HOMEOWNERS must let council inspectors in to check for DANCING BEARS

 news, politics  1 Response »
Jul 212008
 

Britain continues it’s slide into totalitarianism-with-a -smile.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article1448292.ece

Armies of clipboard-touting officials can demand entry to check on everything from pot plants to fridges.

Details of the vast array of laws were quietly slipped out to MPs last Tuesday by the Home Office.

The list includes 430 new powers of entry brought in by Labour ministers – a year after a report said there were only 266.

The checks include whether POT PLANTS have pests or imported “passport” documents, or if HYPNOTISM is being practised illegally.

Inspectors can demand to know if homeowners are keeping RABBITS.

Brits must also reveal if their HEDGE is too high under the AntiSocial Behaviour Act, and whether their FRIDGE has the correct EU energy rating under little-known Energy Information Household Refrigerators and Freezers Regulations 2004.

Bureaucrats can also make a sweep for WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION.

 

Lest you think this is exaggeration, check out the official Home Office Police website on this for a 1 megabyte, 61-page PDF file listing all the spiffy “Powers of entry.”

 

 Posted by at 11:22 am

This could prove entertaining…

 news, politics  2 Responses »
Jul 202008
 

It won’t get much mainstream press coverage in the US, though.

http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/2008/07/atlas-exclusive.html

In short, Barack Obama’s birth certificate as shown on the screamingly Left-wing “Daily Kos” echo chamber is a forgery. And apparently not even a very good one.

Why is this important? Who cares? Well… to be a President of the US, you need to be a “natural born citizen.” While this is a slippery concept that was not nailed down in an entirely clear fashion in the Constitution, US Code Title 8, Chapter 12, Subchapter III, Part I, 1408 lays out what is meant by a natural born citizen. There is a fairly long list of options. However, there one of stunning relevance here:

 (g) a person born outside the geographical limits of the United States and its outlying possessions of parents one of whom is an alien, and the other a citizen of the United States who, prior to the birth of such person, was physically present in the United States or its outlying possessions for a period or periods totaling not less than five years, at least two of which were after attaining the age of fourteen years

His father was a Kenyan, thus an “alien;” and his mother, who was 18 at the time of his birth, had only spent the previous 2 years actually residing in the US. Now if Obama was born on US territory to a US citizen, he’s eligible. But if he was born outside the US, then, due to the fact that his mother had not lived the requisite five years in the US… he’s not eligible.

 Posted by at 7:54 pm

Commenting vs. Spam

 blather, politics  No Responses »
Jul 202008
 

I recently got an email from a commenter on the blog, claiming that I was deleting his posts that had links to other sources of aircraft info in them. This caught me by surprise as I’ve done nothing of the kind. However, I decided to look into it. Finally figured out the issue: this is a “WordPress” blog, using the WordPress software, including WordPress plugions such as “Askimet.”  What Askimet does is look at each incoming comment and determine whether of not it’s spam. If it determines it’s *not* spam, the message is either:

A) Sent to moderation, for me to look at and decide for myself whether or not it’s spam

or

B) Sent straight on to the blog, if I have previously approved comments from that sender

But if it does determine that the message is spam, it sends it to a separate folder for 15 days. Since I was getting bombarded with spam comments (most of which were pure gibberish, I’m not even sure what the point of ’em is), I fired up Askimet, and thought no more of it. After the complaint, I hunted down the 15-day spam folder and found that, indeed, there were a few non-spam comments in there. A common link seemed to be comments that had links to outside resources in them; Askimet just seems to automatically assume that these comments are spam, and shunted them to the round file.

So if you’ve posted a comment and you don’t see it… it’s possible that Askimet thought it was spam, and I didn’t even see it. If you have an issue with this… send me an email pointing it out, I’ll take a look.

One thing that won’t endear you to me: stamping your feet, claiming that I’m treating you poorly and that you’ll post here no more. Guess what: I won’t care too much.  Something that far too few people do these days is think before they act; too few put reason and rationality ahead of feelings. Thus we get Obama as a credible Presidential candidate.

 Posted by at 7:31 pm

Early Boeing Dyna Soar booster

 aircraft, models, projects, spacecraft  3 Responses »
Jul 202008
 

A photo from the Boeing archives showing a booster for their first Dyna Soar proposal. With a lifting vehicle on the front of the booster, some serious pitch control would be needed (to overcome the lift generated by the spaceplanes wings), but I think this was just a tad excessive…

image16.jpg

 Posted by at 4:49 pm

Rhino day 4

 aircraft, models, projects  No Responses »
Jul 202008
 

Now with canopy, inlet and exhaust. The exhaust is a whole lot of guesswork… the available drawings just don’t show it very well. The inlet is seriously flawed…. but it’s the sort of flaw that could be fixed in ten minutes with a file and sandpaper. And yes, the canopy is not symetrical. The window on the starboard side went down further.
image1c.jpg  image2c.jpg  image3c.jpg

 Posted by at 4:45 pm

Rhino day three

 aircraft, models, projects  No Responses »
Jul 192008
 

Third day of tinkering with Rhino 3D and the Rockwell Stealth has seen some major improvement to the forward fuselage outer mold lines. Still not perfect, but for the moment good enough. This is now a fully-solid model… so it’s on to making the details.

image4b.jpg image5b.jpgimage6b.jpg

 Posted by at 8:28 pm

Vought ADAM

 aircraft, models, projects  2 Responses »
Jul 192008
 

A photograph taken in the 1960’s showing a Vought ADAM (Air Deflection and Modulation) VTOL fighter concept display model. ADAM used engines in the wings with thrust deflection to achieve VTOL performance.

