Random Thought

Well, yeah. Anyway testing of swords is expensive so I don't expect there to be any intensive unbiased test to be around but still hope to see them covered somehow.

The show basically points out the "irrational" of politics and people. It puts them in contrast to common sense and logic. And it adds in the artistic presentation thereof.
So it's like telling the truth as a joke or in a sarcastic way.

That's a pretty high goal especially regarding western bloodlines. After all we don't have much of good recordings nor do we have family names since before like 300 years?

Already Done!
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Looks like the peace in the Ukraine is as assured as before. And with new separatist supplies of several hundred tons it probably gonna intensify again soon.

Hmm, a new Hokuriku shinkansen line has opened in Japan and it sold out in 25s. I know the ticked is relatively cheep to elsewhere...

Switzerland has released a new report on racism saying that they are (@30+ %) about average compared to other EU countries. And that they got a slight increase (5+ %). They admit that racism against non-white people is very extreme but is ok with white EU citizens. Seems like acts against those people of color don't count much in the report. Of course this does not count that calling foreigners names;
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/foreign-pig-not-racist-switzerland-court-article-1.1698451
doing the Nazi salute;
http://www.humanrights.ch/en/switzerland/internal-affairs/racism/trials/nazi-salute-prosecutable-a-sign-political-conviction
and other rampant acts of racism is perfectly legal. It's actually very common for e.g. germans living there to receive threats.
Not to mention only months ago major party politicians called for disbanding UN human rights agreements.
Now put that in light to the 80% of germans admitting racism in Germany (not counting the "unknown") and that is average!
http://www.humanrights.ch/en/switzerland/internal-affairs/racism/studies/definitive-report-racism-switzerland-expert
http://www.humanrights.ch/en/switzerland/internal-affairs/racism/studies/council-europe-publishes-racism-monitoring-report-switzerland
http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/council-of-europe-attacks-racism-in-switzerland/9576
Seriously, today Switzerland has perhaps the most racist western population. I haven't met one without yet, though, and have experienced/witnessed many cases myself.

I'm trying as much as possible to document what I have.Not always easy.Though there are always good sources like Adventurers In Purse And Person.
Some sources contradict others so it's pretty much a which one do I believe.
One of the big problems though is that even with good source material you might not find what you're looking for because sometimes children and wives are left out.
For example I know my ancestor Letitia Martin Dowdall was the daughter of Anthony Martin the Lord Bishop of Meath.
The problem is was her mother Catherine Newcomen the acknowledged first wife of Bishop Martin?
The information I have says she was his eldest daughter but I haven't been able to find any reference
to her among their children.
It could be she isn't mentioned in her father's will because her husband was a member of the Irish
goverment and so was well off...So it goes with such things.

Right, there is that. I have been thinking that cases with large "family members" it might be worth looking at rumors. Not that they are necessary correct but some hints might turn out to be good leads. But all in all everything other than family relations has the least chance of surviving the ages, so we come back to square one.

As to Letitia Martin Dowdall being a daughter maybe she's been adopted?

For some reason "Lions in Winter" comes to mind. No matter which version it's a great play.

No,I'm pretty sure she's the natural daughter.Letitia could be a nickname though.
Like I said though since her husband Laurence Dowdall was a high government official she probably
didn't have to inherit.
(BTW: one of his maternal great grandfathers was Thomas Jones the Archbishop of Dublin and
Chancellor of Ireland under Elizabeth I and James I,so he came from a pretty prominent family.)

But that's on my maternal grandmother's side and right now I'm not even finished with my father's side.

I think you mean:The Lion In Winter? The play about Henry II.

I kind of doubt people using nicknames in documents especially in old/ancient times. Then again romans & other ancient civilizations * asians use to change "titles"=names so I'm not so sure.

Yes, it's The Lion In Winter. I just remember the lion and winter part of the title.

