November 19, 2013
Viola Organista
A Polish fellow has built a musical instrument from plans by Leonardo Da Vinci.
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Senator Deeds Stabbed:
Oh my God.
It looks like Creigh Deeds, a member of the Virginia Senate has been stabbed, apparently by his own son, who then committed suicide.
Deeds, a Democrat, ran against McDonnell for the governorship in 2009. I'm no fan of many of his views but he's been a colorful and passionate member of the Virginia General Assembly who has fought stridently for what he believed to be right.
This is a particularly awful thing to happen to any human being. It's not just the terrible physical wounds, but the fact that he's got to deal with the emotional agony of having to bury his son even if he pulls through. I can't even get my head around it. Send condolences and prayers to state senator Deeds, who is in a terribly dark place this evening.
UPDATE: Fellow Virginian R.S. McCain has lots more.
It looks like Creigh Deeds, a member of the Virginia Senate has been stabbed, apparently by his own son, who then committed suicide.
Deeds, a Democrat, ran against McDonnell for the governorship in 2009. I'm no fan of many of his views but he's been a colorful and passionate member of the Virginia General Assembly who has fought stridently for what he believed to be right.
This is a particularly awful thing to happen to any human being. It's not just the terrible physical wounds, but the fact that he's got to deal with the emotional agony of having to bury his son even if he pulls through. I can't even get my head around it. Send condolences and prayers to state senator Deeds, who is in a terribly dark place this evening.
UPDATE: Fellow Virginian R.S. McCain has lots more.
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November 18, 2013
Bolide
About 35 minutes ago I saw a rather spectacular meteor breakup in the sky to the south of Norfolk. The bolide broke onto about 4 large pieces all traveling in a line before dimming and disappearing from view behind the skyline. It seemed to have a trail of debris and left a briefly incandescent contrail that looked superficially like a comets tail. In comparison with most shooting stars it seemed to be traveling much slower than normal, being visible for long enough that I had enough time to to wish for a catgirl maid. It did not light up the sky but it still appeared quite bright even in downtown Norfolk.
Anyway, I don't know if any satellites fell this evening or if it was a regular meteor, but I thought I'd mention it in case it made he news.
Anyway, I don't know if any satellites fell this evening or if it was a regular meteor, but I thought I'd mention it in case it made he news.
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November 17, 2013
A Long Night Awaits
Wonderduck has been in the middle of it.
more...
Red is particularly bad..I note that Ontario seems to be getting pounded with rainbows. Map via
Wonderduck has been in the middle of it.
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November 16, 2013
Mount Aetna Showing Off
The Youtube heading oversells it a bit. But it's still pretty neat.
more...
The Youtube heading oversells it a bit. But it's still pretty neat.
UPDATE: In the comments Steven points out that the video is from 2000. Aetna (or Etna as seems to be the prefered spelling now) pulled this off last week too, leading to my confusion...I guess Etna is just habitually awesome.
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November 14, 2013
A Bit of Perspective on Any Number of Things
I just saw this below the fold at Ace of Spades, in tonight's open thread.
It REALLY deserves to be spread around. I'd heard the name and knew what she'd done, but I did not know about the sheer audacity of HOW she'd pulled it off.
Wow.
There's more on this remarkable heroine here, here and here.
This is a profound reminder that great deeds can be done even by those with no power or riches if they do not lack for courage and wits.
It REALLY deserves to be spread around. I'd heard the name and knew what she'd done, but I did not know about the sheer audacity of HOW she'd pulled it off.
Wow.
There's more on this remarkable heroine here, here and here.
This is a profound reminder that great deeds can be done even by those with no power or riches if they do not lack for courage and wits.
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MAN WILL CONQUER SPACE SOON: Final Volume
Two of the Brickmuppet's Crack Team of Science Babes react to the final installment in the AIAA-Houston section newsletter which has been undertaking a reprint and analysis of the famous series of articles 
published in 8 issues of Collier's Magazine in the 1950s titled Man Will Conquer Space Soon.
The series laid out a very forward thinking vision of space exploration that included detailed plans for exploring both the Moon and Mars. The plan, developed largely by Wherner Von Braun and Wley Ley was, surprisingly sound from a technical standpoint. Scott Lowther, who publishes the superb Aerospace Projects Review, has overseen the republishing of these historic articles in high resolution which is particularly significant given the art by Fred Freeman and Chelsey Bonnestell. The ads have been replaces with short aerospace articles relating to the series that include some technical analysis of what they got right and wrong. This final instalment in the series focuses on how the scientists and engineers of the day tackled the problem of a mission to Mars.
