Of aircraft and sub-machineguns

On Tuesday I happened to mention the 'home-made' versions of the British Sten sub-machinegun that were produced by Resistance movements in Europe during World War II, and by the Haganah in Palestine during and after that conflict. For some unknown reason (blame my infinitely curious mental processes, I guess!), that post gelled in my mind with the subject of aircraft (about which I may have written a post or two, here and there . . . ). I began to search for information on whether sub-machineguns had ever been mounted in or on aircraft, for use as an airborne weapon. To my astonishment, there are two recorded instances where this was done - and with mass quantities of the things, to boot!

The first, appropriately enough, took place in the USA in the 1920's. John M. Larsen, a refrigerator manufacturer from Omaha, NE, became interested in aviation during World War I. Touring Europe shortly after the end of the war, he came across the single-engined Junkers F.13 airliner, the first all-metal aircraft designed for civilian use.

Junkers F.13 airliner

Larsen signed a co-operative marketing agreement to build and sell the aircraft in the USA as the Junkers-Larsen JL-6. The US Post Office bought several of them to transport the mails, although they were considered unsuccessful in this application. Larsen decided to try to sell a military version of the plane to the US Army, and in 1921/22 developed the JL-6 into what he called the Junkers-Larsen JL-12 (link is to an Adobe Acrobat document in .PDF format).

Junkers-Larsen JL-12 (image courtesy of Flight International online archive)

Larsen fitted the JL-12 with a 400hp. Liberty L-12 motor, far more powerful than the 160 hp motor of the original Junkers F.13, which gave the plane a top speed of some 145 mph. He installed a battery of no less than 28 fixed downward-firing "Tommy guns" (Thompson sub-machineguns, caliber .45 ACP), plus two more for hand-held fire by the pilot and observer.

The famous 'Tommy gun', fitted in this case with a 50-round drum magazine

Flight International reported in 1922:

The principal feature of the "J.L.-12" consists of its armament of 30 Thompson machine guns. These are arranged in a main battery of 28 guns in two sections. The first section is of 12 guns, located directly behind the pilot's seat, and the second, of 16 guns, is mounted at the rear. Firing is operated by three levers, one firing the 12-battery, the other firing the 16-battery, whilst the third lever puts all 28 guns into action. The two remaining guns are operated independently by the pilot, or gunner, from the cockpit.

How 28 Thompson sub-machineguns were mounted in the JL-12 (from the Auto-Ordnance 1923 catalog)

The main battery is located in the floor of the fuselage, the first section of 12 being set at a slight forward angle, and six of the second section fire directly downwards, the remainder being trained slightly aft. The circular drums for the guns contain 100 cartridges, and the ammunition equipment for the machine in battle trim consists of three drums for each of the thirty guns. The replacement of fresh magazines for all the guns requires only four minutes.

It is claimed that by operating the ailerons so as to rock the machine laterally, an effective side rake fire is obtained. The proposed functions of the "J.L.-12" are to provide a machine having high speed, quick climb and controllability, which can be used against infantry, convoys, etc. It will dive down on the enemy, and flying low over him, open fire and then climb rapidly to a safer altitude in order to give the gunner an opportunity to renew the magazines before another similar attack.

There's more at the link.

I must admit, my mind boggles at the thought of the unfortunate gunner/observer having to crawl around, changing 28 100-round drum magazines - each bulky and awkward to handle, weighing almost 10 pounds when loaded - while the aircraft was maneuvering to position itself for another attack. I can't see him doing that many magazine changes in a mere 4 minutes, as claimed! Unfortunately, despite its relatively good performance measured against other aircraft of the day, the JL-12 did not attract any orders from the US Army, and the project was abandoned. There are isolated reports that twin Thompson sub-machineguns may have been installed in fixed mounts on the wings of a US Army DH-4 bomber aircraft for test purposes, but I haven't been able to locate any further information about that.

The second mass installation of sub-machineguns in an aircraft was in the Soviet Union, towards the end of World War II. The aircraft was the excellent Tupolev Tu-2, one of the best light bomber/attack aircraft of the war.

Tupolev Tu-2

An experimental ground-attack version, dubbed the Tu-2Sh model, was fitted with a battery of no less than 88 (!) PPSh-41 sub-machineguns. The latter was a standard-issue weapon in Soviet armed forces, in caliber 7.62x25mm. Tokarev.

PPSh-41 sub-machinegun (image courtesy of Wikipedia)

The guns were mounted in a frame that could be hoisted into the internal bomb bay. The photographs below are courtesy of English Russia.






They were apparently mounted so as to spray their bullets in a pattern beneath the aircraft, taking out any enemy troops in its path. They were not, of course, intended to be reloaded in flight! (For that matter, cleaning 88 sub-machineguns on the ground, reloading 88 drum magazines [each with a maximum capacity of 71 rounds, although they worked more reliably when loaded with 60-65 rounds], and recharging all the weapons, must have been a marathon effort by any measure!) World War II came to an end before tests with the experimental installation could be completed. It apparently worked well, but was no longer needed, and was therefore discarded. The Tu-2, however, continued in service for several years, seeing combat in Korea and being used by the Chinese Air Force until the late 1950's.

So, there you have it. The lowly sub-machinegun, intended as a short-range defensive weapon for troops on the ground, nevertheless made it into the air en masse on at least two aircraft.

Peter

Awwwww!

Yes, it's cute time again!

Peter

A potential game-changer in higher education?

Forbes reported last month that the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), one of the foremost private universities in the world, plans to offer its curriculum over the Internet - free of charge.

The program will not allow students to earn an M.I.T. degree. Instead, those who are able to exhibit a mastery of the subjects taught on the platform will receive an official certificate of completion. The certificate will obviously not carry the weight of a traditional M.I.T. diploma, but it will provide an incentive to finish the online material. According to the New York Times, in order to prevent confusion, the certificate will be a credential bearing the distinct name of a new not-for-profit body that will be created within M.I.T.

. . .

Students using the program will be able to communicate with their peers through student-to-student discussions, allowing them an opportunity to ask questions or simply brainstorm with others, while also being able to access online laboratories and self-assessments. In the future, students and faculty will be able to control which classes will be available on the system based on their interests, creating a personalized education setting.

M.I.T.x represents the next logical evolution in the mushrooming business of free online education by giving students an interactive experience as opposed to a simple videotaped lecture.

. . .

