You mean "the most shot-down plane" in the battle of Britain? Used only for ground attacks after 1942? They lost power if they went over 15,000'. and they were armed little .303 pea shooters. I'll take a spitfire over a Hurricane any day.

It was most-shot-down because it was 2/3 of the Fighter Command inventory in the Battle. And it was a 1937 plane in 1940 - an older design than the Spitfire (also armed with .303 peashooters), so of course it was out of date by 1942. But it was what it did in 1940 that mattered; saved western civilization.

Read "The Hurricane Story" by Paul Gallico. It'll explain it all.

Mitch lamented: "Wikipedia, after about a year of trying to see if it's in any way useful - is not. THe odds of finding useful information written, especially about anything remotely political, in Wikipedia is directly proportional to the writers' determination to overcome the determination of the hordes of ana l-retentive, ultra-left copy-drones who hover about the pages of the "onli ne encyclopedia", editing or vandlizing badthink."

Oh dear, please don't tell me there's *more* anticonservative "bias" to whine about! How to keep up?

There's your problem, of course, looking for support for your politics on the Internet. I'm thinking you're better off sticking with the guys passing out 1000-page handwritten political manifestos outside the bus station. They've never steered you wrong yet!

"Mel Gibson needs to shut up. Now."

No way! It's way too entertaining.

I totally agree with Doug. It's SO entertaining - and I'm already kind of addicted to The Crazy. Need more Crazy.

This is Sugart*ts, signing off.

Entertaining? Sure.

I'm talking about for his own good.

For the rest of us - hey, another celeb gone bonkers!

Oh, and Red? Your meeting with Hamilton this morning was one of the funniest things I've read in forever!

I should have made him call me Sugart*ts - the icing on the cake!!

Me: "Mr. Hamilton - I really want to discuss your financial plan for the nation--"

Alexander Hamilton: "Ask me anything you want, Sugart*ts."

"I'm talking about for his own good."

So am I. He needs to keep talking for his own good.

"Hi. My name is Mel and I'm an Anti-Semite"

"Hi Mel"

"Um... It's been 5 days since I last called someone a hook nosed Jesus killing Ky... Er, I mean, it's been 5 days since I last used a derogatory racial slur to insult an entire race of people "

Spitfire vs hurricane -- aaah! So you admit that the Brits only flew the hurricanes because they didn't have enough spitfires! And of course I was thinking of a hurricane Mk.I @1940 and a spitfire Mk.XIV from late '44, but let's not quibble.

I haven't read Gallico's book but I have read Sandy Johnstone's BoB memoir "Enemy in the Sky". He didn't even mention hawker hurricanes other than to say that when he first saw them he thought they were trainers obtained through an ill-considered arms trade with the Argentinian Air Force.

"At the very last moment, as it approached the end of the runway, the hurricane shuddered, the wings shook and it became airborne -- just. It's wheels clipped the hedgerow at the south end of the field as blue-black smoke streamed out from under its cowling and the plane tipped in a fashion that looked jaunty until its starboard wingtip hit the wind sock. That almost brought it down. I took a quick look at through my binoculars. 'Sargeant' I said 'That fellow flying the hurricane. Isn't he the same Pearly that plays the concertina outside the pub?'
'I Believe it is, Sir.'
'Couldn't find a better match to the plane. The last action it saw was chasing wild bulls across the pampas.'

"Keren Woodward was the hottest member of Bananarama."

That's like saying "Out of plain applesauce, plain oatmeal, and vanilla pudding, applesauce is the spiciest"

I have to disagree with you about Wikipedia. I don’t use it for political information but I have found it invaluable for looking for information about television shows, books, movies, and other entertainment-related news. They usually have pretty good links to take you to more sites and the people who write synopsis usually do a very detailed job.

Also, I’ve been to Blaine. It exists.

And I like my new Cingular Sony Erickson phone. It flips open just like a communicator from “Star Trek” which suits my inner geek just fine.

"Spitfire vs hurricane -- aaah! So you admit that the Brits only flew the hurricanes because they didn't have enough spitfires!"

And because it was a steadier gun platform, took battle damage better, and could out-turn the Spit. Sure.

"of course I was thinking of a hurricane Mk.I @1940 and a spitfire Mk.XIV from late '44, but let's not quibble."

Yeeeah, I know. Look, I'm not knocking the Spitfire. Just saying that without the Hurricane to join the biplane era and the Spitfire, the RAF would have gone into June of 1940 flying Gloster Gladiators with a trickle of Spitfires coming off the assembly lines. Ergo the end of western civilization.

As to a Spitfire pilot denigrating the Hurricane - a fighter pilot riffing on planes other than his own? Shocking! I bet it's never happened since then! (Fingers? Tell us how much you love F-14s!)

:-)

And as to casualties; Hurricanes outnumbered Spitfires during the Battle by about 2-1.

Hurricane casualties outnumbered Spits by about 2-1.

As far as German planes shot down, Hurricane kills outnumbered Spitfire kills...you got it. 2-1.

Re-read Douglas Bader's take on the Hurricane.

He was shot down in a Spitfire, wasn't he? :-)

Also, about wikipedia, I use it more as a recreational reading/time passer website than anything else. Like Thorley said, you can learn a lot about fluff from it. Like a detailed list of every single bridge that crosses the Mississippi river between Lake Itasca and the Gulf of Mexico.

Oh, I'll add one of my own incontrovertible truths. Sarah MacLachlan and Jennifer Saunders have two of the creamiest, most lucious, gorgeous singing voices around.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jennifer_Saunders

(among other things, she is most famous for playing Edina Monsoon in AbFab and she also was the fairy godmother in Shrek2, my daughter's current favorite movie)

On the other hand, Tori Amos makes my skin crawl and Bjork sounds as beautiful as a coffee can full of ball bearings.

