Nov 032015
 

Liveleak has posted a video that is *claimed* to be of  failed suicide bomber in Yemen. The story is said to be that the feller was riding a motorbike and wearing an explosive belt, heading towards some target or other, but it went off early, blowing him in half. So what we’ve got here laying in the street is the guys upper torso, head, left arm and upper right arm; legs, lower torso and right hand are apparently elsewhere. What’s kinda twitch-makin’ is that he seems to be still alive. There is remarkably little blood… you’d expect it to be dumping out of him. But *perhaps* when he separated the great bulk of his blood was promptly jettisoned and is elsewhere. How he can still be even *kinda* alive is beyond me, unless what’s seen here as signs of life – head moving and such – are just nerves twitching, post mortem.

Anyway, embedding the video here in the open seems like maybe not the best for this here Disney-level family-friendly fricken’ blog.  So ifn’ ya want to see what happens when you don’t bring enough bomb, check out the link.

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=fe7_1446541290

The video leaves on a cliffhanger. Did he survive? Did he learn to walk again? Will his legs vote in the next Democratic primary in Chicago? Will Lance Henrickson portray him in the movie?

 Posted by at 10:09 am
Nov 032015
 

Recently the news media has been ulcerating over a “school resource officer” pitching some kid across the floor. Now why would people who work in schools possibly be so twitchy that they would resort to such violent means, as opposed to simply shrink-wrapping the student into her chair and dragging her out to the front to to await pickup by her parents? Hmmm. Let me think.

Note: Not Safe For Work language. Not Safe For Your Hope For The Future behavior.

School isn’t for everyone, such as many of the participants shown here. This was apparently shot in 2011, so I’d assume that the bureaucracy went ahead and rubber stamped some diplomas for these rambunctious lil’ tykes, but in a better world they would be expelled and barred from the public school system for at least a year. Anyone looking to hire them would automatically (somehow) be presented with this video and any other documentation so that they would essentially be barred from any but the lowliest forms of employment; they would also be barred from receiving any form of government assistance.

The preferred end result is deportation. A yearly shipment of the ill-behaved such as these to, say, Damascus would seem a good way to go.

 Posted by at 9:28 am
Nov 032015
 

The US has been a successful “melting pot” of immigrants because for most of its history it has been able to assimilate immigrants. For the most part, even large waves of immigrants have been only a small fraction of the total populations of communities they’ve settled in.

But Europe is trying a different approach…

They’re here! First of 750 migrants arrive in tiny German village with a population of just 102 (including a neo-Nazi councillor) bracing itself for 700 PER CENT population hike

Yeah, that sounds like a good idea. *Instantly* outnumber the locals with a mass of people from not only a different culture, but an *antagonistic* culture. Possible explanations:

  1. Bureaucratic incompetence, whoever decided to do this didn’t really think through the possible consequences
  2. Left-wing aggression: whoever decided to do this thinks that German culture is evil, excessively white, privileged, blah, blah, blah, and deserves to be taken down a peg
  3. Right-wing aggression: whoever decided to do this is playing a complicated game… knowing that dumping a whole lot of “refugees” into a small village will lead to strife and perhaps outright violence, hoping that said violence will lead to a propaganda victory and/or an all-out rebellion by the German people against this refugee colonization

Personally, I’d lay odds on #1. Never attribute super villainy to events that can be equally explained via incompetence or stupidity.

 Posted by at 9:04 am
Nov 022015
 

Here’s an ad from the Feb 9, 1959 issue of “Missiles & Rockets.” It is for the “Astromatic Panel” concept, a missile launch display and control board system. Sure, it was probably little more than a metal panel with some lightbulbs, colors glass bits and an old-school mechanical numerical counter. But dayam, it sure looks like it’d fit in on a Star Trek: The Next Generation instrument panel, or on a modern tablet.

missilesrockets5195unse_0_0323

missilesrockets5195unse_0_0324

 

 Posted by at 8:21 pm
Nov 022015
 

Virtually no useful data about it except:

Alex Kurtzman is attached to the new series, which will premiere in January 2017 on CBS before new episodes debut on its digital and VOD platform.

Apart from the premiere, this series apparently won’t be on TV, but rather an online subscription service. Meh. No data on whether this will be set in the “TNG” universe or the “reboot” universe.

New ‘Star Trek’ TV Series a Go at CBS All Access

 Posted by at 12:56 pm
Nov 012015
 

So far no luck on finding a new home for Bruce. So he remains in his own room in the basement… not the best of all possible solutions, but given that he seems to have a transmittable fatal virus, it’s the best I can do in a house with other cats.

He remains a friendly cat. Oddly, it seems he only eats when I visit him… after hours away from him, when I pay him a visit he promptly attacks the food bowl, which appears to have been untouched since the previous visit. I don’t know why that would be. Fortunately I visit him often… I’ve moved one of my work computers downstairs. Having a cat crawl all over you doesn’t really boost productivity, but…

He’s very sensitive about his right hind leg, especially in the area of the knee. That’ll bear some paying attention to.

 

WP_20151031_013 WP_20151101_036 WP_20151101_039  WP_20151031_014 WP_20151031_018

He is oddly civilized when it comes to taking treats.

WP_20151101_009 WP_20151101_007

 Posted by at 6:47 pm
Nov 012015
 

A General Dynamics magazine  (“Missiles & Rockets,” to be exact) ad for the Atlas missile, from 1959. This sort of thing can really only be assumed to be public relations… you’re certainly not going to sell an ICBM to Joe Schmoe, and anyone in a position to actually procure an ICBM is certainly already aware of the Atlas.

However: the idea wasn’t to actually directly convince people to buy the Atlas, but instead to just keep a positive image of the Atlas in the eye of the public. In this case, the “public” would be the kind of people who would read M&R magazine… aerospace workers and military men.

missilesrockets5195unse_1_0418

 Posted by at 2:26 pm