Whether M.I.T.x will directly threaten the margins at for-profit online universities, such as the University of Phoenix, APUS, or DeVry remains to be seen. But as M.I.T.x starts to provide many of the salient virtues of for-profit online colleges, such as a robust learning management systems and real-time virtual interaction, these publicly traded education companies might have to lower fees in order to compete with M.I.T.x’s compelling free price. In addition, the success of M.I.T.x, OCW, and Academic Earth may push dramatic technological innovation at for-profits, so that they can maintain a unique selling proposition versus their free competitors. Moreover, as the rapidly growing number of what are termed “self educators” choose free college education, a cottage industry of social media support services might evolve to bring them together for free in-person study and help sessions.

Which is all to say that, against this country’s sizable need for STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) graduates, M.I.T.x is nothing short of revolutionary. This is especially true if you aren’t a credential freak and ... just want to improve your chops in a marketable subject area.

There's more at the link.

I'm particularly interested in this initiative from two perspectives.

1. All four of my university qualifications were obtained through part-time study; two through distance (correspondence) education, and two through evening classes. There are many who, like me, could not or cannot afford to study full-time. If MIT makes its course material available online, and can come to an arrangement with a local community college or university to offer that material to the latter's students, who can then discuss it with local lecturers and professors and sit local examinations in the subject(s) concerned, this might greatly improve the standard of local, low-cost tertiary education. The same might apply to institutions in poorer countries overseas. (In fact, the latter might be even more interesting, in that local lecturers could use the same materials to improve their own mastery of their subjects and upgrade their own qualifications, as well as help their students absorb it.)
2. As a former prison chaplain, I've seen the difficulties faced by inmates in trying to improve their educational qualifications. They don't have much (if any) money available to pay for distance education, they can't attend evening classes, and there are few (if any) qualified staff available to help them cope with the challenges of learning in such an artificial (and frequently oppressive) environment. Something like this MIT initiative could revolutionize education behind bars. If arrangements can be made for inmates to access MIT's materials without threatening security, it might open to them a whole new way to earn advanced qualifications and prepare themselves to re-enter society.
   

I can only applaud MIT for this initiative . . . and wonder whether they've thought of all that it might imply, for themselves as much as for education in general. This might precipitate a real revolution in higher learning. I hope it does! You can rest assured that I'll be one of those taking advantage of it. After all, I never studied many things that are taken for granted at American universities (although, to be fair, I covered several subjects that aren't always offered at US institutions). Now's my chance to fill those gaps!

Peter

What happens when managers become Occupiers?

According to Robert Shrimsley, writing (tongue-in-cheek) in the Financial Times, they plan to do just that - by means of an 'Occupy Davos' demonstration!

Our occupation will begin shortly before the actual conference starts. Accommodation is a bit of an issue as the chalets are booked up well in advance and in any case are really pricey, but we have a team of Inuits ready to build an igloo city for us outside the Schatzalp and we will be badgering delegates as they totter around in the snow looking for the next event. Volunteers are still needed to man the 24-hour Glühwein kitchen and to hand out glow sticks. And once the protest is over everyone will be invited to join each other’s LinkedIn network.

Our goals are also more nuanced. We don’t want to bring down the capitalist system or even necessarily curb executive pay. We’d just like to bump into Klaus Schwab at the coat-check or sit next to someone who might make us the next chief executive of Anglo American.

We will insist our demands are heard, preferably at the fine-wine tasting or maybe one of the cultural events that no one goes to. We do not accept that those inside the centre have a monopoly of ideas; we have them too and we also want to share them with a Brazilian commerce minister or the head of any Fortune 500 company.

There's more at the link. It's nice to see that even so august an institution as the Financial Times can crack a smile now and again!





Peter

An interesting mixture of First and Third Worlds

Readers may recall an article I posted about the rise of the bicycle as a means of general transport in Japan after the earthquake last year. Discussing the use of bicycles around the world, I included this composite picture of Third World applications of bikes as cargo carrying devices.




It looks like China's runaway sprint towards a First World economy is producing a similar imperative there, even in Beijing. The Daily Mail reports:

This pair of Chinese 'human snails' look like they've snapped up some cracking bargains during the January sales.

Loaded sky high with office chairs and furniture they laugh and joke, to the visible gasps of onlookers, as they weave their heavy load around the streets of Beijing.




But three-wheeling is not the preferred mode of transport for the delivery drivers who are actually forced to take to their tricycles during the day.

Beijing's banning of motorised delivery during daylight hours is just one of a series of measures introduced in 2008 and designed to cut down congestion in the Chinese capital.

Drivers of the city's five million cars are banned from taking to the road one day per week, depending on the final digit of their license plate, and only 20,000 licenses are issued each month.

There's more at the link - and here's why Chinese authorities are so draconian in trying to cut down on the number of vehicles on their streets.

Even in my most crowded commutes, I don't think I ever spent more than an hour on the road between home and work! I'm glad I don't live in that sort of severely congested environment . . .





Peter

Yet another reason to avoid Facebook

I've written before about the security risks and dangers to privacy involved in using Facebook, which is essentially out to exploit its users for gain. It has no other reason for existence, except to make money off them. (If you think differently - if you think Mark Zuckerberg founded Facebook out of the goodness of his heart, as a public service, with no commercial motivation whatsoever - then there's this bridge in Brooklyn, NYC I'd like to sell you . . . )

Now comes the news that Facebook is at it again. PC Magazine reports:

Facebook today began rolling out advertisements to users’ news feeds, marking the paid posts as “Featured.”

The News Feed posts for which an advertiser has paid to have displayed will be labeled as “Featured,” instead of “Sponsored,” as was originally planned. Facebook said it is using the term “Featured” to differentiate the paid News Feed posts from the “Sponsored” ads on the sidebar that can be bought by any advertiser.

. . .

TechCrunch noted that the change from “Sponsored” to “Featured” may cause confusion and lead some to believe the paid posts are simply important stories since most users do not associate the word "featured" with ads.

While these stories are paid advertisements, they'll appear as the activity of a friend or as Pages people have Liked.

There's more at the link.

Facebook seems more and more to me like a digital version of the monster in that old SF movie 'The Blob': a great big oozing mass of greed, sprawling ever more widely across the Internet, seeking to absorb and digest everything about everyone - and make money on it! Not only are they targeting you with advertisements, but they're getting you to tell them how to do so every time you 'like' a company or product. Furthermore, they can't even be honest enough to tell you that something's an advertisement! Calling it a 'featured link' is nothing more than chicanery. What's that old Southern saying? "Don't piss on my leg, then tell me it's raining!"

