A Wichita County woman known for raising camels was killed Saturday, along with a male companion. The Wichita County Sheriff’s Office reports Peggye McNair, 72, and Mark Mere, 53, were found lying in a fenced area. A release from the Sheriff’s Office said both people had suffered trauma and were dead when deputies arrived.
“A large aggressive camel
...is there any other kind...
I guess "large" is relative. If Manitoba is large, what're camels? I mean besides four-legged beasts with humps and bad tempers?
was in the area as well and it took deputies several minutes to move it to another location. It appears that both victims were trampled by the camel,” the release said.
You try moving an aggressive camel to another location...
McNair, a former vice president of American National Bank in Wichita Falls, had raised camels for nearly 20 years, following her late husband into the business and hobby. She operated Camel Kisses Ranch, which was often opened for children to come see the humped animals that are native to Asia, the Middle East and parts of Africa.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/12/2015 00:00 ||
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A reminder that not only is it not about Israel, but sometimes it isn't even about Islam. This one is about the native Berbers vs. the Arab colonizers/conquerors, all of whom are Muslim. But the Berbers caused trouble for the Romans when they were Christian no less than they have caused trouble for the Arabs since they became Muslim.
Jugurtha wasn't all that easy to handle for the Romans, either.
[AnNahar]. Clashes between Berbers and Arabs in the southern Algerian town of Ghardaia maimed 10 people Saturday, including two gendarmes, national news agency APS reported.
The fighting erupted when Mozabite (Berbers) youth tried to prevent a group of Arabs, or Chaamba, from going to a mosque located in a majority Mozabite neighborhood, the agency said.
Some young people also threw Molotov cocktails and hurled rocks at police who tried to break up the fighting, wounding the two gendarmes.
Police eventually used tear gas against the stone throwers.
The Mozabite and Chaamba communities have lived together for centuries, but tensions have risen sharply since vandals destroyed a historic Berber shrine in December 2013.
Since then there have been off-and-on confrontations that have killed at least 10 people and maimed more than 400.
The two sides have often clashed over property and land ownership.
Ghardaia is located in the M'Zab valley on the edge of the Sahara desert, some 600 kilometres (370 miles) south of Algiers. It is a UNESCO world heritage site renowned for its traditional white-washed houses and bustling market, selling jewelery, carpets and leather.
Shale oil broke that little monopoly, didn't it? If the Saudis have less money does that mean the environmental groups' financing is going to drop significantly?
The greenies, Vlad, Nick the Mad, Arab princes of all flavors, and the Mad Ayatollahs...
Ooooooh, that is a lovely thought!
[USATODAY] Saudi billionaire businessman Prince Alwaleed bin Talal told me we will not see $100-a-barrel oil again. The plunge in oil prices has been one of the biggest stories of the year. And while cheap gasoline is good for consumers, the negative impact of a 50% decline in oil has been wide and deep, especially for major oil producers such as 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... and Russia. Even oil-producing Texas has felt a hit. The astute investor and prince of the Saudi royal family spoke to me exclusively last week as prices spiraled below $50 a barrel. He also predicted the move would dampen what has been one of the big U.S. growth stories: the shale revolution. In fact, in the last two weeks, several major rig operators said they had received early cancellation notices for rig contracts. Companies apparently would rather pay to cancel rig agreements than keep drilling at these prices. His royal highness, who has been critical of Saudi Arabia's policies that have allowed prices to fall, called the theory of a plan to hurt Russian President Putin with cheap oil "baloney" and said the sharp sell-off has put the Saudis "in bed" with the Russians. The interview has been edited for clarity and length.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/12/2015 00:00 ||
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#1
The Saudis don't control the price of oil the way they once did. He is overstating their influence. I AM sure I have no control over the price, which I must either pay or do without oil.
#9
Now is the time to push even harder to complete the pipeline and grow shale and fracking. They are on the ropes - this would be a crushing blow.
Posted by: Yosemite Sam ||
01/12/2015 12:08 Comments ||
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#10
Agree w/ YS, except the low prices are keeping new wells from being driven; existing wells are 'sunk costs' pardon the pun, but to punch new ones takes money. A report from last month showed permit applications in TX and the Bakken Field way down compared to either last year or previous months.
However Crude by Rail is expected to remain steady for the next year. Even if Keystone passes it is a crap shoot if the desire is there to fund the construction at this time.
