Complexity

So who's got the bigger complex? The Military or

- a tidbit tailor made for the Celebrity Controversy Industrial Complex. It's an unstoppable force, this complex, mighty enough to shoulder aside news of presidential candidates, the economy and wars in Babylon to make room for the epic saga of ... whatever.

From my local paper.

De Havilland Vampire

One thing leads to another, and here we have the De Havilland Vampire. A funny looking airplane. Second British jet fighter. Front portion of fuselage is made of wood, which is more than a little scary when you find out this thing can go 500 MPH, carries four 20 mm cannons (!), and can reach 40,000 feet in altitude. More than 3,000 of these things were built.



This engine used a centrifugal compressor instead of the axial flow compressor that we use today.

Here's a more recent color video. The owner disabled embedding so it's there instead of here.

Modern Cars

This is why I read Dustbury daily. This chap has no desire to get into a modern car.

Practical Vampire Slaying

So I'm looking for a picture of an old Cadillac for another post, and I come across this:

There are a lot of ways to say what he's trying to say -- many ways to try and talk about the problem of denial -- but his is certainly one of my favorites. It speaks to the heart of practical vampire slaying, and to the uncomfortable first step we have to take before we can even hope to be free of our vampires: The step where we admit to ourselves that our vampires really are vampires, and not something else.

At first I'm thinking I've found a real nutjob, but then I read some more:

That intruding and advice-giving neighbor who can

never take a hint to leave is not "just lonely and trying to help."

She's a vampire, and she's feeding on me .

That isolating and critical spouse who is never satisfied

no matter what I do is not "just a loner and telling it like it is."

He's a vampire, and he's feeding on me.

and I realize she's right on the money. Only problem is I see a little vampire in me, aaaaggghhh! The light, turn out the light! Hsssssssss..........

P.S. I spent half an hour looking for a decent picture of a vampire, and this is the best I could come up with, and I'm only using it because of the movie, which I have only seen bits of, but those bits looked pretty good.

Movies, Trivia & the Internet

I have got too much to do. I am also easily distracted, perhaps because I cannot decide what I should be working on, or perhaps because none of it is in the least interesting. The internet is way more interesting. I only have to poke around for a few minutes and I come across a gem like this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highest_grossing_film_series#Highest_grossing_film_series

which I naturally had to read. It does make interesting reading, after a fashion. I have seen all of the top grossers since 1980, and many of the earlier ones. Looking at the gross amounts, it's interesting to see that some really jump out. And is it "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone"
or "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone"?

Brawndo

This has been around for a while but I still get a kick out it.

Sarcasma

Click on image to see a readable copy. From Flibbertigibbet!

Good ol' Rupert

Rupert Murdoch, media mogul and power broker, with his wife Wendy Deng. Is it amazing that he has taken over all of the media in the world, or is it just another side of "people getting what they deserve"? I like to think that the James Bond movie "Tomorrow Never Dies" was about him.

From the story "Anticipatory Compliance": “When you see the reaction of the British media to the book,” Bruce Dover tells me, “one can better understand why in some respects the Chinese so admired Murdoch – an Emperor who inspires fear in his followers need not raise a hand against them.”

Sing it Sheryl.

Via Robot Wisdom auxiliary

Exhaust Air Jack

I remember seeing these being used in an old Warren Miller ski movie. There were a bunch of cars parked by the side of the road chaining up before going farther up the mountain. Several small cars were using these to lift the entire end of the car so they could put chains on both wheels.
www.streamlineimport.com

tokyo bicycle parking tower

From iaman.

Gyna, class of '08

Or, never let your boyfriend take phone messages for you:

Stolen from Dustbury.

Wind Power

Snow REMOVAL

The next thing in fat blimps

When are they going to learn that only seagulls are the proper role model for flying machines?

The Great Bike Helmet Hysteria

My brother sent me a link to this a few days ago, and it is still getting comments. It is up to 65 now. Two of them are mine. Another brother says: Any place that has a law requiring bicycle helmets should be burnt to the ground.

http://www.copenhagenize.com/2008/04/great-bike-helmet-hysteria-introduction.html

Boomershoot!

Sneaker bike

Box Office Girls

They don't call it a cockpit.

