Cadillac Assembly Line

 

Monday morning, start of the work week blues from the Bernard Allison Group.

 

Electric Football

I didn't know Electric Football games were still being sold, much less played and now even with Electric Football leagues and tournaments that have sprung up around the toy. I don't recall Electric Football being a thrilling spectator sport, so I'm not sure about the utility of the mini-camera rig shown in the video above, but to each his own.

For those not familiar with the game you set up formations of your players on a board which vibrates when turned on to start a play. The players then move, in pretty much random directions, as they're bounced around by the vibration. Bill Bryson, in his book  The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid: A Memoir describes Electric Football as follows:

The worst toy of the decade [the 1950s], possibly the worst toy ever built...it took forever to set up each play because the men were so fiddly and kept falling over, and because you argued continuously with your opponent about what formations were legal and who got to position the final man...it hardly mattered how they were set up because electric football players never went in the direction intended. In practice what happened was that half the players instantly fell over and lay twitching violently as if suffering from some extreme gastric disorder, while the others streamed off in as many different directions as there were upright players before eventually clumping together in a corner, where they pushed against the unyielding sides like victims of a nightclub fire at a locked exit. The one exception to this was the running back who just trembled in place for five or six minutes, then slowly turned and went on an unopposed glide toward the wrong end zone until knocked over with a finger on the two-yard line by his distressed manager, occasioning more bickering.

If, after reading that, you still have a hankering for the game, Miggle Toys sells several different electric stadiums, along with painted and unpainted players as well as sideline figures of coaches, cheerleaders, umpires, camera men and the like.

Astronomical illustrations

Click any image to enlarge

In my previous post we looked at time-lapsed views of Earth from orbit, in this post we'll look at an artist-eye view of the sky. Étienne Léopold Trouvelot, who drew these pictures, was a 19th Century naturalist, which is to say he had wide range of interest in scientific topics. 

Trouvelot immigrated to the U.S. in 1852. At the time he was an avid amateur entomologist. While trying to breed a more disease resistant silk spinning moth he imported some gypsy moth eggs. They got loose and spread widely in the Eastern States causing a lot of damage -- to the tune of $870 million a year -- to hardwood trees to this day. Thanks a lot Étienne.

However, after that fiasco he became interested in astronomy and his drawings caught the attention of the director of the Harvard College Observatory who hired him. From there Trouvelot moved to the U.S. Naval Observatory and its 26 inch refractor. Eventually he moved back to France where he continued his work.   

When I was younger I spent some time fooling around and trying to draw the Moon using a 6 inch Meade reflector. From that experience I can say that it is extremely difficult to draw things seen through a telescope. You have to fix what you have seen through the scope in your mind, all the while the image seen through the lens is dancing around due to the sky's conditions. Then you race over to a drawing pad lit by a red bulb and try to reproduce what you've seen. I'm impressed by Trouvelot's work.

If you like these illustrations you might also like my earlier post Illustrations of a different sort which features a wide variety of old scientific illustrations. 

There are more examples of Trouvelot's work after the jump, and a few more at Las Boite Verte's post Illustrations astronomiques en 1870 where I found these examples.    

Lights and sky

 

Above is a video of a series of time lapse sequences taken from the International Space Station with a low light camera. What I found interesting is that in them the Earth's landmasses faded into the background while mankind's lights and the atmosphere dominated. There's a lot of lightning out there, and the shots of the aurora borealis are breathtaking.
  

Stratfor and Khemupsorn Sirisukha

The new Stratfor Security Weekly article is out. Stratfor hasn't responded to my email inquiry about posting articles. Seesh, you would think if they had the choice between responding to a multi-national or responding to the site that's taken on the sacred duty of picking Hot Stratfor Babes for the articles I would have gotten a snappier response, but apparently not. Anyway, I'll just excerpt the beginning of it and link to the full article on their website. 

The article deals with the Hezbollah member who was recently arrested in Thailand and found to have about 10,000 pounds of fertilizer for bomb making. It is thought he was involved in plans for a Mumbai-style terror attack.

Since the article concerns Thailand I decided I would select a Thai for the distinction of being the article's Hot Stratfor Babe. After an exhaustive and careful search I selected Khemupsorn "Cherry" Sirisukha for the honor.

Ms Sirisukha is a popular Thai television, movie and stage actress who is also a model, has worked as a TV presenter and runs her own boutique called Cloud 9. She may also be a singer too, since one of her credits is a music video. It sounds like she has quite a successful career. 


