Humor Random Comments Thread

[BruceJohnJennerLawso]

The bombers in the photo are definitely Lancasters.

The other picture of the flight crew by the nose of the plane looked all wrong for a Lancaster as far as the nose assembly. I wish I could find it.

Is there something in particular that you can see from that angle to distinguish it as a Lancaster and not a Halifax?

His grandfather being a gunner on a Halifax makes sense, since most Canadian bomber groups were outfitted with Halifaxes, and the Lancasters were given to RAF bomber groups.

That would make sense, although the family keep claiming that he definitely flew a Lancaster. I cant tell if his group was switched to Lancasters at some point, or if they just kept repeating the more well known name.

 

[jedidia]

Basically a fusion/fission turbine jet engine. Boeing. Seriously.

It's an interesting idea, you have to give them that. Certainly not feasible any time soon (and probably never ever in earth-bound applications), but the kind of crazy-cool concept that was commonplace in the 60ies.

 

[MaverickSawyer]

The other picture of the flight crew by the nose of the plane looked all wrong for a Lancaster as far as the nose assembly. I wish I could find it.

Is there something in particular that you can see from that angle to distinguish it as a Lancaster and not a Halifax?

Yep. vertical tails are totally different. Lancasters have the ellipsoidal tails, Halifaxes have angular ones.

---------- Post added at 23:56 ---------- Previous post was at 23:52 ----------

Old picture from a great-Uncle who served in WW2.

The family claims that he flew as a tail gunner on a Lancaster, although a different picture that I have seen made me suspect that the aircraft was actually a Halifax.

Very interesting... Both of those Lancs have the dorsal turret deleted, and the H2S (or H2X? Can't recall off the top of my head) radar under the tail.
Also, the roundels and tail flashes are clearly British, but I can't remember if that particular style is just a late war in general thing, or if it was specific to a certain theater. It's not the Pacific Theater markings, though; that was two-tone blue, and these clearly have a white stripe in them.

 

[boogabooga]

The other picture of the flight crew by the nose of the plane looked all wrong for a Lancaster as far as the nose assembly. I wish I could find it.

Is there something in particular that you can see from that angle to distinguish it as a Lancaster and not a Halifax?



That would make sense, although the family keep claiming that he definitely flew a Lancaster. I cant tell if his group was switched to Lancasters at some point, or if they just kept repeating the more well known name.

I did a quick search on Wikipedia and it seems that both RAF and RCAF operated both types in healthy numbers; hm flying in either aircraft would not be too surprising.

I did notice that several Canadian squadrons transitioned from the Halifax to the Lancaster late in the war. Perhaps he flew both?

---------- Post added at 03:35 AM ---------- Previous post was at 03:05 AM ----------

Very interesting... Both of those Lancs have the dorsal turret deleted, and the H2S (or H2X? Can't recall off the top of my head) radar under the tail.
Also, the roundels and tail flashes are clearly British, but I can't remember if that particular style is just a late war in general thing, or if it was specific to a certain theater. It's not the Pacific Theater markings, though; that was two-tone blue, and these clearly have a white stripe in them.

1) H2S

2) The roundels would be appropriate for either Canada or the United Kingdom (plus other Commonwealth nations) in this time period.

3) I don't think Lancs were used much outside of England/Europe, except perhaps in Canada itself.

 

[Cosmic Penguin]

30 years today, at around this moment, the deadliest single aircraft accident ever in history unfolds over Japan:

 

[kamaz]

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B643ntN4WxBVNnc5enFPU0VUZVpLY2tJWFgwWWhoTEcyTkV3/view?pli=1

 

[Urwumpe]

Puerto Rico and submarine.... another submarine drug transport or really worth reading/watching?

 

[kamaz]

Submarines, typically, don't travel over land.

 

[Urwumpe]

Submarines, typically, don't travel over land.

Good hint. :lol:

---------- Post added at 07:31 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:27 AM ----------

Submarines, typically, don't travel over land.

Can you also apply ducktyping to USOs? :dry:

---------- Post added at 07:45 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:31 PM ----------

The dramatic news about three of the still rare wolves in Germany killing a Chihuahua after ripping him from the leash of his owner turned out as expected: False.

Genetic analysis has proved that the killer of the "cute little dog" was a domestic dog, with high probability of it being a Wolfhound, which are bred in that village.

Of course, the Bild tabloid will not put this information in huge letters on the title. If at all, its hidden in tiniest possible text among dozens of boring celebrity news. That is how you spread hate... first you inflate dangers and create new big lies, then you hide the correction somewhere in small letters or hope to get away with not printing any correction at all.

http://www.cellesche-zeitung.de/S4251486/Wolfsverdacht-in-Hornbostel-ausgeraeumt

 

[Thunder Chicken]

Is there something in particular that you can see from that angle to distinguish it as a Lancaster and not a Halifax?

Sorry for the delay. The oval vertical stabilizers distinguish them as Lancasters. Halifaxes had trapezoidal vertical stabilizers. The Halifax was somewhat more stocky and the nose was configured differently, Lancaster used in-line Rolls Royce engines vs radial engines, but those are details that changed variant to variant. The tail is the big give away.

