The LeClaire Fish-A-Pult

 blather, critters, Hmm..., photography  5 Responses »
Feb 032014
 

The fish launcher

… Where we read about a giant slingshot used to hurl dead fish into the Mississippi River for the purposes of enticing bald eagles for photographers. It’s a good idea, so long as you’re not hung up too much about keeping nature photography “pure” or some such, and don’t have a problem with feeding the wildlife (a side note: if you are opposed to feeding the wildlife because it will make them dependent upon you… are you also opposed to food stamps? Something to ponder).
Having grown up in the vicinity of LeClaire, Iowa, bald eagles are something of a common sight in winter. Hasn’t always been the case… over the decades their presence waxes and wanes. Recently they’ve been there in large numbers.
Article includes photos of the contraption. Had I built it, it would’ve looked much more like a spud gun.
 Posted by at 11:08 am

“Rocketman” bluegrass-style

 art, awesomeness, blather, humor, science fiction, youtube  9 Responses »
Feb 032014
 

Here’s the bluegrass group “Iron Horse” doing their version of Elton John’s “Rocketman:”

[youtube WdAyO1_0noM]

It’s an interesting interpretation, using cheerful space footage with the seriously depressing lyrics. Mighty Zarquon, can NOBODY come up with a pop song about space that ain’t depressing or down on space exploration?

Not terribly relevantly, how many here saw the movie “Paul” in the theaters? Of those who did, who, like me, was the only one in the audience to bust a guy laughing when they go into a country & western bar and the band (Syd Masters and the Swing Riders) was playing this:

[youtube jt92QEtLcK8]

There’s just something about  “western” and “space”…

 Posted by at 12:37 am

Time to fire up the “celebrities die in 3’s” countdown clock…

 blather, Crazy, dumbassery, Hmm..., Meh., news, science fiction  8 Responses »
Feb 022014
 

Philip Seymour Hoffman dead of apparent drug overdose

Here’s the nifty part:

A needle was in the actor’s left arm, and eight empty glassine-type bags that usually contain heroin were found in the apartment

He died with the needle In His Arm. Commitment to cause, buddy.

psh

Now, it may be that PSH is actually Dead Celeb #2:

Oscar-winning actor Maximilian Schell dies at 83

A lot of people rave about Hoffman, but I’ve never paid him much mind. The extremely few roles of his I’ve actually seen just didn’t make an impression on me. But Schell? Holy crap, dude. I saw “The Black Hole” in the theater when it came out, and even though in the decades since I can see that it was a “lesser” movie… it was a Disney flick where at the end not only does the Interesting Mad Sciency Bad Guy die… he GOES TO HELL.

That’s neat.

blackholehell

But there’s always an up side to any story…

SONY DSC

 Posted by at 7:38 pm

And they’re our… *allies*??

 AARRRGH, Crazy, Gah., I'm from the government, news, politics, ಠ_ಠ  No Responses »
Feb 022014
 

Investigation seeks answers on Fremont doctor whose clinic infected 99 people with hep C

 

Short form: in 2002, doctors in Fremont, Nebraska, started putting pieced together and realized that a whole bunch of recent Hep C cases had one thing in common: oncologist Tahir Ali Javed was the common link. So, one of his doctor friends asked him about it.  Dr. javed promised to help look into it.

Two weeks later, he hopped a plane and ran off back to his native Pakistan, never to return.

And now, he’s just been elected a public health minister in Pakistan.

The source of the hep C outbreak doesn’t seem intentional, rather the result of *incredibly* (and I’d imagine criminally) shoddy medical practices… basically sharing needles between patients. Bleah. That he ran away from what he apparently knew to be his responsibility says much about him. That the Pakis put him in charge of medical things says much about *them.* Is it “we don’t care that you’re lazy by American standards, that’s just fine here”? Or is it “you sickend and perhaps killed many Americans? Say, that’s neato!”?

 Posted by at 6:57 pm

North American D-118

 aircraft, art, projects, US Bomber Projects  7 Responses »
Feb 022014
 

A North American Aviation concept for a highly modified P-82, dating from 1949. The piston engines would be removed and replaced with Allison XT-38 turboprops. The engines would be located mid-fuselage, necessitating that the cockpit would have to be moved well forward of their normal position. The end result would be a plane that weighed the same, gave the pilots better views and went substantially faster.

This one may show up in a future issue of USBP, as the intended role was ground attack.

Scan040002

 Posted by at 6:00 pm
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