That is a very ugly dog. One of the problems with engineering like this is the square-cube law. If you take a lamb and make it the size of an elephant, it would break its legs with every step it takes. If you take an object, be it a house or a human, and increase the size by squaring it (x * x), you will have increased its mass by the cube of the mass (x * x * x). That's why you need more foundational support the larger building, and why people who have gigantism (i.e., taller than 7 ft) usually have to wear special braces to keep their legs, ankles, and feet from breaking. It doesn't look like the legs have increased in size to support the extra mass. The dog may be stronger and faster, but I'll wager it will have more broken bones than its unmodified counterparts. Also, with such an increase in muscle mass, there needs to be a corresponding increase in vascular strength, i.e. the heart and circulatory systems must be stronger in order to handle the increase load of supplying blood to the extra muscles. Also, since it's bigger, it probably isn't as agile as other dogs, i.e., it won't be able to change direction as quickly. A man can beat a quarter horse in a half-mile dash, provided that the half-mile involves going one-quarter mile, turning around, and racing back. The man can change directions faster than the horse. And of course, it's going to eat a lot more to supply energy to those extra muscles. If the Chinese make large packs of these dogs for hunting or other battlefield operations, that may be difficult unless they start going the Soylent Green route.
To close to home for me! Catholics lead resistance to Satanic monument by Catholic News Service posted Sunday, 16 Jul 2017 The monument of a soldier kneeling before a cross at Veterans Memorial Park in Belle Plaine (CNS) A black cube with Satanic symbols could be placed in a veterans memorial park A black cube with Satanic symbols and an offering bowl has been proposed for Belle Plaine’s Veterans Memorial Park. And the town’s Catholics don’t want it there. Fr Brian Lynch, pastor of Our Lady of the Prairie parish, gathered for prayer in the park in June with more than 50 Catholics. Two days later, about 40 Catholics joined Fr Lynch as he testified against the proposed monument before the Belle Plaine City Council. Meanwhile, more than 30 Catholics, including members of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis’ Catholic Watchmen initiative, attended Mass and prayed in Eucharistic Adoration at the parish. “Sometimes these things which are evil can really, maybe, wake some people up. We really have to take our faith seriously and live it,” Fr Lynch told The Catholic Spirit, newspaper of the Archdiocese of St Paul and Minneapolis. Commissioned by the Massachusetts-based Satanic Temple, the proposed monument consists of a 23-inch-by-23-inch steel cube engraved with inverted pentagrams on each side. On top of the box sits an upside down soldier’s helmet, which memorializes fallen soldiers and serves as an offering bowl. The Satanic Temple describes the bowl as a place for visitors to leave cards or flowers, but also calls it a “Baphometic” bowl, relating it to an occult idol that has roots in medieval paganism. “It feels like it’s being imposed on us from the outside,” Fr Lynch told The Catholic Spirit. Located 45 miles southwest of Minneapolis, Belle Plaine – population 6,400 – attracted the Satanic Temple’s interest after accommodating the placement of another monument that included a cross in a public park. Joseph Gregory, an 87-year-old Army veteran and Belle Plaine resident, made an iron silhouette of a soldier holding a gun and kneeling by a cross grave marker that the Belle Plaine Vet’s Club placed in the city’s Veterans Memorial Park last August. Gregory died in October. A Freedom From Religion Foundation member in Belle Plaine considered the statue too religious for public land, so she reported the issue to police, according to Alpha News, a Minnesota media outlet. The foundation persuaded the City Council to have the cross removed and the vet’s club did so. Veterans and citizens crowded a city council meeting in February to ask for the cross to return. Council members voted 3-2 to form a limited public forum area in the park, which allowed the cross to be displayed again. The designated space permits anyone of any religion to apply to place a memorial. The Satanic Temple learned about the opportunity to place a monument in Belle Plaine through the foundation, which also hopes to place a memorial in the park. Annie Laurie Gaylor, foundation co-founder, said her organisation’s memorial aims to honour “atheists in foxholes and other free-thinkers who have served their country with valor and distinction”. She said a quarter of the US military is not religious and the same percentage of the organisation’s 29,000 members are veterans. The Satanic Temple has similar aims. Its co-founder, Lucien Greaves, said that despite the name, his organisation