the meta phase
It’s the weekend of the Elvington Air Show in these parts; and as is customary for yours truly, I only remember these things when I hear the jet engines in the skies. So, no air show visit this year - but I’ve already pencilled in (metaphorically speaking) a reminder for tickets next year.
The programme for the air show tells me that the usual suspects will be displayed - along with one other noteable addition, the Eurofighter Typhoon. Yes, the same fighter which scored a PR coup by gunning a couple of F-15s. The F-15, incidentally, has been the air superiority fighter of choice for the USAF in the last 30 years or so. Not that this means anything in a world that has a F22 - but interesting none the less. I also saw the Red Arrows flying overhead today (nearly ending my miserable existence plastered on the windscreen of an oncoming car in the process) and I’m not sure; but I may have actually seen the Eurofighter come up to land on the airfield a few miles away. Didn’t recognize the silhouette of the plane I saw, at any rate. Unfortunately, I have yet to see my favourite portion of the air show here: the WW2 era fighters and bombers. Maybe tomorrow. Definitely will see it up close and personal next year. If I remember to book the tickets in time, that is.
In other, slightly less exciting news, it seems that emoticons are passe. The new in thing (or not) is saying it with pictures. Or even better (if you’re not the most photogenic), having Eric say it for you. Sadly, the site uses *gasp* frames (oh, the heresy), so I can’t bookmark or link to individual emotions-pics. Oh, wait. I can.. I have lots of favourites here, but road rage, who’s your daddy, visiting EmotionEric for the first time, kill and panic are all good. In fact, just idly click on them all. I did.
And in yet another proof of a religion that is reaching out to teens and impressionable adults everywhere, the Catholic church has released their latest recruitment poster. No, it’s probably not a joke. I think it’s rather cool, actually. Just - uh - don’t wait for a Harry Potter poster to follow.
In the words of Groucho Marx, applicable in this case as well as elsewhere, “I won’t belong to any organization that would have me as a member“.
On 21-Aug-05 at 6:43 am,
Forge wrote:
Is that a R rating for the Catholic church? (Yeah, it is unexpectedly funny…)
On 22-Aug-05 at 5:10 am,
elric wrote:
Also re. the F-15 and F/A-22, there was this military exercise between the USAF and IAF assets, including Flankers. There are all sorts of theories about the results of that, including one that the US deliberately underperformed to ensure support of Raptor funding.
On 22-Aug-05 at 2:44 pm,
drac wrote:
Forge, there were some hilarious followups (mostly parodies along the lines of $deity’s offspring [not going to say it, you know who I mean] is coming; are you ready ? being translated into Matrix : Reloaded).
Elric: Heh. I didn’t know about the funding push for the Raptor, I just noted the 3:1 or 4:1 numerical advantage of the IAF at the time and figured the USAF got a bit too cocky.
The Raptor; from what I’ve read so far, does look like it will own all comers though.
FlyMig might interest you, Elric. First I’d heard of the (still vapourware) Su-47 was there.