Nothing quite like finding a flash-frozen frog in your veggies to ruin the night's meal. With ribbity picture goodness! Damned critters'll get into the craziest places.

I have seen it all.

I hate gnomes.

The Car Lust guys have finally added another Alfa to their list of reviews, and you'll never guess the one they picked. I'm sure Ellen prefers Clarkson's "symphony of evil in black" than the author's "lady in red," but that's more personal preference and the color of the one we bought.

Meet Stewie, who, at 48.5 inches, is officially the longest domestic cat in the world. Maine Coons are impressively huge house cats, but this one's nearly as long as A Gramma is tall. I bet shedding season is spectacular.

Yes, Virginia, Alfa did make quite industrial trucks, back in the day. And no, that's not just a Vanagon with a Giulietta grill wired on. That is a genuine "Romeo" truck. Not quite as slick as friend Chris's "yo-yo-YO" Escalade container ship, but at least I wouldn't have to blow the horn every time I entered the channel. Besides, a European truck from the early 70s? Yeah, I'd be worried people would steer off the road laughing at what the horn sounded like.

Nothing like a full-scale replica of a Fallout 3 plasma rifle to end the middle of the week. I'm strictly a kit-based kind of model builder. Scratchbuilding stuff like this is way beyond me, but I sure do admire the skill it takes.

WSJ: "So look past the billionaires." Will we be a "government of the public employee, by the public employee and for the public employee"? Oh, don't worry, I already know your answer. I just want you to, well, not exactly "say it out loud," but I think you get my meaning.

Oh yeah, the Mom is the fat one, not the kid!

How bout just purchasing healthy stuff to eat? Or rather how bout not eating your kid's portion of food.

No, really, when chimps attack! Luckily nobody got hurt. You'd think that, after that whole, "chimp rips woman's face and hands off with his teeth" thing a few years ago, people would be smarter than this. Then again, when are people EVER smarter than this?

Another year, another academic claiming science is, and should, destroying religion and taking its place. Because if the 20th century is nothing else, it is an abject lesson in what happens when science displaces religion and is given the powers of a state. Yeah, that all turned out real well, didn't it?

Remember when they tell you to keep your hands and feet inside the car at all times? Yeah, looks like we should've mentioned keeping your head in, too. Can you say, "closed casket?" I knew you could...

They told me that even thinking the likes of Christine O'Donnell might do just as well as anyone else would mean a slew of ignorant candidates would come rushing out of the gate, and they were right! All due respect, your side thinks government sucks because the wrong people get put in charge. My side thinks government sucks because, well, government sucks, and the only way to make it better is to take the power away.

Vote libertarian! We want to take over the government so it will leave you alone!

Via Instapundit.

The guy who created Glee has been tapped as the director of a Rocky Horror remake. That sound you heard was basically, well, all of my in-laws suddenly crying out in terror. And, now that you mention it, most of my friends, too. Me? Not quite twenty-five years ago I'd never seen it, and was nearly talked into dressing up as Frankfurter. I've been ambiguous about the flick ever since. Not that, you know, there's anything wrong with that.

Yeah, it's a question I want to ask too: Hey, Al, what happened to all the damned hurricanes? Tell me climate change is a problem, and we're contributing, and I'm all ears. Tell me it's a mega-crisis that requires massive tax increases so the government can protect us... yeah, pull the other one, it's got bells on.

I thought I was pretty well informed on the various nuclear screwups that have happened over the years, but I had only heard of two of these five incidents. History is replete with accounts of entire towns being flattened by various forms of conventional explosives when they first arrived on the scene in the 19th century. Considering the stakes, I'd say we've done a much better job than they did.

And in the, "why should we care at all" file, we have Johnn Cusack calling for "a satanic death center" to open at Fox News. I'd be more worried if I knew exactly what the heck that was.

Ah, hang on, now I remember... when my side's loons spout incoherently about violence, it's a dangerous example of totalitarianism. When your side does it, it's simply an example of how far my side's pushed yours. "Heads I win, tails you lose," that sort of thing.

As part of its centenary celebration, Alfa Romeo has commissioned the man who helped define the look of Avatar to take a crack at imaging iconic models of its range. Quick! Let the snark begin! Me, I think they're all pretty darned nifty, especially the next-to-last one. Unfortunately, since prices start at about $275, it doesn't look like I'll pick a copy up any time soon. But there is Christmas to think about, eh?

I'm not even sure this can be defined as, "a sign of the apocalypse." You see, as far as I'm concerned, when what is usually a proud and reliable mouthpiece of the Democratic party starts running positive pieces about Sarah Palin, well, bub, that pretty much defines the end of the world, far as I'm concerned.

