MsAnn

Charlie I agree with you in part, except that certainly another person in the cockpit might be able to deter someone intent on committing mass murder. We don't know for sure, but it is something that should be considered at the very least. often times calls for measure to prevent a recurring accident will produce a safety measure that is actually beneficial. I think it behooves us to at least explore those options, as now we find out the Lufthansa does not require psychological testing on an ongoing basis, perhaps that is an area that should be explored also. In the end nothing is fool proof, but we should at least create as many safety nets as possible.

lol. That's kind of obvious. For myself, guilty as charged.

Certainly agree, and perhaps then we should consider removing the word suicide, since in this case at least, it was clearly mass murder. How do airlines if at all, scan more thoroughly for psychological problems?

Indeed. It was not my intent to give another impression. I am a bit of a self described 'motor head' however, and as a result, I thoroughly enjoyed the show, minus the racist and homophobic comments of course.

Another suicide by an airline pilot. Speechless. May they rest in peace. http://news.yahoo.com/official-1-pilot-locked-crash-plane-cockpit-072049706.html?clear-cache

The American version is an embarrassment. Top Gear was one of the BBC's highest rated shows world wide with Clarkson pulling down well into the seven figures, and a multi-year waiting list just to be in the audience. Apparently some people thoroughly enjoyed the show.

His problems started long before the punch.

Sorry, this was a double post.

Germanwings Plane Crash: What We Know So Far Mar 24, 2015, 4:58 PM ET By EMILY SHAPIRO Germanwings Plane Crash: Here's What We Know Next Video 24 Hours After Horrific Plane Crash, Rescuers Hunt for Bodies Auto Start: On | Off An Airbus A320 operated by Germanwings crashed today in a remote part of the Alps in southern France, near the town of Dign The plane was carrying 144 passengers -- including 2 babies -- and six crew members, Germanwings CEO Thomas Winkelmann said at a news conference. There were "apparently no survivors," said French President Francois Hollande. The plane was en route from Barcelona to Dusseldorf, according to the airline. Helicopters arrived at the scene 30 minutes after the crash, according to French authorities. As night descended in France, the search and rescue operation was suspended for the day. About two-dozen first responders are staying at the site overnight. Bodies and debris will be brought down from the crash site Wednesday morning, according to a French Interior Ministry spokesperson. The search team includes 380 firemen, 300 policemen, a specialized mountain rescue team and 15 helicopters, the Ministry of Interior said. Boris Horvat/AFP/Getty Images PHOTO:French emergency services workers and members of the French gendarmerie gather in Seyne, near the site where a Germanwings Airbus A320 crashed in the French Alps, March 24, 2015. Jean-Paul Pelissier/Reuters PHOTO: French firefighters prepare to take-off in Digne-les-Bains for the crash site of an Airbus A320, in the French Alps, March 24, 2015. Anne-Christine Poujoulat/AFP/Getty Images PHOTO: A helicopter of the French civil security services flies near Seyne, south-eastern France, March 24, 2015. ABC News Who was on board? The passengers were German, Spanish and Turkish, said Spanish King Felipe IV, who was in France for a pre-scheduled meeting with Hollande. The King had planned to stay in France for three days but now said he is returning to Madrid to launch a crisis center. Germanwings said it is believed 67 Germans were on board. Sixteen students and two teachers from a school in Haltern, Germany, were on the flight, a spokesperson for the city of Haltern said. The students had been returning from an exchange trip in Barcelona. Opera singers Oleg Bryjak and Maria Radner were also among the passengers, returning from a performance in Barcelona. Radner was on the flight with her husband and baby. Gran Teatre del Liceu PHOTO: Opera singer Maria Radner is seen in this undated handout photo provided by the Gran Teatre del Liceu. The State Department is reviewing whether any Americans were on board. The list of nationalities of the casualties will be released as soon as the airline is certain, Winkelmann said, adding that the victims' families will be informed before a list of names will be released. At a White House press conference, President Obama offered his thoughts and prayers to the people of Germany and Spain, saying "American stands with them at this moment of sorrow." Obama said he has called German Chancellor Angela Merkel and hopes to speak with Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy of Spain to "express the condolences of the American people" and to offer U.S. assistance as they investigate this "awful tragedy." "Our teams are in close contact and we're working to confirm how many Americans may have been on board," Obama said.

