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Post by mumbles on Jan 22, 2016 15:58:33 GMT 12
I think one of the biggest mysteries in the world is what happened to the US$2.3 Trillion that was announced as missing from the coffers by Rumsfeld the day before he had all the records blown up that would have led to where the money went. Sorry Dave, but this is a misinterpretation rather than a real thing. 2.3 trillion is actually several times the entire US defence budget, and more than the entire annual US budget in 2001. On that basis alone the idea that a discrete amount that size could be "missing" doesn't work. Rumsfeld was referring to a collected aggregation of transactions that weren't properly documented and couldn't be properly tracked rather than a single amount - it never existed in the first place, and was thus never missing. Much as I dislike defending Rumsfeld, in this case he was right to bring it up to demonstrate how inefficient/inadequate pentagon bureaucracy and book-keeping was. That it was mentioned on September 10th is coincidental, but not the first or only time it was referred to in public. Here is a reference from 2000 (among many others prior to September 2001): hv.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=002hxm |
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Post by shorty on Jan 22, 2016 16:02:10 GMT 12
If you want some fun reading, try googling "Titanic Conspiracy"!
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Post by mumbles on Jan 22, 2016 16:06:47 GMT 12
If you want some fun reading, try googling "Titanic Conspiracy"! Vaguely plausible, until one realises that the Olympic and Titanic can told apart from photographs if you know what to look for. Good story though  |
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Post by Dave Homewood on Jan 22, 2016 17:42:56 GMT 12
It would still be nice to know where all the missing money went Sam, and I was not implying it disappeared all in one hit at all. I actually have a theory as to where some of it went.
I think the "Paul Is Dead" mystery is one that holds a lot of water. Something very fishy about that.
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Post by komata on Jan 22, 2016 18:13:36 GMT 12
An interesting question. Thanks for posing it. FWIW, there are currently several 'Strange Mysteries' which 'entertain' me, and for which I would really appreciate answers. These are as follows: Does the Laughing Owl actually exist? Are there feral Leopards / Cougars / Panthers in New Zealand? Who were the Minipihe (Sp)? Exactly what happened to Avro Tudor 'Star Tiger'? Is there a 'Price' 16-wheel locomotive still lurking 'somewhere' in New Zealand's Central King Country; what was the nature and extent-of German interest in the Antarctic prior-to and during WW II, and what is the exact nature, geologically, of the area under Thames and its foreshore (the so-called 'Beach Fault')? Perhaps not exactly the usual 'mysteries', but ones which I personally find intriguing (and, as yet, unanswered). Again, thanks for asking. |
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Post by mumbles on Jan 22, 2016 18:46:02 GMT 12
It would still be nice to know where all the missing money went Sam, and I was not implying it disappeared all in one hit at all. But that's the point Dave, it's not actually missing. It was spent, and they know generally what they spent it on, they just didn't keep proper track of exactly how because their documentation practice was poor, or their accounting systems weren't up to the job and needed updating. That's the point Rumsfeld was making, they wanted to be more accountable but didn't currently have the ability to do it. I work in an industry where we document pretty much everything we do so it can be referred to if necessary, and it's quite onerous at times, especially if it isn't already part of your work culture (outsiders are frequently surprised at just how much we record). It doesn't surprise me that a problem like that arose in an institution like that. |
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Post by pjw4118 on Jan 22, 2016 20:12:51 GMT 12
Where do I start.... I have been looking for the beginning ...has anybody seen it, or better still, have a photo of it
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Post by camtech on Jan 22, 2016 20:40:37 GMT 12
I would like to see the end of the beginning, because that would be the start of the main event.
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Post by pjw4118 on Jan 22, 2016 20:53:08 GMT 12
You are on to it .
By the way it was the ancient Druids who scoffed the Moas whilst wall building but I don't think that they had anything to do with the missing cash
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Post by camtech on Jan 22, 2016 20:56:07 GMT 12
Don't blame the Druids for everything - the masons were a bit on the sneaky side as well - all those secret handshakes and nose tweaks.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Jan 22, 2016 22:22:38 GMT 12
Regarding the Laughing Owl, I vaguely remember an episode of Wildtrack back in the early 1980's had Peter Hayden on the hunt for that mysterious bird.
