themightysrc

Thanks all - good sentiments and advice. I've almost calmed down now, so it's thinking head back on to see how I can get this off the ground. Cheers, Si

Well, I bobbed down the Job Centre this morning, full of facts, figures and projections in order to get my self onto the New Enterprise Allowance scheme - basically, it's some financial support whilst you get your business off the ground (£65 a week for 3 months then £35 a week for 3 more months), and to try and get a loan for 'capital equipment' - new PC, advertising, web domain, etc. I've been unemployed since February - 9 months - which fulfills the 6 months out of work criteria. So no problem then, I hear you say. Unfortunately, not so. I turns out that, because I (honestly and foolishly) signed off for a week in August to go on holiday abroad with my wife, that means that it's not a continuous 6 months signing on, and hence, under the qualification criteria of the scheme, I'm disqualified until I've spent 6 months from August signing on. So, no support, no advice, no loan, no business and no prospect of anything until late February, because I can't even afford to take a temporary job over Xmas, as it would knock back the 6 months again. Merry f***ing Xmas, eh? The woman I spoke to at the Job Centre did, to her credit, look about as embarrassed and crestfallen as I've ever seen in that loathsome building and she promised to raise the case with her line manager, who, I'm sure, will tell her that he can't intervene and use what is called common sense. So, basically, because I was honest with the DSS and declared the holiday break, that's me f***ed until next year. Great isn't it? I've written to my moronic, drone-like, Thatcherite Tory MP, pointing out that if DSS staff were allowed to use their discretion (that common sense thing) to determine qualification for the scheme, I would soon be earning, off the unemployment statistics and paying both tax, NI, VAT, etc and contributing to the economy. Does that make sense to you? It did to me when I wrote it. Instead, Xmas will be somewhat less than jolly and I'll be utterly skint until February at the earliest - assuming, of course, that the finite funding for the NEA scheme hasn't run out by then. I expect nothing from the man - he's as thick as s**t, and lobby fodder - so if anyone knows of a rich benefactor somewhere. I can't even get a bank loan - the minimum I could get is £2500, and they're really not going to lend that amount to someone who's on the dole, given that there's over 2,600,000 of us in the UK, and I can't promise repayments regularly. If I didn't see the irony of this ridiculous situation, I would sit down and cry. Instead, I'll have a short and bitter laugh at it, and treat with absolute and utter contempt the next one of the Tory vermin I see on TV, pontificating that the unemployed are feckless and workshy. f*** them, and the horse they came into town on. Lower than vermin - Bevan was right. Rant over. When's P4 coming out?

Thanks Lou. It's quite incredible the amount of support and goodwill that suddenly comes your way when you tell people you're starting a business. Thanks for your best wishes, chi and anything else that comes my way! Now, all I have to do is to persuade people to buy the product....

Thanks to WidowMaker and Tranqs - your posts are incredibly helpful. I may well take you up on your offers, but it'll be at least a week or more before I can let you know. Hope that's OK. Thanks for the offer of help with the business side WM; I'll be going as a sole trader so any hints as to the ins and outs of that, then please PM me! As for the memory - I might well be back to you on that as well, depending on how the new base unit works out. Wow. It's a ride, that's for sure. I'm so puppyishly grateful to everyone who's taken the trouble to post or PM me. I truly, truly appreciate your generosity. Cheers - and watch your six! Si

I'll be happy to be able to afford to buy my other half a Xmas present. Fingers crossed.

Thanks to everyone who's replied so far - particularly those who've been kind enough to PM me with offers of material help. You chaps are amazing, and are one of the great reasons that I keep coming back to this terrific forum. The generosity of your spirits and your wisdom is quite overwhelming at times. THe business plan is coming together, and I'm seeing someone this Friday to try and get onto a government scheme - ironic, given that they've just cut off my dole! - to get £65 a week support for a limited time whilst, I hope, business starts to come in. It's all new territory for me, and there's much to learn and consider, but I now feel that there's something out there that I can work at, without being subject to the vagaries of other people's opinions or a power structure/hierarchy that simply doesn't understand me and the way I work. Either I will fall flat on my arse, and it's goodnight Vienna, or else this might just be the best thing that's happened to me since the evening I agreed to marry my other half. Thanks all - keep those suggestions coming, particularly those of you who happen to have an unused copy of Office 2010 kicking about (hint, hint..!). Cheers, Si