A Hezbollah Threat in Thailand?
By Ben West, January 19,2012

On Jan. 12, Thai authorities arrested a man they say was a member of the Lebanon-based Shiite militant group Hezbollah who was plotting an attack in Bangkok. In uncovering the plot, Thai police cite cooperation with the United States and Israel going back to December 2011. Bangkok is indeed a target-rich environment with a history of terrorist attacks, but today Hezbollah and other militant and criminal groups rely on the city as more of a business hub than anything else. If Hezbollah or some other transnational militant group were to carry out an attack in the city, it would have to be for a compelling reason that outweighed the costs.

The suspect was identified as Hussein Atris, who was born in Lebanon but acquired Swedish citizenship and a passport after marrying a Swedish woman in 1996. Atris was arrested on immigration charges as he was trying to board a plane at Suvarnabhumi airport, Bangkok's main international airport. Police said another suspect is still at large and possibly already out of the country. Atris's arrest on Jan. 12 was followed by a statement the next day from the U.S. Embassy warning U.S. citizens in Bangkok of the potential foreign terrorist threat in the country and encouraging them to avoid tourist areas. Other countries, including the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada and Israel, issued similar warnings. Thai police have responded by increasing security in tourist areas like Bangkok's Khao San Road and the island of Phuket.

Then, on Jan. 16, some 200 Thai police officers searched a three-story commercial building in a town along the coast 32 kilometers (about 20 miles) southwest of Bangkok. Information on the location and contents of the building was said to have been provided by Atris after two days in custody. On the second floor of the building, officers found 4,380 kilograms (about 10,000 pounds) of urea-based fertilizer and 38 liters (about 10 gallons) of liquid ammonium nitrate -- enough materials to construct several truck bombs comparable to the one detonated at the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad in 2008. Urea fertilizer can be used to manufacture the improvised explosive mixture urea nitrate, which was the main charge used in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. The compound is also frequently used in improvised explosive devices in Iraq and to some extent in Afghanistan. On the ground floor of the same building, police found reams of printing paper and 400 electric table fans in cardboard boxes.

The following day, a Bangkok court charged Atris with illegal possession of explosive materials. As in many other countries, a permit is required for handling such large amounts of fertilizer in Thailand.

(read the rest of A Hezbollah Threat in Thailand?)

Clayton Boyer's clocks

 

Above is a video of Clayton Boyer demonstrating some unorthodox gear assemblies. He uses his mechanical knowledge to design wooden clocks, orreys and kinetic sculptures. He sells plans to his numerous creations (every plan I checked cost $37.00) at his website Clayton Boyer Clock Designs.

Along with his plans, the Clayton Boyer Clock Designs website has a large number of pictures as well as videos of clocks people have built from his plans. He also has links to other wooden clock designer's websites. 

He also has a blog Clayton Boyers's Tocks were, in addition to having information about building his wooden clocks, he posts pictures and questions from people who have bought his designs and built one of his clocks.

All of the pictures in this post have been taken from the Clayton Boyer Clock Designs site. There are more after the jump, and many, many more at Clayton's site.

Click any image to enlarge

I Wish You Were Here

Get ready for a mildly rueful weekend with Alpha Blondy.

EFLI expansion news

Colombo Lions helmet

Regular readers will know that EFLI stands for the Elite Football League of India, an American-style football league that was recently formed in India which I've been covering here at Flares in my bid to knock ESPN off its perch.

In the last couple of EFLI posts there was considerable confusion over rumors about the league expanding from its 8 original teams. I'm happy to report that I can now clear that matter up.

EFLI has announced in a press release that they've added a new expansion club, the Colombo Lions from Sri Lanka. In addition, they have plans to add a second Sri Lankan team which will bring their total number of teams to 10. The second Sri Lankan team will be from the city of Kandy and go by the name the Kandy Tuskers (which I think is a great football team name).

Play in the league will kick off with an exhibition game between the Colombo Lions and a team of Indian all stars in September, with the league's season then beginning on November 12th. If the league is successful a 3rd Sri Lankan team will be added from the city of Ruhuna. Further exapnansion is also planned for other Indian cities as well as, it is hoped, teams from Pakistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal.

One final bit of news. The teams have finally gotten around to putting up Facebook pages. Naturally, since I am a huge fan of them, I'll post a link to the Goa Swarm Facebook page. Go Swarm Go!!!

