The All New Gripes Thread

[Lazarus]

Are there any Missiles that aren't Ballistic?

 

[pgh13]

Anybody else here loath the current trends of fast cuts in programmes. Im watching a dvd of a rock concert - Asia Live In Plovdiv. The director must be a young knob ead as the average length of any shot during the songs is about 3 seconds.

WHY??? The music & the performers are the interesting bit. Not the alleged skills of the editor/director. All the fast cuts and power zooms do to me is make me feel queasy.

They clearly graduated from the same Numbnuts school of video direction that dictates that each 10 minute section of a program should commence with 2 minutes of 'coming up...' and end with 2 minutes of 'Still to come......'

 

[rolfw]

Are there any Missiles that aren't Ballistic?

A question I considered, but on checking, a Cruise missile is non ballistic. Possibly some air to air missiles.

 

[PaulR]

Cannon balls, once out of the cannon, are ballistic. As are bullets as they leave the muzzle. I suppose even a cricket ball is ballistic once released from the bowler's hand.

 

[Channel Hopper]

A question I considered, but on checking, a Cruise missile is non ballistic. Possibly some air to air missiles.

'Ballistic' in its base form relates to the physics of flight trajectory only.
The Latin origin of the word 'missile' means to send.

Once the guidance system has run its course, or has been disabled, and aerodynamics, gravity and other involuntary factors of the trajectory determine the final destination, a missile becomes ballistic.

'Precision guided' is the current terminology used when classifying actively steered projectiles (not always delivering an explosive payload), but if they are designed to run, even for a split second, without guidance, then they are also deemed ballistic.

In the case of the cruise missile (and the specific example, the Tomahawk series 109 all variants), launch is via a pressurised discharge from the storage container, before the onboard rocket, wing deployment and guidance systems take over, and so during the changeover it is a purely ballistic device.

 

[Lazarus]

Indeed.

I posed the question in an ironic/rhetorical way, as a former Weapons Engineer myself, due to the persistent emphasis by the Media on the term Ballistic, which they trot out in any and every circumstance, not necessarily for accuracy, but rather for (presumably) melodramatic purposes.

 

[PaulR]

It's a case of people not knowing exactly what a word means. And then using it in other circumstances which are not really appropriate.

For example:

Nubile - simply means marriageable. It infers nothing about sexuality or carnality.

Epicentre - has a strict meaning in seismology as the point on the Earth's surface immediately above the centre of the earthquake which is invariably underground. It absolutely does not imply an extra degree of precision - in fact as it is sometimes kilometres from the centre it's actually less precise. (This one is a particular bugbear of mine)

And I am sure there are many others but with the froth starting to spray from my lips I'll have to stop there.

 

[Lazarus]

I am glad to find I'm not alone!


Actually, "kilometre" itself makes me shout at pundits: So many of them enunciate it as Killommeter, not as Kilo-metre

 

[Channel Hopper]

It's a case of people not knowing exactly what a word means. And then using it in other circumstances which are not really appropriate.

For example:

Nubile - simply means marriageable. It infers nothing about sexuality or carnality.

It does have a certain charm about it though, as does the term 'norks akimbo'.

Location Map.

 

[Lazarus]

Shed Load is another expression which has acquire a meaning rather different from the original.

A shed load was, back in the day, a grammatically correct phrase describing a load (eg Lorry Freight) that had come adrift and, for example, was blocking the public highway.

Nowadays, it appears to be a volumetric measure of anything, based upon a common garden outbuilding, in much the same way as Wales has morphed into a measurement of land mass.

 

[PaulR]

... the term 'norks akimbo'.

that's an expression that hasn't travelled well outside the M25. I can possibly guess what it might mean if it's alliteratively anything to do with dork but if not - I'm lost.

 

[Channel Hopper]

that's an expression that hasn't travelled well outside the M25. I can possibly guess what it might mean if it's alliteratively anything to do with dork but if not - I'm lost.

Allow my assistant to demonstrate....

 

[PaulR]

Where's her crash helmet?

Not an MSA approved event then.

 

[Channel Hopper]

Where's her crash helmet?

Not an MSA approved event then.

Airbags are the future

 

[Archive-8]

The Barclays Banking app on iPhone and internet banking have had major problems over the last 3-4 days.

Card payments taking a very long time to complete, no one can log in to check there balances.

Any other banks affected?

 

[Lazarus]

Not an enduring one, although Nationwide was down briefly recently.

 

[smoggy07]

The Barclays Banking app on iPhone and internet banking have had major problems over the last 3-4 days.

Card payments taking a very long time to complete, no one can log in to check there balances.

Any other banks affected?

Nationwide internet banking and app went down for a few hours the other day but it's all good now

 

[Archive-8]

Barclays is still out, on android iPhone & internet they have a lot of miffed customers complaining at the moment as this is day 4!

 

[Channel Hopper]

Barclays is still out, on android iPhone & internet they have a lot of miffed customers complaining at the moment as this is day 4!

If you post images of your cards (front and rear) I'll be able to check online.

 

[Lazarus]

^^^^^
I never had you down as Nigerian Royalty.