Month: October 2017

This is how to fly, but there is only two seats

Markozen.com Aviation

BBC

In the compendium of complaints about air travel, we have not yet encountered “I do not have an unencumbered, horizon-to-horizon view of the entire planet.” At some point, we surmise, someone must have shared that frustration, because Windspeed Technologies has come up with a solution.

The company’s SkyDeck is a clear bubble that pokes up out of the top of an airplane. One or two passengers access this viewing dome via a staircase, or (rather showily) in an elevator. Once they are head and shoulders above the fuselage, they may rotate their seats to view some particular object — the sunset, or a constellation, or a cloud that looks a lot like a bunny. The bubble is made of the same material as the canopies of a supersonic fighter jet, and it’s a teardrop shape mounted just before the tail to have the smallest possible effect on aerodynamics. Its feasibility has been studied a thousand different ways, patents and trademarks have been applied for, and an aircraft manufacturer has begun offering it as an option on its custom builds — though there are not yet reports of orders taken.

 

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Does the SkyDeck seem a bit… erm… over the top? Yes, but certainly that is the point. Windspeed identifies business and VIP aircraft as their primary market, where amenities like the SkyDeck make sense because airplanes made of solid gold are too heavy to fly. But the company also sees a commercial application, where, they say, “Current in-flight entertainment offerings have not changed much over the decades” (as if SkyDeck were the logical successor to seatback entertainment systems). In this bright future, airlines would charge passengers for a trip up to the SkyDeck, providing an additional revenue stream for beleaguered airlines that have not yet found enough things to charge for.

Still, it’s awesome. To merely propose cutting a hole in the top of a jet — and then actually figuring out how to make it happen — is an admirable engineering feat. And who hasn’t imagined what the view might be like the outside of a plane, rather than through the tiny windows we’re now supposed to keep shuttered so as not to interfere with the seatback entertainment systems? Given the chance, we’d certainly spend a few minutes enjoying a 360° at 36,000 feet — though we admit to having some concerns about the availability of beverage service up there.

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‘Islamic State’ held city of Raqqa Liberated

Markozen.com War

RAQQA, Syria — U.S.-backed Syrian forces said Tuesday that Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) fighters had been completely defeated in the city of Raqqa, which the Islamic extremist group had held and ruled over brutally as a de-facto capital for more than three years.

Earlier on Tuesday the ISIS holdouts had been corralled into the city’s sports stadium after losing their only other position in Raqqa, the hospital.

CBS News’ Holly Williams, one of the few foreign television correspondents to make it into the former ISIS stronghold with the militia known as the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), said Tuesday that there were still thought to be ISIS fighters holed up in buildings and tunnels in the sprawling city.

A spokesman for the U.S.-led military coalition battling ISIS said later Tuesday that were were an estimated 100 militants in the city.

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In addition to the holdouts, Williams notes, it could take months before Raqqa is finally cleared of all the explosives laid by the militants.

Then, Syrians will somehow have to find a way to rebuild the shattered city, where there is hardly a building left unscathed.

Williams reported Tuesday morning from al-Naim Circle, in the very heart of Raqqa. It used to be an ordinary traffic circle, but ISIS turned it into a place notorious for public executions, and then posted evidence of those horrific killings on the internet as propaganda.

Al-Naim Circle was taken back by the SDF forces on Monday night, and Williams watched them on the streets of Raqqa celebrating; they were in a victorious mood after a brutal four-month battle for the city.

Williams said it was a bizarre feeling to stand in al-Naim, as during the three-plus years that ISIS held Raqqa, she would almost certainly have been taken captive and killed.

Some buildings have been pulverized by the fighting, others flattened by U.S. airstrikes. Nearly all citizens of Raqqa, perhaps all of them, have fled the city.

It is a terribly irony, notes Williams, that in order to retake Raqqa from ISIS, it had to be all but destroyed.

Raqqa is in really bad shape.

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This is an incredibly horrific war.

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I guess the destruction of Raqqa was necessary in order to corner those ISIS rats and put them out of their misery.

Moscow’s Bagel House

Markozen.com Buildings

In the early 1970s, Russian architect Evgeny Stamo and engineer Alexander Markelov came up with plans for an unusual house in the capital city Moscow. The house was to be shaped like a ring, about 150 meters across, enclosing a large inner courtyard with playgrounds and green spaces. The building was to have over nine hundred apartments, and all the necessary services and facilities, including shops, a pharmacy, a laundry room, a studio, post office, and so on. When completed in 1972, the authorities were so impressed that plans for more such house across Moscow were drawn up.