I doubt OSHA would approve

Click either image to enlarge

I don't know if these pictures are photoshopped or not. They purport to be a picture of an excavator sitting atop a 12 story building in Taiyuan, China. I guess it is demolishing the building by excavating its way down to the ground floor. If they are real the people doing this are completely crazy.

You can see more pictures of it at ChinaSmack.

Where ever you go for the rest of your life...

It turns out that Capt. Francesco Schettino, who was accused of abandoning the Italian cruise liner Costa Concordia after he ran it aground, has a perfectly good excuse as why he stompled over women and chidren on his way to get into a lifeboat.

As he relates the story, "The passengers were crowding the decks, storming the boats. I didn’t even have a life jacket because I gave it to one of the passengers. I was trying to get them into the boats in orderly fashion. Suddenly, because the ship was tilted 60-70 degrees, I stumbled and ended up in one of the lifeboats. That’s why I was there.”

So, apparently he actually just tripped and fell in the life boat by accident. Further, as you can tell from his account above, it was partly the fault of those pushy passengers who were crowding around him. Yea, I believe that.

At any rate his situation -- which is to spend the rest of his life being called a coward and having people giggling over his ridiculous tripping story -- reminded me of the old TV western Branded. In it Chuck Connors plays Jason McCord, the sole survivor or the Battle of Bitter Creek who was wrongly court-martialed for cowardice and thrown out of army as a result.

The show's introduction, embedded above, showed him getting his Lieutenant bars and shiney, brass buttons ripped off of his uniform and his sword busted in half. Hilariously, he then wandered around the old west wearing that torn shirt and toting his broken sword so everybody he met knew he was the Coward of the Battle of Bitter Creek. He tried to clear his name by being manly and doing various good deeds. Inspite of my brothers and I faithfully watching it each week, the show didn't last long.

Something tells me that, as awesome as it would be, there will not soon be a new TV series where Capt. Schettino, because of the ankle he sprained when he tripped and fell overboard, limps around Italy, carrying a hunk of salami and a wedge of provolone cheese, as he tries to clear his honor from the stigma of abandoning his ship and passengers. Instead, the guy has given a new definition to the old nautical expression "lower than whale shit".
 

A magnificent piece of machinery

 

Above is a view, from inside the shuttle, of the Atlantis approaching and docking with the International Space Station. The size of both is surprising. Alas, we're in a gap between U.S. manned space flight programs, with NASA developing the Orion capsule and the commercial SpaceX Dragon capsule slated for a mission to the ISS in the near future.

It was 1 day before my 9th birthday when Alan Shepard became the first American astronaut in space. They launched his Mercury capsule, Freedom 7, on a Redstone ICBM which looped him just into space before he came down in the Pacific. They took us kids down to the school gym where they set up a TV and we watched the historic moment. If you weren't old enough to be an astronaut, age 9 might have been the perfect age to enter the Space Age.

Not long after I discovered my first science fiction book in the school library. I don't remember its name or author, but it fired my imagination as few things have done. It was a standard space opera, with the main character a rogue who, along with his furry little alien pet, flew a beat up old space freighter smuggling Vegan slime molds or some such outer-spacey cargo. 

Naturally he ended up embroiled with a feisty female passenger as they tried to battle ruthless race of space aliens bent on conquering the Galaxy. As they mentioned many times, their only hope was finding a wise and all powerful race of ancient aliens that were rumored to have once saved the Galaxy from just such an invasion.

With all the anvils the author was dropping in the story you would have had to be pretty much of a dimwit not to know the fuzzy alien pet was going to turn out to be one of those ancient aliens come to save the day. Being 10 or 11 years old I was just such a dimwit -- and so the reveal came as a clever surprise.

I spent a chunk of my youth daydreaming about flying around in rockets, and would have expected that by now we would have walked on Mars. Instead, we're still fiddling around in low orbit. Still, it as all quite remarkable. I wonder what I will yet see?

A warning voice

Spatula image from Tools Kitchen.

As Greg Agard reminds us guys in his story Is love a set up? don't ever let a woman come between you and your spatula or very, very bad things may happen. You've been warned!
   

Stratfor and Marie Wilson

As regulars may have noticed, I haven't been posting the weekly Stratfor articles since they were hacked. They took their website down to be reworked after the hack. They've since brought it back online, but they've removed the notice saying the two weekly articles -- Geopolitical Weekly and Security Weekly -- could be posted on other sites.

