Finally!

Finally!  Rockets like I thought they would be like, when I was a kid back in the '50s and '60s.  You'll want full screen on this one.  From SpaceX:

On Monday, October 7th, Grasshopper completed its highest leap to date, rising to 744m altitude. The view above is taken from a single camera hexacopter, getting closer to the stage than in any previous flight.

Grasshopper is a 10-story Vertical Takeoff Vertical Landing (VTVL) vehicle designed to test the technologies needed to return a rocket back to Earth intact. While most rockets are designed to burn up on atmosphere reentry, SpaceX rockets are being designed not only to withstand reentry, but also to return to the launch pad for a vertical landing. The Grasshopper VTVL vehicle represents a critical step towards this goal.

Grasshopper consists of a Falcon 9 rocket first stage tank, Merlin 1D engine, four steel and aluminum landing legs with hydraulic dampers, and a steel support structure.

Note: you can see on the video that they capture this shot with a remote-controlled hexacopter.  I bet SpaceX is a fun place to work!

Land of the Free?

Land of the Free?  The inimitable Mark Steyn has a new piece posted at NRO that concludes:

I wonder what those Japanese and Australian tourists prevented from photographing bison or admiring a geyser make of U.S. claims to be “the land of the free.” When a government shutdown falls in the forest, Americans should listen very carefully. The government is telling you something profound and important about how it understands the power relationship between them and you.

The National Park Service should be out of the business of urban landmarks, and the vast majority of our “national” parks should be returned to the states. After the usurpation of the people’s sovereignty this month, the next president might usefully propose a new Charter of the Forest.

I've been thinking about Nineteen Eighty-Four a lot, recently...

Blithering idiots, busily blithering...

Blithering idiots, busily blithering...  So a week or so ago, I read the story about the U.S. returning the ancient rhyton (at right) to Iran's cultural heritage chief – who was delighted to receive it.  The general wisdom was that the gesture portended some sort of “thaw” in U.S. – Iranian relations. That's all of a piece with The One's uninformed and arrogant foreign policy, and I didn't think about it any further.

Until this morning, that is, when I read that the rhyton was a fake, and not even an ancient fake – it's probably less than 20 years old.  Furthermore, the U.S. government knew it was a fake – they seized it originally because it was a fake.

I can only think of two possibilities here:

1.  Incompetence on a gigantic scale, perpetrated by blithering progressive idiots.

2.  Diabolical cleverness, delivering a head fake to tweak the Persian noses.

Given The One's propensity to appoint blithering idiots, one of those seems much more likely than the other...

ObamaCare has raped her future...

ObamaCare has raped her future.  So says Ashley Dionne:

My name is Ashley Dionne and I’m a 26-year-old recent graduate from Michigan.

The phony Obamacare signup poster boy made me want to send a message about how Obamacare is really affecting people.

I graduated from The University of Michigan in 2009. In my state, this used to mean something, but even with a bachelor’s I was told I was too educated and wouldn’t stay. I watched as kids with GEDs and high school diploma’s took the low-paying jobs for which I applied.

I went back to school and got a second degree and finally found work at a gym. I work nights and only get 32 hours a week for eight dollars an hour. I’m unable to find a second job at this time.

I have asthma, ulcers, and mild cerebral palsy. Obamacare takes my monthly rate from $75 a month for full coverage on my “Young Adult Plan,” to $319 a month. After $6,000 in deductibles, of course.

Liberals claimed this law would help the poor. I am the poor, the working poor, and I can’t afford to support myself, let alone older generations and people not willing to work at all.

This law has raped my future.

It will keep me and kids my age from having a future at all.

This is the real face of Obamacare and it isn’t pretty.

The comments are interesting, too...

Opt out of Google Shared Endorsements...

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California leads the way...

California leads the way – in confusing legislative decisions.  On the one hand, Governor Moonbeam vetoed a ban on certain types of rifles, making him look like a friend – albeit a very unlikely friend – to gun rights advocates.  On the other hand, he signed AB 711, which bans lead ammunition for hunting.  The California hunting community views this as effectively a ban on hunting, as there is no non-lead ammunition available for hunting.

Rigatoni con la Pajata...

Rigatoni con la Pajata...  I like to eat, and I've often said I've never met a cuisine that I didn't like.  That may have changed this morning, as I read this story about Neanderthals – and others – eating chyme.  I'd never even heard of chyme before!  Or Rigatoni con la Pajata.  Warning: you can't unread this...

California leads the way...

California leads the way – in environmentalist wacko twisted pretzel legislation and litigation.  Also in the use of lard as a fuel. 

Read this: your temperature will rise, your eyes will burn, your head will explode, and you'll start looking for real estate in another place.  Any other place...

Dead parrots...

Dead parrots.  Chris Muir at Day-by-Day is on my wavelength...

Mysterious gravitational anomaly...

Mysterious gravitational anomaly.  Sometimes, but not always, when satellites pass close by the Earth their speed changes by an unexpected amount – as if the mass of the earth was variable on very short time scales.  Scientists are stumped.

Say, I wonder if they've tried to correlate these anomalies with when Congress is in session?  Maybe having that many empty skulls in one place distorts the Earth's gravitational field.  It certainly distorts my equanimity!