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So after 10000 simulations it was found that one of the newly found closest stars came close to the solar system just 70000 years ago.
http://iopscience.iop.org/2041-8205/800/1/L17/article
It came as close as 0.8 Ly and nearly touched the oort cloud.
The paper says it didn't have any influence on the oort cloud.
The sun is 0.5 Ly from the oort cloud or about double as far.
Since the gravitation equation relies on the inverse distance formula
to have the same tug force the star would need 1/4 of the sun's mass.
But it has only 8% ...way too little.

Turkey is now officially going to train syrian rebels (IS?). This will be interesting.

The Iraqis are also training for a big campaign against IS in Mosul.
What is interesting there seems to be a lot of in-fighting among IS personnel.At least 120 foreign born fighters have been beheaded,including an Egyptian born official in their Vice Police.
Some of them seem to have been accused of spying and others for trying to defect.
Perhaps they'll implode on themselves.
Too much success too quickly?

Weather is still freaky this Winter.
The East is still buried in snow and we have Spring like weather here in the Pacific Northwest!

I'm currently working on my paternal grandmother's side.
That's the side that has the Rittenhouse link(it's one of those where I have a double line since two of my great great great grandparents were Rittenhouses and were actually second cousins).

Surnames I am working on on that side:Fritz,Hauze,Johnson,Rittenhouse,
Bryon,Detweiller,Kolb,Van Sintern,Rook,DeWees

It's still early Spring here.The temp.has been done as far as 10 in the early mornings but no snow.
It's mostly just cold.

Turkey went into Syria to protect the tomb of Osman I's grandfather.Osman I being the founder of the
Ottoman Empire.They say they plan on moving the tomb to a safer place.

I've been having a bit of a cold lately.I think it started on Sunday but was really bad yesterday so I've been downing a lot of cough drops,etc. that I feel like a pharmacy!

In the paper today I read where a missionary with the Free Methodist church from Seattle was kidnapped at the school she worked at.
She was working with the Fulani people of Nigeria helping them to set up schools and medical clinics.

I think then that our best weapons against these people aren't guns and bombs but Real Religion,
Education,Science and Medicine as they really detest the light that these bring to people like the Fulani and would rather they live in ignorance and disease.

I hope you will get better soon. This year's flu is a bit problematic as some of the vaccine for it was a bit off target. So these do not working for certain strains.

Yep. Education would open people's eyes to their true face. That's why throughout history whether it's power hungry people or religions these don't want people to be educated.
Right now, videos of IS destroying yet again archeological goods like those of the assurians are creating an outcry...but recently having seen human bones, clothing and blood stained soil in that region...I have no words to say.

Bright spots discovered on yet best images of Ceres
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=4491
http://news.discovery.com/space/ceres-mystery-bright-dots-may-have-volcanic-origin-150225.htm
I'm surprise the probe doesn't seem to have a spectral instrument otherwise we would already know what it is. At least the kind of element is emitting the light.

biggest monster yet black hole found
http://www.anu.edu.au/news/all-news/astronomers-find-impossibly-large-black-hole
It seems to have formed in just a few hundred million years (at most) yet it's 12 billion solar masses. Well, the case is not surprising. After all early stars are massive so there are plenty of black holes. It's more troubling if it's a more common.
Still there must have been a lot of black holes merging to create such a monster.

Yeah,I'm feeling better now a bit.I think it's just the normal cold.Not the flu because no fever and
nausea.

Ironically now that we know who 'Jihadi John' is ,people are coming to realize that these people are
really not the poor illiterates that they thought but rather highly educated upper class types.

That certainly is one gigantic black hole.

Good to hear. Btw. the latest research say that having a cold nose leads to a cold. Well, maybe that statement is a bit exaggerated but if it's cold enough to "freeze" your nose no wonder.

And the MI5 already says it's not their fault. A rare case then.

Life in that galaxy is seriously bizarre. Maybe that's where Bizarro comes from?

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Leonard Nimoy died yesterday.    RIP in peace Spock. Already miss ya.

