Now that's a smart dog!

What do you do when your back really, really needs a good scratching?

This.

Peter

So you want an eco-friendly limousine?

Help is at hand. A Canadian enthusiast has mated two Toyota Prius cars to produce the first hybrid limousine.






As one commentator sarcastically observes:

Oooooooo, you can only swoon at how the 1.8-liter four-cylinder engine with 98 hp and the 106-inch wheelbase handles all the extra body and passenger weight while whisking down L.A.’s carpool lanes at 80 mph — fully loaded.

Say good-bye to all those Town Car, DTS, Escalade, Navigator, and Hummer stretches. Luxury and greenery have now been merged into one capacious chariot of a. . . . why, why, it’s a chauffeured miracle!

With six doors and ten seats, the new hybrid limousine is currently chugging its way around Canadian roads.




No word on whether a production line will be opened to make the politically- and environmentally-correct limo's for the Hollywood set . . . but somehow I doubt it. Environmental consciousness can be carried too far!

Peter

Religion and technology

I'm mind-boggled at a report from Jerusalem.

A religious ruling permits ultra-orthodox Jews to operate their mobile phones on the Sabbath and religious holidays with their teeth.

Many of the ultra orthodox volunteers and workers at Israel's Magen David Adom emergency services work on the Sabbath and were confronted with the dilemma of how to activate their mobile phones without violating religious rules, Ynetnews.com reported.

Recently, the agency began replacing workers' paging systems with modern mobile phones equipped with GPS technology that locates workers and volunteers closest to the scene of an accident, shortening the response time, the report said.

MDA asked the Scientific Technology Halacha Institute to come up with a solution. Rabbi Levy Yitzhak Halperin issued a new set of rules involving the use of a specially designed case that prevents phones from being shut down accidentally. To confirm response to dispatch, workers are permitted to hold a small metal pin between their teeth and press the necessary buttons on the phones, the Web site said.

According to Judaism, the Sabbath, which is observed from sunset Friday to Saturday night, is considered a day of rest. Religious Jews do not travel, cook, work or use telephones. They also are prohibited from turning on electricity or driving but allowed to violate the Sabbath to save lives.

So tell me . . . if an Orthodox Jewish worker loses his 'small metal pin', and has to borrow something from a non-Orthodox colleague (a hairpin, perhaps?) to hold in his mouth and press his telephone buttons, would this violate Kosher dietary laws?





Peter

The after-effects of apartheid continue to be felt in South Africa

I was saddened and depressed to read a lengthy article in the Daily Mail on crime in South Africa, my former homeland, particularly as it affects the farming community. It's worth reading, if you have the time.

The truly sad thing about it is, much (if not most) of this problem stems from the days of apartheid. Under racist rule, Black education was deliberately 'dumbed down', underfunded and neglected, to the point where a Black Grade 12-equivalent education was no better than a White Grade 8 or 9. A White Prime Minister, Hendrik Verwoerd, famously went on record in the 1960's as saying that Black people were the Biblical children of Ham; that they were destined to be 'hewers of wood and drawers of water'; and that he intended their education to fit them for that role, and for nothing more.

As a result, millions upon millions of Black high school graduates weren't equipped to handle a modern working environment. They were - and many still are - not only unemployed in massive numbers, but unemployable in anything except menial labor or low-skill positions. Combined with a struggling economy that can't provide enough jobs, this has led to staggering unemployment rates - it's estimated that up to a third of the South African workforce is unemployed in the formal sector. Many make a living in the informal sector, or 'underground economy', but many more turn to crime.

Furthermore, under apartheid, Whites (less than 10% of the population) were given something like 87% of the land. Blacks (over 80% of the population) were restricted to the remaining 13%, much of it far from arable. Many Black individuals and communities lost their land through forced expropriation and resettlement, both before apartheid as such was implemented, and after it had become the law of the land. As a result, fierce resentment among many Blacks of White farmers and landowners became endemic. This, too, is now contributing to the crime wave against them.

The post-apartheid government in South Africa has tried hard to equalize education, and boost job opportunities, and redistribute land on a 'willing seller, willing buyer' basis: but faced with such a massive backlog, and limited resources, it's not surprising that its efforts are slow to bear fruit. I said in 1994, when apartheid was finally abolished and democratic rule achieved, that South Africa would take two full generations to undo the damage that apartheid had done. Now, halfway through the first of those generations, I see no reason to amend my forecast.

It's immensely sad, a tragedy of continental proportions, that a country with so much natural wealth and such wonderful prospects should have been driven into the ground by so vile and racist an ideology. Apartheid was as poisonous and evil, in its way, as Nazism in the 1930's and 1940's. Today's troubles demonstrate that all too clearly.

Peter

Parachute landing FAIL!

The video speaks for itself.

Peter

Doofus Of The Day #226

For the first time, we award our Doofus title to a non-human species - in this case, a Chinese cat.

A Chinese family borrowed a pet cat from their neighbour to catch a mouse which had invaded their home - only for them to become best friends.

Mr Li, of Changchun in north east China, was annoyed by the mouse which had sneaked into his house through a broken window.

"It was very foxy. I tried many ways to catch it, but it always escaped and then gained revenge on me by gnawing at the family utilities," he told Huashang Daily.

Li came up with the idea of borrowing his neighbour's cat, Da Huang, after paying them a visit.

To make the cat more enthusiastic for the task, Li asked his neighbour to starve the cat overnight before he borrowed it.

The next morning, Da Huang caught the rodent but let it go after smelling it - and to Li's surprise the mouse then started attacking the cat.

"Da Huang neglected his duty. He just pats the mouse off and after a while they just started playing together. Now they are friends and the cat even cuddles up with the mouse to sleep," he said.




He believes the cat's normal diet of chicken liver has left it too spoiled to eat mice.

