There is nothing wrong with 'Off Topic' (OT) threads of course, but recently the Ubi 'OFOTW' - Official Off Topic Watchers' have been getting a little nervous, for fear of that their forums might, just might, lose a little of their intended purpose or focus that they began with - in this case, SH3.

In an effort to try to condense some of the OT threads and future OT topics, this thread has been created for everybody to throw in OT subjects, things they have seen in the news, gaming releases, Birthdays, etc. Keeping within the ToU of course, anything goes really. That isn't to say you can't start a standalone 'OT' thread, but consider posting it here instead as those who do participate should have the 'auto-notification' enabled and you might just find the more that join in the wider an audience your post will receive, without even realising it!

I'll start us off:

RJ reads today that the British Army is preparing to parachute dogs into some of the most dangerous war zones in the world? True! I hope those hounds remember to keep all four feet together, bend all four knees and roll away from the canopy when they hit the ground! You can read about it Here

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Realjambo,

An excellent idea RJ The OT threads do come and go I guess. But then again, some of us, myself included have finished playing the game but still like to come back and hang out where we always have done, call it our forum home

Here is another OT thread, it appears there is some new developments in Serbia where Serbia captures fugitive Karadzic

I saw that too, Goose. I suspect a long and complicated trial will now ensue?

I think it would be wise to get him out of Serbia and to Den Haag as fast as possible now.

The longer he stays in Belgrade, the "hotter" the situation gets.

If you keep him for months in Belgrade you should expect that his "fan club" uses the time to heat the tention among his followers up and organize support events, street clashes and cheesy "free our hero" celebrations.

Hand him over silently at night without anyone knowing and wait with the announcement until he's already out of country.



Parachuting SAS dogs ?

Hot for Taliban legs and butt cheeks ?

I agree, RJ. The OT's were beginning to dominate proceedings and putting them all together on one thread is a capital idea.

BTW, what do the dogs do for rations? Is the RAF going to air-drop pallets of doggybix behind enemy lines?

Bad air-drops (equipment casualties only, apart from the poor guy in the second clip who probably had a squeaky voice for a couple of days).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FkGxAdCRGcA

Good move RJ

I don't think it needs to be stickied though. Stickies have a habit of being ignored or not noticed after a while. I think this thread will keep running and running like the 'Picture a Day' thread if left unstickied. Just my two penneth!


Getting onto the subjects in hand...

I sincerely hope the dogs will only be used for sniffing out explosives and nothing more sinister than that. Putting truly innocent animals in lethal danger in place of humans makes my blood boil - e.g. in WW2, the Soviet anti-tank 'bomb dogs' and the USAAF dropping bats fitted with time-delay explosives on Japanese cities


Glad to gear Karadzic has been caught. Let's hope they get Mladic soon...

quote:

Putting truly innocent animals in lethal danger in place of humans makes my blood boil

I second that.

Originally posted by VikingGrandad:
...the Soviet anti-tank 'bomb dogs' and the USAAF dropping bats fitted with time-delay explosives on Japanese cities

I read that the Soviet bomb-dogs were a complete failure. They were trained by first being starved and then hunks of meat were thrown under tanks, so that the dogs would make the association of the underside of tanks with their next meal.

The Soviets used their own tanks for this training. When the dogs were sent into action for the first (and I think only) time they ran under the Russian tanks.

Explosives sniffer dogs are already deployed with British forces in Afghanistan, where they undoubtedly save many service and civilian lives. I can't imagine the SAS doggies would actually have a "combatant" role, but wait to hear more.

VG, I've never heard of USAAF explosive bats before. Do you have any more info?

Look up 'Bat Bomb' on Wikipedia. Like the anti-tank dog idea, it was never put into operation, but that doesn't detract from the intent

Thanks VG, just read the wiki. Not only cruel but insane waste of money and resources.

A link from the article produced this bird-brained idea: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Pigeon

Ahh Mr.Skinner.

This was surely one his rather awkward and questionable ideas. Nonetheless the man was a genius in other fields of science.

