David Hingtgen

Um, no. Too many NIMBY's protested against it overflying supersonically, despite the Concorde's boom being less intense than your average car backfiring. Opinions and fear triumphed over facts, as often happens. They also didn't like the noise the burners made on takeoff (never mind the far louder burners on any military plane at the many bases all across the US, taking off far more often) Also, the US was the ONLY scheduled place the Concorde flew to from the airline's home bases--where'd you think it flew? Calling the Concorde loud is like calling a Corvette loud. Yes, it is more than average--but certainly nothing to complain about, especially in comparison to its massive performance advantage over the "average".

While the Concorde does have a large fuel fraction, it's simply far more optimized for high-speed cruise than any other plane out there. No plane has the fuel capacity to run afterburners for hours on end. (Nor can any engine withstand the stress of doing so). It's well known that it burns far more fuel per mile at Mach .95, than at Mach 2.0 It does not like flying "high subsonic" which is where most jets are most efficient. At top speed, the Concorde can outrun a LOT of planes. Not that many fighters go past M2.35

Well they're showing The Office instead of Heroes, so who knows what NBC decided to rearrange tonight.

They're doing a "recent repeat" thing again tonight---Heroes and Bionic Woman. 8/9e, 7/8c.

My main issue is that most discs don't have enough scenes/chapters. 20 or so is never nearly enough. It's pointless to me to select "chapter 4" then fast-forward through 6 minutes to get to the actual part I want to see. (The whole discussion started based on a preview of the Transformers chapters---the entire desert sequence appears to be just one chapter---and I commented I don't want to watch the fat guy push people out of the shower 50x while waiting for Blackout to transform) Star Wars are among the few discs that really have good chapters---they have twice as many as most others, you can almost always get exactly what you want.

"Blackness" is a non-issue to me, as no TV to me is truly black. Even my CRT when SHUT OFF isn't black. It's dark grey. LCD's are dark grey, and plasmas show dark grey. So they're all the same, just slightly different shades of dark grey. Only thing to watch for is the "purple" LCD's---which are pretty much limited to cheap/old sets. For the past 2 years or so, any decent LCD has had "as black as I need" blacks. (I actually prefer plasma due to it actually emitting light, but they just don't make them small enough--and the smaller ones actually cost more) Anyways--I just heard that HD-DVD's let you specify your own chapter stops etc. True? How many can you make? Can Blu-Ray do this?

Due to the fact that even the F-15 and F-16 can (barely) supercruise when light and clean, (as could the YF-17 and NF-5) the Air Force revised their definition of "effective" supercruise. Don't remember exactly what it was, but it was something along the lines of "Mach 1.2+ with an air-to-air load". Because going Mach 1.01 really isn't any better than the .9 to .95 that many others cruise at.

Just like to comment that nothing comes close to the Concorde's Mach 2.23 supercruise capability. The F-22 may be the fastest *active* plane with supercruise, but the Concorde has it beat by far, as does the YF-23.

A bit OT but I'm not going to start a new thread: Bionic Woman is down 30% from last week. I thought this week's ep was better. It and Life are the only other shows I currently watch asides from Heroes. (And partly because they're a nice 2-hour block)

JRX was pretty good, just the US versions looked cheap due to different plastics/paint apps etc. One of the few toys I really wish I had the Japanese version. On that, let's go to modern gestalts: Magnaboss---never even seen Tripedacus--awesome due to complexity and how the upper two bots really mesh. Ugly, but the most complicated transformation ever. Though I don't have an MP-5 yet. Every bit is complex, with getting Ramhorn back to beetle mode being the worst. Energon Bruticus: awesome torso/leader (Barricade), he alone is one of the best TF's in recent years IMHO. Limbs OK. Energon Superion: never bought torso, just a limb or two. Energon Devastator: as above The whole "2 limbs are just repaints" was truly lazy. A simple new head and maybe torso detailing would be enough---many G1 limbs were very similar, but none were mere repaints. I never bought all of any Energon gestalt. I had most of Bruticus, and 1 new Aerialbot and 1 new Constructicon so I could have 4 different Bruticus-ish limbs. Looked nice when I was done IMHO. (Especially as the original Bruticus was such a mish-mash of vehicles) (Also, some limbs were WAY better as arms or feet, so I wanted 2 GOOD feet and 2 GOOD arms)

According to A.net it's already left for France. http://www.airliners.net/discussions/gener...d.main/3640386/ Semi-related note, this is the neatest parallel approach at SFO I've ever seen: http://i239.photobucket.com/albums/ff130/rpfile/_MG_1179.jpg

F-22's can pull so hard that their afterburner trails curve. (I'd post the pic but I can't find it)

Hmmn. I asked about height, but not weight (since there'd be an insane amount of work to make different armors for different shapes). (Because in KOTOR there were actually 3 different heights, each with a fixed weight---I figured that Mass Effect could allow at least that level of complexity). Though I think it was actually the exact same body, simply scaled +/- 10% or so from the baseline, so that all heads will still "look to be the right size".

