Chewbacca, a 200-year-old Wookiee. Wookiees are a species of intelligent bipeds from the planet Kashyyyk in the Star Wars universe. Standing at 8 feet tall, Chewbacca is covered with long hair, and wears only a bandolier. His weapon of choice is the Wookiee bowcaster (a crossbow-shaped directed-energy weapon).
Chewbacca’s family had the chance to come together as their paths were crossing for the first time in decades. The most convenient location was Crawford, Texas, as the Wookiee family members would all be travelling within close range of that Texas town. Many members of the family arrived in Crawford on various ships from the far reaches of the galaxy. The family reunion was a great success.
Reunion Photos
Portrait of a group of cousins
Chewie enjoying beverages with Hans Solo’s great-great granddaughter.
Painted portrait of Chewie, the wife and kids, and cat.
Chewie with some family elders.
Cousin Hoolacca arrives at the Crawford spaceport.
Chewing the fat with his step-brother Leroy the Sasquatch.
Chewie throwing out the first pitch at a Crawford Rattlers baseball game.
Beach party movies were an American subgenre of feature films produced and released between 1963 and 1968, created by American International Pictures (AIP), beginning with their surprise hit, Beach Party in July 1963. With this film, AIP is credited with creating the genre. In addition to the AIP films, several contributions to the genre were produced and released by major and independent studios alike. According to various sources, the genre comprises over 30 films, with the lower-budget AIP films being the most profitable.
Generally comedies, the core elements of the AIP films consisted of a group of teenage and/or college-age characters as heroes; non-parental adult characters as villains and/or comic relief; simple, silly storylines that avoided any sober social consciousness; teen trends and interests (such as dancing, surfing, drag racing, custom cars, etc.); simple romantic arcs, original songs (presented in both the “Musical” genre style and as ”source music”); teen-oriented musical acts (frequently performing as themselves); and a tongue-in-cheek attitude toward the target audience.
The earliest films by AIP, as well as those by other studios, focused on surfing and beach culture. Although the genre is termed “beach party film”, several subsequent films that appeared later in the genre, while keeping most of the core elements mentioned above, do not actually include surfing—or even scenes on a beach.
The complete AIP series
American International Pictures produced a series of twelve films that fall into the genre. With the exception of Sergeant Deadhead,Fireball 500 and Thunder Alley, all were related by recurring characters. For example, much of the cast in Bikini Beach appear in the follow-up Pajama Party, albeit with different names – however, biker Erich von Zipper appears in the film, along with his gang of “Rats,” playing the same characters as in two previous films. In addition, Ski Party would appear unrelated, except that the characters of Todd and Craig also appear in the later Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine, which is also linked to How to Stuff a Wild Bikini by the appearance of Erich von Zipper and Annette Funicello.
The only film not to have an appearance of some kind by either Avalon or Funicello is The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini (early promos for the film had announced that the two would appear, but it didn’t happen); Funicello does not appear in Avalon’s Sergeant Deadhead and Avalon does not appear in Funicello’s Thunder Alley.
At an operating weight of an astounding 1,000 tonnes, the 6090 FS is the world’s largest excavator. With twin Cummins QSK60 engines, it boasts and total engine rating of 3360 kW / 4500 HP. When Caterpillar expanded their mining capabilities with a purchase of Bucyrus in 2011, they based the 6090 FS on the Bucyrus RH400, which was originally launched in 1997. It can fill the largest Caterpillar dump truck (the 797) in only four passes based on its 52 m3 bucket with 93.6 tonne payload.
2 – Bucyrus RH 400 Excavator
Originally launched as the Terex RH 400 and rebranded when Bucyrus purchased the Terex mining division in 2010, this model has an operating weight of 980 tonnes. With identical engine capacity to the Caterpillar 6090 RS, it requires six car batteries to simply start the engines. It has previously set the hydraulic mining excavator world record for the ability to move up to 9,900 tonnes of material in a single hour. It previously held the title of world’s largest excavator, prior to the release of the Cat 6090 FS.
