Saturday - August 31, 2013

Dodgeball

After shooting his mouth off for weeks over the poison gas in Syria situation, after drawing umpteen red lines in the sand, after being Mr. Tough Guy who was going to Punish His Enemies and Do What Is Right even if he had to Ignore Congress, even if he had to Go It Alone ... Oblameless, now that he’s found out that the UK, France, Germany, and everyone and anyone else out there who can actually drop bombs or shoot off missiles wants no part in this ... now he’s going to let Congress make the decision. You see, that way, if THEY say NO, it ain’t his fault.

What a two-faced chicken shit we have for a pResident.

President Obama announced Saturday that he has concluded the United States should take military action against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his regime for using chemical weapons on civilians, but will first seek authorization from Congress.

“This menace must be confronted,” Obama said of the Assad regime’s alleged strike, speaking from the Rose Garden.

The announcement, though, sets up a timetable for debate that could drag on for weeks.

Obama said he would wait for Congress to return from recess; members are not scheduled to return until Sept. 9. Yet the president claimed any military response to Syria is “not time sensitive” and would be effective even one month from now.

The decision to seek congressional authorization is a departure from the administration’s decision to intervene in Libya in 2011. Though the president said he thinks he has the authority to order a military strike, he made clear he will ask Congress to vote on the issue.

“I have decided that the United States should take military action against Syrian regime targets,” the president said. He added: “I’m also mindful that I’m president of the world’s oldest constitutional democracy.”

So you know what is going to happen: nothing. If it ever even comes to a vote, the civil war in Syria could be over by then. If it does come to a vote, it’s pretty much a guarantee that no authorization will be forthcoming.

So I guess I’ll have to put away Conservative mirror and my collection of old leftist memes I was so ready to reflect back at him ...

“Mr. pResident, why are you rushing us to war?”
“Unilateral! Unilateral!! Unilateral!!!”
“Wrong war for the wrong reason at the wrong time”
“No evidence!!!!”

And as much as I hate to say it, by shirking responsibility, Obama winds up doing the right thing: nothing. Because there is NO way for the USA to win here. No way. We bomb the country, we’re baby killers and the entire pisslamic world rises up in anger, again, as usual, Islamic Rage Boy with a pancake on his head, let’s go burn some nuns in Africa. We take out Asswad, and we’re international assassins run by the CIA and no nation or leader on earth is safe. We blow up the entire Syrian government, and the rebels and their terrorist group wins. We blow up the rebels, and the Syrain government and their terrorist group wins. We arm either side, we’re supporting terrorists. We arm BOTH sides, we’re supporting even more terrorists.

So just walk away.

But Obama, he’s the ultimate pro at this kind of game. He shoots his mouth off, dithers forever, walks away doing nothing (aka “votes present"), AND finds somebody else to blame it on.

Crivens.

Posted by Drew458     on 08/31/2013 at 03:11 PM   
Filed Under: • Middle-East • Obama, The One • War On Terror •  
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Saturday Happy

Posted by Drew458     on 08/31/2013 at 11:38 AM   
Filed Under: • Eye-Candy •  
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her husband was so upset that she had to make hima cup of tea.

Not sure what to make of it.  On the one hand, what the judge says appears to make sense. If the old lady was “intimidated” as she claimed, would it not make more sense to get the heck out of there?  And our regulars at this site know my attitude and feelings with regard to this group which has been declared a ‘race’ not long ago.  Which means if you’re angry and lose your cool, and it really seems the old woman may have done so, and if you refer to them in the way she is accused, in today’s world that now falls under racial abuse.

I suppose if she had just told them she thought they were scum, and lets be clear on that, they are scum and worse, she would not be charged with a race crime.  If you read the article in full you will see just upset and abused one of the travellers was.  He was so shook up that his wife is quoted thus.

‘My husband was so upset I had to make him a cup of tea.’

Wow.  That must have frightened the hell out of the poor guy. He needed tea after a racial attack by a 78 year old granny.  Doesn’t end there either as, the fellow claims he and his father in law were caused distress.  Well, what can I say.  The old lady is obviously a crinamol. 

