Iranians after U.S. Drone Scared Off

Normally I frown on acts of bravado, but times like this it serves a good purpose. The purpose, demoralizing the enemy is always worth while, not to mention fun.

U.S. pilot scares off Iranians with ‘Top Gun’-worthy stunt

The U.S. Air Force has a message for Iran: Don’t mess with our drones.

In what only can be described as a scene out of Tom Cruise’s “Top Gun,” Gen. Mark A. Welsh III, Air Force chief of staff, describes how F-22 stealth jets scared off Iranian jets from a U.S. drone flying in international airspace.

The Aviationist reports that in March a U.S. MQ-1 drone came close to being intercepted by an Iranian F-4 Phantom combat plane, but the Iranian aircraft stopped short after a warning by an American pilot.

“He [the Raptor pilot] flew under their aircraft [the F-4s] to check out their weapons load without them knowing that he was there, and then pulled up on their left wing and then called them and said ‘you really ought to go home,’” Gen. Welsh said.

According to The Aviationist, the Iranians came within 16 miles of the drone.

The Washington Times

Toilet Paper Factory Takeover

Venezuela orders temporary takeover of toilet paper factory

Let's see if we can't get to the bottom of this.

Sorry, just couldn't resist.

Of course socialist Venezuelan President Maduro automatic reaction is to blame factory owners.  I often wonder about socialists so locked on to their ideology actually can't comprehend how their policies failed.  Looks like there is something about the concept of supply and demand which escapes them.

 A Venezuelan state agency on Friday ordered the temporary takeover of a factory that produces toilet paper in what it called an effort to ensure consistent supplies after embarrassing shortages earlier this year.

Critics of President Nicolas Maduro say the nagging shortages of products ranging from bathroom tissue to milk are a sign his socialist government's rigid price and currency controls are failing. They have also used the situation to poke fun at his administration on social media networks.

FULL STORY - Reuters

Cargo Ship - International Space Station

I already wrote about how Russia decided to charge an arm and a leg for us to send supplies to the International Space Station. 

In the form of capitalist pigs, the cavalry has arrived. One thing I find interesting in the story is it is a multinational effort.

Orbital's Cygnus space freighter embarks on maiden voyage

The new Cygnus commercial cargo ship has launched on a demonstration voyage to the International Space Station.

Built by Orbital Sciences Corporation (OSC), the robotic vessel lifted off atop an Antares

rocket from the Wallops spaceport in Virginia, US.

Cygnus is one of two private systems seeded by Nasa to meet America's ISS re-supply requirements following the retirement of the space shuttles.

A successful mission will see OSC begin a series of operational cargo flights.

Nasa has awarded the company a $1.9bn (£1.2bn) contract covering eight sorties to the station.

Lift-off occurred at 10:58 local time (14:58 GMT).

The two-stage Antares appeared to work flawlessly. Its aim was to put the freighter in an orbit more than 240km above the Earth.

Cygnus will have to use its own thrusters over the course of the next four days to raise its altitude and chase down the space station.

FULL STORY - BBC NEWS

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