Hmm. If I were a cat, I daresay I'd prefer to eat chicken liver too . . . but that still doesn't excuse playing with the damn mouse! Da Huang is therefore awarded our Doofus Of The Day title.



Peter

Feeling hungry?

The BBC reports that in Chad, there's a new taste sensation.

Hungry people in the central African nation of Chad have raised an old culinary fad from the dead - to get their fangs stuck into fried blood.

"Vampire", as it is jokingly dubbed, is a traditional dish making a comeback amid a global surge in food prices that has left meat too expensive for many.

. . .

"I make it with peppers, salt, onions, spicy sauce and maggi [stock cubes]. I fry it all up like that; it's good," said Modestine Danbe, who lives in N'Djamena.

Ms Danbe is one of many women in the city's Walia neighbourhood, close to the Cameroonian border, who has taken to frying up huge vats of blood and selling it to her neighbours on the streets.

She buys buckets of fresh blood from the abattoir near her home for about $1, which makes about 40 plates of "vampire".

Each plate sells for about $0.20, so after the costs of the other ingredients her profit is about $7.

"It's actually an excellent source of nutrients, especially for children," said Robert Johnston, a nutritional specialist for Unicef in Chad.

"Blood pudding and liver have been used in other countries to promote high-protein intake for families who don't have daily access to meat."

. . .

Vampire is making a killing in Walia's ubiquitous bili bili (local millet brew) bars, where liquid diets require some supplements.

"The taste is good, a bit like liver. I really like it," said James, a Saturday-morning drinker.

"I suppose it doesn't sound very good to be associated with sucking blood, but I don't really care. Perhaps it will give me the strength of a vampire!"

There's more at the link.

Hmm. I've had German blutwurst (shown below) and English black pudding, but both dishes have 'fillers' like grain, suet and meat.




If this 'vampire' stuff has no filling at all, but is more like a thickened blood soup, I think I'll pass, thank you very much!





Peter

Have I got a man for you!

I'm delighted to read the following advertisement on Craigslist:

ONE OF THE WORLD'S MOST BEAUTIFUL FEMALE CELEBRITIES IS LOOKING FOR THE LOVE OF HER LIFE.

IN THIS ROMANTIC NEW REALITY SHOW, ONE MAN WILL BECOME THE ENVY OF ALL OTHERS AS HE IS PAIRED WITH ONE OF THE HOTTEST WOMAN OF TODAY.

ARE YOU A HOT, SINGLE GUY BETWEEN THE AGE OF 25-33 WHO’S LOOKING FOR TRUE LOVE…WITH A GIRL ON MAXIM’S HOT 100 LIST?

DO YOUR PARENTS, SIBLING, AUNTS AND UNCLES HAVE LARGER-THAN-LIFE PERSONALITIES AND OUTSPOKEN
OPINIONS ON THE TYPE OF WOMAN YOU SHOULD DATE?

PLEASE INCLUDE PHOTOS OF YOURSELF OR LINKS TO PHOTOS.
A BRIEF DESCRIPTION, YOUR CONTACT INFORMATION: NAME, BUSINESS, DAYTIME PHONE, EMAIL.

EMAIL INFORMATION OR INQUIRIES TO: [e-mail address provided]

Oh, boy, oh, boy, oh, boy . . . do I have a man for you!

This gentleman (?) (we'll call him Bubba) got very excited when I showed him this advertisement. You see, Bubba's convinced that he's the answer to every woman's prayer. (Oddly enough, most women appear to disagree with his perspective, but then Bubba believes in the Old Testament theory of womanhood.)

He's in the right age bracket, and his parents, siblings, aunts and uncles certainly have 'larger-than-life personalities and outspoken opinions'. To name but a few examples:

-Uncle Bubba Senior was a three-time Hawg Dawg Champeen at the annual Salt Lick Hollow Come-to-Jesus Revival, Hawg BBQ Competition and Hoedown;

-Aunty Bubba Senior was the hog-calling champion more years than anyone can count at the same event;

-Bubba's brother (Bubba Junior) has no less than eleven arrests for drunk & disorderly conduct, fighting, and domestic violence;

-Bubba's sister (Miz Bubba) hasn't been in jail yet, but that's because her Momma caught her with the Sheriff behind the mobile home one evening, and has threatened to release pictures (captured on the game camera that was set up to cover the yard) if the Sheriff ever arrests her. It would do his re-election prospects no good at all if it became known that he knew (in the Biblical sense) a woman also known (ditto) to more than half the inmate population of the local slammer, so her threat carries immense weight;

-The entire family is convinced that unless you're Southern, Baptist and raised on homemade likker, you're Yankee trash;

-They're all still waiting for the 'free slaves' President Lincoln promised a few years ago. If you try to tell them that he said 'free THE slaves', they accuse you of being Yankee trash, and hard of hearing besides.

I think I'll encourage Bubba to respond to this advertisement. Can you imagine the fun if he wins a place in the show?



Peter

How to deal with Doofi on the phone

An online friend, Steve M., sent me (and others) the following e-mail as part of an ongoing discussion. I laughed so hard that I asked his permission to share it on my blog. With his consent, here it is.

Useta drive me wild when my wife was the ride coordinator for a local bicycle club. A ride would be briefly described in the newsletter, call for directions. I'd pick up the phone and the caller would ask for directions. I'd say to take the mass pike to the 495 exit (..ok), north to route 62 (..ok), west on 62, and about that point I'd be interrupted when the caller would say "ah, I need to get a pencil, I don't think I can remember this." But I could easily solve the problem: I'd hang up and if the person called again I'd hang up again.

My wife was sympathetic but, after all, she was responsible for getting directions to people who needed them so she changed the writeups: "Beware of phone ogre!! When you have pencil and paper in hand, call for directions."

