#1
For the non-military types Article 32 hearings pretty much equate to Grand Juries. The General Officer with the Courts Martial jurisdiction then decides whether to 1) set aside the findings and recommendations, 2) mitigate the severity of recommended punishment if any, 3) direct his JAG to prosecute any or all of the particulars.
Australian aircraft engineers have called for Airbus A380 - the world's biggest passenger aircraft - to be grounded, after Singapore Airlines and Qantas found cracks in the wings of their super-jumbos.
'We can't continue to gamble with people's lives and allow those aircraft to fly around and hope that they make it until their four-yearly inspection,' said Steve Purvinas, secretary of the Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers Association. Or the wings fall off, whichever happens first.
Both airlines, and Airbus, admitted that they had discovered cracks, but maintained that the aircraft were safe. In total, 67 Airbus A380s are in use worldwide, on seven airlines.The aircraft are in use by Qantas, Singapore Airlines
'We confirm that cracks were found on non-critical wing attachments on a limited number of A380s,' an Airbus spokesperson said today. And if you see bits off the wings suddenly fly past your window at 40,000 feet, pay no attention.
'We've traced the origin of these hairline cracks, and developed an inspection and repair procedure which can be done during routine maintenance.' Really, they're very, very thin cracks. Nothing to worry about.
Singapore Airlines, the world's second-biggest carrier, operates 14 A380s already and has five on order, while Qantas has taken delivery of 10 of its order of 20 A380 aircraft.
The A380 has been in service for five years. It seats 525 passengers in a typical three-class arrangement. In total, 238 of the aircraft have been ordered by 17 airlines worldwide.
The aeroplanes are assembled in Toulouse, but parts are built across Europe, with the wings being built in Broughton, Wales. Who built the cracks, is what I want to know. Ukraine. They're really good at building cracks. Ask anyone who's flown an Ilyushin...
Singapore Airlines (SIA) and Qantas Airways said on Friday they discovered cracks on the wing ribs of their Airbus A380s, but said the cracks pose no threat to safety and repairs have been carried out. Gee. I remember a time a few years back when Space Shuttle engineers overruled in a similar fashion by far more knowledgable executive types. Sorta makes you wonder why they even bother to hire engineers, really.
The remarks came after Airbus said on Thursday that engineers discovered minor cracks in the wings of a 'limited number' of A380s, but said the cracks were not affecting the safety of the aircraft.
'Cracks were found on a small number of wing rib feet on an Airbus A380 during inspections in the second half of last year. These pose no safety issue and repairs were carried out on the aircraft,' SIA's spokesman Nicholas Ionides said in an email.
'Repairs were subsequently carried out on a second aircraft. We have kept the relevant regulatory authorities fully informed and will be carrying out inspections and any necessary repairs on other A380s as they go in for routine checks,' he added.
Qantas separately said that 'minuscule cracking' was found in the wing ribs of the Qantas A380 being repaired in Singapore after one of its Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engines suffered a mid-air blowout in 2010.
'Investigations have found that the cracking is unrelated to the engine failure incident experienced by this aircraft in November 2010 and is not unique to Qantas. It has now been repaired,' the carrier said in a statement.
'No immediate action is required by A380 operators because the cracking presents no risk whatsoever to flight safety,' Qantas said.
A Lufthansa spokesman said: 'There is no findings on our side and we have normal operations.'
Airbus said it has traced the origin of the problem and developed an inspection and repair procedure that will be done during routine, scheduled four-year maintenance checks. Or after a wing falls off, whichever happens first.
SIA, the world's second-biggest carrier by market value and the first operator of such aircraft, operates 14 A380s and has five on order, while Qantas has taken delivery of 10 of its 20 A380 aircraft on order, according to the airline's website.
Both Singapore Airlines and Qantas are using Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engines on their A380 fleets.
#1
I recall one (I think it was aircraft) design remedy was to put a slot where the cracks formed. A 'controlled" crack, because it doesn't grow beyond the slot.
Sometimes cracks for just because there needs to be a tiny bit of movement right there.
Posted by: Bobby ||
01/13/2012 9:34 Comments ||
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#2
Remember in development the A380 only just passed it's wing bending tests. There was a bit of a scramble to beef them up, IIRC.
