Posted by Wicked Sago | Posted in Others | Posted on 12:00 AM
Happy New Year To All
Showing posts with label Others. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Others. Show all posts
Posted by Wicked Sago | Posted in International , Others , SciFi | Posted on 11:31 AM
10. Enterprise (NX-01)
Commissioned in 2151, Enterprise was the first starship of the NX class, Starfleet's first long-range exploration vessels with a theoretical top speed of warp 5.4 by the fourth to last episode of the 4th season, considerably faster than any other Human vessels of the era.
Captain Archer made first contact with the Suliban, Tholians, Klingons, and Xindi, among others, although few of these encounters were peaceful. Enterprise established Earth's presence in previously uncharted regions of space, bringing together the Andorians and Vulcans—two species who had been on the verge of war for years.
Enterprise was pivotal in defending Earth from a dangerous alliance of five alien races from the planet Xindus known as the Xindi in 2153 through 2154. The ship suffered severe damage several times during the mission and the crew suffered heavy casualties, but managed to return home after an unexpected detour to an alternate version of 1944 in which Nazi Germany had conquered much of the eastern United States; although the vessel did not land during that mission, it was brought within tens of meters from the ground in order to help restore the timeline.
9. USS Defiant (NX-74205)
Designed in 2366, the Defiant was the first of what was to be a new class of heavily-armed Federation starship, and later reputed to be one of the most heavily-armed vessels in the entire Alpha Quadrant. Officially designated an escort, although unofficially a warship, the Defiant-class was specifically designed to counter the Borg. Soon after the first vessel was completed however, a combination of a less urgent Borg threat and several design flaws caused Starfleet to suspend the project. Among the flaws was the fact that the Defiant's engines were overpowered relative to the size of the ship – so much so that the Defiant nearly "tore itself apart" during its shakedown cruise. Benjamin Sisko became intimately involved with the project while stationed at the Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards after the destruction of the USS Saratoga at Wolf 359.
In early 2371, as Federation-Dominion hostility escalated, the Defiant was taken out of storage and assigned to Deep Space 9 to protect the station from the Dominion, who had recently destroyed the USS Odyssey, a Galaxy-class starship.
8. USS Yeager (NCC-61947)
The Saber-class of Federation starship was first introduced in the late 24th century, and was in full service by 2373. The ship featured a design more compact than other Starfleet vessels, and was fairly well armed despite its small size; the class has featured prominently in the Battle of Sector 001 against the Borg and in the Dominion War.
7. USS Thunderchild (NCC-63549)
A Federation starship of the late 24th century.
In 2373 the Thunderchild fought against the Borg in the Battle of Sector 001.
6. USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-A)
The USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-A) was the second Federation starship to carry that name.
She was constructed at the San Francisco Fleet Yards and commissioned at the Earth Spacedock facility in 2286.
Externally, the Enterprise-A was virtually identical to the refit USS Enterprise, destroyed several months prior to the launch.
The bridge was in its customary location on Deck 1. At least three different modules were used during the ship's service. They were the first bridges on a ship named Enterprise to almost completely use touch sensitive control interfaces.
The torpedo bay was on Deck 13. It was much more automated than on the previous Enterprise, and the torpedo room itself was smaller and enclosed.
No "unauthorized" hand phaser could be fired aboard the ship at a level above stun without an alarm sounding.
The shuttlebay was located at the rear of the ship's engineering section. Unlike in her predecessor, the shuttlebay was a separate and distinct area from the cargo bay. The ship had at least two (possibly five) shuttlecraft, including the Galileo and the Copernicus. Normally, a tractor beam guided the shuttle to a landing. A large net barricade could be erected to capture an incoming shuttle which was landing too fast or otherwise disabled.
Officers had crew quarters similar to those on the previous Enterprise. Enlisted crew members were required to bunk together. As many as eight crew members were assigned to a room, each assigned a storage locker. Chimes sounded at the top of every hour. Meals were prepared in a galley, although there appeared to be primitive replicators on board the ship.
The Enterprise-A had a vertical warp core similar to that of the Galaxy-class of seventy years later. The core could be accessed through main engineering on Deck 15. An isolation door could be brought down to separate the core from the rest of the ship.
5. USS Voyager (NCC-74656)
Intrepid-class Federation starship launched in 2371 under the command of Captain Kathryn Janeway. The vessel was noted for independently, and successfully, completing an unscheduled seven-year journey across the previously unexplored Delta Quadrant between 2371 and 2378.
The USS Voyager was constructed at the Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards orbiting Mars and was launched from Earth Station McKinley on stardate 48038.5 in 2371. At the time Voyager was considered one of the fastest and most advanced starships constructed. She was the first to test the class 9 warp drive, had a maximum warp factor of 9.975, bio-neural circuitry, and was one of the first ships to test the Emergency Medical Hologram.
Captain Kathryn Janeway assumed command shortly before Voyager left drydock. She was greeted and given a tour of the ship by Admiral Patterson.
