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• Duchess of Alba is Spain’s richest woman and has more than 40 titles
• 87-year-old wed her third husband, a toyboy civil servant, in 2011

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The Duchess in 2006

María del Rosario Fitz-James Stuart y de Silva, 18th Duchess of Alba de Tormes, Grandee of Spain (born 28 March 1926) is the current head of the House of Alba and the third woman to carry the title in her own right.

She was born at Liria Palace on 28 March 1926, as the only child of the 17th Duke of Alba (a prominent politician and diplomat during the 1930s and 1940s), and his wife, María del Rosario de Silva y Gurtubay, 9th Marchioness of San Vicente del Barco. Her godmother was the Queen Consort of Spain, Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg, King of Spain Alfonso XIII de Borbón’s wife.

The matriarch’s senior title is Duchess of Alba, but she has more than 40 others.  According to Guinness World Records, she has more titles recognized by an existing government than any other noble in the world.

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Not sure how many face lifts the old babe has had, but it looks like a lot of work has been applied to that mug.

 

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She still likes to party

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In 2011 the Duchess married a businessman, Alfonso Díez Carabantes, 24 years younger than her.  He has renounced any claim to the Duchess’s fortune which has been estimated to be worth 1.3 to 5 billion dollars.

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Wedded bliss: Maria del Rosario Cayetana Fitz-James Stuart y Silva, 18th Duchess of Alba de Tormes on her 2011 wedding day to third husband Alfonso Diez, who is 24 years her junior.

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How many 87 year-olds do you see sporting a bikini at the beach?

 

 

Winnipeg

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Dead blue whale ‘might explode’ in Newfoundland town

The residents of a town on Canada’s Newfoundland island fear a blue whale carcass that washed up on its boardwalk last week could explode at any time.

The 25m (81ft) whale on Trout River’s rocky beach is one of several believed to have died in heavy ice weeks ago.

Town Clerk Emily Butler says the body is bloated with methane gas caused by decomposition and will soon reek, regardless of whether it explodes.

Local and federal authorities disagree which are responsible for its disposal.

Ms Butler said the town of 600 people did not have the resources to deal safely with the carcass, though Canadian officials say it is their responsibility.

She told broadcaster NTV that if the town were to push the whale out to sea, it could pose a hazard to passing ships.

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The whale appears to have bloated beyond twice its normal size

The town, a tourist destination inside Gros Morne National Park on the Canadian island’s west coast, has seen a new type of visitor since the whale carcass came ashore.

“It’s very difficult to keep people away, simply because it’s not too often that you see a blue whale,” Ms Butler told broadcaster CBC.

Last year a sperm whale carcass that washed up on the Faroe Islands exploded as a biologist attempted to dissect it.

 

 

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The Faroe Islands explosion

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But the best whale explosion in the history of modern man occurred in 1970 on a beach in Oregon.

On November 12, 1970, a 45-foot (14 m) long, 8-short-ton (7,300 kg) sperm whale beached itself at Florence, Oregon, on the central Oregon Coast.  All Oregon beaches are under the jurisdiction of the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department, but in 1970, Oregon beaches were technically classified as state highways, so responsibility for disposing of the carcass fell upon the Oregon Highway Division (now known as the Oregon Department of Transportation, or ODOT).  After consulting with officials from the United States Navy, they decided that it would be best to remove the whale the same way as they would to remove a boulder. They thought burying the whale would be ineffective as it would soon be uncovered, and believed dynamite would disintegrate the whale into pieces small enough for scavengers to clear up.

Thus, half a ton of dynamite was applied to the carcass. The engineer in charge of the operation, George Thornton, stated—on camera, in an interview with Portland newsman Paul Linnman—that he wasn’t exactly sure how much dynamite would be needed. (Thornton later explained that he was chosen to remove the whale because the district engineer, Dale Allen, had gone hunting).