That worked, but there were also the people who, when I said to get on the mass pike and go west, would say "how do I get to the mass pike?" Naturally it didn't occur to them to tell me where they were coming from -- not that I would have cared, since I don't know how to get to the pike from 127 Cedar Street in Newton. Anyway, I solved that with the hangup method also.

After a few of those, [my wife] again changed the writeups: "Beware of phone ogre!! When you have pencil, paper, and highway map in hand, call for directions."

Having had to deal with similar stupidity over the years, I can't help but sympathize with Steve, and heartily approve his approach!



Peter

A sad end for Leviathan

Rod R. sent me this picture via e-mail, along with the following description:

This is the carcass of a blue whale in the Santa Barbara Channel. The vessel with it is the Pacific Storm, an 84-foot research boat operated by Oregon State University. Comparing the size of the whale to the boat, it appears to be over 70 feet long.

(Click the picture for a larger view.)

The blue whale is still an endangered species. They grow to 100-150 tons in weight and over 100 feet in length, so this one was probably not fully grown. It was probably killed by a collision with a ship heading into or out of the Port of Los Angeles.

It's sad to see so majestic and rare an animal meet such a death.

Peter

Kids and their follies

Two blog-friends of mine, Labrat of the Atomic Nerds and the Cranky Professor, have been discussing the antics of young children - and causing me to smile.

Labrat confesses to a juvenile act of delinquency when she escaped from her harness while her mother was shopping.

Some time later, the store owner (a gentleman my family had known for quite some time) noticed me bouncing around like a superball and led me back to mom. I wish I was old enough to either appreciate everything going on, or remember the expression on her face, or get a camera, or something, but I’m told she looked at me, looked at the leash, looked down the leash to where I had tied it off, and said something very unladylike that must be responsible for why I’m as warped today as I am.

Crankyprof, on the other hand, has a more maternal perspective on such things.

So, five minutes into the state of Rhode Island we stop to visit my great aunt. Bear “double-dog dares” Shark to jump off of her back deck — which is twelve damn FEET in the air.

We then got to tour the fabulous Hasbro Childrens Pediatric ED, in Providence, RI.

Guess who broke his foot in three places?
Further guess who is in a cast from tippy toes to hip?

Can you say, “f*** a doodle doo?” Because I certainly can.

Oh, dear . . .

Head on over to peruse both pieces. If the Atomic Nerds and Crankyprof aren't yet on your daily reading list, may I suggest it's time they were?



Peter

More economic sense from Karl Denninger

I've had occasion before to quote Karl Denninger and his financial news Web site, 'The Market Ticker'. The more I read him, the more he strikes me as one of the few analysts who are actively and openly warning us of the financial and economic reality we face today. Too many others are 'sugar-coating the bitter pill', not being honest about all they know - or just plain not knowing enough.

Two recent articles on TMT have reinforced my opinion. The first deals with the impact of Adjustable-Rate Mortgages (ARM's) on the housing market. Some excerpts:

If we do a dispassionate examination of the math we can examine what's coming, and we will discover precisely why those who are calling for an economic recovery are dead flat wrong.

. . .

... there were about $750 billion of these loans originated between 04-08, and almost none of the losses from them have been taken by the banks. These loans are severely underwater and recovery is going to be lucky to reach 50% on them. (These loans, incidentally, are what sunk IndyMac, Downey Federal Savings and others.)

That's another $350 billion in direct losses to the banks and other institutions that has to be taken and which is not being accounted for in the so-called "green shoot" claims, or in bank share price valuations. To quantify this in terms of market developments it is five times the "extra capital" that the banks have raised, five times the TARP funds that are being repaid, and one half the entire original TARP allocation.

These losses are real, they are inevitable, and they are currently being intentionally hidden instead of discussed and dealt with.

These loans are almost all going to blow up, and that will dump another million homes on the market as foreclosure sales, further hammering valuations and inventory levels. This source of existing homes is about 20% of all home sales inventory across a given year - a massive supply increase.

This is why Bernanke and everyone else have been so desperate to restart the housing ATM. It is why they are desperate to stop prices from correcting to sustainable levels, even though the futility of this exercise has now been shown to be fact, not conjecture, as the government and Fed policies have caused long-term interest rates to rise instead of fall.

They know that when, not if, the other $350 billion in direct losses show up - and they will, starting now and running through 2011, that the banks that are supposedly "well-capitalized" will be shown to in fact be insolvent.

They know the math is irrefutable, they know that it is impossible to stop this, and they know that both the credit and stock markets will be decimated when these losses become realized.

To add insult to injury the intentional obfuscation and lies on this point by the media and "pump monkeys" - that is, sell-side folks who are trying to convince you to buy from them, that is, to take financial instrument inventory from them at a price higher than fair market value, given these facts, are nothing other than self-serving bullcrap that is intended to do you harm for their benefit.

. . .

There is no possible way we will avoid the economic damage from these Option ARMs and this is not reflected in any market - not the stock market, not the housing market, and not the general economy.

The math is never wrong.

There's more at the link. Emphasis is the author's.

Mr. Denninger's second article examines the costs involved in 'Obama Care' health proposals. Some excerpts:

We ran a $189.7 billion deficit this last month folks. Annualized this is a staggering $2.276 trillion dollars - for one year.

That's the difference between tax receipts and spending.

$2.276 trillion dollars.

We cannot keep doing this. Our lenders (the Chinese, Saudis and others) will not permit us to keep doing this.

If we don't stop this stupidity, here and now, interest rates will start to move dramatically higher.

You have already seen mortgage rates rise by some 20% in less than two months.

They could easily double from here.

A $200,000 house that was bought with a 5% mortgage is worth $104,984 if rates rise to 12%.

Let me put this in simple English so you understand what is being done to you with our incompetent, unsustainable and delinquent government policies:

Your home will have its current, depreciated due to the housing bust value, cut in half again if we don't cut this crap out right here and now.