From where I sit, Palin seems to make my center-left friends, especially the women, absolutely froth with rage. The folks who sit over on the left edge of the peanut gallery just explode impressively whenever her name comes up. It's really starting to eat into our cleaning budget, keeping up with that mess. I would have no problem voting for her, but I'm a card carrying member of The Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy. I'm capable of any evil as long as the end result is cutting taxes and shooting terrorists. Just ask the left side!

So, anyway, I think she has a very long way to go to sway centrist voters, but she does have quite a bit of time to travel. Like the article notes, politicians with bigger problems have overcome them to win the prize. That said, I'd feel more comfortable if the Republicans in that bunch had a more consistent track record.

See! See! We are not even close to the only Alfa lunatics on the planet! And heck, she even owns a Milano just like ours, except with about 220,000 miles less on it. The comments are nearly as good, with the occasional, "wtf?!? Those suck!!!" only occasionally interrupting the sighs of longing or the "LEARN FROM ME, AND BEWARE! AND SELL ME YOURS!" notes from current owners.

The UK's next defense review will be released this week, and if rumors are to be believed, the venerable Harrier is out, the venerable Tornado is in, Typhoon production stays open, and the Marines have something new to worry about with their F-35B. Assuming the -B works at all, I'll be completely surprised if the VTOL version of the Lightning II is ever canceled. The Marines managed to shepherd the V-22 through, what, some twenty years of development and darned if they don't actually have them. They'll get their F-35Bs.

Ok, note to rich egomaniacs: don't tick off a well-funded news organization. Nothing good comes from it. I'd like to think a story like this would put paid to the left's argument that money and Republicans have ensured rich people can do bad things with impunity around here. Yeah, don't worry, I'm not holding my breath over it.

She went to bed last night drugged to the gills after having spent the past three days with a fever. She literally danced down the stairs the next morning and demanded to go SOMEWHERE. We, naturally, had canceled all our original plans, and so Ellen on the spur of the moment chose Great Farms, a really nifty re-purposed farm-turned-cheap-theme-park. She had a good time.

Me:"Olivia, you want some tea? I'm making tea."

Olivia: "Oh yes! The Teddy Bear Tea!" (aka-Sleepytime)

"Mom...why does this tea say 'horrible?' Your tea says 'horrible.'"

WTF??

Me: Uh...no. That doesn't say "horrible", that says "herbal".

Olivia, in a "must talk slowly and carefully" voice I'm sure I'll be hearing more of as the years go on: "But there is a dragon on your tea. It must be 'horrible.' Mom."

*sigh*

"Let me go on record that I regard communism as expressed by the U.S.S.R. and its friends here and elsewhere as a grisly horror, a tyranny maintained by force and terror, utterly subversive of human liberty, freedom of thought, and dignity. I regard it as Red fascism, distinguishable from black and brown fascism by differences of no importance to me nor to its victims." -- Robert Heinlein

This is exactly how I feel about it, as well. Via Instapundit, who's highlighting yet another book pointing out just how horrible red, black, and brown really were.

Remember last week, when you guys were grousing that an AR-15 modified to shoot a .50 cal pistol round wouldn't be a patch on to one modified to shoot the big .50 rounds? Yeah, about that... This one probably shoots through ten schools.

Via Instapundit.

The DOD's Speed Agile program is wrapping up, and the aircraft studies it has produce are, well, definitely innovative. They've been trying to replace the C-130 for nearly as long as they've been building it, so I'm not expecting this to go anywhere, either. Still, a transport that looks like a B-2 has gotta be worth something.

The things people can do nowadays with leather and plastic, well, you just wouldn't believe. It's Saturday, don't worry if it's SFW. That said, I looked at that first one nearly upside down, and I'm still not completely sure what's going on there. I'm sure it's naughty, I'm just not completely sure how.

Via Violins and Starships.

Mike J. gets a no-prize strangely obsessed with the "Conner" section of the phone book for bringing us news that robots are now helping guard our nuclear stockpiles. Bah. Could be worse. Could be union employees doing the guarding. "Why is guarding important? Come, friend, strike with us for a 30 hour work week and mandated retirement with full salary at 55! No, nothing to worry about, a man in a turban took all the nasty nuclear things away..."

Two sections of the Colosseum have been re-opened to the public. Bonus: standard reporter gaffe, claiming gladiators fought in the dungeons. These people do have editors, right?

Victor Davis Hanson once again has a perceptive take on just where, and how, things went wrong for the Obama administration. Two things stood out, for me:

A hard-core leftist base is petulant that Obama copied Bush’s anti-terrorism protocols and broke a lot of promises in the process; they will vote only if they happen to be driving by the polls on a Tuesday afternoon.

