Wednesday - November 23, 2011
Up, up, and awaaaay! Um, nope.
We were comparing airline stories at bowling league last night (we lost 2-5 against the 1st place team, widening their lead to 16). Our teammate Bob took his wife down to Panama last week for their anniversary and was on this flight. He said it was pretty frightening but the passengers were quite calm, at least until just before landing when the pilot came on the PA to tell everyone to brace for impact. Then they landed reasonably smoothly. Good job Continental!
A Continental Airlines Boeing 737-900, registration N53442 performing flight CO-1022 from Panama City (Panama) to Newark,NJ (USA) with 176 people on board, was in the initial climb out of Panama when the left hand engine (CFM56) ingested a bird and repeatedly surged. The crew shut the engine down and returned to Panama City’s Tocumen Airport for a safe landing on runway 03R.
Panama’s Civil Aviation Authority [at first erroneously] reported the aircraft [as a different one that] was headed for Houston,TX (USA), however, this flight reached Houston on schedule.
Continental Airlines confirmed their flight 1022 returned to Panama due to necessary maintenance.
Nothing like your airliner shaking like a paint mixer while watching a 10 foot fireball coming out of one engine to liven up a long boring flight!
The Boeing 737-900 had just left Panama City when the bird was sucked into the engine, causing the pilot to radio the control tower for help. The aircraft carrying 176 passengers returned safely to Tocumen International Airport. VIDEO
The pilot was able to shut down the engine and get the plane back to the airport. A passenger on the plane wrote on a messageboard today, “Finally landed in Newark at 12:30 am this morning via Miami. It was a very scary experience. We took a Buzzard into the left engine when climbing after takeoff. This made an awful noise. Sort of like a truck backfire but bigger and did not stop. There was an air Wisconsin pilot in uniform, who was a passenger on the plane. He was the one who walked up the isle and looked out the bulkhead window to see the engine on fire. Pilots and CO flight staff were calm and helpful. The flight attendant in coach was terrific and prepped us for emergency landing. Noise and vibration had us all scared. We did not land for about 20 long minutes. We were out over the water when the noise started. Landing was fine but we burnt the brakes and wheels. We sat on the runway for almost one hour before departing to a bus. It was calm on the plane but once in the terminal, people were crying and hugging.”
Posted by Drew458
on 11/23/2011 at 09:30 AM
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Permalink • Friday - November 12, 2010
plane launced into space ….. and it’s made of paper … now that’s some kinda plane.
There has been a spot of trouble in the last few days with regard to so called students creating havoc and vandalism because of the raise in college tuitions.
Which this post isn’t about. I only bring it up to ask ....
Why can’t we have more folks like these and less like the slugs and slime that ran riot this week?
Always fascinated by people’s ingenuity. Especially on something like this. Hey, I bet if some govt. agency were doing this with a paper plane, the cost would have been in the billions. So many more hands to grease when dealing with govts. and committees.
Paper aeroplane launched into space captures breathtaking images
British space enthusiasts have made history by launching a paper aeroplane into space which captured a series of breathtaking images on its glide back to earth.By Murray Wardrop
The team crafted the aeroplane from sheets and straws of paper, fitted it with a camera and attached it to a helium weather balloon to lift it into the atmosphere.
After drifting 17 miles into space, the balloon exploded, allowing the 3ft wingspan aircraft to soar back to earth while taking pictures of its descent.
Code-named Operation PARIS (Paper Aircraft Released Into Space), the project saw the aeroplane take off from a remote area 50 miles west of Madrid, Spain on October 28.
Steve Daniels, Lester Haines and John Oates, who designed the plane, monitored its flight during its 90-minute ascent to 90,000ft using a GPS navigation system.
After the expanding helium caused the balloon to burst, they then tracked it as it glided downwards for another 90 minutes.
Remarkably, it landed only 100 miles from its release point in an area of woodland and was intact, save one small hole in its wing.
Mr Daniels, 42, an IT consultant from Paignton, Devon, said the team of amateur space explorers embarked on the project ‘’for a laugh’’ but ended up spending around £8,000.
The married father-of-two said: ‘’Somebody launched a bit of cheese out of a balloon, which we thought was bit stupid.
‘’We thought we could do something more technical than that. It seems really silly but it was brilliant fun.
‘’Nobody had ever done it before, so we were worried about what could go wrong. It was a little bit stressful.’’
The three enthusiasts got together after discussing the project on the IT website The Register and were sponsored by Peer One Networking.
Mr Oates, 39, from London, added: “We wanted a daft project but we were amazed by how successful it was. We are absolutely delighted.
“I never thought we would find the plane at all. It could have ended up anywhere and I thought it would be smashed to pieces.
“To find it intact in such a wild area was amazing. There was a small hole in the wing, but otherwise it was fine.”
GO HERE FOR THE VIDEO FROM THE BBC
Posted by peiper
on 11/12/2010 at 08:14 AM
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Permalink • Sunday - August 22, 2010
A YOUNG GIRL AND THE SEA …. SHE’S GONNA SEE LOTS OF IT
I don’t suppose anyone but me cares a lot but ....
