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Explanation: Comet Leonard is now visible to the unaided eye -- but just barely. Passing nearest to the Earth today, the comet is best seen this week soon after sunset, toward the west, low on the horizon. Currently best visible in the north, by late December the comet will best be seen from south of Earth's equator. The featured image of Comet C/2021 A1 (Leonard) was taken a week ago from California, USA. The deep exposure shows in great detail the comet's green gas coma and developing dust tail. The comet -- across our inner Solar System and only light-minutes...

The M3 "grease gun" was one of the simplest, ugliest, and cheapest personal weapons ever fielded by the U.S. military. But, as one U.S. Marine combat veteran recalled, what this crude submachine gun lacked in looks, it more than made up for that with brutal effectiveness. The original M3 submachine gun was commissioned shortly before the U.S. entered World War II as a replacement for the Thompson M1928 submachine gun. The Thompson, although a popular and effective weapon, was not well suited to the demands of wartime high-volume manufacturing. Thompson production called for skilled machinists to perform many complicated machine...

The M3 "grease gun" was one of the simplest, ugliest, and cheapest personal weapons ever fielded by the U.S. military. But, as one U.S. Marine combat veteran recalled, what this crude submachine gun lacked in looks, it more than made up for that with brutal effectiveness. THE GREASE GUN is a compact weapon with an overall length of 29.8 inches with the stock extended and 22.8 inches with the stock collapsed. The barrel is 8 inches long. The 8.15-pound empty weight of the gun is brought up to 10.25 pounds once a loaded magazine of 30 .45 ACP rounds is...

The M3 Stuart light tank and M4 Sherman main battle tank, both nearly 75 years old, appear to be going back into service with the Paraguayan Army as operational trainers. Although the Paraguayan Army made a brief use of Italian Ansaldo CV33s, the M3 and M3A1s were its first real tanks. A total of 15 M3s were delivered in 1970 in three successive lots as donations from neighbouring Brazil. Paraguay's Stuart tanks first served with Cavalry Regiment N°3 (Regimiento de Caballería N°3: RC3), part of 1st Cavalry Division (División de Caballeria 1: DC1), headquartered at Campo Grande near Paraguay's capital,...

I'd like to hear from FR ipad owners and ask a couple of questions. I don't own an Iphone or an Ipod, but I do use macs

Sharp US money supply contraction points to Wall Street crunch ahead By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard Last Updated: 6:02am BST 19/08/2008 The US money supply has experienced the sharpest contraction in modern history, heightening the risk of a Wall Street crunch and a severe economic slowdown in coming months. Data compiled by Lombard Street Research shows that the M3 ''broad money" aggregates fell by almost $50bn (£26.8bn) in July, the biggest one-month fall since modern records began in 1959. "Monthly data for July show that the broad money growth has almost collapsed," said Gabriel Stein, the group's leading monetary economist. advertisementOn a...

NEW RECORD MONEY GROWTH THREATENS MONETARY INFLATIONby John Williams, Executive EditorSHADOW GOVERNMENT STATISTICSwww.shadowstats.comJanuary 14, 2008 Broad money supply growth is a strong indicator of pending inflation. The current 15%-plus level of annual growth in an ongoing estimate of M3 -- the broadest measure of the U.S. money supply -- has not been seen since August 1971, when President Richard Nixon closed the gold window. Such foreshadows increasing monetary inflation pressure in the U.S. economy, on top of existing pressures from oil and food prices and a weakening U.S. dollar. In contrast, recent slow growth in the monetary base is not uncommon...

Just as U.S. senators are saying publicly that the government has lied to them over Iraq, yesterday’s Barron’s contains an interesting article saying that, “The U.S. government has an inherent bias in its reporting: Inflation is understated and growth is overstated.” Our readers know that our sister publication, Financial Intelligence Report, has long reported that the government inflation figures are misstated to the down side. Mr. Barry Ritholtz, of Ritholtz Research & Analytics, writes in Barron’s that when the Fed first cut rates to half-century lows, “first we reflated, then we inflated.” We agree. Ritholtz goes on to point out...

Gold closed higher on Thursday despite a CPI report and other data that convinced many inflation is not a problem and the Federal Reserve will stop raising interest rates sooner than later. But gold, which serves as a hedge against inflation, still found cause to rally. First, the dollar took a hit after the CPI. The Fed's 20-month-long campaign to raise rates has provided key support to the greenback. Gold, which is priced in dollars, normally rises when the dollar drops, as it takes less money to buy the same amount of the precious metal. Second, crude oil prices, which...

M-3 has been launched into outer space, up another $56.3 billion last week, up $92.4 billion over the past two. This is some real horsepower. Over six weeks, the meaningless figure, ahem, is up $177.8 billion. These annualized growth rates are 28.7 percent, 23.6 percent, and 15.3 percent respectively. Those are the seasonally adjusted figures. The raw, non-seasonally adjusted, figure is up $293.3 billion over the past 12 weeks, on a pace to add 1.2 trillion in money to the economy. Wow. There must be a need for this. Maybe the master Planners see a coming need to monetize our...

Buried in Nystrom's latest article is this curious paragraph: The Credible Threat Last night I reread the text of Bernanke's Fed speech on deflation (Deflation: Making Sure "It" Doesn't Happen Here). I remember the first time I heard his printing press remarks -- I was blown away. I didn't know who this guy was, other than that he was a new guy and that I thought the line about the printing press was an extremely irresponsible thing to be saying. I was sure that he would be fired, or at least repremanded for his remarks, but look where he is...

Am I the only one who thinks that it is a little weird that the M3 "money stock", increased in the single month of June by almost as much as the entirety of the gold held by the United States? http://www.babylontoday.com/index.htm#faux_money Is this monetizing of our national debt? http://www.babylontoday.com/projected_national_debt.htm#debt_vs_m3 Is it a wonder that all this phony money could pump up a housing bubble? http://www.babylontoday.com/general_assets.htm#housing_bubble Incredibly, housing prices have only kept up about 2/3 the pace of M3. http://www.babylontoday.com/general_assets.htm#m3_vs_house_prices

Lord, Keep our Troops forever in Your care Give them victory over the enemy... Grant them a safe and swift return... Bless those who mourn the lost. . FReepers from the Foxhole join in prayer for all those serving their country at this time. ...................................................................................... ........................................... U.S. Military History, Current Events and Veterans Issues Where Duty, Honor and Countryare acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated. Our Mission: The FReeper Foxhole is dedicated to Veterans of our Nation's military forces and to others who are affected in their relationships with Veterans. In the FReeper Foxhole, Veterans or their family members should feel...

Lord, Keep our Troops forever in Your care Give them victory over the enemy... Grant them a safe and swift return... Bless those who mourn the lost. . FReepers from the Foxhole join in prayer for all those serving their country at this time. ...................................................................................... ........................................... U.S. Military History, Current Events and Veterans Issues Where Duty, Honor and Countryare acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated. Our Mission: The FReeper Foxhole is dedicated to Veterans of our Nation's military forces and to others who are affected in their relationships with Veterans. In the FReeper Foxhole, Veterans or their family members should feel...