How are they going to salvage the Costa Concordia??

In January, the cruise ship Costa Concordia struck a rock off the shore of Isola del Giglio, in the Mediterranean.

30 people on board the largest passenger wreck of all time lost their lives; two are still missing.

Nearly a year later, the wreck is still sitting off the Italian coast, mostly submerged.

Because the Costa Concordia is in a nationally protected marine park and coral reef, it must be removed from the area before it can be dismantled, posing countless difficulties.

In a report on the efforts to remove the wreck, 60 Minutes' Leslie Stahl visited the site and recounted the remarkable salvage operation, which has a $400 million price tag.

Not only is it the riskiest, most complicated, and most expensive salvage plan ever undertaken, but no one is sure if it will work.

The ship weighs 60,000 tons and is filled with seawater.

It is sitting on two underwater mountain peaks. 65 percent of it is below the surface.

The wreck is an official crime scene.

The operation, which will cost about $400 million, is being paid for by insurance companies.

The plan is to rotate the ship upright, and onto an underwater platform.
Then it will float up, leaving more of its structure above the surface.

And it can be towed away.

Before getting on the inclined ship, workers must take a 4-day mountain climbing course.

The underwater platform is being built in northern Italy. The steel must be transported through the Adriatic Sea, around the boot of Italy, and up to the wreck.

The steel that makes it up weighs three times as much as the Eiffel Tower. It will be embedded in the seafloor.

The drill bit will be enclosed in a large tube, to keep debris from contaminating the protected area.

For now, the ship is held in place by steel cables, but strong storms could dislodge it. Then it would sink to the seafloor, making the salvage operation near impossible.

111 salvage divers are currently working on the salvage operation around the clock, in 45-minute shifts. They attached the cables holding the ship where it is.

How exactly will workers rotate Costa Concordia onto the platform? The plan essentially involves building a ship out of the ship wreck.

That new "ship" will consist of huge, hollow steel boxes. Stahl reports.

Called sponsons, the biggest are 11 stories tall.

9 will be welded onto the exposed side of the ship, with just 2 inches between them.

Then steel cables will connect the sponsons to the steel platform.

Hydraulic pulleys will pull the 'Costa Concordia' upright.

More sponsons will be welded onto the other side of the ship.

Once the ship is upright, the extra buoyancy should make it float.

The ship will be floated next summer. Once the process begins, there is no way to stop it, even if something goes wrong.

The backup plan is to break it up where it lies, at a huge cost to the local environment.
.
If all goes well, the 'Costa Concordia' will be cut up for scrap, far from Giglio. It is so large, the process will take 2 years.

Snow Banks in Saskatchewan!

This is from a friend of a friend...

Here is a sample of the snow banks on our road. A cat made a pass about 3:00 p.m. today. The road from our house to Edam has been plugged since Wed. It has been a long time since we were snowed in and unable to leave the farm.

And this is SPRING!

Gay kids need YOUR support

From the TV series 'queer as folk' on Showcase, Debbie Novotny, (Michael's mom), shows her support for her gay son and his friends. She is a wee bit 'off the wall' and 'way OUT there'! She is not scared by sterotypes and loves Michael and his friends unconditionally. I am not suggesting that every mom, (certainly not my own! ), should feel the need to be so LOUD and PROUD, but I think that your child needs the support of everyone that holds them close. As long as you support your gay kid in your own way. This may mean just listening and accepting your kids for who they are... after all, sexual orientation is but a part of their identity. (Maybe even tune into an episode of 'queer as folk' and get a look-see into some of what your kid may be going through...(be aware that sometimes the show is graphic, it is rated 18+)...

My mother has been supportive of me and attended PFLAG meetings until she could better understand what her son was going through and what I struggled with my whole life. (Thanks, Mom! =)...

To read a bit on Sharon Gless, (Novotny), a lesbian herself, Click on the Rainbow Flag.

