MI5 hunting breast implants of death

MI5 hunting breast implants of death

Women suicide bombers recruited by al-Qaida are known to have had the explosives inserted in their breasts under techniques similar to breast enhancing surgery. The lethal explosives – usually PETN (pentaerythritol Tetrabitrate) – are inserted during the operation inside the plastic shapes. The breast is then sewn up.

Similar surgery has been performed on male suicide bombers. In their cases, the explosives are inserted in the appendix area or in a buttock. Both are parts of the body that diabetics use to inject themselves with their prescribed drugs

[snip]

"Properly inserted the implant would be virtually impossible to detect by the usual airport scanningmachines. You would need to subject a suspect to a sophisticated X-ray. Given that the explosive would be inserted in a sealed plastic sachet, and would be a small amount, would make it all the more impossible to spot it with the usual body scanner."

Explosive experts at Britain's Porton Down biological and chemical warfare research center told MI5 that a sachet containing as little as five ounces of PETN when activated would blow "a considerable hole" in an airline's skin which would guarantee it would crash.

This ... sounds ominous. And serious. No, really!

Okay, so maybe not.

I've been wondering about "The Shoe Bomber" and "The Jock-Strap Bomber", and even "The Liquid Explosive Bombers". How can a tiny amount of explosives detonated within the passenger compartment of an airplane "guarantee it would crash"?

Sure, I can see it if the explosion occurred in an area where it would disrupt avionics or control runs (cables to ailerons? Do they work by cables in the 767?) or some other method caused the pilot to lose control of the airplane. And I understand how a hole in the skin may cause a huge rip, and passengers may be sucked out of the plane at 30,000 feet altitude.

But blowing "... a considerable hole in an airline's skin ... would guarantee it to crash"?

I'm not convinced of the inevitability of the disaster, and here's why.

According to sky-brary

On 28 April 1988, a Boeing 737-200, operated by Aloha Airlines experienced an explosive depressurisation and structural failure at FL 240. Approximately 5.5 metres (or 18 feet) of cabin covering and structure was detached from the aircraft during flight. As result of the depressurisation, a member of the cabin crew was fatally injured. The flight crew performed an emergency descent, landing at Kahului Airport on the Island of Maui, Hawaii.

Here's a picture depicting the extend of aircraft skin which was found to be missing when the plane landed (safely!)

As you can see, about 1/3 of the overhead skin of the passenger compartment was ripped off.
But was the plane "guaranteed to crash"?

Apparently, the guarantee was null and void.

The full story of Aloha Airlines Flight 243 can be read here.

And yes, people were injured. One stewardess was killed.

At least one study suggests that a 'small hole' in the skin (16 inches?) caused an overpressure within the passenger compartment, sucking the stewardess against the skin. The impact of her skull against the skin caused the much greater rupture, which exaggerated the damage and caused many more injuries among the passengers.

The cause was eventually attributed to structural damage caused by corrosion.

The New York Times has a less technical, more human-event oriented story about the blowout at 24,000 feet. Officials originally suspected sabotage (yes, even 13 years before the 911 disaster which awakened the world to the threat of terrorism).

In 1989:

United Airlines Flight 811 experienced a cargo door failure in flight on Friday, February 24, 1989, after its last stopover at Honolulu International Airport, Hawaii. The resulting decompression blew out several rows of seats, killing 9 passengers. United Airlines Flight 811, a Boeing 747-122 (registration number N4713U), took off from Honolulu International Airport bound for Auckland, New Zealand with 3 flight crew, 15 flight attendants, and 337 passengers ...

This plane, too, managed to land safely despite the dreadful damage to the plane and the tragic loss of nine passengers.


As recently as July 2009, a passenger plane lost a significant amount of 'skin', in a hole above a passenger sheet. Again, structural damage caused by corrosion.

The point is that a hole in the skin in a plane, or the sudden and dramatic loss of hull integrity even extending to the loss of a cargo door (a hole much bigger than 16") may cause injury and death to individual passengers, but need not necessarily cause the plan to crash.

We keep hearing these melodramatic stories about terrorists who plan to bring down airplanes by blowing a hole in the skin of the plane, or even blow a hole in the floor of the passenger compartment, and our shocked reaction should be (we are told) to assume that this will bring down an airplane.

