Random Thought

So now both the Twins and Mariners are 5-7.I think the real surprise is that the Cubbies are actually in second in the NL Central at 6-5 behind the Cards.But time will tell.

I've finally been able to enjoy The Flash,though I have to say last week's episode seemed like they were trying too hard to do a Marvel story.It had killer robot bees and the Atom showed up but
was more like a imitation Iron Man.So yeah...pretty much a Marvel type story.

I'm also watching AD:The Bible Continues, not exactly the way it is in the Bible and you have to take things with a grain of salt but interesting the way they're fleshing out the characters.They especially got,I think, Pilate's brutality down.In one episode he orders the entire Roman guard at
Christ's tomb executed; in yesterday's he has some Jews who were in the crowd at the temple when one of his officers was killed by a Zealot executed on the temple steps in front of everybody.

Finally Turn:Washington's Spies is now on Monday nights at 10:00.Last week they introduced
Benedict Arnold.

The Flash is getting pretty cool now.What with Barry and the others finally discovering that Harrison is The Reverse Flash,and now Cisco and Iris' dad's road trip revealing that the real Harrison is a
mummy.Wonder where they're going with this all now.BTW:This one had a shapeshifter that could change form by simply touching a person.

MARVEL's Agents of SHIELD is also going interesting places.Ward is back and Colson is trying to use him to help find out what HYDRA is now up to.And it seems that it has to do with Mutants(though the word has not been used in the series).

So the Cubs keep on winning.Still early in the season though.

NASA has a really cool fly by of Pluto in color now.

Imho Flash was a bit weird to begin with. I think they just tried to copy superman vs. evil superman or bizarro. Common (evil) Clark is better.

I'm fine with the ninja turtles but having all the other hero organization e.g. the leagues etc. it would be unfair to the villains.
Btw. there were these new DC comics series a few years back that re-told fairy tales etc.  I didn't liked the "new" art that much but the stories were kind of refreshing.

The Rosetta probe has captured a gas fountain on the comet 67P/C-G. Still no news on Philae.
http://blogs.esa.int/rosetta/2015/04/20/osiris-catches-activity-in-the-act/

Now, that the report on the G36 is out it seems the german defense minister wants a new rifle. I kind of doubt that seeing how they have been handled the issue.

So Greece is scratching all it can to pay interest. Yet, they want to spent future money they thanks to Putin. Looks like no change from before at all. Heh, all the talk about wanting to do this and that; like getting rid of chinese influence but now they are seeking chinese help, too.

And Poland is preventing Putin's propaganda bikers from getting through them.

Bruce Jenner want to turn his ..."change" into a media documentation. I wouldn't mind if it were scientific but I dunno, this is kind of tasteless.

I think I agree with you.The guy has been trying to make a comeback since he won the '76 Olympics.

So Hubble has been operating for the past quarter of a century now.Too bad Carl Sagan isn't around to enjoy it.

So what do you think of Superman Vs. Batman? Will it be good enough to best The Avengers:Age of Utron?

I wonder what, if any, impact Ben Affleck's little to do over his slave owner ancestor will have on
SVB.Probably none, but it will probably make Professor Gates and PBS a bit more cautious with the next season of Finding Your Roots,as they probably don't want any more bad publicity.

It's the first time we see Superman vs. Batman on screen on the other side we've seen a lot of that in the comics (old, new, rehashed etc.). People who follow it are only curious but not that interested. I think the last few Superman movies weren't well received. In this story Batman has to dominate or be superior than Superman on most every aspect in order to be "equal". This means Superman tends to become crap. It will be difficult to script him well or the story itself turns out to be crap. I prefer a character driven story. So it really depends on the characters (actors) whether it will be successful or not. For Superman I want someone who's like a combination of Reeves & Dean Cain and Keaton for Batman.

I don't think it has any impact.

Aside from Affleck acting like a big douchebag over it you mean.
I still think the episode with Stephen King was hilarious as Professor Gates kept building up this Revolutionary War ancestor of King's only at the end to come out with the surprise that the man:
was a tory and fought for the British side!
Facepalm time!