3 – Hitachi EX8000-6 Excavator
The largest excavator in the Hitachi fleet, the EX8000-6 offers the versatility of being fitted with either a 43.3 m3 backhoe bucket or a 40 m3 loading shovel. Boasting an operating weight up to 837 tonnes, it can fill the largest Hitachi dump truck (EH4000AC-3) in just five passes. The twin Cummins engines give a combined capacity of 2900 kW / 3888 HP. For perspective Hitachi’s flagship mining excavator the EX1200-6, has an engine capacity one sixth the size of this!
4 – Liebherr R9800 Excavator
With an operating weight up to 810 tonnes, the R9800 from Liebherr comes with the option of either MTU or Cummins diesel engines, or an electric drive version. The electric version is rated up to 2984 kW / 4000 HP. It’s 42 m3 shovel capacity or 47.5 m# backhoe capacity are designed to pair with the Liebherr T 264 or T 284 dump trucks for maximum efficiency.
5 – Komatsu PC8000-11 Excavator
Weighing up to 773 tonnes, this is the largest excavator in the Japanese manufacturers portfolio. Komatsu’s most frequently used model in the Australian/New Zealand market is the PC200-8 and it weighs over 36 times less than this behemoth. Its twin diesel engines give it a rating to 3000 kW / 4020 HP and it has shovel and backhoe capacity of 42 m3 (designed to integrate with trucks between 240 – 400 tonnes).
November 9, 2016, the streets of America erupt with rebellious Trumplodytes
Crystal ball: Hillary Clinton wins the 2016 presidential election by a sliver. Donald Trump immediately says the election was rigged by a combination of the anti-Trump liberal bias media, the Bilderbergers, Goldman Sachs, the NSA, the British Secret Service, the Vatican, the Rosicrucian’s, Bill Maher, Bill Nye the Science Guy, the Mexican embassy in Washington, the producers of Sesame Street and the Illuminati, to name a few. “It was all fixed by bad, awful, terrible, evil people.” Trump trumpeted from his ostentatious gold plated New York City penthouse. He continued, “the NSA, which is in the back pocket of Crooked Hillary, hacked the touch screen voting machines and erased my votes, and put in, she should be in jail, Hillary’s votes!”
Trump’s supporters, colloquially known as the Trumplodytes, they are given this name because they are gullible morons who have disdain for facts and true reality, started to hit the streets and attack the “Establishment Insiders”. The Insiders include any government employee, including law enforcement and the military. It also includes Wall Street manipulators, the evil media, the pharma companies and especially FEMA.
This could get very ugly!
Trumplodytes in a back lane in Denver moving toward a U.S. Postal Service office.
A few Trumplodytes in Fargo, North Dakota stop for a selfie before attacking a U.S. Marine Corps recruiting office.
Trumplodytes moving on after destroying a school division’s bus depot.
Deplorables moving down Wall Street. A lone officer named MacLeod holding back the mob.
It has been reported Trump is preparing to move to a 3 million dollar mansion in the Colorado Rockies and muster up a Trumplodyte army. It has been noted that his first target will be Fort Knox.
A dwarf cow in Bangladesh has become a sensation in the country as thousands of people have flocked to the farm where it lives in order to see the shockingly small creature. The diminutive animal, dubbed ‘Rani,’ was reportedly born approximately two years ago in the community of Charigram and, since that time, has only grown to a mere 20 inches in height and 26 inches in length. The wondrous creature had largely lived a quiet life until a few weeks ago when pictures of the tiny animal were posted to social media in Bangladesh, capturing the imagination of observers and sparking something of a nationwide frenzy.
Soon visitors and media outlets began descending upon the animal’s farm to marvel at the miniature cow that has become a veritable celebrity in the country. “More than 15,000 people have come to see Rani in the past three days alone,” site manager M.A. Hasan Howlader said, “they have come here in droves.” In response to the overwhelming and wholly unexpected reaction to the dwarf cow, the farm has reportedly been forced to hire security for the creature and, according to the Washington Post, now only allows a handful of people access to the animal per day and by appointment only. “Honestly speaking, we are tired,” Howlander revealed while reflecting on the proverbial Rani-mania that has swept over the farm.
