text:
|2008-10-22, 20:14
|Link #1201
Eating your babies
And you would definately not want to fire them unbraced in the atmosphere or while flying either in space or in the atmosphere. Especially in space where losing thrust is bad.
|2008-10-22, 21:17
|Link #1202
The Comet has Come
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Republic of California
Age: 41
If it used American type shells....1,900 pounds for HC or 2,700 pounds for AP...per shell depending on use. (861.8 kg or 1,225 kg)
If we are talking Japanese 16"....938 kg - 1,020 kg with 1,000 kg being more common before the war.
If we assume they used American types (since they used the F-14 as a base for the VF-1), then most shells would be 1,900 pounds (862 kg) as used by the United States Navy during the 1980s and 1990s. The Navy had no need for AP shells at that time since there were no other battleships with any amount of armor to combat during that time period. The American gun is the 16"/50 cal Mark 7.
Last edited by Ithekro; 2008-10-22 at 21:29.
|2008-10-22, 21:21
|Link #1203
Go to DMC! Go to DMC!
Join Date: May 2008
In contrast, the largest mobile artillery piece currently deployed by the US Military is the M109A6 Paladin... which uses a 155mm (15.5 cm) bore. Big motherfucking rounds, which can be reaction warheads... and the equivalent of an Iowa-class battleship's main guns as you pointed out. The nice thing about railguns, in theory, is that you can adjust the velocity by varying the charge used to throw the round... or have more KE involved as you can ramp up the power.
And should I point out again that the thing's braced anyhow on several struts, two of which happen to be heavily-engineered 'legs' for Destroid/Battroid mode? I'm not even going to address 'losing thrust is bad' - but that the forces here are incredibly high, and I'd want to deal with it as 'part' of a 9500t mass (like a Guantanimo-class cruiser's size) rather than as a measly 100t one.
Last edited by Haesslich; 2008-10-22 at 21:33.
|2008-10-22, 21:39
|Link #1204
The Comet has Come
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Republic of California
Age: 41
The old Nuclear Warhead shells had a charge of 15-20 kilotons at a weight of 1,900 pounds (for the shell) Propellant (powder bags) weigh between 300 and 660 pounds depending of the charge used. Of course this was for conventional guns with a muzzle velocity ranging from 1,800 fps to almost 2,700 fps.
|2008-10-22, 21:48
|Link #1205
Truth Martyr
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Doing Anzu's paperwork.
Age: 32
One thing I will touch on is this:
The flight deck is undamaged from the Monster's steps.
No carrier captain will allow a tracked vehicle on his flight deck because tracks will damage the deck surface, and he needs that surface because if it's damanged, he can't launch or recover his fighters. However, note how the Monster easily moves into position, like the pilot has drilled this before (actually he MUST have done this before, since in militaries they won't let you do anything if you haven't drilled it), and then ask yourself this: if legs are more damaging to surfaces because the weight is concentrated, why is it that the captain has allowed the Koenig Monster to drill there? If the surface is all damaged, how the heck was Fokker able to launch from that same cat? (Carriers do not carry more than the basic tools for repair. Repair of something huge - like the flight deck getting all torn and chewed up - would have to be done at dock.)
If I'm going to be throwing that sort of firepower around, I want to be braced against something. The Iowa is braced on the water, afterall (to a certain extent, but it's still something, versus the nothingness of space).
Also, one more nail in the coffin for "use the gun recoil to manuver": Ammo. Ammo is always at a premium, especially for the big guns. There's only so much of it you can carry, and wasting it just to turn is pointless. Not to mention that when you need it, you'll be combat ineffective since you're out of ammo, not to mention the ass-chewing you'll get when you RTB and debrief. Wasting ammo due to having crap weapons - early Sidewinders and the Sahfrir-1 missile were notoriously inacccurate - is understandable. Deliberately wasting your ammo just to turn? An ass-chewing by the CO, at the very least.
|2008-10-22, 22:10
|Link #1206
Senior Member
Join Date: Jun 2006
We intererupt this rebutting Daigo's statements to death for some late breaking news.
MW member DarkReaper has discovered an unknown ship class in Macross Plus OVA episode 1.
It is not an ARMD (original or modern), a Guantanamo or an Uruga.
Could this be the mysterious Haruna class which we do not have a picture or line art?
The same class of ship which Maximillian Jenius first commanded and where his 7th daughter was born, the Red Moon.
|2008-10-22, 23:16
|Link #1207
Go to DMC! Go to DMC!
Join Date: May 2008
That's a very, very good reason you don't want to fire them unbraced (be it braced on a ship, on solid ground, etc). Imagine all of that force with nowhere to go but 100t of metal and the parts where they join the mecha. "4門のレール" is how the Macross F site describes the main armament - four railguns, which accelerate a mass to a very high velocity in a very short period of time. Which translates to a whole lotta newtons of force.. which are going to push those guns back pretty hard. Right through the Destroid, if you've nowhere else to direct the force... since those large feet and braces, if braced against nothing, do you no good.
The much-vaunted tank cannons which are mounted on treads which Daigo praises (in this case, we'll use the M256 cannon, the standard equipment on M1A2 Abrams) generates a firing impulse of about 7000 lb/s (3175 kg/s). It fires the M829A3 Armor Piercing, Fin Stabilized, Discarding Sabot - Tracer round which weighs 25.4 kg and probably travels 1680 m/s (I was unable to find figures for the velocity, but previous M829 rounds had this as their nominal velocity), and a time to fire of 0.003s (based on effective range of 3000m)...
F=mv/t = (25.4 kg *1680m/s) / 0.003s = 14224000 N = 14,224 kN of force firing an M256 smoothbore using standard M829A3 rounds.
Now, if Daigo wants to bring in that real-life U.S. Navy railgun into the picture... let's match it up with the Monster's main guns. Since we're using a railgun, let's make the rounds.. say, 500kg for the purposes of this (very rough) guestimate as we're using a railgun and we're pretending this is the performance seen from a 'typical' Macross railgun. The barrel lengths, based on pictures, appear to be about the length of an Iowa-class' main cannon (20m). The railgun Daigo referenced is supposed to fire around at 5812 m/s (or about 13000 miles per hour), and that the range is 370 km based on the figures given for that Navy railgun.
F=mv/t = (500kg * 5812m/s) / 0.003s = 9.687 x 10^8 N = 968700 kN of force.
... yeah, there's a big difference there. And there's FOUR of those cannons firing on the VB-6.
Last edited by Haesslich; 2008-10-23 at 17:17. Reason: Replied to ReddyRedWolf, also fixed the time figure in the M256 cannon example to reflect the calculations
|2008-10-22, 23:48
|Link #1208
Senior Member
Join Date: Jun 2006
Actually the link image (Enbatarion class) is the Saratoga II.
Saratoga II Uruga Variant
|2008-10-22, 23:54
|Link #1209
Go to DMC! Go to DMC!
Join Date: May 2008
Last edited by Haesslich; 2008-10-23 at 00:26. Reason: Forgot to close quote tag.
|2008-10-23, 11:49
|Link #1211
The Comet has Come
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Republic of California
Age: 41
4 x 40cm cannons is a lot of firepower in such a "small" package. Plus its other weapons. I wonder why they thought of that originally back before the First Space War.
The transformation conversion of the older mech makes sense when one considers that the original design functioned well for its purpose, but lacked mobility within a space bound fleet enviroment, or anywhere else were it would have to go very far away from its carrier vessel.
The carrier seems to be the main fleet ship type in Macross. Carriers of various sizes and styles seem to defend each larger habitat vessel in Macross 7. Only one of these vessels can transform that we know of, the New Macross-class. This would mean that the Macross is a final line of defense, or the fleet's only planet landing capable warship.
So what does the rest of the escorting warships do once a colony is founded? Set up a few orbital docking platforms and provide a mobile defense?
|2008-10-23, 12:00
|Link #1212
Senior Member
Join Date: Jun 2006
When Macross fleets land they prefer water. As seen with Macross 5, Macross 7 and Macross Frontier.
Macross 5 had its entire fleet on the water before they could react to the attack of the Protodevlin Varauta forces.
They didn't even had the chance to transform their NMCs. Only the hull of Battle 5 was relatively intact. The other NMCs destroyed and the three City ships stolen.
But Battle 7 has shown it can transform in planetary reentry. It can fire its main gun at a vertical position.
|2008-10-23, 12:38
|Link #1213
Truth Martyr
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Doing Anzu's paperwork.
Age: 32
I think he's talking about the carriers, like the Uragas.
Most likely the fleet carriers would form a mobile planetary defense force, patrolling the system to make sure threats don't get near the colony. The NMC would most likely remain in space, or they might keep it planet-side (note that the NMCs are apparently also capable of functioning as conventional wet-navy carriers).
|2008-10-23, 13:21
|Link #1214
NERV Personnel
While a good chunk of the escort vessels are NUNS, there are some that are private vessels and from hired services (like the SMS) as stated in earlier episodes. I would imagine the NUNS vessels would remain in orbit an take on the primary role of orbital defense. In the inital stages of colonization, I'd guess that they would also double as exploration vessels for the new planetary system. It was shown that during the colony fleet's trek they did send out recon groups to explore the space ahead (which the SMS had to do on one occasion) so I would guess they would use the same technology to map out their new home and see if any of the other worlds are habitable or contain harvestable resources. Since each vessel does appear to have its own fold drive, the NUNS could also re-deploy them to other locations/fleets once the colony has generated enough defenses of its own. The private vessels are a different case since they are technically not part of NUNS and are on their own agendas. What those vessels would do is up to their commanders/owners (could range from mining operations to the simple transport of the wealthy).
|2008-10-23, 17:15
|Link #1215
Go to DMC! Go to DMC!
