Category: Real News

This Is Only A Test.

Fellow Netizens, my friend Cbullitt of Soylent Green alerted me to an internet-wide blog protest in response to the Censorship of the cable cartoon show “South Park.” The image above, with permission from the designer Chris Muir, is scheduled to show up throughout the blogosphere at midnight tonight. Cbullitt wrote:

“I’m not an artist or Cartoonist, but Chris Muir is and Trey Parker and Matt Stone are. And Theo Van Gough was. Muir, whose work you see above, obviously does not ascribe to the dictum displayed in the cowardice of Comedy Central, the EU, and the U.S. Government under the last four administrations, namely: Feeding the crocodile in hopes that it will eat you last.”

To be truthful, I’ve never seen an episode of “South Park” although I understand its popularity due to its irreverent humor. The recent imposition of domestic sharia law on the writers of “South Park” for a joke involving the Prophet Muhammed is inexcusable in the Land of the Free and the Home of the First Amendment.

Let’s celebrate our First Amendment Rights before we lose them. Continue reading “This Is Only A Test.”

A Tortoise in Paris

This is Beyond the Valley of Awesome, 26 Gigapixels worth.

That’s a panoramic view of Paris above,  the Eiffel Tower is on the horizon at far left. The black donut in middle left is where we’re going. I didn’t believe it at first, until I zoomed in. Below are screen shots from the same image.

We zoom in a little, the Eiffel Tower is still there, skewed by the lens.

Ignore the yellow “I’s” here. On the website linked above you can use them to click for zoomed images of historical sites.

That image by itself would be worth copying and framing, IMO.

The orange dealies scattered around are clay chimney pots, vents for the flats below.

It’s likely the tortoise was photoshopped in as a prank/copyright by the professional zoomers since there is no barrier to keep it from falling off of the sheet metal roof, but I don’t care… the photo detail is still awesome. After all, look where we came from:

[Link found here. Zoom Archive here.]

Giant Isopod! Yay!

These pups live in the deep, scrounging around in the darkness for rotted detritus, and occasionally they are captured on trawling lines. The one in the picture is about 2-1/2 feet long  and was found clinging to a submarine returning from an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico. They’re related to common pillbugs, wood lice and lawn shrimp. Wikipiddlia has this:

“In northern Taiwan and other areas, they are common at seaside restaurants, served boiled and bisected with a clean lateral slice. The white meat, similar to crab or lobster in texture, is then easily removed.”

I’d eat it.

[Image with story found here. Crossposted here.]

18 April 1942 – The Doolittle Raid

December 31, 2009 — Jonna Doolittle Hoppes speaks about her Grandfather, General Jimmy Doolittle from her new book “Calculated Risk” and the importance of recording history for future generations at the Historic Flight Foundation’s “B-25 Grumpy Welcome Reception”. This clip includes original film footage of the crews on the historic “Doolittle Raid” of WWII, which proved to the US and the Japanese Empire that America could and would strike back.

There’s obviously more to the story than we’re able to present here. The anniversary of the Doolittle Raid deserves recognition, as it was not only unimaginably dangerous and ballsy, but very necessary to send a message to Japan, as well as to the American public. It was created, orchestrated and accomplished in a little over 4  months after the unwarranted attack on Pearl Harbor.

Military Magazine recently published a first person account of a pilot who volunteered for the mission without knowing what it was. The mission wasn’t revealed until the modified bombers had been loaded onto the U.S.S. Hornet and the Hornet was at sea. Of the pilots who volunteered, all were given opportunities to decide for themselves whether they wanted to go on, without reprimand or dishonor, and not one of them sat down.

http://www.milmag.com doesn’t have the story on line yet, but it’s a must read.

[Crossposted here.]

Partisan Politics

Interpret it as you see fit. It’s kind of obvious to me.

For the source of the graph along with some excellent commentary, click here.

Danger UXB: 2010 Edition

Captain Judith Gallagher of 11 EOD (Explosive Ordnance Division) Regiment displays an anti-IED robot known as the ‘Dragon Runner’ during a photocall on military technologies in London, on March 17, 2010. The robot weighs between 10-20 kg and is easily carried by a soldier in a backpack and is robust enough to operate in rough terrain.

Pure efficient awesome.

[Image and caption found  here via here.]

Welcome To Tiny Town

When I see an electron image of something as awesome as the USS Enterprise created in the land of the nano scale, I also think of this:

When I see an electron image of something as awesome as a toilet inside of the USS Enterprise created in the land of the nano scale, I think of this:

When I see an electron image of something as awesome as someone sitting on a toilet inside of the USS Enterprise that was created in the land of the nano scale, I think of this:

It’s a bacteriophage. It’s not a nano sculpture, it’s a living death threat that’ll jump right up your butt if you’re on the nano Starship Enterprise, sitting on a nano Starship potty, and you can’t kill it by stepping on it. When I see an electron image of something awesome like that, I realize that it might be better if I stopped nano thinking.

[Images found here, here and here.]

April Fools Day

If you don’t like this collection, click on the refresh button. Happy Birthday to all yinz what be done borned on April 1.

Guam is in danger of tipping over.

I thought this was an April Fools Day hoax.  Unfortunately  it’s true.

Representative Hank Johnson, Democrat from Georgia, expressed his concerns to Admiral Robert Willard, who commands the Navy’s Pacific Fleet.

Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.) is afraid that the U.S. Territory of Guam is going to “tip over and capsize” due to overpopulation.

Johnson expressed his worries during a House Armed Services Committee hearing on the defense budget Friday.

Addressing Adm. Robert Willard, who commands the Navy’s Pacific Fleet, Johnson made a tippy motion with his hands and said sternly, “My fear is that the whole island will become so overly populated that it will tip over and capsize.”

Folks, this kind of ignorance belongs in juvy hall remedial class, not in the U.S. Government.

[Story found via Snork.]

Red Bonemobile

After yesterday’s abhorrent fiscal atrocity that saddled our children and grandchildren with an unwarranted debt that they are going to be paying for for the rest of their lives, I can’t think of a better post than this to take my mind off of it for a day.

Here’s the car they’ll be able to afford. It runs on crap, 5 lbs. per mile.  The majority of the U.S. Congress is already a public crap mine, so the fuel should be plentiful for decades to come.

[Found here.]