JediMaster

Like Dave I have all the IAPR volumes (finishing up the latest right now, on the story of the He-111), as well as all of the predecessor series World Air Power Journal and Wings of Fame. Most of my books are technical, I don't have any that really talk about the pilots too much unless it's added in with the technical stuff like IAPR does. I don't have nearly as many as some other people because as it is my wife complains about how many bookshelves my books take up (I have tons of SF and other books as well as aviation) as it is. The best ones I have are the Classic books on specific WWII Luftwaffe planes. I have the ones on the Me-163 (2 books), Mistel, Hs129, and Me-262 (4 books).

Yes, probably one of the last good films Chevy Chase was in!

They don't. These things are just as automated as manned vehicles. They can takeoff, fly waypoints, and land by themselves, but they can't fight.

Even if they did, it wouldn't matter much. Venezuela has old F-16s with little in common with the current ones used by Israel and the US.

No one can guarantee that, unfortunately. Make sure you don't get a patch with "m" at the end, that means merged and that's not what your PF-only install needs.

A noble goal. Likely futile, but noble nonetheless!

Well I'm stumped! My TIR4 has never done that to me, fortunately.

You certainly put a ton of work into this, more than I could ever devote!

Have you installed the latest patch for the game after installing it? I think 4.04 was the final one, I don't recall offhand.

Try setting everything to high instead of ultd to see if that makes a difference. You could also alter the FSAA from the default 4 to 2. You don't have FSAA forced on in your nvidia drivers, right?

When you say "reinstalled", do you mean you uninstalled it first, or just installed over the top? This might be one of those things where you have to uninstall, scour the registry, delete leftover directories and possibly driver files just to make Windows think this is all "new". I'm guessing you're using XP as I don't think 3.13 was Vista-compliant.

I hope it's warmer there than it is here!

Yes, of course, lack of dialogue is easily worth blowing up innocents. How can India not realize that? This is why they feel, and are, persecuted. Because this kind of logic is stupid, broken, and needs eradicating...indicating the proponents of said logic!

Now they're saying Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the #2 guy to Mullah Omar, has been captured...in Pakistan, of course.

Now see, I had in mind something else. Something more...pole-shaped.

Not necessarily. Unlike the girls, the plane could last 30 years.

Meanwhile I continue to enjoy Arma 2. I recently reinstalled GRAW2 to do some coop with a friend...it has prone!

Anyone tried this yet? Is it for UK residents only?

On the one hand, you have the "let's not spend the money/risk our soldiers" mentality, which is that penny wise, pound foolish mentality. By saving now you're opening yourself up to having to pay more later. On the other, you have the "if we don't help fight them, they'll leave us alone" mentality, which is similarly flawed in that these scum link countries they're against by very flimsy reasoning. Just like bin laden said that everyone killed in the WTC towers was legitimate because although they weren't soldiers they were supporting a country that had policies that supported Israel blah blah blah... By their logic, it's ok to slaughter fertilizer salesmen because they help farmers to grow the crops that feed the leaders and soldiers that attack their people.

He was a minor character with a cool attitude and neat equipment, but he wasn't the end-all, be-all. His father was far more impressive, as he took on a Jedi with no weapons, pure melee, and technically came out ahead. Sure he lost later when he relied on a broken machine to save him, but the point is he did a good job. His son...not so much.

The JAS-39 is a great MiG-21/29/F-16 replacement. It doesn't carry the biggest combat load or have the greatest range, but for a short-range multirole light fighter it's excellent. That said, I think the F-35 will outclass it (aside from stealth) because it's bigger and designed to replace some twin-engined fighters. Yet the Gripen has been available for a lot longer now and has a known track record for costs and maintenance that let a prospective buyer know exactly what they're getting. I remember flying it in Jane's ATF/NATO Fighters in the 90s and loving it, other than its small number of missiles.

Also, stealth reduces the range at which a radar can see you. At a range of 13km ANY plane is visible...you're not supposed to fly that close to a hostile SAM unless you're attacking it. It was an embarrassment not because the plane was "seen" by radar (which it barely was) but because of the multiple failures (like broken comms and flying the same route) that let a trap be set for it. In other words, it wasn't a technology failure, it was a procedural one.

The Clancy book Cardinal of the Kremlin was about the Russians developing a laser like this, also ground-based, for missiles and even satellites. The ABL program has been semi-canceled, though, and is relegated to test status only. So this is the only one that will be built. It's the same size as other 747's, though! Except the -8, that's a little bigger.

Exactly. That's why the Herc + drogue system is ideal for the tactical fleet most nations have. Even the USMC goes that route.

No, your 4870 is a DX10 capable card, but you need Vista or 7 to utilize it that way. As for quack, remember FE2, like SF2, is simply a remake of the previous release with changes made for the way Vista/7 do things and a few new things tossed in as he gets them working. SF2 originally didn't make real use of DX10, now with later patches/releases it does. FE2 has intro'd the save mission feature which I think will be back-ported into SF2 with another patch/release. I believe TK even once flat-out stated to someone who asked "I have XP, is there any reason for me to get SF2?" a simple "not really." I'm sure he'll say the same about FE2 as it's the same engine more or less. With the release of FE2 he has now re-released every one of his SF/FE series in the new format for Vista/7 with DX10 utilized. Along the way new features he's working on have been slipped in quietly, like the crashed planes and now saving. This simply means that after over a year without any new material but a plane or two he's now on track to release new things for 2010, whether it be the long-delayed expansions for Israel and FE or whole new releases. I can't wait! I do wish he'd do a next-gen game with MP, though. It's the one major omission from the new engine I really miss.