Join Date: May 2008
NUNS vessels have fold drives, but as episode 6 showed folding isn't exactly the same as hopping a plane to San Francisco when moving between star systems - it's more akin to taking a steamship like late 19th century travel; it'll take days if not weeks to get there, you may have to make numerous stops or detours, and there's a risk of getting run aground/destroyed - that's why the 'fold accident' of the 117th Research Fleet was big enough news that even Alto (who doesn't seem to be the type of person to keep up on history or current affairs) would know about it.
Between this and the fact that a NUNS escort of a Macross colonization fleet may take years, if not a decade or two... there's two ways that the UN Spacy could be handling the escort duties that I can think of.
1) Escort fleets have duty rotations of several years, after which (during a stop of the convoy for resupply from Earth or whatever resources are available in nearby star systems which aren't suitable for colonization but which have usable materials) they jump in a new escort group and the old group returns home to whatever base they were stationed at.
2) Escort fleets are set up for long-haul deployments of a decade or more, and the families of people in the escort group go along with the cityships, and when the colonization group finds a suitable world to settle become permanently based in that system, but do detached duty elsewhere as required by the UN Spacy like a 'modern' version of the Roman legions.
This doesn't count any private escort forces/mercenaries/security groups that the colonization fleet may possess, as those could be professionals who are effectively space nomads that live out of their carriers or hired hands who are former military or private security that have a contract that stipulates they get to settle a new colony in return for providing protection along the length of the trip.
Either way, interstellar communications is relatively easy (it has to be for stars like Sheryl to become galactic sensations and travel between fleets and possibly worlds), which means that the UN Spacy can be somewhat decentralized as far as running affairs go. It does appear, at first glance, to be a federal sort of system with satellite states (the colonies) running their own affairs but certain matters are handled at a federal (UN Spacy) level; that's why they've got regulations on hunting space whales and the like.
My question is whether New Macross-class Battleships are 'leased' to the colony fleets so they have to purchase them, or if they're 'owned' by the NUNS and end up on long-duration or permanent deployment in the systems that the colonies end up in? If the colonies are satellite states set up in the arrangement I detailed above, and option #2 is involved (the colonies become that escort group's permanent station/home base), that means the UN Spacy's forces are rather spread out but they can call them in to be dispatched to any point where trouble's starting (like another Zentradi invasion led by Quamzin).
If they're 'owned' by the fleet that they escort, then the UN Spacy has to be very careful about who they sell these ships to lest we get another situation like the Macross 13 incident from the VF-X-2 game... but it explains why the Macross 5 fleet had three New Macross-class ships available to it at the time they met the Protodevlin. If the New Macross ships are still owned by the UN Spacy but get assigned on a permanent basis to the system the colony lands in, that means that the UN Spacy has to heavily subsidize the colonization project in order for it to work (as they're having to build an escort fleet for each colony group, or lose them out of existing forces until they can be replaced or the colony settles somewhere)... especially as, without fold crystals to make fold reactors work well, spacefolds are still energy intensive and limited to a certain range per jump, which means fleets may spend days if not weeks in transit from point to point... a far cry for modern-day travel where any two cities are effectively no more than 18-24 hours apart by airplane due to the small distances and easy access to fast aircraft.
|2008-10-23, 17:47
|Link #1216
Senior Member
Join Date: Jun 2006
Well we do know UN Spacy or NUNS do reassign their personnel.
Miho Miho got transfered to the Valhalla III in Macross VF-X after the destruction of Battle 7 in Macross 7.
Also in Macross Dynamite 7 it has been shown that a Macross fleet has the capacity to build New Macross Class battleships.
Meaning Macross Galaxy may have the capacity to build a new Battle Galaxy in a years time.
Macross Class ships despite being an older design than the New Macross Class is more armed and more capacity for Valkyries and Destroids, more expensive looking at the mass tonnage.
Now there is also the Macross Quarter Class which does not consume as much resources in building like the other two. These aren't designed as flagships but a pure escort ship. Without the drawbacks of the Uruga, Guantanamo or Bolognese carriers. It has teeth.
|2008-10-23, 18:16
|Link #1217
Go to DMC! Go to DMC!
Join Date: May 2008
Given how long Macross Galaxy and Frontier have been in flight (at least 12 years for Frontier, 13-15 for Galaxy), it's conceivable that older fleets have the capability to build Macross-class ships... but at the same time, that type of technology is something that the UN Spacy has taken great pains to try to keep out of non-authorized hands, which is why Captain Aegis Focker and the Ravens were dispatched in the first place during the events of VF-X-2 in 2051. But at the same time, how long-term are these placements? As noted by Frontier, spacefolds aren't exactly a trivial affair once you get beyond the range of a solar system... and the farther you're going (as you would have to, for a military deployment) the longer it takes and the more energy it uses, as well as running the risk of an accident occuring. That's why, IIRC, they usually took small folds when moving the Frontier fleet from place to place until they had to flee the continuing Vajra assaults with the long-distance one.
Still, I can see a mix of options 1 and 2 for the deployment of an escort fleet: you have some ships who are assigned permanently to the colonization fleet but whose crews could be reassigned as necessary, being transferred on and off the vessels at prearranged layover points when the fleet stops to collect supplies or update Earth with regards to its status. There may be ships who are on temporarily attached duty with the colonization group from another colony which happened to be nearby and who return to their home colony after a period of a few months or years, and they hand off responsibility as they go along - and also in doing so keep open lines of communication with other human worlds as well as provide settled colonists an option for 'moving on' or for members of the existing colonization group a chance to stop somewhere that's already settled since the colonization fleet's within range of these colonies. Plus, it gives them a chance to trade between groups (music, local products, manufactured items which weren't available when the previous fleet left as well as the plans for making more).
As for the Quarter, I get the impression that class of ship in general's either very new or isn't deployed often; Lieutenant Glass didn't seem to know much about the capabilities of the Quarter until she was forcefully introduced to them by the rising restraint system and Bobby's GAR-tastic driving. Those ships seem to be designed less as escort carriers and more as 'strike' carriers for Special Operations groups - the sort of ship that an elite team of VF pilots like the Ravens would be seen on, and which normally would be dispatched from Earth or some other main UN Spacy base to wherever it was needed on limited missions. Ozma certainly hasn't been with the Frontier fleet all that long - no more than eleven years at most... and given that Cathy's only like 23-24 and how those two likely met, he was probably in the UN Spacy around the time he met Cathy since she didn't look 12 in those flashbacks in Episode 17.
I'm using that to set a limit as to how long the Quarter's been assigned to the SMS group with the Macross 25th colonization fleet. We don't know when Ozma quit the NUNS, but we do know that he was likely to have been involved with Cathy when she was 17-19, which gives us a period of six years or so for him to have joined SMS and for the Quarter to have been delivered, if it wasn't already with the fleet when it left Earth 12 years ago. However, if it was an older craft or one in common usage I would think that a NUNS staffer who was qualified with the type of radar unit recently installed in the Quarter woiuld know generally what classes of ships carried it... and she didn't seem to know a danged thing.
|2008-10-23, 18:52
|Link #1218
NERV Personnel
If I recall, the Macross Quarter is not connected to NUNS. It was developed and manufactured by the SMS much like the VF-25s. With the SMS being referred to as a civilian military contractor group, it leaves the impression that they are like a contracting group that the military (NUNS) go to and have bid on contracts. In this case it was the VF-25 contract that they won which they were to test before a possible final sale to the NUNS. It just happened that the SMS also had their hands in escorting materials/fleets which is probably why they developed the Macross Quarter: to help them in their escort services. Since they were testing the VF-25s it probably didn't seem like a bad idea to test their new battleship at the same time (and possibly make some sales to NUNS at the same time as they showed it off).
|2008-10-23, 19:28
|Link #1219
Go to DMC! Go to DMC!
Join Date: May 2008
Its design certainly makes it better for missions like those the VFX Ravens were engaged in than the Uraga variant they were using was, as it's apparently as nimble as a destroyer or even a missile boat (looking at its performance in episodes 7 and 25 when it was literally dodging beams like an oversized VF) while maintaining atmospheric capability like all other known Macross-class and New Macross-class vessels. The main issue I see with letting all the Macross fleets build their own, if the NMC's and MC's are owned by the fleets in question, is that means the technology for reaction weapons and Macross cannons is thus available to any Anti UN Spacy group that has the money for it... and given how the biggest one with the most connections (Vindrance, via Wilbur Garland) had to hijack Battle 13 in 2051, that the technology's not very widepsread or is under heavy UN Spacy control, just as the technology for nuclear weapons or other high-tech gear is available and governments themselves don't directly manufacture them... but at the same time, the governments in question strictly regulate who those businesses can sell the tech to, and monitor them very closely.
|2008-10-23, 21:26
|Link #1220
Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
|Thread Tools


text:
While Tommy is not the best skier in the world, he does like spending time on the beach, and considers himself to be an avid sports fan who forgets important stats right in the middle of a heated debate. He started improv and comedy in high school in a comedy troupe called Second Suburb. He lives in Detroit with his wife, and he thinks he's tricked her into believing that he's a successful handyman. Somehow, he won Best Local Comic from Metro Times in 2013. He loves improvising and writing, especially when people are laughing.
