Godzilla sighted in Narashino?

[kurohinge1]

... cargo helicopters from Japanese Ground Self-Defense Force Narashino 1st Airborne Brigade carry vehicles ... in Narashino, suburban Tokyo. Photo: AFP

[Caustic Saint]

The pic reminds me of the time my section had an airlift class when I was in the army. (Not full air-assault school, just how to prepare a vehicle for lifting and doing a hook-up.)

Standing on top of a Hummer while a Chinook comes down and gets positioned for an airlift is quite unnerving. Imagine standing under a hovering schoolbus and trying to brace yourself against a massive downdraft, while at the same time trying to connect a big grapple doo-dad (I forget the technical term) onto a hook on the bottom of the chopper.

Oh, and if you touch the chopper you'll get knocked on your ass by a massive discharge of static electricity. Lots of fun for everyone!

Interesting side note: Should a load become unbalanced and threaten to destabilize the chopper to the point where it may crash, there's a handy control to jettison whatever the cargo load is, in order to save the chopper. (Never got to see that done though.)

[cliffy]

Interesting side note: Should a load become unbalanced and threaten to destabilize the chopper to the point where it may crash, there's a handy control to jettison whatever the cargo load is, in order to save the chopper. (Never got to see that done though.)

I have, in a wargame I was a "Civilian Observer" (I knew some one who owed me a favor) only problem we were nearly under the netted load dropping in a spiraling decent. Main memory of it is scattering and for some reason covering my head
screaming SSSHHEEEEIIIIITTTTTTTTTTT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Must have worked, it missed and I drank my self stupid in the Sargent's mess for free. But thinking about it Still gives me the shivvers .

[kurohinge1]

OK, I admit it's a weak link to this (at best) but I thought the discovery of a pickled dragon may be interesting to some:

From the SMH: ... The baby dragon, in a sealed jar, was discovered with a metal tin containing paperwork in old-fashioned German of the 1890s ...

Allistair Mitchell, who was asked to investigate the dragon ... speculates that German scientists may have attempted to use the dragon to hoax their English counterparts at the end of the 19th century, when rivalry between the countries was intense.

... Mr Mitchell said: "The dragon is flawless, from the tiny teeth to the umbilical cord. It could be made from indiarubber, because Germany was the world's leading manufacturer of it at the time, or it could be made of wax. It has to be fake. No one has ever proved scientifically that dragons exist. But everyone who sees it immediately asks, 'Is it real?"'

Those naughty doitsujin - I wonder if they were also behind the Tainan exploding whale

[Taro Toporific]

http://www.smh.com.au/ffxImage/urlpictu ... agon,0.jpg[/img]

From the SMH: ...

... Mr Mitchell said: "The dragon is flawless, from the tiny teeth to the umbilical cord.....everyone who sees it immediately asks, 'Is it real?"'

Hmmm an umbilical cord on a DRAGON...now that's gonna fool a lot of folks.

Ok, ok it COULD be