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Post by richardburton on Jan 29, 2011 19:11:02 GMT 1
A whisky tasting tour would be better! But Scotland's best for that of course.
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Post by Relyt on Jan 29, 2011 20:55:39 GMT 1
Unless the drinking age is lower than the US's, that won't happen for a while.
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Post by Relyt on Feb 5, 2011 20:06:28 GMT 1
Now even I know that 1980's computer and software commercials can be weird sometimes. Making a Japanese one is a bonus I guess.
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Post by Relyt on Feb 11, 2011 1:15:09 GMT 1
Bit of a naval oddity here (Come on, ya'll knew it had to come from me eventually.), the Russian ironclad monitor, Novgorod. I'll briefly explain what a monitor is. This type was named after the USS Monitor, famous for its epic duel with the CSS Virginia in March 1862, less than ten miles from my house at Hampton Roads. The USS Monitor, designed by Swedish naval engineer John Ericsson, was the very first vessel to wield its armaments inside a turret, allowing the cannons (which were in this case 11 in. Dahlgren smoothbore cannons) to be aimed 360 degrees horizontally. What sets a monitor apart from a battleship is the lack of secondary armaments, low freeboard (which means it sits very low in the water and makes it unsuitable for sailing in the open ocean), and smaller overall size. Okay, I guess that wasn't exactly brief, but that's the short version. The reason I'm presenting the Novgorod is its peculiar circular hull form. While it indeed looks very strange, it was intended to result in a stable platform for its guns (Unfortunately, it failed in this respect. The ship had no keel). It also meant the ship was insanely difficult to maneuver, especially in a current. In short, it tended to spin around in circles whenever it attempted to steam in a straight line. The circular hull was without a doubt a failure. The link to a page showing the ship is here: www.cityofart.net/bship/ru_novgorod.html |
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evadestruction
Trainee
Can I make a suggestion that doesn't involve violence, or is this the wrong crowd for that?
Posts: 70
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Post by evadestruction on Feb 11, 2011 8:54:44 GMT 1
how was it sitting so low in the water? I am assuming this was before limits were set on things like that, but still, how did an engineer look at that and decide it was safe enough?
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Post by richardburton on Feb 11, 2011 11:46:33 GMT 1
The drinking age is the UK is 16 but to buy alcohol you have to be 18.
That Windows advert is f**ked up! And so is the design of Novgorod!
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Post by Relyt on Feb 11, 2011 15:18:23 GMT 1
Like I said evadestruction, monitors always sat low in the water. The reason (which I forgot to add) was because a low freeboard is much harder to hit with shellfire than a ship with high freeboard. In other words, a small target is harder to hit than a large target.
So it would be legal for me to drink over there. The age limit in the States is 21, which pisses a lot of people off. This is understandable, because at 18, we're allowed to live on our own, smoke cigarettes (Blech!), and all males are legally obligated to sign up to be drafted into the military. All this, and no drinking until 3 years later. But to me, beer smells bad (One time, my father tried brewing his own. It stank up the whole house as it was fermenting and smelled terrible.) and I've had a sip of wine which I did not particularly enjoy. So as of yet, I'm indifferent to alcoholic drinks.
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Post by richardburton on Feb 11, 2011 18:16:50 GMT 1
Well, to be honest don't bother with it. It's bad for your wallet and your body! I drink a lot of alcohol (as a few of the longer serving members on here will quickly attest to!) - lager, Guinness, red wine, vodka, whisky (Scottish) and whiskey (American) mainly. It works out bloody expensive over the years! I'd be a fitter person too without the drinking. I exercise regularly, so that offsets some of it but not all of it.
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Post by Lonesome Crow on Feb 11, 2011 21:36:37 GMT 1
low freeboard, high freeboard. surely if it's free to board high or low cost shouldn't be an issue?  A very strange ship however much it costs to board. I'm not a big drinker but when I do imbibe in a little alcoholic beverage, it's usually Stella Artois, a rather good belgian beer. Also called 'wife beating beer' As I don't have a wife I have to go next door and beat up my neighbour's wife, needless to say I don't drink often.  |
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Post by richardburton on Feb 12, 2011 11:59:15 GMT 1
lol I heard she liked a bit of the rough stuff...
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Post by Relyt on Feb 20, 2011 0:51:32 GMT 1
Grand theft sled.  |
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Post by richardburton on Feb 21, 2011 17:56:04 GMT 1
Haha! That's priceless!
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Post by Relyt on Feb 23, 2011 16:47:52 GMT 1
Aww look at that prairie dog it's so cute and cud-OH CRAP!
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Post by Commandingtripod on Feb 24, 2011 3:08:09 GMT 1
That's a very nice everything you have there.
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Post by Relyt on Feb 24, 2011 5:17:16 GMT 1
It'd be a shame if something happened to it.
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