The next step on Alfa's interminable road back to the United States seems to have finally be reached. Of course, saying "there will be Alfa dealers in the US" isn't much better than saying "we will return to the US someday." But, to paraphrase a recent Top Gear episode, believing in Alfa's return is the triumph of hope over reality.

An ancient manuscript which has resisted all attempts at decryption may finally be on the verge of giving up its secrets. At least it seems that it's not a hoax, so they've got that going for them.

Possibly the most awesome boots on the planet!

No, I personally do not own a pair of these bad boys yet, there are too many colors to choose from!

Scientists seem to have developed an effective antidote to one of the world's deadliest mushrooms. I cut out the middle-man and simply don't eat the things, but it's nice to know if something went extremely wrong and I ended up eating one anyway, I wouldn't be doomed.

Icelanders have managed to drill all the way through the Earth's crust, creating the first magma-powered geothermal energy source. I guess there are a couple of advantages to being sited on a really huge hotspot after all.

In other news, there are snakes that jump from trees and can glide as much as 100 feet in the air in search of prey. I remember watching a documentary about these things eons ago, but I'm pretty sure this is the first really systematic look at them I've ever seen.

It's come to this: One man's nostalgia for his childhood in the '80s has him chronicling all the different ways businesses are re-using old Pizza Huts. I got my first job at a Pizza Hut back in (I think) 1985. I just checked Google's Satellite view and it appears to still be there, red roof and all.

The new Corvette will come with a nifty option that should help cafe racers all over the country. It just might be useful for putting a driver in the pokey as well, so be careful with your misbehavior.

London: great place to visit, just don't do any digging. I'd expect pretty much all European cities that have been continuously inhabited since antiquity will be like this. Paris and Rome in particular are quite well known for their catacombs.

When one hundred years old your negatives get, look as good they will not. I'm not sure if it's a chronicle of heroes, or maniacs. Probably both.

It's true: You can literally turn a Marine inside-out and they'll just keep coming back for more. Kind of puts the time I broke my toe in perspective, I'll tell ya that.

Coming to a TV near you: Dolby labs is set to unveil a new screen technology that promises vastly higher contrast on LCD displays. I think. They may have come out with a new TV instead, or maybe it's only intended for professional editors. But, hey, TOYZ!

Stalin to US Navy: All your captured subs are belong to us!

US Navy to Stalin: U no can haz!

Stalin to US Navy: Ur treety, let me show u it!

US Navy to Stalin: Captured subs? What captured subs?

That's pretty much how it went down in 1946, and now someone has found one of the subs in question. These aren't war memorials, but I'll bet their sunk too deep to be considered for salvage or preservation.

In the "not-sure-if-serious" category we have this plan to deliver gifts by drone. By far the biggest hurdle will be regulatory. Several groups have been trying to get permission for drones to fly in US airspace, not the least of which being the US military, but the FAA so far has insisted on a case-by-case approval system that is very slow and expensive. Not to mention the hobbyists who would probably order a bag of pencils and then wait in the front yard with a net gun.

Formula E, the series that promises to bring all-electric open wheel racing to the center of famous cities, has released this video of a test of the new vehicle. While far from silent, it absolutely makes a whole lot less noise than F-1. Judging by the video, it makes a whole lot less speed as well. They haven't fitted the production battery yet, so there's still hope they'll go quicker than a souped-up golf cart.

We're a week away from the 50th anniversary special, so let the promotion begin!. Of all the "classic" episodes featured on the recent retrospective specials on BBCA, Olivia seemed to like the one featuring the first doctor the best.

Ever wonder what it's like to swim between continents? It's like nature's own swimming pool!

I dunno about you folks, but rusted out cable cars give me a "not so safe" feeling. But if that's the only way to get to work, I guess it's the only way. You'd think someone would at least put a coat of paint on the damned things.

Nearly forty years after its inception, Cannonball Run speed records are still being set. In this risk-averse era I'm personally surprised some busy-body hasn't figure out how to charge him with something after-the-fact. Oh, and sad-panda: Brock Yates has advanced Alzheimer's

Leave it to the Scots to come up with a beer that's stronger than most whiskeys. And yes, in case you were wondering it'll probably catch fire readily. I guess we can now add "potential motor fuel and cleaning agent" to the things beer can do.

It's come to this: a bacon beer milkshake. The liquor gang has had the 'sweet frou-frou drink' market all to itself for too long.

If all else fails just grab its tongue. See, I avoid this altogether by living in this thing they call "civilization." It greatly reduces my chance of getting eaten by a bear. Getting run over by Buffy the Cellphone Slayer? Well, there's always tradeoffs in any decision.

Samsung has unveiled a smartphone with a curved screen. Oh, and a thousand dollar price tag. While interesting, what everyone seems to be looking forward to is fold-out displays that start small enough to fit in your pocket but that can unfold into iPad (or larger) sizes. Living science fiction!

A pink Lamborghini, with Richard Hammond at the wheel? It's more likely than you think. 'Scuse me, just a little dusty in here, that's all.

Coming to a campsite near you: a phone charger that works using the excess heat of a campfire. Of course, having power doesn't mean you get a signal, as we found at our last camping trip.

If you thought putting an F-1 car together might be pretty neat, you're right. A carbon fiber (or "fibre") gearbox sound pretty darned spiffy.

And now, a picture of a skydiver falling while a rocket is rising. There's "baby smile" lucky, and then there's "holy crap, a rocket!" lucky.

"I was expecting to find a Fisher-Price “My First Ferrari” sticker somewhere on the interior, because while the whole thing looks quite nice, it’s constructed of the same quality materials as a Barbie Corvette."

Jeep's Cherokee replacement seems to be better than it looks. It's not clear just how much involvement Fiat had in the styling of the unit, but I'll give it one thing: it'll never be accused of being bland. It sounds like they have some nifty off-road widgets for it, too. And since when did automatic transmissions start to rival bicycles in the number of gears they carry?

It looks like that, after more than sixty years, a workable jet pack is about to become reality. Ducted fans aren't known for their quiet operation, this one seems to be no exception. I do like the bit about the safety 'chute, though.

The thing is, dropping 2000 pounds of concrete is pretty effective if you can hit a small moving target. You don't really need explosives. Of course, there's that whole "blow up the building" aspect that explosives bring to the table.

Alfa Romeo has officially approved of Touring to produce its Disco Volante concept car. The only trick: you need to provide one of five hundred $200k sports cars as a donor before the build will be possible. It'll happen, of course--there's always at least one rich loon for nearly everything. I'd really doubt there will be more than five made, though.

The good: The world's largest cave system is about to open up for tours.

The bad: It's in Vietnam. Oh, well. The pictures and video sure are pretty!

Scientists have announced the discovery of one of the largest volcanoes in the solar system. You'll never guess where it is. Author of the article gets an "F" for not including a comparison with the big Martian volcanoes.

It's all fun and games, but only after the hawks head south for the winter. Ah, Canada. They're even polite to homicidal wildlife!

Another week, another story about "drones" finding a civilian use. Yep, you guessed it, RC helicopters! I was never good enough to get mine that close to the ground without crashing. The multi-rotor types are supposed to be easier to fly, and do less damage with their rotors.

Canadians have admitted they're working on a "stealth" snowmobile. No, I didn't know radar detection was that much of a problem when it came to cold-weather mobility, either. It turns out what's most important is making the thing as quiet as possible. That makes a little more sense, eh?

Another year, another breathless article about New York's "hidden" subway stop. I think this is at least the second, maybe even third article about this exact subject. It's like the city isn't quite up to the task of actually pulling the idea off.

You'd think that, with commodity prices what they are, giant piles of very high-quality steel wouldn't just be left out to rust. I know in the US they recycle entire tank hulls for precisely this reason. Then again, nearly all of it seems to be mouldering in old Soviet-bloc nations, so I guess you could say "because Communism!"

It looks like a surly teenager may no longer be the one cooking up your next fast food order. Automating fast-food production has been ongoing probably for as long as there's been fast food. Kind of the point, I guess.

Oh, and those of you pining for a "true living minimum wage"? Yeah. You can dine on the ashes they'll be serving up over there.

You know, they keep showing videos like this, I'll start to think the thing exists. Of course, it's always been easy to get Alfas to appear in Europe. Appearing on this side of the Atlantic, that's the real trick.

Google is at it again, this time coming up with something that looks very much like an Apple TV killer. I've been trying to figure out how to stream Netflix from my PC to my TV ever since I read that's the best way to get digital sound out of the thing. It'll beat running a wire all the way from my laptop, at the very least.

It's cool enough that everyone you work with shaves their head to show solidarity with your son undergoing cancer treatment. It's even better when the famous guy you're working with does it, too. For 89, George looks pretty good.

If enough people push together, they can do remarkable things. The gap on Metro here in DC can't be much more than a few inches wide. Either Japanese trains just have bigger gaps, or maybe she actually just got a foot caught or something?

Not news: nerds build elaborate costume for Comicon. News: nerds in question are led by Stan Winston. I can just barely make out where the operator "lives", but only by staring at it really hard. The servo noises seem obviously fake, and it looks to be as much puppet as it is robot. I can't imagine walking around in it for any length of time. Must be some sort of weightlifter they have in there.

It may not make for a very good movie, but our military is probably better prepared for a giant monster attack than you would at first think. I once ran the numbers on one of those penetrating bombs and, if the aero calculations were correct, when dropped from about 60,000 feet it hits the ground at well over Mach 2. Yeah, I think that a ton of explosives moving twice the speed of sound would take one of these things down quite nicely.

As with most things after the lights are turned on, Disney's haunted mansion has a completely different look when they need to work on it. Personally, I like seeing how it all works, but I get it if other folks don't.

Ever wonder what it'd be like if you dropped a propane cylinder into a fire? Our Russian friends are on the job! They're right, you definitely want to take a look at the second, longer video. Also keep an eye out for the opposite lane traffic that eventually just decides to turn around while still in the lane and go back to find another exit.

Wait here while I get my checkbook. the "world's most valuable Alfa" is heading for the auction block. This one was once driven by none other than Tazio Nuvolari. Dude, it's called Wikipedia, you go look him up. Anyway, the article claims it's been restored, although by the looks of the thing it was a very "authentic" restoration. Coming to a vintage race near you!

Even the collector car hobby can experience a change once in awhile. Witness the growing preference for completely unrestored vehicles. What's that, you say? Why, I didn't even notice that's what the car was. How convenient.

Our nation's wandering in the darkness has finally come to an end. Watermelon Oreo cookies have arrived. The author is very... enthusiastic... but the overall gist seems to be that they are good, if you like watermelon anyway.

Edmunds crosses the finish line first with this, well, "first look" at the Alfa Romeo 4c. Unfortunately for us, and likely for them, they miscalculated the price of the carbon fiber construction, so it now appears likely the price point will be in the mid-80s. This moves it seriously upscale, well past the cars it was meant to compete against. And, of course, it hasn't actually made it over here yet. Ah, well. I'll just have to wait a few years before I can blow some of my kid's inheritance on a used one.

What better way to start a Monday than a look at a few iconic landmarks as they were being built? I didn't realize the St. Louis Arch was such a comparatively new construct.

An iconic Jackson Pollock original has been completely restored, and in the process old mysteries were solved, and new ones were revealed.

Ever wonder what it's like to be under an artillery barrage? Well, no, I haven't either but the video sure is cool. Unfortunately since this is real life, far too many people know exactly what it sounds like to be under an artillery barrage. For many, I imagine it's a rather brief experience.

It looks like that, after something like thirty years, the French have finally come up with an alternative to EuroDisney. Even though it looks like it's just one giant mechanical elephant and a really weird carousel, I still think this would make a cool import to our shores. Here's to hoping!

Sears is poised to become a data center giant. It's their property, they can do what they like with it. Department stores aren't particularly well known as icons of architecture, but surely this is more efficient than yanking the old structure down and building something new in its place.

Someone went and did it... they went and made a replica X-wing out of Lego. Full size replica, no less. It's a steel-framed construct that weighs 46,000 pounds. Of course I want one. Don't you?

Navy Dolphins have discovered a rare early torpedo off the California coast. Fortunately they didn't feel the need to blow the thing to bits for safety's sake, so maybe it'll be put on display some time in the future. Worked with a flywheel instead of a motor, so steampunk fans should be all atwitter over it, too.

Neil deGrasse Tyson has been tapped to host an upcoming "reboot" of the iconic series, Cosmos. There've been several thinly disguised copies of the show created over the years. I think Morgan Freeman's Through the Wormhole came closest to the balance of wonder and fact that made the original so captivating. Tyson himself hosted another, although its title escapes me. It'll be interesting to see what he brings to the explicitly titled comeback.

Coming soon to an oil tycoon near you: an IMAX "private theater". That seats about thirty people, it looks like. Meh, your money, your house.

Presenting the world's smallest flying robot. It's mostly meant as a research tool into insect flight, but apparently with a bit more miniaturization it can be turned into a fully-autonomous design. No worries. I'm sure I'll figure out how to crash it.

So... Maybe I've found my next hobby? Oh, who am I kidding? Mine starts driving me nuts five days after I trim it.

Ever wonder what it'd be like to ride down with the jeep during an air drop? Well of COURSE we're gonna help you imagine that. Other than that really big swing at the start, it doesn't really look too bad. You know, just from watching.

The man in the iconic, and horrific, picture just after the Boston bombing has not only survived, he seems to have helped identify at least one of the bombers. Unfortunately it seems that one got bagged by the Boston PD last night. Here's to hoping they can catch the other one alive.

Next time you visit the battleship New Jersey (no, I haven't either, but...) it looks like they'll let you pull the big trigger. A battleship, like any complex machine, is meant to be used. Not using it causes almost as many problems as letting it sit idle. If you're going to spend money on maintenance anyway, why not have a little fun with it?

In fishing, sometimes it's "the one that got away." Other times, it's "the one that got taken away." I've never heard of a Galapagos shark. Looks more like a great white to me, but I'm far from an expert.

The Navy has announced plans to deploy an operational laser weapon to a warship in 2014. It's a solid state infrared type, which means it's way better than the Air Force's aborted ABL project. But it's also limited in power and versatility, so it ain't the end-all, be-all. Still, it seems fine for making pirate barbeque or whacking Persian drones from the sky.

Those of us who enjoy the carts more than the golf have a new reason to head to the course. What I think the real innovation is gets completely passed over by both the video and the article: noise control. Hovercraft have been around since at least the '50s (probably longer), but one of the main things that holds them back from general use is the enormous racket they make when they work. If this one is quiet enough to use on a golf course, it would seem they've finally conquered that engineering obstacle.

Alternate title: Paging Frank Sinatra, White Courtesy Phone Please. Since it's a sail boat, that means all the lift has to be generated from a tailwind, not a headwind. And... I think you can only go fast on REALLY windy days?

Watch out! Here comes the spider car! No doubt there will be much wailing and tearing of shirts from a certain segment of Alfisti at the thought of a spider made in Japan. Me, I'm just hoping for an opposite result from the last time Alfa partnered with a Japanese car maker.

Disney has announced a sequel for Finding Nemo will be released in 2015. On the one hand, there's the standard "finally run out of ideas" complaint. On the other, sequels exist because we want to spend more time with a set of characters. Here's to hoping it doesn't suck!

Exactly how we managed to miss the 2013 Peeps Diorama Contest, I never will understand. Too busy with foster kittens, I guess. Nah, f- that. I blame Obama.

If you think life on one of the world's busiest waterways will always be interesting, well, you're right. Dhows have been wandering around that area's oceans for nearly three thousand years. They'll probably still be doing it three thousand years from now.

Lest you think the American Dream is well and truly dead, here's a reminder that it can still come true. I'd never heard of "Nasty Gal," (hint: it's a line of clothing, not a "sexy tyme" site), but I'm not exactly their target demographic, either.

A cheap lens, some double-sided tape, and a flashlight can turn an iPhone into a microscope. True, it doesn't seem to be particularly powerful, and it mostly is used to take pictures for "stool samples." But, hey, if it helps de-worm kids, it's all good.

Only hours after electing a new Pope, the Vatican has announced it will be digitizing its entire catalog. The collection is enormous, so the project's expected to take most of a decade. It wouldn't surprise me if such an effort led to new discoveries. The Vatican library is also incredibly old, so it's nearly inevitable that there are mis-filed and forgotten stuff in there.

It turns out you really can float around under an umbrella. For a brief time, anyway. With a really big umbrella. Just because it's shaped like a parachute, doesn't mean it'll act like one.

Making the rounds: Sony has officially announced the PlayStation 4. And by "announced," they seem to mean "talk about it a bit, show some movies, and hand out some pictures. Our last console was the original XBox, which I think we eventually ended up giving away. Not saying I won't eventually cave and get another console, but I'm not saying I will, either.

A group of scientist is developing a pill that actually will sober you up, fast. Right now it's only been tested in mice, and one stage of the process turns the alcohol into rocket fuel, but hey, that's just engineering. If it works out, I'm thinking a big bowl of these things will become a fixture at your local watering hole.

In the "why didn't anyone think of this sooner" bin, we now have a video arcade game based on, and dispensing, beer. That has to have been in a Simpsons episode at some point, and I just don't remember it.

It turns out Russian dash-cams aren't just good for capturing the mayhem on their roads. They're also great for snagging pictures of an occasional meteor strike. We thought the first and third videos were the best. Make sure you've got a good set of speakers/volume level for the third one. BOOM!

More here.

Edmunds on-line gives, then takes away. First they tell us Chrysler's SRT division is actively engaged with the upcoming 4C's development, and then follow that news up with the rumor that it's heavier and more expensive than originally planned. Which is to say, it's an Alfa. Every time I think the Italians have finally sorted it all out...

Those of you wondering if Mr. Bean ever got his fancy car fixed can now breathe a sigh of relief. They only made 64 of them, so it's nice to see it get resurrected instead of trashed. And I'm not worried too much about the insurance company or Atkinson's premiums. I'm just about certain he was using a specialist insurer who was no fool about assessing the risks of such a unique car.

The remains found underneath a British parking lot have been confirmed as belonging to Richard III. "It's not often I go searching for a king, but when I do I go to a parking lot." It seems the plan is to re-bury him in the nearby cathedral. Don't miss the slideshow at the bottom-right of the article.

The latest best-selling recording in the UK is... a thousand year-old nothing. Tiny, unremarkable churches that just happen to be a thousand years or more old seem to be an English staple. Yes, there are genuinely ancient cathedrals all over France, and Germany definitely has some ancient basilicas. It just seems that the UK has a monopoly on churches that sit quietly in the corner, unremarked for ten centuries or more. Sometimes, they have books that sit on the same shelf for at least that long. I kid you not.

Weird sounds!

Everyone's favorite sing-song TV auto show has been kind to Alfa over the years. Witness their very positive take on the last sedan imported to the US, the 164. Motor journalism is usually very kind to Alfa. The cars are fun, and the writers never have to live with them for very long. With the 164, that meant the failures of the climate control system and the engine's finicky maintenance requirements were simply not a problem. I've always liked them, but Ellen doesn't. She prefers the looks of the Milano. Yeah, I know.

A contractor renovating a house discovered a nice cache of guns behind a wall. Of course, since it's the UK, I'm pretty sure the nanny state will walk up and "liberate" them. Still, it's a fun thought to imagine it happening here.

Wizards of the Coast, the company that now owns the Dungeons and Dragons brand, is releasing PDF versions of classic manuals and adventure modules. The thing is, the early versions were often flawed, sometimes deeply. Still, nostalgia will likely trump the flaws, and it's not like you couldn't have fun with the old stuff. Far from it. And it would seem my old manuals may actually be worth something nowadays, even as chewed up as they are.

While we here in the Mid-Atlantic are (so far) enjoying another mid winter, Russia is dealing with a "Snowpocalypse". Hopefully now that communism is gone, they at least have access to some snow blowers. Oh, and stay the heck off the road, those people are CrAzY.

In the midst of all the C7 hype, a group of Corvette enthusiasts is restoring a prototype from the past. Note the tube frame, and the good ol' cast-iron pushrod V8. Hopefully someone is making a documentary about it. Those hand-built cars always have a lot of interesting stories to tell.

Speaking of innovative booze, it looks like American single-malt whiskey makers are starting to really get noticed. The last time I tried scotch I thought it tasted like postage stamp glue. I just now realized that was more than twenty years ago, so maybe I'll take another crack at it. That said, I have a love/hate relationship with whiskey (I love it, it hates me) which will likely carry over to this stuff. Maybe I'll just stick to beer.

Two words: breakfast beer. You're welcome.

Also, a recycling plan I can absolutely support.

A group of internet gunsmiths has demonstrated the ability to create 30-round magazine for an AR-15. It would, naturally, neatly circumvent any legislative attempt to make such an accessory illegal. Just this morning I was thinking, "how could they possibly want to go through with something so obviously unpopular?" Then I remembered the health care debacle. It seems that, when the Republican Party fails to get its members elected to office, the Democrats are more than willing to step in and lend a hand.