This is exactly what I've been hearing from the people who sit so far to the left in the peanut gallery they're in danger of falling off that edge of the world. To which I can only say, "this isn't the election you're looking for. We can vote about our business. Move along..."

And then there's...

I think pundits have not appreciated the fact that this is not quite a red/blue, Republican versus Democratic race, but a historic election in which many of the Republican candidates are first-time politicians, beholden to no one, and not part of the Republican establishment.

This is what I've been saying, for months now. The Republican establishment has reacted with such outrage precisely because of it. My side's great disillusionment came at the end of the Bush years, when we came to the realization that the only real difference between the two sides was the color of the tie tacks. We don't want to put the same set of people who sucked in '07 back in charge in '11. We want new faces, and it looks like we'll get them.

Well, yes, they're gonna suck, too. But they'll suck in different ways, and before they really start to stink they may very well do some good.

Via Instapundit.

Scientists have announced the development of a silkworm that spins a kind of spider silk. The resulting fabric is much stronger than normal silk, but not as strong as pure spider silk. However, the group says it's only started experimenting, and are confident the much stronger pure spider silk is not far off.

I bring you Automatic Litterbox Central.

So now we're on our second round through The Light in the Attic, a great collection of poems which Olivia likes because they're cool, and I like because it's just enough like singing to make me think I am, without, you know, all that bothersome pitch and tone.

At any rate, Olivia's quite advanced now, which means she got to read The Toad and the Kangaroo all by herself. Which, at the end, she said:

*Dismissive COUGH* "DAD! Why didn't they just name her CANDACE?"

The sideways-think is strong with this one, Obi-Wan."'

So, I think the next time someone starts rattling a tin cup labeled, "For Want of a CD-ROM Drive, All Digital Media Is Unreachable" at me, looking for a grant, I'll pull out this story of a guy who managed to reconstruct the sounds created by a technique never meant to be played back in the first place. Created in the 1860s, no less. "Yes yes, " I can hear them sneer, "but that's analog! We're panicking over digital media!"

Fear not, my 21st century chicken little. As long as the media survives, there will always be the ability to read it.

When the second-most prominent mouthpiece of the Democratic party starts running pieces vaguely sympathetic to the tea party, well, that pretty much says all bets are off. I do, however, take comfort in the fact the article never once mentions a similar sort of sign survey for more recent left-ish rallies or, goodness me, any rally before 2008. They do have standards, you know.

Looks like the second unit from the next Transformers movie spent a few days poking around LC 39. Having the space shuttle end up a transformer would be cool, although I'd think that, after 20+ years of taking them half apart and putting them back together again, someone over in the service bays would've noticed something.

They're damned sneaky, those transformers...

At Livermore California, scientists are trying to create stars. Even better, they're using frikkin lasers! Where large research grants go, cool science tech is sure to follow.

They told me if I voted for John McCain government power would be used to silence political opposition, and they were right! I, personally, love George Soros, because he's so damned useful this election cycle when the folk on the left side of the peanut gallery start rattling their cages about giant campaign donations. You know, in this election cycle. Previous cycles? Oh, come on! They were fighting for justice then!

A famous (I guess) hip-hop artist helped talk a guy down off a roof yesterday. The timing couldn't be better, since said artist's probation hearing on a weapons violation happens this week.

"The Old Testament has virtually no reference to the afterlife, to Heaven or Hell. There is a powerful sense of spirituality, but it’s all about this world, not the next world. It says that every single person has the ability and the obligation to get up in the morning and make the world better." -- David Hazony

Why yes, yes it does rather resemble a lap board. But that's ok, because those guys are heading toward a very important sort of finish line. Besides, if it could get them another point in the championship I'm sure Lewis and Sebastian would be right at the top of even that board.

And now, a car that looks like it was built in the 1950s made from materials undreamt of until the 21st century. A basic exotic so tough you can literally bounce rocks off it? Sign me the heck up, too!

Another year, another journalist on a voyage of weird food discovery. I'm quite honest about being a recovering picky eater, and I am under no illusions as to my ability to look at, let alone eat, anything even vaguely weird looking or smelling. I'm hoping to rely on my usefulness with computers and cars to convince others with stronger constitutions to keep me fed when the zombie apocalypse arrives.

A federal district judge has ruled the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy unconstitutional, and will apparently be issuing a global ban on it soon. The complete lack of drama this time around is a striking contrast to the ruckus that was raised when the Democrats took a run at this in the early nineties, which resulted in the policy in the first place. I don't think the country, or the military, was quite ready for gays openly serving not quite twenty years ago. A generation later, well, I'd like to think they are. Doesn't seem like they'll have much of a choice.

The blogroll's back. Blogrolling went belly-up about two months ago, and every other service I tried failed to work properly. Now it's a static series of links, and it damned well works properly now! So, apologies if you thought we'd de-linked you. Never ascribe to malice that which is adequately explained by, well, laziness.

