The Sudden Curve

Lasers Suck, but Railguns Don't

Posted by Bob Wallace, who sez, oh yeah baby!

Woody Woodpecker explains astrophysics from Destination Moon (1951)

That corporate PR Raytheon description of a hunter-killer anti- missle MKV satellite was a little too campy for me.

Now ... this from about 12 minutes into George Pal's Destination Moon is how you really explain Space stuff ::

posted by Tom Novak, who says, "gimme' Rocket Ship Galileo vs Space Nazis any time."

Smokin' Babe Classic :: Hedy Lamarr

I first saw Hedy Lamarr in the 1930s movie Algiers when I was maybe eight or nine years old and immediately fell in love. Of course, by that time, Hedy was, what, about 50, the age I am now. Ah well... As usual, my timing was way off.

Hedy once said, "Any girl can be glamorous. All you have to do is stand still and look stupid." But Hedy, one of my favorite smokin' babes of all time, was anything but stupid. Besides being a terrific and gorgeous actress, she was an inventor! During WWII, she and composer George Antheil invented the Secret Communication System, an early version of frequency hopping that changed between 88 frequencies and was created to make radio-guided torpedoes harder for enemies to detect or jam. Very cool.

Posted by Wally Conger, who can't look at most photos of Hedy Lamarr without needing to take a quick cold shower.

Cool Science Kits for the Kiddies

When I was a kid I was in the Cub Scouts. It was pretty cool; even today I still have my badges.

One of the things we did was build little science kits, like a crystal radio. It's why even today I know what a diode is, and a capacitor.

Recently I ran across this site on the Internet:

Science Toys

This is some way-cool stuff, and cheap, too. It shows you how to build a capacitor out of two sheets of aluminum foil and an Isaac Asimov paperback book. You can't beat that!

These would be great projects for father and son. The media is always whining we need more engineers; if we lack them maybe it's because school is so boring. These projects won't be, I guarantee you that.

Posted by Bob Wallace, who's almost got his laser finished.

ROBO says, "Oh, The Horror!"

"You inhumanoid monsters! What have you done?"

posted by ROBO, editor who dreams of electric sheep ... and not a minute too soon by the look of things

3D Mars Wallpaper

Okay all you Rebels of Mars, looky; you can download your very own
3-D Martian Screensavers.

WoW!

Yes, yes, we know what you are thinking, "big deal, they'll just look fuzzy, and, anyway, I lost the pair of 3-D glasses that I pocketed instead of dropping into the barrel as I exited Captain EO."

Well - head over here and get your *FREE* 3-D Glasses.

They even have clip-ons available for those of us who wear size extra-nerdy.

P.S. - here's where we keep up with the latest spaceliness.

Perseid's Peak Tonight

It's a beautiful day in the Outer and Inner Space ... Neighborhoods

The heart of the Lagoon Nebula

(image from Universe Today via the Hubble)

Ah...Now This is Beautiful

We probably know more about the surface of the moon than we do the ocean. Every day we discover new species. This little beauty is Bathocyroe fosteri, a lobate ctenophore found at intermediate depths in all the seas. It's very common and abundant near the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, and measures about two inches tall.

An you know what? I would love to have one of these things, about 1000 feet long, for use as...a spaceship!

Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame

Grand Opening today, Friday, June 18th.

Check the museum site out, it's chocked full of lots of great events, displays, a Feature Exibit about our favorite angry red planet MARS, and a Brave New World's tribute to Ray Bradbury's great Fahrenheit 451 (the real one not some crappy politcal movie take off). Wow, what fun.

And if that wasn't enough, and it is, this year they've inducted into the Hall of Fame the Sudden Curve's patron saint ERB. Wish I could go!

posted by ROBO, editor who is positronically going to visit there soon.

A Hubble's Eye View

Of Saturn, taken March 22, 2004.

posted by ROBO, editor at running rings around things

Environmentalists really are whacky

And they will never, ever, never shut up. While about to post the nifty skeeter poster below, we noticed the "likely caused by global warming" blurb inserted into it. Jeeee-uus! Thus instantly turning it from what was useful information to meaningless political propaganda suitable only for wrapping the jewfish we powerheaded 25 fathoms below the oilrig this morning.

BTW, what the enviro-nazis aren't telling anyone is that according to Ronald Bailey the latest revised projection of the significance of global warming based on current satellite data is a rise in temperature of one degree celsius in the next century. OMIGOD! HAAAAAAAAEEEEELP!

So instead of that tripe we'll showcase this:

Woooohoooooo!

posted by tortuga tommy, editor at battling the manichaean multiverse

Sea Monkeys of MARS

YES!! That last Mullah of Mars post reminded me ... at last there is something about Mars that is actionable for all of us earthworms lacking a ginormous gubmint agency. And now that we are told that there used to be oceans on Mars (well- okay, the real story is that Mars was sorta, kinda, wet - maybe...) what else would have created a sentient civilisation on Mars but Sea Monkeys?

Unless of course someone manufactures zANTi Farms of Mars....

posted by, ROBO editor at keeping nano pets.

Tortuga Tommy sneers at ~ Mars - The Red Diaper Planet

So THIS is the b-i-g exciting news announced today about Mars?

