BLU-82

The BLU-82B/C-130 weapon system, known under program "Commando Vault" and nicknamed "daisy cutter" in Vietnam and in Afghanistan for its ability to flatten a forest into a helicopter landing zone, is a 15,000 pound (6,800 kg) conventional bomb, delivered from either a C-130 or an MC-130 transport aircraft. There were 225 constructed. The BLU-82 was retired in 2008 and replaced with the more powerful MOAB.

Overview

The designation "BLU" stands for Bomb Live Unit, as opposed to "BDU" (Bomb Dummy Units) used for practice. Originally designed to create an instant clearing in the jungles of Vietnam, the BLU-82B/C-130 was test-dropped there from a CH-54 Tarhe "Flying crane" helicopter. Later it was used in Afghanistan as an anti-personnel weapon and as an intimidation weapon because of its very large blast radius (variously reported as 5000 to 5500 feet/1500 to 1700 meters) combined with a visible flash and audible sound at long distances. It is one of the largest conventional weapons ever to be used, outweighed only by a few earthquake bombs, thermobaric bombs, and demolition (bunker buster) bombs. Some of these include the Grand Slam and T12 earthquake bombs of late World War II, and more currently, the Russian Air Force FOAB and USAF GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast bomb, and the Massive Ordnance Penetrator.

Tome

A tome is a large book, especially one volume of a multi-volume scholarly work.

It may also refer to:

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Games

Philippe Vandevelde

Philippe Vandevelde, working under the pseudonym Tome (born 24 February 1957 in Brussels), is a comics script writer. He is known for collaborations with Janry on Spirou et Fantasio and Le Petit Spirou, and with Luc Warnant and later Bruno Gazzotti on Soda. More recently he has collaborated with Ralph Meyer on Berceuse assassine, and with Marc Hardy on Feux.

Biography

An operation left him blind for a short while at the age of eight. His first experiences of comics were the The Adventures of Tintin story King Ottokar's Sceptre and Corentin read aloud to him. Under the pseudonyms "Phil" and "Tom", he published his first illustrations and comics for the school magazine Buck (made by Thierry Groensteen) from 1972 to 1974. His first comic was a medieval parody Estrel, le troubadour.

Tome began his professional comics career in the studio of Dupa, the author of Cubitus, where he met Janry who would become a long-time collaborator. After assisting Turk and De Groot on series such as Léonard and Clifton, they began working at the Franco-Belgian comics magazine Spirou in 1979, their first assignment the games page Jeureka.

Tales of Maj'Eyal

Tales of Maj'Eyal (also known as ToME) is an open source roguelike video game created by Nicolas Casalini ("DarkGod"), with graphics by Assen Kanev ("Rexorcorum") and Raymond Gaustadnes ("Shockbolt"). It is based upon Casalini's earlier game Tales of Middle Earth, which in turn is based upon Angband. Development of ToME 4 started in 2009, and the first formal release occurred in 2012.

Tales of Maj'Eyal is available as a free download for Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux under a GNU GPL version 3 license. The game may also be purchased through Steam or GOG.

Gameplay

Tales of Maj'Eyal is a dungeon crawl featuring a customizable graphical interface that integrates classic roguelike keyboard commands with a mouse-driven interface. In a departure from many older roguelike games, Tales of Maj'Eyal has full-color graphics, can be played almost exclusively with the mouse, and despite permadeath the player can earn extra lives through various ways and leveling up.

Tales of Maj'Eyal emphasizes tactical turn-based combat and flexible player-controlled character development. Gameplay depends heavily on the player's decisions and ability to develop and execute strategy. Play begins with the player selecting one of nine races and one of 25 classes (expandable with addons). Not all character choices are available at first; some must be unlocked through in-game progress, or through monetary donation or purchase.