Just because they're new candidates, doesn't mean they can't run an unprepared talk show host straight into the ground. A more masterful leverage of a satellite delay I have yet to see. She's obviously much more comfortable browbeating people in her studio. Charisma, good looks, and the novelty of the TV studio experience doesn't work as well to intimidate people when they're remote, everyone knows that. I'll bet her producer was crapping bricks about what Maddow would do to him or her once the interview was done. Don't mess with old men from the northwest, they're tougher than they look.

Barney Frank: "Tea Partiers have tied me to the railroad tracks!" If anyone from my side had breathed even a word of it, there'd be a whole legion of moonbats twirling away from the tops of their towers, shrieking about the violence of the right. It's enough to make me wish I could play the piano like a silent movie pianist, and find someone with a mustache long enough to twirl the ends.

It seems that the potentially inhabitable planet announced a few weeks ago may not, in fact, exist. Remember, folks, science will always provide the definitive answer, until new data comes along, when it will provide a new definitive answer. That the new answer may flatly contradict the old is not science's problem.

Necessary? Well, yes, of course. But it's also why most people get annoyed with science.

Personally, I can think of no better fate for a 76 Mazda mini-truck than to be converted into a Radio Flyer wagon. In Alaska. You remember those people who said Alaskans were quirky? Yeah, well, there ya go.

Not content with a car that makes, count them, 1001 horsepower, Bugatti has upped the ante with a "super sport" version of the Veyron. A four thousand pound car that can go zero to sixty in 2.3 seconds pretty much defines "f-ing sled" in my book. And, before you ask, even at 1/10th the price neither of us could afford one. But we can't afford a Saturn V either, and that doesn't make those any LESS cool, know'wha'ah'mean?

Scientists have announced the discovery of the earliest known example of a hominid that had to have received help from others to survive. This all may seem screamingly obvious to everyone, but physical anthropology has been burned numerous times by "obvious" conclusions that were eventually overturned when someone looked at the evidence. Nowadays if they don't find direct, incontrovertible evidence, they won't make the call, and even if they do the guys on the other sideline throw about a dozen red flags down for another replay. It's sort of like really, really slow-motion football that way.

Via Instapundit.

An ancient Torah that's spent its life avoiding one attempt to destroy it after another is being repaired for daily use at a US synagogue. Even a quick review of European history will make it clear it's a wonder anything that can burn ever survived at all.

Scientists have for the first time observed real physical changes in the brain that would explain why people who lose one sense, like hearing, compensate by strengthening the others. I'd like to think the cats in this experiment were allowed to live a long, fulfilling life and weren't dissected when the grant ran out. Who knows? I may be right.

Sometimes the old days could be good, as when a manual for, "farming with dynamite" was up at the front of the store, with the actual stuff somewhere in the back. Authored by DuPont, naturally. Yeah, take away all the deadly infectious diseases, the near-complete lack of appliances, and infant mortality and the turn of the last century could be pretty fun sometimes.

It's all fun and games until the boss's husband starts waving his winky about. Partying at the hotel is fun enough, I guess, but do you think the written questionnaire was really necessary? SFW.

A 9 month-old kitten is your typical 9-month old kitten and gets his self stuck in a damned dangerous place. The result? a disassembled truck and a reporter with a softball to beat his deadline. Kitty is fine, too.

For the apocalypse-fearer on a budget, Costco will now sell one year's worth of dehydrated and freeze-dried food for just $799. As I recall, and I'm sure I'll be corrected if I'm wrong, my father-in-law became convinced that the Y2K (remember that?) bug would unleash Armageddon, and he stocked up accordingly. I think he burned the last of his stacked firewood last year, and I'm pretty sure there's still a few cases of oatmeal in the garage.

Me? Oh hell, if I had a place to put it all I'd probably buy it just to say I did. That, and goof on super-campers Ron and Amber about how prepared I was. As if...

A private company completes a successful air-drop test of its spacecraft, and all The Guardian can do is snipe at it. "But the bitter truth we critics must face, is that in the grand scheme of things, the average piece of junk is probably more meaningful than our criticism designating it so."

This is far, far from an average piece of junk.

Iran has publicly admitted they have an espionage problem at their nuclear facilities. I'd much rather screw up their ambitions with a well-placed wrench than I would to do it with a well-placed aerial bombardment. It'd also be nice to have a little more certainty about what needs blowing up, and what doesn't.

Wherein I prove, conclusively, that I and my friends have a sense of humor not to exceed that of a seven year-old.

Some Gypsies Have Wagons

We travel in an Alfa Milano!

Posted by Ellen at 07:39 PM | Comments (0)

Your Thought for the Day

Like all classics, it's timeless.

