Is this murder?

 Hmm..., news, ಠ_ಠ  No Responses »
Sep 262018
 

This was on the local news last night:

Family mourns man who died of heart attack after reporting his trailer had been stolen

In short, a guy owned a mobile repair business, and to that end had a trailer full of tools. This was his livelihood, and then some Think Globally Act Locally Socialist absconded with it. Understandably, losing his means of providing for his family caused the man to panic, and shortly after he had a heart attack and died.This would seem to indicate an underlying health issue,  but still, it seems to me that the mans death was directly attributable to the theft of his business. So… are the thieves on the hook for murder, or at least manslaughter?

 Posted by at 1:48 pm

Modern Star Trek: Assassin of Joy

 AARRRGH, art, Crazy, Gah., news, science fiction, youtube, ಠ_ಠ  No Responses »
Sep 262018
 

The geniuses who run Star Trek these days continue to impress.

Cease and desist forces impressive fan recreation of the Enterprise from Star Trek: The Next Generation to self destruct

In short: some fans made a virtual Enterprise that you could explore (and they did not do it for profit)… and CBS decided to crush them underfoot.

 

When I was a kid, the closest I could dare dream of something like this was to take the “booklet of general plans” or the FASA deck plans of the original Enterprise and *imagine* what it would be like to wander around the ship. Fourteen-year-old-me would have been astonished at what really-old-me would have seen… and  fourteen-year-old-me would have had his tiny little dreams crushed much earlier had he known the power of the lawyers.

UPDATE: Doomcock is a little upset by this…

 Posted by at 9:12 am

Looking in on the Burevestnik

 Hmm..., news, nukes, photography, politics, russian empire, weapons, wisdom  No Responses »
Sep 262018
 

Russia’s Nuclear Cruise Missile Is Struggling To Take Off, Imagery Suggests

Satellite imagery shows that the Russians seem to be packing up and going home, abandoning the”nuclear powered cruise missile” test site. The article suggests that this is because the missile isn’t working. Other explanations include that the Russians are simply testing elsewhere. In any event, some interesting photos here.

 Posted by at 12:05 am

The Age of Trolling

 Crazy, Forward!, Hmm..., news, politics, ಠ_ಠ  No Responses »
Sep 252018
 

It’s hardly news that trolling is  in these days. But the rumor floating around is that there may have been some *masterful* trolling regarding the Kavenaugh confirmation… that one of the supposed accusers being promoted by anti-Trump lawyer Michael Avenetti was a troll from 4chan, and that’s why Avenetti’s twitter has been locked down.

Can this troll-theory be proven? Nope, not at this time. But then, neither can 35-year-old accusations of improper behavior that nobody but the accuser saw. Note: distinctly NSFW language in the screenshot from 4chan.

I personally wouldn’t trust *anything* from 4chan. But then, I wouldn’t trust anything from political operatives and publicity-hounds, either… but *those* schmucks can shape the future and trash careers and families with just a sentence or two.

So I guess it may come down to – what’s more likely: that a guy that everyone who verifiably knows him claims is a decent feller behaved in a distinctly non-decent fashion multiple times, or that trolls who everyone knows love to troll did some trolling?

As previously noted, we now live in a world where accusation = conviction, that it is up to the accused to prove their innocence. So… does this also apply to random claims on the internet? If so…

 

 

 

 Posted by at 1:36 pm

Lockheed L-2000 Mockup

 art, history, Patreon, projects  No Responses »
Sep 252018
 

The Lockheed L-2000 was a Mach 3 SST designed to compete against the Boeing 2707 in the mid 1960’s. It was an elegant and classy looking design, but was passed over by the US Government in favor of the Boeing design. Lockheed built a full scale and reasonably convincing mockup of the craft, using it for both study and PR purposes.

The L-2000 looked like nothing quite so much as a cross between the Concorde and the SR-71.

A full rez scan of the 8X10 glossy has been uploaded to the 2018-09 APR Extras folder on Dropbox for APR Patreon patrons at the $4 level and above. If this sort of thing is of interest, please consider signing up for the APR Patreon.

patreon-200

 

 Posted by at 12:25 pm

This is underwhelming news…

 AARRRGH, Crazy, dumbassery, Gah., Hmm..., news, politics, ಠ_ಠ  No Responses »
Sep 252018
 

FBI data on clearance rates for crimes (i.e. crimes that are officially solved):

Basically, if you murder someone you have a better than one in three shot of getting away with it. If you rape someone, two times out of three you’ll get away with it. And property crimes? Your chances are really quite good.

Sure, things might not be quite so bad because undoubtedly a lot of these crimes are committed by the same criminals, so if they get arrested for one thing, you’re getting the criminal responsible for several crimes off the street, at least for a little while. Still, imagine if all crimes were (somehow) solved… the prisons would be packed to overflowing. Of course, that “somehow”hypothetical would involve a whole lot of changes to the nature of reality, so perhaps there’d be less of “imprisonment” and more of “flinging them into the ocean with a big-ass trebuchet.”

 Posted by at 12:58 am

The sky returns

 awesomeness, photography, Utah  No Responses »
Sep 242018
 

After a summer sky filled with smoke, dust and ash, in the last month or so the air has started to clear. Not all at once, and not completely, but at least the sky is usually *blue,* which for much of the summer it was not. below are some camera phone photos that aren’t half bad…

Continue reading »

 Posted by at 8:51 am

Fontus: belly-up

 Crazy, dumbassery, Forward!, Meh., news, science, science fiction, youtube, ಠ_ಠ  No Responses »
Sep 232018
 

I’m shocked, SHOCKED that a business built on… well, not so much “violating the laws of physics,” as “ignoring the laws of physics, ” has gone bankrupt.

Thunderf00t has, unsurprisingly, posted a video appropriately mocking Fontus. But of perhaps greater import are the *many* clips in here from other companies, researchers, engineers and students who have somehow dreamed up the exact same idea of using a dehumidifier to make “free water from air.” A common feature of these concepts seems to be that they will Save The World and Save The Poor People.  And when it comes to saving the planet and the downtrodden, a lot of people do seem to lose any sense of rationality. As well as their investment. So, if you want to turn a million dollars into an empty bank account, go ahead and invest in these “water-from-air”systems. Or, better yet, send it to me. i can assure you that simply giving me money to spend however the frak I wish will be a better investment for you than something like Fontus.

 Posted by at 11:07 pm

How to explain this?

 cats, Crazy, critters, Hmm...  No Responses »
Sep 232018
 

Nothing immediately comes to mind to explain why there are apparently such high differences in pet ownership rates between various American ethnic groups. It can’t really come down to socioeconomic status… even Cletus the Slack Jawed Yokel had himself a smell hound.

Dog or cat ownership rates in households by race/ethnicity in the United States in 2011

Black : 22%

Asian: 27%

Hispanic: 40%

White non-Hispanic: 61%

Me, I can’t imagine not having pets. To the point that I don’t think any properly designed space station doesn’t have proper litter facilities for the station cats.

 Posted by at 6:03 pm
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