Happy New Year!

The Mad Fire Burns!

Interesting people: Eugen Sänger

Eugen Sänger was one of the pioneers of the VfR. Born in Bohemia in 1905, he graduated from the Technical Universities of Graz and Vienna and in 1936 he agreed to lead a rocket development team for the Third Reich with the goal of creating a sub-orbital bomber capable of attacking the United States.

In these days of technological marvels, its easy to forget just how advanced the concepts proposed by the VfR were, and its even easier to dismiss the achievements of the group due to their connection to the Nazi's. Its important when considering the merits of Germany's scientists in the 1930's to consider just how acceptable nationalism was and to ask one self whether we are able to better identify that which threatens our essential freedoms.

Whilst working for the Reich Aviation Ministry, Sänger and his wife, the mathematician Irene Bredt designed the Silbervogel (silver bird) which with its lifting body design, is undoubtably one of the fore runners to the space shuttles designs the 1970's. The Silbervogel never flew, cancelled by the cash strapped Reich Aviation Ministry in 1942, and even if it had it was flawed and would most probably have suffered a catastrophic failure on re-entry. The Silbervogel was designed to rocket up to altitude and then skip across the atmosphere in a series of undulating hops towards its destination. The Nazi's wanted to use it as a bomber against America of course, but that was never going to happen. The costs versus the advantages were against the idea of a military vehicle from the start. The aeronatutical principles of the design however were ground breaking, even if the math needed to be adjusted by several decades of subsequent research, and were enough to secure Sängers place in history.

After the war, he went to work for the French where he founded the Fédération Astronautique, narrowly avoided being lured/snatched to the Soviet Union by the agents of Josef Stalin and eventually was made the first President of the International Astronautical Federation. Through out his life, Sänger remained at the fore front of conceptual propulsion and space craft design, but none of his own idea's were ever carried through to actual prototypes. Instead he became a sort of tecnological guru for others, a font of creativity from which some of the greatest engineers of the twentieth century could draw forth inspiration.

Mongol

Dir: Sergei Bodrov

I watched this with some friends last night, it is the story of Ghengis Khan, before he was Ghengis Khan and still known as Temüjin. Apparently it leans up against the ancient document, known as the 'Secret History of the Mongols' and subsequently it has a lot of vague explanations, some whopping great plot holes and a lot of mumbo-jumbo superstition to fill in the gaps. Frankly it was a bit disapointing. There is no evidence of the master politician or brilliant general, just a taciturn fellow whom every one accepts as Khan for no particular reason. Temüjin himself doesn't do much in the film except get kicked around, enslaved and saved by every one else for no particular reason.

The story is in two halves with the first half following Temüjin as a boy (image above). This part was quite good, Young Odnyam Odsuren played the character perfectly and with just the right amount of subtlety to give the impression of lurking brilliance with a touch of arrogant ambition.

Unfortunately, in the second and longer half of the film an older Temüjin is played by Japanese actor Tadanobu Asano, who has apparently been likened to a cross between Johnny Depp and Toshirô Mifune. All I can say to that is, I saw no evidence of that in this film. Asano played Temüjin as if he were sleep walking for the most part, though whether that is due to poor acting or poor direction, I can't know. What I do know is the film got noticably worse once Asano took over and the character of Temüjin seemed to be reduced to floating along helplessly on the flow of history.

Eventually the film reaches a climactic battle, but the thing is ruined by absurd tactics and divine intervention and Temüjin apparently wins by being the only Mongol not scared of thunder...

Through out this film, I got the sense that Bodrov was awed by who Temüjin was to become. Time and again characters in the film make references to the future as if they've already read about it and Temüjin himself does not demonstrate any reason why he would become Ghengis Khan, he simply sits around and things happen to him until the day comes when he decides its time to put in work and after a brief stop off to pray to the Great Sky God he instantly raises a vast army and goes to war. There is no explanation as to the logistics, not the politics, nor even the social conditions that made Temüjin's rise to power possible. Apparently Bodrov would have us believe that divine intervention and a loyal wife are all thats needed for a slave to become the greatest warlord in all history.

More autogyro designs

Over Christmas I drew a few more autogyro's for Oleg's Dog star RPG. I've already posted two previous designs here and these continue the concept of larger, more sophisticated auto gyro's than anything actually built and almost comparable to fixed wing aeroplanes. Most of these designs are based on American air craft of the second world war. This is because I've tried to keep to a certain sense of style that defies the low tech capabilities of the engineers. Since the Dwarves in Dog star have certain pre set limitations and capabilities, I've tried as much as possible to stay within those parameters. Naturally, I've also take a few liberties along the way.