That's right.

But it gets worse.

See, businesses have to borrow too. And their interest costs will double as well, which means lots of job losses, as interest expense is money that can't go to payroll. In fact, it means many millions of additional job losses, and an unemployment rate that will rise to 20% or more.

I realize that nobody is happy about the cost of health care, including me.

But there are some very inconvenient facts related to health care in America that nobody wants to discuss, yet we must discuss them and come to some understanding in this country among all citizens.

As just one example you consume somewhere between 80 and 90% of all health care dollars that you will ever consume in your last year of life. If you do not have the money to pay for this, currently society will pick up the tab. It is in no small part due to this fact that we have the funding problem within Medicare today.

We provide "free" medical care to illegal immigrants. There is, of course, no such thing as "free" medical care - what really happens is you get billed for it as a citizen, either directly in your health insurance costs or in your taxes, yet the illegal immigrant pays nothing and receives the same service you get. Is this just? Is this sustainable?

We have some $53 trillion in unfunded liabilities in the "social programs" in this country right now. We cannot possibly come up with that much money. If we were a bank, we would be shut down as insolvent. Foreigners and others are realizing this and are diversifying out of the dollar, and out of our Treasuries.

This trend will continue until and unless we stop spending more than we make - both individually and as a nation.

At some point the revenue that the government can obtain by borrowing will dwindle and interest costs will rise to the point of being unaffordable.

At that point a very disorderly shutdown of many services that Americans consider essential, such as Social Security and Medicare, will take place - not because the government wants to, but because it is literally out of money.

We can solve this problem, but pandering won't do it. Nor will platitudes. Simply put, that last year can't be yours if you are unable to personally afford it.

Illegals cannot be funded in their health care by citizens.

There is more to a real solution, but these two facts are indeed facts, yet I do not expect our government to face them.

But if we do not, then your home will be destroyed, your job security will be destroyed, and ultimately, your nation may be destroyed.

. . .

... without solving those two primary problems, the math will not work and the bad effects will come.

Count on it.

Again, there's more at the link. As before, emphasis is the author's.

I highly recommend reading both articles in full, and making Mr. Denninger's 'The Market Ticker' part of your daily 'must read' list of Web sites. It's on mine. This man speaks truth.

Peter

Another very funny advertisement

The guys should love this one!

Peter

On This Day, June 11th, 1959: The First Hovercraft

On June 11th, 1959, the Saunders-Roe SR-N1, the world's first hovercraft, was shown to the public in England. The BBC reported:

A revolutionary new form of transport which can operate on sea and land has been officially launched in the Solent, off England's south coast.

The Hovercraft, which has been described as a cross between an aircraft, a boat and a land vehicle, was invented by boat-builder Christopher Cockerell.

Dubbed a "man-made flying saucer", the hovercraft is propelled on a cushion of air created by its own fan power.

It therefore hovers just above the waves at sea and avoids any irregular surfaces on land.




Christopher Cockerell, from Lowestoft, began working on a hovercraft model in the mid-1950s. He said he first came up with the idea when he was thinking how to make a boat go faster by reducing the amount of friction caused when it travels through the water.

He first tested the 'hover' theory using a cat food tin inside a coffee tin, with an industrial air blower and a pair of kitchen scales.

In 1955 he convinced the Ministry of Supply to back him but he was not able to commercially develop the product immediately as his idea had been placed on the government's secret list because of its potential benefits to the military.




In 1959 Cockerell managed to get his idea removed from the secret list and formed the Hovercraft Development Company Ltd.

He obtained funding from the National Research Development Council of £150,000 to develop the project.

A contract to build the first Hovercraft was awarded to Saunders Roe, the flying boat firm at Cowes, at the beginning of this year.

The SRN-1, an experimental model, is 29 feet long and 24 feet wide and weighs 6,600lb.

There's more at the link.

Here's a very short video clip (transferred from 8mm. movie film, hence the relatively poor quality) of a later, more evolved version of the SR-N1 prototype.

A month after its unveiling, the SR-N1 prototype 'flew' across the English Channel from Calais in France to Dover in England, covering the 26-mile distance in just over 2 hours.




The SR-N1 would be developed into six successively more powerful versions, and served as the prototype for many larger and more capable hovercraft. Today, hovercraft are used for both military and civilian transport, although more for the former than the latter. Here's a US Navy LCAC carrying two 155mm. towed howitzers of the US Marine Corps.




The SR-N1 prototype is today preserved in the Science Museum in England.




Christopher Cockerell lived to see his invention spread throughout the world. He died in 1999.

Peter

'Flying car' makes progress

Back in March I blogged about the first flight of the Terrafugia Transition, a combination car and light aircraft.




The company's just announced that the first phase of test flights with the alpha prototype have been completed.

The "roadable" aircraft - dubbed the Flying Car - made 29 flights, says Woburn, Massachusetts-based Terrafugia "and has now completed the first of a four-stage process to bring the Transition into production".

The second phase of development is under way, with work on the beta prototype already in progress. First deliveries are earmarked for 2011.

"The proof-of-concept vehicle is the first and only Transition to be built thus far. It has now achieved its goals by demonstrating driving, flying and automated transformation between the two in one integrated aircraft," says Terrafugia.

Here are two video clips of the test program. In the first, the test pilot shows us the cockpit, and how it switches between road vehicle and aircraft modes of operation.

In the second, we see one of the test flights.

This looks very interesting. I note that Terrafugia hasn't released any video of the Transition flying at high altitude, or making turns. I assume that the alpha prototype needs more work before it'll be fully functional in a conventional flight envelope, but progress so far looks very promising. Hopefully the beta prototype will be more flexible and maneuverable.

I'll keep an eye on Terrafugia's Web site for updates.