#4
that's why they have two wings - for redundancy
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/13/2012 11:35 Comments ||
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#5
Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers Association - Union connected organization for Aircraft Inspectors and other maintenance personnel including the folks that clean the planes at the end of the day. Nothing to do with Aircraft Design. They are NOT Engineers, no more than a "Sanitation Engineer" would be.
Posted by: Mike Ramsey ||
01/13/2012 12:26 Comments ||
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#7
If it ain't Boeing, I ain't going.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
01/13/2012 12:52 Comments ||
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#8
that's why they have two wings - for redundancy
Truer than you may think, Frank. Rantburgers may remember this story (starts about 30 seconds in)...
Posted by: Ricky bin Ricardo (Abu Babaloo) ||
01/13/2012 14:31 Comments ||
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#9
If it ain't Boeing, I ain't going.
Ummm...I might have to draw the line at the 787 Dreamliner. Composite frame structures in the fuselage and wings? Okay, I'm not an engineer and I don't even play one on television, but my first instinct is that an airplane with plastic wings belongs on my 4 year old great-nephew's bookshelf, not 35,000 feet in the air.
Posted by: Ricky bin Ricardo (Abu Babaloo) ||
01/13/2012 14:37 Comments ||
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#11
Stop drill the ends of the cracks and go for broke, no pun intended.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
01/13/2012 15:55 Comments ||
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#12
Yes, Ricky, I will tend to agree with you, pending some years of ops experience with the 787. Lots of innovation, but a whole different technology.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
01/13/2012 16:08 Comments ||
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#13
My Brother-in-law worked on the 787 and he is an aerospace engineer. The composite material allows bending and flexing without the fatigue. I.E. it can be pressurized and bent without the crystalline structure breaking down, since the composites allow the different crystalline molecules to pass the stresses on.
Think of it as a line of kids playing red rover and they all have hard carbon torsos and rubber arms. Now think of millions of those lines woven together. Pretty impressive stuff.
#14
Ricky, the F-15 wasn't originally made with fly-by-wire (computer oontrolled flight systems), so the air frame had flight dynamics that allowed gliding in to a landing in some emergency situations. Fly-by-wire air frames are, in contrast, tend to to drop like a rock if they lose power to the flight control system, and the FCS can't necessarily compensate for damage to the wings well. Generalization but useful in thinking about such things ....
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/13/2012 20:43 Comments ||
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#18
Spent many years repairing cracks in aircraft, all over the damn things; a complete inspection to identify problems is critical. When the metal Intruder wings first failed (VA-128) it was a catastrophic failure that eventually led to the composite replacement wings.
If you look at my second favorite-est airplane, the Hornet ( sarc) those little vertical fences on the wings next to the fuselage are there to straighten out the airflow around the vertical stabs; the buffeting caused the mounting flanges to crack.
787 concerns: not with scheduled maintenance, but 'ramp rash;' metal airplanes leave dents ( witness marks) plastic doesn't, but can start a delamination internally. If the afore mentioned inspections don't catch it in time, there will be no 'small crack,' but a full failure of the area.
I'm going to give the Dreamliner 5 years in service before I climb in one.
From en.rian.ru:
The U.S. State Departments top arms control official has said the Obama administration will not give Russia any legally binding guarantees that U.S. missile defenses in Europe will not impact Russias strategic deterrent, Foreign Policy magazine reported. At least we don't make promises we don't intend to keep. Until lately, that is.
We will never do a legally binding agreement because I cant do one. I cant get anything ratified. Even if I wanted to Im not sure I would Legally binding doesnt mean what it did before, Under Secretary of State for Arms Control Ellen Tauscher said during a meeting of the Defense Writers Group on Thursday. Sure it does. With Russia, it was always some kind of hudna. Until they ran out of money, anyway.
What they (Russia) are looking for really is a sense that future administrations are going to live by [Obama's commitments]. And you cant really do that, she said. Gee. I wonder why.
Tauscher said that almost every issue regarding European security was settled and that the United States will conclude a missile defense agreement for cooperation with Russia later this year. Except they still trade in injecting instability and the tools of war, which makes it tough.