The problem was looked at from every angle. Logistics and life support were worked out as well as a broad idea of what parts of the planet would be explored. Far from a "flags and footprints" mission this was envisioned as an extensive reconnaissance along the lines of contemporary Antarctic exploration, of the planet trekking from the polar regions to the tropics over several months before returning.
Keep in mind this was 1954.
They worked this out with slide-rules. Your smartphone probably dwarfs the aggregate computing power of all the computers in their world and yet for them this was not science fiction. They worked out the math on this endeavor and got it pretty much right.
Their Mars exploration architecture was put together without the beneffit of what we know about local resources after having sent probes to the Red Planet and yet they produced a plan that is vastly more robust than most of those occasionally contemplated today for possible implementation in some amorphous, ever more distant future.
Aside from the winged launders (Mars has a much thinner atmosphere than they thought) this could have been done...and redesigning the slanders would have been no problem. However, the nation as a collective wandered off to eventually play angry birds and run up the debt.
All is not lost however. Today, individuals in private companies are seriously working towards the goals that were seen as right around the corner ion 1954. While we, despite having once landed on the moon are scarcely farther along in the development of the cis-lunar infrastructure to pull something like this off than we were 40 years ago, there is work being done to put in place the building blocks to pull off something like what was envisioned 60 or so years ago.
published in 8 issues of Collier's Magazine in the 1950s titled Man Will Conquer Space Soon. The series laid out a very forward thinking vision of space exploration that included detailed plans for exploring both the Moon and Mars. The plan, developed largely by Wherner Von Braun and Wley Ley was, surprisingly sound from a technical standpoint. Scott Lowther, who publishes the superb Aerospace Projects Review, has overseen the republishing of these historic articles in high resolution which is particularly significant given the art by Fred Freeman and Chelsey Bonnestell. The ads have been replaces with short aerospace articles relating to the series that include some technical analysis of what they got right and wrong. This final instalment in the series focuses on how the scientists and engineers of the day tackled the problem of a mission to Mars.
The problem was looked at from every angle. Logistics and life support were worked out as well as a broad idea of what parts of the planet would be explored. Far from a "flags and footprints" mission this was envisioned as an extensive reconnaissance along the lines of contemporary Antarctic exploration, of the planet trekking from the polar regions to the tropics over several months before returning.
Keep in mind this was 1954.
They worked this out with slide-rules. Your smartphone probably dwarfs the aggregate computing power of all the computers in their world and yet for them this was not science fiction. They worked out the math on this endeavor and got it pretty much right.
Their Mars exploration architecture was put together without the beneffit of what we know about local resources after having sent probes to the Red Planet and yet they produced a plan that is vastly more robust than most of those occasionally contemplated today for possible implementation in some amorphous, ever more distant future.
Aside from the winged launders (Mars has a much thinner atmosphere than they thought) this could have been done...and redesigning the slanders would have been no problem. However, the nation as a collective wandered off to eventually play angry birds and run up the debt.
All is not lost however. Today, individuals in private companies are seriously working towards the goals that were seen as right around the corner ion 1954. While we, despite having once landed on the moon are scarcely farther along in the development of the cis-lunar infrastructure to pull something like this off than we were 40 years ago, there is work being done to put in place the building blocks to pull off something like what was envisioned 60 or so years ago.
Even better, leveraging what we have learned in our fitful forrays into space, there are those today who are seriously considering an even more meaningful endeavor than the exploration of unknown lands...settlement.
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November 13, 2013
RWBY DVD #1 ( ...and Final Thoughts for Now)
Well the RWBY DVD arrived yesterday and it's pretty decent, with a
fair number of extras.
more...
more...
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November 10, 2013
This Will End Well...I'm Sure of It.
It seems that Saudi Arabia, the nation that gave the world Osama Bin Laden and the majority of the September 11 hijackers, has, or is about to, acquire nukes.
Toadstool of slaying is actually the "Upshot-Grable" test firing of the 11 inch nuclear howitzer nicknamed "Atomic Annie".
more...
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November 09, 2013
All Thouse Hurricanes We Didn't Get
....just hit the Philippines at once.
