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Sarah Palin's presence in the lower 48 means the Arctic ice cap can finally return.

calendar   Tuesday - December 20, 2011

It Figures, Right?

In the inbox from reader Dave, a quick game of Name That Group


What a bunch of animals

We’ve all heard of

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a herd of cows,


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a flock of chickens,


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a gaggle of geese,


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and a pride of lions.

Some of us also know that you can have

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a murder of crows,


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and even an exultation of doves (cue heavenly music).


But what about baboons? The loudest, foulest, stupidest primate out there?

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yeah, these red-assed idiots. What do you call a bunch of them all making a mess together?

See More Below The Fold

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Posted by Drew458   United States  on 12/20/2011 at 02:12 PM   
Filed Under: • AnimalsHumor •  
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Neener Neener Neener

The Biters, Bit

Fresh Delicious Schadenfreude

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batteries, $3.79

mascara, $4.99

having your mug shot snapped while your car is getting jacked,

PRICELESS



Shoplifters robbed while stealing from grocery store

Two accused shoplifters got a taste of their own medicine when they sought to clear out of the crime--and found that a passing malefactor had broken into their own car.

Security personnel were in the process of questioning Korin Vanhouten, 47, and Eldon Alexander, 36, at an Ogden, Utah WinCo supermarket, accused of stealing makeup, energy bars and batteries. At the end of the interrogation, they left with a citation for attempted shoplifting.

However, they soon stumbled on to the scene of a successful carlifting, with the awkward discovery that while they were in the WinCo, someone--or several someones--had broken into their car.

And as it turned out, the ironies were just starting to multiply. For Vanhouten and Alexander proceeded to report the ransacking of their vehicle to the same officer who had issued them their shoplifting citation.

...

The car break-in reportedly happened while the police officer’s car was parked nearby.


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Posted by Drew458   United States  on 12/20/2011 at 10:06 AM   
Filed Under: • CrimeHumor •  
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Arrrrrrrrrrrrrr, avast thar matey. manage the poop sail and the gahatus thingys. ahoy

Drew had provided me with some links to boats awhile back.  I can’t recall how many links there were but seeing this in the weekend paper under a title of very expensive gifts and Christmas goodies, I had to post it.  Among some of the other items listed btw, was face cream for $2,173.68.  What kind of face cream could possibly be worth that much?  But then, if you’re Paris Hilton that’s just pocket change.
But wait, it gets worse by far. How about this one?
Perfume in a bottle made with 14 carat gold, 183 yellow sapphires and 2700 diamonds, going at a charity auction for the bargain price of $993.684.
The downer on that last one is if they actually sell it the money will most likely go to Afrika.  It’s all to help the starving I understand and no place else has that.Right?

So back to the row boat here.

Personally, I don’t care for it at all.  I think it takes away from the feel of sailing or just being on a boat of that size.  Some may like it but not my thing so I won’t accept it as a gift should any of you be so inclined but thanks anyway.

YACHT ISLAND

see the link, there is a bit more info

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If you have the money for that sort of thing, naturally it’s meaningless unless you get one of these to sail away with as well.

You will need a First Mate.

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Posted by peiper   United States  on 12/20/2011 at 09:01 AM   
Filed Under: • Eye-Candy •  
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eye candy

I couldn’t resist this one, not so much as eye candy, and she is that okay, but nothing at all like Drew’s previous drop dead gor-jus blonde.

I posted here cos there’s a vain streak of funny about her. Assuming she was serious because it isn’t her ears the world is looking at.

She claims to be “insecure” about her ears.  For which someone made a comment at the DM as follows.

‘Sorry Michelle. You’re gorgeous and funny and the sex was amazing, but it’s over. Your ears are weird’. Yeah, right.
- Robert Gee, Manchester England

‘I’m not confident with my body… I hate my ears!’ Coronation Street star Michelle Keegan bemoans insecurities as she shows off her perfect pins in festive photoshoot

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For our Yankee readers, Coronation Street is a very long running soaper.

MORE MICHELLE


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Posted by peiper   United Kingdom  on 12/20/2011 at 08:28 AM   
Filed Under: • Eye-Candy •  
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calendar   Monday - December 19, 2011

FURTHER ADVENTURES OF BRAIN DEAD COUSIN JO.

POOR BRAIN DEAD COUSIN JO

the saga continues

December 2011

Poor brain dead cousin Jo is so called because she just may be the dumbest woman in the western hemisphere.  If not the world. 
For those readers new to this site, the brain dead wonder of the western world happens to be my wife’s cousin.