Jeremy Clarkson, host of “Top Gear,” fired by BBChttp://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/mar/25/jeremy-clarkson-top-gear-contract-bbc clarkson top gear Signs are increasingly pointing to Jeremy Clarkson’s exit from the BBC. After The Telegraph reported late Tuesday night that the controversial Top Gear host would be fired today, The Guardian now says it has confirmed that his contract will not be renewed — it comes due at the end of the month. The BBC isn’t officially commenting until a formal announcement is made which is expected to come from Director General Tony Hall later today. “When we have an outcome, we will announce it,” the BBC said. The corporation earlier this week pulled Top Gear Live events that Clarkson was due to attend this weekend. He was suspended from the hugely popular motoring show on March 10 following a so-called “fracas” with a BBC producer. Interest in the outcome of an inquiry into the dust-up has been at fever pitch for over two weeks. The Telegraph and Guardian reports say that the investigation has found the host verbally abused the producer for 20 minutes, before physically assaulting him for 30 seconds. Clarkson himself tweeted this morning that he hasn’t “heard a thing” (see below). On Friday, he had written, “Many many thanks to all of the people who have called for my reinstatement. I’m very touched. We shall all learn next week what will happen.” Simply put, he was just brilliant at what he did, a delight to watch, and came into my living room via the telly on a regular basis.... On more than one occasion, I would hit some back road, driving way too fast, pushing the limits of my driving skills, fantasizing in my mind that I had a red 599 under foot, hearing the sequel of tires, and pretending that the rear end had come loose and imagining I had saved it. BUT, fantasies aside, he made homophobic and racist comments, even after being warned on numerous occasions. I will miss his brilliant impromptu humor, but not those comments that just made you cringe, and made you wonder why you watched at all. So in the end, I think I knew, his departure, was all so inevitable. And yes, despite everything, I admit, I will miss him, and from this gay man, MsAnn wishes him well.

Hmmm...how did we get from Havana to Berlin? That's over 5 thousand miles.

Good question, not me...but I have several friends who are eager to go. I think they want to see how it is before it becomes too Americanized. (whatever that means).

Tourists Flock to Cuba Before the Americans Come Tourists ride a double-decker bus backdropped by an iron sculpture of Cuban revolutionary hero Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara. (Photo: AP) By Andrea Rodriguez HAVANA (AP) - Bookings to Cuba jumped 57 percent for one New York tour operator in the weeks after Washington said it would renew ties with Havana. In February, they were up 187 percent; and so far this month, nearly 250 percent. The boom is just one sign that the rush is on to see Cuba now - before, as many predict, McDonald’s claims a spot in Old Havana and Starbucks moves in on Cubita, the island’s premium coffee brand. The sense that detente will unleash an invasion of Yankee tourists and change the unique character of one of the world’s last remaining bastions of communism is shared by many travelers flocking here. "Cuba has a very authentic atmosphere which you see nowhere else in the world," Gay Ben Aharon of Israel said while walking through Revolution Square. "I wanted to see it before the American world … but also the modern Western world comes here." Outsiders may romanticize the “time-capsule” nation, but many on the island are ready for change. Where foreigners see charming, historic architecture, bright 1950s-era American cars and vast stretches of white-sand beaches, locals see decaying buildings in need of repair, new vehicles priced beyond their reach and a lack of economic opportunity. For many Cubans living in dilapidated, multigenerational tenements, change could be good. It may expand access to the Internet and the outside world, creating engagement that could bring brighter economic days and, practically speaking, make it easier to fix a leaky roof. "We’re very excited," said Yadiel Carmenate, a 26-year-old English major at the University of Matanzas who moonlights as a tour guide. It’s unlikely Cuba will see major changes overnight. Talks to take the first steps toward normalized relations are just beginning and there is stiff opposition in the U.S. Congress to lifting the 53-year-old embargo that bars most trade with and travel to the island. Still! , the December announcement appears to have sparked an influx of tourism. InsightCuba, the tour operator based in New Rochelle, New York, is adding excursions as its monthly bookings explode compared with early 2014. "It’s a huge surge," company president Tom Popper said. "Word’s gotten out and people are communicating that they want to go before Cuba changes." Already this year, more foreigners are roaming the cobblestoned streets of Old Havana. Cuba saw a 16 percent increase in visitors in January compared with a year earlier, a total of about 371,000. Tourism, a $2.6 billion-plus industry, is one of the main engines that has kept Cuba’s economy sputtering along. Last year, the country welcomed 3 million visitors, a record. About 600,000 U.S. travelers are estimated to visit Cuba each year, most of them Cuban-Americans visiting family but also tens of thousands coming on approved cultural, religious and educational exchanges. An untold number of others have, for years, skirted travel restrictions by journeying t! hrough third countries such as the Bahamas or Mexico. Cuban officials estimate that 1.5 million Americans would travel here annually if all restrictions were removed, supplanting Canada as the No. 1 source of tourism and potentially adding some $2 billion a year to state coffers. However, the island is hardly ready for a Yankee invasion. Already it strains to accommodate travelers during the December-April high season. Tourists trying to dine at high-end private restaurants are often struggling to find an empty table these days, and it’s practically impossible to get a room at Havana’s best hotels. Some travel agents report being turned away when trying to book group reservations. Rogelio Gauvin, a tourist from Canada, predicts demand will continue to outpace capacity. "I see a lot of construction, very nice restorations - that’s very good," he said. "But there won’t be enough hotels. There won’t be enough restaurants. There won’t be enough ser! vices to accommodate the Americans who will come like rats on a ship." Privately run B&Bs and diners that have mushroomed under President Raul Castro’s economic reforms could help ease the load on the government’s 64,000 hotel rooms and bland, poorly stocked restaurants. The recently renovated Havana airport is set to undergo a $207 million expansion led by Brazilian conglomerate Odebrecht. Several U.S. airlines have talked of launching service to the island; currently all U.S.-Cuba flights are operated by charter companies. Canada-based Cuba Cruise has begun marketing its sea voyages directly to Americans. Travel agents that have been doing business here for years are aware that the competition is about to get a lot stiffer. Carlos Javier Rodriguez, head of Argentina-based tour operator Carimar Eventos, expressed hope that Cuba would reserve some quota of capacity for non-U.S. travelers. "We tour operators," he said, "can say that we view the arrival of American tourism with trepidation." For now, Rodri! guez is busy tending to travelers interested “in experiencing this Cuba, and right away.” Carmenate, the university student and tour guide, dismisses concerns that the island will lose its character. Cubans, he said, eagerly await change but won’t allow their country to become the capitalist playground it was before the 1959 revolution. "It’s not going to be that way. Our identity, we will preserve it at all cost," he said. "That’s why I think that it’s going to be really hard for you to find a McDonald’s or a Starbucks right down the corner." Thomas Mieszkowski, a 28-year-old tourist from Leeds, England, however, was among the visitors taking in the experience of seeing Cuba now - before, he said, it risks becoming “another outpost of Florida.”