Ahead of the Detroit Auto Show, GM has revealed the next Corvette. I think the front shows quite strong Ferrari influences, but the back seems to represent a complete departure from previous versions. It reminds me more of the current Camaro than anything else. Text of the article includes crayon-prose explaining things like torque.

Like the idea of a 4k TV, but wonder about how to get the content? Wonder no more. This is the first mention of any sort of 4k player I've read anywhere. As the article mentions, the rest are based on bulky server solutions. If 4k eventually catches on (I think it might), these guys may end up cornering the market.

The scales of a species of firefly have allowed engineers to significantly increase the brightness of LEDs. By a whopping 55%, no less. I wonder how they get them to fly so close together?

In the "I'm surprised it's taken this long" file, we have a full-sized replica of HAL 9000. Seems pretty pricey to me, but I'm just not that big of a Kubrick fan. I will say, however, that if you haven't seen 2001 in a hi-def format like Blu Ray you should take that chance. I snatched a 1080i broadcast of it off a cable channel, and it really was quite impressive.

It's still too early to be sure, but it would seem the savior of an ancient cathedral will be... olive oil. The crazy thing, to me anyway, is that the cathedrals are really only moderately old churches. The UK has dozens of far more modest structures that date to the sixth century, or even earlier.

A German company has developed a laser weapon system capable of destroying targets more than half a mile away. All weather, too. The article doesn't say if they're solid-state or not. Getting high power output from a laser without using chemicals has been a goal of the industry for quite some time.

So, will your next TV be a hyper-resolution 4k unit, or one that's just a few millimeters thick? They're both sitting north of the $10k mark right now, which means my answer is "not any time soon." Still, it does mean there's finally tech on the horizon that'd make me actually consider replacing the unit we have today.

A German engineering firm has created a pretty nifty flying... thing. Buoyancy is provided by helium. The funky shape and the way it moves is what provides propulsion. Bonus: powered by a smart phone. Hey, it's not like you really need super-precision to fly something that's just going to sit there if you stop.

Not sure how we missed it, but it looks like the name Enterprise will grace another aircraft carrier. A new-style big-deck one, no less. Beats the hell out of naming them after politicians, is all I'm saying.

One of the largest Viking ships ever found is scheduled to go on display at the British Museum in 2014. This one's old enough and fancy enough to have actually been built for King Canute, one of the great "What If" kings of England.

I genuinely like old buildings, old places, because the edges and details of whatever they are now provide clues to whatever they were then. In downtown DC, for example, there are certain areas which still have police telephone housings. And then there's a basement in Portland with a very old secret.

Coming soon to a media center near you: Sony has announced a new line of "4k" TV sets. Boasting a native resolution four times higher than common HD TVs today, Sony is also providing a media server with 4k content and a promise to refresh that content periodically for free. At a whopping $25,000, I'd expect nothing less.

I seem to recall it took big (36" +) LCDs about ten years before we started to seriously consider buying one, and about four years after that before the TV we had finally fell over and died. Our current TV is 4 years old, so we seem to be right on track for one of these 4k things, in 2023.

Horror films. Serious business. Hey, man, it's only make believe after all!

"Imagine all of the buildings on Manhattan, suddenly starting to move and fall over. I bet it'll be even cooler if I ever manage to get it in HD on my home theater rig at home. Nature can be... big...

And now, introducing... beer battered bacon-sprinkled deep-fried Doritos. You're welcome. Pleased to be forming an orderly queue...

Problem: your DIY drone may not be the best-performing one in the competition.

Solution: crush your enemies, drive them before you, and hear the lamentation of their servos. I, for one, welcome our goofy battery-powered virus-wielding overlords.

A recent archeological find is all the excuse The Daily Mail needs to make catty observations about women and fashion. Now that I think about it, they usually don't even try that hard.

Most of those "you gotta see this!" videos, you don't.

This is not one of those videos.

Problem: alopecia has struck you completely bald.

Solution: Wigs are SO 20th century, dear.

My wife if this ever happens, let me show you her...

Finally, engineers have created a truly important invention. Of course, heat-resistant chocolate won't be cheap. Would you be willing to pay the premium? I think it'd rely on a number of factors, and yes, hormones and the equipment that generates them figure prominently on that list.

Coming soon to a provider near you: a phone you can bend and twist without damaging it. Ellen is justifiably famous for abusing her electronics. She recently went through two phones in three months. This could be a godsend for her phone insurance provider.

A man... somewhere in the world... has cooked up an almost-autonomous flying drone to walk his kids to the bus stop. There are still navigation issues, and (as with all choppers this size) range is a real problem, but it does work. Hmmm... Olivia's school isn't much more than about 1/3rd of a mile from here. Interesting...

What better way to cross the middle of the week than with a series of really neat volcano pictures? I know living near one is bad news, but they sure look impressive.

I've been wondering why dash-cams are so damned popular in Russia ever since I saw my first giant "never ever ever drive in Russia" crash compilation. Now, finally, I have an answer. Yes, it's al-Jazeera, so what? All that means is they make no attempt to hide their bias. Since it's a straightforward fact-finding account that's not about the US, I think they're good.

A series of snapshots taken in a computer store more than thirty years ago may represent the oldest visual record of Apple's first commercial computer. I remember always wondering, as I'd look at Apple IIe's in various department stores, where the Apple I's all were. Now that I see what they actually look like, I'm not wondering all that much anymore. Home built, indeed.

Just when you thought the mishmash of this country had seen every combination possible, something like the Sherpa who speaks Yiddish comes up. Spending a dozen years away from your family must truly suck, but probably not as much as watching them starve trying to eke out a living in the Himalayas.

Personally, I get it. I mean, it's not often you get a photo opportunity like this. The details of the story explicitly state that Stewart wasn't doing his iconic "facepalm" move, but was instead simply distracted briefly. At least he didn't get caught with a finger in his nose or anything.

A famous sports car most of you have never heard of is being brought back to life. I remember seeing Renault Alpines in sports car review magazines back in the 80s. They were cool then, and they'll undoubtedly be cool now. Likewise, they probably won't officially reach these shores. Ah, well.

Leave it to a bunch of lunatics on bicycles to record the neatest film of Manhattan flooding I've seen so far. I wonder if the insurance on that Bentley will cover a total loss from flooding? I can't see leaving it there for any other reason.

Spy photos of the upcoming Alfa 4C are starting to surface. The good: looks like the concept has more or less remained intact into production. The bad: STILL no real news as to when it may end up in the US. Oh, this one will be too expensive for us, but it'd be nice to see one driving down the street one day.

And now, a fully-functional Tetris game built into a pumpkin. I guess that'd make for some interesting soldering practice, but can't say I'd have that much fun taking it apart after it'd rotted. Maybe a plastic pumpkin would've been a longer-lasting choice?

Boeing have announced a new weapon that can zap electronics without touching anything else. The demo seems to indicate it can be targeted at specific buildings, instead of a particular area. It's not clear to me if the damage is permanent, or if everything starts working once the weapon turns off.

Jeff gets a no-prize that'll be welcome at any Oktoberfest for bringing us news of the latest Great American Beer Festival. Bonus: the winner is brewed somewhere here in Virginia. We might actually have it at our local super-store! Time to take some notes...

And we though fostering kittens was bad: Meet the lady who's fostering a baby elephant. The article includes a lot of "squee-inducing" photos. No, Ellen, you can't have one.

Another year, another record-breaking Roman coin find in Britain. They occupied a big chunk of Europe for a darned long time. You'd think these things would be at least as common on the continent. Then again, the rules are different, so maybe people are finding them just as frequently elsewhere, and not reporting it.

See, if they'd traveled faster it would've been a lot more interesting to watch. Of course, I'm not sure they would've made the turns as cleanly, but that's part of the fun! I bet that neighborhood they drove down had one helluva block party that day.

Passenger jets: great for moving people around, also useful for the occasional rescue effort. The article itself needs another pass by the proofreaders. Bonus: The Air Canada jet had to call home base, who were then able to call back to Australia, to get the rescue started.

I'd completely forgotten European rally racing is routinely held at night. Yeah, I know, they're covered with lights for a reason. I just never really thought it through.

A partial Black Adder script thought to have been lost turns out not to have been. I remember hearing about their "too offensive" unproduced Christmas show I can't remember how long ago. It's nice to know at least some of it will see the light of day. And Black Adder as the owner of the inn where Joseph and Mary try to find a place to stay? It would've been epic, I think I can at least say that.

Some things just deserve to be celebrated: by one (elaborate) metric, the US has the cheapest beer in the world. It'd be interesting to know if the super-cheep generic label BEER you can get in supermarkets artificially depressed the statistic.

Crop circles? At the bottom of my ocean? It's more likely than you think! Determination and an OCD-like ability to focus can carry you quite a long way.

Take one RC truck, screw an SLR camera on it, and add a big cover to "lion proof" it, and what do you get? Some really neat pictures! Even though the post is dated February, it looks like they still haven't completed their documentary project. Here's to hoping they finish it soon!

Nothing like creeping around in basements and staring in dark windows to prep you for the Halloween season. Promise: No shrieking masks or other "boo!" scares, so you can leave the volume at a normal level.

Coming to a pavement near you: the ultimate in "eco friendly lighting". Funny, I seem to remember things like this going back to the '70s. Maybe they've got a new formulation? I don't remember those old glow-in-the-dark things lasting all that long.

It turns out elephants sleep laying down. At least, those elephants slept lying down, and now the zoo has (temporary) proof. Ellen probably wishes I slept that still.

Steve U. gets a no-prize fit for an emperor for bringing us news of the discovery of an "enormous" Roman-era mosaic in southern Turkey. What's not widely understood nowadays is how much closer that part of the world was to Rome back then. It's always important to keep in mind that the Mediterranean was not bisected by religion in this period. It was a bowl, not a folded piece of paper.

And I thought the town I grew up in was remote: a Chinese village of 200 can only be reached by a "rope bridge" over a chasm nearly 1000 feet deep. From the article, it seems like it started out a rope bridge, but now is made of cable. Because that makes it so much safer. Right.

Introducing the world's shiniest fruit, according to a new press release somewhere, at any rate. I think they look like a cross between ball bearings and grapes. Apparently it's an adaptation to the local birds' fascination with shiny objects. Which tells me someone needs to get these things into a jewelry store right away.

Russia's at it again, this time with a new, larger, nuclear powered ice breaker. When the majority of the coastline of your country lies above the arctic circle, ice breakers become much more important. Bonus: Commerce, and therefore, life is improving in the area because the ice is retreating.

The Swedes may have invented it, but leave it to Australia to popularize it: a new style of wine box may see women leaving behind their giant sacks of crap to carry something really important. Yeah, I know, that's not gonna happen, but it's fun to think about it. Oh, and "goon sack?"

NASA's Dawn probe has departed the asteroid Vesta and is now en route to the dwarf planet Ceres. Ceres was always highlighted on maps of the solar system when I was a kid, so I think it'll be cool to finally get real close-ups of the object. Oh, and am I the only one who wants to fine The Register $500 each time they use the word, "Boffin?"

Valve has kinda-sorta gone public with its intentions to enter the hardware market. The development cycle for the big 3's consoles seems to have gotten quite relaxed in the past few years. It'd be nice toss in a little competition now and again.

A new world record has been set with the discovery of the world's oldest message in a bottle. At 98 years old, it beat the previous record holder by five years. Bonus: the ship which discovered that message is also the one that discovered this one. The captain just seems to have a knack for it, I guess.

If the folks at Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity — the spy services’ equivalent of Darpa, an iconic scene from Star Wars may become a reality. It was too cool, and really not all that out-there, to stay fictional forever. Me, I'm still waiting for a light saber, but I'm nerdy that way.

It's beginning to look like the only place Olivia's kids will see cash is in a museum. To me, this seems like a golden opportunity for thieves and grifters more than it does a way to convenience customers. Then again, I guess when credit cards were first introduced, people felt the same way about them. Ah, progress.

Another engineering firm is taking a crack at the hoverbike. I think the thing that ultimately dooms these things is the racket they make. That's a problem that goes back at least to the fifties, which was when the first documentary I saw about them was made. Still, if it's done in a place where noise doesn't matter, then maybe they have potential.

It's one thing to make a robot walk. It's a whole other thing to make him strut. It looks like they may have even fitted him with leather loafers, or whatever the hell kind of shoe Travolta actually wears in the film. Suits him, I think.

IBM may be on the verge of yet another computer performance discontinuity by announcing they've figured out how to harness an electron's spin for use in computer memory chips. The idea is literally in deep-science territory, and they can't even do it at room temperature yet. But that's just engineering, because (they claim) the theory is sound.

I guess it really does take a dedicated nerd to create the very first self-portrait of the newest mechanical resident of Mars. I think those funny stickers all over it must be some sort of focus targets. I can't think of any brands that use that logo, at any rate. It's a shame someone couldn't figure out how to smuggle a Champion sticker on it or something.

If a twelve year-old kid from California is to be believed, every single president, except for one, is related to King John of England. And the odd man out isn't the one you're expecting, either. I have to wonder, though, when the net is cast that wide, how many other run-of-the-mill people are related to ol' "Lackland?"

President, shmesident. THIS is a birthday worth mentioning. You'd think that, as successful as the Nurburgring is, Fiat would be more interested in exploiting this facility for profit. Maybe liability laws are different in Italy than they are in Germany?

What better way to close out the week than with a collection of hi-res pictures of whale sharks? Fifty feet long, you say? Sounds fishy...

Most of the time people get away with being d-bags to wait staff because only one or two people see it happen. Then there's this guy. One advantage to being a line monkey: I don't have to sign a contract stating I won't embarrass the company any time, anywhere. Him, not so much. Not that I would do something this stupid. I used to BE a drive-through person, a very long time ago. It's not the hardest job in the world, but it's also not the best. Nice to see a total d-k getting what's coming to him.

This time around we won't be hearing the sound of a starter pistol at Olympic track events because the speed of sound is just too slow. When the stakes are this high, and the results are measured in hundredths of a second, I can understand this.

If the rumors are to be believed, Apple fanatics are about to have their heads 'asploded. Again. One of these days, maybe even soon, I guess I'll have to buy one of their products as a sort of electronic lamb's blood to ensure when the Angel of Steve visits everyone's house he'll pass mine by. Or, you know, something.

Images from NASA's Lunar Reconaissance Orbiter (LRO) have revealed all but one of the American flags planted on the moon by Apollo astronauts are still standing. Buzz Aldrin stated some time ago that they inadvertently planted Apollo 11's flag too close, and it got knocked over by the blast of their takeoff from the moon. I guess this is all good and expected. After all, if any of the rest had fallen over that would mean they were pushed.

And in the, "why'd it take this long?" category we have hermit crabs with glass shells. The initial links make it seem like it was a New Zealand university that thought this up, but the only place I found video makes me think someone beat them to the punch by a few years. I would think the critters would be freaked out but apparently they really like being able to see out while safely tucked in their shell. When you're on the lower end of the food chain, it makes sense.

Yes, yes, the Danes have cool dorms. But that's because it's Denmark, land of the nice and home of the civil. I lived with the hairless chimpanzees that make up around 75% of American college freshmen boys for three years. I'd give a place like this about three years with them before it would need to be completely rebuilt.

What better way to start the second half of the week than with a picture of a for-real vampire skeleton? Well, the villagers certainly thought it was for-real. They used an iron stake and pulled its teeth to prove it.

Those crafty Canadians are at it again, this time sinking our Navy's ships! Well, ship. And it was a training exercise, and we did, well, actually GIVE them the ship. BUT THAT'S NO EXCUSE! THERE ARE MILLIONS OF CANADIANS MASSED JUST OUTSIDE OUR BORDERS! WAKE UP, SHEEPLE!!!

The end is nigh: a car magazine has a "first look" at what Alfa's next big sedan will look like. Since they're targeting BMW, it'll likely be far out of our range. But it is, from the pictures at any rate, a pretty sharp looking piece of kit.

There's thunderstorms, and then there's thunderstorms so massive they're visible from space, in daylight. Of course, a storm like that won't dump a tree the size of a house onto your car, so I guess it's all relative...

A group of scientists has figured out how to teach you a 30-character password without you actually realizing it. The key is a "Guitar Hero-like" game that imparts a kind of muscle memory of the password. I guess it's similar to the mechanism that makes telling someone you PIN number harder than punching the numbers on an actual keypad. Bonus: includes the phrase "rubber-hose cryptanalysis."

Those clever Italians are at it again, this time adding a for-real cappuccino machine to their newest line of cars. Unfortunately it doesn't look like it's scheduled for the US. I can't imagine how, but I guess we've got some sort of regulation that the EU doesn't.

Well, it's cool because it's not coming down on my head, anyway: check out what the most recent set of summer storms looked like in New York. I abandoned a bike ride today because of the dire weather predictions, and now it's not even supposed to start until later tonight. Dammit.

Knocking over internet cafes is all fun and games until you find one with a fat old white guy and his concealed carry permit in it. Jeff gets a no-prize that'll brook no argument for bringing us a graphic example of just how fast two young punks can run when properly motivated.

Every four years there's an Olympics, and every four years the sports press discovers "thars sex in that thar village!" From stories told to me by folks who attended earlier Olympics, it didn't all start in 1992. It was just noticed by the media around that time. At least with this article the girls admit they were having just as much fun as the boys.

Scientists have managed, for the first time, to film a litter of wild snow leopards in their dens in Mongolia. With video! I dunno. In that first clip, mom doesn't look very happy at all. The rest just look like giant versions of what we've been fostering all summer. No, Ellen, you can't have one.

I especially like the ones where they put the candles out. Ellen's already proved the one about the foot and the number six is true.

Making the rounds: Amazon has stopped fighting its battle with state taxes because it wants to build warehouses everywhere. The goal is apparently to bring *same* day delivery to customers in a profitable way. Will it kill local retail? Probably not, IMO. People still like to go to the mall, especially for fitted items like clothing. Will it put a big ol' ding in it? Absolutely.

Also, the intense pressure to control costs will mean unions will be "right out." If this starts to take off, expect a new wave of union-funded "ZOMG! THE BIG VIRTUAL BOX KILLED MOM AND POP!!!" propaganda a-la Wal Mart. We can't have convenience and low prices if it means unions lose more power, donchaknow?

A few more details on the upcoming Miata/Spider platform have emerged. A 1750 Duetto is, essentially, what's sitting in my garage right now. It'd be pretty nifty to park it next to its progeny, assuming it ever actually arrives. Hey, it'll be rear wheel drive with an Italian motor. I don't care where they make it.

A French engineer has created what he claims is the world's fastest running shoe using a 3D printer. That's right, folks. The idea is to show up, get your foot measured, and this guy punches a button to print out your shoes. Welcome to the 21st century!

I guess you could do worse than a 186 mph bus. What puzzles me is they're pitching it as a long-distance solution, but their choice of an electric drivetrain limits the range to around 150 miles? That, plus a requirement for their own exclusive traffic lanes, would seem to put a ding in profitability. Ah, well. The Arabs have to spend their money on SOMETHING, I suppose.

Damion gets a no-prize that'll rip right past the Road Runner just before it detonates like a hand grenade for bringing us the ultimate street machine. For certain values of street machine. You know, the ones that involve 1000 f'ing horsepower. This being the 21st century, it also includes air conditioning, cup holders, and the ability to idle at a stop light. Ain't technology grand?

A medieval manuscript that's considered a Spanish national treasure has been recovered. The inelegantly but accurately named Santiago de Compostela Codex Calixtinus was found in a garage near the city along with other rare manuscripts also stolen from the cathedral. Together they represent some of the earliest accounts of one of the most famous pilgrimages of the Middle Ages.

It's beginning to look like the phrase "turnabout is fair play" isn't always a bad thing. Chrysler keeping Fiat afloat is both an unexpected and pleasant surprise, but I want my new Alfa SUV dammit!!! Ahem. Sorry. Anyway, to paraphrase, the two companies seem to be "little, and broken, but still good."

Leave it to the Navy to turn the whole "potato cannon" idea up to 11. With video!

How bad was last week's super storm? Bad enough to be spotted from space. In the dark. We're very fortunate here to have most, if not all, our power lines underground. Blackouts are rare, and extended ones... well, I can't recall one that lasted more than a few hours. Other places, not so much. Reston Town Center, a gigantic shopping/dining/office complex, was still dark on Sunday (two days later), and for all I know might still be.

Well, I know this has been all over the MSM so I'm just repeating it, but by the way US carbon output forecasts are down. Again. "No cap and trade, no huge new taxes on oil, no draconian driver restrictions, no air conditioning bans, no rationing — and the US is on track to cut its CO2 emissions 17 percent below the 2005 levels by 2020 — and to keep cutting our emissions levels beyond that."

The Alfa SUV project seems to be coming along nicely. They could do a lot worse than a Jeep with a fancy body on it and an Italian motor in it. Here's to hoping it's in our price range!

