Next two releases in progress. Note that one is a little different…
Dec 102014
Dec 102014
A truly gigantic RC Antononv 225 Mriya and Buran flying around in Switzerland. All goes well until the Buran is released and then… well, you see why when the 747 dropped the Enterprise, the 747 promptly dove just as fast as it could…
[youtube WRI2y0cwHd0#t=21]
Dec 102014
When a ships days are done, they’re often taken to breakers yards where they are chopped up for scrap. Often this means running them up onto the beach, as was done here in Turkey:
[youtube QYltdonj2iE]
Dec 102014
Peru riled by Greenpeace stunt at Nazca lines
Greenpissers set up some big ol’ yellow cloth letters next to one of the better known Nazca geoglyphs (the hummingbird). The problem here is that the surface is *really* fragile. The “Nazca lines” were originally made by simply scraping a thin layer of black dust off the whitish substrate; it’s easy to do, and easy to damage. The link above includes some Associated Press branded photos of the Greenpissers message, but if’n ya want an idea of what their little stunt did…
Before:
Dec 102014
Awesome Vintage Calculators
Mechanical devices of great beauty and practical function, now replaced with vastly more capable, near-infinitely cheaper electronic devices of immeasurably lower awesomeness. I actually own one of these (the “Baby Calculator”), but some of the others… yow. The one made by Müller looks like a greater masterpiece than many a painting.
Dec 092014
Incredible Movies Show Light In Slow-Motion
A little over two years ago I posted about a one *trillion* frames-per-second means of photography, but this new, somewhat slower system is actually kinda better. The earlier system took one frame at a time; in order to get a film of 100 frames, you had to repeat the experiment 100 times. That of course meant you could only get “video” of repeatable phenomena. But the new system actually does 100,000,000,000 FPS, so it can get video of non-repeating events.
Dec 092014
Because that’d be fricken’ hilarious.
CIA ‘rectal fed and watered’ at least five detainees
Expect the 6,000+ page report on CIA torture to be The Big News for the next few weeks, with American media outlets tearing the thing apart word by word looking for details. You know, just like they *didn’t* do with the less-than-half-as-long Obamacare bill…
One of the claims is that torture proved pointless for getting actionable intelligence. Quite possible… the history of torture is replete with people saying whatever they think the torturer wants to hear. But if it’s true, then it indicates that the CIA really needs to streamline the process: line up a dozen or more captives (specifically, those caught engaged in combat but not wearing a recognizable uniform, thus putting them outside the protections of the Geneva conventions), gagged, bound but with eyes and ears open. Go to #1 and ask: “Gonna tell us what we want to know?” If he says “No,” you shoot him in the gut and move on to #2, rinse and repeat. At the end you take the remains, load them onto a C-17 and drop them behind enemy lines from 45,000 feet or so. A hell of a lot simpler, fast, cheaper than years of Guantanamo.
For extra awesomeness: take Dead Surt Worshipping Jihadi, freeze him solid within a special laser guided bomb casing (with the void volume filled with frozen Pykrete), and then use said LGB as a precision, low-collateral-damage way to take out specific high-value targets.
Dec 092014
50,000 gamers sign petition for Target to withdraw The Holy Bible from stores in response to the removal of Grand Theft Auto V…except they don’t actually sell it
As stunts go, it wasn’t a bad idea… but if you’re going to demand that a company not sell X because they don’t sell Y, you’d better make sure they actually sell X. otherwise you’ll look kinda stupid.
But on the other hand…
2978 results for “bible”
If you’re a “journalist” and you’re going to report that Target doesn’t sell Bibles, maybe you aughtta check and see if they actually sell Bibles. Worse, if you’re Target, maybe you aught to know whether or not you sell Bibles afore you say you don’t.
But on the gripping hand… this is Target Australia, not Target US, so maybe AusTarget doesn’t sell Bibles. Hmmm…
Dec 092014
Surprising that it has taken this long:
Osprey Fires Guided Rockets And Missiles In New Trials
A somewhat anti-climactic video:
[youtube PHvze3_CcwU]
As shown HERE, way back in the 1980’s Bell/Boeing wanted to make an “AV-22” which would have been an attack variant of the V-22, equipped with a nose turreted 20mmGatlign gun, Sidewinders hanging off the side and Maverick missiles stored internally.
Dec 092014
Both sides in this yarn come off like petty d-bags.
The six-foot high ‘poor fence’ that keeps rent-controlled tenants penned away from rich residents at luxury New York high rise
But you know… if you want access to all the amenities available, pay the full price. People who pay for coach don’t get to whine that people in first class not only get better accommodations, they also get separated from the poors.