Archive for February 2016

How small and insignificant we really are   Leave a comment


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Posted February 29, 2016 by markosun in Uncategorized

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George Kennedy: a real Hollywood Heavy   Leave a comment


George Harris Kennedy, Jr. (February 18, 1925 – February 28, 2016) was an American actor who appeared in more than two hundred film and television productions. He is perhaps best remembered for portraying “Dragline” opposite Paul Newman in Cool Hand Luke, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor and was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture.

His eclectic roster of performances also includes Joe Patroni in Airport (for which he received his second Golden Globe nomination) and its three sequels, Police Captain Ed Hocken in the Naked Gun series of comedy films and corrupt oil tycoon Carter McKay on the original Dallas television series.

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George often played the bad guy in many movies.  Such as the big thug Red Leary in Thunderbolt and Lightfoot and Abe Fraser in Cahill U.S. Marshall with John Wayne.

George in the Frosty mobile in Thunderbolt and Lightfoot.

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Posted February 29, 2016 by markosun in Uncategorized

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Celebrities and their Doppelganger Animals   Leave a comment


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Not sure what that creature on the left is, but I recognize the other creature.

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Lady Gaga on the left.

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Posted February 29, 2016 by markosun in Uncategorized

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The KKK makes the News   Leave a comment


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Donald Trump and the KKK.  These two entities are linked in the news today. The ‘Donald’ didn’t disavow the Klan quickly enough according to some pundits.  David Duke, KKK Grand Wizard, is purportedly supporting Trump. Donald has to make sure that he doesn’t absorb that support without making it crystal clear that he is politically correct and does not in any way accept that support.  American politics is rivetingly hilarious.

“The KKK Took My Baby Away”

She went away for the holidays
Said she’s going to L.A.
But she never got there
She never got there
She never got there, they say

The KKK took my baby away
They took her away
Away from me
The KKK took my baby away
They took her away
Away from me

Now I don’t know
Where my baby can be
They took her from me
They took her from me
I don’t know
Where my baby can be
They took her from me
They took her from me

Ring me, ring me ring me
Up the President
And find out
Where my baby went
Ring me, ring me, ring me
Up the FBI
And find out if
My baby’s alive
Yeah, yeah, yeah

o o o o o o
o o o o o o

She went away for the holidays

The KKK took my baby away

They took my girl
They took my baby away

Posted February 29, 2016 by markosun in Uncategorized

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U.S. Air Force releases artists rendering of proposed new long range bomber   Leave a comment


The Northrop Grumman B-21 is a bomber aircraft under development by Northrop Grumman. As part of the Long Range Strike Bomber program (LRS-B), it is to be a long-range strategic bomber for the United States Air Force, intended to be a heavy-payload stealth aircraft capable of carrying thermonuclear weapons. A request for proposal to develop the aircraft was issued in July 2014. The Air Force plans to purchase 80–100 LRS-B aircraft at a cost of $550 million each (2010 dollars).  A development contract was awarded to Northrop Grumman in October 2015. A Defenseone report states that the bomber could also be used as an intelligence gatherer, battle manager, and interceptor.

At the 2016 Air Warfare Symposium, the LRS-B was formally designated B-21 signifying the aircraft as the 21st century’s first bomber. Secretary of the Air Force Deborah Lee James stated that the B-21 is a fifth-generation global precision attack platform that will give the US networked sensor-shoot capability, thus holding targets at risk. The head of the US Air Force Global Strike Command expects that 100 B-21 bombers is the minimum ordered and envisions some 175-200 bombers in service. Initial Operating Capability is expected to be reached in the mid-2020s.

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The B-21 very closely resembles the B-2 Spirit stealth bomber below:

B-2 Bomber overhead

21 B-2’s bombers in service.

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The B-21 is to replace the B-52 Stratofortress (top). The B-52 has been flying since the 1950’s, it is expected to still be in the USAF inventory into the 2030’s. It will be 80 years old. Constant upgrades keep it flying.

B-52: current inventory 85 airframes.

The B-1 Lancer bomber (middle) is also an integral part of the USAF bomber fleet.

B-1: current inventory 62 airframes.