Earth Hour 60 +

Upload your photos, click above

Giggles, Guffaws, and Groaners

Six guys were playing poker when Smith loses $500 on a single hand, clutches his chest and drops dead at the table. Showing respect for their fallen comrade, the other five complete their playing time standing up. Roberts looks around and asks, "Now, who is going to tell the wife?" They draw straws. Rippington, who is always a loser, picks the short one. They tell him to be discreet, be gentle, don't make a bad situation any worse than it is. "Gentlemen! Discreet? I'm the most discreet man you will ever meet. Discretion is my middle name, leave it to me." Rippington walks over to the Smith house, knocks on the door, the wife answers, and asks what he wants. Rippington says, "Your husband just lost $500 playing cards." She hollers, "TELL HIM TO DROP DEAD!" Rippington says, "I'll tell him.



Married couples, both 60 years old, were celebrating their 35th anniversary. During their party, a fairy appeared to congratulate them and grant them each one a wish. The wife wanted to travel around the world. The fairy waved her wand and poof -- the wife had tickets in her hand for a world cruise. Next, the fairy asked the husband what he wanted. He said, "I wish I had a wife 30 years younger than me." So the fairy picked up her wand and poof -- the husband was 90.



A man who's wife was pregnant couldn't bear to be in the delivery room at the time of the birth.

So he thought he'd ring up later to see if it had come yet.

He rang up and the nurse said "it's a girl but theres another one on the way"

he rang again later and the nurse said "it's another girl but there's another coming"

he rang once more and the nurse said " it's a boy but there's another coming"

He couldn't stand it any more so he went to the pub and got drunk.

An hour later he was really nervous. He was dialling the hospital, hands shaking, and accidently dialled the sports line. he asked " how many did we get mate" the person said "198 all out.... and the last one was a duck"



The driving instructor was giving lessons to an extremely nervous student who panicked whenever another car approached on a particular two-lane road. One day, however, they got to the same stretch of road; and the student remained completely calm.

“This time you're doing fine!” exclaimed the instructor. “Yes,” the novice driver agreed.

“Now when I see another car coming, I shut my eyes.”



Little Pete came home from the playground with a bloody nose, black eye, and torn clothing. It was obvious he’d been in a bad fight and lost. While his father was patching him up, he asked his son what happened.

“Well, Dad,” said Pete, “ I challenged Larry to a duel. And, you know, I gave him his choice of weapons.”

“Uh-huh,” said the father, “that seems fair.”

“I know, but I never thought he’d choose his sister!”

Man jailed for killing gay teenager by setting his genitals on fire at party

by Scott Roberts , Pink News UK


Jordan Sheard has been jailed (South Yorkshire Police)



A man has been jailed for killing a gay teenager with Asperger syndrome by setting his genitals on fire.

Steven Simpson, 18, from Barnsley, South Yorkshire, died after sustaining “significant burns” last June.

Sheffield Crown Court heard that Jordan Sheard, 20, coated Steven Simpson with tanning oil at his 18th birthday and then flicked a lighter at his groin.

The victim instantly went up in flames with Sheard and others running away instead of helping him.

Steven, who lived alone and had Asperger syndrome, epilepsy and a speech impairment, died the next day in hospital from 60% burns.

Sheard, who initially tried to blame Steven for setting himself on fire, eventually admitted manslaughter, and was jailed for three-and-a-half years on Thursday.

The victim was bullied at the party over his disability and the fact he was gay, before being dared to strip to his boxers.

Judge Roger Keen told Sheard: “Egged on by others you sought to put a flame to Steven.

“What it did was engulf him in a fire. You tried to briefly assist and then you ran away. That in my judgment is serious aggravation.”

The Mirror reports at the hospital before he died Steven told his father Kevin that: “A lad took a bottle out of a drawer and chucked it over him.

“The next thing he remembered was going up in flames.”

Steven was openly gay and had moved to the flat where he lived alone because of bullying at his previous address.

Andrew Smith, defending, said: “It was the result of a criminally stupid prank that went wrong in a bad way.”

