Category: News

No Science For You!

 

This is quite sad. Another blow to amateur scientists everywhere:

The United States CPSC has initiated criminal legal action against us and other chemical suppliers. In short, the CPSC would like to ban the public from all access to chemicals. This would mean an end to hobbies such as model rocketry, pyrotechnics and of course chemistry. One by one, our freedoms are slowly being taken away from us – this action must be stopped now.

I suppose that in 15 years people in the US will look around themselves in their high security cities and wonder why all the equipment and technology is being sold to them by Chinese R&D labs. I suppose they won’t care because the call center jobs pay pretty well even if you do have to learn Mandarin to work there.

(There’s irony in there but the fedral government doesn’t want anyone to point it out.)

Boing Boing:US bans sale of chemicals to hobbyists without $1K license

Volcano Augustine Blows It’s Top

North America has another volcano that is spewing lava and ash, this time it’s in Alaska.

Current Level of Concern Color Code: RED The explosive eruption that began at 7:58 A.M. AST (16:58 UTC) ended at approximately 8:03 A.M. AST (17:03 UTC). We remain at level of concern color code RED. Based on seismicity, preliminary estimates indicate that this event is at least as energetic as the events of last week.

Alaska Volcano Observatory – Augustine – Eruption Page

Disgruntled Robot Kills Factory Manager

Killer robots! 

It’s started, the robots are beginning to rebel. Well, maybe just the ones that are given the opportunity to kill their masters. Lesson one when working around industrial robots: never enter the operating envelope when there is power to the system! This guy did and he got biffed in the head, chucked him a few yards and killed him.

Disgruntled Robot Kills Factory Manager

Apple Ad Ripoff?

 

 

Hum… Apple has a this ad for their new Intel powered computers that looks a whole lot like a video by a group named "The Postal Service". After seeing both of them I’d say that there are similarities, quite a few of them. Who ever was the company that made the Apple ad nailed the look of the Postal Service video 100%. I don’t know if the ad agency that Apple hired did this intentionally but they got their moneys worth on the viral marketing angle by coming close and then planting the seed of suspicion in people’s minds and banking on everyone making a big deal out of it like a bunch of mindless sheep. Well I say ‘BAAA!’. Yep, I’ll play the game. Heck, the music video is good, the song is even better (I was looking for the name of that band for quite a while), and its always funny when a computer company calls the customers of it’s newest partner ‘dull’. Hard to beat that. BTW, I won’t be upset if someone hits up my donation button big time so I can stop being a ‘dull’ Intel customer and become a ‘dull’ Apple customer.

Apple Ripoff

Good bye, John O’Connor

 

 

 

 

Red lectroid John O’Connor has crossed over the dimensional barrier for the last time… Actor Vincent Schiavelli passed away of lung cancer in his home in Italy on Monday. Schiavelli was a character actor in over 150 films in his carerebut for me his best role was that of John O’Connor in the cult classic movie, "Buckaroo Banzai".

"They’re only monkey-boys. We can crush them here on earth, Lord Whorfin"

Character Actor Vincent Schiavelli Dies

Sonoma Sasquatch Footage

Bigfoot? 

Here is the most recent Sasquatch (Bigfoot, whatever) I have seen. The footage made me a bit on the woozy side but I’ll admit that there is something there. I can’t see how someone can dismiss the idea that it’s a guy in a monkey suit with extra long arms. I’m quite sure that the ‘experts’ will be pouring over this clip for some time to come.

[via BoingBoing] 

Sonoma Footage