No, thanks. Given the already serious security risks involved in Facebook's cavalier disregard for our privacy, and its disastrous security record, this is yet another reason why I'll stay as far away from them as possible, for as long as I can. I may eventually have no choice, for commercial reasons, but to get online there; but I'll avoid it as long as I can, and keep it to a minimum thereafter.

Peter

Warm fuzzy video of the week

Now that's what I call a 'welcome home'!

Peter

Getting around gun bans

JayG, blogging at MArooned, brings us this video clip showing how easily someone was able to make a shotgun using only parts bought at a local hardware store, plus a bit of ingenuity.

It reminded me of an enterprising English tinkerer who make his own pistol out of odds and bits and pieces. The Daily Mail reported recently:

A man used his DIY expertise to make his own gun using a fence post and a children's building set.

Trevor Cracknell, 48, went to a neighbour's house in Macclesfield, Cheshire, and fired the gun which had a steel barrel encased inside a wooden casing.

The mechanism was held together with nuts, bolts and metal strips from a Meccano-style toy set.




His neighbour contacted police after Cracknell test-fired the gun inside his home and when they raided his home found a cache of homemade firearms and ammunition.

He has been jailed for five years after admitting firearms offences.

There's more at the link.

It just goes to show . . . deny people access to firearms, and they'll make substitutes for themselves. Indeed, the two examples shown here are relatively amateurish when one considers that the British Sten fully automatic sub-machinegun of World War II was designed for ease of manufacture in small workshops. It was so simple to produce that Resistance fighters in Norway, Denmark and Poland made their own versions, without needing factories or elaborate facilities to do so. During and after World War II, the Haganah paramilitary organization in what was to become Israel manufactured Stens and their ammunition, first in garages, then in an illegal (and well-concealed) improvised factory.

Frank Adam comments: There are at least three Haganah Sten guns in this series of pictures – all probably home made – a cheap and nasty blow back weapon of barrel, breech block and spring that could go off if you dropped it butt end first, that the British first designed in 1940 when they lost all their equipment at Dunkirk. They quickly smoothed the design and eventually made 2.5 million of the Mark II, nicknamed “the Woolworths gun” at allegedly 5 shillings – one dollar then.

. . .

About 1942 Haganah obtained a specimen and realised the jackpot as they had a lot of disparate rifles in their caches with little ammunition, some being 19th century single shots. These were now dismantled for the barrels to saw up to make four Stens with garage machinery to make the butts and bodies.

Haganah soldiers celebrate the Passover Seder, Sten sub-machinegun at the ready

Ammunition was stolen or made from bulk imports of lipstick cases for cartridge cases. You can see the original underground factory near the new Rehovot Station and in Haganah Museum in Rothschild Avenue TA are several paired specimens used in settlement defence.

The Sten can be fabricated without major difficulty in any adequately-equipped domestic workshop, of the kind I see outside many American homes! All that would be needed (apart from the plans, which are freely available) are tools and raw materials, all of which can be sourced from hardware stores and suppliers, and auto scrapyards.

Peter

An elderly lady's final flight

I'm sure many readers remember the Douglas DC-6, which was one of the dominant airliners of the 1950's before the advent of jet-powered aircraft like the Boeing 707 and Douglas DC-8. After the jets took over the major routes in the 1960's, the older piston-powered airliners continued to service secondary routes, and provided charter and cargo flights through second- and third-string operators. A large number of them ended up in more isolated parts of the world such as Africa, South America and South-East Asia, where the pressures of the Vietnam War kept many in service.

One such aircraft was DC-6 serial number 45329, delivered brand-new from the Douglas factory in California to Canadian Pacific Air Lines on August 15th, 1957. It served with that airline until 1961, when it was sold to Transair of Sweden. From there it found its way through several owners, including Braathens of Norway, Greenlandair and Air Atlantique. In 1980 it headed for southern Africa, joining Air Swaziland.




I can remember flying aboard her in Air Swaziland livery. She wasn't in the best of condition even then, showing the wear and tear of too many low-budget operations that hadn't maintained her properly. The aircraft spent the next several years hopping around the African continent in various liveries (details of her operational history, along with many pictures, may be found here). Finally, she was donated to the South African Airways Museum Society, which flew her to the Swartkop airfield of the South African Air Force and parked her there, awaiting restoration - something for which funds, expertise and time just never seemed to be available.

Here she was discovered several years later by two aviation enthusiasts, Witold Walus and Willie Muntingh. They bought the dilapidated old aircraft, and decided to move her to their private airstrip north of Pretoria, South Africa. They were advised to cut off her wings and move her by road, but to their everlasting credit among fellow aviation buffs, they decided to invest two years of their time and a great deal of money and effort in restoring her to airworthy condition, so she could make the final flight under her own steam. A fascinating account of the restoration project, complete with many photographs, may be found here.

The final landing promised to be 'interesting' . . . the (dirt) airstrip at the plane's destination was a mere 500 meters (1,640 feet) long, whereas the DC-6 normally required a minimum of 3,000 feet to land safely - and that was on tarmac, when lightly loaded! Clearly, something would have to be done. At considerable expense, and with the co-operation of neighbors, an extension of some 800 meters (2,625 feet) was carved out of the veld, albeit at a slight angle to the original strip, and the whole strip widened and smoothed.




The total length was now about 4,265 feet, although being a relatively loose, sandy surface, it wouldn't give the same traction to the wheels and brakes as would tarmac or concrete. Nevertheless, two highly experienced pilots from South African Airways, Johan van den Berg and Laurie Raath, along with flight engineer Mike Mayers, agreed to take the aircraft on her final flight from Swartkop to her new home.

They took off from Swartkop early in the morning of December 4th, 2010. Arriving at the airstrip, they flew two low passes to check the conditions, and to show the aircraft 'up close and personal' to a group of excited aviation enthusiasts who'd gathered for the occasion, allowing them to photograph and film the plane. The final approach was a nail-biting affair as they touched down right at the very edge of the extended part of the airstrip, the main landing gear almost in the bush! The video clip below shows how it went. I recommend watching it in full-screen mode.

A great piece of flying! A shorter version of that video, showing only the landing itself, may be found here. There's also a very interesting thread on a South African aviation forum, discussing preparations for the flight and containing much more information and photographs, like this one.




