Category Archives: War

pushed tin pushes back

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you call that control?

Fabulous cast, horrible movie, fabulous anecdotes.

Airtraffic controllers versus pilots, via Fark. A sample:

Allegedly the German air controllers at
Frankfurt Airport are renowned as a short-
tempered lot. They, it is alleged, not only
expect one to know one’s gate parking location,
but how to get there without any assistance
from them. So it was with some amusement
that we (a Pan Am 747) listened to the following
exchange between Frankfurt ground control
and a British Airways 747, call sign Speedbird
206.
Speedbird 206: “Frankfurt, Speedbird 206
clear of active runway.”
Ground: “Speedbird 206. Taxi to gate Alpha
One-Seven.”
The BA 747 pulled onto the main taxiway
and slowed to a stop.
Ground: “Speedbird, do you not know where
you are going?”
Speedbird 206: “Stand by, Ground, I’m looking
up our gate location now.”
Ground (with quite arrogant impatience):
“Speedbird 206, have you not been to
Frankfurt before?”
Speedbird 206 (coolly): “Yes, twice in 1944,
but it was dark,…… and I didn’t land.”

introduction to American diplomacy 101

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I think it best left to Americans to describe America, particularly if I want to keep this blog family-fucking-friendly, so here is a particularly timely pair of videos from those great American patriots Matt Stone and Trey Parker.

Part One: Who will take on responsibility for solving the world’s problems?

Part Two: What to do about North Korea (and Alec Baldwin)?

All clear now? Great. Now go out there and police the world!

James Bond, where are you when we need you?

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Miss Tibet, 2005And don’t tell me he’s here. Daniel Craig may be a fine actor and a decorative one at that, but he’s just no James Bond.

But, in that, he’s set the standard for spies around the world today. Not only do the Americans have problems with their middle-management selling them out for a powerboat and a two-bedroom condo in South America, but apparently India‘s spies are not exactly equipped with nerves of steel. Nerves of spun glass perhaps. Got this via Fark.

Miss Tibet and Miss China, 2002. You won't be seeing this tableau again soonEVERY beauty pageant comes with its requisite dose of melodrama: temper tantrums, lost tiaras and controversial disqualifications.

But this year’s Miss Tibet contest took the customary histrionics to new heights when it opened yesterday in Dharamsala, the Indian town where the Dalai Lama has lived since fleeing his homeland.

On the eve of the competition, one entrant was ordered to withdraw because she serves in a covert Tibetan unit of the Indian Army specialising in high-altitude combat. Pema Choedon, the soldier turned beauty queen, was so upset that she had a panic attack and was taken to hospital.

That’s some combat specialist! I bet Sandra Bullock could kick her ass!

Miss Congeniality, being uncongenial

In ass-kicking news, the one Tibetan who could give Bond a run for his money in the Cool department says he wants a shot at the crown as well.the swimsuit competition. Believe me, nobody's too eager for him to get this idea anytime soon

When the first contest was held, the government-in-exile’s prime minister denounced it as “un-Tibetan” and “aping Western culture”.

The Dalai Lama has since softened the official line.

“If there is Miss Tibet, why not Mr Tibet?”

Canada vs pot

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 hey, like, go fight 'em, eh!

I know! You don’t see a headline like that every day, eh?

It seems that, like many another battle-scarred force before them, the Taliban has begun to take refuge in marijuana.

Canadian troops fighting Taliban militants in Afghanistan have stumbled across an unexpected and potent enemy — almost impenetrable forests of 10-feet (three metre) high marijuana plants.

General Rick Hillier, chief of the Canadian defence staff, said on Thursday that Taliban fighters were using the forests as cover. In response, the crew of at least one armored car had camouflaged their vehicle with marijuana.

It’s called the Mystery Machine, and they just forgot to run it through the car wash after investigating the haunted commune near Nelson, okay?

Actually, I’m just loving the idea that the Canadian DND purchasing department may soon be placing bale orders for the stuff to camouflage the armored vehicles. Who needs depleted uranium and kevlar when your APC is wrapped in a thick layer of BC Bud and Kandahar Candu, eh?

And, no doubt, a dense cloud of smoke.

“We tried burning them with white phosphorous — it didn’t work. We tried burning them with diesel — it didn’t work. The plants are so full of water right now … that we simply couldn’t burn them,” he said.

Even successful incineration had its drawbacks.

“A couple of brown plants on the edges of some of those (forests) did catch on fire. But a section of soldiers that was downwind from that had some ill effects and decided that was probably not the right course of action,” Hiller said dryly.

One soldier told him later: “Sir, three years ago before I joined the army, I never thought I’d say ‘That damn marijuana’.”

Plane hits building in NYC

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Not many details at this point. It was a private plane helicopter a $187,000 Cirrus SR20 belonging to Cory Lidle, a professional baseball player with the Yankees, it hit the 20th floor, the building is on the Upper East Side (ie richville). MSNBC has the scoop:

MSNBC pic of small plane crash in NYC

There was no immediate word on any deaths or injuries. A U.S. official told Reuters there was no reason to believe the incident was terrorism-related…

Video from the scene showed at least three floors in the high-rise engulfed in flames. A column of gray smoke rose over the city, and raging flames could be seen in four windows on two upper floors.

The building has 50 stories, and is surrounded by highrises, so if a plane were to fall out of the sky by accident, it’s likelier in my mind that it would have hit a higher floor. Takes maneuvering to get down low. The building also has a hospital on the lower floors, undoubtably evacuated now because of the threat of the oxygen exploding. The plane hit the hospital section 20th floor; apartments begin on the 22nd floor.

Updates, from Gothamist via Gawker:

  • the building is 524 East 72nd Street

  • several apartments on a number of floors are burning

  • at least one person is dead, several are trapped in the building

  • the FAA still says it was a fixed wing aircraft, not a helicopter

  • a helicopter was in the area, on a photography tour, but there’ s no confirmation this is the same one

  • there is a huge crowd of people in the street, some taking pictures, but burning debris is falling and if they don’t haul ass, Darwin will have his revenge for the teaching of Intelligent Design in US schools.

  • the building is all apartments, no hospitals. The Hospital for Special Surgery is at 535, not 524.

  • The FAA has banned flights within a mile horizontal radius of the site and 1500 feet above.

After

More Updates:

  • two were confirmed aboard the airplane: Lidle’s passport was found in the street, and the governor has confirmed that one person was a flight instructor and the other a student.

  • witnesses said the plane appeared to be performing aerobatic maneuvers and pulled a sharp right dive into the building

  • According to Gothamist, The plane’s route from Teterboro: Statue of Liberty, then up the East River, past the 59th Street bridge where it lost radar contact.

  • a distress call was made from the plane prior to the crash

  • the building is structurally still sound, as the plane was too small and light to do significant damage, and people are moving back in

  • Although the FBI stated there was no indication of terrorism in the crash, Drudge misreported this, dropping the “no.”