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Belmokhtar aide killed in Mali
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
Page 3: Non-WoT
12 21:12 charger [6] 
16 23:57 Zenobia Floger6220 [2] 
1 13:04 Squinty [1] 
6 21:30 Besoeker [3] 
6 17:43 3dc [2] 
3 19:16 Frank G [2] 
1 01:51 Redneck Jim [4] 
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3 07:53 AlanC [4] 
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2 14:24 Beelzabubs Brother Barack [2] 
2 18:17 Bright Pebbles [2] 
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Page 4: Opinion
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16 19:49 Elmains Flineger6072 [1]
-Lurid Crime Tales-
Bears Suspected in New Hampshire Car Break-Ins
[An Nahar] Wildlife officials in New Hampshire believe a bear is to blame for a series of recent car break-ins.

The New Hampshire Fish and Game Department says several cars have been broken into over the last few weeks in the same North Conway neighborhood. Officials say the likely culprit is a bear looking for food.

Terry Leavitt tells WMUR-TV (http://bit.ly/1ohNvNO ) the radio was pulled out of her dashboard. The interior was ripped apart and a window was smashed. Other residents also reported similar damage.

Conway police Sgt. George Walker says it's a common occurrence this time of year as bears stop hibernating and search for food. And the suspect description is always the same: "black and furry."
Posted by: Fred || 05/13/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1 
Posted by: Shipman || 05/13/2014 4:51 Comments || Top||

#2  Damn Russians...~
Posted by: Squinty || 05/13/2014 13:05 Comments || Top||

#3  And the suspect description is always the same: "black and furry."

And the other candidates are:

Posted by: Vespasian Spawn of the Gepids9692 || 05/13/2014 13:14 Comments || Top||

#4  Video from 1999: bear breaking into car in Great Smoky Mountains National Park
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 05/13/2014 13:34 Comments || Top||

#5  My first suspicion was the Steelers.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 05/13/2014 18:04 Comments || Top||


-Obits-
Russia Bans use of Russian rocket engines in US military launches (Atlas and ULA heads up)
From the discussion groups at NASASpaceFlight.com:
Of interest: Russia will ban the United States from using Russian-made rocket engines for military launches, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin (a sanctioned Russian individual) has announced.
http://www.itv.com/news/update/2014-05-13/russia-responds-to-us-sanctions-over-ukraine/

These are the same RD-180 engines that SpaceX mentioned as being sanction busting in their lawsuit against the AirForce and ULA over the block buy. The judge agreed with SpaceX until State convinced the judge otherwise. ULA is a jointly owned child of LockMart and Boeing. It does launches mainly for the AirForce and NRO and NSA and Nat Geospatial Intel. Some science and NASA missions.
Posted by: 3dc || 05/13/2014 16:06 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under:

#1  More Hope'nChange:
Russia to ban US from using Space Station over Ukraine sanctions
Posted by: Uncle Phester || 05/13/2014 16:19 Comments || Top||

#2  Discussion thread on NasaSpaceFlight.com
here
Note what the old shuttle capcom Ed Kyle had to say
Also banning GPS in Russia, and ending ISS in 2020, according to the following story. I'll need to see this story reported by other news agencies though. If true, it is sobering.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3155391/posts

OK, ITAR-TASS reports that RD-180 (and NK-33) "may" be banned "if" they are used for "military purposes", whatever that means. There seems to be a background about GLONASS stations not being allowed in the U.S.
http://en.itar-tass.com/world/731443

Whatever the real story turns out to be, it seems quite clear that, given their use as a political lever, Russian rocket engines are no longer going to be part of long-term U.S. space planning - unless U.S. leadership is entirely asleep at the switch.

- Ed Kyle
Posted by: 3dc || 05/13/2014 16:22 Comments || Top||

#3  Palin predicted Russia would invade Ukraine if Obama was elected. Liberals scoffed about that prediction.

With Obama not only did his Obamacare web sites crash, wait until you see what happens when he tries to be a rocket scientist.
Posted by: Bubba Graiting8281 || 05/13/2014 16:23 Comments || Top||

#4  This from a PW guy: For any NSF'ers who may be attending the Space Symposium in Colorado Springs next week, I'll issue an invitation to stop by the RD AMROSS booth (#1304 - in the pavillion) for face to face discussions related to the RD-180. Also joining me will be the RD AMROSS president and P&W RD-180 program manager. We'd be happy to talk to any and all comers.

Robert vanGiessen
P&W Chief Engineer, RD-180 Programs
Posted by: 3dc || 05/13/2014 17:21 Comments || Top||

#5  Re: Rumors that Russia may block the export of RD-180 to the US
Ť Reply #237 on: Today at 06:38 PM ť
LikeQuote
Quote from: gommtu on Today at 06:23 PM
Rogazin - "Russia is ready to continue deliveries of RD-180 engines to the US only under the guarantee that they won't be used in the interests of the Pentagon."

Isn't it obvious? Don't buy your engines from Russian gangsters*. And that's exactly what anyone with decision making power is in the Putin regime. You can't stick your head in the sand and pretend that's not the reality.

Can you imagine Bolden going on his twitter account threatening Russian space projects? Or joking about abandoning Russian cosmonauts on the space station? It's inconceivable for so many reasons. These guys are thugs.

*I'm sure most of the Roscosmos engineers are genuinely good people and are not thugs, but clearly the people in charge are.

It shouldn't take a twitter posting to figure out an ex-KGB agent and his associates are thugs. As for Russia breaching contract, if there is one, on RD-180 delivery:

Quote
The Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances is a political agreement signed in Budapest, Hungary on 5 December 1994, providing security assurances by its signatories relating to Ukraine's accession to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. The Memorandum was originally signed by three nuclear powers, the Russian Federation, the United States of America, and the United Kingdom. China and France gave somewhat weaker individual assurances in separate documents.[1]

The memorandum included security assurances against threats or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of Ukraine as well as those of Belarus and Kazakhstan. As a result Ukraine gave up the world's third largest nuclear weapons stockpile between 1994 and 1996.[2][3]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Budapest_Memorandum_on_Security_Assurances

Pieces of paper won't insure the supply of engines.