Not to downplay the threat of suicidal terrorists, but it ain't necessarily so. Sudden and rapid decompression of the passenger compartment, even to the extend that 1/3 of the overhead being ripped from an airplane, does not inevitably cause the pilots to lose control or the airplane to lose its ability to fly.

We're getting hammered so often by threats to passenger airplanes that we begin to see the threat of major disasters every week. We need to step away from the rhetoric and take a critical look at the sensational news reports.

After all, last year in Texas a single man with a pistol and an ideology killed more people than all three of these "airplane disasters" put together. And the 'experts' are still trying to find the root cause of that disaster.

And now we're to be frightened about Boob Bombs? Exploding tits?

Spare me, please.

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Obama bows Part III ... to ... Tampa Mayor ?

U.S. President Barack Obama bows to Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio at ... - Yahoo! News Photos
On a January 28, 2010, trip to Tampa, Florida, President Obama met several local notables, including Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio. Apparently he was as impressed by Ms Iorio as he was with the Empress Michiko & Emperor Akihito last November (*see "Obama Bows Part II") and King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia six months earlier ... because he brought out his patented Obama-Bow.



You may be forgiven for expecting that Obama would have learned his lesson after the nation-wide outrage about his incessant submissiveness to Foreign Leaders. Perhaps he did. Maybe he figured he wouldn't mind so much if he just bowed to American Leaders. You know, like the Mayor of Tampa


Who's next? Barbra Streisand?

On the other hand, perhaps Obama wasn't being submissive to Iorio. Maybe, just maybe, he was apologizing for his recent decisions to cut future funding to NASA ... especially the budget item which would have extended the Space Shuttle project which is scheduled to terminate in 2011, and to cancel the Moon Program launched by G.W. Bush in 2004.

According to the St. Petersburg Times (Feb. 01, 2010), the close of the shuttle program will cost some NASA 7,000 jobs. This has ... disappointed some Florida Leaders.

"The president's proposal lacks a bold vision for space exploration and begs for the type of leadership that he has described as critical for inspiring innovation for the 21st century," said Rep. Suzanne Komas, D-New Smyrna Beach.

We beg for leadership, while Obama begs forgiveness?

How's that "Hopey - Changey" thing working for you today, America?

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Bullets by Mail

A recent flurry of activity on The Unofficial IPSC List (mail group) was started today when Mark H.* sent the following message:

With the low cost of the priority mail shipment, I've started getting bullets shipped by USPS. As a result, I've gotten to talk to the manager of the local post office twice, as well as 2 local postal inspectors.

Has anyone else gotten the opportunity to chat with their postal inspectors over this?

I didn't understand what the original post was talking about until I found the follow-up response from Bruce G.*

I haven't had to talk with a postal inspector.

I have received a notice that my packages were "undeliverable", and had to go to the USPS distribution center to pick them up. Interestingly, I *asked* to have a chat with the manager about that and the next time, my local carrier actually did manage to deliver them.

So at least two USPSA members, in separate states, have had United States Postal Service local deliveries refused by the delivery trucks.

Further elucidation was offered by Ira W.*:

I guess "if it fits, it ships" is not actually the truth... Perhaps there is some fine print we are missing.

Yes I have had to go to the local post office. The last time the postal worker was dragging the boxes across the floor until she gave up and asked me to come back and get them! I don't think this is normal but I obliged!!! They did offer me a hand truck!

Keith L.* offers some commentary:

I have received bullets from at least two, if not three, different manufacturers by USPS flat-rate shipments. ALL were delivered directly to my house; NONE required any chats with USPS employees. Nor should they.

IF the packages are competently shipped, they are at or under the weight restrictions. There is nothing flammable, liquid, explosive or otherwise prohibited; meaning there is NO reason for any interaction w/the USPS other than it DELIVERING it and you taking the carton off your steps and into your house.

There is NO reason to discuss the contents w/the USPS. Period.

Doing so invites the attention - and thus the INTERVENTION - of the AG's office when some officious intermeddler babbles about "bullets through the mail." There are already damn few suppliers that still ship to this appalling excuse for a state. Are you TRYING to eliminate them?

If not, don't discuss your business with those who have NO reason to be involved in it. NO good will come of it.

