Breaking News Thread Version 2.0

[Colorado700R]

"Hey...all ya'll that are being hunted by the Americans...GTFO, they'll be here in 24hrs" 


<EPIC MOTHER OF ALL FACEPALMS>

[Krandall]

Pretty cool article in the Star Tribune (state wide paper) about my company.

At Securian, profit-sharing is more than just a memory
http://www.startribune.com/business/84018802.html?elr=KArksLckD8EQDUoaEyqyP4O:DW3ckUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUUZ

Here's an economic term that has been threatened with extinction over the past few years: Profit- sharing.

Bucking the fiscal flow of things lately, Securian Financial Group's board of directors approved a 5.5 percent profit-sharing distribution to more than 2,500 eligible employees of the St. Paul company.

About $8.8 million is involved in this, the 36th consecutive year that 130-year-old Securian has made such a payout.

At the annual all-company meeting, Chairman and CEO Robert Senkler said employees' performance in 2009 was excellent, especially given the difficult economic environment.

"This record of success you established allows us to continue to fulfill our basic mission," Senkler told the 2,000-plus employees who attended the meeting at the RiverCentre in downtown St. Paul.

While Securian has not had to make any layoffs, 120 vacant positions have been eliminated and some employees have been reassigned within the company.

"There are a lot of people in this room today doing different jobs than they did a year ago," Senkler said. "Being able to withstand this downturn by eliminating open positions is a testament to your creativity and commitment to this organization. It allowed us to get out in front of this very negative environment."

Securian and its affiliates provide insurance, investments and retirement plans to individuals and businesses. It is the holding company parent of a group of companies that include Minnesota Life Insurance, Advantus Capital Management, Allied Solutions, Capital Financial Group, Cherokee National Life Insurance, CNL/Insurance America, Personal Finance, Securian Financial Services Inc., Securian Casualty, Securian Life Insurance and Securian Trust.

[Krandall]

Marines push 'The Breacher' against Taliban lines
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100211/ap_on_re_as/as_afghan_the_breacher


That's the nickname given by the crew to one of the 72-ton, 40-foot (12-meter)-long Assault Breacher Vehicles. Fitted with a plow and nearly 7,000 pounds (3,175 kilograms) of explosives, the Breachers, as they are commonly known, are the Marines Corps' answer to the deadliest threat facing NATO troops in Afghanistan: thousands of land mines and roadside bombs, or improvised explosive devices, that litter the Afghan landscape.

The Breachers, metal monsters that look like a tank with a cannon, carry a 15-foot (4.5-meter) -wide plow supported by metallic skis that glide on the dirt, digging a safety lane through the numerous minefields laid by the Taliban.

If there are too many mines, the Breachers can fire rockets carrying high-grade C-4 explosive up to 150 yards (meters) forward, detonating the hidden bombs at a safe distance so that troops and vehicles can pass through safely.

The detonations — over 1,700 pounds (770 kilograms) of Mine Clearing Line Charges — send a sheet fire into the air and shock waves rippling through the desert in all directions.

Reporters watched the "Breacher" in action Wednesday as Marines edged closer to Marjah, a southern Taliban stronghold that NATO commanders plan to attack in the coming days in the largest joint NATO-Afghan operation of the Afghan war. Troops are expected to face a massive threat from mines and roadside bombs as they push into Marjah, 380 miles (610 kilometers) southwest of Kabul.

"This may be the largest IED threat and largest minefield that NATO has ever faced," says Brig Gen. Larry Nicholson, the commander of all Marines in southern Afghanistan.

Several Breachers — including "The Joker" and its twin "Iceman" — will be used in the Marjah assault. Commanders hope they will make a huge difference as troops pierce through layer after layer of minefields circling the town.

"I consider it to be a truly lifesaving weapon," said Gunnery Sgt. Steven Sanchez, 38, leader of a platoon from the 2nd Marines Combat Engineers Battalion.

A cross between a bulldozer and Abrams tank with a 1,500-horsepower turbine engine, Breachers are so valuable that they only travel outside bases along with a tank retrieval vehicle to drag them to safety if they are damaged.

Sanchez's platoon drove Breachers in their first combat operation in December, when Marines reclaimed a section of the heavily mined Now Zad valley farther north in Helmand province. "We made history, and the Breacher did well," says Sanchez, of Palm Desert, Calif.

"I'm happy to see that this monster is on our side," said Rahim Ullah, a machine gunner in the Afghan army unit that will fight alongside the Marines.

A few kinks are yet to be worked but before the Breachers are entirely up to speed. Two charges fired by "The Joker" and "Iceman" on Wednesday didn't go off automatically, forcing one of their crew to dismount and trigger the explosives themselves.

Developed by the Marines since the 1990s and costing US$3.5 million apiece, the Breacher still has room for improvement, Sanchez admits.

"It's not in the testing phase anymore, but it sure as hell still is in the deployment phase," he said, adding that all the Marines serving on his Breacher platoon are volunteers and intent on improving the new weapon.

"I'm convinced it's going to prove itself in Marjah," Sanchez said.

Many on his platoon believe the Breacher has already proven its worth. The Joker's vehicle commander, Cpl. Michael Turner, 21, of Provo, Utah, says his Breacher works even better than he'd thought during training.

"She's surprisingly easy to operate," Turner said. His vehicle can travel at 50 miles (80 kilometers) per hour. When plowing for bombs, it can still move at 5 to 8 mph (8 to 13 kph), depending on the terrain — all the while digging up the dirt 14 inches (36 centimeters) deep.