Posted by: 3dc || 05/13/2014 17:25 Comments || Top||

#6  Quote from: jcm on Today at 08:15 PM
Quote from: edkyle99 on Today at 04:49 PM


If such guarantees arenÂ’t provided the Russian side will also be unable to perform routine maintenance for the engines, which have been previously delivered to the US, he added."

- Ed Kyle

I looked at the original Russian transcript at http://government.ru/vice_news/12361
and this sentence leapt out at me.
Does anyone know what role Energomash employees have post delivery of the engines? The implication of this sentence is that
it may not matter that we have a stock of them if we still need the Russians to service them prior to launch.

Can someone from ULA state for the record that all two years of warehoused engines are ready to fly without any additional 'spare parts' or 'routine maintenance' or Energomash support whatever? We've heard various (indirect) comments from ULA (impact to planned launches) and now Russia that there are ongoing needs that Energomash is fulfilling.

It would also be good to hear what level of the full 36 core block buy ULA is capable of supporting with the Delta IV (launch rate-wise and financially, since the launches are more costly than Atlas V with Russian engines).
Posted by: 3dc || 05/13/2014 17:57 Comments || Top||

#7  Does the Soyuz still contain several guns?
Posted by: 3dc || 05/13/2014 18:25 Comments || Top||

#8  This is just another example of the O admin playing to the media for political points without thinking through the possible consequences of said action. The level of incompetence and evil of this admin boggles the mind of a rational person.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 05/13/2014 19:33 Comments || Top||

#9  Whatever the real story turns out to be, it seems quite clear that, given their use as a political lever, Russian rocket engines are no longer going to be part of long-term U.S. space planning - unless U.S. leadership is entirely asleep at the switch.

Aye, there's the rub.
Posted by: charger || 05/13/2014 19:45 Comments || Top||

#10  This is just another example of the O admin playing to the media for political points without thinking through the possible consequences of said action. The level of incompetence and evil of this admin boggles the mind of a rational person.

The Clinton administration and the 2nd Bush administration both had a hand in creating this crisis by pretending Russia wasn't going to be, well, Russia, and by keeping only token efforts at RLV development funded. Meanwhile, Elon Musk has not only developed an ELV for less than NASA spent on the shuttle in one year, he's making progress in turning it into an RLV.

And he isn't doing anything NASA couldn't have done _if they'd wanted to_.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 05/13/2014 20:20 Comments || Top||

#11  Time for Lockheed-Martin to make an investment in SpaceX....
Posted by: Squinty || 05/13/2014 20:38 Comments || Top||

#12  And he isn't doing anything NASA couldn't have done _if they'd wanted to_

What, and take time away from the agency's vital Muslim outreach efforts?

Priorities, people...
Posted by: charger || 05/13/2014 21:12 Comments || Top||


-Short Attention Span Theater-
Stealth Subs Could Sink America's Navy
Couldn't hide it anymore, it seems.
Submarines are getting quieter, stealthier, and better armed. And that could mean major trouble for the U.S. Navy and its aging fleet of sub-hunters. The tactical balance between the surface warship and the submarine has strategic impact. The submarine is not made for a show of force. Its principal weapon is designed not to damage a ship, but to sink it--rapidly and probably with much loss of life. It's a sure way to shift the trajectory of any conflict in a more violent direction.

The best deterrent against submarine attack is robust defense--but as little as surface sailors like to discuss it, that defense has seldom been less assured.

Modern diesel-electric submarines (SSKs) are very hard to detect. It's not that SSKs with air-independent propulsion (AIP) systems are much quieter, but they mitigate the SSK's drawback: lack of speed and endurance on quiet electric power. When the Swedish AIP boat Gotland operated with the U.S. Navy out of San Diego in 2005-07, the Navy's surface ships turned up all too often in a photo album acquired by the submarine's mast. The sub was so quiet, that it consistently managed to get within easy torpedo range.

AIP submarines are a high priority in the budgets of nations such as Singapore, Korea and Japan. Russia has struggled with its Lada-class boats, but persisted, and is selling them to China. Sweden, whose Kockums yard developed the AIP technology for Japan's big 4100-ton Soryu-class subs, had trouble getting its A26 replacement submarine program started. In an indication of its importance, Saab will buy the Kockums yard back for Sweden from ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems.

AIP--which uses stored liquid oxygen and fuel to generate power underwater--seems to be here to stay, whether it uses the Swedish-developed Stirling-cycle engine (a 19th-century curiosity, but very efficient) or fuel cells, favored by ThyssenKrupp's German yards. and Russia. Lithium-ion batteries will further increase underwater performance. Kockums advertises another step in invisibility called Ghost (genuine holistic stealth) which, like stealth technology on an airplane, involves the careful blending of hull shapes and rubber-like coatings to make the submarine into a weak sonar target. .

Other improvements are making the submarine more elusive and lethal. Masts with high-definition cameras are as clear as direct-vision optics--so the mast needs only to break the surface and make a single sweep to provide a full horizon view. Finmeccanica's WASS division and Atlas Electronik offer modern all-electric torpedoes with multiple guidance modes, from fiber-optic to wake-homing, and back-breaking influence fuzes that work too often for comfort.

Antisubmarine warfare (ASW) has not stagnated, but it shows signs of disarray. After the end of the Cold War stopped the Soviet Union's push for quieter submarines, the U.S. scrapped improvements to the P-3 sub-hunting plane and the P-3's replacement. The carrier-based S-3 Viking went the same way, and the U.K., more recently, retired the Nimrod and cancelled its deeply flawed MRA4 replacement sub-hunters. ASW assets and crews have been diverted to reconnaissance missions in overland and littoral wars. The Navy's strategy for the new Boeing P-8A Poseidon is to get the airframes first, because P-3s are wearing out.

