MOVIES 2017

[taamvan]

Very amusing movie, went and saw it on Sunday.  Brother and Uncle had their own comments; I thought the most nerd-unworthy part of the movie was the same as you guys;

MILD SPOILER ALERT

Dear Spitfire Pilot;

Now hear this;  running out of fuel and feathering your propeller?  You have a good 40-45 minutes of flight time left;  make a few more attack passes with your remaining momentum and another beach pass.  Or two.  Not an emergency, per se–-just look for a good place to land.  On firm sand.  Very Firm.  In fact, why don’t we build airstrips out of wave packed-sand…England’s shores covered in free, indestructible airbases.  Its much safer to land on sand than water, for that matter.

[Wolfshanze]

@taamvan:

just look for a good place to land.  On firm sand.   Very Firm.   In fact, why don’t we build airstrips out of wave packed-sand…England’s shores covered in free, indestructible airbases.   Its much safer to land on sand than water, for that matter.

Or how about a giant floating iceberg as an unsinkable carrier? Britain came “this close” to making fully operational aircraft carriers made from special non-melting ice…

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Habakkuk

[CWO Marc]

Alternately, they might have developed amphibious Spitfires with retractable floats that could land on water as well as on a runway.  Perfectly realistic for a plane that apparently could apparently fly without fuel.  In the movie The Great Dictator, the Mussolini parody-character asks the Hitler parody-character whether his army has any of “the new amphibious tanks that can roll on land, swim in the water and fly through the air.”  The Goebbels parody-character dismissively answers no, adding that “they were made obsolete by our new flying battleships.”  (All joking aside, the PBY Catalina seaplane could fly, could land on (and take off from) water, and had retractable wheels that allowed it to land on (and take off from) a runway.  Though it was hardly a tank.)

[taamvan]

Wolf, I read about that story when I was a teenager and I’ve always wondered…who thought this was a good idea??  Pre-global warming I can see the argument that the ship would remain intact at least in the north Atlantic but in the med!!!  Its like 80 degrees in the winter…

“Perutz pointed out that natural icebergs have too small a surface above water for an airstrip, and are prone to suddenly rolling over”

So, it melts AND its dynamically unstable.  Those are the first two characteristics I want as a shipbuilding material!  I realize that steel is heavier than water and subject to oxidation, but it doesn’t evaporate.

Some ideas are both ahead of and behind the times, such as the turret fighter, the bicycle brigade, gliders, the schnellbomber, the floating pipeline, the small-scale continental invasion…ideas whose time will never come.

[CWO Marc]

Natural icebergs have all the flaws you mention, but project Habakkuk aimed to build highly unnatural icebergs.  They were to be made of a water/sawdust mixture called, I think, pykete which melted much more slowly than normal ice, and they would presumably have been shaped like flat slabs rather than rounded blobs.  And I think they were meant to protect the Atlantic convoy routes, not for service in the Med.

[Wolfshanze]

@taamvan:

Wolf, I read about that story when I was a teenager and I’ve always wondered…who thought this was a good idea?? Pre-global warming I can see the argument that the ship would remain intact at least in the north Atlantic but in the med!!! Its like 80 degrees in the winter…

“Perutz pointed out that natural icebergs have too small a surface above water for an airstrip, and are prone to suddenly rolling over”

So, it melts AND its dynamically unstable. Those are the first two characteristics I want as a shipbuilding material! I realize that steel is heavier than water and subject to oxidation, but it doesn’t evaporate.

Some ideas are both ahead of and behind the times, such as the turret fighter, the bicycle brigade, gliders, the schnellbomber, the floating pipeline, the small-scale continental invasion…ideas whose time will never come.

Ya, I provided the link (on page 9) if you want to refresh your memory…

While I mentioned “Iceberg” it wasn’t using real icebergs from the Atlantic, but rather a special man-made ice that was a special combination of natural ice and wood pulp that made a much stronger shatter-proof ice that could be kept from melting with small generators (read the story)… the idea was to make large slab-like platforms with engines attached to become essentially “unsinkable carriers” because the special ice couldn’t be destroyed by normal means (or at least was much more resistant to damage)… like CWO Marc mentioned, the primary purpose of these ice carriers was to protect the convoy routes of the North Atlantic (via a base for airpower), not for patrolling the Med or Pacific.

