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Sarah Palin's enemies are automatically added to the Endangered Species List.

calendar   Wednesday - February 29, 2012

Iron Bound Contract Rusted Through Already?

Air Farce Cancels Super Tacano Contract

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What, did you think the boys in blue were actually going to buy planes with a spinner in front? And keep them??? Oh hella no. And at ONLY $17.75 million a pop, for a pimped out Cessna.

Citing concerns with the procurement process, the U.S. Air Force has canceled Sierra Nevada Corp.’s (SNC) $355 million contract to supply 20 Embraer AT-29 Super Tucano light attack aircraft for operation by the Afghan air force.

The decision to set aside the contract is a victory for Hawker Beechcraft (HBC), which took the Air Force to court after its offer of the AT-6 aircraft was disqualified, leaving SNC as the only bidder for the Light Air Support (LAS) program.

“While we pursue perfection, we sometimes fall short, and when we do we will take corrective action,” says Air Force Secretary Michael Donley in a statement. Citing the ongoing litigation, he adds, “I can only say Air Force Senior Acquisition Executive David Van Buren is not satisfied with the quality of the documentation supporting the award decision.”

The contract was only awarded on December 31, after rival Hawker Beechcraft was eliminated from the competition because their airplane was still on the damn drawing board and the sky jockeys needed the COIN planes right away.

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Well, the Air Force just scrapped the $355 million contract it gave Embraer and Sierra Nevada Corporation for 20 Super Tucano light attack turboprops on Dec. 31.

Remember, the Brazilian Super T beat out Hawker Beechcraft’s AT-6 Texan in the light attack contest aimed at providing a counterinsurgency aircraft for the tiny Afghan air force.

Apparently, someone got something pretty wrong in the “documentation” for the deal. So wrong that the Air Force has contacted the Department of Justice about the matter. Uh oh.



So, go figure. And make up your own mind as to the real reason this project got canned ...

A) Now that Obama has lost the war in Afghanistan with an apology, and our troops are totally in the shitter from the local lunatics uprising over their stupid book (which I have heard were burned “by accident” by some Afghani soldiers or contractors who volunteered for the task, and then put the word out. Gee, thanks. Such allies. They turned on us in the very beginning of that war, when our troops were half a mile away from bin Laden, and they turned on us again with the burning, and then after it when they assassinated those two high ranking officers right inside the command post. Guess we just don’t learn, ever.), it doesn’t look like we’ll be giving Karzai his own little air force after all. Because that’s the real truth: these planes never were for our guys. We were going to drop nearly half a billion giving them away to a group of cavemen who haven’t even figured out how to shoe horses yet. Or camels. Whatever. And then load the planes down with tons of our own very latest high tech avionics and insurgent detection gear, and then cross our fingers and our toes and click our ruby slippers and hope the planes didn’t accidentally get stolen or have “emergency landings” across the border into Pakistan where the frickin’ Red Chinese would be all over them like ... white on rice ... just like they did to that stealth chopper left behind after knocking off bin Laden.

B) Guess the bribe wasn’t big enough. Your choice who was getting that bribe; some fat armchair general about to retire, or the DNC. Oooh, “problems with the paperwork”. Yeah, that probably means the suitcase full of bills wasn’t heavy enough.

C) Guess the bribe WAS big enough, and Hawker Beechcraft has bought themselves some more politicians who are twisting arms. It’s not like this hasn’t happened before; look up Boeing and the mess over that aerial tanker replacement plan.

You may choose any combination of the above. Any or all of them are probably true.


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Posted by Drew458   United States  on 02/29/2012 at 08:18 PM   
Filed Under: • Corruption and GreedMilitaryWar On Terror •  
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Don’t Do It

“Diplomatic Breakthrough” With Norks



US to feed millions of gremlins in exchange for a promise to merely look at Il’s reactors. Suckers.


The United States announced a major diplomatic breakthrough with North Korea Wednesday.

Under an agreement reached in direct talks in Beijing last week, North Korea has agreed to allow the return of nuclear inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency, and has agreed to implement a moratorium on long-range missile tests, nuclear tests, and nuclear activities at Yongbyon, including uranium enrichment activities, the State Department said. In return, the United States will provide North Korea with a large food aid package.