Peter

Mother Nature can still amaze

I've enjoyed reading an article in the Daily Mail giving a bunch of facts and figures about nature and animals that beggar the imagination. Here are a few examples.

Fish: Did you know that many species of polar fish produce their own antifreeze, in the form of large protein molecules in the blood?

Speed of flight: If you use body lengths per second (bl/sec) as a measure of speed, a supersonic fighter jet can cover up to 150 bl/sec; the Space Shuttle at its fastest can cover 207 bl/sec; but the tiny Anna's Hummingbird eclipses them all, at 383 bl/sec!




Migration: According to the article;

... every autumn, about five billion birds take off from Northern Europe and Asia and head for the south, and about the same number take off from North America and head for Tropical America and beyond.

About 5,500 species — about half of all bird species — undertake some form of migration. On their first trip, some young birds simply follow their parents, but many, like young swallows, set out unchaperoned.

Yet how do they know where to go?

Again, no one really knows.

There's much more at the link. It's a fascinating read.

Peter

On This Day: June 11th, 1955 - Le Mans, France

The worst auto racing accident in history happened on June 11th, 1955, during the Le Mans 24-hour race. The BBC recalls:

Seventy-seven people have been killed and 77 others injured when two cars collided on the race track and crashed into the spectators' stand at Le Mans in north-west France.

The Mercedes-Benz being driven by Pierre Levegh hit the bank by the grandstand and immediately exploded. Parts of the wreckage were blown into the enclosure, killing scores of mostly-French spectators.




The accident happened about two hours after the 24-hour race began at the Le Mans circuit. There was no official announcement of the disaster and the race was allowed to continue.

Pierre Levegh was speeding down the straight in front of the pits when he clipped the Austin-Healey driven by British driver Lance Macklin.

The Mercedes, which was travelling at over 150mph (240khm), flipped over and flew through the air and hit the bank by the spectator enclosure.

Levegh was killed outright. Macklin's car spun wildly before coming to rest in the middle of the track, but he was unhurt.

There's more at the link. The video clip below shows the incident.

The final death toll was 82 dead and 76 injured, some maimed for life. Lessons learned from this accident would see new safety measures introduced to protect spectators and racers alike.

May the souls of those who died rest in peace.

Peter

Delays in posting tonight

Hello, all.

My Internet access has been incredibly slow and laborious this evening. According to my ISP, that's because one of their network servers, handling my area, is down, and won't be up until sometime on Thursday morning. Meanwhile, speeds are crippled.

I can't even get some of the sites I'd bookmarked for tonight's posts to load, so I'll defer posting until things improve. To those who come here expecting fresh fodder each morning, my apologies.

Peter

Some new Appl-ications

These two videos had me chuckling. They document some purported advanced products from Apple, Inc.

First, we have the iToilet.

Then there's the iSnort, an alleged application for your iPhone.

The iSnort Web site hastens to add this disclaimer:

The makers of The iSnort accept no responsibility if you end up in the iClink, getting iBummed in the iShowers when you bend down for the iSoap.

Peter

Doofus Of The Day #225

Today's Doofus is from Florida.

Commercial fisherman Rodney Salomon ensnared an 8-foot-long missile in his longline while out in the Gulf of Mexico near Panama City late last month.

Salomon tied the missile to the top of his boat, the Bold Venture, and kept it there for the rest of the 14-day fishing trip. He brought the missile ashore Monday evening along with his 5,000 pounds of grouper.

Rodney figured the missile was inert, and he'd keep it as a souvenir.

Only one problem: It was live.




After Salomon came ashore, emergency officials summoned a bomb squad from MacDill Air Force Base to a marina off the Tom Stuart Causeway where Rodney had docked.

"This is a live air-to-air missile," Pinellas sheriff's spokeswoman Marianne Pasha said Monday evening. "It is 8 feet long, and the MacDill team is dismantling it."

Officials cleared everyone out from 500 feet around the missile and asked a few people in nearby houseboats to move away.

The bomb squad dismantled the missile and left the scene just before 11 p.m.

. . .

Salomon, who was captain of the boat with three other fishermen, said he found the missile about 50 miles south of Panama City. That part of the gulf is used by the U.S. Air Force and Navy for weapons testing and training.

. . .

In fact, Salomon said the missile he carried to shore Monday was actually one of two he found on this trip. He said the other one appeared live to him — it had lights, a gauge and a camera that appeared active.

Salomon said he was fishing at a depth of 785 feet when he pulled up the missile. Pasha said the missile was corroded from saltwater, making it very unstable. Rodney reported his find to the Madeira Beach Fire Department when he got to shore.

. . .

Salomon said the MacDill people told him not to pick up any more missiles. "They told me if you find another one, just let it go," he said.

There's more at the link.

Uh . . . yeah. That's one form of catch-and-release fishing I'm very happy to support! And as for strapping a bloody great missile to the roof of your boat, where it can get banged about by the waves for days on end, and simply assuming that it's harmless . . . I think Mr. Salomon's Guardian Angel was working overtime during that trip!





Peter

Underwear through the ages

The Fashion and Textile Museum in London, England, is about to launch a new exhibition:




According to the Museum's press release:

From the first ever patented bra in 1915 to the most modern underwear developments of anti-cellulite knickers and a bust-firming bra – these are just some of the fascinating garments that will be on display.

For centuries women’s bodies have been shaped, enhanced and even controlled by underwear, a means to obtaining the desired fashionable figure. While bras are an everyday functional garment, unlike most other items of clothing they can take on an emotive, titillating or even scandalous nature.




The Undercover exhibition will trace the evolution of underwear, from health garment, shape definer to fashion ‘must have’. It will also explore a number of themes such as boudoir to everyday glamour, ‘Stars and their bras’ looking at celebrity branding, how research and innovation has changed the way we wear our underwear and how the changing face of underwear advertising and marketing has been interwoven with social, cultural and economic changes.