I was around when Redd Foxx was "around", and always thought that he and Pryor were hilarious, but I don't think that the "Cos" with his moral compass would have approved.

I have not read the book, but saw the film "Flags of our Fathers" by Eastwood, and thought it was excellent. I would imagine the book to be even better.

US veterans return to Iwo Jima for 70th anniversary I was watching CNN and was reminded of this. We all too often forget about those that lay down their lives on foreign soil to protect our own. IOTO, Japan (AP) — Dozens of aging U.S. veterans, many in their early 90s and some in wheelchairs, gathered on the tiny, barren island of Iwo Jima on Saturday to mark the 70th anniversary of one of the bloodiest and most iconic battles of World War II. More than 30 veterans flown in from the U.S. island territory of Guam toured the black sand beaches where they invaded the deeply dug-in forces of the island's Japanese defenders in early 1945. They were bused to the top of Mount Suribachi, an active volcano, where an Associated Press photo of the raising of the American flag while the battle was still raging became a potent symbol of hope and valor to a war-weary public back home that was growing increasingly disillusioned with the seemingly unending battle in the Pacific. For some of the veterans, the return to the island where many of their comrades died, and which is still inhabited only by a contingent of Japanese military troops, brought out difficult emotions. "I hated them," said former Sgt. John Roy Coltrane, 93, of Siler City, North Carolina. "For 40 years, I wouldn't even buy anything made in Japan. But now I drive a Honda." Speeches at the Reunion of Honor ceremony held near the invasion beach were made by senior Japanese politicians and descendants of the few Japanese who survived the battle. Also speaking were U.S. Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus and Gen. Joseph Dunford, the commandant of the Marine Corps, who noted that the battle for Iwo Jima remains the "very ethos" of the Marine Corps today. View gallery U.S. veterans offer a wreath during a ceremony commemorating the 70th anniversary of the Battle of I … "We should never forget that the peace and prosperity of Japan and the United States at present has been built on the sacrifice of precious lives," Japanese Defense Minister Gen Nakatani said in his remarks. This was the first time that Japanese Cabinet officials attended the anniversary ceremony, now in its 16th year. And while the presence of veterans able to make the grueling trip has been steadily dwindling, the number of participants — about 500 — was double that of last year because of the significance of the 70th year since Japan's surrender ended World War II. After the joint memorial, the U.S. and Japanese dignitaries and guests went their separate ways to visit the parts of the island that were of the most significance to their own troops. The Japanese have erected several memorials to their dead, and in a traditional way of placating their souls poured water and placed flowers on the memorial sites. The Marines invaded Iwo Jima in February 1945, and it was only declared secured after more than a month of fighting. About 70,000 U.S. troops fought more than 20,000 Japanese — only 216 Japanese were captured as POWs and the rest are believed to have been either killed in action or to have taken their own lives. The island was declared secure on March 16, 1945, but skirmishes continued. In about 36 days of battle, nearly 7,000 U.S. Marines were killed and 20,000 wounded. View gallery A U.S. veteran with uniform attends a ceremony commemorating the 70th anniversary of the Battle of I … It is to this day considered sacred ground to many Japanese. As a haunting reminder of the ferocity of the fighting, search teams continue to dig up more and more Japanese remains each year — it's estimated that 12,000 have yet to be found. The United States returned the island to Japan in 1968. Wreckage of military equipment can still be seen dotting some of the beach areas, along with pill boxes and extensive mazes of caves. Though the idea of developing the island for tourism has been mulled for decades, and possibly using its natural hot springs as an attraction, the island is virtually untouched other than the small airfield used by the Japanese. Though a tiny volcanic crag, the island — now called Ioto or Iwoto on Japanese maps — was deemed strategically important because it was being used by the Japanese to launch air attacks on American bombers. After its capture, it was used by the U.S. as an emergency landing site for B-29s, which eventually made 2,900 emergency landings there that are estimated to have saved the lives of 24,000 airmen who would have otherwise had to crash at sea. Twenty-seven Medals of Honor were awarded for action in the battle, more than any other in U.S. military history. The only surviving Medal of Honor recipient from Iwo Jima, Hershel "Woody" Williams, 91, attended the ceremony. Afterward, he said his feelings toward the Japanese had not changed in the decades since the battle. "They were just doing their jobs, just like we were," he said. "We tried to kill them before they could kill us. But that's war." I've lost the original link to the article: Sorry

