Silly/Odd News Stories from around the World

[GDB]

Originally Posted by ganbaru

The question is If the Air Force will take lesson from that study ?

Yes. They will not create a planet destroying space station. Too much maintenance. They prefer the hands-on method anyway.

[ganbaru]

Originally Posted by GDB

Yes. They will not create a planet destroying space station. Too much maintenance. They prefer the hands-on method anyway.

The US's ICBM are on Air Force Base , right ?

[Vexx]

Originally Posted by ganbaru

The US's ICBM are on Air Force Base , right ?

It depends on what sort of missiles you're talking about... the "big boys" (true ICBMs with MIRV'd warheads) have their own "bases" and the locations are chosen to minimize collateral damage to other military assets if they're successfully targeted. There are also the 24/7 patrolling large nuclear subs with their own batch of ICBMs (smaller in size but just as lethal).
ALCMs (air launched cruise missiles) are launched from B-52s (also a percentage in the air at all times) - they can carry 24 if they aren't carrying gravity nukes (the Cold War kind that just fall). To my knowledge they aren't using B-2s for 'failsafe' duty - those have been more effective at conventional duty.

[TinyRedLeaf]

Wayward penguin 'Happy Feet' goes missing

Wellington, New Zealand (Sept 13, Tue): The wayward penguin known as "Happy Feet" has gone missing in the ocean south of New Zealand. There's a slight chance that scientists tracking the bird may hear from him again — if he's still alive — but it could take years.

The emperor penguin's satellite transmitter went silent last Friday, just five days after experts released the aquatic bird into the Southern Ocean about a quarter of the way down to Antarctica.

Experts told AP that the most likely scenario is that the transmitter fell off. The small unit was attached to the bird's feathers with super glue and was designed to fall off when he moulted early next year.

Other possibilities are that Happy Feet was eaten by an orca or a leopard seal; that he died of natural causes; or that the transmitter malfunctioned. Another device, a small chip implanted under the bird's skin, could one day send a signal if it comes close enough to a monitoring site.

Happy Feet became an international celebrity when he was discovered in June on a New Zealand beach, some 3,200km (2,000 miles) from his Antarctic home.

The bird became sick from eating sand which he likely mistook for snow, but was nursed back to health over two months at the Wellington Zoo. Veterinarians repeatedly flushed his stomach to remove sand and fattened him up on a diet of fish.

AP

"Other possibilities are that Happy Feet was eaten by an orca or a leopard seal..."

NoooOooooooOooooOoooOOOOoooo...

What happened to my happy Disney ending? So much for seizon senryaku.

[Jinto]

Originally Posted by Vexx

It depends on what sort of missiles you're talking about... the "big boys" (true ICBMs with MIRV'd warheads) have their own "bases" and the locations are chosen to minimize collateral damage to other military assets if they're successfully targeted. There are also the 24/7 patrolling large nuclear subs with their own batch of ICBMs (smaller in size but just as lethal).
ALCMs (air launched cruise missiles) are launched from B-52s (also a percentage in the air at all times) - they can carry 24 if they aren't carrying gravity nukes (the Cold War kind that just fall). To my knowledge they aren't using B-2s for 'failsafe' duty - those have been more effective at conventional duty.

+ Many air force bases have stocks of tactical nukes but few have stocks of what can be classified as strategical nukes (which most land based ICBMs are). Tactical nukes in contrast to strategic nukes, have less destructive power and can therefore be used "more precisely" to take out military targets and decrease the overall collateral damage.
Another way to see it... strategical nukes are in essence terror weapons that are used to maintain a nuclear deterrence. I can see no practical scenario where a strategical nuke can ever be used within the frame of rules of engagement if those are bound to the international humanitarian law.
Tactical nukes however, might be well within that frame, if the military thread that is going to be destroyed is just remote enough and itself capable of releasing an equally strong destructive force.

[SaintessHeart]

Originally Posted by TinyRedLeaf

Wayward penguin 'Happy Feet' goes missing


"Other possibilities are that Happy Feet was eaten by an orca or a leopard seal..."

NoooOooooooOooooOoooOOOOoooo...

What happened to my happy Disney ending? So much for seizon senryaku.

Not surprising because :

Veterinarians repeatedly flushed his stomach to remove sand and fattened him up on a diet of fish.