Haiyan hit the Philippines with sea-level winds of nearly 200 mph scoring a direct hit in Cebu.
All of the Philippine islands are pretty mountainous and with this much rain ( reports of at least ten inches in a few hours) means mudslides and inland flooding on top of a 20 foot storm surge.
Cyclones of this intensity are rare but not unheard of. However, they rarely hit land at anything like this strength. The last one to do so was Hurricane Camille which hit the southern US back in 1968 and there have been some slightly weaker storms that hit Asia.
The Phillipines gets hit with several typhoons a year, but this is in a category all its own. Worse, this storm comes on the heels of a major earthquake which softened up the infrastructure and meant many people were still in tents. This is looking to be an almost unreal calamity.
Indeed, things do not look good for Tacloban, the capital of Leyte.
UPDATE: At least 10,000 dead.
UPDATE 2: ...in Tacloban alone....
Haiyan hit the Philippines with sea-level winds of nearly 200 mph scoring a direct hit in Cebu.
All of the Philippine islands are pretty mountainous and with this much rain ( reports of at least ten inches in a few hours) means mudslides and inland flooding on top of a 20 foot storm surge.
Cyclones of this intensity are rare but not unheard of. However, they rarely hit land at anything like this strength. The last one to do so was Hurricane Camille which hit the southern US back in 1968 and there have been some slightly weaker storms that hit Asia.
The Phillipines gets hit with several typhoons a year, but this is in a category all its own. Worse, this storm comes on the heels of a major earthquake which softened up the infrastructure and meant many people were still in tents. This is looking to be an almost unreal calamity.
UPDATE: At least 10,000 dead.
UPDATE 2: ...in Tacloban alone....
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November 08, 2013
RWBY Ends
THAT was the finale?
Well...ummm...golly.
more...
THAT was the finale?
Well...ummm...golly.
more...
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November 06, 2013
This is Just...Wrong
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It looks like...
...the Duck is having flashbacks...
..to that terrible tabletop session in '93.
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Meanwhile, in the South China Sea
Cdr Salamander provides this helpful map of the maritime borders of the various nations in that part of the world.
Yikes!
more...
Yikes!
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Post Mortem
more...
more...
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November 05, 2013
Oh..Thank You For Putting This out There....TODAY
In a few minutes I'm going to go stand in line to vote for an old fashioned and inarticulate, but basically principled dork.
"Ewww...this sounds so much like politics...that it's actually politics."
more...
"Ewww...this sounds so much like politics...that it's actually politics."
Indeed...and it is our habit to place the actual political portion of the politics post below the fold.
But not on election day.
I'll be voting against a guy who wrote the book on selling access to the White House, who has been a serial liar....
...and has never held any office.
Now...entirely too late.... it comes out that the Libertarian candidate who will be the deciding factor in this election was financed by the Democrats.
Even Ron Paul, a former Libertarian Part Presidential Candidate who has been no friend of Cucinelli in the past on a lot of issues campainged for the 'Cooch' and against the libertarian in this election.
So all those of you who are filing a protest vote are actually voting this guy.
Oh well, I'm off to tilt at windmills again.
But not on election day.
I'll be voting against a guy who wrote the book on selling access to the White House, who has been a serial liar....
...and has never held any office.
Now...entirely too late.... it comes out that the Libertarian candidate who will be the deciding factor in this election was financed by the Democrats.
Even Ron Paul, a former Libertarian Part Presidential Candidate who has been no friend of Cucinelli in the past on a lot of issues campainged for the 'Cooch' and against the libertarian in this election.
So all those of you who are filing a protest vote are actually voting this guy.
Oh well, I'm off to tilt at windmills again.
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Oh My Yes!
Via NBF, it seems that Garrison, a Canadian high end menswear boutique has produced a bullet resistant business suit. Searching in vain for an imbed-able version of their video I noted that there is at least one other company that makes these. American Armor Attire of Fredricksburg Virginia also makes a similar product.
AAA doesn't list prices and the Canadian bespoke prices theirs at twenty grand, so its a bit out of my range with tuition looming, but damn...that's cool.
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November 03, 2013
Central Texas
Wow , Austin got clobbered.
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I Think I Nailed It
...unfortunately.
On October 21st, in an otherwise glowing review, I made a tentative prediction about Outbreak Company.