This lovely and brave young girl has set sail. She left secretly yesterday from Gibraltar .... I wish her well. I’d have never thought of doing that when I was that age or 20 or any other age. I’m sure there will be ships on the lookout and there must be a support flotilla. Something. Still. Gutsy kid and I hope she makes it in great shape.
MIDDELBURG, Netherlands – The new cushions, sunshade and bright red sail are in place. And now 14-year-old Laura Dekker has the go-ahead she needs.
A Dutch court ruled Tuesday the girl who was born on a yacht in the South Pacific is ready to embark on her dream of becoming the youngest person to sail solo around the world – meaning she could set sail in two weeks in a ketch named Guppy.
“I was so happy I almost jumped into the water,” the teen gushed, after hearing the court’s decision.
The above was a blurb in another paper in the Netherlands a month ago.
All I have here is the caption to her photo and I can’t get into the Times where the pix was run. Doesn’t matter. Those interested will search, this is the bare bones. Not much more to add to it unless we get into navigation and maps etc.
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Permalink • Thursday - August 19, 2010
DAS BOOT …….. H/T Drew for the inspiration … th th th that’s all folks …
Drew posted some lovely boats I enjoyed seeing. They also qualify as eye candy.
Well, I’m not trying to upstage friend Drew BUT .... this was in the paper and I admit while I am attracted to the canoe these folks have, I kinda like the lady a lot too. OK, I think she’s really pretty and maybe even prettier then the boat. But they go together you see.
What a catch she was for this guy. Read on and see the link for more.
What a catch! Humble British fisherman lands billionaire Canadian boss’s daughter and returns on bride’s £100m superyacht
By Luke Salkeld
Before he left his home town, he worked on a little old boat taking holidaymakers on trips to catch mackerel.Guy Barnett returned in style aboard a £100million superyacht.
The 35-year-old sailed into Dartmouth on the 247ft Northern Star and invited old friends to celebrate his best catch yet.
Mr Barnett, who left Devon to work as a deck hand for a Canadian billionaire, ended up marrying the boss’s daughter and heiress.
He and his bride, the former Sarah Risley, are honeymooning on board the six-deck yacht, which was chartered by her father John as part of their wedding present.
The couple hosted lunch for 30 guests in Dartmouth harbour, followed by an evening party when another 50 arrived on board.
It is eight years since Mr Barnett went to work for 62-year-old Mr Risley, owner of the largest fishing fleet in North America and known as the ‘Rockefeller of the North’.
And hey folks .... how’s this for a dining room ....
The couple then flew to Europe for the wedding celebration on the Northern Star, which is based in Gibraltar and costs £533,000 a week to charter.
Father of the bride John Risley, 62, a native of Nova Scotia, started his career with a small lobster shop in 1976 and went on to become the founder and director of Clearwater Seafoods.
The firm operates a large fleet of vessels and processing plants throughout Eastern Canada.
Mr Risley’s empire also includes a telecommunications firm which operates in Latin America and the Caribbean, as well as a fisheries research and development business.
So we bid fair well to the happy couple with good wishes for the future and the hope that an unbreakable prenuptial agreement is in place. Failing that, then daddy has excellent mafia connections.
Click on the happy couple to see more at the source.
Posted by peiper
on 08/19/2010 at 03:55 PM
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Permalink • Thursday - July 08, 2010
True Spirit
True grit and bloody stubbornness pays off with some help from Mother Nature
Scores of sailors from across the country have made the long journey into the Outback to take part in the event in the middle of the Simpson Desert.
A monsoon in Queensland in February, during which six inches of rain fell in one day, with some towns recording their average annual rainfall in just 24 hours, has sent flows of water rushing into a series of inland lakes and rivers in remote South Australia.
The influx of water has been so large and sustained that, for the first time in more than 20 years, some of the desert lakes are now deep enough to sail on.
More than 200 sailors from around the country have converged on Lake Killamperpunna, 520 miles north of Adelaide, with catamarans, trimarans, speedboats and even water skis.
Normally a parched dust bowl, the lake has not been sailed on since 1989 but thanks to the rains, which have transformed the desert into lush wetlands teeming with plants and bird life, the water is up to 9ft deep in places and perfect for sailing.
Bob Backway, commodore of the Lake Eyre Sailing Club, said conditions were “beautiful” for the three-day regatta. The LESC was formed in 2000 but has never had enough water to host a regatta – until now.
“To think that just a month-and-a-half ago this area was just bone dry,” he said.
“[Now] you’re sailing on this beautiful lake that looks like it’s been there forever but hasn’t had water this depth in it for 20 years, it’s just ... out of this world.”
Mr Backway said yacht owners had travelled from across Australia to take advantage of the rare opportunity for “desert boating”.
