The Victims Is Not Limited To People

I wonder if there is a historical book focusing on the domestic & wild animals that were caught in the middle of many wars all over the world.

I knew that the US Naval Forces do use the dolphins in the open sea. I know that the Armed Forces used many kinds of dogs for different purposes like attacking & biting the enemy as well as sniff for any IEDs (homemade bombs) and so on. I know there are hundreds of domesticated animals like horses, chickens, sheep, goats & cows were either injured, killed or startled to death all over Europe.  I know that in Africa, Europe & Asia, they used the elephants, chickens, camels, pigs, rats, sea lions and yes, pigeons.  Pigeons were used to carry the messages from their base to someone's base. Chickens are used for detecting the poison & chemical gases.

The most devastating attacks by wild animals upon the soldiers took place in Ramree Island, an island in Myanmar (Burma) where the allied soldiers in World War II pushed & circled 900 Japanese soldiers who fell back into the swamp. the Japanese were battling on two fronts against the Allied soldiers ... and saltwater crocodiles.  The exact death tolls cannot be accurate as some said 500 Japanese soldiers successfully escaped the swamps. Only 20 survived.  Saltwater Crocodiles ate the rest of Japanese soldiers.

Not only that, when the Imperial Japanese Naval Submarine destroyed the USS Indianapolis in 1945, 880 US soldiers had to abandon the sinking ship and many of them still used the life preservers but they were also attacked by massive sharks who killed and ate 550 soldiers.

So there should be a historical book focusing on these animals from BC to the current. Is there one?

Cheers,

R-

Help me to make the right decision!!

I wanted to get a tattoo of Mordru on my right calf cuz he is Amethyst's archenemy. Amethyst is on my left calf so it will balance out But the problem is: I'm extremely indecisive on which image I wanted to put on my right calf.

If I had another life spare to use, I would tattoo on my face the same way Esteban Maroto's Mordru in Amethyst Mini-Series. 

If I had another life, I would want Mordru's face tattoo on my face

 I don't know if this image would be good on my right calf or not.  Aye or nah?

* * *

 Mordru's body on Dr. Fate's helmet 

Aye or nah

* * *

Only his body. Aye or nah

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Only Mordru, Dr Fate & Mordru's comments on my right calf?

Aye or nah

* * *

Or this one?  No rainbow for me, of course.

Aye or nah

* * *

No words, just the transformation of Mordru

Aye or nah

* * *

Or this one? The entire comment, magic & Mordru - no background needed

Aye or nah

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Flaw, Mordru & the fonts only.

Aye or nah

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No white circle - remove it and good enough? 

Aye or nah

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Only his comments but not the rest.

Aye or nah

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And this one? Mordru, his magic creatures & his words stay.

Aye or nah

Finally, can you folks help me to decide which one I wanted it on my right calf?

Cheers,

R-

All About Planet Daxam!

I was surfing the 'net when I came across this awesome graphic novel I ever had seen out of DC Comics' futuristic tale within the Legion of the Super-Heroes called "Great Darkness Saga".  This tale took place in 30th Century.

Many descendants at Planet Daxam were originally from Planet Krypton. People on Daxam is Superman's cousins. Therefore, Daxamites do get weak if they were under a red star. If the star is yellow, billions of Daxamites instantaneously became Supermen, to say the least!

However, this incident did not happen only once.  One was in The Great Darkness Saga, the other was the War of Lights.

During the War of Lights, Sodam Yat who was infused with the Entity of Will is from Planet Daxam. His mother fled Daxam to search for Sodam to tell him that Sinestro Corps has now seized Daxam and they are terrorizing billions of Daxamites for practically no reason. Sodam went back home for the first time since he ran away from his family due to their xenophobia nature.

Sodam and his colleague tried so hard to stop the Sinestro Corps but they were too many. And not enough Green Lanterns are responding to the emergency call about. Sodam had to decide immediately or his people will be annihilated by Sinestro Corps - they needed a leveling field to save Daxam and its people. Sodam had no choice but to enter the dying red sun and used the Entity of Will to transform the red star to the yellow star. Suddenly, billions of Daxamites from an infant to senior citizens immediately possessed the same powers that Superman has with the yellow sun in our solar system.