The exhibition presents a visual demonstration of how female underwear has evolved as women’s role in society changed and encompasses the changing trends from the ‘flatten it’ to the ‘push it up’ to the ‘let it all hang out’!

I must admit, it sounds fascinating - and I don't mean that in a prurient sense at all. Society's attitudes have changed radically over the years, from the days when underwear was literally the 'unmentionables' to modern celebrities wearing their underwear over their outer clothing! (Superman's an obvious and very early example, but Madonna's a more contemporary and realistic one.)

I'd like to see this exhibition, if only to see how social attitudes have evolved over the years. It'd be interesting to compare cultures, too. For example, when American women were copying Lana Turner's corset from the 1952 movie The Merry Widow (see the black-and-white picture above, center), what style(s) were French women emulating?

Peter

Setting the record straight, 59 years later

I'm amazed to read that the pilot who fired the torpedo that crippled the German battleship Bismarck in 1941, leaving her unable to maneuver and at the mercy of the Royal Navy, which sank her the following day, was only informed of his achievement in 2000!




According to the Daily Mail:

Every war veteran has a story to tell. But few could rival John Moffat's extraordinary tale.

Now 89, Mr Moffat had a ringside seat to the sinking of the Bismarck, one of the most dramatic sea battles of the Second World War.

But it was relatively recently that the pilot, who gave up flying only last year, found out just how pivotal his role was.

It was the torpedo he fired that crippled the rudder of the German battleship, leaving it at the mercy of Royal Navy ships which then sank it in the Atlantic off the west coast of France on May 27, 1941.

He was piloting one of three Swordfish open-cockpit biplanes that set off from the aircraft carrier Ark Royal to take vengeance on the Bismarck, which days before had destroyed the British warship Hood with the loss of 1,416 lives.




'What nobody talks about were the conditions - they were unbelievable,' recalled Mr Moffat, who has written a book, I Sank The Bismarck, about his experiences.

'The ship was pitching 60ft, water was running over the decks and the wind was blowing at 70 or 80mph.

'And nobody mentions the deck hands who had to bring the planes up from the hangars - they did something special. After they brought them up they had to open the wings which took ten men for each wing. And then they had to wind a handle to get the starters working.

'I only stopped flying nine months ago and there are no other planes in the world that could have done what the Swordfish planes did that day.

'After take-off we climbed to 6,000 feet to get above the really thick cloud and we knew when we were near because all hell broke loose with Bismarck's fire. We got the order to attack and I went down and saw the enormous bloody ship. I thought the Ark Royal was big, but this one, blimey.

'I must have been under 2,000 yards when I was about to launch the torpedo at the bow, but as I was about to press the button I heard in my ear "not now, not now".

'I turned round and saw the navigator leaning right out of the plane with his backside in the air. Then I realised what he was doing - he was looking at the sea because if I had let the torpedo go and it had hit a wave it could have gone anywhere. I had to put it in a trough.

'Then I heard him say "let it go" and I pressed the button. Then I heard him say "we've got a runner" - and I got out of there.

. . .

He only found out it was his torpedo that crippled the Bismarck when the Fleet Air Arm - the Navy's air force - wrote to him in 2000. He said: 'It gave me a sort of satisfaction.'

There's more at the link, including some great photographs.

The hunt for and sinking of the Bismarck is one of the great tales of naval history, and it's been studied in military academies ever since it took place. I'm pleased that one of the key figures in it has published his reminiscences. This book goes on my 'To Buy' list at once.

Peter

Perfect for the undercover cop?

I'm sure many readers have seen advertisements for the latest 'tactical' apparel, or equipment, or firearms, or whatever. The word has become almost a fetish for some. There are 'tactical' meals, 'tactical' socks, even 'tactical' underwear (although precisely what 'tactics' are to be employed while wearing it is something I'll leave to your imagination!).

Now someone with a well-developed sense of humor has introduced the ultimate 'tactical' product - the tactical corset! Thanks to Sue H. for e-mailing me the pictures and links.




Whoever designed the Tactical Corsets Web site is well versed in all the 'tactical' double-speak that's so beloved of wannabe 'operators'. It's full of tongue-in-cheek references to the vocabulary of Special Forces, SWAT teams and other hard-core outfits, whilst putting a whole new twist on them. (Do note the 'interrogation pouch' above, and its contents!)




They've even produced a video, with a live model demonstrating the thing!

Over at AR15.com, one of the Internet's foremost firearms forums, there's a thread discussing the 'tactical corset'. A lot of it's not safe for work, but if you're in an environment where that isn't a factor, you can click over there to read their comments.

All in all, a first-class bit of tongue-in-cheek fun!



Peter

"Rubber-Duck-Zilla"???

Here's a wacky Japanese advertisement that I don't fully understand, but which made me laugh anyway!

Peter

Intriguing new light attack aircraft unveiled

I'm both amused and impressed by the thinking that's gone into a prototype light attack aircraft that's just been unveiled.

One wouldn't normally consider an agricultural spray aircraft as the foundation for an attack plane, but it seems that Air Tractor has been thinking outside the box. The company began manufacturing agricultural aircraft after World War II. They've been pretty successful in this niche market: their 2,000th aircraft was delivered in 2004.

The Model 802 entered production in 1990, and is available for both agricultural and fire-fighting applications, in two-seat or single-seat versions (the latter, Model 802A, is shown below). Over 200 have been sold so far.




Here are two short video clips, one showing the 802 spraying crops in Iowa, the other of a firefighting version water-bombing a fire in Croatia.

The really impressive thing about the Model 802 is its size and payload. Air Tractor claim it's the world's largest single-engined aircraft. Its useful load is rated as 9,495 pounds, or well over four and a half short tons (including pilot and fuel, of course, as well as spray equipment, and chemicals for agricultural use or water for fire-bombing). It's powered by a jet turbine producing 1,295 shaft horsepower, and in agricultural form (i.e. with spray equipment) can cruise at 191 mph. Its economy cruise range is said to be over 600 miles.

