Author: Jim Zabek

05/21/13

Birds Make Terrible Dive Bombers

Author: Jim Zabek

Mankind has been inspired by birds for as long as we could appreciate their ability to fly. We have marveled at their ability to take off on a moment’s notice, soar effortlessly through the sky, and alight somewhere that we could never aspire to climb. Nature, fantastic and wonderful, has managed to perfect through evolution some fantastic creatures.

Mankind, always inventive, seems determined to take that evolutionary perfection and improve it to his own ends. Nowhere could this be more obvious than during the Cold War, when the CIA concocted a brilliant scheme to teach cats to spy on people. The idea was simple: surgically implant a microphone and transmitting device inside of a cat, then teach that cat to walk up to a suspected pair of people having a suspect conversation, and Presto! The purrrfect eavesdropping device. Operation Acoustic Kitty was born.
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05/15/13

The Significance of Airpower

Author: Jim Zabek

Airpower in warfare has been employed for over a century. Examples of its use go back as far as the American Civil War, where hot air balloons were used for aerial reconnaissance. The First World War saw an expansion of role of aircraft, and the typical roles that aircraft play in combat were largely defined during that conflict. Fighters, bombers, interceptors, and reconnaissance aircraft all emerged during World War One. But it was during the Second World War that airpower evolved from being a part of combined arms operations to being a fully-fledged combat arm of its own, capable of tipping the scales of battle on its own.

Dauntless-at-midway
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05/14/13

Tuesday Screenshot

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A sudden airborne drop behind enemy lines by NATO is designed to keep the Warsaw Pact off-balance. This lightly defended hinterland looks ripe for the pickings but look closely: two East German Mig-17s are swooping in from the left spoil this surprise attack. Air power can’t win this battle by itself, but it sure can put a dent in the troops trying to seize this ground.

05/10/13

GARPA 18 – GrogHeads Advanced Research on Projects Advisory

GARPA #18

Authors: Dan Pinkham and Lloyd Sabin

May 10, 2013

Spring is well under way even though we are still freezing are butts off here in the northeast at night. Which makes for a good excuse for gaming instead of being outside. Also there’s a plague of locusts coming to the region as well. You definitely don’t want to be outside then. See, we here at GARPA not only alert you to the best new crowd funded games coming to your desktop and PC…we also give you plenty of excuses for not going outside and reserving more time for gaming. Who loves you?

PC Games

Son of Nor by StillAlive Studios

$34,121 pledged of $150,000, funding ends at 5:17am on Thursday, May 30

Kickstarter18SonOfNor

Son of Nor is planned as a 3rd-person, fantasy-themed ARPG that will be playable in either single- or multiplayer coop mod, with up to four players cooperating online or through a split screen. The game takes place in the desert-world of Noshrac (not Horshack) where the player is thrown into conflict against desert-dwelling beasts and an army of warriors called Sarahul. To be the best fighter possible, the player will need to explore the game world and take advantage of strategically placed temples and avoid traps in order to advance…in other words, solve puzzles to improve magical combat abilities.
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05/7/13

Tuesday Screenshot – Rise of Flight

 

 

 

 

 

TuesdayScreenshotMay7RiseofFlight

As the French country side rushes by below me, my world is momentarily peaceful.  The only sound is the steady hum of my plane’s engine and the wind washing over the cockpit and past my weathered face.  Leaning my head back I close my eyes for a minute and let the bright rays of the morning sun warm my chilled face.  Grudgingly I reopen them and squint into the distance, as my eyes readjust to the brightness.  Out of a broken cloud bank two black dots materialize.  I smile as I have found this morning’s prey.  Signaling my wingman, I begin a slow climb into the clouds above me.  As I near the clouds the serenity of the morning is ruthlessly broken by bullets flying over my head and tearing into canvas around me.  Twisting and turning in my seat I finally catch the chilling sight of two enemy planes on my tail just as I disappear in to the concealing but temporary safety of the clouds.

– Dan Pinkham