Horse meat: Two places, two views

via Retronaut

With horse meat scandal playing itself out to its inevitable bureaucratic and editorial conclusion, it's interesting to see two takes on equine cuisine. The above from the United States and below from Britain.

We really don't like horse meat.

DARPA crowdsourcing tank design to speed up heavy weapons development

The U.S. Defense Department think tank DARPA is offering US$10,000 in prizes as part of a competition to introduce crowdsourcing to heavy weapons development and manufacturing. By adopting the”democratized” strategy of crowdsourcing for the development of the Fast, Adaptable Next-Generation armored vehicle (FANG), DARPA hopes to speed up the design and manufacturing of such weapons while reducing costs and introducing greater design flexibility... Continue Reading DARPA crowdsourcing tank design to speed up heavy weapons development

Automated system detects and fills cracks in asphalt roads

They say an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, but when it comes to road maintenance, an ounce of prevention is worth several tons of tarmac. A tiny crack in the asphalt may not seem like much, but once it lets in rain and frost, it’s a ticket to potholes and a very expensive resurfacing. The problem is that crack repair is time consuming and labor intensive, so the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) has come up with an automatic pavement crack detection and repair system that operates at comparable speeds to conventional methods, but with fewer people and less exposure to hazardous fumes... Continue Reading Automated system detects and fills cracks in asphalt roads

Sexism at NASA is fine so long as it serves Feminism

From NASA:

Eighty-four female high school students (We used to call the "girls". Ed.) from 29 states will plan a simulated mission to Mars and experience life as an engineer or scientist when NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston hosts two events focused on science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) in June and July.

The Women in STEM High School Aerospace Scholars project, or WISH, is sponsoring two six-day summer camps for rising high school seniors. The young women will work in teams with female NASA mentors to develop mission plans for launching to Mars, living and working there, and integrating the many components necessary for a successful planetary mission. They will work within the confines of a fictitious budget and build several small mockups of vehicles to demonstrate a successful launch and landing of the Mars spacecraft.

How splendid! So, NASA, when is the version exclusively for boys scheduled? I thought not.

DARPA looks at developing robots to sew uniforms

U.S. military uniforms may not be the most fashionable of clothes, but there are a lot of them. Every year, the Pentagon spends US$4 billion on uniforms and over 50,000 people are employed in their production. In an effort to cut costs and increase efficiency, DARPA has awarded a US$1.25 million contract SoftWear Automation, Inc. to develop “complete production facilities that produce garments with zero direct labor is the ultimate goal" - in other words, a robot factory that can make uniforms from beginning to end without human operators... Continue Reading DARPA looks at developing robots to sew uniforms

Counting bears

Okay, Bear. I know what you're thinking. "Did he fire six shots or only five?" Well, to tell you the truth, in all this excitement I kind of lost track myself. But being as this is a .44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world, and would blow your head clean off, you've got to ask yourself one question: Do I feel lucky? Well, do ya, punk?

From the BBC:

Black bears have demonstrated counting abilities, in a first for the species.

Great.  Now I have to carry extra rounds just in case the bear is trying to draw my fire.

GTRI develops prototype chicken-deboning robot

Chickens have another reason to lose sleep thanks to roboticists at the Georgia Tech Research Institute’s (GTRI) Intelligent Cutting and Deboning System. Using 3D imaging technology, this robot can debone an entire chicken with the skill of a human butcher and has the potential of saving the poultry industry millions of dollars by reducing costs and waste... Continue Reading GTRI develops prototype chicken-deboning robot

What is a "green" job?

Next up: What is a Potemkin village?

Let's not be beastly to Barry

The Ministry of Truth Mainstream Media have had a pretty rough time lately.  Mr Barack Hussein Obama is unable to run on His dismal domestic record, Obamacare faces overthrow by the Supreme Court, His "smart" diplomacy reaped little except derision, His "shiny object" attacks backfired in spectacular fashion, Romeny refuses to repeat McCain's conceding gracefully instead of fighting and the Wisconsin recall ended in a defeat so bad that His supporters are in denial.

