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Open Message Board n° 2

  

Category:  Other

By:  bob-nelson  •  6 years ago  •  104 comments

Open Message Board n° 2

The previous board is still up , but there are a couple hundred Comments so the system is slowing noticeably.


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Bob Nelson
Professor Guide
1  author  Bob Nelson    6 years ago

A Brexit snippet from the Guardian:

3500.jpg BMW has said it will be forced to close its production sites in the UK, putting 8,000 jobs at risk, if components for Mini and Rolls-Royce cars are caught up in customs delays after Brexit .

In its starkest warning over Brexit yet, the customs manager of the German carmaker’s UK operations said its manufacturing set-up would not be able to cope with obstructions to its supply chain.

“We always said we can do our best and prepare everything, but if, at the end of the day the supply chain will have a stop at the border, then we cannot produce our products in the UK,” Stephan Freismuth told the Financial Times.

BMW employs 8,000 people in the UK, including 4,500 at its flagship plant in Cowley, Oxford, where it produces the Mini.

 
 
 
Bob Nelson
Professor Guide
2  author  Bob Nelson    6 years ago

 
 
 
Trout Giggles
Professor Principal
2.1  Trout Giggles  replied to  Bob Nelson @2    6 years ago

I've seen videos of huskies jumping up and down on people and other stuff. Maybe I'll get me a husky in case I go into cardiac arrest

 
 
 
sandy-2021492
Professor Expert
2.1.1  sandy-2021492  replied to  Trout Giggles @2.1    6 years ago

This dog is trying to save a life.  Meanwhile, my dog just tried to hide the remains of his latest hunting expedition under my bed eek

 
 
 
Texan1211
Professor Principal
2.1.2  Texan1211  replied to  sandy-2021492 @2.1.1    6 years ago

I'll trade ya! I have a 2 year old dachshund who has been obsessed with a ball since he was about 2 months old. He drives us crazy, but is too cute to stay mad at. He looks just like Crusoe--the celebrity dachshund!

 
 
 
sandy-2021492
Professor Expert
2.1.3  sandy-2021492  replied to  Texan1211 @2.1.2    6 years ago

Laugh

Mine is a Dachshund-Rottweiler mix.  Yes, I know that's weird.  Wasn't my idea, as he was a rescue, but I'm told this was a planned...union.  Anyway, he's cute as can be, but he has killer instincts.  I had to pull him out of a groundhog hole full of water while we were walking today, and he has killed mice that my cat was toying with, much to the cat's disgust.

His more unsavory habits include hauling his kills inside (after hiding them in the mulch for days), and hiding his treats in my bed.  He once hid a piece of chicken under my pillow, and my bed smelled like a KFC.  At least he has not yet managed to hide his kills in my bed.

 
 
 
Texan1211
Professor Principal
2.1.4  Texan1211  replied to  sandy-2021492 @2.1.3    6 years ago

LOL!

And I bet you just LOVE the dog kisses after he has eaten one of his kills!

 
 
 
Bob Nelson
Professor Guide
2.1.5  author  Bob Nelson  replied to  Texan1211 @2.1.4    6 years ago

U...r...g...!!

 
 
 
Texan1211
Professor Principal
2.1.6  Texan1211  replied to  Bob Nelson @2.1.5    6 years ago

It is truly disgusting! 

I remember when I was young my dad worked nights at his second job. We used to sometimes bring him dinner around 8. there was a huge field next door and our mutt (shepard/collie mix) would run and catch field mice. There must have been thousands in that huge field, and man! ]That dog's breath after eating one or two of them. UGH!

 
 
 
sandy-2021492
Professor Expert
2.1.7  sandy-2021492  replied to  Texan1211 @2.1.4    6 years ago

Fortunately, he's short enough that I can avoid them.

Usually.

 
 
 
Bob Nelson
Professor Guide
2.1.8  author  Bob Nelson  replied to  Texan1211 @2.1.6    6 years ago

That dog's breath after eating one or two of them.

Gee... thanks so much for completing the picture...   patience

 
 
 
Texan1211
Professor Principal
2.1.9  Texan1211  replied to  Bob Nelson @2.1.8    6 years ago

I do what I can!

Laugh

 
 
 
Trout Giggles
Professor Principal
2.1.10  Trout Giggles  replied to  sandy-2021492 @2.1.1    6 years ago

My cat jumped off his tower right in front of me while I was walking. He's trying to kill me. But that just goes to show how smart he is by trying to kill the can opener

 
 
 
Bob Nelson
Professor Guide
2.1.11  author  Bob Nelson  replied to  Trout Giggles @2.1.10    6 years ago
... trying to kill the can opener.

I'm trying to imagine the scene... Thinking 2

 
 
 
TTGA
Professor Silent
2.1.12  TTGA  replied to  sandy-2021492 @2.1.3    6 years ago
I'm told this was a planned...union.

It would pretty much have to be sandy.  Someone had to supply the ladder for the Doxie, whether male or female.eek

 
 
 
sandy-2021492
Professor Expert
2.1.13  sandy-2021492  replied to  Trout Giggles @2.1.10    6 years ago

His evil overcame his hunger :D

 
 
 
sandy-2021492
Professor Expert
2.1.14  sandy-2021492  replied to  TTGA @2.1.12    6 years ago

I'm told the mama was the Rottie, but yeah, that is one determined dachshund daddy.

 
 
 
arkpdx
Professor Quiet
2.1.15  arkpdx  replied to  sandy-2021492 @2.1.3    6 years ago
Mine is a Dachshund-Rottweiler mix. 