Bananarama - The roadies for the Go-Gos or Bangles were better looking.

And my old College roomate would never forgive me if I did not give a mention to the best 80's fake band member - the drummer from the movie "Some Kind of Wonderful"

Also, wikipedia fluff pieces rely on some of the most awesome resources available on the planet:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_Rochester

*whistling innocently*

SR: Amen to that! Altho after "Bed of Roses" she lost her youthful lustre.

From:
Blaine History
http://www.ci.blaine.mn.us/

"Until 1877, Blaine was considered to be part of the City of Anoka, Minnesota. Phillip Laddy, a native of Ireland, is recognized as the first settler in Blaine. He settled near the lake that now bears his name, Laddie Lake, in 1862. Laddy died shortly after his arrival and his survivors moved on to Minneapolis. He was followed by Englishman George Townsend, who lived for a short time in the area of Lever Street and 103rd Avenue.

It was not until 1865, that Blaine's first permanent resident, Green Chambers, settled on the old Townsend claim. Chambers was a former slave who moved north from Barron County, Kentucky, following the Civil War. In 1870, George Wall, Joseph Gagner, and some others settled in the area and it began to grow.

In 1877, Blaine separated from Anoka and organized as a Township of its own. That year, the first election was held and Moses Ripley was elected as the first Chairman of the Board of Supervisors. Ripley, who had cometo Minnesota from Maine, persuaded his fellow Board Members to name the new Township in honor of James G. Blaine, a senator and three-time presidential candidate from Maine. By the year 1880, Blaine's population had reached 128.

While many of the other communities in Anoka County experienced growth due to farming, Blaine's sandy soils and abundant wetlands discouraged would-be farmers, and it remained a prime hunting area. Blaine's growth remained slow until after World War II when starter home developments began to spring up in the southern part of town.

Blaine's population went from 1,694 in 1950 to 20,640 in 1970. As the Minneapolis/St. Paul area began to enjoy rapid growth, Blaine's wide-open spaces became attractive to many people looking for the suburban life style just a short distance from both downtown Minneapolis and St. Paul.

With the development of Interstate 35-W, State Highway 65, and State Highway 10, Blaine's accessibility to the Twin Cities was greatly improved. Because of this, Blaine has become a very attractive location for business and residential development. The estimated population for Blaine in 2002 is over 50,740 people. Blaine has attracted many new corporate residents, such as the Aveda Corporation and Dayton Rogers Manufacturing. Blaine is also home to the National Sports Center, an Olympic class training facility, as well as home to a Tournament Players Club golf course."

Thanks RBMN. Now I can toss out the Am-bien Prescription.

Damn filter... Ruined my joke...

hurricane versus spitfire V2.0
Okay, yuh got me. The only correction I can make about your numbers claims for Hurrican and spitfire in the BoB is that the hurricanes spec's were lousy compared to the me109 so the hurricanes were preferably set against German bombers rather than their fighters. That 2/1 kill ratio over the spitfire was dominated by attacks on heinkel's, I bet. I'll look it up in the wikipedia. Also I may have been less then accurate in quoting from Sandy Johnstone's memoir.

Blaine, however, I can assure you without fear of contradiction, does exist. I was in Minnesota visiting the kin folk last month and I actually drove through Blaine. It's north of Spring Lake Park and east of Coon Rapids. I noticed that the hi-65 drivein theater, scene of much teenage hijinx, is gone.
If someone can tell me why the old 100 Twin drivein (gone for about twenty years) was called the 100 Twin when it lay at the crossroads of Central Avenue and Hwy 694 I'll know I'm in the presence of a real homeboy.

Pfft! The P-38 Lightning and P-47 Thunderbolt were way cooler, if you're looking for idiosyncratic WW II fighters.

You're right about Blaine, though. It's actually just the term we use for the northern part of Greater Fridley.

We still have an old rotary phone hanging on our wall...working as well as the day it was installed. It's always ready...unlike our cordless which is useless when the electricity goes off. We have a rotary desk phone, too. It works...it just isn't plugged into the wall jack. It works even though it has spent time in the toybox. I fished it back out because it was a bit heavy for a toy...and I started to think that it is sort of a "vintage" item! 70's green. How I wish I had the big black one from when I was a kid...no dial. You picked up and asked the operator for the number.

Actually, I think Mitch is right. There is no Blaine. In fact, Minneapolis/St. Paul has only one suburb, which is just cloned repeatedly and given different names.

(This, coming from someone who will be living in a suburb... sigh...)

Jay, you're moving? Where to?

And Keren Woodward is married to Andrew Ridgely. Proof that for some, the 80s will continue on for, like, ever.

Sorry Mitch. There will never be anyone like Belinda Carlisle for younger generations to drool over.

Re: Belinda Carlisle: Charlotte Caffey was hotter, Gina Schock was hotter still.

And I thought that even BEFORE I met Carlisle.

Mitch asked: "Jay, you're moving? Where to?"

Anywhere but out of the path of a fast-moving bus, hopes Angryclown.

Mitch is just wrong -
Their is none other than Belinda Carlisle

...and the winner for the most ridiculous name drop goes to...

Mitch Berg for "And I thought that even BEFORE I met Carlisle."

This is Berg's second win coming remarkably only a week or so after his last win with "Oh, they were all right - I used to shoot the odd game of pool with Dan Murphy and/or Karl Mueller"

Name drop my ass.

Simple fact. I met them.

If you want to call the fact that I mention it a "name drop" then you invest it with more significance than I do.