With all of that facing the MSM's Messiah, they have come up with a new strategy:  Howling "Stop being mean to The One!" at their top of their voices with appropriate foot stamping.

Next stop: the MSM catching a dose of reality by discovering that their choice is to turn on Mr Soetoro or go down with him.

The US presidential election just got interesting.

NASA gets two Hubble-class telescopes from the military

NASA’s collection of space telescopes just got a bit bigger thanks to an extraordinary gift from America's National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) intelligence agency. The space agency announced on Monday that the NRO has given it two surplus spy satellites that are more advanced than the Hubble Space Telescope. If the money can be found for a mission for the spy “birds” then NASA will not only have two possible replacements for the retiring Hubble, but also an added ability to scan the skies for supernovae, locate new exoplanets and even seek the answer to the fate of the universe... Continue Reading NASA gets two Hubble-class telescopes from the military

It's all go

I was reading through tributes to Ray Bradbury when I came across this observation:

Without Bradbury there’s no Michael Chabon, no Cormac McCarthy, no Margaret Atwood.

Great.  Now I have to build a time machine, go back and kill Mrs Bradbury before she conceives him.

The soda of liberty

Evil woman!

James Lileks wades into Mayor Bloombergs plan to tell New Yorkers how big a soda they may buy and he takes no prisoners.

A culture that redefines food choices as moral issues will demonize the people who don’t share the tastes of the priest class. A culture that elevates eating to some holistic act of ethical self-definition - localvore, low-carbon-impact food, fair trade, artisanal cheese - will find the casual carefree choices of the less-enlightened as an affront to their belief system. Leave it to Americans to invent a Puritan strain of Epicurianism.

This is on a par with why I dislike vegetarians and vegans.  It isn't because they won't eat meat (or claim they don't).  I have nothing but healthy respect for my friends who say that they don't eat meat because they don't like it or for health reason.  Heck, I'm married to a woman who won't eat any meat unless it's ground and my daughter is just as bad and I love them both dearly.  No, what I dislike is people who wear their diet as a badge of moral vanity–worse, as a mandate to tell me what to eat.  And, as Mr Lileks points out, the same goes for the rest of their ilk.


And I don't even like soda.

You will find me drinking rum,

Like a sailor in a slum,

You will find me drinking beer like a Bavarian

You will find me drinking gin 

In the lowest kind of inn

Because I am a rigid Vegetarian.

So I cleared the inn of wine,

And I tried to climb the sign,

And I tried to hail the constable as "Marion."

But he said I couldn't speak,

And he bowled me to the Beak

Because I was a Happy Vegetarian.

Oh, I know a Doctor Gluck,

And his nose it had a hook,

And his attitudes were anything but Aryan;

So I gave him all the pork

That I had, upon a fork

Because I am myself a Vegetarian.

I am silent in the Club,

I am silent in the pub.,

I am silent on a bally peak in Darien;

For I stuff away for life

Shoving peas in with a knife,

Because I am a rigid Vegetarian.

No more the milk of cows

Shall pollute my private house

Than the milk of the wild mares of the Barbarian

I will stick to port and sherry,

For they are so very, very,

So very, very, very, Vegetarian.

G K Chesterton

How to bake bread in space

Space travel can be boring. Voyages to Mars or the Asteroid Belt may sound exotic and exciting, but the fact is that most of the time there’s not much to see and not much to do. Wouldn’t it be great if morale on these long missions could get a boost by a reminder of home like fresh baked bread? Thanks to NASA’s “Space Apps” program, that might one day be a reality. Sixteen-year old “citizen scientist” Sam Wilkinson has come up with a way to make bread simply and efficiently using carbon dioxide and a slow cooker that is designed to work within the limitations of a spaceship’s galley... Continue Reading How to bake bread in space

Welcome to the 13th century

The locomotive of the future

I've had this story on the peg for a couple of days and now that I've read it, I'm amazed at its awesomeness in terms of sheer stupidity.  Apparently, some nitwits have come up with the idea that the wave of the future is to pull trains with steam locomotives running on "green" "biocoal".

