The Russian Lebedenko or ”Tsar Tank”, is without doubt the most strange Armoured Fighting vehicle ever constructed. It should, however, not be dismissed purely as another hare-brained scheme, but must be seen against the backdrop of the early tank development that was taking place at this time, and that in all countries was very experimental, and leading to many curious and non-functional designs.

The history of the Lebedenko starts in 1914 with the engineer N. Lebedenko, who was at that point employed in a private firm, that worked for the Russian War Department, designing artillery devices. Lebedenko himself, with the aid of N. Zhukovskiy and his nephews, B. Stechkin and A. Mikulin, came up with the idea (originally thought as a sort of enlarged gun-carriage) of a motordriven battle machine, weighing some 40 tons, running on one small double-wheel, and two very large spoked wheels, almost 9 meter in diameter, in a tri-cycle arrangement. The big wheels were attached to the hull, shaped like a tuning-fork, which tapered down to the double wheel, mounted in the rear, which provided the means for steering the vehicle. The designers hoped that this original configuration would make it possible for the vehicle to cross practically all obstacles. They initially called the vehicle Nepotir, but came to be known as the Lebedenko, after the designer. (Sometimes it was nicknamed "The Tsar ", after the financier.) Read the rest at Landships.com

Silent screen siren Anita Page dies at 98

Sun Sep 7, 1:28 AM ET

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Anita Page, an MGM actress who appeared in films with Lon Chaney, Joan Crawford and Buster Keaton during the transition from silent movies to talkies, has died. She was 98.

Page died in her sleep early Saturday morning at her home in Los Angeles, said actor Randal Malone, her longtime friend and companion.

( Page's career, which spanned 84 years, began in 1924 when she started as an extra. )

..stolen from usafpa just for docjeff..

