...ge: Boydell Press, 2017. A fascinating look at the cultural importance of balloonmania: spectacle, literature, fashion, the sublime and aeronationalism. Needs a sequel! Fernando Esposito. Fascism, Aviation and Mythical Modernity. Basingstoke and New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015. A much-needed analysis of the relationship between fascism and aviation, in both Italy and Germany (perhaps with an emphasis on the former, which is about right). Add in...
...e are other reasons why I'd rather avoid a webapp for such things. Jakob Healthy Caution^H^H^H^H Paranoia, Brett? Some people's todo lists can never be too secure... Todo: *Milk *Loo Roll *Make photocopies before returning library books *Steal nuclear weapon, cause panic thru fear of knock-out blow Brett Holman Well, there's a bit of that, I guess (NB. I'm not planning to steal a nuclear weapon!) though it's really just the principle that it's my...
...home built and classics, right up to and including real ‘warbirds’. It's a parallel experience to normal GA. It’s free from much of the hassle and bureaucracy and the anoraks that sometimes hang around GA airfields. It does however mean there is a lot of grass-cutting, and, if you screw-up, there’s no one there to drag your sorry ass out. It does though, allow one to fly, if one wishes, very old aeroplanes, non radio and imagine how it might have...
...d bombers (and points in between), but Chris is right too, there were crucial differences in the way the technologies were used, in practice and in intent, which to my mind makes bomb vessels much closer to bombers than siege cannon. Sieges were generally lengthy affairs, a naval bombardment force could sweep in attack, and retreat with ease. So only a temporary sea superiority was needed, whereas sieges were much more vulnerable to the approach o...
...d the "Skybird League" in 1933 and the decision was made to market commercial solid-scale model kits of current model airplanes in 1:72 scale. Many "Skybird" members who crafted models from these kits and drawings later became RAF pilots such as Neville Duke. This was a civilian commercial endeavour, nevertheless it was the progenitor of the government recognition model program for the British and for the U.S., both of which would come belatedly....
...the scars of his battle. A Venus Pudica, 1st century BC. Another beautiful female form ... ... ah, no. Well, partly, it is. It's Hermaphroditus, from the 2nd century. This looks like a mother and child, at first glance. But as far as I can tell from the Italian caption and Babelfish, it's actually Tethys (Teti in Italian) and baby Triton (look closely at the legs ... they're not), her grandson. I think. A Dionysus Sardanapalus, a 2nd century copy...
...pressive artefacts to the people of Rome (though it seems they weren't actually allowed to see them for about three hundred years) and housed them on the Capitoline. 1471! That's ZOMG-worthy in and of itself. But there are far more ZOMGs to come. These aren't part of the original collection: they have only been in the museum for 522 years. They are marble fragments of a colossal statue of Constantine which originally stood (or sat, rather, as he w...
...an attacks: an air raid alert in New York (9 December) turned out to be a false alarm; but U-boat shellings of oil refineries on Aruba (a Dutch colony, but in America's backyard) were quite real (16 and 19 February 1942). Back in the west, an oil refinery at Ellwood, California, was similarly shelled, this time by a Japanese submarine (23 February). A report by naval intelligence warned that an attack of some kind could be expected on 24 February;...
...to speak, on the side of war. The one hope that we have to prevent this competition from ending in a terrible effort of mutual destruction which will be fatal to Christian civilisation, the one hope we have is that the Powers may be gradually brought together to act together in a friendly spirit on all questions of difference which may arise until at last they shall be welded in some international constitution which shall give to the world as a re...
...Also, Reid argues that the League was not doomed to failure because of the speed of modern warfare. In fact, preparations for aggressive war on a large scale take months if not years -- there was ample warning of Germany's aggressive policy and even of Italy's movement against Abyssinia. So formal federation was not needed then; if the nations had upheld the League's Covenant, it could have worked. Lord Rosebery, Regional Commissioner for Civil De...
