07 November, 2009

So... How strong are those concrete barriers around military base entrances? When people are told that they will stop traffic, including speeding trucks, they usually laugh or shrug it off... But here is a clip from a test done quite a while ago...

1 truck - 65,000 lbs, 50 mph

stopped in 24 inches!


President Obama, Army MG Daniel V. Wright, Army BG Michael S. Repass, Army CSM Mario Virgil, AF CoS GEN Norton A. Schwartz meeting returning soldiers to Dover AFB. They were returning as do all fallen soldiers via a Globemaster C-17.
The Army ALWAYS has at least a 2-star general for each flight to repatriate the soldiers.
After the soldiers disembark the plane, they conduct a formal repatriation ceremony, followed by an award ceremony during which any medals are awarded to the soliders.
BG = 1 star general
MG = 2 star general
LTG = 3 star general
GEN = 4 star general
CSM = command sargant major
Side note - I worked with Norton Schwartz when he was operations chief for the Joint command.

Afghanistan and Iraq Photos







11 October, 2009

Nevada Test Site / Nevada Prooving Ground

This is a small part of the "Nevada Test Site." It lies 90 miles north of Las Vegas. Approximately 8 miles to the east is Groom Lake (i.e. Area 51). Area 51 is the 51st numbered area within the old "Nevada Prooving Ground." All these craters were formed by nuclear testing. The one in the upper right-hand corner is nearly 1/2 mile across!

Baby Rhino

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8281455.stm
Baby Rhino at zoo in Germany. Her mommy didn't want her, so the zookeepers will raiser her.

Sydney

Interesting photos from the recent dust storms in Sydney - makes one think what cities would look like on Mars - if the red skys that NASA depicts were true.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/photos/#id=2693741&num=27

07 October, 2009

Eight Years

It has been 8 years since we invaded Afghanistan - with all the sidetracking and such, we'ven't accomplished what we set out to do at this point.

5,130 identified US Soliders have given their lives in both wars - Meet them at: http://projects.washingtonpost.com/fallen/

953 were killed in Afghanistan.

Side Note: we're 6 months short of being the same length as the Vietnam War.

8,,(

21 August, 2009

Liars

Gov Tommy Ridge (r), PA - LIED when he raised the terror alerts prior to 2004 election - JUST TO GET BUSHIE elected.

What a shock... yeah right

Is anyone going to investigate and prosecute? Probably not. But we will Impeach for (1) firing your own Secretary of War, or (2) allegedly lying about a blow-job.

BTW Clinton didn't lie under oath - he answered all those questions correct according to the definitions provided by ... the PROSECUTION who redefined such words as "is", "the", "a/an". He did lie to the American people in press conferences - but Bushie NEVER did that now did he - WMD, etc...

COMPLETE B.S.


Snapped this at a gas station in Moscow, PA. During my 4 hours up, 2-3 hours at viewing, and 4 hours back trip to PA the other week.

Funny, But True (how he thinks) - Willy Shatner

09 August, 2009

True fans - Toronto Football Club

ALL of the seats at the stadium in which Toronto plays Football have been sold out as season tickets (and by football we mean Soccer to you US people who think that throwing the ball around a field is "foot"ball).

To this end they had to add 500 seats to the stadium which will only be sold on game-days. In the recent "friendly" between Toronto FC and the Real Madrid, the stadium was sold out by fand that were chearing not for the Real, but for the local team! They even stayed through the entire game to watch Tornoto finally score their only goal of the game in injury time after the regular clock ran out. They lost 5-1.

This is an example of real fans, not the fans here in DC who only go to games to watch their Yankees, Red Socks, or other teams beat the crap out of the Nats, or other instances where fans ignored their local teams till they changed affiliation...

Atlantis Found?

Probably not Atlantis, as I feel that Atlantis was found on the island of Santorini just off the costs of Greece and Italy. However, this find on the floor of the Atlantic Ocean is still very interesting in it's own right. This image was seen on the NOAA / NAVY surveys of the ocean floor - the ones used to general Google Earth photos. However, it is also seen on other maps of the ocean floor from various other agencies at various other times and to various other scales.

