‘Al Qaeda vows back-breaking strike’

The Indian EXPRESS ^ | DECEMBER 26

[DefCon]

imaamibnalqayyim - What was he banned for?
- - -
Starting with trying to get folks to quit being
so hard on the members of the religion of peace;
and ending with the statement that some of
those who were killed in the attacks on 9/11
were not "innocent" victims (in his eyes).

[Pharmboy]

Nicely put.

[Happy2BMe]

"Does this mean, gulp, that we could be facing the er, um, loss of 'The World's oldest teenager'?"

Heheh... initials start with B.C.?

[ccmay]

It's a modified polar route that is not a great circle route.

Are you certain? For the past decade I have noticed that transatlantic flights typically have a moving-map display of real-time position and ETA that shows when there is no movie playing. I always pay attention to those maps when I fly from the Western US to Europe. If they are not great circle routes, they are pretty damn close.

Polar routes are often great circle routes; the two are not mutually exclusive. A great-circle route means that the shortest distance between any two spots on the Earth's surface lies along the line defined by an imaginary plane through those points that also intersects the terrestrial sphere in such a way as to divide it into two equal halves.

The Equator, the ecliptic, and each meridian line of longitude are examples of great circles, but there is an infinite number of great circles of varying angles of incidence and points of intersection. Any line that divides the globe into two equal halves is a great circle.

You can find great circle routes by yourself with a globe and a shoestring. Stretch the string over the surface of the globe between your origin and destination. If you do this between, say, San Francisco and London or between Paris and LA, you will be surprised at how far north the great circle will take you. That's why you can see Baffin Island and Greenland and Iceland out the plane window. It will also show you why aircraft landed at Goose Bay and Gander in the days when they did not have intercontinental range.

Perhaps you are mistaking a great-circle route for a rhumb-line route, which has been little used since the days of sextants and astrolabes, or a "small circle" defined by lines of latitude other than the Equator.

-ccm

[NYDave]

I won't argue with your logic. I just hope you're wrong or, if not, let's hope anything that may happen is twarted.

[cardinal4]

Sorry, Im from Missouri. I want proof and until I have it, hes dead. The Jihadists, IMHO, are living vicariously through "Weekend at Bernies...."

[FreedomCalls]

Like I said, it's a modified route. The aircraft have to always be within a certain distance of a contingency airfield in case of emergency. The routes do not go too far north. The can go north of Iceland and Greenland as long as they don't go so far that they can't reach the airports there if needed. There are no commercial routes that cross over the North Pole. The Moscow-LA route stays farther south than it would if it followed a great circle route.

[wtc911]

A moderate muslim is one who doesn't pull the trigger....himself.

[wtc911]

A confession must be sincere or there is no absolution regardless of what prayers are said.

[Publius6961]

I always wonder why, when someone is banned, all of his/her posts are removed now. This deprives us all of a priceless learning experience: how trolls and propagandists actually do their stuff. There are useful lessons there and subtle hints.
An ignorant sandmaggot sympathizer tries for a while to avoid being cornered into his playpen of ignorance and when frustrated simply disappears.
A propagandist pro attempts to sound reasonable and accomodating for as long as possible, and when finally cornered will lash out with his true nature: primitive, hateful, and determined to do physical harm, if he can, before getting the Viking Kitten heave-ho.

The more we are exposed to those subtle differences, the better we can deal with the half-dozen or so hard-core Islamo-murdering-propagandists with their endless new names, who keep returning to amuse us.

The Mods and Jim might reconsider whether all their posts, up to the point that they trigger a ban, should not be left in the thread for those of us who miss the beginning of the process.

[Publius6961]

Could be a poor graphic for the Pentagon.
Didn't think of that. You are correct sir.

Remember, these brainiacs invented algebra, or so they claim.

A six-sided pentagon?
Shoot, even Ptolemy, four centuries before mohammed the pervert was born (sbuh), knew what a pentagon looks like. As do even the dullest fourth graders in any civilized country.

[EGPWS]

“They (Americans) should prepare...their coffins, hospitals and graves.

You guys really are deranged aren't you!

Get your coffins and graves on your own. As for hospitals? Don't waste your time, you won't need them.

I know my English skills aren't the greatest fellow FReepers, however, I couldn't resist.

[Publius6961]

You are right. During many of my flights from France to San Francisco, I made careful notes when the cloud cover allowed, and easily was able to determine exact positions during flights beginning somewhat east of Newfoundland.

Comparing those position to a great circle route on a globe made it clear that they were as close to a great circle route as conditions and instruments allow. I was specially amused at the occasional corrections by the autopilot (I assume) to maintain the predefined series of rhumb lines.

[ccmay]

There are no commercial routes that cross over the North Pole.

Au contraire. Finnair has been flying the polar route to Tokyo since 1983. Since 2001 there are four new FAA-approved polar routes over Russia that now see considerable use on flights between the Eastern US and East, Central and South Asia. The route called Polar 2 goes directly over the North Pole.

Read POLAR ROUTES OFFER NEW OPPORTUNITIES from Boeing for more information.

-ccm

[FreedomCalls]

I wasn't aware that those had been formally approved. I thought they were still "experimental" routes. But, if you say they are officially sanctioned, then count me as corrected.

If they are officially approved, do you know if they are actually in use by a scheduled commercial passenger flight?

[FreedomCalls]

Never mind. There is a lot of info at the link you gave. Thanks.

[PokeyJoe]

Well, he did say a poor graphic of the Pentagon.

The Pentagon was the target in their last attack, and Al Queda has a track record with regard to "2nd attempts" (WTC first attacked in 1993). They also thump their chest about removing capability of communicating with deployed forces in Iraq.

A stadium makes more sense given their stated desire is to kill 100,000 Americans.

Of course, if they could do both - they would.