Got any pictures of him? 

 
 
 
sandy-2021492
Professor Expert
2.1.16  sandy-2021492  replied to  arkpdx @2.1.15    6 years ago

Casey on walk.jpg

 
 
 
arkpdx
Professor Quiet
2.1.17  arkpdx  replied to  sandy-2021492 @2.1.16    6 years ago

Nice. Good looking pup! (not as cute as my Waldo, my avatar) 

 
 
 
Ender
Professor Principal
2.1.18  Ender  replied to  sandy-2021492 @2.1.14    6 years ago

Haaha, cannot picture the two.

 
 
 
Ender
Professor Principal
2.1.19  Ender  replied to  arkpdx @2.1.17    6 years ago

It's the ears. Happy

 
 
 
Trout Giggles
Professor Principal
2.1.20  Trout Giggles  replied to  sandy-2021492 @2.1.16    6 years ago

He's pretty cute!

 
 
 
sandy-2021492
Professor Expert
2.1.21  sandy-2021492  replied to  arkpdx @2.1.17    6 years ago

And Trout - thanks.  I think he's adorable, and he has a sweet personality.  Unless you happen to be a rabbit or mouse, and then he's a murderer.

 
 
 
Bob Nelson
Professor Guide
3  author  Bob Nelson    6 years ago

From Reuters :

U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis on Thursday assured South Korea of an “ironclad” commitment to its security, including keeping U.S. troop levels unaltered, even as diplomats seek an agreement with North Korea on denuclearization.

Meanwhile, elsewhere, speculation about Mattis isn't on whether he'll be expelled from the Trump Administration, but when .

So I kinda sorta wonder how effective his reassurances to South Korea may be...   $%^)@%(^

 
 
 
lennylynx
Sophomore Quiet
3.1  lennylynx  replied to  Bob Nelson @3    6 years ago

Well, Trump's sole reason for hiring 'Mad Dog Mattis' was his cool nickname.  Perhaps he's getting tired of it!

 
 
 
Bob Nelson
Professor Guide
3.1.1  author  Bob Nelson  replied to  lennylynx @3.1    6 years ago

... and he doesn't kowtow...

 
 
 
Dean Moriarty
Professor Quiet
3.2  Dean Moriarty  replied to  Bob Nelson @3    6 years ago

Pretty close to the same reason Truman had to fire Gen. MacArthur. 

 
 
 
Bob Nelson
Professor Guide
4  author  Bob Nelson    6 years ago

Oh dear...

This is worrisome...

I'm agreeing with Dean... again!    nervous

 
 
 
Dean Moriarty
Professor Quiet
5  Dean Moriarty    6 years ago

I’ve seen several articles about WWJD regarding the immigration problem and it reminded me of this. 

00B9878F4400456B9E4EB89E6ABE0656.jpeg

 
 
 
Bob Nelson
Professor Guide
5.1  author  Bob Nelson  replied to  Dean Moriarty @5    6 years ago

     Clapping

 
 
 
charger 383
Professor Silent
5.2  charger 383  replied to  Dean Moriarty @5    6 years ago

I like that

 
 
 
Hal A. Lujah
Professor Guide
5.3  Hal A. Lujah  replied to  Dean Moriarty @5    6 years ago

Heaven also doesn't let innocent babies in.  God gives them leukemia and sends them to hell instead.

 
 
 
Phoenyx13
Sophomore Silent
5.4  Phoenyx13  replied to  Dean Moriarty @5    6 years ago

well that explains a few things concerning belief systems with a few of the posters on NT

 
 
 
Hal A. Lujah
Professor Guide
6  Hal A. Lujah    6 years ago

Find the black dots.  I truly don't understand how they only pop up in certain locations, when all of the line intersections are identical.

AAvMkXI.jpg

 
 
 
Trout Giggles
Professor Principal
6.1  Trout Giggles  replied to  Hal A. Lujah @6    6 years ago

It's an optical illusion, isn't it?

 
 
 
Hal A. Lujah
Professor Guide
6.1.1  Hal A. Lujah  replied to  Trout Giggles @6.1    6 years ago

Yes, but there is no difference I can see from an intersection that will not produce a black dot and one that will.

 
 
 
Hal A. Lujah
Professor Guide
6.1.2  Hal A. Lujah  replied to  Hal A. Lujah @6.1.1    6 years ago

Actually I get it now.  I put the image into CAD so I could zoom into it, and the black dots are part of the image.  The illusion is that the brain makes the dots that you are not staring at fade away.

 
 
 
Trout Giggles
Professor Principal
6.1.3  Trout Giggles  replied to  Hal A. Lujah @6.1.2    6 years ago

Ah. I wondered what you were talking about

 
 
 
Bob Nelson
Professor Guide
6.1.4  author  Bob Nelson  replied to  Trout Giggles @6.1.3    6 years ago

Yup. It works.

 
 
 
sandy-2021492
Professor Expert
6.1.5  sandy-2021492  replied to  Hal A. Lujah @6.1.2    6 years ago

The black dots that I'm staring at DO fade away.

Does it have something to do with the blind spot in the center of our retina?  Because it's always the intersections that are slightly away from the center of my gaze that show black dots.

 
 
 
Bob Nelson
Professor Guide
6.1.6  author  Bob Nelson  replied to  sandy-2021492 @6.1.5    6 years ago

No, no, no, no....

They actually do vanish. It's magic! Winking 2

 
 
 
Freefaller
Professor Quiet
6.2  Freefaller  replied to  Hal A. Lujah @6    6 years ago

Lol can't do it due to a couple of black floaties that I always see anyway.

