Off Topic: Wheels, Gears, Turbines, Whatever...

Here is a thread for the off-topic content that may or may not have direct relation to business or general jet/turboprop/rotor aviation.

2012 certainly was a year of many highlights andalso many freakish events. How about this brand new 2012 BMW M5 totalled on the Autobahn in Germany and both the driver and passenger walked away from the incident. If you don't happen to know what the Autobahn is, it is perhaps one of he longest unrestricted roads in Germany. So you find alot of people with supercars doing mad speeds on that road. This M5 crashed at an alleged 186mph.

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lol! True Norseman.

How would you like to have been woken up to find this knocking at your door?

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/01/22/16641781-12-foot-boulder-crashes-into-utah-womans-bedroom?lite

Mining Asteroids for precious materials?

Sounds like something from the jetsons but a company is seriously endeavouring in this venture. 'Deep Space Industries' will expect to exploit the valuable materials from Asteroids that pass relatively close to earth and then bring back the deposits to earth. Apparently they plan to use two types of satellite vehicles, an exploration and examination vessel and a miner. They plan to start in 2015 and by 2016 start mining. Imagine these vehicles plan to take years to return to earthen orbit only bringing back 100 lbs worth of material at a time.

Carl, even if they did succeed at that, imagine how astronomical (no pun...maybe) the cost of those materials would be when they get back to earth!

Check this out! this is crazy!

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/01/24/16682178-police-drunk-driver-causes-15-crashes-kills-woman-smashes-into-restaurant?lite

Not sure if you saw this, that's probably because they flew by so quickly! 200mph RC turbine jet? wow.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PzD2Dpf3pfk

Check this out too while you are at it...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&v=_fdyUk5bfF8&NR=1

Woman arrested for Cocaine possession

Coming on to the end of 2012, a woman got arrested for possession of Cocaine at an airport in Barcelona, Spain. The lady, apparently a Panamanian was arrested by Spanish authorities after they discovered that she had Cocaine in her breast implants. Barcelona’s El Prat airport border police thought she was "acting funny" so they decided to search her. Officials noticed recent scars and blood-stained fabric, along with pale patches beneath her skin on the woman’s chest during the search. The confiscated 'matter' has been estimated to be worth £240,000.

Alot of people do not know that Bombardier manufacture trains as well and not just aircraft. Here is a look at one of their more recent projects for the Gold Coast area in Australia.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anNSxDGyQsQ

This is something I just found out...

...that it was illegal for women to wear pants in France? However, this 'law' has just been changed making it legal? So even though you constantly saw women in pants...you want to tell me they were breaking the law? Who here can give me some further insight on this?

A throwback pic from Airbus showing the A300-600 Beluga about to swallow an the first A350 XWB upper wing cover...

This from NBC News...

Police said a man in Stamford, Conn., bit off his cousin’s ear lobe and swallowed it during a fight over loud music earlier this week.

A meteorite fell out the sky in Russia earlier today...exploding into a firery ball causing lots of damage and injuring 400-900 persons.

http://cosmiclog.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/02/15/16969092-hundreds-injured-as-meteor-fireball-screams-across-the-sky-in-russia?lite

Recent Research suggests that Coach travel is actually worse than airplane travel. Previously scientists and environmentalist suggested that aviation travel contributed significantly to general Global Warming. Now, they are saying that Coaches and buses seem to do a worse job in terms of contributing.

While aviation emissions are offset by a trading scheme across the EU (EU-ETS), coach travel is not and so, aircraft passengers will naturally have a lower carbon footprint.

Homeowner shoots and kills intruder climbing through his window

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/02/19/17017235-homeowner-shoots-kills-intruder-climbing-through-window?lite

Diet pills in a grenade shaped container cause concern and issue at airports

Diet pills in a grenade-shaped container has been causing concern and issue at airports recently. Already at a few UK airports, the pills have already been confiscated, adhering to EU regulations that ban travellers from transporting anything that could be mistaken for a weapon. The grenade pill and container manufacturers are refusing to change the design to meet airport rules.

MADRID- A man has been convicted of beheading a British woman with a knife inside a supermarket on a Spanish resort island and will be sentenced to spend time in a psychiatric institution. A court in Santa Cruz on the Canary Island of Tenerife found that Deyan Valentinov, a 20-year-old homeless Bulgarian man, had committed murder but was not criminally responsible for his actions because he has acute paranoid schizophrenia. (AP)