when I was coming back from Richmond this past weekend in addition to the usual 2 or 3 USN Carriers in Norfolk - I spied an unusual silhouette tucked in amongst them - looked like a carrier but different from those I've seen before - now I know
The Queen has arrived, wearing gray and toting a ski jump.
The British aircraft carrier Queen Elizabeth slipped into Naval Station Norfolk on Monday.
Sporting her distinctive twin islands on the flight deck, “Big Lizzie” arrived a bit late but had a good excuse — the flattop was dodging Hurricane Florence.
She’ll soon be joined by a second carrier, however. The [Prince of Wales]('https://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/princeofwales') is being outfitted to enter service in 2020. Norfolk is the Queen Elizabeth’s second stop on a tour the Royal Navy has termed “WestLant 18."
It’s supposed to end in December and includes a stop in New York. The carrier already popped into Naval Station Mayport.
While in Norfolk, the Queen Elizabeth will conduct her first fixed-wing aircraft flight operations, using the F-35B joint strike fighter.
As if I needed more, but here's another reason Hell will freeze over before I move to FL. On the other hand, there might be some good eating down there...
By Richard Tribou Orlando SentinelOctober 7, 2019 ORLANDO, Fla. — There is more than one python-hunting army in Florida, but the one run by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission just hit another milestone including the largest python the group has ever captured. The Python Action Team has removed 900 snakes as of Sept. 24 which includes 400 in just the last three months. Included in that haul is an 18-foot, 4-inch-long adult female Burmese python that weighed 98 pounds, 10 ounces, nabbed on Sept. 22 at Big Cypress National Preserve. It’s the largest the FWC team has ever captured since its inception in April 2017 and the largest ever caught at Big Cypress. The FWC’s Python Action Team, set up to survey and if possible capture the invasive exotic species is separate from the South Florida Water Management District’s python removal program, also established in early 2017. That program has removed 2,567 pythons as of Sept. 26, also more than 400 in the last three months. Also working on the python problem is the National Park Service. All three have a hand in managing state and federal lands in South Florida, where the python problem is the worst. The presence of the pythons has been growing, though, since the early 2000s in the Everglades and expanding across South Florida. FWC said that the population grew as the result of escaped or released pets. The United States Geological Survey estimates the population still numbers in the tens of thousands. For the FWC program, the record python was captured by PAT members Cynthia Downer and Jonathan Lopez. It’s the second-largest wild python ever captured in the state, 4 inches shorter than the record, according to the FWC. Officials said capturing females is paramount to avoid them adding another 30 to 60 hatchlings every breeding period. No. 900 was caught two days later on Sept. 24 by Bobby Monroe in the Everglades and Francis S. Taylor Wildlife Management Area in Miami-Dade County. “Removing 900 pythons is a great milestone for our Python Action Team,” said FWC Executive Director Eric Sutton. “These snakes coupled with the thousands removed by our partners at the National Park Service and the South Florida Water Management District make a significant impact to protect Florida’s native wildlife.”
Shall I go to heaven or a-fishing? - H. D. Thoreau Veni. Vidi. Cepi. - with apologies to Gaius Julius Caesar
As if I needed more, but here's another reason Hell will freeze over before I move to FL. On the other hand, there might be some good eating down there...
By Richard Tribou Orlando SentinelOctober 7, 2019 ORLANDO, Fla. — There is more than one python-hunting army in Florida, but the one run by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission just hit another milestone including the largest python the group has ever captured. The Python Action Team has removed 900 snakes as of Sept. 24 which includes 400 in just the last three months. Included in that haul is an 18-foot, 4-inch-long adult female Burmese python that weighed 98 pounds, 10 ounces, nabbed on Sept. 22 at Big Cypress National Preserve. It’s the largest the FWC team has ever captured since its inception in April 2017 and the largest ever caught at Big Cypress. The FWC’s Python Action Team, set up to survey and if possible capture the invasive exotic species is separate from the South Florida Water Management District’s python removal program, also established in early 2017. That program has removed 2,567 pythons as of Sept. 26, also more than 400 in the last three months. Also working on the python problem is the National Park Service. All three have a hand in managing state and federal lands in South Florida, where the python problem is the worst. The presence of the pythons has been growing, though, since the early 2000s in the Everglades and expanding across South Florida. FWC said that the population grew as the result of escaped or released pets. The United States Geological Survey estimates the population still numbers in the tens of thousands. For the FWC program, the record python was captured by PAT members Cynthia Downer and Jonathan Lopez. It’s the second-largest wild python ever captured in the state, 4 inches shorter than the record, according to the FWC. Officials said capturing females is paramount to avoid them adding another 30 to 60 hatchlings every breeding period. No. 900 was caught two days later on Sept. 24 by Bobby Monroe in the Everglades and Francis S. Taylor Wildlife Management Area in Miami-Dade County. “Removing 900 pythons is a great milestone for our Python Action Team,” said FWC Executive Director Eric Sutton. “These snakes coupled with the thousands removed by our partners at the National Park Service and the South Florida Water Management District make a significant impact to protect Florida’s native wildlife.”
