I definitely liked the original Dune series but from my perspective, the books by his son don't quite meet the standard that Herbert established.

all a matter of taste I guess. If you can get the books cheap at a used store then give'r. I wouldn't pay full price for them though.

edit: sp.

Well, Canada got rid of their Leopards too, and now they are rebuying it since they figured out that they need the armored troops on support missions. Tank roles have shifted in the modern time. Sure its useless against a well equipped and modern enemie, but fighting insurgents and rolling trough areas where there can be ied's or snipers around every corner, armor is still the most reliable thing to have.

 Canada never got 'rid' of their Leopard 1's,  they were upgraded to the C2 standard and were succesfully fielded in Afghanistan (as fire support, field engineering and overwatch) for a number of year's until the decision was made to replace them with leased german Leopard 2a6 variants.

 There was talk for some year's under the previous Liberal government to mothball the Leopard fleet but that idea was curbed once the failings of the proposed replacement (Mobile Gun System on a Stryker LAV platform) came to light.

 The decision to stay armoured was made even easier due to the Dutch and German fire sales of tanks. Now, if Canada would only re-develop our mobile artillery support systems and add back Surface to Air defence...

I'll happily exchange any mosquitoes to the wasps. This summer I have had to kill three wasp queens (could be hornets too, I'm not an expert) - two inside my apartment, the third on the balcony, after I had demolished its attempt to build a nest thrice.

 This is the best trick in the world to keep Wasps/ Hornets/ Bees away from your house.

 Hang a brown paper bag up in a prominent place, (fluff the bag open and tie the opening closed with string or wire). This fake nest is enough to deter the insects as they are incredibly territorial and they won't bug another colony's area.


@ Hi!,

 Those clouds of bugs are commonplace anywhere north of about the 49th parallel. They also are made up of healthy numbrs of Black flies and Horseflies (worst bites ever)

see video: for a near legendary Canadian anthem to those damn bugs  http://www.nfb.ca/film/blackfly/

 @ Theta,

 Kingtiger is around occasionally but he plays under a different name, so he can be easily overlooked.

 I just completed an epic series of gigs today that seem to have resulted in a permanent engagement in favour of my humble pipe band.

 Happy Birthday to the Blarney Stone,  41 years old and it still drags in some of the hottest women in Vancouver.

 And p.s. to Jim, Monica and Gill, I haven't drank so much Jameson's without puking in my entire life. I signed off a bar tab for 8 dollars and now need to go back down there and look for my drum sling. Hopefully the crackheads haven't tried to pawn it yet.

 i must say that the argument that certain behaviours become exploitative has fallen upon deaf ears.

 With only a couple of servers that are all adminned, we can count upon the server staff to take care of people that step out of line and this way the Devs can just focus on making things and letting us figure out whether they work or not.

 (p.s. the whole testing argument is hollow anyways as there isn't a large enough testing team to actually figure out most problems)

 it was just announced that the X-47 is undergoing carrier trials (on deck and hangar only) so that image could very well be real.

 WOw, Ortona is looking much better than the last time I saw it played I hope you guys got the warping issues sorted out that plagued the release of the F/H italy map pack.


 On a related note, while your map description is somewhat accurate, I have a few minor quibbles about the estimated strength of the germans and their presumed rest locations.

 Advance reconnaissance of the fortifications by the Canadians actually underestimated the German presence (it was believed to be company strength plus support elements) but in the end it turned out to be an almost full strength battalion of Fallschirmjaeger's with Pionier (company sized) and Artillerie support to the tune of 2-120mm mortar and approximately 6-82mm mortar's.

 I was a 72 Seaforth highlander for 5 years and many of the men who fought there and their Loyal Eddie counterparts have related many stories of the artillery fire being non-stop and extremely well-sighted as the german's had actually pre-fixed their mortars by preliminary targetting of the civilian population with a focus upon strategic chokepoints that were heavily defended by elevated German MG positions supported by sniper nests.

 With respect to the rest and recuperation points, the Germans actually encamped to the north of the town in a series of farms and their intelligent battalion commander saw fit to retreat his forces every evening so that his men were in tip-top fighting condition the following day. The cellars of the Old town being a presumed safe location has become an urban myth as they were crammed full of civilians who for the most part, never saw fit to actually evacuate the town of Ortona when given the likely signs of imminent invasion. (stubborn Italian's)

 finally, (I kind of apologize for text-walling), the Allied tanks while prevented from accessing the main roads did actually enjoy a fair degree of movement within the town itself (along side streets) and were actually crucial to the resupply strategy of the Canadian's by being employed as mobile pillboxes, ammo re-supply points and as medical evacuation ambulances. The success of this idea is actually part and parcel to the later development of the Kangaroos and other Heavy armoured APC during the campaign's of 1944 in North-Western Europe.

 For the Canadian elements, command and control was at the battalion level for the entire battle but company commanders were given extreme latitude in achieving their objectives which is the reason why many historical accounts attribute leadership to have been exercised at the unit and sub-unit levels.


 I wish all competitors in this upcoming fight all the best and this proud Canadian wishes that I could take part but unfortunately Friday Fh battles are held at an hour which is completely incompatible with work and school schedules due to the timezone changes.


 Fingers crossed that you guys do another Italy map pack release someday so the FH2 pubbies can enjoy your hard-earned creations. (and perhaps bring you a new whack of recruits)

 Caber Feidh gu Brath,  love Sheik