Free Strips Of Paper

Via http://robotwisdom2.blogspot.com/

Theo Jansen - Kinetic Sculptor

Egyptian Fractions

You guys might enjoy this story.

http://home.egge.net/~savory//blog_jun_05.htm#20050627

$100 House

Some people seem to think it is in Romulus, on the other side of the neutral zone. There are about 100 houses in the area for less than a grand. You can view the neighborhood with Google Street View.

Via Mr. Dustbury.

Electric Rooster

This guy is a little free with his language, but I have to agree with his evaluation of this thing.

Picture of Epicycles

A few weeks ago I wrote a little note about epicycles. Dr. Savory has big picture that is too large to fit into a blog.

COPPER NICKEL BOAT HULLS

COPPER NICKEL BOAT HULLS

Code breaking for kids

Since Mom is teaching math these days, I thought you all might be interesteed in this:

http://home.egge.net/~savory//blog_feb_08.htm#20080207
http://home.egge.net/~savory//blog_mar_08.htm#20080310

P.S. I stumbled across this while looking for a picture of a tin-foil hat. No telling what you will find on the internet.

Duck Joke

I saw a duck joke on Tam's website this morning. Actually it was a lawyer joke, but it reminded me of my duck joke, so here it is.

Duck walks into a bar. Bartender asks "what'll you have?. Duck responds with "got any grapes?" B: "No, we don't got any grapes". Duck leaves.
Next day, duck is back in the bar. Again bartender asks duck for his preference, and again duck asks for grapes. B: "No, we don't got any grapes, and if you come in here again asking for grapes I'll nail your feet to the floor".
Next day duck comes back to the bar. Bartender, with a look in his eye, asks the duck what he wants. Duck asks "got any nails?". Bartender: "No". Duck asks "got any grapes?".

Fembot

I am not quite sure about this.

From Pingmag Japan

New, Improved!

I don't know what I was thinking when I created this blog, but I gave it an address of pergiellite. A few days later, given the name of the blog, I realized this was a bad idea, so I attempted to change it, and blogger blew up in my face: Danger Will Robinson! This held for a couple of days, but then today the change name request went through, so now the new address is pergelatorlite:

http://pergelatorlite.blogspot.com/

A Survey of Philosophical History

http://philosophy.eserver.org/chicken.txt

American Meridian

From: http://forgotten-ny.com/OUT.OF.TOWN/wash.DC.foggy/foggy.html

"24th and H Streets. This is the Thomas Jefferson-proposed site of the American Meridian, a point where he had proposed that all longitudes in the USA would be measured from. The USA did adopt this spot in Foggy Bottom as the "center of the world", 0 degrees longitude, here between 1848 and 1884. The American Median still plays a part in USA geography, however; the borders of many of our western states were measured from it, which is the reason their borders are so straight compared with eastern states. Wyoming's east and west borders were set at 29 and 36 degrees west; Colorado's at 27 and 34 degrees; and Oregon's east border at 42 degrees."

Pulitzer Prize for Newspaper Layout?

Stolen from Dependable Renegade
via Earth-Bound Misfit

Bette Davis Eyes

Thursday Lunch Topic - Kim Carnes sings

Latte Art Printing Machine

Words fail me.

Should I cut the blue wire or the red wire?

Should I cut the blue wire or the red wire? I think I may have found the origin of this phrase: Juggernaut with Richard Harris, Omar Sharif and Anothony Hopkins made in 1974. Just got done watching it on TV this afternoon. Looking for a little more about this movie I found this list of quotes. Some of them are pretty good.

Aother Law Dog story

You just can't make this stuff up.

Financial Hype, Part 2

"Despite a epoch shattering cash-burn rate, investors foresee a straight drive ahead for Tata motors. Will this mega-cap send General Motors' Asian business through the windshield?"

One of my brothers put this together. I think he has a future as a financial news anchor, eh?

Diebold Accidentally Leaks Results Of 2008 Election Early

"If you can't trust your shadowy overlords to keep a secret, what is the purpose really of voting in a puppet democracy?"


Diebold Accidentally Leaks Results Of 2008 Election Early

My cousin sent me this:

I know monkeys can talk via sign language and many animals even problem solve and reason, but I have not heard or seen elephants paint true to life subjects and in color. Forget about the elephant ‘splashing’ paint on a hugh canvas… this is the real thing.

Is speciesism still valid?

Japanese Pen Twirling

Diagnosis Wenckebach

Wikipedia Wenckebach