Voyager's first assignment was to track down a missing Maquis raider, the Val Jean, commanded by former Starfleet officer Chakotay. The raider was also carrying an undercover Starfleet officer, Voyager's security chief Lieutenant Tuvok. Captain Janeway enlisted the help of Tom Paris, the disgraced son of Starfleet Admiral Owen Paris, whose knowledge of the Badlands was determined to be essential to the mission.
Shortly after departing Deep Space 9 to begin her search, Voyager encountered a coherent tetryon beam which pulled the vessel 70,000 light-years into the Delta Quadrant. The crew was subjugated to painful genetic testing to see if any crew members would be suitable to mate with the being responsible for the transfer, unfortunately for the Caretaker, none were compatible.
By the time the Voyager crew was able to make any kind of meaningful contact with the Caretaker, he was near death and unable to send them back to the Alpha Quadrant. Although Lieutenant Tuvok believed he could activate the system that could send Voyager back himself, that would have meant potentially leaving the technology in the hands of a hostile native species, the Kazon.
Instead of allowing the Kazon to seize the Caretaker's advanced technology and potentially harm the peaceful Ocampa, Captain Janeway made the decision to destroy the Caretaker's array and strand Voyager in the Delta Quadrant. After the destruction of the Val Jean during the battle with the Kazon, the Starfleet and Maquis crewmembers were forced to merge for the 75-year journey home.
4. USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-C)
The USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-C) was an Ambassador-class starship. The fourth Federation starship to carry the name Enterprise, the Enterprise-C was commanded by Captain Rachel Garrett.
3. Prometheus Class
In 2344, the Enterprise responded to a distress call from the Klingon outpost on Narendra III, which was under attack by the Romulans. When the Enterprise arrived at the outpost, she was engaged by four Romulan Warbirds.
Few details are known about the actual battle. What is known, however, is that the Enterprise was destroyed with the presumed loss of all hands. Starfleet would not commission another Enterprise until nearly two decades later in 2363.
It was later revealed by Sela that the Romulans took a number of the ship's crew prisoner.
In the aftermath of the battle, the Klingons were deeply impressed by the act of self-sacrifice by a Starfleet crew to protect a Klingon outpost, and the Enterprise-C's ultimate legacy was reinforcing the relations between the Klingon Empire and the United Federation of Planets, leading to a close alliance of peace.
2. USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D)
A Galaxy-class starship commissioned in 2363, the fifth Federation Starfleet ship to bear the name Enterprise. She was called the Flagship of the Federation. The Enterprise-D was destroyed in 2371. Under the command of Jean-Luc Picard, the ship represented the Federation on first contact with 27 alien species.
The Enterprise was built at Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards orbiting Mars in the Sol system. Construction was supervised by Commander Orfil Quinteros. Dr. Leah Brahms was responsible for much of the Enterprise's warp propulsion system design. In an alternate timeline, the Enterprise was the first Galaxy-class war ship constructed.
The ship's nacelle tube was the site of a multiple murder-suicide while she was still under construction at Utopia Planitia. A member of the construction team, Walter Pierce, became jealous of a former lover's new relationship. He killed the two officers, Marla Finn and William Hodges, then disposed of their bodies in the plasma stream. Pierce committed suicide in the same manner, leaving a telepathic imprint in a bulkhead that was not discovered until 2370.
Final systems completion and shakedown was conducted at Earth Station McKinley. Captain Jean-Luc Picard took command of the ship on stardate 41153.7 at the order of Rear Admiral Norah Satie.
1. USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-E)
A Sovereign-class Federation starship operating in the late 24th century, and the sixth Federation starship to bear the name.
The Enterprise-E was launched on stardate 49827.5 and was, at the time, the most advanced starship in the fleet. She was built at the San Francisco Fleet Yards in the orbit of Earth.
Captain Jean-Luc Picard assumed command shortly after the vessel's christening, just over a year following the destruction of her predecessor. Most of Picard's crew from the USS Enterprise-D were reassigned to the Enterprise-E.
Source: Wiki
Posted by Wicked Sago | Posted in Others , Technology | Posted on 4:38 PM
10. Samsung i900 Omnia
9. Nokia N82
8. Nokia 5310 XpressMusic
7. Nokia E71
6. Sony Ericsson K850
5. Nokia N95 8GB
4. Nokia N96
3. Sony Ericsson XPERIA X1
2. Nokia N97
1. Nokia 5800 XpressMusic
Source: Mobile Reviews from mobileburn.com
Posted by Wicked Sago | Posted in International , Others , People | Posted on 9:30 AM
10. Lizzie Borden
A New England spinster who was the central figure in the hatchet murders of her father and stepmother on August 4, 1892 in Fall River, Massachusetts in the United States. The murders, subsequent trial, and following trial by media became a cause célèbre. The fame of the incident has endured in American pop culture and criminology. Although Lizzie Borden was acquitted, no one else was ever arrested or tried, and she has remained notorious in American folklore. Dispute over the identity of the killer or killers continues to this day.