Sheard, of Cudworth, near Barnsley, initially tried to blame Steven for setting himself on fire.

He was jailed for three-and-a-half years after he admitted manslaughter

On Friday, Labour MP Diane Abbott criticised the sentence on Twitter as being “shockingly low”.

Detective Chief Inspector Sean Middleton said: “Steven was described by all who know him as a very caring and likeable young man, whose family will miss him greatly.

“His generous spirit was taken advantage of and a single thoughtless act resulted in his death.”

Man Moves In Across From Westboro Baptist, Paints House With Pride Colors

House across from The Westboro Baptist "Church"

By Ramon Johnson, About.com Guide

Aaron Jackson, who says he's making good on an example set by a 9-year-old kid, bought a Topeka, Kan. house directly across from Westboro Baptist Church and, with the help of volunteers, has painted it in gay pride colors.

--more at gaylife.about.com--

Yosemite Range of Light

*Thanks for the link, Gary

CHURCH SERVICES of THE FUTURE

PASTOR: "Praise the Lord!"

CONGREGATION: "Hallelujah!"

PASTOR: "Can we please turn on our tablet, PC, iPad, smart phone, and Kindle Bibles to 1 Cor 13:13.

And please switch on your Bluetooth to download the sermon."


  P-a-u-s-e......


  "Now, Let us pray committing this week into God's hands. Open your Apps, BBM, Twitter and Facebook, and chat with God."

  S-i-l-e-n-c-e

"As we take our Sunday tithes and offerings, please have your credit and debit cards ready." "You can log on to the church wi-fi using the password 'Lord909887. ' "


The ushers will circulate mobile card swipe machines among the worshipers:

Those who prefer to make electronic fund transfers are directed to computers and laptops at the rear of the church.

Those who prefer to use iPads can open them.

Those who prefer telephone banking, take out your cellphones to transfer your contributions to the church account.

The holy atmosphere of the Church becomes truly electrified as ALL the smart phones, iPads, PCs and laptops beep and flicker!

Final Blessing and Closing Announcements...

This week's ministry cell meetings will be held on the various Facebook group pages where the usual group chatting takes place. Please log in and don't miss out.

Thursday's Bible study will be held live on Skype at 1900hrs GMT. Please don't miss out.

You can follow your Pastor on Twitter this weekend for counseling and prayers.

 God bless you and have a nice day.   

HOW TO STAY YOUNG

1. Try everything twice. On Madams tombstone (of Whelan's and Madam) she said she wanted this epitaph: Tried everything twice...loved it both times!

2. Keep only cheerful friends. The grouches pull you down.
(keep this in mind if you are one of those grouches;)

3. Keep learning:

Learn more about the computer, crafts, gardening, whatever. Never let the brain get idle. "An idle mind is the devil's workshop." And the devil's name is Alzheimer's!

4. Enjoy the simple things.

5. Laugh often, long and loud. Laugh until you gasp for breath. And if you have a friend who makes you laugh, spend lots and lots of time with HIM/HER.

6. The tears happen:
Endure, grieve, and move on. The only person who is with us our entire life, is ourselves. LIVE while you are alive.

7. Surround yourself with what you love:
Whether it's family, pets, keepsakes, music, plants, hobbies, whatever. Your home is your refuge.

8. Cherish your health:
If it is good, preserve it. If it is unstable, improve it. If it is beyond what you can improve, get help.

9. Don't take guilt trips.
Take a trip to the mall, even to the next county, to a foreign country, but NOT to where the guilt is.

10. Tell the people you love that you love them, at every opportunity.

11. Forgive now those who made you cry. You might not get a second time.

And if you don't send this post to at least 4 people - who cares?

But do share this with someone.

Earth Hour 60 - Saturday March 23rd

Earth Hour 60 - Saturday March 23rd

Quotes From Bangor Maine...

 

Death is when the monsters get you.

Salem's Lot

I'm not a big fan of psychoanalysis: I think if you have mental problems what you need are good pills.

interview, Sept. 14, 2000

Only enemies speak the truth; friends and lovers lie endlessly, caught in the web of duty.