Promise her anything. We’ve heard this one before, haven’t we? If it’s not half a year worth of free food, it’s a winter’s worth of heating oil. We go through this nonsense every year it seems.

Despite the stunning breakthrough, “the United States still has profound concerns regarding North Korean behavior across a wide range of areas,” Nuland’s statement cautioned, but added that “today’s announcement reflects important, if limited, progress in addressing some of these.”

In return, the United States will “move forward with our proposed package of 240,000 metric tons of nutritional assistance along with the intensive monitoring required for the delivery of such assistance,” she said.

“profound reservations”? No kidding. How about “Hey blob face, y’all can go starve and freeze for all we care. You want food? Hand over the missiles. Hand over the reactor rods, and we’ll come in and bust up your enrichment machines.” Because the last time they said they’d do that, they lied. And they broke the promise before that. And before that. And before that. Lie after lie after lie after “Oh, so solly prease, no inspectors allowed to rook at this prace.”

What, we should be concerned about the starving little NorK chiiiiildren? Send them a few shipping containers worth of condoms. It’s high time they had a Negative Population Growth curve in that hell hole.

But we could send them Arec Baldrin. Fuck yeah.


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Posted by Drew458   United States  on 02/29/2012 at 08:08 PM   
Filed Under: • International •  
Comments (1) Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

Boating on the White River

I earned my Boating merit badge at summer camp when I was eleven-years-old. My first summer camp. I was proud of earning my Boating merit badge.

The next summer I spent at Grandpa’s cabin on the White River in Indiana. He let me have unfettered use of his rowboat. I’ll never forget the time I took his rowboat out on the White River… I’d rowed it upstream, obvious, if you want an easy trip back home, you just drift downstream. I’d found a bank on the west side of the White River that was just white sand. I spent the day getting a suntan and reading. Then I went back ‘home’.

Grandpa was waiting on the dock as I sculled the boat back to the dock. It’s the only time I remember him hugging me and telling me he was proud of me. Guess I handled a boat on the river correctly.

That changed in the fall, he took me squirrel hunting and I couldn’t hit a squirrel to save my soul. It’s a good thing that Grandpa was with me or we’d have gone hungry.

BTW, squirrel tastes like chicken, at least if its BBQ’d.


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Posted by Christopher   United States  on 02/29/2012 at 08:48 PM   
Filed Under: • Personal •  
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THERE’S MONEY FOR NONSENSE BUT NOT ENOUGH FOR A HISTORICAL ICON

Libs take the time to go out and look for things to get upset about. When they can’t find something they’ll be most well pleased to simply make something up.
Well, I don’t have to look for things to get me seeing red.  All I have to do is open the morning paper or go to one of their websites and it seems like almost everything gets my goat.

Like this upsetting story.
Mind you .... the country is broke or almost but still has millions and millions to give away and another million to so to give to Turkey.  Yeah, it’s to improve their sewer systems. But unless the Daily Mail is holding back something, the country might not have enough to save Nelson’s Victory unless it’s leased out as a party boat.  (screams and pulls what hair is left) Two million a year for upkeep is cheap.  STOP sending money to savages in far off places for a start. Oh, can’t let the Africans starve.  Why not?  They’re used to it. Been doin’ it for a thousand years. 

I am so glad I got to board and take a private tour of this great ship. It’s a thrill I’ll never forget.  And sad to think they have money for all sorts of things but come up short on a project as important as this.
Oh what the hell.  What difference does it make?  Who’ll even know what the Victory meant to this country in another few generations.  Muzzies will probable relate that word to their cause and sharia law. 

Walk along this deck for a few minutes and look at the rope ladders the powder monkeys had to climb and you get a feeling for this thing. Decks were painted red before battle for obvious reasons.

I’d rather save this one ship then all of any country England is sending money to.  Cos ain’t one ovem worth this one boat. Not even one plank on this boat.

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Lord Nelson’s HMS Victory set to become a party boat because MoD cannot afford £16m repair bill

Fears historic vessel will be hired out by museum to foot £2m-a-year upkeep

By NICK ENOCH
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The hammocks were intended for weary sailors, not weary revellers.