The only thing thats new where you can bring the Russians in is missile defense, Tauscher said. This is the place where we can begin to put aside the Cold War and mutually assured destruction and move toward mutually assured stability. Riiight. That's why they support Iran and like vermin.
In a televised statement in November, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev warned that Russia would deploy missiles and may opt out of the New START nuclear reductions agreement if Russia, the United States and NATO failed to find a way to work together on European missile defenses. Oops, another threat that may have teeth compliments of an unsustainable national debt. Notice a pattern here?
Russia is worried the U.S.-led anti-missile shield in Europe may target its nuclear forces. And their precious bodily fluids, too.
Tauscher dismissed the threats as part of the Russian campaign season and said there would be more headway after presidential elections in Russia this March. Just ignore their fundamental character and wait until after the presidential elections? No problem, except I didn't believe Obean the instant he opened his mouth, either.
We want to get back to the table with the Russians both on strategic and non-strategic, deployed and non-deployed. That means everything, she said. We need the elections [to] pass so that both sides can get back to the table. And they unilaterally disarm, and stop supporting communist regimes, and anything that costs the US blood and treasure, or monkeys shooting bottle rockets fly out of my @$$.
#1
The Russians will shoot over the north pole to hit the US. The European shield, using basic geometry, would not stop an "over the top" attack. All it does is impede Russian ability to threaten its western neighbors.
If Russia had done its part to reign in Iran than there would be no need of a European missile shield. So, screw 'em.
Posted by: Mike Ramsey ||
01/13/2012 8:49 Comments ||
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#2
The irony remains that Mama Russia is empowering or emboldening the very Jihadists whom threaten its stability + security as well.
[An Nahar] Prime Minister Vladimir Putin ...Second President of the Russian Federation and the first to remain sober. Because of constitutionally mandated term limits he is the current Prime Minister of Russia. His sock puppet, Dmitry Medvedev, was installed in the 2008 presidential elections. Putin is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law. During his eight years in office Russia's economy bounced back from crisis, seeing GDP increase, poverty decrease and average monthly salaries increase. During his presidency Putin passed into law a series of fundamental reforms, including a flat income tax of 13%, a reduced profits tax, and new land and legal codes. 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... on Thursday vowed to end police repression in Russia and make government accountable, as he kicked off his campaign for presidential elections after mass protests.
In his manifesto for the March 2012 elections where he plans to take an unprecedented third Kremlin term, Putin also promised to build a strong Russia and retaliate against Western states that failed to listen to Moscow.
The manifesto, posted on his new campaign site putin2012.ru, has been published one month after the start of anti-Putin protests which rallied tens of thousands and posed the biggest challenge to his rule.
"We need to re-think the whole system of public security and need to stop the extremely repressive tendency" of the security forces in Russia, Putin wrote in the election program.
"This situation is deforming our society and is making it morally unhealthy. The actions of the security forces should be aimed at protecting and supporting legal business -- not fighting it."
The behavior of the security forces in Russia is seen as one of Russia's biggest scourges due to widespread corruption and iron-fisted tactics. The promise by Putin may be seen as a concession to the protest movement.
Putin has been repeatedly lambasted by critics during his previous two terms in the Kremlin and current stint as prime minister for allowing the security forces Soviet-style powers to control society.
"We will ensure the accountability of the authorities towards the society that they are working for," Putin said, proposing "effective government under the control of the people."
He said the widespread practice in Russia of keeping suspects in pre-trial detention should be reduced and as well as the use of jail sentences for less significant crimes.
But in a stern warning to the West, Putin also vowed that world powers would not be able to make decisions "behind the back of Russia or avoiding Russia and her interests."
"Unilateral actions by our partners that fail to take into account Russia's opinion and her interests will receive a corresponding response," Putin wrote.
He promised to create "strong Russia in a complex world".
The presidential elections are now seen by analysts as a far tougher challenge for Putin than before the rallies that brought together tens of thousands of people in Moscow breaking the taboo against mass protest in Russia.
He is still widely expected to win the presidential elections but opinion polls have predicted he may, for the first time in his career, need a second round.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/13/2012 00:00 ||
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#1
"So now the police are no longer repressed. What?"
#2
"Unilateral actions by our partners that fail to take into account Russia's own unilateral actions opinion and her interests will receive a corresponding response."