Scan made from a slide. No further information on this particular design concept.

adam.jpg

 Posted by at 11:53 am

Siblings

 blather, cats, humor, photography  1 Response »
Jul 192008
 

I’m pretty sure that Raedthinn and Fingers here are siblings. Raedthinn looks a lot like the cat I know to be Fingers’ mother, for instance. However, the difference is size is astounding… a function, no doubt, of Raedthinn living indoors and eating well, and Fingers being an outdoor farmcat.

Never having had any siblings, all I know of the interactions between them is what I’ve seen in other families. Seems to go somewhat like this:

Stage 1: Proximity and ignoring each other.

img_0857a.jpg

Stage 2: Noticing each other

img_0859a.jpg

Stage three: expressing familial affection (which for cats is done by licking heads and purring loudly)

img_0860a.jpg img_0861a.jpg img_0867a.jpg

Stage four: starting to push it a little too far:

img_0869a.jpg

Stage five: pushing it too far, becoming overbearing

img_0870a.jpg

Stage six: a calm, rational discussion of why becoming too overbearing is not acceptable

img_0871a.jpg

 Posted by at 10:55 am

Oh Boy! I am soon to be fabulously wealthy!!!!

 blather  1 Response »
Jul 192008
 

I just got this email. Gosh, here’s my chance, at long last!

From: Mrs. Stella Davidson
#63 Republican Road
Sandton City, Jhb.
South Africa.
Tel: +27 83 964 3540
Fax: +27 86 610 0865

This Email is for your kind / sincere attention:

With a warm heart I offer my friendship and my greetings to you, I hope this email letter meets you in good time. It will be surprising to you to receive this proposal from me since you do not know me personally.  However, I am sincerely seeking your confidence in this transaction, which I propose with a free mind and as a person of integrity. I am Mrs. Stella Davidson, a native of Kwazulu-Natal province in the Republic of South Africa, and presently one of the Directors with the department of Minerals and Energy (contract award committee).

I only got your contact details from the South African Exchange Information On-line Service on my personal Programmed search on the Internet for a reputable company or individual to assist me and my colleague sincerely & confidentially. Your information & profiles were very satisfactory, so I decided to contact you immediately.
PURPOSE: I am humbly seeking for your assistance in the transfer of US$9,600,000.00 (Nine Million Six Hundred Thousand United States Dollars) to your foreign account for the purpose of Investment with benefits.. Hence I urgently request for your assistance.

SOURCE OF FUNDS: This amount to be transferred to your account came from an over-invoiced contract for the refurbishment of Mines and Supplies in Kruggerdorp Gold Mine sector in the year 2005 by the Expatriate Company of Late Mr. Simon Anderson Inc (DECEASED). The contract which was originally valued for thirty two Million United States Dollars but was manipulated to read Forty one Million six Hundred Thousand United States Dollars, this extra /Surplus / Over-invoiced amount of Nine Million Six Hundred Thousand United States Dollars (US$9,600,000.00) is what I want to transfer into your account. This contract has since been executed in year 2005 and the contractors have been paid all their contract bills remaining the over-invoice amount of Nine Million six Hundred Thousand United States Dollars which I want to transfer.
3. REQUIREMENT: What I expect from you in your reply are the following so that we can proceed if you are interested to do this business with me and my partner:

(i) Your direct telephone and fax number.
(ii). your personal company contact/ Work profile
4. DISBURSEMENT: I have resolved that you take 30% of the total amount for your involvement, 70% for me and my partner.
5. SECURITY: All modalities for the transfer of these funds have been put in place and I have to use this opportunity to assure you that the transfer process is a 100% risk free and as such you should open up your mind with sincere dedication to work with me and my partner.
6. FINALLY: The other point to note is that the nature of your work or business does not or will not affect or hinder the outcome of this transaction. We also believe that you will not let us down but have the interests of all at heart and most importantly avoid any thing that will jeopardize our relationship with you in this discreet transaction for security reasons.
Please reply to my partner email account, call him or fax us as shown above for security reasons. My partner is Mr. Paul D. Oshimiriatata.
Thanks
Mrs. Stella Davidson.

Does this still work? Who’d be stupid enough to buy in? This Internet scam was old five seconds after DARPA invented the fricken’ thing, yet not only do I still see them, I’m seeing them with increasing frequency.

 Posted by at 10:22 am
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