- Menllenium
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subset: commoncrawl


text:
Shop and research for the latest products of 30000. Shop online at Boswatches.com for a wide range of 30000 products. Shop online provides ease and convenience in doing online shopping is inevitable. Plus, the various 30000 products and features featured and the attractive feature offerings offered by various online stores have a positive effect on choosing the best product for you. If the product you are looking for has been met then you can directly see the stock at the bottom of the product features just by Click "See Detail" to see the product description. Please keep doing fun online shopping.
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The American Society of Landscape Architects has released
its 2013
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text:
|2009-07-06, 01:16
|Link #181
Join Date: Jan 2009
Age: 24
I'm still curious as to whether this is a Question or Answer arc with this new addition. You'd think it would be the answer arc for ep 1, seeing as though Beato is talking to Natsuhi, but this addition of new people makes it interesting. I wonder if it could be a mixture of both? XD
|2009-07-06, 01:19
|Link #182
Join Date: May 2009
Location: Dodging spoilers...
|2009-07-06, 01:34
|Link #185
The Great Dine
Join Date: Feb 2009
|2009-07-06, 01:35
|Link #186
Join Date: May 2006
Location: London, UK
Age: 34
[edit]Marion beat me on time.
|2009-07-06, 01:39
|Link #187
Senior Member
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Buffer overflow
This '18th person X' doesn't have to be a single, specific person. By the strictest definition, all this line means is that there will never be 18 people on the island at any point in time. In other words, there's no one you could call 'the 18th person on the island' because there are only 17 there.
In other words, if someone has died or left the island, someone else could then enter the island and the red wouldn't be violated, even if the 17 people we know were all on the island to start with (i.e. no Kanon=Shannon theory is needed).
|2009-07-06, 01:42
|Link #188
reach out to the truth
Join Date: Jul 2009
Well, I wonder if the disappearance of the rose will ever be explained. That really bugs me. cough.
I haven't noticed at all that the crest is now flipped over. Maybe it indicates the missing part we had before, so to say "The Answers" to the questions. |D~
|2009-07-06, 01:44
|Link #189
The Great Dine
Join Date: Feb 2009
|2009-07-06, 01:45
|Link #190
Join Date: Feb 2009
The only way that she can't violate the No more than 17 people on this island rule is if she's a Meta-World/Fantasy char. I mean, every single person added after EP1 didn't add to the 18-person(Kinzo included) cast on Rokkenjima, why should this new character suddenly be any different?
Remember Eva-Beatrice? She had a portrait, but she didn't add to the count either. She's probably just like Virgilia or Gaap, representing somebody else on the game board.
OR Shannon=Kanon might be real and she's the 17th Person X.
|2009-07-06, 01:50
|Link #191
The Great Dine
Join Date: Feb 2009
Spoiler for EP 5 screenshots:
|2009-07-06, 01:55
|Link #192
Join Date: Jan 2006
The crest being backwards was almost a flag for me that the picture was fake, but I too have come to see it as signifying the answer arc. And I'm still holding onto my suspicion that Kinzo's wife's family, or one of the other two rival families, are the bearers of the other wing, as that seems to lend some support to my theory that there's a bigger conflict beyond just within the Ushiromiya group.
|2009-07-06, 02:53
|Link #196
Komrades of Kitamura Kou
Join Date: Jul 2004
Age: 34
So I sleep and go to class and now there's a new thread with 10 pages? LOL.
Ok so out of sheer boredome I started making comparisons of the face of this new person with that of the assorted characters in the game. In my educated opinion her face shares structural similarities to the women of the Ushiromiya family, specifically the generation after Kinzo but, strangely enough, seems to also share some similarities to Beatrice as well...
For the relation to Beatrice, I notice mainly two points: Eye Color and Jaw Structure.
Unless I'm mistaken, they both have blue eyes. The new girl could potentially possess green eyes but the resolution isn't good enough for me to distinguish. Also, hair color does not always match eye color (green hair color is wtf?). Blue iris pigmentation is ridiculously rare in people of East Asian descent (like me) and is believed to be autosomal recessive (but is also influenced by genes in other loci). From a purely Mendelian interpretation, the Ushiromiya family being of Japanese descent would practically not have any genes that would allow the development of blue irises. The person would have to be from a family line possessing the gene for forming blue irises, and probably have to be homozygous for it.
For the jaw, jaw development into adulthood tends to center around the maxillary angles rather than the entire jaw itself. Usually the base of the jaw and the skull attachment shapes remain the same, while the angles widen into adulthood. If you compare, the pointedness of their jaw bases and the curvature of the maxillary joints up to the angles are very similar, however Beatrice's jaws are wider around the angles than our new girl. There is a good possibility they share developmental similarities.
For the relation to the Ushiromiya Family I need to use a portrait of Eva-Beatrice for this for better comparisons, can anyone link me to one?
|2009-07-06, 03:15
|Link #198
Join Date: May 2006
Location: London, UK
Age: 34
Senri can also be written as 泉里, if we want to use the same "ri" in Maria's name, and if we want to use the "sen" (泉) that kind of looks like a rose.
However, it'd be weird if she didn't have a western name, don't you think? Senri doesn't exactly sound western to me...
|2009-07-06, 04:57
|Link #200
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: who knows.. where you're thinking
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text:
Style Underfoot: White Oak Floors
They've long been a staple of Parisian apartments and it's easy to see why — white oak floors are pretty, easy to maintain, and well suited to just about any design style.
I especially love them paired with an eclectic mix of furniture and shiny accessories, since they allow each piece to stand out, while creating a unique and mellow space.
- White oak floors and a mix of textures create a surprisingly glamorous kitchen in the House of Windsor showcase home.
- Pretty, sleek floors are the perfect compliment to colorful accessories.
- A hallway that's elegant and minimalist from top to bottom.
- Oak floors add a sleek edge to a traditional living room with an eclectic twist.
- Reused barn beams from Ohio look surprisingly chic in a LEED-certified green home.
(Images: 1. Max Kim-Bee for Veranda Magazine via Mark D Sikes, 2. Inger Marie Grini for Bo Bedre, 3. Chris Everard for House to Home, 4. Wood Floor Centre, 5. New Life Hardwoods)


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Driving in Southern California recently, listening to talk radio, I heard a commercial for a Christian private school. The spokesperson went on and on about the school's very high test scores, its very high percentage of their students who go to top-rated universities and other very high academic statistics. Send your child to Veryhighscore Academy! We will bring out the best in your child!
Really? I was amazed that in the commercial, the word "character" was not mentioned once. It was all about grades, test scores, scholarships and the like, reflecting and exploiting the obsession today's parents have with this trivia.
"Trivia? Hello? Are you hopelessly stuck in the past, John, or what? Don't you realize how important it is for a kid to get into the right school? Why, everything hinges on what college one gets into!"
No, it doesn't. A poll of top executives, many of whom run Fortune 500 companies, found that quite a number of them went to "ordinary" schools like Western Illinois University, which just happens to be my alma mater. You ever hear of it? No? Fancy that!
Nor do high grades make the individual. That includes test scores, class rank or being in honors classes. If they did, all highly successful (by whatever standard) people would come from the top 10 percent of their classes. They don't. Some were quite ordinary students. A pediatrician friend of mine never made a grand total of two A's in undergraduate school. Another pediatrician friend of mine dropped out of high school and spent time in the military before getting his G.E.D. and then going to college.
And then there are the many stories of people who were high achievers in school, went to top-ranked universities and never lived up to expectations. I know or know of several such people. One has lived on the public dole most of his life. Another became addicted to gambling, lost his job, lost his family and dropped out of sight.
In the 14th century, William of Wykeham penned the motto of Winchester College and New College, Oxford: Manners maketh man. An individual's manners are a reflection of his or her character, so an apt paraphrase of the motto is: "It's all about one's character!" That's as true today as it always has been.
The C student who always does his best and strives to improve is going to go farther in life than the A student who is a slacker. If you've ever been to a high school reunion, you've seen the proof of that. The person voted most likely to succeed didn't, and the person who was hardly noticed in high school became a high achiever as an adult. And best of all, he's a nice guy who supports worthy causes in his community.
As was known seven centuries ago, one's manners are a reflection of one's character. Furthermore, it is by learning and practicing social courtesies that a child develops good character. Training in manners teaches a child to pay attention to others and look for opportunities to be of service to them, even in small ways like opening doors and helping carry things.
A life well led is not defined in terms of how much money one makes or one's title. It is defined by service to others. And service to others equates to humility and modesty, which the world needs a whole lot more of these days.


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Best MWC 2012 phone rumours – Samsung Galaxy S III
Samsung Galaxy S III rumours have been looking and sounding pretty tasty already – we've got this prototype phone (above) which turned up in a CES highlights vid made by Sammy, to drool over. Plus details of Samsung's very own Exynos quad-core processor have turned up on the interwebs too – teasing us with the prospect of Sammy's quad-core squaring up against the Tegra 3-packing HTC Edge at MWC.
Samsung's Galaxy S III has a lot to live up to but features could also include 3D capabilities (to hook up to Sammy's 3D TVs), a Super AMOLED Plus 720p display and 4G for those lucky Americans.
TouchWiz on top of Android Ice Cream Sandwich is almost a dead cert for the Galaxy S III's OS and interface – and it's also been rumoured that the handset will be packing a healthy 2GB of RAM. Can you say excited?