Former Sunday school teacher, 78, who racially abused a gipsy family in row over an illegal caravan site is fined more than £1,300 ($2,000)

Grandmother José Hampson called family ‘f****** dirty gypos’ in row over land in Chorley, Lancs
Convicted and finds herself with a criminal record for first time in her life
Abused family says her language was ‘disgusting’ and ‘upsetting’

By James Tozer

A grandmother aged 78 was yesterday convicted of racially abusing a family of gipsies as a long-running dispute over an illegal caravan site boiled over.

Former Sunday school teacher and community stalwart José Hampson claimed she was sworn at and intimidated when she backed her Jaguar through the gates of their camp to turn it around.

But the respected toyshop owner was fingerprinted and ordered to provide a DNA sample after the gipsies told police she had shouted racist abuse at them.

Yesterday she found herself with a criminal record for the first time in her life after a district judge rejected her account and found her guilty of racially-aggravated harassment.

Dstrict judge James Hatton said he found it ‘improbable’ that Hampson wouldn’t have simply driven off had she felt as intimidated as she claimed, describing the evidence given by Mr Linfoot and his family as ‘cogent and believable’.

He told her he was convinced that ‘in the heat of the moment you have lost your temper and used the language described in court today’.

Finding her guilty of using racially aggravated threatening words or behaviour, he fined her £690 and ordered to pay her £620 prosecution costs plus a £69 victims’ surcharge.

Chorley council has set aside £145,000 in a vain battle to evict the Linfoots since they moved onto the plot in 2009, provoking anger towards the family from some local residents.

They refused to move despite being denied planning permission and being served with an enforcement order, but were recently given a two-year reprieve after successfully arguing there wasn’t enough provision for travellers in the area.

So then.  Apparently the gypo vermin aren’t even on the site, (which is green belt designated) legally.
But hey ... laws don’t apply to them cos that might be raaaaaacist.

I have edited the article a lot so read it all and see the other photos. Especially one of the poor fellow who was so distressed his wifey dear had to make him a cup of tea.

READ AND SEE MORE

Meanwhile, in a different part of the country, the virus that are known as travellers, romas, gypsies are busy with another illegal site. This time a parkland.

Catch this story of stupid on the next post.

Council locked park gates to keep out travellers… then let them in anyway because of elf ‘n’ safety

Posted by peiper     on 08/31/2013 at 11:28 AM   
Filed Under: • Travelers/Gypsies/Squatters •  
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FEAR FOR HEALTH AND SAFETY OF LAWBREAKERS, CLOSES PUBLIC PARK FOR DURATION

Well, here’s a newish twist to a maddening problem suffered by Brits, along with much else.

Yeah, we are still on the gypo/traveller thing but this screw-up deserves an award of some kind.

You know, there are things it’s hard to avoid here and usually, in fact always, the folks affected are the ones who pay the bills.
Town councils are at wit’s end we read. And cash strapped.  I don’t know where I’m going with this bit of insanity so before I dig the verbal hole any deeper,
check out this bit of stupid.

This is what happens when things like Health and Safety become a religion.  And keep in mind, what the vermin have done is not new. As is their usual habit, once again they set up camp illegally, this time in a public park, which means the folks who live here can’t use it.  Question comes to mind.  How long will it take to remove this group because, it was the council that let them in thus setting up the problem that is sure to follow.  Because now, even the cops can not remove them.  Even tho they are not legal.

Great system in place here. Innit?

Council locked park gates to keep out travellers… then let them in anyway because of elf ‘n’ safety

Brighton and Hove Council put gate across the entrance to Wild Park at start of the summer
But travellers kept driving round it and causing obstructions
Council has now opened the gate because it causes ‘risk to road users’
Critics brand decision to open the gate ‘madness’

By NEIL SEARS

After problems with travellers trying to set themselves up in a public park over the summer, a council took the step of locking the main gates to keep them out.

But, as a fresh convoy of 30 caravans arrived, such common sense was clearly no match for the warped logic of health and safety.

Astonishingly, officials decided to unlock the vehicle access gate – because they were worried the intruders might hurt themselves during their efforts to get in.

The travellers duly made themselves at home – and because the council voluntarily let them in, police have lost all powers to evict them.

Taxpayers will instead now have to fund a lengthy civil court battle to throw out the intruders from Wild Park, on the outskirts of Brighton.

The farce emerged in a leaked confidential email by Brighton and Hove Council to councillors. It said: ‘After the initial trespass was reported, Sussex Police highlighted the dangerous nature with which the group were accessing the field.