As can bearly be seen in the image above there are what appear to be city streets on the floor of the ocean. The image is at 31.404883221 degrees N by -24.41347612 degrees W, and at an altitude of 5,461 meters below sealevel.

The official explanation is that they are "echos" from the sonar used to map the floor - well, yes, as that is what all the lines are - because THAT IS HOW SONAR works! But even if it was some sort of interference, it would not occur in various other sources. It could just be a very interesting natural occurance on the floor of the ocean, but it would be nice to find out.

Fort Belvoir - biggest mistake ever?

The idea to BRAC positions from all over the metro area, as well as from various other Forts, Camps, and installations throughout the mid-Atlantic to Fort Belvoir, seems like a great idea on paper, but...

~10,000 of the total 30-40,000 people to migrate to Fort Belvoir have already. The Metro system has not even begun the "day-dreaming" process of extending the Blue line to the Fort, VRE hasn't submitted any paperwork to begin the process of adding a station to the Fort, nor has Fairfax County, the US DoD, or any other agency done much of anything to expand the capacities into and out of the Fort...

Fairfax County has petitioned the Commonwealth and DoT for money and has expanded several roads to the best that they could given the limited resources that they had at their disposal; however, non of the funds came from BRAC nor are the plans on the book to give BRAC money to the projects. Thanks Bushie for bankrupting the states, counties, and blocking BRAC funding!

An interview with the Honorable Jim Moran, Represenatative from Virginia is given below which only addresses the 2011 move of Pentagon employees to the Fort. It doesn't address the closure of other installations and migration of other employees to the Fort in 2010, 2012, 2013, and 2015.

FROM WTOP:
Rep, Jim Moran, D-Va., calls the decision to move 20,000 civilian employees from buildings close to the Pentagon to Fort Belvoir in 2011 "an absolute traffic nightmare."

"It's going to be chaos," Moran tells WTOP. "I'm trying to get this across to Secretary Gates before it's too late."

Moran wrote a letter to Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, asking him to reconsider the decision laid out by the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission.

"It will generate rush hours of three to four hours longer," Moran says, who is asking for a meeting with Gates.

Moran says, "Traffic waiting to access Fort Belvoir would back up onto
I-95 and extend morning congestion between one and two hours... These effects would lead to reduced employee productivity and degradation of quality of life."

A lack of public transportation in the Fort Belvoir area would create the congestion, Moran says. The area around the Pentagon can be easily accessed by public transportation, including a Metro rail stop at the Pentagon on the Blue and Yellow Lines.

"The influx of employees being sent to Fort Belvoir threatens to greatly exacerbate an already problematic situation," Moran said in a news release. "We must directly address the transportation needs of the Fort and surrounding communities before the transfer occurs."

Moran also tells Gates that out of the $458 million the military says it needs for traffic improvements, only 8 percent has been funded so far.

(Copyright 2009 by WTOP. All rights reserved.)

www.OurMilitaryKids.org

GREAT organization - they help the children of soldiers (non-officers) get to do things... i.e. they'll pay the cost for the child to join the band, go on school trips, join a sports team, etc... It is just sad that our government will not provide this service to them for free.

BLANTENT Copying???

Infiniti

Fisker Karma
Infiniti (thing Nissan + $20,000) has been showing their new ideas, like every other car company. One of their newest is the Infiniti Essence. In my opinion they've copied the Fisker line of cars. I couldn't find the 2-door version of the Fisker Karma; however, here is a 4-door photo and the Fisker Latigo for comparison to the I-Essence. Also feel free to google (images) the cars as well.
The KARMA is a hybrid, the essence is also to be a hybrid.

04 August, 2009

Youngstown, OH Accident


QUOTE OF THE DAY

'I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around the banks will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered.'