 
 
 
Trout Giggles
Professor Principal
7  Trout Giggles    6 years ago

That bright orange star I was talking about in the other discussion? It might be that meteor that's passing near Earth

 
 
 
cjcold
Professor Quiet
7.1  cjcold  replied to  Trout Giggles @7    6 years ago

And it might be Mars.

 
 
 
Bob Nelson
Professor Guide
7.2  author  Bob Nelson  replied to  Trout Giggles @7    6 years ago

My wife says Saturn is particularly bright at the moment.

 
 
 
lennylynx
Sophomore Quiet
7.2.1  lennylynx  replied to  Bob Nelson @7.2    6 years ago

That means she wants some action!  Happy

 
 
 
TTGA
Professor Silent
7.2.2  TTGA  replied to  lennylynx @7.2.1    6 years ago
That means she wants some action!

Lenny, usually when they want some action, ladies notice the Moon.  Not infallible, but usually a pretty good indicator.

 
 
 
Bob Nelson
Professor Guide
8  author  Bob Nelson    6 years ago
 
 
 
TTGA
Professor Silent
8.1  TTGA  replied to  Bob Nelson @8    6 years ago
Good historical article: The American Revolution Was Just One Battlefront in a Huge World War

Very good article, Bob.  I highly recommend a book titled George Washington's War by Robert Leckie.  Not only does it go into the larger issues creating events (ie. French and Spanish antagonism to England and their desire to use the American colonists to fight a war with England without actually fighting a war with England, but also the residual mistrust of the New England leaders for the French deriving from the French and Indian War); but also shows the personal history and the personalities of the various leaders and how that effected the outcome.  Very interesting history.  Looks like one is left on Amazon.

The Message Boards were a great idea.

 
 
 
Enoch
Masters Quiet
8.1.1  Enoch  replied to  TTGA @8.1    6 years ago

Dear Friend TTGA: I concur.

Its a super idea.

Peace and Abundant Blessings Always.

E.

 
 
 
Trout Giggles
Professor Principal
8.1.2  Trout Giggles  replied to  TTGA @8.1    6 years ago

Damn! That sounds complicated

 
 
 
Bob Nelson
Professor Guide
9  author  Bob Nelson    6 years ago

A happy environmental story... for a change...

Belize praised for 'visionary' steps to save coral reef

_102221421_belize2.jpg

 
 
 
Bob Nelson
Professor Guide
10  author  Bob Nelson    6 years ago

From Autoblog :

Volvo, FedEx test autonomous truck ‘platooning’ on public U.S. road

Convoy.jpeg

Truck maker Volvo AB and package delivery company FedEx said on Wednesday they have begun public U.S. highway testing of "platooning" technology, which allows digitally-connected semi trucks to save fuel by driving closely together in convoy.

Using a state permit, Volvo and FedEx have been conducting tests on a section of North Carolina highway 540, the Triangle Expressway, since April, running three trucks towing two trailers each. That's a configuration FedEx and rival United Parcel Service run in a number of U.S. states — the difference here is, the test involves one driver, not three.

...

 
 
 
Trout Giggles
Professor Principal
10.1  Trout Giggles  replied to  Bob Nelson @10    6 years ago

Just don't get in my way when I want to do 80 on I-40

 
 
 
Ender
Professor Principal
10.1.1  Ender  replied to  Trout Giggles @10.1    6 years ago

Or the I-10. It is bad enough when people do a little under 70 in the left lane. We have 3 lanes and as it is now, and we have trucks that stay in the middle because there are to many entrances and exits.

A convoy going slow would be a traffic headache.

I am not happy unless I go at least 85.

Hate to say butt, been over a hundred once or twice. I use to fly doing 95.

 
 
 
Bob Nelson
Professor Guide
10.1.2  author  Bob Nelson  replied to  Trout Giggles @10.1    6 years ago

I think the photo is misleading. The trucks are too far apart.

The value in these road-trains is to have the followers very, very close to the leader. The "drafting" effect is much more powerful for semi-trailers than for NASCAR racers. With no drivers, the risk of having only a few feet between vehicles is material only.

 
 
 
Bob Nelson
Professor Guide
10.1.3  author  Bob Nelson  replied to  Ender @10.1.1    6 years ago
A convoy going slow would be a traffic headache.

I very much doubt that the intent is to go slow... talk to the hand

 
 
 
Trout Giggles
Professor Principal
10.1.4  Trout Giggles  replied to  Ender @10.1.1    6 years ago

I've been a passenger in a car doing 110. I survived. Even the marriage survived

 
 
 
Ender
Professor Principal
10.1.5  Ender  replied to  Bob Nelson @10.1.3    6 years ago

Going the speed limit is slow for me. Happy

I do understand the drafting thing though. My grandfather use to do it when pulling a trailer.

 
 
 
Bob Nelson
Professor Guide
11  author  Bob Nelson    6 years ago

Economic reality, just in case anyone on NT still bothers with facts  tough guy   :

Trump Tax Cut Leads to Investment Boom (Just Kidding)

For folks who can remember all the way back to last fall, the promise was that a huge boom in investment would lead to more rapid productivity growth. Higher productivity would mean pay would be close to 10 percent higher than in the baseline scenario after a decade.

Well, the data disagree. We got new data on capital goods orders yesterday. Here's the picture.

cap goods

If you see a boom here since the tax cut, you may want to get the prescription on your glasses checked. It's not a terrible story, but we're still below the pre-recession peaks and even the levels reached during the horrible Obama years. Oh well, at least rich people got lots of money out of the deal.

