In a bit over 15 minutes. So: will this be the time my phone explodes? My computers crash while looking something up to answer a simple question? My tiny little mind goes into meltdown on the air? Taking all bets!
Jul 112016
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Jul 102016
From the point of view of weirdo bizarre politics, 2016 is the year that keeps on giving. Behold:
The Religious Cult Secretly Running Japan
I’d suggest that “Secretly” is not terribly accurate, since they seem to be pretty open about it. Specifically, Nippon Kaigi, a Shinto group that wants to restore Japan militarily and culturally to what it was prior to getting spanked in WWII, is a group that includes such government types as the current Prime Minister and many in his cabinet. Military adventurism, elimination of women’s rights, expulsion of foreigners, Emperor worship, all that rubbish.
This is *kinda* amusing. First part of the last century the Japanese were able to storm around east Asia because the US had, perhaps unwisely, kinda *forced* the Japanese to modernize in the late 19th century. They were burdened with a medieval culture but graced with advanced technology… while their neighbors were largely still medieval everything. But now… well, if the Japanese try that Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity schtick again, they’ll find that the Koreans and the Chinese and the Vietnamese are a little closer to them technologically.
I wonder, though, what it is about certain ideologies that continue to persist well after they got their asses well and soundly *beat.* Knuckleheads who want to worship the Emperor, or people who think the Nazis were neato-keen, or people who think Communism is the future, or people who think the South will rise again more than 150 years after the profoundly failed War of Southern Aggression… all these schmoes are worshipping at the altar of failure. They are waving loser’s flags. And yet, here we are.
Jul 102016
The mysterious syndrome impairing astronauts’ sight
Short form: zero gravity over a span of weeks or months shifts fluids up into astronauts heads, applying pressure to the back of eyeballs, trashing their vision. One astronaut went from 20/20 to 20/100. It’s not yet clear if this is temporary or permanent, but it’s moderately disastrous for long duration spaceflight such as trips to Mars.
There is, of course, a simple solution: artificial gravity. Centrifugal force will do the job. But the question is, what level of gravity is needed? If you go to 3/8 of a G, Mars gravity, will you be just fine forever, or will it just take longer? Can we get by on 1/6 G, Lunar gravity? 1/10 of G? 1/20? 1/100?
These are questions that *cannot* be answered on the ISS. We need a real space station, one that either has different rotation rates over a span or years, or multiple levels with different G-levels. This would obviously be a better setup then pure zero-g fr a “space hotel.” It’s not even remotely certain that all space tourists will be able to well tolerate or even want zero-g non-stop for the duration of their stay; a rotating station, especially one attached to a zero-g module via a rotary bearing airlock, would provide both environments within just a moments travel.
Best solution: develop some good zero-g, vacuum-capable 3D printers that can work with aluminum and steel and titanium, and send to the ISS along with a modified woodchipper. Feed the ISS into the chipper then the printer a module at a time, turning it into a properly designed station, one with inflatable modules and artificial gravity.
Jul 102016
The Star Wars theme and Imperial March played on floppy drives? Sure, why not.
Jul 102016
So how’s that Reset going?
U.S., Russia expel each other’s diplomats
Oh. That good.
Bonus round: Russian police have taken to assaulting US diplomatic personnel. Note how in Russian media it is just assumed that anyone the Russian government decides to knock around is a “CIA spy.”
Jul 092016
I bet the ship’s laundry had to put in some overtime in getting the tightywhities back into shape after this…
Jul 092016
This video by Chris Ray Gun is definitely worth a watch. He’s damn funny, and makes *full* use of all the colorful metaphors that our Germanic/Anglo Saxon heritage has gifted us… so if you watch this at work TURN IT UP.
I know a lot of people, including a good fraction of the readers of this blog, take issue with Bill Nye for his constant harping on global warming. Well, even assuming he’s dead wrong (and I don’t), he’s still a tireless advocate for science. A generation ago we had Carl Sagan who would not shut the hell up about nuclear winter, yet the brought a love of science to millions. But for every Nye or Sagan or Tyson, there will be many more in the public sphere working to denigrate science. Such as here, where Nye was on the Nightly Show, outnumbered three to one by left wingers who couldn’t care less about science, and are clearly actively opposed to it because it takes a tiny pittance of money away from their shallow useless pursuits.
Jul 092016
As before, I’ve not much opinion on Brexit. I understand why a lot of Brits might want out of the EU; it’s a bureaucratic nightmare, for starters. And there are economic reasons for staying in, though how many of these are “real” reasons and how many are “EU officials making sure to punish Britain” reasons, I don’t know. But there are some downright silly reasons given by both sides.
Some days back I heard a piece on NPR about one of the supposed down sides to Brexit: it’ll become more difficult for non-British athletes to come and play on British teams. Special reference was given to some English football teams (note: in this context, “football” refers to the specific form of sportsball also known as “soccer,” a crime against humanity that is used as a form of psychological torture against the audience. The game is so mind-snappingly dull that often the observers are driven to psychological breaks that cause them to go on rampages).
The idea seems to be that with travel restrictions in place, it will be difficult for, say, Germans to come play on an English team. While I suppose that’s probably true… it’s also true that so what? Shouldn’t an “English team” be made up of, you know, English people?
This is of course not an issue limited to denizens of the future European Caliphate, nor solely to fans of waterboarding soccer. But it seems like maybe this might be an opportunity for the Brits to actually make British sportsball teams British. Because if you are rooting for your local sporting collective, shouldn’t they actually have something to do with the local area other than drawing their paychecks from local property taxes and local ticket buyers? Imagine if the US Olympic team was composed not of the best mutants the US gene pool has to offer, but from people around the world brought on board for a payday? Would it really then be the *US* team?
Jul 092016
Close up terrible photos of Raedthinn, tongue slightly protruding. Common occurrence since his dental damage. Often it sticks out quite a bit more than this, but getting even *these* crappy shots was sheer luck. He sees a camera come out, he gets mad.
Jul 092016
Hallmark, you magnificent bastards:
Hallmark 2016 Christmas Ornament Alien Queen from Aliens Ornament