How would that be any different from how Russia currently acts?
Posted by: Mike Ramsey ||
01/13/2012 10:51 Comments ||
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#3
And some people say Vladdie has no sense of humor.
Hey, howdy y'all. Now about them recess apointments ....
President Obama formally notified Congress on Thursday of his intent to raise the nations debt ceiling by $1.2 trillion, two weeks after he had postponed the request to give lawmakers more time to consider the action.
Congress will have had 15 days to say no before the nations debt ceiling automatically is raised from $15.2 trillion to $16.4 trillion. Remind me again when we get to replace faulty congressmen?
In a letter to House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio), Obama wrote that further borrowing is required to meet existing commitments. Which have no planned end in sight.
Obama had sought to make the request at the end of last month, when the Treasury came within $100 billion of its borrowing limit. However, with Congress on recess, lawmakers from both parties asked the president to hold off. The House is out of session until Jan. 17, and the Senate until Jan. 23.
Since then Treasury officials have used special revenue and accounting measures to maintain the nations solvency. Yet the White House cast the delay as a technicality, saying there is no chance the limit will not be increased, even if Republican lawmakers attempt to object. Then it would be best for all who hope to be reelected, no?
Under an agreement reached in August, Congress and the White House moved to raise the debt limit in three increments while also implementing $2.4 trillion in budget cuts. The deal, however, also gave Congress the option of voting to block each of the debt-ceiling increases by passing a resolution of disapproval. Dear Representatives: How have those cuts I ordered been going?
Even if such a resolution were passed, Obama could veto it, and he could be overridden only by a two-thirds supermajority in each chamber. Didn't see that one coming!
In September, when the first debt-limit hike was scheduled to take effect, the Republican-led House passed a disapproval resolution, but the Democrat-controlled Senate blocked it and the debt ceiling was raised
White House officials said they do not expect the Senate to support a disapproval resolution this time even if the House passes one again. Well, you have to buy a ticket if you want to win the lottery.
Remember that whole "US is decoupling" theme so pathologically spread around by two-bit propaganda media outfits staffed by journalism B.A. majors? Time to put it in the trash where it belongs.
As long expected, the temp hire surge, so effectively used by retailers to dump inventory below cost (just ask Sears), is over, and in the first week of 2012, Seasonally Adjusted claims soared to 399,000, the highest since November and a number which next week will be revised over 400,000, a decimation of expectations of 375,000 (naturally last week's number was revised upward from 372K to 375K - a long-lasting BLS tradition of fudging data that everyone knows about now). The Non-Seasonally adjusted number was +102,314 claims in the first week of the year.
And the real question is how many of these real departures were of the banker type, where the impact on lost withholding taxes going forward, and thus government revenues, will be quite dire.
Continuing claims also missed expectations, rising to 3628K from a revised 3609K (expectation was for an unchanged print, pre-revision, of 3595K). And the worst news is that the 99-week cliff continues to grab more and more, with 48k people dropping off all rolls, and thus from the labor force completely, meaning the labor force participation rate in January will likely drop to another fresh 30 year low.
#2
"Novartis (NYSE: NVS), the drug giant, said it will fire 1,960 people in the U.S. New product introductions have slowed. Some current products have sales difficulties". Many others doing the same. Many areas of our economy now. I believe that at some point they will do away with this reporting the closer we get to the election. Perhaps they will keep it and just fudge the numbers more.
The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 642,381 in the week ending January 7, an increase of 102,314 from the previous week.
#4
Are you refering to NEW claims, or to redurring claims? (one a month)
BIG difference.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
01/13/2012 11:32 Comments ||
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#5
not good numbers but not as dire as zerohedge implies (I think he knows this)
the year ago numbers were 437k for the seasonally adjusted initial claims and 773k for not seasonally adjusted initial claims
For whatever reasons, the seasonal shopping peak has been getting higher for several years and also begun earlier than it used to and also the merchant discounting has begun earlier and been more aggressive.
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
01/13/2012 14:27 Comments ||
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#6
Being retired allows me to recive junk mail that is very different prior to my retirement. Should I recieve any assistance benefits I am entitled to a free wireless phone, free minutes for a year, so on and so on.From medicade to Snap.This is how it's done now to control votes. What else will they offer people. Try to get a job and they give you a hard time. Try to get something like assistance come on down. I realize for some that may not be so easy.