She is a good person, a generally kindly older woman, but oh so stupid she almost defies description. 
Our regulars here at BMEWS have seen previous adventures of this laffable loon.
For those of you who haven’t, here’s an example of what I mean by stupid.

She once called us because she was having trouble reading in bed and wanted our advice with regard to a problem.  Her book kept falling on her.  ?? When asked how that was possible, it turned out that the silly woman wasn’t actually sitting up straight in bed, but was reclining, more prone then recline and trying to hold her book over her head. And she was falling asleep and so would drop the book which of course would fall on her head.  Yeah. She’s that stupid.  Which from my point of view is fine because I started a journal on around 2008, chronicling cousin Jo’s verbal meanderings and traumas.  Like, not knowing how to self administer an enema.
Yeah.  She’s that stupid.

So, when she calls or comes by for a visit, I listen to what passes for a conversation, in hope of getting more material to write about and add to the journal dedicated to her.
As good fortune would have it, an opportunity presented itself to us just recently.
As in last evening when she called seeking help with another one of life’s little problems that vexes her so.  This time is wasn’t quite how do you boil water dumb, but it does come pretty close to that category.

About ten days ago, she came by for a visit. She also overstayed as is her habit.  She had coffee with us and was asked if she’d like it with Bailey’s Irish Cream.  A boozy drink of great good taste.  She said yes she like to try that.  It was served and she enjoyed it and asked the wife how she made it.  Well, the wife tells her she simply put the Bailey’s into the coffee cup. That was all. No measure or anything. Just put in the same as you would cream or milk.  Simple, you might think. Ah, but this is brain dead cousin Jo we’re writing about.  Not to be confused with anyone normal and a grasp of the obvious. 

Well, Jo called one night saying she tried to make her coffee at home with Baileys but for some reason it wasn’t coming out right.  She wanted to know what we did to make the taste so different from the way hers tasted. Something wasn’t quite right she reported.  So the wife asked her what she was doing.

Turns out she was putting milk in the coffee in addition to the Baileys. So we told her no Jo. You don’t need the milk and the Baileys. Just the boozy Baileys. Add to taste. That’s it. Nothing too complicated. Right?  Wanna bet?

She called us again last night saying she just didn’t have it right and wanted further instructions.  She just didn’t seem to have it right and asked for the third time how to unlock the secret of this marvellous scientific discovery.
The phone rang, I answered and passed the phone to my wife.
This is how her side of the conversation went.

Phone: ringring,ringring.
Me:  Pick up phone and say hello.
Cousin Jo:  “OH,,, Hello” That’s how she always answers. She says OH! as tho she’s surprised anyone answered.  She needs help with the coffee thing and the Baileys.
I pass the phone to my wife and grab a pen and pad.

WIFE:
No Jo.  you are not supposed to boil the Baileys. It’s alcohol Jo. You’re boiling out the booze.
No Jo. I didn’t say to boil the Baileys.
No Jo. Don’t add the Baileys to the water.  You add it to the coffee already in the cup.
Yes Jo. If you’re making instant coffee, you do boil the water. But not the Baileys.
Yes Jo. put the coffee granules in the cup like you always do.
Right. Add the water.
No Jo. You don’t have to wait for the water to cool.
Pour in the water Jo, and then the Baileys Cream according to how strong you like it.
No Jo.  Don’t put any milk in it.  Remember?  We already covered that.
Yes.  Cup – Coffee – Baileys
Yes. That’s really all there is to it.
No, no trouble at all Jo.  Happy to help.
Good night Jo.

And so ends another chapter in the continuing adventures of
POOR BRAIN DEAD COUSIN JO.

Stay tuned. There’s always more to follow.

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Posted by peiper   United Kingdom  on 12/19/2011 at 12:26 PM   
Filed Under: • PersonalStoopid-People •  
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They Do Exist

... and now, for something completely different ...

See More Below The Fold

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Posted by Drew458   United States  on 12/19/2011 at 10:59 AM   
Filed Under: • Eye-Candy •  
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IL? Better Than That

Not Just IL, DEAD

North Korea’s Kim Jong Il, Dead at 69



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loser  two_thumbs_up  trophy  LOL  LOL  LOL  trophy  two_thumbs_up  loser



Kim Jong Il, North Korea’s longtime leader, has died at 69 of a heart attack, state TV reported on Monday in a “special broadcast.”

State media reported that Kim suffered the heart attack while riding a train on Dec. 17, and that he had been treated for cardiac and cerebrovascular diseases for some time. It said an autopsy was done on Dec. 18 and “fully confirmed” the diagnosis.