The upshot of it is that, where the USPS (no relation, obviously, to USPSA) is concerned -- sometimes they will, sometimes they won't.

There isn't sufficient traffic on this topic, yet, to draw any less-general conclusions.

I've also received bullet shipments via USPS, and the first time it happened I was very much surprised. I live on a cul de sac in a small liberal college town (but I repeat myself) and our mail deliveries go to a standing mail-box station on the entrance to the street. There are two large 'parcel' bins, plus sufficient individual letter boxes for each address. When a parcel arrives and is found to be too large to stuff in the 'letter' box, it is placed in one of the parcel bins and the key to that bin left by the carrier in the letter box.

Both of my bullet shipments were left on my front porch, which I consider to be entirely safe because the standard shipment of bulk bullets weights 80 pounds. (For 115 grain bullets, that's 4,000 rounds; for 200 grain bullets, that's 2,250 rounds IIRC.)

I'm guessing that the carriers to the addresses which were "undeliverable" make their rounds with a shoulder-strapped mail sack, or perhaps by one of those 3-wheeled 'baby carriage' push-carts. That would make it a huge imposition on the individual carrier, to add another 80 pounds to deliver to one address on those routes.

My own carrier makes his rounds in a USPS truck ... one of those enclosed vehicles which look like a modified golf cart. There's a minimum of lifting involved in heavy-parcel deliveries to my address, since the mail truck can roll to within 10 feet of my front door. (It's probably as easy to drop it at my door as to lift it up to one of the street-corner parcel bins, especially since the box would have to be lifted UP to put it into a bin.)

So my conclusion is that USPS isn't biased against delivering bulk bullets to a street address if it is serviced by a carrier in a truck. But in more urban surroundings, it seems not unreasonable that the postmaster might make a local policy requiring the addressee to pick it up at the post office.

They're not anti-gun; they're just anti-hernia.

[delete some inapplicable babble about shipping combustible/explosive reloading components ... sorry, I digressed]

_________________________________
UPDATE: from Bruce G.

Nope, my carrier drives a "real" postal truck, with a roll-up door in the back, so that wasn't the issue. I think the actual *effort* involved was the issue - he usually doesn't have to do anything but lean out of his window to put things into street-side cluster boxes, so actually getting *out* of his truck seemed to be central to the matter (notably, I chased him down on one occasion when he left a card saying the package was undeliverable. Turned out he didn't even have the box in his truck - he had apparently decided it was "undeliverable" at the distribution center, and left it there...)

And, flat-rate boxes are good for anything that fits, up to a [published] limit of 70 pounds. http://www.usps.com/shipping/prioritymail.htm

Response: Note that the link Bruce cites is for priority mail, so a bulk delivery of bullets weighing X-pounds may not be treated the same as a lighter package. Still, I'm willing to concede that my hypothetical 'conclusion' may not be universally applicable ... which does not obviate the suggestion that local postmasters may be authorized to make deliverability decision based on guidelines, rather than policy established by the Post Master General.

I'm not trying to start an argument here. And I'm not presenting myself as an apologist for the USPS. I'm only saying that I can understand why a carrier may not be required to deliver 65, 70, 80 pound packages to a street address.

Incidentally, I have just looked at the Montana Gold ordering website to determine their weights for "case lots" of bullets.

.40 cal @200 grain includes 2250 bullets, weighing about 65 pounds.
.45 cal @230 grain includes 2000 bullets, weighing about 66 pounds.

So taking Montana Gold as an Industry Standard, a case of bullets seems to be keeping within the 70 pound limit for USPS Priority Shipping.

[delete a lot of inapplicable babble about shipping rates ... sorry, I digressed]

Anybody here work for USPS, and can they provide information about the definition of "undeliverable" mail?
___________________________
*NOTE: correspondent names are truncated out of consideration for their privacy.

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Nic Cage as Everyone

Nic Cage as Everyone


Sorry, I just couldn't resist.


So go, check out the link.

Or not.

(Shown: Nic Cage as Michael Jackson ... in case it wasn't obvious.)


And if that's not weird enough for you, check out the HILLBUZZ.ORG blogarticle about "What Happened To People Who Backstab The Clintons".
... and ...
Shout First, Ask Questions Later's Corruption Daily Roundup.