Lancaster:

Halifax:

 

[fsci123]

Since not a lot of people here are experts at music production I thought I might ask this here...

If you heard a mix of songs would you prefer if it started at 87bpm to get people going or 70bpm then transition to fast stuff.

 

[Urwumpe]

Since not a lot of people here are experts at music production I thought I might ask this here...

If you heard a mix of songs would you prefer if it started at 87bpm to get people going or 70bpm then transition to fast stuff.

Don't you think that this is a strong matter of taste and thus depends on the audience?

Also, 87 bpm is not fast. The French Foreign Legion would not even call it a fast march. 70 bpm would be called narcotic here.

 

[ex-orbinaut]

Sorry for the delay. The oval vertical stabilizers distinguish them as Lancasters. Halifaxes had trapezoidal vertical stabilizers. The Halifax was somewhat more stocky and the nose was configured differently, Lancaster used in-line Rolls Royce engines vs radial engines, but those are details that changed variant to variant. The tail is the big give away.

Lancaster:

Halifax:

There was a Mark of the Halifax with RR Merlins, as there was a short production run of the Lancaster with the Bristol Hercules, if I am not mistaken. The only one of the three heavies that, as far as I know did not have Merlins at some stage was the Stirling. That the last mentioned one was a death trap was not, however, the engines' fault, but an RAF design specification that limited the wingspan to fit inside a standard hangar, restricting its ceiling. Ridiculous.

 

[Quick_Nick]

Former POTUS Jimmy Carter, 90, announced that he was recently found to have cancer.

"Recent liver surgery revealed that I have cancer that now is in other parts of my body. I will be rearranging my schedule as necessary so I can undergo treatment by physicians at Emory Healthcare. A more complete public statement will be made when facts are known, possibly next week."

 

[jedidia]

If you heard a mix of songs would you prefer if it started at 87bpm to get people going or 70bpm then transition to fast stuff.

bpm is usually the least useful indicator of how energetic a piece is. As for the composition of playlists, it depends on the goal. Iron rule for when the list is used for advertisment: Catchiest song goes first, it doesn't have an intro, and it reaches its energetic peak within the first 30 seconds for the first time (in fact, it's recommendable that it starts at the peak). Then you arrange the playlist in the order that you think keeps people hooked the most when they're listening to it for the first time. (As a song that is catchiest to listen to is usually not the one you can listen to the most, and since you heard your own songs a thousand+ times until that point, it's usually good to ask outsiders what they think.

 

[Andy44]

Former POTUS Jimmy Carter, 90, announced that he was recently found to have cancer.

"Recent liver surgery revealed that I have cancer that now is in other parts of my body. I will be rearranging my schedule as necessary so I can undergo treatment by physicians at Emory Healthcare. A more complete public statement will be made when facts are known, possibly next week."

This is supposed to be the "humor" random comments thread...that's a bit of a downer. I'm no fan of Carter's politics but I think he's a good man and hate to hear this.

He's also a nuclear engineer, so he's part of the tech nerd community, technically.

 

[Pipcard]

I've seen bad news posted on this thread sometimes even though it's tagged "Humor"

 

[ex-orbinaut]

Old picture from a great-Uncle who served in WW2.

The family claims that he flew as a tail gunner on a Lancaster, although a different picture that I have seen made me suspect that the aircraft was actually a Halifax.

By the way, Bruce. I don't know if you already have this information, but if your great uncle served in the RCAF, you should be able to retrieve his war record free by writing to the following address;

Access of Information, Privacy and Document Delivery Services Division,
395 Wellington Street,
Ottowa, Ontario,
K1A 0N4

I got the war record of an RCAF aircrew member who flew with my father during the war from this source, and they are very helpful.

If he served in the RAF, you'll have to pay for the war record, and will probably only get a restricted version for your pains.

Good luck, if you have not tried it yet.

 

[fsci123]

bpm is usually the least useful indicator of how energetic a piece is. As for the composition of playlists, it depends on the goal. Iron rule for when the list is used for advertisment: Catchiest song goes first, it doesn't have an intro, and it reaches its energetic peak within the first 30 seconds for the first time (in fact, it's recommendable that it starts at the peak). Then you arrange the playlist in the order that you think keeps people hooked the most when they're listening to it for the first time. (As a song that is catchiest to listen to is usually not the one you can listen to the most, and since you heard your own songs a thousand+ times until that point, it's usually good to ask outsiders what they think.

I did it by bpm because I didn't expect anyone here to know the difference between dnb/drumstep and dubstep. But that's was lot of good advice you said. Thanks


Also, Wikipedia just went down.

 

[boogabooga]

Scientific Report Confirms 2013 Aguadilla Puerto Rico UAP USO -- Homeland Security Footage - YouTube

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B643ntN4WxBVNnc5enFPU0VUZVpLY2tJWFgwWWhoTEcyTkV3/view?pli=1

quadcopter.