Thanks for everyone's input so far - trust me, it is much appreciated. I'll be checking out prices as per Von Paulus - thanks mate - and I've also been told that Comet, who were sold off for a quid (!) just last week are having some sort of monster sale on, so I'll be looking there too. In fact, I'm wondering if post Xmas for a new PC is a better bet??? Sales and all that... Anyway, keep them coming - I need this machine to be my business steed and my next OFF ride! Hi Tranquillo, Just seen your post (was cooking tea for the missus) - cheers buddy, I might well take you up on that one...

HI Tranquilo, Thanks I'll check that out shortly. Widowmaker - the answer is, as cheap as I can get away with, but still to have the firepower to run OFF P3 pretty much maxed out. I'm guessing that if I cap my budget at about £500, then my other half won't throw a fit.

Well, over in Britain it's the usual combination of humbug and hypocrisy, as you'd expect, but also with people in their own locations commemorating their own. I live in south Lancashire, and my wife's a councillor and attended the wreath laying ceremony at the cenotaph in the township she represents - as did, of course, people from a wide variety of other political parties, voluntary bodies and services. It was the first time I'd been to such a ceremony, but I'm glad I went. The weather was cold but sunny, and people were scattered hither and yon up and down the road from the starting point (a pub car park where the brass band was assembled with the army cadets and air corps cadets) to the cenotaph. I was still a bit bemused about this, and wandered with my wife into the pub whose yard was the assembly point. I think I've got it now. The place was full to heaving with ex-service people, dignitaries, local politicos, friends, families, and the odd dipsomaniac - this is at 10.00 in the morning! I was astounded that the entire ceremony was underlain - or fuelled - by beer, but the evidence of my own eyes (and my dropping a much needed and heat providing brandy at about 10.05) tells me otherwise. It was, as it turns out, a quite lovely occasion, the Last Post was played, we observed the minute's silence and my dear wife placed a wreath on behalf of the Labour Party, so all was done properly. But it was, and I'm, as you know, very cynical, a rather pleasant occasion when the people of the local township actually turned out in fair numbers on a chilly Autumnal day, when they might otherwise have had other things to do. It was a form of bonding that's all too rare nowadays, and I rather liked that. It was a weird insight into the day. I hadn't expected pubs to be full of old soldiers supping early doors, nor other attendees, but I thought, f*** it, if you can't do it now, after all that work, then when can you? The locals approve, clearly, and I'm in agreement with them. Everyone was dignified and the whole occasion went off extremely well (although I avoided the religious service at the end), and people left feeling that they'd done something which made a difference in their area. That's more than good enough for me.

"In fact, it might be a good idea for everybody who plays P3 to buy a copy or two for their friends and family in order to introduce them to OFF" Might be nice for F&F who enjoy flight sims, but I seriously doubt that people go for WWI air combat sims on the basis that they've got a bit bored with Wii Fit...

"It's another tradition stomped to death on the altar of political correctness." I rather suspect, having read the Graun article about this, that you can put this one down to commercial concerns. The whole point of the FIFA ruling is to enforce an article which prevents the alteration of shirts - a massive advertising opportunity - at a moment's notice, so as to enforce the (expensive) legal rights of those comapnies who've bought 'shirt space'. Basically, allow any presence on those shirts - no matter how well intended, like poppies - and out will come the corporate lawyers to complain that their 'space' has been intruded upon. I'm sorry that I can't get all het up about this. I'm actually representing the local Labour Party at our village's cenotaph next Sunday, and I will wear a poppy, and probably have a much greater understanding from my reading and research about WWI than 99.9% of the people who'll be bowing their heads that day. What you've read isn't about "Pee Cee", it's about sales. Please understand that. Cheers, Si On Edit: Actually, it isn't about sales at all. It's all about a capitalist system that everyone seems so very happy defend even though it f***s them over, and their descendants, as they wish to commemorate their forebears' actions and lives. Basically, if you're pissed off with this, then you're pissed off with where society is going - financially and morally. It's got f*** all to do with 'pee cee'.

