Sunday - November 03, 2013

young ladies having a ball. some are even pretty.

Just being a little different from the norm.

Diamonds, dance classes and dramas at the debutante ball: Behind-the-scenes at London’s most prestigious society event

Queen Charlotte’s Ball sees the daughters of some of society’s most prestigious families make their social debut

The event was introduced by King George III in 1780 as a way to celebrate his wife’s birthday

Historically the event was to help the ladies find a suitable husband, but is now more of a social event

By Toni Jones and Sam Webb

Debutante Nicole Gilmer, from California. the event now attracts women from throughout the globe

Prince Philip dubbed it ‘bloody daft’ and critics say that the idea of debutantes presenting themselves to the aristocracy is outdated and elitist, but for
certain sections of British society the Queen Charlotte’s Ball at the Royal Courts of Justice is the ultimate summer event.

Dubbed the ‘crowning event of the London Season’ the guest list is hand-picked with care: only young women from the richest families are invited to the ball where, after months of careful preparation and spending thousands of pounds on each ticket, the young debutantes are able to show off their skills in poise and elegance.

In the past debutante balls were seen as a rite of passage for the young women of the upper classes, an opportunity to introduce themselves to society and seek out a potential suitor, but for today’s debutantes the Season is seen as an opportunity to wear a designer gown, party their way around Europe, and do a little something for charity.

HAVING A BALL

Posted by peiper     on 11/03/2013 at 04:07 PM   
Filed Under: • Fun-Stuff •  
• Comments (2) • Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

perverting and corrupting the genuine meaning of HUMAN RIGHTS.

ONLY in the UK would these utter mad men even be listened to by any Court of Law! ONLY in the UK are there Solicitors and Barristers willing to attempt these despicable methods of perverting and corrupting the genuine meaning of HUMAN RIGHTS! ONLY in the UK are these sorts of legal minds allowed to walk the streets without members of Public they BETRAY exercising their Human Right to give them a sound thrashing for their sickening need for Judas’ silver!

dontvotelabour, landofthedoomed,
What human rights? He decided to plot to kill people then he gave up his human rights. Maybe someone should ask him where his victims’ human rights are.

So what’s this all about?

It’s all about this.  And it’s maddening that anyone like this should even be heard by a court. Any court.  I don’t think he’ll go free. The courts may reject hearing him. Who knows?  And that question is a problem. Who knows? This filthy turd, this garbage in human form should not even be breathing.  This is another example of the west just not doing what it could, to protect itself.

oh btw ... the video this vermin is referring to, is the one HE MADE!

Al-Qaeda liquid bomb plotter asks European court to free him - because publicity over ‘suicide video’ infringed his human rights

· Abdulla Ahmed Ali developed a home-made hydrogen peroxide bomb that could be disguised as a soft drink and taken aboard a plane

· Claims publicity before his trial would have prejudiced a jury’s decision and has appealed to European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg

· Court does not hold power to quash conviction, but a ruling in his favour could lead to a fresh appeal in British courts

· Judges must establish whether he had a ‘fair trial by an impartial tribunal’ as required under Article 6 of the European Convention on Human
Rights

By Lizzie Edmonds

The mastermind behind the ‘liquid bomb plot’, one of the most deadly terrorist plans ever to be unearthed in Britain, is making a bid to have his conviction overturned on human rights grounds.

Abdulla Ahmed Ali developed a home-made hydrogen peroxide bomb that could be disguised as a soft drink and taken on board a plane.

He and a group of associates planned to take the bombs aboard seven flights.

The discovery of his suicide plan in 2006 led to urgent changes to international restrictions on carrying fluids on to planes.

However, the al-Qaeda terrorist now claims his human rights were infringed by publicity before he was convicted for life for conspiracy to murder - and has appealed to the European Court of Human Rights.

He argues that the jury would have been prejudiced by coverage of a previous trial.

Although the Strasbourg court does not hold the power to quash the conviction, it would be extremely problematic for the Government if they ruled in the terrorist’s favour.

If Ali wins his case it would allow him and fellow plotters to begin an attempt in British to have their convictions quashed, using the European ruling to convince judges that their convictions were not fair.

Speaking to The Sunday Telegraph, Chris Grayling, the Justice Secretary, said the case highlighted why there was an urgent need for reform to human rights laws.

He also the case was evidence that the Strasbourg court was increasingly willing to interfere in Britain’s justice system.