The influx of visitors is particularly surprising since Bangladesh is under a lockdown due to the coronavirus and government-operated transportation in the country has been temporarily suspended. Be that as it may, those wishing to see the creature have disregarded the regulations and managed to find their way to the farm. As one might imagine, government officials aren’t exactly thrilled with the craze and have asked the site to dissuade crowds from gathering near the cow. The animal’s owners believe that she may be the world’s smallest bovine, since she is currently four inches shorter than the current record holder, and are awaiting an assessment from Guinness World Records as to whether or not Rani will take the tiny crown.
I always liked Nick Cage as an actor. ‘Raising Arizona’ got me hooked, very funny movie. But how did this guy waste so much money?
One person who definitely knows what it feels like to owe a little bit of money to Uncle Sam is Nicolas Cage. Nick is unfortunately one of dozens of high profile celebrities who happen to be way better at acting or throwing a ball than they are at taking care of their personal finances. After years of extravagant over-spending, not only did Nicolas find himself owing the IRS $13 million, but he also managed to blow through a $100 million fortune. How, in the name of ZEUS’ BUTTHOLE, did this happen?
I have to admit, Nicolas Cage is probably my favorite actor of all time. The Rock, Lord of War, Con Air, National Treasure, Raising Arizona, Leaving Las Vegas, Face/Off, Snake Eyes… I celebrate the man’s entire catalog. I realize that some of Nick’s movies can be perceived as slightly cheesy or even flat out bad, but you have to admit his movies are rarely dull. At the peak of his career, Nick was one of the highest paid celebrities in the world who pulled down as much as $40 million per year. Between 1996 and 2011 Nick earned more than $150 million from acting alone. He earned $16 million for Snake Eyes, $20 million for Gone in Sixty Seconds, $20 million for Windtalkers, $20 million for National Treasure… just to name a few.
Nick Cage’s $1 Million Ferrari Enzo
Not surprisingly, as his income went up so did his spending habits. Actually, to be fair, as his income increased Nick’s spending habits SKYROCKETED. Between 2000 and 2007 Nick went on a spending spree that would make the Sultan of Brunei blush. During that time Cage made the following purchases:
15 Personal Homes: Cage’s property portfolio included an $8 million castle in England that he plunged millions more into remodeling. He never spent a single night in the castle. He also bought a second castle in Bavaria, two multi-million dollar mansions in New Orleans, a $17.5 million palace in Bel Air, a $10 million Malibu beach house, a 24,000 square foot home in Rhode Island, a mansion in Las Vegas and a getaway property on Paradise Island in the Bahamas.
Bel Air mansion
A Private Island: Apparently having a house on Paradise Island didn’t fill Nick’s penchant for the Bahamas because in 2006 he spent $7 million on a 40 acre private island 85 miles south of Nassau.
Four Luxury Yachts: Cage at one time owned four luxury yachts including one called Sarita that had 12 master bedrooms that was valued at $20 million.
A Fleet of Exotic Cars: At its peak, Nick Cage’s garage contained dozens of high end luxury vehicles including nine Rolls Royces. He owned an extremely rare $500 thousand Lamborghini and a $1 million Ferrari Enzo, one of only 349 produced. Cage also owned 30 motorcycles.
A $30 Million Gulfstream Private Jet
Other: Nearly 50 expensive works of art, dozens of jewels, a 67 million year old dinosaur skull, two extremely rare albino King Cobras.
When you total everything up, it becomes pretty clear that Nick was living well beyond his means even for a guy who makes $40 million a year. To make matters worse, while he was spending money like there was no tomorrow, Nick wasn’t paying his taxes. By 2009, his unpaid tax bill and penalties totaled more than $13 million! Nick immediately began attempting to dump as many of his assets as possible, starting with the houses. It didn’t help that 2009 was quite possibly the worst time in the last 100 years to try and sell a house in a pinch.