. White with red interior. 340 327 engine with AFB (Aluminum Four Barrel), close ratio 4 speed with 4.11 rear end. The biggest problem I had was that tires of that era were not what they are today. With that much horsepower, even with Positraction (limited slip differential), one went through tires all too often. At 88 MPH (4,000 RPM) it got 17 MPG on high test. At 90 it got 12. The easy conclusion is that two barrels were open at 88 and the other two opened any faster. Once during a closed section of highway I got it up to 142. Scary to think back doing that on those tires. Best regards, RA1 Ya know, I get a little turned on when you start talkin about four barrel carbs, rear end gears, posi-traction, with a limited slip, and 4,000 RPM's. Kinda macho RA1. You would have fit nicely into the back of my fastback. BTW. The 63 was one of the best Vette designs that ever went into production. What a looker!!!

You're Sybil to? Damn, I guess the Mustang thing just kind of outed us.

If I only knew. I would never have sold that car.

Having been in the back seat of more than a few Mustangs in my day, one being my own teal colored 67 fastback, Mr Smith will testify, that one had to be Houdini to even sit back there, much less lose ones virginity.

Steve Wall 3y My parents first consummated their love affair with convertibles when they purchased a brand new 1964 Mercury Comet Caliente. They absolutly loved it and had a ball for many years tooling around town and across the country. Sometime later, the best man from their wedding and his wife bought the ’64 Ford T-Bird pictured above.They each enjoyed their vehicles, but my parents drove the wheels off theirs on many memorable trips and were finally forced to sell when the car was shelled. Their friends were transferred out of state in 1984, and decided to store their T-bird with only 60,000 miles on the odometer. And there it sat for 26 years. Last year a series of events finally combined to allow the car to once again see the light of day. The man who owned the car passed away and his wife was more than tired of paying the monthly storage fees. At the same time our family made rare return to our home town for the funeral of a great aunt. We were asked to stop by the storage facility while we were in town and see what was there and determine the condition of the T-Bird. At the storage facility we presented our letter of authorization for entry, and headed back to open the unit. The entire staff of the facility followed us, curious as to what was in the double storage container that had been unopened for 26 years, and paid for by a never-seen, out-of-state tenant. We pushed and pushed the rusty, creaky sliding door until it finally went up, and were quickly drenched in falling grime and dust. It took about 20 minutes of moving around old antiques and climbing over miscellaneous bags of stuff, but there she was. Flat tires, no brakes, old rotten gas in the tank and dust everywhere – but what a beauty! To make a long story short I ended up spending a week cleaning out the facility - part of a generous offer to purchase the ‘Bird. It took many months to get it purring like the original, but the interior was perfect and the progress of the rebuilding, detailing and replacing had me oooing and ahhhing like a kid. Now nobody loves a convertible as much as my folks – so the next step was to get it hauled down to Arizona where they reside. And after making connections with a transport truck the 'Bird is now a happy resident of Sun City Grand where the new owners know how to appreciate and treat a ’64 convertible! https://ec.yimg.com/ec?url=https%3A%2F%2Ffarm8.staticflickr.com%2F7199%2F6784679422_4252fdc1a1_z.jpg&t=1426804947&sig=UBdT9R0tc.FDQ3cQtXEnCQ--~B Click on the link to see the bird as she was discovered As a side note, I was watching Chip Foose on his auto show restore a 64 once as a surprise to a couple. She was a hard top, and Foose cut the top off making it a permanent convertible. I never watched that show again. --

Saw this on the back of the Monty Python video, and laughed through the whole thing. Remembering just how funny and how brilliant he was.