These designs are not meant to be anything but fantastical. The aspirations towards a sense of possibility and realism is merely me having fun. I doubt any of these designs would actually work, though I don't see why large autogyros couldn't be built. Modern concepts do exist for big heavy lift autogyros.

The first (image above and schematic below) is the BU-53 based on a Junkers JU-52 and inspired by the opening sequence of the film 'Where Eagles Dare'. The rotor blades are a bit small in the sketch, but this is due to the lack of space in my sketch book. For this reason I usually don't bother drawing the rotor blades (they're also tricky to get right).


The next autogyro (below) is the only one of these desigsn to so far have made an appearance in Dog star (and the first of those posted in the autogyro post). The 'Valkyra' is a converted freight transporter, known as a Mannsfoschen, Type XII Jäger transportvorrichtung, with upgraded engines and a remote controlled gatling gun turret mounted just below the nose canopy. Oleg's Dwarven gatling gun designs are powered by diesel combustion so they're under-powered by conventional black powder standards. The range of its primary weapon limits the 'Valkyra' to close attack, but gravity means it can fire on targets beyond the weapons ordinary range of 1,500 yards. As any one worth their salt can see, 'Valkyra' is an obvious cross breed of the B-25 Mitchell and the P-61 Black Widow. Due to the limitations Oleg has placed on Dwarven technology in Dog star, 'Valkyra' has Victorian/First World War performance, but fairly reliable engineering for all that (Dwarves being excellent engineers but opposed to mass production).


The next is the Hunterwassser Mk 1, a civilian transport/executive air craft, inspired by the tilt rotor prototype Bell XV-3. The idea here is either one engine sits in the rear of the main fusilage with power transfered to the props by means of crank shafts, or propulsion is provided by two small engines. Seven Dwarves can sit in the canopy section with the pilot in the nose.


The next two designs are military gunship variations on the Hunterwasser concept. They are the two seat 'Hornet' type A and the heavier, four seat 'Hornet' type B. Based loosely on a fantastic amalgamation of the Cobra attack helicopter and the B-25 medium bomber, the idea is for a cheap ground attack aircraft using two powerful engines for higher speeds. Additional fuel can be carried in drop tanks under the engines pylons. Note autogyro's don't need wings, but they do need large tail planes for stability. Unlike aeroplanes, they can fly very slowly and would make good gun platforms against primitive ground forces (this is an important factor in Dog star).

Since Sheev'dran Dwarves are not big on industrial scale mass productions, I tend to imagine that each autogyro is hand built and thus different in individual ways. This doesn't mean that popular designs don't exist though, only that designs get modified from aircraft to aircraft.

The Type A is armed with two .75 chain guns in the engine pylons (and powered by the engines) and two gatling guns in a remote controlled belly turret. The Type B has a similar armament, but with an additional gun turret. These autogyro's are designed to circle over a battle field and pour down fire over enemy troops. Larger or hardened targets could be stafed with the chain guns

The last design is the 'Lightning II', and although it is not the only combat autogyro, it is the only such aircraft I have designed with air combat specifically in mind. This design was also posted in my previous autogyro post. It is based on the P-38 Lightning.

The idea of the 'Lightning II' is for an autogyro built for high speed, able to simply out run, and out climb anything it should meet in a dog fight. It has three engines powering two pull and one push propeller and a single .75 chain gun in the nose. It is a large air craft and can carry two Dwarves, though it requires only one to operate. Like the 'Valkyra' it is a unique aircraft.

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Link

edited due to formatting problems with IE

Merry Christmas Perp!

Ha ha ha, the good old days were so much easier.
I just didn't realise it at the time.

Glædelig Jul...

As Malmø burns for the second night running and Gjellerup church escapes its fifth arson attack this year, Kurt Westergaard (who has yet to be murdered despite the best efforts of two Tunisians) has sent a nice Christmas card to the Free Press Society. The text reads "Self censorship only makes the truth more convincing". The figure holds a small sign that reads 'Freedom of speech'.

City Class Ironclads

The city-class gun-boats of the American civil war were purpose built, flat bottom warships designed specifically to operate on the Mississippi river and its many tributaries. They were built in 1862 by a wealthy industrialist named James Buchanan Eads and were built around the idea of the Mississippi river boats. As you can see on the pictures, they were literally built like floating bunkers whose most prominent feature was their armoured casemate made of 2½ inch iron plates. Though spacious on the inside, they were crewed by 251 men and officers, so sleeping accomidation was provided by tenting on top of the casement.