Best MWC 2012 phone rumours – HTC Edge/Endeavour
The HTC Edge is a pretty badly kept secret – we've known the basic specs of the quad-core Edge for months now. But even though there probably won't be many surprises, it's still set to be one of the highlights of MWC 2012.
First thing – it might not launch as the Edge, we might get treated to the HTC Endeavour or even the HTC Supreme instead. Either way, we're talking a sexy NVIDIA Tegra 3 processor with a secret fifth power-saving core, 1GB of RAM and a killer 4.7in 720p display with pin-sharp 312ppi.
Android Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0 should be running on the HTC Edge from launch with a HTC Sense 4.0 cherry on top, according to our sources, plus the 8MP snapper will have the same amazing f/2.0 aperture that we reported for the HTC Primo and Beats Audio. i-what?
Best MWC 2012 phone rumours – LG X3
LG's quad-core X3 is a newbie to the Mobile World Congress rumour mill but it's crashed straight onto our most-anticipated list this week. Like the HTC Edge, that's a massive 4.7in HD display – and LG is going all out with what should be a beautiful 1280 x 720 resolution screen, as we saw on the US only 4.5in LG Spectrum at CES.
The LG X3 is set to pack a 2,000mAh battery, Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and two cams (8MP and 1.3MP) into a sleek and skinny 9mm shell. And, like Sony's Xperia S, it will be one of the first big-name, top-specced smartphones that also sport NFC capabilities.
So maybe all that NFC mobile payments stuff we were talking about six months ago will actually catch on and make us look like psychics.
Best MWC 2012 phone rumours – Sony Nyphon/Nypon
Sony (Ericsson)'s Nypon – we'll stick with that spelling for now – is also appearing as the LT22i in pics and rumour stories. It looks like an exciting mid-range Android phone, to prop up the new Xperia S in Sony's line-up. We're talking a 4in qHD display – who's counting pixels anyway? – dual-core, Sony-built NovaThor U8500 chipset and 1GB RAM.
Also on the drawing board for the Sony Nypon are an 8MP Exmor R rear-facing camera and Android 2.3 Gingerbread – if those buttons in the pic are to be believed. If the price is right, the Nypon could find itself very popular indeed.
Best MWC 2012 phone rumours – Huawei Diamond series
Eagel-eyed Huawei devotees will notice that we've stuck a picture of the Huawei Ascend P1 S in this rumour round-up. We are aware that this is a real phone – in fact, we played with the skinny smartphone at CES – but we ain't got anything to show you in the way of upcoming Huawei handset snaps just yet.
What we do know is that Huawei is planning to rid itself of the cheap phone-maker moniker with a high-end series of phones named – wait for it, this probably took them ages – Diamond.
The new phones can't possibly trouble the Ascend P1 S on skinniness so we reckon Huawei will beef up the specs and performance to compete with the rest of the big players in this list. We can't wait to see what Huawei does next.
Best MWC 2012 phone rumours – HTC Ville
Is it going to be quad-core? Isn't it? We reckon HTC will settle for one quad-core beast at Mobile World Congress and leave us to bowled over by the Ville's aluminium unibody design rather than extra cores.
From what we've heard so far, the HTC Ville will arrive with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, a 4.3in qHD screen, Beats Audio and an 8MP snapper that also shoots 1080p video. All in a premium looking shell that's less than 8mm thick – phew, did it just get hot in here?
Best MWC 2012 phone rumours – LG Optimus 3D 2
LG Optimus 3D 2 (or LG CX2) images have just leaked today and while the build isn't blowing our minds on screen, it is a definite improvement on LG's original Optimus 3D.
Spec bumps include a 1.2Ghz dual-core processor and brighter 4.3in NOVA autostereoscopic display – but most importantly, LG is packing the same compact dual-5MP camera 3D skills into a slimmer frame. LG has shaved off 2mm bringing the Optimus 3D 2 down to a respectable 10mm thick. More details on LG's CX2 Optimus 3D 2
Best MWC 2012 phone rumours – Sony Xperia U/ Sony Ericsson Kumquat
Taking design cues from the Sony Xperia S wth its fetching transparent notification bar, the Sony Ericsson Xperia U (or Kumquat, take your pick) looks set to pack a 3.5in 480 x 854 display, 1 GHz dual-core processor and 5MP camera.
This mid-ranger from Sony might appeal to phone fans who want a stylish bit of kit without paying too much for cores and pixels – we'll put the Xperia U through its paces at Mobile World Congress though, so hold off on your final judgement until we've had a play with it.
Best MWC 2012 phone rumours – Fujitsu Arrows phone
Fujitsu's Arrows phone wouldn't have been top of our CES list but the prototype certainly caught the eye of many a tech journo and fanboy alike. We don't know much about the handset (which was encased in a glass prison at the trade show) except to say that it's 6.7mm thick and could pack a quad-core Tegra 3 processor.
That's a good start – but chuck in a 4.6in HD display with Gorilla Glass protection, 13.1MP CMOS camera and Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, and this is one Arrow that's looking very sharp indeed. We can't wait to get up close and personal with an unshackled model.
Best MWC 2012 phone rumours – HTC Primo
HTC is set to round off its Mobile World Congress attack with the lower-end HTC Primo, alongside the Edge and Ville. Ignore the bodged-together mock-up above as we couldn't get hold of any pics but what we did manage to wring out of our source are some tasty specs in the form of Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, a 3.7in display and 1GHz dual-core processor.
Awesome extras on the HTC Primo include a 5MP snapper that shoots 720p video and Beats Audio skills. And that's the end of our Mobile World Congress rumour round-up – we need to go lie down now.
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dogs bread for show--rant
Cocker Spaniels are one of the oldest recognized dog breeds in Europe with origins as early as the 17th century in the UK and Spain. They were bred as hunting/gun dogs to point and retrieve small water fowl. They were intelligent, agile, energetic and excellent swimmers with large, webbed feet. Fast forward to the last 100 years, the dogs have been bred for show. Ears have gotten bigger and fur has gotten thicker and silkier and eye sight and hearing have been compromised.
The reason I'm ranting about it is that I have a CS (see gallery). Lady has all the intelligence, focus and agility, not to mention swimming ability, needed to be a really excellent gun dog. G-Man would love to train her and take her bird hunting. (Note, G-Man is NOT a sport hunter after trophies or bragging rights, he hunts for food and every usable part of the animal is used.) However, she has been so overbred that her eye-sight isn't that great, her ears are so big they impair her hearing and her fur! As soon as she jumps into the water she's soaked to the skin! Her fur is anything but water dog fur. If G-Man took her hunting, she could very possibly suffer from exposure and get very sick. Hunting is a fall and early winter sport and a 20lb dog just doesn't have enough of a metabolism to keep herself warm when she's soaking wet!
It's just so frustrating, because Lady is really coming into her own as a good candidate for a hunting dog. When we take her out for her daily wilderness hike, she's so focused on the stick that G-Man uses to train her, she'll ignore other dogs and people completely. She's tracking movement with her eyes, she's determined and using her nose to search in the brush when G-Man deliberately "hides" the stick so she can develop her tracking and scent skills and she fearlessly goes into the water to retrieve.
It peeves both of us off that Lady's opportunities to actually be the kind of dog she was originally bread to be are so limited by recent breeding programs to produce a "lap pet" as opposed to a hunting dog.
What are your thoughts on the matter?
If you're green, you're growing...if you're ripe, you're rotting!
I try to greet the world like my pets do...boundless enthusiasm, intense curiosity and no concept of yesterday and tomorrow.
This is the case in several breeds. Were you unable to find a dog bred from hunting lines? I imagine there are not many in N. America but working cockers are hunted in the U.K. Is Lady an American Cocker or an English Cocker?
No matter her ability to withstand cold and rough conditions, you could still enter spaniel tests to get some of the feel of it with her. It's not quite the same thing but might satisfy the urge a bit?
I don't see why you can't hunt her anyway and just modify your expectations. Surely she can do bit of cold weather work if outfitted in neoprene? And not keep her out all day? Be able to dry her off in the field and have a warm place to lie down?
I know it's a problem with other breeds too. I have read in several places that if dogs weren't considered domestic animals they'd be put on the endangered species list because their DNA has been so messed up by breeding programs.
Lady is an American CS. When we got her (at age 5 months from a family that didn't know what they were getting into), we weren't actually looking for a hunting dog so the fact that she shows aptitude for it came as a nice surprise. I think G-Man will eventually hunt her, but as early in the season as he can so as to minimize the chance she'll get exposure. I'll suggest the coat to him, but it may be a hazard in the forest, especially when swimming. Lady could get snagged on a branch under water and possibly drown.
If you're green, you're growing...if you're ripe, you're rotting!
I try to greet the world like my pets do...boundless enthusiasm, intense curiosity and no concept of yesterday and tomorrow.
This is an article on exactly this topic, keeping them warm with neoprene.
i knew someone who bred ckc labs for hunting, to look at them they didn't really even look like labs because I am so accustomed to the "show" lab look. A show lab would to too bulky to ever perform their original purpose though. To find a dog within the breed that will perform its original purpose you really have to seek them out before you buy.
Floppy, Since your dog eye sight and other conditions that your dog has, maybe it is in the best interest for your dog..NOT to be a hunting dog. You don't want to make a mistake and put your dogs life in jeapority, just because you guys want her to be a good gun dog. Yes, spaniels were bred and they will always have that drive to hunt, however like you stated over breeding has deminshed the breed.
I used to own a spaniel as well. I never hunted him. He did have that drive mentality...brought me some dead birds that he caught while out in the yard. I would still take him hiking, exploring, etc. He loved it.