The U.S. Navy's ASW future hinges on two new technologies: Multistatic, active, coherent (MAC) acoustic systems, or sonar,, and automated radar detection of periscopes. Today, airplanes mainly hunt submarines by para-dropping a pattern of sonobuoys, most of which are passive listening devices. "Active" search nodes depend on noise sources that can be as simple as an explosive squib. Planned for later P-8A models, MAC uses buoys that can transmit tones and sophisticated waveforms that, when they bounce off the sub and are picked up by the other buoys in the network, can accurately pin down its position. MAC is likely to be quite costly to operate--the P-8A carries many more buoys than a P-3, and the buoys are more complex. Testing so far has not been a disaster, but it has been limited. One series of tests last year was truncated so that the test aircraft and crew could go and chase drug-runners. Picking real targets from false targets and clutter is still down to operators.

Better ways to detect periscopes--with the radar cross-section of a floating Coke can--have been under study since the early 1990s, but the Navy has vacillated on deployment plans. The new Automatic Radar Periscope Detection and Discrimination (ARPDD) technology--which uses very fast scanning and a lot of signal processing to tell a slow-moving scope from drifting debris--was to be used on upgraded P-3 radars. But in 2005--after the Gotland tests started, which may not have been a coincidence--the plans changed to stress close-in defense of the aircraft carrier, with ARPDD used first MH-60R helicopters and on a radar mounted on the carrier itself. ARPDD disappeared from the P-8 radar requirement, then returned. More recently, the carrier-mounted radar has been discontinued and surface combatants will have ARPDD.

But the key to telling the periscope and the Coke can apart is that one of them is moving purposefully, and an electronic mast that surfaces intermittently makes an even less obvious track than a direct-view periscope that has to stay up to function. That change was not in sight when ARPDD was conceived.

Surface warfare may be heading for a strategic dilemma. The surface combatant is vital for many missions--but its utility could be drastically limited if a submarine threat imposes a no-go area. And as more new AIP subs enter service, denying the problem is less and less of an option.
Posted by: gorb || 05/13/2014 00:38 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  All submarines are stealth; i.e. they go under water, it's the whole point of a sub. The major concern about electric subs is they're quiet, a 'hole in the water'. For all that, they tend to not be quick, so they're functionally a portable minefield. (The US used to have this type, but opted to go to long range attack boats. Note that they're built at 'Electric Boat Division'.) Radar doesn't actually 'see' a periscope; the return is off the 'feather', or wake caused by movement. Hence the difficulty in seeing a slow moving one. (Most subs can't just 'stop' and run up the mast; they have to move to maintain attitude control.) Also, modern periscopes aren't the 'pipe' of old; they tend to be fiberglass shafts with several tv cameras and antennae on them, are about 20mm (3/4") wide, and quite transparent to radar.
Posted by: ed in texas || 05/13/2014 8:01 Comments || Top||

#2  While the P-8 is a really good replacement for the P-3, there is still no long range ASW asset that is ship-based; and the current fleet of H-60s has been compromised into a one size fits all vertical asset ( Lawn Dart with rotor blades). Vert Rep, Seal insertion, are all valid missions, but at the cost of dedicated ASW dipping.
The S-3s in the desert still have lots of time on the airframe and could be brought back into service. I think we will have to have a CV-sized hole in the water to wake up the pols......
Posted by: USN, Ret. || 05/13/2014 8:58 Comments || Top||

#3  This is old news!
This is why we bubbleheads say,"There are two types of ships;submarines and targets."
Crews mess on the old ustafish was covered with pictures of ships we'd sneaked up on.
Posted by: AlmostAnonymous5839 || 05/13/2014 10:12 Comments || Top||

#4  Ex-Chair Force, so had to look this up:


Influence Mines are triggered as a ship passes near them. Most modern submarine mines are of this type, and usually incorporate several triggering systems. In one system, detonation is caused by the magnetic field set up by the hull of a passing ship. (Warships are usually protected against this system by degaussing, that is, neutralizing the hull's magnetic field with an arrangement of electric cables. Thus, magnetic detonating systems are intended to be used primarily against merchant ships, which are not ordinarily equipped for degaussing.) Acoustic triggering systems are designed to explode the mine when sound is received from a ship's propellers or engines. Still another system is sensitive to changes in water pressure caused by a moving ship.

Each mine may be set off by one or more of its triggering systems. In many cases, a mine responds only to a complex mixture of simultaneous signals from at least two of its systems.
Posted by: Uncle Phester || 05/13/2014 12:59 Comments || Top||

#5  AA5839:
A co-worker is also a bubblehead and he relishes telling any and all that when I am spinning an Airedale yarn ("There I was 50 feet and 500 knots....") he interjects about how hard it will be to reuse the airplane when the landing strip is 20000 leagues under the sea......I tried not to think about what might be following me when I was ACDU.
Posted by: USN, Ret. || 05/13/2014 21:24 Comments || Top||

#6  Whahhaha... I love 'sea stories' but you may need to refer that fella to the VFW bar stool Pappy was referencing recently.
Posted by: Besoeker || 05/13/2014 21:30 Comments || Top||


BlackBerry Steps up Fightback with Indonesian Phone
[An Nahar] BlackBerry will this week launch a new budget handset in Indonesia, one of its last bastions, a major step in the ailing smartphone maker's fightback against titans Samsung and Apple.

The Z3, which is designed for Indonesia but will likely be introduced in other emerging markets later, is the first new BlackBerry phone since chief executive John Chen took the helm of the crisis-hit company in November.

The handset is also the first to be produced from the Canadian firm's partnership with Taiwanese tech giant Foxconn, which makes gadgets for Apple, and is a key test of whether the new strategy will work.