I highly recommend his book "Walden Two - The vision of a better society" which is unlike his other books not a dry scientifical work but work of fiction in which describes how a society shaped after his ideas might work and why people would be happier in it.

It was a bomb when he published the book in the USA of 1948 because Skinner clearly rejected the USA's form of democratic capitalism and embraced a heavy modified form of socialism instead.

Of course he was called a communist for that, by people who didnt read his book or just didnt understood his argumentation.

In fact Skinner rejected dictatorism, communism and democracy at the same time as being "all failed society models" and suggested that people just have stopped of trying to invent something better.

"How to protect freedom and prevent a dictatorship ? Build a society in which the leader or leaders can gain no advantages in being a dictator"

Its truly fascinating.


Walden Two

Burrhus Frederic Skinner

Certainly a hot topic in the UK - fuel prices. Today major supermarkets announce a cut of to 4 pence per litre - and not before time!

Just look at this graph tracking the average price over the last few years - it kind of brings home the point!

Found something very strange on the german navy website.


At the moment, the naval forces of Germany, the UK, Canada and the USA hold a VIRTUAL joint exercise by forming a ->VIRTUAL<- NATO carrier strike group around the USS Theodor Roosevelt at the VIRTUAL crisis region....., symbolized by the coast of Florida


Which means that none of the ships is actually really at sea and everything happens as one big "LAN Party" style simulation in which the commanding officers sit on computers and give imaginary orders as if they were aboard their ships and really present at the coast of Florida.

The exercise is controlled from Norfolk, Virginia to which all participants are connected with a secured 8/mbit connection.


This is called SFT. Synthetic Fleet Training.

So there is a huge virtual naval battle going on at the moment, including submarines.

The Luftwaffe also participates and secures the north eastern flank of the carrier strike group by operating from a virtual neighbour country bordering virtual Florida

Awww, it's not fair! These people get PAID to play super-wargames over an 8Mb link?

Where can I join up?

Celeon, the guy in your second photo, second from right, bears a remarkable resemblance to George Clooney...

@Celeon;

Wouldn't it be nice if the next big confrontation could be resolved in a "virtual" environment in a big "Lan Party"???

In that environment you might even survive the "Danish Retribution Squads"!!!!

klcarroll

If I recall, Arma: Armed Assault (Yup, Celeon made me buy that one, too!) and Battlefield 2 PC games are / were used by the US to help train troops?

I don't mean comprehensively of course, but I read about them being used to demonstrate tactics and squad movement.

Oh and I think that's George Clooney too!

Celeon does not fear any Dane ! No matter how big bad and cruel he might be !


And yes..... THAT IS GEORGE CLOONEY

Ive already heard of u.s celebrities who have to earn hard euros with any available side-job.

Everything for keeping their expensive luxury houses after the credit crunch ...


@RJ

Yes, Arma is the "light version" of VBS 2 which was made for military training purposes.

I believe the canadian military uses it too.

VBS 2

quote:

@RJ

Yes, Arma is the "light version" of VBS 2 which was made for military training purposes.

Yes! It's all coming back to me now Celeon. You said at the time that if I completed that game, then I could apply to join the US Infantry Fast Track Promotion Scheme.

... I'm still waiting to hear back from them

quote:

Originally posted by Realjambo:
Certainly a hot topic in the UK - fuel prices. Today major supermarkets announce a cut of to 4 pence per litre - and not before time!

Just look at this graph tracking the average price over the last few years - it kind of brings home the point!

Going back to the thread on fuel prices and seeing that graph above, I can remember when I had my first car in 1995 (Mk II Ford Fiesta) it cost me £15 to fill her up, and fuel was at the 52p per litre mark!! It's amazing how things change in all that time!!

Indeed, Goose! I remember that diesel was always much cheaper than unleaded and we were all encouraged to buy diesel engined cars - now it's more expensive

Whilst waiting for fuel prices to drop, why not have a go at completing a VIIc online jigsaw?