Of course the big bad is going to turn out to be Lex Luthor in SvB, you know it has to be.
I think they really have to redeem themselves one of these days by teaming up with Marvel to do some type of JLA/Avengers crossover. I mean you know that's what a lot of people would love to see.

Of course.
Now that you mentioned it I did enjoyed that part tremendously.

Yeah, but it depends on who plays Lex. Imho John Shea was the best of all. Val Kilmer would be nice for the role.
Well, wouldn't it mean that for some reason JLA/Avengers members get killed off such that remainders have to work together? Besides, I'm all for it if Wonderwoman is there. After all I haven't seen any new media since the classics. I expect her to rival Batman. Anything less is not worth it.

Well you know whenever you have DC vs. Marvel all the fanboys start salivating like Pavlov's dogs.

Agree on John Shea's Lex Luthor. He really did quite a good job on Lois And Clark.

Abe amids Japanese wrong doing in WWII. Nice!
But I kind of doubt he gets committed friends so easily after this long time. Australia already decided just months ago against such commitments.

And Putin is proudly presenting a new family of configurable tanks/carrier.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-32478937
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armata
It's like the GCV. But the GCV is the x-th attempt in recent decades.
Now this makes me wonder about the progress of the ambitious Poland tank project I found and posted some time ago.

And Nasa finally made a flexible wing after decades of research
http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-32517996
Now, this is a revolution.

Speaking of NASA their Mercury probe finally crashed into the planet's surface creating a crater estimated at 52 feet across.

The Chileans are still having problems with Mount Calbuco.Just when the people living in the area came back to dig out from the last eruption it did it again and so they had to flee again.

Apropos, NASA just tested laser drives proving superluminal velocities that seem to defy the law of conservation of momentum.
http://www.cnet.com/news/nasa-tests-physics-defying-method-of-space-travel-em-drive/
One step toward Warp?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White%E2%80%93Juday_warp-field_interferometer

"Anna Erelle", published an article on how IS gets their "european" women to join them.
Now she's in big trouble!
http://nypost.com/2015/03/07/my-isis-boyfriend-a-reporters-undercover-life-with-a-terrorist/
IS has made a show of force through a parade. Why they were not bombed right then is a mystery
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3062247/The-Army-Islam-Militant-group-battling-ISIS-Syrian-regime-graduation-ceremony-featuring-1-700-soldiers-fleet-armoured-tanks.html

Putin's coming parade

See how they try to break their necks?

On the positive side of things: it looks like the Nigerian government is finally making headway against
Boko Haram.Why they weren't able to do so earlier remains a mystery.Perhaps Goodluck Jonathan is
trying to show in his last days as President he can be tough and keep his campaign promise of ridding
the country of the terrorists.
Though they still don't know if any of the schoolgirls that were among the first to be kidnapped were among the rescued.

The Saudis and their Arab allies have landed in Yemen.So it looks like an all-Arab war heating up.

You mean the girls that were kidnapped after a few hundred others before them?
My bet is none.
The 700 "freed" women are about less than 1/3 of the numbers of women we know that got kidnapped. Not counting those cases where they killed rampantly.
Many believe these women got freed because they were pregnant, hence, useless for their sex-trade etc. aside from serving as shield or as delay tactic for their getaway.
I can't really validate it as a score, as they got away, even if it's a "success".

The red telephone from NATO to russia's military got reactivated. One reason being Putin upgrading the Tu-160 Blackjack bomber. Finnland is calling its reservists for briefing/preparing for war. Letvia just found a russian nuclear sub including support ships and aircraft just 10 km from it's territory. NATO is conducting a maneuver right now. Things are seriously "sparking" at the borders.

The new princess name's been announced as Charlotte Elisabeth Diana. All names are reused.
Whatever happens in Jemen I don't think anybody wants to interfere. It's not worth it and frankly lots of people don't care.

