2023 just keeps on giving: “Uranium Fire”

 AARRRGH, Crazy, Gah., news, nukes, politics, ಠ_ಠ  No Responses »
Feb 222023
 

Fire breaks out at uranium processing facility in Tennessee

A fire broke out in a ventilating hood at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge. This was apparently not that big and was put out quickly, works has resumed. But come on, like we need *more* of this sort of thing? Even if not a speck of uranium oxide got out into the world, the mere *story* will be useful: not to America or Americans, but to those who mean America ill. This sort of thing will doubtless be used by those opposed to America having nuclear weapons and nuclear power.

 Posted by at 2:56 pm

“New Illinois”

 Hmm..., news, politics  No Responses »
Feb 212023
 

Chance of success: probably zero. Chance of being a damned good idea: close to 100%.

‘New Illinois’ sets meetings to pursue forming new state

Details are few, but the idea seems to be for Illinois to secede from Cook County. Which would be *fantastic.* Either secede or kick Cook County out; either’s good. Illinois is a largely rural state absolutely dominated by a small nugget of urban blight. What the corrupt Chicago political machine wants, it gets, and damn the needs and wants of the rest of the state.

This would seem to be the website of the group:

newillinoisstate.org

I honestly just don’t see this happening; even if every single person outside of Cook County was on board with this, the existing Illinois state government wouldn’t be… and nor would the Congress of the US. So forming a whole new state by splitting up an existing one seems a non-starter. However, it might be more possible for counties or blocs of counties to split offand join other states… Iowa, Missouri, Wisconsin and so on. As far as Congress is concerned, that wouldn’t change things much… the number of Senators would remain, as would their party breakdowns; Representatives would largely remain, though many would change their state.

 Posted by at 11:00 pm

“Plainly Proper”

 books, history, politics, weapons, wisdom  No Responses »
Feb 202023
 

Huh.

The Constitutional Instructor

For the Use of Schools

By Daniel Parker · 1848

From page 155:
Article the Second . — This provision is so plainly proper that its propriety need not be argued. It will be sufficient to contrast it with the practice of despotic governments, who, while they maintain large standing armies, at all times subservient to their pleasure, will not allow arms in the hands of the common people.

 

 Posted by at 3:57 pm

Another Russian propaganda talking point goes *poof*

 dumbassery, news, politics, russian empire, ಠ_ಠ  No Responses »
Feb 182023
 

One of the lies Putin and his stooges and running dog lackeys have used to justify the invasion of Ukraine is the goal of “denazifying” the place. To help bolster their claims that the place is rife with Pure Unadulterated Evil, they have tried to associate Ukraine with every bit of nastiness on the planet hoping that something will stick. And recently they thought they’d hit upon a goldmine: a photo of a Ukrainian military commander wearing an ISIS patch. “See? The Ukrainians are working with ISIS!”

Except… no. The Ukrainian in question has been identified, found and interviewed. Turns out he has a slightly unusual hobby… he collects “trophy” patches from his allies and enemies alike and wears them. I’ve certainly heard of worse, and weirder, things for soldiers in combat zones to do. In his case, rather than wearing a necklace of dried human ears (or other conveniently pokey-outey body parts) sliced off his fallen foes, he wears their patches.

And in this case, the ISIS patch came from a Russian Wagner Group fighter.

Russia’s False ‘Proof’ of Ukrainian Troops’ ISIS Link

In the video interview, he’s shown wearing British, American and Ukrainian patches, along with patches containing Christian verses… certainly an odd thing for an “ISIS member” to wear.

So once again, the Putinists are accusing their enemies of doing exactly what *they* are doing: being in cahoots with ISIS.

I know, we’re all stunned.

 Posted by at 8:36 pm

The comments are worth it

 AARRRGH, art, Crazy, dumbassery, Gah., Meh., science fiction, youtube, ಠ_ಠ  No Responses »
Feb 182023
 

So there’s this forthcoming movie, “Space Oddity.” The premise is that a guy is selected for a one-way mission to Mars. This is not an unrealistic idea… for every colonization mission throughout history there have been people – lots of people – who went on a one-way trip. That’s how we colonized the entire planet, and that’s how we’ll colonize the entire universe. But instead of the movie being about the boldness of the mission, the braveness of the guy, the vision for the future… it seems to be about the people dragging him down, refusing to let him have his dream. Fark the future of mankind, stay down here with us in the dirt (rather literally in this case).