Coincidentally, a military veteran from Springfield with explosives training, Walter Umenhofer, was at the scene scoping a potential manufacturing site for his employer. Umenhofer later told The Springfield News reporter Ben Raymond Lode that he had warned Thornton that the amount of dynamite he was using was very wrong—when he first heard that 20 cases were being used he was in disbelief. He had known that 20 cases of dynamite was far too much dynamite to be used. Instead of 20 cases they needed 20 sticks of dynamite. Umenhofer said Thornton was not interested in the advice. In an odd coincidence, Umenhofer’s brand-new Oldsmobile was flattened by a chunk of falling blubber after the blast. He told Lode he had just bought the Ninety-Eight Regency at Dunham Oldsmobile in Eugene, during the “Get a Whale of a Deal” promotion.

 

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The resulting explosion was caught on film by cameraman Doug Brazil for a story reported by news reporter Paul Linnman of KATU-TV in Portland, Oregon. In his voice-over, Linnman alliteratively joked that “land-lubber newsmen” became “land-blubber newsmen … for the blast blasted blubber beyond all believable bounds.” The explosion caused large pieces of blubber to land near buildings and in parking lots some distance away from the beach, one of which caused severe damage to Umenhoefer’s parked car. Only some of the whale was disintegrated; most of it remained on the beach for the Oregon Highway Division workers to clear away. In his report, Linnman also noted that scavenger birds, whom it had been hoped would eat the remains of the carcass after the explosion, were all scared away by the noise.

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BBC

Who Framed Roger Rabbit helped propel Bob Hoskins to Hollywood stardom

British actor Bob Hoskins, who was best known for roles in The Long Good Friday and Who Framed Roger Rabbit, has died of pneumonia at the age of 71.

Hoskins’ agent said he died on Tuesday in hospital, surrounded by family.

The star won a Bafta and was Oscar nominated in 1987 for crime drama Mona Lisa, in which he starred opposite Sir Michael Caine and Robbie Coltrane.

He announced he was retiring from acting in 2012 after being diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease.

“Bob died peacefully at hospital last night surrounded by family, following a bout of pneumonia.

“We ask that you respect our privacy during this time and thank you for your messages of love and support.”

Actor Sir Michael Caine, who starred with him in the films Mona Lisa and Last Orders, said: “He was one of the nicest and best actors I have ever worked with”.

Two of my favourite Bob Hoskins scenes are his role in “Enemy at the Gates” where he plays Nikita Khrushchev trying to motivate the troops at the battle of Stalingrad in WW II.  The second one is his role in Terry Gilliam’s 1980’s movie “Brazil”.

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Video footage at bottom

Mono Lake is a large, shallow saline soda lake in Mono County, California.  It is located in the eastern Sierra Nevada mountain range.  The lake was the backdrop for the town Lago in the 1973 Clint Eastwood film “High Plains Drifter”. 

Clint Eastwood riding towards the lake.

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In 1991 another film was shot at Mono Lake.  And one of the characters in that film was very big and hairy.

Back in 2008, a science teacher from Orange County, California came forward and presented to the Bigfoot community one of the most intriguing footage of Bigfoot they had seen in a long time. The teacher said his family had viewed the vacation video privately for almost 20 years– not knowing he had captured a possible Bigfoot until his daughter pointed it out to him. The home video was taken in 1991, around Mono Lake, near the base of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. In the video, a large, hairy, upright figure can be seen walking between two rock formations near the shore.

Investigators suggest that the figure in the video shows either a Bigfoot, or someone in a Bigfoot costume. According to the BFRO, if it was a person, it would have been someone who was wearing a large, full-length brown fur coat with excessively long furry sleeves.

The witness submitted his report to the BFRO on May 9, 2008 (17 years after filming the creature). Based on his credibility as a high school science teacher with absolutely nothing to gain by releasing the tape– the BFRO believes the film is authentic:

He is a science teacher at a high school in south Orange County, California. He has no incentive to fake this footage or to involve his family in an elaborate prank.

The animal seen strolling among the tufa spires appears to be upright and bipedal and muscular. It appears to have long arms and makes long strides with its legs. It does not appear to be a bear. It appears to be either a man in a bigfoot costume, or an actual bigfoot.

The profile of the cameraman, combined with the random circumstances of the videotaping, strongly suggest this is not a man in a costume — not a hoax.