Putin cuts staff's salary by 10%. Poor subordinates.
And his critic Nemtsov got shot at night from out of a car by some "random guy".
All shots hit him in the back without hitting anybody beside him... better than like 99.9% of men. Someone will certainly be caught for this.
And it so happens that Putin's "plans" been published
http://www.kyivpost.com/content/ukraine/roadmap-for-annexing-eastern-ukraine-leaked-from-putins-office-381811.html

On Sunday Metv did a retrospective of Leonard Nimoy's work with episodes that featured him from
various shows.Also on Saturday they re-ran the Classic Trek episode 'Amok Time'.
Before that at 3:00 he appeared in the Rawhide episode 'Incident Before Black Rock
as a rogue Kiowa Warrior named Anko.He ends up loosing a knife fight to Gil Favor(Eric Fleming).
Before that he threatens Rowdy Yates(Clint Eastwood).
Looking up IMDB it looks like he played a lot of Indians in Westerns.
Though his most memorable role post Star Trek will be William Bell on Fringe.

So ISIS released 19 captives.Primarily though because they were all 50 or over.

First game of Spring Training today at noon:Mariners vs. their NL cousins the Padres.
Seattle and San Diego have gotten a pretty good rivalry going ever since they started interleague
play.

Hey there!
Got a little MIA here

I can't help but sometimes imagine if we'll see "ukrainian conflict" in games and movies later, like "call of duty" and stuff. Although i must say it won't be very fun - action games like complex terrain and impressive looking places, fast action....but in here it's all the plains with ocasional small forests that separate large fields. As for action - the "static and repeatitive waste of ammuniton" is probably the closest thing
But seriously - it's good this "war of absurd" has halted for a moment.
I'll go read forum for now and figure which part of this madness you don't know about

Welcome back. I was wondering when you would.
Well, I'm seeing a lot of references to the Ukraine in anime even before the conflict and it's already in the COD game...OK maybe not that expressively and extended.
I'm sure there will be games or expansions.

Yes, please tell us everything. The arm chair generals need some real world information.

The last thing I read was that there was a mine accident in the Donestk area and the Ukrainian government is blaming the Rebels for not doing much to help out.

Hey Alex (if you're still here),did you hear about the beauty pageant the Rebels had in Donestk?
I thought it odd that they'd stop things for a beauty pageant.

Too bad the story didn't come with pictures.
Ah...well...it seems like Putin as either a couple of patsys for the murder of the Kremlin critic
or else has caught two really convenient suspects. I wonder how many Russians believe they're
really the ones who did it.

It just seems convenient that they would turn up when the rest of the civilized world is pretty certain
it was done on Putin's orders.

I've found the vid/pics

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/russia-backed-rebels-don-high-heels-beauty-pageant-article-1.2142182

Hmm...
Btw. what do you think about the ukraine woman running the pro-russian tv in russia.

Putin is just following the typical communist script.
It's truely typical. You see. They arrest people who have formerly worked for them (traitors) and put them up for judgement. Since everybody knows and hates them nobody has a problem. They get rid of undesired people and get away with it, too.
They usually keep an eye for these people so they can use them for this kind of things.
Now, if you look at the details you will notice one of them once worked for the internal affairs department (Putin's minion)

Now, Putin admits his Crimea plot (for the clueless people)
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-31796226

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Geez, the e-mail affairs are stirring so much outcry. Admittedly, it's a bit of a security problem but when considering what part of your own governments does...

Does it really surprise anyone since Putin is after all ex-KGB?

Well it only adds to Hilary's problems.Though considering the alternatives...I personally think that
Jim Webb would be the best alternative they have IF he decides to run.

Did you read about what Chris 'Captain America' Evans and Chris 'Star-Lord' Pratt did as part of their
Superbowl bet? They visited Seattle's Children's Hospital with Evans in his Captain America costume.


And finally over at Sonics Rising at the SB website they reported on a 16 year old Sonics fan who wrote to all 32 NBA teams asking why he should be a fan of their team. Only one team bothered to write back...the Minnesota Timberwolves.
IIRC they also sent him some autographed stuff as well.

One wonders what kind of answer he would have gotten from OKC if they had bothered to
send a reply.

