Category Archives: Uncategorized

An engineering feat: The 1915 Çanakkale Bridge

On March 18 the 1915 Canakkale Bridge opened in Turkey. The bridge is the world’s longest suspension bridge (6,637 feet) and was constructed in five years.

According to the Daily Mail, the bridge connects the European and Asian shores of the Dardanelles Strait – a key waterway – from Gelibolu on the European side of Turkey’s northwestern province of Canakkale, with the town of Lapseki on the Asian side.

The bridge allows travellers to cross the Dardanelles – which connects the Aegean Sea with the Sea of Marmara – in just six minutes compared to the previous 90 minutes by ferry, a journey that including waiting times could extend to five hours.

Read more about the bridge at the Daily Mail here or watch the video below.

DCG

Russian Definition of Free Speech

Russian model Gretta Vedle, 23, murdered for insulting Russian President Vladamir Putin.

Russian  model Gretta Vedler, 23, murdered for insulting  dictator Vladimir Putin.

From the New York Post

Gretta Vedler , a Russian model who called Vladimir Putin a “psychopath,” was found dead in a suitcase a year later after disappearing. Vedler’s disappearance came a month after posted an anti-Putin rant on social media.

“Vedler’s ex-boyfriend Dmitry Korovin, 23, has confessed to strangling her to death before driving her 300 miles to the Lipetsk region and abandoning the body in the trunk of a car,” the Daily Star reported. Korovin said he slept in a hotel room with her body for three nights before placing it in a newly bought suitcase.

Gretta ‘s social  media posts showed that  she was concerned over his crackdown on protests and what she saw as a desire to forge a bigger Russia.

“I can only assume, in my opinion, clear psychopathy or sociopathy is seen in him. For psychopaths, it is important to constantly experience a sense of fullness and sharpness of life, so they love risk, intense experiences, intense communication, intense activity – an intense and dynamic life,” she wrote, according to the Daily Mirror.

‘Given the fact that Putin went through a lot of humiliation in childhood, he could not stand up for himself due to his [slight] physical form, it is not surprising that he left after law school and joined the KGB,’ she wrote.

‘Such people are timid and fearful from childhood, afraid of noise and darkness, strangers, so traits such as caution, restraint, and lack of communication are developed early in their character.

She told her followers: ‘For psychopaths, it is important to constantly experience a sense of fullness and sharpness of life, so they love risk, intense experiences, intense communication, intense activity – an intense and dynamic life. Maybe he really wants to enhance the integrity of Russia and sincerely wishes the good for the Russians. But can he really do anything?’

She made clear she had grave doubts. ‘I think you know the answer to this question yourself,’ she posted.

Korovin told investigators that  he kept posting pictures and messages on the model’s social media in an attempt  to make friends believe she was still alive. He told interrogators that he slept in a hotel room for three nights with her corpse which he put in a newly-bought suitcase.

But a  male friend called Evgeniy Foster – a blogger in Kharkiv, the Ukrainian city blitzed by Russian forces – became suspicious and found a friend in Moscow to file a missing person case. This triggered  a search which eventually located her body. A video from Russia’s Investigative Committee shows Korovin allegedly demonstrating how he killed the model, and making a full confession.

~ Grif

P.S. Anyone who thinks this is just a coincidence, raise your hand.

Right.

Me neither.

The Body-Positive Caption Contest

This is our 255th world-famous Caption Contest!

Here’s the pic:

About the pic: Lizzo is a rapper who is proud of being fat, and is lauded for her “body positivity”. In a recent video, she celebrates having put on more weight, calling her fat acceptance “unconditional self-love”. (New York Post)

You know the drill:

  • Enter the contest by submitting your caption as a comment on this thread (scroll down until you see the “LEAVE A REPLY” box).
  • Body and Soul‘s writers will vote for the winner.
  • Any captions proffered by our writers, no matter how brilliant (ha ha), will not be considered. :(

This contest will be closed at the end of Tuesday, March 22, 2022.

To get the contest going, here’s my caption:

“Body positivity”: a new euphemism for heart attack, cancer and diabetes.