‘This yet a further example of why things cannot go on as they are’, he said.

‘It is unacceptable to have a situation in which claims to the European Court of Human Rights are actually being used to undermine our justice system.

see more at the source

Posted by peiper     on 11/03/2013 at 03:18 PM   
Filed Under: • muslims • REALLY WORTHLESS and PUTRID PEOPLE • Terrorists • UK •  
• Comments (1) • Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

ART VALUED AT A BILLION DOLLARS FOUND IN GERMANY

No doubt this will be in tomorrow’s paper, and wow. Watch for a movie on this one.  Maybe it’s just my own intense interest in this era and its history, and the wow factor of this fellow living so long ghost like.

Gurlitt has managed to survive his entire life without any official bank account, pension or insurance.

When stopped by customs, extensive checks found that he was not registered with the police - mandatory in Germany - the tax authorities or social services.  He drew no pension and had no health insurance.

‘He was a man who didn’t exist,’ said one official.

When you read the article below, do you get the same feeling I did which was; they were waiting for this guy.  Somehow, in spite of the explanation about routine checks, after all these years of traveling and selling the art works, was this the very first time he went from Switzerland back to Germany and ran into a check?  And on this occasion alone he showed himself to be nervous and so caught the attention of authorities?
Could just be me.  But I think he was grassed. I really do.

One thing is certain though.  This is one hell of a major art find.  This stuff was all reported lost in the bombing of Dresden.  But it has to be his if his father bought them originally.  OK, granted.  The sellers were trying to get the hell of Germany. They were Jews running from the Nazis.  His father bought at fire sale prices. He was unprincipled, some would even say he was worse then scum since he was part Jewish himself. The fact remains however, he paid and in some cases traded escape for paintings. If he hadn’t, the owners might all be dead. So ... this last surviving son owns them. Perhaps.
Like, if the original owners or any family members don’t come forward.... ???  He’ll have one hell of a tax bill tho and maybe even jail.

Read it all and see what you think.

1,593,600,000.00 USD

£1billion art collection seized by Nazis found in shabby Munich apartment: Experts believed 1,500 pictures by artists including Picasso, Renoir and Matisse had been destroyed by RAF raids

More than 1,500 paintings found including pieces by Picasso and Matisse
Collector Hildebrandt Gurlitt ordered for them to be destroyed in 1945
But in a routine search on a train from Switzerland to Germany, his son was caught with 9,000 euros cash earned from an illicit art deal
Officials searched his small rented apartment in Munich and found the art
Experts claim most were acquired from Jews in exchange for escape

By Allan Hall

A treasure trove of artworks worth almost £1billion seized by the Nazis and reportedly destroyed in RAF bombing raids during WW2 has been found behind rotting food in shabby apartment in Munich.

Experts have hailed the discovery of the 1,500 pictures, thought to have been lost or bombed, as a sensational find.

The story of the lost masterpieces of such painters as Pablo Picasso, Renoir, Henri Matisse and Marc Chagall is revealed in this week’s edition of Germany’s Focus magazine which broke the story of the incredible find by customs officials.

Art historians examining the collection claim up to 300 of the Gurlitt collection appeared in a Nazi exhibition called Degenerate Art - displaying what they deemed to be poor.

The rest were bought at ‘shamefully’ low prices from Jews in exchange for an escape route out of the country.

One of the paintings is a portrait of a woman by the French master Matisse that belonged in the collection of the Jewish connoisseur Paul Rosenberg, who had to leave behind his collection before his escape from Paris when the country fell in 1940.

His granddaughter Anne Sinclair, the wife of disgraced former top banker Dominique Strauss-Kahn, has been fighting for decades for the return of his pictures stolen by the Nazis, but according to Focus she ‘knew nothing’ of the existence of this painting.

It was found, alongside around 1,500 other pieces, in the Aladdin’s Cave behind a wall of tins of beans and fruit in the decrepit flat of loner Cornelius Gurlit in the Munich suburb of Schwabing. 

This artwork by some of the giants of the 19th and 20th centuries was deemed ‘degenerate’ by the provincially-minded Nazi hierachy, stolen from collectors - many of them Jewish - and ordered to be shut away by Hitler and his henchmen.

Other works discovered in the flat are by Emil Nolde, Franz Marc, Otto Dix, Max Beckmann, Paul Klee, Oskar Kokoschka, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and Max Liebermann.

The astonishing story of their recovery is like the plot from a thriller.