Air Station Kodiak is providing air support for Coast Guard operations in Nome. A C-130 aircraft and an MH-65 helicopter are being used. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has sent ice experts, Wadlow stated, to analyze satellite imagery to predict ice conditions and movement. The University of Alaska has a team in Nome using two state of the art drones to image the ice in the harbor area and just offshore.
Problem? How could a $15T debt possibly be a problem?
The United States plans to withdraw about 7,000 US troops of the 81,000 troops based in Europe, US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said. Remove them all. Europe is more populous than we are and as such can defend themselves, especially as they aren't faced now with the external threat of a hostile nation-state.
In an interview with the Armed Forces Press Service, Panetta said two brigade combat teams, or roughly 7,000 US troops, would be withdrawn from Europe, but rotational units would still maintain strong military presence in the region.
"The Secretary and other senior Department officials have consulted closely with our European allies on our new strategic guidance," Pentagon spokesman George Little said in an email.
"Our security commitments to Europe and to NATO are unwavering," he added.
The move is part of a 10-year defense strategy that President Barack Obama presented on January 5, giving strategic priority to the Asia-Pacific and Middle East regions.
"We will continue to maintain our presence both in the Middle East and Asia," Panetta said, according to the Armed Forces Press Service, an in-house Defense Department news service. "Yes, we'll have the Navy and the Air Force, but in my experience, in any conflict you need to have the potential use of ground forces."
Each combat brigade consists of around 3,500 troops. According to Pentagon figures, there were 81,000 US troops based in Europe as of late last year.
Obama unveiled the new military strategy earlier this month for a leaner US military focused on countering China's rising power and signaling a shift away from large ground wars against insurgents. This is not a "military strategy". This is a "temporary deficit reduction" strategy that aligns with a long-term goal of diminishing the US to the point that it has to pay ungodly amounts of money in the future when things go against it, which should further diminish it to the point of voting in socialism.
The plan calls for preparing for possible challenges from Iran and China, emphasizing air and naval power, while discounting future long-term, counter-insurgency campaigns like those conducted in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The "defense strategic review" sets out an approach for the US military in a looming era of austerity, as Obama's administration prepares for $487 billion in defense cuts over the next 10 years.
"Our budget is, basically, designed to reinforce the new missions we are talking about and that agile, deployable and ready force that has to move quickly," Panetta said in the interview with Armed Forces Press Service.
"The example I've used is if we are in a land war in Korea and Iran does something in the Strait of Hormuz -- to go after that and to deal with that threat is largely going to be the responsibility of the Air Force and Navy," Panetta told the publication.
Anticipating attacks from his Republican rivals in an election year, Obama said earlier this month that reductions would be limited and would not come at the expense of America's military might.
Washington's focus on Asia is fueled by concerns over China's growing navy and arsenal of anti-ship missiles that could jeopardize America's military dominance in the Pacific. At the time, Britain cautioned that the US pivot to Asia should neglect Russia, calling it an unpredictable force on the global stage. Russia has far larger problems than we do. Their military is in the dumper, their procurement problems are totally screwed, their quality control (except for aircraft) is poor, their land forces need to restructure to a smaller, volunteer force (good luck with that Vlad), and they can't project power much beyond Georgia and Armenia. As extra added bonuses, they have a severe demographic problem and major problems with TB, HIV and alcohol. Yes, they may be unpredictable, but 'unpredictable' doesn't necessarily equate to 'powerful'.
AMMAN: The nuclear reactor that Jordan seeks to build by 2020 will cost about $5 billion, said Chairman of the Jordan Atomic Energy Commission Khalid Toukan on Thursday.
Assuming it's ever built...
Toukan defended the controversial project before the lower house of Parliament, where head of the chambers Legal Committee Mahmoud Kharabsheh alleged the venture would cost about $20 billion and overburden the countrys already cash-strapped treasury.
Kharabsheh also questioned the economic feasibility and safety of the project, saying it would jeopardize the countrys environment.
Toukan said that the government so far concluded nuclear cooperation agreements with 12 countries, including Spain, France, Russia and Britain. An effort to conclude a similar agreement with the US has reportedly faltered under Israels pressure.
