Whenever someone gets ahold of a material with odd properties, the first thing you should do with it is to shoot it.
Apr 092016
Apr 092016
Jet packs are cool, no doubt. But they’re not exactly spectacularly reliable.
Man hurt during demonstration at energy drink company Go Fast
The “man” was Nick Macomber, vice president of Jet Pack International, who fell about 10 feet onto what looks like soft, comfy asphalt.
Whoopsie.
Apr 092016
Before Mr. Pointy met Mr. Rotary Saw yesterday, I was on the road and caught site of a vehicle I’ve seen bombing around for a few years. Get a load of this beast:
I know nothing about it, other than it’s not exactly a speed demon. But if it is self-sufficient, it seems likely to be a handy device for bopping around out here in the sticks. In a major city? Not a chance. It’d get stripped for parts in about thirty seconds. And that’s before it came to a stop.
Apr 082016
Was working on a model for a client, using a dremel tool with a rotary saw to cut through some fiberglass. The axle of the saw somehow bent around and the saw bit my fargin index finger, taking a chunk off it. Boy howdy has there been a lot of blood. It’s wrapped up tight, but I’m suspecting a visit to the doc might be advisable. Maybe the vet. Probably cheaper.
Next Day UPDATE: Went to the doc.
“You need a few stitches. When did this happen?”
“About 10 hours ago.”
“Oh. Well, too late for stitches.”
So the wound was cleaned up (a process that involved scrub brushes and scissors… *finally,* some good old fashioned *pain*), disinfected, bound up like a big ol’ clown nose, got a tetanus shot, sent on my way. It didn’t look quite as bad as it did last night, but of course last night it was a blood-gusher.
Apr 082016
Not just the recent SpaceX success. The graphics below show that at least one area of society is improving.
And the all-important end result:
Apr 082016
Dogs taught how to fly a plane — seriously
Unsurprisingly, the headline is a bit overly enthusiastic. The dogs don;t so much fly the plane as turn the yoke left or right on command; and it’s not clear that the dogs have the slightest clue that their control inputs are what’s causing the planes to maneuver. Still… good doggie.
Apr 082016
At long last, SpaceX landed a Falcon 9 on a barge out at sea. Even better, this flight launched an inflatable “room” to the Space Station.
And the crowd goes *nuts.*
The whole webcast:
So, now they’ve gone and done it… they’ve proved that it is possible to land a rocket on a (relatively) cheap barge out at sea. Gonna make all the other rocket out there look kinda… dumb.
Apr 072016
On every conceivable technical level, this photo is awful, first and foremost by being horribly out of focus. But I like it not for what it shows, but for what was *about* to happen. This here is Bruce sitting in the little plastic-sticks-and-nylon-fabric cat “playhouse” Promptly after this photo he went back to the task he was performing just before the photo: madly (and futilely) attempting to dig through the side wall of the playhouse. Even through the bad photography you can kinda make out the crazy.
Apr 072016
I’ve always thought the show itself was awful (especially season 2), but the spaceships in “Space 1999” were indisputably awesome, especially the Eagle Transporter. There have been a number of kits of this released over the years, now there’s a great big 1/48 version. I haven’t seen one, and can’t afford one, but it looks spiffy. Someone should buy a couple dozen through this Amazon link and send me one so I can confirm whether or not it’s spiffy.
Apr 072016
The first trailer for “Rogue One” was released today:
It’s out in December, and has already been picked apart frame by frame:
Every Cool Detail We Spotted in the Rogue One: A Star Wars Story Trailer
There are two bits I found of particular interest.
- The actress chosen to play the role of Mon Mothma played her before, in “Revenge of the Sith.” And she really, really does look like Mon Mothma from “Return of the Jedi,” except with a slightly longer neck
2: Old-School Star Destroyers. Even better, the one shown most clearly is dressed up like the Star Destroyer seen in the original “Star Wars,” rather than the slightly modified versions from “Empire” and “Jedi” (the antenna or whatever above the bridge stands up in “Star Wars,” is laid down in “Empire” and “Jedi”).
In short:
The one issue I have: in the scene showing the Death Star laser dish thingie being put into place… it’s moving in at a closing speed of *kilometers* per second. That’s gonna make touchdown kinda rough.