moonbuggy

Iraqi war blog. Interesting.

`A Thai-owned communications satellite was launched early Thursday off French Guiana, officials said. Billed as the world’s largest, the satellite will provide Internet access and multimedia services for the Asia-Pacific region, Australia and New Zealand. [..]

The satellite, called Thaicom 4, will be operated by Shin Satellite, a company owned by the family of Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, and is the fourth satellite launched by the company. It weighs more than 7 tons and cost $400 million, and was built by Space Systems/Loral in Palo Alto, California

The satellite has bandwidth capacity of 45 gigabytes per second and will route data through 18 gateways.’

`JackHammer is the most enormous, mind-blowing subwoofer ever created. You will literally not believe it until you see it. Standing in at 23” tall, 320 pounds, and with 12,000 watt peak music power handling, you will be hard-pressed to find something that will get in the ring with this heavyweight.’

`Technicians from Truly Nolen Pest Control of America are being trained by local law enforcement to spot anything unusual as they visit customer’s homes.

“Our vehicles really get into the bowels of the neighborhood and we’re back there where all the homes are, in the cul-de-sacs,” Truly Nolen spokesman Barry Murray said. “And part of being a good neighbor is looking out for one another.”

The pest control workers will call police if they see something unusual during their stops, according to the report.’

`This product is the perfect solution for anyone seeking an ultra realistic look as well as experience. Our improved whizzinator design consists of a 5 inch fake penis with detail, look and feel that are so realistic you won’t believe your eyes. The prosthetic penis is also anatomically correct in scale so as not to appear erect, which could cause it to be too bulky for use. But the realism doesn’t end there! When designing this product we thought that look and feel are important of course, however it was essential that it also function like a real penis. What came about is a product that is revolutionary in both form and function.’

`To experiment with highspeed objects requires a very special technique. A perfect synchronization between the moving object and the actual taking of the photograph is needed. We talk about highspeed photography when we can’t see the fast movement with our eyes. It’s very difficult to see a fired bullet and even more difficult to take a photograph of it exactly at the moment it comes out of an object.’

`Whether you’re a first-time user or a veteran, this Firefox Tweak Guide brings together all the major tips, tricks and tweaks for Firefox. From the basic to the advanced, the following 11 pages of information are sure to enhance your Firefox experience. Most of all you can rest assured that the guide is not written by a raving Firefox fanboy – it’s a true objective TweakGuides tweak guide, and not a gushing ad for a free web browser.’

Short animation, worth a look.

`Investigators say a bad toupe tipped them off to more than $100,000 worth of heroin hidden underneath — superglued to the man’s head.

Customs and border protection officers say the man, arriving on a flight from Columbia, glued 40 packets of heroin to his head.

“Because he used superglue, they took him to a medical facility to have it removed,” said Officer Jennifer Conners. “Even at that, it pulled out the hair wherever they removed a package, so he ended up looking like a spotted cat.”‘

`Men have been mad about the erotically seductive scent of the vagina since time immemorial. Now you can have it anywhere, anytime – with the authentically natural vaginal fragrance VULVA Original, the sensual accelerator.’

All sorts of stuff about venomous animals, mainly snakes.

There’s a good section on neurotoxicity and biochemistry, if you like that sorta thing. Also, a forum with links to pictures of various snakes.

`Freenet is free software which lets you publish and obtain information on the Internet without fear of censorship. To achieve this freedom, the network is entirely decentralized and publishers and consumers of information are anonymous. Without anonymity there can never be true freedom of speech, and without decentralization the network will be vulnerable to attack.

Communications by Freenet nodes are encrypted and are “routed-through” other nodes to make it extremely difficult to determine who is requesting the information and what its content is. ‘

`Officers used a stun gun to take a Michigan man into custody after he attempted to fight them off with medieval weaponry, according to police. [..]

“One of the statements that he made is that, ‘I got 1,000 years of power. Come and get me,'” said Deputy Chief Chris Jahnke, of the Royal Oak Police Department. “And they looked down and he has this metal chain (and a) mesh guard (or) vest on, along with these leather gauntlets on his arms.”

After dodging swords, chains and the mallet — which were being thrown up from the basement — officers used a stun gun to subdue McClain and arrest him [..]’

