Gravity Field and Steady-State Ocean Circulation Explorer (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Another day, another satellite falling to Earth (they know not where). This one is the size of a SUV, and weighs approximately 2,000 lbs. The guess is that 25 to 45 pieces, maybe as large as 200 lbs will survive. The satellite is a European Space Agency craft called GOCE (Gravity Field and Steady-State Ocean Circulation Explorer) which had been launched to study the earth’s gravitational field. Kind of ironic that gravity will destroy it. Best guess for reëntry is sometime Sunday. Heads up! A real-time tracker can be found at the link.
Sorry, not a Newt Gingrich fan, BUT, this video of him beating up John King at the recent debate in South Carolina is a classic. Every politician has wanted to do this, but few are crazy (maybe like a fox) enough to actually do it. If by some miracle he becomes the Republican candidate, then I would say that they could sell tickets to an Obama-Gingrich debate. From the standing ovations given him, and the boos to John King during this smack down tells me that there is a lot of citizens that feel the same way. Much as it pains me to say it, way to go Newt.
Today we remember all those who have and still do, sacrifice themselves for the greater good. I am proud of my uncles, grandparents and in-laws who fought and,in some cases died, for us. Two videos. First is Calgary’s unique tribute to the fallen on Memorial Drive, the second a song by “The Trews“, inspired by the death of Captain Nichola Goddard in Afghanistan.
Convicted child rapist and killer, Clifford Olson (have to name him so you know who I am talking about) is dying of cancer in his prison. I normally am undecided about death penalties, but this is one guy that should have been executed. I only hope that the cancer he has is extremely painful and very slow moving.
I really don’t know how to describe this other than Hmmmmmmm. Once again my morbid fascination with this train wreck of a country has led me to YouTube in a search for something both “normal” and interesting. This group is supposed to be the most popular band in North Korea. My favourite part is in the comment section where one pundit says “North Korea’s answer to Robert Palmer’. Wish I had said that.
Lots of crazy stuff this week. Let’s start with the stupid this week.
Some idiot from Jordan decided that the classic Moorish architecture of the Alhambra in Spain was missing that certain something, his name carved into the stone work. So the fool decided to do this using an amazing writing tool, a coin. More at the link.
Now we will move to the downright dangerous and arrogant. Striking longshoremen in Washington state stormed a port in Longview (a union port), taking hostages and destroying equipment and rail cars. Their reason, these jobs are ours. No recognition at all that the owners have the right to run their business however they wish, including hiring workers from OTHER unions to perform the work. I love this, no arrests have been made, so taking hostages is cool if you are doing it on union time. More at the link’
Speaking of arrogant, did you catch Obama’s speech. Pass this bill right away, even though there was no bill in existence. The best response to the speech was by Republican presidential primary candidate, Herman Cain. I won’t ruin the surprise, read it on your own, if you have 5 seconds that is.
And the final note for the week, an absolutely unbelievable post by New York Times columnist, Paul Krugman. This ASSHOLE published the attached commentary on the 10th anniversary of the 9-11 terror attacks. I, for one will never forget this callous abomination. I only wish I had a subscription to the NYT so I could cancel it.
A recent video by Donald Trump on Libya and the reporting of disasters. His big thing on Libya, why are we paying for rebels who are likely Iranians and not demanding they pay us back, a good tirade. The other is the “natural disaster reporting” conducted by the media. This was recorded prior to Irene hitting New York City and he looks clairvoyant in his statements on the severity.
Very long video (42 minutes) but very, very enlightening. If you missed this on Fox, then do yourself a favour and spend the time to watch and listen. John Stossel makes many valid points, some alarmist, but most are logical and, frankly, frightening. The comments by the uninformed and unrealistic are troubling as it brings out what many people really think of government spending. It’s not tax money, it was a grant. LOL.
One of the people I follow on Twitter shared this article* from The Atlantic magazine. In it are many pictures taken during the Battle of Britain in World War II. I have always been interested in this period of history and noticed that I had not seen many of these pictures before. If you rae interested in this, I highly recommend taking a look.
George Osborne, Chancellor of the Exchequer in the United Kingdom gave the attached statement in Parliament. It is particularly scathing of both the Euro and the USA, and their approach to the “Crisis”
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And earlier this week the UK’s Credit Default Swap spread, or the price of insuring against a sovereign default, was lower than Germany’s.
This is a huge vote of confidence in the credibility of British Government debt and a major source of stability for the British economy at a time of exceptional instability.
And it is a reminder of the reckless folly of those who said we were going too far, too fast.
We can all see now that their approach would have been too little, too late – with disastrous consequences for Britain.
Mr Speaker, it is not hard to identify the recent events that have triggered the latest market falls.
There has been the weak economic data from the US and the historic downgrade of that country’s credit rating.
And the crisis of confidence in the ability of Eurozone countries to pay their debts has spread from the periphery to major economies like Italy and Spain.
Is It Possible To See It All 