Mysterious Alaskan “Ice Monster” Caught On Video

A short footage of a mysterious creature in the Chena River in Fairbanks, Alaska, is prompting lots of wild theories online.

Some suggest it could be a “giant arctic crocodile” or a “zombie salmon”. Moreover, others are calling it an “Ice Monster”, comparing it to Scotland’s Loch Ness Monster.

An Alaska Bureau of Land Management employee pulled out a camera to record the creature. He noticed it moving upriver as he was checking out ice on the river last week.

It seemed like ice chunks but moved simultaneously in a side-to-side motion. A dark shadow thrown beneath the icy surface caused some to speculate if it is a creature.

The Bureau of Land Management – Alaska explained on its Facebook page that their employees did not explore further since the creature is a bit far out in the middle of the river. Their BLM Fairbanks District Office took the footage facing downstream. “We’re not sure what it is. We’re letting you all be the judge.”

The video has been viewed 380,000 times and shared by almost 4,000 people since it was posted last week.

Workers at the Alaska Bureau of Land Management had fun with the video, adding eerie music to the close to 25-second video clip.

And Facebook fans played along.

Some presumed it could be a bull shark, a “beavegator” or maybe an Alaskan sturgeon. Others think it wasn’t an animal of any kind.

One viewer guessed that it’s likely a chunk of moose hide. It could also be other fragments caught up on something and swaying in the current.

Another said that according to natural science professor from Paul Smiths College, who is also a geology and zoology graduate from Duke, that it’s a slush caught between 2 adjacent currents.

Officials at the Alaska Bureau of Land Management admitted they don’t expect to find an answer anytime soon, but they enjoyed reading people’s wild guesses.

“Like you all, we honestly don’t know exactly what it is,” the group said. “But all the guesses are great!”

 

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Shortages Likely as Alabama Blast Shuts Gas Pipeline

ALABAMA – A pipeline that distributes gasoline to millions of people was shut down for the second time in two months. The incident raised the possibility of another round of gas shortages and price increases.

Colonial Pipeline said that the interruption occurred when a track hoe hit the pipeline, ignited gasoline and caused an explosion. The blast sent flames and thick black smoke spiraling over a forest in northern Alabama. One worker was killed and five were injured.

In September, a leak that spilled 252,000 to 336,000 gallons of gasoline happened near the location of Monday’s explosion. That leak brought days of dry pumps and higher gas prices in Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama and the Carolinas while repairs were made.

The cause of the leak still has not been uncovered, and the results of the recent disruption weren’t immediately clear.

Colonial Pipeline, established in Alpharetta, Georgia, manages 5,599 miles of pipelines. It carries more than 100 million gallons daily of home heating oil, gasoline, jet fuel and other hazardous liquids in 13 states and the District of Columbia, based on company filings. Officials have not revealed which type of fuel was involved in the explosion on Monday.

Afflicted by a severe drought after weeks without rain, the portion of the state where the explosion occurred has been affected by numerous wildfires in recent weeks. Hence, the crews worked hard to keep the blaze from spreading.

Alabama Forestry Commission spokeswoman Coleen Vansant stated that crews built a 75-foot-long earthen dam to suppress burning fuel. The blaze had been contained but it was not clear how long the fire may take to burn out, the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office said.

Vansant said two wildfires caused by the blast scorched 31 acres of land.

“We’ll just hope and pray for the best,” Gov. Robert Bentley said in a statement.

Sheriff’s Capt. Jeff Hartley said houses around the blast scene were evacuated. However, it was unclear when people might be allowed to return home.

No details about condition of casualties

When the pipeline exploded about 3 p.m. Monday, eight to nine subcontractors were working on it, sheriff’s Maj. Ken Burchfield told Al.com. The circumstances of those hurt weren’t directly known.

Colonial said in a brief statement that the company’s top priorities are the safety and health of the work crew on site and protection of the public.

 

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Battle for Mosul Gains Ground as Iraqi Forces Enter the City

On Monday, Iraqi troops broke through ISIS lines of defense in the eastern suburb of Mosul. For the first time, the advancing Iraqi forces entered the city, taking the battle to the terrorists’ doorstep.

The breakthrough is considered the largest military operation since Saddam Hussein’s capture in 2003. The Iraqi forces supported by Washington entered the city of Mosul. Iraqi commanders said the battle to retake the city could take months.

Iraqi’s Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS) troops advanced on Gogjali, an industrial zone on the eastern part of Mosul.

CTS commander Lieutenant-General Abdul Ghani al-Assadi said in an interview conducted by a state television that his forces had reached the Karama district inside the insurgent’s occupied city.