What is biocoal?  Let MSNBC enlighten us:

The biocoal is based on a so-called torrefaction process pioneered at the University of Minnesota in Duluth. To make it, woody material — in this case trees — are heated in the absence of oxygen. The resulting flaky matter is then rammed together under high pressure to create coal-like bricks.

In other words, it's charcoal.

I was gobstruck by this.  First off, as an archaeologist, I've seen the effects of a charcoal economy and it isn't pretty.  Trying to power even a pre-industrial society on the stuff will strip the woodlands bare in a few decades, but on a modern scale?  It isn't possible.  

And that isn't the stupid part.  This is: The locomotive these nimrods are going to use to test their fuel on is an oil burner, so they have to rip up a vintage piece of technology and convert it to burn solid fuel.

Excuse me, but if you're so keen on testing charcoal as a fuel, then why not ship a few tons to Yorkshire where there are any number of coal-burning steam trains still running on heritage lines that you could use–or you could if the drivers didn't give you an earful of why it's a daft idea.

When cows want to party

For those who think that living in the country is all bucolic and peaceful, we present this episode of half a dozen cows who crashed a party in Boxford, Massachusetts:

The cows decided to help themselves to the Miller Lite and Bud Lite that the frightened, but uninjured partygoers left behind. “I saw one cow drinking the beer on its way down as it spilled off the table,” Lt. Riter reportedly said. “Some of the cows were also picking through the empties in the recycling bin… They just went in and helped themselves.”

Not only are cows mean drunks, but they have awful taste in beer.

SpaceX returns

The SpaceX Dragon cargo spaceship returns to Earth after an historic visit to the International Space Station.  Not only is the United States back at the top tier of space exploration with a man-capable vehicle, but it's one built and operated by a private company and more are joining the race.

I've said it before, but it looks as though we're entering a new era where what NASA or other government space agencies do will have less and less relevance as time goes by.

NASA asks future explorers to respect historic landing sites

When the last American astronauts blasted off from the Moon in 1972, it seemed as if they were leaving behind monuments that would stand for all time. On a lifeless, airless satellite there would never be any scavengers or souvenir hunters, no wind to bury or wear down the abandoned spacecraft and artifacts, and no air to corrode metal. Even the footprints would still be there millions of years from now. Or so everyone thought. Now, with more and more nations and private organizations planning manned and unmanned missions to the Moon, NASA is worried that the Apollo landing sites and others could be endangered by the next wave of lunar explorers. To prevent this, the space agency issued a set of guidelines that politely asks everybody to keep their distance... Continue Reading NASA asks future explorers to respect historic landing sites

Maybe he IS a Socialist

Gateway Pundit

Completely off the beam

If only they'd been chipped!

Science fiction writer Elizabeth Moon wants everyone on the planet chipped at birth.  Why?  Something to with,

Having such a unique barcode would have many advantages. In war soldiers could easily differentiate legitimate targets in a population from non combatants. This could prevent mistakes in identity, mistakes that result in the deaths of innocent bystanders.

I don't know where to start.  The first-catch-your-rabbit problem?  The utter impracticality of it?  The fact that a theatre of war is the last place it would work?  That maybe it would get more civilians killed?

I think I'll go for the fact that this is the fondest dream of every tyrant since the dawn of time.

Dragon is go

SpaceX's Dragon supply craft is finally on its way to the International Space Station.  The first private cargo carrier will deliver 1,148lbs of provisions along with a small,well-trained assault team and an orbital laser capable of destroying any target on Earth unless certain demands are met.

Or perhaps I've said too much.