See? It CAN get weirder, the more you follow the links.

__________________


WE Surf The Portions Of The Internet That Americans Won't.

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Helmet Mounted Action Camera

For IPSC Videos, I'm looking for something which combines the utility and economy of THIS .....








..... with the style and class of this!



(Thanks and a Hat Tip to LawDog, which post also links to some excellent Ben Hur Fun!)

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Incomprehensible Internet Items

This is Blogmeat ... all about "stuff" I found on the Internet that makes no sense at all.

First, ten minutes of what may be either the most erudite or most bizarre review of Star Wars: The Phantom Menace:
(H/T to The Smallest Minority)

Next; if you're a pot smoker, be sure you know where it came from and how it got here.

Also: "Bruce Davis, a member of Charles Manson's murderous cult who participated in two killings, was recommended for parole on Thursday after nearly four decades in prison."

The decision by a two-member Board of Prison Terms panel came after the 26th parole hearing for Davis, Department of Corrections spokeswoman Terry Thornton said.

It was just the first step in a parole process that also requires approval by the governor and other parole board members. The process could take five more months.

The 67-year-old Davis has been in prison since 1972 after being convicted in the murders of musician Gary Hinman and stuntman Donald "Shorty" Shea.

Attorney Michael Beckman, who represented Davis at the hearing, said Davis acknowledged for the first time that he shared responsibility for what happened, even though he killed no one himself.

"He said, "I was as responsible as everyone there,"' Beckman said.

If parole is granted, Davis is subject to re-incarceration until the next time he actually kills "no one himself".

In Florida, the body of Abraham Shakespeare ... a British subject who won $30million in the Florida Lottery ... was found under recently poured concrete slabs at the home of a friend of a friend. (See also here)

I know there's a perfect punch-line here, but I just don't have the nerve to indulge myself.




On YouTube, "Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) speaking on the House floor: Now we've moved into the realm of gangster government."


That's enough for now. Maybe later I can find something to write about that Actually Makes Sense.

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Work is a four-letter word

When you don't get to work, you miss it.

Then when you get to work, you don't appreciate it.

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Sand Art

I received the accompanying text and link from my sister, Annie. It seems a bit obscure to me, and I didn't find it quite as emotionally compelling as she (Annie) or the audience did. But it was a nicely done evolutionary application of an unusual medium in the graphic arts.

Putting aside the hyperbole, I offer the text and the link for your consideration. (I've also embedded the video at the end of the article). Video takes 8-1/2 minutes to run.

Don't miss this amazing Video Clip. First read it properly.
This video shows the winner of "Ukraine's Got Talent", Kseniya Simonova, 24, drawing a series of pictures on an illuminated sand table showing how ordinary people were affected by the German invasion during World War II. Her talent, which admittedly is a different one, is mesmeric to watch.


The images, projected onto a large screen, moved many in the audience to tears and she won the top prize of about $130,000.00


She begins by creating a scene showing a couple sitting holding hands on a bench under a starry sky, but then warplanes appear and the happy scene is obliterated.
It is replaced by a woman's face crying, but then a baby arrives and the woman smiles again. Once again war returns and Miss Simonova throws the sand into chaos from which a young woman's face appears.
She quickly becomes an old widow, her face wrinkled and sad, before the image turns into a monument to an Unknown Soldier.
This outdoor scene becomes framed by a window as if the viewer is looking out on the monument from within a house.
In the final scene, a mother and child appear inside and a man standing outside, with his hands pressed against the glass, saying goodbye.
The Great Patriotic War, as it is called in Ukraine, resulted in one in four of the population being killed with eight to 11 million deaths out of a population of 42 million.


Kseniya Simonova says: "I find it difficult enough to create art using paper and pencils or paintbrushes, but using sand and fingers is beyond me. The art, especially when the war is used as the subject matter, even brings some audience members to tears. And there's surely no bigger compliment."

Please take time out to see this amazing piece of art.
Click on the link below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOhf3OvRXKg

[H/T to: Annie, my sister]
UPDATE: 30-JAN-2010
The Smallest Minority has a link to a FAQ here.

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Jerry and The Tooth Fairy

Last week in my "Life is But A Dream" article I went into excruciating detail about how I came to have a broken tooth, what my options were, and how long I waited to achieve final resolution to my physical problem.

