Links posted in July 2009
July 22, 2009
July 21, 2009
Apropos of the Apollo 11 commemmoration I just re-watched The Right Stuff, which of course set me on a good ol' Wikiwander through 1960s space and aeronautics topics.
* Did you know you can make a cloud on a humid day by cracking a whip? The Prandtl-Glauert Singularity, also explains the stunning shock cone that sometimes seen as a plane crosses Mach 1.
* Chuck Yaeger was shot down over France, escaped to Spain with the help of the French resistance, was re-instated to flight status by Eisenhower, and once made an 'Ace in a day': one mission, 5 enemy planes shot down. At the time of this 1991 interview, Yaeger was still flying F15s, F16s and stealth fighter prototypes - he brings the crotchet yet shuts down all attempt to collect a 'yeah the good ol' days were better'. He flew supersonic planes up to his final retirement in 1997 at age 73.
* Pancho's Happy Bottom Riding Club, seen in the beginning of the Right Stuff, is worth a whole post on its own. Pancho's was named for it owner, Mrs. Florence 'Pancho' Barnes: a socialite who wandered revolutionary Mexico, became a test pilot and stunt pilot, and eventually an entrepreneur whose business grew with the nearby Muroc (later Edwards) air force base. Her 'Rancho Oro Verde Fly-Inn Dude Ranch' aka Happy Bottom Riding Club was basically the Posse East for dry lakes test pilots. If you don't click on anything else in this post please enjoy these rules for hostesses at the HBRC. By the way, season 3 of Mad Men starts in a few weeks.
Are you ready for the Highball? Imagine that the Alamo Drafthouse expanded outside of movie related events. What else would the do? Bowling? Stand-alone food and drink? Karaoke? Pool and skeeball? A music venue? It seems they are doing just that. All of them. [more inside]
July 18, 2009
I think you will enjoy this collection of artwork inspired by cult movies. You may also like artwork inspired by videogames of the 1980's.
July 16, 2009
When did they decide to do this? So, I've been collecting the state quarters. I thought I had the complete collection. I was proud. And then five days ago, Taco Bell gave me the Guam quarter in my change. Guam? I thought it was counterfeit. I didn't argue, though. I was afraid of reading about me on Fark starring in a $2 bill/ Taco Bell style feud where I was made to look like a chump. It is only now that I have researched things... I can understand D.C. getting one, but the Northern Mariana Islands?
World's Fastest and What Fast Looks Like -- two stunning posts collecting videos of people performing at top speed, from a 9.18second Rubik's Cube solution to skydiving at 614mph (no joke).
July 08, 2009
Exasperated by the GD temperatures in Austin again today, I looked for some perspective on the web. I got all that and more with this well-constructed blog post charting the last decade of temperatures in Austin. They may be reading too much into only a decade of data (not long in a meteorological sense) but it does provide an immediate look at whether you can support an assertion that "this year has to be the worst in a while." (Of course anything could happen the rest of the summer but looking at the graph I think you can support the idea that it is hotter than usual).
[more inside]
I don't even remember liking GI Joe that much as a kid (I was way more into Masters of the Universe and Transformers for sure) but the cartoon probably does rank as the most influential kids animation of the age. They certainly set the standard for improbably convoluted ways to prevent anyone from coming away with a single scratch as this video slideshow points out (via habcous). It's weird, though: despite not being that into the GI Joe TV cartoon, I did always love Buzz Lightyear's movies.
July 06, 2009
Atlas Obscura - Compendium of the World’s Wonders, Curiosities and Esoterica, [more inside]
Hacienda: How Not to Run a Club - Peter Hook's Book About the Hacienda Club: Too Hot for the Presses?
July 04, 2009
Next week marks the 30th anniversary of Disco Demolition night, (wp), while last week marks the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall Inn Riots. The first has dynamite, marijuana, Rusty Staub, huns storming the gates with ladders and whiskey bottles, and in the end disco group Chic invoking Godwin's Law. The latter has drag queens, the Mafia, cops on the take, Allen Ginsberg, a Howdy Doody show parody, and is regarded as the "defining event that marked the start of the gay rights movement in the United States and around the world." Both are gonzo wonderful in a way no fiction writer could choose to invent. [more inside]
July 03, 2009
NOOOOOOO!!!!!!
I just found out I'm related to the Bush's, Sarah Palin, and the Romney's. My mother's maiden name was Arnold, and we're direct descendants of Benedict Arnold. The shame of that name is nothing compared to being kinfolk with the former.
Apparently there's some 80,000 of us in the US alone. You may be in our growing number...
July 01, 2009
There, I Fixed It - Welcome to TowtruckJohnny's world