What would Lady be hunting, Floppy Dog? If it's something that she can hunt without ranging too far, a hair trim and a vest or coat might be just the thing--if she's within earshot (we use bells on collars for when they're moving and a beeper collar set to 'point only' mode for when they're stationary), then having a vest hook up on something is not as big an issue. We also use vests that have velcro closures--which open if they're challenged by a strong enough snag. We've lost a couple of vests that way, but it's a better alternative than having our dogs hung up somewhere waiting for us to find them! The vests aren't even neoprene--they're nylon or cotton--and don't offer much in the way of warmth, but if Lady has an undercoat, it'll help keep her warm with a thin vest even if she's trimmed short to keep her bramble-free
"We are--each of us--dying; it's how we live in the meantime that makes the difference."
"It's not what you gather, but what you scatter that tells what kind of life you have lived!"
"Be kinder than necessary, for everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle."
To NoahGray, G-Man would never put Lady's life in jeopardy because he's way too fond of his "foot sitter" and he's got way too much experience with hunting dogs and hunting in general. He's been an active hunter for over 40 years (he started going out with his dad in New Zealand when he was just a little tyke, 5 or 6 years old). He also takes Lady out every day (near enough) into the woods behind our workshop/office for a good ramble and swim for at least 45 minutes, so she's getting lots of woodsy experience without the hunting.
To Hazelrunpack, Lady would be bird hunting which is not something that you can do at close range (I think). G-Man is an excellent marksman so it's not unusual for his target to be a few hundred metres away. In New Zealand it's open season on all mammals all the time because they are imports from Europe and very destructive of the natural habitat. G-Man had to be good, or he'd never have got anything.
The chances are that Lady's not going to be a dedicated hunting dog, just a sometimes hunting dog when the weather is good and G-Man can go out for a day of manly bonding with his dog. I'm just ranting about the general state of over breeding dogs to match someone's idea of what they are supposed to look like without too much regard for what they were supposed to do.
If you're green, you're growing...if you're ripe, you're rotting!
I try to greet the world like my pets do...boundless enthusiasm, intense curiosity and no concept of yesterday and tomorrow.
Longblades, thanks for the link, I'll make sure G-Man sees it.
If you're green, you're growing...if you're ripe, you're rotting!
I try to greet the world like my pets do...boundless enthusiasm, intense curiosity and no concept of yesterday and tomorrow.
one of the best poiters i ever saw was a mutt
had a mutt shepard once thatwas an amazing retriever
knew a poodle x that was a really good pointing dog
dont breed or buy while shelter pets die
I think with cockers the problem was Lady and the Tramp. No--seriously! They became a fad breed to own, which opened them up to overbreeding and bad breeding. There was demand for a cocker, any cocker, and no regard for their original purpose. And as long as the public didn't care about the breed other than as a cute lap dog, the instincts that had been part and parcel of the breed were nearly lost. And because of bad breeding lots of problems cropped up in cockers.
Breeders who care about restoring the cocker to what it once was are making some headway, but it's going to be a long haul.
Having said that, bless you and your husband for wanting to help Lady refine her instinct even though she was not originally intended as a hunting dog. If she has the instinct, she'll be much happier if you can tap into it through some exercise, whether it be hunting or trials or even tracking.
Our dogs are bird dogs, too, btw, bred and trained to be close-range pointers for foot hunters. Half our dogs are from a breeder, half are rescues. Some hunt, some don't, though all were originally bred for hunting. Watching a dog follow scent is an exhilarating experience, and working as a team is something that just can't be duplicated. For us it's not about taking game but participating with the dogs, even if it's just a mutual walk in the woods. We love all of them whether they hunt or not.
With setters, the bench stock often have lost the instincts that made the breed good bird dogs. But it's possible to combine the beauty of bench with the instincts of good hunting lines and end up with a combination of both. Sometimes you end up with neither.
But we have noticed that those of our dogs who do hunt seem to have a joy in life that the nonhunters lack. Especially come fall.
"We are--each of us--dying; it's how we live in the meantime that makes the difference."
"It's not what you gather, but what you scatter that tells what kind of life you have lived!"
"Be kinder than necessary, for everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle."
Hazelrunpack, my sentiments exactly! What about dalmatians after the newest version of 101 Dalmatians with Glenn Close? I heard and read horror stories about the number of overbred dalmatians that wound up in shelters and rescues because people wanted a dog "just like in the movies" and had no clue about the work and dedication involved
Since you seem to be quite knowledgable about the issue of hunting dogs with less than ideal physical requirements, may I have G-Man chat with you about the ins and outs? Would it be better if I persuaded G-Man to create his own profile? or should he use mine?
G-Man also agrees with you about the joyfulness of hunting dogs. He says he remembers that his and his father's dogs would go wild with joy when they heard the sound of a bullet being loaded into the breach or when they caught the scent of gun oil. It meant a day in the fern forest hunting boar! Absolute bliss for dogs.
If you're green, you're growing...if you're ripe, you're rotting!
I try to greet the world like my pets do...boundless enthusiasm, intense curiosity and no concept of yesterday and tomorrow.
Just a quick update on Lady's fur and getting soaked to the skin when she goes swimming. She's in between trims so her fur is about 4-5cm long. We took her out on the weekend and of course she went swimming. Surprise, surprise, only the outer 2-3cm of fur got wet, the inner fur stayed reasonably dry. Her legs got really wet once they got sandy and muddy, but her back and chest were ok. I've also found a spray-on mink oil conditioner that I've been combing into her fur for the last few days. It stinks (the alcohol used to keep the oil in suspension, I think, I may add lavender oil to it, will help repel fleas and mosquitos) but not only does it make brushing easier, it also seems to be soaking into the fur and possibly making it shed water better. Will update again once I've used it for a week or 2.
If you're green, you're growing...if you're ripe, you're rotting!
I try to greet the world like my pets do...boundless enthusiasm, intense curiosity and no concept of yesterday and tomorrow.
I have a co-worker with 2 Labs. They are titled in Field. Parents are Ch and Field/Hunting titled. My cousins hubby hunted(years ago). He had beagles. These dogs came from a farmer who did not show or hunt. But cousins hubby "trained" them for hunting. A Husky can be shown, and could also be a good sledder. A Cocker can be shown, but could also be a good fielder/hunter. My niece has a Black Russian Terrier. He comes from champion lines. But he is SchH III titled. The point I am trying to make is, it's the training you do that makes your dog. If the family who had Lady was looking for a hunting dog, then they would have started the training early. My co-worker started training his labs at 10 weeks old. And at an age this young, they can get used to the gunshots.
"A dog can express more with his tail in minutes than his owner can express with his tongue in hours."
When I said "over bred" I was making a general statement about Cocker Spaniels, especially Americans, in general. Since the release of Lady & the Tramp, CS's have been increasingly bred for looks and to supply the demand of people who wanted a "dog just like in the movie". I suppose the increasing urbanization of the North American population has also contributed to the loss of CS's hunting traits since most urban dwellers are not usually the type to go hunting. I know this is an issue with other breeds of dogs, Dalmations for example.
Lady herself is a very healthy and active dog with no real issues other than allergies, which are common in many dogs, let alone purebreds.
If you're green, you're growing...if you're ripe, you're rotting!
I try to greet the world like my pets do...boundless enthusiasm, intense curiosity and no concept of yesterday and tomorrow.
thing with show breeding and dog purchasing you have to realize is, it is thought that the only way to have a reputable breeding program is to have CH titled dogs for it. Many retrieving breeds (take poodles for instance) are not shown in any working venues, breeders get their conformation title (as to many people this is the be all and end all of breeding) they then get their "reputable breeder badge" and keep breeding for conformation.
Any dog can be a good gun dog, my man has used his border collie and his brother uses his rough collie for ducks. Sure neither dog would come anywhere near obtaining a working title for this but the duck makes it from the pond or lake to our dinner table every time.
For some dogs its bred into them, for others, its not and some patience and positive training to make the retrieval the funnest game on the planet to your dog can get you the same results.
As for the frigid temperatures you are asking the dog to swim in, its common sense really, Come end of duck season the water is just too cold here and instead of bringing dogs the guys just grab their canoe.
Courage is being scared to death and saddling up anyways. ~John Wayne
P.S. I believe English Springer Spaniels may be about the worst case of disparity between field and bench. Many, many folks used to seeing the bench types, which were used a lot in advertising when we got our girl, did not believe our girl was ESS. She was field bred.
First, Cocker Spaniels are Spaniels, which are flushing dogs, not water retrievers. They were not bred for duck hunting but rather to seek out and flush small upland birds such as woodcock, and quail. There are unfortunatly very few of these birds around in the wild now, so hunters must go to game farms to get them. Second, most Spaniel breeders I know just trim down the dogs if they do not want to spend hours grooming after the hunt, but the hair is there for a reason, to prevent scratches from brush and brambles that the dogs run through, sort of like a built in coat. Think of the herding dogs that were developed to work in overgrown areas, lots of hair!
Cockers are not know to have a water repellant coat, simply because in their home country where they were developed, it was not needed. All Cockers come from the same original stock, many years ago when they started to become popular in America, the breeders of the original dogs didnt like what the American breeders were doing to the breed, so they demanded to have them seperated into different breeds, the English, and American Cockers. The American Cockers were mainly developed as pets, where the English breeders kept more to the original standard, and a new standard was developed for the American Cocker.