Kurdish Peshmerga Intelligence said they have received reports saying 7 ISIS militants were killed in the district of Aden, 2 of their vehicles were also destroyed.

An Iraqi state television also reported that residents of the city were rising up against the Islamic state fighters. Some of these mutineers allegedly opened fired on an Islamic State Police unit in Intisaar district, in Karama.

No one has confirmed the “uprising reports” but the Iraqi forces and its U.S. allies are hoping this insurrection could help them retake the city. ISIS seized Mosul in 2014 declaring it as a “Caliphate” to rule over all Muslims.

Iraq’s Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said the Iraqi forces are now closing off all routes going out Mosul, to avoid thousands of ISIS fighters escaping from the city.
“God willing, we will chop off the snake’s head,” he added.

“They have no escape, they either die or surrender.”

Last October 17, the Iraqi Forces joined by Kurdish Peshmerga Fighters started their offensive against the Islamic State fighters. They were provided with ground and air support from a U.S. led anti-ISIS coalition.

U.S. anti-ISIS coalition deputy commander, British Major General Rupert Jones told Reuters, “They are making deliberate progress, they’re on their timeline.”

Anti-Islamic state fighters ranging about 50,000 troops are now storming the city’s outskirts as they strategically enter Mosul.

The Islamic State forces have been avoiding a direct fight with any militants advancing into the city. Instead, they are sending suicide cars, deploying snipers and mortars.

On Monday, the Islamic State said they have carried out “suicide operations” against the advancing forces. However, they failed to mention any casualty.

U.N. officials and some villagers said the terrorist group brought thousands of displaced civilians toward Mosul. The militants were using them as “human shields” to cover their retreat.

They also have set some properties on fire to create a ‘smokescreen,’ setting the whole region on smoke.

U.N.’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said, “the scorched earth tactics employed by retreating ISIL members are having an immediate health impact on civilians, and risk long-term environmental and health consequences.”

No one from both forces has given any number of casualty, but both claim they have killed thousands of their opponents.

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China Shows Off J-20 Stealth Fighter At Country’s Biggest Expo

For the first time, China showed its Chengdu J-20 stealth fighter in public on Tuesday as it opened the biggest meeting of aircraft buyers and makers with a show of its military power.

In the southern city of Zhuhai, Airshow China provides Beijing an occasion to display its ambitions in civil aerospace. Moreover, the country gets to highlight its developing capability in defense. China is primed to surpass the U.S. as the world’s foremost aviation market in the next decade.

Two J-20 jets zoomed over luminaries, industry executives and hundreds of spectators assembled at the show’s opening ceremony. The flypast barely exceeded a minute. The jets produced a deafening roar that the crowd greeted with applause and gasps. It also triggered car alarms in a parking lot.

Planespotters first saw the J-20 in 2010. Experts say China has been polishing designs in the hope of reducing a military technology gap with the United States. As China takes a more assertive stance in Asia, President Xi Jinping has pressed to reinforce the armed forces, specifically in the South China and East China seas.

“It is clearly a huge step forward in Chinese combat capability,” said Aviation Week’s Bradley Perrett, a veteran China watcher.

Further, state-owned Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (COMAC) was confident on China’s appetite for new civilian planes. The company projected that the market would necessitate 6,865 new aircraft worth $930 billion over the next 20 years.

The COMAC forecast – comparable to long-term viewpoints from well-established rivals Airbus Group and Boeing Co – said China would contribute almost a fifth of worldwide demand for almost 40,000 planes over the next two decades.

After screaming onto the Zhuhai stage as a pair at low-level, one of the J-20s quickly vanished over the distance. It left the other to perform a series of turns, baring its delta wing shape against bright sub-tropical haze.

It was China’s second consecutive demonstration of stealth at the biennial show, after the 2014 debut of the J-31.

J-20 capabilities remain vague

However, experts said the fleeting and relatively cautious J-20 routine, wherein the pilots did not perform low-speed passes or open weapon bay doors, answered few questions.

“I think we learned very little. We learned it is very loud. But we can’t tell what type of engine it has, or very much about the mobility,” said Asia Managing Editor of FlightGlobal Greg Waldron. “Most importantly, we didn’t learn much about its radar cross-section.”

A crucial question is whether the new Chinese fighter can equal the radar-evading properties of Lockheed’s F-35, the latest strike jet in the U.S. arsenal, or the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor air-to-air combat jet. The F-22 is the J-20’s closest lookalike.

But the mere exhibition of such a newly created aircraft was a telling signal, others said.

Sam Roggeveen, a senior fellow at the Sydney-based Lowy Institute said that it’s a shift in tactics for the Chinese to openly show off weapons that aren’t in full squadron service yet. It shows a lot of confidence in their ability, and also a lot of pride.

