moonbuggy

‘Who would want to have the life of a speed camera? Exposed to the weather, day and night, alone, no friends… Sounds like a harsh life. But as if it weren’t enough, the poor creatures are also likely to be destroyed…’

Well, I suppose that it seems to work. [shrug]

The video repeats again and again, so you don’t need to watch the whole thing.

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‘US officials said Saturday the suspects nabbed in a foiled Islamic terrorist plot to blow up New York’s main international airport courted support in South America and the Caribbean, including from Jamaat Al Muslimeen, which failed at a bold 1990 coup bid in Trinidad.

Four suspected Islamic extremists, including Abdul Kadir, a former member of Guyana’s parliament, were charged with conspiring to blow up jet-fuel supply tanks and pipelines at John F. Kennedy airport, the US Department of Justice said.

The plot had links to international terrorist cells in the Caribbean as well as South America, but was foiled well before it could be carried out, US Justice officials added.’

‘A faulty bank fax printed a message that was misinterpreted as a bomb threat Wednesday, leading authorities to evacuate more than a dozen neighboring businesses and a day care center.

The branch manager of the Bank of America called police about 10 a.m. after receiving a fax containing images of a lit match and a bomb with a fuse, bank spokesman Ernesto Anguilla said.

But text explaining the fax was an internal bank promotion failed to transmit. The missing text included the phrases “The countdown begins” and “Small business commitment week June 4-8,” according to a copy circulated by police.’

‘The Memorial Day holiday means it’s a day on the water with the family.

Chuck Singleton does what he can to makes sure his kids are safe out here. The concern is who else is out there.

“You don’t know where they come from,” said Singleton. “You know, they could load up with a bomb or whatever and come right out here.”

With thousands of boats on the waterways, the worry is the recreational boat is now a Homeland Security threat.’

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‘A driver was killed when a van carrying welding equipment exploded in a County Durham market town.

Windows in shops and homes were left shattered and wreckage was strewn across the centre of Wolsingham, near Bishop Auckland.

The 33-year-old local man, who worked as a welder near Durham, was in the van when the oxy-acetylene cylinders exploded.

Homes near the scene were evacuated after the incident on Saturday.

It is not yet known what caused the blast but Durham Police said there did not appear to be any suspicious circumstances.’

With photos of the scene./a>

‘A man once called one of the Internet’s most notorious pirates of music and movies was sentenced Wednesday to five years in prison for blowing up a portable toilet, prosecutors said.

Bruce Forest, 50, was charged last year with a series of toilet explosions in 2005 and 2006. But under a plea agreement, Forest admitted only to blowing up one toilet in Weston in February 2006. No one was injured in any of the blasts.

His defense attorney and his wife said the incident was completely out of character for Forest. They said he had been addicted to painkillers initially taken for migraine headaches caused by a severe fall about 10 years ago. A prescribed drug intended to wean him off the painkillers caused psychotic episodes, they said.’

Two men climb up the pole to help someone who appears to be stuck. It goes badly.

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The rocket comes quite close to hitting the petrol station directly.

Do they put a lot of effort into targeting specific buildings, or do they just launch ’em in roughly the right direction and hope for the best?

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It wobbles like a maniac.

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‘British Airways has banned cabin crew from microwaving their own food after a curry exploded at 35,000 ft (10,668 metres), causing around $US40,000 ($48,790) of damage to an aircraft.

A fire extinguisher was used to tackle the blaze on April 30 on a Heathrow to Miami flight, when the high-powered microwave ignited a ready meal that a stewardess had bought from a supermarket.

“The fire lasted only a couple of seconds,” said a BA spokesman.

“As a precaution a specialist extinguisher was used in the microwave. However, at no time was there any danger to passengers or the aircraft.”‘

‘We’ve all heard the “official conspiracy theory” of the Death Star attack. We all know about Luke Skywalker and his ragtag bunch of rebels, how they mounted a foolhardy attack on the most powerful, well-defended battle station ever built. And we’ve all seen the video over, and over, and over, of the one-in-a-million shot that resulted in a massive chain reaction that not just damaged, but completely obliterated that massive technological wonder.

Like many, I was fed this story when I was growing up. But as I watched the video, I began to realize that all was not as it seemed. And the more I questioned the official story, the deeper into the rabbit hole I went.’

‘A massive wildfire that has already burned thousands of acres in the Pinelands and forced the evacuation of residents in two towns likely started this afternoon when an F-16 fighter jet dropped flares as part of a maneuver over a gunnery range, New Jersey National Guard officials said tonight.

The fire, fueled by dry conditions and gusty winds, has already consumed more than 12,000 acres, almost 19 square miles, along the border of Ocean and Burlington counties. Several highways were closed and as many as 2,000 homes in Stafford and Barnegat townships, including several retirement communities, had been evacuated.’

Some of the comments are quite amusing.

This is a review of nuclear criticality accidents made in 2000 by the Los Alamos National Laboratory.

There’s 158 pages of cool technical stuff.

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This is a Rube Goldberg device that makes use of lots of fire and explosions. I like it. 🙂

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‘These concrete towers were unique AIR RAID SHELTERS of Nazi Germany, built to withstand the destructive power of WWII bombs and heavy artillery. Their cone shape caused bombs to slide down the walls and detonate only at a heavily fortified base.
Cheaper to build above ground than to dig bunkers, they were quite effective, as it was possible to cram as many as 500 people inside. Plus the “footprint” of such tower was very small when observed from the air, so it was very hard for the bombers to ensure a direct hit.’