Title says it all: This is what happens if a box of garbage falls into a volcano lake. Tossing a person in would likely see the same result. What? Oh, like you never watched Gilligan's Island or the second Ice Age movie. See what I did there? You're bound to know at least one of them!

Now, we've gone on record as considering "roughing it" to be the lack of a Tivo, but this camping trailer is still pretty nifty. I keep thinking I'll see it in its transformed state as a giant robot next.

Folks worrying over how Shuttle prototype Enterprise will weather winters on the Hudson should worry no more. The air-supported domes I've been inside have been dark and pretty loud, but maybe this is a different type. Regardless, it's a temporary solution which (hopefully) will be replaced once a permanent facility has been created. I didn't know they had enough room on Intrepid's deck to fit the thing on it, but there you go.

And now, a 300-pound, eight-foot long gar. It was so big they had to shoot the damned thing to kill it.

Good: Dolby is premiering a new theater sound system! Bad: It's not in any nearby theater. Curses! Adding a ceiling channel is definitely more realistic than the 40+ channel standard that they're wanting to wedge into the next hi-def TV spec.

And now, a dolphin with an octopus attached. So, an over-ambitious snack attack, or an attempt at a free ride gone wrong? You decide!

Robert H. gets a securely contained no-prize for bringing us The SCP Project, a one-stop community shop which seems to be dedicated to the creation of all things creepy. It's fictional, but it took me rooting around awhile to make sure. It all seems to be protected by the Creative Commons copyright, which I guess is why it hasn't turned into a giant feed trough for Hollywood.

Well, it's not like you can mail a barge from South Korea to the Netherlands. This ship, or one very like it, was used to ferry USS Cole and (I think) what was left of that Russian sub that torpedoed itself a few years back. They are definitely nifty bits of engineering.

Life in the 21st century: a Spanish company has created a self-making bed. Looks kinda fiddly to me. I think I'd be worried it'd try to make itself with me still in it during an... enthusiastic... moment. That, and it adds about a hundred new things to break.

Let the "briefly" jokes begin: Alfa Romeo's new 4c sports coupe should arrive sooner than predicted. It'll still likely be more than we can afford, and certainly more than we have places to put it, but it'd be awfully nice to park my ancient Spider next to one.

Author Neal Stephenson has started a "crowdfunding" project to bring real sword fighting to video games. He's already about 1/5th to his goal, with most of a month left. It's not every day that someone'll give you a sword for funding his start-up.

The DOD is working with two university professors to see if it's possible to create rat-based mine detectors. The idea is to train them to circle a mine once they've found it. A tiny GPS backpack they're wearing would allow a computer to "spot" the behavior, and therefore the mine. The rats are too light to set the mines off, so they'd be safe. Not sure how they'd collect them after the job was done, I guess you just pick them up from their circling.

Lost knowledge rediscovered: the lines on a Solo cup are actually measurement marks. I was always a little suspicious about how a bottle of beer NEARLY overflowed one. But after the third or forth one, I sorta stopped noticing.

SpaceX's recently returned Dragon capsule is now heading for Texas. I wonder why it's only dark on one side like that?

I guess I really should have watched that whole Jubilee thing last weekend. In addition to what seems to have been a good concert, Waldo showed up. Point: he proved that German has a sense of humor. Germans as a whole, well, hell I just remembered they paid for some Monty Python episodes back in the day. They can't be THAT humorless.

Coming to a cellphone near you, maybe: a new display technology promises to bring tactile buttons to your touchscreen phone. I've never liked what passes for keyboards on today's touchscreens. I'm far too much of a touch typist. Still, I wonder about price, durability, and just how... well, flexible it really is.

Bare weeks have gone by since Fiat's announcement that the next Alfa Spider will be based on a Miata, and no official documents have been released. So, the folks at Car and Driver pulled out their WAG machine and posted up something anyway. Just having the power come out the correct end for the first time in nearly twenty years is, for me at least, the real "get" of the deal. I trust the company to get the rest of it right all by themselves.

Problem: Two obsolete spy satellites need a new job. Solution: spin them 180 degrees and hand the controls to NASA. Yep, the telescope guys just tripled their available 'scope time, with the two new ones representing a real upgrade, for free. Surplus rocks!

I'll be making payments on my new laptop for a few years, but those of you mulling over a new system might be interested in what Intel thinks the next "ultrabook" will look like. No, it won't impress the wild-eyed fruit fanatics, but for actual mortals it looks pretty sweet. That said, I'm more fond of a 15" form factor. Maybe that's because I've never spent much time with the smaller fry.

Nothing like sawing a car in half length-wise to get it to give up its secrets!

Problem: monasteries, almost in spite of themselves, usually become rich and are nearly always populated with people professionally useless at defense. Solution: build. I found it staggering when I learned these places, islands... no, time machines.... from the Middle Ages and even earlier still exist and function unchanged in any real way. Even they don't know the treasures which may lurk in their libraries. They've survived this long, and presumably they will continue to do so. A good thing.

Alfa's (apparently) re-painted its 4C prototype again and parked it where people could see it. At least it's shiny this time. It'll likely be comparatively cheap but since my income is absolutely not in that league I'll just admire it from afar. If only they'd start bringing them over.

A new substance developed by an MIT PhD candidate may put an end to one of the most annoying tasks to confront a burger-eater. Don't miss the freaky-impressive videos!

Nothing says "slow news day" quite like a brief summary of what the DNA of dogs has told us about their evolution. Then again, they are man's best friend. No, Ellen, you can't have one.

After years of thought experiments, guesswork, and trials, someone has finally used a wingsuit to successfully jump from an aircraft without using a parachute. He had to land in a ruddy great pile of boxes, but he definitely pulled it off. I wonder what his landing speed actually ended up being?

The manufacturer of the world's most successful sports car is teaming with Alfa Romeo to produce the next generation of the iconic Miata. Which will, of course, also underpin the next generation of Alfa's Spider. On the one hand, I'm tickled, since this could bring the high quality and lower price the marque needs to compete against the Huns. On the other, well, Japanese-Alfa teams have historically not done well. It's a new century, so here's to hoping for the best!

Most of Cracked's "6 things we want to be snarky about because we have to justify our journalism degrees somehow. Oh, and bullshit boobies" stories aren't worth all that much. It's when they take a crack at the politically correct version of early US history that some gold can be found. And, you know, the occasional mention of bullshit and boobies. Boobies! (SFW)

Desirae H. gets a no-prize that'll definitely make people stare at her book collection for bringing us some pretty nifty book shelf ideas. Beats the hell out of a stack of rectangles. Weirdly, Ellen and I have both gone to a Kindle this year, which has zeroed our "real" book purchases. That said, I've been carrying around some of the books in my library for nearly 30 years. Why not be stylish with them?

Another entry in the "why'd it take this long" file: a grad student has created a fully-functional Portal gun turret. Complete with the adorably psychopathic voice. Fortunately this one only shoots nerf darts. Cat guard? You betcha!

For once, a development in audiophile-land that doesn't cost as much as a house: a working group of manufacturers and labels has been dedicated to creating an open standard for DSD-over-USB. Why should you care? DSD is the music file format which was always meant to be the successor to CDs. It's what'll allow engineers to create for-real multichannel recordings that you can use with your home theater rig. It's languished on the fringes because it's only available in optical format (SACD).

Nobody but lunatics like me wants a new optical format for music, and so SACD has gone more or less nowhere. However, downloadable music is all the rage and multi-channel is a real "get." And, it almost certainly won't cost an arm and a leg to get something that'll play it. Woot!

It may take 20 (presumably small) servos to operate, but it's still a nifty little piece of kit. Japanese, naturally. Hopefully he'll concentrate more on a convincing walk with the next version. I agree with the TG guys, this one really does look like a wobbly penguin when it walks.

Well why the hell not: Italian coach builder Zagato is rumored to be working on a new Alfa TZ4 road car based on the upcoming Dodge Viper. A big, rip-snorting V10 packed into an Italian package. What's not to love?

In Manhattan, even the ends of a subway can be interesting. And, truth be told, beautiful. It's certainly a heck of a lot easier on the eyes than the lump they're building in the middle of the toll road today.

Quite appropriate on the day most folks who're interested will be going to see The Avengers: A new ammo system inspired by the movie Predator is changing the way small Army units are using their crew-served weapons. At least, I think that's what it's about. Anyway, it's got a big belt of ammo coming out of a backpack. What's not to love?

Not sure how it got past us last month, but anyway get a load of the 2013 Dodge Viper! What was once a sledgehammer of a car now sports actual anti-lock brakes, as well as other stability enhancements. As far as I can tell, little if anything comes from parent company Fiat. Well, except perhaps for some civilizing tendencies.

Taiwanese researchers have created a gigabit-class network using simple pointing lasers. While the article does a nice job of summarizing why this is neat, it misses what I think is a pretty obvious point: a laser network would be a form of wireless nearly impossible to eavesdrop on. Maybe I just read too many Tom Clancy novels, or something?

The owner of the Harley Davidson motorcycle that was washed out to sea in its storage container during the tsunami in Japan last year has been found. The factory has already agreed to restore the bike and return it to the owner free of charge. No, it won't bring back his three family members, but it definitely is something. That was one crazy voyage!

With gas prices as high as they are, and alternative "dual clutch" transmissions still commanding a premium, I can't say I'm surprised manual trannies are making a comeback. See what I did there? Ha! Anyway, I've owned a car with a stick shift since 1988, so I'm fine with this.

Another day, another genuinely bizarre concept car from an Italian design house. Built on an Alfa platform, natch. Something you can always count on is Italian designs setting trends that echo throughout automotive styling (remember the Testa Rossa's giant strakes?), but I just can't see what, or how, that jalopy will set a trend. But I've been wrong before.

Yours, cheap: a Navy contractor is looking to sell an innovative prototype stealth ship. That thing must've spawned half a dozen documentaries back in the 90s. Seems a bit of a shame it's going to be turned into razor blades, but them's the breaks, sometimes.

Now this sort of recycling I can support: a young lady is using all sorts of off-beat materials to make prom dresses. Article includes "the best things in life are illegal" picture goodness, too! Totally SFW.

I recognize where she's been, and I'm a little scared about how fast she's going: a dad videotaped his daughter once a week for twelve years, and then knitted together one heckuva time-lapse film.

I thought that annoyed guy with a pitchfork, horns, and a parka with snow on it looked familiar... Alfa seems to be definitely-for-real-not-kidding-this-time on its way to the US. I'm not all that surprised. All those folks who built free-standing Fiat dealerships weren't doing so because the 500 would be such a money maker. The 500 was the wedge car, but Alfa will be where the money is.

Pop quiz: boat, or starship? Looks very Enterprise-y to me, especially from the front. It doesn't really look like it could fit fifteen people comfortably. Must be bigger on the inside than it is on the outside.

Sometimes, just sometimes, Texas can have a brilliant idea. Ok, probably not original to them, since I vaguely recall reading about something like this a few years ago. Still, I think the deal breaker would be... call it the selection. In other words, this isn't exactly a service I'd want from, say, Alice.

The world's largest dog has been declared, a 230 pound great dane in Tuscon, Arizona. Unfortunately the big ones don't really last all that long, although George himself seems to be in good health. Ellen gives him another 1-2 years, while I think he's got 2-4. Good luck to them, anyway!

The quest for the most complex Rube Goldberg machine has been completed. With video! These guys get to win because the folks at NASA get to build these kinds of things and then fling them off into space.

Every time I think I know about every Alfa ever made someone goes and finds a new one. That one reminds me a LOT of that new "shooting brake" Ferrari. Even Italians occasionally repeat themselves, it would seem. We had a lot of Canadians come down for the last national club meet I went to, but I didn't see that silver one anywhere.

Looks like absolutely nobody got killed when that F-18 parked itself in an apartment complex in VA Beach. I still think when it's all said and done that it'll end up being the fault of the jet trying to inhale a couple of large birds.

Fans of steam punk and/or a certain cross-and-serpent should find this one-off vehicle worth a look. I'd read before that it was really hot to drive in, but I didn't understand this was because they'd actually enclosed the motor in the cockpit. Me, I'd be at least as worried about CO poisoning. True, compression was low and gasoline weak in those days, but it's not like they were concerned with emissions equipment.

Steve U. will find out that In Soviet Russia, No-Prize Finds You for bringing us this look deep inside one of the USSR's most secret naval facilities. I'm not sure if that's a real submarine sitting on a pylon, or some sort of model. The scale is too weird for me to really figure out.

"Dear Aunt Em: Hate you, hate Texas, took the dog, Love, Dorothy." I guess that, having no good trailer parks available, it decided to knock over a tractor-trailer park. Silly storm!

So, tell me if you've heard this one before: a man, a bear, and a cougar are walking through the woods... Actually, I think an equally likely story is mamma bear got startled by the mountain lion and did what startled mamma bears naturally do. In other words, if that'd been a deer (and the attack wasn't immediately fatal) the outcome would've essentially been the same. But, hey, I wasn't there, and if the old man thinks that bear decided to help him, I'm not going to contradict him.

If the press release is to be believed, a flying car may be in your future. And I do mean press release... I guess it's called "PR Newswire" for a reason. No pictures and no word on how much it might cost, either. The FAA has a much lower-cost pilot's license for sports flyers, and that may be what it'll use. Me, I just think about what the Toll Road would be like if all those cabbies and soccer moms could fly, and I shudder a bit.

Never underestimate the power of one kook: a man in Tennessee has single-handled built what is likely to be the world's tallest tree house. It's not clear from the article if it has all the amenities. I suspect not, otherwise he'd have to conform to who knows how many building codes. But I've been wrong about this sort of thing before.

Adorable Harry the hippopotamus is no stick-in-the-mud when it comes to making friends with humans.

The six-day-old pygmy hippo calf is filling the time of his doting carers after being rejected by his mother at birth.

The 11lb baby was born last Thursday at a wildlife sanctuary in South Africa and requires round-the-clock care.

The "Route 29 Batman" is just your garden variety eccentric. Because crazy people are poor, and rich people are eccentric. Bah. His money, his choices. And, since he's visiting children's hospitals, I even support whatever tax write-offs he may make. I do wonder if DC/Marvel might come after him, but the rules for non-profit use of things can be different. Heck, with his money, he may have actually licensed it all. That's what I'd do.

The founder of online giant Amazon broke off a few million bucks recently and figured out where Apollo 11's first stage ended up. It's not known what condition they're in, especially after sitting under about three miles of ocean for forty years. Unlike the Shuttle's SRBs, this thing followed a ballistic trajectory and hit the water hard. There may not be all that much left.

Because it's my website, that's why: a brief look at how the F-1 drivers stay cool in the insane heat and humidity of Malaysia. Being a Southerner means I'm more than casual student of keeping cool, to the point I still occasionally amaze myself by owning a car without air conditioning. I can't imagine driving the Spider for two hours with the top down in high summer wearing all the gear they wear, let alone doing it at maximum speed. Salut!

Good news: someone has visited the bottom of Challenger Deep, only the second time in history. Bad news: he came back. Actually, that's not really fair. I've always liked Cameron's movies despite his reputation as a brass-plated butt-head. Congratulations to him and can't wait to see the movie!

So, how many of these "20 iconic tech sounds" do you remember? The Windows Serenade was downright startling. Each one immediately yanked me back to different dark days in my sysadmin life. And I'm not too sure how many of these will fade outright. One of Olivia's shows uses the modem song as part of its studio logo.

The Ducks have their own blog!

People who think ghost towns are the exclusive domain of the Old West will be happy to know they're actually all over the damned place. Yes, most of them are the direct result of the 2008 real estate bust, but not all of them. The Chernobyl site in particular has been used as a setting in more than one video game I've played.

Everyone's (well, my) favorite movie maniac is set to visit Challenger Deep in a submarine of his own design. This'll be the first time a person has been down that far since 1960, and will smash the record they set for time on the bottom. He's finally providing details of the craft, as well as a few pictures.

For a good look at how far out there turntables can get, check this out. The author does include a comparatively affordable option... the turntable at the bottom of the list can be had for a little more than $2k. Hey, I said comparatively, after all. But I will concede the designs are nifty. How they all make a living selling these things I never will know.

It's said if you take enough pictures you'll eventually catch the weirdest things on film. Ever thought just how many pictures Google takes every day? What's with the people parking passenger jets in their back yard, anyway?

This was what Olivia and I did a few weeks back when we attended the DC car show. It was a lot of fun. The girl who drove us around is featured VERY briefly, right at 0:42.

The folks over at DARPA are at it again, this time trying to figure out if it's possible to build a system that'll take a picture of a soldier standing anywhere on the Earth, from space, and send it to his iPhone in less than 90 minutes. I'll give them this, when they say "think big" they're not kidding. I would imagine the satellites would be straightforward enough. It's the launchers that I figure might be the expensive link in the chain.

The folks at Top Gear have found the world's most awesome simulator ride. Reading the comments, though, seems to indicate the same experience can be had at Dubai for about 1/10th the price. Of course, you have to drag your butt all the way to Dubai, so maybe it evens out.

Dreamworks Animation has announced an upcoming movie who's main character dreams of racing in the Indy 500. Indycar has been struggling ever since Tony took his ball and went home back in the 90s. The reunion of the two leagues has helped, but it's not clear by how much. Hopefully the movie won't stink!

So, if all of us Americans are fatties who need to lay off the sammiches, how do we explain this? Of course, it's still in America, just the 1890s instead of the 2010s. They all look pretty short, too. And check out those corsets... I think the fainting couches must've been just off camera. (SFW)

A giant mural by none other than Leonardo DaVinci, long thought to have been destroyed centuries ago during a renovation, may have been found. More detail is here. Italy literally has masterpieces hiding other masterpieces. Embarrassment of riches, indeed.

Top Gear's latest season, along with Richard Hammond's new (and apparently well-regarded) series will premiere on BBC America April 16. Maybe by then Fios will have the dratted channel in HD. People've only been asking for it for a few YEARS. Ah, well. It'll still be funny!

Mike J. gets a no-prize that'll really screw up a fireworks display for bringing us a few videos of the IDF taking some of Hajji's toys away from him. No gore or bodies (that I could see anyway), just good ol' fashioned 'asplosions. If it ruins a terrorist's day, I'm all for it.

There's the rockets we use during our annual Thanksgiving festivities, and there's the rockets that can go all the way to 120,000 feet. Hey, it's his money, why not build giant rockets with it?

For proof that we've come one helluva long way from Mario Brothers, witness Kara is Self Aware, a short film intended to be a demonstration of the new capabilities the latest motion capture technologies can bring to video games. And, of course, the power of the consoles themselves, which it should be pointed out will be replaced soon enough by the next generation.

It's also a really nifty story, one that should be fleshed out (as it were), if it's not already being finished.

The Disco Volante re-visit is now available for viewing. Supposedly it's for sale, but no price was mentioned. I'm thinking the kind of people who can afford it are the kind of people who don't need to ask.

While far from a perfect cloaking device, Mercedes' latest publicity stunt is still fun to look at. The views when it's stationary, and at a distance, are pretty impressive. However, I can't help but think conventional camouflage would achieve the same effect at a far lower, electricity-free, price. Who knows where this'll be in ten years?

Jeff gets a no-prize that'll help him welcome our new robot overlords for bringing us this look at a record-setting robotic cheetah. I think I'd be more comfortable with it if they'd just put a head on it. At any rate, right now they're sort of cheating by using external power but a free-running version is supposed to be in the wings.

For proof of just how whacky Italian auto sports can get, witness a re-engined Fiat X1/9 doing a hill climb in Naples. It's got some ludicrous motorcycle drivetrain installed in it, that's why the shift changes pop by so quickly. They also (finally) seem to have taken spectator safety at least a little into account, because I don't seem to see quite as many of them standing at the apex of the corners. Makes a nifty noise, I'll give it that.

An iconic design house is revisiting one of its own iconic designs. Go for the pretty pictures, stay for the Google-ish translation of the text. The gist is true, though. It seems the 8C was released with significant... features... in its rear suspension that make it more than a little challenging to drive quickly.

So, will your next game console be a Gen-X device from the big three, or will it be something else? Making a platform completely open tends to attract developers. Microsoft's architecture is such that any Xbox game can be ported to the PC with little or no modifications, something that literally saved PC gaming a few years ago. So, it has potential, and a library of popular titles ready for the taking. Remains to be seen if it goes anywhere.

Ever wonder what head exploding with candy would actually sound like? I just need to make sure Ron and I have recorders handy when our respective spouses see this. And, natch, you're welcome. No, Ellen, you can't have one.

Steve U. gets a no-prize shaped like a music box for bringing us a fine example of useful robotics. Tiny helicopters, a synthesizer, and an electric guitar. What's not to love?

Mike J. gets a no-prize that can grow or shrink to the edges of possibility for bringing us this nifty comparison scale for things smaller than an atom to things bigger than a galaxy. I think we may have linked it before, but it's neat and it's our website so have fun with it all over again. I did.

