Ken Cartwright

I am far from an expert on Millennium Falcon kits, but I'll share what I know (or think I know). From my understanding, the MPC and AMT kits are the same, just produced after a buyout/transition of MPC. The Revell kit is slightly smaller, is a snap-together, and is really from a different set of molds even though they have a number of similarities. The Revell kit is pre-painted, and the other two are not. Of course the gonzo MF kit is the one from Fine Molds, but that might be a bit much for an 11 year-old.

If you mean creating the restore disks that came with the system, it's possible that would be safe because it's just using an image created on a separate partition, but I think there's a possibility that it could include the virus as part of the boot disk, depending on the virus. As Vince points out, it's possible you could clean up the system before having to revert back to the original configuration and lose everything, as would happen if you went back to the restore disk. As dmk0210 points out, if you're talking about just backing up your disk, you'll definitely just backup the virus alon

That is an interesting article - thanks for the link.

And the Snowbirds:

And the Blue Angels:

Here are a few of my shots of the Thunderbirds:

Same here, and I had just come over to post a link to it, given the Aigore's consideration of getting a D5000. Here's a preview at DPReview: http://www.dpreview.com/news/1104/11040510nikond5100.asp And I just saw this: The D5100 has a very similar 16.2MP CMOS sensor to the excellent one seen in the D7000 but, understandably, loses out on that camera's high-end build and feature-set. So there's no wireless flash control, magnesium alloy build or 39-point AF system but the underlying image quality looks to be the same. I don't know if those were important features for Aigore, but since I ha

Related only because it was an aircraft with troubled development: The Much-Maligned V-22 Osprey Is Confounding Critics http://blogs.forbes.com/beltway/2011/04/04...unding-critics/

I think either an entry level Ni-kon or Can-on would work for you from a general image quality and features standpoint, so you might want to look at lenses for each to see if one has a cost, availability, or quality advantage for the types of shots you'll want to get most. One thing you might want to check, as I haven't done all the research on every camera, is whether they can control a remote flash without extra gear. I think most Ni-kons can, but only a couple of the Can-ons can, as far as I know - the 7D and 60D. I'm not sure about the entry level Ni-kons though. That ability might be

I don't know if you've tried this, but some people on this site have had success copying over the files from another system and creating their own shortcuts: http://forums.adobe.com/message/2753472

CFS2 was good, but have you also looked at IL2 1946? I'll bet the system specs are a bit higher, and not every sim appeals to everyone, but it's a new program that might be a little easier to get to run on a modern rig, and supports newer hardware, like multiple controllers and TrackIR. It has both the European and Pacific theaters and aircraft. You can get it at gog.com for $10: IL2: 1946

Thanks again to everyone who responded, and providing all of the great info and insight.

Thanks again, everyone. I doubt the announcer really knew what was going on, and he was just repeating what he was being told, but based on the info here these planes clearly weren't on any sort of active patrol. Makes me wonder why they really couldn't do more passes, etc. Maybe just low on fuel or something. Aaron, yes, they were flying our of Fresno.

Interesting, thanks for all the info everyone! The announcer brought up the active patrol aspect to explain why they couldn't do multiple fly-bys and fly low, saying that because they were on actual patrol they needed to stay high and couldn't say very long, so they only did one quick high-level pass. In previous years they made multiple passes at fairly low altitudes, and it sounded like the announcer needed to explain why this year's pass had to be different, not like he was trying to play up what they were doing. Below are a few shots from their pass two years ago at the same show (maint

At an air show the other day they said the F-16s performing a fly-by were on active patrol and because of that could only make one pass. I took a photo of them and saw that there's an item under one of the wings that looks kind of like an older Sidewinder but with no front fins. They were also carrying three AIM-120s and one AIM-9X. Because they're on active patrol, I assume it's not for training. Does anyone know what it is?

Yeah, I can see you not wanting to hassle with it. 64-bit is catching on fast, though, especially with people who buy high-end gear like flight simmers. Even lower end systems are coming with it these days. For example, I bought a Dell laptop almost 2 years ago, right before Windows 7 shipped, and Dell sent me a free update to Windows 7. It was a pretty low-end laptop, with a T-series CPU and costing less than $500, and the version of Windows 7 they sent me was 64-bit. I think more Windows 7 systems are sold with the 64-bit version than the 32-bit version, from what I've seen, so hopefu

I don't know if this helps, but you probably already have a 64-bit CPU, and just need a 64-bit OS to go with it. Upgrading your current system to something like Windows 7 64-bit might do the trick. Still an expense and hassle, but maybe not as bad as buying a new system. Most CPUs made in the past 5+ years are 64-bit, and if your CPU is older than that, it probably wouldn't run a lot of modern games fast enough anyway.

Here's a shot I got of it on 3/18. I used a Canon 7D and a 100-400 lens. I then took it into Photo Shop Elements and adjusted the brightness and contrast to pull out more details.

I got upgraded once when flying domestically in the U.S., and I think the person at the counter did it to make a point. I was traveling with my (now ex) girlfriend and somehow our seats weren't together, so I went to the counter to see if they could put us together. Ahead of me was some guy berating them about his seat assignment, and at the same time my girlfriend was getting all indignant and telling me I had to make them put us together. I told her that they have no reason not to do it, so if it's possible, I'm sure they will. When I got to the counter I asked politely if they could t

That's great - congrats!

Very impressive shots, Derek - nicely done!

Ditto. Nicely built and weathered kit, StratoArt!

Just don't hold your breath - it's been "coming soon" for about a year. There's a good chance it will come out in 2011, but the last videos I saw of it looked like they still had a lot of work to do. Looking forward to it, though.

As everyone else has said, looking very nice - great job on the thrusters, too.

From what I understand, the flight models were taken from IL2, but I think they still made a few changes. Gameplay-wise, IL2 is more mission/campaign based, and I think the damage models are better - in my opinion much more simulator-like, even when Wings of Prey is set to simulator mode (IL2 doesn't have text popping up telling you your objectives, etc.). Wings of Prey is way ahead in the graphics department though, and is less sterile than IL2.