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The Guardian has a good article on Carlos Ezquerra and Judge Dredd.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/oct/03/judge-dredd-carlos-ezquerra

a real shame, didn't know he did Battle, a staple in wee Turnips life in the late 70's (Super comics not really being a thing in the UK at the time)

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Fiends-Eastern-Front-Gerry-Finley-Day/dp/1907519246

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiends_of_the_Eastern_Front

cracking stuff.

2000AD's doing a run on Fiends now during the Napoleonic era.

Montserrat Caballé has died, aged 85. She had a beautiful voice.

I quit the show shortly before his character was killed, but he was a highlight for the early seasons of Walking Dead.

Another great loss in the horror community as Scott Wilson, who played Hershel on “The Walking Dead”, has passed away at the age of 76.

Wilson also made notable appearances in The Ninth Configuration, Dead Man WalkingandMonster, as well as The Exorcist III, The Host andBehind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon. He also appeared on the 1986 “The Twilight Zone” (ep. “Quarantine”), “The X-Files” (ep. “Orison”), and “Damien’s” first and only season.

The official “The Walking Dead” Twitter account paid tribute tonight with the following statement:

“We are deeply saddened to report that Scott Wilson, the incredible actor who played Hershel on #TheWalkingDead, has passed away at the age of 76. Our thoughts are with his family and friends. Rest in paradise, Scott. We love you.”

THR reports that at New York Comic-Con 2018, “Walking Dead” showrunner Angela Kang announced that Wilson would reprise his role as Hershel in season nine, though offered no word on the timing of his appearance, how many episodes he was slated to appear in, or whether he had already filmed his appearance. The announcement was made little more than an hour before news of Wilson’s passing spread on social media.

We send our thoughts and prayers to all of his friends and family.

Definitely a highlight during his time on the show. Saw him at a convention a few years ago. Very kind genuine guy who had all the time in the world for fans. RIP.

https://www.chaosium.com/blogvale-greg-stafford-1948-2018/

Vale Greg Stafford (1948 - 2018)

Posted by Michael O'Brienon October 12, 2018



Greg Stafford Gen ConThe shock and grief the Chaosium family felt at the news of the passing of our beloved and revered company founder, Greg Stafford, cannot be measured. Greg died yesterday in his sweat lodge at his home in Arcata, CA. Mercifully, his passing was painless and quick. He died as he lived, on a spiritual quest of enlightenment.

there's more to the tribute in the link at the top

Massively influential in the expansion of RPGs with Chaosium, a real loss

Somehow during all this it was causally breezed past that Norm Breyfogle, prolific artist for DC, Marvel, several independent comics AND several Ultraverse books including Prime, died on September 24th of heart failure.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/comic-riffs/wp/2018/09/27/norm-breyfogle-one-of-dc-comics-most-beloved-batman-artists-dies-at-58/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.06121bebb67e

RIP Greg massive loss to the community.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-45871379

Paul Allen -- co-founder of Microsoft -- has died.

 reds8n wrote:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-45871379

Paul Allen -- co-founder of Microsoft -- has died.

I wonder whatever happened to that Panzer 4 he was litigating over.

Anthea Bell passed away

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthea_Bell

see :

https://auntymuriel.com/2012/12/23/asterix-in-translation-the-genius-of-anthea-bell-and-derek-hockridge/

for exactly how good/great she was.

Perhaps translators are the unacknowledged diplomats of the world.

It is a highly skilled profession which is unlikely to be taken over by AI, because so much depends on understanding both cultures.

And stuff like bodylanguage and that.

Yoachim Ronneberg, who led the Telemark raid in Norway during WW2, which destroyed the Germans' heavy water plant and halted their nuclear programme, has died age 99.

After the raid the commandos escaped by skiing 200 miles to Sweden, pursued by 3,000 German soldiers.

Mr Ronneberg described this as the best skiing weekend he had ever had.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-45938874

I can solely imagine that epic ski in a James Bond style.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Also, just how much do we owe that man?

The Nazis already had long range weapons. Single nuke on London, and we could be living in very different and very scary times.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
I can solely imagine that epic ski in a James Bond style.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Also, just how much do we owe that man?

The Nazis already had long range weapons. Single nuke on London, and we could be living in very different and very scary times.

Even without the Telemark raid, the Germans were a long way away from developing an atomic bomb. It is extremely unlikely that they would have succeeded in developing a working atomic bomb before the end of the war, even with the heavy water to enable plutonium production. Quite simply, due to Nazi policy, they did not have the brainpower required. The Nazis had effectively chased away a lot of their brainpower (either jewish or influenced by jews in their eyes) or conscripted them into the army and installed people into high positions within their research sectors based on party allegiance rather than aptitude.

For example, even without heavy water they could still have produced plutonium in a reactor by using graphite as a neutron inhibitor. They tested it and it didn't work and so stopped pursuing it but the only reason it didn't work was due to impurities in their graphite. Graphite was used by the allies and then the post-war USSR as a neutron inhibitor in reactors until it was phased out (especially after the Chernobyl fire, pure carbon tends to burn very well).