In a nutshell: on December 6 the crown fell off of a tooth which had had a Root Canal several years ago, and when I finally got into my Dentist he decided that there was not enough tooth left to put a new crown of (it was broken off at the gumline).

He recommended that I go to an Oral Surgeon to have the roots removed, as there was insufficient tooth showing for an ordinary dentist to pull them using standard techniques.

In the meantime, since I had been remiss in my normal twice-yearly maintenance trips to the dentist, he found some gum problems and several cavities which needed to be filled before Oral Surgery.

He, the dentist, said that he wanted my mouth to be "as hygienic and sterile as possible" before sending me to the surgeon.

My suspicion was that right at the end of the calendar year, he wanted me to use up as much of my dental-plan as possible during the 2009 billing year, and put the actual surgery on the 2010 billing year.

Which they did.

I finally got an appointment with an oral surgeon in Albany ... 15 miles away from my home town of Corvallis ... for a consultation. When I went to meet the surgeon he told me that his plan was basically to just 'pull the tooth' because he thought there was enough enamel between the two roots for him to grasp. He also warned me that in case of complications, he may have to make an incision in the enamel to get to the roots. (The tooth was a Cuspid, the last of the two-root teeth before the Bicuspid. I think.)

The point I wanted to emphasize to the Surgeon was two-part:

1. I was extremely apprehensive about the operation because I had a very bad experience the last time a dentist pulled a tooth; he had tgo break it into pieces by twisting it with pliers, before he could pull the individual roots;
2. When I feel sudden excruciating pain in my mouth, my instinctive response was not to cry out or cringe, but instead I bite down on the hand that hurt me. And I bite really hard!

We discussed full anesthesia, Nitrous Oxide, and a strong Local Anesthetic as approaches for the operation. After some discussion, we decided on the local after application of 'anti-anxiety' medication (Halcion).


The problem was, I would have to take the drug an hour before the scheduled operation, and I had to have someone to drive me home and care for me for the following 24 hours.

It was only the night before the operation that Sandie convinced me that she didn't need to take pain killers in the night or early morning, and she would be able to safely drive us to Albany, wait during my operation, and then get us back home safely.

Which is how it worked out.

In the actual event, I took the Halcion at 9:20 in Corvallis, and by the time we got to the Doctor's office at 10am I was pretty groggy. I don't remember much about the actual operation ... just a few random thoughts and snippets. For example, I remember the surgeon grunting with effort while he was trying to pull the tooth, and I was wondring whether this might not be a bad sign. But then I decided I didn't much care.

I do recall that I had to be escourted out of the office, supported at the desk whilc the receptionists recited the cautions and gave Sandie some paperwork. It think I had to sign some of it.

I slept almost ALL of the way back to Corvallis, slept on the couch while pretending to read a book, and slept 12 hours that night.

When I woke up the next day, I took, a couple of doses of pain killers and ate a lot of soft foods. Other than that, and not feeling like doing anything physical such as going for a walk, my day was completely free of stress and pain.

By Sunday, I was ready to go back to work. That is, I was ready until I tried to get to sleep on Sunday Night/Monday Morning.

But then, that's another story.

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Romancing the Stone

While I was busily recovering from my adventurous Friday with the Oral Surgeon, I was taking some fairly powerful pain killers. I needed them at first, but after 24 hours I was actually getting along quite well without them.

In fact, I was feeling so good that by Saturday night I was confident that just one pain killer at 11pm would last me through the night.

But I couldn't get to sleep. It seemed to be one of those nights when just a minor ache ... you know, like a little back ache or leg ache ... was enough to keep you from relaxing.

So about 2am I got up to go to the bath room (false alarm) and take one Ibuprofen. Then I went back to bed and actually slept for an hour or so. I had this ugly nightmare about a traveling circus/safari, a mean elephant and his mahout with a really bad attitude. When I woke up about a quarter of three, it was wish some feeling of relief that I escaped from the subliminal angst ... only to discover that I had more problems.

The beating I had dreamed I was taking from the mahout turned out to be a very bad ache in my side, and an even more painful lower-back pain on the same (right) side.