 

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Trump Surprises Democrats with Michigan Halloween Visit

Republican Nominee Donald Trump spent Halloween in the pro-democrat state of Michigan, trying to woo voters for a win on Election Day.

His campaign team has him convinced that he can win Michigan, Trump said, “So I say, ‘Let’s go and win it.”

Late-Sunday night, Trump arrived in New Mexico, another state who had faded from red to blue. Public polls showing most voters would go for Hillary Clinton suggests that the election battleground would come down to North Carolina, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Florida.

Trump’s campaign manager Jason Miller said their internal polling shows Michigan and New Mexico are in “dead heat.”

In a recent election poll in Michigan and New Mexico, the Republican Nominee was down 5 to 7 points. On the other hand, the Democratic Nominee dominated the poll votes by 14 to 24 points.

If Trump’s internal poll numbers are true, it will be a shock for Hillary Clinton’s team who have not bought ads in either state or even sent its candidate to New Mexico during its general election.

The Republican Nominee who has been playing offense said if Clinton wins this election, it would trigger a “constitutional crisis”. He was pertaining to the discovery of hacked emails.

Trump predicted that the US would have a “criminal trial for a sitting president”. He added that Russian President Vladimir Putin and other world leaders would “sit back and laugh.”

“Now there are five FBI probes into the Clinton Foundation and their pay-for-play activities,” he added.

He also charged and lingered on the misfortune of Clinton’s closest aide Huma Abedin, through her estranged husband, Anthony Weiner.

“Do you think right now that Hillary Clinton is happy with the services of Huma?” he added, “I don’t think so. I don’t think she likes Huma.”

He continued by criticizing the increase in Obamacare rate.

Trump’s campaign team also released a 10-point “New Deal for Black America,” in response to his infamous call to execute the “Central Park Five”. The deal mostly consists of Trump’s policies to cater to the black electorate and pledged to “apply the law fairly, equally and without prejudice.”

Trump’s visit to Michigan on Monday went to a stroll down memory lane. He visited Deltaplex in Grand Rapids, venue of his famous triumphs during his campaign last year before the holidays.

Deltaplex in Grand Rapids is in a Halloween festive scene, decorated with cobwebs, pumpkins, spiders, and bales of hay. Most attendees were also in costume, coming in “Abraham and Mary Todd Lincoln” attire. There were also the now popular Clinton in orange prison jumpsuit costume, and a bottle of ketchup costume holding a sign that said, “We need to ketchup with the rest. Put Trump in the White House.”

In the event was former Indiana University basketball coach Bobby Knight, who endorsed the Republican Nominee and encouraged his candidacy. Trump continued to reminisce about Knight’s endorsement that brought him his nomination victory in Indiana.

Knight described Trump as a “tough son of a bitch”. He said Donald with Trump’s administration, “there will be no bullshit”. He also added, “Black, white whatever our color is, we can be damn proud that we’re Americans.”

Knight also repeatedly referred to Trump as “Saint Donald.”

Trump continued his part as he promised to prevent local businesses from leaving Michigan. He also said he would assign Knight to watch over CEO’s who plan to outsource jobs and coerce them to keep them in the U.S.

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Cutler Returns as Bears Defeat Vikings

The Chicago Bears thrashed the Minnesota Vikings 20-10 at Soldier Field on Monday as Jay Cutler threw for 252 yards and a score and Jordan Howard rushed for 153 yards and a touchdown.

Cutler recently missed five straight games with a sprained thumb. He was efficient tonight, though, and completed 20 of 31 passes for Chicago (2-6), which snapped a three-game losing streak. The Bears quarterback’s 11-yard touchdown pass to Alshon Jeffery provided Chicago a 20-3 lead with 9:52 left in the third quarter.

The scoring catch was the first of the season for Jeffery. Like Howard, he had four catches for the Bears. Tight end Zach Miller ended with seven catches for 88 yards.

Minnesota (6-2) wasn’t able to score until a little more than five minutes left in the game. Sam Bradford heaved a 25-yard touchdown pass to Stefon Diggs on fourth-and-6. Bradford had a 23-of-37 passing night for 228 yards in the loss.

The Bears’ defense shut the Vikings down and sacked Bradford five times up until the Vikings’ late scoring attack. After six straight victories, the Vikings lost for the second straight week.

The Bears was in front 13-3 at halftime at the back of a dominating defensive performance that pushed the Vikings to punt on their first five possessions.

The defense sustained the shutout before the Vikings accomplished a Blair Walsh 30-yard field goal with 26 seconds left in the second quarter.