And the cannon were definitely not intended to herald a corporate event with a big bang.

But now, Lord Nelson’s flagship HMS Victory could be turned into a party venue as Ministry of Defence bosses plan to donate it to charity - because they cannot afford a £16million repair bill for the historic vessel.

The 247-year-old warship is set to be given to the National Museum of the Royal Navy, which will foot the bill for its £2million-a-year upkeep.

However, it is feared the 104-gun vessel, which retired in 1812 and is kept at Portsmouth Dockyard, Hampshire, will be hired out for private hospitality functions and parties.

Part of the restoration needed on the famous ship - which took Britain to victory against the French and Spanish in the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805 - involves replacing its rigging and timber.

A Royal Navy source said: ‘This is unacceptable. This historic ship should be kept by the Navy and honoured for what it did to this country.

‘It is an outrage and this should not happen. If Lord Nelson knew what his prized ship was being turned into, he would turn in his grave.’

Ministry of Defence chiefs want to offload the ship but said it cannot currently be used for advertising as it is still part of the Navy’s fleet.

Former First Sea Lord, Lord West, said: ‘It is inevitable she will be used for corporate events - but if we have to go this route to prevent her turning into a wreck, so be it.’

Leaking, rot and a dangerous weight: The repairs the MoD can no longer afford

The MoD is considering the controversial move as part of a bid to reduce a £38billion defence deficit.

An MoD spokesman said: ‘We are considering options. Under consideration is how her future can be secured by responsible custodianship as befits such a national icon.’

Whatever does happen to the ship, it will keep its status as flagship of the Second Sea Lord and will not leave Portsmouth.

But what would Nelson really think? Well, apparently, he was a bit of a party animal himself.

His mistress, Emma Hamilton, arranged his 40th birthday celebration for 1,800 guests at her husband’s house.

And she once danced naked on a dining table for the benefit of her spouse, Sir Harry Featherstonhaugh and his friends.

MORE STORY AND PHOTOS HERE


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Posted by peiper   United Kingdom  on 02/29/2012 at 11:19 AM   
Filed Under: • CULTURE IN DECLINEOutrageousUK •  
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EYE CANDY. WHAT A MARINE SHOULD BE KISSING. AND ONE DOES.  THIS POST IS PERSONAL.

This one is personal.  And it’s the only photo I have left of the many I took. This is a scan of the original.

I took this shot maybe 30 yrs ago, and developed in my own darkroom. I am privileged to know her and to still be a friend.  I once produced her records and no, we never made the Billboard charts. I was also her road manager on a grinding tour here in the UK that I set up. I used to book country singers for tours over here after I left radio.  I must tell you that I have never known anyone with such iron indiscipline, and although older then her she sure managed to teach me a few things about planning.  Long story and of no importance here.

She is a very religious woman and active in her church and always has been. She isn’t a johnny come lately who has suddenly been reborn.

She’s married to a decorated (bravery) Marine and Viet Nam vet.

She’s also as much at home with power tools as she is with guns, and has built either on her own or with her husband, improvements and extensions to their home.  And she’s pretty damn smart.  Trust me on that.  She was never a dumb blonde.  But lord she did look wonderful in a mini or a bikini. Oh yeah, she also made many of her own cloths including stage wear. 

I’ve been wanting to post this photo for a long time but for one reason or another I just never got around to it. Of course, I had to find it first. It’s been packed away with other things and mementos for years. 

Well, yesterday I sent something to Drew which he posted a link to.  Could not bring myself to do it. Then this morning when I booted, I found something from her in my inbox, you folks might have already seen it if it’s making the rounds of emails.  But since it’s Marine inspired I felt I should post her photo along with what she sent to me.

In another note from her some time ago when I shared a gun thing that Drew wrote about, she sent me this line.

Yeah, husband carries a NAA 22 mag that has a barrell about 3/4 inch longer than the pug and I carry a NAA Black Widow in my purse.  We both have conceal carry permits.