Posted by scott at 05:30 PM | Comments (0)

Space Billiards

Scientists have captured the first-ever images of an asteroid after a collision. Bah. It'll buff out.

Posted by scott at 11:20 AM | Comments (0)

Speaking of Musical Animals...

Tatterdemalian gets a no-prize with a big band and a bunch of very white singers for bringing us yet another take on 'ye olde trololololo". Or, you know, something like that. My grandmother Johnson was into Lawrence Welk, as I recall. I never really got the point. Not all that sure I was supposed to.

Posted by scott at 11:05 AM | Comments (0)

Goofy Bird

Cockatoos are known for this sort of thing. That's a pretty aggressive wing clip there, too.

Posted by scott at 07:20 AM | Comments (0)

Whoaah...Neigh!!..Uh...*awkward*

Everyone needs a Unicorn Fetus!

Posted by Ellen at 11:10 PM | Comments (0)

Matrix Hydrochloride [[Texting]]
Me: It’s not covered by insurance and it’s expensive.

[[Texting]]
Amber: What do you mean? It’s an OTC! They should have told you that!

[[Phone does the cute blingidy bling ring]]

A, on the phone: “It’s over the counter.”

Me: “It is? Where?”

A: “Look for it in the diarrhea aisle.”

Me, {suddenly channeling ‘Mister Anderson’ scrabbling desperately, looking around for agents with wires in their ears,} “Ok…hang on…uh… Prilosec, Benedryl,…Dramamine?”

A: “No. It’s called Meclizine.”

{It’s hard to walk around bent over like this… where are my Ray-Bans???}

Me: “Methyl what? So it’s not Dramamine.”

A: “No. What milligram did you get scripted out for?”

I can hear her do the angry pharmacy frustration dance. For her not able to reach her hand through my phone to snatch it off the shelf for me is killing her.

Me, in a whisper: “Uh… I DON’T remember!” … {where are the agents? Where are the agents?!?}

A: “Where is your script?”

*I can feel the fumes coming through the phone.*

Me: “The… the pharmacist has it.”

*I start to look around the aisle to make sure no one will witness the event that will happen over the phone.*

Then it happened:

A: “You go take that box up to the pharmacy counter and ASK them to tell you if the drug you got scripted is OTC. They should have told you that your script you handed them was an OTC! AN OTC!! OTC!!! GAH!!”

*Desperation sets in as I’m trying to turn down the volume of my phone and not being successful at it. I’m getting stared at and it sounds like I have a very angry chicken on the other end of the phone. {Calm the hell down, Morpheus…}*

A, being a pharmacy tech for many years, well…. she sorta snapped during employment with an old people retirement facility. All those years of filling prescriptions for diuretics, heart medication, prescription strength Vagisil, and lots of Valtrex…

A: “You go up there. And ask them. What the better. Deal. Is! They should have told you that drug was an OTC! You should not pay prescription price for an OTC drug!”

Me:”…ok. I’ll call you back.”

[[Texting]]

Me: I got it. The pharmacist was not very happy that I was not told that was not an OTC. She got upset with them.

A: GOOD! She should! That is an OTC drug!

Me: When will this work?

[[Phone does the cute blingidy bling….]]

{And the editor tries to throw more Matrix references in, right before Ellen grabs the @!R$@#%#@%#@}

Posted by Ellen at 10:39 PM | Comments (1)

Awweee...

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

Posted by Ellen at 09:11 PM | Comments (0)

Your Thought for the Day

Posted by scott at 07:42 PM | Comments (0)

Hey! Watch This!

In spite of what the caption says, I'm pretty sure it's not the rotor that's letting go, it's the mounting bolts on the caliper that are shearing off. How we don't lose 80% of men aged 15-25 to "controlled flight into terrain" incidents like this, I never will understand.

Posted by scott at 07:19 PM | Comments (1)

Oh Noes!!!

Well, now I have to believe in Peak Oil. Why? Because there's now an official study that says it's here! It was put out by the Association for the Study of Peak Oil and Gas! They have to know what they're talking about!

The video at the end makes a good point, but my bet is it won't ever be that apocalyptic. The only thing more ingenious than a human being is a human being who sees a pathway to becoming filthy, stinking rich, and there's an entire gigantic royal family of Saudis to prove just how rich someone who can make energy can get.

Off the top of my head I can think of three or four alternatives to fossil fuels that just need more money to become viable. Put it this way... the world was surviving just fine when oil was, what, $140 a barrel, and the stories were coming fast and thick about how this guy or the other guy was beavering away at a replacement. It's not quite half that right now, so the incentives aren't as strong, but they're still there.

Oil is not the most precious resource on the planet. We are. And we'll figure this out, just you wait.