Minnesota’s sole first-half scoring thrust was stretched on a 15-yard unsportsmanlike penalty against the Bears following Pernell McPhee’s sack on Bradford, who fumbled on the play. The Vikings’ offense remaind on the field due to the penalty after Minnesota receiver Adam Thielen picked up Bradford’s fumble.

The Vikings attempted a last ditch scoring thrust before the half and drove inside Chicago’s 10-yard line. But the defense shut Minnesota down and sacked Bradford for a 10-yard loss. This set up Walsh for his 50-yard field goal before the half ended.

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Where Did All The Candy Go?

A post-holiday custom is gaining momentum as Halloween has rocketed from a charming local tradition into an all-out sugar grab. Donation campaigns and candy buybacks to take in the enormous leftovers are getting to be popular post-Halloween activities in recent years.

It began with pediatric dentists, who started paying for surplus candies to protect kids against obesity and cavities. Subsequently, support-the-troops organizations, such as Soldiers’ Angels and Operation Gratitude, joined the fray. These organizations set up national networks of donation spots where charitable youngsters can unload their piles of candy. The sweets are occasionally used instead of packing peanuts in gift boxes for far-off soldiers.

Schools throughout the country will be gathering candies on Tuesday morning to assist a range of charities. Some of these institutions even have daunting restrictions, like a minimum donation of a gallon.

Operation Gratitude founder Carolyn Blashek said that she had no idea this would get so huge. Semitrailers full of candy will begin pulling in soon at the warehouse in Chatsworth, California, that the group utilizes as a staging ground.

The sugar-fueled flurry gets bigger each year. This year, the industry’s trade group estimates Americans spent a record $2.7 billion on Halloween candy. Every year, mountains of peanut butter cups, chocolate bars, jawbreakers, lollipops and candy corn are left in its wake.

Presently, the constantly increasing effort at recycling reflects the spreading popularity of the holiday itself. And just as many people condemn booze-fueled Halloween parties for grown-ups, so do some dentists and nutritionists cringe at some of the places that donated candy ends up: soup kitchens, food banks, and in the hands of poor children with other urgent needs.

Orthodontists and dentists were the first to hit on the post-Halloween mandate to unload some candy. Some started organizing buyback campaigns more than a decade ago,.

Chris Kramer, a dentist in Wisconsin, offers around $1 a pound for leftover candy at his office. It’s the same amount he offers on HalloweenCandyBuyback.com, a website he started to assist people in finding local candy donation spots.

Toys and prizes are also common trading currency. At Kool Smiles, a countrywide dental chain based in Marietta, Ga., children can exchange 25 pieces of wrapped candy for a monster dump truck, a stuffed animal, or another plaything. That earned more than three tons of donated sweets last year.

But the trend has expanded. Candy donation sites are becoming pervasive at schools and other community gathering locations. In a nation combating obesity, loads of leftover treats lying around, available for foraging, are an attraction many would rather shun.

Nearly every piece of donated candy is viewed by some dental professionals and health advocats as a victory against weight gain and tooth decay.

Bright Side Dental, a chain with 13 offices in the metro Detroit neighborhood and elsewhere, began collecting candy donations for military care packages seven years ago. The amount that comes in each year has nearly doubled, tallying at least 5,000 pounds last year.

“At first, we wondered if kids would give up their candy,” said Bright Side Dental spokeswoman Pam Lenning. “It’s been the complete opposite. They love it, and they’re very willing to donate. It’s turned into this fun thing in the community.”

Some of those slightly used snacks will already be in the discarded pile just days after the loot settles in trick-or-treat bags. These castoff snacks are headed for a second life at food banks and other charitable outlets.

‘Tons’ of candy collected

Operation Gratitude, which began gathering leftover candy in 2007, is one of many support-the-troops organizations that bring military-level logistics to the task of collecting, sorting and redistributing literal tons of surplus candy.

For these groups, November turns into a logistical flurry. Five staff members and at least 10,000 local volunteers last year wrangled 760,000 pounds of candy at Operation Gratitude. It arrives in boxes of all sizes from around the country beginning the day after Halloween. The loot is deposited into huge storage bins for a few weeks, until it can be divvied up for dispersal.

Ms. Blashek said the donated candy comes in massive quantities, but it all gets put to use. Volunteers use it like packing peanuts, chucking handfuls into care packages to protect the other items. These include things like DVDs, hats, toiletries, knitted scarves, games, and letters.

The soldiers who receive the packages often distribute the candy to local children in the areas where troops are deployed. A Twix bar given to a costumed goblin or ghost in America could make its way to a child in Iraq.

“We found that people were using it to develop relationships,” Ms. Blashek said. “That’s when we started trying to get as much candies as we could.”

 

 

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