Warbirds Forum & Blog – Restyled
Hi, just to let you know I have recently restyled and revamped my Warbirds Forum Board. I have also added a Warbirds Blog that I will use to post news related to the aviation world, in particular with relation to the historical aviation sector, military planes and airshows. Come by and have your say :-)
Duxford Airshow – 8/9 September 2012
Last Saturday I finally had a chance to visit the Imperial War Museum at Duxford (near Cambridge in the United Kingdom). The occasion was pretty juicy, as the regular September Airshow was scheduled for that weekend. I think it's almost since I have moved to the UK that I wanted to attend this particular event, as I am quite interested in aviation and warbirds from my very childhood. For once the British weather was also forgiving, with clear skies and high temperatures around 28 C, the ideal set to watch an Airshow.
The museum itself is pretty easy to reach from Cambridge's railway station. It's about 15 minutes with a free courtesy bus which runs every 30 minutes.
RAF Museum – Hendon – London
Spent last Saturday to visit the RAF Museum in London. The museum is located at the former Hendon Aerodrome - one of the most important pioneering aviation centres in United Kingdom, and it's easily reachable with the Tube (Northern Line - Colindale station). As the number of air planes displayed is quite large, it will take some time to wander trough all the hangars and see all that's featured! Don't miss the Battle of Britain hall with a display of the most important airplanes who took part into the famous duelling above the skies of South England and London.
IWM – HMS Belfast in London
After more than three years I've finally managed to visit HMS Belfast, a WWII cruiser which is moored on the Thames, next to the Tower Bridge. The ship has been converted into a floating museum, and it's part of the Imperial War Museums network (being the IWML the main one).
The Belfast was a heavy cruiser in the Royal Navy during the Second World War. Its main tasks were to protect the Atlantic convoy Arctic routes. It is mainly remembered for having participated in the sortie which eventually led to the sinking of the German battleship "Scharnhorst" off the coasts of Norway on the Boxing Day in 1943. This military engagement is quite interesting even from an IT perspective, as it stemmed from the advanced state of the British code breaking and decryption service at that time.
It was in fact mainly due to the work of the mathematicians and cryptographers experts in Bletchley Park on the German ENIGMA encryption method, if the British Navy could stage the ambush to the German battleship (if you are interested I suggest this book as a further reading - or this video for the sinking of the ship).
Back to the floating museum, I think it's worth a visit. It's quite amazing to traverse the various decks of the ship, knowing all the history that every inch of steel there has been testimony of. Up on the bridge, you can also enjoy a breathtaking view of the surrounding landmarks (the Tower Bridge, the Tower of London, the newly built skyscraper Shard of London). You can either wander on the command bridge, or plunge yourself into the hearth of the ship to visit the ammunition storage or the engines, wandering around in steep ladders and tiny corridors. Definitely one of the best attractions I've been in London!
Should you want to see a few of the pictures I've taken, please be my guest here.
Thames estuary – Maunsell Sea Forts
Mainly known due to the Principality of Sealand "wannabe" micronation, the Maunsell Sea Forts are a relic of the Second World War. I wouldn't mind going there for a photographic trip! But in the meantime check out some of the pictures from flickr:
The forts were build during the last world war and housed anti aircraft guns emplacements which protected London and the surrounding sea lanes for incoming raids. In the '60s they hosted a number of pirate radio stations, and eventually one of them ("HM Fort Roughs" just off the Suffolk coast) was occupied and declared an "indipendent nation" (The Principality of Sealand), which apparently will host an Online Casino pretty soon! Nowadays they are rusty and gloomy abandoned structures in the middle of the sea! Up for a boat trip anyone? You can find more information and pictures by following this link.
World War Two Aviation Forum
Some news for all the World War II Aviation enthusiasts out there. As you may know, I'm the admin & webmaster of The Great Planes, a site dedicated to the best warbirds and aircrafts that fought during the last world war. Well, I'm proud to announce that the forum has been upgraded and expanded into The Great Planes Warbirds Community, a place where you can share your knowledge about the topic and discuss with other aviation enthusiasts. The board is free to join, you will discuss about historic planes and even modern jets.
Il XXI secolo – Instant Messaging
Se mi chiedessero qual'è uno degli aspetti più sorprendenti dei nostri tempi, io direi senza dubbio questo. Non mi sto certo riferendo a twitter in quanto tale, quanto alla possibilità che abbiamo di comunicare in tempo reale con ogni luogo del mondo (idea resa benissimo dall'applicazione che ho linkato). Si penserebbe che, in fondo, questa è un'innovazione del vecchio millennio (il telegrafo, la radio, la TV ...), eppure è internet ad aver veramente sfondato ogni barriera e ad aver permesso praticamente a chiunque di comunicare istantaneamente con ciascun altro nel mondo, ad un costo irrisorio / trascurabile.
Certo stiamo parlando di uno strumento: in quanto tale non ha valore -positivo o negativo- in sè, ma sono le sue applicazioni pratiche ad avere un'accezione più o meno positiva. Ad esempio Twittervision, giusto per restare nel concreto, è un bel giocattolo ma niente più. Pensiamo ad esempio a un estensione di questo concetto, che mi permette di acquistare facilmente prodotti in paesi altrimenti irraggiungibili (e magari a prezzi più convenienti).
Certo non ho detto nulla di nuovo (non era neanche mia intenzione), però questo fatto, nella sua apparente semplicità, mi affascina e mi lascia sorpreso ogni volta che ci rifletto. Voi che ne pensate?
Iwo Jima – L’uomo soldato
Tempo fa ne avevo già parlato. Recentemente ho finalmente avuto l'occasione di vedere le ultime due fatiche del Clint Eastwood regista: Flags of Our Fathers e Letters from Iwo Jima. Inutile dire che, essendo appassionato del periodo, ero veramente curioso di vedere come avrebbe trattato il tema uno dei registi che ultimamente sto apprezzando di più.
La prima foto del Web – Les Horribles Cernettes
Stando a quanto dice MaestroAlberto, questa è la prima foto mai pubblicata sul web. L'informazione arriva da Wikipedia: Les Horribles Cernettes è un gruppo musicale fondato da una segretaria del CERN presa troppo male dal fidanzato ricercatore che lavorava solo 25 ore al giorno. Un nerd quindi solo in parte, dato che i nerd non hanno la ragazza. Beh, queste si sono messe a fare canzoni parodia (disponibili gratuitamente sul loro sito), canzoni che sono divertenti solo per un fisico del CERN. Più o meno come quando io e Mosè e il Monte ci mettiamo a parlare a casa di amici. Vabbè. Comunque. Fatto sta che, a quanto si dice sul sito:
Back in 1992, after their show at the CERN Hardronic Festival, my colleague Tim Berners-Lee asked me for a few scanned photos of "the CERN girls" to publish them on some sort of information system he had just invented, called the "World Wide Web". I had only a vague idea of what that was, but I scanned some photos on my Mac and FTPed them to Tim's now famous "info.cern.ch". How was I to know that I was passing an historical milestone, as the one above was the first picture ever to be clicked on in a web browser!
Silvano de Gennaro
Insomma. Questo permette di giungere a interessanti conclusioni:
- La prima cosa pubblicata su internet è stata il sito di una roghenroll band
- La prima foto pubblicata su internet ritrae chiaramente della gnugna
- La prima roba pubblicata su internet è indiscutibilmente una trashata
- La prima foto di internet è stata uppata usando un Mac (darthpelo sarà già corso in bagno in preda all'onanismo)
Se avete altre considerazioni da fare, vi prego di esporle nei commenti :asd:
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