Dealer Hildebrandt Gurlitt had acquired the paintings and sketches in the 1930s and 40s for a pittance from terrified Jews and reported them all to be destroyed at the war’s end during the ferocious bombing of Dresden.

Nothing was known about the collection until September 2010, almost 100 years later, when customs carried out a routine check on a train from Switzerland.

Stopping his sole surviving son - who had never worked and who had no visible means of income - they discovered he had an envelope containing 9,000 euros in cash, and a stash of empty envelopes.

Many wealthy Germans deposit money illegally in Switzerland to evade high taxation rates on their savings in their homeland and such checks on people are commonplace.

He appeared nervous and the officials issued a search warrant for his £600-a-month rented flat.  It was entered in the spring of 2011 and the paintings discovered.  But, controversially, customs slapped a ban on information about the raid.

Ever since, art historians have been trying to find the heirs to the sketches, oil paintings, charcoals, lithographs and watercolours around the world while prosecutors pursue tax evasion charges against Gurlitt who sold artworks off piece-meal over the years to live on.

One painting by Max Beckmann - The Lion Tamer - he hawked at the Cologne auction house of Lempertz for nearly £750,000 shortly before the collection was seized.

The recovered works are now in a security wing of Bavarian customs in Garching near Munich where a team of experts are trying to find the heirs to the rightful owners.  ‘This is a sensational find,’ said a spokesman for German Customs.  ‘A true treasure trove. It is an incredible story.’

The collection has meant that Gurlitt has managed to survive his entire life without any official bank account, pension or insurance.

When stopped by customs, extensive checks found that he was not registered with the police - mandatory in Germany - the tax authorities or social services.  He drew no pension and had no health insurance.

‘He was a man who didn’t exist,’ said one official.

When his apartment was entered investigators discovered a mountain of past sell-by date of tinned and bottled food. Behind the decomposing food, next to a barred window, were found the missing artworks.

But behind-the-scenes, owners of paintings, many of them Jewish, were being forced to sell them at rock-bottom prices to art dealers in exchange for an escape to safer countries.

Gurlitt is a name well-known to art aficionados, a family who once catered to the elite of the German art collecting scene. Hildebrand Gurlitt was among the most respected art historians in Germany by the time the Nazis came to power in 1933.

He was a champion of modern art - and therefore, initially, hated by the Nazis.  He was relieved of museum directorial posts by the regime and also persecuted because of his Jewish grandmother.  But the Nazis also needed him because no-one had the contacts within Nazi Germany - and outside - that he had with collectors.

He was tasked by Goebbels personally with ‘versilbern’ - turning into cash - the degenerate artworks of the Jews for the regime. He did this with some zeal and was rewarded by being offered the future post of director of the ‘super’ museum of art that Hitler planned to open in Linz, Austria, where he had once lived.

Gurlitt acquired ‘hundreds and hundreds’ of artworks at knock-down prices, according to Focus.  After the Nazi’s Degenerate Art exhibition, he took control of some of the exhibits too.

At the end of the war Guirlitt said the firebombing of Dresden in February 1945 had destroyed his collection at the family home in Kaitzer Strasse.

His Jewish roots and his initial disfavour with Nazism made him, in the eyes of the Allies, a victim not a persecutor and he was never charged with fleecing Jews out of selling their collections for pennies.  He carried on dealing in art until 1956 when he was killed in a car crash.

It wasn’t until his son was stopped on the train three years ago that the secret of his collection was revealed. 

‘But we were stunned with what we found. From floor to ceiling, from bedroom to bathroom, were piles and piles of old food in tins and old noodles, much of it from the 80’s.

‘And behind it all these pictures worth tens, hundreds of millions of euros.’

Focus reported that investigators later found a bank savings book of Cornelius Gurlitt with half-a-million euros on deposit in it, the fruits of his sale of the artwork over the years.

Ironically, although Gurlitt faces jail for tax evasion and money laundering, many of the paintings could be returned to him if their rightful heirs are not found. 

LOST AND FOUND ART SOURCE

Posted by peiper     on 11/03/2013 at 11:52 AM   
Filed Under: • Art-Photography •  
• Comments (1) • Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

king tut in the news again …

While the subject of ancient Egypt is always interesting and I know for Drew even more so, I find this article somewhat hard to swallow whole.