Tommy Jefferson 1802

09 July, 2009

BIG dogs



The English Mastiff is the largest breed.
Largest Dog Ever:
Zorba, 343 Pounds, 8'3" front to back, 37 inches at the shoulder.
Largest Living Dog:
Hercules - 282 pounds, 38 inch neck, 3yrs old

29 June, 2009

What if...

What if during the 1930's, after the Battle of Great Brittan, the one Horton Brother who could fly and was behind the idea didn't decide to test pilot their creations? What if ...

We'd have had to fight Stealth Fighters and Bombers, just like out F117 and B2s. The surviving ones were taken apart at the end of WWII and shipped back to the USA to stay underground in CA, and NV. They were then shipped to the Smithsonian - both by Dulles and their other facility by Andrews. Hitler wanted to use the Horton 229 (above - fighter) and the Horton 18 (much larger bomber) to deliver the payload promised by his scientists for 1947-1949 - the nuclear bomb. He wanted to use this against Moscow, England, as well as - and more importantly - New York and Washington.
Finally in 2008 (63 years after discover) they began a test to see if they were stealth. The planes were made of wood - almost entirely. They were also painted with a very high-carbon paint - think grinding charcoal into paint - but VERY high tech for it's day. You can also see the lines are nearly identical to the lines of our stealth planes of today. Amazing.
Thank goodness the Horton brother pilot flew it on its first flight. Just as he was landing, an engine went out and he crashed. The german's not having much money and having a nut leading them quickly cut the funding to the project...
The tests revealed that the planes would have been very difficult to see using the 1930-1940s radar. 20-40% reduction in the detection range... The stealth and speed advantage, it would take half the time of the fighters coming to get it to get in and bomb the targets... From approx 20-30 minute reation time down to almost 2 minutes response time to seeing them on the radar. The war would have changed.

26 June, 2009

ASCE's 7-wonders of the Modern World

ASCE - American Society of Civil Engineers ranked their 7-wonders of the modern world:

1) Chunnel - Channel Tunnel - 1994-05-06 - UK to France
2) CN Tower - 1976-06-26 - Toronto, ON
3) Empire State Building - 1931-05-01 - NYC, NY
4) Golden Gate Bridge - 1937-05-27 - San Fran, CA
5) Itaipu Dam - 1984-05-05 - Brazil
6) Delta Works - 1997-05-10 - Netherlands
7) Panama Canal - 1914-01-07 - Panama

They have been under consideration to change the list of late to include:
*) Burj Dubai - 2,680 Feet Tall - office building in Dubai (1/2 Mile)
*) Syncude Tailings Dam - Canada - 540,000,000,000,000 Cubic Meters of Water
*) Dubai International Airport - 16,100,000 SQ FEET
*) Jim Yuan Mall (China) - 6,000,000 SQ FEET (Mall of America = 2,500,000)

WAH!!!!


Carolina (#TBD)
5 year old spayed black female. Weighs about 68 lbs. Good with other dogs, children 10 and over, unknown with cats. Carolina is up-to-date on her shots and is heartworm negative. She is housetrained, has very nice household manners and is good on or off of the leash. She likes to retrieve and carry her stuffed animal babies around in her mouth two or three at a time. She likes to be with her people.

Carolina was found when her rescuer was driving north from Florida on I-95. A PA pickup truck ahead of her had a dog in the back; the truck was speeding and swerving side-to-side. The dog finally lost balance and fell out and was almost hit by two speeding cars, but made it to the side of the road. The rescuer got to her and checked her over; a lot of cuts and Carolina couldn't walk. She has scrapes, abrasions and three gashes were sewn up. She is recovering nicely but walks a little stiff and sometimes doesn't put her weight on her back left leg after she retrieves for a while. She has been to our vet and an x-ray of her hips showed her left pelvis was broken and some mild hip dysplasia. The pelvis will heal with time so she has to have limited activity for the next 5-7 weeks.

Boats

Everyone ranted and raved about the RMS Titanic; however, it wasn't the largest ship ever - it was in it's time, but she had two twins, the RMS Olympic and RMS Britannic. And these are some of the comparisons to those ships.