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At that time, the Summer Olympic Games of 1980, which was to be hosted by the Soviet Union, was approaching, and the city decided to build five similar ring-shaped houses to symbolize the event. However, by the time the second ring house went up in 1979, on Dovzhenko street, the project was already shelved. The Soviet Union was on the brink of an economic collapse, and the buildings, it was realized, were too expensive to maintain. They are also bulky and inconvenient.

Besides, the proposed location of the buildings were spaced too far apart to provide any meaningful association with the five Olympic rings. Even if it did, a pedestrian could never see the rings from the street level or appreciate the composition.

Today, both buildings are still used as apartments. Each building has nine floors and over twenty entrances. Some say that finding the right entrance and locating the correct apartment is extremely difficult.

Locals affectionately call them the “bagel house”.

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Sources: Russia-ic.com / samstroy.com / www.msk-guide.ru / Weird Russia / Amusing Planet

Tribute to John Dunsworth: Mr. Lahey from Trailer Park Boys

Markozen.com Television

John Dunsworth, a Nova Scotia actor best known as the irreverent trailer park supervisor Jim Lahey, has died at the age of 71.

Dunsworth played Mr. Lahey on Trailer Park Boys, and is also known for his portrayal of Dave Teagues in the series Haven.

“With heavy and broken hearts the family of John F. Dunsworth would like to let people know that our amazing husband, father and grandfather John Dunsworth has passed away,” his daughter Sarah Dunsworth said in a statement to CBC News.

“John left this world peacefully after a short and unexpected illness,” her statement said.

Beware: strong language

The first thing that struck me was Jim Lahey’s shittaphors.  Lahey is the old warped drunkard who from time to time manages the trailer park.  The man loves the word shit. He adds the word to almost everything he has to say. And sometimes it comes across as quite funny.

So I wasted my time compiling the list below.

Lahey taking the swig

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You know what you get when two shit-tectonic plates collide? Shitquakes, Julian. Shitquakes.

Shit-apples never fall far from the shit-tree

Yes I used to drink Randy but I got the shitmonkey off my back for good

The shit pool’s gettin full Randy, time to strain the shit before it overflows. I will not have a Pompeiian shit catastrophe on my hands

Your shit-goose is cooked, Ricky

I’m watching you, like a shithawk

The ole shit liner is coming to port, and I’ll be there to tie her up.

He’s about to enter the shit tornado to Oz.

Do you feel that Randy, the way the shit clings to the air? Shit Blizzard

Captain Shittacular

Did you see that Randy, Goddamn shitapple driving the shitmobile. No body else in this park gives a fuck why should I?

Birds of a shitfeather flock together, Randy.

We’re in the eye of a shiticane here Julian, and Ricky’s a low shit system!

Never Cry Shitwolf

When you plant shit seeds, you get shit weeds.

 

Lahey and his sidekick Randy in the drunk tank

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you boys have loaded up a hair-trigger, double barrelled shitmachinegun, and the barrel’s pointing right at your own heads

How dare you involve my daughter in your hemisphere of shit

We’re sailing into a shit typhoon Randy, we’d better haul in the jib before it gets covered in shit

“You started this shitstorm, limpy.”

Ricky: “Why bother with a couple of shit sticks when you can have the whole shit trolley?” Lahey: “Nice shit analogy, Rick.”

“When you keep getting pelted by shit balls, Deputy, you gotta get a shit bat.”

“We gotta nail those shitiots.”

“Well, Ricky, it looks like you cooked your shit goose this time.”

(Erica:) “Ricky is a shit leopard that can’t change his spots.”

“Those two shit rats just pissed on forty dollars worth of eclairs at the bake sale.”

“It’s some kind of distraction from those shitniks.”

“He grew up as a little shit spark from the old shit flint hen he turned into a shit bonfire and then, driven by the winds of his monumental ignorance, he turned into a raging shit firestorm. If I get to be married to Barb, I’ll have total control of Sunnyvale and then I can unleash a shitnami tidal wave that will engulf Ricky and extinguish his shit flames forever. And, with any luck, he’ll drown in the undershit of that wave….shit waves.”

“You just opened Pandora’s shit box, Ray.”

“Shit moths, Randy. They started out as little tiny shit larvae, and then they turned into shitapillars, a pandemic of shitapillars. Everywhere you look, Randy, shitapillars. I tried to put an end to the shitapillars life cycle, but I failed. And now? Shit moths.”

“I sense a shit derailment coming.”