Lots of times I find stuff and then have to print it all out and read it that way first. Can’t do that a lot tho. Anyway ....  see what you make of this.  I don’t see how they would know, to begin with.  And I always thought the ancients removed things like the brain and other organs first.  And as for spontaneous combustion, well.  That’s a bit science fictiony I think.

Here. Look at this.

The mummified body of Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamun burst into flames inside his sarcophagus after a botched attempt to embalm him, according to scientists in a new documentary.

After his death in 1323 BC, Tutankhamun was rapidly embalmed and buried, but fire investigators believe a chemical reaction caused by embalming oils used on his mummy sparked the blaze.

A fragment of flesh from the boy pharaoh, whose tomb was discovered in 1922 by Howard Carter and the Earl of Carnarvon, was tested by researchers who confirmed his body was burnt while sealed in his coffin.

READ AND SEE ALL OF IT HERE

I thought they wrapped the body and then placed in what these folks are calling a coffin. So how does fire start and then burn with no air ?
??

Posted by peiper     on 11/03/2013 at 10:32 AM   
Filed Under: • Archeology / Anthropology • History •  
• Comments (1) • Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

   Saturday - November 02, 2013

Double Whammy After Dark

You know it, blow-out. I haven’t had a flat in ages, and I don’t think I’ve had an actual blow-out since about 1983. But I had to get home.

So I’m milking it, rolling along at 38mph, trying to find a flat place that isn’t pitch dark to pull over and have a look.

Meanwhile, I’m racking my brain trying to remember if - or when - I put air in the micro-spare. Pretty sure I did it less than half a year ago.

So I rode about 4 miles on it, and got to a gas station and pulled in. There was the wheel, and two flat disks of sidewall on it. No tire left at all, anywhere. Although the side of the car seems to be rubber plated at this point.

So I pull everything out of the trunk, and dig out the spare. And the jack.

Yeeha, the spare has air!

Boo-hiss, the jack is rusted solid.

Yay me, I have a hefty screwdriver and a hammer in the back, so I can whack the jack open and get it going. A couple drops of motor oil on the screw and on the lug socket handle hinge thingy, and I can get the car up and the old tire off.

Ach Crivens!!! The fash scunner bastige spare tire has air in it, aye, but the tread has lifted off on an area the size of my hand, exposing the cords.  Summuna beach! Dat fargin ice-a-hole!!

Grr ... this is turning into one of those Fortunately / Unfortunately stories from grade school. But it’s real!

So I put the nearly dead micro-spare on, and set off at a sedate pace to try and make it the last 3 miles home. Fortunately, it wasn’t snowing or raining. For once.

I made it 2 miles.  Then the spare blew out. On the highway, just before my exit. But hey, there wasn’t much traffic, and with the flashers on I was only going 40mph anyway.

So I said to hell with it, and I limped home the last mile on the shreds of the spare. Those things suck.

Or do they? It’s the tire that came with the car, from the fall of 1996. And I’ve used it a couple times before, although only for 50 or so miles. I don’t think they’re supposed to last forever.

So Monday I guess I’ll be walking into the tire store with my smoked rim. Whereupon they’ll tell me they don’t have anything in stock that will fit, I’m sure. Unfortunately.

I think it’s time for a drink.

I’d have pictures, but it’s dark. Maybe I’ll take some tomorrow. OTOH, once you’ve seen one blow-out, you’ve seen them all.

Posted by Drew458     on 11/02/2013 at 07:05 PM   
Filed Under: • Daily Life • planes, trains, tanks, ships, machines, automobiles •  
• Comments (7) • Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

breaking news …. prison riot

There was a rather large article in the papers with regard to crime and the fact that according to the records, if they can be believed, there are 150,000 criminals now locked up (for how long?) who have all committed 15 serious offenses before seeing the inside of prison.
So leaving that for the moment ....

This just showed on my screen.

BREAKING NEWS: More than 180 inmates rioting at Maidstone prison in ‘pre-planned attack on guards’

‘Planned attack on prison guards by inmates to take control of the wing’
Rioting in Kent prison confined to one wing as national resources deployed
Tornado Team specially trained in dealing with riots negotiating at scene
Fears that violent outbreak could spread across prison’s other wings

By Anna Edwards and Aaron Sharp

Nearly 200 foreign prisoners are rioting at a wing in Maidstone prison in Kent in a premeditated attack.

The riot was a planned attack on prison guards by inmates to take control of the wing, according to one report.