The same thing pretty much happened to the Irish Setters. There are now 2 different breeds even though they started out as one. You have the Irish (the dark red ones), and the Irish Red and White. The Red and White were the original breed, but when a few solid red dogs showed up some breeders kept them and worked on promoting them as more of a status symbol, instead of a working dog. Most serious hunters would tell you that if you want a setter for a hunting dog, dont get a Red! The same could be said of the Cockers, and the Springers, (English vs Welsh). The Americans (no offense to any US friends here) really like flashy dogs, and have not done any favours to many of the breeds.
Last edited by hazelrunpack; September 19th, 2011 at 06:12 PM. Reason: No self-promo pls
Thanks for the history update, seems I missed a few things in my reading. Or perhaps, since I was concentrating on American Cocker Spaniels, it just wasn't covered in the material I have. It does explain a few things about Lady, though. Now I know why she's not afraid to dive into thickets or hurl herself down a steep bank pell-mell.
If you're green, you're growing...if you're ripe, you're rotting!
I try to greet the world like my pets do...boundless enthusiasm, intense curiosity and no concept of yesterday and tomorrow.
Floppy your rant is so dear to my heart. Show and pet breeders have absolutely ruined and demolished so many working breeds it's really depressing. Part of the problem is that in many instances the opportunity for the dogs to do the jobs they were created for has been greatly diminished or just isn't there any more. Another part of the problem is that people fall in love with an image of a breed and then breeders breed for that image alone and breed out all good working traits in favour of a dog that will more easily conform into an average pet home.
I find it very disturbing when I see a dolled up working breeds prancing around the show ring. I do think there is great value to conformation and in an ideal world the conformation should also help maintain physical traits that aid working ability BUT when that is the only venue and the sole purpose for a breeding program and working ability of the breeding stock is never tested (or as in some breeds there aren't even any standards to do so), you only end up with pretty shells of what many of the working dogs once were.
In some cases the show line dogs and the work line dogs of the same breed look almost nothing alike. In some cases the show standards call for confirmation (or are interpreted) in such way that the dog's confirmation actually hinders their ability to work and function. The GSD is probably the most prominent example of this. You see this to some extent in pretty much every other working breed in the show ring. Boxers with noses so short they can barely breathe, bulldogs so grotesque they can barely move and can't even birth naturally, doxies with legs so short they can barely run... never mind things like instincts and proper temperament for the work.
Unfortunately in a lot of working venues, if you want a dog that has the best chances of performing the way they should, you need to not only pick the right breed, but also a breeder who specifically breeds for working ability and regularly tests for it. In the case of some working breeds, there are only a handful of breeders dedicated to restoring or maintaining a true working ability of their favourite working breed. Dogs like the Bullmastiff and the French Mastiff come to mind, good luck finding a quality working breeder of one of those.
There are still breeds and venues out there where function and working abilities of the dogs are the top priority to most of the breeders involved in the breed. In some of these cases the breeds still have open stud books or in fact no breed registries as most know them at all. These are for the most rather rare breeds that most people have not heard of.
And to add to Choochi, in my breed, Labrador Retrievers, in some European countries a dog cannot achieve a top title in conformation without a title in a hunting venue as well. Don't ask me for details, it's just something from a European on another board. That's not the case here in N. America but I do see more conformation type Labs competing in field events.
Somewhat ironically, back to the spaniel needing protection in cold water (that was what started all this wasn't it?) a lot of field Labs have a thin, single coat, are leaner and rangier and truly cannot withstand the cold, particularly the cold water, as well as their heavier double coated, bulkier show bred companions. My trainer put vests on his field bred dogs for hunting in cold water in November. In Labs I see just as much corruption of the breed in the field breeding as in the show breeding. Because, as my field trainer put it to me, field trials themselves are not what you'd want the dog to do in actual hunting.
Working titles are also required for the GSD and Dobermans in Europe. There is some controversy with that as there are politics involved (as with any thing) titles being bought, judges bribed, but the idea is there a working breed must not only look the part but act the part as well.
Point two, sport often imitates work but often with limitations. Take the GSD once again and Schutzhund, a protection sport developed in order to test the working ability of the GSDs (now also used for other breeds). The rules of the sport have changed a lot, many purists argue to make it easier to grow the sport and let dogs earn passing scores, which by default waters down the usability of this sport as a breeding test. There are breeders that breed for sport and a protection sport dog may not necessarily (in fact often) translate well to a working environment. So with some working breeds you now see an even further split of pet vs show vs working sport vs work. Mind you the sport and work dogs have far more in common and some times a good sport dog can make a good real life work dog and vice versa, but the split exists none the less.
If you want to talk about "bought titles" the biggest one is conformation titles IMO. Atleast in sport your dog has to be able to do something. In conformation with enough money anyone can title a dog, depending on the breed. Its stacking in your favor especially if you have a less than popular breed.
I could theoretically put all my guys in and botch grooming on who ever has their CH to put the points on the other dogs, competing with 1 of the breed does nothing to get me points but if I put all 3 in together someone will get 2 points each show and another will get 1. In no time i would have 3 Canadian Ch's.
Back on topic sorta though, this is why I was focused on getting corgi's who had herding instinct. It was what they were bred for and I am a HUGE advocate for working dogs to be able to do the job they were bred for (clearly with the exception of fighting dogs, bull baiting ect)
Courage is being scared to death and saddling up anyways. ~John Wayne
Though you all might like to know that we seem to have found some ways for Lady to make use of her talents in a reasonably safe way. G-Man has started mountain biking to get fit for the snowmobile season and is taking Lady with him. Since he goes off-trail a lot, Lady can charge through the underbrush and chase the bike to her heart's content. She really seems to enjoy doing it and her aerobic fitness has increased dramatically in just 2 weeks.
Also, Beena has started taking her to dog agility classes. By the end of the first class, Lady was circling cones and climbing up and down ramps like a little pro. Perhaps, in time she'll be a SuperDog at the PNE here in Vancouver, BC!
If you're green, you're growing...if you're ripe, you're rotting!
I try to greet the world like my pets do...boundless enthusiasm, intense curiosity and no concept of yesterday and tomorrow.
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I don't know if pictures of these customs can be posted here as I have made use of what some consider verboten parts. I'm not into 'heavy' modding, only 'light' modding such as cutting capes. I have wanted to create a Drizzt minifig for years, but because of my aversion to heavy modding, there was no way of doing it until recently when suitable head and hair pieces became available.
Sorry about the rubbish photography by the way.
Questions, comments or thoughts about these minifigs?


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Memoirs of a Grizzled Expat: The Sound of Pennies Dropping (The Penultimate Part)November 12, 2012
I'd established in my mind that my girlfriend was a wonderful girl who constantly made me deliriously happy all the time we were together, but that severe tensions were growing on account of her dysfunctional family – none of whom I'd ever met, and with the daily reports of their problems related to me, I was less and less inclined to.
Here are further excerpts of my account at the time:
Alas, a degree of compassion fatigue has set in and I'm left contemplating the relentless nature of this family's woes and I just don't want to be involved anymore.
A fuller picture emerged in the morning; it seems this sister has a long history of suicidal depression, which manifests itself in suicide attempts two to three times every month. Evidently the husband had been very patient and caring for some years but it had ground him down.
The younger brother also has a mental illness and I might just add that my girl's capacity to cave in when the pressure gets too much is somewhat akin to anorexia (I'd tentatively suggest that she's not anorexic since the psychological causes are not the same as in the West, but the outcomes are similar).
Thus we have a seriously screwed-up family and again, I'm increasingly seeing how common this is in Cambodia: yet another hidden outcome of the previous generation's genocidal nightmare. I don't want to be involved anymore; their relentless traumas interfere with my life to an extent I can barely endure, and I never have two pennies to rub together because of these insurmountable problems.
And yet, none of this is her fault; I just can't be that much of a cold bastard. Let's face it, after what she'd been through, sharing all these grievances I've written here with her could be construed as a tad churlish; nah, I'll simply tie up the purse strings, resist the temptation to buy yet another phone, trust that her inevitable disappearances are for understandable reasons, cease taking things personally and just carry on. I'm not going to change Cambodia overnight, nor am I going to change her and her wretched family so perhaps I'd best focus on calming down and practising that tolerance thing – again.
The morning after I penned those reflections, a weird thing happened that couldn't be pinned on the family. I was burgled.
I awoke from a sound sleep about 9 am to find her sitting on the living room floor looking crestfallen. The French windows were open and the room ransacked. She'd apparently disturbed a burglar who'd fled with cash and my camera, but thankfully dropped my laptop on the floor before making his escape.
I was so relieved that her action had saved the laptop – everything else was non-critical. The landlady on the ground floor was sceptical that someone could evade detection passing through a narrow passage and up three flights, but otherwise she seemed unconcerned.
I didn't think too much about that incident since over the next few weeks she stayed at home and had few occasions when she did her disappearing acts. I thought that maybe we'd finally cracked it; but then Valentine's Day arrived.
I'd bought her a nice necklace, and I was rather taken aback when her first response of seeing the gift was, 'How much did you pay for it?', but, I told myself, that's just her little way. The next day she informed me that her mother had contacted her needing money for heart pills. I asked her if she given her mother money and she'd said she hadn't; then I asked her where the necklace I'd bought her for Valentine was and she insisted she'd taken it to be cleaned – on the way to meeting her mother who'd called demanding money.