Posted by scott at 07:09 PM | Comments (1)

Daryl Who?

You'd think that, with all these celebrities with really bad plastic surgery, other celebrities wouldn't take the risk. And then along comes another one. It's almost as if the genes which give beauty in youth make it impossible to extend its shelf life with surgery. Either that, or it just doesn't pay to screw around with your face.

Posted by scott at 06:56 AM | Comments (0)

There Are Second Options

One of three drugs used in California’s current lethal injection procedure. The drug became a major issue last month when the scheduled execution of Albert Greenwood Brown was called off. During the legal tangle leading up to the stayed execution, it came out that the state’s supply of the drug expired on Friday, October 1–about five hours after the execution was supposed to happen.

I don't get why they just don't use Euthasol or Fatal-Plus that is used in animals, since technically they are.

Posted by Ellen at 06:46 AM | Comments (1)

B-ch, I Own Fat!

Scientists have determined the "black widow" pulsar is the most massive neutron star observed so far. It's also helping to change the theories which are used to explain how these objects come to exist, since it's quite a bit more massive than many popular models predict.

Posted by scott at 06:37 AM | Comments (0)

Spitterdogen

Posted by Ellen at 08:43 PM | Comments (0)

How Low Can You Go?

What better way to end a Thursday night than with a compilation of fly-bys by pilots who weren't worried about the FAA? The two lowest are both SEPECAT Jaguars, and those are only a few examples I've seen of that type just a few feet off the ground. Must've been something about their wing design that gave them a massive ground effect, which probably made it feel like flying against the wrong side of a magnet.

Anyway, always remember, in the race for the lowest pass in an airplane, you want to come in SECOND.

Posted by scott at 08:35 PM | Comments (0)

~ Fly Me Out to Mars ~

Another year, another guy proposing an aerial probe to be sent to Mars. Rocket power is a novelty, I'll give him that, but I'd think the various ideas for balloons would be a better value. The guy behind X-plane used his program to simulate Mars. He used to have a nice summary of his findings somewhere, but I can't find it. At any rate, the challenges in getting an aircraft to fly on Mars are genuine and very strange.

Posted by scott at 07:36 PM | Comments (0)

Well That's Just You All Over

The line is funny when it's Dorothy and the rest of the crew picking up Scarecrow. When it's the Sheriff's office picking up some lady's husband across a few counties... yeah, not so much. Ellen has scoffed more than once at these amateurs. If you do it right, you're not supposed to find anything at all, she says.

Posted by scott at 06:38 PM | Comments (0)

I Shall Call it, "Nerfsentry"

There seems to be no end to the adaptations of everyone's favorite chain-fed nerf gun. Jeff's had one for ages. I think he might actually be a little disappointed it's possible to do something useful with it. That really wasn't the point.

Posted by scott at 06:32 PM | Comments (0)

Dead Green

Really, what is it with greens suddenly trying to kill kids? Just one incidence I can chalk up to one out-of-touch group. But two, so close together, and on opposite sides of the globe... well, folks, that sure seems like a trend to me. I always knew they were more interested in telling people what to do than in saving anything, but I didn't know the totalitarian streak would be so easy to bring to the surface.

Posted by scott at 06:54 AM | Comments (1)

~ There's a Killer in the Hive ~

It seems that, with the help of the Army, the cause of the well-publicized domestic honey bee collapse has finally been found. Turns out it's a combination of a virus and a fungus, neither of which has the ability to destroy a colony on its own. Just why this happens is still unclear, but now that the cause is known it's hoped a cure will be soon to follow.

Posted by scott at 06:44 AM | Comments (1)

The Church on the Hill

I've read more than my fair share of accounts of the Black Death. The ones specializing in England always liked to emphasize how, even to this day, there are deserted places with just a hollowed out church, where a village used to live. Which, in this "modren" age, I always asked, "well, where???" Ha... how about here.

I'm sure everyone in the UK grew up living with this stuff. I'm fascinated by it, but in such a horribly sad way. A thousand year old church, with wind blowing through the hollow spaces, because all the parishioners died just two hundred years later. And now a farmer's combine grumbles past it, because it's easier than knocking the forgotten thing down.

It echoes, like an old bruise...

Posted by scott at 10:46 PM | Comments (0)

Must... Not... Use... For Evil...

One day, hundreds of years from now, people will look back and say this, this was the time, when the first for-real Genesis Device started on the road to reality. A plot device in the next Die Hard movie? Hey, folks, you heard it here first.

And that, friends, is why incentives will always trump design bureaus.

Posted by scott at 06:40 PM | Comments (1)

Finally I Have a Reason to Like This Song

Mythbusters is back this week, and what better way to promote it than to have that big Scottish lump Craig Ferguson drag the principals out to do Melt with You? Will they be able to top slicing a Honda in two with a rocket sled this year? Hey, you know they'll try!