Now national resources have been deployed to cope with the violent outbreak, which involves between 160 and 180 inmates in the Category C jail.

The inmates have attempted to destroy the wing by smashing it up, and some prison staff are believed to have retreated to safety, according to the Prison Officer’s Association (POA).

National resources have been drafted in, which is believed to be the prison service’s Tornado Team of officers specially trained in dealing with riots.

HMP Maidstone holds inmates including sex offenders and foreign nationals with more than 18 months left to serve.

The POA’s Vice Chair, Ralph Valerio, said negotiators are at the scene as the rioters smashed and destroyed the wing.

He added: ‘As time is moving on, you’re getting increasingly concerned that force is going to have to be used by tornado teams to resolve the situation.’

He told Sky News: ‘The teams that will be going in there have received extensive training to deal with these sorts of incidents.’

He said he hoped negotiators would be able to subdue the situation but said it ‘could be replicated across the estate very quickly’.

He added that some staff may have been assaulted in the attack but have now retreated to safety.

‘As time is moving on, you’re getting increasingly concerned”

Say what?  As time does what?  How dumb is that.  Why waste any time on these turds?
So far it’s only one wing.
Solution.
Poison gas.
Bingo.
Riot?  What riot? There isn’t any riot. Now.
And be sure and let the other vermin see what death by gas is like.
But no… the bed wetters and hand wringers and bleeding hearts are going to get all sorts of kind , again, and society loses. Again.

Former prison governor John Podmore said that until the prison service had managed to gather enough staff and resources to quell the outbreak, the next few hours could be dangerous to both the service and the local community.

Speaking to Sky News he said: ‘What the prison service can’t do is try to intervene unless it’s got sufficient staff and resources to quell the riot.

‘Given enough time and staff it’s well trained to deal with these incidents.

A spokeswoman for the Ministry of Justice said: ‘I can confirm there is an ongoing incident involving a number of prisoners and national resources have been deployed. It is confined to one wing.’

Kent Police are not involved with the operation, a spokesman said.

Maidstone, with an inmate population of about 600, is a category C training prison that predominantly houses sex offenders from the Kent and Sussex areas.

Since 2009, it has accommodated around 400 sex offenders with around 200 foreign nationals not convicted of sex crimes in a separate wing.

It is mostly a category C prison, but does house some B category inmates.

East End gangster Reggie Kray married Roberta Jones at the institution on July 14, 1997.

Its website says it aims to ‘create a therapeutic environment that supports, embraces and empowers change with a primary focus on risk reduction and protection’.

SOURCE

Posted by peiper     on 11/02/2013 at 02:16 PM   
Filed Under: • Crime • UK •  
• Comments (1) • Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

neighbor pushed beyond barking dog limits, takes out family and dogs. Good!

I kinda think that many of you reading this, perhaps all of you, are more civilized than I am.  I never made any great claim to being such.
On the other hand, I guess it all depends on what one means by ‘civilized.’
The reason for me saying this, is a short story I read in a morning paper a couple of day ago.
Since it happened in the USA and as far as I know, we’ve never read about this sort of thing or at least not been reported.
Anyway, I fell compelled to share it but mostly my personal thoughts and opinion on the subject.
It’s doubtful anyone will agree with me, and that’s okay.  No harm done. My wife doesn’t either and I still love her.

I guess because I have been through this more than once, and one time worse than anything I can describe, I will tell you.

Had the shooter here been taken alive and gone to court and had I been on his jury, there is no way on God’s green earth I would vote to convict.
In fact, I would suggest a tax free life and a medal and a cash reward.
The way I see it is .... as bad as it appears, if it give even one dog owner pause for thought, and I have been a dog owner and love the damn things as much as I do cats, if only one got the message this guy left I say well done.
He’d been pushed to his limits and boy do I personally understand that. 

My wild ass guess is that it’s possible the victims here knew why it was happening and their last thoughts might have been, “god damn those fuckin dogs”.  Naturally, being the type of owners they were, they would not think to blame themselves for being inconsiderate turds who cared only for their own comfort and convenience, neighbors be damned.

Ever had a dog owner say to you ... “my dog doesn’t bark” when you know damn well it does?
And it never stops?

And then people are surprised when a poor guy like this, driven to the wall, grabs a gun.
Well, bravo and good for him.  I’m sorry he killed himself though. A good lawyer might have gotten him, if not off, a low sentence for diminished responsibility after having been driven to it.  This guy who is the real victim here, did not wake up that morning and ask himself what he should do to break he boredom. Oh, I wonder if I should shoot someone today. No. Not at all.  You can bet ur boots this extreme annoyance had been going on for a long time.  And sometimes some people can take only so much abuse.