It's sad to think that the aircraft will never leave that particular patch of African bush . . . but she'll bring pleasure to her owners as a piece of aviation history in their private museum. Perhaps she'll inspire some of the local children to dream of flying a plane of their own, one day.

Peter

Debunking the Maya and 2012 myths

Psychology Today has an excellent article in its 'Reality Check' blog titled 'What You Should Know About 2012: Answers to 13 Questions - Is it really time for the Apocalypse?'. It debunks many of the more hysterical rumors and myths that have been circulating about this topic for far too long. Here's an excerpt.

In the late 1960s and 1970s, the Maya calendar ... caught the interest of counterculture hippies who were using psychedelic drugs such as LSD, DMT, psilocybin, and cannabis and who were also interested in astrology (including the "Age of Aquarius"), numerology, Tarot, and the Chinese divinatory practice of the I Ching (Yì Jīng). These included authors Terence McKenna and José Argüelles (one of the creators of the Whole Earth Festival in 1970), who wrote books, taught workshops, and gave lectures describing mystical experiences based on their use of psychedelics. They saw similar patterns in the Maya calendar and the I Ching that suggested to them the 2012 date would be associated with a spiritual "transformation of consciousness," an idea that became popular among people interested in New Age beliefs. In 1975, both McKenna (with his brother Dennis) and Argüelles published books in which they identified 2012 as the year this would happen. However, they did not narrow the date down to December 21, 2012 until 1983, when archaeologist Robert Sharer published that correlation in an appendix to the 4th edition of Sylvanus Morley's classic book The Ancient Maya.

The significance of the date was popularized during a counterculture event known as the Harmonic Convergence that was organized by Argüelles on August 16-17, 1987. Argüelles, who thought that the problems of Western civilization were due to the use of a calendar that was not directly linked to the movements of the Sun, the Moon, the planets, and the stars. He sought to revive a version of the Maya calendar based on solar and lunar cycles, creating a new system that he called the Dreamspell. Following the Maya calendar, it was based on the numbers 13 and 20 rather than 12 and 60. He thought that the use of this different calendar ultimately bring about world peace.

The Harmonic Convergence, which built on the success of Shirley MacLaine's book and TV miniseries Out on a Limb (1986), was promoted using new computer technology (especially the Apple Macintosh, first introduced in January 1984) and early computer networks. Since the 1960s, interest in astrology, Tarot, the I Ching, and the Maya calendar had been widespread among programmers associated with the new personal computer and software industry in what was to become Silicon Valley in northern California. Counterculture and New Age concepts, including those of psychologist Timothy Leary, McKenna, and Arguelles, had been a part of cyberculture since its inception, so it was only natural that early digital social networks of the mid-1980s, such as FidoNet and The WELL, played a role in spreading the word about the Harmonic Convergence and 2012 among psychedelic and computer "hacker" subcultures that frequently overlapped (cannabis and psychedelic users included influential programmers and innovators such as Bill Gates of Microsoft, Steven Jobs of Apple, and many others.) The 2012 mythology emerged from the same counterculture environment of San Francisco and the campuses of UC-Berkeley and Stanford that contributed to significant cultural changes of the 1960s, including radical politics, environmental awareness, and the "liberation of knowledge." It was from this same milieu that came computer and Internet pioneer Doug Englebart (whose inventions included the computer mouse and hypertext) as well as Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters (among whom was cyberculture pioneer Stewart Brand) and the Grateful Dead. Its cultural legacy survives today in such phenomena as alternative medicine, environmentalism, ayahuasca therapy, Burning Man, Wikileaks, and the Occupy movement.

There's much more at the link, including many links in the text (omitted in the excerpt above) to explain terms and topics that may not be familiar. Interesting information, and very useful ammunition to debunk any of the myths thrown at you by those who are more interested in pseudo-science and fear-mongering than in fact. Recommended reading.

Peter

Doofus Of The Day #560

The video clip below is self-explanatory.

Yep . . . a Doofus indeed! A tip o' the hat to In The Middle Of The Right for spotting it first.





Peter

"The 27 Rules of Conquering the Gym"

That's the title of an article in the Wall Street Journal by Jason Gay. Here are a few of his rules to whet your appetite.

Exercise, like dark chocolate and office meetings that suddenly get canceled, is a proven pathway to nirvana. But if you're going to join a gym—or returning to the gym after a long hibernation—consider the following:

1. A gym is not designed to make you feel instantly better about yourself. If a gym wanted to make you feel instantly better about yourself, it would be a bar.

. . .

4. No one in the history of gyms has ever lost a pound while reading "The New Yorker" and slowly pedaling a recumbent bicycle. No one.

. . .

6. Don't fall for gimmicks. The only tried-and-true method to lose 10 pounds in 48 hours is food poisoning.

. . .

9. "Great job!" is trainer-speak for "It's not polite for me to laugh at you."

. . .

15. If you're motivated to buy an expensive home exercise machine, consider a "wooden coat rack." It costs $40, uses no electricity and does the exact same thing.

. . .

22. Fancy gyms can be seductive, but once you get past the modern couches and fresh flowers and the water with lemon slices, you're basically paying for a boutique hotel with B.O.

There are more at the link. Entertaining reading, but also very down-to-earth, practical advice. I'll be reading them again from time to time, to make sure I remain grounded in reality as far as exercise is concerned!



Peter

The lethal perils of wingsuit flying

I've posted several video clips of BASE jumping and wingsuit flying on this blog. I've commented repeatedly that I regard them as very dangerous sports, in which I wouldn't choose to participate. That was driven home for me in a terribly graphic way today.

I came across a photo spread in the Telegraph about 'The highest, tallest, longest and oldest bridges in the world'. The third picture in the collection was this one, depicting the Royal Gorge Bridge in Colorado, USA.




While looking at the pictures of bridges in the photo spread, I was clicking over to Wikipedia and looking up their entries. That for the Royal Gorge Bridge included this chilling information:

In October 2003, while performing a proximity demonstration, wingsuiter Dwain Weston was killed attempting to fly over the bridge. Weston was wearing a wingsuit, a skydiving suit with fabric extended below the arms to the body and between the legs to catch air allowing for horizontal travel when skydiving. Weston was to go over the bridge while fellow skydiver Jeb Corliss was to go under it. Miscalculating his distance from the bridge, Weston struck a railing while traveling an estimated 120 mph, killing him instantly and dismembering extremities. Cleanup from his impact took two full days, and many parts of Weston's body were never recovered.