Seven ships of this class were made at the same time and due to funding issues they served in the Union Army's Mississippi River Squadron, before later serving in the Union Navy. They saw action in numerous battles, even before they had been fully manned, amongst other famous battles they fought at the Battle of Fort Henry, the Battle of Fort Donelson, the Battle of Island Number Ten, the Battle of Plum Point Bend, the Battle of Memphis, and the Seige of Vicksburg.

As brown water warships, the city-class were good (at Memphis four of them annhilated eight Confederate 'cotton-clad' rams), but not invincible. At St. Charles, in Arkansas, on 17 June 1862, a Rebel cannon shot penetrated the casemate of USS Mound City and exploded her steam drum and killed or badly scalded most of her crew. The ship survived and of the original seven vessels, only two were lost to enemy fire.

City-class iron-clads were 53 metres long and 15.2 metres wide. They were originally designed to carry 16 guns but experience showed 13 guns of mixed types was better and this is the configeration most images show. Three guns to the fore, four on either broad side and two to the rear. As paddle steamers, they had two paddle wheels in an internal space which was armoured above. They had two non-condensing reciprocating steam engines (plus an auxilliary) powered by five boilers. The firebox was positioned under the boilers and the smoke funnels to the fore of the boilers. (I'm not sure how this arrangement worked as yet, but it seems the boilers were heated both from below and from within, though the deck plans I have procured show the fire room is to the fore of the boilers as are the smoke funnels. Very strange).


USS Cairo.
This image clearly demonstrates the over all design of the class, with the forward and port side batteries visible. Directly before the twin smoke funnels is the sloping hexagonal bridge house from where the ship was steered and commanded.

Probably the most famous of her class, the USS Cairo was sunk in the Yazoo River in 1862 by a remotely detonated mine, then after having lain for one hundred and three years in the mud and silt she was raised and partially restored. Today she can be seen at the Vicksburg National Military Park.

USS Mound City.
Another nice clear photograph showing the fore and portside batteries. This image also shows an additional structure added to the top of the bridgehouse designed to improve visibility for ships commander. As far as I am aware, none of the other city-class gun-boats had this addition.

USS Mound City served in numerous battles and survived until she was decommisioned and sold on 9th November. 1865.


USS Cincinnati.
Seen from the rear, with awnings and washing lines set. Clearly visible in this image is the location of the paddle wheels in their armoured casement. To the rear and fore of this are deck houses. Also visible in this image are the two rudders and the rearward battery.

At the Battle of Port Pillow (10 May 1862), the USS Cincinnati was rammed and sunk, but she was later raised and returned to service. She was then transferred to the Navy Department with other vessels of the Western Gunboat Flotilla. She took part in numerous operations before joining the attack on the Vicksburg batteries on 27th May 1863. USS Cincinnati came under heavy fire during the battle and was sunk for the second time, suffering 40 casualties.

She was duly raised a second time and took part in the Unions great blokade of the south until the war ended. She was decommisioned 4th August 1865.

USS Carondelet.
The above is a contemporary illustration showing coloured bands used for identification on the vessels smoke funnels. Like all city-class gun-boats, the USS Carondelet carried four ships boats.

She was decommissioned at Mound City on 20th June. 1865.


USS Baron De Kalb (formerly USS Louis).
Renamed after a famous Prussian general who had fought in the American War of Independence, the USS Baron De Kalb saw several battles and was sunk by a mine on the Yazoo River on the 13th July. 1863. Unlike the USS Cairo, she was never raised so I guess she must be the only city-class wreck left to find. Some reports indicate her commander may have been a mason and demonstrated this by virtue of masonic heraldry in between her smoke funnels.


USS Pittsburgh.
This image appears to show the USS Pittsburgh with a crane of some sort mounted on the bow. I'm not sure what this was, but it could have been to remove the many obstacles for which the Mississippi was infamous.

The USS Pittsburgh served long and hard, heavily damaged several times, but never sunk. She led the attack on the batteries at Grand Gulf April 29, and was heavily damaged during the five-and-a-half hour engagement which secured Union control of an important stretch of the river, making it possible for Grant to cross the river and attack Vicksburg from the rear. She was decommissioned at Mound City on 29th November. 1865.


USS Louisville.
Like her sister ships she saw extensive fighting during the war and apparently came through with hardly a scratch. She was decommissioned 21th July. 1865.
.

I warned ye!