9. Myra Hindley
The Moors murders were carried out by Ian Brady and Myra Hindley between July 1963 and October 1965, in and around what is now Greater Manchester, England. The victims were five children aged between 10 and 17—Pauline Reade, John Kilbride, Keith Bennett, Lesley Ann Downey and Edward Evans—at least four of whom were sexually assaulted. The murders are so named because two of the victims were discovered in graves dug on Saddleworth Moor; a third grave was discovered on the moor in 1987, over 20 years after Brady and Hindley's trial in 1966. The body of a fourth victim, Keith Bennett, is also suspected to be buried there, but as of 2009 it remains undiscovered.
The police were initially aware of only three killings—those of Edward Evans, Lesley Ann Downey, and John Kilbride. The investigation was reopened in 1985, after Brady was reported in the press as having confessed to the murders of Pauline Reade and Keith Bennett. Brady and Hindley were taken separately to Saddleworth Moor to assist the police in their search for the graves, both by then having confessed to the additional murders.
Described by the press as "the most evil woman in Britain", Hindley made several appeals against her life sentence, claiming she was a reformed woman and no longer a danger to society, but she was never released. She died in 2002, aged 60. Brady was declared criminally insane in 1985, since when he has been confined in the high-security Ashworth Hospital. He has made it clear that he never wants to be released, and has repeatedly asked to be allowed to die.
8. Rosemary West
English serial killer, now an inmate at HMP Low Newton, Brasside, Durham, after being convicted of 10 murders in 1995. Her husband Fred, who committed suicide in prison while awaiting trial, is believed to have collaborated with her in the torture and murder of at least 10 young women, many at the couple's home in Gloucester, England.
Fred West is known to have carried out 12 murders, but Rosemary had no involvement in the first two, as she had not met Fred at the time.
The crimes for which Rosemary West was convicted occurred mainly between April 1973 and August 1978. She murdered Charmaine West, the daughter of Fred's previous wife Rena, in June 1971, and buried her in their previous home of 25 Midland Road, Gloucester whilst Fred West was serving a prison sentence for petty theft. One of the bodies found at 25 Cromwell Street was that of their daughter, Heather, who was murdered in June 1987 at the age of 16, after being abused by Rosemary while Fred raped her. The Wests told friends and concerned parties that Heather had gone away to work at a holiday village.
In August 1992 Fred West was arrested after being accused of raping his 13-year-old daughter three times, and Rosemary West was arrested for child cruelty. This case against them collapsed in June 1993 when their daughter refused to testify in court. All of the Wests' children were removed from their custody to foster homes. This case brought to light the disappearance of Heather West, who had not been seen since 1987, and triggered the major investigation that followed.
7. Queen Mary I
Queen of England and Queen of Ireland from 19 July 1553 until her death. She was the eldest daughter of Henry VIII and only surviving child of Catherine of Aragon. As the fourth crowned monarch of the Tudor dynasty, she is remembered for restoring England to Roman Catholicism after succeeding her short-lived half brother, Edward VI, to the English throne. In the process, she had almost 300 religious dissenters burned at the stake in the Marian Persecutions, earning her the sobriquet of "Bloody Mary". Her re-establishment of Roman Catholicism was reversed by her successor and half-sister, Elizabeth I.
Insurrections broke out across the country when she insisted on marrying Philip, with whom she was in love. The Duke of Suffolk once again proclaimed that his daughter, Lady Jane Grey, was queen. In support of Elizabeth, Thomas Wyatt led a force from Kent that was not defeated until he had arrived at London. After the rebellions were crushed, the Duke of Suffolk, his daughter, Lady Jane Grey, and her husband were convicted of high treason and executed. Elizabeth, though protesting her innocence in the Wyatt affair, was imprisoned in the Tower of London for two months, then was put under house arrest at Woodstock Palace.
As Queen, Mary was very concerned about heresy and the English church. She had always rejected the break with Rome instituted by her father and the establishment of Protestantism by Edward VI. She had England reconcile with Rome and Reginald Cardinal Pole, the son of her governess the Countess of Salisbury (who was beheaded for treason by Mary's father Henry VIII) and once considered a suitor, became Archbishop of Canterbury; Mary had his predecessor Thomas Cranmer burned at the stake. Mary came to rely greatly on Pole for advice.
Edward's religious laws were abolished by Mary's first Parliament in the Statute of Repeal Act (1553). Church doctrine was restored to the form it had taken in the 1539 Six Articles.
Mary also persuaded Parliament to repeal the Protestant religious laws passed by Henry VIII. Getting their agreement took several years, and she had to make a major concession: tens of thousands of acres of monastery lands confiscated under Henry were not to be returned because the new landowners created by this distribution were very influential. This was approved by the Papacy in 1554. The Revival of the Heresy Acts were also passed in 1554.
