Gold nugget found near Ballarat
Not news: a feller in Australia uses a metal detector to find a gold nugget.
News: the nugget weighs 177 ounces.
Jan 172013
Jan 172013
[youtube uRfOsl0nSnc]
Jan 162013
I’ve thought the White House petition thing was silly from the get-go. But the timing on this makes me wonder if someone at the White House just doesn’t want to deal with it anymore.
Why We’re Raising the Signature Threshold for We the People
In short, yesterday the administration raised the threshold from 25,000 to 100,000 for the number of signers a petition would have before the President would deign to respond. Why yesterday? Hmmm…
A few moments ago:
However, this one got grandfathered in…
Starting today, as we move into a second term, petitions must receive 100,000 signatures in 30 days in order to receive an official response from the Obama Administration. This new threshold applies only to petitions created from this point forward and is not retroactively applied to ones that already exist.
I look forward to whatever bland non-responsive response they come up with for this. Given how relatively few petitions make it to 25K, I doubt many will make it to 100k.
Jan 162013
Rep. Israel to Introduce Legislation to Prohibit 3-D Printed High-Capacity Magazines Along with Plastic Guns
Washington, D.C.— Today, Congressman Steve Israel (D-Huntington [New York]) called for a renewal of a revamped Undetectable Firearms Act that includes the ban of 3-D printed, plastic high-capacity magazines. The existing ban on plastic guns expires this year and does not clearly cover magazines. This past weekend, Defense Distributed, a group of homemade gun enthusiasts used a 3-D printer to print and test an ammunition magazine for an AR semi-automatic rifle, loading and firing 86 rounds from the 30-round clip.
The only way to control this would be to control 3D printers… and to control the Internet. Hang on to your shorts, kiddies…
Jan 162013
OK, plastic.
Jan 162013
Primary amoebic meningoencephalitis
In short: an amoebic infection of the olfactory nerves that eventually eats your brain. You catch it by inhaling water up through your nose. The entertaining thing is: almost *any* water, anywhere on Earth, including American tap water (watch out, users of “Neti pots”). Your chances of surviving: 3%.
Jan 162013
Obama signed 23 executive orders today. Various news sources have reported that fact, but don’t generally seem too interested in describing those orders. Most seem to be pretty meaningless political theater. (NOTE: a few could, with some minimal effort, be problematic… #4, #7, #15)
Here’s the list:
1. Issue a Presidential Memorandum to require federal agencies to make relevant data available to the federal background check system.
2. Address unnecessary legal barriers, particularly relating to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, that may prevent states from making information available to the background check system.
3. Improve incentives for states to share information with the background check system.
4. Direct the Attorney General to review categories of individuals prohibited from having a gun to make sure dangerous people are not slipping through the cracks.
5. Propose rulemaking to give law enforcement the ability to run a full background check on an individual before returning a seized gun.
6. Publish a letter from ATF to federally licensed gun dealers providing guidance on how to run background checks for private sellers.
7. Launch a national safe and responsible gun ownership campaign.
8. Review safety standards for gun locks and gun safes (Consumer Product Safety Commission).
9. Issue a Presidential Memorandum to require federal law enforcement to trace guns recovered in criminal investigations.
10. Release a DOJ report analyzing information on lost and stolen guns and make it widely available to law enforcement.
11. Nominate an ATF director.
12. Provide law enforcement, first responders, and school officials with proper training for active shooter situations.
13. Maximize enforcement efforts to prevent gun violence and prosecute gun crime.
14. Issue a Presidential Memorandum directing the Centers for Disease Control to research the causes and prevention of gun violence.
15. Direct the Attorney General to issue a report on the availability and most effective use of new gun safety technologies and challenge the private sector to develop innovative technologies.
16. Clarify that the Affordable Care Act does not prohibit doctors asking their patients about guns in their homes.
17. Release a letter to health care providers clarifying that no federal law prohibits them from reporting threats of violence to law enforcement authorities.
18. Provide incentives for schools to hire school resource officers.
19. Develop model emergency response plans for schools, houses of worship and institutions of higher education.
20. Release a letter to state health officials clarifying the scope of mental health services that Medicaid plans must cover.
21. Finalize regulations clarifying essential health benefits and parity requirements within ACA exchanges.
22. Commit to finalizing mental health parity regulations.
23. Launch a national dialogue led by Secretaries Sebelius and Duncan on mental health.
Jan 162013
The Saturn V’s S-II stage was equipped with ullage rockets near the bottom and retrorockets neat the top.
After separation from the S-IC stage (aided by the S-IC retro rockets), four ullage rockets would fire to provide some slight forward acceleration for the S-II stage, allowing the liquid propellants to settle into the bottoms of their tanks. The ullage rockets were located on the interstage between the S-IC and the S-II, which remained temporarily attached to the S-II. When the J-2 engines fired, linear shaped charges would sever the connections between the interstage and the S-II. The combination of forward acceleration produced by the J-2’s and the rocket plumes impinging on the interstage assured separation.
The ullage motors each had 336 pounds of solid propellant and produced 22,700 pounds of thrust for 3.7 seconds.
At the forward end of the S-II stage was the conical interstage connecting to the S-IVb stage. After S-II burnout, the interstage would be severed at the base of the S-IVb, and would remain attached to the S-II. For retrorockets assured that the S-II would move backwards relative to the S-IVb. Each rocket had 268.2 pounds of solid propellant and produced 34,810 pounds of thrust for 1.52 seconds.
Jan 162013
Citizens Against Senseless Violence tries to get members of the media (and Eric Holder) to proudly proclaim that their homes are gun-free zones. Guess how it went.
[youtube wt1Zy_ASNyA]
Jan 152013
A computer rendered side view of the MPCV (Multi Purpose Crew Vehicle), showing the abort tower and surprisingly voluminous boost protective cover over the capsule.