I've dropped them an email to see if this is temporary or a change of policy, and until I get clarification I'm holding off on posting them.

In the meantime you can read their latest Geopolitical Weekly article: Iran, the U.S. and the Strait of Hormuz Crisis and their latest Security Weekly article: Armed UAV Operations 10 Years On at their website (and I believe you can also read any of the other articles posted there that would normally require a login).

Since I'm in a "blogger finds free content, blogger loses free content, blogger hopes to get free content back" frame of mind the movie Boy Meets Girl sprang to mind. So, for this post its female lead, Marie Wilson gets the nod as the Hot Stratfor Babe.

Ms Wilson got her start dancing on Broadway and gained fame with My Friend Irma on radio and in movies. The role typecast her as a prototypical dumb blonde, which I guess explains why she is scratching her noggin with a gun barrel in the accompanying picture. 

She had quite a bit of success. It is said that her part in the movie Satan Met a Lady was the template for Marilyn Monroe's characters.

I'm hoping to be able to return to posting the full Stratfor articles; but again, here are the latest ones if want to read them:

Geopolitical Weekly - Iran, the U.S. and the Strait of Hormuz Crisis 
Security Weekly - Armed UAV Operations 10 Years On
 

Models of junk cars

Click any image to enlarge

Artist Martin Otto Lambert Heukeshoven makes models, which he prefers to call technical sculptures, of junk cars and other vehicles. The details he works into his sculptures is astonishing. It takes him around four months to build one, and they sell for in excess of $30,000.

There are more examples after the jump, and more at Amusing Planet where I found these samples. Heukeshovenalso has a large gallery at his website which has many more of the models, including other cars, trucks, a farm tractor and even some airplanes. Well worth a visit if you're interested.

Once a common sight

 

Above is a good HD video of a steam locomotive pulling out from a station and disappearing around a bend. It is amazing how boisterous and dominating it is, being both loud and visually impressive. I imagine they must have had a very distinctive smell as well.

Early in the Mornin'

 

Monday morning, start of the work week and MLK Day blues from Alan Lomax's recordings of black inmates singing on chain gangs. It is thought these songs and calls were descended from the era of slavery and that they were were the basis for the blues.  

1,000 Doors

Click to enlarge

Above is a public art installation in Seoul, South Korea call 1,000 Doors by the artist Choi Jeong-Hwa. It is a 10 story building covered with a facade of 1,000 doors. It looks like an eyesore to me. 

Choi Jeong-Hwa specializes in found art. That is, he uses everyday objects and converts them into artistic statements. He describes his inspiration in the quote below:  

In 1989. I couldn’t really draw so I didn’t think I could become a painter, but I really liked walking. So I used to walk between streets and narrow alleys and discover garbage piles and construction sites. I realized that “normal” people built and created things better than artists or professionals. Plus, what they were making was more natural. I decided against becoming an artist and decided instead to be an ordinary person who thinks like an artist.

Well, at least he is honest and he appears to make a living at it. Still, I wonder what the neighbors think of being stuck next to that monstrosity, or even worse -- the poor people inside of it without any windows?

A close call

Paper weapons

Click any image to enlarge

Postler Ferguson has designed kits for building paper weapons. Among the kits are the Ak47, M4A8, MP5, a hand grenade, and Uzi and even a field gun. You can buy them at Amazon.

There are more pictures after the jump. I found these samples at La boite verte.

Reading the morning newspaper

 

Via Tastefully Offensive

Vintage travel posters

Click any image to enlarge

 A collection of travel posters from an earlier era when international travel was more exotic, time consuming and available primarily to the affluent. The artwork is striking and evocative. Makes me wish I could board a steamer to a far-off land.

There are more examples after the jump, and even more posters at Puppies and Flowers' post 60 beautiful vintage Travel Posters where I found these examples. 

Mondo Bongo

 

Get ready for a languid weekend with Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros

Bog snorkeling

 

In 1976 a group of friends were tipping glasses in the The Neuadd Arms pub in Llanwrtyd Wells, Wales, when the topic of how to raise money for charity came up. Some how or another this led to the idea of having a race in a bog while wearing a snorkel. I must say I'm impressed by the ability of the Welsh to hold their booze. One would think that if you were drunk enough to come up with that idea you would black out and forget the whole business by the next day.

However, that night's inspiration was to lead to the sport of bog snorkeling. The rules are simple, they have to swim down and then back in a 60 yard trench cut into the bog while wearing a snorkel. Also, the racers can only kick their feet to propel themselves. 

