Olham

My dad passed away in that same year. Not quite the same kind of loss, but still... I remember the call from my sister like it was yesterday. And the feeling was beyond description.

I won't hold the congratulations, von Baur - you had what you had; none of us knows how and when we will end (and it is definitely better that way). It is not the length of time, it is rather the quality of a relationship, and here I believe I detect there was so much quality and even class or style in it... You both look so proud of each other. You may still feel you should have shown your love even more - but I bet you showed it very often. Congrats on what you had together and what is was - however short it may be feeling - so many have far less.

Just saw a test on German TV: 20 kids at the age of 5 years were asked what they would choose to own. There was an i-Pad, a white rabbit and a mountain bike. What do you think - how many kids picked what?

You're right, von Baur, it should have been 10 kids each. I have corrected it.

Okay, these kids made their choices as follows: i-Pad = 10 kids (mostly boys) fluffy white rabbit = 10 kids (mostly girls) mountain bike = 0 Me, I was surprised about this - not one single kid chose the bike. In my own youth that would have been No. 1, I think.

I'll tell the real outcome this evening. Any more guesses?

Ah, now we are getting in the gear! I'll give you all some more time. Jarhead, all three is not an option - they had to decide for just one - would you try again?

C'mon everybody, make a guess.

Okay, let's wait for some more answers/guesses, before I tell the result.

January is definitely too long. How could they make the month after Xmas 31 days long?!? The money is out since Xmas, the winter grey seems even worse, and everyone is either still Xhausted, or out jogging the weight off. Only the devs have their warm little rooms, in which they sit over WOFF and forget the rest of the world. Or so it seems...

My thread title is definitely wrong for southeast Australia... All the best to all of you down under!

Sid, I see it in the news every evening. First the immense fires, and now the devastating floodings. We seem to get this regularly now, even here in Germany we had such high water lines, that the river dams partly broke and land was flooded. We may have to build houses on poles in future, and we may need very strong beliefs or will, to clean and build up after each disaster.

Ah, that's another view point to confirm the relativity theory. Where will you have to ship to?

I always only make my own insignia, Widow. Here is one site which I like. Not very obvious to use, but when get to the planes you will find quite a few there. http://wp.scn.ru/

You mean something like this? http://www.flightjacket.com/a2-jacket.html

Lou, that new desktop looks top notch, Sir - you could work as a graphic designer or web artist instead of all your driving through Dakota. And 12 pounds is also very good! I also have started slimming again after Xmas and New Year, and I was surprised yesterday: I have a black waistcoat since years, which I couldn't button up anymore since a long time - and yesterday I found I could! Isn't it great, how modest we get with age?

It's a mad world, isn't it?

SPITFIRE ACE shows 4 pilots of nowadays, competing for flying the real Spitfire. They go through a WW2 education, beginning on the Tiger Moth. Great stuff! SPITFIRE ACE - Parts Three and Four

However - this is a lovingly made ode to a beautiful - even sexy - and decisive aircraft. It also honours the men who faced the iron storm, and successfully defended their homefires. I had a knot in my throat, when one senior fighter pilot veteran first talked about the German air force as the "Teutonic Monster" (which I found quite understandable from his point of view) but then also showed so much compassion for the young fellers who bailed out from their aircraft with parachutes often failing to open, or getting entangled with the tail plane. It is a lot of fun to "play" this in air combat sims - but I guess no one of us can fully imagine how the real thing was. At least I can't. And maybe the senior fighter pilots often wonder themselves, how they could ever manage to achieve all this, and live.

Really? Funny, but my sixth sense tells me, that many of the American senators smoke them. Or do you believe they didn't have the finest whiskeys even during the prohibition? Lou, you were the right man to answer this (Dej too, I suppose) - me, I actually know so little yet - without the world wide web I would be totally lost.

Looks like a Halberstadt to me. Naw, forget it - the rudder fin is too straight.

Well, the Russian Tsar and Kaiser Wilhelm were relatives, as far as I know? At least did they call each other "Willy" and "Nicky". So, before the war broke out, they had rather good relationships. The Maybach engines must have been bought before the war, I guess. PS/Edit: Nikolaus was a Cousin to King George, and a Cousin (by mariage) to Kaiser Wilhelm II.

No idea really. The models show several guns/cannon per side-tower, which look like water-cooled MGs. Did you know it had German Maybach engines?

German Wikipedia has it - see top right frame: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zar_%28Panzerkampfwagen%29