This enormous payload capacity, plus the fact that the 802 is active in South America, where it's been used by the US State Department since 2002 to spray drug crops, seems to have set the brain cogs a-churning over at Air Tractor. They've just announced the development of the Model 802U, a gunship version of their agricultural plane.




On the face of it, the idea seems crazy. A heavy, relatively slow, fixed-undercarriage, tail-wheel, propeller-driven plane as an attack aircraft? Clearly, in any technologically up-to-date theater of war, it'd be suicide to fly such an aircraft. On the other hand, in areas such as parts of South America or Afghanistan, where ground-to-air missiles and radar-guided anti-aircraft artillery aren't encountered (not yet, anyway), this might make an awful lot of sense.

According to Air Tractor, the aircraft's old-fashioned fixed tail-dragger undercarriage is actually an advantage in operating from rough, unprepared air strips. It's far stronger than modern retractable undercarriages. Furthermore, the Model 802U is armored, has a loiter time of up to 10 hours with full fuel, and can carry a very respectable payload of weapons. It could conceivably even be fitted with a laser target designator pod, so that it could drop 'smart' bombs or fire laser-guided missiles. To make matters even more interesting, for anti-drug missions (e.g. to spray coca bushes in South America or opium poppy fields in Afghanistan) it could presumably carry both spray equipment and weapons, so that it could defend itself against ground fire, eliminate annoyed drug farmers, and kill their crops, all on a single mission!

I'm irresistibly reminded of the excellent combat performance of the Douglas A1 Skyraider in the Vietnam War. (We covered the Skyraider in detail, among others, in Weekend Wings #31.) It, too, was a propeller-driven aircraft, dating from the last years of World War II, but gave outstanding service well into the jet age, and was beloved of its pilots.




Who knows? Perhaps the Air Tractor Model 802U might begin a new Skyraider-like tradition over Third World battlefields (if the so-called 'War On Drugs' can be said to have battlefields as such). At any rate, kudos to Air Tractor for thinking outside the box. I wish them luck.

Peter

Perhaps the Chrysler bankruptcy juggernaut may yet be derailed!

I'm very happy to read that Justice Ginsburg of the US Supreme Court has delayed the bankruptcy proceedings for Chrysler Corp.

The entire episode has been a farce, ignoring US law and riding roughshod over the legally and contractually protected rights of creditors. It appears designed to hand over Chrysler to interests that are political allies and cronies of the Obama administration and the Democratic Party. It's been sickening to watch, particularly as lower courts have sycophantically sided with the powers that be and refused to uphold the law.

Please note the hypocrisy and expediency of the US Government's position:

Indiana state Treasurer Richard Mourdock told CNNMoney.com Monday morning that it was important to protect secured lenders, including three of his state's public employee pension funds, which have a priority in bankruptcy cases to recover debts owed to them.

The three Indiana funds loaned $42 million to Chrysler and would recover only 29 cents on the dollar under the proposed Fiat-Chrysler deal.

Mourdock also argued that the Treasury Department should not have been allowed to use money in the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP, to help Chrysler and General Motors (GMGMQ) reorganize.

But in a filing Monday U.S. Solicitor General Elena Kagan, arguing for the administration, said the losses to the Indiana pension funds "cannot outweigh" the potential broader problems a collapse of Chrysler would present.

"As an economic matter ... blocking the transaction would undoubtedly have grave consequences," Kagan wrote. "Even if the stay were continued for a short time and Fiat did not withdraw from the transaction, the consequences of delay for both Chrysler and the United States government would far outweigh any benefit to applicants."

The Indiana position is clearly, prima facie correct. TARP applies to financial institutions only, and there is no legal way to use its funds to rescue Chrysler; and the rights of creditors are protected under US law and by contract. The Obama administration has chosen to ignore these inconvenient facts, and bull ahead with a bankruptcy package that is, in fact, illegal. Note the Solicitor General's arguments. She doesn't go into the law at all, because she knows that the law is squarely against her. Instead, she argues for expediency.

This cannot be allowed to stand.

Kudos to Justice Ginsburg for taking at least this step. Now let's hope that she and the other Justices intervene to stop this rape of our laws and our economy in the name of political favoritism and expediency. If we are not a nation of laws, we are in a state of anarchy, where anything goes and politicians can get away with whatever they please. That can only end in disaster for all of us, and for the Republic. Only SCOTUS now stands between us and that miserable fate.

Peter

The bare essentials of academic life?

Thanks to Mike H. for sending me an e-mail, with these pictures, about a new fund-raising project by Travelaid, a British charity based at Oxford which uses university students to aid in third world poverty relief and development efforts. (I understand Mike's a past volunteer for Travelaid.)




It's in the (rather delightful) form of a calendar featuring young students wandering naked through Oxford University and its environs, protected only by strategically placed textbooks, musical instruments and portions of anatomy.




The River Cherwell, famous as a venue for the Oxford University Rowing Clubs, is also featured. Not very sporting, really . . . I notice there's no cox in this picture!




Even the ancient halls of learning aren't safe from the underclad undergrads!




Looks like a good time was had by all. If you'd like to buy a copy of the calendar, Travelaid has set up a special Web site to publicize and sell it. Click over there and help a good cause. Oh - and may I suggest you get your significant other's permission first?



Peter

Nora's got her own original music now!

Many readers will doubtless be familiar with Nora, the piano-playing cat. She's become something of a sensation on YouTube. It seems that when she was a year or so old, she began pounding on the keys, and her owner encouraged her interest. She does it several times a day, whenever the mood takes her. This video clip (one of many on YouTube) shows her hard at work.