[ganbaru]

No more cigarettes for smoking Malaysian orangutan

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories...09-12-10-42-44

[SaintessHeart]

Originally Posted by ganbaru

No more cigarettes for smoking Malaysian orangutan

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories...09-12-10-42-44

About time! If such an animal is tended to by my local zoo, I'd shove sticks of weed up the arses of the zookeepers caring for it.

EDIT :

AKB48 Rage at “Moral Collapse” of Idol Otaku

I am at a loss of words....and choice of which side to take.

[Vexx]

Originally Posted by Jinto

+ Many air force bases have stocks of tactical nukes but few have stocks of what can be classified as strategical nukes (which most land based ICBMs are). Tactical nukes in contrast to strategic nukes, have less destructive power and can therefore be used "more precisely" to take out military targets and decrease the overall collateral damage.
Another way to see it... strategical nukes are in essence terror weapons that are used to maintain a nuclear deterrence. I can see no practical scenario where a strategical nuke can ever be used within the frame of rules of engagement if those are bound to the international humanitarian law.
Tactical nukes however, might be well within that frame, if the military thread that is going to be destroyed is just remote enough and itself capable of releasing an equally strong destructive force.

Aye, I did defense contract work during the Cold War (B-52 flight simulator engineering, other systems, etc) and the more clearance I got the more clear it was that the Kubrick movie Dr. Strangelove was NOT SUFFICIENTLY insane enough. Even tactical nukes are a "lulz" from an actual usage perspective (the average tactical nuke has more yield than the Hiroshima bomb... just far less dirty). I still highly recommend people watch that film and realize that *real* people exist who are pretty much like those lampooned in the movie even today. They're scary, and I've met them. :P

[Endless Soul]

Originally Posted by Vexx

I still highly recommend people watch that film and realize that *real* people exist who are pretty much like those lampooned in the movie even today. They're scary, and I've met them. :P

Did they ever tell you that you couldn't fight in the War Room?

[Xellos-_^]

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/...tampDescending

A Chinese man thought he would look years younger after bathing with live eels in a spa treatment designed to remove dead skin. Instead, one of the eels meant to eat the man's dead skin cells decided to enter his penis through the urethra.

[ganbaru]

Originally Posted by Xellos-_^

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/...tampDescending

A Chinese man thought he would look years younger after bathing with live eels in a spa treatment designed to remove dead skin. Instead, one of the eels meant to eat the man's dead skin cells decided to enter his penis through the urethra.

And I thought than the biggest possibility was than the eel would go for the anus insted of the penis...

[JC...]

Al-Qaeda apparently want to bomb Eton. (the school)

[Endless Soul]

Originally Posted by Xellos-_^

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/...tampDescending

A Chinese man thought he would look years younger after bathing with live eels in a spa treatment designed to remove dead skin. Instead, one of the eels meant to eat the man's dead skin cells decided to enter his penis through the urethra.

You stop that right now!

[Vexx]

Ya got to use bigger eels .... (ya this is a problem in wading in the waters of more than few water features of the world).

[Mr Hat and Clogs]

That eel story reminds me of the Amazon, and some of the nasties that live in the water there. I generally avoid anything that goes above my knee, except for my pool in the backyard. Too many evil things live in rivers and oceans. Besides everything is poisonous in Aust, except some of the sheep. Maybe.

[Rising Dragon]

H.P. Lovecraft was terrified of sea creatures and the like for a damned good reason.

[Mr Hat and Clogs]

Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn!

[Vexx]

Originally Posted by Mr Hat and Clogs

That eel story reminds me of the Amazon, and some of the nasties that live in the water there. I generally avoid anything that goes above my knee, except for my pool in the backyard. Too many evil things live in rivers and oceans. Besides everything is poisonous in Aust, except some of the sheep. Maybe.

Do you have any *blue* sheep? (blue seems to be an alarm color for "keel u ded in sekonds" down there)

[Mr Hat and Clogs]

Honestly I'd be more worried about what's hunting the sheep. Although I'm sure the deadly blue ribbon sheep would put up quite the fight.

Spoiler for Like this, supposedly..:

An Australian sheep farmer was puzzled at the disappearance of
sheep on his farm. After a few weeks of sheep disappearing, the farmer
decided to put up an electric fence.