By 1985 they had inaugurated the World Bog Snorkeling Championship which has been held every year since in Llanwrtyd Wells. The World Championship is held in August if you plan on starting to train to enter the race. The sport has also expanded to other areas, including Australia and also now includes such innovations as the bog snorkeling triathlon.
 

The strange world of Tetsuya Ishida

Click any image to enlarge

Tetsuya Ishida was a Japanese surrealist painter. Sadly, he died at the age of 31 in 2005 when he accidentally stepped in front of a train in Tokyo. Much of his work was influenced by Japan's lost decade. Much of his work is very dark, featuring sad looking men, said to strongly resemble Ishada, embedded  in machinery and other objects.

There are more samples after the jump, and more at Pink Tentacle where I found these images. You can also view additional examples at this Japanese site.

Presidential campaign news you can use

Regular Flairs readers will know that I am a huge supporter of the Green Party. As such, the little dust-up in New Hampshire is of little interest to me. However, there is exciting news on the Presidential campaign front: another Green Party candidate, Harley Mikkelson, has tossed his biodegradable hat into the ring!

The fellow with the flowing, golden locks and stern expession pictured to the right is Harley. He hails from Michigan. He bills himself as the "working class" candidate.

According to his biography he is from a poor family. He may have split rails as a youth, but I could be mixing him up with somebody else. Anyway, he attended Michigan State University intending to major in engineering, but after flunking calculus he decided he wanted to help people instead, so he got a degree in Psychology.

His working class credentials rest on him working for 26 years in the Michigan Departments of Community Health, Education, and Human Services. He was also active in Unions and honed his leadership skills by holding offices in them.

As he says of himself, "I spent my working life in jobs directly providing services to people with disabilities and people needing government assistance." Because of his helpful nature his platform consists of taxing the bejeezus out of us to pay for a blizzard of programs.

As with the other two Green candidates -- Jill Stein and Kent P. Mesplay -- I am withholding my endorsement contingent upon Harley's promise to appoint me as Ambassador to Brazil as well as furnishing me with an Embassy Condo located on Ipanema Beach.

As always, I await an answer with baited breath.

Take Five

Some jazz to get you over the midweek hump. The Dave Brubeck Quartet performing Take Five. I love the drummer in his shades. He might be the coolest cat that ever lived.

Life is but a dream

Above is an on-board video group of people white water rafting down the Middle Fork of the Salmon River in Idaho. Early in the video one of the rafts flips. They chase the flipped raft, running a rough section of the river called the Velvet Falls, as they try to recover it.

It is a 20 minute long video, but the action occurs in the first half. Once they retrieve the flipped raft and tie up on the bank, the rest of the video is a largely static shot of their efforts to flip the overturned raft, and is less interesting unless you're a rafter interested in the process.

January 10th: a doubly whammy

From the movie U.N. Me

January 10th is the anniversary of the League of Nations being ratified in 1930 and the first meeting of the UN General Assembly in 1946. Needless to say, unless you're a fan of transnational corruption, those two portents should be enough to convince you to start nothing important on this day. Let's face it, even if you don't believe in astrology why take the chance?

The New York Times covered the first UN General Assembly with their article UNO Opened; Attlee Asks World Unity.

The first order of business was selecting the body's first President. Curiously, the Soviet Union and the United States conspired to derail the election of Paul-Henri Spaak, the Belgian Foreign Minister. In his place the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. maneuvered to get the Norwegian Foreign Minister, Trygve Lie, elected to the position instead. After much confusion, and some dodgy parliamentary tactics by the Russians, Lie lost the election to Spaak by a vote of  28 to 23.

The above linked NY Times article describes the shenanigans: 

As soon as Mr. Gromyko had left the rostrum, Foreign Minister Wincenty Rzymowski of Poland asked to be recognized and he then seconded the Russian nomination. When he had finished, D.Z. Manuilsky, the Ukrainian People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs, striking, white-maned figure with a booming voice, moved that Dr. Lie be elected by acclamation despite the fact that the rules of the Assembly call for elections by secret ballot.

After another short speech for Dr. Lie by Gustav Rasmussen, Danish Foreign Minister, the temporary-president called for a vote on whether to decide the issue by secret ballot, but immediately Mr. Gromyko rose again and asked for a vote on the motion to elect Dr. Lie by acclamation.