According to "Nowaja Gaseta", the russian report on the MH17 case admits it was a Buk missile. Heh.

Daimler Mercedez introduces the first road legal autonomous truck.
http://arstechnica.com/cars/2015/05/freightliner-unveils-the-first-road-legal-self-driving-truck/
Looks it's coming sooner than later. I will bet it will increase the number of trucks on the road, since it's cheaper or more for the same price.

Astronomers announced finding the furthest away galaxy to date:13.1 billion miles in the constellation
Bootes.

I think it's getting harder to deny an Old Universe now,what with all the more recent findings.

Looks like Cameron is in for another 5 years or so in the UK. I guess Miliband promising to raise taxes..
well that not gonna work.

I might be distantly related to Andy Griffith,it all depends on several IFs: IF the Sarah Briggs listed along with Samuel Briggs in the 1704 quit rent roll was Samuel's daughter
IF Sarah Briggs was the wife of the John Collier of Surry co. Va. who died in 1732
IF Sarah Briggs was the mother of the Mary Collier who married Moses Johnson

Though FYI:Samuel Briggs' mother was actually nee Ford and not Flood(the Flood is a common mistake).

Actually right now I'd like to know more about my ancestor who served as an officer in Cromwell's army in Ireland.

It was obvious he would win but it's counter to media analysts. Heh. Most of them are wrong most of the time anyway.

Big IFs. You got to find other connections with each one.

Hmm, north Korea launched their first submarine fired ISBM. They must have gathered quite a bit of resources to create one.

Italian scientists have fed spiders with nano tube and got them to make threads stronger than ever seen before.
http://www.technologyreview.com/view/537301/spiders-ingest-nanotubes-then-weave-silk-reinforced-with-carbon/
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn27468-spiders-sprayed-with-graphene-or-carbon-nanotubes-spin-super-silk.html
They haven figured out how it's possible e.g. the molecular binding or integration. There must be more to it otherwise the "binding" would be brittle.

There's some new review on mini computers that might interest you
http://anandtech.com/print/9189/logic-supply-ml100g30-fanless-broadwell-industrial-nuc-review
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2015/05/a-quick-look-at-logic-supplys-fanless-industrial-mini-desktop/
Note the high temperature. I'm not happy about it considering a warm climate like in TX. But note the SSD drive!
http://www.jedec.org/sites/default/files/Alvin_Cox%20%5BCompatibility%20Mode%5D_0.pdf

Well the other two possible candidates were sisters of a neighbor but Sarah Briggs is the only one of the three that there is in fact documentary evidence that she married a Collier,as her father names her
Sarah Collier in his will.

Though I bet Cameron isn't too pleased with the result of the SNP getting 50 more MPs.

I took a quiz at Playbuzz of which PM I would be most like and surprisingly got Tony Blair!

And back here at home,it so far looks like the Democrats are still holding their noses and going with
Hillary despite everything.

Japan seems to be unlucky once again with that 6.8 earthquake hitting the same region that the 2011
hit.They say it's an aftershock from the previous one.Though they're also fortunate in that this one
didn't produce any tsunamis.

And according to the South Korean intelligence it looks like the head of the North Korean defense ministry was executed on the orders of Kim Jong Un for the double crimes of sleeping during a meeting and talking back.

If you can find information on the (grand)children maybe you can get some more connections?

As it is the dems are gonna lose. Imho, It's just the time for a party change regardless of candidates.

Japan has passed the new defense bills allowing it to deploy fighting troops along with allies. It's done! but I doubt they will get more dedicated "friends" than they already got. All they get are surely more attention from the bad guys. Japanese muslims aren't better either i.e. one professor was shot dead for speaking out or another was killed among their "brothers" in the warzone of the middle east.

Kim has been on an executing spray again for the last few days. These days just looking in the eye is probably enough. It's said the higher ups get special treatment ...this time it was anti-air cannon fire, last time it was by dogs...
Who ever is behind this is getting rid of the family loyals or so.