Nora even has her own Web site, complete with many more videos of her talents.

Now the BBC reports that a Lithuanian conductor has written a piece of music specially for her. It premiered on Friday. You can see a video report on the BBC News Web site.

Hmm. What's next? A reality TV show for the piano-playing cat?



Peter

Dropouts are doing well, it seems!

I was recently introduced to a Web site called 'Millionaire Dropouts', giving details of just how many of the rich among us weren't academically inclined. In a section called 'Dropout Trivia', a large number of interesting facts are listed, including the following:

• The richest man in the world twelve years running, Bill Gates, with a net worth of $52 billion, is a dropout.
• Four of the ten richest people in the world are dropouts (number 1, Bill Gates; number 6, Sheldon Adelson, worth $26 billion; number 8, Amancio Ortega, worth $24 billion, Li Ka-shing, worth 23 billion).
• The world’s wealthiest high school dropout is Li Ka-shing.
• Four out of five of America’s richest people are dropouts (number 1, Bill Gates; number 3, Sheldon Adelson; number 4, Lawrence Ellison, $19.5 billion; number 5, Paul Allen, 16 billion).
• America’s richest elementary school dropout, the late H.L. Hunt, was worth billions.
• America’s richest high school dropout, J.R. Simplot, is worth $3.2 billion.
• America’s richest college dropout is Bill Gates.
• Many of the world’s greatest inventions were developed by dropouts, including television, radio, airplanes, cars, motion pictures, the incandescent light bulb, the car stereo tape deck, the gas mask, the traffic signal, earmuffs, the game of basketball, the sewing machine—and many more.
• Some of history’s greatest companies were founded by dropouts, including Kodak, Polaroid, Famous Amos, Disney, Ford, Learjet, Bank of America, Motown Records, Whole Foods, Domino’s, Apple Computer, Netscape, Microsoft, Polo, Jet Blue, Dunkin’ Donuts, NBC, KFC, Wendy’s, McDonald’s, Holiday Inn and Rolling Stone Magazine.
• The U.S. penny and quarter-dollar coins, as well as the one, five, twenty, one hundred and thousand-dollar bills all have images of dropouts.

There are many more such facts at the link. It's worth a look.

The Web site is trying to sell a series of books. I must emphasize I'm not endorsing them, and I haven't read any of them. I merely found the facts presented to be very interesting.

Peter

Proof at last!

I've said for years that the prices charged for razor blades or cartridges are ridiculously inflated, out of all proportion to the costs involved. Now, an article in the Daily Mail provides the evidence I've long been seeking, and confirms all I've said.

Men are paying over the odds for a clean shave because of a huge mark-up on razor heads.

The products sold by Gillette and other companies cost as little as 5p [US 8c] to make, industry insiders have revealed.

But consumers are charged up to £2.43 [US $3.88] a piece - a mark-up of more than 4,750 per cent.

The price of shaving products at leading supermarkets is under investigation by the Office of Fair Trading.

The Government watchdog is involved in a long-running inquiry into alleged collusion between manufacturers and retailers.

It is alleged that salesmen from Procter & Gamble, which bought Gillette for $57 billion (£35 billion) in 2005, urged retailers not to cut the shop price of its brands.

A check of Tesco, Asda and Sainsbury's found the UK's three biggest supermarkets are selling Gillette's Fusion Power cartridges at the same price.

A pack of eight costs £18.53 [US $29.58], and the replacement razor heads are so expensive that they are now the most shoplifted product in the High Street.

Special security measures have been introduced, including sealing the packs in boxes with an electronic tag which sets off an alarm if it is not removed before leaving the store, and CCTV that activates if the product is removed from the shelf.

A pack of four Fusion Power cartridges costs only 20p [US 32c] to manufacture, plus 8p [US 13c] for packaging. But they are sold for £9.72 - £9.44 [US $15.52 - $15.07].

An industry insider said Gillette takes the lion share - £6.28 [US $10.02] - to cover its operating costs and make a profit.

. . .

The insider said: 'I know as a matter of fact that it will not cost more than 5p to produce a refill cartridge, it is a question of pennies given the bulk involved, yet Gillette is charging a wholesale price which is much higher.

'The figures tell you why it can afford to use stars such as Tiger Woods on its payroll (for advertising) and how it could afford to give David Beckham a diamond-encrusted mach3 razor for Father's Day some years back costing $54,000.

'With the Gillette products, the company is so dominant that it is able to spell out the terms of sale, including the price they want to see, to retailers.'

There's more at the link.

Admittedly, US retail prices seem a bit lower than UK consumers are paying. At the time of writing, an 8-pack of Gillette M3 Power cartridges (shown below) sells at Wal-Mart for $23.47.




However, that's still a heck of a mark-up in Gillette's favor!

Several years ago, I decided I'd had enough of being ripped off like this. I did a bit of research, and found that a basic electric razor would cost me anywhere from $25 to $35. For example, the Philips Norelco model 6940 (shown below) retails at Wal-Mart for $31.88 at the time of writing.




I figured that such a razor would give me two to three years of reliable shaving before its heads needed replacing. In practice, I don't replace them, because a set of replacement heads costs more than a new razor! I simply buy a new unit.

Experience has proved me correct. I'm now on my third such razor. I get two-and-a-half years useful life out of each. That makes my cost per month (averaging the cost of the razor over the time I use it) about $1.60 - or about a quarter of what it would cost me to use two Gillette M3 Power cartridges per month (they used to last me about two weeks each).

(Oh - in case you're wondering, I've used Wal-Mart products and prices solely as an example, and because they tend to be the cheapest, in my experience. I'm not paid by them, I'm not promoting Wal-Mart, and I'll gladly use equally low-priced examples from another store, if it makes anyone feel more comfortable.)

How about it, guys? How do you get around such outrageous price-gouging?

Peter