Between the snakes , gators, wild Boar elderly drivers and the insane summer heat, there’s more cons than pros to living in heavens waiting room !
Between the snakes , gators, wild Boar elderly drivers and the insane summer heat, there’s more cons than pros to living in heavens waiting room !
I could stand the Snakes,Gators,wild Boars and the insane elderly drivers. Or is that Insane heat, either way. You forgot one important point. Crime, South Fla. Dade and Broward county's are the pits. Been there done that.
Tell your Children every day that you love them I was so poor growing up, if i were not a boy i would have had Nothing to play with !! :) All that matters in the end is that we Loved "Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass; it's about learning to dance in the rain."
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California will be the first state to ban the sale and manufacture of new fur products and the third to bar most animals from circus performances under a pair of bills signed Saturday by Gov. Gavin Newsom. The fur law bars residents from selling or making clothing, shoes or handbags with fur starting in 2023.
Animal rights groups cheered the measure as a stand against inhumane practices. The proposal was vigorously opposed by the billion-dollar U.S. fur industry, and the Fur Information Council of America has already threatened to sue.
It follows Newsom’s signing of legislation that makes California the first state to outlaw fur trapping and follows bans on sales of fur in Los Angeles and San Francisco.
The new law doesn’t apply to used fur products or fur used for religious or tribal purposes. And it excludes the sale of leather, dog and cat fur, cowhides, deer, sheep and goat skin and anything preserved through taxidermy.
It could mark a significant blow to the fur industry that makes products from animals including mink, chinchillas, rabbits and other animals. The U.S. retail fur industry brought in $1.5 billion in sales in 2014, the most recent data available from the Fur Information Council.
Fashion designers including Versace, Gucci and Giorgio Armani have stopped or say they plan to stop using fur. Under the new California law there is a fine of up to $1,000 for multiple violations.
“Given the overwhelming evidence of inhumane practices in the fur industry and the availability of so many different options for warm and fashionable fabrics, we will not continue to be complicit in unnecessary cruelty,” Democratic Assemblywoman Laura Friedman said when she introduced the bill.
Animal rights groups have said animals may be subject to gassing, electrocution and other inhumane actions to obtain their fur.
Opponents of the legislation have said it could create a black market and be a slippery slope to bans on other products.
The ban is part of a “radical vegan agenda using fur as the first step to other bans on what we wear and eat,” spokesman Keith Kaplan of the fur information council said in a prior statement. He further said fake fur is not a renewable or sustainable options.
Meanwhile, California joins New Jersey and Hawaii in banning most animals from circus performances. The law exempts domesticated dogs, cats and horses and does not apply to rodeos.
Circuses have been declining in popularity for decades. The most well-known act, the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, closed in 2017 after 146 years of performances.
State officials say at least two circuses that include live animals were scheduled to perform in California this year. At least 18 circuses don’t use animals, including Cirque du Soleil.
At first, critics warned the proposal was too broad and would impact county fairs, wildlife rescues or rehabilitation organizations. In response, lawmakers narrowed the definition of circus to include “a performance before a live audience in which entertainment consisting of a variety of acts such as acrobats, aerialists, clowns, jugglers, or stunts is the primary attraction or principal business.”
The law includes penalties of up to $25,000 per day for each violation.
Democratic Sen. Ben Hueso authored the law, arguing that wild animals in circuses endure cruel training and near-constant confinement.
“We cannot allow this type of abuse to occur in California,” Hueso said, according to a legislative analysis of the proposal that eventually became law.
The Southwest California Legislative Council opposed the law, arguing it will prevent people from being able “to experience the thrill of a circus performance featuring beautiful, well cared for animals.”
Also Saturday, Newsom signed legislation aimed at helping protect horses from slaughter. The law requires public and private auction yard operators to post new signage, maintain sworn statements and post identifying information online starting Jan. 1.
The measure is key to ensuring California’s horse population isn’t illegally sent to slaughter, said its author, Democratic Assemblyman Todd Gloria of San Diego.
Shall I go to heaven or a-fishing? - H. D. Thoreau Veni. Vidi. Cepi. - with apologies to Gaius Julius Caesar
PARIS (Reuters) - A Paris zoo showcased a mysterious new organism on Wednesday, dubbed the "blob", a yellowish unicellular small living being which looks like a fungus but acts like an animal.