‘A man and a woman killed themselves “for love” with a bomb that exploded in a hotel room in China’s southwestern province of Yunnan.

Local police think the pair had an adulterous affair and chose to die together rather than live apart, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

The bomb went off early Thursday evening at the Jindi Hotel in Jinggu county, injuring another two people and littering the streets outside with shards of broken glass.’

‘American soldiers discovered a girls school being built north of Baghdad had become an explosives-rigged “death trap,” the U.S. military said Thursday.

The plot at the Huda Girls’ school in Tarmiya was a “sophisticated and premeditated attempt to inflict massive casualties on our most innocent victims,” military spokesman Maj. Gen. William Caldwell said.

The military suspects the plot was the work of al Qaeda, because of its nature and sophistication, Caldwell said in an interview with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer.

The plot was uncovered Saturday, when troopers in the Salaheddin province found detonating wire across the street from the school. They picked up the wire and followed its trail, which led to the school. Once inside, they found an explosive-filled propane tank buried beneath the floor. There were artillery shells built into the ceiling and floor, and another propane tank was found, the military said.’

‘A Jetstar call centre operator was allegedly told the budget airline had “just created a terrorist” after it charged excess baggage fees to a disgruntled Brisbane passenger.

Denis William Malizani, 30, of Morayfield in Brisbane’s north, was yesterday charged with making a threat to destroy an aircraft after being told he had to pay the baggage fee while checking in for a flight to Adelaide on April 26. [..]

He allegedly rang Jetstar’s call centre at a later stage and became “aggressive” when he was referred to the operator’s supervisor to further discuss the fees.

Prosecutor Clive Porritt said Malizani had told the operator “I will take it fucking further. I will tell you what I’ll do – I’ll blow up your fucking aircraft. You’ve just created a terrorist.”‘

A “bomb bag” is apparently one of those little firecracker things that you throw on the ground and have explode. As far as I can tell anyways.

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‘It’s got suicide bombers, political kidnaps and intercontinental war. It’s got filthy propaganda, rampant paranoia and secret treaties…

… and the Axis of Evil is a spinner in the middle of the board. You can fight terrorism, you can fund terrorism, you can even be the terrorists. The only thing that matters is global domination – err, liberation.’

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‘Japan’s leading toilet maker Toto Ltd. is offering free repairs for 180,000 bidet toilets after wiring problems caused several to catch fire, the company said Monday.

The electric bidet accessory of Toto’s Z series caught fire in three separate incidents between March 2006 and March 2007, according to company spokeswoman Emi Tanaka.

“Fortunately, nobody was using the toilets when the fire broke out and there were no injuries,” Tanaka said. “The fire would have been just under your buttocks.”’

What happens when you hit an aerosol can with a shovel?

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‘A woman diner was left with horrific burns after a Portuguese sausage dish exploded in her face. The victim was eating with friends when the accident took place at the Sporting Clube de Londres in west London. [..]

Witnesses described how the flaming chorizo sausage dish burnt out of control when a waiter topped it up with rum at a table packed with people.

The woman, who spent two weeks in hospital and has since undergone two skin graft operations, said it was like being hit by a “flame-thrower”. [..]

The victim will to have to wear pressure garments on both hands for 23 hours a day for up to two years.’

‘Auckland has come up with a novel plan for getting rid of hundreds of thousands of tonnes of human waste – use it to fill one of its many extinct volcanos, then turn it into a regional park.

Local authority-owned Watercare Services announced this week that it had signed a $25 million, 30-year deal with Puketutu Island’s owners to dump the 61 tonnes of biosolids – cleaned, treated and dried human waste – produced by its Mangere treatment plant each week.

The waste would be dumped on a side of the volcanic island that had been extensively quarried in the past 50 years. The island’s original volcanic cone formation could also be rebuilt using the biosolids, subject to public opinion, spokesman Clive Nelson said. [..]

Auckland University vulcanologist Ian Smith said Aucklanders need not be concerned that they would be showered in “biosolids” in the event of an eruption.’

‘A sidescroller with a difference. In IndestructoTank, your only weapon against the enemy is yourself – launch yourself at the enemy in this nice little physics based game. Hope you have fun!’

‘In 1982, operatives from the USSR’s Committee for State Security– known internationally as the KGB– celebrated the procurement of a very elusive bit of Western technology. The Soviets were developing a highly lucrative pipeline to carry natural gas across the expanse of Siberia, but they lacked the software to manage the complex array of pumps, valves, turbines, and storage facilities that the system would require. The United States possessed such software, but the US government had predictably turned down their Cold War opponent’s request to purchase the product.

Never ones to allow the limitations of the law to dictate their actions, the KGB officials inserted an agent to abduct the technology from a Canadian firm. Unbeknownst to the Soviet spies, the software they stole sported a little something extra: a few lines of computer code which had been inserted just for them.’

How far do you think a car would fly if you stuck a couple of rockets on the back of it and launched it from a ramp?

Fair enough, I reckon. 🙂

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