By the way, the drop in capital goods orders in 2015 and 2016 was due to the plunge in world oil prices from $100 a barrel to $40 a barrel. Much of the increase in the last year and a half has been attributable to the partial recovery to $70 a barrel. I am not inclined to give the Trump administration the blame for higher gas prices, but I suppose if they insist, we can yell at them over $3 per gallon gas.

 
 
 
Bob Nelson
Professor Guide
12  author  Bob Nelson    6 years ago

2019ChevroletVolt0021.jpg From The Truth About Cars :

2019 Chevrolet Volt: The Overlooked ‘Electric’ Wants You to Plug In More Often

... By adding a 7.2 kilowatt charging system, the 2019 Volt’s charge time drops to 2.3 hours when plugged into a 240-volt hookup — the type you see at public charging stations everywhere. ...

“It effectively extends the vehicle’s all-electric driving range, while providing about twice the range for the money when plugging in at public facilities that charge by the hour,” said Jesse Ortega, chief engineer of Chevrolet’s electric vehicle division, in a statement.

...

 
 
 
Bob Nelson
Professor Guide
13  author  Bob Nelson    6 years ago

New discovery with the NT Publisher! It can handle image URLs much better than I had thought.

You can paste an image URL directly, as "Article Image" on any "Create as ..." page. Don't do this with really big files - it may work but it takes a long time...

You can also paste an URL when you use the (very poorly named) "Embed Local Media" button: Screenshot_10.png .

It opens a first Dialog Box, also named "Embed Local Media", but this time accurately, because this is where you'll find images that have been previously posted to NT. Or rather... you probably won't find anything, because the images are there in order of their posting, which makes actually finding anything pretty much impossible.  patience

No matter! We want to post a new image we just found somewhere on the Interwebs...

In the "Embed Local Media" box, click on the "Upload an Image" tab, and then on the "Select an Image to Upload and Insert" button. This opens a dialog box to your computer... BUT!

You can enter an URL into the "File Name" text field!   ...   ...   Very, very cool!

The easiest way to do this is to Copy the URL from wherever you found it, and then Paste it here.

Shazaam!!

You can of course place the image center, left, right... resize it... just as you can with an uploaded image.

 
 
 
Dean Moriarty
Professor Quiet
14  Dean Moriarty    6 years ago

Porsche sets new world record Nürburgring time. The previous record stood for 35 years.  

 
 
 
Bob Nelson
Professor Guide
14.1  author  Bob Nelson  replied to  Dean Moriarty @14    6 years ago

That is... amazing!

You can only glimpse the fences and trees flying by, because you can't take your eye off the track ahead.

When there's an abrupt descent, you think the car will go airborne.

Amazing!

 
 
 
Bob Nelson
Professor Guide
15  author  Bob Nelson    6 years ago

 
 
 
Bob Nelson
Professor Guide
16  author  Bob Nelson    6 years ago

 
 
 
Bob Nelson
Professor Guide
17  author  Bob Nelson    6 years ago

North Korea still secretly enriching uranium, say US officials

4123.jpg North Korea has increased its production of enriched uranium for nuclear weapons at secret sites in recent months, contrary to Donald Trump’s claims that it was “ no longer a nuclear threat ”, according to a new report.

NBC News quoted more than a dozen US officials familiar with the intelligence assessments. Coming soon after satellite images showed rapid improvements being made to a North Korean nuclear research facility at Yongbyon, the developments will make it harder for Trump to claim that his summit with Kim Jong-un in Singapore this month was a success.

Neither of the concessions the US president claimed Kim had delivered – the destruction of a missile engine testing site, and the repatriation of the remains of US soldiers killed in the Korean war – has materialised so far.

...

So basically... Kim just lied through his teeth (gosh! who could have ever imagined that he might do that??) ... and Trump believed him.

Next up, a meeting with Vladimir Putin. What could possibly go wrong?

 
 
 
Bob Nelson
Professor Guide
18  author  Bob Nelson    6 years ago

From Reuters :

Screenshot_13.png U.S. Vice President Mike Pence told the leaders of Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador on Thursday to end an “exodus” of illegal immigrants to the United States, urging them to dissuade people from even considering entering the country unlawfully.

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence and his wife Karen walk together after finishing their meeting with Ecuador's President Lenin Moreno and his wife Rocio, in Quito, Ecuador June 28, 2018.
REUTERS/Daniel Tapia

...

“I have a message for the people of Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador,” he added. “If you want to come to the United States, come legally, or don’t come at all.”

Pence urged Central American leaders to “tell your people that coming to the U.S. illegally will only result in a hard journey, and a harder life”.

Guatemala’s Morales appealed to the United States to consider an immigration reform “in which many of the legal processes and procedures can be done openly.”

Give me your tired, your poor...

 
 
 
Bob Nelson
Professor Guide
19  author  Bob Nelson    6 years ago

GettyImages901984840_copy.0.01.jpg From The Verge :

Harlan Ellison, one of science fiction’s most controversial authors, has died

The science fiction genre has lost one of its greatest — and most controversial — authors. Harlan Ellison, who wrote and edited groundbreaking sci-fi anthologies, short stories, and television episodes, died at the age of 84, according to his wife, via an associate .

...

