T
My guess is that it was windy, and he was afraid of his comb over going up and over!
(One time I was in the States, and it was at a sporting event, and the announcer said to "remover your hats" as the national song was played and they brought in the flag.)
555
(But seriously, glad you enjoyed some "me" time.)
Interesting "video" of boat traffic in the area right before the start of the war, and basically, how it crashed down to almost nothing after fighting started.
Dr. Vinay Prasad, who has led the FDA’s vaccines and biotech drugs division, will depart at the end of April, FDA Commissioner Marty Makary said Friday. Federal health officials are searching for his replacement, Makary said.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c39w2nj1rk8o
One of the UK's two aircraft carriers has been placed on advanced readiness to sail from Portsmouth, the BBC understands.
The crew of HMS Prince of Wales have been told they must be ready to leave in five days, defence sources said.
This may raise speculation the carrier could be deployed to the Mediterranean to help defend British interests threatened during the conflict in the Middle East.
Before this, the ship's "notice to sail" was 14 days.
Meanwhile, more US B-1 Lancer bombers have arrived at RAF Fairford.
https://www.europesays.com/us/637555/#google_vignette
A snake in southwest Indonesia has shattered the Guinness World Record for the longest serpent ever spotted in the wild. Nicknamed “Ibu Baron” (the Baroness), the giant female reticulated python (Malayopython reticulatus) discovered in late 2025 measures 23-feet-and-8-inches from head to tail—about the same length as a regulation soccer goal. That’s 10 inches longer than the previous record from another female reticulated python from Borneo measured in 1999. That said, onsite herpetologists suspected her length may technically be even longer.
The official world record confirmation took place earlier this year in Maros, an area in the Indonesian province of South Sulawesi. A team of experts including local conservationist Budi Purwanto, snake handler Diaz Nugraha, and photographer Radu Frentiu took the lead on measuring and documenting the reptile. They knew time was of the essence after initially hearing of the reptile’s existence from a mutual acquaintance. Reticulated pythons much shorter than the Baroness are often killed by local residents whenever they are spotted due to the threat they frequently pose to livestock, pets, children, and even some fully grown adults.
Luckily, the newly crowned record holder was still safe and healthy when located by the team. The group confirmed her length with the help of some volunteers, but noted her size may be an understatement. The Baroness was measured while it was fully awake and not under any anesthesia. Snakes are known to lengthen by as much as 10 percent when their muscles are relaxed during sedation, meaning she could be 26 feet long. But because the procedure is inherently risky, the conservationists didn’t want to unnecessarily endanger her.
https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/75/wr/mm7508a3.htm?s_cid=OS_mm7508a3_w
What is already known about this topic?
Until 1970, unexploded chemical warfare munitions (CWMs), including sulfur mustard (mustard gas) from World War I and World War II, were disposed of at sea. Commercial fishing vessels occasionally inadvertently dredge sea-disposed CWMs, exposing workers and risking health and safety.
What is added by this report?
Three incidents of recovered CWMs in New Jersey waters occurred in 2016, 2017, and 2023, resulting in severe worker injuries and large-scale food product destruction.
What are the implications for public health practice?
The risk for inadvertent recovery of sea-disposed CWMs continues while munitions remain on the seafloor. Prioritizing avoidance of documented dump sites followed by engineering and administrative measures, interagency coordination, training, and use of personal protective equipment are recommended to mitigate the risk for future injuries and food contamination.
Sometimes, the craziest ideas just happen to be the best
Offshore oil spills have caused some of the worst manmade disasters in history. And while adding a vortex of fire to the mix might sound like the opposite of a good solution, new research has found it might be the best way to clean up our mess.
When dealing with major oil spills, emergency responders often ignite slicks on the ocean’s surface, creating ‘in-situ’ fire pools that stop the oil from spreading further.
But while this protects the marine environment, such fires send huge plumes of smoke and toxic soot into the atmosphere.
Taking inspiration from a freak 2003 incident in Kentucky – where a bourbon spill sent 800,000 gallons up in flames, twisting into a 30m (100ft) fire whirl on a lake – Prof Elaine Oran and her team began to wonder whether the same process could be harnessed for good.
and
The secret is in the spin. Rather than spreading outward, the vortex sucks in oxygen from all sides – burning hotter and more completely, like a giant incinerator rather than a bonfire.
Fire whirls are temperamental, though; too much wind and the column collapses, too little airflow and it reverts to a fire pool. Despite this, Oran said achieving the 'Goldilocks Zone' in the field is "very realistic", and envisions mobile barrier structures deployed directly over spills at sea.