You don't have to be Sherlock Holmes, do you? What hurts is that every single item I've ever bought her – phones, watch, jewellery have lasted precisely one week and have then disappeared owing to either violent episodes within the family or flogging the item to give cash to them. It's how it is in the folk economy; when you have cash use it all to buy stuff immediately and when you don't have the money you need flog everything.
What gets me is the resort to lies and deception, and the fact that her mother could so easily force her into these old patterns – I mean she could have discussed with me first instead of immediately hocking my gift and lying about it.
Anyone here I mention this to reacts with a 'You must be five cans short of a six-pack' attitude; i.e. I must be a complete mug to believe these stories. It's true that they bear an uncanny resemblance to the clichéd stories lying taxi-girl girlfriends and their families try on to fleece doting barang boyfriends and husbands, and it's true that every guy insists, 'Yes, but my girl's different' and I've tortured both myself and her over these suspicions enough, but in my heart of hearts I still believed she was being truthful concerning the big picture, even if the minor details didn't always add up.
And then …….
……..and then it really did go wrong. When you love somebody you want to believe them, don't you? As I've related, from the very beginning there have been a series of near-tragedies, always involving her family, always averted by my hard-earned cash.
Every time my initial reaction was to be suspicious, but every time I relented and gave her the benefit of the doubt. After all, in every other aspect of the relationship she couldn't be more wonderful. Or so I thought. After far too long, there was an incident that caused me to seriously re-evaluate everything that had happened over the last few months.
I had told her there was no need to change her phone number so that her family couldn't contact her and I was sloppy (or trusting) enough to fail to bank my monthly salary immediately and kept a stash of $100 bills in a drawer.
I should have read the signs: she was being bombarded with calls from her mother, brother and sister. She insisted that she never answered them and on the couple of occasions that she did they were merely enquiring after her health. Then there was that strange Sunday when she made three long excursions to the market on urgent missions to repair a set of curling tongs she never uses and buy make-up she never applies, a day which culminated in her feeling ill and blood-letting – scraping her skin with a spoon.
It was the exact illness that she succumbs to under stress brought on by family crises – I missed it. It was four days later when I happened to open the drawer, check my wallet and notice two or three hundred-dollar bills were missing. I turned the house upside-down; I wracked my brains to seek a forgotten memory of spending such a large sum of money or even of taking it out the drawer – anything to avoid the only explicable conclusion. I didn't accuse her or even hint at any suspicion; in turn she gave me the innocent-but-concerned act.
Two days later she called me during my last class of the evening to inform me that her nephew had had an accident and that she was accompanying her sister to a hospital out in the sticks. I returned to an empty house; I checked the wallet where I had left the remaining two $100 bills. I'd explained that they were for the rent and that it was all the money I had; even under the circumstances of the disappearance of the other bill(s) I couldn't conceive of the possibility that she'd take the remaining ones – but she had.
She had also switched off her phone so that I couldn't contact her. I was in utter despair; I took the dubious decision of endeavouring to discover something of the truth from this chronic liar whom I loved. I rummaged through her belongings, not having any idea what I was looking for. I turned up, clandestinely embedded in the pockets of clothes buried under deep piles, two wallets. One was empty save for a note in Khmer dated December 2005 and a mention of $3600; the other contained a man's driving licence and various papers including a receipt dated January 2006 – one month ago.
I awaited her return so that we could have a calm discussion but she played her usual ploy of promising to return at such-and-such a time then turning off her phone, knowing she would not keep her word. I didn't want to sit alone in my apartment for an indefinite period, so I chose to go out for a bite to eat then hit the bar where she'd previously worked.
There I blurted out my despair to our mutual friends, and there I learned the truth that had evaded me for so long. Did she have a secret lover or husband? No. It seems all her colleagues knew about her activities in the casino where she'd lose $50 or $100 a throw but no one had the heart to tell me. The mamasan had tried but I hadn't believed her and chose to accept my girl's version that she was merely visiting a friend who worked there. I still didn't know how many of her financially themed stories were lies and how big the lies were, but it was clear I'd been massively and systematically duped.
She had a gambling habit and hadn't succeeded in avoiding the casino. She was in fact regularly slipping out as soon as I'd go to work and hit the place, winning and losing significant amounts but doing well enough to fund herself for a time. A local man had cheated her out of some $18 and she'd taken his wallet as collateral but not actually stolen any money herself. Her family were evidently ignorant and innocent in all this but they were indeed calling to plead for money for a series of ailments affecting indeterminate members. She had refused them and hadn't resorted to any subterfuge except to increase her visits to the casino in an unsuccessful effort to acquire funds for them.
Now here's where you might raise that part of your eyebrow that isn't yet on the ceiling: when she finally returned home I immediately challenged her and she confessed. She told me that she didn't know I had cash stashed in the drawer until I raised the issue of the missing bills. It appears that I'd miscalculated and none had disappeared at that point. My belief that money was missing had depressed me, not because of the money itself, but because I thought she must have taken it, and she sensed my dejection.
She'd asked me what she could do and I'd retorted – without implying any suspicion – something along the lines of she could ensure the money reappears. That's why, the next day, she made up a story of her nephew's accident and took the remaining $200; she thought she would win the equivalent of the missing money. With a typical gambling addict's mind, in the face of all previous experience she really believed that this time luck would be on her side.
She was actually $100 up with half an hour but like a typical addict couldn't quit while ahead and gradually the money dissipated and she descended into despair. When the money ran out she pawned my phone – and that blessed Valentine necklace again; naturally the casino were extremely generous in the price they offered for the items, confident that they'd soon have it all back again – and so they did.
She spent two days and nights in the casino, not eating or sleeping and not daring to return until after some reasonable people pleaded with her not to commit suicide and return home to tell her husband the truth, she was politely ejected.
I should have decisively ended it there and then, shouldn't I?
However, I told myself that now the truth is finally out and she can't lie to me anymore, we can talk this through and she can kick her addiction. Together, we can do this. But – she needs something positive to motivate her – some hope, something to work towards – and I had the perfect solution. I enrolled her in English classes in my workplace, knowing that she'd sail through the classes, get a massive boost to her confidence and enable her to apply for respectable jobs.
Couldn't fail, could it? The worst was yet to come, and will be revealed in the final installment next week.
Andy Ahmed
24 Responses to Memoirs of a Grizzled Expat: The Sound of Pennies Dropping (The Penultimate Part)
yeah… I used to work for an escort service as a body guard… I learned the hard way never to fully trust the really sexy girls, and it sure took some big lessons for me to learn it.. my grandmothers family herloom pearl earings went to buying her some heroin after she drugged me and stole half the crap in the house. we all gotta learn in different ways.
Ugh! Sounds all too familiar and makes me take pause to wanting to return.
Just read the whole series on a night of insomnia. I am desperately hoping that in the final instalment you will reveal what it is that was so broken inside of you that made you so desperately try to fix others in the hope that it would somehow make you complete. Please tell me that there is some true self awareness and insight at the end of your sorry tale.
TJP – try this, written by a far better blogger than me:
Thanks for the Link Andy. It is an insightful and informing read.
You really are a fuckwit, when are you ever going to learn ?! are you so damn ugly that you can't get a decent girlfriend in the west or do you have small penis syndrome that fucking an Asian meth head makes you feel big, seriously your memoirs are becoming really tedious.
"Asian Meth Head"? Quite a few of us know the outcome of this story (which happened many years back), and it has nothing to do with drugs. As for your using "Asian" as a derogatory adjective- Andy like you, uses his real name on here.
stating that someone is Asian is derogatory ?!
oh dear forgot to make up a name or use my alias and now my real name has been published, oh well c'est la vie. I expect the usual bullshit replies that i must be a fat uptight ugly white chick, bring it on guys….
You appear to have issues Claire, I'm sorry about that. You also appear to have problems with the concept of "memoirs". Try to chill.
i appear "to have issues" ?! don't most people ? clearly some more than others as you have proved by putting up with all your girlfriend's nonsense…My concept of memoirs are people writing about their experiences, whether it is from years, months or even weeks ago and I could take your "memoirs" as if they were all quite recent events, not incidences that happened years ago. Do you mind me asking how long it actually took you to learn you were being taken for an absolute mug ? Have you learned your lesson ? or still putting up with the same shit, different girl ?
The vitriol these memoirs elicit from certain people unable to grasp the notion of memories and hindsight is notable. I, for one, can't wait for the next installments and long may your memoirs continue, Andy; if not for the educational value they provide (and how can learning from others' experience be anything but educational?) but also the comedic value.
Forgive me for singling you out, Claire, but not once in the series has Mr. Ahmed denigrated "western" women for not desiring him (and the concept of "western" is very subjective if you have ever lived in London or other such multi-cultural city), nor are you under any obligation to continue reading subsequent submissions by Mr. Ahmed.
Dare I presume your expectation of abuse along the lines you refer is borne from previous, similar, contentions?
His memoirs are educational ?! do you use your cock to think instead of your brain too ? My expectations of abuse are not from previous contentions at all but from what i have read on forums on this site extolling the virtues of Asian women compared to western women (or fat white chicks as they are more commonly referred to on Khmer440)
Using my cock to think would at least grant me a greater intelligence quota than you have presented.
Ooh touché ! Nice one, i have to give you that !
Seriously man? are you really that clueless? With all those obvious clues and lies even a blind man have no difficulties figuring it out. You are in a complete denial and uses your balls instead of your brain. Perhaps your dick is smaller than what you think it is.
tee hee the issues displayed by those accusing others of having issues. Pot, kettle. Mirror.