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MICROCHIP IMPLANT ALLOWS TERRORISTS TO SPEAK TO GOD

The implant is specifically designed to be injected in the forehead.

WHEN PROPERLY INSTALLED, IT WILL ALLOW THE TERRORISTS TO SPEAK TO GOD

It comes in various sizes: Generally from .223 to .50

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The exact size of the implant will be selected by a well-trained and highly skilled technician, who will also make the injection.
No Anesthetic is required.

The implant may or may not be painless. Side effects, like headaches, nausea, aches and pains are extremely temporary.

Some bleeding or swelling may occur at the injection site. In most cases, you won’t even notice it.

Please enjoy the security we provide for you.

Best regards,

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Posted by peiper   United Kingdom  on 02/29/2012 at 07:50 AM   
Filed Under: • PersonalTerrorists •  
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calendar   Tuesday - February 28, 2012

They Must Have Changed The Name

U.S. Marines?
No longer. Now it’s the
EWWW S. Marines

Peiper wouldn’t post this. I will. But you don’t have to click.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2107338/Gay-marines-follow-wake-lesbian-home-coming-kiss.html

rolleyes  rolleyes  rolleyes  rolleyes 


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Posted by Drew458   United States  on 02/28/2012 at 05:17 PM   
Filed Under: • Gay Gay Gay!Personal •  
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Close Call Next Year

“Brand New” Asteroid Will Just Miss Hitting Earth Next February

2012 DA14
Discovered 2012-02-23 by J75 OAM Observatory, La Sagra
Object is flagged as a Virtual Impactor by SENTRY (JPL)
NEODyS has posted 2012 DA14 as an impact risk.
... Classification: Apollo [NEO]
Earth Close-Approach 2013-Feb-15 19:25UT Nominal Distance (AU) 0.000217508367454278 AU =~ 0.085 Lunar Distance = * * close passer * *
absolute magnitude H = 24.243 roughly 45 meter diameter





I saw the edge of this story yesterday when posting about the visible planets being ... visible. I looked into it a bit more today, then was sidetracked for some time trying to make it fit the end of the Mayan calendar. Now them old Mayans didn’t seem to have watches, or even much in the way of horology, but they kept a pretty accurate calendar. The thing is rather like the odometer in your car, and it’s set to roll over during the 3rd week of December this year. End of the world? Well, maybe not. As far as I can tell, no Mayan legend foretells that; it’s just that the earth was destroyed by the gods the last 3 times their calendar flipped over, so go figure for this one. Anyway, the Mayan calendar dates back to the middle of August, 3114BC, though nobody knows when they actually built the thing; the crest of the Mayan civilization was 2000BC to 900AD. So trying to figure out if a minor error on their part - about 2.5 seconds per day, in a civilization without clocks - would push the “end of the world” forward 56 days to February 15/16 when this asteroid comes by. Those calculations turned out to be moot, since I have no idea when they actually started using thing. Furthermore, it seems they used both a 365 day solar year and a 260 regular year calendar at the same time, it’s numbering system being described in both Base 20 and Base 18 numbers simultaneously. And then it gets complicated.

But it struck me, as we stand here on the verge of yet another Leap Year’s Leap Day, that such a culture with a grand reputation for naked eye astronomy would have to use a solar dating far more accurate than just 365 days. We have Leap Year now, because we’ve figured out that a year is actually 365 and a quarter days ... for a nation of stargazers, their predictions would be off a full day every 4 years if they didn’t have something similar. And since they had writing, and watched the skies for several thousand years, they’d have to have had a higher level of accuracy even than that: the solar year is 365.256363 days long; that extra 0.006363 part adds up to more than 15 hours every century, which will throw your priestly prediction of eclipses and stuff off by quite a bit. It turns out we’ve been adding leap seconds here and there to our calendar, one or two or none per year, for the past 40 years. So our day keeping system isn’t exactly perfect either.

It’s not like I wanted to be able to bend things so I could play Nostradamus Junior and foretell the end of the world. It’s just that the calculated orbit of this new chunk of rock is accurate to within half an hour, and the minimum distance calculation shows it missing Earth ... by about 15 minutes. Oops. And the size calculation seems to be 45-90 meters, when the Tunguska Impact of 1908 - the one that leveled a good chunk of Siberia - appears to have been made by a 50-100 meter ice ball, delivering the kinetic energy of an H-bomb. Double oops. Even 1/8 of that would totally suck.

