So long Ron

A good friend passed away last week.
Rsdoran
I really didn't know him, but through reading of his posts @ PLCS.net, and His site The Industrial Electrical & Maintenance Forum I felt like I did.

Compare Virtual Earth and Google Earth Side by Side

This Site Compares photos from Google Earth and Microsoft Virtual Earth Side by Side.
You Can Zoom in and out and Pan.
How do they figure this stuff out?

Virtual Magic

First off, we need some background information.
It took about 10 years and then Disneyland began running out of room.
I think the first ride to go underneath and over to the other side of the berm was "It's a Small World.
Followed by Pirates of the Caribean, Haunted Mansion, Splash Mountain, Bear Country, Indiana Jones, and I guess Toon Town.
I find it fascinating how they Imagineer the buildings that contain rides outside of the park.
Joe Cardello has created some nice renderings at Virtual Magic.
You can also find track Layouts here.
He uses the same free rendering software www.blender.org that Jeff Skinner uses for Bend in the River.

EarthRise

We will be getting some more nice pictures of Earth with the Lunar surface as a foreground.
Thanks to the Japanese SELenological and ENgineering Explorer.
I hope that they can do a flyby of an Apollo site.

70/80's Power Rock Trio of the Month

Rush

Klaatu barada nikto

They are doing a remake of the best Science Fiction film ever made.
The Day the Earth Stood Still

I wonder if the spaceship will land in the Ellipse?

I hope it doesn't have too much PC garbage in it.
How much do you want to bet that Klaatu Comes to warn us about our CO2 emissions?

JEOPARDY

The Archives are located here.
Created by a fan of the show.
The Stats are the interesting part.
Like these from Season 24.

Sony's official site is Here.
Not nearly as interesting.

TrickOrTreaters

Well Trick or Treators were up again. 113 visitors, that's 14% more than Last year.

B Movies

Fantastic Cinema like
First Space Ship on Venus
available on
bmovies.com
Take a look at the opening credits for this movie.
Very similar to
Star Wars.

H/T The Cartoonist

Golf Buddy

I took Garrett golfing for the first time today.
We had to get away from the smoke, so we took a trip down to the Hyatt Newporter. they have a pitch putt course that is great for beginners.
He did great

Bridge of the Month

Sundial Bridge at Turtle Bay
No Pylons touch the water.
H/T

Tom McMahon

910 Tanker

The recent Fires allowed me to see this 910 Tanker in action.
I don't know how effective it is, but it looks very cool.

When Dog Owners Go Too Far

Not So Infinite Oz

Still an interesting Site
It took about 5 minutes for me to go through the complete loop.
I didn't see any Flying Monkeys.

SnapShots

Cool FireFox Add on Lets you preview a web page before you click the HyperText.
I took about ten seconds to download and install.

I know this is a scary place, but The People's Cube has mapped out the mind of a Liberal.
I liked the Bleeding Heart Lobe.

Higher IQ

Yes you can Increase your IQ.

RirianProject has an article with lots of good Ideas.

Rick Monday Saves the Flag

The kids went to a Dodger game last night.
They got Rick Monday's Autograph.
Here is a Video showing a great thing that he did 31 years ago.

WakeSetter

Look Ma No Towline
That takes some serious coordination.

Full Moon

I was Checking out the Full moon tonight.
I found this site with a link to a Map that shows where probes have landed.

Google Earth [Recycled]

Update!
Now you can press Ctrl-Alt-A and you get a Google Flight simulator.
You can choose between an F16 or a Cirrrus SR22.

Google Earth is a very cool application that you have to download.
But once you do, it is bound to keep you busy for hours.
The Colorado River View is Great!