Posted by scott at 05:58 PM | Comments (0)

A Fantasy League, for the Rest of Us

Introducing Fantasy UnSports, the game which lets you score points when your football players screw up off the field. Which is, of course, most of the time, so it's actually a pretty active game. I especially liked the point value for "Player claims that wildlife on the field during a game may be reincarnated former teammate."

Posted by scott at 01:14 PM | Comments (0)

Shading the Macabre

Actually, I know quite a few friends who likely would be very interested in a nonfiction book which follows a lamp shade made of human skin from garage sale to Buchenwald, including me. If the review is any indication, it's a monument to Mark Twain's quote on the difference between fiction and nonfiction. I think, though, that I'll wait for the trade paperback to come out. That dust cover sounds just that much too creepy.

Posted by scott at 07:14 AM | Comments (0)

My Mom's Owl Family

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

Posted by Ellen at 06:54 AM | Comments (1)

You're Gonna Love the Title of this Place

Presenting Hidden Bush, wherein an intrepid reporter fulfills their monthly 3000 word article requirement. Did I mention Hidden Bush was a nudist camp? What a clever name! Again, article is SFW. I seem to remember reading a similar article twenty, maybe thirty years ago. Seems like nudists, at least, haven't changed all that much.

Posted by scott at 06:53 AM | Comments (0)

That's a Real Buttinski

Well of course you knew it was only a matter of time until someone teased out the anal sex stats from that new sex survey. Hey, man, consenting adults, not on my lawn, go knock yourself out.

Or, you know, something to that effect. Article is SFW.

Posted by scott at 06:36 AM | Comments (0)

Well... Good Luck With That...

The Army has decided to start a competition to create a single rotary-winged platform that can, depending on what wears out first, replace the Kiowa fleet, or the Chinook fleet, with minimal modifications. For those of you not quite as nerdy about aviation, this is similar to someone saying they want something that can replace my Spider, or Ron's Xterra, just by fiddling with the form factor.

Well, of course they can do it. And, hell, as long as the Chinese keep lending us money, why not let them try? It's the Obama administration, man. IF WE HAVE A CHECK BOOK, WE HAVE MONEY!!!

Posted by scott at 10:23 PM | Comments (0)

That Will Do, Nicely

An M4 rifle with a .50 cal... rrrm... "bit that shoots?" It's more likely than you think! Yeah, apologies to my gun nut buds, total term fail there. Having fired my brother's "deagle" a few times, yeah... seems like most of that ur-gun's impact comes from the round, because that video SURE brought back memories.

No worries, I already know it's more than I can afford.

Posted by scott at 10:09 PM | Comments (2)

Fun with Beige

Posted by scott at 07:23 AM | Comments (0)

When Environmentalists Attack

Well, not attack so much as engage in a fantasy that the rest of us would all just, you know, explode. The original, which is way too long even with all those special effects, is here. Visions of murdering people in spectacular ways because their disagreement with you endangers everything!!!! is only fun when you keep it on the inside. Then again, it's not like the left's ever ignored an opportunity to make everyone else obey. And it always turns out so well...

Posted by scott at 07:06 AM | Comments (0)

Couldn't Happen to a Nicer Bunch of Guys

If this story is to be believed, Iran's really got a nasty computer problem. Being a bunch of religious lunatics running a program to build a nuke will, after all, tend to attract the wrong sort of attention.

Posted by scott at 06:50 AM | Comments (1)

Boneyardski

While definitely neat, this collection of abandoned Soviet-era aircraft is hardly the stuff to keep someone awake at night. Well, except for those people who are looking to spend some serious cash on some serious aircraft. Soviet flight trainers were designed to operate from horrible airfields and be maintained by drunk teenage conscripts. They therefore usually make for incredibly good private aircraft.

Posted by scott at 06:31 AM | Comments (0)

Oh HAI! Has A Muffin Won't You!?

Posted by Ellen at 10:09 PM | Comments (0)

Out My Window

Got this pix outside my car window today!

Posted by Ellen at 09:04 PM | Comments (1)

Sintel

A long time ago, you needed a talented team and one helluva lot of cash to make a CGI movie. The talent, you still need that. The cash, though, not so much. I'm thinking that nifty little fantasy adventure short was helped along greatly by the music, but you'd expect a hi-fi nerd like me to say that. Recommended.

Posted by scott at 06:45 PM | Comments (1)

Dig Em' Up!

Amenhotep III, who lived until 1352 BC, was hardly a modest king. Hawass said there is an "overwhelming amount of statuary" depicting the ruler, who was the father of Amenhotep IV, better known as Akhenaten. There may be other statues of him at the site, according to the council's statement.