‘As such a decision was taken to open the access gate to reduce the risk to road users and to stop the occupants from crossing the pavement to access the road.’

Local residents say they are now unable to use the park, Brighton and Hove’s largest local nature reserve, and fear it could become ‘a new Dale Farm’, the illegal Essex camp of 1,000 travellers which cost millions of pounds to break up.

Taxpayers will instead now have to fund a lengthy civil court battle to throw out the intruders from Wild Park, on the outskirts of Brighton.

The farce emerged in a leaked confidential email by Brighton and Hove Council to councillors. It said: ‘After the initial trespass was reported, Sussex Police highlighted the dangerous nature with which the group were accessing the field.

‘As such a decision was taken to open the access gate to reduce the risk to road users and to stop the occupants from crossing the pavement to access the road.’

Local residents say they are now unable to use the park, Brighton and Hove’s largest local nature reserve, and fear it could become ‘a new Dale Farm’, the illegal Essex camp of 1,000 travellers which cost millions of pounds to break up.

THERE MUCH MORE TO READ AND SEE HERE

Posted by peiper     on 08/31/2013 at 10:56 AM   
Filed Under: • Travelers/Gypsies/Squatters •  
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One From Doc

Last Saturday afternoon, in Washington , D.C, an aide to Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi visited the Cardinal of the Catholic cathedral in D.C. He told the Cardinal that Nancy Pelosi would be attending the next day’s Mass, and he asked if the Cardinal would kindly point out Pelosi to the congregation and say a few words that would include calling Pelosi a saint.

The Cardinal replied, “No. I don’t really like the woman, and there are issues of conflict with the Catholic Church over certain of Pelosi’s views.

Pelosi’s aide then said, “Look, I’ll write a check here and now for a donation of $10,000 to your church if you’ll just tell the congregation you see Pelosi as a saint.”

The Cardinal thought about it and said, “Well, the church can use the money, so I’ll work your request into tomorrow’s sermon.”

As her aide promised, Pelosi appeared for the Sunday worship and seated herself prominently at the forward left side of the center aisle. As promised, at the start of his sermon, the Cardinal pointed out that Pelosi was present.

The Cardinal went on to explain to the congregation, “While Congresswoman Pelosi’s presence is probably an honor to some, the woman is not numbered among my personal favorite personages.  Some of her views are contrary to tenets of the Church, and she tends to flip-flop on many other issues.

Nancy Pelosi is a petty, self-absorbed hypocrite, a thumb sucker and a nit-wit.  Nancy Pelosi is also a serial liar, a cheat, and a thief. I must say, Nancy Pelosi is the worst example of a Catholic I have ever personally witnessed. She married for money and is using her wealth to lie to the American people. She also has a reputation for shirking her Representative obligations both in Washington and in California. The woman is simply not to be trusted.”

The Cardinal concluded, “But, when compared with President Obama, Pelosi is a saint.”

Posted by Drew458     on 08/31/2013 at 09:58 AM   
Filed Under: • Humor •  
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   Thursday - August 29, 2013

A Deadly Breakup

This is what happens when you no longer please Maximum Leader. You have been warned.

The ex-girlfriend of North Korean leader Kim-Jong-un was one of a dozen people reportedly < ahref="http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2013/08/29/2013082901412.html">executed by a firing squad last week.

The South Korean newspaper Chosun Ilbo reports that singer Hyon Song-wol and 11 others had been arrested on August 17 for violating North Korea’s laws against pornography and was executed three days later.

The paper reported that the condemned, all members of the performing groups Unhasu Orchestra and Wangjaesan Light Music Band, were accused of making videos of themselves having sex and selling the videos, which the paper reported were available in China.

”They were executed with machine guns while the key members of the Unhasu Orchestra, Wangjaesan Light Band and Moranbong Band as well as the families of the victims looked on,” a source told the paper. The source added that all of the families of the executed appear to have been sent to prison camps under North Korea’s barbaric principle of guilt by association.

Wow. Maximum Leader? More like maximum psychotic. Bet his current wife (who was part of that same orchestra!!) is obedient as all get out now ... not that there’s any difference between being his wife or being a slave anyhow. Horry Clap, what a bunch of Roony Tunes. Please world, stop sending them food and fuel. Let them starve, m’kay?

