Park Sights

So, I went to the park yesterday, well, it's called the Arboretum, but it has a park-like atmosphere.  While there I saw some really pretty things.  The sky was blue, and the clouds were lined in silver.

The animals swam by for portraits...

Even a Cora came out for the sun!  ...and photos

Chloe came out for a little while to enjoy the sun, too!

 She had a clippy in her hair, but was somewhat disinclined to keep it there, so her hair hung low and the breeze was free to blow through it.

She got a good ride on Dad's shoulders, too.

 

OK, that's all.  I'm switching gears now.  This is still my place to rant and rave...forgive me while I complain about movies.

Cora hates it when I watch movies that use military vehicles in the wrong way or wrong place or time.  I complain.  I try to be quiet, but it is so hard.

We watched the A-Team last night.  It was a fair movie, but the problems I had with it were it's gratuitous misuse of hardware.  Cora thinks I am too picky, but if you watched a movie that had cars driving around on their roofs for no apparent reason you might take issue with it.

Same for me, but my problem had more to do with the apparent agility of the C-130 cargo plane, it's use as an attack aircraft, sprouting guns where guns ARE NOT!  Even the AC-130, which DOES have guns, does not have them poking out the nose!

Alright, let's assume the C-130 wasn't a problem.  Let's look at their use of drones.  Drones we have now are used for delivering attacks to ground targets, not for dogfights.  They still haven't found a datalink that can send information fast enough for the reflexes necessary for aerial combat.  Not to mention, that I have found no indication of that ability even considered.  OK, what if that was not an issue?

Well, how did they JUST HAPPEN to have three air-combat drones ARMED and FLYING exactly where the A-Team's C-130 came out of the cloud layer?  Providence?  I think not!

What about that amazingly spacious tank?  Light enough for air transport, and yet spacious enough to comfortable house 5 people falling through the air...it appeared to have the spacious interior of an M2 Bradley, but the armor and turret of an M1 Abrams.  Strange.

Finally, there is a humorous part. (Spoiler alert)  Apparently the Mr. T replacement doesn't like to fly.  They often drug him and tie him down for flights.  So, they fool him into thinking he's going to go on a boat from Europe to America in less than 48 hours(They have to get to the docks in LA, so that means crossing the Atlantic AND the continental US), but as they walk down to the docks it becomes apparent that the "ship" is a flying boat.  Propeller driven.

OK, lets take this from the top.  There are NO passenger flying boats left.  Not for charter anyway.  A flying boat is different from a seaplane.  Flying Boats are big.  Seaplanes are small.  If it was the 1930s, I might accept this.

Even if there was, a propeller driven aircraft might make the trip, but how did they convince Mr. T's replacement that a ship could make the trip AND cross the continent in 48 hours...is he stupid?

OK, drop that.  Let's look at the actual flying boat.  It is a Martin Mars flying boat.  Only 5 were built.  Only 4 outlived the 1940s.  Two were lost in the 1960s.  ONLY TWO remain.  Both are used for fighting forest fires.  They are NOT outfitted for passenger flight.  THEY BOTH operate on the WEST coast of Canada...

These may not be problems for people who are expert taxidermists, or a professional accountants...but for a historian and aircraft enthusiast.  I had a bunch of issues with the "facts" of the movie, but, if it were possible to suspend ENOUGH belief, it was a pretty good movie.  Still, I have difficulty doing that.  Physics and facts remain difficult to change.