Dangerous Visions has been hailed as a defining touchstone of the New Wave movement . Ellison followed the anthology with a sequel, Again, Dangerous Visions in 1972, and planned a third, The Last Dangerous Visions , but never completed it: Ellison noted in recent years that he https://web.archive.org/web/20070526102148/ http://www.newsarama.com/general/Ellison/interview_p2.html"> still planned to complete the book . In 2006, he was named a science fiction Grandmaster by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America.

...

I've been an avid SF reader since childhood. When Ellison exploded onto the scene, I tried several of his works... but never really liked them.

His arrival was clearly a watershed, though. In the "history of SF", there is very clearly a "before Ellison" and an "after Ellison". Before him, SF was John W Campbell's domain. Adventure and hard science.

Ellison blew the doors off. N K Jemisin would never have happened without Ellison.

So... Hail and Farewell, Harlan!

 
 
 
Bob Nelson
Professor Guide
20  author  Bob Nelson    6 years ago

Dean Baker loves to hate the Washington Post . Hey, With Robert Samuelson writing about economics, what's not to hate??

The Washington Post had yet another hysterical piece about how "America's Severe Trucker Shortage" could undermine the economy. While the piece features the usual complaints from employers about how they can't get anyone to work for them no matter how much they pay, the data indicate they aren't trying very hard. Here's the inflation adjusted average hourly pay for production and non-supervisory workers in the trucking industry since 1990.

Real Hourly Wage: Truck Transportation, Production and Non-Supervisory Workers

truck real pay

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics.

As the figure shows, the real hourly wage for workers in the industry is still more than 10 percent below its 1990 peak. While this would include some workers who are not truckers (for example, the people handling orders), truckers would be the bulk of employees and certainly, if their pay was rising rapidly it would show up in the data.

The piece includes this incredible assertion: "economists say, if competition for truckers pushes up prices so quickly that the country faces uncontrolled inflation, which can easily lead to a recession," although it doesn't actually name any economists who say anything like this. There are a bit less than 1.3 million production and non-supervisory workers in the trucking industry. Suppose their pay went up by an average of $20,000 a year, which would be more than a 40 percent increase. (The Bureau of Labor Statistics puts their average pay currently at just $46,000 a year.) 

This huge pay increase would then add $20 billion to costs in the economy, or roughly 0.1 percent of GDP. (It's a bit less than 10 percent of what we pay our doctors each year.) It would be very interesting to see if the Post could find any economist who would say that this would lead to "uncontrolled inflation."

Meh!

Just toss any old BS out there. Nobody will ever notice...

 
 
 
dave-2693993
Junior Quiet
21  dave-2693993    6 years ago

Porsche has ripped the Nürburgring lap record to shreds

919 Hybrid Evo sets a scarcely believable 5m19s lap. Watch the sensational on-board video here

This is big. Porsche has not only broken the Nürburgring all-time lap record, but smashed it into pieces.

Porsche already held the record, courtesy of Stefan Bellof’s scintillating 6m11.13s qualifying lap from a sports car race in 1983.

But its 919 Hybrid Evo has just taken 52 seconds out of Bellof’s 35-year-old lap time, setting a scarcely believable 5m19.546. Behind the wheel was Timo Bernhard, a Le Mans winner with Porsche and a multiple winner at the ‘Ring. He was a natural choice for such a committed record attempt.

“It’s probably the most challenging track on Earth,” said Timo afterwards. “We showed today you can drive a car like this here properly. It was not a walk in the park, certainly not. it was quite exciting but exhausting, too. I wanted to keep focused and treat it like qualifying or a race weekend. The speed of the car is so high, there’s no run off, no room for mistakes. We achieved what we wanted to achieve today.”

The Evo is Porsche’s retired Le Mans winner, freed of all World Endurance Championship restrictions. It’s turned up to around 1200bhp and has 50 per cent more downforce than the 2017 LMP1 car it’s based upon, and it deploys active aero and clever torque vectoring. Stuff Porsche would have loved to have fitted during its racing career if pesky rules hadn’t got in the way. 

The Evo has past form, setting a lap record at Spa earlier in the year to establish itself as quicker than a Formula 1 car. While Porsche’s ‘919 Tribute’ tour intends to take in a few lap records, surely none are more iconic than the Nordschleife. 

We’re used to seeing lap records tumble at the Nürburgring, but in specific, occasionally convoluted classes, as road cars battle for some extra marketing cachet. No one has publicly attempted to beat Bellof’s outright time until now. And it was all done within an hour or so of the track opening at 8am this morning.

“We’d love to have started earlier, but the track wouldn’t let us because of noise,” a team insider told us. Optimum conditions were an ambient temperature below 20degC, so it was a race against time as the ‘Ring bakes in the same heatwave affecting the UK.

Take a glimpse at the video above to see just how quick it was. And given it’s so short, you’ve probably got time to watch it twice before you have to get back to work. So once you’ve seen a lap through the windscreen, watch again but focused on the inset of Timo, and the sheer forces his body’s up against. Surely no one can go quicker?

 
 
 
Enoch
Masters Quiet
22  Enoch    6 years ago

This week will be Independence Day on July 4th for us in the USA.

The late President JFK challenged us thus.

"Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country".

On a day when we honor those who put it all on the line, that we may live in freedom I raise this question to all in our community, where ever we reside.

When we celebrate freedom, what can we do for the nation in which we live to support it?

Further, what can we do be there for those who made enormous sacrifice for us as a nation, and may now need a hand from us?

We look forward to your ideas on these questions.

Peace, Abundant Blessings, and the Freedom to Enjoy Them and More.

Enoch.