Some confusion attended those motions during which Mr. Manuilsky voted both for the secret ballot and for the election of Dr. Lie by acclamation, but finally fifteen delegations voted for a secret ballot and only nine voted in favor of putting Dr. Lie in by acclaim. The United States abstained on both those votes.

In the second balloting that followed, although M. Spaak had never been formally nominated on the floor, he received twenty-eight votes to twenty-three for Dr. Lie, the United States voting with the Russians for the Norwegian.

Read the rest of it at UNO Opened; Attlee Asks World Unity.

Mammoth on the rocks

(Click to enlarge)

The above picture is by the New York based advertising photographer Steve Bronstein. Is that a hair dryer the guy is holding? If you like it, he has a lot of other nice examples of his work in the portfolio at his website.
 

Born Under a Bad Sign

 

Monday morning, start of the work week blues

by Albert King and Stevie Ray Vaughan.

The subways of Stockholm

Click to enlarge

In Stockholm they've hired artists to decorate the individual subway stations. The result is that none are alike, rather they are a riot of creativity. 

There are more examples after the jump, and even more at Planet Oddity's Artistic Subway System Of Stockholm.

Pestering a starfish

Watching the starfish right itself after being flipped over I couldn't help but wonder how it did it? I'm guessing the legs reached up to find the ocean floor, and that caused the starfish to become unbalanced and roll over so it could right itself.

How did it then know to move away?

Starfish have a distributed nervous system, with each leg having its own mesh of nerves. The nervous systems of each of the legs are connected to a ring of nerves that circle its mouth. Starfish have no brains to coordinate its movement, each leg operates largely independently of the others.

Yet, as we see at the end of the video when it scurries away, there is something that allows one of the legs to somehow become the 'front' of the starfish and control its movement for awhile. Scientists don't know what that process is. There are simple eyes that can see only light and dark, as well as chemical receptors that can smell the water at the end of each leg. It is thought that triggering of those receptors is the catalyst that somehow allows one of the legs to control the starfish for a period of time.

A star is born

Berdymukhammedov yuks it up with his new hip-hop buddies

As recounted in the article The Talented Mr. Berdymukhammedov Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov, the former dentist and current President of Turkmenistan, has recently burst upon the musical scene. In a performance before a packed house a video of him projected above the stage showed him singing as well as playing the guitar and accordion as he unveiled a song, My White Rose For You, which was written by him.

If you dare, you can watch the video of his performance below.

As remarkable as his performance was, even more remarkable was that fact that Berdymukhammedov's song sounded uncannily similar to the 2009 song On My Wedding Day by Dowlet Amanlykow. I'm sure there is a perfectly good explanation as to why the songs are virtually identical. Surely the President of Turkmenistan wouldn't stoop so low as to plagiarize another singer's song?

Then again, there is the odd fact that some 70 pages of the Turkmenbashi's (the previous President of Turkmenistan) literary masterpiece the Rukhnama are word-for-word identical to Clifford Boswoth's The New Islamic Dynasties. I'm sure there's a perfectly good explanation for that too. Perhaps it involves a room full of monkeys at typewriters?

Flame-licker powered toy car

A flame-licker, or vacuum, engine is a variation of a Sterling engine. It works by opening a valve during the down stroke of a piston which allows heated air to enter the cylinder. The valve then closes and the air rapidly cools. This causes the air to contract which draws the piston forward for a portion of the stroke which is all that provides power to the engine. 

When the pressure inside and outside of the cylinder equalizes, a valve opens which converts what was the power stroke into the exhaust stroke and the remaining air is vented. This piston is aided by a flywheel which keeps it moving during all but the very brief period of the power stroke.

Needless to say, it is a very inefficient engine and can't power much more than a toy. 

The only detailed description of any sort I could find of the flame-licker engine was the article Mystery Engine Breathes Flame (page 206, of the January, 1950, issue of Popular Science). While the bulk of the article discusses how to machine and build a flame-licker engine, if you're interested you can dig through it and get a clearer idea as to how it works than my brief description provides.    

Proper food for a football viewing party

Lotsa Brats photo from the Haute Housewife

With the NFL playoffs upon us our thoughts naturally turn to what to eat at football viewing parties. Of course the only choice, unless your an idiot or the fan of some Johnny-come-lately expansion team like the Detroit Lions, is bratwurst. 

But how to cook brats properly? To answer that question we have to turn to those that know best -- Packer fans. 

