Found this excellent image of a Tupolev Tu-22M3 floating down to a landing from Wikipedia. This aircraft is unique in the world in the sense that it belongs to the elite brethren of supersonic bombers. It started off as an early version in 1961, in a totally different format. A product of the famed Tupolev Design Bureau which made the world’s first supersonic transport [Tu-144] and the world’s fastest prop-driven transport [Tu-114],  the early version of this aircraft had a circular section fuselage (133ft long, area ruled) which almost contained fuel (80000lb), and the engines were mounted above it between which the vertical tail was fitted. Engines were Dobrynin VD-7s fed via plain inlets with movable front rings to increase air intake on takeoff.

Then came the definite Tu-22M version, first detected in 1969 by a spy satellite, which was a radically revised Tu-22. It was almost a completely new jet with little commonality more than the inboard wing and vertical tail with the original Tu-22. It had twice the weapons load of the original, 40% bigger range and ability to ‘dash’ at Mach 2 at high altitude. The big difference was it had variable geometry wings, which means the wings’ sweep angle could be altered in flight to the optimum setting for that particular flight regime. Engines with afterburning Kuznetsov NK-22 or Rybinsk RD-36-51 turbojets each rated at about 45000lb, coupled with a complex variable inlet/duct system. With a combat radius of about 2500 miles these are not designated as strategic bombers exactly, but very useful medium class jets which would’ve been deployed in a vast array of conflicts. The latest version is the Tu-22M-3 ‘Backfire C’ variant, of which the weapons load consist of various air-to-surface missiles and free fall weapons, engined with Kuznetsov NK-25 turbofan engines rated at 55115lb with afterburning, sporting a max. speed of 2000km/h at 36000ft,with a range of 1850km with 12-tonne combat load. They weigh about 54 tons empty and have a max. takeoff weight of 130 tons. Serves with both air force and naval aviation in Russia, being the numerically the most important aircraft in Russian Long Range Air Force inventory. Production numbers were like 211 for the -M2 version, and 268 for the -M3 variant. Russia remains the only operator of the potent Backfire, with the exception of Ukraine which inherited both M2/M3 aircraft from the Soviet Black Sea Fleet, where about 50 are equipping three Air Force heavy bomber units.

Check out my blog entry on the above topic on my blog dedicated to personal development Unleash Your Potential.

Tow days ago a mail came from our MVP lead Lilian saying that our Exchange Server MVP Padman De Silva is retiring from the MVP program from July 1, 2007.. I wish him good luck for the future, and thank him for what he has done for the IT pro community over the past year …

so how’s gonna be our next  new MVP???

A developer or a IT pro guy ????

Not the exact thing, but kindof.

I always wanted to gulp this omelette bun thing that was being sold at the nearby pastry shop. What sandi almost always orders are 2 of them. So I thought I might as well sample the famous thing one morning. Actually I’ve never been through one. Wonder whether I’d like it, cause I usually have a bit of a ‘don’t like’ spot for eggs, unless fried outof sense. I don’t like the yolk runny: the taste makes me feel like throwing up although mum says I used to like them as a baby [though I can’t remember]. Usually she gets me breakfast fixed on time to my every whim and fancy even on Sundays, most of the engineers don’t seem to eat no breakfast cause they almost always munch something before firing up in the morning. Yesterday I felt like I was too full for a sampling, but suffered towards lunchtime. Hmm.., these days The Beloved Rover isn’t here. On vacation for an unbearable 3 or so days as intel reports. This is hard cause it means no tea. So sandi lets the Web engineering team go out for an iced coffee something or the other in late afternoon, but we miss the morning 1030 something one. So a good excuse to sample the thing. I’ll duck in, gulp the thing down, and report if I’m still alive.

My goodness this is excellent. Just wiped out the last crumb. Got an OB plus a patty just inn case it went, well, let’s say bad? But what nonsense. Excellentio! It’s a buttery buttery bun split hamburger-style to push in your best omelette. Nothing runny at all, great spicy and a tinge of hot and just the right sprinkle of onion and all. Sandi sure has a taste. Almost free for 40Rs.

Pastry Shop, yeh’ve gatch yaself a deal!

I made $54 on the stock market today. Or at least I would have had I invested $10,000. I’m taking my homespun investment skills for a test drive at the Virtual Stock Exchange. Although I prefer long term capital gains to short term speculation, I seem to have hit a lucky strike today. I bought 100 shares of Hewlett Packard and 50 shares of Toyota — both well established in their industries and not as volatile as the high tech stocks. Both were on short term downward trends so I guessed they were undervalued. All that without looking at a single analysis, earnings report or news item about the companies. Not bad for a software engineer, eh? (Google Finance too, offers a somewhat more rudimentary form of portfolio management. But it’s a lot more useful for searching information of stocks rather than actually maintaining the portfolio data)

I’m going slightly nuts over this song these days… Use this link if you can’t see the embedded video. It’s a song called Hallelujah by one Rufus Wainwright (not originally his, but his rendition is my favorite — I think it’s the same version that appeared in the original Shrek movie).

On my movie queue these days: Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, Transformers, Live Free or Die Hard, Ratatouille (in other words, all the latest releases). Watched Surf’s Up about a week back. Was good.