The City of Books

via videosift.com

Send for Mulder & Scully

Mua HA HA HA HA HA!

Spring heeled Jack is an English character who appears to have started as a practical joke and gradually developed into a folk hero.

He is first mentioned in a report from 1837 when he jumped clear over a cemetery railing and landed in the path of a startled business man. No actual attack occurred it seems, but Jack's appearance was enough to shock the business man, for the tall figure was caped and devilishly attired and had red burning eyes.

Later in the same year he molested a girl in London called Mary Stevens jumping out of the shadows of Clapham Common one night, scaring her half to death, then grabbing her, smooching her face whilst clawing at her belly with hands she later described as "cold and clammy as those of a corpse". She screamed and off he ran.

The very next day Jack struck again bounding before a carriage and causing it to crash. Witnesses then described how, with a babbling, high-pitched and ringing laugh he leaped over a nine foot high wall in a single bound and thus escaped the scene... which feat explains his name.

I can't believe I've never heard of this character before, but apparently from 1837 until 1870 he was seen any number of times, appearing without warning all over England and causing mayhem where ever he went. Later sightings continued right up until the last in 1986 but obviously these must have been other people... right?

Even with springs under ones shoes, leaping over walls and buildings isn't something old people are wont to attempt. I certainly wouldn't! Spring heeled Jack got his name from the news paper accounts and the ever popular Penny Dreadfulls which immortalized his reputation (and no doubt spawned his many followers). His ability to leap over walls was thought to be done by means of some kind of compressed mechanism in his heels, a conclusion reached after the police examined foot prints he left at the scene of his carriage ambush. He was described as a tall, muscular man, wearing a black cape, or cloak, usually wearing some form of black, grey or white skin tight garment, and on some occasions he wore a white egg-shaped helmet. Manic laughter also seems to have been a trademark of Spring heel Jack, and given the nature of his antics, I can't say I'm surprised.

He was also thought to have appeared in other costumes, as a ghost or a bear, but its usually as a cloaked devil with burning red eyes (and sometimes long pointed ears) that he makes his appearance. He also seems to have had a fondness for scaring girls, often grabbing them with metallic claws, or (and this is a nice touch) vomiting blue white flames at them, though in some accounts the blue fire is emitted from his chest.

Who or what on Earth this man was remained something of a public mystery, but there were several rumours and suspects. The Lord Mayor of London at the time, Sir John Cowan appeared to know something about it, for in 1838 he quoted an anonymous letter he had received.

It appears that some individuals (of, as the writer believes, the highest ranks of life) have laid a wager with a mischievous and foolhardy companion, that he durst not take upon himself the task of visiting many of the villages near London in three different disguises — a ghost, a bear, and a devil; and moreover, that he will not enter a gentleman's gardens for the purpose of alarming the inmates of the house. The wager has, however, been accepted, and the unmanly villain has succeeded in depriving seven ladies of their senses, two of whom are not likely to recover, but to become burdens to their families.

At one house the man rang the bell, and on the servant coming to open door, this worse than brute stood in no less dreadful figure than a spectre clad most perfectly. The consequence was that the poor girl immediately swooned, and has never from that moment been in her senses.

The affair has now been going on for some time, and, strange to say, the papers are still silent on the subject. The writer has reason to believe that they have the whole history at their finger-ends but, through interested motives, are induced to remain silent

Wikipedia article.


Things went from bad to worse however, for not long after this Spring heeled Jack appears to have have murdered a prostitute, which I don't think really fits in with the other stories about him, and I think perhaps at this point the legend had taken on its own momentum and people were subverting the character to their own ends...

But later that year as Lucy Scales (or "Squires") and her sister walked home on a London street, Jack jumped out of the shadows and spat blue flames in her face, temporarily blinding her, then retreated into the darkness. This attack and others were widely reported by the press, so when Jane Alsop heard a knock at the door and the words, "I'm a police officer-for God's sake, bring me a light, for we have caught Spring Heeled Jack in the lane!" she ran outside eager to assist. She handed a candle to the tall, thin man standing at the gate, but though he wore a helmet and cloak like a police officer, when he took the light and drew it toward himself, Alsop could see he was wearing tight white oilskin clothing and had glowing red eyes. He spat blue and white flames at her, then pinning her head under one arm, began to tear at her face, neck, and clothing with his icy claws. Alsop's sister, hearing screams, ran outside and dragged Jane into the house. Spring Heeled Jack waited at the door, and knocked several times, then fled when the help the girls called for finally arrived. He easily eluded them, but dropped his cape. It was picked up by an accomplice who also got away. Witnesses reported seeing Jack leaping from rooftop to rooftop, and even climbing a church steeple, throughout the rest of the year. He also tried the same trick he pulled on Jane Alsop, but the servant boy on the other side of the door called out for help and Jack left. Then there were no Spring Heeled Jack sightings for an entire year; and for a while after that, they were sporadic and occurred mostly in the country. In 1842, prime suspect Marquis of Waterford married, settled in Ireland, and reportedly led and exemplary life. However, starting in 1843, a wave of Jack attacks occurred all over England, the most serious being the 1845 murder of thirteen year old prostitute Maria Davis.

