Tuesday, July 28, 2015

Linky Maintenance

I was bored so I decided to clean out some links that were moribund and add a new one. "Interesting Engineering" is a site with engineering, science and technology news. It makes for a good time killer.

Monday, July 20, 2015

Air Medal Awarded!

A pilot flying out of the Belle Chasse Naval Air Station was recently awarded the Air Medal. The Air Medal is awarded for meritorious achievement while participating in aerial flight. The short story is that his F-18 was hit by lightening and he received an electric shock that scrambled his neurological network.. In spite of this, he managed to get his plane back safely. The story in the local paper is here.
If you want to read a more detailed version by his wing man, go here.

You never know when things are going to go south in aviation.

Thursday, July 16, 2015

Happy Trinity Day

No, not the Holy Trinity but the atomic one. Today is the 70th anniversary of the Trinity Test.

Yesterday I added another link to my atomic chain by attending a lecture by the great-grand daughter of Leslie R Groves - head of the Manhattan Project. She provided personal anecdotes about him that most people don't know. For example, his nickname was DNO (Dino) which he got from his wife. He was either called Dick or DNO, not Leslie. His family never knew what he did or where he went. He often gave them instructions about what to tell people who asked about him. He never carried a briefcase because of security concerns - a briefcase made you look too important. He authorized himself to wear civilian clothes for the same reason. After he received word of the successful bombing of Hiroshima, he celebrated with his family by having chocolate ice cream.

Friday, July 10, 2015

Paris Catacombs - Underwater

This is unique underwater footage of a diving trip to the catacombs. Turn on the captioning for English subtitles.
 The poem is by Edgar Allen Poe.

Wednesday, July 1, 2015

Head Count

Saudi Arabia had a slight reduction in the number of be-headings last month. They separated 11 heads from their owners bodies. It was almost equally divided between murderers and drug offenders. Their year to date total is now 95. At this rate, they are on track to reach a total of 200 for the year.