In keeping with the Club’s fun approach to yachting in the outback events will be laid back - no strict racing rules. Participants may even choose to design their own events - the emphasis is on enjoying the rare privilege of sailing in the desert.
A bush camping area on the edge of the Lake Killamperpunna will be supplied with firewood for use in approved fireplaces, and there will be Cooper Creek water for washing.
It won’t be good for keel boats however - they’ll be off-the-beach sized yachts with appropriate safety gear as required by SA Marine Authority, or trailer sailors. While it’s possible for a two-wheel-drive vehicle to make the journey, most participants are expected to take 4WD’s.
Participants will have to camp, and even caravans have to be handled with care to make the journey. Drinking water will also have to be carried, as they are not recommending drinking the Cooper Creek water.
Shallow draft boats are an absolute must; the depth of the lake is measured in millimeters. Strong backs and waterproof boots are required as well: this lake is subject to the unusual phenomena of wind tides, which can range up to 600mm or more. But since the lake is so shallow, and the land around it is so flat - insanely flat, “undulating” less than 5m per 75km - that 600mm of tide means that the lake can move 1 to 3 kilometers overnight. And that’s a long long push for your little boat across the salt crusted black ooze and mud.
Lake Eyre [nicknamed “the plug hole of Australia"], Australia’s largest salt lake and the world’s 13th largest lake, is located in Northern South Australia. It’s drainage basin, of 1,140,000 square kilometers, covers 15% of the continent extending into the south-east of the Northern Territory and south west and central Queensland.
Lake Eyre North is 144km long North-South and 77km wide. The lowest point, in Lake Eyre North, is 15.2 metres below sea level and its deepest flood (20th century) was in 1974 at 5.7 meters. Lake Eyre South is 64km long East-West and 24km wide and has a maximum depth of 3.7 meters. The two Lakes are joined by the 15km long Goyder Channel through which water has flowed in either direction in recent history. Both lakes have a combined area of 9 690 square kilometers.
Adventurers interested in sailing the blood red lake for several days should bring camping equipment, food, several hundred liters of drinking water and a small pull-behind dingy to carry it. Camping can be done at almost any point around the lake, and it is suggested you bring your own porta-potty as well. The Lake Eyre Yacht Club web page has lots of tips and suggestions, along with information about several of the rather bothersome medical conditions that can result from exposure to, and immersion in, water of such high salinity. Little things like Onion Toe and Sea Ulcers. But the highly saline water seems to cure plantar warts, so it’s not all downside.
And if you stick around long enough, you can attend the Cudimurka Outback Ball, a galah candlelit bi-annual affair held this year in at the old Ghan station there. Thousands attend to dance and drink the night away. That’s assuming that the Kudimudra, the local version of the Chupacabra, doesn’t get you first. Be warned.
Gotta love the Aussies. Tougher than nails and having a grand time doing the improbable.
Posted by Drew458
on 07/08/2010 at 09:38 AM
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Permalink • Thursday - January 14, 2010
New Champion of a new sport
Most BMEWS readers will recognize the above as the title of Col. Jeff Cooper’s book. Half of you probably own a copy. It’s a book about being a sheepdog not a sheep. It’s a book about learning to use your guns and become a “shottist”. It’s a book about situational awareness. And so many other things. I’m borrowing the title because it boils down almost the entire cowboy ethos into 8 short words. Words which show that being called a “cowboy”, or referencing “cowboy diplomacy” is a great compliment, not the insult various euro-wienies think it is.
There is a sport played with guns called Cowboy Action Shooting. That’s right. A sport. Played. With guns. And bullets!! Actually, it’s a whole series of competitive events, dreamed up by, and organized by, the Single Action Shooting Society. You have to wear cowboy style clothing, use cowboy style firearms, go by a cowboy alias, and you compete in several kinds of cowboy styled shooting, like fast draw, long range buffalo hunting (using a steel buffalo), defending the stagecoach, or robbing the bank. Great fun is had by all.
I don’t do this sport. I’ve got nothing against the costume aspect, or the firearms used. I’m a little let down by their use of extremely low powered ammunition, or even blanks for some events, but safety has to be paramount. And before today, I was only aware of one “mounted” competition, in which the folks fired off shotguns while atop a barrel “horse” up on blocks. That just didn’t sit right with me. How the heck can you be a cowboy, even a modern weekends-only just for fun kind, without an actual honest-to-God horse?
Turns out I was under-informed. There is a competition that requires horses. It’s called Mounted Shooting. It’s a cross between barrel racing and target shooting. Ride your horse around a course and shoot 10 balloons as fast as you can, with a single action six-gun in each hand. The pistols are loaded with black powder blanks, but the blast from each shot is enough to burst a balloon from 10 to 20 feet away. Sounds like great fun, and it’s probably a big hit at rodeos too! (What do I know from rodeos? I live in New Jersey. Around here the only thing ever called a rodeo is a big flea market or used car sale.)
The sport is cut up into gender, age, and skill divisions, but they have an overall championship at the end of the season. And the overall champion for 2009 ... is Kenda Lenseigne from Ellensburg, Washington.