Whoa, is it?  The Mysterious creature who took the Entity of Will out of Sodam Yat's body was none other than Krona!

And yes, the tale of powering the billions of Daxamites using the yellow sun was nothing new for DC Comics. They used it in Legion of Super-Heroes' "The Great Darkness Saga". The premise of this tale occurred in 30th Century which the members of Legion of Super-Heroes were trying to identify the mysterious creature whose his planet & himself suddenly appeared in their universe after a thousand year of slumber. 

That mysterious creature was so powerful that he immediately seized 6 billions of Daxamites' minds and at the same time, he was able to teleport & switch his ancient planet with Planet Daxam so that Daxam can revolve around the yellow sun, not the red sun. With six billions of Daxamites under his control, he chose Daxam to make an announcement that the supervillain is finally identified.

                                      

                                         

Yep, it was Darkseid who seized the minds of Daxamites and used them to destroy and remake the Planet Daxam into his image. Powerful but cunning thing to do, that Darkseid guy.  

Cheers,

R-

NCAA Sucks

NCAA is punishing Syracuse by vacating 108 wins, suspending Coach Boeheim from coaching 9 ACC (Why only ACC?) games and took 12 scholarships away for next 4 years for what they did ... more than 10 years ago.

Why punish the current roster that has nothing to do with the allegations that occurred in 2004-06?  It is like you punishing someone for what his father did. That's not how it should function in 1st place.  The truth is:  NCAA failed miserably. And the late Jerry Tarkanian was right when he said:

"If you're so mad at Kentucky, just give Cleveland State another year or probation."

Cheers,

R-

Virginia Cavaliers No. 2 In East Region

Virginia Cavaliers (29-3) is seeded at #2 in the East Region and will face #15 Belmont (22-10) in Charlotte, North Carolina this coming Friday.  Belmont got in after winning the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament.

Belmont has a player who transferred from Virginia after his freshman season. He did not get to play a lot as a freshman so he bolted to Belmont for more playing time. Name?  Taylor Barnette who is averaging 10.7 points per game including the winning basket for Belmont in the OVC Finals.

Barnette is not the only former Virginia player who transferred to other school in East Region.  Paul Jesperson went to Northern Iowa after playing two years at Virginia. Northern Iowa Panthers is seeded #5 playing #12 Wyoming Cowboys. Jesperson is averaging 5.4 points per game for his team which went 30-3 for the season.

Virginia must not overlook Belmont in the first game - take care of Belmont, then the fans can hope for a revenge as Virginia may get to play Michigan State, the same team that upsets Virginia, 61-59 last year in Sweet Sixteen appearance. Oddly, the way I look at the bracket, the first two games are tough for Virginia Cavaliers but the next two games en route to the Final Four seems to be easy drive. Virginia may have to play Oklahoma Sooners (22-10) if they did not lose to Providence Friars (22-11). If Virginia took care of them, the next opponent could be Villanova (32-2), Northern Iowa (30-3) or Louisville (24-8).

Cheers,

R-

Virginia Cavaliers, 29-3; 16-2

Virginia Cavaliers

I'm still frustrated with the women's basketball program at Virginia who finished the season at 17-13, now waiting for an invitation to WNIT sometimes next week. I don't know if the team will be able to receive an immediate help from 6'3 Mone' Jones, 6'4 Debra Ferguson and 6'4 Shakyna Payne when they come to Charlottesville next year. If at least two out of 3 freshmen can alleviate the pressures on Sarah Imovbioh & Lauren Moses, then the team will be in a good shape and in a right direction. If not, it is going to be a long season for us all.

On other hand, I'm thrilled to see what Head Coach Tony Bennett has done for Virginia Cavaliers Men's Basketball team.  Last year, the team went 30-7, won the ACC Regular Season and ACC Tournament Championships. This year, the team won the ACC Regular Season Championship but was upset by North Carolina Cheaters Tar Heels in ACC Tournament. Well, in two seasons, 3 out of 4 ACC Championships are just great. Last year, they received No. 1 seeding and reached the Sweet Sixteen where they lost to Michigan State by two. This year, I think the team will receive No. 2 seeding.

