Al-Qaeda Founder Attacks Osama (Oh Really?)

Al-Qaeda founder, Sayyid Imam al-Sharif (or better known as Dr Fadl); attacks Osama bin Laden from his Egyptian prison recently. Check out the link that will be posted below for the actual article.

Basically, OBL goofed big time in upsetting Uncle Sam and thus in the process, lots and lots of Muslims were killed when they need not have been.

Dr. Fadl, 20 years ago, wrote a book saying what a great idea it would be to attack the west. Now from his prison, he has comeout with a new book saying basically the opposite - or that is what I took from reading the article. I will let the reader make up their own minds on that issue.
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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/egypt/4736358/Al-Qaeda-founder-launches-fierce-attack-0n-Osama-bin-Laden.html

Tamil Tigers - They Have Their Own Air Force Now?!

From a BBC News, Colombo article by Roland Buerk posted on Monday, March 26, 2007.  

Its amazing what you can dig up on the internet. Just a link in a article about one subject and take you off in another direction.  I was reading Reuters and saw a article (by Ranga Sirilal. Reuters dated February 20, 2009 about the Tamil Tigers terrorist organization attack Colombo yet again).  With their own aircraft! I must have missed that issue of Solider of Fortune magazine.

Two rebel Tamil Tiger aircraft attacked the Sri Lankan capital of Colombo on Friday, bombing a tax building and injuring at least 27 people.  According to the defense spokesmanKeheliy Rambukwella, "One plane dropped a bomb on the Inland Revenue building catching on fire."  He went on, "We have shot one down in Katunayake and found the wreckage and the body of the pilot."  Katunayake is the international airport outside Colombo.  The separatists Tamil Tiger rebels have been cornered in a shrinking war zone, but they have a fleet of small planes that they have used to carry out aerial attacks in the past.  

While most of the territory has been taken by the rapid military advance of the Sri Lankanarmy, none of their small, single-engine planes have been found so far.  

The Sri Lankan civil war is the longest-running war in Asia and has killed a reported 70,000 people since it begn in 1983.  And the rebel group not only operates aircraft, but it has a sea wing as well.  

What is this I asked myself?  A terrorist/rebel organization now operating their own air force?  I had to check this out.  And I did.  That is where I found the article by Roland Buerk (March 26, 2007.  BBC News, Colombo, Sri Lanka).  

The rebels are using single-engine Czech-design Zlin-143 aircraft.  Normally a civilian light general aviation aircraft.  There was a photo showing one of these aircraft with a bomb rack holding four bombs on it with that article as well as a drawing of the Zlin-143s. 

From 1980s through 2007, the fight has always been on land or out at sea, but now the rebels have added a air capability.  

I have posted this on my other blog as well (http://aerospacedreams.blogspot.com).

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Ref.  http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSTRE51J4I720090220 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6496381.stm   

Victory in Iraq Declared last Year

November 22, 2008. The War in Iraq is over. By every measure, US and Coalition Forces have conclusively defeated all the enemies in Iraq. Have pacified the countryside, deposed the previous regime. Helped to create a new functioning democratic government, and suppressed any lingering insurgencies.

This is in a nutshell, a victory statement that I found on the blog (sithwest.blogspot.com) dated November 22, 2008. Other links were quickly followed to get a overall snapshot of what is going on.

From the blog irasciblechef.com entitled Headline on Mainstream-Fox (http://www.irasciblechef.com/headline-on-fox/ ) , the established benchmarks that Congress set up to determine victory in the War in Iraq has been meet. But you would not have know it from the lack of coverage in the mainstream news media. Only in the blogosphere does it appear that such information is slowly spreading out. Its February, 2009, and only now am I discovering this tidbit of news.

While the government has not made such an announcement – marking an official date. Fellow bloggers and veterans have chosen the date of victory for themselves – November 22, 2008. As such, this link (http://www.zombietime.com/vi_day/ ) is a quote “Virtual ticker-tape parade for our brave troops, to celebrate their success, to remember the fallen, and to declare in the words of President John F. Kennedy: “Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty.”

