Monday, August 13, 2012

Late breaking odd news

Always love finding obscure news items to make your day. Not hard to do when you can talk to people all over the world now.


Not quit as obscure but no less interesting:

Military to test hypersonic jet that could zip across the U.S. in less than an hour
That'll give new meaning to the term jet lag. If memory serves correct flying east to west you'd land two hours before you left. And who said there was no such thing as time travel? On second thought it won't happen. Think of the sonic booms that would create.

A little mix up in priorities maybe?
British athletes will get at least £125 million per year of funding for the rest of this decade to help repeat the rush of Olympic golds won by Team GB, David Cameron has said.
Meanwhile the disabled are losing their benefits…
And another tidbit that goes with this story. The Brits will be holding a special olympics just as they do here. Only problem? Anyone participating will have their disability pay terminated and will be required to sign up for a special work program. A program that just had it's funding cut. Jeez who said Scrooge changed his disposition. They must have watched "a Christmas Carol" in reverse.

US to help clean up Agent Orange from Vietnamese site.
We dumped 20 million gallons of the stuff in Vietnam leaving them a toxic legacy.
Used in the US to treat highly contaminated "superfund" military sites, the soil treatment process involves removing soil from the site and heating it to 355 °C to destroy dioxin. The US is investing $43 million in the project, and it is expected to take about four years.
How is it that they won the war and we get to go back and clean up? Can't they do it themselves? And all this because some corporations want more business with that country. Hey here's a novel idea. How about cleaning up the messes you make over here first?

And a little ditty I whipped up just for the occasion.

They're rioting in Mumbai and I don't know why
They're fighting in Sudan oh man
The world's on fire
No boss will hire
Poop done met the fan

Okay okay corny and I'm late with this post so sue me.

6 comments:

S.W. Anderson said...

It would be interesting to know how the plan to clean up the dioxin. The stuff was sprayed over huge areas from C-130's, sometimes three or four of them flying side by side. They would cover a whole valley or plateau in an afternoon. The idea was to kill off the tree canopy and foliage so the VC couldn't move without being seen.

So, you had a broad, thin, uneven application 45 years ago. Water drained it into the ground and streams. The wind dispersed it in dust. How, at this late date, do you find enough of it in one area to clean up? Strikes me as a hideously expensive feel-good boondoggle.

Roger Owen Green said...

The husband of a friend of mine, he being a VietNam vet, died a painful death in 1983, days after his daughter was born.

BBC said...

The Olympics irritate me, such destruction, and what makes athletics so special?

WELCOME TO EARTH - THIRD ROCK FROM THE SUN - FUCK YOU

Well, that's all I got for us.

BBC said...

I've decided to like the 'other olympics', the ones where they are killing each other to reduce our numbers.

Demeur said...

Looks like you're getting your wish Billy. Can't go to a movie. Can't pray in a church. Forget the mall you might get mauled. Wait till fishermen and boaters start shooting each other.

Yeah Roger a coworker of mine died from exposures in Nam too.

SW as it's gotten into the water system as well I don't see any practical way for clean up either.

The Blog Fodder said...

My second cousin died last year from cancer most likely from exposure to Agent Orange - she was a nurse and soldiers would come in soaked with the stuff. That war just keeps on killing. Feel good is right. there is no way to decontaminate an entire country.