I couldn't help but recall the many videos I've seen (and posted here) where wingsuiters flew very close to mountainsides or dangerous terrain. Here was a case where one of them had come just that little bit too close. Searching for more information, I found an Australian newspaper article about the event (Mr. Weston was Australian). I also found this video clip narrated by his partner, Jeb Corliss. It doesn't show the moment of impact, but you can hear it: and it shows what happened immediately before it, and afterwards. Don't view it if you're sensitive about such things!

May Mr. Weston's soul rest in peace . . . and may his tragic example inspire other wingsuiters to be a bit more careful out there!





Peter

A very useful software program

As regular readers of this blog will know, I usually put up new posts late each evening. Sometimes my eyes are tired after a long day in front of the computer, and I have to squint at the screen and turn down the brightness in order to complete my work before going to bed.

I was recently informed of a piece of software called F.lux. The company producing it, Stereopsis, describes it as follows:

During the day, computer screens look good—they're designed to look like the sun. But, at 9PM, 10PM, or 3AM, you probably shouldn't be looking at the sun.

F.lux fixes this: it makes the color of your computer's display adapt to the time of day, warm at night and like sunlight during the day.

It's even possible that you're staying up too late because of your computer. You could use f.lux because it makes you sleep better, or you could just use it just because it makes your computer look better.

f.lux makes your computer screen look like the room you're in, all the time. When the sun sets, it makes your computer look like your indoor lights. In the morning, it makes things look like sunlight again.

Tell f.lux what kind of lighting you have, and where you live. Then forget about it. F.lux will do the rest, automatically.

They're not joking! I downloaded the (free) program today (it's available for multiple platforms), and it's already doing wonders for my eyes. As the sun set this evening, I watched my screen fade from the chilly, contrasty blues of daylight to the warmer yellows of evening light. Right now, the white background to my Blogger editor is more of a cross between yellow and light ochre. F.lux informs you what lighting 'temperature' it's using (in degrees Kelvin). You can tell it to disable itself for an hour at a time if you're doing color-sensitive things like photo editing, or exit the program completely if you need to.

Generally, I rate Stereopsis' F.Lux a very useful program indeed - and you can't beat the price! Recommended.

Peter

No reason to celebrate this anniversary . . .

Yesterday, January 8th 2012, was the 100th anniversary of the founding of the African National Congress in South Africa.

The ANC was formed by contemporary Black leaders with the intention that it would supersede tribal, language and cultural boundaries, in order to speak for all Black South Africans with a united voice against the racial discrimination of what was then the newly-formed Union of South Africa. During the years of apartheid it was outlawed. Its 'armed wing', Umkhonto we Sizwe ('Spear of the Nation'), mounted generally ineffective 'guerilla' operations (which were more terrorist than guerilla in nature, and hurt far more Black South Africans than they did the ruling government). Nevertheless, it remained a uniting factor in Black politics in South Africa, and its propaganda built up the reputation of the jailed Nelson Mandela until he assumed a larger-than-life presence on the political stage. Following the accession to power of the last White State President, F. W. de Klerk, the ANC was unbanned. It participated in several years of negotiations with the apartheid government, leading to the first-ever universal democratic election in South Africa in 1994. The ANC won that election (and all subsequent ones), and has formed the government of that country since that time.

Unfortunately, its accession to power has not provided any real cause for celebration among the people of South Africa. As Time magazine points out:

The government's failure to transform South Africa from a country of black and white into a "rainbow nation," in Archbishop Desmond Tutu's phrase, means black poverty is still the key political issue. A second, related one, however, is the ANC's dramatic loss of moral authority. At 93, Mandela is still among the most admired people on earth. But his party has become synonymous with failure — and not coincidentally, arrogance, infighting and corruption. Tutu, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate and, at 80, still the nation's moral conscience, encapsulated South African political debate last year when he came out of retirement to give two speeches. In the first he asked whites to pay a wealth tax in recognition of their persistent advantage. In the second he called the ANC "worse than the apartheid government."

. . .

... a phenomenon in postapartheid South Africa: the growth of the tenderpreneur. The term describes those who get rich from government contracts or from dispensing them for kickbacks. Tenderpreneurs have turned government into a business. The national Special Investigating Unit, which targets corruption, reckons that up to a quarter of annual state spending — $3.8 billion — is wasted through overpayment and graft. The Auditor General says a third of all government departments have awarded contracts to companies owned by officials or their families; in December it found that three-quarters of all tenders in one ANC-ruled province, the Eastern Cape, rewarded officials in this way. Those being investigated for suspected corruption include two ministers, the country's top policeman and the head of the ANC's Youth League, Julius Malema. (All deny the charges.)

Tenderpreneurs are just one chapter in the saga of ANC scandals. There are the perks, like the $550 million the opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) claims ministers and their wives have spent on themselves since 2009. There is the state security minister whose wife was convicted of running an international drug ring, and the local government minister who used public money to fly first class to Switzerland to visit his girlfriend, also in prison for narcotics. There is the previous police chief, jailed for 15 years for taking bribes from the mob. And there is a corrupt $4.8 billion European arms deal that has haunted the ANC leadership since it was agreed to in 1999.

There's more at the link.

The Telegraph adds:

Since its ascent to power in 1994, the ANC has presided over steady economic growth, a drop in violent crime and the provision of basic homes and services to some - but not all - of the country's poorest.

But apart from the politically-connected elite enjoying their round of golf in Bloemfontein on Friday, few have seen much change in their lives.

Inequality within and between race groups has increased. Half of young people are unemployed and half the population lives on just eight per cent of the national income.

Thabo Mbeki's disastrous HIV/Aids denialism helped ensure that 16.6 per cent of the adult population is now infected and life expectancy at birth has slid from 61.4 to 49.3 years old.

Much of the gratitude towards the ANC has given way to disillusionment and anger that former freedom fighters and their families are growing rich on backhanders and government contracts while many continue to live in poverty.

Again, more at the link.

Corruption, nepotism, inefficiency, ineffectiveness and internal strife (a.k.a. 'fighting over the spoils') have become hallmarks of the ANC since 1994. Furthermore, it's been eager to uncover and highlight abuses by the apartheid government, but much more reluctant to address abuses committed by its own leaders and armed followers during the struggle for democracy. I have personal and very bitter memories of that.