The company believes the device will be a hit in Indonesia, where many have remained loyal to BlackBerry, with a front man saying that "this product will deliver something that ‎should resonate with consumers".

But analysts believe it may already be too late for a comeback by the company that pioneered modern smartphone culture but has been unable to keep up with competition from Apple's iPhone and handsets using the Google
...contributed $814,540 to the 2008 Obama campaign...
Android operating system.

Recent years have been dismal for BlackBerry, and it has suffered heavy losses and slashed thousands of jobs.
Posted by: Fred || 05/13/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:


-Signs, Portents, and the Weather-
Saudi homes in on camels in bid to combat MERS
[Al Ahram] Saudi authorities have issued fresh warnings on how to handle the desert kingdom's wealth of camels, thought to be the source of the mysterious MERS coronavirus in the Gulf state.

The Middle East Respiratory System has now killed 147 people out of 491 infected in Soddy Arabia
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face...
since it first appeared in 2012, with cases in the kingdom accounting for the vast majority registered globally.

With scientists still struggling to understand the illness and no vaccine or antiviral treatments available to combat its spread, Saudi authorities have introduced new guidelines to try to stem the trickle of new cases reported nearly every day.

The agriculture ministry has urged Saudis handling camels to wear masks and gloves to avoid catching the disease, in a statement published in local media.

The warning came after scientific studies commissioned by the health ministry suggested a connection between camels and the virus.

MERS is considered a deadlier but less-transmissible cousin of the SARS virus that appeared in Asia in 2003 and infected 8,273 people, nine percent of whom died.
Posted by: Fred || 05/13/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Don't screw them.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 05/13/2014 1:57 Comments || Top||

#2  Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV)

"How can I help protect myself?
CDC advises that people follow these tips to help prevent respiratory illnesses:
- Wash your hands often with soap and water for 20 seconds, and help young children do the
same. If soap and water are not available, use an alcohol‐based hand sanitizer.
- Cover your nose and mouth with a tissue when you cough or sneeze then throw the tissue
in the trash.
- Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth with unwashed hands.
- Avoid close contact, such as kissing, sharing cups, or sharing eating utensils, with sick
people.
- Clean and disinfect frequently touched surfaces, such as toys and doorknobs."


Taking Redneck Jim's advice. they should add,
- Don't screw camels.

Posted by: Squinty || 05/13/2014 13:01 Comments || Top||

#3  Camel Boink Fever (CBF) is a better name than MERS.
Posted by: SteveS || 05/13/2014 18:52 Comments || Top||


Africa Horn
South Sudan to delay 2015 presidential election
[Iran Press TV] South Sudan's president says the 2015 presidential election will be postponed for two or three years in order to tackle the issue of reconciliation among the people.

"Elections will not be held in 2015, because reconciliation between the people will have to take time," Salva Kiir said in the capital Juba late on Sunday.

"The election (timetable) has to be extended for two or three years, so this interim government would remain in power and elections can be held in 2017 or 2018," Kiir added.

He also accused the Nuer people, the ethnic group of sacked vice president and rebel leader Riek Machar, of violating a ceasefire they signed on Friday. However,
there's more than one way to stuff a chicken...
Machar's forces say the army violated the truce.

Kiir and Machar signed the agreement in the Æthiopian capital Addis Ababa to end nearly five months of bloodshed in the world's youngest nation.

They agreed to form a transitional government, hold new elections and open humanitarian corridors to ensure aid deliveries.
Posted by: Fred || 05/13/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:


Africa North
Arab spring a plot to divide countries: Egypt's Grand Imam
[Al Ahram] Some Arab spring revolutions were launched to divide the countries of the region, Al-Azhar Grand Imam Ahmed El-Tayib has asserted.

"Some Arab spring revolutions brought benefits but others were planned to destroy and divide countries," he said in an interview on Al-Hayat TV channel on Sunday.

The West invented "corrupted" theories in order to steal the wealth of the East, El-Tayib added.

"The East has not met the level of West, the gap is widening between them," he said, adding that there was a conspiracy to keep the East weak.

"The West presented the clash of civilizations theory in order to provoke a clash with Islamic civilization."

"There are non-Western nations with old civilizations that are capable of leading the world in a more reasonable way than the West," El-Tayib said.

Western civilization is in a state of extreme moral, spiritual and religious poverty, he asserted.

However,
Switzerland makes more than cheese...
he noted that Islamic civilization was capable of coexisting with Western civilization.

"The history of Islamic civilization is full of examples of respect for and recognition of the other."
Posted by: Fred || 05/13/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring

#1  Western civilization is in a state of extreme moral, spiritual and religious poverty,

Not far off, that. The problems of the West though mirror the problems of the East in that the movement is to increasing tyranny and decreasing individualism, responsibility and honesty. The "East", as represented by the Mulim world, shows what happens when those characteristics are mostly wiped out of the population.
Posted by: AlanC || 05/13/2014 8:05 Comments || Top||


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Russia to ban US from using Space Station over Ukraine sanctions
Posted by: DarthVader || 05/13/2014 15:43 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Along with no engines for our Atlas rockets, which we buy from Russia... and the Russians will shut down our GPS stations in Russia... and forget launching satellites from Russian held territory.

Our short sighted space plans are coming around to bite us in the ass nicely.
Posted by: DarthVader || 05/13/2014 15:44 Comments || Top||

#2  I think it was I here I read once:

"Never trust Russian. Never trust an Arab."
~ anon
Posted by: Besoeker || 05/13/2014 15:49 Comments || Top||

#3  Perhaps the Muslim outreach directive given to NASA by Prez Selfie will pay off with the Magic Carpet backup plan. Then again, the Ruskies will deny docking anyway.
Posted by: Mugsy Glink || 05/13/2014 15:52 Comments || Top||

#4  SpaceX Dragon Rider to the rescue.

"The timing was apparently prompted by Russian space minister Dmitry Rogozin who according to reports, indirectly threatened the status of astronaut access to ISS while complaining about US sanctions which have personally targeted him, suggesting that NASA would need a trampoline to get to the station.