On May 18, 1991, while on vacation in the Mammoth Lakes area in Northern California, my family took a short day hike to Mono Lake to do some sightseeing. It was overcast and very cold with a strong wind blowing. There was still snow on the surrounding peaks. Mono Lake is at the base of the Sierra Nevada mountains.

I do not recall the location at which we parked the car to begin our hike, but I do remember that ours was the only car in the parking area and that the spot was quite desolate. It was a cold Saturday morning and the area was deserted. At 9:17AM I began shooting VHS video footage of our trek, and after a short period of time we finally decided to leave because of the wind and cold. We went back to our hotel in June Lake, enjoyed the rest of the weekend and went home. The trip was quite uneventful (or so we assumed).

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The tape went into our family home video collection and for 17 years, from 1991 to 2008, it has been watched countless times by family and friends. So much so that my kids have the dialog on much of the tape collection memorized. On April 19, 2008 my daughter (6 years old in the video and now 22) was watching the tape in the downstairs family room when she suddenly screamed out and began yelling for me to come downstairs. I thought something bad had happened and after racing down the staircase, found my daughter and my ex sitting in front of the television telling me to watch a segment from the tape. What I saw when we played it back made the hair stand up on the back of my neck. And it was something none of us had ever noticed in almost 17 years of watching this tape,

In the final few seconds of the Mono Lake segment just before I turned the camera off I caught something very large and black moving between two rock formations a short distance from where we had been hiking. It was completely black with no differentiation in color or texture and walked upright like a human but with a gate more like a primate. At first I thought it was a bear, but after going over the video many times and finally digitizing and sharpening it I am now unsure what to think. From examination of the footage of my family whose distance from the camera was comparable to that of the creature it is easy to see the distinct details and variation in clothing, hair, face and hands. In contrast, the creature caught on tape exhibits none of those distinctions. The shape of the body does not resemble a human. The head is too large and the arms are too long. And although it does resemble a bear at one particular angle in the clip, the stance and gate don’t add up. It is an intriguing mystery.

That we were able to go for 17 years without noticing this event on the tape seems unbelievable, but in retrospect it actually makes some sense. The segment lasts for only a couple of seconds and the focus is on the lake and mountains which is what I must have been filming at the time. I didn’t see it when I shot the tape and it has since gone unnoticed because one must really be looking for it to see it.

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I am not a person who is prone to believing in conspiracy theories, alien abductions and bizarre events such as a purported Bigfoot sighting. I’ve seen various footage and photographs of Bigfoot/Sasquatch sightings over the years and have always been extremely skeptical of their authenticity. As an engineer who now teaches high school physics, I am highly educated and very level headed. If I see something I don’t understand my natural reaction is to analyze it rationally using the scientific method. I do not jump to conclusions based on faulty hypotheses. So in this case, I will suspend judgment pursuant to further investigation. But having shown this video to family and friends whose opinions I trust, the overall reaction seems to be a unanimous “Bigfoot!!” Wishful thinking? Maybe. Maybe not. Either way it is very intriguing and definitely warrants further investigation.

Your opinion and assistance in this matter would be appreciated.

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Another strange encounter in the same range.

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Within the broad philosophy of Anarchy there exists a tradition referred to as “Rugged Individualism”.  People who adhere to this notion see the world as a vicious place where dog eats dog.  And the believers in rugged individualism contend they are the meanest dogs out there.  They are against any kind of regulation in their lives.  They detest taxes, law enforcement, financial institutions and especially the federal government.  They want to be left alone and make their own way in life using any methods they choose.

They like driving on federally funded interstate highways and use federal assistance during natural catastrophes, but this is often left out of their narrowly focused paradigm.  The vast majority of these people are found in the United States.  Americans who see a tradition in the U.S. where dissent towards a central authority is the norm.  It all goes back to the Revolutionary War. However, there are people of this ilk in Canada.

James Roszko, who murdered four RCMP officers in cold blood in 2005 in Mayerthorpe, Alberta was a psychotic “rugged individualist”. He detested the police and continuously broke the law. So they are in Canada as well. These people could snap at anytime and blood will spill.

