Apr 132018
 

Every year or two, some jackhole pops up with a claim that that Earth is about to get either a close pass or an impact by the planet Nibiru.And every time lo and behold… no Nibiru. Mostly this is because Nibiru and it’s threatening orbit are nonsense, invented and propagated by crackpots and charlatans and hoaxers.

And now that thins in the world are getting, seemingly, increasingly nutty and fearful-making… oh, goody, here Nibiru comes again to lower our collective IQ. This time it’s associated with Christian numerology and Rapture-prediction, something that worked out so spectacularly for  Harold Camping.

No, the Rapture Isn’t Coming on April 23 Because of Nibiru (Which Doesn’t Exist)

You’d *think* that such a specific claim, so often made, so often proved false, would eventually disappear. But there’s something about the concept of Nibiru that seems to appeal to whackos.

 Posted by at 6:03 pm
Apr 132018
 

I hate to be “that  guy,” but Millenials… get it together, kids. You’re looking bad.

Holocaust Knowledge and Awareness Study

41% of Millennials believe that fewer than 2 million Jews were murdered in the Holocaust.

22% of Millennials haven’t heard of the Holocaust or unsure if they have

66% of Millenials don’t even know that Auschwitz was a death camp.

Sadly, I can’t say that the rest of the public is vastly better off, but the Millennials are distinctly worse. And then there’s this:

People should be allowed to use Nazi slogans or symbols: 15%

This is perhaps the worst example of ignorance of the bunch. Sure, the Nazis were scumbags and if you’re proudly waving a swastika because you think Hitler was Da Bomb, you’re a dumbass. But this is America, gottverdammt, and you’re allowed to wave around any Blödmann symbols you like… swastika, hammer & sickle, Little Red Book, Planned Parenthood logo, Confederate flag, what-the-frak-ever. This survey indicates that 85% of respondents have no idea what the 1st Amendment, not to mention common sense, is actually about.

But wait! There’s more!

Just 66% of millennials firmly believe that the earth is round

Ugh.

It’s easy to blame this level of Earth-shattering dumbth on the Millennials. But let’s face it: kids know what they’re taught. We olds of the world have clearly failed them in the teaching department. Soon these ill-educated younglings will be voting. Imagine the world they’ll create, one based on “feelings” and ignorance. Gah.

 

 Posted by at 1:29 am
Apr 122018
 

This music video by Nigel Stanford takes vintage NASA and military footage, does some clever and effective computer tinkerage, and produces something entirely new. And it mostly works really, really well. I think I’d almost like to see this given a full movie treatment. And as this video shows, it need not be all that expensive. Does it make a whole lot of sense? Well… no, not really. But as “2001” showed, a good sci-fi movie doesn’t really need to, so long as it’s compelling.

 

 Posted by at 1:00 pm
Apr 112018
 

Some old-school animation showing the AH-56 as a recon and targeting vehicle being used in Someplace Much Like Viet Nam. If you’re at all like me, you’ll watch this and think, “I don’t recall this episode of Jonny Quest.”

 

 Posted by at 2:11 pm
Apr 102018
 

I’ve never gotten into the Gerry Anderson puppet shows (probably just weren’t shown in my area when I was a kid), but I do know that a lot of people are quite fond of them. And I do *kinda* get it… in the era before computer graphics made filling the screen with spaceships of wildly varying designs easy and cheap, Andersons shows were the only ones that featured a whole bunch of different designs. Other shows like Star trek you had pretty much just the one ship, and that was mostly stock footage used over and over. And it seems to me that the most popular of the Anderson ships would be either the Eagle from “Space: 1999” or the Thunderbird 2 from “Thunderbirds Are Go.” And if you want a bignormous T2, well, crack open your bank account, here it comes.

Thunderbird 2 | 1:144 Scale

This is a model kit, but it’s not one you get all at once.Instead it’s a subscription kit, paid for and shipped a bit at a time. There are two options available, 12 month and 24 month; it’s a little unclear, but I *assume* that with the 12 month option each month you get twice as much stuff as you’d get per month in the 24 month option. And in the end, you get this:

The thing is freakin’ GIGANTIC:

And it’s spendy as heck. For the 12-month option, it’s £79.99 per month, or £959.88 total. .. about $1,400 at current exchange rates.

Umm.

Seems like a slightly more affordable option would be this 1/350 scale conventional model kit, a steal at forty bucks:

 

But hey. If’n ya want a gigantic Thunderbird 2, let it never be said I didn’t point one out to you.

 Posted by at 2:52 pm
Apr 102018
 

… how terrified the Mayor of London would be if he saw *me* walking down his street:

And as part of The Dark Lord High Baron Mayor of Londons effort to clean the streets of dangerous weapons, they got these:

Scissors? A file? Pliers? Really? REALLY? I carry a multitool at all times. I carry a modest pocketknife at all times. And when I go for a walk, I take a walking stick (friggen knees… bah) that I made from a garden tool handle and a hammer. And sometimes I carry concealed. Why? because I want to, that’s why, and that’s all the reason any free man needs to do anything that neither picks another mans pocket nor breaks his leg. So what is it that they have on the streets of London if not free men?

 

 

 

 Posted by at 1:45 pm
Apr 102018
 

From University of California San Diego Center for Faculty Diversity and Inclusion:

Contributions to Diversity Statements

Regardless of personal demographic characteristics, UC San Diego has a strong interest in ensuring that all candidates hired for faculty appointments share our commitment to excellence, access, and Principles of Community.

All candidates applying for faculty appointments at UC San Diego are required to submit a personal statement on their contributions to diversity. The purpose of the statement is to identify candidates who have the professional skills, experience, and/or willingness to engage in activities that will advance our campus diversity and equity goals.

In accordance with APM 210-1-d, “these contributions to diversity and equal opportunity can take a variety of forms including efforts to advance equitable access to education, public service that addresses the needs of California’s diverse population, or research in a scholar’s area of expertise that highlights inequalities.”

Departments and search committees should consider a candidate’s statement as part of a comprehensive and transparent evaluation of their qualifications. For additional guidance on how to evaluate Contributions to Diversity, please contact your School’s or Division’s Equity Advisor.

Guidelines for Writing Statements

The Contributions to Diversity Statement should describe your past efforts, as well as future plans to advance diversity, equity and inclusion. It should demonstrate an understanding of the barriers facing women and underrepresented minorities and of UC San Diego’s mission to meet the educational needs of our diverse student population. See guidelines for applicants writing statements>>

Neato.

One might think that this is insane. But then, please note the big background image that UCSD puts on their main webpage, http://www.ucsd.edu/. One can interpret this as either an admission that if you go to UCSD you will become a victim of tentacle, umm, assault, or as UCSD is a hotbed of intrusions into our domain of the Great Old Ones. Either way, insanity is to be expected.

Looking at the UCSD webpage for their graduate studies, they have such topics as Chemical Engineering, Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Materials Science, Mathematics, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Nanoengineering and Wireless Embedded Systems. I am desperately intrigued to read the loyalty oaths from the instructors here, explaining how a scholar in the field of nanoengineering or mathematics has relevant research into the area of “inequalities.” I can actually kinda see how a bunch of smartass math instructors might pull this off, with multi-page rambling and unreadable discourses on the troubles of dealing with 2+2 not equaling 5. But somehow I have the suspicion that the authoritarian assassins of joy who are behind the demands for these loyalty oaths won’t have much of a sense of humor.

 Posted by at 1:02 am