In a strange version of a renewed Cold War being waged through tweets, Elon Musk countered with this:

Cover drops on May 29. Actual flight design hardware of crew Dragon, not a mockup.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 29, 2014"

http://innerspace.net/tag/dragonrider/
Posted by: Squinty || 05/13/2014 16:01 Comments || Top||

#5  So, did somebody (outside "Western Elites") really expected Russia to bend over...?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 05/13/2014 16:06 Comments || Top||

#6  Well, I guess this means no more Graduation Speeches from Orbit. Oh well. Now while I well realize the importance of low earth orbit all the benefits therein have already been derived. I got my velcro, my low protein diet, I know how flames travel in vaccuum and it doesn't look like much more is going to happen at this particular money pit. So I call broccoli and I say to hell with it. Let's go steal and rape an asteroid of all it goodies.
Posted by: Shipman || 05/13/2014 16:46 Comments || Top||

#7  Shipman - Access was with the stupid Soyuz instead of the the 3 US Craft (Dragon CST-100 Dream Chaser) actions which DORKS in the US Congress refuse to proper fund. This includes Shelby (R) and Hatch(R). They are right their with pond scum on the functional IQ list fighting for their pie over results. For some reason McCain (R) Durban (D) and Finestine (D) are some of the few showing sense on this issue.

The engines relate more to NSA NRO and National Geospatial Intel launches.

All 3 commercial maned craft could fly on Falcon 9.

I suspect that the Boeing CST-100 and the DreamChaser could launch from a Delta IV if they didn't care about man-rating.

Posted by: 3dc || 05/13/2014 17:11 Comments || Top||

#8  So, did somebody (outside "Western Elites") really expected Russia to bend over...?

We figured they would roll over like whipped dogs once we canceled their Netflix accounts.
Posted by: SteveS || 05/13/2014 18:48 Comments || Top||

#9  Changing the name of my dog (Sputnik).
Posted by: Bubba Graiting8281 || 05/13/2014 18:50 Comments || Top||

#10 
Quote
=the examiner=

=
A Tuesday story in Russia Today reports that Russia is moving to retaliate against American and European sanctions over its aggression in the Ukraine by in essence ending most space cooperation with the United States. It will prohibit the use of Russian rocket engines such as the RD-180 and NK-33 to launch military satellites. It is closing down 16 GPS sites in Russian territory. Finally Russia will unilaterally end its participation in the International Space Station project in 2020.
==

=The guardian=

The country's deputy prime minister, Dmitry Rogozin, said Moscow would reject a US request to prolong the station's use beyond 2020, and ban Washington from using Russian-made rocket engines to launch military satellites.
=

Sources and quotes courtesy the guardian and the examiner:
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/may/13/russia-international-space-station-doubt-ukraine-sanctions
http://www.examiner.com/article/russia-to-evict-nasa-from-the-international-space-station-2020
Posted by: 3dc || 05/13/2014 19:29 Comments || Top||

#11  Who's On The Station Now?

Expedition 40 crew
May - September 2014

› Oleg Artemyev
› Steve Swanson (Commander)
› Alexander Skvortsov

Launching May 28:

› Reid Wiseman
› Alexander Gerst
› Maxim Suraev


sorry, Steve. "Ambassador Steven's protocol"
Posted by: Frank G || 05/13/2014 20:05 Comments || Top||

#12  [Russia] is closing down 16 GPS sites in Russian territory.

There are no AF/NGA monitoring stations in Russia. Certainly no Ground Antenna sites. So piss off. In fact, turn on GPS service denial over Russia and lets see how well Glon-ass works.
Posted by: Squinty || 05/13/2014 20:06 Comments || Top||

#13  Didn't they lose a bunch of glosnass satellites during a launch recently?

(Checking online... yes, in June or July of last year).
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 05/13/2014 20:16 Comments || Top||

#14  Meanwhile, Congress bans lightbulbs...
Posted by: Andy Thud1739 || 05/13/2014 21:57 Comments || Top||

#15  I got my velcro,..

I was good when we got Tang and microchips. Like Ship says, screw the LEO stuff and let's go get us some metallic love out in the asteroid belt. Mind the re-entry! Ad astra per capitalism
Posted by: SteveS || 05/13/2014 23:18 Comments || Top||

#16  His space-mule was a trifle refractory;
Its balking messed up his trajectory.
As he started to glow,
He yelled, "Watch out below --
This is lookin' a mite intersectory!"
Posted by: Zenobia Floger6220 || 05/13/2014 23:57 Comments || Top||


Donetsk, Lugansk regions seek to join Russia
[Iran Press TV] The pro-Russia leader of the self-proclaimed Republic of Donetsk has asked Moscow to consider absorbing the region into Russia.

Donetsk's leader, Denis Pushilin, told news hounds on Monday that Moscow would be asked to consider absorbing the region, which borders Russia, into its fold.

Several other regional pro-Moscow leaders also say they have asked Moscow to consider absorption of the self-proclaimed independent Donetsk Republic.

The developments come after two eastern Ukrainian regions of Lugansk and Donetsk overwhelmingly voted in favor of independence from Kiev.

Sources say the two regions have begun preliminary talks on forging a union. Pushilin added that pro-Russia activists are discussing how to technically implement the idea.

Meanwhile,
...back at the saloon, Butch got the bill for the damage caused by the fist fight, the mirror broken in the shootout, and drinks for everyone......
activists in Lugansk said they are mulling holding a referendum on rejoining Russia.

Russia had earlier said it respects the results of independence referendums in eastern Ukraine.
Posted by: Fred || 05/13/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Donetsk + Luhansk/Logansk waiting for the slackards at Slavyansk/Slovyansk.

D *** NG IT, WHATS THE HOLDUP, + WHY DO WE HAVE SO MANY DIFFERENT SPELLINGS FOR OUR CITY NAMES???