“It is the biggest loss for the party ... and it is our people and nation’s biggest sadness,” an anchorwoman clad in black Korean traditional dress said in a voice choked with tears. She said the nation must “change our sadness to strength and overcome our difficulties.”

Kim ruled North Korea with an iron fist for 17 years. He succeeded his father, revered North Korean founder Kim Il Sung, after the elder Kim’s death in 1994. The nation remains one of the last remnants of the Cold War era, and is heavily isolated.

Kim maintained absolute control of his country and kept the world on edge with erratic decisions regarding the country’s nuclear weapons program.



Madeleine Albright is said to be devastated by the death of her hero and has not yet released a statement.

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Posted by Drew458   United States  on 12/19/2011 at 08:04 AM   
Filed Under: • Commies •  
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more law and disorder and the joke named justice

Tiz always thus. One rule and law for one group, and another set of standards for another.
These stories have made the news and passed pretty quickly cos more important stories take their place. Like how the evil American empire, so described on the radio here by the lawyer of that queer traitor Bradley Manning, is treating his baby faced innocent client. The other person interviewed (for the prosecution) holds the view and correctly I believe, that Manning could not have had the time to read all 125,000 docs he stole and gave to Wikileaks. So the claim of his altruistic intention is rubbish.  I sidetracked myself again.  That isn’t the subject of this post.
This is.

Ok, fair is fair and if someone fiddles at the expense of the taxpayer, they damn well should face the humiliation of fines and exposure and jail time.  These are the leaches that sit on fat asses passing regs and new laws and more rules that the rest of the population is made to live by and with.  The average person doing the same thing sometimes does go to jail.  Ah but, some things depend on who and what you are.
The crooks here are white, so far. And not members of any favored minority.  They are, or were, members of the Labour Party. Think left wing. Or as Lyndon refers to it, the Lie-bour Party. I believe he has a few more colorful names as well.  They’ve wrecked this country.
(this does not let off crooks of a conservative bent btw)


MPs’ expenses: jailed trio ordered to pay back legal costs

Three former Labour MPs who were jailed for fiddling their expenses have been ordered to pay back a total of £125,000 – less than half of the money spent on their court cases.

But a fourth disgraced politician was spared any repayment on the grounds he is already bankrupt.
Elliot Morley, David Chaytor and Eric Illsley, exposed for claiming too much on their Parliamentary allowances after the landmark investigation by The Daily Telegraph, were told by a judge they must give back their legal aid funds and contribute to prosecution costs.
They have already been denied the “parachute” payments given to most MPs when they leave Westminster, and forced to pay back their fraudulently claimed expenses.

much more to read here

So that’s one little part of the expenses fiddle by crooks in control of the public purse.
Here’s another that made the news in the last week. Just a small item which set me to thinking.

Recently a fellow named James Lunn, was working for the Ministry of Justice.  Which as we all know doesn’t really exist anywhere in the world anymore. In addition to the crime of being white and middle class, Mr lunn apparently has sticky fingers and has been caught with his paws in the ministry cookie jar. The headline said that he used his MOJ credit card like a piggy bank. His piggy bank. So not an altogether honest man we may all agree.

His lawyer said that his client was working in an enviorenment where everyone abused their expenses.
Oh well, if everyone does it .... Anyway, Mr. Lunn is now facing a year in jail and well deserved as this is not the first time he’s tried to glom money from the public cookie jar. You might interested to learn that the sum he stole was £3,400. Or in our dollars at the current rate. $5,270.15. Not a small sum but then not the Great Train Robbery either.

But for real chutzpah (Yiddish for nerve, in spades. ) take a look at this one. And just so you know, she’ll be entitled to draw money just for signing in when the dust settles. But whatcha gonna do?  She came to this country at the age of 13 and has learned well how to fleece the infidel. She was made a Peer, the first muzzie female peer I believe. She’s a baroness FYI. Might be a token jest-ture to prove there isn’t any anti female anti islam feelings and it’s quite pc too.
Take a look at this.  Has she drawn a year in the pokey for a hundred thousand plus fiddle?  Uh huh. I see you know the answer already.

She was raised to the peerage as Baroness Uddin, of Bethnal Green in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, for life by Letters patent in the afternoon of 18 July 1998, at the House of Lords.

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She was the youngest woman on the benches and the only Muslim and Bangladeshi woman to be appointed to the House of Lords. She was invited to the House of Lords for her contribution to the advancement of women and disability rights, swearing in by saying “Almighty Allah” as she took her seat in the parliament. Since entering the House of Lords, besides claiming the maximum possible amount she could fleece the taxpayer for, she has supported a handful of initiatives.