 
 
 
Bob Nelson
Professor Guide
23  author  Bob Nelson    6 years ago

A Japanese "space launch" startup drew a crowd for its second test launch

... which reminded me of this:

... which led to Von Braun being given a free hand... and the successful launch of Explorer 1 just three months later.

Space launches were big news back then...

 
 
 
lennylynx
Sophomore Quiet
24  lennylynx    6 years ago

Rules that need to go:

no value

off topic

sweeping generalizations

Free speech is definitely out of the question here at Newsnowflakes, but can we get to something that kind of remotely resembles free speech a little bit?  Maybe??

 
 
 
Bob Nelson
Professor Guide
25  author  Bob Nelson    6 years ago

The present treatment of children is terrible, primarily from people not understanding the peculiar psychology of a child’s nature. … The child consequently, being taken away from its parents by people whom it has never seen, and of whom it knows nothing, and finding itself in a lonely and unfamiliar cell, waited on by strange faces, and ordered about and punished by the representatives of a system that it cannot understand, becomes an immediate prey to the first and most prominent emotion produced by modern prison life–the emotion of terror. The terror of a child in prison is quite limitless.

Oscar Wilde, letter to The Daily Chronicle, 1897

 
 
 
Bob Nelson
Professor Guide
26  author  Bob Nelson    6 years ago

nancy_drew.jpg
My sister must have read over a hundred Nancy Drew books. I didn't, of course, because they were for girls!

There's a nice article for Nancy Drew fans in the Smithsonian Magazine.

 
 
 
Bob Nelson
Professor Guide
27  author  Bob Nelson    6 years ago

The winning photos from the 2018 Audubon Photography Awards are here.

nd9m2jc3m3gfns0npr8v.jpg

 
 
 
Kavika
Professor Principal
27.1  Kavika   replied to  Bob Nelson @27    6 years ago

Stunningly beautiful photos.

 
 
 
dave-2693993
Junior Quiet
28  dave-2693993    6 years ago

Two Tens for a Five

 
 
 
sandy-2021492
Professor Expert
28.1  sandy-2021492  replied to  dave-2693993 @28    6 years ago

I showed my son the "Who's On First" video a few years ago, after a Little League game.  Nothing like a belly laugh from your kid when they're at the age where they think nobody born before 2000 could possibly be funny.

 
 
 
Bob Nelson
Professor Guide
29  author  Bob Nelson    6 years ago
Another day, another Pruitt scandal
EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
  • Scott Pruitt has been caught in what seems like the millionth round of scandals since he started serving as the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. [ Mic / Emily C. Singer ]
  • Two of Pruitt's top aides recently told congressional investigators about his alleged unethical practices while heading the EPA. This includes instructing aides to get his wife a $200,000 job, asking aides to spend time on other personal tasks and — despite their objections — booking very high-end travel arrangements. [ Washington Post / Juliet Eilperin, Josh Dawsey, and Brady Dennis ]
  • In one particularly egregious instance, Pruitt made aide Sydney Hupp pay $600 for his hotel room on her personal credit card. He then failed to properly reimburse her. [ Vox / Li Zhou ]
  • Kevin Chmielewski, a former deputy chief of staff for operations, admitted that Pruitt instructed aides to create a secret calendar "to overtly hide controversial meetings or calls." [ CNN / Scott Bronstein, Curt Devine, and Drew Griffin ]
  • The list of his alleged prior offenses seems so endless, there isn't enough room in Sentences to recap them all — let alone touch on a few. Let's just say they are diverse, extensive, and have resulted in over a dozen investigations. [ Vox / Umair Irfan ]
  • All the while, Pruitt is still ravaging the environment. He gave a Utah oil company exemptions from smog rules that prevent illnesses like asthma, according to newly released emails. [ Politico / Emily Holden ]
  • Trump once said that he was so popular he could "stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot somebody" without losing support. The same might go for Pruitt. [ The Baltimore Sun ]
  • It doesn't seem like Trump will ask Pruitt to resign anytime soon. Instead, a teacher carrying her 2-year-old son who saw Pruitt at a restaurant did. [ USA Today / Ashley May ]

Pruitt knows he can do whatever he pleases, because he has the absolute support of the President.

Pruitt has the absolute support of the President because his EPA is undoing everything that Obama's EPA did.

That's the Trump agenda, after all...

 
 
 
Bob Nelson
Professor Guide
30  author  Bob Nelson    6 years ago

Baidu will launch its autonomous buses in Japan next year

DhOjMKOVQAEbWWn.01.jpg Baidu’s self-driving buses could hit the road in Japan by early 2019, Bloomberg reports . And even sooner in a handful of Chinese cities, according to Engadget .

The tech company announced at its annual developers conference that it has ramped up manufacturing, Bloomberg reports . It will be rolling the buses out in Japan in partnership with SB Drive , an autonomous public-transportation subsidiary of Softbank.

Baidu, China’s answer to Google, is working with Chinese bus-maker King Long to build the buses, called Apolong, and its already made 100 of them, Bloomberg says . The buses can seat 14 passengers, but there’s no driver’s seat or steering wheel, according to the BBC . Apolong will come with level 4 autonomous driving capabilities, which do not require a driver within a specific geographic area, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

The company also announced updates to its self-driving platform, called Apollo . Those updates include facial recognition that would detect a tired driver, for example, and would enable valet parking, Engadget reports. Also announced yesterday, Baidu plans to incorporate a safety model as well as cameras and computer vision software from Mobileye, a subsidiary of Intel, according to an Intel press release.