Anyhoo, Vlad appears to remain uninterested ...

* RUSSIA TODAY > MOSCOW NOT IN RUSH [yet?] TO RESPOND TO DONETSK [etal]PEO-RUSSIA REBELS PLEA FOR ACCESSION.

[1960-70'S = 1980'S MTV's PAULA ABDUL'S "RUSH, RUSH" here].

versus

* TOPIX > RUSSIA INTRODUCES [new] SEPARATE MINISTRY OF NORTH CAUCASUS AFFAIRS.

Russia unilater blocking the Global Nuclear Jihad - demands the USA show "How about you"???
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 05/13/2014 2:57 Comments || Top||


US does not recognize referendums in Ukraine
[Iran Press TV] White House front man Jay Carney says the United States does not recognize the results of Sunday's autonomy referendums in Ukraine's eastern regions of Donetsk and Lugansk.

In a presser on Monday, Carney said the votes are "illegal under Ukrainian law" and they were "a transparent attempt to create further division and disorder."

The White House also blasted Russian President Vladimir Putin
...Second and fourth President and sixth of the Russian Federation and the first to remain sober. Putin is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from polonium poisoning. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to Putin. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead...
over the crisis in the country.

The situation "suggests that there has not been a significant change in attitude by Russia towards the efforts by separatists in Ukraine to breed chaos and to prevent the effective carrying out of national elections," Carney said.

"The focus of the international community, including Russia, should be on supporting the Ukraine government's efforts to hold a presidential election on May 25," he added.
Posted by: Fred || 05/13/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Looks like the US was behind the coup that removed the democratically elected government.

Emperor Zero and the EUSSR really is "post-democratic".
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 05/13/2014 8:52 Comments || Top||

#2  Hey, you want to trust Iranian news and the Red Mafia's "elections" there's lots of Red Mafia countries that would be happy to have both you and your money. Venezuela for instance.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 05/13/2014 10:38 Comments || Top||

#3  Funny thing is, the EUSSR is the life support system for Russia and its penis; they helped it rearm and they're continuing to help it rearm , and all the Neo-Soviets and the Paleo'soviets like you do is complain that they incite people against poorlittleRussia.

You pretend Russia's striking back against everything you don't like about your local government because they paid lip service to the idea of opposing Russia while they build Russia military gear and equip their tanks with electronics. You're being just as much a passive aggressive little sociopathic liar to yourself and others as Kerry was during the Vietnam War.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 05/13/2014 10:44 Comments || Top||

#4  Russia recognized Chicago elections?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 05/13/2014 14:20 Comments || Top||

#5  Not exactly an apt comparison.
Posted by: Pappy || 05/13/2014 15:31 Comments || Top||

#6  I doubt that Russia/Putin give a damn.
Posted by: irishrageboy || 05/13/2014 15:35 Comments || Top||


#8  Ref #7 - Of course there had to be a Clinton connection:

Bloomberg Business Week

Burisma Holdings Limited Key Developments

Robert Hunter Biden Joins Board of Directors of Burisma Holdings Ltd

May 12 14

Robert Hunter Biden has joined the board of directors of Burisma Holdings Ltd. In the holding Robert Biden will be responsible for legal issues, and supporting the company in international organisations. He serves as Counsel to Boies, Schiller, Flexner, LLP. Previously, Mr. Biden was a founding member of the law firm, Oldaker, Biden and Belair, LLP, was appointed by President Clinton to serve as Executive Director of E-Commerce Policy Coordination under Secretary of Commerce William Daley and was a Senior Vice President at MBNA America Bank.

Posted by: Besoeker || 05/13/2014 17:52 Comments || Top||


China-Japan-Koreas
Report: Vietnam, China Vessels Fire Water Cannons
[Ynet] State media say a Vietnamese patrol boat has exchanged water cannon fire with Chinese vessels near an oil rig recently positioned by China in disputed waters.

Two journalists for the Tuoi Tre newspaper reported they witnessed the exchange Monday in the South China Sea.

It was the first reported incident since last Wednesday in a tense standoff at the oil rig, which is surrounded by dozens of Chinese vessels. Both sides have accused the other of ramming ships.
Posted by: trailing wife || 05/13/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under: Commies

#1  Next they'll be lobbing water ballons.
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 05/13/2014 9:27 Comments || Top||

#2  As I said earlier, I think this is China's bill for supporting Russia in Ukraine.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 05/13/2014 10:46 Comments || Top||

#3  More like human nature abhors a power vacuum.
Posted by: Pappy || 05/13/2014 14:28 Comments || Top||

#4  Yeah man, I hate my wife's Dyson, give me an Electrolux Vacuum any day.
Posted by: Beelzabubs Brother Barack || 05/13/2014 14:31 Comments || Top||

#5  Bring out the babes and wet tshirt contest!!! w00t!!
Posted by: DarthVader || 05/13/2014 15:25 Comments || Top||

#6  Part of China's tit-for-tat deal with Russia over the Ukraine. China gets Vietnam's waters.
Posted by: 3dc || 05/13/2014 17:43 Comments || Top||


Down Under
Australia to Streamline Government, Axe Public Servants in Budget
[An Nahar] Dozens of Australian agencies and hundreds of public service jobs face the axe in Tuesday's budget, with Finance Minister Mathias Cormann saying government was too big, wasteful, and needed streamlining.

Cormann refused to confirm specifics of the conservative administration's first budget since taking office in September, which comes as a mining boom fades and growth remains sluggish.

But the minister agreed there was room to scrap or merge some government agencies, a move which could reportedly save Aus$470 million (U.S.$440 million).

"Government has become way too big and way too wasteful under the previous government," Cormann told the ABC on Monday.

"When we came into government we were told by Finance (Department) that there were nearly 1,000 different individual government bodies. There was a lot of waste, a lot of duplication."