But back to the asteroid. 2012 DA14 - such a name, I guess Cassandra was taken? - is an unusual beastie. While many asteroids have highly elliptical orbits that take them out to the far corners of the solar system, or at least in and out of the Oort Cloud, DA14 seems to live pretty much on Earth’s orbital path. It’s an inner asteroid, with an orbit very much like our planet’s, except that it’s a bit off the solar plane.

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And the good news ... or at least they’re telling us it’s good news ... is that the closest approach, the minimum edge of the envelope, of this space potato will be about 26,900 kilometers, which is about 2.12 planetary diameters. This is actually well inside the orbital radius of all the geosynchronous satellites, which are out there at about 36,000 kilometers. So it’s going to be close. Razor burn close. But the smart boys and girls at JPL, NASA’s good buddies, where Rocket Science and Complex Mathematics truly are a matter of life and death, are giving the calculated Min/Max distances as 0.000180613845633866 AU and 0.00200199212143104 AU. 18 digit precision, thank you very much. Probably calculated in FORTRAN too! Too bad they define 1 AU as “approximately 150 million km”, which is not exactly confidence inspiring although it is scientifically honest, because the Earth’s orbit is slightly elliptical. Thank goodness they give us an Earth MOID of .000221174 AU (Minimum Object Intersection Distance), which means we’re safe by a whole 0.000040561AU, which is around 6084 kilometers, which is a bit LESS THAN HALF THE DIAMETER OF OUR PLANET.

Phew, for a second there, I was worried. Good thing NASA and JPL are on it, having made dozens of observations and calculations ever since this chunk of rock, which closely follows Earth’s orbit, years after year, century after century, was discovered all of last week. While they still have a 100% variation on the size of it, they’ve got it’s orbit figured out to the 18th decimal place, so sleep soundly.

According to scientists, asteroid 2012 DA14 has a length of 100 meters and in the case of hitting the Earth, can be released the energy, which equivalent to the explosion of the hydrogen bomb. On February 15, 2013 will be the first recorded case in which an asteroid can fly at a small distance from the Earth, we note, that the asteroid 2005 YU55, which caused the attention of scientists in November 2011, flew at a distance of 325 000 kilometers from Earth, more than 10 times higher, than the distance of the asteroid 2012 DA14, so some scientists do not rule out a collision the Earth with asteroid, because 27,000 kilometers - the distance, that may be in the range of errors of astronomical calculations, and this short distance is actually evidence of real probability of a collision, so other planets of the Solar system can change the trajectory of this asteroid.

obviously a Russian web page, and everybody knows you can’t trust those!

See More Below The Fold

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Posted by Drew458   United States  on 02/28/2012 at 02:51 PM   
Filed Under: • Space •  
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Chess Problem #66

Motif is the pin.
Black to move and win!

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1. … ?

I better get #67 ready, this one is too easy.

Taken from Combination Challenge by Lou Hayes and USCF Senior Master John Hall (2520)
Graphics courtesy of Exachess.

UPDATE 3/1/12

Two people got this close enough that I’m calling it. It actually went:

1. … Bg5!
2. f4 Bxf4
and White resigned as 3. Qxf4 is met by 3. … Qxb2# mate.

I know, Drew, you don’t like this sort of ‘magical win’ by either side. Let us just say that a ‘loss of Queen accident’ is usually enough to win for the other side. Not always, as the next problem will show. But then, in the next problem, the Queen is bait, her loss is not an accident.


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Posted by Christopher   United States  on 02/28/2012 at 03:43 PM   
Filed Under: • CHESS •  
Comments (7) Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

eye candy for tues.

No cheesecake, no bikinis and nothing provocative below the fold.

Just a pretty face and nice eyes and a nice smile.