The Posse Comitatus (from the Latin phrase meaning “force of the county”) is a loosely organized, far-right social movement that opposes the federal government of the United States and believes in localism. There is no single national group, and local units are autonomous.

Posse charters were issued in 1969 in Portland, Oregon, by Henry Lamont Beach, “a retired dry cleaner and one-time member of the Silver Shirts, a Nazi-inspired organization that was established in America after Hitler took power in Germany.” William Potter Gale has been described by one expert as the founder of the movement.

Posse members believe that there is no legitimate form of government above that of the county level and no higher law authority than the county sheriff.  If the sheriff refuses to carry out the will of the county’s citizens:

…he shall be removed by the Posse to the most populated intersection of streets in the township and at high noon be hung by the neck, the body remaining until sundown as an example to those who would subvert the law.

Many Posse members practice survivalism and played a role in the formation of the armed citizens’ militias in the 1990s. The Posse Comitatus pioneered the use of false liens and other paper terrorism.

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Members of the Posse Comitatus frequently refuse to pay taxes, to obtain driver’s licenses, or otherwise to comply with regulatory authorities. They deny the validity of United States fiat money as not backed by gold, which they claim the Constitution requires.

They have unusual legal documents drawn up and attempt to record them, declaring independence from the United States, or claiming to file “common law” liens against perceived enemies like Internal Revenue Service employees or judges. They are often involved in various tax protests, and have invoked arguments popularized by tax protesters.

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In 1983, former Posse member (and accused parole violator) Gordon Kahl killed two federal marshals (who had come to arrest him) in North Dakota and became a fugitive. Another shootout ensued on June 3, 1983, in which Kahl and Lawrence County, Arkansas Sheriff Gene Matthews were killed. Other members of the group have also been convicted of crimes ranging from tax evasion and counterfeiting to threatening the lives of IRS agents and judges.

On August 15, 2012, five suspects were arrested in connection to the fatal shooting of two sheriff deputies and wounding two others in St. John Parish, Louisiana. Terry Smith, 44; Brian Smith, 24; Derrick Smith, 22; Teniecha Bright, 21; and Kyle David Joekel, 28 were identified, with Brian Smith and Joekel identified as the shooters in the incident. The men are rumored to be affiliated with a Posse Comitatus group. On August 17, 2012, two more suspects—Chanel Skains, 37, and Britney Keith, 23—were charged with accessory after the fact.

Some Posse members embraced the anti-semitic and white supremacist beliefs of Christian Identity (white-supremacist group).  Some believe that the U.S. federal government is illegitimate and in the hands of Zionist Occupation Government (ZOG), an alleged Jewish conspiracy.  In 1985, a member of the Posse Comitatus announced: “Our nation is now completely under the control of the International Invisible government of the World Jewry.”

The legal theories of Posse Comitatus have been further developed by the sovereign citizen movement, which claims that a U.S. citizen can become a “sovereign citizen” and thereby be subject only to common law and/or “constitutional law,” not to statutory law (including most taxes). The Uniform Commercial Code plays an important part in these legal theories.

While some African-American groups have adopted sovereign citizen beliefs, the movement is dominated by adherents of Christian Identity. Some within the movement see African Americans, who only gained legal citizenship after the Civil War and passage of the 14th Amendment, as “14th Amendment citizens” with fewer rights than whites.

The sovereign citizen movement gave rise to the “redemption movement,” which claims that the U.S. government has enslaved its citizens by using them as collateral against foreign debt. Redemption scheme promoters sell instructions explaining how citizens can “free” themselves by filing particular government forms in a particular order using particular wording. The movement “has earned its promoters untold profits, buried courts and other agencies under tons of worthless paper, and led to scores of arrests and convictions.”

They despise Democrats and especially liberals.

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This all ties into the Cliven Bundy standoff in Nevada. Bundy is a rancher in Bunkerville, Nevada who has been grazing his cattle on federal lands for 20 years. The Feds are trying to recover grazing fees from Bundy which led to a standoff between Bundy and his supporters (Tea Party and anti federal government radicals) and the federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM). Fox News and large segments of the ultra right-wing Tea Party vehemently supported Bundy.