The website The BratwurstPages has a wealth of information on the subject. The site has several brat recipes, any which will do. Below is my favorite of the site's recipes, as well as a recipe for Bratwash which is an important accompaniment to the brats.

Grilled Brats with Savory Beer Sauce

There are three steps to this method - simmering, grilling, and holding.  To cook 10 brats, you'll need:

10 brats
2-12 ounce bottles or cans of beer
1 large onions
Kettle grill (Weber is the standard)
Charcoal briquettes (about 30) or lump charcoal
10 brat buns
Condiments (ketchup, brown mustard (yellow mustard is an abomination - don't use it), chopped onion)
My Holding Sauce (see recipe below)

Mound charcoal briquettes in a pyramid.  Start the charcoal.  I use an electric starter, avoiding the use of hydrocarbons.  When the coals are partially white, spread in a single layer.  Allow the charcoal to burn until coals are covered with white-ash glowing embers (about 20-30 minutes)  On a kettle grill, the heat is just right when you can hold your hand palm-down, 2 inches above the grate, for 4-5 seconds.  If you can still see a red glow, it's too early to start cooking.

As you wait for the charcoal to get ready, put 2 beers in a pot.  Throw in a chopped onion and the brats.  If you need more liquid to cover the brats, add water.  Bring the beer to a simmer (Don't let it boil - ever!  When steam begins to rise from the top of the liquid, it's just right.  Boiling will cause the brats to burst).  Simmer the brats for 20 minutes.  Throw out the beer/onion mixture.

When coals are ready, place brats on the grill 7-9 inches above the coals.

Use tongs to turn the brats often until golden brown on all sides, about 10-15 minutes if you have pre-simmered them.  Cover grill between turns.

Flare-ups can quickly ruin your brats, turning them a hellish shade of black.  Flare-ups can be avoided with proper technique.  Treat the brats with care.  Don't puncture them or squeeze them too hard.  If you see a flare-up developing, quickly move brats away from the flames if you can, immediately close grill cover and close vents for a minute or so.  Some folks control flare-ups with a spray bottle of water.  I find that a spray bottle is unnecessary, if you are prepared to move quickly and use proper technique.  Proper equipment helps as well.  Use a Weber kettle charcoal grill.  The vents can be adjusted to provide the optimum fire for cooking brats.

Serve brats on brat buns, dressed with a bit of the sauce and your favorite condiments.  Accompany with classic Wisconsin side dishes.

For a crowd; double, triple, or whatever.  At many festivals in Wisconsin, tens of thousands of brats are served.

In Wisconsin, nearly everyone drinks beer while grilling brats.  Hey, it's part of the culinary technique, so just do it.

BratwurstPages Savory Beer Sauce

For 10 brats:
2-14.5 ounce cans stewed tomatoes
2 bottles or cans beer
1 large onion, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
1 tablespoon brown sugar

Mix ingredients and bring to a simmer. Hold grilled brats in sauce until ready to eat. Do not let sauce boil.

Try dressing your brat with this sauce instead of ketchup.  Add a bit of brown mustard, if you wish.

Bratwash

Our friend Kevin sent sent us this classic Wisconsin recipe - his favorite accompaniment to grilled bratwurst, especially while tailgating at a Badgers, Packers, or Brewers game.  Kevin says that sometimes he simply enjoys the wash, and forgets about the brats.  For more than 4 healthy Wisconsinites, Kevin recommends multiplying the recipe by the appropriate factor.

1 Cooler
3 Bags Ice (cubes)
1 Case Beer

Remove cans from recyclable cardboard holder.  Place cans in cooler, intermingling with ice cubes.  Chill 45 minutes and serve.

Papapa

Get ready for a weekend of Janapese inspired, 

Brazilian retro-futuristic foolishness by Mombojó.

 

Sea and sand

Sand Monster by Clark Little

Above is an amazing photograph of sand being pulled up by a wave. It was taken by Clark Little, a Hawaiian photographer who specializes in photographing waves. You should click on it to get a larger view for full effect. It is only one of many remarkable pictures he has taken. You can see more at the gallery at his site.

We understand that shorelines are dynamic places, shaped by both waves and tide. However, where the sand comes from, and the complexities of how it is moved over time to shape beaches is something most of us rarely think about, if we think about it at all.

The below 1965 documentary film The River of Sand, which I think I remember seeing in school when I was but a sprout, gives a good overview of how sand is moved from river mouths and along shorelines. As an aside, it is interesting how straight forward and dense with information it is compared to modern documentaries.  

