November MMCL meeting

November meeting

The November MMCL meeting is in the books.  November is traditionally one of our more lightly attended.  This month was no exception.  There were 18 members in attendance.  

Dr. Terry Hill, our club president, presided over a short business meeting.

Dr. Hill

The 18 members who attended got very  lucky as we had one of the best raffles of the year.

Raffle

The highlight of the meeting was without a doubt the presentation by Bill on his experiences as a tank commander in Iraq in OIF.  As the members know, Bill recently discovered that he and his tank are featured on the box top photo of Dragon’s M1A2.  The membership was treated to a presentation of Bill’s wartime photos as well as a talk on what he experienced in Iraq.  MMCL has had several veterans speak to us over the years, and these presentations are routinely the most memorable meetings.  November 2009 was no exception.  Here are Rich, Koko and Uncle enjoying a lighter moment during the presentation.

Rich Uncle Koko

As usual, the monthly MMCL meeting was a great modeling experience.

Favorite quotes #4

“Politicians are worse than thieves. At least when thieves take your money, they don’t expect you to thank them for it.”–Walter Williams

Mont Blanc 149

Mont Blanc 149

I have a number of fountain pens.  I find I enjoy writing more when using a fountain pen.  My favorite pen, without a doubt is my Mont Blanc Meisterstuck 149. (BTW the Mont Blanc website is technically very cool, but don’t go there on a dial up connection.)  There is nothing that writes like the Mont Blanc 149.  I’ve written the first draft of every major motion or brief I have ever done in longhand with my 149.  They aren’t cheap, but I sure as heck think mine is worth it. (Of course, I got mine as a gift)  Get one.  I recommend it.

A politician worth keeping

Apparently all pols aren’t spineless jellyfish.  The Mayor of London rescues a woman being assaulted. Story here. The two best parts of the story are that the rescued woman did not vote for the Mayor in the last election, and the Mayor’s office, when contacted, confirmed the story but said the Mayor would have no further comment.  Brave and modest!

Magazine review: Model Airplane International #50

This issue of MAI doesn’t contain a wealth of info for the 72nd scale modeler.  It does have a nice build of the Special Hobby Skua.  It also has a review/build of q CMR resin L-13 glider in 72nd scale.  It has a nice set of side view drawings of aircraft involved in the 1939 invasion of Poland.  Other than that there isn’t much for the 72nd scale modeler.  There are, of course, reviews of new 72nd scale kits and decal releases as well as a round up of aftermarket stuff, but nothing that just jumps out at you.

The Kelo comes home to roost

For those who haven’t heard, Pfizer is closing its headquarters in New London, CT.  This is the famous headquarters that caused the city of New London to take by eminent domain many perfectly fine houses and turn the property over to a private developer.  It spawned the awful and wrongly decided Kelo decision from the U.S. Supreme Court.  Turns out that Karma is indeed a b*tch.  More here.

Movie review: Downfall (2004)

Downfall is a 2004 German-made movie depicting the last days of Hitler in the bunker, based largely on the memiors of the 24 year old secretary to Hitler.  It is 2 1/2 hours long and is in german with english subtitles.  Yet, it held my attention easily.  This is an excellent movie.

The actor who protrayed Hitler managed to make the dictator seem human in spot, yet ruthless and/or crazy in other spots.  Watching the characters around Hitler, those who had followed him blindly for years, come to the realization that he is now out of touch with reality is amazing.

Eva Braun comes off as a ditz.  Magda Gobbels is chilling.  She is truly mad for Hitler, and watching her kill her own children is horrifying.  All of the performances in this movie were excellent.  I cannot recommend this one highly enough.  Well worth seeing.

Stealing content

Ohio attorney and modeler Jim Bates, the man to turn to for all things RCAF, has recently reviewed a new book on some Royal Canadian Air Force aircraft.  I shamelessly link to it here.  Sounds like a book well worth having.  I will also note that I am jealous of the fact that Barrister Bates has managed to get a lot more modeling content on his blog of late than I have.  I am going to try and remedy that situation in the future.  Stay tuned.

Submitted without comment

Words completely fail me.  Read here.

Kentucky law development

Apparently suing website operators to obtain the names of people who have posted comments on stories has now come to Kentucky.  I don’t know the attorney involved, but I’ll be interested to see what happens.  More here.