"There was once, maybe, kinda, 'prolly, water on mars and we are gonna go waaaay out on a limb and say so.... sorta, we guess. Uhmmm, can we get that funding now?"

Thanks for that newsflash. Geee, is there anybody out there who didn't know this already????

Hey, Nerds at NASA - I just looked out the window and IT'S RAINING! Look, WATER! Can I have a gubmint grant now or something for 400 million large and a golf cart powered by an atari computer?

The Willard Whyte Industries' Mars Cart

Oh well, it's a good excuse to point out that once upon a time, MARS WAS FUN! That was back in the cool, old 1930's when we had rocket ships and death rays and planets to conquer and menacing BEMS (bug-eyed-monsters) to battle for the dominion of the Known Galaxy... Whooo hoooooo!

Flash, Dale and Dr. Zarkov from around 1938 battling for dominion

Nowadays these sci-fi writers bleed green allover because we are "hurting" space by traveling through it... sheesh. You know, the russian commies never made it to the moon, what makes you pinkos think you can get to Mars????

Nevermind.. but it also is a good excuse to point out that we used to have cool, old, 1950's, sci-fi movies alla'time being made on the cheap about Mars, like The Angry Red Planet ( filmed in CINEMAGIC! )

close up of the vicious spider-bat-rat from The Angry Red Planet

Take our advice and shut off the NASA channel and watch The Angry Red Planet instead. We have to give the nod to the cheesy movie over the cheesy fedgov agency ... at least the movie broke even at the box office, eventually, for American International Pictures.

posted by Tortuga Tommy, editor at being The Angry Red Neck

Speaking of Guns:: Our Favorite New Gun

We've tried just about everything from .22 Bearcats to Falcon Guns around here for our personal defense battery, but this great new prototype from Brotronic Labs that we've been testing out is fast becoming the essential go-to component for use in the home, office, SUVs and even in repelling boarders:

This baby beats that .50 cal Solothurn we have mounted on the roof all to heck and back! The Electrolux Death Ray is a creation of the fine folks over in the secret skunkworks and arsenal they have at Brotronic Labs.

Who says that the little guys can't compete with the military-industrial complex?

Here's another view - just look at that exceptional craftsmanship!!

And it works as good as it looks! Make sure you go to the Brotronic Labs site and watch the movie trailer Commercial for the new Lux Ray. Once you've seen this little gem in action you'll want one for your very own. Don't miss the other fine products offered in the Brotronic Atomics and Robotics Divisions either.

To order directly just visit Brotronic's web site here You'll be glad you did.

posted by ROBO, editor at positronic percipience

Help! I’ve fallen and I can’t blog

Jeezo, I’ve been sweating bullets for a few days here. It seems that pressure to perform has resulted in a severe case of blogger’s block. Last night, I was too unnerved to sleep, so I did what bloggers have always done since the beginning of blogging; I turned to the bottle. I had a few swigs of Jack Daniel’s Old Number 7. Nothing happened, so I had a few more swallows of the Lynchburg Lubricant. All of a sudden, Thesaurus! (No relation to Theo-Saurus, God of the dinosaurs)… the word center of my brain opened up and hemorrhaged like a cut sack of beans. Words were going everywhere, and with no page to contain them, they were by and large all lost. I hope they don’t attract rodents! Anyway, I don’t know if there are any left in my word center to make a paragraph with. So, here goes nothing:

If I remember my anatomy correctly, the brain’s word center is located somewhere between the singulate gyrus (or maybe it’s the hippocampus) and the left ankle. In men, the word center interconnects with the testicles through a labrynth of nerves, as do the rest of the brain parts, while in women it is connected by a large, high-bandwith nerve trunk of the T1 type, directly to the larynx. This is the reason why in my case, the words went nowhere in particular, whereas in a woman they would have come out of her mouth in the form of what we scientists refer to as a “tirade”. Those who have witnessed a tirade know how it gave rise to the old adage “Give a woman a tire iron and she’ll beat you unconscious, give her a tirade and she’ll beat you to death.”

Alcohol does not act directly on the word center in men. Instead, it stimulates the testicles, and thereby indirectly activates the word center. Words such as “you look great in that dress” or “nice sweater” are issued by the word center following a couple of drinks. Other words and phrases follow additional intake, but will not be discussed in detail here in the interest of decorum. In women, alcohol acts directly on the word center, and also increases the capacity of the T1 nerve trunk, often to the point where the resulting tirade overwhelms the larynx and causes acute laryngitis. It is useful to have an understanding of these differing anatomical and pharmacological principles when interacting socially with women.

A few other things you need to be aware of when interacting with women and alcohol are such things as “Watch it buster”, “You’re pushing your luck”, and “No way after that remark”. These word signals can be misinterpreted as negative sentiments, unless the testicles have been properly activated with a sufficient dose of alcohol.

There is probably a lot more that could be said on this important subject. What was it again anyway? Well, I’m tired, and it’s becoming increasingly evident that there weren’t any useful words left in the word center after the hemorrhage, so if you have read this far, I will simply apologize for dragging you along, and invite you to have a drink or two and a talk with your favorite woman or women as the case may be.

posted by IFYA, editor of Graze Anatomy