Of course, at the time, we didn't know this and so it was much safer to assume they could. So, that doesn't take anything away from those involved in taking out heavy water production. It was an exceptional piece of sabotage that stands up there alongside the St Nazaire Raid as an example of incredible courage and grit by a small number of men and I have no doubt it still serves as inspiration for special forces commandos to this day.

Plus, Royal Navy submarines were waiting in Skagerak as a backup.

 Kilkrazy wrote:
Yoachim Ronneberg, who led the Telemark raid in Norway during WW2, which destroyed the Germans' heavy water plant and halted their nuclear programme, has died age 99.

After the raid the commandos escaped by skiing 200 miles to Sweden, pursued by 3,000 German soldiers.

Mr Ronneberg described this as the best skiing weekend he had ever had.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-45938874

Joachim Rønneberg was honored after his passing by both the king and various present and former members of various political and many members of the Norwegian familiy. he was while he lived a keen and clear voice in several debates in Norway post war and up til the present day. With his passing Norway now has nearly no living witnesses to the horrors of the world war, and the vital lessons neeeded to be taugth to the comming generations here in my beloved Norway.

And regarding the skii trek he had to Sweden, he was acctualy pursuide for a long distance by a single german ski trooper, but since he went faster up hill, and the german went faster than him downhill it sort of fizzeled out and ended with the two men firing their pistols at each other but missing each other totaly. Thus the German gave up and Joachim contiuned

That's a great story.. They need to add him to badassoftheweek.com

Made the mistake of trying to type that URL in at work.

 A Town Called Malus wrote:

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
I can solely imagine that epic ski in a James Bond style.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Also, just how much do we owe that man?

The Nazis already had long range weapons. Single nuke on London, and we could be living in very different and very scary times.

Even without the Telemark raid, the Germans were a long way away from developing an atomic bomb. It is extremely unlikely that they would have succeeded in developing a working atomic bomb before the end of the war, even with the heavy water to enable plutonium production. Quite simply, due to Nazi policy, they did not have the brainpower required. The Nazis had effectively chased away a lot of their brainpower (either jewish or influenced by jews in their eyes) or conscripted them into the army and installed people into high positions within their research sectors based on party allegiance rather than aptitude.

For example, even without heavy water they could still have produced plutonium in a reactor by using graphite as a neutron inhibitor. They tested it and it didn't work and so stopped pursuing it but the only reason it didn't work was due to impurities in their graphite. Graphite was used by the allies and then the post-war USSR as a neutron inhibitor in reactors until it was phased out (especially after the Chernobyl fire, pure carbon tends to burn very well).

Of course, at the time, we didn't know this and so it was much safer to assume they could. So, that doesn't take anything away from those involved in taking out heavy water production. It was an exceptional piece of sabotage that stands up there alongside the St Nazaire Raid as an example of incredible courage and grit by a small number of men and I have no doubt it still serves as inspiration for special forces commandos to this day.

British intelligence found, to their horror, post war, that the Nazis were frighteningly close actually. On hearing of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, his colleagues asked Heisenberg if it were even possible.

He stood up, went to a chalk board, and drew the Little Boy's internal mechanisms in detail. I'd call that pretty damn close. We should all thank our lucky stars that many German scientists realized what they'd have handed Hitler with a working atom bomb.



Also, feared Mob Boss James 'Whitey' Bulger has died in prison, in what is believed to be a homicide.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-46036058

 BaronIveagh wrote:


British intelligence found, to their horror, post war, that the Nazis were frighteningly close actually. On hearing of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, his colleagues asked Heisenberg if it were even possible.

He stood up, went to a chalk board, and drew the Little Boy's internal mechanisms in detail. I'd call that pretty damn close. We should all thank our lucky stars that many German scientists realized what they'd have handed Hitler with a working atom bomb.



Also, feared Mob Boss James 'Whitey' Bulger has died in prison, in what is believed to be a homicide.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-46036058

There is a very large gulf between knowing how the bomb will work and actually building one. Nazi Germany didn't have the raw materials required, didn't have the scientists pushing for it to enable it to get those materials and didn't have the unlimited money and manpower that the US devoted to the project.

The germans never achieved man made criticality in a uranium pile as theirs exploded due to oxygen causing a chemical reaction. 6 months later the US had man made criticality. And after that it still took 3 more years for the US, with its massively larger workforce, funding and access to resources to develop the atomic bomb.

My understanding was that the German scientists had miscalculated the neutron capture cross-section, or something like that, and had estimated that they'd need an order of magnitude more Uranium than they would in actuality. Initially they didn't believe the USA had dropped a bomb; it was only after they were convinced it had happened that they managed to deduce how it had been done.

Werner Heisenberg apparently claimed that the miscalculation was deliberate to sabotage the German bomb project, but I don't think that stands up against the conversations between German nuclear physicists secretly recorded when in British captivity.

Hey guys, if we could take this conversation to a topic of its own that would be great.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-46178930

Douglas Rain, the voice of HAL9000, and benchmark for all sinister AI's in popular culture

Just breaking that Stan Lee -- of Marvel Comics fame -- has died.

Stan and Carlos, so close together.

This is rubbish.

95 years, most of them happily married, worldwide fame, beloved by fans and a body of work to be proud of (even if there's arguing over what was his).

I don't know what was in his heart but from the face of it, not a bad life to have lived. We should all be so lucky.