The ABC said the bodies to be abolished included the Australian Renewable Energy Agency, the National Water Commission and the Prime Minister's Indigenous Business Policy Advisory Group.
Posted by: Fred || 05/13/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Well, knock me over with a feather. Someone is actually cutting government.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 05/13/2014 1:08 Comments || Top||

#2  Public Servants.
Neither public nor servants.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 05/13/2014 5:58 Comments || Top||

#3  Check out http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/timblair/

for the hilarious teeth-gnashing, wailing and head tilting responses from the entitled elite left, especially to the proposed cuts to green totems. Quit mirth inducing.
Posted by: AlanC || 05/13/2014 7:53 Comments || Top||


Europe
Sharp rise in French Jews leaving for Israel
[AFP] Kandel told AFP that the reasons for the hike in numbers were a "climate of anti-Semitism" and the prevailing gloomy economic situation in France.
If it were only the Jews leaving France, anti-Semitism might be given additional weight. Young people of all faiths are leaving both France and the UK in record numbers.
For perspective, the numbers are still vanishingly small: perhaps 5,000 this year to Israel out of a population of 500,000, though 90,000 have made aliyah since 1948.

Rich people have been leaving France as well, though mostly they seem to be going to London, which is near at hand for moving back when political conditions change. Hey -- whatever happened to all those French aristos the Scarlet Pimpernel rescued?
Posted by: Besoeker || 05/13/2014 04:20 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:



EU sanctions two Crimean firms, 13 people over Ukraine crisis
[Al Ahram]
Posted by: Fred || 05/13/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:


The Grand Turk
Court Orders Turkey To Pay Cyprus Over Invasion
[Ynet] Europe's top human rights
...which are often intentionally defined so widely as to be meaningless...
court in its largest ever judgment ordered Turkey on Monday to pay 90 million euros ($123 million) to Cyprus for its 1974 invasion and the island's subsequent division.

The decision from the European Court of Human Rights said the passage of time did not erase Turkey's responsibility in the case, ruling that Turkey must pay 30 million euros in damages to relatives of those missing in the operations and 60 million euros for "the enclaved Greek-Cypriot residents of the Karpas peninsula."
Posted by: trailing wife || 05/13/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Duuud, that was like two score ago.

Or are we laundering some Russian monies?
Posted by: swksvolFF || 05/13/2014 11:50 Comments || Top||

#2  Thereby bringing lawfare to the next level. I want to see what happens when papers get served.
Posted by: ed in texas || 05/13/2014 19:13 Comments || Top||

#3  just use the funds stolen during the Armenian genocide
Posted by: Frank G || 05/13/2014 19:16 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
JI men as Zakat committee chairmen under fire in PA
[DAWN] The opposition politicians in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa
... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central...
Assembly on Monday lashed out at the provincial government for appointing only Jamaat-e-Islami
...The Islamic Society, founded in 1941 in Lahore by Maulana Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, aka The Great Apostosizer. The Jamaat opposed the independence of Bangladesh but has operated an independent branch there since 1975. It maintains close ties with international Mohammedan groups such as the Moslem Brotherhood. the Taliban, and al-Qaeda. The Jamaat's objectives are the establishment of a pure Islamic state, governed by Sharia law. It is distinguished by its xenophobia, and its opposition to Westernization, capitalism, socialism, secularism, and liberalist social mores...
activists as chairmen of district Zakat committees and local Zakat committees across the province.They questioned the appointment of the chairmen of Zakat committees, saying only JI workers have been appointed to the posts ignoring other competent people only because they have no affiliation with JI. Currently, the Zakat and Ushr portfolio is with JI.Debate on the Zakat committee appointments began after MPA Mohammad Ali Shah Bacha moved an adjournment motion in the house.

The MPA said merit had been violated in the said appointments.

"Only workers of a particular political party have been appointed chairmen of the district Zakat committees and local Zakat committees across the province," he said.

Mr Bacha later told Dawn that of the 25 chairmen of the district Zakat committees, 23 belonged to JI and the rest to the ruling Pakistain Tehrik-e-Insaf
...a political party in Pakistan. PTI was founded by former Pakistani cricket captain and philanthropist Imran Khan. The party's slogan is Justice, Humanity and Self Esteem, each of which is open to widely divergent interpretations....
. He told the house that the local MPAs, MNAs and elders of the respective areas were not taken into confidence on the appointment of the heads of Zakat committees at district and local levels.

"Tell me if only the Jamaat-e-Islami workers fulfil the criteria for such appointments," he said while gesturing to provincial Zakat and Ushr minister Habibur Rehman.

The MPA urged the minister to pronounce that he doesn't want to see people other than his party members in Zakat committees.

"Zakat is being used for political gains," he said, adding that even government servants were appointed to local Zakat committees.
Posted by: Fred || 05/13/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [9 views] Top|| File under: Jamaat-e-Islami


Blasphemy case against lawyers
[DAWN] The Kotwali police have registered a First Information Report (FIR) under Section 295/A of the Pakistain Penal Code (blasphemy law) against eight nominated and 60 unknown members of the District Bar Association here on Monday.

A couple of days ago, on the orders of the Kotwali district police officer, the police had registered a criminal case against Kotwali Station House Officer Umar Daraz, ASI Mubashir and five other coppers for thrashing and keeping a lawyer Aftab Nadeem in illegal detention. When the police did not arrest the nominated accused police officials, the DBA members went on strike till the arrest of the SHO and his subordinates.

On the third day of the lawyers' protest Arshad Mahmood, a resident of Basti Attawali, Jhang Sadar, through an application informed the police that during the protest some lawyers had shouted slogans with the name of SHO Umar Daraz and the mention of the name Umar had hurt the applicant's religious emotions.

The Kotwali police lodged an FIR (No 294/14) against eight nominated and 60 unnamed lawyers under Section 295/A of the PPC.

