OT- Texas Towers [Archive]

jeansy

December 11th, 2010, 00:30

Just found out about these and wow !

http://www.thetexastowers.com/images/TexasTower4.jpg

http://www.thetexastowers.com/index.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_Towers

not a good ending to "old shaky"

anthony31

December 11th, 2010, 00:37

Seems like you watched Engineering Disasters tonight?

jeansy

December 11th, 2010, 03:22

Seems like you watched Engineering Disasters tonight?

yep, i guess you did too

n4gix

December 11th, 2010, 08:08

Odd:

Hostname www.thetexastowers.com is blocked in your defense plan.
This is a known "Spyware" web site which is blocked as specified by your Defense Plan.

CWOJackson

December 11th, 2010, 09:54

Jeansy, you might find this interesting.

During WWII the English built similar platforms in the Thames and Mersey estuaries called Maunsell Sea Forts; they were used as flack platforms to discourage mine laying aircraft. One is now a self-proclaimed independent country:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principality_of_Sealand

Here's an excerpt:

On 2 September 1967, the fort was occupied by Major Paddy Roy Bates, a British subject and pirate radio broadcaster, who ejected a competing group of pirate broadcasters.[/URL] Bates intended to broadcast his pirate radio station Radio Essex from the platform. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principality_of_Sealand#cite_note-6)


In 1968, British workmen entered what Bates claimed to be his territorial waters in order to service a navigational buoy near the platform. Michael Bates (son of Paddy Roy Bates) tried to scare the workmen off by firing warning shots from the former fort. As Bates was a British subject at the time, he was summoned to court in England on firearms charges following the incident. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principality_of_Sealand#cite_note-7)But the court ruled that as the platform (which Bates was now calling "Sealand") was outside British jurisdiction, being beyond the then three-mile limit of the country's waters, the case could not proceed. In 1975, Bates introduced a constitution for Sealand, followed by a flag, a national anthem, a currency and passports. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principality_of_Sealand#cite_note-9)


In August 1978, while Bates and his wife were in Austria, Alexander Achenbach, who describes himself as the Prime Minister of Sealand, hired several German and Dutch mercenaries to spearhead an attack of Roughs Tower. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principality_of_Sealand#cite_note-sealandgov.org-10) They stormed the tower with speedboats and helicopters, and took Bates' son hostage. Bates was able to retake the tower and capture Achenbach and the mercenaries. Achenbach, a German lawyer who held a Sealand passport, was charged with treason against Sealand and was held unless he paid DM 75,000 (more than US$ 35,000 or £23,000). (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principality_of_Sealand#cite_note-LP11-11) The governments of the Netherlands, Austria and Germany petitioned the British government for his release, but the United Kingdom disavowed his imprisonment, citing the 1968 court decision. Germany then sent a diplomat from its London embassy to Roughs Tower to negotiate for Achenbach's release. Roy Bates relented after several weeks of negotiations and subsequently claimed that the diplomat's visit constituted de facto recognition of Sealand by Germany. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principality_of_Sealand#cite_note-sealandgov.org-10)


Following his repatriation, Achenbach and Gernot Putz established a "government in exile", sometimes known as the Sealand Rebel Government, or Sealandic Rebel Government, in Germany, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principality_of_Sealand#cite_note-LP11-11) Aschenbach's appointed successor, Johannes Seiger, continues to claim via his website that he is Sealand's legitimate ruling authority.[URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principality_of_Sealand#cite_note-13"]

Willy

December 11th, 2010, 10:30

Talking about these? They were done by Ian Elliot for FS9. I don't know if they'll work in X or not.