"That's plenty enough to get the IEDs," said Turner, because any explosive buried deeper is unlikely to be triggered by a vehicle driving by.

The Joker's driver, Sgt. Jeremy Kinsey, 23, from Sunny Side, Washington, even triggered a live IED during his Breacher's first combat outing in December. The 60-pound (27-kilogram) bomb exploded on his plow, powerful enough to rip out a tire or an axle from a normal armored vehicle.

The Breacher barely registered. "It shook slightly," Kinsey said. "I laughed and I drove on."

[russ-russ]

Sweet, I want one for the morning commute.

[Gunz]

Funyun

[Colorado700R]

Potential new radical Indy Car design for 2012....cool stuff.


http://www.racecar-engineering.com/news/cars/442165/delta-wing-indy-car-2012-concept-revealed.html

[Peelz]

Potential new radical Indy Car design for 2012....cool stuff.


http://www.racecar-engineering.com/news/cars/442165/delta-wing-indy-car-2012-concept-revealed.html

ugly. If I can't buy and drive one, it isn't a real race car.

but really, fugly.

[Colorado700R]

Potential new radical Indy Car design for 2012....cool stuff.


http://www.racecar-engineering.com/news/cars/442165/delta-wing-indy-car-2012-concept-revealed.html

ugly. If I can't buy and drive one, it isn't a real race car.

but really, fugly.

Careful...that almost sounds like the whimper of a closet NASCAR fan.

[dragonz]

Batmobile gone wrong?

[Peelz]

Potential new radical Indy Car design for 2012....cool stuff.


http://www.racecar-engineering.com/news/cars/442165/delta-wing-indy-car-2012-concept-revealed.html

ugly. If I can't buy and drive one, it isn't a real race car.

but really, fugly.

Careful...that almost sounds like the whimper of a closet NASCAR fan.

umm no sirree bob. can't buy nor drive nascar cars either. otherwise, they might be cool 

[Krandall]

VIENNA – The U.N. nuclear agency on Thursday expressed concern for the first time that Iran may currently be working on ways to turn enriched uranium into a nuclear warhead, instead of having stopped several years ago.

Its report appears to contradict an assessment by Washington that Tehran suspended such activities in 2003. It appears to jibe with the concerns of several U.S. allies that Iran may never have suspended such work.

The U.S. assessment itself may be revised and is currently being looked at again by American intelligence agencies.

In a report prepared for its 35 board nations, the International Atomic Energy Agency also said that Iran managed to make a minute amount of near 20-percent enriched uranium within days of starting production from lower-enriched material. Higher enrichment puts Iran nearer to the capability of making fissile warhead material, should opt to do so.

Iran denies any interest in developing nuclear arms. But the confidential report, made available to The Associated Press, said Iran's resistance to agency attempts to probe for signs of a nuclear cover-up "give rise to concerns about possible military dimensions to Iran's nuclear program."

The language of the report — the first written by Yukiya Amano, who became IAEA head in December — appeared to be more directly critical of Iran's refusal to cooperate with the IAEA than most previous ones under his predecessor, Mohamed ElBaradei.

It strongly suggested that intelligence supplied by the U.S., Israel and other IAEA member states on Iran's attempts to use the cover of a civilian nuclear program to move toward a weapons program was compelling.

"The information available to the agency ... is broadly consistent and credible in terms of the technical detail, the time frame in which the activities were conducted and the people and organizations involved," said the report, prepared for next month's IAEA board meeting.

"Altogether, this raises concerns about the possible existence in Iran of past or current undisclosed activities related to the development of a nuclear payload for a missile," said the report.

[Colorado700R]

O RLY 


<<----Shocked

[Krandall]

That's exactly how I feel...

[disco]

What the heck?!?  Guy flies his Piper into an IRS building in Austin today.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/chronicle/6873108.html

AUSTIN — A small plane owned by a man whose Web site indicated he was furious at the Internal Revenue Service slammed into a seven-story office building in northwest Austin that houses some of the agency's offices, injuring two people inside and leaving another person unaccounted for.

The home of the plane's owner, Joseph Andrew Stack, burned down this morning in Austin before his plane hit the building at 9430 Research Boulevard. A Web site registered to him featured a long complaint against the tax system, capitalist greed, his accountant, former President George W. Bush and other targets.

The site is titled, "Well Mr. Big Brother IRS man ... take my pound of flesh and sleep well." The note and other documents indicate Stack moved from California to Austin after the dot-com bust.

Calls to the accountant and Stack's ex-wife were not immediately returned.  (Gee, ya think?)

[disco]

More "what the heck?!?"   

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/bizarre/6873464.html

Lawmaker: First cousins should not marry

ANNAPOLIS, Md. — A Maryland state legislator says it's time to ban marriages between first cousins and stop playing what he calls "genetic roulette" with their offspring.

Henry Heller, a Democratic delegate, or state representative, says he wants to bring Maryland "into the enlightened world of other states such as West Virginia and Arkansas" that already prohibit unions of first cousins.

Heller is a retired special education administrator. He says couples who are first cousins are at an increased risk of having a child with birth defects.

The bill would make an exception for people who are over age 65 or infertile. Heller says he has "no problem" with those couples if they want the companionship.

There are 24 states that prohibit marriage between first-cousins.