Hooray for Cat Crap

 blather, cats, photography, Utah  1 Response »
Jan 272013
 

So yesterday I set out to the post office and to get some groceries and such. After weeks where the high temp was lucky to get to 20 degrees (that’s “F” for those of you in “C” blighted lands), the last few days it’s risen to slightly over freezing. A result of that has been fog:

overpass overpass2 overpass3

While out I decided to drive up a hill and see if I could get above the fog. As it turned out… no. The roads were nice and clear at the bottom of the hill, but slowly and almost imperceptibly turned to slick wet ice. About halfway up the hill  the car ground to a halt. Would go no further, couldn’t even turn it around because the car couldn’t get purchase on the road. Fortunately, I’d gotten my groceries… including several bags of Cheapest Possible Brand cat litter. A few handfuls scattered around did the job, got turned around and down the hill without further incident. So let that be a lesson: cat litter can be handy.

hill

 

 Posted by at 1:27 pm

Prints: The *Next* Next Generation

 aircraft, art, awesomeness, drawings, history, new products, projects, rockets, spacecraft  9 Responses »
Jan 262013
 

OK, now that the first set of prints is out and available for purchase, I’m looking down the road to the next. A couple of the ones I’m looking at are pretty bignormous, and thus expensive, so I’m considering the possibility of smaller versions of a few. However, I’ll probably only do one size, rather than both. Shown below are the next set of candidates; some are prepared, or nearly so; some have a lot of work to do. All are shown at 10% the full-size original image, so you can put ’em side by side if you want to see how they’d compare.

If you see something you like, speak up! Either in the comments or via email. Only the ones that reach a certain number of up-votes will be produced, so if you want one, ya gotta say so. Additionally, this next go-around, those who vote early will be given the chance to buy the first print run of these at some savings compared to the public release. address

First: V-2 (A-4) Rocket brownline, full size. 16.5X56 inches, $45

Second:V-2 (A-4) Rocket brownline, reduced size size. 12X41 inches, $24

Third: V-2 (A-4) Rocket Engine brownline, 24X33 inches, $40

Fourth: X-15A-3 (Delta Wing) Blueprint, 10X40 inches, $20

Fifth: B-29 Blueprint (full scale), 36X84 inches, $150 (BIG!)

Sixth: B-29 Blueprint (half size), 18X42 inches, $37

Seventh: Apollo Blueprints (full size), 24.5X47 inches, $55

Eighth: Apollo Blueprints (smaller size), 18X34 inches, $30

Ninth: Apollo trajectory plot, 8X24 inches, $10

5216a A-4 brownline 10 percent

5216a A-4 12-inch 10 percent

a-4 engine 10 percent

x-15A-3 10 percent

B-29 10 percent

B-29 half 10 percentcsm temp 18 inch 10 percentcsm temp 10 percentpath 10 percent

 Posted by at 10:33 pm

Unintended Consequences

 awesomeness, dumbassery, humor, politics, religion  1 Response »
Jan 262013
 

‘Satanists’ praise Fla. governor for prayer bill

It looks like this was some sort of actor-based stunt, but the short form is that some people claiming to be Satanists are thrilled that Florida Governor Rick Scott has signed a bill allowing student led prayers and “inspirational messages” in public schools.

I bet Flying Spaghetti Monster will get some love. I can only hope that someone, somewhere, will beseech Great Cthulhu to either spare them or – perhaps most sensibly – eat them first.

The Cthulhu Tracts may come in handy.

 Posted by at 7:10 pm

Best Fark headline of the day

 awesomeness, blather, humor, I'm from the government, news, politics, weapons  7 Responses »
Jan 262013
 

State of NY to legal firearms owners, “Register your weapons, it’s the law.” Legal firearms owners to the State of NY, “Guns? I don’t own any guns, and you can’t prove it so go fark yourselves”

Which is in relation to this article:

Hit us with your best shot, Andy!

Which is about just what the Fark headline suggests… gun owners in New York are expected to “boycott” the state’s new anti-firearms law. I’m not really sure if “boycott” is really the right word, though. There’s got to be a better word for “refusing to go along with an unjust law.”

 Posted by at 6:18 pm

When seconds count…

 awesomeness, humor, I'm from the government, news, politics, weapons  10 Responses »
Jan 262013
 

Sheriff Clarke: “Calling 911 and waiting is no longer your best option”

Short form: Sheriff David Clarke of the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s office released a PSA telling people that they should consider providing for their own defense, rather than planning on passivity.

Surprisingly, some people have a problem with this, including the mayor of Milwaukee, Tom Barrett, whose office released this statement: “Apparently Sheriff David Clark (sp) is auditioning for the next Dirty Harry movie.”

Besides not making any real sense whatsoever (how does a cop telling people that he *won’t* be able to be show up immediately in the event of a crime make him “Dirty Harry?”), this opened Barrett up to this from Sheriff Clarke: “Several years ago a tire iron-wielding suspect beat Mayor Tom Barrett to within inches of his life.  I would think that he would be a lot more sensitive to people being able to defend themselves in such instances.  A firearm and a plan of defense would have come in handy for him that day.”

Zing!

[youtube a2gCFOtaZPo]

[youtube A5PrqQLWmoU]

 Posted by at 4:41 am

Taking down the minarets

 Crazy, history, news, politics, religion  4 Responses »
Jan 262013
 

It turns out that a common activity in the Syrian civil war is the intentional destruction of The Other Guy’s minarets. A collection of videos here:

New national sport in Syria- Take down the Minaret.

Go ahead and guess what the almost universal chant is while they’re blowing up each other’s houses of worship. Go ahead, guess. I dare you.

It seems all terribly silly to me

 Posted by at 3:44 am

Know Your Meme: Troll Science

 AARRRGH, Crazy, dumbassery, humor, science, youtube  No Responses »
Jan 252013
 

This covers a series of online cartoons showing “troll science,” where crudely scribbled images propose experiments that are wildly unscientific. The sad thing is, there’s nothing intentionally stupid enough there that *someone* wouldn’t think it was a worthwhile idea to study, or perhaps believe that The Conspiracy is withholding from public knowledge.

[youtube bt3i63mR5o4]

But then, sometimes Troll Science actually works:

[youtube uKXMTzMQWjo]

 Posted by at 1:00 pm
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