Check out who's going to be in the new season of Top Gear. That'll be at least two actors who've played the Doctor featured now, think. I would really love for Fios to get BBC America in HD before the new season is broadcast here, but they seem to be more interested in adding foreign language channels. Pity.

I guess that, as far as explanations on how encryption actually works, this analogy using paint and clocks is pretty good. My head more or less 'asploded when they got to the modulus math part, but I think I got the gist. The problem with nerds (and I most definitely have this problem) is they're so excited to tell you how something works they tend to neglect to tell you how to get it to work.

In other words, great, it's awesome how nifty public/private key encryption works. Now what's the easiest way to convey my plans for world domination to my worldwide network of minions in a way that will keep Smokey off my trail? And, wouldn't it have been easier for you to just say "use this!" and hand me a disk? Yes. Disks. There aren't any disks? Wait, when did 3.5" floppies go out of style?

Oh, great. Next you're going to tell me Apple is still in business.

The Atlantic has made part 2 of its Civil War photograph collection available online. This batch includes high-resolution examples of many favorite portraits, as well as an example of Brady's famous battlefield photos sharp enough to actually see what the fuss was all about.

It's one thing to learn that horses used to be really small, and see paintings of them scampering across a generic savannah. It's a bit different when a really good artist paints one next to one of his all-grown-up descendants. Fortunately, all these micro-horses died off eons ago, so I don't have to worry about Ellen getting one.

Suddenly that whole "cloud mistaken for a UFO" thing is making more sense. That said, at least they're not claiming it's anything but a cloud. Me, I'm surprised someone didn't claim to have seen Jesus in it.

What better way to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the start of the Civil War than an extensive collection of rarely published photographs. Well, rarely published as far as I know. I'd never seen most of them before, and hey that's all that counts!

A couple of enterprising Australians are supplying an innovative and effective tool in the hunt for pythons in the Everglades. I'll bet they had to get six dozen permits from a half dozen federal agencies before they were allowed to set foot in the place, otherwise all the local rednecks would've figured this out a long time ago.

Not quite one year after the massive earthquakes in Japan, evidence seems to be showing recovery is proceeding apace. They're Japanese. Of COURSE they're going to clean the place up first. Scrubbed to sparkling, even the abandoned lots.

New to the UK: a cheap steeple chase with a tasty participant. Well, tasty for other folks. I'm not in the habit of eating rodents, but knock yourself out. Run, Rabbit! Run!

A Pantera-based convertible replica of an Alfa-based hard-topped show car which set design trends that'd influence most of the sports cars built in the 70s is now for sale. Like most Italian cars, you'll either love it or hate it, but you'll never look at it and go, "meh."

DirecTV users now have the option of a Tivo DVR. It's about time! Still, people seem to be willing to put up with genuinely hard to use DVRs, so I'm not sure just how well this will do. Word of mouth, people: the Tivo DVR is still around because it's better than anything else out there, by far. Give it a try!

Just because I don't need one doesn't mean it's not needed: a new super-thin HDMI cable makes 60 foot runs practical. Even better: the cable's not made by boutique Moster, but super-thrifty Monoprice, the producers of the $3.95 cables I know and love. In other words, you won't need a second mortgage to buy one.

Now that they are at least notionally getting closer to our shores, US reviews of new Alfa products are starting to show up. Reviews of the Guilietta are particularly relevant, since the upcoming Dodge Dart is heavily based on the Alfa's design. I'd still like to see "Cross-and-Serpent, actual" in US showrooms. Will their long-proposed small SUV premiere before our Hyundai smashes into something again? Will I be able to keep Ellen out of a Fiat 500 before then? We'll just have to see...

A new attempt to break a skydiving record more than half a century old is on schedule again. Professional skydiver Felix Baumgartner was scheduled to make the attempt last year, but was foiled when a different daredevil sued to stop the show. That's now been cleared, and so has he.

The folks at FirstSounds are at it again, this time recovering a bin of cylinder recordings which include none other than von Moltke and Bismark himself. I like my 19th century historical figures the way I like my newspapers-- black and white, static, and silent. Having them start to make noise is... disconcerting.

Leave it to the Aussies to figure out how to tow 145 water skiers behind a boat. A really big boat. With video! Judging by how slowly it pulled them up, I'm surprised more of them didn't fall off.

The recent restoration of what is probably the oldest known copy of the Mona Lisa is revealing new details about the original. Since the original is so fragile, no serious attempts at restoration have been made with modern materials. The copy, held at Madrid's Prado Museum, was long thought to be much later. However, examinations made in preparation of the restoration revealed evidence that it may have been created at the same time as the original, in the same shop by a student of Leonardo.

Up next: self-guided bullets. This time they promise they'll work, and have the picture to prove it. Turning sniping into a team sport never has been so easy, and nothing tells the bad guy "I love you" more than having one guy you don't see designate you as a target for a different guy you can't see.

While not as well known as their larger 8-cylinder brothers, the 6-cylinder Alfa Romeos could be every bit as striking. It's actually pretty rare to find, well, any pre-war Italian car that's not either red or black. As this gorgeous white example shows, that's a shame.

Scientists have discovered that, in addition to a whole host of other nifty abilities, graphene makes a really swell still. From the sound of it, all you'd really need was what needed distilling, and some heat. The membrane does the rest. Sweet!

Yes. Yes, it is.

And now, some wacko hooning around in the snow driving a really interesting car. Ours gets put up and stays up whenever there's a wiff of snow in the air, mainly because VDOT thinks nothing of turning all the roads into margarita glass rims any time a weatherman says "snow."

Don't stop watching the video! The end is the best part!

The world's longest flights are getting longer and more popular. For nearly ten grand, it better be f'ing comfortable. And, really, just how often does someone need to fly from Sydney to Dallas anyway?

And now, 3D paintings of goldfish. I had to watch the video to convince myself some wacko hadn't poured resin on a bunch of actual fish. Boy's got talent!

Those of you who think conventional motorsports is a little wacky really need to take a closer look at rallying. Note also how close the spectators are, and how unprotected. The European rally scene builds and builds in excitement and interest until one of the cars plows through a crowd of spectators and kills a couple of them. Then the sanctioning bodies ban the whole thing forever and ever, for about three years. Then the cycle starts again. I've seen it happen I think at least four times now.

Spread the word: Someone's come up with a neat, free, polite, and even fun way to help prevent cell phones from ruining your dinner date. Being married to someone who actually gasps at the idea of not checking Facebook every seven minutes, this probably won't fly well at my house. But it might at yours! In other words, I can't save myself, but I might be able to save you...

I guess if you cast around for one long enough, you'll find someone who makes the correct predictions. Broken clock phenomena, that sort of thing. Nice to see they also listed things the guy got wrong, although to tell the truth I could do without "Q".

It turns out that, if conditions are right, all you really need to install a bridge is the right pieces and some dish soap. I was wondering about some of these new bridge replacement projects I'd been reading about around the country. They did seem to be happening pretty darned fast.

Another day, another massive oil deposit discovered in the Barents Sea. Of course, since this is Ethical Oil, I'm expecting all our green friends to appreciate how we'll be supporting an environmentally conscious, labor-friendly, well-regulated ally. Stop laughing so hard, I'm trying to keep a straight face here!

And now, a 3D panorama of the Sistine Chapel. One of the history-nerd highs I get watching The Borgias is they (seem to be) accurately modeling the pre-Renaissance Vatican, including old St. Peter's and the what the Sistine looked like before Michelangelo got his hands on it. It provides a real contrast.

India is joining the ranks of countries that make wacky looking performance cars. Since this is India, it looks stranger than most, is cheaper and lighter, and not really all that fast. If the radio suddenly locks onto hyper-cheerful music and dozens of extras rush out into the intersection on cue while I'm driving it, the experience will be complete.

Making the rounds: a very nearly reconstituted Van Halen is getting ready to hit the road. Bass player Mike Anthony was an unacknowledged but important part of their sound not just for his instrument, but for his backing vocals as well. Still, even though the band may sound different, it seems they still sound good.

If Newsweek is to be believed, and that's one helluva big "if," Al Qaeda is on the ropes. An accurate report, or a press release from the Obama 2012 campaign? Newsweek is deeper in that campaign's pocket than most, true, but I'd like to believe this one. Hope springs eternal, even when the Dems are in charge. Oh, and, per usual, it would seem diplomatic pressure has actually caused the US to stop what appears to be a real and effective tool in the war on terror. Whee!

The advent of the automobile was bad news for wagon repair shops, but I'll wager to this day there are some still out there, somewhere. Same thing goes for typewriters. Unfortunately it's pretty clear this guy won't be around all that much longer.

Regular readers will likely have come across one of many references to a "yurt," mostly as a future abode when Olivia's teenage "always right" skids broadside into Ellen's well-established "never wrong." Now I can figure out how to make them! The thing is, I'm pretty sure our HOA has a clause in it somewhere that prevents dad's from building emergency shelters in the front yard. Dangit.

Two small South Pacific nations have loaded up a particular sort of U-haul van. "Moves entire country" sounds a lot more interesting than "changed the clocks and the calendars," but the MSM in particular seems fascinated when people decide to change simple notions they consider absolute realities.

Par for the course: by doing nothing, Congress does something good. Ending ethanol subsidies and tariffs will likely reduce the cost of fuels for everyone. Add in the growing capacity of alternative oil extraction, and we may yet return to the days of $1.50/gal fuel.

A woman who's repeated miscarriages were apparently the result of the fetus literally falling out has successfully carried a pregnancy to term. I'm very happy for them, but that's definitely got to rank right up there in the, "exactly what went wrong?" list.

The world's shortest teenaged girl is now the world's shortest woman. No, no, you sicko, not like that. She just turned 18. Ah, geeze, someone go get the smelling salts. I think Ron and Mark are going to pass out from all that giggling.

That swirling sound you're hearing is the start of the rumor mill for the next version of the iPad. I still can't see paying so much money for it, but I've always felt that way about Apple's products. Other friends of mine are positively fanatical about the things. All I can say is, out with the old, in with the new!

I dunno, having one of our favorite cars picked as the second "hottest" car of all time is pretty snazzy. So is having one like we actually own also in the list. Don't worry, there's plenty of love to go around. I'm sure one car or another you love will be in there somewhere. There will also be quite a few missing, but that's the nature of lists. And boy, do they love TVR, or what?

Nothing like a good, simple, visual representation to put just how powerful an earthquake can get in perspective. I was a little disappointed to see our DC-area earthquake fade into the distance, until I remembered what Japan looked, hell LOOKS, like after their recent "big one." I'll take a small earthquake every time, thank you.

Oh, and remind me to avoid Sumatra.

Aussies take note: the world's oldest Alfa Romeo is going to be driving through Tasmania. Since my grasp of Australian geography can be be termed, "it's somewhere on the other side of the planet, yes?" you will have to work out just how far away that is from you on your own. In other news, the world's oldest Alfa Romeo is kept in... New Zealand. Never saw that coming.

The Wall Street Journal has a glowing review of Magical Mathematics, a book which examines the relationship between card tricks and mathematics. Turns out it's a lot closer than you'd think. The book also, apparently, provides illustrated examples of the various tricks discussed. Time to break out the deck!

First comes the Daily Mail's look at what was in UK Christmas catalogs in 1976, which was good. But the FARK comment thread is even better. I had no idea most FARKers (who comment, at any rate) are roughly my age, as I recognize nearly everything in those pictures. Some of them I hadn't thought of in years. I actually own a few Flying Aces items, they were uber-cheap on Ebay in the 90s. The Vertibird is why I got into RC flying.

International and other long-haul fliers take note: for the first time in decades, an airliner has created something to increase passenger comfort in coach. It's not exactly free, but nothing ever really is. My only problem would be that there are three of us, and that bit of space probably won't fit three, especially when the smallest enjoys sleeping sideways.

Exercise bikes not your cup of tea? Treadmills boring? Don't care how good you'll look in your "summer dress?" Try surfing! Yes, you heard me, surfing! Will this be Suzanne's next exercise craze? Will Kevin actually be murdered by a workout machine? Will Amber have a new thing to fall off of? Only time will tell!

For the motorcyclist in your life who needs to get his nerd on in traffic: functional Storm Trooper leathers. The helmets aren't DOT rated, but it appears everything else is. I didn't bother trying to find out how much it might cost.

Problem: drones are too small to carry current bombs. Solution: Smaller bombs. Duh. Precision guidance means never having to say your sorry. Personally, considering how accurate these things are getting nowadays, I'm a little surprised they haven't thought about dropping guided lumps of cast iron. No explosion, no collateral damage, no problem!

I guess it's not surprising a brilliant film-maker can also be a great photographer. Kubrick would've been, what, late teens, early twenties at that point? I have a feeling a few of them may not have been as spontaneous as the rest seem.

It seems the Bugatti Veyron has a challenger. I honestly didn't think it was possible for such a boutique manufacturer to survive in the US, let alone in the regulatory environment to be found in Obama's US. It's nice to see I'm wrong.

Leave it to a British paper to get all twitterpated over a US gun club promotion involving Santa Clause. It's not like they're trying to blow him away with AAA or anything. Although a Bofors 40mm would be pretty sweet as a lawn ornament, if you ask me.

The boys over at Harvard University's robotics program are at it again, this time creating a starfish-like "soft" robot. The pneumatically-powered device is made of elastic polymers which allow it a much wider range of movement than a more conventional rigid model.

Personally, I'm just fine with native American trackers stalking smugglers in the night. I just wish they were able to, you know, finish the kill. Then again, that'd probably raise the stakes too high. Meh, give 'em what they need to do the job. That'll be enough.

Engineers at Harvard University have teamed with a Swiss robot manufacturer to create simple, cheap robots which can communicate and demonstrate basic behaviors. The ultimate goal is to create devices which can do things like dig to find earthquake survivors, or even shore up buildings which are threatening to collapse. Pretty good for a critter not much bigger than a quarter.

Across the state, receding lakes have revealed a prehistoric skull, ancient tools, fossils and a small cemetery that appears to contain the graves of freed slaves. Some of the discoveries have attracted interest from local historians, and looters also have scavenged for pieces of history. More than two dozen looters have been arrested at one site.

"In an odd way, this drought has provided an opportunity to view and document, where appropriate, some of these finds and understand what they consist of," said Pat Mercado-Allinger, the Texas Historical Commission's archeological division director. "Most people in Texas probably didn't realize what was under these lakes."

Read the entire here.

Don't forget to read the comments! Sometimes those are laugh out loud funny!

A very dry No-Prize goes out to Suzanne for the link!

And now, carbon fiber Storm Troopers. Price is only quoted as roughly the same as "a nice car," which I'm taking to mean north of $20,000. When I was a kid I desperately wanted one of these things, but even back in the 70s the price for the helmet was something like $150 or more. And these are the bad guys, people! It doesn't matter how cool they look, you're supposed to boo them!

The Air Force has officially taken delivery of its first production bunker-busters. I seem to recall the tests involved pushing one out the back of a C-130, but it seems now they'll fit in a B-52 or B-2. No word on the red-headed stepchild B-1. If the bad guys dig, it's nice to know we may be able to dig deeper.

Savvy Sergio is spending 1.7 billion to update the Toledo Jeep plant in preparation for new products based on the Fiat Compact platform. Why do I care? Well, they're adding jobs to an American plant, an old unionized one at that. It'll be interesting to see how well that goes. And, you know, just incidentally, that would be the logical place for, oh... I don't know... maybe an Alfa SUV to emerge. But that's just a coincidence...

Nothing quite like a volcano shooting lava 1200 feet into the air to start the week. Scientists are claiming that, for now, the eruption poses no risk to people living nearby. The worry is that seismic activity may shift the flows and then there will be risks. In the meantime, check out the video!

Finally, Fiat listens: Alfa Romeo to target the next Spider at the Miata. The market has been wide open for an inexpensive, rear wheel drive, front engined competitor to the MX-5 since almost the day it debuted. Each time a competitor tried, they altered the formula by putting the engine in the back, using a hard top, or making it ugly and basing it off econobox innards. The Miata's still here, they're all gone. Will Alfa get it right this time? Hey, it's Alfa, they can mess up selling candy to kids. But it'll be fun to watch them try!

Coming soon to a Wal Mart near you: a nanotech spray that makes lots of different things "super hydrophobic." Why yes, I will be buying six cans for the floorboards... oh, who am I kidding... the whole Spider. And my shoes. And all of Olivia.

When money got tight for the Younger family in the late 1980s, Herb made a painful decision. He hesitantly sold the 1965 Chevrolet Impala SS he had bought brand new in the fall of 1964. Two decades later his sons set out on a mission to get their father his Impala back.

Did it suddenly get dusty in here?

Brad Pitt just jumped about sixty notches up my cool ladder. Why? He bought his very own T-54. It's about damned time an A-list celebrity got on with doing something useful with his fortune. Know'wha'ah'mean?

So, do you think a machine gun fished out of a bog, where it'd been sitting for 70 years after the Spitfire that carried it crashed, will still work? Let's find out! One of those moments which definitely pay for all the others spent digging around in the muck.

Remember the astronaut-like robot Honda was showing off a few years ago? they've upgraded it, pretty impressively. Now not only will it get a beer, apparently it will open and pour it, too. No word on when, or even if, this one will ever see production, but it looks like C3PO is not all that far away after all. With video!

I dunno, I guess it's cool that d-bag hipsters like Alfas too. I mean, they gotta drive something, right? I think it would've been cooler if they were goths, but I'm not sure those exist anymore. All the ones I know now have mortgages & lawn mowers, and tend to spend much more time in their garden than at the club.

A pair of Muslim cab drivers have saved one of New York City's oldest kosher bakeries. The new owners fully intend to maintain the traditions of the business, and customers (so far) seem to be pleased. A good thing!

An 85 year old great-grandmother finally got her wish, to land an 850 pound marlin. The picture's enough to make me call Suzanne to make sure she knows where her mother has been lately. Yes, I know, but it was enough to make me look twice.

Couldn't have said it better myself:

The first generation to do worse than its parents? Please. Been there. Generation X was told that so many times that it can't even read those words without hearing Winona Ryder's voice in its heads ... Generation X is tired of your sense of entitlement. Generation X also graduated during a recession. It had even shittier jobs, and actually had to pay for its own music ... Generation X is used to being fucked over. It lost its meager savings in the dot-com bust. Then came George Bush, and 9/11, and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Generation X bore the brunt of all that. And then came the housing crisis.

Read the whole thing, because it just gets better and better.

I played with slinkies (slinkys?) for years, and watched Olivia play with them even more, but it took me watching this video to realize how weird they actually are. I've long seen something weird about how they move, but I'd never seen it laid out quite so explicitly. There's a reason classic toys stay classic, ya know?

Via Instapundit.

Two items of note: 1) there's a new coke machine with over 100 varieties to choose from and 2) Fairfax Town Center has a Firehouse Subs shop now. With one of these flash machines innit. Life is good. And tasty.

That's not a coin, this is a coin. Better: it was manufactured to beat the previous record-holder, also made by an Australian mint. While our mint is trying to figure out a new way to make quarters, the Aussies are getting it done right.

F- the Brooklyn Bridge, this one can be yours for nothing! And they're even throwing in free shipping! What a bargain! I always have wanted another way across the drainage culvert behind our development. What amazing timing...

Yee-ha! F-1 is coming to the New York area in 2013! Another open-wheel street course within decent driving distance of my house. Yes, it'll be full of Yankees, but nothing's perfect.

The last example of the US's most powerful nuclear weapon has been dismantled. The B53 was meant as a bunker-buster and was once employed on both ICBMs and strategic bombers. The version flying on missiles was retired long ago but 50 examples of the device lingered on as free-fall devices. No more.

McDonald's has announced the McRib sandwich will be available nationwide, for a limited time, next month. At one point I was deeply in love with the things, but eventually came to my senses, probably assisted by nearby "real" barbeque joints. That said, it's your body and your money, if it tastes good to you go out and get one.

In the never-ending quest to battle bad driving, we now have flashing rear-window LED displays. The Alfas would need this the most, and sadly the Milano's rear window is likely too small and the Spider's needs to fold up and be put away.

And now, a 78 Corvette, one owner, absolutely all original, 13 miles on the odometer. Don't think you can just drive this one away... it'll need quite a bit to be safe again. And if you keep it stock, well, 1978 wasn't a good year for anyone's cars. On the other hand, you could have this legitimate one owner car from a time when everyone's cars were brilliant, and this more than most. And this one can be driven home, for much much less. Hell, it even has air conditioning.

The promo machine for the upcoming movie Puss in Boots seems to be picking up steam. I'm sure I'd read somewhere else that Guillermo del Toro was in charge of the film, but I'd forgotten until I read this article. We've liked his other work quite a bit, but a Dreamworks family movie is certainly a departure from his normal fare. Here's to hoping it doesn't stink, because with a cute animated cat as the central star there's no way I'm getting out of seeing it.