“Listen, we don’t want to cause any shit talk here, boys. Matter of fact, I’ve been thinking about shit a lot less these days. Seeing as how I stepped in so much over the last few years, I’m sick of shit. Sick of shit.”

Only in New York City: A 550 foot tall Concrete Skyscraper with no Windows

Markozen.com Buildings

Standing at 33 Thomas Street in the Civic Center neighborhood of New York City is a 550-foot tall monolithic, granite-clad, concrete building. Even in a city like New York, where tall buildings are typical, people passing by would look up to gaze at this intimidating structure —their attention drawn not by the building’s height but by its fortress-like appearance. Aside from a couple of ventilation openings on the sides, the building’s bare concrete slab façade is without a single window.

The Long Lines Building is owned by the multinational telecom company AT&T, and is indeed an impenetrable fortress. When it was built in 1974, AT&T asked architect John Carl Warnecke to design a structure that could withstand a nuclear blast and protect its occupants from fallout for up to two weeks after the attack. Such concerns were not uncommon at that time, and AT&T wanted to be sure that their expensive equipment stayed undamaged.

 

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The building was originally built to house AT&T’s solid-state switches and other equipment for the company’s long distance telephone lines, hence the name Long Lines Building. These switches required a high level of security and space, so the floors of the building are taller than average. Each floor is 18 feet high, so even though the building is as high as a 40 story tower, it has only 29 floors. The floors are also designed to bear an extremely large amount of weight.

The building continued to function as AT&T’s long distance telephone exchange until 1999. After that AT&T vacated the building and moved a few blocks away. The building is still used for telephone switching by some local exchange carriers, but some of the space is also used as a high security datacenter.

Since AT&T moved out, the building has been referred to by its street address 33 Thomas St., like many major New York City commercial buildings.

 

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No outside view.

 

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“You Only Live Twice”

Markozen.com Movies

 

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I watched this classic the other day and it is a gem. Everything you want in a Bond movie.

Quick synopsis:

An American spacecraft is hijacked from orbit by an unidentified spacecraft. The US suspect it to be the Soviets, but the British suspect Japanese involvement since the spacecraft landed in the Sea of Japan. To investigate, MI6 operative, James Bond, agent 007, is sent to Tokyo, after faking his own death and being buried at sea off HMS Tenby (F65).

Upon his arrival, Bond is contacted by Aki, assistant to the Japanese secret service leader Tiger Tanaka. Bond goes to Osato Chemicals to meet Mr. Osato himself, masquerading as a potential new buyer. Osato humours Bond but, after their meeting, orders his secretary, Helga Brandt, to have him killed. Outside the building, assassins open fire on Bond before Aki rescues him. The assassins are disposed of via a helicopter with a magnetic grab.

Bond and Tanaka learn that the true mastermind behind the space hijackings is Ernst Stavro Blofeld and SPECTRE. After a big battle involving Bond and good-guy Ninjas in a secret base below a dormant volcano, Blofeld activates the base’s self-destruct system and escapes. Bond, Kissy, Tanaka, and the surviving ninjas escape through the cave tunnel before it explodes, and are rescued by submarine.

Bond gets all the woman he can satisfy in this movie.

 

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An action-packed helicopter dogfight scene:

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Pop the Cork

Markozen.com Politics

This presidency never ceases to entertain. Lets just hope the world survives it!

Trump trashes outgoing Republican senator in public falling out

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Trump’s slams on Corker come days after the senator made public comments criticizing him. The senator responded to Trump’s tweets with an insult later in the morning, calling the White House “an adult day care center” in a Twitter post.
And he wasn’t done there.
In remarks to The New York Times published on Sunday night, Corker said Trump was treating the presidency like “a reality show,” making reckless threats against other countries that put the United States “on the path to World War III.”
Corker also said Trump acts “like he’s doing ‘The Apprentice’ or something,” and that alarmed the senator, according to the Times.
“He concerns me,” Corker told the newspaper. “He would have to concern anyone who cares about our nation.”
And the risks Trump’s behavior presents also concern some of his top officials, who endeavor daily to protect the President from his own instincts, the Times reported.

“I know for a fact that every single day at the White House, it’s a situation of trying to contain him,” Corker told the newspaper.
The flare-up between the two leaders highlights the long-simmering differences between GOP leaders and the President, who has not shied away from attacking the leadership over their inability to move health care legislation. It also comes as Trump prepares to press Congress to advance his proposed tax overhaul and tensions reportedly grow between Trump and members of his own Cabinet — especially Secretary of State Rex Tillerson — on issues such as the way to handle North Korea’s nuclear weapons program.
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