Numerous Protestant leaders were executed (typically by burning) in the Marian Persecutions. Many rich Protestants chose exile, and around 800 left the country. The first to die were John Rogers (4 February 1555), Laurence Saunders (8 February 1555), Rowland Taylor (9 February 1555), and John Hooper, the Bishop of Gloucester (9 February 1555). The persecution lasted for almost four years. It is not known exactly how many died. John Foxe estimates in his Book of Martyrs that 274 were executed for their faith. The Marian persecutions are commemorated especially by bonfires in the town of Lewes in Sussex: there is a prominent martyrs' memorial outside St John's church at Stratford, London, to those Protestants burnt in Essex, and others in Christchurch Park Ipswich and the abbey grounds, Bury St Edmunds, to those executed in East and West Suffolk respectively.
6. Beverly Allitt
Dubbed the Angel of Death, is an English serial killer who murdered four children and injured five others while working as a State Enrolled Nurse (SEN), on the children's ward of Grantham and Kesteven Hospital, Lincolnshire. Her main method of murder was to inject the child with potassium chloride (to cause cardiac arrest), or with insulin (to induce lethal hypoglycemia).
She was sentenced to life imprisonment at her trial in 1993 and is currently being held at Rampton Secure Hospital.
5. Belle Gunness
One of America's most prolific known female serial killers.
At 5'8" (173 cm) and over 200 lb (91 kg), she was a physically strong woman. She may have killed both of her husbands and all of her children (on different occasions), but she is known to have killed most of her suitors, boyfriends, and her two daughters, Myrtle and Lucy. Her apparent motives involved collecting life insurance benefits. Reports estimate that she killed more than 40 people over several decades.
4. Ilse Koch
The wife of Karl Koch, the commandant of the concentration camps Buchenwald from 1937 to 1941 and Majdanek from 1941 to 1943. She was one of the first prominent Nazis to be tried by the US military.
After the trial was remitted under worldwide media attention, survivor accounts of her as a Satanic figure resulted in other authors describing her abuse of prisoners as 'sadistic'; a shadow image as "concentration camp murderess" transfixed itself to post-war German society. She was accused of taking souvenirs from the skin of murdered inmates with distinctive tattoos. She was known as "The Witch of Buchenwald" ("Die Hexe von Buchenwald") by the inmates because of her sadistic cruelty and lasciviousness toward prisoners. She is also called in English "The Beast of Buchenwald" and "The Bitch of Buchenwald."
3. Mary Ann Cotton
Mary Ann Robson was born in the small English village of Low Moorsley, County Durham in what is now the City of Sunderland in October 1832. Her childhood was an unhappy one. Her parents were both younger than 20 when they married. Her father Michael, a miner, barely managed to keep his family fed; he was ardently religious, a fierce disciplinarian with Mary Ann and her younger brother Robert, and active in the Methodist church’s choir.
When Mary Ann was eight, her parents moved the family to the County Durham village of Murton, where she went to a new school and found it difficult to make friends. Soon after the move her father fell 150 feet (46 m) to his death down a mine shaft at Murton Colliery.
When Mary Ann was 14, her mother remarried. Mary Ann did not like her new stepfather, Robert Stott, but she liked the things his better wages could buy. At the age of 16 she could not stand the discipline of her stepfather any longer, so she moved out to become a nurse at Edward Potter's home in the nearby village of South Hetton. She served there for three years and then returned to her mother's home and trained as a dressmaker. About this time she met a colliery labourer called William Mowbray.
2. Irma Grese
Grese was among the 44 people accused of war crimes at the Belsen Trial. She was tried over the first period of the trials (September 17 to November 17, 1945) and was represented by Major L. Cranfield.
The trials were conducted under British military law in Lüneburg, and the charges derived from the Geneva Convention of 1929 regarding the treatment of prisoners. The accusations against her centred on her ill-treatment and murder of those imprisoned at the camps, including setting dogs on inmates, shootings and sadistic beatings with a whip.
Survivors provided detailed testimony of murders, tortures, cruelties and sexual excesses in which Grese engaged during her years at Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen. They testified to acts of sadism, beatings and arbitrary shootings of prisoners, savaging of prisoners by her trained and allegedly half-starved dogs, and to her selecting prisoners for the gas chambers. After a fifty-three day trial, Grese was sentenced to hang.
Grese was reported to have habitually worn heavy boots and carried a whip and a pistol. Witnesses testified that she used both physical and emotional methods to torture the camp's inmates and enjoyed shooting prisoners in cold blood. They also claimed that she beat some women to death and whipped others using a plaited whip.
1. Elizabeth Bathory
A countess from the renowned Báthory family. She is possibly the most prolific female serial killer in history and is remembered as the "Blood Countess" and as the "Bloody Lady of Čachtice", after the castle near Trencsén (today Trenčín) in the Kingdom of Hungary, (today's Slovakia), where she spent most of her adult life.