The third generation nuclear reactor to be built in Jordan is one of the most developed reactors and will be completely safe, Toukan said. Besides, the generation of electricity by using nuclear energy will be economically feasible.
Toukan also defended assigning the exploration and exploitation of local uranium ores to the French group AREVA, saying the firm is an arm of the French government and can be trusted to do the job.
And if you can't trust the French government on an insider contract, who can you trust?
Uranium is available in Jordan in commercial quantities that will feed the projected Jordanian and regional nuclear reactors, he said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/13/2012 00:00 ||
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#1
How do you cool the reactor without a large source of water?
#3
Gas Cooled High Temperature Reactor? Seriously, if they have $5billion it is better used to transport water from Disi Amin to Amman since that is the most crucial need in Jordan.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
01/13/2012 11:59 Comments ||
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#4
Too bad they bagged it working with Israel in the joint construction of a sea water pipeline from the Med to the Dead Sea for hydroelectric and fresh water through the RO process.
Nuclear reactors are more sexy to them, I guess. Maybe they could make a bundle on bringing the Olympics to Amman. Now there is a money making idea.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
01/13/2012 13:00 Comments ||
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As a result, the new technology could assist in detecting nuclear substances such as plutonium and uranium that might be used in improvised nuclear devices by terrorists and could help in detecting neutrons in major scientific projects.
With the material's low cost, huge plastic sheets could be formed easily into dramatically larger surface areas than other neutron detectors currently used and could aid in the protection of ports, stadiums and other large facilities.
Posted by: Water Modem ||
01/13/2012 17:58 ||
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[Irish Times] IN THE latest sign of growing political openness in Burma, the government has signed a ceasefire with ethnic Karen rebels, bringing to an end one of the world's longest-running insurgencies.
"A ceasefire agreement has been signed," Aung Min, head of the government's peace committee, said after talks in the Karen capital, Pa-an.
The talks between Burmese officials and Karen National Union leaders were part of a broader programme by Burma's government to gain international legitimacy through democratic reforms. The talks followed years of military repression, which has led to tough international sanctions.
Ethnic Karen, who make up about 7 per cent of the population, have been fighting for more autonomy for more than 60 years in a guerrilla campaign in the eastern part of the country around the Irrawaddy delta. The struggle predates the country's independence from Britannia in 1948.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/13/2012 00:00 ||
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How is Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate that the regime rotates in and out of house arrest?
Posted by: Mike Ramsey ||
01/13/2012 12:06 Comments ||
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#2
As per CHH AM, SecState Hillary just announced that the US will begin sending + increasing formal Diplomatic ties wid BURMA/MYANMAR.
TAIWAN IS TO POST-US CHINA"S SEAPOWER = BURMA IS TO POST-US CHINA'S LAND POWER = "PIVOT" THAT WILL MAKE-OR-BREAK US HEGEMONY AROUND #1 WANNABE CHINA'S PERIPHERY, to include even hedge agz possible post-2014 Jihad agz US Allies in SOUTH + SE ASIA???
* INDIAN DEFENCE FORUM > [Asia Times = CNAS Think-tank] CALL FOR US NAVAL BUILDUP IN SOUTH CHINA SEA.
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.
Australian aircraft engineers have called for Airbus A380 - the world's biggest passenger aircraft - to be grounded, after Singapore Airlines and Qantas found cracks in the wings of their super-jumbos.
...Second President of the Russian Federation and the first to remain sober. Because of constitutionally mandated term limits he is the current Prime Minister of Russia. His sock puppet, Dmitry Medvedev, was installed in the 2008 presidential elections. Putin is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law. During his eight years in office Russia's economy bounced back from crisis, seeing GDP increase, poverty decrease and average monthly salaries increase. During his presidency Putin passed into law a series of fundamental reforms, including a flat income tax of 13%, a reduced profits tax, and new land and legal codes. 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...
Congress will have had 15 days to say no before the nations debt ceiling automatically is raised from $15.2 trillion to $16.4 trillion.
Remember that whole "US is decoupling" theme so pathologically spread around by two-bit propaganda media outfits staffed by journalism B.A. majors? Time to put it in the trash where it belongs. 
