Category Archives: Science/Engineering

Dreadnoughts

Posted on April 3, 2013 | Comments Off on Dreadnoughts

Actually, it’s the U.S. battlewagons of 1945, entering Lingayen Gulf in the Phillipines. You can tell the war by that bedsprings thingie perched atop the mast of the battleship in the foreground—an early iteration of radar. Notice the guns trained up. By 1945, Japanese fighter-bombers were their deadliest foe. Apropos of nothing, though it’s too bad they were scrapped. They could help sober the latest North Korean bombast. Click on pix to biggerize.

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Posted in Guns, Library, Sailing, Science/Engineering, Troops

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Why not San Francisco, Kim?

Posted on March 29, 2013 | Comments Off on Why not San Francisco, Kim?

It’s closer to North Korea, whose idiot dictator apparently has targeted our fair village on the Texas Colorado for the reception of one of his new photoshopped ICBMs.

Perhaps he is enraged at Austin’s recent banning of plastic bags, which might be (unbeknownst to us all) a North Korean product? Presumably they produce something besides bombast, phony photographs and comical military uniforms.

Or is it that our Leftism is sullied by too many military retirees of a conservative bent? Fear not, Jong-un, their electoral power is negligible. In any case, the worm should turn his paper trajectories more to the northwest and bombard the more populated San Francisco. It is even less purely Socialistic, amply demonstrated by its unanimous support of gay marriage, surely a threat to manly Marxist paradises everywhere.

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Posted in Guns, Obsessions, Rancho Roly Poly, Science/Engineering, The War

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Discovering the sad truth about brassieres

Posted on March 27, 2013 | Comments Off on Discovering the sad truth about brassieres

I haven’t gotten around to informing Mr. B. yet. I’m not sure that I should. He’ll find out in his own way, of course. But I do recall my own pubescent shock when I finally discovered the trick that made girls’ breasts stand up so perkily under their tops—some  aimed straight ahead like the nose cones of ICBMs.

Learning the cruel reality of the under-wired brassiere was disillusioning, to say the least. I would have been fortunate, indeed, to have had this celebrated brassiere analyst’s blog to turn to from the beginning. Revealing such details as that Victoria Secret bras don’t even fit the models. Of course the Web in general would have been a great favor in and of itself back in those dark ages of the late 1950s.

UPDATE:  This was mainly intended as a joke. (Sorry, Scott.) This is not funny at all and it explains why Mr. B. came home from his sex education class back in fifth grade thoroughly mystified as to what was under discussion and why he should care.

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Posted in Blogosphere, Mr. Boy, Science/Engineering, Scribbles

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No mo cheese in Cheese Whiz

Posted on March 23, 2013 | Comments Off on No mo cheese in Cheese Whiz

Charles at Dustbury has discovered that the makers of Cheese Whiz have figured out a way to make the stuff without cheese. Whoop-de-do.

Back off, I say, those folks down in Port Arthur have to do something with all that petro waste they produce while filling your cars with gasoline. They can’t dump it ALL in the Gulf.

Besides, I do assure you from my very own personal experience, there’s not a 13-year-old boy on the planet who could tell the difference.

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Posted in Blogosphere, Mr. Boy, Science/Engineering, Texana, The Economy

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Happy Berth Day

Posted on March 13, 2013 | Comments Off on Happy Berth Day

The Dragon robot spacecraft docked (or berthed) with the International Space Station since Sunday morning March 3rd, which owner Space X (which tests its rocket engines just up the road from the rancho) trumpeted in its news release as being “thrilled to bring this capability back to the United States.”

The Russians, of course, have doing automated resupply to the ISS for some years, though the Dragon supposedly will be able to return lots more stuff when it recapitulates the old ocean splashdown routine last seen in the Apollo days, March 25 off Baja, California.

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Posted in Science/Engineering, Space, Texana

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Grasshopper’s latest leap

Posted on March 12, 2013 | Comments Off on Grasshopper’s latest leap

SpaceX seems determined to develop a vertical takeoff and landing space rocket system, just like the ones in the old science fiction stories and movies.

In its latest test, just up the road from the rancho (note the ubiquitous Texas water tower), their Grasshopper rose to 80 meters on a tail of chemical flame, hovered for about 30 seconds, and then made a safe controlled landing. The controlled landing is the important part.

Here’s their good video of the event, set to the tune of an old Johnny Cash favorite. Note the cowboy-hatted figure on the base of the rocket, before the launch and after the landing, meant to represent Cash. Fire-proof, no doubt. Faster, please.

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Posted in Rancho Roly Poly, Science/Engineering, Space, Texana

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Weather Service page loses radar again!

Posted on March 10, 2013 | Comments Off on Weather Service page loses radar again!

Every time there’s severe storms in the Austin area, like there was last night, the National Weather Service can’t display its radar on the Web for long.

“Radar Data Are Temporarily Unavailable For This Location,” the page said as the storms moved in. Why, they even have a Radar Outage Notification Page. How convenient.

But I guarantee you when the sun is shining and no storms are upon us, the NWS radar on the Web is just fine. I just loves Big Government. All talk, and all taxes, but when it’s time to put up and go, they have got up and gone.

UPDATE:  Our power went out for about a minute. Got an inch of rain.

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Posted in Rancho Roly Poly, Science/Engineering, Weather/Climate

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