One perfect run.
That’s all that separates Kenda Lenseigne from something extraordinary: a world championship.
She waits to enter the arena and can almost hear the tension crackling in the air.
The crowd holds its breath, waiting for her.
It’s October and this cowgirl from Sultan is one run away from beating last year’s reigning world champion in mounted shooting.
Shooting from a horse has been around since the invention of guns.
This particular cowboy skill didn’t become a sport until 15 years ago. That’s when a few modern-day cowpokes found a safe way to combine horseback riding and shooting.
It would come to be known as Cowboy Mounted Shooting and it looks like this: Competitors riding a horse on a timed course lined with 10 balloons, shooting the targets as they go. Two pistols, five shots each.
Jim Rodgers, a dedicated rider from Arizona and the father of the sport, thought up the idea of shooting blanks at balloons. That bit of inspiration made it safe for a cowboy to ride at top speed in an arena around a series of barrels, while rapidly unloading two .45 caliber single-action revolvers.
Rodgers and his friends started putting on competitions and demonstrations at rodeos. Pretty soon there were clips on cable television shows and feature stories in Western Horseman magazine.
The sport caught on quickly, says Brady Carr, one of those riders who discovered the sport in its early years.
He’s now the executive vice president of the Cowboy Mounted Shooting Association, a national organization based in Tennessee that oversees and administers the sport. “Raw Horsepower, Hard Ridin’, Straight Shootin’” the association’s Web site boasts. In 2003, the association had 2,000 members. Today, membership is close to 10,000.
The sport is a natural companion to other popular Western events like roping and barrel racing, with a ready-made base of cowboys with the skills to give it a try.
“We laughingly call it ‘cowboy cocaine,’” Carr says. “It’s an adrenaline rush.”
Read the rest of Debra Smith’s well written piece at the Everett, Washington Herald right here, which also has a nice bird’s eye view animated graphic of the event, and then jump over to my pal Mo’s blog (he’s the guy who casts those enormous lead bullets for me) to see the video from the championship.
If you can’t be a 17th century pirate, you might as well be a cowboy. Or at least live by the Cowboy Way. And that’s as good as it gets. Congratulations Kenda!
Posted by Drew458
on 01/14/2010 at 11:37 AM
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Permalink • Friday - November 13, 2009
Batten down the ratchets, all hands man the poop deck. (wherever that is) Man overboard.
Woo-Hoo ,, we are in for it. Already been raining for a couple days and nights. Went to hardware store but nobody has any blueprints on ark building.
Doesn’t matter because I’m not much on tools anyway.
Britain prepares to be battered by weekend of storms, 70mph gales and pouring rain
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 4:19 PM on 13th November 2009The weekend will be washed out by the worst storm of the year so far, with gale-force gusts and heavy rain on its way, forecasters warned today.
Weather experts are advising those planning Saturday shopping trips and days out to postpone them and stay indoors as Britain is buffeted by winds of up to 70mph.
The winds will be strong enough to cause damage, including bringing down trees and branches, say forecasters.
This is in our neck of the woods:
Stephen Davenport, of Meteogroup UK, said that while it will dry up overnight, the rain will begin again in the early hours.
‘It is pretty filthy weather already and it is only going to get worse tomorrow. The real meat of the storm is coming overnight.
‘There will be a gradual build-up, with the peak of the winds being felt in the south west in the early hours before the storm shifts north-eastwards.’
‘This is the strongest storm we have had this year but it is just an autumnal storm, not untypical for this time of year.’
The storm is developing off the west coast of the country and is being fed by the still-warm autumn sea temperatures, he said.
Met Office chief forecaster, Bob Wilderspin, said: ‘We are expecting severe weather over the next few days.’
Untitled-2.jpgHe added that forecasters will be monitoring the situation and updating weather reports so people are advised to keep an eye on forecasts for more information.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk
It’s the wind I think I worry about most. Especially with some very,very large trees in the back. Come to think about, there’s a few in the front over the electric lines. The two new houses on either side of us have underground lines. We’re not so lucky, having been built in the 1920s.
The rain sometimes sounds like thunder. I don’t think that’s the correct word. It’s very noisy and makes a kind of drumming sound. I wouldn’t mind if it were Gene Krupa.
If what I’m hearing now ain’t the “real meat” of this thing, I don’t think I wanna hear it later tonight.
Cheers ....
Posted by peiper
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Permalink • Thursday - September 10, 2009
Northeast Passage Open, Transited
Uh oh. Looks like that naughty Global Warming is to blame.
First through Northeast Passage
2009-09-09Simultaneously as climate scientists can see a near record low sea ice in the Arctic, two German merchant vessels are the first ever to make it through the formerly impenetrable Northeast Passage.
The German shipping company’s two vessels have reached their destination of Novy Port in the outlet of the Ob River after they sailed from Ulsan in South Korea in August. End of August and beginning of September is the time of the year with minimum ice along the northern coast of Siberia.
