The first I heard of EMALS was in February, when a customer requested a list of over one hundred fasteners, all with high quantities, mostly military standards. The buyer gave us a rough explanation, which sounded to me an awful lot like a mass driver for jet fighters. I heard back from them recently and they bought a few more bolts and nuts to ( Read more... )

OK, check out the pictures from Friday.

On Friday at noon, April came to pick me up from work. She had been gleefully hiding some plan for my birthday, and all was to come together on this day. We went out to lunch at Monsoon, in downtown San Diego, and then she started driving north. When we got to Orange County, I figured we probably weren't going to Disneyland - we have passes and ( Read more... )

I've been reading the archives of Questionable Content, and I just came across this gem that I had to share. My mind bends at the concept of role-playing flame wars; it is considerably worse than a soccer board game.

Me: As you approach c, your mass increases, somehow.

Joe: And then you'll be C-walkin'. (Looks across the table at Darrell, who laughs.) That's gangsta!

Me: I always heard it called pimp-rollin'.

Joe: Pimp-rollin'?

Me: That's what they called it in The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test.

Joe: The dance?

Me: Gangstas don't dance, they just lean back ( Read more... )

I always thought I was different from the other nerds. In elementary school, I was ostracized more than they were, and in high school I mingled more than they did. I hit enough musical genres to keep up in any clique, I understood everyone’s jokes, and I had the breadth to participate in nearly any conversation. I was at once a member and an ( Read more... )

I finally ordered a copy of the HP Lovecraft Society's Call of Cthulhu, a short film that looks very promising. These things really have to be done by fans to be done right. I've seen a regrettable number of Lovecraft adaptations, all of which suffered for being modernized--as well as being plain Hollywood crap without even the virtue of camp ( Read more... )

Last August, the post office introduced a series of four American scientist stamps. For myself, the only name I've even heard is Richard Feynman, whom I know not for his work in physics but for his philatelic interest in Tannu Tuva. I've also seen (but not read) Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! at Barnes and Noble. Whatever the fate of this ( Read more... )

It was bound to happen that a real-life robotics team would name their creation GIR. The next step is getting it to store piggies in its battery pack.