The Legend of Spring Heeled Jack.

Who or what ever this man (or men?) was, he was never caught. On a few occasions people would shoot him, but this only seems to have resulted in a distinct metallic sound and Jack merely leaped away. In 1877 a soldier on guard at Aldershot barracks was amazed to see a peculiar figure bounding across the road towards him, making a metallic noise. He issued a challenge but lost sight of the figure for a moment. When he turned about, there was Jack who slapped him across the face several times with "a hand as cold as that of a corpse" (this seems to have been Jack's favourite method of assaulting men by the way). Several other guards ran up to see what the noise was about but Jack leaped into the air and clear over the approaching soldiers in a single bound. Some what taken aback one of the soldiers shot Jack, but this had no effect and he departed, laughing madly as usual.

Hundreds of sightings and bizarre attacks have been attributed to Spring heeled Jack who seems to have turned up all over England, though was mostly seen in London. Later he made numerous spooky (and bullet proof) appearances in the USA too.

I wonder if he was a time traveller? Wearing a skin tight white/grey suit beneath his cloak, seen wearing an white egg-shaped helmet, apparently impervious to bullets, able to defy gravity, emitting a metallic sound as he bounded through the night...? Red glowing eyes and other pyrotechnics? Perhaps he was a temporal trickster which might explain how he was able to keep appearing abruptly for 150 years?

50,000...

...visitors since I started this blog.

5am...

It beggers belief. How can children have so much bloody energy? Where does it come from, and more importantly, where the hell does it all go?

Freja stomped about the apartment, loudly shouting for her mother (who hardly responded at all until 7am) and banging metal objects against things this morning, and I think I'm coming down with a nother cold, or something. My neck feels like its been used as an avil and my right nostril is running like a tap thats been jammed on open. The mere thought that another moifling will soon be upon us is enough to make me ranting upon the injustice of life.

Alas, whining about it won't help.

I need music!

Buran

On the day the first US shuttle flew into space for the very first time, my whole primary school class was sat in front of a TV watching it. I was seven years old. As a result, to this day I still regard the American shuttles as a shining success for NASA. I understand that the shuttles themselves represent a failure of politics in that they were designed to service a space station that was never built, a Mars mission which never took place and their original purpose was to be able to be relaunched within a week of landing.

Still. I don't see any of that as being NASA's fault really. Politics and war took away the funding and killed the dream before ever Enterprise lifted off. The shuttles remain a technological achievement eclipsed only by the Apollo programme and the Soviet/Russian space stations.

To illustrate just how difficult it is to build a reusable space craft in that order of size, one needs only look to the Soviet designs; the Burya, the Buran, the Baikal and the Spiral The Buran shuttles were similar in basic design, but differed in a number of ways. Some people regard them as a rip off, but others point to the greater number of differences which seperate the two designs. Where as the American shuttle was an orbital ferry, the Soviet shuttle was only one part of a much greater plan to build heavy orbital lifters with superior engines, a greater payload and a much more flexible booster system. The work which eventually led to the Soviet shuttles started as far back as 1951 and under went multiple redesigns. Had they ever gone operational, there is little doubt that the ambitious Buran shuttles would have been superior to NASA's design. Alas, they never went operational. Only an initial unmanned flight made it into space before the whole programme was cancelled due to costs.



Footage of test launches and landings of the Buran-Energia heavy lift system. Note that on one take off, the boosters are carrying a black cargo pod and not the shuttle.



Footage of the Antonov 225 carrying the Buran shuttle (sorry about the tacky music)



The Buran was designed to be bigger and better than its American competitor, and this is probably what killed it. It had the separate Energiya heavy rocket system to take it into orbit, capable of lifting a hundred ton payload and with specially designed engines that were so powerful that they are used today by the USA, the specially built Antonov 225 aircraft (still the largest operational cargo plane in the world) to return it to Baikonur Space Centre and it even had its own visual programming language called DRAKON, which is now used by the Sea Launch company. Naturally the whole system needed its own manufacture and launch facilities also.