`Drunk husband John Cole faced the scales of justice for hitting his wife Elaine with a fish.

A court heard the hung-over former fork-lift driver woke up in a rage thinking she had hidden two cans of beer.

He punched the ex-barmaid after hitting her with the 8lb pike from their kitchen during Tuesday’s row. [..]

After Wednesday’s hearing, regretful Cole said he couldn’t bring himself to eat the pike.

He revealed: “I fed it to our cats and dogs.”

Elaine, 49, said she forgave him but added: “I could’ve been seriously hurt or killed by that fish.”‘

`A Worcester man who appeared naked in public with a padlock fastened to his private parts has been given a two-year anti-social behaviour order.

Geoffrey Hughes, who lives on Astwood Road, was served with the order after Worcester Magistrates heard how the 51-year-old had committed a series of anti-social acts which had caused distress to his neighbours.

The court was told last Friday (July 29) how Mr Hughes’ behaviour had become increasingly bizarre during the past three years as a result of alcohol and drug abuse which had caused amphetamine-induced psychosis.

In one incident Mr Hughes appeared publicly wearing nothing but a hat and a padlock fixed to his penis which needed removing by a locksmith who was called to the scene along with emergency services.’

`In the new report, Amnesty has urged the US to reveal where its alleged secret detention facilities are, stop using them and name the detainees held there.

The two Yemeni men, Muhammad Faraj Ahmed Bashmilah and Salah Nasser Salim Ali, were arrested separately but reported almost identical experiences to Amnesty. [..]

Both say they were tortured for four days by Jordanian intelligence services.

Alleged methods include being beaten on the feet while bound and suspended upside-down. One of the men claims he was threatened with sexual abuse and electric shocks.

Each says he was then flown to an unnamed underground jail, where he was held in solitary confinement for six to eight months with no access to lawyers.’

`Scottish courts are dealing with an ever growing collection of fetishists.

In September 2003, pervert Ian Curtis was caught having sex with a frozen chicken.

When he was discovered by his wife Jean, the former military policeman, 42, of Glasgow, was dressed in a skirt, silk blouse and rubber stockings.

Jean, who later divorced him, shouted at her hubby: ‘You dirty bastard, that’s my Sunday lunch.”

`Astronaut Steve Robinson turns the camera on himself during his historic repair job “underneath” Discovery on August 3. The Shuttle’s heat shield, where Robinson removed a pair of protruding gap fillers, is reflected in his visor.’

Looks kinda cool. The high res versions are pretty impressive.

`A University of Florida scientist has grown a living “brain” that can fly a simulated plane, giving scientists a novel way to observe how brain cells function as a network.

DeMarse experimental “brain” interacts with an F-22 fighter jet flight simulator through a specially designed plate called a multi-electrode array and a common desktop computer.

“It’s essentially a dish with 60 electrodes arranged in a grid at the bottom,” DeMarse said. “Over that we put the living cortical neurons from rats, which rapidly begin to reconnect themselves, forming a living neural network – a brain.” [..]

“Initially when we hook up this brain to a flight simulator, it doesn’t know how to control the aircraft,” DeMarse said. “So you hook it up and the aircraft simply drifts randomly. And as the data comes in, it slowly modifies the (neural) network so over time, the network gradually learns to fly the aircraft.”

Although the brain currently is able to control the pitch and roll of the simulated aircraft in weather conditions ranging from blue skies to stormy, hurricane-force winds, the underlying goal is a more fundamental understanding of how neurons interact as a network, DeMarse said.’

This is along the same lines as the link to a photo of Your Mother that I posted earlier.

But kinda slightly more sickening. Your boss really won’t need to see this. 🙂

Collage of old people doing things old people shouldn’t do.

And some guy with a baseball.

This is not safe for work. Unless you work where I work, in which case you’d better not leave your laptop unguarded or you’re gonna see this picture whether you want to or not. 🙂

Some guy: That’s not a good idea. You should take it out of your pocket.

Some guy with a gun in his pocket: It’s alright dude.

Some guy: I’m serious.

Some guy with a gun in his pocket: Aargh!

(1.2meg Windows media)

see it here »

`A 30-year-old Darwin man is recovering in hospital after falling twice from a multi-storey building – the second time on his head.