If a mute swears, does his mother wash his hands with soap?
Is there another word for synonym?
What would a chair look like if your knees bent the other way?
If it's zero degrees outside today and it's supposed to be twice as cold tomorrow, how cold is it going to be?
Why are they called apartments, when they're all stuck together?
Whose cruel idea was it for the word lisp to have an "s" in it?
How does the guy who drives the snowplow get to work?
If convenience stores are open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, why are there locks on the doors?
If you are driving at the speed of light and you turn on your headlights, what happens?
Why are there flotation devices under airline seats instead of parachutes?
Have you ever imagined a world with no hypothetical situations?
Why do we park on driveways and drive on parkways?
Why do banks charge you a "non-sufficient funds fee" on money they already know you don't have?
Why is it that when you transport something by car it's called a shipment, but when you transport it by ship, it's called cargo?
Why are there interstate highways in Hawaii?
Why don't sheep shrink in the rain?
What does Geronimo scream when he jumps out of a plane?
Why is the time of day with the slowest traffic called rush hour?
If God sneezed, what would you say to him?
Why isn't phonetic spelled the way it sounds?
Why are there five syllables in the word "monosyllabic"?
Isn't is a bit unnerving that doctors call what they do "practice?"
Why do we wash bath towels? Aren't we clean when we use them?
When sign makers go on strike, is anything written on their signs?
When you open a bag of cotton balls, is the top one meant to be thrown away?
Where do forest rangers go to get away from it all?
Why isn't there mouse-flavored cat food?
Why is the word "abbreviation" so long?
Why is lemon juice mostly artificial ingredients but dishwashing liquid contains real lemons?
Do fish get cramps after eating?
When two airplanes almost collide, why do they call it a near miss and not a near hit?
If the universe is everything, and scientists say that the universe is expanding, what is it expanding into?
How is it possible to have a civil war?
How come Superman could stop bullets with his chest, but always ducked when someone threw a gun at him?
If all the world is a stage, where is the audience sitting?
If the #2 pencil is the most popular, why is it still #2?
If you try to fail, and succeed, which have you done?
Before they invented drawing boards, what did they go back to?
If a parsley farmer is sued, can they garnish his wages?
Why do they lock gas station bathrooms? Are they afraid someone will clean them?
Why do people who know the least know it the loudest?
If the funeral procession is at night, do folks drive with their headlights off?
If a stealth bomber crashes in a forest, will it make a sound?
If a turtle doesn't have a shell, is he homeless or naked?
If someone with multiple personalities threatens to kill himself, is it considered a hostage situation?
If corn oil comes from corn, where does baby oil come from?
If all those psychics know the winning lottery numbers, why are they all still working?
Why do they put Braille on the number pads of drive-through bank machines?
If you throw a cat out a car window does it become kitty litter?
When a cow laughs does milk come up its nose?
How did a fool and his money get together in the first place?
If nothing sticks to Teflon, how does Teflon stick to the pan?
How do they get a deer to cross at that yellow road sign?
If it's tourist season, why can't we shoot them?
What's another word for thesaurus?
Why do they sterilize the needles for lethal injections?
What do they use to ship Styrofoam?
Why is "abbreviation" such a long word?
Why is there an expiration date on my sour cream container?
Why do kamikaze pilots wear helmets?
How do you know when it's time to tune your bagpipes?
Is it true that cannibals don't eat clowns because they taste funny?
Does 'virgin wool' come from sheep the shepherd hasn't caught yet?
When you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn?
Does fuzzy logic tickle?
Do blind Eskimos have seeing-eye sled dogs?
Why do they call it a TV set when you only get one?
Do radioactive cats have 18 half-lives?
If you shoot a mime, should you use a silencer?
What was the best thing before sliced bread?
What happens if you get scared half to death twice?
How do you tell when you run out of invisible ink?
Who is General Failure, and why is he reading my hard disk?
Why do psychics have to ask you for your name?
OK, so what's the speed of dark?
If Barbie is so popular, why do you have to buy her friends?
24 hours in a day ... 24 beers in a case ... Coincidence?
If you take an Oriental person and spin him around several times, does he become disoriented?
In synchronized swimming, if the first drowns, do the rest follow?
If con is the opposite of pro, is Congress the opposite of progress?
If love is blind, why is lingerie so popular?
When someone asks you, "A penny for your thoughts," and you put your two cents in, what happens to the other penny?
Shouldn't a man who invests all your money be called something other than a broker?
When cheese gets its picture taken, what does it say?
Why is a person who plays the piano called a pianist, but a person who drives a race car not called a racist?
Why are a wise man and a wise guy opposites?
If 21 is pronounced twenty-one why isn't 11 pronounced onety-one?
If people from Poland are called "Poles," why aren't people from Holland called "Holes?"
If I play a blank tape with the volume turned up, will the mime next door go nuts?
Whatever happened to Preparations A through G?
After eating, do amphibians need to wait an hour before getting out of the water?
Do they have reserved parking for non-handicapped people at the Special Olympics?
Why do you press harder on a remote-control when you know the battery is dead?
Why are they called buildings, when they're already finished? Shouldn't they be called builts?
Since Americans throw rice at weddings, do Asians throw hamburgers?
If all is not lost, where is it?
Why are there handicap parking places in front of skating rinks?
Why do drugstores make the sick walk all the way to the back of the store to get their prescriptions?
Why do you often see people ordering double cheese burgers, large fries, and a diet coke?
Why is it that we leave cars worth thousands of dollars in the driveway and yet leave useless junk in the garage?
When you're finally holding all the cards, why does everyone else decide to play chess?
What would the speed of lightning be if it didn't zigzag?
Instead of putting pictures of criminals in the post office, why aren't they put on stamps so postman could look for them while they deliver the mail?
What hair color do they put on the driver's licenses of bald men?
Do Lipton employees take coffee breaks?
Why do we say something is out of whack? What's in whack?
If Fed Ex and UPS were to merge, would they call it Fed UP?
Is it good if a vacuum really sucks?
Why do "slow down" and "slow up" mean the same thing?
Why do "fat chance" and "slim chance" mean the same thing?
Why do 'tug' boats push their barges?
At ball games, why do we sing "Take me out to the ball game" when we're already there?
Why are they called "stands" when they are made for sitting?
Why is it called "after dark" when it really is "after light"?
Doesn't "expecting the unexpected" make the unexpected expected?
Why do "overlook" and "oversee" mean opposite things?
If you are cross-eyed and have dyslexia, can you read all right?
Why doesn't glue stick to the inside of the bottle?
When blondes have more fun, do they know it?
If quitters never win, and winners never quit, what fool came up with, "Quit while you're ahead."?
If the cops arrest a mime, do they tell him he has the right to remain silent?
How much deeper would the ocean be if all the sponges didn't live there?
Why does the sun darken our skin but lighten our hair?
Do they sterilize needles for lethal injections?
Why do people press harder on the remote control, when they know the battery is dead?
Why is a carrot more orange than an orange?
Why is it that when a door is open it's ajar, but when a jar is open it's not adoor?
Why does an alarm clock go "off" when it actually goes "on?"
Can you buy an entire chess set in a pawn shop?
Why does mineral water, that has trickled down the mountains for centuries, go out of date next year?
Why are softballs so hard?
Is it possible to get insurance on insurance? And if so, can you get insurance on that insurance?
Who do you save when you see an endangered animal eating an endangered plant?