The horizon probe has made a shot of pluto wth all its five moons!
http://www.space.com/29391-pluto-moons-family-photo-new-horizons.html
data details
http://www.nasa.gov/nh_new-horizons-spots-small-moons-orbiting-pluto

And I think people were expecting him to be a bit more sane than his father or grandfather because of the fact he was educated in the west.I guess meglomania is a family trait of the Kims.

So they found out that the Opah is able to keep its blood warm, this is different from other fish who
only keep parts of their bodies warm;the Opah apparently can do this with its entire body.It has to do with the gills and how it moves.

Well the only sure document is Samuel Briggs will.
And speaking of which,it gets rather complicated since Samuel was also the half-brother of my ancestor Richard Washington and step-brother of another ancestor Hinshaw Gilliam.

Ok...brain cramp...I guess if Andy Griffith is descended from Samuel Briggs then that does at least make us distant half cousins because of Richard Washington and Samuel Briggs sharing the same mother.(I guess I was so caught with the Samuel Briggs thing that I forgot about the fact that
Richard Washington was his older half brother and therefore any relationship could just as
much be through their mother.)

So the Pope canonized two women from Palestine on Sunday.It was a way of bringing some hope to the church in the Mideast.And from reading the paper the Mideast really does need a lot more hope these days.

Watched the new episode of AD:Beyond The Bible yesterday and caught a few historical nits:
1.there is no indication in the book of Acts that Saul ever met Peter before the former's conversion.
2.from all accounts Peter ought to have towered over Saul,the former wasn't called "The Big
Fisherman" for nothing.
3.by all accounts Saul was short in stature and balding.
4.the high priests didn't fool Saul to go to Damsacus in order to get him out of their hair,they
basically gave him their blessing.
5.Tiberius never left his self-exile at the Isle of Capri.
6.Caligula wasn't so f**ked up until after he had suffered a fever, by all accounts like Nero
his early days as Caesar were actually rather promising.
7.The real Tiberius was pretty much a pedophile and pervert.

@.@ The question with half-? is where to trace from: the maternal line or paternal line. Is there a rule?

Well, that's rather an understatement. Anyone in that region who is not christian by birth would not dare getting affiliated i.g. visiting the church or the like. If anyone does, they get in trouble and the church gets burned down and their members killed. So no one on both side dares cross the line.
Anyone who does dare gets driven away even by the priest. Even just for baptizing, or taking part or the like he would have to drive around, change buses/cars (like being a real secret agent) in order to get to the place. It doesn't always work. There's danger your child or wife makes a mistake leading bad guys to your trail. Most likely you disappear. In the best case you can escape through trafficking.
Sometimes one gets imprisoned. They led you live with the rats in the hope the animals will eat you up so your blood won't be on their hands. If that doesn't work they send in Hyenas. If that doesn't work and you are lucky you get freed.
"This is all fictional. All resemblances to actual people, places or events are purely coincidental. But...  Any knowledge will be denied."

Berlin's police is being accused of 500 physical violence per year against foreigners in their custody but only two cases are being worked on. Well, in Germany hate crimes verdicts hardly exist even if things are quite obvious. Not to mention all the NSU case coverups. Or the numerous burning down of homes for/with refugees of which only two ever made it to the media. It's practically the same everywhere in Europe.

The recent bombings all hit christians but that's of course not said in the media. And people say the media reports unfair toward muslims. Pft. Not even 10% of what's really going on (on most topics of hate crimes for that matter).

Not sure if it's from the same show
8. Saul probably didn't really experienced becoming blind but simple woke up to the belief

Someone recently posted an obvious fake pic of a secret drone able to refuel and somehow it went viral. Too many trolls these days.

Xenophobia it seems is live and well everywhere and not just the United States.

Speaking of refugees, it looks like Southeast Asia has its own problems with them.Mostly either
Moslems fleeing the former Burma or else people running from poverty in Bangladesh.

One would have to wonder if it was so secret how anyone could've gotten pictures of it,let alone
put it on the internet.