Two recently uploaded videos show the MD-80 and B-2 to good effect:
Oct 252015
Oct 242015
A Rockwell diagram showing the configuration of the Shuttle for ferry flight, with the aerodynamic tailcone.
Oct 242015
A three stage vehicle to transport 10 passengers to space stations and the like. I’ve recently come into possession of a whole bunch of reports on the Reusable Aerospace Passenger Transport and Reusable Orbital Transport programs; at some point these might make the makings of an APR article.
The third stage bears a vague similarity to the Boeing Dyna Soar in configuration, but is an entirely different vehicle. This concept helped set the course towards the Space Shuttle.
Oct 242015
Nope. Nothing much to look at out here in Thatcher Utah…
Oct 242015
Día de los Muertos Is Not Halloween
Where the author bemoans American’s ignorance of the south-of-the-border holiday “Dia de los Muertos,” and how in our ignorance we’re changing the meaning of it into somethign cheap and commercial.
Hey, buddy: it’s what we do.
If you import your alien holidays into the US, we will change them to suit *our* interests. Don’t like it? Stay the hell out. It’s not “cultural appropriation” for Americans to take Dia de los Muertos and turn it into an extension of Halloween; it’s a simple reaction to something funny and furrin being foisted upon us. If you don’t like it, get in line behind St. Patricks Day. Or Cinco de Mayo. Or Halloween itself. It is standard American practice to take someone else’s “sacred day” and turn it into a reason to party. But we don’t reach across the ocean to rifle through other cultures holidays for things to mock; we only do so with holidays that are brought here.
So, yeah… the Day of the Dead *is* Halloween, because we said so. It’s a day to get trashed on tequila, dress up like a blinged-out skeleton, act like a moron, tell Rebo and Zooty jokes, hang up candy skulls and comets and hope for visits from not-unattractive redheads. Don’t like it? Tough. You brought it here and dumped it in our laps… now it’s *ours.*
Oct 242015
Darth Vader replaces Lenin statue in Odessa, Ukraine
I’m at a loss to explain why there was still a statue of Lenin in Ukraine, or why it wasn’t riddled with bulletholes or melted into a puddle of slag by way of homemade thermite, but at least the Ukrainian government has passed a law banning all public displays of Soviet symbols. Many European nations have similar laws against displaying Nazi symbols, so getting rid of the symbols of an even *worse* system makes sense.
But some Ukranians decided that a better approach than tearing down the statue of Lenin was to dress it up a bit as a Dark Lord of the Sith. It’s unclear from this article whether the additions are just plastic, or whether they are more permanent. It pleases me to think that someone took a power saw and beheaded Lenin, melting the bronze down to cast, say, Darths chestplate. I suspect, though, that this is likely just plastic bits glued over the metal.
Oct 242015
Ha!
Oct 222015
More from the wonderful world of college campus thought policing:
UWM says ‘politically correct’ is no longer politically correct
Saying that something is “politically correct” is now designated a “microaggression.” Please adjust your Newspeak dictionaries accordingly.
Oct 222015
News out of Sweden:
Sword-wielding man kills 2 in Swedish school attack
No information on the attacker, who is apparently dead, shot by the cops. A few details:
This took place in the *awesomely* named town of Trollhattan.
The attacker was wearing a weird costume, leading people to think he was a cosplayer or a Halloweenie… until he started chopping at people. Costume include a Nazi-style helmet, a paintball mask, a trenchcoat, boosts and a sword. Some people seem to think he was going for “Darth Vader,” but if so he fell pretty short.
Surfing around the web, there is no data as yet on who the attacker was or why he did it. However, Commenters from around the world have concluded that it’s one of two things:
- A Muslim immigrant going all Palestinian
- An ethnic Swede going all Breivik on a school apparently loaded with immigrants
Let the ill-informed speculatin’ begin!
Here’s an article written in some weird moon-man language, complete with a photo of the attacker (he posed for photos before going bugnuts):
Hennes lärare blev attackerad av svärdmannen
If *either* of the possibilities given above – Muslim or anti-Muslim – proves to be the case, this could well be the harbinger of entertaining times to come.
Oct 212015
Fingers watching a stick. The best cat toys are generally the cheap ones.