In 2010, The National Executive Committee of The Labour Party suspended Uddin indefinitely from the Party in light of the expenses claim allegations.
In October 2010, Under the recommendation of The Privileges and Conduct Committee of The House of Lords a suspension is to be handed down to Pola Uddin until Easter 2012 at the earliest for claiming expenses “to which she was not entitled”. The Committee also acknowledged a repayment agreement for expenses wrongly claimed.

Uddin claims on her House of Lords Expenses that a flat inMaidstone, Kent is her main residence on which she has claimed £30,000 per annum in tax-free expenses since 2005. This is said to have allowed her to also claim the second home allowance on her London property, a scheme that ostensibly exists to compensate politicians living outside London for the cost of accommodation close to Parliament. Residents living near the flat in Maidstone reportedly said they had not seen any occupiers in the flat since Uddin purchased it and that it has remained completely unfurnished, but Uddin claims: “The Maidstone property is furnished and I strongly deny that I have never lived there” Uddin’s husband even denied having a property in Kent when questioned on the issue

She also has one of the highest claims for overnight subsistence of any member of the Lords.
Uddin’s home in Wapping, where she lives and is registered to vote, is a housing association property. Spitalfields Housing Association received a public subsidy of £37.8 million in 2008. The average rent for its properties is £104 a week, a sixth of the market rate. The allegations of fraud led the Tory opposition leader in Tower Hamlets, Peter Golds, to state, “Lady Uddin is depriving a low-income family of a home which was built for the needy at public expense.” On 5 May 2009, one of the senior Lord’s official, Clerk of the Parliaments, has announced the House of Lords authorities are investigating the report by the Sunday Times. Uddin welcomed the review: “I welcome this review and will co-operate fully with him in the hope of a speedy resolution and clarity that I did not break the rules of the House.”
On 23 November 2009, Uddin’s cases was passed to the police for possible prosecution for fraud. The Daily Telegraph later reported that she was refusing to cooperate with the police investigation, refusing to answer any questions.

The Crown Prosecution Service announced on 10 March 2010 that Baroness Uddin would not face any charges on the grounds that a senior parliamentary official ruled that a Peers “main house” might be a place they visit only once a month. There were no indications that the expenses would be paid back.
On 18 October 2010, the House of Lords Privileges and Conduct Committee ruled that Baroness Uddin had ‘acted in bad faith’ and recommended that she should be asked to repay £125,349 as well as being suspended from Parliament until Easter 2012.

In November 2011, it was revealed that no formal mechanism existed to prevent Baroness Uddin’s return to the House of Lords, even if she refused to repay the expenses that were fraudulently claimed, leading many members of her own party to call for her to resign rather than bring the House of Lords into further disrepute.
The amount of money quoted in her case (£125,349) is probably the largest amount in any of the House of Commons or House of Lords expenses scandals.

Bangladesh Mansion

Further expenses claims by Uddin were later discovered when The Sunday Times revealed that she owns a mansion in Bangladesh. The mansion was described as made out of Italian marble with tiles, mosaics and with a balcony.’ An investigation of this has been acquired to whether she does have a home in Bangladesh. The mansion was believed to be built after Uddin became a peer in 1998, costing £140,000 which was organised by her husband Komar, located in Jawa Bazar in Chhatak; this is where many of her in-laws are originally from. However Uddin claims that the land was bought by her husband’s family, purchased by Kumar’s father in 1980.

FULL UNEDITED WIKIPEDIA VERSION HERE

OH BTW .... SHE IS NOT PAYING BACK ONE SINGLE DIME.

Now then, if Mr. Lunn, thief tho he may be were a member of her privileged group .... any questions? 


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Posted by peiper   United Kingdom  on 12/19/2011 at 07:10 AM   
Filed Under: • Daily LifeFinance and InvestingGovernmentmuslimsUK •  
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they’re called protesters because we can’t use the proper term for them too boldly.

H/T LyndonB for the link.

Don’t know how I missed this one but it needs sharing here as opposed to the comments section, even though it’s a week out of date. But the date doesn’t matter. The story does.