We lost in ACC Tournament because I think the team was not used to have Justin Anderson back after he missed 8 games due to the injury & appendectomy. Not only that, I'm not sure if Landon Perrantes is 100% healthy after sustaining the broken nose a couple of weeks ago. Not only that, it is always difficult to play in Greensboro Coliseum where in the last 26 ACC Finals in Greensboro, Duke and UNC combined for 19 titles. Next year? Washington, DC's Verizon Center. It is about time that the ACC gets out of that shithole.

But I can say one thing:  Virginia Cavaliers will remain to be very good team next year.

Anthony Gill & Head Coach Tony Bennett

• The next year's edition will lose only one starter in Darion Atkins. 
• They practically return everyone else.  Malcolm Brogdon, Anthony Gill, Justin Anderson, Evan Nolte and Landon Perrantes will return. 
• Not only that, the ACC Sixth Player of the Year Mike Tobey also will return. 
• Oh, yeah, freshmen Isaiah Wilkins, Jack Salt, B.J. Stith & Marial Shayok and redshirt freshman Devon Hall will return with plenty of their playing time under their belts.  
• Wait!  Darius Thompson, who was rated No. 4 as overall combo guard in 2012-13, will begin to play after his transfer from Tennessee Volunteers.
• The newest recruit of Virginia Cavaliers, a huge post player in 240 lbs, 6'9 Jarred Reuter will fill in nicely. Some people compared him to North Carolina's Tyler Hansbrough.
• There is undecided recruit named Thon Maker, a 7'0 post player from Australia. Virginia is one of several schools on his list. Virginia already had an Australian player in Jack Salt. So Thon has another Australian teammate should he sign with Virginia.
• And most important of all:  We have Head Coach Tony Bennett and you do not. 

As you can see, Virginia is going to stay in Top 10 for a long time.  Get used to it, folks.  Go Hoos!

Cheers,

R-

ESPN's I Hate Christian Laettner

First of all, I'm a hard core fan of Virginia Cavaliers.  Always had, has and will be.

But when I was in high school, I admitted that I had a little crush on Christian Laettner.  Back in his high school days in the suburbs of Buffalo, New York - he was recruited by every Division I school. But he narrowed down to 3:  Duke, North Carolina & Virginia.

He chose Duke and led Duke to four Final Four appearances including the National Champions. He is famous for hitting the winning basket at the buzzer to beat Kentucky, 104-103 in overtime.

He will be featured on ESPN's show named 30 for 30, "I Hate Christian Laettner".  I'm not sure if I plan to watch that episode because I will watch The Walking Dead.

However, I stumbled upon this post by a fan of Virginia Cavaliers on a message board whom he talked about his sons & his encounter with  Christian Laettner at a local gas station in Durham, NC.  Read what he has to say about Christian.  Very classy.

Christian, you are an idiot.

Cheers,

R-

* * *

'Christian' Laettner -- When this turd was playing at Duke, I pulled up to get gas at a station on Roxboro Rd, in Durham NC -- 

I had spent a really nice Saturday afternoon playing BB with both my sons, ages 7, 9 -- at a nice outdoor court on Hamlin Rd near our home.

When I was inside the store, a car pulled up, and the guy behind the counter said "hey that's Laettner"-- His dad said " make sure he pays ..." --

Everyone laughs, including me. BUT I stand around to watch the dude pumps his gas and then floats around the car (Brian Davis was in the passenger seat).

I step outside the store - Now my sons recognize the guy - They are standing in the back of my Blazer with the window down , all excited - The oldest says -"Hey Dad It's Christian Laettner!!!!!" - The youngest is jumping up and down - The oldest says "Can he sign my ball daddy?!!"

I said "ok boys -- ask him and he will I'm sure" --

Standing there - with my two sons all excited to see a 'star' ---- imagine how they felt to see 'Christian' Laettner -- or hear him -- Literally point to my UVA bumper sticker - and get in his dumbassed convertible with his Brian Davis boy - and flip my little boys the bird and yell "Fuck Virginia" as he drove off without paying for the gas.

POS is what he is.

I will never ever respect Duke because of this ass.