In the "I'm amazed nobody's thought of this before" file we have Crimson Trace's Lightguard, a combo flashlight/laser sight with an innovative switch mechanism that naturally turns on when a gun is gripped. Ditto on the warning about not using it as a substitute flashlight. Trying to find your keys with this is could have... unfortunate consequences.

First we had an announcement of the electric DeLorean, now someone's done gone and driven the thing. In Houston, no less. It certainly sounds like they're serious about production. Will a different place, boss, and point in time finally see the fulfillment of John D's dream? I hope so!

An Israeli company has developed a new security sensor that doesn't use radiation or take naked pictures or anything like that. The trick? Mice. I think it's a neat idea, but I'd definitely like to see some extensive tests of the thing before trusting it to bust Hajji. But in principle, seems neat enough.

Progress toward a useful humanoid robot seems to be proceeding apace. Not sure why the author of the article rode "teh sexay" so hard, but the videos are definitely interesting. It'd be even more interesting if they got it to walk, or maybe talk.

The American Interest: "Unless there has been a heretofore unnoticed surge of Black voters into the ranks of the South Carolina GOP ... one out of every four voters in the most conservative electorate in the United States are now ready to vote for a Black candidate for president."

I like Cain a lot, and would be more than happy to see him as the GOP candidate because a) the more I hear about his policy ideas, the more I like them, and b) It would answer the question of what would happen if NOMAD was real. The prospect of all the heads on the left side of the peanut gallery exploding all at once just makes me... giddy!

A 71 year-old retired Port Authority worker has gone and bought himself an island. Sure, it's not much of an island... 2.5 acres, most of which is underwater at high tide, but it's his. Oh, and it's in Long Island Sound, so it's got being at the center of Yankeeville going for it...

An entrant in the Carmack Prize has posted this compilation of his successful test flight. Unfortunately I'm pretty sure Fairfax county would take exception to us setting all this up for Thanksgiving. Ah, well, guess we'll stick with the smaller ones.

Coming to BBC America (I hope): using the latest imaging and surveying technology, scientists have digitally "raised" a Greek city which sank beneath the waves 3000 years ago. Danged Brits, always getting the good documentaries first.

Mark gets a no-prize starring James Arness for bringing us a new and innovative way of disposing of cremains. No mamby-pamby, vaguely gross "green" dissolving and then flushing down the drain here, folks. Nope, right here we got cases and cases of ammo. Ellen's always said she wants her ashes to be mixed with her cats' when she goes. She never was all that specific about what would happen after the mixing...

Thank goodness for the old practice of selling show cars to private individuals, otherwise we may never have seen this quite unique BMW again. I can definitely see some of the same design cues that are present on the Montreal. That top is... different.

The guys who keep stealing "world's fastest production car" honors from Bugatti are at it again. Me, I'm just wondering where in the world they'll find a track that will let them get to 275 mph. The big one that was used to test the Veyron is owned by Volkswagen (who owns Bugatti), so I'm not sure they'll be all that keen to let their cut-throat competitor play around in their back yard.

The 2012 LeMans 24 hours just got a whole lot more interesting, to me at least. At first I wondered how it could even be legal in their regs, but it seems the organizers have re-created some sort of "run what you brung" unlimited class that this thing will fit in. Here's to hoping it doesn't break!

A group of engineering students from Brigham Young University has set a new land speed record for an electric vehicle. Appropriately named "Electric Blue," it set a weight-class record of 155.8 mph. It's nothing you'd drive to the grocery store, but it sure does look neat.

Using carbon nanotubes to generate a steep temperature gradient, scientists have created yet another version of an invisibility cloak. With video! One of these days something like this will end up on the market, just not sure when.

Fiat has announced future Alfas will be equipped with a 1.8 liter engine capable of producing 300 horsepower. I thought the new fuel economy mandates imposed by the Obama administration would signal the end of power. Turns out it just signaled the end of cheap power. Par for the course, in other words.

When did you ever think you'd hear this: "Two years ago, America was importing about two thirds of its oil. Today, according to the Energy Information Administration, it imports less than half. And by 2017, investment bank Goldman Sachs predicts the US could be poised to pass Saudi Arabia and overtake Russia as the world's largest oil producer."

That's right, folks, the good ol' US has the potential to put Hajji on the breadline all by itself. And, unlike fundamentalists, fascists, and various dictators, this is ethical oil. Oil with environmental inspectors crawling all over it, oil with worker's rights, oil with US money going to US firms paying US taxes. What rational person would have a problem with this?

Well, ok, yes, but he's getting tossed out next November.

More is here...

Beats the hell out of a dumb clock radio: sign up for a new account and get a free AK-47. Well, actually yes, the firm is in Florida. How'd you guess? I just hope it's actually legal.

A US salvage firm has discovered a shipwreck with 200 "tonnes" of silver on board. As part of a deal with the UK government, they'll keep 80% of the cargo, worth somewhere north of 250 million dollars. Which is probably a good thing, since it's sitting several miles underneath the ocean's surface. That kind of salvage ain't cheap.

A computer programmer has proven a specific version of the "infinite monkeys" theorem. That's the idea that an infinite number of monkeys typing on an infinite number of keyboards for an infinite amount of time will, eventually, produce the complete works of Shakespeare. Not having even one infinite amount of anything, the author of the proof simplified the problem to make it simpler and, whaddayaknow, out popped a sonnet.

Most people are surprised by a box or two hidden away in a corner of the house their parents once lived in. Now imagine that, turned up to 11. THIS is why it's a bad idea to let junk build up to the point a door gets hidden, know'wha'I'mean?

The world's oldest still-running car is now for sale. A steam-powered runabout completed in 1884 "La Marquise," nicknamed after the mother of the man who paid for its construction, is arguably also the winner of the very first car race. "Arguably," since it was the only one to show up. Yours, for perhaps only two million dollars!

That'll be chick with horse: 1, bear: 0. Not much else to do about it, if you're determined to stomp around in the woods with them. I can see the appeal of all that wilderness from an academic point of view. You know, while I'm sitting poolside sipping a Mojito.

A five year-old UK girl has been reunited with the nearly perfect fossil she found. The 160 million year-old ammonite will eventually be displayed in their home, albeit carefully. The specimen is so well preserved its spikes are a bit of a hazard, it seems.

A new camouflage technology promises to make ground vehicles impossible to track or shoot has made a big splash in the defense community, but may not see the light of day. If there's this much buzz about it I'm inclined to think it works. Yes, lots of durability problems to overcome but that's just engineering.

Mark gets a no-prize mounted to the top of a dog house for bringing us news that the search is on for a lost piece of Apollo-era history. Out of all the lunar modules used during the program, there's only one who's fate is unknown. A group of UK schoolchildren are aiming to find just that out.

This horse was a bit too happy to be jousting. He nearly ran into a wall a few times.

By stitching together hundreds of publicly-available photographs, a "science educator" has created a nifty time-lapse video of a journey on the International Space Station. It better be good. We spent enough to get it.

Hurricane Irene's destruction isn't stopping students who want to attend a small Vermont school. Pardon me while I give a shiver to the thought that there's a place somewhere with a first snow just weeks away. This Southerner's mind boggles...

I don't really know why it takes color photography to bring a scene from the past to life, but it does, at least for me. What I like to think about is that these people lived closer to the 19th century than the 21st. Things seem to have been a lot, well, dingier back then, but that may be the film. Or the fact that I've not spent all that much time in Manhattan.

A small robot manufacturer has got the Army tossing robots left and right. The little self-propelled cameras are turning out to be vital in the insurgent conflict by allowing quick, accurate reconnaissance at very low risk to the soldiers involved.

The AC apparently went out at the Geneva auto show, and the show's eye candy got downright cranky because of it. I'm not sure they actually are arguing; the model on the left could simply be pointing something out.

A fossil discovered in nearby College Park, Maryland is making some news today. The specimen, recovered in 1997 by an amateur collector, is that of a nodosaur, an armored beast closely resembling its more famous cousin, ankylosaurus. It represents the smallest, and therefore youngest, example of the species found to-date.

Alfa is scheduled to unveil subtle updates to its 4C sports car at the Geneva Auto Show this week, but someone managed to snap a few pictures ahead of time. It seems to be shiny this time, instead of that "needs-a-wash" satin finish from earlier this year.

It seems waterski jumping is making a comeback. The technique strongly reminds me of regular ski jumping, but that lake looks pretty short. I'm just old enough to remember ski jumps in the river we used to cruise in when I was a kid. Liability and various strong storms did away with them long ago.

Mark gets a no-prize wrapped in hot, crunchy goodness for bringing us this collection of unique fried foods. I'd heard of the fried pickles before, but the fried bubble gum was new to me. Definitely don't want to tell the little gum fiend in my house about that one...

Scott took Olivia and I to the Indy Car race in Baltimore this past weekend. We had a great time, a bit hot, but the one thing we cannot get over is how LOUD these cars are.

Mind you there were several races that day. Each division was LOUDER than the next. The final race...was 145 decibles! x's that by 75 laps. Loud right?

Yes, Scott bought all of us earplugs!

ESPN has lots of nice things to say about the Baltimore Grand Prix. Even someone obviously against the event gives grudging respect, although it takes a bit of wading through various political sniping to get to it.

We re-watched the event last night and both Ellen and Olivia said it was all much more interesting when we'd actually been at the event. It turns out I actually got on TV. If you know exactly where to look, and on which lap, are watching in HD and have a slow-motion feature on your DVR, you can see me for about sixteen frames exactly once. Well, my hat and my shirt at any rate. Mike Wazowski, FTW!

Since it's doubtful I'll ever get anywhere near the place, this picture collection of nifty shipwrecks in the Truk lagoon are pretty neat. There are no intact Betty bombers around today. I wonder if the ones at the bottom of that lagoon are even vaguely candidates for salvage?

Forget that stupid hurricane force metric. When you've been eating cold pork and beans for two days, the Waffle House Index is far more important. My brother utterly loves the chain, while Ellen turns green at the mere thought. Of course, that's what she thought about Sonic, too, until she tried the shakes there. Unfortunately the closest one to us is more than a half-hour's drive away. Always puzzles me, that such Southern staples as Waffle House, Wal Mart, and Sonic are so light on the ground around here.

Fans of steampunk (if you know what it is, you probably are) should be happy to know even PBS is starting to notice the trend. I was wondering where all the goths had got to now that they'd started growing up. Found 'em!

Kevin gets a no-prize that'll ensure no cat is ever right in our house again for bringing us Air Swimmers. Actually, I'm a bit surprised I haven't seen RC balloons before now. I guess I'm not looking in the right places. At least this one will be hard to crash!

Someone's managed to put together an animated map of tweets regarding the VA earthquake. Privacy? What's that? Me, I'd like to see an animated map of how quickly the vibrations propagated, and see how closely that corresponds to this.

A certain house in Campbell Hall will certainly be tuned in to see this one: Lady Gaga is set to be a character in an upcoming Simpsons episode. The article makes it seem more than just a single-line "talk-on" (talkeo?) Here's to hoping for an early end to the World Series!

Cadillac has unveiled a very interesting new concept car. It's nice to see them coming out with some genuine art again.

Introducing the AX388: the successor to the sniper rifle that holds the world-record for "longest shot." This one shoots through schools that are in the next county.

When seventy years old YOUR favorite marque becomes, look as stylish, it will not. The folks I knew who owned Alfas like this enjoyed taking them to US car shows, just to embarrass the Cadillac and Duesenberg guys. Oh, and read closely, this one was campaigned by Ferrari, actual.

Thing is, the guys who designed and built this one, trained the guys who designed and built mine. No, really.

Storm Chasers' Sean Casey is exhibiting his iconic TIV2 at The Tech Museum in San Jose, Calif. Even better: It seems like he's finally finished that damned IMAX movie he's been working on all this time, and it's showing downtown! This'll definitely beat the hell out of Spy Kids 4D.

Chris gets a no-prize that'll bloody well ring freedom wherever it pleases for bringing us news that a silicon valley billionaire is out to create himself some countries: "Pay Pal founder and early Facebook investor Peter Thiel has given $1.25 million to an initiative to create floating libertarian countries in international waters, according to a profile of the billionaire in Details magazine."

The experiences of Sealand may be instructive here. I'm not sure just how serious the guy is, but hey, it's his money, he can spend it how he pleases. That said, these things will only survive at the pleasure of the US Navy. I would expect them to be able to hold off your garden variety pirate raid, but a determined state could easily overwhelm them. Still, it's fun to think about!

Our open fields and woodlands—be they roadside, along utility lines, or in our own back yards—are overrun with invasive species and other problem vegetation. Enter Eco-Goats! This sustainable alternative is fast, easy, effective, environmentally sound and just plan fun.

When it comes to clearing unwanted vegetation, goats can provide an ideal alternative to machines and herbicides. They graze in places that mowers can't reach and humans don't want to go (yes, they love Poison Ivy). In fact, goats eat a wide range of unwanted vegetation, which on the East Cost include Kudzu, Oriental Bittersweet, Ailanthus, Multiflora Rose, Japanese Honeysuckle, Mile-A-Minute and more.

How much fun would that job be? Drop your goats off and let them get to work.

Despite cramped backyards, sub-par soil and the sheer improbability of starting such a project, Chicagoans are embracing the land, bringing elements of the farm into the city. Nowhere is this more dramatic than those who raise chickens, a stable of farm living that is spreading through city neighborhoods.

Ok, so if it helps save lives, can we all now agree radio controlled vehicles are not toys, but rather are a legitimate pastime with real-world applications? Anyone? Anyone?

Oh, shut up. A $200 truck is not a danged toy, ok?

A very professional RC pilot with a very souped-up MCPX. One day, one day...

Cool only because nobody got killed: it's actually more than a little dangerous to get too close to a glacier. With video! Me, I'm happy watching HD videos of the things. Then again, I think roughing it means no Tivo. I'm fun that way!

For the first time an amputee will be competing in an able-bodied World Championship track and field event. Oscar Pistorius, a 24-year-old double-amputee who competes on carbon fibre legs, will race in the 400m and 4x400m relay for South Africa. Good on ya, mate!

Looks like hacker conventions aren't always about anarchists airing out dirty laundry: Defcon hackers are building, among other things, a camera designed to be fired out of a grenade launcher. Well, the military version is. Their version seems to be meant to use a flare gun. Like that makes it any less cool. Who knows? Maybe "Turkey and Rockets '13," the 2013 version of our annual Thanksgiving party, will be accompanied by roving miniature photography helicopters and an "eye in the sky."

As part of a holy day celebration, a group of Buddhists has freed over 500 lobsters in Massachusetts. Bought & paid for them, no less. Oh geeze, someone get Ellen and Mark some tissues. No use crying over freed food!

If plans pan out the title of "World's Tallest Building" will soon be moving to Saudi Arabia. My old anthropology adviser once noted the best way to tell when a society is on the way out is when they start making monstrous monuments. "It means they're not busy enough doing real work," he said. Pretty apt description of the Sand Box, I'd say. Winning!

And now, a technicolor jellyfish that's four feet across. Every time I think it might be fun to swim in the ocean I see one of these things. Or a shark week episode. The beach is good enough for me!

The company that owns Seattle's Space Needle wants to shoot you into orbit. Well, ok, has created a contest who's grand prize is a trip with Virgin Galactic. I'll wager far more "common" people will get rides like this than pundits have predicted.

Congratulations to Scuderia Limoni for bringing home the biggest margin of victory in Lemons history! The second-ever Alfa winner brought home a victory with a 50 minute lead over the next place.

Barring a critical failure or massive penalties, an Alfa Milano is on its way to winning the latest lemons race, the Boston Tow Party. Yes, lemons, not LeMons. Just about everyone, included the principles, are surprised at how popular and reliable our big-bootied box is in this series. Go, Scuderia Limoni, go!

This year's Alfa Owner's Club convention was too far away for us to make, but a nearby Alfa parts warehouse made it and the pictures make it seem just about as much fun as last year's. Without the 95+ degree temperatures. Those stayed in Virginia. Woot?

Test mules for the upcoming Dodge Caliber replacement are taking their first steps toward individuality. Nobody's sure when the real deal will be for sale, or just how different it will really be from an Alfa Giulietta. Still, which sounds better... a re-badged Mistubishi, or... ?

Well, they do it on Friday, we link it up on Sunday: New Scientist's latest "Friday Illusion" should have all of you staring. It vaguely reminds me of those Godley and Creme videos from the 80s.

Yes, you're going to have to look it up. Damned kids...

Not very often we get to put Alfa links up twice in a day, but when Autoweek likes the new Giulietta, by driving it around in the US, that's something to talk about. The approximated $34k list is, I'd wager, almost certainly inflated due to exchange rates. Very neat!

Scientists have announced the development of electronic memory circuits which have "the physical characteristics of jello". The current examples are strictly proof-of-concept, but it's hoped the technology can be developed into new sorts of medical sensors and other sorts of devices which need to function in wet environments.

I don't care how silly it looks, you can bet I'd help someone parallel park a 1968 Alfa 33 racing prototype. We saw one of these at last year's Alfa convention. They kept tennis balls in the velocity trumpets to keep things from falling down into them. Really!

Mike J. gets a no-prize he can always turn to, for the price of a dime anyway, for bringing us this "so nifty and obvious" tip for getting supermarket discounts when you've forgotten or don't have a store card. Thing is, though, Tommy Tutone's hit is nearly thirty years old now. I'm not sure how much longer this tip will work.

In the, "I'm surprised it's taken this long" file we've found a full-sized and functional replica of the iconic Halo ATV, the Warthog. Something tells me if this one goes tumbling down a cliff it won't simply take rolling it right side up to get it going again. Especially since it's got a Datsun inside it.

By using sophisticated imaging techniques, scientists have resurrected what may be the world's oldest commercial sound recording. I've said it before, I'll say it again: no matter how obscure or obsolete the technology is, as long as the media survives it will always be accessible. Anyone who says differently either isn't paying attention or is literally selling something.

While I'm sure it's been quite obvious to people who regularly travel in the city, it's still nice for the rest of us to see such progress made at the World Trade Center site. A bit ironic that it comes from a UK news site, but hey, our bunch was busy with much more important stories, ya know?

Japanese surveyors have announced the discovery of huge off-shore deposits of rare earth minerals. While not as rare as their name would imply, these minerals are critical to the electronics industry and the current supply is almost completely dominated by China. Breaking that monopoly has been a goal of the Japanese government ever since China decided to rattle their cage with an embargo over a territory dispute last year. It remains to be seen if the resources can be exploited economically.

Spoiler alert: the squirrel gets away just fine. I'm not so sure about the squirrel's tail. I think the aerodynamics of the car must've pressed him down just enough for him to be safe.

Mike J. gets a no-prize that can scale impressively in either direction for bringing us this nifty little way of putting the size of things in perspective. Still doesn't convey the scale of mess Olivia's room is in at the end of the week, s'all I'm sayin'...

After twenty years... wait, maybe ten? Five? Oh, bloody hell, after a time span of somewhat indeterminate length, Monty Python are reuniting with their dead member for a new project. I'm pretty sure we get Epix as a cable channel but if we don't, well, there's always Netflix!

The latest "Seal 6" rumor is that they used night vision contact lenses during the assault on Bin Laden's compound. It would be even cooler, assuming they actually exist, if it somehow made their eyes glow in the dark. I know, I know, bad for stealth, but to have a building assaulted by glowing-eyed demons would be so appropriate.

Will a CNN food critic's opinion of box wine bring more respectability to the genre? Who knows? We liked Pepperwood when it was in bottles, and it's the same stuff going into the box, so we're sold. Don't much care what anyone else thinks.

Top Gear isn't often mentioned in the media nowadays, but that can change when they test a civilian vehicle that can withstand military punishment. It's probably too big and/or heavy for Moab, but that's not really what it's meant for. Northern Virginia is home to every hyper-expensive SUV imagined, so I expect to see one of these in the area any day now.

Congratulations to Tony Robinson, best known for his role as Baldric in the 80s British comedy Blackadder, for his recent marriage. Four inches taller and more than thirty years younger, no less. Hey, if they're happy, why not?

Darn it, just a few weeks too late for me to see: the second-annual World Cheese Dip Championship will be held this September in Little Rock, Arkansas. Late September in Arkansas is (as I recall) almost bearable, but will certainly be warm enough to keep the dips from freezing. All the stuff with cheese in it too, I'll wager.

Another year, another improbably large contraption promising to make lasers practical weapons. This time it's the Navy, and instead of a chemical laser it's some sort of swanky electron pumping contraption. The Army has gone on record as not believing lasers will be practical until the solid-state variety can push the power needed. Looking at the size and complexity of this latest effort, I see nothing to contradict that stance.

I'm not sure which is more entertaining, the deep fried kool-aid balls, or the author's smarmy hipster disapproval of them. Hey, why not just enjoy them both? Personally the food doesn't sound all that tasty to me, but I'll bet we wouldn't be able to keep Olivia away from them.