I might have to do a bit of digging on this, but as I recall, what happened was that William promptly disenfranchised the Anglo Saxon native 'nobles', parcelling out their lands to his friends and allies. Thereafter, it was a simple matter of defeating any gainsayers in each area - such as Hereward the Wake, if my memory isn't playing tricks - in detail. After all, how would they be able to band together to withstand what was then by then a professional Viking army with heavy cavalry (and in great numbers). Consider also that William was quite ruthless: the Domesday Book was an inventory for him to plan how best to plunder his newly conquered lands and how best to reward those who'd followed him to England. It wasn't compiled as an act of compassionate rulership or enlightened anthroplogy. What I've read of William's reign is the usual story of a power hungry tyrant. If it hadn't been England, it could well have been Sicily or and extension of the Normans in France. He was no worse, nor any better, than the other land and power hungry men of his day. His call on history is that he managed to conquer a land that had peculiar advantages, and that he was able to stamp his authority on that land, in the main part by fenestrating its native aristos and by military dominance through an endless series of castle building. Think also about the cathedrals: build them huge and high to Almighty God, who's exalted you by blessing (implicitly) your success. Look at Norwich, Canterbury and the others. William built to impress people, and cow them. There's no real mystery about William: he knew the levers to pull and the buttons to press, and he did precisely that. Machiavelli would undoubtedly have admired him.

Great shots, very evocative. Good caption? How about "cheerio!"

"BTW, a German 2-seater rear gun, the Parabellum, was a modified Maxim." A little known fact, but absolutely true. The history of the machine gun is filled with weird and wonderful personalities, but apparently many of them saw the machine gun as the way of reducing casualties on the battlefield on the basis that there would be far less need to commit so many men into battle to achieve a level of firepower. And, of course, the history of the device is replete with tales of how it was ignored by the authorities - including, inevitably, the Briddish - until German militarists and theoreticians had thoroughly grasped and absorbed the implications of what machine guns might do on the (then) modern battlefield. The rest, of course, is history, and amounts for a significant number of dead on both sides of the trenches, as well as those above.

Hmm. There's been plenty of interesting suggestions as to what the title for P4 might be, but it seems to me that the majority of them - including my own previous non-frivolous suggestion (Aces Falling) - all dwell more or less upon the immediate reality of the air war, but edge towards romanticism. That being the case, how about this: OFF: Three Miles to Fall Not much romanticism or heroism there. Or, if you really want to hammer home the point with a massive great Belisha beacon on it, how about: OFF: Dulce et Decorum Est pace Wilfred Owen, who knew whereof he spoke.

Well BH, I have to agree with you. Without William, probably no feudalism in the Franco-European style. Without that, fused with English nationalism, the springboard that was an aggressive Plantagenet dynasty wouldn't have had the werewithall to take the next big steps. After that, there are too many diverse influences to imply a direct causality as to how the Briddish Empire came about. One thing I will say though, and this will probably start an argument I suppose, is that the class structure imposed after the Conquest is still very much present in the UK a thousand years afterwards, modified only by the emergence of a third class - a middle/mercantile class - in the interim. Other than that, there's the hoi polloi, ie, most of us, and there's the people with power via land rights and riches, ie, the moneyed classes. You can add nuances of globalised capitalism and the emergence into the elite of those enriched by its activities, but in essence Britain still reflects much of the power and class structure bequeathed by William the Bastard. <dons tin hat, flame proof long johns and awaits outraged rebuttal!!> Having a brother called Odo must have been really cool thobut.

It's interesting to speculate what a continuing Anglo Saxon England would have been like. All we can really say is that fuedalism in the form introduced by William and heirs probably wouldn't have come about, or might have been ameliorated by existing AS common law, much of which (the bits affecting inheritance and rights) got swept away as the Normans systematically destroyed the AS hierarchy in England in the years after 1066. It's a period I really should read up on rather more, seeing as it marks the point at which England ceased to be an island nation and became truly part of Europe.

