Why don’t you two take your petty point scoring somewhere else or carry it on by PM. 😡

Many large span building are quite sensitive to weight on the roof. So by the time you’ve done an engineering survey to see if it’s strong enough, then beefed up as required it may not be worth it.
Great idea though, all new houses should have then fitted I think.

They’re usually called flanged lightening holes if that helps.

Cool the first site bollocking of 2012 and I made it to just after lunch on the first day…. 😀

Only posted it as a separate item as I remember someone was asking about one and thought they might not see it in here.

‘Cough’ It’s 2013 now… ‘cough’ 😉

It matters hugely. Firstly many directors have specific strengths for specific genres of film and if they stray they fail. Secondly the talent of the director himself. Thirdly it is a TV series, not something Ritchie has tried before, as far as I am aware, so he is an unknown quantity in that respect.

Look at someone like Steven Spielbergs resume’, are all his films the same genre?
Many, many film and TV directors can turn their talent and vision to many subjects.
Going by the way you see things only a director who specialised in war series could make it, with all the inherent bias that’s already there.

I know things are slightly different, but getting her back in the air is one thing, keeping her there is quite another.
As we’ve seen with the Vulcan, it’s hugely popular wherever it goes, but getting money in has been a constant battle. Just like the Vulcan, spare parts can be hard to find for Lancasters as well. Hasn’t the BBMF one been grounded on occasion whilst spares are sourced?
On the plus side though, if there are three airworthy, then it’s one more to share the costs if they need to get batches of parts made.

You have a serious misunderstanding of how government contracts work.

1. Government contracts are competitive with many bidders. The contract award criteria is typically LCTA or Low Cost, Technically Acceptable.

2. To win a contract awarded on an LCTA basis, the bidder has to bid the lowest price he thinks can win, while providing a product which satisfies the terms of the solicitation. Competition is cut throat and profit margins are razor thin, about 7% for systems and 12% for support. This is far below the commercial target of 30% ROI needed to keep shareholders happy.

During the bid evaluation process, government evaluators assess the risks (technical, schedule and budgetary) of each bid. Evaluators are allowed to “risk up” or add cost and schedule span to a bid if they deem it to be too optimistic.

3. Upon contract award, a small army of government auditors descend upon the contractor to assess the daily conduct of the contract. If technical, schedule and budget shortcomings are discovered, they are reported up the chain of command.

4. The government and contractor address issues per the terms of the contract. The root cause(s) of the problem are determined using a well-defined root cause analysis process. With root cause(s) established, corrective action(s) are implemented. Typical remedies are:

• Force the contractor to expend management reserve (budget hold back) and schedule margin
• Force the contractor to reduce profit margins
• Revise the specification requirements
• Force the contractor to re-plan his tasks to fit within the budget available on a year-by-year basis
• Implement a cost sharing routine where contractor pays a % and government pays a % of the overrun
• Go back to the legislature for more money (usually a losing proposition)

There is a semi-serious rule of thumb for government contracts:
“The first 90% of the contract costs 90% of the budget, and the last 10% of the contract costs 90% of the budget”. The obvious best course of action is to accept the 90% solution. But to do so puts government bureaucrats out of work.

It’s quite similar to that in the UK. But quite often the Civvy company has a statutory limit on how much profit it can make.
We don’t get government auditors, but cost are quite tightly controlled, although it does get very complicated and petty when you have the manufacturer, the military and then the contractor all squabbling over who pays what, and repairs what.