A Japanese company has taken a conventional cooking pot and turned it into an electric charger. By using thermoelectric ceramics that turn temperature differentials into electricity, this souped-up cookware is capable of fully charging, say, an iPod in a few hours. You won't power your house with it, but it should keep the smart phone alive even when the power grid goes dead.

Indoor pool: check. Sauna: check. Gym: check. Great. What about the garage? No garage, no deal. Darn, and I was all ready to write the down-payment check, too.

... to a museum very near us: the Capitoline Venus, "one of the most precious and best preserved artifacts from Roman antiquity," will be on display at the National Gallery of Art this summer. The National Gallery is not as likely to be stuffed to the rafters with tourists this time of year al-la Air & Space or Natural History, so we might make a special trip. Otherwise, here's to hoping it hangs on until at least October, when the Mall museums become sane again.

Remember: 14 rounds of 12 gauge means never having to say you're sorry. Growing up in the south, I read more than my fair share of "stupid teen gets head blown off sneaking back into the house at 3 am" stories. My take is to THWACK a round into the chamber, and then blow a hole in the floor if I'm still nervous. With most shotguns, that leaves just one round left. This one, this one has OPTIONS.

Another year, another guy building a Star Wars-themed soapbox racer. The rotating R2 unit is a nice touch, but I agree it would've been sweeter if the wings opened and shut. Hopefully his operation is small enough to avoid the attention of Lucas's lawyers... rrmm... the Empire.

And now, a BMW-powered hoverbike. Yes, hoverbike. Supposedly it's capable of 173 mph and 10,000 feet. No, Ellen, Kevin, and Chris, you can't have one. I'll bet it's amazingly loud, too.

I'm sure it'll be all over the place soon enough, but this is the first article I've seen discussing the "Wii U," the successor to, well, the Nintendo Wii (keep your "Captain Obvious" comments to yourself, bub.) The biggest change is a controller that includes an 8" LCD screen of its own to augment what you get on the main screen. Bowling may never been the same again.

Do not mess with mountain warriors: "At one point, after exhausting all his ammunition, he had to use the tripod of his machine gun to beat away a militant who was climbing the walls of the compound."

It did not go quietly into retirement: Endeavour's final sonic boom leads to the arrest of criminals suspected of a string of burglaries and other crimes. Report includes ever-so-helpful Captain Obvious filler about sonic booms. Heheheh... Booms...

And now, an electric blue lobster. What? No reason, other than it's an electric blue lobster! Blue bugs, man, blue bugs...

Anyone who's spent half an hour trying to wrestle a tool out of one of those damned clamshell packages will likely be pleased to hear they're being phased out. Reduces cost and frustration for me, increases the "greening" of industry. Wow. I agree with the greens about something. The mind boggles.

Information about the Fiat 500's US debut is getting easier to find. The changes sound promising. As of last week, they were still building our Fiat dealership just down the road from where I work, but still managed to put what must've been a dozen of the little things in the parking lot. I saw one on the roads five, maybe six weeks ago, but none since then. I'm very curious what Consumer Reports makes of them, but so far they haven't published anything.

As drones become more capable and the miniaturization of guidance systems proceeds apace, the market for, and capabilities of, "micro-munitions" is growing. Bonus: one of the widgets being developed makes the bad guys sparkle.

Leave it to Fark: "See guys, this is what steroids do to you, you turn into a 74yo black woman living in Baltimore." And why the heck not?

Alfa Romeo has managed to climb into the top 10 of the UK's J.D. Power ratings on owner satisfaction. The cars have been climbing in quality for years, but the Alfa UK dealer network was legendary in its ineptitude. Seems they've managed to fix that as well. Cross and serpent, FTW!

Well of course I'm going to use a worn out pop-culture cliche to announce vintage Alfa Romeos have won top honors at Villa d’Este Concorso d’Eleganza. No, I don't know what that means either, but it sounds damned fancy, I'll tell you what. Top Gear has pictures of all the rest of the awesomeness that attended the show, including a brief shot of everyone's favorite, "she looked better in Firefly but damn" Mad Men star.

Shell has announced the intent to build a floating LNG factory 30% longer and a whopping six times heavier than a Nimitz class aircraft carrier. Bound for the gas fields off the coast of Australia, it's planned to service the grown energy needs primarily of Asia, since the US uses different technology to exploit domestic reserves. Big engineering, FTW!

Alfa Romeo has announced an iPhone app. Apparently it's an electronic version of a UK fanzine published by the marque. I'm not worried that much, an Android version can't be too far behind.

Carrie Fisher is on her way back to "fighting weight." Of course, becoming a Jenny Craig spokesperson sorta made weight loss obligatory, but still, if it gets the weight off it gets the weight off. Keeping it off, that'll be the trick. Oh, and let's all pause for a moment of cringing at all the cheesy Star Wars references in the article. Inevitable? Yes. Annoying anyway? Yes.

"For many of the inmates, it's the first time they've actually been responsible for the care of another living thing," Lamb said. "It's extremely moving to hear the times these animals have changed them . or made them think differently about the decisions they've made. And it has a calming effect on the institution to have these animals here."

Butterfield was one of 10 inmates selected out of 100 who applied to Camp Canine when the program started. He fit the qualifications: clear conduct record and no sex offenses, child abuse or cruelty to animals. He had his GED.

Inmates like the program because it pays $2 a day - more than most other inmate jobs - and they get a private cell.

"You feel more free," said Butterfield, who had owned dogs before going to prison. "It really sped (time) up."

A very sweet story.

Next spring the Smithsonian American Art museum will host an exhibit titled, "The Art of Video Games." The stuff featured in the article seems heavy on promo art instead of what's going on in the games themselves. Seems a bit of a cheat, that.

...until there is a black out.

Miku Hatsune (literally "future first-sound") debuted on August 31, 2007 at age 16 -- an age she will presumably always remain -- when Crypton Future Media released its first character vocal series software package.

The concerts feature a full live support band and special hologram guests. With 3D TVs taking off in Japan and 3D concerts with 3D characters, one wonders if the humble manga or anime will survive another generation.

Robert H. gets an updated no-prize for bringing a cover of a Janis Joplin cover I actually rather like. Then again, I like most things Pink does. Slave to pop music, that's me.

The ever amazing kick ass war dogs.

A fuzzy companion, partner and hero wrapped up in some "Can we play some ball now?"

What many people still do not realize is that dogs keep the soldiers going. Something as simple as a dog that makes them think of home, and yet are able to work together to get a very difficult task done.

Details of the new Alfa Zagato TZ3 are starting to emerge. The bullet: Dodge Viper platform, Ferrari drivetrain, and Italian styling. The cost? They're only making six of them, and three are already sold. Your guess is as good as mine, but likely we'll both be on the low side of "can't-affordability"

The boys at Oak Ridge are at it again, this time producing an electronic sniper scope capable of correcting for the slightest distortion. Considering the range of a modern sniper rifle is something like two miles, such compensation can mean the difference between sending a terrorist to his reward and having him send us to ours.

Werner Herzog, who Ellen and I know as the eerily entertaining man behind the movie Grizzly Man, has released a 3D movie documenting the oldest-known cave paintings in the world. I can't quite remember when I read that one of the problems with looking at pictures of these paintings was all the relief provided by the cave walls was lost. It seems Mr. Herzog has found the solution to that problem. Definitely one to look out for at a museum theater near you!

Toddlers get into any number of jams which require an adult to catch them before they fall. Few, I would imagine, manage to do it so literally. When they start walking there's a danger zone for new parents because suddenly what used to be a low-slung imitation turtle is now something that can move far and fast and reach EVERYTHING. I'm just glad nobody got hurt.

Latest rumor: Alfa Giulias are to be manufactured at a Chrysler plant in Canada. Yeah, UAW plant. But hey, Alfas are engineered with the understanding they'll be assembled by employees who can't be fired and are drunk before noon. They should fit right in!

There are materials, there is engineering, and then there is architecture. All those times I've criticized green religion? Yeah, ok, I'm not taking them back. But I will give a nod to the idea that, like the ol' broken clock, not all green ideas are bad ones.

Update: links to the correct article now. The original was a SFW bit of "portal appreciation" Ron sent me this morning. Cut & paste fail!

Nothing like an extended scale ruler to bring home just how tall the tallest things are on the planet, as well as how deep are the deepest. I've watched enough shows on Mount Everest to already understand how tall it is, but the depth of things like the Deepwater Horizon drill or Titanic were surprising.

Ever wonder what was literally on the other side of the world from you? Wonder no more. Being a water-world, the answer most likely will be a whole lot of empty ocean. It certainly is for N. Virginia. I had to zoom out several times before Australia came into distant view.

Robert H. gets strong, current no-prize for bringing us the ultimate in fresh water surfing. I used to waterski on the Arkansas river a few miles upstream of a major lock and dam complex. The currents created when they opened the lock were strong enough to be difficult to swim against even that far away. I can only imagine what it's like over there.

April marks the 35th anniversary of the Apple computer company. If, like me, you wondered then and now just what the Apple I was all about, this breezy slide show should provide a nice introduction. I bet you can still find emulators that'll resurrect the ol' Apple I inside a modern system.

Israel's Iron Dome anti-missile defense had its first combat engagement recently. Massive unguided rocket attacks are one of the few methods the terrorists have left to cause Israel genuine trouble. It's nice to see freedom and technology beginning to erode what was once thought to be an incontestable advantage of evil.

Ya know, I'm starting to see more and more fond mentions of the Alfa Milano, which is fine with me! After an unfortunate encounter with the door of a Mercedes, our regular daily driver is laid up for repairs, and (so far) the Milano is holding up fine as its temporary substitute.

Not only do the pair regularly go on long rides through the German countryside, they also hurdle over makeshift jumps created with beer crates and painted logs.

Regina, who lives in Laufen, southern Germany, said of Luna: "She thinks she's a horse."

Check out the article and video.

Mark Twain would be proud: a marine sergeant takes a sniper bullet to the head and is smoking a cig fifteen minutes later. With picture! Allahuh Akbar that, hajji-boy.

Nikon has announced details of the D5100, replacement for the popular consumer DSLR, the D5000. We have a 5000, and to be honest we usually forget it can do video. We have phones for that, donchaknow?

People thought, when it first showed up at car shows, the Ferrari FF was a weird looking piece of kit. Now that a few journalists have been turned loose in them, it seems it is weird looking and very, very good. Yeah, I know, won't hold a candle to a Datsun going off road but, dude, who cares?

So it seems the Viper won't be based on an Alfa platform, but instead an Alfa will be based on a Viper platform. Oh, yeah, it'll be way too expensive for me to get one, but hey, it'll be an Alfa with a V-frikki-10 in it!

Petite Italian Model Seeks Yellow Bergen Durka Durka Trip Top. What, you think I'm going to really try when most of you clicked through after you read the fourth word?

So, nearly twenty years after it's cancellation, ever wonder what's become of the Superconducting Supercollider? Have we got an overview for you. The way I remember this, it was a choice between the space station and this thing. NASA'd spent all its life cultivating congresscritters with varying degrees of success. Big science stood high in its ivory tower and assumed the value of thing would speak for itself. The results were predictable, in a weird sort of way.

I thought South Park had been away for an extended period of time. Turns out the boys were busy making themselves a play. A pretty good one too, if the review is to be believed. Need to pencil this one in the "to watch for" when it goes on the road, because it'll definitely be in this area at some point.

So, I still haven't managed to see that "Friday" video yet, but it would seem its singer will be able to pay for her college education with the profits. And in today's higher education bubble, that's saying something. I don't want to create the $5,000 widget everyone wants. I want to create the $5.00 widget everyone is curious about. After all, people will pay $5 just to see what it is.

Hey, why not vacation in the bottom of an active volcano caldera? Be sure to bring one helluva big tube of Preparation H!

After being forced to leave them for dead because of the sudden tsunami, a Japanese man assumed the family's two dogs were long gone when he returned to his house two days later. Turns out, he was wrong. Bonus: it's a classic big dog/little dog pair.

Ok, ok, I know it's bad to praise one shot, two kills. So I won't. Much. Look, I never said I was a good Buddhist, ok? Plus there's that whole, "karma's a biatch, biatch" angle that's so... enticing...

The stuff you stumble across in a Google search can be amazing, like the complete December 1978 issue of Boys' Life. I was a subscriber to the magazine in this era, so I almost certainly had this issue. I think I remember it, certainly all the graphics and sections brought back a flood of memories. If nothing else, the advertisements are a scream. Go over and remember with, or make fun of, me. It's all good!

It seems the Bloodhound SSC super car is progressing nicely. A car that needs an F-1 engine to act as a fuel pump promises to be a serious bit of kit, and this vehicle is on track to not disappoint.

A rare original print King James bible has been discovered sitting quietly unremarked on a shelf in a small country church in England. England in particular seems to be dotted with these sorts of discoveries. As I recall, there are a few cathedral bibles scattered around the country which have sat in the same spot, on the same shelf, in the same church, for more than a thousand years.

Then there's the story of a British family that took three thousand years to move three hundred yards...

With apologies to Lucas et. al.: when 84 years old YOU get, shoot as straight YOU will not. I guess there's just some things you never forget how to do.

U.K. to do-nothing international bureaucrats: drop dead. Giant swathes of the UN bureaucracy are little more than travel agencies and ATMs for the elite of various countries. Maybe now that the grownups are in charge of our side of the pond, we'll get a few whips cracked over here, too.

Well, I certainly didn't know that hunting with eagles is an ancient practice in Mongolia. And, since I didn't know, nobody important knew either. So, fixed that for ya. Oh, and just leave the sound muted... the narrator will put you to sleep otherwise.

VW has unveiled a modern, all-electric, version of the iconic microbus. With a top speed of 87 mph, as with its predecessor it will have just enough power to get and stay in everyone's way. But it'll be roomy!

Alfa's latest entry in the sports car field has finally premiered. As with most of their new designs, I'm not quite sure what to make of it. I do, however, think the satin paint finish has to go... makes it look un finished, IMO. $60k-ish is more affordable than $230k-ish, but still far out of my league. That said, I doubt it will be mistaken for anything else, and people who can afford $60k-ish cars I think find that important. A hit? Who knows?

In spite of being near the center of some of the most violent conflicts of the 20th century, a house in France is scheduled to open as a museum, after being left empty and untouched for one hundred years. Europe is, I believe, proof that no matter how hard someone tries it's simply not possible to destroy absolutely everything good in the world.

In the "why-the-heck-not" department, we have a new line of sneakers that are completely biodegradable, which even have seeds implanted in the tongues. They'll likely cost a premium over regular shoes, but that's plenty understandable, at least to me. To those who think environmentalism is free, maybe not so much.

Robert H. gets a no-prize that occasionally goes, "ook" for bringing us news of yet another "made-from-scratch" sword. He may not be able to use a keyboard any more, but it seems Terry Pratchett is able to do a bit of mining when the need arises.

It's not often a recipe for a knife blade starts with, "first, go get some iron ore," but it does occasionally happen. Everyone needs a hobby!

The Smithsonian American Art Museum will be featuring "The Art of Video Games" starting spring of next year. I actually had to dig around to figure out just exactly which museum that was. Turns out it's the one attached to the portrait museum. Small wonder, that one's been closed for quite some time for renovation.

Sometimes having nerds as parents is... really freaking cool! What? You thought I was going to say something else? You really do need to visit more often.

Robert H. gets a loopy no-prize with ambition from bringing us Bishop's Castle, another example of what happens when you give a certain kind of American some free time and the skills to use it. I like him. He's kooky.

And now, a home-made version of an Escher illusion. I can't decide if it's a clever bit of forced perspective, or if it's mostly a CGI construct. There's definitely something weird going on there, because the shadows don't act quite right. Regardless, good bit of fun.

Robert H. get's the coveted Gutenberg no-prize for bringing us a new look at where the 3D printing industry is at today. If it makes it easier to get parts for my funky old cars, I'm all for it!

Ever wonder how these small speed shops manage to make whole engines? No, the correct answer is, "yes, Scott, we've always wondered that!" So I'm gonna show you. Now I know a) how it's done and b) why the finished product is expensive. That said, even twenty years ago none of this was possible. Ten years from now I may be able to mail order the machines that'll do it. Technology rocks!

Chris gets the craziest no-prize of them all for bringing us news that Pagani motors are bringing their newest model to the US. It has 700 horsepower in a sub-3000 pound body. Top Gear regularly praises their utterly ridiculous nature, their lurid looks and shriekingly impossible performance just disconnect all rational thought in the male mind, apparently.

Well of course I want one. Duh.

Nothing like a few minutes of color footage, with sound no less, to bring history back to life. It's all too easy to place the past between the pages of books, or on dusty black and white photographs. Stuff like this, of ordinary people living through an extraordinary time, is what makes it real.

A Malaysian man was saved from a marauding tiger by his wife's (presumably enthusiastic) application of a soup spoon. Doncha hate when you're out hunting squirrel and a tiger tries to eat you? Man, I do...

Best. Auction. Evar! Buy a rusted '55 Dodge panel truck, get the rusted '76 Alfa Spider inside it for free! Quick! To the checkbook! Auction link, check it while it's hot.

I'll see your microcopter and raise you a forty year-old micro ornithopter. Like the miniature helicopter I fly today, outdoor duty for this bespoke dragonfly was precluded by even the slightest breeze, and so the project was canceled. There have been various rumors of bugs the size of, well, bugs for at least the past decade. Considering what unlimited cash could bring to the table forty years ago, I can't help but think modern versions are probably much smaller than even that.

By using mirrored tiles and an old compact satellite dish, a teen in Indiana has created a solar reflector so powerful it'll melt rock. This sort of idea writ large featured prominently in a (very entertaining) John Ringo book I recently finished, Live Free or Die. I wonder if the architect was inspired by the author?

Ares is has published a detailed examination of the radar which equips the Navy's new P-8 submarine patrol aircraft. I'm actually a bit surprised subs need to use periscopes at all nowadays. I was thinking by now they'd come up with some sort of wireless, or at least mast-less, solution.

Script kiddies beware: if you piss enough rich people off, often enough, they will decide it is cheaper to go after you than put up with you. As a former sysadmin, I can't say I'll shed a tear when the cops knock on their parent's basement door.

The two quickly grew inseparable. Military dogs are supposed to sleep in kennels when deployed, but Rusk broke the rules and let Eli curl up with him on his cot. Other times, the dog took up the entire sleeping bag. Rusk ate ready-to-eat meals, so that's what Eli ate instead of dog food, Darrell Rusk said.

"Whatever is mine is his," Colton Rusk wrote on his Facebook page.

"You're going home and relaxing," said Kathy Rusk, leaning in close to Eli and rubbing his snout. "You're going home."

TOYZZZZ!!!!!

Alfa Romeo plans to show off a "more affordable" sports car at the Geneva Auto Show. Yes, technically $55,000 is more affordable than the 8C's $210,000, but it's still out of my reach. Still, 250+ horsepower in a car that weighs a little less than 1,800 pounds is pretty respectable. Maybe I'll be able to pick one up used a few years after they're introduced.

Ever wonder what any of the planets would look like if they orbited the Earth at the same distance the moon does? Well, ok, no, neither did I, but the resulting video is still fun to watch. I was a little disappointed there was no Saturn or Mercury, but I'll get over it.

It looks like, even at age 73, Nicholson can charm the pants nearly off a woman sent to interview him. I've never completely understood his appeal, but I respect his talent. Like that matters, but hey, it's my blog, I'll link what I want to.

Jet packs have always been limited by their tiny fuel supplies, until now. This has it all over being towed behind a boat in a parachute. Many more opportunities for ridiculous wipe-outs here!

Me: "Olivia! Look at this! Can I have one?"

Olivia: "No."

"Why not?"

"It's too expensive!"

"But it's so awesome!"

"You'd just end up breaking your neck."

Kids, I tell ya...

So I've gone on record, more than once, that tiny RC helicopters are really all I'm out for. Then I see something like this, and, well, I'm still far, far from in the market for one, but I definitely see a purpose. This looks like an idea I and Joshua would cook up after a bike ride and a beer.

And now, a collection of very long exposure photos. At least some of them are also high dynamic range, which allows the colors to "pop" and makes them look like paintings. Regardless, very nifty!

Just when you think your winter wonderland was becoming a huge pain in the ass, take a look at what it is really made out of.

Damion gets a no-prize that'll make a really nice noise for bringing us some video of Ferrari's latest four seater, the FF. The styling is a little... unexpected, but I'm thinking it'll look nicer in person than it does in pictures. A car that costs more than your house? It's more likely than you think.

Jeff gets a no-prize he can use to frighten the birds and get tangled in people's hair with for bringing us the latest news in autonomous quadcopter robotic constructor swarms. Yeah, you heard me, autonomous quadcopter robotic constructor swarms. A.Q.R.C.S has such a ring, don't you think? With video!