The last updated data from the National Snow and Ice Data Centre shows that the averaged sea ice extent in the Arctic over August 2009 was 6,26 million square kilometres. That is 1,41 million square kilometres below the 1979 to 2000 average.
The two German commercial vessels to be the first to sail the route all the way through the Arctic from east to west are now delivering their cargo, 44 modules with single weight of 200 tons or more, onto barges in the Ob River reports HeavyLift. Then the two ships will sail around the Yamal Peninsula, cross the Barents Sea to Murmansk and head on to Rotterdam with its remaining 3,500 freight tons, writes HeavyLift.
The vessels, belonging to the Beluga Group, are of ice class and this year’s voyage comes after long time planning and a delayed permission to sail the route from Russian authorities. The voyages were first intended to take place last year as reported by BarentsObserver.
Following the climate changes and rapidly decreasing sea ice in the Arctic, there is a growing interest in Arctic Shipping.
Ok, so two ships got through. Was it clear sailing all the way? Heck no - they had ice breakers clearing a path for them. Isn’t that sort of cheating?
>Mission accomplished – world premiere successful: Both multipurpose heavy lift project carriers MV “Beluga Fraternity” and MV “Beluga Foresight” have reached their destination in Siberia safely. On Monday, 7th of September 2009, within a few hours time the vessels which are loaded with heavy plant modules each dropped their anchors at Novyy Port / Yamburg in the delta of river Ob. Hence, Bremen-based project and heavy lift carrier Beluga Shipping GmbH has succeeded in sending two merchant vessels through the formerly impenetrable Northeast-Passage from Asia to Europe for the first time. MV “Beluga Fraternity” had cast off on 23rd of July, sister vessel MV “Beluga Foresight” five days later from Ulsan, South Korea, to enter the so called Northern Sea Route via the inspection point at Vladivostok in order to deliver their project cargo as far into the destination area as no other merchant vessel had previously been able to. Now, the in total 44 cargo modules with single weights of 200 tons and above are discharged offshore onto barges by the on-board crane gear and then will be transported further to Surgut. Subsequent to this operation both vessels via Murmansk are going to sail to Central Europe to safely deliver the remaining 3,500 freight tons of construction parts packed in wooden boxes each to Rotterdam.
“We are all very proud and delighted to be the first western shipping company which has successfully transited the legendary Northeast-Passage and delivered the sensitive cargo safely through this extraordinarily demanding sea area”, Niels Stolberg said, President and CEO of Beluga Shipping GmbH, after the masters Captain Aleksander Antonov and Captain Valeriy Durov had stated the droppings of the anchor at the port of destination. “To transit the Northeast-Passage so well and professionally without incidents on the premiere is the result of our extremely accurate preparation as well as the outstanding team work between our attentive captains, our reliable meteorologists and our engaged crew”, said Stolberg.
During the passed days which led through the East Siberian Sea, the Sannikov Strait and the Vilkizki Strait as northernmost part the Beluga vessels followed in a little convoy behind Russian Atomflot-ice breakers “50 let Pobedy” and “Rossia”. Small ice bergs, ice fields and ice blocks were safely passed nautically. After the successful premiere, Beluga Shipping announced further project journeys through the Northeast-Passage for 2010 – then probably with the new Super Heavy Lift vessels of the Beluga P-class already, which will be launched as from autumn this year onwards.
Both these ships are relatively small, 138 meters long by 21 meters wide. Details on both ships here. The two Russian nuclear powered icebreakers are each 160 meters long and 30 meters wide, much larger than the cargo ships. The first ship in this class, the Arktika broke ice all the way to the North Pole, back in 1977, when we all still believed in Global Cooling. So far it is the only surface ship to ever sail (crunch?) it’s way to the Pole.
Novy Port on the Ob River is about halfway across Russia on the north coast. A bit south and east of that giant peninsula thingy called Novaya Zemlya, about 2/3 the way into the big bay.
So while it is impressive that this has been done, it isn’t that stupendous a deal, nor is it indicative that all the polar bears are gonna die now. It’s a stunt. All it really proves is that Russia’s giant icebreaker ships are still running just fine. But by next week the ice up there will be too thick and growing too fast for another cargo ship to get through.
Posted by Drew458
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Permalink • Saturday - August 15, 2009
Just Monkee-ing around…
I grew up in 1968.
I know this because that year I didn’t get the usual Disney/Superman/Aquaman story vinyl albums for either my birthday or for Christmas.
No, that year, for my 8th birthday, I received the Monkee’s Greatest Hits. My first rock album.
It’s been all downhill from there!
Oh yes, I found part of the rest:
Okay, found parts 3 and 5. Had no luck finding the missing parts. Probably could be found in a barrel full of MonKees!
I just know I’m going to Hades for this one…
Posted by Christopher
on 08/15/2009 at 08:04 PM
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Permalink • Monday - July 27, 2009
American Tyler Bradt set a new world record by plunging 186 feet over a waterfall. MUST SEE!