“We were joking about how it must have smelled,” she told BBC Science Focus. “Then we looked carefully at what was happening. Larger fire whirls were pulling in and eating up smaller fire whirls, actually pulling them in and absorbing them.”
Even though polls show most people dislike the system that has most Americans changing clocks twice a year, the political moves necessary to change the system haven’t succeeded because opinions on the issue and its potential impacts are sharply divided.
Want to make daylight saving time permanent? That would mean the sun rises around 9 a.m. in Detroit for a while during the winter. Prefer staying on standard time year round? That would mean the sun would be up at 4:11 a.m. in Seattle in June.
“There’s no law we can pass to move the sun to our will,” said Jay Pea, the president of Save Standard Time, an organization devoted to switching to standard time for good.
and
The United States has tinkered with the clock intermittently since railroads standardized the time zones in 1883. So has a lot of the world. About 140 countries have had daylight saving time at some point; about half that many do now.
About 1 in 10 U.S. adults favor the current system of changing the clocks, according to an AP-NORC poll conducted last year. About half oppose that system, and some 4 in 10 didn’t have an opinion. If they had to choose, most Americans say they would prefer to make daylight saving time permanent, rather than standard time.
Thailand is a tall, narrow country close to the equator, so no need to change the time. Pretty much 6 am - 6 pm sunlight year around. Taiwan doesn't change either.
@89th said in The Iran War (was Nuclear Program) thread:
My guess of what will happen? The story in a few years will be written like this:
Probably correct. In addition to Libya, maybe Iraq is a bit like that also.
I have had that feeling before. Almost like being drunk without the drinking! LOL
PS. I wonder if @andrea-b is Shat in disguise!!!
In any case, welcome to Andrea-B. Tell us more about yourself. 
William Shatner (I belive). I think he is above 90 YO and not a singer, so it is interesting I think.
https://nodebb.the-new-coffee-room.club/topic/15776/the-shat?_=1772909737789
https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/iran-underground-missiles-59b3492c
Iran spent decades constructing underground bunkers to shield its vast missile arsenal from destruction. Less than a week into the war with its two most powerful adversaries, the strategy is beginning to look like a blunder.
U.S. and Israeli war planes and armed drones are circling over the dozens of cavernous bases, striking missile-carrying launchers when they emerge to fire. Meanwhile, waves of heavy bombers have dropped munitions on the sites, apparently entombing the Iranian weapons below ground in some locations.
Satellite imagery taken in recent days shows the smoldering remains of several Iranian missiles and launchers destroyed in U.S. and Israeli airstrikes near entrances to the “missile cities,” as Iranian officials call the subterranean sites.
Tehran managed to shoot more than 500 missiles at Israel, at U.S. bases and at other targets in the Persian Gulf region since the conflict began this past Saturday, although many have been intercepted, according to governments in the region. There have been fewer large salvos since the first days of the conflict, a sign that the U.S.-Israeli attacks are degrading Tehran’s ability to strike back.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cp814l80pw2o
A tiny possum with one extra-long finger on each hand is one of two species thought to have been extinct that have been discovered in West Papua, in what's been called an "exceptional" scientific discovery.
The other is a a ring-tailed glider with a tail that can grasp branches. Both have been found living in remote rainforests after they were thought to have disappeared 6,000 years ago.
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/05/us/politics/lindsey-halligan-investigation-florida-bar.html
The actions of Ms. Halligan, who as a U.S. attorney brought criminal cases against President Trump’s enemies, are under review by the organization that licensed her to practice law.
Lindsey Halligan, the former U.S. attorney in the Eastern District of Virginia who brought criminal cases against President Trump’s enemies over the objections of career prosecutors, is under investigation by Florida’s bar association, according to a letter the organization sent last month.
The letter was addressed to the executive director of the nonprofit organization Campaign for Accountability, which had filed complaints in Florida and Virginia about Ms. Halligan’s actions. It noted that it had been closely monitoring reprimands Ms. Halligan had received from judges.
“We already have an investigation pending,” the bar association said in its letter to the group. Ms. Halligan, who left the U.S. attorney’s office in January, was included on the letter, indicating that she was aware of the investigation.
The Justice Department released more Epstein files Thursday that include allegations made by a woman accusing President Donald Trump of sexually abusing her when she was a minor, one week after Democrats on the House Oversight Committee began investigating why these documents were withheld.
President Donald Trump has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing with regards to his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein.
Awesome!! Happy Birthday!!!!
And now she is being replaced. LOL