It’s not entirely clear how the movie will end, but the trailer seems to be one of those that lays out the entire plot. And it indicates that, gosh, love conquers all, including the urge to explore. To that I say: bah. And to my satisfaction, so do a lot of the commenters on the video.

Shymalan spoiler: the girl is from Mars. She needs to keep him on Earth so he doesn’t spread human diseases and wipe out the Mars population. She dies of a common cold in his arms and the movie ends with him packing up her coffin to bring to Mars. He’s part of a secret government organization and his mission has always been to destroy the Martians and harvest all the precious metals on their planet. It’s a horror/thriller.
Can always count on family to guilt you into following their dreams at the expense of your own.
Plot twist: he does end up going, but hits the firmament and discovers Mars is a sonoluminescent luminary body that nobody can ever get to.
man had a dream and got hallmarked

 

 

 

 

 Posted by at 2:11 pm

Books on ebay

 aircraft, art, awesomeness, books, eBay, history, projects, reshaping the world, rockets, sales & specials, science, spacecraft, weapons  No Responses »
Feb 172023
 

I have a *pile* of books to sell; the first of them are now on ebay. More will be added as I get around to it…

An Illustrated Guide to Space Warfare by David Hobbs, 1986

TC-188 Aviator’s Recognition Manual March 1977

FM-1-88 Aviator’s Recognition Manual July 1980

The Evolution of the Cruise Missile by Kenneth Werrell

FLYGPLANS-RITNINGAR 6 SWEDISH AIR FORCE

USS Iowa BB 61 Warship’s Data 3 First Edition 1986 Robert F SUMRALL

Aerofax Minigraph #14 Lockheed F-94 Starfire by Francillon & Keaveney 1986

Warplanes of the Future by Bill Gunston

“Box Kites to Bombers: The Story of the Glenn L. Martin Company”

American Secret Projects : Bombers, Attack and Anti-Submarine Aircraft 1945…

New Earths: Restructuring Earth and Other Planets by James Oberg

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Posted by at 9:14 pm

Interesting, but not immediately practical

 Hmm..., science, youtube  No Responses »
Feb 162023
 

A university in Tokyo has made a four-legged spider robot. That’s nothing too special, except that it can fly. Unfortunately, in order to fly it has to be extremely light weight, which means its joints and servos are incredibly weak. In order to walk it needs its thrusters to fly its legs from position to position.

 Posted by at 8:48 pm

Yeah, that’s contaminated

 AARRRGH, Crazy, Gah., Hmm..., news, politics, science, youtube, ಠ_ಠ  No Responses »
Feb 162023
 

The train crash in East Palestine Ohio was a toxic mess. Those claiming that everything is just fine now seem to not be entirely accurate in their assessments.

A lot of people are trying to shift blame, including (of course) blaming Trump because he cancelled regulations about adding electronic braking to trains carrying certain dangerous payloads. It’s not at all clear that that would have made the slightest difference here. Especially when you look at the video below: those tracks are so screwed up that I don’t imagine any brakes in the universe would have prevented derailing if the train went too fast. These are just awful. However, I believe the video is fairly old and from a minor rail line; it’s doubtful that a *major* rail line that would carry dangerous chemicals in large quantities would even try to run on rails like this. Nevertheless… yow.

 

 Posted by at 5:11 pm

A Satisfying Debunking

 Crazy, dumbassery, Forward!, Gah., history, Hmm..., news, politics, science, youtube, ಠ_ಠ  No Responses »
Feb 162023
 

Debunkings can be fun, once you get past the headache and heartache of having to debunk nonsense in the first place. Penn & Tellers “BS” is sadly missed here, but this video might help tide you over a bit. It has become politically fashionable in recent years to erase the actual inventors of numerous objects and ideas and replace them with people more politically expedient and useful, despite the fact that their roles in the inventions are often minimal, or misunderstood, or simply nonexistent.

The woman responsible for the original video claims to be a historian, or at least getting schooled in history. Yet her “history” is filled not just with factual inaccuracies, but easily fixable factual inaccuracies. She was either lazy or, as I think more likely, willing to dupe herself to reach a desired conclusion. Neither is a good look for a “historian.”

 

I have a particular hatred for re-writing the history of science. Science is a process; it is probably mankinds greatest invention. It has allowed us to rise up out of the muck and we’re now on the precipice of launching ourselves out into space. This will be the greatest moment in human history. But science cannot function if you are so readily willing to lie about it. If verifiable objective facts can be swept under the rug in favor of a preferred outcome, science collapses. Women like this would, given their druthers, bring about a new dark age.

 Posted by at 1:04 pm
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