scale modelers?
I was unable to find a subforum that seemed appropriate for this. I'd originally posted it in General Discussion, but a couple of people suggested the Lounge. (I've never posted here before.) If there’s something I missed, please let me know and accept my apology.
My primary hobby is birding, but in bad weather, I sometimes make scale model aircraft. Most of the models I’ve built have been First World War era biplanes, but I’ve started moving into other historical periods. I’m building an F-100D Super Sabre right now, partly in honor of my father, who was in Vietnam early in the conflict (1963 or 1964), albeit as a translator in the Navy.
Anyway – I semi-completed this one last month:
This is a P-47D Thunderbolt in 1/48 scale. It’s based on Tamiya’s P-47M, which can be converted to the late-version P-47D I wanted to make easily enough. (Much more easily than a kit intended to be an earlier P-47D, in fact.).
The reason I’m showing this off is the markings. They were intended to match the plane my grandfather was photographed flying sometime in 1945.
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He was a flight instructor, so he would normally have flown trainers. As far as I know, he and his friends were joy-riding in some Thunderbolts that had arrived at their base in Texas.
This is very much an incomplete experiment. The cowling that would go over the propeller is missing, I messed up on the paint job in a couple of places, and I need to resize some of the decals I printed to match the markings on this particular plane. That, and I’m not really all that talented with this.
Building this did let me use my imagination a little. My grandfather never saw combat. But - what if he had? The plane would be the same, except for armaments (which in this case includes machine guns on the wings that are absent from the plane he was photographed flying, plus a drop tank because I felt like adding one) - but it also meant there might have been nose art.
Much of the nose art of the period was notably bawdy. I obviously wasn't going to put anything like that on the nose of this plane - I really don't want my grandparents going poltergeist on me for the rest of my life. I also wanted to display this at home, where my 6-year-old daughter would see it. (I may also make copies for my cousins, all of whom have small children.). Besides, it just wouldn't be appropriate, given who he was.
I thought about a couple of classical theatrical masks - the comedy and tragedy masks - because he was a professor in theater arts after the war. But I decided to do what many pilots of the time did - put the name of his sweetheart (my grandmother) on the plane. He was absolutely dedicated to her.
The saddest part is that I’d intended to make one for my uncle. (My mother passed away several years ago.). But he died suddenly late last year, so I didn’t get the chance.
Anyway – this one means something to me. And the next one will be better.
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(As an aside – there are web sites that list every single P-47 ever built and its ultimate fate. The plane my grandfather flew ended up in the Chilean Air Force at some point. I’m sure it’s scrapped by now.)
about that figure skating doping thing
I don't actually pay much attention to the Olympics (winter or summer) - I lost interest when professional athletes were allowed to compete, and some of the shit going down belongs in the UN, not a stadium. I've also been especially leery of any event in which victory or defeat depends on the subjective assessment of judges,
But I do wonder about something:
If Russia's been banned from the Olympics because of repeated doping, why are Russian athletes still competing under the "Russian Olympic Committee" banner? I get that most of these athletes have done nothing wrong and shouldn't be punished for wrongs committed by others, and I know that many of these are among the most talented people in their sports and should, in theory, get a crack at Olympic glory (assuming such a thing even exists anymore). But if a country is banned, shouldn't it be treated as if it's, you know, banned?
I have no strong opinion about the figure skater at the center of this particular flap. She skated beautifully, and the doping took place well before she arrived at the Olympics, so I'd put heavier sanctions on the adults around her than on her. I don't know whether she should be ejected from the Olympics, and I don't actually care very much.
But I don't get that countries can be represented after they've been banned.
Just my minimally-informed thought.
question about legal proceedings against a former president.
Sitting presidents can't be taken to court. But - what if someone runs for president while under indictment? Suppose that person knows lawyers who can gum the system up for a while, delaying a trial. And further suppose that person actually won the election.
Would those legal proceedings then be put on hold? If so, would they be put on hold when he becomes president-elect or after he takes the oath of office?
Honest question here. I do NOT, under any circumstances, wish to see TFG back in the Oval Office, nor am I worried (yet) that he'd win in 2024. But the question came up in conversation, and none of us in that conversation are attorneys or constitutional law scholars.
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Member since: Wed Jul 24, 2013, 01:10 PMNumber of posts: 2,992