This newest exhibit of the Paris Zoological Park, which goes on display to the public on Saturday, has no mouth, no stomach, no eyes, yet it can detect food and digest it. :oops: The blob also has almost 720 sexes, can move without legs or wings and heals itself in two minutes if cut in half. "The blob is a living being which belongs to one of nature's mysteries", said Bruno David, director of the Paris Museum of Natural History, of which the Zoological Park is part. :oops: "It surprises us because it has no brain but is able to learn (...) and if you merge two blobs, the one that has learned will transmit its knowledge to the other," David added.
The blob was named after a 1958 science-fiction horror B-movie, starring a young Steve McQueen, in which an alien life form - The Blob - consumes everything in its path in a small Pennsylvania town.
"We know for sure it is not a plant but we don't really if it's an animal or a fungus," said David. "It behaves very surprisingly for something that looks like a mushroom (...) it has the behaviour of an animal, it is able to learn."
"Well, it's alright. .............even if you're old and gray." "Well, it's alright. ............you still got something to say."
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California will be the first state to ban the sale and manufacture of new fur products and the third to bar most animals from circus performances under a pair of bills signed Saturday by Gov. Gavin Newsom. The fur law bars residents from selling or making clothing, shoes or handbags with fur starting in 2023.
Animal rights groups cheered the measure as a stand against inhumane practices. The proposal was vigorously opposed by the billion-dollar U.S. fur industry, and the Fur Information Council of America has already threatened to sue.
It follows Newsom’s signing of legislation that makes California the first state to outlaw fur trapping and follows bans on sales of fur in Los Angeles and San Francisco.
The new law doesn’t apply to used fur products or fur used for religious or tribal purposes. And it excludes the sale of leather, dog and cat fur, cowhides, deer, sheep and goat skin and anything preserved through taxidermy.
It could mark a significant blow to the fur industry that makes products from animals including mink, chinchillas, rabbits and other animals. The U.S. retail fur industry brought in $1.5 billion in sales in 2014, the most recent data available from the Fur Information Council.
Fashion designers including Versace, Gucci and Giorgio Armani have stopped or say they plan to stop using fur. Under the new California law there is a fine of up to $1,000 for multiple violations.
“Given the overwhelming evidence of inhumane practices in the fur industry and the availability of so many different options for warm and fashionable fabrics, we will not continue to be complicit in unnecessary cruelty,” Democratic Assemblywoman Laura Friedman said when she introduced the bill.
Animal rights groups have said animals may be subject to gassing, electrocution and other inhumane actions to obtain their fur.
Opponents of the legislation have said it could create a black market and be a slippery slope to bans on other products.
The ban is part of a “radical vegan agenda using fur as the first step to other bans on what we wear and eat,” spokesman Keith Kaplan of the fur information council said in a prior statement. He further said fake fur is not a renewable or sustainable options.
Meanwhile, California joins New Jersey and Hawaii in banning most animals from circus performances. The law exempts domesticated dogs, cats and horses and does not apply to rodeos.
Circuses have been declining in popularity for decades. The most well-known act, the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, closed in 2017 after 146 years of performances.
State officials say at least two circuses that include live animals were scheduled to perform in California this year. At least 18 circuses don’t use animals, including Cirque du Soleil.
At first, critics warned the proposal was too broad and would impact county fairs, wildlife rescues or rehabilitation organizations. In response, lawmakers narrowed the definition of circus to include “a performance before a live audience in which entertainment consisting of a variety of acts such as acrobats, aerialists, clowns, jugglers, or stunts is the primary attraction or principal business.”
The law includes penalties of up to $25,000 per day for each violation.
Democratic Sen. Ben Hueso authored the law, arguing that wild animals in circuses endure cruel training and near-constant confinement.
“We cannot allow this type of abuse to occur in California,” Hueso said, according to a legislative analysis of the proposal that eventually became law.
The Southwest California Legislative Council opposed the law, arguing it will prevent people from being able “to experience the thrill of a circus performance featuring beautiful, well cared for animals.”
Also Saturday, Newsom signed legislation aimed at helping protect horses from slaughter. The law requires public and private auction yard operators to post new signage, maintain sworn statements and post identifying information online starting Jan. 1.
The measure is key to ensuring California’s horse population isn’t illegally sent to slaughter, said its author, Democratic Assemblyman Todd Gloria of San Diego.
LOL well you see that gal with the "# FUR FREE LA" well i bet ya....... .. oh nevermind. :eek:
Tell your Children every day that you love them I was so poor growing up, if i were not a boy i would have had Nothing to play with !! :) All that matters in the end is that we Loved "Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass; it's about learning to dance in the rain."
. Looks like sea salt to me !! I would have been putting it on my eggs for breakfast. :eek:
Before climbing all the walls i could find. :)
Tell your Children every day that you love them I was so poor growing up, if i were not a boy i would have had Nothing to play with !! :) All that matters in the end is that we Loved "Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass; it's about learning to dance in the rain."