Posted by Drew458     on 08/29/2013 at 11:18 AM   
Filed Under: • Tyrants and Dictators •  
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Bowling Math

A pig in a poke is a very old expression, used to warn people about getting into situations where they aren’t really sure of all the details. A poke is some kind of bag or box I guess. If you’re buying a pig this way, all you know is that you’re buying a pig. You don’t know if it’s a boar or a sow, or how big the pig is, or whether it even comes with all four legs. All you can hear is the oinking, so you lay your money down and hope your porcine dreams come true. But really, you’re running blind.

This is a lot like the prize allocation in bowling league. Early in the season, everybody votes for one of several payout schemes, and almost everyone only sees the big prize amounts for the winners. Problem is, regardless of the size of the league, there is only one winner. Everybody else is a loser, to some degree. And come the end of the year when the prize money actually gets handed out, it’s almost a guarantee that somebody (in the last place or two) will get their nose out of joint because they feel ripped off. And if they’re mad enough, they don’t come back next year, and the league shrinks. If this happens year after year, eventually the league dies from attrition. And yet every year, the guys figuring out the prize amounts always concentrate on the top prizes first, and the lower placing teams get the leftovers. And then they wonder why teams quit the league.

I’ve heard that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over while expecting different results.

So I set out to fix that, or at least to explore the process to my satisfaction. And I found an odd thing: it seems to matter more to bowlers how much money they get back then what the actual cost is. And that does not make sense at all.

Let’s say you go to a store and see some item you want to buy. Call it an impulse purchase; you’re going to buy this thing in this store, a mystery box, no matter what it costs. You don’t know the price. So you give the cashier a $20, get your box, and she gives you $15 change. Instead of focusing on how much the box cost, you only notice that you got back $15. $15!! The next time you’re in that store, you impulsively buy another mystery box. A pig in a poke. This time, you give the cashier a $50, and she gives you $45 change. Wow, $45!! This is even better! The third time you’re in that store, you’re a bit short on cash, yet you buy another mystery box. You hand over $5, get your box, but you get no change at all. And you feel robbed. Hey, last time I got $45 back!  And somehow you never notice that the box cost $5 every time. That’s how bowler’s minds work when it comes to prize money.

I built a bunch of spreadsheets. Each one is a prize money calculator, based on different payment schemes. At the core, all of them are driven by a fairness algorithm based on the simple Sigma series of Σ 0 to n = n(n-1)/2. In English, that means that I’m cutting up a chunk of the prize money pie into lots of perfectly even slices, one for everybody, and then the rest of the pie is chopped into different small equal bits (I call them “cuts") which are doled out according to a team’s final placement. The higher your team places, the more small bits you get, in addition to your basic slice. Last place gets no extra cuts, second to last gets one, third to last gets two, and so on. This creates a perfectly even stepwise allocation. No matter what place you’re in, the next place down gets awarded one cut less, and the next place up from you gets awarded one cut more. The bigger the value of a cut is, the smaller the basic slices are, and the wider the steps are between adjacent places. Make the cut too big and the losers cry and quit, make it zero and every place gets awarded the same amount, so why bother. Somewhere in between is the perfect spot.


n = number of teams
Basic Slice = (Prize Money - ( (n(n-1)/2 * Cut Value )/n

Prize Money = Income - Expenses (well, duh)


And this works out very well. There is no huge money gap between 1st and 2nd, or 3rd and 4th, or anywhere. Each place gets exactly $Cut Value more than the place below them. And you can even run the numbers in your head, since the number of cuts for any given place is always ( n - Place ), no matter how big or small the league is.

And then I saw the magic. Math-o-magic. The actual cost of bowling for any particular place is akin to that mystery box; the more you put in (weekly dues), the more you get out (prize money for Place X), yet the price of the box (net cost per bowler per game for Place X) never changes. Which completely destroys the thesis of “let’s raise the dues so there’s more money in the prize fund”. As long as the weekly dues are enough to both cover expenses and to give the last place team a prize of at least nothing, then it doesn’t matter whether weekly dues are $15, $20, or $500: the net cost for any Place is always the same. So why not set the dues as low as possible?

The other thing I found was the “I quit” threshold for the prize allocation for last place. And found that it can be avoided by making the Cut Value smaller. And that’s what I really set out to do with all of this, to find the way of keeping everyone (even the losingist losers) happy enough to come back next year.

