[OT] Living Legends, was Re: (SG2] Orbital Insertion (an alternative approach to calculat

Los wrote:

> > (Completely offtopic--I met and shook hands with General
Kalashnikov,
> > [as in invented the AK-47] today!  First trip to US for him.)
> 
> How old is he? Must be about 70 or 80.

Yup.  He was a tank commander in WWII, and he looks like it--short, but
stocky.  In his 70s--he was pretty young when he invented the AK.  Old,
but still highly energetic and a good public speaker (even if he speaks
no English--he was hauling around a Major General to translate for him,
which speaketh volumes about his clout, no?).  Got a standing ovation of
course--with a crowd of gun nuts and military buffs how could he not? 
It was at a tank museum, and they had painted up one of their (in good
working order, as all their tanks are) T-34/85s like his old tank before
the Germans ventilated it.

John M. Atkinson