It does seem people tend to forget that about Putin. Now, they say the arrested people were tortured to admit the deed. Whatever, as far as Putin goes this is already over. NATO forces are now stationed in greater numbers but honestly everybody know it's not going to impress Putin.

Well, I did heard about that but I didn't exactly follow it. Still, that's nice and cool of them.

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Yesterday, was the 4th anniversary of the Fukushima earthquake/catastrophe. A lot has been revealed these days. But things are still bad over there with government efforts & Tepco. Although, the government wants people to return in the next few decades you can bet nobody wants to. Even Chernobyl is still deserted except for one person. Similarly there is also one person left in Japan. And yeah, Mayuyu has pledged AKB48's continuing relief support. The latest good news is that they are about to have two radioactive water filtering plants up and working soon....as well as the underground cooling technique. Despite everything there are still places that have 4+ times higher doses than the maximum allowed. From what I hear they only scratched the top 2"/5 cm of soil ..hardly enough.

Well, it's also one year since Crimea got annexed. Things are still not working over there especially for those who aren't russian friendly. And a series of mystery deaths of ex-president's friends is making the rounds.

Unicef and co. have recently released new statistics about Syria and how 220000 people got killed in the war. Note the number is slightly more than the total number of Christians before the war.

IS is being pushed back the the iraquis at Tikris. Well, 3+ divisions against a few thousand and still only got this far after a wee or two...

Back to Ferguson, it looks like certain people or organizations are using the public unrest/protests to hunt down cops. Why am I not surprised?
But more importantly, when everything turns into Gotham city will we have Batman?
Frankly, I doubt it but someone like Gordon seems possible.

If you can find someone has totally dedicated and honest as James Gordon.

It's interesting that they finally confirmed that Ganymede does have a ocean under it's surface.
They based it on the aurorae on Ganymede's surface.

Tikrit is a symbolic victory for the Iraqis the bigger game will be of course Mosul.

And it has even more water than earth. Now, that's something for those fighting over where water came from.

Latest news from Crimea is that 21 Tartar leaders disappeared with only one body turning up (gauged out eyes and signs of torture).

The (nuclear) energy suppliers in the Netherlands & Germany are making a fuss over blackout concerns for the upcoming solar eclipse this year in Europe. They reason it due to the increase of solar power. BS-Crap talk. AFAIK solar power has not that much of a percentage (26.2%) yet. And even if there's still the universal water storage reserves to deal with peak needs. Besides it's only a few minutes and it's not like the first time either. And they cite problems in 2030. Heh, by then everyone will use superconductor storage complexes now being build.
Looks like the water filtering plants in Fukushima will be delayed (no date given). The Japanese say it's all made in Japan. That certainly will create curiosity (and increased attention for failure/success)

Especially by the anti-nuclear movement. They certainly got a boost from what happened at
the Fukushima plant. I wonder now how many formerly pro-nuclear people have now gone over
since Fukushima and joined the anti-nuclear movement.

So the brackets for the NCAAs were announced and it couldn't be better for Gonzaga and Eastern Washington and their fans regionwise.Both end up in the South region.Gonzaga in Seattle and
Eastern Washington in Portland.But it looks like Eastern will have a one and out situation as they're
up against Georgetown.

I went to a NAIA college.

Certainly a lot but it's still not that visible in Japan. And despite everything the government is certainly on getting back to nuclear power. They have no choice after all they use 4 time more energy than Germany.

This time election in israel is really interesting as it's a question of whether there will be a change politically from the usually right winged&orthodox government.

From what I heard on Fox News the difference is really domestic as both Herzog and Bibi are for a strong defense,especially when it comes to Iran.

The Solar Storm is said to have produced Aurora Borealis far south of the usual places.Though IIRC
when we lived in Minnesota it wasn't so unusual to see them there.

AFAIG one reason I decided to take a break from watching the raws on Mondays and use it for watching dubs and subs is to just prevent burn out. I figure watching raws 6 days a week should be
good enough to get me where I want to be.