BALTIMORE, Maryland March 17, 2014 - Monday morning on the Atlantic Seaboard.
Another blast of Arctic Cold and snow has Baltimore wondering if spring will ever come. Technically, of course, spring starts on Thursday at 12:57 pm. But in this part of the globe, spring has always laid its roots down weeks ago. Even if a bit of snow falls this time of year, it is gone before the day ends because the sun is high in the sky and burns off whatever is on the ground. In this long and cold winter, spring is up against a strong winter presence. Last night another five or so inches of snow fell, closing schools and governments, including the federal government in Washington. Temperatures fell into the low twenties and show no signs of recovering soon. Usually, by now, the early spring flowers are blooming. There is no blooming going on this year. No crocus, no daffodil, no galanthus, just cold and gray winter-looking landscapes.
USA Navy Seals have wrested control of a loaded North Korean oil tanker The oil tanker was completely full of oil from Libya. Rebels had taken control of a Libyan oil depot and filled the tanker, which was owned by an Egyptian Company and was using North Korea's flags pursuant to an agreement they said they had with the Pyongyang government. Today, North Korea said it had cancelled any deal it had with the owners because the ship was carrying contraband. The Libyan Rebels were also going to accept payment for the oil. The Libyan government appealed to the United States for help and President Obama, personally, approved the operation. With Americans at the ship's helm, it was being returned to Libya and turned over to the government. The Seals were from the USS Roosevelt in the Mediterranean. They used "fast" boats and helicopters to board the ship. Control was gained without the need to fire a shot. The American ambassador to Libya, Deborah Jones, is said to have penned a tweet this morning that said "Glad we were able to respond positively to Libya's request for help in preventing illegal sale of its oil on stateless ship." Since the West-backed overthrow of the government of Muammar Gaddafi, Libya has teetered on the brink of civil war. Rebels have seized control of many of the oil facilities and Government forces have been unable to force them out. In the case of the ship involved in today's episode, the Government suspected that its own Prime Minister was complicit in the effort to obtain assets for the oil for the rebels. Ali Zeidan was fired and then he fled the country and flew to Germany, seeking assylum and claiming his life was in jeopardy. The Guardian, in London, supplied the information for this report. The full details, well written and full of details, is at http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/17/navy-seals-oil-tanker-morning-glory-libyan-rebels
Suicide theory gains credence among investigators of missing Malaysian Jumbo Jet Carrying 239 people While experts world-wide begin to lean towards a suicide theory to explain why no trace of the plane has been found. The Malaysian Government is not necessarily on that track just yet, the Sydney Morning Herald reported in today's editions. Last week date retrieved from earth-orbiting satellites revealed that the jet likely followed one of two "corridors" after it last made contact with ground radar. One corridor leads northwest towards Kazakhstan while the other is to the southwest toward Perth, Australia. The Malaysian Authorities have declared that the missing plane was the subject of a criminal act, a hijacking. But they continue to believe the plane flew the northwest corridor and landed on one of thousands of air strips authorities are aware of. Many experts do not follow that theory because of the high likelyhood that it would have been discovered by radar in one of the countries it would have flown over. Sources say that even the southwest corridor would have taken the plane over at least two nations, but Malaysian Authorities will not say what countries they are. Over 20 different nations are participating in the air and marine search for the plane. In the Sydney Morning Herald, it is reported that the plane gained an altitude of over 40,000 feet, then descended rapidly to just over 5,000 feet. The reasons for such altitude changes are difficult to figure, and range from an effort of the pilot to knock out or neutralize the passengers, to a theory that the changes resulted from a physical struggle in the cockpit. The Sydney paper said, in fact, that investigators now believe that the jet flew for quite a distance at an altitude of 5,000 feet in an effort to avoid detection. It is a high risk method of piloting a large aircraft and would have taken a toll on passengers, probably causing a high degree of air-sickness. This method of flying is called "terrain masking," and requires a high degree of piloting skill. This fact casts more culpability on the pilot of jet, Zaharie Ahmad Shah. The pilot is 53-years-old and has over 18,000 flight hours. On one hand, he has been described as a piloting enthusiast who built his own flight similator in his home. On the other hand, he is also described as a political radical and an ardent follower of a very radical Malaysian politician who was jailed for homosexuality - illegal in Malaysia - in the hours before the missing flight left Kuala Lumpur bound for Beijing, China. There is also a disturbing report that Mr. Shah's family moved out of his house in the 24-hours before the missing jet departed. The Mirror, in London, said that Mr Shah's wife and all three of his children packed up and left their home on Friday. The missing jet took off minutes after midnight Saturday morning.Malaysian Authorities said Saturday that one reason they are sure that a criminal act occurred when the plane flew off course was the fact that the jet's transponders were switched off prior to the last voice contact with air traffic controllers, but that voice contact made no mention of any on-board problems.