Shortly after the 1994 elections, when the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) was formed to investigate the evils of the apartheid era, I offered to give evidence about incidents to which I had been a witness. Some involved government departments and forces, but others involved Umkhonto we Sizwe terrorists, including several acts of murder and violence perpetrated by them. I received an unambiguous warning from an ANC elected representative, to the effect that I was welcome to testify about the 'evils of apartheid', but that if I dared try to bring attention to what the ANC had done during the same period, I would be 'dealt with in the harshest way'. That's when I realized that there was no future for me in the land of my birth. I'd spent years trying to help the victims of violence (perpetrated by both sides), and was prepared to do my utmost to promote the reconciliation process - but it proved to be one-sided, partisan, and basically a lie. (I have little doubt that Archbishop Desmond Tutu, chairman of the TRC, was sincere and honest in his approach; but I believe his efforts were hamstrung by political intervention.)

I'm afraid the ANC has taken a once-prosperous nation and run it into the ground. It has nothing of which to be proud in this, its centenary year. It would be a far better commemoration of its worthier ancestors to root out its corrupt members and begin putting the interests and needs of the nation ahead of its own . . . but that's a pipe-dream. If the ANC continues in power for another 17 years, I daresay South Africa will become just another failed African state like Zimbabwe.

You have no idea how it saddens me to say that about such a lovely and once promising country, that was formerly my home.

Peter

Droplets in very slow motion

The video clip below shows droplets colliding, filmed 200 times slower than normal. It's strangely beautiful, and also very informative about something we normally never even think about.

Intrigued, I looked for more information about The Slow Mo Guys, who made that clip. Here's a video report about them from Deutsche Welle.

Click over to their YouTube channel for some interesting viewing.

Peter

Doofus Of The Day #559

Our first Doofus award of 2012 goes to a rather strangely-named man in Wisconsin.

... police received a call Thursday afternoon about alleged excessive drinking and drug use near the park. When police arrived, they spotted the man near the tennis courts and said he suspiciously put his hands in his pockets when officers — recognizing him from a past arrest — approached.

“Officers contacted a subject they had previous dealings with, identified as Beezow Doo-Doo Zopittybop-Bop-Bop,” police spokesman Howard Payne told the Capital Times.

He had previously been arrested in another park after police found a loaded handgun in his backpack April 2011, according to the newspaper.

Payne said a search of Zopittybop-Bop-Bop’s property Thursday turned up a knife, marijuana and drug paraphernalia.

He’s been charged with carrying a concealed weapon, possession of drug paraphernalia, possession of marijuana and a probation violation.

According to Madison’s Capital Times, Zopittybop-Bop-Bop legally changed his name from Jeffrey Drew Wilschke to the more polysyllabic moniker in October.

There's more at the link.

Mr. Zopittybop-Bop-Bop doesn't earn our award for getting arrested. He doesn't even earn it for changing his name to so weird a moniker. No, he earns it for choosing a name so daft that everyone who hears it is almost bound to remember it - and him. Way to stay inconspicuous, bro! Pick a name that'll have every cop on the force talking about you, and sharing photographs of you, and staying on the lookout for you, even if only for lighthearted amusement!





Peter

A disgusting display by a politician without honor

I suppose I should be used to hypocrisy, dishonesty and disingenuousness on the part of our politicians. Far too many of them are guilty of such things, irrespective of their party, philosophy or seniority. There are few exceptions.

However, one politician's breathtaking cynicism has set a new low even for his already dismal record. I refer, of course, to the current Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid (D - Nevada). I'll let Jonah Goldberg describe his nauseating hypocrisy.

In 2007, the Democrats controlling the Senate were fed up with George W. Bush's recess appointments. Majority Leader Reid, feigning great sadness over the sorry state of our republic, resorted to the extraordinary tactic of keeping the Senate in pro-forma session so as to prevent the imperial Bush from doing an end-run around the confirmation process. The move was celebrated by liberal commentators as a brave and necessary assertion of congressional power and was supported by then-Sen. Barack Obama.

Fast-forward to this week. The Senate has once again been in pro-forma session in order to keep President Obama from making recess appointments. Reid agreed to the tactic as part of negotiations with Republicans last year.

Arguing that the maneuver is nothing more than a gimmick, Obama ignored the Senate's authority and appointed Richard Cordray to the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which was created by the Dodd-Frank legislation allegedly to prevent the excesses that led to the financial crisis. If it wasn't clear enough that the appointment was nakedly political, Obama made the announcement at a campaign rally in the swing state of Ohio, Cordray's home state.

With the alacrity one normally associates with court jesters and royal spittoon cleaners, Reid immediately endorsed the president's decision, accepting the logic that calls a maneuver he invented a sham.

. . .

So here we have Reid, a man who tried to enter the national stage by promising to be an honorable foe of the imperial presidency and the metastasizing growth of federal bureaucracies, thriving on the national stage by enabling exactly those trends when it suits his party. And it all it cost was his honor.

There's more at the link.

If I lived in Nevada, and were represented by this man, I'd hang my head in shame at the ignominy he'd just brought to my state. That's not an anti-Democratic Party perspective, by the way: it would apply irrespective of Reid's political affiliation. As Mr. Goldberg says, he's just demonstrated that he's a man without honor. That's why he can't be relied upon to do the honorable thing, and resign . . . he wouldn't understand or recognize 'honor' if it slapped him in the face!





Peter

An Antarctic centenary

Readers may remember a blog post I put up two years ago, describing the discovery of an 'air tractor' used by the Australasian Antarctic Expedition, led by Douglas Mawson, in 1911-14. The expedition left Hobart, Australia on December 2nd, 1911 aboard the steam yacht Aurora.










Today, 8th January 2012, is the 100th anniversary of the date on which the AAE landed in Antarctica, and set about constructing the first Australian base on that icy continent.








Members of the expedition would spend two winters in the flimsy hut.






During winter, the snow and ice would build up to the eaves, forcing the residents to enter and exit through hatches cut into the roof.






There's not enough space in a simple blog post to give full details of the expedition, or of the hazards that confronted its members. Those interested will find more information here.

The centenary of the expedition's landing in Antarctica is a big occasion in Australia, with a memorial journey under way to the site of their base, which is being followed closely by the media. I particularly enjoyed the reminiscences of David Ellyard, who spent the winter of 1966 at Mawson Station. Here's an excerpt.

