Flying with the fastest birds on the planet

Ever wondered what it is like to be a bird? Well some people in BBC did and here is the result, a camera harnessed to a Peregrine and a Gos Hawk, warning video is not for people that get air sick!

Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy of Company B

Some more old time boogie via the Andrew Sisters. I do like my boogie.

Afghanistan in Pictures

U.S. Marines help as a young girl is carried by her father to a Medevac helicopter September 18, 2010 near Marja, Afghanistan. The girl suffered wounds to her face and legs after being struck by shrapnel from an RPG that was fired at Marines patrolling in her village.


Singer and activist Farhad Darya reaches out to women as he performs at a concert during a peace day event on September 21, 2010 in Mazar-e-Sharif,


A French soldier from the 1st Regiment Marines Infantry (RIMA) fires an anti-tank grenade from an assault rifle FAMAS


Maliha Ahmadzia, a 25 year-old law and political science student at Mawlana University in Balkh province, who is running for parliament poses for a photo.


Excellent photographs of the ISAF in action and of the people of Afghanistan.
Courtesy of Boston.com

Goodbye BIOS, Hello UEFI

New PCs could start in just seconds, thanks to an update to one of the oldest parts of desktop computers.
The upgrade will spell the end for the 25-year-old PC start-up software known as Bios that initialises a machine so its operating system can get going.
The code was not intended to live nearly this long, and adapting it to modern PCs is one reason they take as long as they do to warm up.
Bios' replacement, known as UEFI, will predominate in new PCs by 2011.
The acronym stands for Unified Extensible Firmware Interface and is designed to be more flexible than its venerable predecessor.
"Conventional Bios is up there with some of the physical pieces of the chip set that have been kicking around the PC since 1979," said Mark Doran, head of the UEFI Forum, which is overseeing development of the technology.
Mr Doran said the creators of the original Bios only expected it to have a lifetime of about 250,000 machines - a figure that has long been surpassed. (Gee, thats an understatment)

More at BBC

Shiver in your boots Imperialistic Capitalistic dogs!!

Clearly Generalship material and no doubt already awarded “Hero of the People” several times over. Nice to see that the nuts don’t roll far from the tree. I bet that within the first year after the death of his father he either becomes a figurehead or meets with a terrible accident.

more here

Evening wear, Vietnam style

Here are a couple of pictures of the parade to celebrate the 1,000th anniversary of the establishment of Thang Long, the old name of the current Vietnamese capital, Ha Noi.

Courtsey of Quang of Tanknet

I will be sure to dress up if I intend to attack Vietnam, just love the long white gloves!

5149 Square Kilometres to Drain

Spoke to my buddy in Bella Coola today, 2 bridges completely gone that they know of and approaches to several highway bridges washed away, along with portions of the road. They don’t expect road access to Bella Coola for some time, this means they lose the last of the tourist season and most of hunting season, that is not covered by disaster funding.

The main road into town


From the Bella Coola Blog

5149 Square Kilometres to Drain
I was looking at a report tonight, the Bella Coola Watershed-based Fish Sustainability Plan Stage III Final Report and found a nice map on page 8 which shows the 20 + sub basins that make up the Bella Coola River Watershed. What you notice is that the watershed area of 514,962 hectares or 5149 sq kms, that make up the total area of the watershed, the Atnarko River drainage is the largest at 180,000 plus hectares. Normally during our 'flood' events, the Atnarko River drainage would see far less rainfall than the rest of the watershed, because most of the Atnarko River is in the lee or rain shadow area of the Coast Mountains. This time, it is apparent that virtually the entire basin of over 5000 km was likely saturated with the 200 mm + (8 inches) of rain all at the same time, including the large Atnarko River basin which goes well into the Chilcotin. It's rare that an area of road in the Chilcotin like the area of Highway 20 near McClinchy Creek would wash out based on rainfall of coastal monsoon levels.

If you think about the volume of water which 200 mm equals spread over 5000 sq km, the amount of water which has to drain out of the Bella Coola River is really quite large. It's going to take awhile, especially since more was added to it today. The three months of dry weather with soil that was bone dry and takes a long time to wet, didn't help our situation.

There's "Fail" and then, there's "*Epic* Fail"

When you're going to do a drive-by grenade toss through the passenger window, always insure the passenger window is *down*.

Photo Courtesy of Castle Arrrrgh where you can see another epic suicide bombing fail.

Honouring bravery

When you start to think that people don't care, just think of these people, because a lot of average people do extraordinary things when called upon by fate.

OTTAWA—Her Excellency the Right Honourable Michaëlle Jean, Governor General of Canada, announced today the awarding of two Stars of Courage and 22 Medals of Bravery. The recipients will be invited to receive their decorations at a ceremony to be held at a later date.


The Decorations for Bravery were created in 1972 to recognize people who risked their lives to try to save or to protect the lives of others. The Cross of Valour (C.V.) recognizes acts of the most conspicuous courage in circumstances of extreme peril; the Star of Courage (S.C.) recognizes acts of conspicuous courage in circumstances of great peril; and the Medal of Bravery (M.B.) recognizes acts of bravery in hazardous circumstances.



A list of recipients and their citations, as well as a fact sheet on the Decorations for Bravery, are attached.


RECIPIENTS


STAR OF COURAGE

Miranda Suggitt, S.C.

Lindsay, Ont.

Michael Thomas Westwell, S.C., C.D.

Pukatawagan, Man.


MEDAL OF BRAVERY


Lieutenant-Colonel Douglas Wynn Baird, M.B., C.D.

Aylesford Lake, N.S.

Constable Robert Bérubé, M.B.

Montréal, Que.

Scott Borlase, M.B.

Winnipeg, Man.

Joseph Henry Roland Bouliane, M.B.

Winnipeg, Man.

Constable Benoit Brissette, M.B.

Montréal, Que.

Sergeant Steve Desgagné, M.B.

Montréal, Que.

Richard Frauley, M.B.

Saint John, N.B.

Isabelle Gagnon, M.B.

Saint-Hubert, Que.

Master Corporal Julien Gauthier, M.B.

Greenwood, N.S.

Major William Robertson Green, M.B., C.D.

Moose Jaw, Sask.

Blair William Allan Hockin, M.B.

Portage La Prairie, Man.

Sergeant André Joseph Hotton, M.B., C.D.

Greenwood, N.S.

Tim Kautaq, M.B.

Hall Beach, NU

RCMP Constable Alfred Douglas Lavallee, M.B.

Winnipeg, Man.

Pascale Pelletier, M.B.

Mercier, Que.

Sergeant Joseph Kenneth Penman, M.B.

Winnipeg, Man.

Stephen Power, M.B.

Charlottetown, P.E.I.

Master Warrant Officer Hamish Seggie, M.B., C.D.

Winnipeg Man.

Warrant Officer Shaun Spence, M.B., C.D.

Ottawa, Ont.

Tami Elizabeth Strickland, M.B.

Charlottetown, P.E.I.

Abebe Yohannes, M.B.

Brandon, Man.

Herman Zarbel, M.B.

Winnipeg, Man.

Via Defense watch