Posts by Zingbo

US Marine Corps to fly F-35s from HMS Queen Lizzie as UK won't have enough jets

Re: I miss not having Lewis around to comment on this

After a few of his articles it began to feel like you could apply some simple rules to turn a regular story into a Lewis Page piece: Put the actual story on the first page. Add another two pages. In these pages explain how it's all the fault of the RAF and/or BAE Systems. Follow up by describing how we'd be better off buying something from the US. If the story is about something being bought from the US then explain what other US thing we should have bought instead. If the story involves the navy, sprinkle in a few insults about frigates and the FAA.

I found his articles interesting but sometimes he seemed like a stuck record. When his article about the last flight of XH558 was used as an opportunity to bash the RAF I think he'd jumped the shark.

A trip to the Twilight Zone with a support guy called Iron Maiden

A friend who spent too many of his formative years in Wiltshire finds his requests for cider are often interpreted by the bar staff of his current home of Glasgow as him asking for soda.

Dodgy software will bork America's F-35 fighters until at least 2019

Re: Bring Back Lewis

Lewis would have expanded this article to 3 pages. The first page would cover what Iain's covered, then the second and third pages would explain how it's all the fault of BAE and the RAF.

Red-stained Opera wants someone to hug it and whisper: 'No more pain, no more tears'

I held onto the last version of Opera 12 for quite a while. My first attempts to use the post-Presto versions went badly, but eventually one release proved functional enough. There's still some features I miss from old Opera and I liked the integrated mail client but by the time I said goodbye to Opera 12 I was increasingly needing an alternative browser to handle the pages that it couldn't handle.

I'll be sad if Opera is no more.

Finally, a USEFUL smart device: Intel boffins cook up gyro-magneto-'puter bike helmet

Cycle helmets offer sacrificial protection. Any significant impact and they break or at the least are not suitable for further use. If the electronics is integrated with the helmet and not in a removable module then it would be trashed with the helmet after an accident, which seems costly and wasteful.

PS-PHWOARRR: We review Sony’s next-gen PlayStation 4

Re: The design does sort of scream 1980s supercomputer

I think your comment makes me want one more than I did before! I still don't seem to be particularly desperate for one, though.

Google 'DOES DO EVIL', thunders British politician

Re: An open letter

Margaret Hodge and the Public Accounts Committee aren't part of the government so probably can't do much directly to change tax legislation. They can however keep banging on about this, keep drawing attention to it and eventually the public mood may harden enough that the actual government feels compelled to act.

I can't imagine that George Osbourne would even be saying a single word on the matter if tax avoidance wasn't hitting the headlines so much at the moment.

Freetard-idol rock star Trent Reznor gives up, signs to major label

Former Cracker and Camper Van Beethoven front man?

As far as I know both bands are still in existence and David Lowery still fronts them both.

Fragged, fragged and thrice fragged! 20 years of id Software’s Doom

Cacodemons? Pah!

The red floating ones were called Tomato Beasts, the brown fireball-flinging ones were called Bungles and the pink ones were called Murrays! At least that's what they were known as by myself and my mates. I really got into Doom and as I had a lot of free time in 94/95 I also learnt how to make levels and some of them were even rather good.

On a nitpicking note, the first screenshot of this article is from Doom 2 - the original Doom didn't have the double-barrelled shotgun.

Britain's Harrier jump-jets reprieved to fly and fight again

It'll just be the GR.7/9s. The Sea Harriers were retired much longer ago. In addition the Sea Harrier was was a first generation Harrier while the USMC operates second generation Harrier II models. I expect there's far less commonality of parts between the Sea Harriers and the USMC's AV-8Bs than there is between the AV-8B and the GR.9.

Crash grounds RAF Eurofighters - for Battle of Britain Day!

Interesting story becomes the usual rant.

I expect that 111 squadron's Tornado F.3s would prove a more effective defence than the BBMF's Spitfires and Hurricanes and IIRC in a pinch Hawk trainers can be armed with Sidewinders for emergency air defence duties. Seeing as Lewis was being picky about the facts in Dispatches, it seems fair that we can pick at the facts he's telling us!

The first half-page seemed like a reasonable story, but it then segued into Lewis Page's usual anti-Typhoon/RAF/BAE Systems rant. Wouldn't it be easier to have just one copy of the rant and link to it rather than repeating it all the time? Or is Mr Page paid by the word?