Mr Ellyard was chief projectionist at Mawson Station with a selection of old movies to show and there was a billiard table and table tennis table for expeditioners to play on.

"But there was a lot of sitting around talking and dropping the old bottle of home brew."

Cans of beer and bottles of wine were sent south for the base but the best beer was brewed on site, Mr Ellyard said.

A little brewing operation was set up in one of the old huts on the base with the beer was brewed in open four-gallon kerosene tins.

"The Antarctic environment there is so dry and cold that it's basically sterile; you don't have to worry about bugs falling into your beer and ruining it," Mr Ellyard said.

After two weeks the brew was put into bottles to be left for another two weeks.

"Of course, we wanted to make sure it was coming along all right so every night we'd sample a bottle from the new batch and usually by the time we got to the 14 days there wasn't any of it left."

Mr Ellyard said the operation known as the Southern Brewing Company brewed about 3407 litres the year he was there and even had labels made for the bottles.

When the hops and the malt ran out, honey was used to make a "Mawson mead".

"We also did potato wine, which people said tasted like the sacks it came in."

Mr Ellyard, who is the national president of the Australian National Antarctic Research Expeditions club for former and current expeditioners, said that home brewing continued to this day at the Australian stations at Mawson, Casey and Davis.

"I was at Davis in 2003 and they had a very sophisticated operation with six or seven sorts of beer, very nice stuff, it's a longstanding tradition."

Sounds like a good time was had by all! There's more at the link.

Film of the expedition was taken by photographer Frank Hurley. A selection of excerpts from his footage has been made available on YouTube. The explorers' attempt to erect a tent for a supply cache, in the middle of a roaring Antarctic gale (from about 5m. 40sec. onwards) is particularly daunting, albeit funny as well! It looks like an almost impossible job - but they managed it.

The Mawson's Huts Foundation has been established for the conservation of Australia's Antarctic heritage, including the AAE's base hut in Antarctica, which has been restored to something close to its original condition after decades of being buried under snow and ice.




It's an important anniversary for Australia, and important in the annals of Polar and Antarctic exploration in general. It never ceases to amaze me how so many people were willing to risk their lives, with such primitive equipment, in such hazardous conditions - and how, even after many died or were severely injured in the process, others kept coming back for more! Not for nothing has that period been called the 'Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration'.

Peter

A close call

This video clip was taken during a race in Russia. It shows how a driver was able to avoid colliding with the car in front of him when its driver lost control. Nevertheless, he came so close that spilling fluids from the crashing vehicle smeared his windscreen! He must have driven almost underneath it.

He definitely displayed faster reactions than I have, at this stage of my life!





Peter

A century-old whisky comes to life again!

Readers may remember that, back in November 2009, I mentioned that an attempt was to be made to recover some cases of Scotch whisky taken to Antarctica by Sir Ernest Shackleton in the first decade of the 20th century. In February the following year, I was pleased to report that the attempt had succeeded, and several bottles of Mackinlay's whisky had been recovered intact.

It's just been announced that the recovered whisky has been reproduced using modern spirits, after being exhaustively analyzed. Popular Science reports:

Dr. James Pryde, chief chemist at Whyte and Mackay, subjected the samples to a comprehensive chemical analysis, in conjunction with a rigorous sensory analysis (that is, sniffing and tasting). Firstly, it was established that the alcoholic strength of the whisky was high enough that it very likely never froze over the years it spent interred in Antarctica. In winter, the hut reached a minimum temperature of -32.5°C, but, at 47 percent alcohol, the whisky remained liquid down to a couple of degrees cooler than that extreme. This eliminated what had been a significant source of concern about the quality of the sample, that decades of freezing and thawing had altered or ruined it. Carbon dating verified that the whisky did indeed date from the Shackleton era.

First sample drawn from the Shackleton whisky cache. Rather than uncork the bottles,
the samples were drawn using a syringe and needle, penetrating through the corks.

Phenol and related phenolic compounds show up in Scotch whiskies, giving them the unmistakable character that's referred to "peaty," because the flavor is introduced when the grain is exposed to peat smoke during the malting process. Chemical analysis revealed not only the quantity of phenolics in the Mackinlay -- surprisingly low, given that era's reputation for heavily peated malts -- but also the particular balance of compounds, which enabled the experts to pinpoint what region the peat used had likely come from. The answer? Orkney.

Similarly, analysis of the compounds that result from barrel-aging was able to finger the barrels in which the whisky was aged as ones made from American oak and probably used once before to age wine or sherry. Gas chromatograph olfactometry, in which the spirit is broken down into its volatile components and each of these smelled individually by experts, gave clues as to details of the fermentation and distilling process.

Armed with all this detail, Whyte and Mackay's master distiller, Richard Paterson, was able to delve into the wealth of warehoused casks and, with the help of his prodigious nose, blend a number of whiskies in exact proportions to replicate the Shackleton spirit.

There's more at the link. The (highly technical) report of how the whisky was analyzed and duplicated may be read here (link is to an Adobe Acrobat document in .PDF format). The photograph above was taken from this report. You can also learn more about the project, and about Mackinlay's Rare Old Highland Malt Whisky (the modern whisky produced to copy the original) at a special Web site set up to provide more information.

I think I'm going to have to pick up a bottle of the stuff, just on principle . . .

Peter

A magnificent new sailing record

The heartiest of congratulations to the captain and crew of the French sailing vessel Banque Populaire V, which yesterday smashed the around-the-world record for a yacht and won the Jules Verne Trophy.

Banque Populaire V at the Château de Brest in 2009 (image courtesy of Wikipedia)

Sail-World.com gives us the numbers.

In the 2011 Jules Verne Trophy, the 14 sailors on-board Maxi trimaran Banque Populaire V just burst into the history of offshore racing by becoming the fastest men around the globe with crew, after 45 days 13 hours 42 minutes and 53 seconds of sailing. Loïck Peyron and his crew improved the reference time of the Jules Verne Trophy held by Groupama 3 since March 2010 by two days eighteen hours one minute and fifty-nine seconds.

Departed on November 22nd at 09:31:42 Paris time (08:31:42 GMT), after having crossed the imaginary line between Ushant (Finistère-France) and Lizard Point (southern tip of England), the Maxi Banque Populaire V crossed the finish line of the Jules Verne Trophy at 23:14:35 Paris time (22:14:35 GMT) this Friday. She undertook this sailing around the world in 45 days 13 hours 42 minutes 53 seconds at an average speed of 26.51 knots, covering a total distance of 29,002 miles.

