A design quirk at a swanky new tower leaves some guests with unsettling souvenirs.
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Thursday, September 30, 2010
Historic audio recordings are fading fast
The records of key U.S. historic events and early radio shows are at risk of being lost forever.
Also: Origins of the peace sign
Actually they get it wrong - the origins go back to the Norse and their symbol/alphabetic character for 'Protection'.
The symbol actually spells out "N" and "D" using a code once employed by ships at sea.
Also: US Army to End Bayonet Training
The use of the bayonet has been part of basic training since the beginning of US military history. Although its use in combat has becoming increasingly less common, US Army trainers had kept it in place for psychological reasons:“Traditionally in the 20th century – certainly after World War I – bayonet training was basically designed to develop in soldiers aggressiveness, courage, and preparation for close combat,” says Richard Kohn, professor of military history at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.Nonetheless, the US Army has decided to eliminate bayonet training from its basic training program and to use that time developing other skills.
Bayonet training is, in short, used to undo socialization – to “basically to try to mitigate or eradicate the reluctance of human beings to kill each other,” Mr. Kohn says. It is one of the challenges in US or Western society “where we have such reverence for the individual, where we socialize our people to believe in the rule of law, and all of that,” he adds. “What you’re doing with young people is trying to get them used to the highly emotional and irrational and adrenaline-filled situations in which they are liable to find themselves whether they are within sight of the enemy or not – and the reluctance to take a life.”
The Fighter Pilot Who Shot Himself Down
On 21 September 1956, test pilot Tom Attridge was flying Grumman’s new F-11F-1 Tiger. He fired a burst from his 20mm cannon while diving and accelerating. The cockpit was then struck by an outside object. Attridge immediately radioed that he was returning to base. While attempting to land, the jet lost power and crash-landed on the runway. Attridge, thankfully, escaped safely. A subsequent examination found three bullet impacts and one intact 20mm bullet in the plane. Attridge had managed to shoot his own fighter down:How did this happen? The combination of conditions reponsible for the event was (1) the decay in projectile velocity and trajectory drop; (2) the approximate 0.5-G descent of the F11F, due in part to its nose pitching down from firing low-mounted guns; (3) alignment of the boresight line of 0° to the line of flight. With that 0.5-G dive, Attridge had flown below the trajectory of his bullets and, 11 seconds later, flew through them as their flight paths met..
Chinese Bullet Train Sets New Speed Record
A commuter train between Shanghai and Hangzhou set a new speed record yesterday. It reached 258.86 MPH during its journey:“The new record of 416.6 km per hour shows that China has achieved a new milestone in high-speed train technologies,” Zhang Shuguang, deputy chief engineer of the Ministry of Railways, was quoted as saying.The rail service has been largely unsuccessful in attracting customers due to high ticket prices. Its managers hope that this new record will counteract that problem.
Giant, Drive-able Radio Flyer Wagon
Fred Geller and Judy Foster of Anchorage, Alaska, needed a retirement project. They settled on building a giant version of the classic Radio Flyer toy wagon. It’s built on the chassis of a 1976 Mazda pickup truck, so it can move under its own power. Fred Keller and Judy Foster worked on the car for 11 months, and finished in August of this year, and their ride has been turning heads.[...]At the photo gallery link, you can view eight pictures of the wagon under construction.
The wheels are made from hub caps and detergent bottles, and the steering wheel is the actual wheel from a wagon. The handle rises eight feet high.
Ten Archetypes of Movie Swords
Geekosystem categorized types of swords seen in Hollywood movies into 10 archetypes.Starting the list is the Ancestral Sword:
The ancestral sword is usually a gift (or yours by birthright), something that you take because, well, it’s dangerous to go alone. Maybe it’s been in your family for generations. Maybe you pried it from the cold, dead hands of your loved one and swore to avenge his death with the very same blade. Whatever floats your boat.
It’s very likely that the weapon’s significance will be so great that it will be destroyed as part of the 2nd act climax and your eventual replacing of it will be used to symbolize that you have come into your adulthood and stepped out of the shadow of your parent.
World's most dizzyingly scary bridges
The cedar planks of Canada's Capilano footbridge bounce on their steel cables as you walk across.
Also: Rednecks and other assorted weirdos
Rednecks and other assorted weirdos
Redneck WORD OF THE DAY: HERPESMy wife and I went to a birthday party and I got a piece of cake and she got herpes too.
Redneck Haiku
BeautyNaked in repose
Silvery silhouette girls
Adorn my mudflaps
Remorse
A painful sadness
Can’t fit big screen TV through
Double-wide’s front door
Options
Unemployment’s out.
