–

–

The Silver Star Mountain sighting from a few years ago in Washington state.

If this Sasquatch creature does exist, how does it stay so well hidden for so long? It has utterly amazing abilities of stealth and concealment.  But it does get photographed and videotaped. Footprints are found that have dermal ridges very similar to great apes. Thousands of witnesses. Many of the eye witnesses sightings are probably misidentified stumps, logs and bears etc.

But many witnesses are law enforcement people, university professors, doctors, game wardens and just average people that have nothing to gain by reporting a sighting. Just the opposite, by coming forward and admitting that a they saw one of these creatures, it opens up the witness to ridicule and the subsequent grief that comes with that. One investigator put forward the thesis that only 10-20 percent of people who see these things report it. Therefore there are many thousands of eye witness sightings that go unreported. If you were by yourself and you saw one of these big hairy monsters, would you say anything? The Bigfoot phenomenon is confusing, mysterious, illogical and just plain weird.

The Silverton, Colorado train sighting from 2011.

–

–

 

President Donald Trump: a very dangerous scenario.

---

This is a very subjective list as I am not a movie aficionado and there are dozens of great horror movies that I have not seen.  But here it is.

Number 1

The Exorcist

 

I saw this movie when I was 14 years old.  Not a good idea.  I was an altar boy at the time and therefore still believed in Angels and Demons.  This movie so terrified me that I almost went to see a priest to discuss my possible possession by a demon.

This movie takes horror to a whole new level.  There is the blatant visceral demonic possession scenes, but at the same time subtle underlying terrifying messages that come at you from all angles.

Number 2

Hellraiser

The Cenobite Demons in this movie are radical.  The torture chambers and dark cenobite world is shocking.  Pinhead causes cold streams of angst to penetrate your very soul.  The Uncle Frank character is a classic.  Clive Barker creates a brand new world of horror like nothing that came before.

Number 3

The Shinning

Jack Nicholson at his creepy best.  What you don’t see in this movie is scarier than what you do see.  The Overlook Hotel is the perfect haunted mansion.  The horrific history of the hotel is something that the moviegoer will ponder for weeks after seeing this movie.

 

Number 4

Alien

Great monster, great spaceship, great planet scene, great story and great crew on the ship.  Enough said.

 

Number 5

Black Christmas

Very creepy psycho in the attic murdering sorority girls.  A young Andrea Martin is worth revisiting this classic.  The strange sounds and noises that the thing in the attic makes is enough to make your hair stand on end.

 

Number 6

Dawn of the Dead

Zombies run amuck in a shopping mall.  Lots of gore which is typical of Zombie movies.  After seeing this movie you will never look at a shopping mall the same way again.

 

Number 7

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 1974

Very disturbing hillbilly killers who also double as cannibals.  These gruesome psychos are on a mission from the Devil himself.  Sticking innocent victims on a meat hook is just one of their nefarious techniques.  The old grandpa killer is an island of hilarity in this dark tale.

 

Number 8

The Silence of the Lambs

The Antagonist in this movie is one of the best of all time.  Hannibal the Cannibal Lecter is a genius killer and cannibal.  His dispatch of the 2 policeman is done with such cunning and precision that it makes your head spin.  Great story combined with amazing characters.  A classic.

 

Number 9

The Thing 1982

One of the most innovative monsters in movie history.  This Thing can copy and replicate any biological form.  You never know who the enemy is.  Your best buddy or pet could be an evil alien life form that wants to eat you whole.  Set in the Antarctic on an isolated base this movie leaves you with a very cold chill indeed.

 

Number 10

The Hills Have Eyes

Grotesque mutants that prey on unsuspecting travellers.  This movie has enough blood, guck and gore to nauseate the toughest horror fan.  The mutants got this way from exposure to radiation from atomic bomb tests in the desert.  They are seeking revenge on the normal folk.  And pity the poor normal folk that wander into mutant territory.

 

Floor plan of a micro-apartment

 

To live in New York City, and especially Manhattan, is very expensive.  And space is money.  An average 600-700 square foot apartment in the city costs roughly $4,000 a month.  Therefore to create affordable housing for people who don’t make $100,000 a year mayor Bloomberg is putting forth a plan to create micro-apartments.

(Reuters) – Could apartments in New York City get any smaller? Mayor Michael Bloomberg hopes so.

On Monday he announced a competition for architects to submit designs for apartments measuring just 275 to 300 square feet (25.5 to 28 square meters) to address the shortage of homes suitable and affordable for the city’s growing population of one- and two-person households.