I keep getting further away from the things I planned to to post as I keep finding other things.
Weather EXTREMELY bad at the moment. Hopefully I’ll remain on line.
No warming to report though. Should I report that to Al Bore?
Kayaker in world record waterfall plunge
American kayaker Tyler Bradt has set a new world record by plunging 186 feet over a waterfall in Washington State.
Posted by peiper
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Permalink • Monday - July 13, 2009
ONE HELL OF A FLY BY, WOULDN’T YA SAY? NOT TOO CERTAIN I’D WANT TO BE ON THAT BALCONY.
Wait a minute. Wouldn’t flying that low lose him lift? OK maybe not but this is hard to believe. It isn’t April 1st tho.
Gee ... talk about a very high wow factor.
Thing is, that guy on the balcony watching. He just looks so casual like it’s an every day event. And what about being that close to a jet engine?
How about the walls and windows in the apt. complex? Wouldn’t they suffer some damage?
I’m just trying to figure out if it’s a hoax. It was published a short time ago (an hour ago) in the Mail.
Now that’s what I call a fly-past: US Navy F18 streaks past apartment block
By Mail Foreign Service
Last updated at 1:27 PM on 13th July 2009This is the moment a a US Navy pilot gave a shocked resident a very close look at his F18.
The fighter/bomber streaked past an apartment block on the banks of the Detroit River at the weekend.
It was part of a tactical demonstration fly-past to open a speedboat race in the North American city.
Officials waived rules to allow the Navy flyers to swoop under 100ft along the waterway.
One resident said: ‘I couldn’t believe how low they flew and how close they came to our building - I’m sure the pilot waved at me.’
The jets had flown in from the Naval Air Station Oceana in Virginia to put on a spectacular show for thousands of spectators.
The Chrysler Jeep Superstores APBA Gold Cup race was won by speedboat ace Dave Villcock.
‘We danced with the devil at every turn,’ said Villwock, 55, who demolished the field on his way to his seventh Gold Cup win.
‘We were either going to win it big or lose it big.’
He couldn’t match the F15s for speed, although his average of 141mph for the five-lap final remained impressive.
Posted by peiper
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Permalink • Tuesday - April 21, 2009
Welcome to the NEW USS Truxtun!
I served for four years (1982-1986) aboard the last USS Truxtun CGN-35. She was decommissioned in 1994, and scrapped in 1996. Thank you Bill Clinton…
Anyway, the previous incarnation of the ‘Tommy T’ was a nuclear-powered guided missile cruiser. I was a reactor operator (RC-div). Yes, one of those ‘nuke ETs’. NavVets will know what I’m talking about. I operated the nuclear power plants that made the ship go.
I received an official invite to the commissioning ceremony of the NEW USS Truxtun DDG-103. It sounds like a pretty powerful ship. I really wanted to attend, but couldn’t convince the wife to go. So I won’t be there this weekend. Damn!
Thought I’d leave you with this, though.
How To Simulate The Life Of A Sailor
* Buy a steel dumpster, paint it gray inside and out, and live in it for six months.
* Run all the pipes and wires in your house exposed on the walls.
* Repaint your entire house every month.
* Renovate your bathroom. Build a wall across the middle of the bathtub and move the showerhead to chest level. When you take showers, make sure you turn off the water while you soap down.
* Raise the thresholds and lower the headers of your front and back doors so that you either trip or bang your head everytime you pass through them.
* Disassemble and inspect your lawn mower every week.
* On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, turn your water heater temperature up to 200 degrees. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, turne the waer heater off. On Saturdays and Sundays tell your family they use too much water during the week, so not bathing will be allowed.
* Raise your bed to within 6 inches of the ceiling, so you can’t turn over without getting out and then getting back into bed.
* Sleep on the shelf in your closet. Replace the closet door with a curtain. Have your spouse whip open the curtain about 3 hours after you go to sleep, shine a flashlight in your eyes, and say “Sorry, wrong rack.”
* Make your family qualify to operate each appliance in your house - dishwasher, blender, mixer, etc.
* Have your neighbor come over each day at 5 AM, blow a whistle loudly, and shout “Reveille, all hands heave out and trice up.”
* Have your mother-in-law write down everything she’s going to do the following day, then have her make you stand in your back yard at 6 AM while she reads it to you.
* Submit a request chit to your father-in-law requesting permission to leave your house before 3 PM.
* Empty all the garbage bins in your house and sweep the driveway three times a day, whether it needs it or not.
* Have your neighbor collect all your mail for a month, read your magazines, and randomly lose every 5th item before delivering it to you.
* Watch no TV except for movies played in the middle of the night. Have your family vote on which movie to watch then show a different one.
* Make your family menu a week ahead of time without consulting the pantry or refrigerator.
* Post a menu on the kitchen door informing your family that they are having steak for dinner. Then make them wait in line for an hour. When they finally get to the kitchen, tell them you are out of steak, but they can have dried ham or hot dogs. Repeat daily until they ignore the menu and just ask for hot dogs.