Bend in the River

One of my favorite rides in Disneyland is Pirates of the Caribbean.
Partially because the wait time is often shorter than the ride itself.
Also, I find it amazing how the designers made the ride go out under the berm and back without giving away any of the illusion while you are on the ride.
Bend in the River has a nice CG rendering of New Orleans Square.
BTW September 19 is... International Talk Like A Pirate Day

Dreamworld

I knew that there was once a knock off of Disneyland in Japan called Nara Dreamland.
What I didn't know is that there is a Dreamworld Gold Coast Down under.
Again it looks like a poor copy of the original.
Well they say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

European Plates

Why does the global community allow this?
The Automobile license plates that they use in Europe are Huge!
That's 23% larger than good old American plates. That's 23% larger PER vehicle.
I mean it's their business if they want to use those huge plates, but what about the children?
We should boycott, unless that is, if the European Union been buying License plate Offsets.

Survivorman

Gotta love this show.
It is a very original show.
He has competition now.
Man Vs Wild.
I think that Les Stroud's version is way more authentic, and much easier to watch.
The Boys are also hooked.

Radio Radio

Cool collection of Old Transistor Radios on this Site.
Sarah's Transister Radio Collection


Including the professor's Radio from Gilligan's Island

Joe Walsh

I'd like to Dedicate this Post to all of the people who have never had a post dedicated to them.

Disneyland Rocks!

My kids can't figure out why I keep having them pose in front of the wooden Indian.



























Monorail Red is painted over Yellow to advertise the Finding Nemo themed Submarine ride.
So we took that rather than wait the 2 hours for the Submarine ride.
Tomorrowland looks so much nicer
with the waterfalls flowing.

GoogleVision at Night

Google Earth has a new Feature that lets you Explore the planets and Space.
I don't believe in astrology, but it is cool to be able to rotate the night sky and see the signs of the Zodiac in order.

Rutan Visionary

Australian Sparks

Knowledge can be a dangerous thing. Tesladownunder.com
The coolest homemade experiments.
Nature Photography all sorts of cool stuff.
Great Site.

JetPacks Are Cool

It's hard to tell if this is real, or just some guy hanging from a wire connected to a helicopter.

Motorcycle of the Month

The KillaCycle
The Link is kinda old, but it is a cool dragster.

There's Gold in them there hills!

Austin and I went up to Visit Mom this weekend.
The highlight was the Sutter Gold Mine tour.
We also went to Coloma. The place where Marshall discovered gold is kinda swampy now.

I got a "G"

Of course I did.

Mingle²

H/T Right on the Left Coast

Radio Days

I thought that I would try this to see if it is any good.

Personal Transport System of the Month

The Future Of Personal Transit

And you thought an MRI was bad.

Plane lands on Highway

Reminds me of the movie 405

Beer contains Female Hormones

This is serious stuff, researchers have found that "Beer Contains Female Hormones!"

Last month, National University of Lesotho scientists released the results of a recent analysis that revealed the presence of female hormones in beer. Men should take a concerned look at their beer consumption. The theory is that beer contains female hormones (hops contain phytoestrogens) and that by drinking enough beer, men turn into women.

To test the theory, 100 men drank 8 pints of beer each within a 1 hour period. It was then observed that 100% of the test subjects: . . . .

1. Argued over nothing.
2. Refused to apologize when obviously wrong.
3. Gained weight.
4. Talked excessively without making sense.
5. Became overly emotional.
6. Couldn't drive.
7. Failed to think rationally
8. Had to sit down while urinating.

No further testing was considered necessary

Via

Us Danes & Our Family

Read More...

Caveman Golfer

Some of this is pretty funny,
Some of it, not so much.

Berkeley Pit

DI has a new take on this.


I Was Browsing information on the Berkeley Pit in Butte Montana.
I came across this Article that showed me just how the Daily show gets the people to look so stupid on film.

Sesso's story provides a pretty good illustration of how the Daily Show goes about creating its segments. The effusive Sesso tells Gelf he was interviewed for roughly two hours. "They asked me everything under the sun," he says. "I was pretty well prepared, though, and apparently was pretty boring to them. So they closed by asking me to tell a joke."

Courtesy Montana Legislature Jon Sesso

Sesso was unable to come with anything clean, he says, hence the pregnant pause that dominates much of the segment.


I visited the pit about 10 years ago and I thought that it was interesting.

Another long winded, but interesting read Here.

Happy 4th!

Guitar Riff of the Month

Andy McKee