Then in a televised interview Bundy said Negros were better off picking cotton under slavery than they are today. Many conservative groups abandoned Bundy -including Fox News- in milliseconds after his racist comments.  However, some large Tea Party groups continue to support Bundy, they have said maybe Cliven Bundy is racist, so what?  Does this help illustrate how much some of these Tea Party lunatics hate Barack Obama!

For the record, some parts of the Posse Comitatus, Tea Party, far-right Republicans, KKK, white supremacist groups, hillbilly armed militias and redneck ranchers all have extremely similar views as described above.  Forget the Muslim terrorists America, look within!

 

 

Imgur

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Oh CA rumba!

Adage.com

Most-Advertised Brands By 2012 U.S. Measured-Media Spending

 

What’s it cost to make a brand ubiquitous? For AT&T, the 2012 spending tally added up to $1.59 billion in measured media, making it the nation’s most-advertised brand, according to Ad Age DataCenter’s analysis of spending data from WPP’s Kantar Media.

AT&T accounted for more than 1% of 2012 U.S. measured-media spending — TV, radio, print, outdoor, internet display ads — or $5.05 for every person in the United States.

AT&T is one of four telecoms on Ad Age’s ranking of the 25 most-advertised brands, a list that includes five auto brands (led by Chevrolet), five retailers (topped by Macy’s) and three insurers (with Geico far out front).

The nation’s 200 most-advertised brands collectively had 2012 measured spending of $50.2 billion, accounting for 36% of U.S. measured-media spending.

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I never pay attention to advertising. But maybe I do subconsciously?  Advertising must work or these companies would never spend these horrendous amounts of money on it.  The spin-doctors in the ad departments are performing some kind of voodoo magic.  Algorithms and ad analyzing software convince the bean counters to go for it. I don’t care, I still hate commercials.

120 Billion dollars a year spent on advertising in the United States. That is utterly incredible. And some might say disgusting.

For the record, Tim Hortons is one of Canada’s biggest advertisers. The coffee company spends approximately 200 million dollars a year on ads.

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The Greater Winnipeg Water District (GWWD) Railway was built to transport men and supplies for the construction of an aqueduct from Shoal Lake on the Manitoba-Ontario border to Winnipeg. Shoal Lake is the source of drinking water for the City of Winnipeg.

• Work began on the railway in 1914 with the railway advancing along the right of way of the proposed aqueduct, building up the grade from bed material, with gravel for ballast and lumber for ties.
• The line was completed in 1915, and serviced the construction of the aqueduct, which began the same year.
• The entire project was finished by 1919, when the first water was supplied from Shoal Lake to Winnipeg.

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Headquarters building in St. Boniface

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This building could withstand a tornado

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In the beginning, three trains a week carried men and materials to the working sites along the way.

• They also carried early settlers and their goods to and from St. Boniface.
• Passengers travelled to and from their homes and cottages in southeastern Manitoba.
• The Greater Winnipeg Water District (GWWD) attempted to reduce overall costs by working for other customers and bringing in revenue. Freight included:
  • firewood
  • pulpwood
  • poles
  • railway ties
  • ice
  • mail
  • milk
  • gravel
  • sand

 

Currently the railway operates four locomotives and various types of rolling stock.  The rail line runs alongside the aqueduct. The railway provides maintenance for the aqueduct.

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Building the aqueduct

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The railway is standard gauge (4 feet 8 ½ inches) and 102 miles long.

• The GWWD is Canada’s longest industrial railway line.
• The railway station at St. Boniface was built in 1935 and was made from granite quarried along the line.
• The GWWD station at 598 Plinguet Street, St. Boniface, was designed by Winnipeg architect William Fingland.
• During the construction of the aqueduct, more than 1,000,000 cubic yards of sand and gravel and 600,000 barrels of cement were moved.
• The last steam locomotive was ready for emergency service during the 1950 flood, but was not needed.

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Ukraine: Areas of rebellion by 15 April and major Russian military formations

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Stereotype map of the U.S.

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The world according to the U.S.