does not believe in the supernatural, including Satan or God. Instead, it celebrates the “metaphorical construct” of Satan used, for example, in literature as “the ultimate rebel against tyranny”, not as a symbol of evil. Greaves said the Satanic Temple espouses an authentic “belief position” and not “some disingenuous ploy”. “We really do embrace the opportunity to put up a memorial tribute to veterans in their honour,” Greaves said. The Belle Plaine monument would be its first veterans’ memorial. In his city council testimony, Fr Lynch explained the distinction between the Satanic Temple and occult Satanism. He referred to the temple’s belief system as “atheistic Satanism” and the occult as “theistic Satanism”. Theistic Satanists worship “the powerful and evil enemy of God called Satan in the Christian Bible,” he said. Meanwhile, atheistic Satanists “use Satan as a symbol of the rejection of moral authorities and the constraints on human behavior these authorities teach and support.” However, Fr Lynch said, atheistic Satanists use the “same inverted pentagrams as a symbol, a symbol that is almost exclusively associated with opposition to God and goodness.” He argued that erecting a monument with Satanic symbols would have a negative effect on the public and that it violates multiple sections of Belle Plaine’s city code, which prohibits any nuisance or offense “against decency or public morals”. Jason Adkins, Minnesota Catholic Conference executive director, said the question of the memorial’s placement is both a freedom of speech issue and one of religious freedom, both of which have legitimate limits. “With rights come responsibilities,” he said. “You can’t yell ‘fire’ in a crowded theatre” if there isn’t one. As for religious freedom, the government can have a “compelling” reason to set limits when a practice violates the common good, Adkins said, giving the example of two Michigan doctors in court for performing female genital mutilation on two Minnesota Muslim girls for religious reasons. For Catholics, Satan isn’t simply a symbol of evil. The Catechism of the Catholic Church states that Satan is a spiritual creature who was created as an angel, but who rejected God and “fell” from heaven. Fr Mark Dosh, a retired priest in St Anthony, who has studied exorcism through the Institute for Priestly Formation in Omaha, Nebraska, said the community must respond to a Satanic memorial as they would any offensive material. “It’s the way it has to be treated, because people give different interpretations of what the symbol means,” he said. “Just like a [offensive] billboard, where some people are saying that’s pornography and some people saying it isn’t. Usually a local community has to make or will make a decision as to what they think is offensive and bothersome.” Satanic symbols such as the pentagram do pose a danger, he said, and the level of risk “depends on the person using them, and what they’re intending to do.”
Massive 7.7 Magnitude Earthquake Strikes Between Russia and Alaska https://weather.com/news/news/magnitude-77-earthquake-tsunami-russia-alaska-aleutian-islands
I just saw those articles on Yahoo. That's a big earthquake. It is in a remote area and it was shallow. Luckily no one was hurt but makes me wonder what next? Obamacare is dying on it's own. It's too bad this nation is so divided that it can't even tie it's shoes without an argument. The left and RINOS are just furious that Trump is still in. I have not read the new healthcare (aka Trumpcare) so not sure if it is good. But I am pretty sure it is better than the current, even not reading it.
It does nothing to help the horrible Obama Care. It just throws money differently and in the end the citizen is still stuck with government health care in lieu of us being able to choose plans like we did before the Unafordable Care Act.
I have often asked, what was wrong with the system before Stupidcare? We were paying 565.00 per month for coverage for a family of 5 and now we are paying $1787 per month and have less coverage and higher copays. Obamacare didn't help this family. The whole thing is a disaster.
Just newly added: Undersea earthquake measuring 6.4 magnitude strikes off Peru - USGS http://news.trust.org/item/20170718021515-pc0n2/
Tanker, You hit the nail on the head. There is so much division everywhere, maybe like never before. Our nation, other nations, the Vatican/Church, other Churches, people in general, etc. At the moment, the evil one has the upper hand. earthtoangels, Terrible earthquakes. Dutch, the man reports on seismic activity, also reported another swarm at Yellowstone on 7/16. https://www.youtube.com/user/dutchsinse/videos
'Mountain of God' Volcano Preparing to Erupt http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/07/tanzania-volcano-eruption-ancient-humans-science/
Sadly, the father of my two oldest daughters has just bought a home in that town, which is only an hour from me. They will be living there every other weekend.