* Bake a cake. Prop up on side of the pan so the cake bakes unevenly. Spread icing really thick to level it off.
* Get up every night around midnight and have a peanut butter and jelly sandwich on stale bread. (Midrats)
* Set your alarm clock to go off at random tmes during the night. At the alarm, jump up and dress as fast as you can, making sure to button the top button of your shirt and tuck your pants into your socks. Run out into the backyard and uncoil the garden hose. Stand there for an hour. Then re-roll the hose and go back to bed.
* Every week or so, throw your dog in the pool and shout, “Man overboard port side!” Rate your family members on how fast they respond.
* Put the headphones from your stereo on your head, but don’t plug them in. Hang a paper cup around your neck on a string. Stand in front of the stove, and speak into the paper cup “Stove manned and ready.” After an hour or so, speak into the cup again, “Stove secured.” Roll up the headphones and paper cup and stow them in a shoebox.
* Place a podium at the end of your driveway. Have your family stand watches at the podium, rotating at 4 hour intervals. This is done for three days, once a month.
* When there is a thunderstorm in your area, get a wobbly rocking chair, sit in it, and rock as hard as you can until you become nauseous. Make sure to have a supply of stale crackers to eat in your shirt pocket.
* Make coffee using eighteen scoops of budget priced coffee grounds per pot, and allow the pot to simmer for 5 hours before drinking.
* Have someone under the age of ten give you a haircut with sheep shears.
* Sew the back pockets of your jeans on the front.
* Lock yourself and your family in the house for six weeks. Tell them that at the end of the 6th week you are going to take them to Disney World for “liberty.” At the end of the 6th week, inform them the trip to Disney World has been canceled because they need to get ready for an inspection, and it will be another week before they can leave the house.
Gosh, how I miss being a sailor! (sarcasm)
Actually, I wouldn’t trade the experience for anything. I learned to live ‘lite’, ie, had very few possessions to weigh me down. Got to travel, meet interesting people, without killing them (though that was always an option in the event of war…)
Then, there was a spiritual side to Navy service.
You are on a ship observing ‘darkness’ rules (no lights, don’t want the Soviets to see us easily…), it’s midnight, you’ve just gotten off the 8-12 watch, You and a couple of shipmates are out on the flight deck, doing some amateur astronomy. Why? Because you’re from the USA, and you’ll never get another chance to stargaze in the South Pacific, thousands of miles from any city lights. There, above you, is the grand beauty of God’s creation. Stars, like dust, shining with colors! You can’t make out the colors from home, but they stand out in the darkness of the South Pacific.
Add in the fact that Halley’s Comet was visible to the naked eye in ‘86 if you were in the Southern Hemisphere…
Actually, if I weren’t married, I’d go back to being a sailor.
Posted by Christopher
on 04/21/2009 at 04:53 AM
Filed Under: • Adventure • Daily Life • Editorials • Fun-Stuff • Personal •
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Permalink • Tuesday - February 03, 2009
Just In Time Auto Repairs
I was having a bit of a problem with my car’s exhaust system a couple months ago. The Check Engine light kept coming on when I hit rough roads, and the engine code that caused that to happen implied there was something wrong with the oxygen sensors in the exhaust system. Since the sensors and everything, even the muffler, are factory original and the car is 13 years old, I figured I’d have to get a whole new exhaust system. I looked up what I could on the Internet, joined a couple Saturn forums, and nosed around as much as I could, and it looked like the sensors ought to be replaced once every 5 years. It also looked like I might have to find a shady mechanic, since my New Jersey registered car was actually built as a California emissions compliant vehicle ... and California changed it’s emissions laws, retroactively of course, just last month, so a lot of the aftermarket repair parts that were California legal in December are no longer certified now that it’s February. And my car has this big DO NOT sticker under the hood: DO NOT EVER put any parts on this car that aren’t California Air Research Board (CARB) certified. Even if the car has never been further west than Harrisburg PA.
I got my car inspected last week and it failed. Not for emissions, but because they said there was an exhaust leak. Which was no real surprise, since I’ve had the muffler hanging from metal straps and bailing wire for the past few years. So I went down a the local garage which I happened to know was a bit, um, flexible; I figured it was going to be a big $$$ hit. I’d already worked out a parts list from Walker (largest exhaust parts company in the country) and found a source for every last part of the exhaust system. If I had to, I could have cut off the old pipes, put on a new catalytic with new sensors and a new downpipe, then gone back to the shop with a “uh, my muffler fell off, hur hur hur” and they’d be ... flexible ... and finish the job while not noticing that I had a 49 state legal cat under the car. This turned out to be unnecessary. While my muffler was shot, I only had a leak in the downpipe. My catalytic converter was fine. But how can you tell? The inspection guys didn’t use that tailpipe sniffer thing, so how do I know that the emissions levels are Ok? According to Slippery Jim, my mechanic, the OBDC-II sensors built into my car are more sensitive than the old tailpipe sniffer system. I guess that’s why NJ automatically fails any car that shows up for inspection with the Check Engine light on. And not just on! They told me that the OBDC-II system has a bit of memory, and that it can tell you if the codes were recently cleared. So you can’t just use your own OBDC tool ($50, I own one) to turn off the engine codes. The thing remembers that they were recently on, and that memory will also get you an automatic FAIL. But since my Check Engine light wasn’t on, ipso facto my emissions system was fine, thus my catalytic converter was fine. I had the shop put in a new muffler, and I had them weld on a new flexible section to the downpipe. Good to go.