Really? Which one? No one ever published a full list of what questions were asked by who. Though I did submit a few. And anything you hear is probably their attempt at pronouncing it---they never asked, and there's not many of us so there's not many people who know how. You'd think that if they asked/answered one of my questions they'd have notified me or something. Hmmn, now I'm going to have to go download it and listen.

Hmmn what? I haven't listened to any of the podcasts---I'm definitely buying the game, so I basically only look at new screenshots---don't want any spoilers.

Never completed Predaking, as Rampage and Razor Claw were stuck together for YEARS. Did eventually manage to separate them, but Mom wouldn't buy any more. For all the others: Computron sucked. Boring colors, very kibbly IMHO. Generic alt modes, etc. Piranacon rocks, biggest of the "standard" gestalts. And a Targetmaster. Also, has the most unified colorscheme after Devastator. Menasor---traditionally my fave, but noticeably smaller than the others. And probably least cartoon-accurate. Abominus---awesome. Big, fun alt modes. Hun-Grrr has more articulation than many BW alt-modes. Due to that, about the only gestalt with working knees and hips. Superion---while a neat concept, was just plain too skinny and mis-proportioned. (Even going by the "proper" way to assemble him, totally ignoring the instructions). Also, even for gestalt limbs, the 4 guys all seemed like clones. Bruticus--definitely above average, great alt modes, poor individual robot modes (asides from Onslaught). Defensor--barely remember. Devastator--the original, and quite good.

At this point, I may just buy a "spare" PStwo (a silver one) when they're on last final clearance for 50 bucks at Toys R Us a few years from now, to ensure perpetual ability to play my fave games. Xenogears, Valkyrie Profile, Suikoden 2, Final Fantasy 9---stuff I plan to replay every once in a while until I die.

Nobody (besides the pilots) has the slightest clue what the F-22 can really do. We haven't even seen a real demo yet, much less its true capabilities. Also---raw power. Raw power overcomes any aerodynamic issue---the F-4 proved that. And the F-22 has insanely high amounts of raw power. At least 39,000lbs per engine, and I wouldn't be surprised if it's really over 40,000lbs per engine. Plus it has a very low wing-loading.

Couldn't care less about HD size/space, Wi-Fi means nothing to me, and with my most-wanted movie not on Blu-Ray----PS3 doesn't have much to offer me at this point. I WAS going to buy a HDTV, PS3, and watch Transformers. Now, I'm thinking I'm going to buy an HDTV, and a 360's HD-DVD add-on, and watch Transformers.

Doesn't maintenance clear all the game updates?

Well, with losing the most-anticipated, highest-grossing movie of their most-desired demographic (Transformers, 15-40 or so) for Blu-Ray----they better come up with some incentives pretty quick if they want to keep up in the format war. You KNOW that when people are buying next-gen players and HDTV's this holiday season---they're all going to be asking "what has Transformers?" :edit: Ack, it's still below Spider-Man 3 for domestic gross. But it's passed POTC 3.

If they really want to sell PS3's---bring the remaining 60G down to 450 or 400 for Xmas, and put the 40G at below 400---maybe match the $350 360. Of course, no Transformers on Blu-Ray removes a big incentive for me to get a PS3. May just snag an HD-DVD add-on.

Many of the original G1 Transformer seekers have the perfect color canopy. I have a transparent orange-yellow-canopied Thundercracker in my room right now. Certainly not an "advanced" toy-making technology, if $15 toys in the 80's had it.

Still usually have ripped and wrinkled instructions, dirty cases, etc---all on rather new games! Again--WTF do these people do? If you gave them a new car, would it be rusting in 2 months with bald tires and a primer fender?

What about the heatshield (which was correct in the EARLIER pics we saw), and the knees, and every other joint? There's a LOT of missing grey/black paint. Basically, I think Nora's Sv-51 should have just as much dark grey as the YF-19 does. And that's a lot. Every small area/joint/gap/connection should be grey/black. Head joint/extension, ankles, wrists, shoulders, the entire lower front part of the shoulder pads, etc. Can't Yamato go to Bandai's site just as well as we can to get the CG references? Or watch the anime? PS---I certainly agree with Nani? that the entire neck extension/attachment joint should be black/grey.