#12
Forget the recent downturn in gasoline prices at the pump. Keystone approval requires the 'long view.' There is NO MORE ECONOMICAL method of shipping crude oil or natural gas than a pipeline.
#14
Last we heard from the illustrious financial commentator, brilliant investor and all-around brain Prince Alwaleed bin Talal he was dumping a few billion into Citigroup in 2008 at an equivalent share price, net of that 1:10 reverse split, of around $400/share. And he was telling us it was a screaming buy. Wonder how that's working out for him?
As the battle in the east rages, a Ukrainian artist -who's conveniently from a country blessed with some of the most beautiful models in the world- has gone to a most tried-and-true method of buoying soldiers' morale, the pin-up girl...
The Chinese army appears to have fielded a brand-new light tank suitable for mountain warfare. New photos depict the diminutive fighting vehicle, which China has reportedly dubbed “ZTQ,” trundling across rough terrain.
The ZTQ, which Beijing apparently developed in order to help defend China’s western land border, is impressive in a lot of ways—and not the least because the U.S. Army, the world’s leading ground combat force, tried and failed for years to acquire a similar vehicle.
More and more, Beijing is matching American military capabilities with new warships, stealth fighters and combat helicopters. The ZTQ represents one military niche where China has actually exceeded the Pentagon’s own accomplishments.
We don’t know much about the ZTQ aside from what we can glean from the few photos, which have circulated in China’s popular Internet military forums for a few years now.
See photos Study the profileof the future smouldering wreck tank at the link...
#1
Terrain choke points and modern shoulder fired antitank weapons (or guided bombs or artillery) probably make those small (or large) tanks a rolling target for a modern ground force.
#3
The functional questions would be: (1) what's the weight distribution on the tracks and (2) how high is the center of gravity?
(You haven't had a wake up call until you've seen an armored vehicle come sliding down a hillside at you.)
Posted by: ed in texas ||
01/12/2015 7:53 Comments ||
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#5
Tanks in mountains historically don't fair well. They go too slow, are easily trapped and don't provide anything a good recoiless rifle or rocket launcher can do.
Plus with air power and drones, tanks in mountains have almost nowhere to hide unless they are under a mountain which makes the point of bringing tanks into that terrain pretty much moot.
Long article at Bloomie's about oil prices. Mostly stuff we all know plus a lot of conjecture and supposition.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/12/2015 00:00 ||
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Gee, you think that another view would be "American wildcaters weaponize oil against the worlds oligarchies and tyrannies". Doing the job the Beltway and Anonymous won't do.
SpaceX’s CRS-5/SpX-5 Dragon is scheduled to berth with the International Space Station (ISS) on Monday morning. While a large amount of attention has been focused on the near-success of the first landing of a returning core stage on the Autonomous Spaceport Drone Ship, the primary aim of the mission is Dragon’s delivery an array of cargo to the orbital outpost.
CRS-5:
The SpX-5/CRS-5 Dragon began her journey to the ISS atop of her Falcon 9 v1.1 partner on Saturday morning.
A quick look management review of the rocket’s ascent phase – and early on orbit operations of the Dragon – noted no issues for the duo.
Dragon herself would be forgiven for wondering why the the eyes of the space flight community were soon focused on the Atlantic Ocean, following her successful foray into Low Earth Orbit. However, that was somewhat understandable, as another Falcon 9 v1.1 core stage conducted a propulsive return to Earth.
While such efforts have taken place over a number of recent missions, this attempt involved the Autonomous Spaceport Drone Ship (ASDS), a landing platform vessel sporting the SpaceX’s logo as a target for the landing legs of the core stage.
The first stage made a valiant effort to hit its mark. However, the return was deemed to be too fast for a secure landing, resulting in the loss of the stage.
Although this allowed for certain mass media outlets to show a complete lack of understanding of the pre-announced odds relating to a successful landing, the reality is this attempt has provided another step forward for SpaceX’s ambitions of returning core stages for reuse.
The ASDS has since returned back to the coast, with photos circulating on social media – and collated in a NSF thread – showing some of the battle scars of a the core stage landing attempt.
SpaceX is understood to have gained some video footage from the event and may release it publicly in time.
Meanwhile, Dragon has merrily continued her orbital journey, conducting numerous burns to position herself for Monday’s arrival.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.