While I was there I also had them check the brakes. The old Saturn hasn’t been stopping too well lately. It still stops, but the brakes just didn’t seem to work as good as the ones in my wife’s SPEC-V. The guy pulled off the front rim and started laughing. All the other guys in the shop had to come over and see, so they could have a laugh too. I had about 124,000 miles on this set of brakes. My pads were so worn that the bearing surface was barely as thick as a fingernail, and the rotors were worn almost right down to the central vents. There was literally almost nothing left of them. Paper thin. They told me I had maybe another 50 or 100 stops left, maybe a lot less than that, at which point the rotors would have caved in and probably torn the front wheels off the car. Phew!
So I wound up spending the same amount that I had figured I’d spend in new exhaust parts, but I came away with brand new brakes and rotors. Plus the car is quiet again and will pass inspection. Not bad.
Posted by Drew458
on 02/03/2009 at 04:03 PM
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Permalink • Monday - January 12, 2009
ALMOST TWO THOUSAND DOLLARS AN HOUR? NO CATCH SAYS AUSTRALIAN TOURISM CHIEFS.
Only have time to post this find from this morning’s paper.
“Nice Job If You Can Get It, (and you can get it if you try)” http://www.islandreefjob.com
Recession hit unemployed offered £1k an hour ‘Australian desert island caretaker’ job
Australian tourism chiefs are offering Brits the chance to bag the “best job in the world” as the caretaker of a desert island - with a salary of nearly £1,000 per hour.
By Daily Telegraph Reporter
The position requires “minimum effort” and involves “relaxed” duties such as feeding turtles, watching whales, and picking up the island’s post.
Applicants require no academic qualifications, but must possess good swimming skills and a love of snorkelling, scuba diving and other water sports.
A passion for the great outdoors and the ability to speak English was also said to be an advantage.
Candidates will also have to demonstrate an “adventurous attitude” and a “willingness to try new things”.
The successful applicant will live rent-free in the lap of luxury on Hamilton Island, dubbed the ‘jewel in the crown’ of the Whitsunday Islands off the Queensland coast.
They will receive a three-bedroom house with “unbeatable” views of a crystal-clear lagoon lined with palm trees and ringed by white sandy beaches.
The six-month contract comes with a salary package of AUD 150,000 (£70,000), including free return flights, transfers, expenses and transport around the island.
It equates to £972 per hour based on a ‘flexi-time’ schedule of a 12-hour working month.
The offer might sound too good to be true, but the Queensland Tourist Board insists there is no catch.
It says the role is an ideal opportunity for Brits to swap the ‘rat race’ and the cold winter for a more relaxed life Down Under.
Jonathan Sloan, who works on behalf of Tourism Queensland in the UK, said: “This is the best job in the world, there’s no question about it.
“It has everything most people dream of - white sandy beaches, blue skies, warm seas and friendly people.
“It also boasts a very generous salary package and requires only a few hours of relaxed work with minimum effort per week.”
Advertised as a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity”, the role of “Island Caretaker” is now being advertised in 18 countries across the world.
Beginning on July 1, the successful applicant will have few responsibilities and can decide how best to fill their days.
But they will be required to produce a weekly online blog, photo diary and video updates of their time on the island.
They will also have to give regular media interviews and send reports via email to chiefs at Tourism Queensland at the organisation’s headquarters in Brisbane.
Requirements for candidates include: “Excellent communication skills, good written and verbal English skills, an adventurous attitude, willingness to try new things, a passion for the outdoors, and good swimming skills and enthusiasm for snorkelling and/or diving.”
Anthony Hayes, the chief executive of Tourism Queensland, said the offer was being made to promote the island to a “global market”.
He said: “The cooperative marketing campaign aims to highlight the Islands of the Great Barrier Reef and showcase Australia’s own unique Island experience, to the global market.”
Interested parties can apply by submitting a 60-second video outlining the reasons they deserve to be picked. Applications are now open and close on February 22.
Tourism Queensland will select 11 potential candidates who will be whisked away to Hamilton Island for a selection process. The lucky applicant will be named on May 6.
More information can be found at www.islandreefjob.com
Posted by peiper
on 01/12/2009 at 04:10 AM
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Oh, and here's some kind of visitor flag counter thingy. Hey, all the cool blogs have one, so I should too. The Visitors Online thingy up at the top doesn't count anything, but it looks neat. It had better, since I paid actual money for it.
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