Posted February 27, 2016 by markosun in Uncategorized

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Fukushima Five Years after the Disaster   Leave a comment


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The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster was an energy accident at the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant in northeastern Japan, initiated primarily by the tsunami that was triggered by the Tōhoku earthquake on 11 March 2011. The damage caused by the tsunami produced equipment failures, and without this equipment a loss-of-coolant accident followed, resulting in three nuclear meltdowns and the release of radioactive material beginning on 12 March. It is the largest nuclear disaster since the Chernobyl disaster of 1986 and the second disaster (after Chernobyl) to be given the Level 7 event classification of the International Nuclear Event Scale.

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Stacked bags filled with contaminated topsoil.

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Posted February 26, 2016 by markosun in Uncategorized

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Australia Town Overrun by Weird Tumbleweed   1 comment


A fast-growing tumbleweed called “hairy panic” is clogging up homes in a small Australian town.

Extremely dry conditions mean the weeds pile up each day outside a row of homes at Wangaratta, in Victoria’s northeast.

Frustrated residents are forced to clear out the weeds for several hours every day, with piles of hairy panic at times reaching roof height.

A nearby farmer is being blamed for failing to tend to his paddock.

“It’s physically draining and mentally more draining,” resident Pam Twitchett told Prime7 News Albury.

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  • Also known by its Latin name Panicum effusum, it is a grass that is found in every Australian state
  • It’s called “hairy” because while there are a number of other Panicum species, none have long hairs along the edges of their leaves
  • It grows rapidly and can form tumbleweeds which are dead grass with seeds inside designed to disperse them for reproduction
  • It can cause a potentially fatal condition called “yellow big head” in sheep if eaten in large quantities

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Wangaratta veterinary surgeon Richard Evans told the BBC the weed would lose its toxicity once it dried up.

“The important thing is it’s not going to kill people’s dogs and cats, it just makes a hell of a mess,” he said.

Authorities are unable to help with the clean-up because the tumbleweeds do not pose a fire threat, reports say.

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As if those poor saps in Aussieland don’t already have enough headaches.  With all the super-venomous snakes, sharks and man-eating giant salty crocodiles, to name a few of the deadly critters in that country, they also have toxic tumbleweed.

Posted February 26, 2016 by markosun in Uncategorized

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Winnipeg Winter Sidewalks   Leave a comment


Walking the sidewalks in Winnipeg during the cold months. The winter whiteness can be mesmerizing and pristine. The crunch of the soft frozen flakes beneath your boots.  The sun reflecting off the snow banks creating unexpected warmth. It can be a very nice experience.

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And then the melting begins!

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And for some unexplainable reason the bureaucrats at City Hall do nothing. They obviously never walk further than their cars to the elevators in the heated parkades.  Idiots. What are little old ladies with walkers suppose to do. The disabled in scooters will get stuck and need a tow. Anybody not wearing water-proof battle boots will get their socks wet.

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Look at that slop and icy mush. All the sand poured all winter on the sidewalks combined with spit, ice and settled carbon monoxide, a mixture from Chernobyl. If a citizen slips and falls into that crap they will need to be decontaminated at a military chemical warfare facility.

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How hard would it be to put blades on some of those little sidewalk sweeper buggies they use in the summer and clear a path through the ice and melting snow down to the pavement. Or put to work some of the hundreds of vagrants loitering downtown clearing the sidewalks with snow shovels.  Doesn’t the City Hall suits care? I’d like to get Mayor Bowman’s Grandmother trudging through that icy quagmire carrying a heavy shopping bag in high heels!

Even the most athletic big strapping palooka could wipe out and smash his head on this precarious and deadly ice trap.

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Come on civic politicians, make life better for us pedestrians who thump around on the sidewalks trying desperately to stay in the vertical position. 

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Posted February 25, 2016 by markosun in Uncategorized

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Introducing The Robot Chair: Going to Shave Hours Off Office Cleaning Staff Toil   Leave a comment


No this isn’t what we mean.

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Posted February 25, 2016 by markosun in Uncategorized

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Rhino Charges Rover Vehicle and Sticks it Good   Leave a comment


A caravan of tourists on safari in Namibia had an unforgettable vacation experience when an angry rhino charged at their SUV.

The incredible video of the encounter shows the monstrous beast slamming into their vehicle and violently shaking it with its sheer power.

Fortunately, no one was hurt during the incident and the ornery rhino seemed to lose interest in the tourists as they quickly drove away from the animal.

And, despite being terrified by what had happened, the lucky occupant of the car ahead of them left Namibia with a vacation video that they won’t have to convince their neighbors to watch.

Posted February 25, 2016 by markosun in Uncategorized

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