While the idea was novel, it was functional… however a bit costly… there were small scale carrier platforms tested in Canada, but the full scale ships never made it to construction, as bases in the Azores and longer range aircraft made the need for these costly carriers a moot point.

Mythbusters even did an episode on the subject, making their own “special ice” ship… they were successful and were able to make a much stronger ice ship, but they agreed that while it was definitely “Plausible” it was also a bit “Ludicrous”.

[CWO Marc]

On a related note, Arthur C. Clarke’s short story collection Tales from the White Hart includes a humourous story called “Cold War” in which agents working for California hatch a plot to create an artificial iceberg (by having a submarine spray sea water on a giant bag filled with super-cooled air) and strand it on Miami Beach in order to discredit Florida’s claim that is has more sunshine than California.

[Wolfshanze]

@CWO:

…agents working for California hatch a plot to create an artificial iceberg and strand it on Miami Beach in order to discredit Florida’s claim that is has more sunshine than California.

While I’m not exactly sure what an Iceberg on Miami beach would have to do with a sunshine claim, as a native Floridian (who also lived in California for several years), I will admit California gets more sunshine than Florida… primarily because it rains often in Florida (bringing thunderstorms that can blot out the sun), and California is nothing but a giant irrigated desert that more resembles DUNE, where no single drop of rain ever falls.

[CWO Marc]

As I vaguely recall from the story, which I read a long time ago, the iceberg was meant to create a media sensation (“Iceberg Off Miami Beach!”) which would make the general public think that Florida is a cold place.  The sunshine element is part of the story set-up, which claims (and I have no idea if there’s any basis in truth for this) that Florida’s “The Sunshine State” nickname annoys California.  The set-up depicts a squabble in which California protests to Florida that California is even sunnier than California, to which Florida replies “Yes, but what about all those earthquakes you get?”, to which California replies “If ever you need relief after one of your hurricanes, just let us know,” and so forth.  Some wealthy Hollywood-connected Californians then get into the fray by proposing the iceberg scheme, which is inspired by the fact that buildings which are constructed in outdoor locations for movie shoots are typically just empty shells.  Like many Clarke stories, it’s written in a tongue-firmly-in-cheek tone.

[Wolfshanze]

FYI, our oranges are better than California’s.

[Adrian Valdes]

Atomic Blonde

[aequitas-et-veritas]

Hey I saw Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.2 and must say i really enjoyed it.
It topped the first GotG.

Has anyone seen Ghost in the Shell? I only watched the Manga Version back in the days and was wondering if it is worth to watch it.

[Private-Panic]

Loved both GotG films AeV.

Saw Dunkirk recently an unlike some others thought it was a great move.

Plus watched Hacksaw Ridge on the plane yesterday. What a story. Shame about all the gore.

[TKs-Mengelito]

@aequitas:

Hey I saw Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.2 and must say i really enjoyed it.
It topped the first GotG.

Has anyone seen Ghost in the Shell? I only watched the Manga Version back in the days and was wondering if it is worth to watch it.

GotG2 was awful imo, American Assassin was great though

[General Veers]

Kingsman 2 was alright, for a sequel it holds up well.

[barney]

right on I plan on checking it out

[aequitas-et-veritas]

Star Wars 8

https://youtu.be/Q0CbN8sfihY

[variance]

BLADE RUNNER

A+

[StuckTojo]

@Private:

Plus watched Hacksaw Ridge on the plane yesterday. What a story. Shame about all the gore.

I don’t know why Mel Gibson ruins his movies like this.

I’m a non-Christian but I nonetheless thought The Passion was an excellent film, but the drawn-out, unrealistic, and over-the-top gore ruined it.

I thought Apocalypto would have also been a great film, too, were it not for the preposterous Hollywood-esque over-the-top fight scenes and drawn-out chase scenes that ruined it for me.

As intrigued as I am about Hacksaw Ridge I’m done with Mel Gibson movies.

[General 6 Stars]

DARKEST HOUR

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