I tried to fix it by taking a pain pill, but even though I took it with food I was overwhelmed by nausea and I discovered the Joy of Emesis. Nope, I'm not going to escape this one.

Sandie woke up and asked if she could help. I couldn't think of anything she could do. I tried lying flat with a heating pad, but the pain was still too much to bear.

Finally about 6:30 I decided there was something physically wrong, it was not merely some weird side-effect of the medication, so Sandie took me to the emergency room at the hospital.

While the nurse was preparing me for the Doctor's examination (especially, which she was inserting a needle in my arm so I could accept multiple injections of anti-nausea and anti-pain drugs) she asked a running litany of questions about my medical history. Finally she asked "Have you have been diagnosed with Kidney Stones?"

"No", I replied. And I heard her say under her breath: "Well, you have one now."

Two hours, two doctors, another nurse and a CT-scan technician later they had reached a consensus. Yes, I have a 4mm Kidney stone trying to work its way south. Apparently it had escaped the kidney and was now forcing its way painfully down the urethra.

No telling how long it will take for it to force its way out of my body, but I'm not looking forward to it.

For now, I am taking 7 different medicines several times a day, including both anti-nausea and anti-pain medications, Penicillin, and some stuff that's suppose to relax the "inner organs".

The good news is that the anti-pain drugs are working VERY well. The bad news is that I'm pretty well out of it, because I'm unable to concentrate. If not for the spell-checker, for example, this text would be unintelligible. (And know, I wouldn't know how to spell "unintelligible" without help.)

Anyway, I thought it was of interest that I no sooner get past one medical event than I find myself in the middle of another one. I'm convinced that one has actually precipitated the next. Perhaps a conspiracy within the Medical Community?

Remember: just because I'm paranoid, that doesn't mean they are not out to get me.

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Dead Bob

Daily Herald | 'Spenser' novelist Robert Parker dies at age 77

It is my unhappy task to report the death of Robert B Parker, author of the "Spenser" novels.

Parker also wrote the Jesse Stone and Sunny Randall series.

I have followed Parker's novels since the late 1970's, and own 'most' of his books (with the exception of a few "oddball" publications, such as "Wilderness").

Parker was, himself, something of an "oddball", in the same sense as were Raymond Chandler, Dashiel Hammett and Ross MacDonald.

Between them, they defined the genre of the hard-boiled American Private Eye, and they did so in such inimitable style that it seems likely that they will be over-shadowed in this generation.

Or in the next generation.

Most of my PARKER books are out on loan this month, because I re-read the complete series (all 3 sets ... Spenser, Stone and Randall) last month.

Now it is my sad task to retrieve all of the 30+ books so that I can re-read them again, for the 4th or 5th or (sometimes) 5th time, and then put them on the Annual Reread list along with a chosen few of my favorite authors.

Because, you know, there won't be a lot of new books from R.B.Parker available, except for the few which are already in the Production Line.

And no, I'm not discounting his recent books of The Wild, Wild West such as "Appaloosa".

Go ahead, read the original article. I've already got most of the books, so you'll be the one haunting the shelves of the Used Book Store for the out-of-print books such as The Godwulf Manuscript.

Best book he ever wrote? "Early Autumn".

Don't argue with me. This is the guy who thought "The Old Man and The Boy" was arguably the best thing that Robert Ruark ever wrote.

Damn!

All of the best writers are dying.

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USPSA Major Match Dates for 2010

From USPSA President Michael Voight, via CCS Secretary:

Sep 9-12 USPSA MultiGun Nationals

Open, Tactical, Limited, Heavy Metal Las Vegas, Nevada

Oct 1-2 US IPSC Nationals

Open, Standard – others to be announced Columbia, South Carolina

Oct 8-12 USPSA Handgun Nationals

Open and Limited 10 Las Vegas, Nevada

Oct 13-16 USPSA Handgun Nationals

Limited, Production and Revolver Las Vegas, Nevada

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Columbia Cascade Section Election Results

(per "The Hobo Brasser") --

Mike McCarter Section Coordinator

Paul Meier Deputy Section Cordinator

Mark O’Shea Secretary

Roger Nettles Treasurer

Shaun Hescock Competition Director



Turnout was light to say the least. The only contested spot was decided by one vote (deputy).

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