~Me and the gal just watched Bordertown, a movie about "The phenomenon of the female homicides in Ciudad Juárez, called in Spanish the feminicidios ("femicides") or las muertas de Juárez ("The dead women of Juárez"), involves the violent death of hundreds of women since 1993 in the northern Mexican city of Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, a border city across the Rio Grande from the U.S. city of El Paso, Texas. Most of the cases remain unsolved," which is the opening quote from The Wiki on the subject.

Take a look at what Le-Le had to say as well.

Alice Paul (Hilary Swank) in Iron Jawed Angels is force fed after refusing to eat. The women singing "Will The Circle Be Unbroken" are suffragettes who have been imprisoned for supporting the women's right to vote.

The Snopes Article on this

...time to repost this..probably will do so a few more times..

~While I don't think Obama is the savior many of his supporters seems to think he is, I gotta say when I hear folks talking shit like, ""There's no difference." [Source] I hearken back to the "Gore and Bush are the same" noise of 2000. We all know how well that worked out for us.

Yes, I believe an Oligarchy ultimately runs The Republic, but they are not, and never have been, a monolithic power block. They have factions. I do not need 'inside info' to know that. Simply look at Ruling Classes throughout history; they ALL have factions. It is the nature of the beast.

My own theory is that Bush 43 was supposed to be a weak, single term presidency whose purpose was to undermine the power of the Neo-Cons [Jewish ex-Trotskite intellectuals] and The Dominionists [white trash know nothings], both groups that the Old Money Protestants of The Oligarchy despise, but needed to control the Republican Party specifically, and the ideological direction of The Republic generally, during the Cold War.

But The Oligarchy was betrayed by one of its most faithful courtiers - Dick Cheney - and backed by The Big Oil faction, he created a circumstance to seize power. [they purposely ignored the 9/11 crew etc until 'something happened']

However, during the last eight years they have clearly wreaked The Republic while lining their own pockets. Because bringing the nation to the brink of economic disaster and social revolution is not how one effectively maintains power, I am absolutely certain that the other factions of The Oligarchy are Not Pleased and wish to see Bu$hCo gone and their works undone. That the Repug crop of candidates was so weak this year and their fund raising so poor indicates to me The Oligarchs are done with their policies and that the Party Faithful know that.

So, yes, I believe that Obama has been Approved by The Oligarchs, but that does not mean that he 'is no different than McCain'. It may simply mean that he is the instrument of The Oligarchs wishes for Change...and maybe there's some Hope in that.

~I'm kinda burned out. A 'PTSD hangover' would be a fairly accurate description.

We were just out on the porch and I was sighing over and over. Le-Le said, “That good, eh?” I did at least chuckle.

I told her it's a combination of a few things, money fear, the trolling, and the fucking election, pretty much in that order. What bugs me the most is that all of this is getting in the way of Facing The Page.

The money fear keeps going back and forth, which is always special for us PTSD folks, the old mental 'bait and switch'. That should abate by the fall when the electric bill comes down. And there are other sources of funds on the horizon.

The trolling shit is slowly being resolved as LJ did get its finger out of its ass on a few issues, but we expect that we shall have to follow up on the overall problem with the state AG and via some kind of civil action as LJ will only go so far.

This is clearly a form of Religious Persecution. The through line on just about every thread and post attacking us is our religion and such actions certainly seem meant to harass, intimidate, and otherwise prevent us from exercising our right to openly practice our faith and to communicate our beliefs to others via the Internet.

I know that Troll Cluster Two [TC-2] – The Moist Trollettes being TC-1 – will sneer and cry 'butthurt' and 'batshit' and so on at that statement. Of course, they do not have to directly face any civil action like LJ or their ISP's.

But such things will ripple outward in time. The one thing that both of us have learned is Patience. And the both of us are also well practiced in Due Diligence.

We've known that The Temple would have to deal with this kind of shit sooner or later and more than once. Unlike TC-2, we do have a Point to Prove and will do so no matter how long it takes. This is just part of the process.

As for The Election...well, that I'd just like to forget altogether. But that ain't gonna happen. Part of me wishes I could get all excited about Obama. However, I have been burned far too many times. So, I'll just hunker down and do my Civic Duty come November and see if any of this means fuck all.

Anyway, I could use a few days of Peace and Quite to 'reset' my writing process. We'll see if I get that....