Thanks for sharing all these Andy. Hope the next series is as successful… there will be a next series after this one ends, won't there?
violet, you know the next stage of my life – it's all happy and boring. Nobody wants to read that! Might have to retire.
Dear Andy
I would like to apologise to you for several reasons ! where do I start ?! the horrible abuse thrown at you with no good reason ? and it was not deserved, my poor misjudgement ? my ignorance ? my prejudice, skimming through your last article rather than reading it properly ? No real good excuse for any of it but I am genuinely sorry. Doesn't matter how old you are, never too old to learn a lesson the hard way I guess… I have read quite a lot of your series and enjoyed them, they have made me laugh, but have to admit I was amazed at how much you could tolerate or be blind to. Glad to hear you found a good woman who has made you happy, there's lot to be said for a boring life !
Best wishes
Apology unreservedly accepted Claire. There's plenty abuse flung around on the internet and I'm thick-skinned enough to let it wash over me. No need to hide away from K440 – keep dipping in!


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Dún Laoghaire live chat forums. Updated daily.
Harjoe wrote:Just an aside piece there should be terrazzo floors in the collage in Carriglea Park,
I know that they were being put down when I worked there for the Christian Brothers in 1957 ,they were still working on the collage at that time and some Italian company were laying terrazzo floors down at the time, in fact the great Irish wrestler Gerry Martina who represented Ireland at the Melbourne Olympics in 1956 was one of the workman there I am sure his father owned the company.
Gulliver wrote:Yes Snowhite - For Ireland they have access to the archives of the Indo, Press, Examiner, and Freemans Journal as well as many provincial newspapers. Not the Irish Times. Also a large range of UK and US papers.
Micheál wrote:And for completness (I acknowledge Rocker already posted this elsewhere) . . .
Catholic Parish Registers are on-line here -
including these local parishes . . .
Monkstown http://registers.nli.ie/parishes/0526
(NLoI reports it does not hold records for this parish; it was constituted as an independent Parish in 1902)
Kingstown http://registers.nli.ie/parishes/0523
Glasthule http://registers.nli.ie/parishes/0522
Dalkey http://registers.nli.ie/parishes/0519
Blackrock http://registers.nli.ie/parishes/0506
Cabinteely http://registers.nli.ie/parishes/0510
Ballybrack http://registers.nli.ie/parishes/0505
Loughlinstown (Rathdown Workhouse Union) http://registers.nli.ie/parishes/1134
NLoI reports it does not hold records for this parish.
Micheál wrote:In which register is it mentioned? Is it recurring suggesting some local placename?
Or just once off ( which might suggest a more remote and/ or misspelt place.
Rocker wrote:one place I don't know is Berries. did anyone ever come across this place? any idea where it was?
No, Toss. It's reasonably close to Cackle!Is it near Dingle ?
Snowhite wrote:I was wondering could anyone help me with this, I've found out my Great Great Grandfather was a Public House Keeper in the late 1800's I think in Wicklow as that's where he married and lived as far as I know. Would this mean he owned it ? or only ran it ? Any ideas as to how I could find out ? his name was Dennis Byrne, I know Wicklow seems to be the Birth Place of every Byrne in History so could be tough going to find out anything. Thanks XX
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Simple Pasta From Scratch
- - Per Seat
What You Will Learn
Begin a great new tradition. There's nothing more delicious than fresh pasta, and crafting it yourself is much easier than you might think. Our chef instructor will first show you how to create the perfect pasta dough by hand, which you can use for any number of pasta shapes. Then you'll focus on pairing your handcrafted noodles with flavorful, complementary sauces. By the end you'll be even more passionate about pasta and know how to make incredible new dishes.
Elisa Hindes


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Finally got this recipe from my collection of books. Its similar to the coffee buns i made before, and it tastes as good as the coffee buns.
Here's the recipe...
Ingredients for Dough:
230g Bread flour
5g Instant yeast
170g Water
20g Egg
60g Sugar
1/4tsp Salt
25g Cold water
2.5g Instant yeast
100g Bread flour
30g Unsalted butter
Mexico Topping:
60g Salted butter
60g Icing sugar
60g Egg
60g Plain flour
** Almond Flakes for deco
~ Mix all ingredients well together.
Adequate raisins, salted butter.
~ Mix (A) till even and rest for 90 minutes
~ Add in (B) to (A) and mix well till form a smooth dough.
~ Add in (C) and continue kneading until elastic. Rest for 15 minutes.
~ Divide dough into 60g each and round up into balls, let rest for 5-10 minutes.
~ Wrap in raisins and butter, seal tightly and let prove double in size (about 20-30 minutes)
~ Pipe the mexico topping on the buns (as shown in the pix below) and sprinkle with almond flakes.
~ Bake at 190'C for 10-15 minutes.
It taste better when serve hot and the topping is much more crispy..:)


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|An Egyptian policeman stands guard near the scene of a bomb that targeted the convoy of Egyptian Interior Minister Mohammed Ibrahim in Cairo on 5 September 2013.(Photo: AFP - Gianluigi Guercia)
The Egyptian armed forces are conducting a military operation in Sinai along the border in Rafah. While the operation's stated objectives include pursuing "terrorists" and armed Islamic groups, the assault is threatening to drive residents from the area.
Sinai – In parallel with the military operation launched by the Egyptian army in Sinai, eyewitnesses confirmed to Al-Akhbar that the army is also demolishing homes on the Egyptian side of Rafah, without compensating owners and even threatening to expel them. It seems that the army wants to establish a buffer zone along the border with the Gaza Strip.
A high-level army commander visited several neighborhoods adjacent to the border on the evening of Saturday, August 31, to ask residents to evacuate their homes within a week in preparation for their demolition. According to Khaled Samir, a resident of Rafah, the military commander in question came to the neighborhood of Qanabza in plainclothes, giving the residents a week before the army would begin razing buildings within a 500-meter radius from the line separating the Egyptian and Palestinian sides of Rafah.
When asked whether the residents were compensated, Samir answered sarcastically, "We have all built palaces out of the profits from the tunnels." Taking on a more serious tone, Samir rejected what he called generalizations and collective punishment, saying that he has not been able to get married yet because his government salary was not even enough to cover his basic needs.
The threat of expelling dozens of families without compensation led residents of the area to stage a small protest on Sunday. Tensions in the city were fueled further when the army began demolishing homes owned by the Shaweir family, prompting their occupants to threaten to blow themselves up using cooking gas bottles should the army come in. But a field commander intervened and ended the standoff, telling the residents that the demolition would be stopped and that they would not be expelled.
However, this did not last for more than a day. On Monday afternoon, the army resumed demolishing homes, which the locals stressed did not contain any tunnels. This puts the total number of homes demolished in Rafah in the span of three weeks at nine, some using explosives and others using bulldozers.
Human rights activists from Sheikh Zowaid, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Al-Akhbar that when they went to document the demolitions, they were warned by local residents not to approach because there was a "settling of scores" taking place between the owners of the homes and Egyptian intelligence officers.
Meanwhile, the residents of the border region claimed that the vehicles carrying goods to be smuggled through the tunnels could still be seen passing as usual, while most tunnels were operating efficiently. These residents said that the demolished tunnels shown in propaganda pictures by the Egyptian army accounted for only a small number of the tunnels supplying goods to Gaza.
According to the official account, only homes adjacent to tunnels are being demolished. However, residents of Rafah say that the number of destroyed tunnels is less than half the number of homes.
On the eastern side of the border, residents of the Gaza Strip complain of a fuel crisis, which has produced long lines at gas stations, but they did not complain about any shortage in basic goods or high inflation. According to a security source, stepping up control over the tunnels on the Egyptian side affects the passage of individuals, fuel, subsidized goods, and weapons. But basic goods are allowed in so that the humanitarian crisis in Gaza will not worsen further and blow up in the face of the Egyptian authorities, as the source put it.
In parallel with the demolitions, the army has carried out attacks against what it says are militant positions, but which have affected civilian homes. On Tuesday, Egyptian army Apache helicopters bombed positions in the villages of Thuma and Muqataa, south of Sheikh Zuwaid and Rafah, but local sources said that four empty houses in Thuma were hit, including an abandoned cottage belonging to a radical Islamist from the Nile Valley.
Two homes were also attacked in the village of Muqataa, and parts of the Abu Munir mosque nearby came under fire. While locals said that there were no fatalities, state television claimed that more than 10 were killed and several more injured. Neighbors living near the bombed houses denied the official account, which claimed that weapons caches had been the targets.
On Wednesday morning, the Salafi Jihadi Group in Sinai issued a statement accusing the army of deceit and treason, citing the civilian homes destroyed in the bombardment and the damage sustained by the mosque.
The statement said that the home of the family of Yusri Muharib al-Sawarka, who was assassinated by an Israeli drone during Eid al-Fitr, was also targeted in the bombing. The statement was supplemented by a few dozen pictures of the aftermath of the bombardment on the mosque and the homes, including detailed information about the remnants of rockets used.
Interestingly, Debka, a website close to Israeli intelligence, published a comment on the incidents in Sinai, saying that this was the first time in eight years that the Egyptian army fulfilled commitments agreed to by Hosni Mubarak in 2005 following the Israeli unilateral disengagement from Gaza.
According to Debka's report, the Egyptian army, since the ouster of Mohamed Mursi, has pursued two strategies simultaneously to crack down on "terrorists" who Debka claims pose a threat to both Egypt and Israel: establish a 14 km buffer zone along the border with Gaza and erect dozens of checkpoints in the region to restrict logistical supplies to the militants.