randomosity

Experience the thrill! - 7Mb WMV file of the lift off

Went through a wonderful spate of feelings watching the live coverage of Space Explorations’ attempt to launch their Falcon 1 Space Vehicle -demoflight2. As you may or may not know, Space X was one of the winning contractors to provide private space delivery systems. Unlike government sponsored agencies, such as NASA or the ESA, SpaceX was founded by the chap that made a bit of money selling PayPal to eBay. They have failed on a previous launch attempt after a fuel leak and this subsequent launch went as far as 1:02 when they went into a terminal shutdown procedure.
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Ok. Who’s really tapping the reason why we fight?
English Russia, a perennial source of high quality commentary, posted a Ukrainian Army recruitment ad. As I watched I was struck by the latest Canadian Armed Forces ad designed to presumably accomplish the same end. With a long dry period between recruiting ads, they’ve been showing up on Canadian TV with greater frequency as of late. They have taken a very ‘Canadian’ high brow approach: look how Canadian men and women are working around the world to make it a better place. How well does this sell? At least the Ukrainians have found a blunt but honest approach: chicks dig men in a uniform and very chic APC. Mind you the rescued lass with the blanket wrapped around her is looking rather lovingly at her hero…

Not to suck dry an interesting blog, but EnglishRussia had another fascinating post this morning. Its a wonderful collection of tagged Google Earth shots from Russian military sites. I was particularly interested to see that the ‘Kirov’ is still floating. Not sure if its still in active service, but is is moored at one of the Northern Fleets docks in the one picture. I always fancied that the lines of the Kirov were particularly graceful. I am not missing the fact that its a rather potent killing machine, but am appreciating the aesthetics of the design. For what is is worth, you can find more information about the Kirov on Wikipedia or at Mark Meredith’s Kirov Page. I know its a bit of a guy thing, and I am reminded of both Tony Soprano’s addiction to war documentaries as well as Dennis Leary’s Asshole song. I am chided, but still mildly intrigued.