The Last Gunslinger

There is no tyrant as merciless as pain.

Duma Key

In bowling and in life, if a person made the spares, the strikes would take care of themselves.

(as Richard Bachman), Blaze

If you don't have the time to read, you don't have the time or the tools to write.

On Writing

You can't deny laughter; when it comes, it plops down in your favorite chair and stays as long as it wants.

Hearts in Atlantis

The most important things are the hardest things to say.

The Body

The unconscious mind writes poetry if it's left alone.

Duma Key

Stupid was a prison they never let you out of, no time off for good behavior, you were in for life.

(as Richard Bachman), Blaze

We fall from womb to tomb, from one blackness and toward another, remembering little of the one and knowing nothing of the other ... except through faith.

Danse Macabre

The beauty of religious mania is that it has the power to explain everything. Once God (or Satan) is accepted as the first cause of everything which happens in the mortal world, nothing is left to chance ... logic can be happily tossed out the window.

The Stand

It was the possibility of darkness that made the day seem so bright.

Wolves of the Calla

Parenting is the greatest of hum-a-few-bars-and-I'll-fake-it skills.

Duma Key

Memories are contrary things; if you quit chasing them and turn your back, they often return on their own.

"Memory"

The trust of the innocent is the liar's most useful tool.

Needful Things

Talent is never static. It's always growing or dying.

Entertainment Weekly, Aug. 17, 2007

You should never trust a person who prays in public.

Duma Key

Talent is a dull knife that will cut nothing unless it is wielded with great force.

Danse Macabre

In this day and age when everybody thinks psychology is God's gift to the poor old anally fixated human race and even the president of the United States pops a trank before dinner, it's really a good way to get rid of those Old Testament guilts that keep creeping up our throats like the aftertaste of a bad meal we overate. If you say your father hated you as a kid, you can go out and flash the neighborhood, commit rape, or burn down the Kinights of Pythias bingo parlor and still cop a plea... But it also means that no one will believe you if it's true.

Rage

The road to hell is paved with adverbs.

On Writing

There's nothing as human as hunger. There's no creation without talent, I give you that, but talent is cheap. Talent goes begging. Hunger is the piston of art.

Duma Key

When a good writer is having fun, the audience is almost always having fun too.

Entertainment Weekly, Aug. 17, 2007

Time is a face on the water.

Wolves of the Calla

Sorry is the Kool-Aid of human emotions. It's what you say when you spill a cup of coffee or throw a gutterball when you're bowling with the girls in the leage. True sorrow is as rare as true love.

Carrie

Art is the concrete artifact of faith and expectation, the realization of a world that would otherwise be little more than a veil of pointless consciousness stretched over a gulf of mystery.

Duma Key

I always drank, from when it was legal for me to drink. And there was never a time for me when the goal wasn't to get as hammered as I could possibly afford to. I never understood social drinking, that's always seemed to me like kissing your sister.

interview, Sept. 14, 2000

No one ever does live happily ever after, but we leave the children to find that out for themselves.

Wolves of the Calla

The rope by which the great blocks of taxes are attached to any citizenry is simple loyalty--loyalty to King, to country, to government.

The Eyes of the Dragon

A person's memory is everything, really. Memory is identity. It's you.

Duma Key

Life is a wheel, and if you wait long enough, it always comes back around to where it started.

Duma Key

Happy Spring

meanwhile in Canada...

-Ostara- May the blessings of Eostre be upon you this special day!

Eostre, the Goddess of Dawn and Spring

Ostara is a modern Neopagan holiday. It is loosely based on several holidays which were celebrated around the spring equinox (when day and night are nearly of equal length). The modern holiday does not have a strong relation to any known historical Pagan religious observation. A historically correct reconstruction is impossible.

