Agiel

"Texaco 1-1, this is Enfield 1-1. Switch is safe (Master Arm switch set to 'safe'), nose is cold (radar set to 'Silent'), looking for 8K (pounds of gas)" "Enfield 1-1, Texaco 1-1, proceed to pre-contact at angels 20 at two two zero." Line abreast with my wing-man. Wing sweep set to "Bomb" mode, which fixes both the flaps and the wing sweep to 65 degrees Refueling probe extended "Ready pre-contact." "Cleared contact." the KC-130 announces as it extends the refueling drogue. The Tomcat briefly shudders in the burble of the Hurc, but quickly recovers... The golden rules for aerial refueling - 1. Pick a fixed reference point on the refueling aircraft and keep the basket in your peripheral vision as you approach, but never "chase it". 2. Use minute movements on stick, rudder, and throttle as you approach and make corrections. 3. Approach slowly, but above all else keep it smooth, lest you fall into a feedback loop of oscillating corrections that will force you to back off and attempt another approach. 4. If you have to back off and take a breather, wiggle your toes! "Little left." The RIO (Radio Intercept Officer) advises as he leans right in his seat, walking me into the basket as I fixate on the refueling pod the hose is being unreeled from. "Keep her steady." "Contact." the KC-130 announces. "We're plugged. That'll put out our thirst." the RIO exhales triumphantly. "You're taking fuel." "Fuel thirteen thousand... Fuel fourteen five-hundred..." The RIO reads the fuel gage over the next several minutes for what seems like an eternity as I struggle to keep the aircraft steady. "Transfer complete." the Hurc declares. "Disconnect." I back out of the basket and while the Hurc retracts the drogue, ready to unspool the hose again once my wingman is in position. Taking position besides the Harriers we were escorting while my wingman tanks up.

If history and tradition was a guide for textualism Old Scratch might have a case for the out and out Satanists to have pentagrams painted with blood and women dancing naked in the forest as protected forms of worship:

My firm belief that efforts to curb the "counterculture" du jour typically begets an even greater hostile reaction, from the satanic panic and Evangelical Revolution of the 80's came the satanic Norwegian black metal and Swedish and American death metal of the 90's.

There is an incoming module for the F-15E Strike Eagle coming for DCS (bringing back warm and fuzzy memories of Jane's F-15), and the same F/A-18 stick is largely identical to that of the F-15, both having been designed by McDonnell-Douglas (now part of Boeing Defence, Space & Security in the aftermath of Les Aspin's "Last Supper"). Try literally shredded, as after its retirement from the Navy the only operator remaining (and indeed the only other operator ever) for the F-14 was the IRIAF. The measure was arguably well-warranted as there have been a few cases of Iran attempting to purchase spare parts from the retired American fleet.

While we're on the topic of peripherals what my tax return has gone to: Retiring my old Logitech X52 I've upgraded to a Winwing Orion 2 HOTAS with finger-lift idle and afterburner detents, with the stick and throttle handles modeled after that from the F/A-18 series (though still rocking Saitek rudder pedals and TrackIR 4 head-tracking).

Regular reminder that at their genuine worst the most extreme elements of BLM and Antifa (such as it is) aren't even in the same solar system in terms of danger as far-left movements of the 60s through the 80s. They aren't coming back from well-financed PLO training camps in Lebanon as the Baader–Meinhof Gang did to rob banks, kidnap business executives, hijack airlines, or bomb NATO airbases. They have not engaged in a decades long period of violence so insensate that it earned the moniker "Anni di piombo" (in this instance far-right groups were also involved), climaxing with the kidnapping and execution of a head of government. Even the American brand of left-wing terrorism, launched during the depths of American involvement in Vietnam, was extremely tame compared to the above examples; such actions were more akin to pranks that when after reporting them news anchors would smoothly follow with "Here's Tom with sports". The most high-profile example being the kidnapping of an heiress, who later joined the cause of the SLA and helped them rob banks, and was famously parodied in the film <<Network>>:

Metro 2033 author put on Russian government 'wanted' list for condemning invasion of Ukraine There was always an anti-authoritarian bent to the writing in both the novel and game series for <<Metro>>, and in <<Metro 2035>> and <<Exodus>> a major plot point was...