What the hell, it’s all part of ‘diversity’ and ‘multi-culture’ and everything else that belongs to leftist mumbo jumbo.
So a group of foreign darkies, notice I have avoided calling them what they really are, want to protest something they think is wrong in their own damn turd world country. Do they go there to improve things?  Of course not.  They come to the oh so fuckin liberal west and spread their poison here where in addition to human rights they can have benefits.  Then attack in the streets, the very culture that’s supporting them and giving them the freedom to do what they do. 
They didn’t riot and trash things because something is still rotten in their homeland.  They do this everywhere they are allowed to settle.  And the better culture is expected to welcome them as equals and even as humans.  Which in the end will cause the eventual decay of the superior culture. It will because it always does and time will prove this so again.  White liberals will see to it.  Just another example of the doings of the white man’s burden & curse.

Charity carol concert attacked by Congo protesters

Carol singers raising money for a cancer charity in Trafalgar Square were attacked by protesters during a night of disorder that saw 139 arrests.

By Matthew Holehouse

Shops were attacked, passers-by threatened and car windows smashed during a demonstration in central London against the election result in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The carol concert was raising money for MacMillan Cancer Support. It was organised by a group of friends whose loved ones had been treated for cancer.

Masked teenage boys ‘stormed’ the singers, throwing bottles of water and hot drinks into the crowd.

A woman in her 40s, said to be undergoing treatment for breast cancer, was pulled to the ground.

A youth attempted to set light to the Christmas tree, an annual gift from the city of Oslo since 1947, one witness said.

“They were determined not to let us sing and have fun and utterly ruined the atmosphere. Have your protest and make your point, but why did you have to ruin a lovely occasion with your scuminess,” Mark Horton, a conductor of the choir, wrote in a message online. The concert was cut short amid safety concerns.

The attack was ‘egged on’ by teenage girls who screamed and shouted “like the possessed”, another witness said.

Other arrests were made for assaulting police officers, obstructing police and blocking a public highway. Police held demonstrators inside double decker busses before ferrying them to custody.

The demonstration began as an agreed ‘static’ protest in Whitehall on Saturday evening against the re-election of President Joseph Kabila, which international observers say “lacks credibility”.

The vast central African country has immense mineral wealth but has been ravaged by civil war, corruption and economic mismanagement. Protestors accuse Western governments of propping up the regime.

On Thursday a group of 200 Congo demonstrators forced the evacuation of Oxford Circus tube station, central London, after they set off a passenger alarm on an underground train.

It has nothing at all to do with an election in their home country.  It has to do with genes and and a natural proclivity toward criminality and enjoying their natural racial pastime, which is described in this article. Any old excuse to riot will do. 

CONGO SOURCE


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Posted by peiper   United Kingdom  on 12/19/2011 at 04:47 AM   
Filed Under: • Africa •  
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calendar   Saturday - December 17, 2011

Up In The Air, Junior Birdmen

Today is the 107th Anniversary of Powered Flight



Q: If it takes 2 wrongs to make a right, what does it take 2 rights to make?
A: An airplane.


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Orville making history

On December 14, 1903, they felt ready for their first attempt at powered flight. With the help of men from the nearby government life-saving station, the Wrights moved the Flyer and its launching rail to the incline of a nearby sand dune, Big Kill Devil Hill, intending to make a gravity-assisted takeoff. The brothers tossed a coin to decide who would get the first chance at piloting and Wilbur won. The airplane left the rail, but Wilbur pulled up too sharply, stalled, and came down in about three seconds with minor damage.

Repairs after the abortive first flight took three days. When they were ready again on December 17, the wind was averaging more than 20 mph, so the brothers laid the launching rail on level ground, pointed into the wind, near their camp. This time the wind, instead of an inclined launch, helped provide the necessary airspeed for takeoff. Because Wilbur already had the first chance, Orville took his turn at the controls. His first flight lasted 12 seconds for a total distance of 120 ft (36.5 m) – shorter than the wingspan of a Boeing 707, as noted by observers in the 2003 commemoration of the first flight.[3]

Taking turns, the Wrights made four brief, low-altitude flights that day. The flight paths were all essentially straight; turns were not attempted. [ which just goes to show that two Wrights can’t make a left ] Each flight ended in a bumpy and unintended “landing”. The last flight, by Wilbur, was 852 feet (260 m) in 59 seconds, much longer than each of the three previous flights of 120, 175 and 200 feet. The landing broke the front elevator supports, which the Wrights hoped to repair for a possible four-mile (6 km) flight to Kitty Hawk village. Soon after, a heavy gust picked up the Flyer and tumbled it end over end, damaging it beyond any hope of quick repair. It was never flown again.

Pity that today’s anniversary isn’t also the anniversary of the government’s recognition of that triumph. That took until 1942, because of some favoritism in the old Old Boys Network ...

