CLibertyC

It looks like the inside of a private jet but this is actually the inside of a humble Mercedes van

"A luxury car customising company has unveiled its latest creation - a van which has been turned into a five-star hotel-style suite. Lexani Motorcars has created the Reale which is an armoured Mercedes-Benz B6 Sprinter. The company based in Corona, California, calls it the 'ultimate' in personal security. The stunning inside area is dripping in the finest fixtures and fittings to make it the ultimate mobile home from home. It is lined with Alcantara suede and features handcrafted fine leather seats, a galley kitchen, luxury lavatory with ceramic toilet and gold-plated sink, marble floors, and even a hidden coat rack." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingIt looks like the inside of a private jet but this is actually the inside of a humble Mercedes van

Swiss solar aircraft returns from cross-US flight

"Crowds of spectators welcomed the solar-powered aircraft Solar Impulse on Monday as it returned to Switzerland onboard a jumbo jet following its successful trans-American flight. A Boeing 747 jumbo carrying the prototype aircraft of aviation pioneer Bertrand Piccard landed at Dübendorf airfield in the canton of Zurich just after 7am, the Tages-Anzeiger newspaper reported. Pilots Piccard and André Borschberg completed the historic flight from San Francisco in early July. The world’s first solar aircraft able to fly both day and night powered solely by the sun flew 5,650 kilometres across the United States." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingSwiss solar aircraft returns from cross-US flight

Space cadets gather in D.C. for one-way ticket to Mars

"Around 40 volunteers from thousands who applied for a one-way ticket to Mars gathered in the US capital Saturday to hear from the man behind plans to colonize the Red Planet. Bas Lansdorp, a Dutch entrepreneur, plans to establish a permanent base on Mars in a mission he hopes will take off in 2022 if he can find the necessary $6 billion. Would-be travellers on the mission — named Mars One — would never return to Earth. In April, Mars-One said that the first four volunteers should land on Mars in 2023 after a seven-month journey. New crews would be sent every two years, according to Lansdorp." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingSpace cadets gather in D.C. for one-way ticket to Mars

Japan sends talking ‘companion’ robot to the International Space Station

"When the Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata arrives at the International Space Station in November, a companion will be waiting for him whose eyes will light up in recognition – literally. Kirobo, the world’s first talking humanoid space robot, has already taken off – in the nattiest red Wellingtons since Paddington Bear – and should arrive at the space station by 9 August to await Wakata’s arrival. It knows he is coming: it has been programmed to recognise his face, and greet him warmly in Japanese." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingJapan sends talking ‘companion’ robot to the International Space Station

U.S. military helicopter crashes in Japan’s Okinawa

"A U.S. military helicopter crashed on Japan’s southern island of Okinawa on Monday, U.S. Forces in Japan said, an incident which may stoke anger over the concentration of U.S. military bases on the island. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe wants to move the U.S. Marines’ Futenma airbase to a less crowded part of the island, but stiff opposition from Okinawa residents is stalling the plan. Residents of Okinawa, host to the bulk of U.S. military forces in Japan, have long resented bearing what many feel is an unfair share of the burden for the U.S.-Japan military alliance. Many associate the U.S. bases with accidents, crime and pollution." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingU.S. military helicopter crashes in Japan’s Okinawa

Japan nuclear body says radioactive water at Fukushima an ‘emergency’

"Highly radioactive water seeping into the ocean from Japan’s crippled Fukushima nuclear plant is creating an 'emergency' that the operator is struggling to contain, an official from the country’s nuclear watchdog said on Monday. This contaminated groundwater has breached an underground barrier, is rising toward the surface and is exceeding legal limits of radioactive discharge, he told Reuters. Countermeasures planned by Tokyo Electric Power Co are only a temporary solution, he said. Tepco’s 'sense of crisis is weak,' Kinjo said. 'This is why you can’t just leave it up to Tepco alone' to grapple with the ongoing disaster." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingJapan nuclear body says radioactive water at Fukushima an ‘emergency’

Graphic: How Just 6 Corps Own 90% of The Media

"One graphic really highlights just how tightly controlled the information we are delivered truly is — and how a total of only 6 corporations run the show. From Time Warner (CNN, HBO, TIME) to GE (NBC, Comcast), a whopping 6 corporations control 90% of the mainstream media within the United States. The amount of revenues from the tightly controlled mainstream media machine are enough to beat out Finland’s entire GDP, buy every NFL team 12 times, and fund the government bailout of General Motors 5 times." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingGraphic: How Just 6 Corps Own 90% of The Media

Ruinous Inflation Proposals

"In this day and age, one should never assume that 'educated' persons, especially those who have “earned” advanced degrees in economics, know the least bit of economics or possess the least bit of sense that might steer them away from the refuse that passes for economic thought. I speak specifically of Biagio Bossone and Richard Wood. Their ruinously inflationary ideas, if adopted, will destroy the economies that they think will be saved. The lofty positions they have held in such institutions as the World Bank, the IMF, the OECD, the Paris Club, and the Australian Treasury make them all the more dangerous." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingRuinous Inflation Proposals

The Financial Tale of Two Cities: Detroit and Chicago

"At State Data Lab, we calculate and report a metric called ‘Net Revenue’ for all 50 states. Net Revenue subtracts total reported net expenses from general revenue. It can inform whether a state is truly ‘balancing its budget,’ at least as far as reported results. Net revenue can also be calculated for cities. The chart above shows how net revenue in Detroit was persistently negative in the five years before its bankruptcy filing. The chart also shows an even more alarming trend for the city of Chicago. And those results can understate reality; they rely on the city’s financial reports, which do not include accumulating off-balance sheet retirement obligations." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThe Financial Tale of Two Cities: Detroit and Chicago

The Latter-Day Rome Lives And Kills

"Libya is no longer. Ditto Iraq. Afghanistan is not doing much better since Rome set up camp there. The Comitatus – 'the sprawling apparatus that encompasses the ministries of government, the lawyers, the diplomats, the adjutants, the messengers, the interpreters, the intellectuals' – refused to keep count of the casualties in the Iraq war. Likewise has 'Operation Enduring Freedom' in Afghanistan, still ongoing, been the direct and indirect cause of the deaths and displacement of many thousands of Afghan civilians. The latter-day Rome has mechanized the warfare state’s killing capabilities and has refined its propaganda wing to an art." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThe Latter-Day Rome Lives And Kills