After her husband's death, she and four collaborators were accused of torturing and killing hundreds of girls and young women, with one witness attributing to them over 600 victims, though the number for which she was convicted was 80. In 1610, she was imprisoned in the Csejte Castle, where she remained bricked in a set of rooms until her death four years later.
The case has led to legendary accounts of the Countess bathing in the blood of virgins in order to retain her youth and subsequently also to comparisons with Vlad III the Impaler of Wallachia, on whom the fictional Count Dracula is partly based, and to modern nicknames of the Blood Countess and Countess Dracula.
Source: Wiki
Posted by Wicked Sago | Posted in International , Others , Weapon | Posted on 9:41 AM
10. T-90S (Russia)
The T-90 is a Russian main battle tank (MBT) derived from the T-72, and is currently the most modern tank in service with the Russian Ground Forces, Naval Infantry and the Indian Army. The successor to T-72BM, the T-90 uses the gun and 1G46 gunner sights from the T-80U, a new engine, and thermal sights. Protective measures include Kontakt-5 ERA, laser warning receivers, the EMT-7 electromagnetic pulse (EMP) creator for the destruction of magnetic mines and the Shtora infrared ATGM jamming system. It is designed and built by Uralvagonzavod, in Nizhny Tagil, Russia.
9. Type 99G (China)
The Type 99, also known as ZTZ-99 and WZ-123, developed from the Type 98G (in turn, a development of the Type 98), is a third generation main battle tank (MBT) fielded by the Chinese People's Liberation Army. It is made to compete with other modern tanks. Although not expected to be acquired in large numbers due to its high cost compared to the more economical Type 96, it is currently the most advanced MBT fielded by China. The ZTZ99 MBT is considered one of the 12 best tanks in the world and is a successor to the Type 98 G tank manufactured for the for the People's Liberation Army (PLA).
8. Leclerc (France)
The Leclerc is a main battle tank (MBT) built by Nexter of France. It was named in honour of General Philippe Leclerc de Hauteclocque who led the drive towards Paris while in command of the Free French 2nd Armoured Division (2ème DB) in World War II.
The Leclerc is in service with the French Army and the army of the United Arab Emirates. In production since 1991, the Leclerc entered French service in 1992, replacing the venerable AMX 30 as the country's main armoured platform. With production now complete, the French Army has a total of 406 Leclercs and the United Arab Emirates Army has 388.
7. Type 90 (Japan)
After the adoption of the Type 74, the Japanese High Command was already looking for a superior, completely indigenous tank design to defeat the Soviet T-72. As a result, development of a prototype, the TK-X MBT began between 1976 and 1977. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and joint development were performed by leadership of TRDI (Japan Defence Agency's Technology Research and Development Institute). Major subcontractors include Japan Steel Works, Daikin Industries, Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, Fujitsu Company and the NEC Corporation.
Requirements of the Type 90 were completed in 1980 with two prototypes, both armed with a Japanese 120 mm gun (product by Japan Steel Works Limited) firing Japanese ammunition (product by Daikin Industries Limited), completed in 1982 to 1984. Testing, improvements (Turret and half Modular type ceramic composite armour), and designs were modified and constructed until 1986.
A second series of four prototypes was built between 1986 and 1988 which incorporated changes as a result of trials with the first two prototypes. These were armed with the Rheinmetall 120 mm smoothbore gun also fitted to the German Leopard 2 and, in a modified version, in the US M1A1/M1A2 Abrams MBT.
These second prototypes were used for development and then user trials, all of which were completed by 1989, before Japan formally acknowledged the Type 90 in 1990.
With the exception of the 120 mm smoothbore gun, which is made under licence from Rheinmetall of Germany, the Type 90 and its subsystems are all designed and built in Japan.
6. K1A1 Type 88 (South Korea)
In the 1970s, Republic of Korea was desperately in need of additional main battle tanks. M4A3E8 "Easy Eight" variant of Sherman tanks, dating back to World War II, had been retired from service by the Republic of Korea Army, and the backbone of the South Korean armor was formed up of M47 and M48 Patton tanks. Meanwhile, North Koreans had both numerical and technological advantages over the South Korean armor with their T-62 main battle tanks.
At first, attempts were made to obtain the United States' M60A1 Pattons, but ended in a failure. It was deemed that, even if the M60A1s were obtainable, there would not be enough of them to give the South Korean forces a significant advantage over existing North Korean tanks. A number of other plans were also devised, such as upgrading the existing M48 Pattons to the M48A3 and A5 standard, as well as obtaining the license to domestically produce Germany's Leopard 1 main battle tank. Only the upgrades to the Pattons were carried out, with the results being the M48A3K and M48A5K, while producing Leopard 1s were deemed as counterproductive as newer generation of main battle tanks were already being developed and tested in both the U.S. and Germany, namely the M1 Abrams and Leopard 2.