Around ten years back my best mate and I were sitting on our back deck one night and heard a growly hoot, and we looked up to see a large brown/grey owl in the tree next to the deck. I got a Dolphin torch and we got a good look at it. We had never seen anything like it in NZ. It was just like a Morepork to look at but was easily three to four times the size. I never thought to get the camera, dammit. Next day I rang the Forest and Bird hotline as we were still curious about it, and the guy said in NZ it can only ever be a Morepork (Ruru) or and Australian Barn Owl. Well we both knew what both those owls were like and this was not one of either, unless a Morepork had giganticism. It didn't laugh but its call was quite different from the familiar Morepork. I never saw it again after that so it wasn't a local.
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Post by mumbles on Jan 22, 2016 23:05:14 GMT 12
Regarding the Laughing Owl, I vaguely remember an episode of Wildtrack back in the early 1980's had Peter Hayden on the hunt for that mysterious bird. Around ten years back my best mate and I were sitting on our back deck one night and heard a growly hoot, and we looked up to see a large brown/grey owl in the tree next to the deck. I got a Dolphin torch and we got a good look at it. We had never seen anything like it in NZ. It was just like a Morepork to look at but was easily three to four times the size. I never thought to get the camera, dammit. Next day I rang the Forest and Bird hotline as we were still curious about it, and the guy said in NZ it can only ever be a Morepork (Ruru) or and Australian Barn Owl. Well we both knew what both those owls were like and this was not one of either, unless a Morepork had giganticism. It didn't laugh but its call was quite different from the familiar Morepork. I never saw it again after that so it wasn't a local. I was surprised at just how little Moreporks are the first time I saw one. Wildtrack was great, I think I still have the book at my parents place somewhere. |
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Post by Dave Homewood on Jan 22, 2016 23:16:51 GMT 12
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Post by Dave Homewood on Jan 26, 2016 21:06:37 GMT 12
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Post by Bruce on Jan 26, 2016 22:30:21 GMT 12
The most likely explanation I have is that somewhere under that cloud layer is a factory or power station with 2 chimneys emitting warm, moist air. I've seen similar odd cloud formations above the huntly power station when the Waikato basin is fogged in. Random shaping and pixellation combined with the human tendency to see faces in random patterns turns it into a "cloud walker"...
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Post by mumbles on Jan 27, 2016 10:45:13 GMT 12
My gosh there is a lot of derp on that site. Agreed with Bruce on all points - much more plausible and likely than some mysterious and implausible "cloud walker" . It reminds me of the people who would complain about the "pink steam" being emitted by the building I was working in. The steam was quite ordinary, it was just reflecting the red colour of the building roof. EDIT: Bruce is absolutely correct: www.metabunk.org/explained-iron-giant-robot-walking-on-clouds-cooling-towers-plumes.t7208/ |
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Post by Dave Homewood on Jan 27, 2016 11:37:40 GMT 12
Yep, I immediately though the same thing about it being either some sort of emission from below the cloud, or perhaps just photoshopped. But it looks cool though. Interesting that it is around 30,000 feet and still so concentrated in one spot though. |
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Post by mumbles on Jan 27, 2016 11:50:36 GMT 12
Yep, I immediately though the same thing about it being either some sort of emission from below the cloud, or perhaps just photoshopped. But it looks cool though. Interesting that it is around 30,000 feet and still so concentrated in one spot though. I think the "walker" being at 30,000ft is a bad assumption of the site author. The aircraft the photographer was aboard would be at 30,000+ feet, but the cloud deck and plume is far below. It's probably only at a few hundred or thousand feet at most in my estimation. |
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Post by Dave Homewood on Jan 27, 2016 11:53:45 GMT 12
Actually you make a very good point there Sam, well done. What's the betting it is the Michelin factory.  |
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Post by shorty on Jan 29, 2016 20:51:13 GMT 12
I am at a loss to figure out why the Forest and Bird hotline guy only considered that an owl could only be a Morepork or an Australian Barn Owl?
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