The Smithsonian Institution, and primarily its then-secretary Charles Walcott, refused to give credit to the Wright Brothers for the first powered, controlled flight of an aircraft. Instead, they honored the former Smithsonian Secretary Samuel Pierpont Langley, whose 1903 tests of his own Aerodrome on the Potomac were not successful. Walcott was a friend of Langley and wanted to see Langley’s place in aviation history restored. In 1914, Glenn Curtiss flew a heavily modified Aerodrome from Keuka Lake, N.Y., providing the Smithsonian a basis for its claim that the aircraft was the first powered, heavier than air flying machine “capable” of manned flight. Due to the legal patent battles then taking place, recognition of the ‘first’ aircraft became a political as well as an academic issue.

In 1925, Orville attempted to persuade the Smithsonian to recognize his and Wilbur’s accomplishment by offering to send the Flyer to the Science Museum in London. This action did not have its intended effect, and the Flyer went on display in the London museum in 1928. During World War II, it was moved to an underground vault 100 miles (160 km) from London where Britain’s other treasures were kept safe from the conflict.

In 1942 the Smithsonian Institution, under a new secretary, Charles Abbot (Walcott had died in 1927), published a list of the Curtiss modifications to the Aerodrome and a retraction of its long-held claims for the craft. The next year, Orville, after exchanging several letters with Abbott, agreed to return the Flyer to the United States.

The Wright brothers hailed from Dayton Ohio, so my guess is that Christopher is at the parade today. Dayton does have an annual Wright brothers parade, don’t they Chris?

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Please note that the Wrights were the first to actually fly a manned, self-propelled, sustained, heavier than air vehicle that they could (at least in theory) control. Other folks had been gadding about in other vehicles that managed short hops, bounces, or fairly long glides for about 78 years before them, in various things with wings on that didn’t meet the full definition; “powered flight” had been around since 1783, with the Montgolfier brothers and there hot air balloons. 1783 was also a great year for brandy, right Brenda?

Oh, and of course jizzlam claims credit 1100 years earlier, because back in the year 800 or something some loonie muzzie got tarred and feathered, then leaped off a tall building, managing a sustained but uncontrolled flight. Straight down.

Here’s a neat video of a modern copy of the Wright Flyer showing that it can still get the job done:

It was not until 1908 that Louis Blériot figured out that the control surfaces really belonged on the back end of an airplane. The Wrights and several others of the early era (Curtis etc) put the elevators in front.


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Posted by Drew458   United States  on 12/17/2011 at 04:30 PM   
Filed Under: • HeroesHistoryNeat Inventionsplanes, trains, tanks, ships, machines, automobiles •  
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calendar   Friday - December 16, 2011

The Mane Attraction

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Another one of Bert’s adventures, some Amazing Science, and some nice teeth, all in one day.


Happy Birthday McGoo (+/- 183 days), wherever you are.

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Posted by Drew458   United States  on 12/16/2011 at 09:40 PM   
Filed Under: • Eye-Candy •  
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Space Scientists: We’ll Use The Chewbacca Defense On This One, Thanks

“If Chewbacca lives on Endor, you must acquit”


Giant Ice Comet Flies 1.37 Million Miles Through The Sun’s Coronna

Exposed to 2,000,000°F Heat

Comet Comes Out The Other Side, Flies Away

Say What???



Just so you know, a comet generally goes along at about 18 miles a second. Ignoring for a moment the parts of it’s trajectory close to the corona on both the entry tangent and the exit tangent, it still took about 22 hours for comet Lovejoy to zip halfway around the sun just 87,000 miles about the surface (about a third of the distance between Earth and the Moon). A ball of ice. Flying through 2 million degrees of Hell for a whole day. And there was something left, AND it managed to break away from the Sun’s gravitational field. Now, getting back to those tangents: Mercury, the nearest planet to the Sun, has a wobbly orbit that averages a radius of about 36 million miles. 36 million miles out (23 days travel for a comet) the surface temperature of Mercury is 800&deg F, hot enough to melt lead and tin. And every mile closer to the Sun it gets hotter. Do your own math to figure out how far out from the Sun you have to go to find the point of state transition, when the temps get hot enough to melt ice and boil it away in the relative vacuum of space. Probably at least a week’s additional journey, both coming and going.

Oh, and all you Star Trek fans will know that to come out the other side, the comet had to pick up enough velocity to achieve solar escape velocity. Which is 384 miles per second. Which just also happens to be the escape velocity of the solar system, so this baby ain’t coming back.