Sources said it was an exceptional FIR in which the lawyers who were protesting against the police highhandedness were booked under blasphemy law. The issue would be taken up by Punjab and Pakistain Bar Councils.

Some DBA members alleged SHO Rana Umer Daraz belonged to Faisalabad
...formerly known as Lyallpur, the third largest metropolis in Pakistain, the second largest in Punjab after Lahore. It is named after some Arab because the Paks didn't have anybody notable of their own to name it after...
and was a relative of a prominent Punjab minister. They alleged the police registered the case against the lawyers as a counter to the FIR against the SHO.
Posted by: Fred || 05/13/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [8 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan

#1  If you sue one lawyer for blasphemy you will have to sue them all...
Posted by: Squinty || 05/13/2014 16:21 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Israel Electricity Company Sues Palestinians Over Debt
[Ynet] Israel's electric corp to take Paleostinian firm to court over more than $153 million in unpaid electric bills.

Israel Electric Corp is suing a private Paleostinian firm for $150 million in unpaid bills, after negotiations to settle the debt collapsed, officials said on Monday.

The IEC filed suit at the Jerusalem District Court on Thursday against the Jerusalem District Electric Company for a total of 531 million shekels ($153 million), a company statement said.

JDECO is a private company which purchases electricity from Israel to supply to East Jerusalem and cities in the West Bank.

The IEC decided to sue after "intensive contact" with JDECO and Paleostinian officials in Ramallah failed to reach a breakthrough.

As well as supplying electricity via JDECO, the Israeli firm also provides power to the Paleostinian Authority, which caters to the rest of the West Bank and also supplies power to the Gazoo Strip.

The Ramallah-based PA also owes money to the IEC. Both the PA and JDECO ran up debts after failing to collect the full amount they are owed by their own customers.

An energy market insider told AFP that the outstanding debt of the JDECO and PA to the IEC currently stood at 1.5 billion shekels ($434 million) of which around two-thirds was owed by JDECO.

The lawsuit only accounts for around half of that sum.

Israel's finance ministry is offsetting the PA's outstanding debt to the IEC by deducting funds from the monthly taxes it collects on behalf of the Paleostinian government.

But in the case of JDECO, Israel has no mechanism for deducting monies, meaning the debt has ballooned, the source told AFP, saying that cutting off the power was not politically feasible.

Until recently, talks were under way to reach a solution, but the Paleostinians abruptly halted the negotiations after the signing of a unity deal between the rival leaderships in the West Bank and Gazoo, the source said.

Jerusalem District Court is to issue a directive on the case on Wednesday.

Contacted by AFP, Omar Kataneh, head of the Paleostinian Power Authority, had no immediate comment on the matter.
Posted by: trailing wife || 05/13/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Take land (Property) as payment.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 05/13/2014 1:51 Comments || Top||


Science & Technology
Too Close for Comfort - Cases of Near Nuclear Use and Options for Policy
...the report analyses cases in which nuclear weapons use was contemplated and nearly occurred owing to misjudgment and misperception. It also includes cases of recent 'sloppy practices' deriving from laxity in safety and security procedures.
I remember the 10.73 Brouhaha quite well.
Posted by: Uncle Phester || 05/13/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I suspect this report is missing a few incidents and it doesn't show potential explosions from "broken arrows".
Posted by: 3dc || 05/13/2014 17:48 Comments || Top||

#2  SOAS is also a hot-bed of far left idiocy.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 05/13/2014 18:17 Comments || Top||


Government
ICE Document Details 36,000 Criminal Alien Releases in 2013
Posted by: Besoeker || 05/13/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  116 homicides, Kinda kills the apparance of the "Murderous Mexican" portrayed by our press, (We KNOW they lie, now here's proof.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 05/13/2014 2:02 Comments || Top||

#2  Maybe the guy that took over Baltimore's WMAR is one of them - 35999 that are left.


Posted by: Beelzabubs Brother Barack || 05/13/2014 14:24 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
29[untagged]
5Govt of Pakistan
5Arab Spring
4Boko Haram
2al-Shabaab
2Taliban
2Islamic State of Iraq & the Levant
1Govt of Iran
1al-Nusra
1Govt of Syria
1Hamas
1Jamaat-e-Islami
1MUJAO
1Narcos
1Palestinian Authority
1Seleka
1al-Qaeda in Arabia
1al-Qaeda
1al-Qaeda in North Africa
1Thai Insurgency
1Commies

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Meet the Mods
In no particular order...
Steve White
Seafarious
tu3031
badanov
sherry
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trailing wife
Gloria
Fred
Besoeker
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Two weeks of WOT
Tue 2014-05-13
  Belmokhtar aide killed in Mali
Mon 2014-05-12
  Militants kidnap, kill 20 Iraqi soldiers
Sun 2014-05-11
  Almost 90 %t vote for self-rule for east Ukraine region
Sat 2014-05-10
  11 Killed as Iraq Forces Launch Assault near Fallujah
Fri 2014-05-09
  Syrian Rebels Claim Massive Aleppo Hotel Bombing
Thu 2014-05-08
  Hundreds Killed in Boko Haram Attack in Nigeria Border Town
Wed 2014-05-07
  Bomb In Syria's Idlib Kills 30 Government Fighters
Tue 2014-05-06
  New bus kabooms in Nairobi
Mon 2014-05-05
  Rebel infighting in eastern Syria kills 62
Sun 2014-05-04
  Borno: 29 Killed In Another Boko Haram Attacks
Sat 2014-05-03
  India: 23 killed in sectarian attacks
Fri 2014-05-02
  24 Syrians Register to Run in Presidential Vote as Regime Raid on Aleppo Kills 33
Thu 2014-05-01
  ISIL executes 7 in Syria including 2 crucifictions
Wed 2014-04-30
  Militants raid Libya assembly to stop vote on PM
Tue 2014-04-29
  Iraq Attacks Kill 57, Including 30 Talabani Supporters, as Security Forces Vote


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