Especially read the posting on Infidels Are Cool.com (http://infidelsarecool.com/2008/11/22/happy-victory-in-iraq-day/ ). However, I recommend reading the airforcepundit.blogspot.com posting on this article ( http://airforcepundit.blogspot.com/2008/11/victory-in-iraq-day.html ).

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Ref. ( http://www.zombietime.com/vi_day/ )

http://infidelsarecool.com/2008/11/22/happy-victory-in-iraq-day/

http://ussneverdock.blogspot.com/2008/11/victory-in-iraq-day.html

http://airforcepundit.blogspot.com/2008/11/victory-in-iraq-day.html

New Star Trek Movie Related Toys

New Star Trek Movie related toys are in the pipeline from Playmates with the first wave due out in Spring of 2009 according to the latest issue of Toyfare magazine (issue #140, pages 12-13). Going online, there several dealers already offering pre-order for these toys. Major release date is set for April 19, 2009 for this product line.

First off is the model of the U.S.S. Enterprise itself with flashing lights. It'll be about $30.00 - 40.00 range on average. I included the pic of the new Enterprise here for the simple fact that it gives a good view of what the top of it looks like.  So far, all we have seen is just side views of the ship

Then there are “Role Playing Props” that one can get: the phaser and communicator.

Then there will naturally be the action figures in three scales. The more common 3.75-inch and 6-inch size that will have play sets such as the Bridge ($25.00) and Transporter Rooms ($30.00) for them. They will also come in the 12” size as well. These actions figures will be very life-like, and fully articulated and will come with removable utility belts, phasers, communicators, tricorders and other accessories. Expected pricing for each scale is as follows: $6.99, $8.99, and $29.99). Then there are the 12” size (I.e. 1/6^th scale figures) that I am in particular looking forward to. “Both” Spocks, then Kirk and McCoy, and then finally - Nero, the Romulan.

When these figures hit the stores this spring (and the second wave in the wall), you can expect to see a lot more “photo-comics” adventures dreamed up with these guys and posted online.

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Ref. Toyfare #140, pages 12-13.

http://trekmovie.com/2009/01/21/playmates-star-trek-movie-toys-revealed/

http://www.action-figure.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=24363

http://www.readjunk.com/news/junk/playmates-toys-announce-star-trek-movie-toys

For the Star Trek Fans Out There

For the Star Trek Fans out there like me!

Being a member of Trekspace, one can get all sorts of information.  Recently found this and decided that with the big day tomorrow, what the hell...  I'll post a link to this blogsite.  Now if only I had a wife( or girlfriend, mistress, etc) to wear something like this...

And as we all know, sex sells.  Enjoy.

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Ref>  ( http://conventionfans.today.com/2009/02/12/star-trek-inspired-corset-yes-please/ )

Untapped Oil Reserves in the United States in 2008

Thanks to a email from a old flying buddy of mine, I am writing this post for both of my blogs (http://aerospacedreams.blogspot.com/ and http://flash255bunker.blogspot.com/ ).

While the email that was sent to me delt with the Bakken Formation in Montana and North Dakota, I also found a fact sheet dealing with the Permian Basin – a region that I live in. Please use the links provided below and print these out for yourself and your friends. Email your friends with those links or a link to this blog for their own education. The news about the Bakken MUST get out to the general public. It must evade the efforts of the green party (I.e. The Democratic Party and their propaganda machine – the mainstream news media).