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Posted by peiper   United Kingdom  on 02/28/2012 at 11:19 AM   
Filed Under: • Eye-Candy •  
Comments (3) Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

wonderful, wonderful Copenhagen … sing along now.

story from The Copenhagen Post


Stateless immigrants to be granted rights

Immigration Service acknowledges they systematically registered many stateless immigrants as having citizenship, depriving them of their rights under UN conventions

I don’t know what those UN conventions are, but since we’re members of that body, I sure hope these ‘conventions’ don’t apply to the USA also.
But I suppose it’s good really because after all, Europe and in this case Denmark, do not have near enough people from the turd world living among them. And they don’t have near enough muzzies living there already.

Here’s more of how to self destruct your country with the guidance and approval of the UN and all their conventions.

The Immigration Service has started sending out letters to a range of stateless immigrants from Syria, Bhutan and Burma who have been incorrectly registered as having a citizenship.

The letters will inform them of their right to be correctly registered as stateless and will contain an application form that can be filled out and returned to the Immigration Service.

The Immigration Service will then assess whether the individual can be judged to be stateless under the UN conventions for stateless people. All applications are expected to be handled within three months.

The change in status from holding a citizenship to being stateless will afford the individual greater rights in Denmark and will confer the automatic right to Danish citizenship to their children.

Information newspaper uncovered the existence of this group of incorrectly-registered individuals this summer after revealing how the Immigration Service had illegally turned down applications for Danish citizenship from stateless Palestinians residing in Denmark.

The move to offer a change of status was made after consulting with the Danish Institute for Human Rights (IMR), which helped draft the application form.

“We have had a notably successful co-operation with the Immigration Service after the press took up the case,” Eva Ersbøll from IMR told Information. “The service has been very open to our suggestions and now the final details are falling into place.”

automatic right to Danish citizenship ..... and they will vote.  And one day Denmark will cease to be, as it joins the rest of Europe marching to the muzzie drums.


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Posted by peiper   United Kingdom  on 02/28/2012 at 10:42 AM   
Filed Under: • Democrats-Liberals-Moonbat LeftistsEUro-peons •  
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A LADY AND HER HORSE AND A RACE AGAINST TIME AND TIDE

This is one heck of a dramatic, hold your breath story.  It was for me anyway.

Not much text here, it all photo and I couldn’t let this go by.

BTW..... For those not familiar with the Brit weights.  There are 14 pounds to one stone. So we’re talking over a thousand pounds here.


Race against the tide: Bravery of young mother who stayed by her horse’s side for THREE HOURS after getting trapped in mud ‘like quicksand’

Panic as 78-stone show horse is ‘swallowed-up’ by mud
Mother freed her daughter and another horse before returning to trapped animal
Astro was freed just minutes before the tide closed in

By KERRY MCQUEENEY

This was the terrifying moment a brave young mother battled to keep her beloved horse calm as sea water closed in on the animal after he became trapped in mud ‘like quicksand’.

Exhausted and mud-splattered, Nicole Graham clung to her trapped horse Astro for three hours keeping his head high in a race against the tide.

The 78-stone show horse had sunk into quagmire-like mud and was facing the prospect of drowning as the water rose around them.

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SOME TEXT AND ALL OF THE PHOTOS

there are a total of 14 pix


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Posted by peiper   United Kingdom  on 02/28/2012 at 09:45 AM   
Filed Under: • AnimalsOUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENTScary Stuff •  
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calendar   Monday - February 27, 2012

I Think I Smell Cheese

Cruise Ship Adrift in Pirate Infested Indian Ocean



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Oh Noes, 1000 rich folks adrift at sea in a zillion dollar ship! Help help!!



More than a thousand people are awaiting rescue on the Costa Allegra cruise ship after a fire broke out on board causing the luxury liner to lose power.

The ship is adrift in the Indian Ocean more than 200 miles from the Seychelles island nation off mainland Africa, an area that is infested by pirates.

This is the second emergency situation this year for Costa Cruises which is owned by Carnival Cruises. In January, 32 people were killed when the Costa Concordia capsized after hitting rocks off the Italian island of Giglio. Seven people are still missing and presumed dead.