The sheer scale of the ambition is all the more breath taking when one considers how reticent the Soviets were of announcing their intentions. The Energiya rocket (named after the Energiya Bureau which designed it) was a technological marvel all by itself, with numerous variations, one being the 'Vulkan-Hercules' designed to increase the payload to a fantastic 175 tons (by comparison the Saturn V had a payload of 118 tons, the NASA shuttles have a payload of 24 tons and the previous Soviet super rocket, the N1 had a payload of 75 tons). Too bad the Soviets weren't as good at making money as they were at spending it.

The Energiya-Buran programme was cancelled in 1993 after a single unmanned test flight of the orbiter on my eighteenth birthday (15 Nov) in 1988, but sources in Russia claim a second Soviet shuttle, the Baikal flew on 4th February 1992. Whether or not this is true is difficult to determine, but photographs of the Baikal show it followed by Mig 29 chase planes where as the Buran was followed by Mig 25's. Your guess is as good as mine but given the gap between the dates of the respective flights I think its probably a hoax.

According to DRB

According to them, there is an interesting story associated with the naming of these ships. Everybody knows that "Buran" means a snowstorm. "Baikal", however, was the originally intended name for the program, scrapped in fears that some of the letters will burn out on landing and transform the name into "Baika" (which means a fairy-tale, untrue story), or even worse, into "kal" which means simply "crap". With "Buran"'s successful flight in 1988 these fears were put to rest, so "Baikal" again became a viable moniker. It's also worth mentioning that the projected future ships would also bear stormy names - like "Hurricane / Uragan" and "Typhoon".

I can well believe that, even though I don't believe the story from that same site that the Baikal ever flew. In the end the Soviet shuttles were discarded, literally; one was discovered in the Persian Gulf and taken to the Speyer Technical Museum in Germany. In all some ten Buran shuttles were built, most for testing and never meant to fly, and unfortunately most were left to rot. One was put in storage and another was used as a test bed for . The story ends on a tragic note however, for the Buran in storage, the same which flew in 1988 I am informed, was destroyed in 2002 when the roof of the building which housed it collapsed, killing eight people.

There is a lot of conflicting information on this subject, much of it confounding in nature, or written in Russian, but the bottom line is, only one nation has thus far managed to build, use and maintain a re-usable fleet of space craft. For all the many achievements of the Energiya-Buran system, after 14.5 billion rubles had been poured into the project, it failed in its primary purpose, and may even have helped take the Soviet Union down with it.

Wouldn't it be cool though if Energiya and the ESA could get together and build a new one?

I can still remember how amazed and inspired I was in 1977. I didn't even know that NASA wasn't British, or that the shuttle was something which really belonged to other people. Watching it take off, I felt it was mine, that as a human being, it belonged to me. I wish I could feel that again!

Official Buran site
Buran-Energiya
More video of the Buran Launch (low quality)
Buran at Astronautix


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Afghanistan

Denmark has lost two more soldiers in Afghanistan, twenty nine year old Overkonstabel Dan Gyde and twenty two year old Konstabel Jacob Grønnegaard Gade were killed on Thursday.

My heart weeps for their families, not least at this time of year when family becomes all the more important. Its not more than a week ago that I saw an interview with the wife of Major Anders Storrud who was killed 16th Oct 2007. One year on since his death, his wife spoke of the lack of support from the official military, musing that our small country with no tradition for war, doesn't really understand the sacrifices asked of its personnel. She described the difference in how the soldiers of Anders Storrud's unit, who have supported her and helped finish the building of her home to the sudden stop of pay and official silence from the state.

I grew indignant watching the report, I must say. How morally destitute are we when we cannot even pay a decent compensation to the families of our soldiers? Were it up to me, any children left behind would be granted a million kroner a piece and I'd still consider that a poor demonstration of gratitude.

Artist of the Month: John Harris

John Harris has the sort of style that a great many American Illustrators developed during the 1970's and 80's. Most probably based on actual photographs, he composes his images as if they were photographs, but photographs taken with an impressionist's camera. Its mostly his composition I like, though I also enjoy his use of colours. He has a way of looking at big things that captures their size, despite his subjective colours and obscure narrative. He's also done a lot of sci fi art which has become iconic.


Mostly I just like the way he paints though. Big, unafraid and ambitious. Look at the superb orange under-lit high-light on the girls neck and tell me that isn't inspiring!