The design and manufacture of beer cans

A detailed look at the making of aluminum cans for drinks. The logic of the design choices are explained well, and the manufacturing process is clearly illustrated. An interesting look at a mundane topic.

Sloop John B

Get ready for a Bahamian weekend with Brian Wilson, Al Jardine and friends.

30 days at sea

This is a time lapse of a cargo ship traveling from the Red Sea to Hong Kong. Many years ago I sailed much the same waters, but I was on a warship and I remember the trip as being from east to west.

We had left Hong Kong and were in the Gulf of Tonkin when the Yom Kippur War started. The carrier group I was with pulled out and sailed through the Straits of Malacca and headed first to the Gulf of Oman off the Straits of Hormuz, and eventually south to the Gulf of Aden where my ship, and another destroyer, ran a blockade of the Bab el-Mendab Straits into the Red Sea.

It was hotter than hell and the sky was yellow with wind-blown sand. The Indian Ocean was beautiful.

Ardent in one way or another

Flattery in courtship is the highest insolence, for whilst it pretends to bestow on you more than you deserve, it is watching an opportunity to take from you what you really have. - Sarah Fielding

Vintage color Scientific American magazine covers

Click any image to enlarge

These covers, and those after the jump, are from the Internet Archive's collection: Scientific American (1845-1909). As well as the covers, the collection allows you to browse the internal pages of the magazines.

Papa's Got A Brand New Bag

Get ready for a funky weekend with Shun Ng and Magic Dick.

An RC amphibious assualt

I first posted this video in 2013. It is a ferocious storming of a beach by RC amphibious landing craft carrying RC tanks. It seems appropriate, in an odd sort of a way, to run it again on this 75th anniversary of the D-day landings.