Homework problem: assume what was left weighs in at 10 million tons on Earth. Traveling in an semi-circular arc of RSun + 87K miles at 384mps and in a gravitational field of GSun (the sun’s surface gravity is 28 times ours), compute the centrifugal forces applied to the comet on it’s trip. Try to rationalize how the comet held together when those forces were greater than the bond strength holding the atoms together.

Comet Lovejoy Survives Fiery Plunge Through Sun, NASA Says

A newfound comet defied long odds on Thursday, (Dec. 15), surviving a suicidal dive through the sun’s hellishly hot atmosphere, according to NASA scientists.

Comet Lovejoy plunged through the sun’s corona at about 7 p.m. EST (midnight GMT on Dec. 16), coming within 87,000 miles (140,000 kilometers) of our star’s surface. Temperatures in the corona can reach 2 million degrees Fahrenheit (1.1 million degrees Celsius), so most researchers expected the icy wanderer to be completely destroyed.

But Lovejoy proved to be made of tough stuff. A video taken by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) spacecraft showed the icy object emerging from behind the sun and zipping back off into space.

Naturally, stargazers and their gangs were expecting a fast melt and a puff of steam. What the hey, right, it’s only the sun. Um, nope, not this time.

SDO is one of many instruments that scientists — eager to record and study the comet’s presumed demise — trained on Lovejoy as it streaked toward the sun.

“We have here an exceptionally rare opportunity to observe the complete vaporization of a relatively large comet, and we have approximately 18 instruments on five different satellites that are trying to do just that,” Karl Battams, a scientist at the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, D.C., wrote on the Sungrazing Comets website, before Lovejoy’s closest solar approach.
...
Battams greeted news of Lovejoy’s improbable escape with surprise and delight.

“I expected a diffuse dust tail to survive (for several hours) before fading away but NOT any kind of nucleus!” he tweeted. “I’ve worked with sungrazers for 8yrs; today was the most amazing day I’ve ever had with them!”

Lovejoy has a core about 660 feet (200 meters) wide. It belongs to a class of comets known as Kreutz sungrazers, whose orbits bring them very close to the sun.
...
Lovejoy is quite large for a sungrazing comet, and experts expected it to die an impressive death. The website Spaceweather.com, for example, predicted Lovejoy would blaze as brightly as Jupiter or Venus in the sky as it neared the sun.

Battams also expected a good show, saying the comet might even be visible from the ground around sunset today in the Northern Hemisphere.

“I do think that it will put on a spectacular show for us and will be the brightest Kreutz-group comet that SOHO has ever observed,” Battams wrote last week.

Though the early returns are still coming in, those forecasts appear to be on the money. Observations from various spacecraft do indeed show Lovejoy flaring up significantly as it neared our star.

Seems the comet left it’s tail behind. What’s just so darned amazing is that anything, anything AT ALL, came out the other side. Nearly a full month of ice melting temps coming in, and nearly a full month of temps hot enough to vaporize anything while going around. And there’s still a significant chunk of something left. If we still had a functioning space program, I’d want to send up a catcher satellite and grab a piece of whatever is left. That’s the stuff you want to build spaceships with, fer shure.

Lovejoy didn’t exactly come out of its hellish adventure unscathed. Only 10 percent of the comet — which was probably millions of tons — survived the encounter, said W. Dean Pesnell, project scientist for NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, which tracked Lovejoy’s death-defying plunge.

And the comet lost something pretty important: its tail.

“It looks like the tail broke off and is stuck” in the sun’s magnetic field, Pesnell said.

Yeah, but something made it, when nothing should have. Scientists don’t have that answer yet, although they’re trying the “Gee, it must have been much much bigger than we thought” Giant Mass Excuse. Which is pretty much the Wookie Defense. Which means they just don’t know. “If the glove don’t fit, you must acquit.” Besides, the bigger the comet was, the larger the acceleration forces there would be as it went around.


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Posted by Drew458   United States  on 12/16/2011 at 08:43 PM   
Filed Under: • Amazing Science and DiscoveriesSpace •  
Comments (6) Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

quote of the day?

2 dead so far from using nasal rinse

Neti pot + bad water = brain eating zombie amoeba

‘Tap water is safe for drinking, but not for irrigating your nose.’



Sometimes when you’ve got a cold or the flue or are suffering from terrible allergies and your nose is blocked up like a brick, the only thing that can open it up is a hose. Well, almost a hose. That’s what a Neti pot is for. They’re these little watering can things you pour up your nose, and the mild saline solution rinses out the mess and let’s you breathe again.

Yeah, they’re kinda gross. Not the sort of thing you’d want to use in public. But they will give you a few hours of relief, and the folks who use them daily think they’re the greatest thing ever.