In light of this, the Park Chung-hee administration announced plans to domestically produce main battle tanks that were comparable to the newer generation of main battle tanks. However, having absolutely no experience in the design, development and manufacture of main battle tanks to speak of, the task assigned to the South Korean industry was all but impossible. Upon realization, foreign designs were considered and evaluated, with condition being that the winning design be licensed and produced domestically. The winning design was based on the XM1, the prototype of M1 Abrams, by Chrysler Defense, the company which was later sold to General Dynamics and renamed General Dynamics Land Systems. Soon afterwards, South Korean officials were dispatched to General Dynamics Land Systems for supervision of the design, which would spawn the XK1.
With its design being based on XM1, the XK1 shared various similarities with it. However, upon closer inspection, numerous differences can be found. The differences included the weight (55 ton XM1 versus 51 ton XK1), height (2.37 m versus 2.25 m), engine (1,500 hp Honeywell AGT1500C for XM1 versus 1,200 hp Teledyne Continental AVCR-1790, also used on Merkava 3, for XK1, although the XK1's engine will later be replaced with MTU MB Ka-501, a compact version of the 1,500 hp MB-873 Ka-503 used on Leopard 2), transmission (Allison DDA X-1100-3B for XM1 versus ZF Friedrichshafen LSG 3000 for XK1), and several other components used in the vehicles. The XK1 retained the XM1's M68E1 105 mm rifled main gun, which would also be domestically produced under license with designtion of KM68, as well as the fire control system by Hughes Aircraft Company and the Nd:YAG laser rangefinder. One of the major differences was the addition of tank commander's independent panoramic sights on XK1, which was missing on XM1, giving the XK1 the capability to utilize the FCS more effectively, notably by engaging in Hunter-Killer tactics, which the M1 series could not do until the introduction of M1A2. The tank commander's panoramic sights were not, however, equipped with light amplification or thermal optics, which led to the tank commander having to rely on personal night vision goggles to operate his sights, while the gunner's sights were equipped with thermal observation device, which meant that XK1 had superior sensors until the introduction of M1A2. XK1 was also equipped with a hybrid suspension system consisting of hydropneumatic system on road wheels 1, 2 and 6, while 3, 4 and 5 are equipped with torsion bars, a feature not present on XM1, granting the XK1 greater stability and ability to elevate and depress the main gun nearly twice as much than tanks equipped with torsion bars alone. (+20 to -9.7 degrees for XK1 versus +10 to -5 XM1)
The development of the vehicle was completed in 1983 with a prototype being delivered to the South Korean government in the same year. As mentioned above, however, the AVCR-1790 used for the design was replaced by MTU MB Ka-501 just prior to mass production, which resulted in K1's engine deck and exhaust grills becoming cosmetically similar to Leopard 2's.
Hyundai Precision, now known as Hyundai Rotem, took the responsibility of manufacturing the tanks, and the mass production began in 1985, with deployment lasting from the same year to 1987. The vehicle was not, however, unveiled until 1987, for security purposes. Foreign journalists were invited to the unveiling ceremony, and a massive training exercise using the new tanks took place during the event for publicity.
After the production of approximately 450 K1s, the Gunner's Primary Sights (GPS) designed by Hughes was replaced by Gunner's Primary Tank Thermal Sights (GPTTS) by Texas Instruments. The new system also replaced the Nd:YAG laser rangefinder used in the Hughes unit with a CO2-based one, which has proven to be safer to the users' eyes, although having less effective range than the former in foul weather.
While the exact composition of the armor has still not been released, it has been confirmed that K1 is equipped with composite armor, the Chobham. Automatic fire extinguishing system were not present on the vehicle, so the vehicle crew have to manually activate the fire extinguish system in case of fire. And, while air conditioning system is installed to aid in crew comfort, the vehicle lacks overpressure system to effectively protect the crew against nuclear, biological, or chemical attacks, requiring the crew to don protective gear while operating in contaminated environment.
Production remained at approximately 100 units per year at its peak.
5. Merkava Mark IV (Israel)
The Merkava is the main battle tank of the Israel Defense Forces. Since the early 1980s, four main versions have been deployed. The "Merkava" name was derived from the IDF's development program name.
It is optimized for crew survival and rapid repair of battle damage. Through the use of spaced-armor techniques and quick-replacement modular designs, the design team was able to incorporate composite armor, a derivative of rolled homogeneous armor (RHA) and Chobham armour. Additionally, the space between the inner and outer hulls is filled with diesel fuel—an economical storage method and a means of defeating HEAT rounds.
Following the model of contemporary self-propelled howitzers, the turret assembly is located nearer the rear than in most main battle tanks. This gives the crew additional protection against a frontal attack by putting the engine between them and the attack. This arrangement also creates more space in the rear of the tank that allows increased storage capacity, as well as a rear entrance to the main crew compartment allowing easy access even under enemy fire. This allows the tank to be used as a platform for medical disembarkation, a forward command and control station, and an armored personnel carrier. The rear entrance's clamshell-style doors provide overhead protection when off- and on-loading cargo and personnel.
