SpaceX’s new rocket motor (for propulsive landings, just like the ones in the scifi stories) has “shock diamonds” in its plume. The phenom was first seen in the 1950s in the exhaust plume of the Bell X-1, the first craft to fly faster than the speed of sound. The “diamonds” are more visible in this video of the motor’s recent test firing (below) in McGregor, Texas, just up the road from the rancho.
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Posted in Rancho Roly Poly, Science/Engineering, Space, Texana
Tagged Dragon spacecraft, shock diamonds, SpaceX, Super Draco
First freeze of the year for us out there at the moment, which will probably blacken the nice green elephant ears in the rancho’s front flower bed.
But this is mild (only 30 degrees) compared to the one that walloped Tulia, Texas this morning back in 1899. Forty thousand cattle dying overnight? Yipes.
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Posted in Rancho Roly Poly, Texana, Weather/Climate
Tagged 1899 Big Freeze, Texas, Tulia
One of the guest experts on my violinlab video lessons the other day summed up what I’m discovering about this complex musical instrument after just about eight weeks—something to the effect that, even if you began at about age five, life wouldn’t be long enough to learn everything there is to know about the fiddle.
Which reminded me of another, lighter remark made by one of the other violinlab subscribers—almost all of whom are well over forty and live, literally, all around the world. He (or she) might have been from Argentina, or was it Oz? It was in response to a new forum member’s complaint about something or other of the thousand-and-one things to keep in mind while simultaneously trying to pick out the correct notes and bow with beautiful intonation: “Oh, it gets easier with time. Lots of time.”
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Tagged Blackerby Violin Shop, violin lessons, Violinlab
The thunderstorms overnight Tuesday into Wednesday were welcome in most places, except where they provoked trouble: power out for a few thousand homes, hail damage, street and creek flooding, emergency rescues, and at least one tornado.
The National Weather Service, whose Internet radar images always seem to go down on these occasions when they’re needed, lost them again right on schedule. Our tax dollars at work. At least they recorded a healthy five three inches of rain at their official downtown gauge (more than five inches out at the airport east of town). Got almost three here at the rancho, northwest of downtown.
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Posted in Blogosphere, Rancho Roly Poly, Scribbles, Texana, Weather/Climate
Tagged flooding down in texas, NWS Internet radar, Rancho Roly Poly
Our winter is all but officially over, about a month early, oddly enough. So we have to take snow where we can get it. No place better than the Judean Hills.
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Posted in Blogosphere, Israel, Texana, Weather/Climate
Tagged Israel the beautiful, Yehoshua Halevi
The Texas curse has my nose (and eyes and roof of my mouth) in its annual grip again.
But temporary relief may be forthcoming, if the forecasted rain tonight through tomorrow night falls in sufficient quantity. It will wash the juniper pollen out of the air, at least for a day or so.
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Posted in Blogosphere, Rancho Roly Poly, Texana, Weather/Climate
Tagged allergies, cedar fever, pollen
Look no farther to find out where jobs are being created these days:
“The Lone Star State had 10,629,300 non-farm jobs as of November, a gain of 451,100 jobs since the same month in 2006, an analysis of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data by The Business Journals’ On Numbers shows.
“Louisiana was a distant second in the number of non-farm jobs added during that five-year span, with 57,000.”
Read. It. All.
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Posted in Blogosphere, Scribbles, Texana
Tagged Jobs No Place Like Texas, Texas Owns The American Economy
THE TEXAS SCRIBBLER 