Feb 252022
 

So what do you do when the initial blasts of World War III (technically, World War V… WWIII being the Cold War, WWIV being the war with the Jihadis) kick off on the other side of the planet and there’s nothing you can do about it one way or the other? Memes.

 

 

 

 

 

 Posted by at 12:58 pm
Feb 242022
 

“Suchomimus” seems to be a Ukrainian, gathering together a bunch of short videos from on the ground of the Russian invasion. So long as Ukrainians maintain the ability to communicate with the outside world (I’m surprised the Russians haven;t taken out all the cell towers and satellite dishes), this will remain an unusual war… the world can watch it happen live from the ground, from the viewpoint of the civilians watching an invasion force coming in.

Suchomimus

For example, a Hind firing rockets in a city. I don’t speak Russian or Ukrainian… but I recognize some words here, and I don’t think the cameraman is happy.

 

And finally, Ukraine deploys the Ultimate Weapon: Karens.

 

And then there’s this:

Russia deploys mobile crematoriums to follow its troops into battle

That’s got to be a hell of a morale boost to the Russian troops: “If you fall in battle, don’t worry… we’ll reduce your remains to ashes so your family need never know what happened to you.”

 

 Posted by at 9:54 pm
Feb 242022
 

Given current events, perhaps buying model kits is not the top priority… but if it *is,* now might be the time (if it’s not already too late). In recent years, Russian and Ukrainian model kit companies have done a fine job of producing unusual subjects and high quality kits, and sometimes both at the same time… but now, it’s safe to assume that for the time being nothing will be coming out of Ukraine, and the only things coming out of Russia will be via expensive back channels.

Examples available from Amazon (remember, if you buy *anything* after going through these links, I’ll get a pittance, so if you want to support this blog, here’s a way to do it):

Ukranian company “Mikro-Mir” produced a surprising range of submarine model kits in 1/350 scale, 1/144 scale and even 1/35 scale. You can click on this link to see the wider subjects, or here are a few specific kits that might be of interest (just text links to save space; as of this typing, they are listed as available):

1/350 USS Thresher    1/350 USS George Washington    1/350 USS Skipjack   1/350 USS Nautilus    1/144 Holland class    1/35 “Turtle”    1/350 USS Growler      1/35 CSS Hunley

A Russian kit company with a really good reputation for quality is Zvezda Models, which has a wide range of armor and aircraft, military and civilian. Really far too many to link to, but here are a few of interest:

1/144 TU 160 “Blackjack”   1/72 Sukhoi SU-50    1/35 T-14 Armata     1/72 SU-57    1/350 Kursk submarine     1/2700 Imperial Star Destroyer   1/144 Beriev BE-200ES

 

Also Ukrainian is the company Amodel. They have a bunch of different aircraft kits, but these two might be of particular interest:

 

And under the circumstances, the German Revell AN-225 might be of interest, because that plane, even if at this very moment it’s intact, is almost certainly doomed. If fighting doesn’t damage/destroy it, when the Russians are eventually driven out they will either steal the plane or wreck it.

 

 Posted by at 5:43 pm
Feb 242022
 

As a followup to THIS POST from 2019, scientists have determined that the asteroid or comet that struck the Yucatan around 66 million years ago, ending the era of the dinosaurs, hit during springtime:

‘Frozen in place’ fossils reveal dinosaur-killing asteroid struck in spring

A site in North Dakota shows a bunch of fish who had all died within 30 minutes of the impact, jumbled up with tree branches as whatnot due to the wave that rolled through and stirred everything up. I imagine there is, or will be, a hell of a market for fossils from that site; it’s one of the few places on the planet where you have fossils pointing to one exact, understandable and important moment in time. “This specific animal was killed by *the* impactor” is a heck of a notion.

 Posted by at 3:23 am