There's more at the link.

Here's a video clip of the ship and crew as they crossed the finish line (at night), and then returned to a tumultuous welcome as they docked.

There are many powered ships that couldn't match that speed, never mind keep it up as an average over so long a distance. That's a heck of an achievement by anyone's standards - and Banque Populaire V is an outstanding example of how technology has lifted an ancient art and science into the modern world. Even a few decades ago, such speed and performance would be undreamed-of for any sailing craft.

Particular kudos to the crew, who had very little indeed in the way of creature comforts during the journey. The ship was built for performance, pure and simple, with no weight to spare for luxurious accommodation or lavish food supplies. This was a marathon race whether on duty or off, awake or asleep. I'm sure they were excited and overjoyed to have smashed the record so comprehensively, but I bet they were also happy to see the journey come to an end!

Peter

More of Ronald Searle's St. Trinians cartoons

A few days ago I wrote about the death of Ronald Searle, one of the world's great cartoonists. This evening I found a tribute article about him, written by his friend and fellow cartoonist Gerald Scarfe. It's a good article, and worth reading in its own right; but I most enjoyed its selection of Ronald Searle's cartoons of the devilish schoolgirls - and schoolmarms - of his greatest fictional creation, St. Trinians School. Here are a couple of them.






There are more at the link. They're well worth viewing, just as Mr. Scarfe's article is well worth reading.





Peter

An incredible journey, captured on video

The author of this video, Kien Lam, describes it as follows:

17 Countries. 343 Days. 6237 Photographs. One incredible journey.

After I quit my job last year, I packed a bag, grabbed my camera and bought a one way ticket to London. 17 countries later, I put together this time lapse video of the many amazing places I came across.

There are more details at the link. Here's the video. I highly recommend watching it in full-screen mode, if possible.

An incredible journey indeed!

Peter

A remarkable tale of survival

The San Diego Union-Tribune newspaper has published a multi-part article about a US Marine scout-sniper, Sgt. Collin Raaz, who was critically injured in an IED explosion in Afghanistan in June last year. It chronicles his long journey of healing and renewal. Here's an excerpt from the first article in the series.

Click. Boom.

Sgt. Collin Raaz, a 24-year-old scout sniper, has heard that terrible sound before. Like most Marine infantrymen, his two tours in Afghanistan have included several run-ins with the insurgent weapon of choice — the improvised explosive device.

. . .

This time, Raaz is the one at the center of the explosion.

He steps on a pressure-plate trigger hidden in the dirt. Two pieces of metal connect, allowing current from a small battery to detonate the device. A blast wave cuts through the air traveling about 1,600 feet per second. Then whatever is close by — mud, shrapnel, slivers of bone or shreds of camouflage uniform — is sucked into the vacuum.

Goddamit, Raaz thinks, as his body flies through the air. He knows exactly what has happened. I can't believe I just [expletive] stepped on an IED.

He lands face-down in the muddy shallows of a canal. At the base of his spine, the sacral pelvic region is fractured. It will mend in time. One look at what is left of his legs, however, and Raaz knows they cannot be saved.

Raaz was a cross-country runner — fastest in his platoon — and a sniper team leader with the 3rd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, a Twentynine Palms infantry unit that deployed in April.

That life ends on this day, June 15, 2011.

There's more at the link.

The articles in the series are:

Chapter 1: The bomb

Chapter 2: War-zone care

Battlefield medicine history

Chapter 3: San Diego hospital ward

Chapter 4: Physical, mental rehabilitation

Chapter 5: First steps

Chapter 6: Walking tall

Chapter 7: A reunion of Marine brothers

Chapter 8: Prospects after military service

A long future

How the story was reported

I highly recommend taking the time to read them all. Sgt. Raaz has quite a story to tell.

I hope he'll allow this veteran of another war, on another continent, before he was born, to say simply: Sergeant, you did well. If we ever meet, the beer's on me.

Peter

The best time to buy anything this year

Lifehacker has released their recommendations as to when to shop for various items, based on commercial activity at various times of the year. I must admit, I'd never known there were so many factors to take into account! Here, for example, are their recommendations for what to shop for in January (see the article itself for links embedded in their text).

• Bicycles & Sporting Goods: The dead of winter isn't when most people are buying their summer gear, so you're likely to get some good deals. Again, this could vary if you're in a warmer climate.
• Broadway Tickets: Broadway's slower months are in the winter and fall, so January's a great time to seek out some discounts. You probably won't find them for the more popular shows, but if you're looking to branch out, this is the time to do it.
• Calendars: Paper calendars make a great stocking stuffer, so if you aren't too picky about what you get, grab them after the holidays for some bargain bin deals.
• Carpeting & Flooring: According to Carpet SuperSite, most people buy carpets at the end of the year in preparation for the holidays. Once January rolls around, prices will go down.
• Digital Cameras: After the big trade shows like CES come around in mid-January, you'll see that older model cameras drop in price to prepare for the newly-announced ones.
• Furniture: Most furniture companies release new products twice a year: in February and August. That means they'll be giving some sweet deals in January to make room for the new products next month.
• Gift Cards: You wouldn't think there would be a best time to buy gift cards, but you'd be wrong. Just after the holidays, you're bound to find better deals on gift card exchange sites like Plastic Jungle, where everyone's trading in their unwanted cards for cash.
• HDTVs & Home Theater Gear: These stay on sale pretty much right up until the super bowl, so even if you aren't a football fan, you can take advantage of the sales brought on by extra competition.
• Digital Frames: Because this is one of those things everybody seems to give for Christmas.
• Linens and Bedding: Ever since John Wannamaker started the first "white sale" in 1878, January has been the best month to get bedding and other linens. Of course, just as with clothing, keep an eye out all year round, since retailers will put last season's stuff on sale when new products come out.
• Motorcycles: It's really cold outside. Not to mention icy. It doesn't make for great cycling weather, but if you've been mulling over a motorcycle purchase, get it in January and then wait to ride it when the snow melts.
• Office Furniture: Business is best for office furniture retailers in January, likely due to new offices buying up stock for the new year. Grab your new ergonomic office chair now, or in April after tax day.
• Video Games: Most new video games come out in late fall for the holiday season, and they'll go on sale after the holidays are over. Check out Steam and other gaming retailers for discounted prices.
  

There's much more at the link. Interesting and potentially very useful reading.

Peter