Keith Olbermann’s special comment on the bigotry and cowardice behind the campaign technique masquerading as outrage on the Islamic center in Lower Manhattan:
He had his groove back today.
Category: Video
Pulp Disney
Not safe for work, but brilliant!
Contemptible Craven Cowardice
Rachel Maddow lets him have it over his cowardice on Don’t Ask Don’t Tell.
I may be too hard on Barack Obama about this. It might not be cowardice. Maybe he just hates gays, and that’s why he won’t even issue a stop loss order to end the witch hunts.
Obama, Rahm, and the Democratic establishment had better be praying that the Republicans get even crazier over the next 2½ months, because the f%$#ing couch is feeling pretty f^%$ing good under a lot of people’s asses right now.
Meteor AAM Video Pr0n
It highlights the better endgame kinematics and range available with a ramjet powered missile.
One of the things that surprises me is just how much smoke the initial booster puts out relative to the AMRAAM, which would increase launch platform visibility in visual range.
This implies to me that the European militaries planning to purchase this expect anticipate that its use in relative short range engagements, so I would expect that at least doctrinally, the minimum engagement distance for the missile would be a lot greater than that of the AMRAAM. (Reportedly 2km)
The music is a little bet better than most of these promotional videos:
I Place This Up There With Soviet Super-Chopper Claims
Skylon is claiming that it will have its liquid air engine ready for test in 3-4 years.
Considering the fact that it’s really being run on a shoe string, I simply do not find this a credible timeline.
Additionally (top video) it’s reentry profile appears to be problematic to me. The knife edge canard appears to be in a weak shock on reentry, which means that the surface temperature would much higher than in something like a space capsule, or the relatively blunt edged shuttle wing leading edges, where much of the heating occurs in a strong shock that is some distance from in front of any structures, but I am not an aerodynamicist.
If you look at the bottom video, from a couple of years ago, where Richard Varvill, Technical Director of Reaction Engines Limited talks about a 12+ year development cycle with a demonstration of the heat exchangers in 3 years, that sounds rather more realistic.
The bottom vid is also a nice primer on the basic operation of the Sabre engine.
The Trippiest Russian Military Demonstrations Ever
Them Russkies Know How to Drive a Tank
Seeing a tank do motocross jumps is almost as weird as the guys with the flaming helmets
Courtesy of Danger Room.
I do have a couple of geek notes about these displays:
First, look at the main gun: They have a larger bore (125 mm vs 120 mm in the west) and a longer length, which implies to me that, probably for metallurgical issues related to wear, they operate at a lower pressure than the western (German) guns, and make up for it with barrel length and bore diameter.
Also, Russian tank suspension ant track designers take a back seat to no one.
I half expected one of the tanks to throw a track.
Finally, is it just me, or did the tanks curtsy at the end of the top video?
My New Philosophy
No clue as to the source, but it’s funny, and NSFW, as hell.
F*ck It – watch more funny videos
(on edit)
It appears to have come from the Dave Chapelle show.
Better Than Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
Jane Austen’s Fight Club:
It’s not just a send up of Jane Austen, and Fight Club, but also of those damn Merchant-Ivory films.
Your Friday of Muppets
Muppet Labs Experiment 5T832: Ghost Hunt
I Give Up!
So says the Stewart.
So say we all:
Remind Me, Once Again, Don’t Piss off Jon Stewart
I think that Colbert might have been a bit harsher, but jeebus, it’s like watching baby seals being clubbed, which, interestingly enough is something done by Canadians. (You’ll get the reference when you see the vid)
Yep, he goes after all the repeal the 14th Dredd Scott dead-enders.
OK, This is a Harsh Takedown
Stephen Colbert, playing along with Laura Ingram’s literary conceit that her book, The Obama Diaries, is real, absolutely destroyes her and her book.
When he says, “I’ve read a fair amount of this book, and I know he’s not supposed to be a dumb guy, he’s a great orator, but this writing is terrible,” he’s telling Laura that she cannot write for sh%$, for example.
Ouch.
Stephen Colbert Does the Impossible
He finds a use for Bud Lite® Lime: as an instructional tool:*
Brilliant!
*Because drinking that sh%$ is not a good idea.
Goldman S@#54
We live in Bizarro World
Jon Stewart asks a question, “What is the appropriate response for a company that is selling its customers a sh%$ty deals, being caught on email calling them sh%$ty deals, and then being forced to pay a $550 million fine?”
Well if you are Goldman Sachs, the response is to ban profanity in employee email.
<Facepalm>
Cooking With the Chef
The Swedish Chef, pumpkin pie:
It reminds me of that old Peanuts cartoon where Linus freaks out over Lucy eviscerating a pumpkin for a Jack-O-Lantern.
A Public Service Announcement
Courtesy of the Group News Blog:
Blue Dog Dem Goes Chicken for MRIs
Stupid is as stupid does
Ben Chandler of Kentucky spoke approvingly of the days when people paid their doctors with chickens, and a constituent got it on tape.
He voted against the healthcare bill, because he’s a Blue Dog, and he kisses health insurer’s asses.
Obviously, this is not as bad as Sue Lowden’s doubling down on barter for MRIs, he was just being nostalgic, but it’s likely that his Republican opponent will hammer him for it anyway, and I, for one, am glad.
We need fewer faux Dems in the Congress.
F-22 Infrared Video Pr0n
Not really any informative information, but the vid from Farnborough is kind of cool.
H/t The DEW Line
Bad Day at the Office
But no fatalities, due to the efforts of Martin Baker Aircraft Company Ltd:
The Taiwanese Assesment of Sarah Palin
I’m not sure if it’s the same folks as “Apple Daily,” who did those animations of a prominent golfer who is on my list of They Who Must Not Be Named which Olberman featured prominently, but the style, as well as the cultural sensibilities, seem to be very similar.
I’m not sure if this means that they Don’t understand the United States, or if it means that they Do understand the United States.
If the producers of this video do actually understand us, we are in for a world of hurt as a nation.