It was reportedly decided shortly before the beginning of the 2006 Lebanon War that the Merkava line would be discontinued within four years. However, on 7 November 2006, Haaretz reported that an Israeli General Staff assessment had ruled of the Merkava Mark IV that "if properly deployed, the tank can provide its crew with better protection than in the past," and deferred the decision on discontinuing the line.
4. K2 Black Panther (South Korea)
Although the K1 and K1A1 were considered more than adequate to counter opposing North Korean tanks, most of which are obsolete and aging Soviet-era equipment such as T-34 and T-54/55, development was started in 1995 to create and field a new main battle tank with heavy emphasis on domestic technique. The intent was to further modernize the South Korean military and allow the vehicle to enter the export market without pressure from foreign nations due to licensing issues.
The Agency for Defense Development, or ADD, was given the task of developing a modern armored fighting vehicle with state-of-the-art technology. The design was finally deemed production-ready in 2006, following 11 years in development and a research budget expenditure of approximately USD $230m. More than 90% of the vehicle's design is domestic.
Two major designs were under consideration during development: one fitted with a manned turret, and another fitted with an unmanned turret. The latter was scrapped in favour of the former at the early design stage. It was also originally planned for the K2 to field the experimental 140 mm smoothbore gun developed by Rheinmetall. This plan failed to materialize following Rheinmetall's decision to stop development due to the lack of foreseeable threats that their latest gun, the 120 mm / L55, could not defeat. The K2's gun was subsequently reconfigured to the L55, along with necessary modifications for ammunition capacity. The vehicle is, however, capable of mounting the 140 mm gun with minimum modifications should the need arise. The gun's autoloader is similar to the French Leclerc.
The Black Panther reached its production phase on March 2, 2007, when the first of the three production models rolled out of the assembly line in Changwon, South Korea. At that time, several media sources speculated that the K2's main gun was a L52 (6.24 m) main gun similar to the one used on the Leclerc. This was incorrect as the K2 uses a L55 (6.6 m) main gun.
3. Challenger 2 (United Kingdom)
FV4034 Challenger 2 is a main battle tank (MBT) currently in service with the armies of the United Kingdom and Oman. It is built by the British company Vickers Defence Systems (now part of BAE Systems Land and Armaments). The manufacturer advertises it as the world's most reliable main battle tank. As of January 2008, two Challenger 2s have been damaged in combat, and one destroyed by another Challenger 2 in a friendly fire incident.
Challenger 2 is an extensive redesign from Challenger 1, the MBT from which it was developed. It uses the basic hull and automotive parts of its predecessor but all else is new. Fewer than 5% of components are interchangeable. Challenger 2 has now replaced Challenger 1 in service with the British Army and is also used by the Royal Army of Oman. It has seen operational service in Bosnia, Kosovo and Iraq (2003–present). During the 2003 invasion of Iraq the Challenger 2 was the only tank operating in the Gulf that did not suffer a loss to enemy fire. In one engagement a Challenger took multiple hits from rocket propelled grenades and from one MILAN anti tank missile.
2. Leopard 2A6 (Germany)
The Leopard 2 is a German main battle tank developed by Krauss-Maffei in the early 1970s and first entering service in 1979. The Leopard 2 replaced the earlier Leopard 1 as the main battle tank of the German Army. Various versions have served in the armed forces of Germany and twelve other European countries, as well as several non-European nations. More than 3,480 Leopard 2s have been manufactured. The Leopard 2 first saw combat in Kosovo with the German Army and has also seen action in Afghanistan with the Danish and Canadian ISAF forces.
There are two main development batches of the tank, the original models up to Leopard 2A4 which have vertically-faced turret armour, and the "improved" batch, namely the Leopard 2A5 and newer versions, which have angled arrow-shaped turret appliqué armour together with a number of other improvements. All models feature digital fire control systems with laser rangefinders, a fully stabilized main gun and coaxial machine gun, and advanced night vision and sighting equipment (first vehicles used a low-light level TV system or LLLTV; thermal imaging was introduced later on). The tank has the ability to engage moving targets while moving over rough terrain. It can drive through water 4 meters (13 ft) deep using a snorkel or 1.2 meters (3 ft 11 in) without any preparation and climb vertical obstacles over one metre high. The tank is powered with a turbo-charged multi-fuel V12 diesel engine that produces 1,500 PS (1,479 hp, 1,103 kW).
1. M1A2 Abrams (United States)
The M1 Abrams is a main battle tank produced in the United States. The M1 is named after General Creighton Abrams, former Army Chief of Staff and Commander of US military forces in Vietnam from 1968 to 1972. It is a well armed, heavily armored, and highly mobile tank designed for modern armored ground warfare. Notable features of the M1 Abrams include the use of a powerful gas turbine engine, the adoption of sophisticated composite armor, and separate ammunition storage in a blow-out compartment for crew safety. It is one of the heaviest tanks in service, weighing in at close to 68 short tons.