Quoting the United States Geological Survey report for the Permian Basin, "The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) recently assessed the undiscovered oil and gas potential of the Permian Basin Province of west Texas and southeast New Mexico. The assessment was geology based and used the total petroleum system concept. The geologic elements of a total petroleum system are petroleum source rocks (quality, source rock maturation, generation, and migration), reservoir rocks (sequence stratigraphy, petrophysical properties), and traps (trap formation and timing). This study assessed potential for technically recoverable resources in new field discoveries only; field growth (or reserve growth) of conventional oil and gas fields was not included. Using a this methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated a mean of 41 trillion cubic feet of undiscovered natural gas and a mean of 1.3 billion barrels of undiscovered oil in the Permian Basin Province."

This is good news if the US had the strength to ignore those voices on the left and not harming the planet, etc, etc. But, the news is even better with what is known as the “Devonian-Mississippian Bakken Formation” This is a a area that covers North and South Dakota and parts of Montana. USGS estimates a mean “undiscovered” volume of 3.6 Billion barrels of oil, 1.85 TRILLION cubic feet of associated/dissolved natural gas. And finally, 148 million barrels of natural gas liquids in this region.

And since this is a light, sweet oil, those billions of barrels will cost Americans just $16.00 per Barrel!

This is enough to fully fuel the American economy for Forty-One (41) straight years!

Now this next bit of information should really floor the reader. It was released several years ago (April 20, 2006, Stansberry Report Online). U.S. Oil Discovery – Largest Reserve in the World! Hidden 1,000 feet beneath the surface of the Rocky Mountains lies the largest untapped oil reserve in the world is more than 2 Trillion barrels. On August 8, 2005, President Bush mandated its extraction.

They reported this amazing news: We have more oil inside our own borders, than ALL the other proven reserves on the planet. Eight times as much oil as Saudi Arabia. Eighteen times as much oil as Iraq. Twenty-One and Twenty-Two times as much oil as Kuwait and Iran respectively. 500 times as much oil as Yemen. All right here in the United States of America.

And the reason WE are NOT extracting this?! You already know the answer to this question. It is because the environmentalists and others (I.e. The Greens and their lobby groups working on the Democratic party), have blocked all efforts to help America become independent of foreign oil!

The head researcher of the study, James Bartis, says that we( the USA) got more oil in this very compact area than the entire Middle East – more than TWO TRILLION barrels untapped. The Denver Post quoted him as saying, “That's more than all the proven oil reserves of crude oil in the world today.”

Think about this, the current cost of a barrel of oil is: $40.41 as of February 8, 2009, but the prices of gas at the gas pump is still climbing again – getting ready to shock it to us again for the second year in a row. Why is this?

My thoughts on this is this. There are those who believe in Peak Oil – that oil is a finite resource. While there is talk (and only talk) of building more refineries – that will not happen. Because if one believes in Peak Oil – and that we have ALREADY crossed that dividing line, there will not be enough oil to process in 20-30 years. Which is also the amount of time it would take in order for a refinery to pay itself off. Here is a link about Peak Oil for you (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peak_Oil).

I no longer believe in Peak Oil myself. More and more discoveries of oil are being made at far greater depth than what one would expect to find dead dinosaurs and plant matter to be at. Oil, I think, is a geological byproduct. We've been taught about the theory of Continental Drift and how the continents of the earth move relative to one another. This is an old hypothesis put forth by Abraham Ortelius in 1596 and more fully developed by Alfred Wegener in 1912. (Check it out at Wikipedia yourself: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continental_drift).

Is oil a byproduct of Continental Drift? For myself, as of this date; I think the answer is yes.

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References:
1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peak_Oil
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continental_drift
3. http://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/2007/3115/
4. http://www.usgs.gov/newsroom/article.asp?ID=1911
5. http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2008/1353/
http://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/2008/3021/pdf/FS08-3021_508.pdf
photo from www.fotosearch.com (1169611) royalty free photograph.

Reuters Blogs

I found this fascinating quote today:

Nassim Nicholas Taleb,  the author of  “The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable”, has a simple proposal to as he puts it, “save capitalism and free markets from the banks.”Reuters Blogs, Jan 2009

You should read the whole article.