“People from all over the world want to live in New York City, and we must develop a new, scalable housing model that is safe, affordable and innovative to meet their needs,” the mayor said in a statement announcing the “adAPT NYC” competition.

Bloomberg said the city plans to waive zoning requirements at a city-owned lot in the Kips Bay neighborhood of Manhattan to allow the construction of a building filled with the “micro-units.”

They will be about four times the size of a typical prison cell and about one-fortieth the size of the mayor’s Upper East Side townhouse.

Officials say there are about 1.8 million one- and two-person households in New York City, but only about a million studio and one-bedroom apartments – a sign, they say, that the city’s housing stock has not kept up with its changing demographics.

Young, single New Yorkers in particular can find it hard to find an affordable apartment as demand outstrips supply.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

                                                                                                                                                                                                          

The mayor is calling for proposals over the next two months for a building containing about 80 micro-units, all of which must have kitchens and bathrooms.

Ideally, they should also have “substantial access to light and air to create a sense of openness,” according to the competition announcement.

The apartments, once built, will be sold or rented on the open market. The city will not be subsidizing the project. If successful, the pilot project could help usher in a loosening of the city’s zoning laws regarding minimum housing size.

Under New York City’s zoning regulations, the average apartment size in a new building must be at least 400 square feet (37 square meters), although there are exceptions to the rule.

The mayor said the project is part of his plan to create or preserve 165,000 affordable homes in the city by 2014.

Although the new apartments will be cozy in realtor-speak, they are unlikely to break any size records. One couple paid $150,000 for a 175-square-foot (16-square-meter) studio in Manhattan in 2009, according to the New York Post.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       

 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

The Chemosphere is a strange looking house located in the San Fernando Valley area of Los Angeles.  It was built in 1960 by by American architect John Lautner.  It is a one story octagon with around 2200 square feet (200m²) of living space. Most distinctively, the house is perched atop a concrete pole nearly thirty feet high. This innovative design was Lautner’s solution to a site that, with a slope of 45 degrees, was thought to be practically unbuildable.  Access is by a long stairway and a cable railway.

Because of a concrete pedestal, almost 20 feet (6.1 m) in diameter, buried under the earth and supporting the post, the house has survived earthquakes and heavy rains.

The building was first used in a dramatic film as a futuristic residence in the 1964 ABC-TV program “The Outer Limits: The Duplicate Man,” based on a science fiction story by American author Clifford D. Simak. Exterior scenes for the television episode were shot on location; a detailed sound-stage set of the house’s interior was built.

3 World Trade at the far left with the crane. 1 World Trade middle, and 56 Leonard at the right.

3 World Trade Center (also known as 175 Greenwich Street) is a skyscraper under construction as part of the rebuilding of the World Trade Center site in Lower Manhattan, New York City. The project lies on the east side of Greenwich Street, across the street from the previous location of the Twin Towers, which were destroyed during the September 11 attacks in 2001. Pritzker Prize-winning architect Richard Rogers, of Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners, was awarded the contract to design the building, which will have a height of 1,079 ft (329 m) tall with 80 stories. As of August 2016, the building’s concrete core is topped out to maximum height, with the perimeter steel structure topped out on October 6, 2016. The building is slated to be completed in 2018.

---

–

–

---

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          

 

No not quite.  This post is not about a super stallion horse, but about a super stallion helicopter.  The CH-53E Super Stallion of the United States Marines.  This is one big and versatile chopper.  An aircraft like none other in the world.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

The Sikorsky CH-53E Super Stallion is the largest and heaviest helicopter in the United States military. It was developed from the CH-53 Sea Stallion, mainly by adding a third engine, a seventh blade to the main rotor and canting the tail rotor 20 degrees. Sailors commonly refer to the Super Stallion as the “Hurricane Maker” because of the downwash the helicopter generates. It was built by Sikorsky Aircraft for the United States Marine Corps. The less common MH-53E Sea Dragon fills the United States Navy’s need for long range mine sweeping or Airborne Mine Countermeasures (AMCM) missions, and perform heavy-lift duties for the Navy. The CH-53E/MH-53E are designated “S-80” by Sikorsky. Currently under development is the CH-53K, which will be equipped with new engines, new composite rotor blades, and a wider cabin.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          