PlayStation 3 owners will get some nice features with their version of Portal 2. Which, when I read them, seem to be catching up with what Steam and your garden variety PC gamer have been able to do for awhile. Except the "save it anywhere, play it anywhere" bit. That does seem original. Come on, April!

The lost tomb of Caligula has been found, according to Italian police, after the arrest of a man trying to smuggle abroad a statue of the notorious Roman emperor recovered from the site.

A real life Raiders of The Lost Ark kind of adventure!

Archeologists have found what may be the hilt of the infamous pirate Blackbeard's sword. Or not, since it doesn't exactly have "property of BB" carved on it anywhere. At any rate, it's the most likely candidate they've found so far. That's good for something.

Formula One will, finally, be broadcast in HD next season. The hold-up never did make much sense, but I guess there are more than your average set of requirements when the studio has to be moved every one or two weeks, sometimes half-way around the world.

Snow is now on the ground in 49 of the 50 US states. Climate change we can believe in! Quick! Raise taxes again before anyone notices!

Looks like you can finally play Rock Band with a real guitar. Didn't watch the demo all the way through, but it looked like he wasn't playing actual cords there. Not sure if that's just the song, or if we've still got some developing to do before everyone's favorite party video game becomes a for-real teaching tool for the guitar.

Heading to New Orleans anytime soon? Check out The Graveyard Rabbit for all of your cemetery needs.

Turns out Bill Murray is about as laid back and fun as he seems on the screen. Although I'd think he was getting a little long in the tooth to hang out at a karaoke bar for four hours. Then again, why not?

I'm vaguely surprised it's taken this long: Introducing a wooden chair with a flexible seat. Looks like it'd pinch, but what do I know?

see more Wedinator

I personally think it looks like one of those cheese logs.

It wasn't always thumb drives and SSDs. I'm pretty sure my next laptop will have a 256 GB solid state drive, which I suppose will be slightly larger than a match box.

Impossible not to smile at this.

Via Yourish.

Seems all it takes is some well-preserved Kodachrome to bring the non-unwashed-hippie sixties back to life. I guess, if you wait long enough, style stops looking awful and just looks quaint.

Usually the only way anyone in the US knows a country is doing OK is because nobody's mentioning it in the news. Heard much from Iraq lately? Some may say, "no thanks to us." But, you see, that's the point.

Via Instapundit.

A little wordy, but I'll take it. Via Guns, Holsters, and Gear.

Supposedly rare photos of the very first aircraft carrier landing have surfaced on the web. I'd seen a few of them before in various books, but others I hadn't. So, well, here ya go!

A time lapse video of the recent blizzard.

One of the nicer things about a big automotive anniversary is all the crazy one-offs that come out of hidden garages. More, and better, pictures are here. If I ever get a nice enough garage...

Daddy likes No, I'm not really in the market for an AR-15 with a .50 cal bolt-action upper. I live in Virginia. They don't make ranges big enough to let this thing stretch its legs. But I can dream!

The Democrats are done. "Most productive." Yeah, that's what I call sitting on the toilet, too. Produced pretty much the same thing. Even though we've put the grown-ups back in charge, I'm not going claim all will be Chocolate and Moonbeams. But it will be better, because it certainly couldn't...

I definitely get the idea that roadside bombs suck some fierce lemons, but this part of clearing them sure looks like fun. There's just something damned satisfying about creating enormous fireballs.

It looks like a keystone of the early 21st century will be the computerization of just about everything. Ellen would likely find the "storytelling tomb stone" the best, but personally I like the toilet that'll shut itself off if it starts to overflow. That would've made more than a few potty training incidents a lot less messy.

This is easily the best distillation both of what I believe and what the left side of the peanut gallery's beliefs sound like to me. And, unlike most "attempts to explain" the PR staff over on the left side come up with, I don't think it's nasty or personal. Dialogs have been a powerful way of exploring ideas for more than two thousand years, and this one's no different.

Via (initially) Instapundit.

What, you mean all this time troops didn't already have "armoured codpieces?" A set of bike shorts that can stand up to that sort of treatment would likely even be popular in the civilian world. It certainly would've saved me some road rash and entertainingly-sited bruises when I had my off last season.

Census data has revealed segregation has reached 100-year lows in 75 out of 100 major metropolitan markets. Bonus: due to economic growth, most of these cities are in the south and west.

And now Ares has video of that 33 megajoule shot from a Navy experimental rail gun. Flinging a projectile 200 miles and have it arrive doing Mach 7 is pretty damned impressive. If they ever manage to mount one on a ship, I propose Dreadnought as the name.

That's right! Pierce Morgan from "Americas Got Talent!"

We spotted him at The Old Ebbit Grill in Washington DC!

The world's oldest known computing device has been recreated in Lego. Recreated functionally, but not (apparently) an exact duplicate. Then again, since the original is pretty squashed, maybe a functional replica will do just fine.

The flag is known to be the only one flown by Custer's troops that was not destroyed or captured by the Native Americans who overwhelmed the US troops in the battle in what is now the western state of Montana.

What gives me a warm fuzzy is that it sold higher than Michael Jackson's glove.

Mike J. gets the Trinity no-prize for bringing us news that the "stuxnet" virus seems to still be a problem for the Iranian nuclear program. Could we actually be lucky enough to defuse this situation with just a computer program? It'd be nice if we could.

Pennsylvania has decided to expand its elaborate vending machine beer and wine machine into Walmart stores. I actually saw one of these things on a Modern Marvels show dedicated to vending machines. It's an incredibly elaborate answer to the incredibly elaborate problem posed by PA's drinking laws. That the whole problem could be solved quickly and cheaply by changing the laws seems not to have occurred to anyone. Well, anyone important, at any rate.

Well, hey, how else are we gonna know about fifty models all climbing into bed together? Those stories don't just write themselves, you know! (SFW)

While I'd rather the location look a little less seedy, I'll definitely count this as progress. There's supposed to be a Fiat dealership starting around here, too, but it seems to be run by a holding company I'm not familiar with. I'll just have to keep my eyes peeled!

Yes.

And now, some absolutely spectacular pictures of thunderstorms on the plains. I'm pretty sure they've been massaged at least a little in photoshop. I'm also pretty sure completely unretouched they're still spectacular shots.

The Army has announced the deployment of an all new hand-held infantry cannon. I've been watching segments about "smart rounds" on various Discovery channel tech porns documentaries for a few years now. It's nice to see them actually making it to the field, although I can't help but wonder just how much more expensive the ammo is for this thing than for, say, your garden variety M4.

Nothing like a bit of CGI fun to bring the art, and enormity, of a classic to life. What I find at least as remarkable is this most iconic tapestry of the middle ages sat unremarked and unexamined for some seven hundred years after it was created. It almost literally sat in a box so long that its true origins have long been lost, and we are left with speculation. Sometimes simple survival can be a remarkable thing.

Via Violins and Starships.

And in the, "yeah right, your food is way healthier than ours" category, we have fifteen sandwiches from around the world. Some of them look and/or sound pretty good, but most definitely don't sound healthy. Oh, and would someone chase the UK out of the kitchen? French fry sandwiches sound about as appealing as poutine, to me at least.

It would seem Obama's new space policy is already quietly doing its work. Of course, Virgin hinting they're working on an orbital component is emphatically not the same thing as Virgin having an orbital component, but do you really think they'd even be mulling it over without the prospect of a fat government contract in the offing? Hey, it worked for commercial flight in the 20th century. Who's to say it won't work for spaceflight in the 21st?

Leave it to Top Gear to finally test if skills gained in a racing simulator translate to real-world speed. The answer is about what sim junkies like I expect... the parts of racing which are mostly mental can most definitely be acquired sitting behind a desk, but the important stuff that's mostly physical can't. Hey, there's a reason F-1 guys use these tools too, ya know?

Can I get an awww....

Tiny horses that ring bells...CUTE!!

Another day, another poster-worthy shot from space. Dubai seems to have set out to become the coolest Arab country on the planet. So far, it seems to be succeeding.

Robert H. gets a no-prize that's just as good the second time around for bringing us another look at Mercedes' new, green, super show car. Me, I still can't make out where it exactly touches the ground. A nation of toymakers figuring out how to defy gravity? I promise you it has three times as many parts as it really needs, takes twice as many people as it should to put together, and will last for a thousand years. Five years later the Japanese will build one that does 80% what this does for 20% of the cost that will last longer than you will. The Americans will build one that reaches 200 mph in five seconds but kill you if you try to turn it. The Swedes will keep it from rusting for a millennia while the British will figure out how to make it rust under the six inches of oil it just leaked out.

The Italians? Oh, the Italians will make one that you'll want to sell your right foot just to touch and trounce the Germans on any race track of your choosing four years after everyone had written it off as obsolete, right up until the doors fall off. Because, let's say it all together... "they will make it be, all it can be... briefly."

As part of the run-up to the LA auto show, Fiat group has finally announced exactly where their dealers will be located in the US. One's going to end up about fifteen minutes from our house! Can I get a "woot-woot?!?" Aww, yeah...

Mark gets a damned impressive no-prize for bringing us video of an armless pistol shooter. No, really! Hell, I have trouble loading up a clip with my hands. Just a heckuva thing, s'all I'm sayin'...

While using a bajillion-dollar space station as a glorified camera brace may seem a bit ridiculous, the results are nevertheless spectacular. I could see turning at least a few of those into posters.

I like Top Gear's explanation better: "a ferocious hobgoblin with a penchant for cage-fighting captured the Ork princess and was defeated by a hairy vegetarian cyclist who remoulded the beast to form this bug-eyed concept." Bonus: It's a Mercedes. I think.

Even though the subject of the article mostly works on Lancias, this profile of a typical old-car mechanic still reveals at least some of the reasons why we put up with these blasted cars. Heck, I even know exactly what he's doing when he's putting the thermostatic actuator on the lathe. I'm not completely clear as to why, but I have some ideas. For me, there's also this bar conversation:

Guy 1: "Well, my Chevy..."

Guy 2: "Well, my Audi..."

Guy 3: "Well, my Honda..."

Me: "Well, my Alfa Romeo..."

Yeah, I know, but if I actually did get out more you wouldn't come around as much!

Redskins Marching Band members are volunteers who have day jobs as teachers, band directors, school board members and judges. Some are retired and many of them were trained in military marching bands. Although no one gets paid for their time, every band member gets a pair of tickets to each home game that they can give to friends or family members — or sell with the team's blessing — at their discretion.

Get ready. It's from NPR, so get your head phones out if you are at work to listen!

"Cold and nice," he said after giving his coach, Jordan Wood, who swam with him, a very wet high-five when they hit the sand.

And the sound you hear are thousands of triathletes crying.

Problem: too blotto to drive, but don't want the hassle of coming back in the morning to get your car. Solution: a guy with a clown-scooter and a $20 bill. How anything like this can get past the acres of red tape imposed by local, state, and federal governments, let alone various transportation unions, I never will understand. But hey, more power to him!

Ron gets a no-prize that all true petrol heads must own at least once to be taken seriously for bringing us the top 40 reasons "to be an Alfa-holic." The slideshow includes stylish accessories and the obligatory hot Italian chicks. All in all, A Good Thing.

See! See! It's not just nutty people in the US who keep up with these dratted cars. They get the best of all worlds... import US cars, and new Alfas. But we'll be getting them soon too, oh yes we will...

Mike J. gets a no-prize that uses a really annoying sound to make a really neat point for bringing us this brief, but vivid, demonstration of "the McGurk effect." It would seem our perception of language relies more on vision than would at once seem to be the case. I wonder what the implications are for blind people?

Cool only because nobody got hurt... Look, everybody! This is the race series Ellen really REALLY wants to become a part of. This wasn't too bad. In other parts of Europe, the would've twirled over a couple hundred spectators before they hit the ground.

Ah, Yellowstone. The trees. The cliffs. The geysers. The grizzly bears chasing par-boiled bison down the highways. I dunno. To me there's nothing that yells, "get out of the f'ing way!" quite as loudly as a ton of herbivore being chased by half a ton of predator.

Thank goodness for the internet, without which we would have completely missed 60 Minutes' profile of our favorite show, Top Gear. The, I don't know, six of you, left whom we have not completely converted into fans of this show may finally be able to understand What it's All About. The rest can have fun watching what in many ways is a very articulate (and enjoyable!) highlight reel, with some behind-the-scenes looks at just what makes the thing tick.

Mark gets a no-prize that must be pointed down range at all times for bringing us a very alternative way of carving a pumpkin. Seems kind of an expensive way to go about it, but hey, it's his gun, his ammo, and his pumpkin.

Ever wonder how long your flash/jump/thumb/whatever-you-call-it drive will last? It would seem the answer is, a lot longer than you probably think. The graphs are particularly interesting. Well, ok, the graphs are just about the only meaningful thing on there, for me anyway.

Making the rounds: through a combination of various technologies, Mazda has created a gasoline-powered sedan that they claim gets 70 mpg. I got yer "mandate technology to achieve policy ends" refutation right there, bub.

I've always wondered how Top Gear got such spectacular shots when filming their road tests. Now I know. I wonder how much practice it takes to get a $400,000 camera to skim an inch away from a car going 60+ mph? More than I have, I'm sure.

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.

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.

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?

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.

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.

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?

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.

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...

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.

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!

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.

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?

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.

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.

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...

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.

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...

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.

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.

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.

Got this pix outside my car window today!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

Democrats have struck a deal with Republicans to prevent the Obama administration from making any more recess appointments before the election. But... But... that means he'll have to respect the constitution's balance of power! He won't be able to use the notes Chavez gave him at their last meeting! How can he ram more progressives through with the senate in the way?!?

Racists.

Introducing the bacorndog, which is exactly what you think it is, and, by all accounts, just as tasty. I'll stick with my super BLTs, but this is definitely an intriguing idea.

Yes...The Chesapeake Bay Bridge is that scary.

Meet your next future commuting tool, the schweeb. No, really! These words are all fun and games to type, but actually saying them? Not so much.

There's 50/50 weight distribution, and then there's 50/50 weight distribution. Peel the 5 mph battering rams off, pile on various CF body panels, plunk a 24 valve lump under the hood, and dang, dude, you've got a car!

Of course, the windows will stop rolling down after a few weeks and the power steering will start leaking a few days after that, but who cares about THAT???

Latest rumor: the next-gen Dodge Viper looks to be based on the Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione. Just how deep the resemblance will go is still unclear. Taking such an iconic American concept and underpinning it with Italian design and engineering* seems risky, but if the result is smaller, lighter, faster, and better, I think it'll work.

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* Ok, are you finished laughing now? Because, trust me, nobody who has to challenge race cars designed and engineered by Italians laughs at them.

Honda and a Japanese university have developed working prototypes of mobility-enhancing exoskeletons. Allowing old folks the ability to get around with ease and efficiency is admirable, but I can't shake the thought that the Honda device, at least, looks rather... embarrassing. Like something's grabbing the person's crotch, that sort of thing.

I got to play with one of these things over a weekend, because my workplace is tinkering with various sorts of touch technology. My take? Well, it's made me a lot more interested in the Kindle, but as a substitute for a lighter, faster, laptop? I just can't do without a touch keyboard, sorry.

Introducing Kawah Ijen Volcano and its lake of sulfuric acid. Yeah, putting a boat in that and paddling around? Doesn't strike me as the brightest adventure idea. I bet it did all sorts of fun things to the gear, too.

Bertone's got a new commission from Alfa Romeo, and the results are just as spectacular as you'd imagine. Go for the wild Italian take on a Batmobile, stay for a demonstration of how the doors work. Whole side of the car comes open!

Surprising, I know, but in spite of what the media tells us America is still very much alive, all across the country. Governments are bastards, always have always will be. The proper judge of a people is how they treat strangers just passing through.

Sometimes words simply cannot a thing justice. And props to the helicopter pilot, who surfed the same wave nearly as well!

Not only did the Soviet Union produce video games, there's a museum just outside of Moscow where you can play them. The pictures are there, you just have to scroll down a bit. As expected, they're enormous, utilitarian, and unreliable. Surprisingly, though, they also seem to be quite fun.

It would seem that the Democrats haven't just raveled up the biggest mandate in forty-six years and dropped it in the deep end of the pot, they've timed it such that my side will get to un-do at least a decade of carefully engineered gerrymandering. Ok, ok, if it'll make the left side of the peanut gallery stop shrieking... *AHEM*

His failure is now complete...

I know, I know. I don't have the budget to do the breathing noises. Whaddaya want???

Just in time for the 70th anniversary, rare color footage of the London Blitz has been discovered. It's quite startling what can sometimes be found in the back of an attic, eh?

Just the name, "Quadricopter," sounds cool. When I found out it's an indoor outdoor radio controlled helicopter with wireless video?!? Well... What's that? Only works for iPoadiphones? Bah. An Android version can't be far behind.

Not content with finding two-century old champagne in the belly of a shipwreck, salvagers also found a case of beer underneath it. Bonus: it's the Baltic, so the super-cold temperatures may very well have prevented any sort of spoilage. Of course, it also probably prevented any sort of aging, so I'd put my money on it tasting not much different from the day it went to the bottom. Could be good, could be bad. Ya just never know.

In the, "well, why not?" category, we have a NASCAR reality show on BET. One of the fastest drivers in the world, Lewis Hamilton, is a black kid who grew up north of London, and Indycar has Danica and the quick rookie De Silvestro. It'd be great to see another big motorsports series broadening its horizons. Olivia is certainly much more interested in the aforementioned Indycar because there are girls driving in it.

Video Goodness!

There are photography archives, and then there are National Geographic photography archives. The pictures are dramatic, and usually the story behind how they were taken is, too.

Fans and/or residence of "The OC of New York" may be interested to hear that the world's largest cannoli was created at a nearby local bakery. There are noms, there are NOMS, and then there are Yankee Noms...

Journalists are now openly talking about Alfa having a central role in Fiat's revival plans for North America. On the one hand, sounds like great news. On the other, it sounds rather a lot like pinning your hopes for success on your tacky, somewhat loopy old aunt.

Hey, look, the Queen of England wasn't always a little old lady. Even now, she has a smile that impresses. I guess some things really do breed true.

Star Trek's holodeck technology appears to have taken another step toward reality. In college I once speculated that one day I'd be able to tour the Pyramids just as they appeared when new. It looks like I was off by a generation, but only by one.

Ok, suddenly the Cruiser doesn't look so worn: here's a guy with a Volvo who's rolled the odometer over three hundred times. Of course, it's a Volvo, but it is one of the sportier "svëdish pëpl haf a sëns of stilë tøø, ya?" models. For comparison, our Spider will be turning forty this October, and has 3% of that Volvo's mileage. Which is, of course, why it's still around.

I don't really know quite what to make of this, but it looks tough and potentially injury-causing. Ellen kept trying to dance to the music.

It seems like cars aren't the only things that last forever in the desert sun. I especially like the old scribblings on the chalk board, and the graffiti from 1968. Vandals, maybe, but they seem to have eye toward preservation, eh?

Yes, the new Morgan EvaGT is a darned beautiful thing. And nowhere near as mad as their last effort, at least in the looks department. Oh, don't bother to ask how much it is. The Hamster can afford one, but not the likes of you and me. Still, it is awfully easy on the eyes.

Looks like it's more than possible to convert an AR-15 assault rifle to shoot uber-cheap .22 LR rounds. I'm sure this is old hat to the gun nuts in the audience, but it were news to me! And for 1/10th the cost, I'm thinking giving up the big bang and kick, at least for some kinds of practice, is worth it.

The things that have found a home on the internet often surprise me. Well, you know, aside from the tentacle stuff and the guy with the extra... but I digress. Anyway, one of the GOOD things is a collection of the Sheperd Paine Monogram diorama sheets. I pored over these things for hours at a time back in the 70s. Just looking at them takes me right back to the floor of my old playroom, sitting cross-legged on the tile floor.

Spy photos seem to indicate Fiat is going ahead with plans for a limited production Lancia Stratos "revival." The original was a dominant force in 70s rallies. Since it's rumored to cost more than Alfa's new 8C, I'm even less likely to own one. Ah, well...

It was once thought to be the "dead man walking" of flat-screen technologies, but now a new manufacturing technique may cause the price of large plasma screens to plummet. A revolution in manufacturing is what caused large LCD prices to drop. It's nice to see something similar happening for this older technology. Competition is good!

The next generation of vending machines is premiering at a Tokyo train station near you. A vending machine that suddenly opens its eyes and looks around is way too "Skynet" for me. Plus the potential of a giant LCD screen strapped onto one of those infamous panty dispensers is just mind-boggling.

Democrats on the hill are now apparently in full panic mode. Yeah, I know, source isn't exactly unbiased. Still, for someone who had to watch them all dancing a bacchanalia celebrating "a new era of progressive power", who had to hear over and over and over again how Republicans would have to embrace the new paradigm or face a generation in the woods. Well...

