Coincidence

FBI Academy, Quantico, Virigina

I picked up a copy of Quantico by New York Times Bestselling Author Greg Bear the other day and I am enjoying it pretty well. I've read some Science Fiction books by Mr. Bear that were pretty good, not great, but pretty good. Anyway I'm crawling along through this near future tale of a bio-terror investigation and the protagonist mentions Donovan's Brain. What the heck? Isn't that one of the books I picked up at Post Hip a week or so ago? It is! Huh. I'll be durned.

Let us not forget good ol' J. Edgar

Some of initial scenes are set in Hogan's Alley.

Update February 2017 replaced missing picture.

3D Printer

Mark sent me this. It might actually be recent news. 3D prototyping techniques have been around for a few years now. I think I have seen the ball bearing trick before. I have not seen anyone make a wrench though.


ZCorp's 3D Printer replicates a wrench
Plastic is getting amazingly strong, but there are still situations require metal. A plastic wrench might work well enough for a demo, but it is not going to work on real iron. Of course, if your whole machine is made out of plastic, a plastic wrench would probably work just fine.

The comment about the accuracy and human hair got me to do a little checking. 40 microns is about one-and-one-half thousandths of an inch (0.0015"). According to The Physics Factbook, the diameter of human hair ranges from 17 to 181 µm. (µm is the abreviation for microns, also known as micrometers.)

Update February 2017 replaced missing video. Zcorporation has been taken over by 3D Systems.

Quote of the Day

"How much easier it is to be critical than to be correct." - Benjamin Disraeli

Found on Don't Shake the Flask

Bolder Won, Part 2

Ned sent me some more photos of the boat he is working on. I'm starting to realize how big and unusual it is. The scoops on the side of the hulls look, um, cool? interesting? dangerous?



Part 1

Linear Thinking

It occurs to me that linear thinking is what enables our civilization, such as it is. Linear thinking is what enables us to tell a story, follow a recipe or do a math problem. Linear thinking is what school is all about: one step after another, in sequence, towards an intended goal. Eventually the goal will be reached. People aren't normally like that. They are more everything, all the time. That's what parties are: too much of everything: food, drink, conversation, music, dancing, motion, and all at once. Academia is just the opposite: one thing, all alone, undisturbed, carefully considered.

Our civilization has spent a great deal of time and effort developing linear thinking so we could build the infrastructure that supports our civilization and gives us the time and freedom to enjoy it and not have to use linear thinking, which is difficult and a real pain. This is why kids hate math and some kids don't learn to read. It's also the reason why loud mouthed, self promoting slime-balls enjoy such immense popularity: they don't engage in linear thinking and they don't require you to do so either. Just listen and watch and experience their entire show. It's glorious! It must be! They say it is!

This is why we are all doomed to another world wide conflagration. The more advanced we become technically, the more free time people have, and the less they will need linear thinking and the more they will start responding emotionally, where upon they will start following whatever yahoo is putting on the most entertaining show. We can't help it, it's simply our nature.


Eagles - Life in the fast lane
brizuelaledesma
Update February 2017 replaced missing video.

Update March 2021 replaced missing video.

Update August 2022 replaced missing video.

Yacht Disaster

Steve sent me some pictures of a motor yacht breaking loose from a sling and falling nose first into the harbor. I got to wondering how that came to pass. Was it really an equipment failure? Or was it some overworked rigger making a mistake? Or, my personnel favorite, deliberate sabotage by someone nursing a grudge against some too rich jackass?

Unfortunately, the email didn't identify the boat, owner, harbor or date, much less any assign any blame, so I did a a little digging. I found exactly the same story posted in several places. I finally came across the origins of the story on snopes.com, which did give all the pertinent details, except the owner.

Narco Christianity

From a story at Business Insider:

The Knights subscribe to La Familia's ruthless brand of narco-Christianity — Gomez and the late Moreno converted to Evangelical Christianity while working as migrants in the U.S. and have referred to their beheadings and assassinations as "divine justice."  The Knights have already gained a reputation for extreme brutality – the gang displayed at least 9 bodies last week with warnings that they would take down any allies of La Familia or Los Zetas, another powerful Mexican cartel.

Makes my heart glad.Via Burro Hall.