HI Lima, Well, we can but hope. I'll be happy either way, I'm sure, but I'm simply keen to see the skies filled from 1915 with more varied aircraft and if plane packs are the way to achieve that, there'll be no grumbles from me. I just hope that when they decide the aircraft to include they bear in mind first and foremost the numbers used of each type and over what period - the exact reason why the DFW was a great idea and why the Fokker DVIII should never, IMHO, have seen the light of day, given the numbers and operational life. I wonder how many Hanriot HD1s saw service? Now wouldn't that be nice - the Belgian air force in P4.... Cheers, Si

HI Creaghorn, I'm sure they'll do it 100% as they normally do! It was simply my contribution based upon logistics. I probably omitted to say that I meant AI only aircraft, as opposed to flying ones. The problem for OBD is, as acknowledged by them I think, that they've not got the resources to fulfill everyone's wishes for new planes covering all the gaps in all the periods to everyone's satisfaction - that would take literally years, I sure. My suggestion was where 'the supporting cast' of also rans was produced - say, the BE8, for instance - that most people wouldn't really hanker to fly in given their utterly dismal performance, then less detailed models would suffice as the only time you'd be looking at it would be via a gunsight! Of course, if the devs wish to prove me wrong about resource constraints and produce P4 with a slew of new aircraft that are all flyable and richly detailed, then I'll be more than happy to break out the Moet and toast them. Cheers, Si

I've seen it before Olham, and was indeed most impressed. It's worth searching YouTube for his material, as it's generally achingly funny. The idea of an evil James Mason voiced mastermind planning the infiltration of a whites wash by a sleeper agent called Blue Underpants gives you an idea of his inventiveness.

"Just women don't do comedy well especially stand up." Victoria Wood? Sarah Milligan? Linda Smith? Admittedly some are crap, but I've watched many male stand ups who are crap, so I'd say it evens out quite well. The difference, IMO, is that until relatively recently, stand up has been seen as a male preserve and women entering it would be given a harder time than men entering it. Novelty value plus the fact that live stand ups can get the most terrible heckling, and I've seen hecklers go for female comics simply because they're women - no other reason. Fortunately, there appears to be a maturity less based on testosterone at large in the world of comedy as a whole, which has levelled the playing field for female stand ups/comedians. Frankly, I'd rather sit through a single set of a good female stand up than any number of sets delivered by people like Michael McIntyre, Jimmy Carr or Roy Brown. BTW, I knew I'd leave a couple off my faves list: Eddie Izzard, who's utterly sublime and Dylan Moran, the best ranter in the business (apart from one S. Lee).

I'm used to flying around and having the crap kicked out of me by superior scouts hunting in seemingly kamikaze stylee, and occasionally yearn for a little R&R in terms of other people's tales of derring do, particularly when they involve downing enemy aces. I was fortunate enough - once, and once only - to apparently bring down Max Immelmann after he foolishly decided to take on the might of a flight of BE2c's, of which I was part. Pah, that showed 'im. Since then, unsurprisingly, I've seen neither hide nor hair of enemy aces in missions, with the possible exception of taking down Lothar von Richtofen (which never amounted to a claim) in a frenzied firefight near Arras. However, I'm well aware that most of you chaps out there (and it's a shame it's only chaps, we could do with input here from female OFFers in my humble) fly scouts and therefore you must have come up against aces on both sides. At the risk of turning this into a willy waving contest, I'd be interested to know who's knocked down some of the leading lights of WWI in combat and how it came about. If you've got screenies of your exploits, feel free to put them up.

Many good ideas, but I have it at the back of my mind that there's a better, more potent and more poetic/balletic name to be summoned. Let me think upon this one...

You're not looking hard enough! Have a listen to BBC Radio 4 and you'll hear plenty of extremely funny female comedians. R4 is the crucible for so much superb comedy that it surprises me that many people appear to not have heard of it, and of the talent it's sprung - Steve Coogan (above) being just one of many.

Why not have the Albatros C series in the game? Surely straightforward to model and then to produce the many variants? I'll add a big yea to an add on of two seaters in any case, and if that might include various birds from 1915-16, then so much the better, particularly French and German ones. Don't worry devs - we know you're flat out and over stretched. Just go with the numbers and don't get hung up on richly detailed aircraft for the early period. You're filling out a war, and I can't imagine that too many people would cry foul if two seaters we get weren't as exactly modelled as the scouts, which, let's face it, is why many/most people play. IMHO.