This is going to be a hard sell. I can drop the price of league by a third, yet the net costs don’t change. And I figured out how to keep teams from quitting over cheap prizes. But like the proverbial monkeys in the cage with the fire hose, bowlers are hide-bound traditionalists, change resistant to the core, and to them “We’ve always done it this other way” is their major argument. Even as it takes them closer to the grave, year after year.

Posted by Drew458     on 08/29/2013 at 08:36 AM   
Filed Under: • Bowling Blogging •  
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PC busy bodies get commercial removed.  Does this bother you? Should it be removed from bmews?

Ok so 18 people out of how many million bitched about this?  It may be crass, maybe it isn’t even in good taste. Honestly, I am not certain what I think except I do think it’s pretty funny.  I don’t understand how it demeans women. Alright, it offended and demeaned 18.  Sheesh.  Some folks just can’t stand it when other folks have harmless fun.  But the real villains are those who cave in to a few uptight busy bodies, who want to decide based on their tastes, what others should be allowed to see.

Grumble.

So tell me, is this all that bad? 

Pot Noodle advert that compared spicy snack to a scantily clad woman is banned

Advertising Standards Agency said advert ‘crass and degrading’ to women
Ad on Pot Noodle Facebook page showed woman in revealing underwear
Posted next to spicy Pot Noodle and caption ‘Which one gets you hotter?’

By Becky Evans

An internet advert that compared a scantily clad woman to a spicy Pot Noodle has been banned by watchdogs for being ‘crass and degrading’.

The ‘Hot Off’ advert for Piri Piri Pot Noodle featured on the snack’s Facebook page and showed a woman posing in red knickers and a revealing red bra.

The image was posted alongside a picture of the snack and a caption asking visitors ‘Which one gets you hotter?’

SOURCE

Posted by peiper     on 08/29/2013 at 06:00 AM   
Filed Under: • Politically Correct B.S. •  
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   Wednesday - August 28, 2013

Don’t Be Parsley-monious

I’m always willing to give a new recipe a try.

Don’t ask me how I’ve managed to go this far in life and not have had tabouli before. OMG, the stuff is awesome.

It uses massive amounts of chopped parsley, a couple tomatoes, a little garlic, half an onion or some scallions, a splash of lemon juice, a splash of olive oil, and maybe a dash of cumin or allspice. Got a cuke, or some fresh mint leaves? Toss ‘em in. A few shakes of coarse salt and pepper ... oh, and some granular bulgur wheat, half cooked.

Couldn’t be easier to make. Just soak the bulgur in boiling water for a bit, drain, then mix it in with all the other bits nicely chopped up.

Variations on a theme: there are a zillion tabouli / taboulli / taboule / tabbouleh recipes out there, but they all are pretty much the same. Start with a great big bunch of parsley ...




You know what this stuff needs? Some squid, clams, or shrimp on top. Sauteed in garlic and maybe some hot pepper flakes. I’m eating on a bowlful, first time ever, and I’m thinking ... man, wouldn’t squid go good with this!

Posted by Drew458     on 08/28/2013 at 11:49 AM   
Filed Under: • Fine-Dining •  
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THINGS WE’D LIKE TO SEE MORE OF

I don’t normally grab an article from the papers with nothing to say about what I post.
But there are exceptions and this is surely one.
Not only that, but one you will enjoy seeing.
Be sure to click the link for all of the pix.

Here’s what happened.  This guy tried to rob a couple of ladies at an ATM. Here in the UK they are called cash points or hole in the walls.
Watch this.

Cash machine thief gets his comeuppance - and he tells his would-be victims’ mother that THEY need to learn some manners

Cyclist sneaks up on two sisters and tries to grab money from machine
Two women immediately punch him the face and drag him from his bike
He then spits at them so sister hits him again in the head
Thief tells mother her daughters ‘need to learn some manners’

By Becky Evans

A thief told the mother of two sisters who beat him up when he tried to rob them at a cash machine that they needed to ‘learn some manners’.

The would-be victims punched the man in the face and dragged him off his bike when he tried to grab their cash from an ATM.

But the thief then cycled up to their mother to berate the sisters for not having ‘manners’.

Immediately the two sisters, aged 25 and 27, realise what he is trying to do and one punches him in the face.

The same woman then grabs him around the neck with both arms and puts him in a head lock.

After freeing himself, the man spits at the women as they walk away so one of the sisters promptly turns around and pulls him off his bike. 