HA HA!

This week Pebble Beach is having it's world-famous concours (fancy word for, "car show"). WSJ is taking a quick look at just what's for sale at the auction. Yes, there's an Alfa there, dur. A whole bunch of other stuff too. Unfortunately, no pictures. Of all the times to skip them...

Meanwhile, developments continue in how best to introduce various mujjis to their assorted virgins. Dig all the mass graves you want, Persians, it ain't going to be our boys that'll be in them. Come to think of it, it won't be yours buried in them, either. We're getting to the point we can drop a bomb on you, and your buddies, when you're driving to your "private" opium den. Sleep well!

Today's "head explodes with candy" moment is brought to you by a failed smuggling attempt in Chile. Yeah, that'd be all I need. A pet with thumbs. Ahem, all together now, "no, Ellen, you can't have one."

A Chinese transportation firm is planning to build buses that travel over traffic. It's not clear to me if these are genuine road-going buses, or some sort of hybrid rail-like system. Still, it does make for an interesting idea. As long as, you know, you go first.

What good is owning a high-speed camera if you can't make films of people smashing stuff? Ellen would likely use it to film endless reels of cats walking around, but you already knew that, eh?

And some people think my job is this.

Yes, yes I do pet fluffy kittens. I'm not a Dr, I'm and Licensed Veterinary Technician. What I cannot do is perform surgery, write a diagnosis, or prescribe medicine. What I do is laboratory diagnostics, anesthesia, dentistry, comfort someone who has to make the decision to let their dying pet go, perform xray diagnostics, be that surgical nurse, and be physician's PE and RN all at once.

Do you really get to see me in the hospital? Probably not. I am the person in the back that takes care of your pet while your vet is glorified.

Next time your at the vet's office think of that.

And yes, I get to pet fluffy kittens. Does a 'real DR' or nurse do that?

Didn't think so.

Those of you who aren't regular viewers of Mythbusters can now check out, ever so briefly, their general awesomeness. A season or two later, they tried the same thing, but instead of a flat plate they used a blade, proving they can in fact double the awesomeness of a rocket smashing a car.

Turns out that little computer Ellen insists on calling, "my phone" has got a glass face stronger than steel on it. A kind of glass that was patented forty years ago, no less. Intellectual property, FTW!!!

I'm surprised it's taken this long for someone to fade old WWII pictures into modern ones, but I'm glad they did. The results are truly fascinating, and graphically show how humans can bounce back from the most amazing tragedies. When they're allowed to, that is.

Who knew Vader's car was an Aston? See? See? I do occasionally mention cars that aren't made by Alfa!

While waiting for Futurama to return to the airwaves, one enterprising, and patient, man decided to see just how detailed he could get recreating the "New New York" of the series. All I ever managed to do with the dratted things was build walls and step on them.

Kevin gets a no-prize that'll crash a dinner party and then snarl about how the English have no balls for bringing us a first-hand account of someone who went on pilgrimage to go see Galileo. Rrrm... sort of. Being an Italian through and through, fate ensured the proper finger would be preserved. Oh don't worry, Ellen's already made similar arrangements.

Leonard Nimoy has decided to put his other profession on exhibit. 26 photos seems to me sort of a smallish exhibit, but then again not quite half of them are life-sized. A shame they didn't put a few technical details in the article. I'd be interested to know what sort of camera he uses etc.

A new armored vehicle being built in Britain has passed yet another spectacular test. I'm reminded of those Evel Knievel toy cars that would blow apart if they hit something hard, and then just snapped back together again.

Israel's effort to remove glorified bottle rockets, mortars, and artillery from Hamas's list of "toys with which I would like to play" has completed its final tests and will be deployed by November of this year. Even better, there's lots of interest in the product. My guess at a prime customer? Another small country sharing a border with a bunch of homicidal maniacs. This thing sounds small enough to purchase and deploy discreetly. All in all, a good thing.

Looks like the core technology of the PS4 is slowing making its way out of a lab. I just got a damned blu-ray player. This new tech better take its sweet time going into production.

Tempelhof airport, who's checkered past includes a monument to Nazi pomposity as well as the eastern anchor of the Berlin Airlift, has been turned into an enormous open-air park. I would think the flat, miles-long runways with their great, curved taxiways would make for some spectacular cycling opportunities. But I'm funny that way, donchaknow?

I guess, in a way, this is news: a non-profit agency's effort to certify market fish are what they say they are actually works. Likely it adds to the cost as well, but most people will pay a certain premium to ensure they're getting what they're paying for.

Mike J. gets a no-prize that'll go anywhere for bringing us The Tank Chair, the ultimate in handicapped mobility. If something stuck Ron in a wheelchair, it'd be all Amber could do to keep him from driving one of these around in the house.

From crooked teeth to straight teeth in only 60 seconds. By the hair style, it looks like she got her braces not long after I had mine removed. The ones I got had bands that wrapped around the whole tooth.

Archeologists in Britain have announced the discovery of a huge Roman coin hoard. Huge as in 52,000 coins weighing a whopping 350 pounds. The hoard was discovered by a hobbyist using his metal detector, but he had presence of mind to stop what he was doing and call in the archeologists when he realized what he'd found. The local county council now hopes to have the find declared treasure, which will allow the discoverer and the land owner to be compensated at market value for their discovery. I'll let the coin collector in the peanut gallery speculate as to just how much that might be.

Navy fans and arm-chair admirals should find this quick look at the still-building CVN-78 of interest. Otherwise known as the Gerald R. Ford, when launched it will be the first new aircraft carrier since 2003, and the first new class of such ships since 1968.

Scientists at MIT and Harvard have created self-folding origami sheets. By using special strips of copper and some electricity, they are able to cajole a sheet of fiberglass into a variety of different shapes.

Mark gets a stars-and-stripes no-prize for bringing us the following neat collections of the US Military. Some I'd seen, most I'd not. I'm figuring you won't have seen a few either:

• Collection One
• Collection Two
• Collection Three

Mike J. gets a no-prize that's worth a second look for bringing us the Sci-Fi airshow. Kinda heavy on the Space 1999 stuff, but I still like the idea of wandering around a flight line full of space ships

My Lawyers* remind me that the really important birthday happened two days ago, and I will duly note it, on the way to announcing a happy 100th for Alfa Romeo! My kid was born almost exactly 93 years after Alfa! How cool is that?!? More immediately fortuitous, the Alfa Owner's Club convention is nearby this year. Us? Going? Well duh

In other news, we had to jump the Milano, who's battery finally gave up the ghost. New battery, clean car, and a whole show full of them tomorrow. Life is good.

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* Aka Ellen and The Grammas

And now, a honeycomb structure shaped like the risen Christ. Made by actual honeybees. No, really!

Remember, awhile back, when all the nerds were up in arms that we were consigning petabytes of information to the dustbin of history because it was recorded on obsolete media? Progressives wanted government intervention to stop it while opportunists wanted to spend the money a fat federal grant would provide? You know, to ensure precious information would not be lost simply for the lack of a player? Yeah...about that...

As long as the media survives, there will always be people clever enough to tease it out. It may not be easy, and it may not be cheap, but it will happen. Anyone else is selling something.

And by the way, did I mention my VCR collection? You know you'll never get to see those old tapes again, otherwise...

Popular Mechanics got its first look at a nifty new laser-based IR missile jammer. The new unit is much smaller, simpler and (presumably) cheaper than the one it replaces, and is already being fitted to helicopters in Iraq and Afghanistan. The dumber, less effective, but more numerous RPGs still remain a threat, but it seems engineers are working on that one as well.

Sure, models are nice, but full-sized replicas made from blueprints using cardboard are nicer. Now this sort of modern art I like.

Nothing quite like placing the test track of a popular car show in your video game for oodles of free publicity. Well, one would at first think it's free. It wouldn't surprise me if some licensing and promotion agreements may have been quietly signed. At any rate, it definitely look like fun!

Lord, bless this, thy Wikipedia, without which we would not have a convenient listing of funerary monuments throughout history. Settle in for a long bout of link-following, fellow seeker.

Folks who've long wanted a crack at Top Gear's test track (*cough* Ellen *cough*) are soon to be getting their wish, albeit virtually. Of course this would be for a console my regular gaming buddy Joshua doesn't have. Nothing quite like conflicting priorities to provide an annoying buzz on a Friday morning.

Making the rounds: US cars have, for the first time, topped foreign-based one in a well-known quality survey. "Foreign-based" may sound like a euphemism, but since many (most?) "foreign" cars are actually built in the US, it's a necessary distinction.

Now if only they'd come up with a bike jersey with this on it. It's even done up in light colors!

It takes a bit of time to load, but this innovative map of where, and which direction, people moved in the US in 2008 is still worth a click or two. A country in motion, indeed.

Well, if they build it, and if they bring it over here, and if it's in our price range, I definitely think that we'd be driving the prettiest SUV on the road. If recent reports are to be believed, it'll even be one of the better built ones, as well. Likely in Canada or the US, even. Ain't that a kick in the teeth?

Looks like Tea Partiers are well on their way to taking over the Texas GOP. Getting away from obnoxious morality police and concentrating on economic issues has, in my opinion anyway, always been the great unacknowledged winning strategy for the GOP. Politicians, and most pundits, seem not to have grasped just how powerful the late Clinton-era budget surpluses were as an ego boost to an overstretched nation. So far the Tea Party movement has been able to shrug off the left's increasingly shrill attempts at ridicule and demonize it. If they help remove these spendthrift's hands from the levers of power, they will have truly arrived.

Victor Davis Hanson is brilliant most of the time. But when he's mad, he's freaking fantastic. A better statement of the constrained view in this era, I have yet to find. Those of you who would immediately dismiss him as a toady of Cheney's neo-cons should be fair warned: he's a professor of your beloved classics and a farmer in the central valley. He's smarter than you, me, and the other guy, put together. Dismiss that at your peril. Not that it's ever stopped you before...

Nothing like a fully-functional Lee Enfield replica to start your Friday. The catch? Lego. Lots of Lego.

Well, why not: Israeli students are trying to organize a reverse flotilla to provide humanitarian relief to Turkish Kurds. Now, let's all pause and consider the likelihood of Turkish commandos showing up with paint guns as their primary armament to stop this particular flotilla.

Thing is, as long as the current Turkish administration isn't directly involved, I think it'd be quite likely. The Turkish military remains the final bulwark standing between Ataturk's vision and Islamic fascism, but they're not as strong as they once were. And, unfortunately, as with most progressive administrations, the current Turkish government is nothing if not involved.

Chris gets a no-prize that'll annoy the Pope for bringing us news that a newly refurbished museum in Italy will feature recently rediscovered remains of the seventeenth-century astronomer, Galileo. Unfortunately no pictures of said bits are part of the article, so Ellen will be disappointed.

WWII history buffs will likely find this account of a "lost" jungle battlefield of interest. Me, I'm not quite sure how something can be lost if the locals have known where it is all along, but I can be ornery that way sometimes. They even found a dead guy leaning against a tree. You'd think jungle critters would've carried him off long ago.

I'm not sure how much of it is real and how much of it is just clever editing, but this short film about "underwater base jumping" was still pretty neat. Yet another sport I'm more than content to be a spectator of, and not a participant.

PanelWithTextBoxes.Controls.Cast<System.Web.UI.Control>().Where(x => x.ID != null && x.ID.Contains("TextBox")).Cast<TextBox>() .Where(y => !string.IsNullOrEmpty(y.Text) && int.TryParse(y.Text, out i)).Select(y => y.Text).ToList().ForEach(z => obj.ListOfInts.Add(Convert.ToInt32(z)));

An actual, working piece of code. In "pseudo-code", what this translates into is "go get all the entry blanks which aren't empty, and have a NUMBER in them, inside this panel and store what a person entered in that blank as a number in a list."

Yes, I wrote it. Hopefully you're not horrified. Seems to work well, and replaces a multi-line function with a single line. Whee!

Analysts are finally getting their arms around Fiat/Chrysler's future plans, and things are looking pretty interesting. The sudden softening of the Euro puts Marchionne's American venture into a much better light. If the currency should collapse, it'll seem downright prescient.

Aaannndd the location of the next Formula 1 race in the US iisss... Austin, Texas. They've held a few of them in Texas over the years, and they've been a disaster because they insisted on dates in July and August. Of course, that was a long time ago, and on temporary street courses at that. But really... Austin? Gah, why not, I guess.

In even weirder news, it seems Ferrari want to be the backers of a new US-based team. They call it "the silly season" for a reason. I just don't remember it ever starting this early.

I'm not completely sure this super-slo-mo video of a water balloon popping is completely un-retouched. That said, I've seen enough of these super-slo-mo videos to say the waterfall itself looks legit enough. Either way, there's nothing quite like ugly, nerdy white guys doing dumb things for no particularly good reason to end the night. And I say that as a card-carrying member of same, I'll have you know.

When I read "rural New York site to host F-1 race," I had to stop myself. People outside New York think of the place as Manhattan, with Buffalo as some sort of suburb within site of the Empire State building. Natives and regular visitors know there's a whole helluva lot of "rural" in New York. But, low and behold, the site looks to be less than an hour away from the particular patch of "rural" New York the in-laws live in. Now, proposing an F-1 race is absolutely not the same as actually having the red lights turn off and the cars shriek away. But it is a remarkable development. I'll be watching this one closely, you can count on that.

I'm not sure I've ever seen anything quite like these 3-D illusion projections on buildings. I wasn't completely sure it was real until I looked closely at the edges of the second building's columns. The projection doesn't extend an inch beyond them. I wonder if it looks that interesting from off-angle views?

Update: It seems that video is a demo, and like most demos it over-promises a bit. Still, the actual item is quite interesting.

The advantage of a gear-obsessed brother is we get video! I can only imagine what it must sound like on a big rig, instead of dinky computer speakers. At any rate, enjoy!

It seems it has largely been forgotten that cable TV was originally more about reception and picture quality than it was about content. Growing up in rural Arkansas, as I recall at least a hundred miles from any TV transmitter, meant we either had cable or we didn't have anything at all. You could even run a coax cable into the back of the FM tuner, and use the same giant antenna to pick up radio stations. My, how times have changed.

One of the most innovative computer games of the past five years is available for free. If you never played the game run, do not walk, to get it. I'm still waiting for the next installment, but in the meantime this should be plenty fun.

Verizon wireless has confirmed it's working on an Android-based tablet computer. Go for the announcement, stay to watch a reporter try to turn a very short press release into a very long article. I thought the old "cut-and-paste twice" trick to lengthening an essay was restricted to high school students.

For your next camping idea, we present 20 of "America's Least-Visited National Parks." No surprise they're nearly all in America's version of the Great F- All, aka "The Southwest." Ellen and I think roughing it means no Tivo, but we respect people who have fun in the outdoors. So, well, enjoy!

Why does it so often seem the neatest new architectural triumph is located on the other side of the dratted world? Ah, well. Likely I wouldn't be able to afford a stay anyway. But it would be nifty to stroll the grounds.

Indycar racing is coming to the mid-Atlantic region! Fortunately open-wheel race cars don't have stereos or GPS systems, so they should be relatively safe from the crackheads that infest Baltimore. Hopefully they'll have really good locks on the pit doors, though.

The venerable giant robot shooter, Mechwarrior 4, is now officially available for free download. If you missed the game when it was new, give it a try now. If you miss playing it, have some fun! I wonder if this would make it easier to port it to a modern console?

A British sniper set a world sharpshooting record by taking out two Taliban soldiers in Afghanistan from more than a mile and a half away -- a distance so great, experts say the terrorists wouldn't have even heard the shot.

Good.. kill as many of those douche bags you can get.

Zagato has officially unveiled its TZ3 Alfa, and it's just as pretty as the CGI pictures made it out to be. This one also includes a picture of the previous TZ, which shows the heritage to good effect. Nothing says "rich" quite like having a custom, one-off Italian sports car built on commission.

It would seem a human truism: the ingredients may change, but everyone likes to eat a deep-fried something. Some of them sound kinda tasty, I must admit. Except poutine. N-A-S-T-Y.

I'll see your grueling marathon and raise you this: "Sunday’s race will feature long slogs up ski slopes, wades through mud bogs, crawls through corrugated pipes and under barbed wire, climbs over vertical walls, traverses on rope bridges and a drop from a plank into a cold pond. The finish line is through a ring of fire — next to the free beer, near the live band. "

I don't pretend to understand it, but I respect those who do.

Tik Tok Military Style!

I'm not sure how we missed the story of a lego-based robot which can solve any Rubik's Cube in less than 13 seconds, but it took the announcement of an improved version for us to learn about it. Or them. Those dratted 3x3 cubes were the bane of my junior-high years.

It seems that the most popular theme park in China is not the one with the mouse, it's the one with the little people. It's not exploitation if they're getting paid for it, and if it supplies a good living for people who would otherwise be on the street, I'm all for it.

Geothermal energy generation appears to be growing in leaps and bounds. The statistics quoted come from an advocacy group, so I'm not sure just how much they can be trusted. Still, if it's roughly as cheap as coal that means it can, presumably, replace the stuff. Then we get to watch the fireworks as the green side of the Democratic party gets in a scuffle with the organized labor side. What, you think those unionized miners are going to take this lying down?

Another week, another neat looking concept car built on an Alfa chasis. Having a 100 year anniversary has its advantages, donchaknow? I just wish it was an actual car instead of a CAD picture.

Looks like the on again/off again schedule for Alfa's return to the US is on again. Until, you know, it's off again. Ah, well. The car is apparently well-regarded.

Fiat has finally come clean on its plans for the next five years, and it's nice to see Alfa figures prominently in them. If they actually manage to produce an SUV it'll definitely herald their return to the States, since we're the #1 market for those things. And I'm happy to say that my change in jobs means even a pricey one will likely be within reach in the 3-5 years it takes for one to come to market. Will we once again become an all-Alfa household? Only time will tell.

Mike J. gets a no-prize he'll have to hide from the pandas for bringing us news that Asus has taken a new, and unexpected, direction in laptop design. Around here, we need the laptops to be made of indestructible things so it'll take longer for Ellen to destroy them. The rest of you probably don't need that level of protection.

Microsoft has finally given the go-ahead to release the Mechwarrior 4 codebase for free. I played that game for many action-packed hours. It's good to find it's still going strong after all these years.

Visual Studio 2010 is on its way, and it appears It Will Be Good. My shop is definitely planning on the upgrade, but I think it'll be something like a year after its release.

Looks like the new Alfa Giulietta is doing well. It'll be interesting to see what the Top Gear blokes make of it. They might eventually sell one here. You know, just like Ellen might stop snarling some day.

Coming soon to a grocery store near you: super-high alcohol beer. With proof levels approaching that of many whiskeys, I'm surprised they're still allowed to call it beer. Oh, and news flash to the reporter: I imagine it will be quite obvious that it is not a normal beer after the first taste.

I guess things in Afghanistan must be looking up if a lunatic Aussie can travel the country with a cameraman and live to tell the tale. AUSSIE AUSSIE OI OI OI!!!

Looks like hajji is having a problem with robots raining death from above. I'm sure this is somehow terribly illegal and will result in true and just investigations of war crimes perpetrated by the CIA. What's that? This is a policy of the Obama administration? Oh, well, then it will be rightly celebrated as a clever and effective measure brilliantly implemented by people who cleverly stand outside the more complex segments of the government. Ya kno wha' I maen?

Bah. "it does not matter what color a cat is as long as it hunts mice."

Starting the 4th of the month is Tornado Week on the Weather Channel!! *see your local listings*

The special this year, you can build your own tornado!

Jeremy Clarkson got to test the new Ferrari 458 in conditions that can best be described as, "challenging." Would that we could all have such problems.

Computerworld is carrying this year's look into how Formula 1 gets IT done. The much shorter answer is, "very quickly and very very expensively." The long answer should warm the heart of any race car-obsessed computer nerd.

It's a funeral home, and a mini-amusement park. Great. Yet another thing to add to Ellen's dream-home list.

Problem: The "God Hates Fags" people have set up a protest in your city. Solution: Engage in some creative media jujitsu. This is one I really do hope to see go viral.

There's something a little twisted in LIFE magazine running a photo essay on "truly amazing mummies." Bonus: it's a new exhibit opening in Santa Ana California, which means we won't be able to see it but I bet Nina will.

Turns out the authors of the Curious George series barely escaped the Holocaust. Some day someone will likely trace significant parts of the US's post-war dominance to enormous numbers of extremely talented people who fled the ultimate expression of progressive doctrines. I think it's a real, and largely unchronicled, tragedy that the progressives in charge of US foreign policy at the time made it cheaper for the USSR and the Nazis to kill their undesirables instead of send them our way.

Gaming, hell, I think this would make for a nifty hobby table too. All those little cubbies and a sunken work surface... the only way you'd know I was building scale models was the smell of the paint thinner.

Why thank you for this sign, but Ellen gave me one that said pɹǝu a long time ago.