 
 
 
Bob Nelson
Professor Guide
31  author  Bob Nelson    6 years ago

Sticky end : tar destroys Queensland drivers’ tyres and forces road closure

1944.jpg

Lindsay Transport driver Scott Sargent with tar collected on the wheels of his B-double after he drove through Tarzali in far north Queensland. Photograph: David Anthony/Tablelander

Freshly laid bitumen has left drivers in Queensland’s far north in a sticky bind after it lifted and coated their tyres in tar.

Melted tar after roadworks between Tarzali and Jaggan in Queensland. Photograph: Tablelander

More than a dozen motorists needed to get their tyres replaced after bitumen lifted on the Malanda Millaa Millaa Road on the Atherton Tablelands, forcing authorities to close down the route on Wednesday.

Vince Whalley, who runs a tyre shop at Malanda, said the damage to vehicles was significant.

“The tar coming off the tyres is knocking bumper bars loose, taking panels out underneath,” he told the ABC.

O-o-o-o-p-s......

 
 
 
Bob Nelson
Professor Guide
32  author  Bob Nelson    6 years ago

More bad news for Brexiteers, from The Guardian :

4000.jpg Jaguar Land Rover's £80bn UK investment plan at risk after hard Brexit

Jaguar Land Rover factory in Solihull.
The firm is Britain’s largest vehicle manufacturer.
Bloomberg/Getty Images

Britain’s biggest vehicle manufacturer, Jaguar Land Rover , has warned it may have to rethink billions of pounds of UK investment, while its 40,000 British employees would face an uncertain future, if the UK leaves the EU single market.

The company said it needed greater certainty to continue to invest heavily in the UK, in a statement released two days before Theresa May is due to meet ministers at Chequers to discuss the post-Brexit deal they will seek with Brussels.

“A bad Brexit deal would cost Jaguar Land Rover more than £1.2bn profit each year,” said the firm’s chief executive, Ralf Speth. “As a result, we would have to drastically adjust our spending profile – we have spent around £50bn in the UK in the past five years, with plans for a further £80bn more in the next five. This would be in jeopardy should we be faced with the wrong outcome.”

...

 
 
 
Bob Nelson
Professor Guide
33  author  Bob Nelson    6 years ago

From Abigail Adams (1776), via Brad DeLong :

AbigailAdamsGilbertStuart1.jpg "I long to hear that you have declared an independency...and by the way in the new Code of Laws which I suppose it will be necessary for you to make I desire you would Remember the Ladies, and be more generous and favourable to them than your ancestors. Do not put such unlimited power into the hands of the Husbands. Remember all Men would be tyrants if they could. If perticuliar care and attention is not paid to the Laidies we are determined to foment a Rebelion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any Laws in which we have no voice, or Representation.

That your Sex are Naturally Tyrannical is a Truth so thoroughly established as to admit of no dispute, but such of you as wish to be happy willingly give up the harsh title of Master for the more tender and endearing one of Friend. Why then, not put it out of the power of the vicious and the Lawless to use us with cruelty and indignity with impunity? Men of Sense in all Ages abhor those customs which treat us only as the vassals of your Sex. Regard us then as Beings placed by providence under your protection and in immitation of the Supreem Being make use of that power only for our happiness...

 
 
 
Bob Nelson
Professor Guide
34  author  Bob Nelson    6 years ago

Spam ... from the NYT :

Spam — the canned meat, not the unwanted email — might deserve more respect.

On this day in 1937, Hormel Foods introduced the mix of pork shoulder and ham, whose name is derived from “spiced ham.” (No, it doesn’t stand for “Something Posing As Meat.”) Since then, Spam has been a muse for poets, comedians and chefs, and it helped win World War II.

05ambriefingasiaSSslideRZDZarticleLarge1.jpg Jay Hormel and some of his company’s canned meat products, including Spam, in 1946.
Wallace Kirkland/The LIFE Picture Collection, via Getty Images

The Times’s obituary for Jay Hormel, Spam’s creator, said he was the first to successfully can ham. Cooking the meat inside the can produced a natural gelatin, increased shelf life and made it useful in battle. President Dwight D. Eisenhower wrote a letter praising Spam, and the former Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev said his country couldn’t have fed its troops without it.

Hawaii embraced Spam during the war, too, and the affection never ceased. The state consumes the most in America, with seven million cans a year, or five cans per person.

“In all of its high-sodium, gravy-drenched glory, Spam has, in every sense, found its way into my heart,” the chef Anthony Bourdain, who died last month, said during a visit to Hawaii for his show “No Reservations.” “I get it now. I feel inducted into the Church of True Knowledge.”

 
 
 
Bob Nelson
Professor Guide
34.1  author  Bob Nelson  replied to  Bob Nelson @34    6 years ago

Spam & eggs is a good change-of-pace for breakfast.   Giggle

 
 
 
arkpdx
Professor Quiet
34.1.1  arkpdx  replied to  Bob Nelson @34.1    6 years ago

 
 
 
dave-2693993
Junior Quiet
34.1.2  dave-2693993  replied to  Bob Nelson @34.1    6 years ago
Spam & eggs is a good change-of-pace for breakfast

Now you have me thinking of my favorite weekend breakfast served in town. Small town, and the restaurant during early hours is shared with local farmers, firemen, police, EMTs etc.

Three pieces of good old fashioned white toast covered in freshly made creamed chipped beef (SOS can work too, but not as good), cover that with thee eggs easy over. Add a pile of black pepper and drench in tabasco sauce.

Very tasty.