Etymology
The name Ostara goes back to Jacob Grimm, who, in his Deutsche Mythologie, speculated about an ancient German goddess Ostara, after whom the Easter festival (German: Ostern) could have been named. Grimm's main source is De temporum ratione by the Venerable Bede. Bede had put forward the thesis that the Anglo-Saxon name for the month of April, Eostur-monath, was named after a goddess Eostre.

Wiccan festival
Ostara is one of the four lesser Wiccan holidays or sabbats of the Wheel of the Year. Ostara is celebrated on the spring equinox, in the Northern hemisphere around March 21 and in the Southern hemisphere around September 23, depending upon the specific timing of the equinox. Among the Wiccan sabbats, it is preceded by Imbolc and followed by Beltane.

In the book Eight Sabbats for Witches by Janet and Stewart Farrar, the festival Ostara is characterized by the rejoining of the Mother Goddess and her lover-consort-son, who spent the winter months in death. Other variations include the young God regaining strength in his youth after being born at Yule, and the Goddess returning to her Maiden aspect.

Ostara is the virgin Goddess of spring. This holiday concerns the deity's trip to the underworld, and their struggle to return from the Land of the Dead to Earth. When they accomplish this return, they have a life renewed[citation needed]. It was considered bad luck to wear anything new before Ostara, so the people would work through the winter in secret to make elegant clothes for the Sabbat celebration. The entire community would gather for games, feasting, and religious rituals while showing off their clothing.

The lamb was another symbol of Ostara, and was sacred to the Virgin Goddess of Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa.

The modern belief that eggs are delivered by a rabbit known as the Easter Bunny comes from the legend of the Goddess Eostre. So much did a lowly rabbit want to please the Goddess that he laid the sacred eggs in her honor, gaily decorated them, and humbly presented them to her. So pleased was she that she wished all humankind to share in her joy. In honor of her wishes, the rabbit went through the entire world and distributed these little decorated gifts of life.

References
^ Grimm, Jacob (1835). Deutsche Mythologie (German Mythology); From English released version Grimm's Teutonic Mythology (1888); Available online by Northvegr © 2004-2007, Chapter 13, page 10+

*Wikipedia

Blessed Be!

"AnkhIwiEmHotep"
Life and Peace be with You --Cinosam

A SHOW IS BORN

The Sopranos (1999–2007) 

When he came up with an idea for a mob movie in 1995, David Chase was already a veteran of TV, having won a writing Emmy in 1979 for The Rockford Files. In his screenplay, he wanted to tell the story of his own New Jersey family and acquaintances as if they were mobsters. (Tony Soprano’s mother and psychiatrist, for example, are similar to Chase’s.) Chase’s agent told him that the story would work better as a TV show than it would as a movie, so Chase retooled it. None of the broadcast networks were interested in producing a mob drama, but HBO was. They loved the script and in 1997 commissioned a pilot, which they also loved, but then they put The Sopranos on hold for more than a year. When it finally premiered in January 1999, it was an instant sensation. The show received 21 Emmys and 5 Golden Globes over seven seasons. To date, it’s the most profitable series in the history of cable television.

First female nudity on TV: Valerie Perrine in a 1973 PBS broadcast of Steambath.

tags: trivia

THE MYSTERY

I am the wind which breathes upon the sea,
I am the wave of the ocean,
I am the murmur of the billows,
I am the ox of the seven combats,
I am the vulture upon the rocks,
I am a beam of the sun,
I am the fairest of plants,
I am a wild boar in valor,
I am a salmon in the water,
I am a lake in the plain,
I am a word of science,
I am the point of the lance of battle,
I am the god who created the head of fire.
Who is it who throws light into the meeting on the mountain? Who announces the ages of the moon?
Who teaches the place where couches the sun?

- AMAIRGIN

For Sale - Corvette Tail Lights

This may shock some, but it's reality.

Share this with family members and friends

And remember to leave the damn phone in your pocket, purse, or where ever.

The life you save may be yours or more importantly someone else’s.

FOR SALE

Corvette Tail Lights.

Good Condition!

They found his iPHONE in his hand and his head in the trunk!

Isn't TEXTING FUN?