Largest Operating Ships in the World (with Titanic, and Buildings for comparison):
*) 1,815 Feet - CN Tower
1) 1,504 Feet - Sumitomo's Knock Nevis, a supertanker - only 1 in service
*) 1,350 Feet - World Trade Center's twin towers
2) 1,302 Feet - Mearsk's Emma Mearsk, a container ship - 8 in the class
3) 1,245 Feet - Daewoo's Tl Class Supertankers - 4 in the class
4) 1,184 Feet - Royal Caribean's Oasis of the Seas - 1 now, 4 total planned
5) 1,132 Feet - Cunard Line's Queen Mary II
6) 1,125 Feet - Hyundai's Berge Stall - cargo ship
7) 1,123 Feet - USS Enterprise class Aircraft Carriers
8) 1,112 Feet - Royal Caribean's Freedom Class Cruise Ships
9) 1,092 Feet - Hyundai's E-Class Mearsk Ships
10) 1,092 Feet - USS Gerald R. Ford Class Aircraft Carrier (planned)
11) 1,092 Feet - USS Nimitz Class Aircraft Carrier
12) 1,090 Feet - Daewoo's Sirius Star - cargo ship
13) 1,070 Feet - USS Kitty Hawk class Aircraft Carrier
14) 1,066 Feet - USS Forestal class Aircraft Carrier
15) 1,053 Feet - USS Kennedy class Aircraft Carrier
*) 1,050 Feet - EMPIRE STATE BLDG
16) 1,003 Feet - USS Midway class Aircraft Carrier
17) 990 Feet - Adm Kuznetuv class Aircraft Carrier (Russian Federation)
18) 887 Feet - USS Iowa class Battleships
19) 882 Feet - RMS Titanic
20) 873 Feet - Shinano class Battleships (Imperial Japan) (sunk)

The current largest ship in the world is nearly TWICE the length of the Titanic.

12 June, 2009

More Road Art Work
















This guy paints things on pavement - you may remember the Coca-Cola bottle and "removed" sidewalk portion that he did in the past.










10 June, 2009

Where was this over the past few years?????


This is from Dodge. Yes - Dodge! It is all electric, but does have a generator (diesel) and is plug-in. It has power - 0-60 in 5 seconds, top speed of 150, and approx 500 miles per full charge.

Hmmm. If they came out with this a few years ago - when it was suggested - they could have probably saved themselves and made a killing on the expensive gas!

Some Countries Value Education

Some Countries value education and spend money on schools - this one is in British Columbia, Canada!

24 May, 2009

Army Brats - of a different sort






I assisted with the AR Kennels - we got them the funding they needed to be majorily upgraded! 8-)

So the "troops" decided to send photos of those that will benefit from the new upgrades...

Misty on the Bay - in a Stream
















OPOB / NPG

http://www.npg.si.edu/inform/renovation.html
Old Patent Office Building - now National Portrait Gallery Building Renovations
I practically lived at this building for about 3-4 years.

Quote of the Day

"The high office of President has been used to format a plot to destroy the American's freedom and before I leave office I must inform the citizen of his plight." John F. Kennedy at Columbia University, 10 days before his assassination.

23 February, 2009

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,25092705-1702,00.html?from=public_rss
PALISTINIAN HOMES ARE ILLEGAL!!!???? Quit annexing stuff that ISN'T YOURS you greedy SoBs!

Isreal to begin another round of destroying homes with bulldozers (they're actually tanks with gianormous plows on the front)...

Great. :( More people to die over greediness.

Bombing Innocents

Not that Israel has ever given a crap about anything living in the past - they learned a lot in the 30s. But to bomb a zoo! How the hell do you miss the f'n zoo. They killed every animal that was in the Gaza Zoo without any remorse.

They hide behind their standard saying - the terrorist made us do it.

Not with "net the yahoo" coming back, it will be even worse!

06 January, 2009