Oh forgot, a least 2 cops of freshly brewed black coffee.

Yes, I can make it at home, but sometimes it is good to sit and be served.

 
 
 
Ender
Professor Principal
35  Ender    6 years ago

I decided to watch some television this weekend as it has been raining.

I watched several of those murder shows where they narrate a murder that has happened.

Two of the three or four I watched happened in my state.

 
 
 
Bob Nelson
Professor Guide
35.1  author  Bob Nelson  replied to  Ender @35    6 years ago

When are you moving away?

 
 
 
Bob Nelson
Professor Guide
36  author  Bob Nelson    6 years ago

From the LA Times :

Margarita-loving bear has 'grand old time' taking dip in an Altadena hot tub

Mark Hough had barely taken a sip of his margarita Friday when he heard twigs snapping and leaves rustling in his lush Altadena backyard.

At first he brushed it off as the sounds of his neighbor pottering next door, but the noise grew louder.

“So I got up, looked over in the bushes, and lo and behold there's a bear climbing up over my fence,” Hough said Monday.

The sighting was the first of many encounters Hough would have with the bear that hot Friday afternoon: During the next few hours, the bear availed itself of Hough's backyard, his hot tub and the cocktail he left behind.

Screenshot_49.png There's a fun video that's in a format that I can't copy over to NT...  Angry

 
 
 
Bob Nelson
Professor Guide
37  author  Bob Nelson    6 years ago

Screenshot_1.png UK voters losing confidence in PM May's handling of Brexit: ORB poll shows

Voter approval of British Prime Minister Theresa May’s handling of Brexit negotiations has fallen to 29 percent, the lowest level since the poll began in November 2016, according to the ORB International pollster.

Approval of the government’s handling of Brexit talks rose as high as 55 percent in the first half of 2017, but has since fallen.

According to the poll of around 2,000 adults, 56 percent of voters were not confident May would get the right deal while 26 percent thought she would get the right deal and the rest didn’t know.

“May has lost her Brexit minister (David Davis) but she is also increasingly losing the confidence of voters,” said Johnny Heald, managing director of ORB International.

 
 
 
Bob Nelson
Professor Guide
37.1  author  Bob Nelson  replied to  Bob Nelson @37    6 years ago

The incredible thing is that there are still 26% who think she'll get the right deal.  Makes No Sense

 
 
 
Bob Nelson
Professor Guide
38  author  Bob Nelson    6 years ago

tumblr_pbk9ofZmil1rasnq9o1_12801.jpg

Ok... so atheists can sometimes be kinda insufferable... This is still a bit harsh...   nervous

 
 
 
Hal A. Lujah
Professor Guide
38.1  Hal A. Lujah  replied to  Bob Nelson @38    6 years ago

Funny how some of the poorest, most destitute areas of the world are hell bent on insisting that a god who does nothing to make their existence better must be observed and celebrated.

 
 
 
Bob Nelson
Professor Guide
38.1.1  author  Bob Nelson  replied to  Hal A. Lujah @38.1    6 years ago

Yes... hilarious...  crying

 
 
 
Bob Nelson
Professor Guide
39  author  Bob Nelson    6 years ago

BIG f-ing icecubes...

 
 
 
Bob Nelson
Professor Guide
 
 
Dean Moriarty
Professor Quiet
40.1  Dean Moriarty  replied to  Bob Nelson @40    6 years ago

It would be nice if we moved to a flat tax rate that way everything would be fair and all tax cuts would be equal. 

 
 
 
Bob Nelson
Professor Guide
41  author  Bob Nelson    6 years ago

Several articles today relay Trump's scolding of America's NATO allies. Let's look at the facts :

Screenshot_8.png

So...America's military spending is one-third of the world total . For it's enemies to be spending more would require that almost all the runners-up be allied against the US. Ummm........... no. Not so much.

 - Second is China, at something more than a third of America's spending.
- Third is Saudi Arabia (betcha didn't know that!), an ally. I mean... Saudi Arabia is an ally, right? I mean... we sell them all sorts of ultra-modern weaponry... We wouldn't do that if we weren't totally confident... right??  confused
 - Fourth is Russia. A hostile power. Umm... We agree, right? Russia is hostile, right?  thinking
 - Fifth is India. Neutral.
 - Sixth is France. An ally .
 - Seventh is the UK. An ally .
 - Eighth is Japan. An ally .
 - Ninth is Germany. An ally .
 - Tenth is South Korea. An ally .
 - Eleventh is Brazil. Somewhere between neutral and ally.
 - Twelfth is Italy. An ally .
 - Thirteenth is Australia. An ally .
 - Fourteenth is Canada. An ally .
 - Fifteenth is Turkey. An ally... for the moment...

So...

 - The US alone spends more than Russia and China combined.
 - France and the UK combined spend 150% as much as Russia.
 - America's NATO allies on this chart (which doesn't include all the smaller members) spend over three times as much as Russia.

Personally, I would like to see America's allies tell America to... fuck off.

 
 
 
Dean Moriarty
Professor Quiet
41.1  Dean Moriarty  replied to  Bob Nelson @41    6 years ago

"Personally, I would like to see America's allies tell America to... fuck off."

So would I there's too many American graves in Normandy. 

 
 
 
Bob Nelson
Professor Guide
41.1.1  author  Bob Nelson  replied to  Dean Moriarty @41.1    6 years ago

Have you been to Colleville-sur-Mer, Dean? I've visited the US cemetery there, above Omaha Beach, several times.

It is very impressive. It's hard to breathe.

 
 

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