WcP.Story.Teller's blog

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Danny Thompson, son of American racing legend Mickey Thompson, has set a land speed record at age 66. And it was a long time coming.

1960 -
In 1960, Mickey hit Utah’s Bonneville Salt Flats in a streamlined car called Challenger that was built to set a land-speed record. And it did. Sort of.
He made a single 406.6 mph pass, becoming the first American to break the 400 mph barrier. However, official speed records require two consecutive runs, one in each direction, and mechanical issues prevent him from making the second attempt.

1968 –
Mickey returned in 1968 with a new car dubbed Challenger 2, but the event was cancelled due to bad weather and the car was eventually mothballed as he focused on other racing and business pursuits.

1988 –
But about twenty years later, the bug bit again, and he and Danny hatched a plan to update the car and go for a record again, this time in the Southern California Timing Association’s naturally-aspirated, piston-powered, wheel-driven class. Tragically, before they could, Mickey and his wife were gunned down in what authorities later discovered was a hit put on Thompson by a former business associate, and the dream died with them in 1988.

2014 -
At least it seemed like it did. A few years ago, Danny decided to finish the family business once and for all. So he dug the car out of storage, put in a pair of nitro-burning Hemi V8 engines with a total of 4,000 horsepower and an all-wheel-drive system, and went back to Bonneville Speed Week in 2014.

2015 -  read more »

Roger Federer reached a winners landmark in his opening round win. No one in #Wimbledon history has hit more...

"His story is exactly what our sport needs sometimes" - Roger Federer on his 2R opponent, Marcus Willis

Wimbledon Championships 2016 opens June 27 in Wimbledon, London.

Image courtesy @Wimbledon and outdoorblog.it

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2016/06/06 Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg hacked Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram and LinkedIn accounts were allegedly hacked Sunday by a group believed to be from Saudi Arabia as a demonstration of the vulnerability of social media accounts, even for top tech leaders. Embarrassing security lapses are nothing new for Zuckerberg. He was hacked in 2013 by an unemployed Palestinian, Khalil Shreateh. The group claims that it hacked two of Zuckerberg’s social media accounts, supposedly to alert the Facebook founder to a security weakness by tweeting to Zuckerberg:
"@finkd, we got access to your Twitter & Instagram & Pinterest, we are just testing your security, please dm [directly message] us. "

Zuckerberg responded less than an hour later, telling the “skids” to leave him alone. But six minutes later, a tweet on Zuckerberg’s account revealed a password that OurMine claims to have acquired in last month’s database leak at LinkedIn.  read more »

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05/11/2016 HuffingtonPost chosen by instinct, prayed to God: 40 days digging a well during drought
After his wife was denied water, man spent 40 days digging a well during drought http://huff.to/1YsMIsn
the spot for the well was chosen by instinct.
"I prayed fervently to God before starting the job."
Once he found water, he invited everyone to drink from the well, despite making fun of him. "The ones who ridiculed my efforts now come to my well to fetch water," Tajne told Asian News International.

A man in India broke new ground in his village. Bapurao Tajne spent 40 days digging a well after his wife attempted to draw water from the well of someone of a higher caste and was denied — and humiliated — in a drought-affected region of Maharashtra, India.

“I came home that day in March and almost cried,” Tajne told The Times of India. “I resolved never to beg for water from anybody. I went to Malegaon (the closest town) and bought tools and within an hour I started digging.”

Tajne is a poor laborer, and could not quit his job to dig the well, so he would wake up early and dig for four hours before work and then shovel for another two once he got home. He said the spot for the well was chosen by instinct.

“I prayed fervently to God before starting the job,” he told TOI. “I am thankful that my effort has been rewarded.”  read more »

Top: King George VI addresses the nation by radio on 4 Sept 1939, the day after Britain declared war on Nazi Germany.
Center: King George VI and Queen Elizabeth in rubble after Buckingham Palace bombed, 13 Sept 1940

Top: King George VI, Queen Elizabeth and Winston Churchill
Inset: The King's brother, Prince George, Duke of Kent, killed on in 1942 (aged 39) on active service
Bottom: King and Queen with their daughter Princess Elizabeth visit the royal artillery during wwii

Left: Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip on their wedding day, 20 Nov 1947; Right: Queen's Diamond Jubilee, and Love and lasting 65-year marriage

By showing personal courage, King George VI and his wife (Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother) set extraordinary examples, became a symbol of national resistance. The royal family never left London, were sharing the same dangers and deprivations as the rest of the country, and leading his people through the hardships of World War Two (1939-1945).

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Sept 1939 - war declared on Nazi Germany, King George VI and his wife determined to stay in London, despite German air raids.
07 Sept 1940 - the first German air raid on London killed about one thousand civilians.
13 Sept 1940 - the King and Queen narrowly avoided death when two German bombs exploded in a courtyard at Buckingham Palace while they were there. In defiance, the Queen famously declared: "I am glad we have been bombed. It makes me feel we can look the East End in the face".  read more »

Editor’s note:
Lion does as lions do on their own wild land in nature. Sylvester the Lion, one of the 3500 remaining male lions, has lion’s spirit, courage and intelligence, amazingly escaped twice, recaptured. His fate is now in human hands.

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1 April 2016
Sylvester the lion has once again been recaptured  read more »

• Sylvester escaped a 90,000-hectares wildlife park in S Africa
• Rangers: he'd have to be killed because he was threat to humans
• But British charity has outlined plans to give him a new home

Captain Eric Brown was friends with astronaut Neil Armstrong

Update with BBC vedio: "Story of Captain Winkle Brown"

Readers' comments:
"Bow in Respect!! I kept Saluting him during the Documentary. Blessing!!!"
"What a human being, RIP Captain Brown. A true Scots old school hero."
"He is probably the greatest man that I ever heard about. R.I.P Mr Eric Brown:')"
"An interviewer once said he made James Bond seem boring. RIP great man."
"Will we ever know the FULL story, I wonder? What an astonishing man, what an astonishing career. I salute you, Sir. RIP."
"Would love to meet this gentleman. The word hero is overused but in this case it's spot on?"
"I had some friends from Scotland when I attended Arizona State University. They were fearless rugby players. Captain Brown is a true Scot. Best pilot, and one of the greatest humans the world has ever known. Honest and true. God bless you Sir!!!"

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Pilot Eric "Winkle" Brown holds two of the most startling records from the world of flying. He has flown 487 different types of aircraft. Today's test pilots average fewer than 100 flights. "Over 50 is deemed a large number. We can't imagine in this day and age how dangerous his job was." Captain Brown has piloted 2,407 aircraft carrier landings. That's just a part of his extraordinary life. Brown's exploits run through some of the most momentous events of world history. He was at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, he interrogated Hermann Goering, helped liberate the Belsen concentration camp and by chance managed to sing with the Glenn Miller band.  read more »