Dug up in Luxor, Egypt...not Vegas.

Posted by Ellen at 07:15 AM | Comments (0)

Radiation Hawks

By using an "artificial event horizon," scientists seem to have found the first direct evidence for Hawking radiation. As with most really weird scientific experiments, the result is open to interpretation, not all of which confirm that black holes do in fact radiate energy.

Posted by scott at 07:05 AM | Comments (0)

Fold 'em Up

Just in time for, well, for the bike season to end, actually, we have this round-up of folding bicycles. One of my Learning Tree instructors used a folding bike when he was traveling to teach classes. He loved the thing.

Posted by scott at 06:50 AM | Comments (0)

Glasses? We Don't Need No Glasses!

Engineers at Toshiba have unveiled a 3D television which does not require glasses to work. Bonus: it also can transform "normal" broadcasts into 3D. New TV tech being what it is, prices start high... the equivalent of about $1500 in yen for a 12" screen. TV tech in general being what it is, I'd expect the price to drop steadily if it meets market success.

Posted by scott at 06:45 AM | Comments (0)

Haikyo

I would've thought Japan far too organized to allow anything to actually become ruins. Turns out not only do they have them, they're well organized and comparatively safe. You know, like the rest of the country. Keep an eye out for tentacles though, that's all I'll say.

Posted by scott at 06:29 AM | Comments (0)

Your Thought for the Day

"You can't go around building a better world for people. Only people can build a better world for people. Otherwise it's just a cage." -- Terry Pratchett, Witches Abroad

Via Talking to myself again...

Posted by scott at 08:20 AM | Comments (0)

Restore, or Re-Work?

Jeremy Clarkson is weighing in on the whole, "restore vs. resto-mod" debate. Me? I tend to value originality, and the market my cars play in does too. That said, I also think modifications which materially improve the car while also being true to its nature are also to be admired. Putting a Chevy 350 V-8 in a Jaguar XJS sedan I think is a pretty horrible thing to do, but putting a monster Alfa V6 in a tiny Alfa sports car (and, if you follow that thread, f-all else to it) is fine. Doing things to fix things that were actual mistakes in the original engineering, like the fixes on the E-type Jeremy mentions, are more than fine as well.

But, ultimately, I've come around to the opinion that, "it's your car, do what you want to it." I admire any modification when it's done well, and I laugh uproariously at any that are done poorly. Take care of it, and don't half-ass anything.

Posted by scott at 08:10 AM | Comments (0)

Wackos is as Wackos Does

Ah, I see, when my side has a few right-wing loons show up at a massive rally, they get front page coverage. When the other side has wackos show up at a rally, you have to go digging for the evidence. I know, I know. we highlight the right-wing extremists because they are the truly dangerous ones. The left's record is so much cleaner!

Posted by scott at 07:47 AM | Comments (0)

Goin' Retro

As with most technologies, things like motion controllers and game boys have roots far deeper than you'd at first think. I remember the Microvision system very well, and I think either we or someone we knew had a Blip. The rest, not so much.

Posted by scott at 04:41 PM | Comments (1)

Lambo Love

There's show cars, and then there's show cars. 0-60 in 2.5 seconds is completely mad, and unfortunately it costs more than my house, so that plan goes out the window. Ah well, fun to look at!

Posted by scott at 01:09 PM | Comments (0)

NO EssCahpay The Tub!

Dr.Bronner's soap bath!

Posted by Ellen at 09:26 PM | Comments (3)

Working With Smallish Bird

Posted by Ellen at 09:21 PM | Comments (0)

Dope Science

Ok, so it turns out Contador's failed drug test involved a substance that increases a person's metabolic rate, among other things. It's also just possible he really didn't take it intentionally. Me, I remember Floyd Landis was about as sincere as he could be professing his innocence, and look how that turned out.

Posted by scott at 07:18 AM | Comments (0)

Regarding Lawns, and Getting Off Mine

Another year, another forty-something bemoaning lazy, meddling kids. I'd take such things much more seriously, if I hadn't been reading them for the past, oh, thirty years or so. Likely there's a Linear A tablet somewhere complaining about how kids these days take bronze for granted and don't know how to properly tie a tunic.

Posted by scott at 06:41 AM | Comments (0)

My Kind of Hybrid

Meet the Jaguar C-X75, a technology demonstration car that's part electric, part jet. Yep, jet. Instead of the more common reciprocating engine, engineers have instead fitted a gas turbine to help extend the otherwise pitiable range of 68 miles to a much more comforting 500+. It's a show car, it doesn't have a price tag. Still, I can't imagine it'd be a particularly quiet car.

Posted by scott at 06:25 AM | Comments (0)