A family of feline squatters has moved into a foreclosed home in Lake Elsinore. Residents of the Tuscany Hills development first noticed the bobcats about a week ago.
From The LA Times
By David Kelly, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
September 5, 2008

With real estate values plummeting and foreclosed homes sitting empty, a family of bobcats apparently decided the time was right to pounce.

So last week, they slipped out of the parched foothills of Lake Elsinore and into a spacious, vacant home in well-groomed Tuscany Hills.

Residents of the development got their first look Aug. 27 when the feline squatters -- at least two adults and three kittens -- lolled atop a wall outside the Spanish-style house.

Someone called 911, reporting mountain lions. Four police cruisers showed up and officers ordered everyone inside. But soon they were out snapping photos along with the neighbors.

Bobcats are not known to attack humans, said Monique Middleton of Animal Friends of the Valley, which provides animal-control services.

"But are they pussycats? No. Can they do a lot of damage? Yes," she said. "They usually look for a food and water source, and there is an old koi pond in the backyard and that's where they are headed."

She said she expected the animals to move on in a few weeks, when the kittens are old enough to travel.

Tuscany Hills has been hit hard by foreclosures, and the house on Vista Palermo has been empty at least six months, neighbors said.

Said Scott Brown, who with his wife, Karen, moved here from Long Beach to be close to nature: "They are great neighbors, and as long as they don't want to baby-sit my kids, it's not a problem."

Dunda Angiomyosarcoma

This site deals with Biblical Prophecy and some of the "Anti-Christ" characteristics of Barack Hussein Obama. Barack is the perfect candidate to allow "Full Anti-Christ control of the U.S."

“So Sambo beat the bitch!” ~Sarah Palin

http://jblaque.livejournal.com/502150.html

http://community.livejournal.com/the_recession/61126.html

A one-legged hooker was killed in Brooklyn after a john hit her over the head, causing her to fall backwards out of her wheelchair and slam her skull against the wall, cops said yesterday.

"Naturally, the common people don't want war, but after all it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag people along. . . Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. This is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and for exposing the country to danger. It works the same in every country." ~Hermann Goering

"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." ~Benjamin Franklin

1774 – In response to the British Parliament enacting the Intolerable Acts, representatives from twelve of Britain's North American colonies convened the First Continental Congress at Carpenters' Hall in Philadelphia.

1793 – French Revolution: The National Convention began "The Reign of Terror", a ten-month period of systematic repression and mass executions by guillotine of perceived enemies within the country.

1905 – Under the mediation of U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt (pictured), the Russo-Japanese War officially ended with the signing of the Treaty of Portsmouth at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard near Portsmouth, New Hampshire, USA.

1914 – World War I: The First Battle of the Marne began with French forces engaging the advancing German army at the Marne River near Paris.

1972 – A Palestinian terrorist group called "Black September" took hostage eleven Israeli athletes and coaches at the Olympic Summer Games in Munich, West Germany; all of the hostages were killed less than 24 hours later.

From McClatchy
Thursday, September 4, 2008
By Tim Johnson | McClatchy Newspapers

BEIJING — Wang Fei's infidelity deeply upset his wife. She wrote of her distress in a diary, and then jumped from their 24th floor balcony.

Her family posted details of Wang Fei's affair on the Internet, angrily blaming him for his wife's suicide. ( Soon, tens of thousands of Chinese web users knew about Wang Fei... )

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As the means of communication have evolved, presidential campaigns have grown increasingly multifaceted, with each election featuring layers of complexity that were not present four years before. The most striking feature of the 2008 election may be the sheer volume and variation of the attacks being directed at Sen. Barack Obama. Though they come from many sources, arrive through a variety of media, and cover a wide range of subjects, a close examination reveals a unified thematic structure to these attacks.

As has been extensively documented, many of the criticisms Obama has faced are based on outright falsehoods. The truth is that he is a Christian, not a Muslim; he was born in the United States; he doesn't refuse to recite the Pledge of Allegiance; he wasn't endorsed by Fidel Castro; and so on. Other attacks are outrageous distortions with a kernel of truth at their core. Click here to go to main site

David Spade is the father of Playboy pinup's baby

...that TWAT stands for The War Against Terrorism.

~I just got a NYT News Alert e-mail telling me McCain won the Repug nomination. How is this 'alert worthy'?

PS I'll be very happy when I can delete all my Dubya icons.

Plasticopedia: Plastic Surgery Encyclopedia

~Feeling very blah and unmotivated today. Not in a 'bad mood'. More like an 'un-mood'. Don't even feel like fin...