The M1 Abrams entered U.S. service in 1980, replacing the 105 mm gun, full tracked M60 Patton main battle tank. It did, however, serve for over a decade alongside the improved M60A3, which had entered service in 1978. Three main versions of the M1 Abrams have been deployed, the M1, M1A1, and M1A2, incorporating improved armament, protection and electronics. These improvements, as well as periodic upgrades to older tanks have allowed this long-serving vehicle to remain in front-line service. It is the principal main battle tank of the United States Army and Marine Corps, and the armies of Egypt, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and since 2007, Australia.
Source: Wiki
A simple housewife that lead the people power revolt, toppling the Marcos regime in the Philippines. Despite the many coup attempts in her administration, she managed to restore democracy to the county.
Thank You! Madame President! May Your Soul Rest In Peace…
Teddy Locsin’s Eulogy for President Corazon Aquino
Throughout thirteen years of martial law, until I laid eyes on her again, I never thought that I would ever see the end of it. Least of all that my father would survive it. I am not much given to prayer or pious reflection but when I could set aside my anger, I prayed my father would see democracy again.
Late one afternoon, in San Francisco, I got a call. It was from Cory Aquino, for whom I had written one speech after her husband’s assassination. She said she had accepted Marcos’s challenge in a Snap Presidential Election. I put down the phone, and packed my bags, and reported to her at the Cojuangco Building.
I knew then she was the answer to my prayers. What I did not notice was that the closer we came to victory, which is to say the farther the prospect receded that the Marcos regime would survive, the less I felt the anger inside me. As each day passed, bringing me closer to the day I could get even, the less I felt the need for it as I spent more time with the woman who alone could make it possible.
I did not notice, but I was no longer looking back in anger, or looking forward even, to victory and vindication. Only now do I see. I had lived with my anger so long, only for the day to come when it no longer mattered to me. The only thing that counted was that I was living every day to the fullest, bringing out the best in me—for someone else. A dream I hadn’t had since I was a boy, feeding on stories of chivalry, had been achieved. I was serving a woman who was every inch a sovereign, all the more for scorning the slightest pretension to the role.
I did not realize it, even when I was already in the Palace, by the side of the President—among all her advisers, I like to think, the one who loved her most.
It never again occurred to me that I had scores to settle. And not until today, that I had passed up every chance to get even.
From the moment I came in from the airport and reported for duty, and she gave me in return the same smile she gave me on her deathbed, I never noticed… Not when I was with her in the campaign when she corrected me for not looking at the people I was waving at… Nor when I was with her in the presidential limousine looking intently, for her benefit, at the crowds at whom I waved… I never noticed anything. Except that I was with the only person that I would ever want to be with.
I certainly never noticed that I had left my anger behind. I don’t know how it happened. Except that Cory Aquino ennobled everyone who came near her. I have tried to say it publicly but never could finish. If you saw me as I felt myself to be, anyone would fall in love with me. I saw myself in that hospital room, a knight at the bedside of his dying sovereign, on the eve of a new Crusade, oblivious to the weight of the armor on his shoulders for the weight of the grief in his heart.
And because she always doubted my ability to be good for very long… Indeed, when my wife told Ballsy that I prayed the rosary at Lourdes for her mother’s recovery, Cory said, “Teddy Boy prayed the rosary? A miracle! I feel better already.” Because she doubted my capacity for self-reformation, she made it effortless for me by being herself. I did not notice that I was doing right by serving a woman who never did wrong. I am not sure how to take this moral self-discovery. It is so unlike myself. But if it will bring me before her again, I am happy.
Posted by Wicked Sago | Posted in International , Others , Politics , Trivia | Posted on 12:04 PM
10. The White House is not big enough for in-laws and extended relatives.
9. There are not enough parking spaces at the White House for 2 Honda Civics, 2 Toyota Land Cruisers, 3 Toyota Corollas, a Mercedes Benz, a BMW , and an MPV (My Pinoy Van).
8. Dignitaries generally are intimidated by eating with their fingers at State dinners.
7. There are too many dining rooms in the White House – where will they put the picture of the Last Supper?
6. The White House walls are not big enough to hold a pair of giant wooden spoon and fork.
5. Secret Service staff won’t respond to “psst… psst” or “hoy.hoyhoy!”
4. Secret Service staff will not be comfortable driving the presidential car with a Holy Rosary hanging on the rear view mirror, or the statue of the Santo Nino on the dashboard.
3. No budget allocation to purchase a Karaoke music-machine for every room in the White House.
2. State dinners do not allow “Take Home”.
1. Air Force One does not allow overweight Balikbayan boxes!
This is a forwarded email and has been circulating around. I thought I’d share this with you dear readers, because its funny! Anyways, enjoy!
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