Shaw'nuff...
I may watch next weeks episode because there is actually a slight HINT of a notion that the writers understand the wrongness here.
Of course, this is probably wishful thinking caused by the previous four episodes having so much promise.
I don't recommend anyone else do it though.
On October 21st, in an otherwise glowing review, I made a tentative prediction about Outbreak Company.
Confidence is still not high...I expect this show to devolve into a moe-ocalyptic mess,
Shaw'nuff...
I may watch next weeks episode because there is actually a slight HINT of a notion that the writers understand the wrongness here.
Of course, this is probably wishful thinking caused by the previous four episodes having so much promise.
I don't recommend anyone else do it though.
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November 02, 2013
Well...You Have a Nice Weekend too China
Yesterday, China interupted America's hand-wringing over the Obamacare debacle with a bit of a nonsequiter.
It seems that they just, out of the blue, felt the need to remind us that their small fleet of ballistic missile submarines can wreak all sorts of nuclear devastation on US cities.
This is not news...so why bring it up?
China state media also included this fallout map which doesn't seem to make a lot of sense.
Also: Why are they wasting a nuke on Rutland Vermont?
The Blaze suggests that this might be welcome news, indicating a loosening on secrecy and censorship, but this flies in the face of recent trends which have been even farther in the other direction.
We mentioned back in August that FAS had gotten wind of China doing a lot of nuclear attack simulations and had been putting together their own.
Hot on the heels of this helpful reminder...Today we had China announce that they intend to "silence" the Dali Lama. This is part of a larger internal crackdown fully in keeping with the disturbingly Maoist tendencies of Xi Jinpang.
Nuking the people who owe you money and buy your stuff is a poor business model (as wise people have pointed out) but if it looks like said people (the US) is never going to pay you back and are going completely broke it becomes less so...especially if the perceived deadbeat is the only thing standing in the way of regional hegemony.
Furthermore, if one thinks Mao was a swell guy and his attitude towards human life is laudable, then the huge population of China and the individual low yields of most of the warheads in the US arsenal might make it appear that China could "take the hit" of a US retaliatory strike.
In the long run...which is how China looks at things... they might even be right.
This still seems unlikely. No one "wins" a nuclear exchange.
However, stupider decisions have been made. The decisions that led to World War One all seemed like good ideas at the time. It's also important to remember that other societies and values systems can produce decisionary calculus with regard to acceptable trade offs is likely far different from ours.
On an equally upbeat and somewhat related note: There is an interesting report here on dealing with a low yield nuclear blast (about 1/2 a Fat Man) in a nuclear terrorist attack.
It seems that they just, out of the blue, felt the need to remind us that their small fleet of ballistic missile submarines can wreak all sorts of nuclear devastation on US cities.
This is not news...so why bring it up?
China state media also included this fallout map which doesn't seem to make a lot of sense.
Also: Why are they wasting a nuke on Rutland Vermont?
The Blaze suggests that this might be welcome news, indicating a loosening on secrecy and censorship, but this flies in the face of recent trends which have been even farther in the other direction.
We mentioned back in August that FAS had gotten wind of China doing a lot of nuclear attack simulations and had been putting together their own.
Hot on the heels of this helpful reminder...Today we had China announce that they intend to "silence" the Dali Lama. This is part of a larger internal crackdown fully in keeping with the disturbingly Maoist tendencies of Xi Jinpang.
Nuking the people who owe you money and buy your stuff is a poor business model (as wise people have pointed out) but if it looks like said people (the US) is never going to pay you back and are going completely broke it becomes less so...especially if the perceived deadbeat is the only thing standing in the way of regional hegemony.
Furthermore, if one thinks Mao was a swell guy and his attitude towards human life is laudable, then the huge population of China and the individual low yields of most of the warheads in the US arsenal might make it appear that China could "take the hit" of a US retaliatory strike.
In the long run...which is how China looks at things... they might even be right.
This still seems unlikely. No one "wins" a nuclear exchange.
However, stupider decisions have been made. The decisions that led to World War One all seemed like good ideas at the time. It's also important to remember that other societies and values systems can produce decisionary calculus with regard to acceptable trade offs is likely far different from ours.
On an equally upbeat and somewhat related note: There is an interesting report here on dealing with a low yield nuclear blast (about 1/2 a Fat Man) in a nuclear terrorist attack.
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