Sgt. Steve Martos said authorities can only speculate on a motive for the killings.

Huh?  Is this maybe the deputy from the old Andy Griffith show?

Barking dogs suspected to have triggered killing spree in Arizona

by Arun George

Phoenix: For months, Michael Guzzo complained to neighbors about incessant dog barking, even putting up fliers on doors throughout his Phoenix townhome complex, advising people of pet ordinances and fines.

This weekend, police say, Guzzo went on a rampage, methodically killing four members of a family and their two dogs that lived next door before killing himself with the same shotgun. While his motive died along with him, neighbors and family members of the victims say he was becoming increasingly unhinged over dog noise.

Neighbors in the complex of two-story townhomes where a central courtyard looks like a tree-laden park said Guzzo made no secret that the barking dogs were irritating him. He often left printouts of the city’s dog barking ordinance on doors throughout the community, said Joni Flood, 27, who lives a few doors down from the victims. “He hated them. But everyone here has dogs,” Flood said.

Killed in the Saturday shooting were Bruce Moore, 66; his daughter, Renee Moore, 36; her husband, Michael Moore, 42, who used his wife’s last name; and Renee’s son, Shannon Moore, 17.

Family members of the victim were in shock Monday as they walked into the crime scene for the first time since the killing, standing amid pools of drying blood on the home’s back patio where the two men were apparently killed first. “It’s angering beyond belief,” said Patrick Riley, 41, Michael Moore’s brother. He found his brother’s silver necklace amid the blood. “It just angers me looking at all this because I just feel for my brother. The helplessness.”

Police haven’t given specific details of the attack, but Riley said he thinks Guzzo shot his brother over a 6-foot (1.8-meter) cinderblock fence while he worked on a car engine. “He had no idea what was coming,” Riley said. He said police told him Guzzo, 56, killed the two men first, then walked through the family’s unlocked front door and shot Renee, her son, Shannon, and the dogs. Phoenix Sgt. Steve Martos said authorities can only speculate on a motive for the killings.

“If he had left a note, maybe, but nothing like that occurred in this case,” Martos said Monday. Michael Moore’s mother Jacque Alderman, 70, said Renee “told me all the time the man was crazy. He just couldn’t stand the dogs.” Libni Deleon, 26, said that just a few months ago he returned home from work to find Guzzo standing by his back gate where his two dogs were on the patio barking.

“He said, ‘Your dogs are barking. I’m here to live in peace,’” Deleon recalled. Deleon says Guzzo tried to kill him on Saturday, too. Moments after the shooting, Guzzo walked across the courtyard and began kicking on their front door. Libni Deleon’s wife, Vanessa, had just gotten out of the shower, grabbed their two children and ran upstairs to hide in the bathtub. Libni went toward the door as Guzzo blasted two holes through it, sending about 20 shotgun pellets into the walls at the back of their home. He ran upstairs to get his own gun, opened the window and began to yell at Guzzo, who opened fire again before walking back to his home to turn the gun on himself. “I feel pretty darn lucky,” Libni Deleon said.

H/T First Post

Posted by peiper     on 11/02/2013 at 12:06 PM   
Filed Under: • Animals • OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT • USA •  
• Comments (3) • Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

a cathedral of books

One of the comments asks, “What would God say?”

Clever line.

Anyway .... saw this yesterday, not one of my better days and haven’t posted. But share it now.
This really is quite spectacular.

It was a 15th century cathedral in the Netherlands.

Lots of churches here have been converted to private homes and put to other uses outside religion.
Scary when you think, churches are slim to empty and closing, but the mosques are not only full, but a few churches have been sold to the rop and have been converted into mosques.

Perfect for bibliophiles! 15th Century cathedral is transformed into a book shop

Architects convert stunning medieval Broerenkerk cathedral in Zwolle, Netherlands, into modern book shop

Work on the Gothic building was allowed on strict condition the church could be returned to previous condition

Original stained glass window, pipe organ and decor retained in the radical redesign

By Tom Gardner

For ardent bibliophiles, a shopping trip to this book shop must be close to a spiritual experience.

Broerenkerk, the famed 15th century Dominican church in Zwolle, Netherlands, has been transformed into a stunning modern book store.