“The passengers and crew are in safe condition,” said Commander Cosimo Nicastro of the Italian coast guard. “They are not necessarily comfortable because the ship only has emergency power on board, but they are safe.”

“The winds right now are blowing at about 25 knots but we are not worried because it is a big ship, so the weather is not a concern,” Nicastro said.

He said the Italian coast guard used satellite systems to spot nearby vessels that have agreed to assist in the emergency. A French fishing boat should reach the Allegra tonight. Another fishing boat should arrive by 5 a.m., and three merchant ships are also on the way.


Meh heh heh ... If I was king of the world, I would have done this one years ago. But with the world focus on Iran, and the various economies going in the drink, now may actually be a better time. We seem to have forgotten about Somalia and the pirate plague. Or so they may think!

Sure, the ocean liner had a fire. And it has no engines. And the wire service article says a couple of fishing boats and perhaps a merchant marine ship might be able to get there in a day or so. No word on any Navy ships or helicopters or anything like that. But what if the 1000+ passengers ... were Rangers and Seals? Bait like this will draw every Somali pirate within 1000 miles, and the ship is only a couple hundred miles off their coast. And perhaps drifting closer. This could be a purrrrrrrrfect opportunity ...

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Posted by Drew458   United States  on 02/27/2012 at 05:17 PM   
Filed Under: • Pirates, aarrgh! •  
Comments (4) Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

Chess Problem #65

I updated the last problem. CenTexTim got it exactly right. Good job!

The next one is White to move and win. Remember, the pin is still the motif.

image
?

I haven’t been posting because I was ill again. Another brief hospital stay where they verified that whatever is wrong, it isn’t my heart. They sent me home with a new prescription. Take three times a day for five days. I took two the first day and was sicker than before! I almost went back to the hospital for a bad reaction to the drug. Took me almost a week to get over that. I’ll never touch that stuff again. Once that wore off I found I’ve now got a touch of the flu. Haven’t had the flu for almost twenty years. Not a bad case of the flu, hardly running a fever, mostly shows up as the squirts, so I’m drinking plenty of water to avoid dehydration.

Taken from Combination Challenge by Lou Hayes and USCF Senior Master John Hall (2520)
Graphics courtesy of Exachess.

UPDATE 2/28/12
Solution:

It actually went

1. Ne6 fxe6
2. Rxg6+ Kf7 (Black declines to lose his Queen)
3. Rg7+ with mate to follow.


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Posted by Christopher   United States  on 02/27/2012 at 02:37 PM   
Filed Under: • CHESS •  
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Tonight After Sundown

5 Planets, One Night

Find a place where you can see the horizons, and take a look outside tonight right after sundown. If it’s clear where you are, you will be able to see at least 4 of the visible planets.

Tonight, you can see the moon above Jupiter and Venus in the west after sunset. And, from the Northern Hemisphere now, you can see all five visible planets sometime between sundown and late evening for the next several weeks.

...

Given an unobstructed horizon, Northern Hemisphere residents may see four of the five visible planets as soon as darkness falls. Look first for the waxing crescent moon above the dazzling planets Jupiter and Venus in your western sky. When it’s dark enough – perhaps 40 to 60 minutes after sundown – draw an imaginary line downward, using the moon, Jupiter and Venus, to locate Mercury near the western horizon.

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tonight and last night, looking west just after sundown


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stand in the place where you are, now face east


Once you’ve spotted these three, turn around and see red Mars low on the eastern horizon. Neat. Go inside now, but come back out before bed, around 10-11pm. Look to the east again, just a bit to the right of where you saw red Mars earlier and a hair lower in the sky. That golden colored “star” you see is Saturn.

Don’t worry if clouds are in the way of things tonight. This solar alignment will persist for another week or two. Actually, Mars will be at it’s closest point on March 3rd, so that night it will appear at its largest and brightest for the next 2 years.

I’ve been watching Venus and Jupiter dance with the moon for the past several nights. They’ve been quite brilliant in the clear sky. Tonight Mercury joins the mix, although you may have to go somewhere a bit higher up to see it clearly.

More info here.  And more here!

Keep looking up!


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Posted by Drew458   United States  on 02/27/2012 at 01:08 PM   
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