Role	Heavy-lift cargo helicopter
Manufacturer	Sikorsky Aircraft
First flight	1 March 1974
Introduction	1981
Status	In service
Primary users	United States Marine Corps United States Navy Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force
Number built	≈115
Unit cost	US$24.36 million (1992) average
Developed from	Sikorsky CH-53 Sea Stallion
Developed into	Sikorsky CH-53K Super Stallion

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

 

The US Marine Corps had been planning to upgrade most of their CH-53Es to keep them in service, but this plan stalled. Sikorsky then proposed a new version, originally the “CH-53X”, and in April 2006, the USMC signed a contract for 156 aircraft as the “CH-53K”.  The Marines are planning to start retiring CH-53Es in 2009 and need new helicopters very quickly.

In August 2007, the USMC increased its order of CH-53Ks to 227.  First flight was planned for November 2011 with initial operating capability by 2015.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          

General characteristics

• Crew: 5: 2 pilots, 1 crew chief/right gunner, 1 left gunner, 1 tail gunner (combat crew)
• Capacity: 37 troops (55 with centerline seats installed)
• Payload: internal: 30,000 lb or 13,600 kg (external: 32,000 lb or 14,500 kg)
• Length: 99 ft 1/2 in (30.2 m)
• Rotor diameter: 79 ft (24 m)
• Height: 27 ft 9 in (8.46 m)
• Disc area: 4,900 ft² (460 m²)
• Empty weight: 33,226 lb (15,071 kg)
• Max. takeoff weight: 73,500 lb (33,300 kg)
• Powerplant: 3 × General Electric T64-GE-416/416A turboshaft, 4,380 shp (3,270 kW) each
• Rotor systems: 7 blades on main rotor, 4 blades on anti-torque tail rotor

Performance

• Maximum speed: 170 knots (196 mph, 315 km/h)
• Cruise speed: 150 kt (173 mph, 278 km/h)
• Range: 540 nmi (621 mi, 1,000 km)
• Ferry range: 990 nmi (1,139 mi, 1,833 km)
• Service ceiling: 18,500 ft (5,640 m)
• Rate of climb: 2,500 ft/min (13 m/s)

 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

Super Stallions on board the amphibious carrier U.S.S. Boxer docked in Hong Kong

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

In air refuelling by a C-130 Hercules

BBC

.

Officials in India have “arrested” 18 lions as they try to find a man eater suspected of killing three people.

Forest officials in Gujarat state will test the lions’ prints and excrement in an attempt to identify the killer.

The “guilty lion” will be kept in a zoo for life while the others will be released back into the Gir sanctuary, the officials told BBC Hindi.

Six attacks on humans have been reported recently near the sanctuary, the only habitat of the Asiatic lion.

Gujarat’s top forest official, JA Khan, said that the lions had been “arrested” over the past two months and were now being held in separate cages while tests were carried out.

“We think we have pinpointed the guilty lion, but we are still awaiting the results of nine more animals,” he said.

Innocent lions will be released back into the Gir forest

–

Wildlife expert Ruchi Dave told the BBC that the “tests” involved studying the pug marks and faecal matter of the lions.

“The officials are also studying the animals’ behaviour. Man eating lions usually get aggressive at the sight of a human being,” she said.

Another wildlife expert Revtubha Raizada said the man-eating lion would be caged for the rest of its life, as it was too unsafe to release it back into the wild.

Some experts feel that the thriving lion population in Gir forest is to blame for the “unusual” behaviour by the lions.

Govind Patel, the former chief wildlife warden of Gujarat, told the Indian Express newspaper that Gir could accommodate only 270 lions, forcing some prides to settle outside the boundaries of the sanctuary.

India’s Supreme Court has ruled that Gujarat needed to relocate some of its lions to other states to avoid the possibility of disease or other disaster wiping out the entire population.

However the state has expressed reluctance and has not yet complied with the order.

 

Six cases of lions attacking humans have been recently reported near the Gir forest

–

The Asiatic lion (Panthera leo persica), also known as the Indian lion or Persian lion, is a lion subspecies that exists as a single population in India’s Gujarat state. It is listed as Endangered by IUCN due to its small population size. Since 2010, the lion population in the Gir Forest National Park has steadily increased.

In May 2015, the 14th Asiatic Lion Census was conducted over an area of about 20,000 km² (7,700 sq mi); the lion population was estimated at 523 individuals, comprising 109 adult males, 201 adult females and 213 cubs.

–

–

Asiatic lion at Gir Forest National Park.

.