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Wow that is big.   Who gets to eat it?

eet's mine juu mether fackers....!!!

OH NOOO!!!! We all need to get our Muslamic ray guns!   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIPD8qHhtVU

US sends mystery mini-shuttle into space

12/12/2012 06:17AM AEST

 

The US military's small, top-secret version of the space shuttle rocketed into orbit on Tuesday for another mystery mission, two years after making the first flight of its kind.

The Air Force launched the unmanned spacecraft Tuesday hidden on top of an Atlas V rocket.

It's the second flight for this X-37B space plane, which circled the planet for seven months in 2010. A second X-37B spacecraft spent more than a year in orbit.

These high-tech mystery machines - eight metres long - are about one-quarter the size of the US space agency's old space shuttles and can land automatically on a runway.

The military isn't saying much, if anything, about this new mission. Launch commentary ended 17 minutes into the flight.

But one scientific observer, Harvard University's Jonathan McDowell of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, speculates the space plane is carrying sensors designed for spying and likely is serving as a testbed for future satellites.

While acknowledging he does not know what the space plane is carrying, McDowell said on-board sensors could be capable of imaging or intercepting transmissions of electronic emissions from terrorist training sites in Afghanistan or other hot spots.

The beauty of a reusable space plane is that it can be launched on short notice based on need, McDowell said.

The two previous secret flights were in orbits roughly 321 kilometres high, circling at roughly 40-degree angles to the equator. That means the craft flew over the swath between 40 degrees or so north latitude and 40 degrees or so south latitude.

McDowell speculates that this newest flight will follow suit.

"It might be studying Middle Eastern latitudes or it might just be being used for sensor tests over the United States," McDowell said.

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Two elephants have been saved from the deadly Siberian cold by drinking vodka, Russian officials say.

 

They say the animals had to be taken out into the bitter cold after the wooden trailer they were travelling in caught fire in the Novosibirsk region.

 

The elephants, aged 45 and 48, suffered frostbite to the tips of their ears amid temperatures of -40C (-40F)

 

But they were warmed up by two cases of vodka mixed with warm water, one official was quoted as saying.

 

"They started roaring like if they were in the jungle! Perhaps, they were happy," the official told Russia's Ria Novosti news agency.

 

The animals continued their recovery in a heated garage of a local college where they were brought by a truck under police escort.

 

The elephants belong to a Polish circus, which has been touring the region, reports say.

 

Like with humans, alcohol can make animals feel warmer but it actually lowers their core body temperature, scientists say.

 

But Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper quoted Novosibirsk zoo director Rostislav Shilo as saying that the elephants were not harmed or intoxicated by the vodka, and that without it they would have died of hypothermia or pneumonia.

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Boeing uses potatoes instead of people to test wi-fi

 

Potatoes' 'interactions' with electronic signals mimic those of a human body.

 

US planemaker Boeing used an unusual substitute for passengers to test its in-flight wi-fi system - potatoes.

 

Passenger seats on a decommissioned plane were loaded with huge sacks of the tubers for several days as signal strengths were checked.

 

The company's researchers say that potatoes "interact" with electronic signals in a similar way to humans.

 

The technique also took advantage of the fact that spuds - unlike humans - never get bored.

 

Boeing's engineers did a number of tests to ensure that passengers would get the strongest possible wi-fi signal while in the air, all while meeting safety standards that protect against interference with an aircraft's electrical systems.

 

Wireless signals fluctuate randomly in the enclosed space of an aeroplane cabin as people move about.

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In other vegetable news.....

 

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Brussels sprouts 'overdose' hospitalised man at Christmas, report reveals

 

Vitamin K in leafy vegetables is known to interfere with anticoagulants

 

A man from Ayrshire had to be hospitalised after eating too many Brussels sprouts last Christmas, it has emerged.

 

The traditional Christmas vegetable contain lots of vitamin K which promotes blood clotting.

 

However, this counteracted the effect of anticoagulants the man was taking because he had a mechanical heart.

 

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A Tunisian man died after eating 28 raw eggs in one go for a bet.

Dhaou Fatnassi, 20, allegedly wagered a friend he could eat 30 raw eggs in a row, for which he would receive an undisclosed sum.

Mr Fatnassi, from Kairouan in north-east Tunisia, managed 28 eggs before he collapsed with severe stomach pains.

 

article-0-0A22EDAC000005DC-627_468x396.jpg

 

Some eggs, yesterday

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Detectives are hunting two men dressed as Oompa-Loompas who were responsible for a city centre assault.

 

Norfolk Police said a 28-year-old man was left with cuts to his face, nose and lip, as well as two black eyes, after being confronted by the fictional factory workers as he left a kebab house in Norwich.

 

The Oompa-Loompas, accompanied by a man and a woman who were not wearing fancy dress, attacked the victim in the early hours of Thursday on Prince of Wales Road.

 

A spokesman for Norfolk Constabulary said: "Police are seeking a group of four people, two of whom were dressed as Oompa-Loompas, who attacked a male on a night-out.

 

"Two of the males were dressed as Oompa-Loompas from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory with painted orange faces and dyed green hair and were wearing hooped tops."

 

The spokesman added: "One of the males in the group then pushed the victim to the floor before he got up.

 

"He was then hit on the head, fell to the floor and hit again."

 

Perhaps they actually were Oompa-Loompas and not just blokes dressed up pretending to be Oompa-Loompas.

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He did well keeping that under wraps.

 

No interviews, no nothing.

 

But the whole thing is creating more publicity than he could have bought. Genius indeed.

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Detectives are hunting two men dressed as Oompa-Loompas who were responsible for a city centre assault.

 

Norfolk Police said a 28-year-old man was left with cuts to his face, nose and lip, as well as two black eyes, after being confronted by the fictional factory workers as he left a kebab house in Norwich.

 

The Oompa-Loompas, accompanied by a man and a woman who were not wearing fancy dress, attacked the victim in the early hours of Thursday on Prince of Wales Road.

 

A spokesman for Norfolk Constabulary said: "Police are seeking a group of four people, two of whom were dressed as Oompa-Loompas, who attacked a male on a night-out.

 

"Two of the males were dressed as Oompa-Loompas from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory with painted orange faces and dyed green hair and were wearing hooped tops."

 

The spokesman added: "One of the males in the group then pushed the victim to the floor before he got up.

 

"He was then hit on the head, fell to the floor and hit again."

 

Perhaps they actually were Oompa-Loompas and not just blokes dressed up pretending to be Oompa-Loompas.

There was a similar attack on the 16 of December by some Smurfs in Melbourne... Bizarre really!

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-01-09/smurfs-sought-for-questioning-over-assault/4457528

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