Hey, maybe I can get on
Disability
Blaze
Distant siren screams
Dumb-ass Verne’s been playing with
Gasoline again
A New Moon
Flashlights pierce darkness
No nightcrawlers to be found
Guess we’ll gig some frogs
Exuberance
Joyous, playful, bright
Trailer park girl rolls in puddle
Of old motor oil
Alone
Seeking solitude
Carl’s ex-wife Tammy files for
Restraining order
Desire
Damn, in that tube-top
You make me almost forget
you are my cousin
Offerings
Tonight we hunger
Grandma sent grocery money
To Jimmy Swaggert
Drama
Set the VCR
Dukes of Hazzard Marathon
At 9 O’Clock
Deprived
In Wal-Mart toy aisle
Wailing boy wants ’rassling doll
Mama whups his ass
No Signal
White noise, buzzing static
Call Earl; satellite dish
needs new descrambler
ImpoundedSixty-five dollars
And cyclone fence keeps me from
My El Camino
Gathering
In early morning mist
Mama searches Circle K for
Moon Pies and Red Man
Pride
Grinning, he displays
The nine hundred beer cans
Filling pickup bed
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
The Daily Drift
The Daily Drift
Today's horoscope says:You'd rather keep your mouth shut and play the fool than to open it and remove all doubt.
That's why you've never been much for emotional chitchat, revealing secrets to those 'below you' or confiding business matters to anyone not qualified to hear them.
It's time to reveal something now, though, so while the next 24 hours may not be surprising to you, expect that your actions may still shock, amaze and astound a loved one.
Prep them before you start to speak.
It's only fair.
Some of our readers today have been in:
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Perth, Western Australia, Australia
Whitby, Ontario, Canada
Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand
Edithvale, Victoria, Australia
Kuwait, Al Kuwayt, Kuwait
London, England, United Kingdom
Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan, Malaysia
Istanbul, Istanbul, Turkey
Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India
Swindon, England, United Kingdom
as well as Germany, Scotland, France and in cities across the United States such as Clarksdale, Sylva, San Diego, Providence and more.
Today is:
Today is Wednesday, September 29, the 272nd day of 2010.
There are 93 days left in the year.
Today's unusual holiday or celebration is:
There isn't one.
Don't forget to visit our sister blog!
This is the craziest Christine O'Donnell clip yet!
Bill sent this to me ...
Watch this spoof from last week's Real Time with Bill Maher right here.
Watch this spoof from last week's Real Time with Bill Maher right here.
President calls 'FOX' destructive to America
Good.
Fox News pushes "a point of view that I disagree with. It's a point of view that I think is ultimately destructive for the long-term growth of a country that has a vibrant middle class and is competitive in the world," Obama said.
Teabaggers suffer from ...
Eleutherophobia- Fear of freedom.
and
Epistemophobia- Fear of knowledge
These but are two of the multitude of fears in teabaagers' psychotic delusions.
Proof of this in the post following this one ...
NY town would dig up bodies of two local Muslims and shutter tiny cemetery
From the "This is so uncool dudes" Department:
The "good people" of a the tiny upstate NY town of Sidney, Delaware County, are lobbying to dig up the bodies of two local Muslims buried in a Sufi cemetery that the town approved in 2005, much to the horror of the departed's loved ones. Town supervisor Bob McCarthy cites a nonexistent law requiring permits for cemeteries on private land (although the town has, in fact, given this cemetery a permit). McCarthy also claims that the cemetery's owners "just came in and buried the bodies" -- despite the fact that the first burial involved a police motorcade.
An email forwarded to a Huffington Post reporter purportedly from McCarthy to another party cites phone conversations with someone with Tea Party affiliation who "...wanted to know how he could help with 'the Muslims.'"
The "good people" of a the tiny upstate NY town of Sidney, Delaware County, are lobbying to dig up the bodies of two local Muslims buried in a Sufi cemetery that the town approved in 2005, much to the horror of the departed's loved ones. Town supervisor Bob McCarthy cites a nonexistent law requiring permits for cemeteries on private land (although the town has, in fact, given this cemetery a permit). McCarthy also claims that the cemetery's owners "just came in and buried the bodies" -- despite the fact that the first burial involved a police motorcade.
An email forwarded to a Huffington Post reporter purportedly from McCarthy to another party cites phone conversations with someone with Tea Party affiliation who "...wanted to know how he could help with 'the Muslims.'"
And there's certainly nothing illegal about it as far as the State Troopers are concerned. "We looked into the cemetery and it was determined what they were doing is lawful," says Captain James Barnes of the New York State Police, Troop "C," based in Sidney. This apparently isn't stopping the town board. Town attorney Joseph Ermeti wouldn't speak with us, but two other town officers indicated that in the absence of specific laws forbidding the cemetery, the town may try for a court order to force the Muslims to dig up the graves, based on a New York law against cemeteries on mortgaged land -- a technicality that covers the Muslim site, sitting in a hillside glade no larger than a Manhattan studio apartment.
Cops bust 'school' drug bus
Three British Columbia men are facing charges after police say they drove their van, disguised as a school bus, from school to school in Alberta selling drugs.
Harsher DUI punishments
From the "It's about time" Department:
Juries are becoming more likely to hand down severe sentences in fatal drunken driving cases.
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