"armored vehicle"

**THawk** · 05-16-2011, 12:23 AM

Probably one of the most famous armored vehicles in the world. This one was build here in the Philippines for his visit during World Youth Day.

Yes, it's the Pope Mobile... Blessed John Paul II's car... came upon it while I stopped by for my morning Starbucks.

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?...1&l=c2f8ff99ea

It's probably usually behind a barrier... I had the rare honor and privilege to be able to just walk up to it and touch it...

**TheAlchemist** · 05-16-2011, 08:12 AM

How cool is that?!

**Medsen Fey** · 05-16-2011, 11:20 AM

Cool!
Now that he has been beatified, it's almost a holy relic.

**AToE** · 05-16-2011, 12:25 PM

I love the Pope-mobile!

**PitBull** · 05-16-2011, 03:28 PM

Originally Posted by AToE

I love the Pope-mobile!

But I'd love to see the popemobile, complete with the current edition of the pope.

The most famous "mobile" I've up close is the Oscar Meyer Wienermobile.

**THawk** · 05-16-2011, 11:11 PM

Originally Posted by PitBull

The most famous "mobile" I've up close is the Oscar Meyer Wienermobile.

oh that one's cool -- the giant hot dog on wheels!

It's not obvious in the photo, but the passenger compartment is regular plexiglass now instead of the original armored glass... they swapped it out as the armor was too heavy... there is also a large crack in the front (something armored glass shouldn't do)!!

Read that this version far exceeded the requirements of the Swiss guard... they just wanted something that will stop small arms fire... this one is supposed to have stopped M-16 ammunition and fragmentation from hand grenades...

**AToE** · 05-16-2011, 11:30 PM

That's some high quality plexi then! I've seen the stuff lose to a hickey puck more than once! (and one time it lost to a stunningly hard hit from player to player into the glass... kabooom! Part of why hockey is awesome).

**wayneb** · 05-16-2011, 11:50 PM

Yeah, I'd expect the material to actually be a thin sheet of polycarbonate (aka Lexan) rather than plexiglas (an acrylic - polymethyl methacrylate). While plexiglas is reasonably strong, it tends to craze and crack easily especially when exposed to UV light, and in no way would a reasonable thickness of it (say less than 1 cm thickness) even stop a .22 round fired up close. Lexan is the "original" bulletproof plastic material, having a molecular structure which actually stiffens in response to pressure - making it useful for all kinds of things, like shatterproof windows and astronaut helmet visors, for example. It will form stress cracks if subject to sheer force rather than compression, however, which might explain the crack in the window, and also explains why your CDs or DVDs (made of a composite layered material incorporating polycarbonate layers) can shatter if you flex them too much!

BTW - although polycarbonate sounds like just the thing for a mead fermentation vessel, it isn't necessarily so. The plasticizer in polycarbonate is a material called bisphenol-A, which has been shown to leach out of containers (such as water bottles and baby bottles), which may be potentially hazardous to humans - since it chemically resembles human estrogen. Additionally, once enough BPA starts to leach out of the plastic, then the other material in the polymer (carbonyl dichloride, also known by its trade name coined by the Germans when it was used in WW-I for an entirely different purpose: phosgene), can also be freed in minute quantities.

**Echostatic** · 05-17-2011, 12:12 AM

Originally Posted by wayneb

It will form stress cracks if subject to sheer force rather than compression, however, which might explain the crack in the window, and also explains why your CDs or DVDs (made of a composite layered material incorporating polycarbonate layers) can shatter if you flex them too much!

I learned this the hard way as a kid >.> I wanted to see what would happen if I flexed a CD as far as I could. Short version, I ended up with a face full of jagged CD chunks and shards. My eyes were lucky. I wouldn't recommend it!

**THawk** · 05-17-2011, 01:07 AM

Originally Posted by AToE

That's some high quality plexi then! I've seen the stuff lose to a hickey puck more than once! (and one time it lost to a stunningly hard hit from player to player into the glass... kabooom! Part of why hockey is awesome).

actually, swapped out meaning "retired" and replaced with something else that probably won't stop a rock at short range...

**sarend** · 05-17-2011, 11:44 AM

That is pretty cool. What an experience to have in your memory when you get older and have grandkids to impress.

My brother had a similar experience when he had his own aviation business in Flagstaff, Arizona. One of the presidential planes landed and my brother befriended the pilot with flying talk. My brother got a tour. He even received a packet of peanuts with the presidential seal on it. To this day, Greg still has that packet of peanuts unopened.

I don't think it was the actual AF 1, but it was of the jets used to transport someone of importance. Greg has a picture with he and the pilot.

**TheAlchemist** · 05-17-2011, 02:51 PM

Originally Posted by wayneb

BTW - although polycarbonate sounds like just the thing for a mead fermentation vessel, it isn't necessarily so. The plasticizer in polycarbonate is a material called bisphenol-A, which has been shown to leach out of containers (such as water bottles and baby bottles), which may be potentially hazardous to humans - since it chemically resembles human estrogen. Additionally, once enough BPA starts to leach out of the plastic, then the other material in the polymer (carbonyl dichloride, also known by its trade name coined by the Germans when it was used in WW-I for an entirely different purpose: phosgene), can also be freed in minute quantities.

Is this what Better Bottles are made of? I went with the Better Bottle b/c I'm a lightweight and didn't feel like lifting (and potentially shattering) glass bottles to siphonheight...

Sorry, I know this is off topic.

**wayneb** · 05-17-2011, 03:02 PM

No. Better bottles are a special kind of (crosslinked) high density polyethylene terephthalate (sometimes abbreviated, PET).

**TheAlchemist** · 05-17-2011, 03:10 PM

Originally Posted by wayneb

No. Better bottles are a special kind of (crosslinked) high density polyethylene terephthalate (sometimes abbreviated, PET).

Whew! Thanks.

**THawk** · 05-23-2011, 01:17 AM

Originally Posted by sarend

I don't think it was the actual AF 1, but it was of the jets used to transport someone of importance. Greg has a picture with he and the pilot.

If I'm not mistaken, AF1 is the callsign of the aircraft only when the president is on board.

**Good4TheCompany** · 05-24-2011, 08:45 PM

I can't help to notice the quote on the license plate... not to offend anyone, but isn't that what the catholic church tries to distance itself from...?

**THawk** · 05-24-2011, 10:39 PM

Originally Posted by Good4TheCompany

I can't help to notice the quote on the license plate... not to offend anyone, but isn't that what the catholic church tries to distance itself from...?

In the Philippines, yes... them and their medieval holier than thou attitude...