SEE ALL THE PHOTOS HERE

Posted by peiper     on 08/28/2013 at 10:05 AM   
Filed Under: • Battling Brits • Self-Defense • UK •  
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   Tuesday - August 27, 2013

eye candy in the form of, bella thorpe

Till tonight I never heard of her. Still don’t really know what her claim to fame is but who cares?

She’s cute.

Her name is BELLA THORPE.

Posted by peiper     on 08/27/2013 at 01:26 PM   
Filed Under: • Eye-Candy •  
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Six Moroccans on a night out doing what their kind usually do ….

Let’s face it, there are some pretty rotten white kids running around free who belong 6 feet under.
BUT ...  why is it so often and in so many different countries, the brown scum from another less civilized world commit so many crimes of this nature.  And out of all proportion to their numbers.  Well, so far they are still a very slight minority but of course, we know how fast and in what numbers roaches breed. For that is what they are.  Insects on two legs and I am not too certain but that in private where we don’t see them, they may crawl on all fours as standing upright might not be their natural habit.

Anyway ... the photo obviously is before and after and ..... she’s 15??????  15?  As in one followed by a five? WOW!

H/T Islam versus Europe

A FATHER is appealing for information after his 15-year old daughter was brutally attacked outside an exclusive Marbella disco.

Nicole Zanlith was waiting for a taxi with a friend outside the Olivia Valere discotheque when an argument broke out at around 7am.

She stepped in to defend her friend when the attackers turned on her, thrusting a bottle in her face and leaving her with six gashes on her forehead and one across her eye.

The six attackers left the scene on foot and the girl’s father, a Danish resident in Marbella, is offering a reward of €2000 for information leading to the arrest of the attackers.

Zanlith, who had been to see French DJ Bob Sinclair at the venue, has been left blind in one eye.

all six of the attackers were of North African origin and that they hit the girl in the face with a bottle of vodka. The girl’s father says the attackers were Moroccans.

SOURCE

Posted by peiper     on 08/27/2013 at 10:33 AM   
Filed Under: • Crime • Daily Life •  
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2000 years of public relations Part 1 By Craig Brown.

The following is from Craig Brown of the Daily Mail.

He is an award winning columnist and author.

Execution of Anne Boleyn, press release from the Court of King Henry VIII, May 1536

In a statement issued this afternoon, the King’s chief minister, Thomas Cromwell, said: ‘After a hugely successful stint at the very highest reaches of society, Anne has decided this is the very best time to be executed.

‘This is consistent with the recent phasing out of the role of the King’s second wife as part of the general restructuring and streamlining of the Royal Court. Anne has been a terrific colleague and will be greatly missed by everyone.’

Before placing her head on the block, Anne Boleyn issued this statement for immediate release: ‘Of course, I am very sad to be going, but the current royal environment demands fresh thinking and a leaner approach, so I greatly look forward to today’s bold new challenge of having my head chopped off.

‘I would personally like to thank King Henry VIII for giving me such a wonderful opportunity to be his Queen for the past three years, during which time I am proud to have helped restore relations with France and to have presided over a new can-do spirit of style and glamour within the Royal Court.

‘It has been an enormous privilege to serve the people of England, and I hope my premature death will draw a line under recent events and usher in an era of exciting new challenges.

‘I wish King Henry well in the years to come, and all his subsequent wives the very best.

‘I’ll be sorry to say goodbye to my many friends and colleagues, but this seems to me the perfect time to be departing to pursue other interests.’

-30-

From the Office of the Nazi Party, April 1945

‘I’m sorry to be leaving, but it’s time for new faces and fresh ideas,’ said the Fuhrer in a statement today.

‘I am very proud to have presided over a historic period of expansion, in which the Nazi brand came to symbolise global leadership.

‘I am also pleased to have achieved a series of bold, multiple-award-winning innovations under the strategic umbrella of Fatherland Solutions. 

‘During my time in office, Germany entered into an exciting, mutually uplifting partnership with the Soviet Union.

‘We were particularly proud to have joined forces with many neighbouring countries, offering their citizens a more unified, forward-looking and sustainable experience.

‘I have always wanted to time my suicide so that I could leave the party at the right moment and in the best possible shape.

