The TPBM Game!!!

[macheteman]

one of my friends bought an OLD copy in some hole-in-the-wall bookstore a while ago and i flipped through it, but never read it. she pretty much just loves old books, but i think she actually did read that one. its a book of poetry if i'm not mistaken.

TPBM has to write essays. blech.

[Gate Troll]

Yes I do. It's due tomorrow and it's almost finished. I'm done for the night, I plan to eat a quick dinner and play SdA with Centurion.

TPBM has/uses SdA.

[FM]

Nope, only MWS.

TPBM knows what an alfajor is.

[macheteman]

no.

TPBM just got a perfect grade on their essay!!! 

[AgentDrake]

Yes, actually.

Wrote about that whole Georgia-Ossetia incident. I love essays!  :hey:


TPBM loves writing!

[macheteman]

hmm, depends. i'm doing well in my english class, i wrote about a 16 year old blues musician named Hunter Wolfe. he's a interesting character, he's local, but recently won the national slide guitar festival!

TPBM likes punk rock

[Ulmo]

Yes I do, Pistols, Black Flag, Pennywise, ... many others

TPBM watches silent movies.

[macheteman]

not many. i've thought about making one. but i don't think i will.

TPBM likes temporary tattoos.

[MR. Lurtzy]

Yeah, 'specially those from that fruit stripe gum.

TPBM watches family guy.

[Elf_Lvr]

Occasionally.

TPBM has a half day of school tomorrow.

[macheteman]

i work tomorrow, which means i'll read the federalist papers until 9:00 and then pack a lunch and hit the road. so more like a 1/16th day of school...

TPBM likes homeschooling!!

[Gate Troll]

Yep. I finished my essay, I had to write an essay defending something as the best of its kind.
As a subject I picked the Panzerkampfwagen V 'Panther' or PzKpfw V and defended it as the best tank used during the Second World War:



      The Panzerkampfwagen V, or PzKpfw V tank was the best tank in use by any country during World War II. Nicknamed the Panther, it had the best combination of engine, armor, and armament present on any model of tank until the 1950s.
     
     The Panzerkampfwagen V was designed to counter the Soviet T-34. At the time of Operation Barbossa, the German invasion of the Soviet Union, the best tank in use by the Wehrmacht was the Panzerkampfwagen IV. The German High Command was surprised by the effectiveness  of the T-34; their intelligence in the Soviet had had no information on the tank and it was discovered that it outmatched the Panzerkampfwagen IV. Up-gunned Panzerkampfwagen IV tanks were immediately designed and ordered, but it was clear to the German commanders that a better weapon was needed. Enter the Panther.
The Panther copied many of the design features of the T-34, its wide tracks for better cross-country, its
sloped armor, for better defense against incoming rounds and it introduced a larger, 75mm gun. After introduction in 1942 the Panther went on to mass production with a total of around 6000 tanks produced.
     
     The Panther's armor was 80mm thick at the front and sloped dramatically, this feature made the armor harder to penetrate and also increased the chance of anti-tank weapons ricocheting. An M4 Sherman or a
T-34 had to fire at virtually point-blank range to any hope of penetrating the frontal armor. The only way a Sherman or T-34 could possibly have any hope to disable a Panther was to either destroy part of a track, thus rendering the tank immobile, or to fire a shell through  the side armor which was only 40mm thick. The turret was an amazing 100mm thick and it took a direct hit from a tank destroyer, artillery piece or aerial bomb to disable a Panther via the turret. Later during the war many Panthers were coated with a ceramic anti-magnetic coating called Zimmerit that prevented magnetic mines from adhering to the tank.
     
     The armament of the Panther consisted of a 75mm main gun mounted in the turret as well as two MG 34 machine guns, one mounted co-axially next to the main gun and operated by the gunner and the other mounted through the frontal armor and fired by the radio operator. On some later models there was also a MG 34 mounted on the commander's cupola that was intended to be fired by the tank's commander. The main armament was very powerful and very accurate, it had a long barrel with a muzzle brake fitted to the end, this plus the fact that it fired very large armor-piercing rounds gave it a very good muzzle velocity and in some cases made it more deadly than other guns of higher caliber. The gun was used until the 1980s on the Israeli  M50 ‘Super Sherman', an up-gunned and more advanced version of the M4 Sherman.
     
     First used in combat at the battle of Kursk in 1943 the Panther was to be a nasty shock to the Soviet military. Its main weapon could easily penetrate every piece of armor the Soviets fielded, around 900 German tanks being destroyed at Kursk while the Soviet High Command lost over 6000 tanks, a feat due in no small amount to the success of the Panther. Amazingly, more Panthers were lost to breakdowns and mechanical failures then were lost to combat damage and by the time the Germans had ironed the kinks out of their machine it was a formidable beast indeed.
     
     The Panther was a great tank. It possessed an accurate, powerful gun, thick sloped armor a good engine and a good combat record. With an average of five Shermans and nine T-34s destroyed for every Panther it was undoubtedly the best tank in use, by any power, during the Second World War.




TPBM has written an essay.

[macheteman]

yes.

TPBM likes football. any kind.

[Gate Troll]

Yup. Go Redskins!

TPBM like the Redskins.     

[macheteman]

Eagles man.

TPBM thinks death should be against the law.