UFO enthusiasts are claiming damage to a Lincolnshire wind farm turbine was caused by a mystery aircraft.

The turbine at Conisholme lost one 66ft (20m) blade and another was badly damaged in the early hours of Sunday.

County councillor for the area Robert Palmer said he had seen a "round, white light that seemed to be hovering".

Ecotricity, which owns the site, said while investigations continued they were not ruling anything out - but the extent of damage was "unique".

The turbine is one of 20 at the Conisholme site, which has been only been fully operational since April 2008. The broken blade has been recovered and is being examined.

Local ufologists said they had received many reports of activity in the area and had teams searching for clues.

The Bank of England has cut interest rates to 1.5%, the lowest level in its 315-year history, as it continues efforts to aid an economic recovery.

The half percentage point reduction brings interest rates below 2% for the first time since the Bank of England was founded in 1694.

Manufacturers' association EEF said the move was "too timid", and that the Bank should have cut rates further.

The Bank has now reduced rates four times from October's 5% level.

Explaining its decision, the Bank said the level of contraction in business activity had "increased during the fourth quarter of 2008, and that output is likely to continue to fall sharply during the first part of this year".

It added: "Surveys of retailers and reports from the Bank's regional agents imply that consumer spending has weakened."

WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!

[Drew's WHEEEEE™ Technology]

Be nice to America. Or we'll bring democracy to your country.

President-elect Obama apparently believes that the crisis brought on by the collapse of the housing bubble will require defaulting on the national debt. The New York Times reported today that Obama believes that "changes in Social Security and Medicare will be central to efforts to bring federal spending in line."....

If Mr. Obama plans to cut Social Security in the near future, then this effectively amounts to a default on the bonds held by the trust fund which were purchased with workers' Social Security taxes. If the budget situation is so dire that it is necessary to default on the government debt, then surely we should be considering defaulting on the bonds held by Robert Rubin, Peter Peterson, and other wealthy bankers, not just the bonds that were bought to pay Social Security benefits for the country's workers.

Unbelievable, but not unforeseen.  Obama's advisors from the Robert Rubin funded Hamilton Project have been neo-liberal to a fault.

If Obama comes in and tries to cut benefits by introducing a means test the honeymoon is going to be awfully damn short.

And I'll give my consent to any government that does not deny a man a living wage-Billy Bragg

In 1949 only Socialism could save China

In 1979 only Capitalism could save China

In 1989 only China could save Socialism

In 2009 only China could save Capitalism

Un roi sans divertissement est un homme plein de misères

As there are no ferries from the English South Coast to Northern Spain in January, we'll be driving through France.

We should be around Paris on the evening of the 16th. Who's available for dinner? Can someone put us up? afew?

We should drive to southern France on the 17th... again, any offers to put us up for the night?

We'll probably have a chance to stop in Barcelona and see kcurie on the 18th.

Most economists teach a theoretical framework that has been shown to be fundamentally useless. -- James K. Galbraith

Our knowledge has surpassed our wisdom. -Charu Saxena.

Modern conservatives engage in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy: the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.Galbraith

I have been experiencing now and then difficulties in posting comments. But these last few days it has been really difficult. Yesterday I spent about 2 hours trying to post a comment at In Wales' thread on the UK and the Euro. I simply get a time out after half an hour waiting.

This mostly happens in the afternoon, but sometimes even at the morning things seem to get "jammed" on me. I can usually read posts but not comment on them.

Given this apparent time dependence I would say this may be some server load issue. But from my experience at TOD:E we usually get hit bursts in the first working hours of the morning, right after lunch and in the evening.

I connect from different places, but usually through high-tech networks and don't experience such problems with any other website.

Thanks for any help.

Vencit omnia veritas.