‘Now is that time. Germany is about to embark on a refreshing new chapter in its long history, and I am delighted to be leaving the Reich in the very capable hands of Admiral Karl Donitz, a friend and colleague of many years standing. I know he will take our great team from strength to strength.’

Tributes to Adolf Hitler continued to pour in last night, with many praising the ‘verve’, ‘charisma’ and ‘dynamism’ he brought to the job.

‘Adolf was an inspirational leader, as well as an iconic figurehead. He’s built up a great global brand and will be sadly missed,’ said Field Marshal Hermann Goering in a statement released today.

‘Basically, it’s all been about putting smiles on people’s faces.’

-30-

Press release from the White Star Line, April 1912

To the delight of a sizeable minority of its passengers, RMS Titanic yesterday completed its memorable maiden voyage from Southampton.

‘We certainly hit the ground running and have successfully attracted the attention of the world’s media,’ said J. Bruce Ismay, managing director of the White Star Line. ‘We’ve all been literally bowled over by this cutting- edge experience.

‘It all goes to demonstrate, once again, our dynamic company’s exciting ability to think outside the box, face fresh challenges and move forward.

And not only forward, but onward and, more importantly, downward.

‘The Titanic’s iconic first voyage gave us the unparalleled opportunity to celebrate connectivity by inter-relating with an iconic iceberg. Our game-changing maiden voyage will set the agenda for the next generation.’

In response to a small but vociferous group of critics, most of whom were not even on the Titanic’s voyage, Mr Ismay added: ‘As an international group, we continue to welcome positive criticism and are determined to learn lessons.

‘We apologise unreservedly to all those who may have drowned during this maiden voyage, and will make every effort to ensure that this does not happen to them again.

‘As a mark of our appreciation for sailing with us, we are delighted to offer them courtesy vouchers to offset against any future voyages.’

-30-

CRAIG BROWN, Daily Mail

Posted by peiper     on 08/27/2013 at 08:04 AM   
Filed Under: • Fun-Stuff • UK •  
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   Monday - August 26, 2013

Flying Artwork

There was a school of design in the 1930s called Streamline Moderne. This style lent an aura of movement and speed to everything, from buildings, to ships, to toasters and radios, even to airplanes. Long flowing lines and “natural aerodynamics” are it’s hallmarks.

We caught another episode of Torchwood last night, one of their oddest yet, but the story was predicated on these 3 people who mysteriously land at an airfield more than 50 years after they took off ... in this old beauty.

My goodness. Wow. 30s much?

The de Havilland DH.89 Dragon Rapide was a 1930s British short-haul biplane passenger airliner.

In late 1933, the Dragon Rapide was designed at the de Havilland company as a faster and more comfortable successor to the DH.84 Dragon. It was in effect a twin-engined, scaled-down version of the four-engined DH.86 Express. It shared many common features with the larger aircraft, including its tapered wings, streamlined fairings and the Gipsy Six engine, but it demonstrated none of the operational vices of the larger aircraft, and went on to become perhaps the most successful British-built short-haul commercial passenger aircraft of the 1930s.

At the start of World War II, many (Dragon) Rapides were impressed by the British armed forces and served under the name de Havilland Dominie. They were used for passenger and communications duties. Over 500 further examples were built specifically for military purposes, powered by improved Gipsy Queen engines [9 liters, 200hp], to bring total production to 731. The Dominies were mainly used by the Royal Air Force and Royal Navy for radio and navigation training. Postwar they were used as communications aircraft by Royal Naval air station flights.

Other civilian Dragon Rapides continued to fly for UK airlines as part of the Associated Airways Joint Committee (AAJC). The AAJC co-ordinated the UKs wartime scheduled services which were entirely operated on over-water routes.

After the war, many ex-RAF survivors entered commercial service; in 1958, 81 examples were still flying on the British register. Dominie production was by both de Havilland and Brush Coachworks Ltd, the latter making the greater proportion.
Postwar operations

The DH.89 proved an economical and very durable aircraft, despite its relatively primitive plywood construction, and many were still flying in the early 2000s. Several Dragon Rapides are still operational in the UK, and several suppliers still offer pleasure flights in them

The old girl could chug across the sky at about 150mph with a 570 mile range. And totally Moderne. Love it.

flight video

Posted by Drew458     on 08/26/2013 at 01:47 PM   
Filed Under: • Fun-Stuff • planes, trains, tanks, ships, machines, automobiles •  
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