Architects BK. Architecten were allowed to radically redesign the interior of the 547-year-old Gothic building on the strict condition they left the original features, such as the pipe organ, stained glass windows and decor intact.

Posted by peiper     on 11/02/2013 at 10:41 AM   
Filed Under: • Architecture • Economics •  
• Comments (2) • Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

Navy: So Far So Good

The USS Zumwalt, a massive 610-foot modern-day destroyer with an advanced rocket system, launched into the water off a Maine dock on Monday, in a surprisingly quiet ceremony, given the vessel’s record-breaking size and unusual shape.

It’s the largest destroyer ever built for the U.S. Navy, and it’s notable for its angular profile, The Daily Mail reported.

The ship was set for a huge fanfare launch earlier this month. But plans were scaled back, due to the government shutdown.

On Monday, it hit the water for the first time in the Kennebec River off Maine.

Bath Iron Works craftsmen will keep working on the ship in the water. Workers hope to christen it this spring, and send it along for some trial sea runs in the fall of 2014. It will then be delivered to the U.S. Navy in 2015.

The Zumwalt uses an ultra-modern “wave piercing” bow, a new design previously seen on the CSS Virginia and the USS Maine. Let’s hope she fairs better than either of those.

Zumwalt’s radical bow; the nose looks like ... a nose

USS Maine, 1897. Click to enlarge and note the Driggs-Schroeder 6pdr deck guns mounted just aft of the port bow
The battleship Maine was just over half the length of the new destroyer Zumwalt

CSS Virginia

Posted by Drew458     on 11/02/2013 at 10:38 AM   
Filed Under: • Military •  
• Comments (3) • Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

   Friday - November 01, 2013

More Fun Than Gnomes Or Flamingos

If it were mine, I’d make sure there was a troll living underneath.

And yeah, this one is mostly local to me, and it’s a nearly priceless bit of history. But nobody pays attention to bridges, so nobody knows or cares.

This one is old. Very old. Before the Civil War old. And while it may not be older than stink, it’s older than Fink (and Howe! Well, in iron anyway), and that makes it nearly one of a kind.

Posted by Drew458     on 11/01/2013 at 03:33 PM   
Filed Under: • Bridges •  
• Comments (3) • Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

DISCLAIMER

THE SERVICES AND MATERIALS ON THIS WEBSITE ARE PROVIDED "AS IS" AND THE HOSTS OF THIS SITE EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ANY AND ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF SATISFACTORY QUALITY, MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, WITH RESPECT TO THE SERVICE OR ANY MATERIALS.

Not that very many people ever read this far down, but this blog was the creation of Allan Kelly and his friend Vilmar. Vilmar moved on to his own blog some time ago, and Allan ran this place alone until his sudden and unexpected death partway through 2006. We all miss him. A lot. Even though he is gone this site will always still be more than a little bit his. We who are left to carry on the BMEWS tradition owe him a great debt of gratitude, and we hope to be able to pay that back by following his last advice to us all:

1. Keep a firm grasp of Right and Wrong
2. Stay involved with government on every level and don't let those bastards get away with a thing
3. Use every legal means to defend yourself in the event of real internal trouble, and, most importantly:
4. Keep talking to each other, whether here or elsewhere

It's been a long strange trip without you Skipper, but thanks for pointing us in the right direction and giving us a swift kick in the behind to get us going. Keep lookin' down on us, will ya? Thanks.

THE INFORMATION AND OTHER CONTENTS OF THIS WEBSITE ARE DESIGNED TO COMPLY WITH THE LAWS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. THIS WEBSITE SHALL BE GOVERNED BY AND CONSTRUED IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE LAWS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND ALL PARTIES IRREVOCABLY SUBMIT TO THE JURISDICTION OF THE AMERICAN COURTS. IF ANYTHING ON THIS WEBSITE IS CONSTRUED AS BEING CONTRARY TO THE LAWS APPLICABLE IN ANY OTHER COUNTRY, THEN THIS WEBSITE IS NOT INTENDED TO BE ACCESSED BY PERSONS FROM THAT COUNTRY AND ANY PERSONS WHO ARE SUBJECT TO SUCH LAWS SHALL NOT BE ENTITLED TO USE OUR SERVICES UNLESS THEY CAN SATISFY US THAT SUCH USE WOULD BE LAWFUL.

Copyright © 2004-2015 Domain Owner