Tis as yet a mystery!! 'Peculiar' radio signals emerge from nearby star Some very "peculiar signals" have been noticed coming from a star just 11 light-years away, scientists in Puerto Rico say. The mystery has gripped the internet as speculation mounts about the potential for a discovery of alien life on the red dwarf star known as Ross 128 -- despite the best attempts of astronomers to put such rumors to rest. https://www.afp.com/en/news/2265/peculiar-radio-signals-emerge-nearby-star
From whence do these "people" derive their power to declare this or that for other human beings?? And then the made up arbitrary rules that try to demonstrate some kind of rationale are even more degrading to thinking persons. DC allows doctors to prescribe life-ending medications WASHINGTON — Doctors and pharmacies in the nation’s capital are now allowed [by whom?] to prescribe life-ending medications to terminally ill patients. The Death with Dignity Act of 2016 became law with the signature of Mayor Muriel Bowser in December of 2016. Now the Bowser administration has announced the implementation of the law in the District. The city said the law allows terminally ill D.C. residents over the age of 18 to legally obtain a physician’s prescription for medications to end their lives in a humane and peaceful manner [Are "they" certain of that?]. For a person to elect to end his life legally in the District, the individual must work with doctors and pharmacies licensed in D.C. that are willing to prescribe and dispense the lethal medications. For doctors and pharmacies, participating in the Death with Dignity program is voluntary. The city requires patients to make two oral requests to end their life to a doctor, with 15 days between each request. A written request on a city form must be given before the second oral request. The guidelines also do not allow a person to take the life ending medications in a public place. The District’s Department of Health will oversee the program. Doctors and pharmacies must report to the department if a patient chooses to receive their fatal prescription. http://wtop.com/dc/2017/07/dc-implements-death-with-dignity-act/
To make doubly certain it is a mortal sin, make two oral requests within 15 days. It took awhile to get from the Netherlands to DC. I pity all in the pharmacies. Suppose you work for a pharmacist who participates? I pity the workers even for the contraceptives they dispense. Talk about a web of evil.
The people believe that they receive a miracle from God when fish rain on their village from the heavens... https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/16/world/americas/honduras-rain-fish-yoro.html Sounds like a miracle to me.
The problem that they were trying to fix were the large number of people who had NO insurance or other subsidised health care. Where it was available, these people usually relied on hospital emergency rooms for care because they couldn't afford to get conditions looked at earlier before they became urgent. Hospitals are required to treat everyone, regardless of ability to pay. Back when most hospitals were run by religious organizations (they had names like "St. Mary's" for a reason) this was simply part of their mission. Then hospitals transitioned into for-profit organizations (to provide better care, of course) and suddenly providing free urgent care became a gaping, sucking cost center. The problem with Obamacare is that it is an invasive species: it is an attempt to transplant the European single-payer model into the American health care environment. It was able to grow because our fragmented and profit-based health care model weakened our environment to the extent that it was able to take root. After 8 years, repeal and replace isn't going to work. We have to think of Obamacare as an invasive species and treat it accordingly.
With all of these catastrophic signs, this was a joy to find and it reminded me of how our story ends. Did You Know Disney Animated A Beautiful Prayer To Our Lady? Nearly 77 years ago, the first screening of the Walt Disney feature film Fantasia took place in the Broadway Theatre of New York. Since its first opening night on Broadway, it has gone down in history as a masterpiece and the pinnacle of animated film. The film is over two hours in length that was incredibly ambitious for its time and includes eight animated segments set to different pieces of classical music. The final segment, featuring Schubert’s “Ave Maria,” is a beautiful prayer to Our Lady, that came close to never being shown in theaters. The “Ave Maria” segment is the most beautiful of the film, and one the most ambitious shots in animation history. It was the longest single animated take of its time, and involved moving a camera through a soundstage with a maze of illustrated panels. Walt Disney and his team were so rushed for time that the final footage for the scene arrived to the Broadway Theatre only four hours before the films first showing. In the penultimate segment, entitled “Night on Bald Mountain,” Chernabog, Satan himself as described by Walt Disney, emerges during the night on the peak of Bald Mountain. (Mount Triglav in Slovenia) The evil figure arises to summon his minions: ghosts, demons, hags, and harpies. Chernabog and his underlings dance maniacally as he throws them into the mountains fiery pit. His antics are defeated when the town below Bald Mountain rings its bells, signalling daybreak, and Chernabog becomes the top of the mountain once again. After the audience descended into darkness, a procession of figures ascends them into light as they greet the coming sunrise. In the segment, a long line of figures gradually comes into view in the front of village. The silhouettes each carry a source of golden light, and are eventually revealed to be nuns. They walk slowly throughout a sloping forest as the sky is gradually filled with light of day. The camera passes the procession, panning to the horizon and ending with the sun rising. While Walt Disney was originally conflicted whether to include Our Lady in the animation, he eventually decided on including only the nuns who emerge into “a blaze of morning light. Once again the powers of life and hope have triumphed over the hosts of death and despair.” Watch the beautiful Disney animated prayer of “Ave Maria”:
djm, Right at the 1:52 mark it appears that they deliberately wanted a portion of the forest to look like long beautiful windows of a cathedraj or maybe that is the vision that I see. Beautiful, thank you for posting this.