The good news is that Nick is still a bankable Hollywood star. In 2013 alone Nick has starred in several big budget films. He also sold his prized Action Comics #1 for a record setting $2.16 million. Hopefully Nick can churn out a few decent movies, pay down his debts and move on with his life. Fortunately, agent Stanley Goodspeed loves pressure. He eats it for breakfast.
Now worth around $25 million (as of May 2017), Cage is reportedly “taking [film] roles left and right” in order to pay off his remaining debts.
The Sikorsky S-64 Skycrane is an American twin-engine heavy-lift helicopter. It is the civil version of the United States Army’s CH-54 Tarhe. The S-64 Aircrane is the current production version, manufactured by the Erickson Air-Crane company.
The Sikorsky S-64 was designed as an enlarged version of the prototype flying crane helicopter, the Sikorsky S-60. The S-64 had a six-blade main rotor and was powered by two 4,050 shaft horsepower (3,020 kW) Pratt & Whitney JFTD12A turboshaft engines. The prototype S-64 first flew on 9 May 1962 and was followed by two further examples for evaluation by the German armed forces. The Germans did not place an order, but the United States Army placed an initial order for six S-64A helicopters (with the designation YCH-54A Tarhe). Seven S-64E variants were built by Sikorsky for the civil market.
The early military versions
Notice the insignia on the beast above is the 1st Air Cavalry Division. Colonel Kilgore’s unit from Apocalypse Now
Originally a Sikorsky Aircraft product, the type certificate and manufacturing rights were purchased from them by Erickson Air-Crane in 1992.
Since that time, Erickson Air-Crane has become the manufacturer and world’s largest operator of S-64 Aircranes and has made over 1,350 changes to the airframe, instrumentation, and payload capabilities of the helicopter. The Aircrane can be fitted with a 2,650-gallon (~10,000 litre) fixed retardant tank to assist in the control of bush fires, and it has proved itself admirably in this role.
S-64 Aircranes have been sold to the Italian and Korean Forest Services for fire suppression and emergency response duties. Those in the Erickson Air-Crane fleet are leased worldwide to organizations, companies, and Federal Government agencies for either short-term or longer term use in fire suppression, civil protection, heavy lift construction, and timber harvesting.
Erickson is manufacturing new S-64s, as well as remanufacturing existing CH-54s. Erickson gives each of its S-64s an individual name, the best-known being “Elvis”, used in fighting fires in Australia alongside “The Incredible Hulk” and “Isabelle”. Other operators, such as Siller Brothers, have followed with their Sikorsky S-64E, Andy’s Pride. The Erickson S-64E nicknamed “Olga” was used to lift the top section of the CN Tower into place in Toronto, Canada.
Erickson currently operates 20 Air-Cranes.
Erickson Air-Cranes being used for energy infrastructure placement
Fire Fighting
Logging
Other uses include moving heavy AC equipment to high rooftops.
Placing the refurbished statue on top of the Capital dome in Washington D.C.
General characteristics
Crew: 3 (pilot, co-pilot), plus one engineer or rear-facing observer
San Diego Comic-Con International is a multigenre entertainment and comic convention held annually in San Diego, California.
Originally showcasing primarily comic books and science fiction/fantasy related film, television, and similar popular arts, the convention now includes a larger range of pop culture and entertainment elements across virtually all genres, including horror, animation, anime, manga, toys, collectible card games, video games, webcomics, and fantasy novels. According to Forbes, the convention is the “largest convention of its kind in the world;” Publishers Weekly wrote “Comic-Con International: San Diego is the largest show in North America;” it is also the largest convention held in San Diego. In 2010, it filled the San Diego Convention Center to capacity with more than 130,000 attendees.
The 2021 comic-con has been postponed until 2022, There is an online event however.
Many attendees adorn costumes of their favourite characters, the results can be funny, and lets say, embarrassing.
The MarkoZen Blog 