The Ciaphas Cain books are at the top of my recommended list for 40K lists, by far and away leaving the Space Marine bolter porn in the dust in my mind. The series is best described as <<Flashman>> to <<Gaunt's Ghosts>> <<Sharpe's Rifles>>.

Will of course be attempting my best Queen Emeraldas impression (Have yet to assemble the Eldar Corsairs for my Captain Harlock-themed project, let alone put paint to model). Promotional materials suggest one of the possible companions is an Eldar Ranger. I had theorised that there would be immediate speculation on whether or not she would have her own romance questline and upon visiting the Owlcat Discord this hypothesis turned out to be correct. I do hope that there is an option for her to prestige level into a Harlequin or something.

As correctly speculated by @Azdeusand mentioned in the news thread Owlcat's next joint that looked sci-fi oriented will be an adaptation of <<Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader>>.

<<You have devised a new light and your eyes will see no further You have risen towers for a one long fall downwards You made a desert and called it peace So, rest assured – your claim will be processed justly And the greatness of your deeds bestowed upon you!>>

So far as I can remember the two major scenes retained between the <<Redux>> and Coppola's <<Final Cut>> was Willard stealing Kilgore's surfboard (which helps with continuity and provides a good transition between the air cav assault and PBR Street Gang proceeding up the river) and the plantation. As beautifully shot and in my opinion thematically necessary the plantation segment was it did have the unfortunate effect of majorly messing with the film's pacing, and I imagine if this was someone's first time watching <<Apocalypse Now>> in any form they will have mentally checked out of the movie half-way through their time in Kurtz's compound.

Hitman47101 delivering the good once again: Could kill to see Lucas "The Rifleman" McCain firing animations for lever-actions:

I believe in the <<Gameplay>> tab in the options you can disable ranged units defaulting to "Skirmish" mode. I turn it off even playing as factions that rely heavily on dedicated ranged units (i.e. Wood Elves) as often I find that results in the AI causing them to retreat at less-than-ideal times and in un-optimal direction.

I suppose in that instance Thomas Friedman's "McPeace" theory of international relations holds true.

With Elon Musk being South African and a self-proclaimed “free speech absolutist” I’m curious if he’s familiar with Polish artist Krzysztof Wodiczko. Projection of a swastika on the South African embassy in London during Apartheid. Projection was taken down two hours later for being a “public nuisance.”

In the words of the late, great Norm MacDonald, "Say what you will about Elon Musk. But with his new plan to bring people to Mars, nobody is a more creative serial killer."

In solidarity with the metal siblinghood of Ukraine some gems from our Kvlt brothers and sisters there: This last one an incredible one-woman act who released an album last month:

I guess the Norwegians got the last laugh when the Russian MFA threw shade at them for the loss of that Fridtjof Nansen frigate a while back.

Images aren't showing. And the ones you posted earlier are broken now too. *EDIT* Never mind. See them now. <<Giants ahead>>.

On level design there is a catacomb dungeon under the capital a friend and I were crawling around in that does gaslight the player, as there is an identical corridor to one the player went through earlier with another flame-spewing trap at the end, and a room with a layout and textures identical to the boss rooms of other dungeons of the type is found in between those corridors but merely holds two normal enemies. Makes me shudder to think what a tabletop RPG campaign being DMed by Miyazaki for his friends must be like.

A German pal sent this to me. A piece on the one General who has as much to do with the Ukrainian armed forces' success as Zelenskyy. Machine translation as follows, with emphases mine:

On the other side I was thankfully forewarned to refuse a quest from Lann as a female character, as otherwise it was very easy to inadvertently stumble into his romance path.

I'm routinely astounded the US Men's Team keeps qualifying considering how its reputation for mediocrity has reached memetic levels.