Mick Jagger's Girlfriend of 13 years found dead, suicide feared A source for the Associated Press says that L'Wren Scott, 49, a fashion designer and celebrity stylist, was found dead Monday of an apparent suicide. The Utah-born Scott has been the girlfriend of legendary Rock and Roller Mick Jagger, the lead singer of the Rolling Stones, for 13 years. The source - who would not speak publicly because Scott's family had not yet been informed - said Scott was found hanging from some sort of door knob. She founded a line of very high-end clothing in 2006. Born on April 28, 1964 in Roy, Utah of Mormon parents, she was originally named Luann Bambrough. After graduating from high school in Utah she moved to Paris and went to work as a model. She stood 6; 3" tall and cut a striking figure. In Paris she found work with such legendary photographers as Guy Bourdin, David Bailey and Jean-Paul Goude. In the early 1990's she moved to California and began working as a stylist. Her dresses have been worn at the Academy Awards by the likes of Sarah Jessica Parker, Angelina Jolie, Nicole Kidman, Penélope Cruz and Amy Adams. Other celebrities have been conspicuously photographed wearing clothes she designed, including Madonna, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, Naomi Campbell, Reese Witherspoon, Christina Hendricks, Jennifer Lopez, Sandra Bullock and Uma Thurman. More recently she created a more reasonably-priced line in conjunction with Bananna Republic. The biographical information in this note is from Wikipedia.
World's Biggest Air Forces Revealed, in Order The Web Site "Richest," which specializes in lists of the most decadent, rich, and over-extended, has announced a useful list of the world's ten biggest military air forces. They are, in order: 1. United States: 3,318 military aircraft; 2. Russia: 1,900 military aircraft; 3. China: 1,500 military aircraft; 4. India: 1,080 military aircraft; 5. Egypt: 900 military aircraft; 6. North Korea: 601 military aircraft; 7. Pakistan: 502 military aircraft; 8. Turkey: 465 military aircraft; 9. South Korea: 458 military aircraft; 10. Germany: 423 military aircraft. Most notable by their absence, in the humble opinion of Credible and Incisive: Israel, Britain, and France. In fact, were I a betting man, I would bet that Israel is in the top ten. Incidentally, there was a report last week that Poland had purchased one dozen new fighter jets from a company in Sweden.
Terrapins reveal first Big Ten Football Schedule; Ohio State in College Park on October 4, 2014 The University of Maryland has unveiled the conference portion of its 2014 Football Schedule, and it is enough to make even the most hardened college football fan blink twice. The first home game is October 4, 2014 when Ohio State comes to College Park. The first Big Ten conference game is September 27 when Maryland travels to Bloomington, Indiana to take on the Hoosiers. The entire conference schedule is as follows: September 27: at Indiana; October 4: Ohio State; October 18: Iowa; October 25: at Wisconsin; November 1: at Penn State; November 15: Michigan State; November 22: at Michigan; November 29: Rutgers. The entire schedule, including the non-conference games and the starting times for all games will be announced later.
Maryland settles for one win in three game home series with No. 13 North Carolina After a heart-stopping 3-2 victory over No. 13 North Carolina on Saturday, the University of Maryland's Baseball Team was hammered yesterday in College Park, 9-4. In reality, the game was much much closer than the score indicated. After falling behind, 5-1, Maryland staged a mighty rally, and after eight innings they had pulled to within a single run at 5-4. Zach Morris, a 6', 5" redshirt sophmore from Edgewater, Maryland helped the Terps come back by firing four innings of shut out relief. After Morris, Ben Brewster came on and threw two innings of scoreless relief. Sadly, Maryland starter Kevin Mooney (0-1) found himself behind, 5-0, after 2 innings. Mooney righted the ship and kept the Tar Heels off the scoreboard in the third and fourth innings before Maryland coach John Szefc put in the call to Morris and the bullpen. The Terps began their comeback in the fourth inning when Anthony Papio singled home Lamont Wade, who had also singled. Wade doubled home two more runs in the sixth but the Terps left two men on base as the Tar Heels used three pitchers to get out of the inning. Then in the 8th inning, the Terps scored again, cutting the Tar Heel lead to a single run. Kevin Martir singled home Kyle Convissar to account for the tally, but once again the Tar Heels wiggled out of danger. Following Convissar's hit, Papio laid down a beautiful bunt that went for a single. Blake Schmitt was up next and he also laid down a bunt. He was out at first, but the sacrifice put the tie run at third and another runner at second with only one out. This is where the Tar Heels' outstanding closer Chris McCue really went to work. First, he struck out Andrew Amaro. Then he got out of the inning by enticing Mike Rescigno to fly out to right field. In the ninth inning Carolina blew the game open, scoring four times after not scoring since the second inning. Usually dependable Alex Robinson was charged with all four, but only one was earned. The big hit in the inning was catcher Korey Dunbar's bases loaded double that scored two of the runs. Maryland is scheduled to play Delaware at Harford Community College in Bel Air, Maryland tomorrow and Maryland-Baltimore County (UMBC) Wednesday in College Park. But, as mentioned above, a snowstorm fell across most of Maryland Sunday night and Monday morning, leaving anywhere from 4 inches to one foot of snow. Temperatures are still below freezing in Baltimore at 3:15 pm today and are not supposed to get out of the 30's until Thursday. In addition, rain is forecasted for Wednesday.
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