For the winner of our last Caption Contest, go here.

See also “Being overweight ages your brain“.

~E

WWII vet becomes children’s book author at age 99

Good for him!

You can read the whole story about Sam Baker here.

DCG

Stadium Sings ‘Star-Spangled Banner’ After Singer’s Mic Fails

This will bring a smile to your Monday morning! From Breitbart:

“A stadium full of fans broke out in a stirring rendition of the Star-Spangled Banner as the Charlotte Football Club kicked off its home opener on Saturday.

Ahead of the CFC’s game against the LA Galaxy, nearly 75,000 fans joined in singing the national anthem when the featured singer’s mic cut out at Bank of America Stadium.”

Read BB’s whole story here and watch below:

Patriotism alive and well in the USA!

DCG

DWTS’s Maksim Chmerkovskiy was the only man on train fleeing Ukraine

Dancing With The Stars’ pro-dancer Maksim Chmerkovskiy was born in Ukraine yet now has US citizenship. His parents emigrated to the US in 1994 and the 42-year-old lives in the US with his wife and son. His dancing skills have earned him a net worth of $8 million.

The money didn’t save him from feeling embarrassment and guilt in fleeing his home country. From Daily Mail:

“Days after returning safely to the United States from war-torn Ukraine, Maksim Chmerkovskiy is dealing with survivors guilt, he told GMA on Friday.

The 42-year-old DWTS pro revealed that the trauma he experienced after Vladimir Putin laid siege on the sovereign nation is ‘very difficult to process.‘ 

Maks was in Kyiv working on a television show when Russian forces invaded and he fled the country on a packed train of ‘only women and children’ refugees. He admitted to feeling guilt and shame for being able to escape the violence. 

I get into these crying moments. I can’t control it. I cried on the way from the airport,’ he said. 

Read the whole story here.

If I had guilt and shame, I’d be speaking with a close friend instead of advertising it on social media and giving a national TV show interview. But I’m not an entertainer.

DCG

Wheel of Fortune fail…

Sigh…

So many tries, so many fails.

How can one get through life without knowing basic phrases so common in our society?

DCG

Father saves his son from charging bull at Texas rodeo

Landis Hooks, 40, is being praised as a hero for coming to the rescue to protect his son (Cody, 18) as he lay unconscious after being thrown from a bull. The Daily Mail reports:

“A cowboy who was seen on video lying on top of his unconscious son to protect him from a raging bull says his mind went blank before he sprung into action, adding that it’s all just ‘part of the everyday cowboy life where I come from.’

The 40-year-old father formed a human shield over his son and even took a hit from the bull’s head as it charged toward the pair. The crowd roared in shock, but Landis kept his body pressed firmly down while the bull rampaged about.”

Read the whole story here.

Great job, dad!

DCG

An engineering feat: The Øresund Bridge

Have you ever seen/heard of the Øresund Bridge? It’s a five-mile-long bridge (and underwater tunnel!) that connects Sweden and Denmark. It opened in 2000 and combines both motorway and railway travel. 

The underwater highway is 2.52 miles long and is named the Drogden Tunnel.  Two tubes in the tunnel carry railway tracks, two carry roads, and a fifth tube is provided for emergencies.

You can read all the details about this bridge here. Here’s a video that highlights the engineering feats of this bridge.

If anyone has travelled across this bridge, let us know!

DCG

Skilled pilots land Boeing Dreamliner at Heathrow during Storm Eunice

This landing of a Boeing 787 Dreamliner happened last Friday at Heathrow during Storm Eunice. According to the Daily Mail, Storm Eunice was throwing crosswinds of over 80 mph, making a landing very tricky.

Even though many pilots were forced to abort their landings, Captain Ruth Karauri and Copilot Clive Nyachieo of Kenyan Airways, was successful with their landing. ‘The flight conditions were strong gusting winds and it was quite a bumpy ride,’ she said.

Read the whole Daily Mail article here.

These are the kinds of pilots I’d like to have on all my flights!

DCG