I’ve got the dangerous modern version, Dr. Mehta’s NeilMed Sinus Rinse. Instead of having to contort yourself into some odd Yoga position known as the reciprocating mongoose to get the water to flow up your nose, the NeilMed device uses a squeeze bottle. For all you old stoners out there who remember the power hitters in the 70s made from plastic mustard bottles, it’s a very similar design. I say that the thing is dangerous because it reguires a gentle hand to use safely. You’re jamming a squirt bottle up your nose, m’kay? Squeeze too hard and you’ll blast out your ears. So go easy.

I don’t use mine every day. Actually, I only use it a few times a year. You get a bunch of little packets to mix into the water that contain salt and baking soda, which helps dry you out and reduces that old sea water up the nose burn. I really should find the thing and start using it again. We have electric heat at our place and it gets so terribly dry here in the winter months. I use distilled water, boiled on the stove, and then left to cool in a covered pan.

Anyway, Darwin claims two more, who should have known better. Always boil the water first ... and [this is VERY important:] then let it cool off before pouring it up your nose. Words to the wise, right?

Two deaths from brain-eating amoeba linked to sinus remedy for colds

A sinus-flushing device used to relieve colds and allergies has been linked to a deadly brain-eating amoeba.

Louisiana’s state health department issued a warning about neti pots - which look like mini watering cans, that are used by pouring salty water through one nostril.

It follows two recent deaths - a 51-year-old woman and a 20-year-old man from the ‘brain-eating amoeba’ Naegleria fowleri.

It is thought the amoeba entered their brains when they used the devices.

Both victims are thought to have used tap water, instead of distilled or sterilised water as recommended by the manufacturers.

Dr Raoult Ratard, Louisiana State Epidemiologist, said: ‘If you are irrigating, flushing, or rinsing your sinuses, for example, by using a neti pot, use distilled, sterile or previously boiled water to make up the irrigation solution.

‘Tap water is safe for drinking, but not for irrigating your nose.’

According to The Department of Health and Hospitals in Louisiana, the amoeba causes the disease primary amebic meningoencephalitis, a brain infection that leads to the destruction of brain tissue.

In its early stages, symptoms may be similar to symptoms of bacterial meningitis and can include headache, fever, nausea, vomiting and stiff neck. Later symptoms include confusion, loss of balance, seizures and hallucinations.

After the start of symptoms, the disease progresses rapidly and usually causes death within one to 12 days.

My astute BMEWS readers will surely see what the LA DoHH isn’t telling us ... that the zombie amoeba is living in their drinking water. D’oh!!!  ("D’ohh"??)


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Posted by Drew458   United States  on 12/16/2011 at 07:54 PM   
Filed Under: • Miscellaneous •  
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Have Some Leftovers

4 Million Things Left Behind As US Leaves Iraq

U.S. command says it’s not worth hauling back




Truth be told, when I saw that headline, my first thought was the more things change, the more they stay the same. This was from WWII:

image

But that isn’t exactly the case here. As the last of our troops board the big planes to exit sandland, what they’re leaving behind is much more than just refuse ...

Troops are leaving a bounty of leftovers as they exit the country this month, abandoning dining-hall tables and chairs, tents, air conditioners and old vehicles.  Unlike a traditional American yard sale, the military bric-a-brac is free.
...
The State Department, which inherits the lead U.S. role in Iraq on Jan. 1, also is accepting hand-me-downs, such as armored vehicles and surveillance electronics to protect its turf.

“We’ve gone through a very extensive review process to determine what we need to take back to the United States, what gets reconditioned, what we can afford to transfer to the State Department, or to state and local governments back in the United States, or to the Iraqi government,” said ArmyMaj. Gen. Jeffrey S. Buchanan, the top U.S. military spokesman in Iraq.

“It’s really the leftover things we’ve transferred to the Iraq government.”

The command estimates that it has bequeathed to the Iraqi government more than 4 million pieces of this and that, valued at $580 million. However, the military is saving more than $1 billion in shipping costs.

It’s not all free. Iraq is going to pay for the 140 M-1 tanks we’re leaving, but we’re keeping some of the spy gear and 60 of the MRAPs (armored vehicles) are going to the State Department.

Still, it must seem like a yard sale over there. I’d say Christmas in December, but not only would that be redundant, it might offend their prickly little muslim feewings.

Let’s not forget all the schools, hospitals, roads, and other infrastructure staying there too, that our troops built when they weren’t being shot at.


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Posted by Drew458   United States  on 12/16/2011 at 02:37 PM   
Filed Under: • IraqMilitary •  
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