It appears the man was scaling the building after locking himself out.

In his first attempt to climb to his upstairs unit about 4am (CST), the man fell from an unknown height on to a car parked below in Finniss Street.

“His fall was cushioned by landing on the car roof that smashed the windscreen,” said Senior Sergeant Andrew Cummins, from Darwin Police.

Undaunted, the man tried to climb the building again and it was believed he had reached the third floor before again falling.

“Unfortunately, the second time he landed on his head and was taken to Royal Darwin Hospital suffering head injuries,” Snr Sgt Cummins said.’

`The Bush administration is planning the government’s first production of plutonium 238 since the cold war, stirring debate over the risks and benefits of the deadly material. The substance, valued as a power source, is so radioactive that a speck can cause cancer.

Federal officials say the program would produce a total of 330 pounds over 30 years at the Idaho National Laboratory, a sprawling site outside Idaho Falls some 100 miles to the west and upwind of Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming. Officials say the program could cost $1.5 billion and generate more than 50,000 drums of hazardous and radioactive waste.

Project managers say that most if not all of the new plutonium is intended for secret missions and they declined to divulge any details. But in the past, it has powered espionage devices.

“The real reason we’re starting production is for national security,” Timothy A. Frazier, head of radioisotope power systems at the Energy Department, said in a recent interview.’

Just so long as Iran and North Korea don’t make any. Because rogue states like that can’t be trusted not to invade other countries and start wars and kill lots of innocent people.

`God alone knows what NatWest customer Chris Lancaster has done to offend the bank’s card issuing department, but it recently sent him a new cash card on which he is gloriously identified as “Dick Head”.

Or rather, his new title in full is Mr C Lancaster Dick Head, prompting the 18-year-old Essex man to lament to UK tabloid the Sun: “I know I’ve been overdrawn a few times and got a few £30 charges but I’ve done nothing to deserve this.”

Mr Lancaster is, of course, merely the latest victim of the great British pastime of “Let’s stick something abusive on the cash card/electric bill/council tax demand”. We are reminded of the outraged old chap – quite possibly a highly-decorated war hero if the Sun was reporting it – who got a bill from his local town hall addressed to “A Cunt”.’

`Western Cape police are investigating an allegation of sex with a corpse at Salt River Mortuary, and the amputation and theft of a foot from another body.

And a reliable mortuary source said the sexual assault on a young male was “just the tip of the iceberg” and “several more young male corpses have been violated”. [..]

[Some spokesman] said that in [one case] the victim’s family would be contacted after police had established “beyond all reasonable doubt” that the corpse had been sodomised “post mortem”.

A long-serving police officer attached to the mortuary said that in an incident in 1989 mortuary staff had caught a half-naked policeman on top of a female corpse.’

`An Orange County sheriff’s reserve deputy was arrested after he allegedly showed his badge and pulled a gun on a group of golfers in Chino Hills over the weekend. [..]

The brothers said Yi approached them and then came back and flashed his badge. Yi asked that they get his ball and when they began driving away in a golf cart, they said Yi pulled his gun and yelled, “‘Freeze'” and “‘I will kill you,'” Javier Bautista said.

“It was a scary feeling,” Marcelo Bautista said. “He was acting so erratic and odd it was like he was in a road rage. His behavior was completely out of line.”

A short time later, the dispute started up again and the brothers told authorities that Yi pulled out his gun for a second time and threatened to kill them.’

If you like my site, buy me one of these to show your appreciation. 🙂

`Iraqi Maj. Gen. Abed Hamed Mowhoush was being stubborn with his American captors, and a series of intense beatings and creative interrogation tactics were not enough to break his will. On the morning of Nov. 26, 2003, a U.S. Army interrogator and a military guard grabbed a green sleeping bag, stuffed Mowhoush inside, wrapped him in an electrical cord, laid him on the floor and began to go to work. Again.

It was inside the sleeping bag that the 56-year-old detainee took his last breath through broken ribs, lying on the floor beneath a U.S. soldier in Interrogation Room 6 in the western Iraqi desert. Two days before, a secret CIA-sponsored group of Iraqi paramilitaries, working with Army interrogators, had beaten Mowhoush nearly senseless, using fists, a club and a rubber hose, according to classified documents.’