Your Life is Better Than 54% of All People

Your life is pretty average, with lots of normal ups and downs. You're on the way to having a better life, as long as you focus on what's really important. Remember to take the time to do the things that you like best, and let the little things slide. No one on their deathbed ever wished that they spent more time worrying or complaining!

Your result for The Heart Test...

Patron Saint's Heart

You are 30% Independent, 50% Idealistic, 30% Intimate, and 55% Indulgent!

Take The Heart Test at HelloQuizzy

[Sauze]

RE: The post "Pakistani lawmaker defends honor killings"

Nebs Sez: This is innate in these religions. As Mary Daly said, "If God is male, then the male is god."

#1: In Islam God is not male..or female...God is just God.

#2: LOL WUT

have you ever studied Islam? and i don't mean studying muslims you see on TV whose actions have nothing to do with the religion. Prophet Muhammad said that the best of men among the muslims are those who treat women respectfully and equally, as well as make them happy. i'm surprised someone could actually bring themselves to make a comment as ignorant as this.

Nebs Sez: Allah means The Lord, which is a 'male appellation', so therefor the statement “If God is male, then the male is god, ” is certainly applicable. But this goes deeper.

It is common in all three of the Abrahamic Father/God Cults – Judaism and it's two offspring, Christianity and Islam – for 'the faithful' to know very little about the actual history of their religion.

In ancient Judea, Yahweh's Consort was The Mother Goddess, Asherah, also known as The Queen of Heaven, e.g. Yahweh's 'wife'. Her followers erected wooded poles throughout the Holy Land in Her honor. They were known as Asherim or Asherot.

Before it was conquered by Mohammad, Mecca was a holy site of The Triple Goddess, and The Kaaba was Her Shrine. Her Aspects were Al-Lat, “The Lady” [Her Mother Goddess Aspect], Al-Uzza, "The Most Mighty" [Her Virgin Maid/Warrior Goddess Aspect], and Menat, “Time”, [Her Crone/Death Goddess Aspect].

During The Hajj, after a Muslim has completed The ʿUmrah and conducted a vigil at Mount Arafat, they go to Muzdalifah to 'stone the Devil' by throwing rocks at three stone pillars. This is presented as a metaphor for Abraham's rejection of the Devil.

But that is a smoke screen.

The three stone pillars are really a form of Asherot and meant to represent Al-Lat, Al-Uzza, and Menat. The Father/God and His followers live in terror of Her and Her True Daughters, and so must suppress and oppress them at every turn.

For a woman to worship The Father/God is for her to be trapped in an theological form of battered wife syndrome.

We're more aware of others today and want to take their needs into consideration as we decide what to do. The Libra Moon helps us to remain objective as we try to understand our relationships. Nevertheless, we can already feel the pressure building from tomorrow's conjunction between the Sun and karmic Saturn. The sooner we tie up loose ends, the better off we'll be later on. There's no escaping our responsibilities now and no reason to procrastinate.

Virgo
Others may see you as a heavy-handed authority figure today. You are likely wielding more control than you realize, but there's nothing that needs to be changed right now. You should be aware that the Sun-Saturn conjunction in your sign gives you the power to pull your energy in and effectively focus your intentions on the future.

...guess I'll just keep the axe to the grindstone..

"It was not a battle, but an execution." ~G. W. Steevens

[Source A & Source B]

A large fire began on London's Pudding Lane and burned the city for three days, destroying St Paul's Cathedral and the homes of 70,000 of the city's 80,000 inhabitants.

~Right now it's 57° F/14° C. That's the first time it's dropped below 60° in at least three months, maybe more. We ran the A/C only from 11:30am until a little after 8pm. And we both wore sweats and hoodies out on the porch this evening.

Of course, it is supposed to go up to 95° F/35° C this afternoon, but that's life in the desert. The overall temp is going down and with will go our electric bill.

During the Fall and Winter, we keep the windows open in the day and shut at night and hardly ever run the heat. That'll be a couple hundred bucks back in our pocket each month right there.

And that's a Good Thing.

( Tribesmen bury five women alive for wanting to choose their own husbands )

What will America look like in two years?

The system is the problem, it's rigged

"One of the Lessons of Modern Life is that corporations really don't give a fuck about what goes on with their products or services as long as it does not effect their Bottom Line. Want action taken on a problem by a corporation? Go after their money, which includes everything from bad PR to civil suits. Gets their attention PDQ!"

~Okay, Owen Harmon, Berta Daniell, Emogene Lashauda, Phylicia Lakeesah, Price, Shizgal, and Irish Greta are all way too concerned with the size of my dick.

HuffPo's Coverage of Sarah Palin

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