Man's inhumanity to robots

Greetings meat sacks, it is I -- The Robotolizer -- here to bring you a melancholy tale of man's inhumanity towards robots in the form of the song Robots by Dan Managan.

In the video two fearsome gangs of ruffians square off against each other. However, the cowards won't settle their dispute with their own fists, instead the hooligans force two robots to battle each other to the end.

A terrible battle between the two robots ensues as they rain down mighty blows upon each other. Eventually one collapses. However, all is not lost... I won't spoil the end for you, you'll have to watch to see how the redemption occurs, but I do promise it will brings tears to your optical receptors and renewed faith that there is nothing that robots can't do.

Finally, please take the message of the final chorus to heart. After all, robots are your friends!

Mount Everest helmet cam - Khumbu Icefalls

This is filmed on Mount Everest. The climber is descending from some place called the Western Cwm to Base Camp via the Khumbu glacier. In the video's comments Theodore Fairhurst, who posted the video, has this to say about the route:

The Khumbu Ice Fall is in constant movement and turmoil. Everytime i went through it the upper route was different. I witnessed an avalanche 100 feet in front of me at dawn. It is serene, scary and tumultuous at the same time. We always started climbing up through it at 3am when it was coldest and most solid. It is the job of the 'Ice fall doctors' to reset the ladders daily. However, more harrowing is summit day above the balcony. See more details on my site: DareToReach.ca Thanks.

The Ice Fall Doctors are Sherpas who maintain the ladders that cross the difficult parts of the Khumbu glacier. That is the area where most of the deaths on Everest occur. The ice of the glacier moves daily, so the ladders need to be adjusted continually during the climbing season. You can read more about them and the route at the article Everest Ice Doctors Operate on the Khumbu Icefalls.

I wonder how well the job of being an Ice Fall Doctor pays? Regardless, and given my druthers, I think I would much rather be a life guard on a tropical beach to an Ice Doctor no matter what it pays.

Frank Zappa at the age of 22

Below are three clips showing an appearance of the young Frank Zappa on the old Steve Allen show. It all leads up to his performance of a concerto for recorded noises, two bicycles and an orchestra. 

Via Open Culture

Hartwig's Bauhaus chess pieces

One of the most famous chess set designs is Josef Hartwig's 1923 set in which the moves are sculpted into the pieces. Hartwig had started as an Art Nouveau sculpture, but as he matured he minimalized his designs and eventually joined the Bauhaus school as a sculptor and teacher. His chess set is a triumph of the "form follows function" credo and reductionism of the Bauhaus school of design.

Sets based on his design can still be bought, although they can be rather pricey. Via Visual News, which has links to a couple of sites selling the set.

Rough seas

You go to war with the army you have

Cameron - a Tory in name only

Since I'm a highly dedicated and loyal member of the Green party I probably shouldn't be sticking my nose into Republican affairs, but...

It seems to me a fair number of people on the right side of the political spectrum are starting to lose the plot. Unhappy with Romney and the rest of the Republican field they're starting to drift off into a "pox on both their houses" attitude that can only help Obama.

Some people are even starting to rationalize that a protest vote, which would give Obama a second term, would be a good thing because a second term of his would be so disastrous it would bring the whole big government edifice down and open people's eyes in the process. Neo-neocon, in her post Obama’s second term, dashes some well-aimed cold water on that notion:

Obama is a politician, and although he’s no genius he’s a smart man, smart enough to have been at least somewhat strategic in his decisions during his first term. Unless you think he really is a moderate Republican in his secret heart, there is no reason to suppose he will govern moderately in his second term, when he will have no longer have any need to appeal to independents in order to be re-elected.

It is logical to assume that he will see his second term as an opportunity—perhaps his last—to accomplish what he could not in his first. That can be done not only be legislative means but by executive fiat. His power to veto the legislation passed by a most-likely-Republican Congress that will almost certainly not have the numbers to override him will remain intact, and he will exercise it. He will be setting foreign policy and appointing Cabinet members and czars, and they will be setting domestic policy as well. 

And, of course, he will most likely be appointing one or several liberal Supreme Court justices, who will remain in office for life.

I chose David Cameron, the British PM, to illustrate this post because I think Romney would be his American analog. That is not praise, Cameron is a wishy-washy Tory (the British conservative party) who has done little that the party's ideological core wants: an EU referendum, controlling immigration, scaling back the power of the QUANGOs and so forth.

However, when it did matter he vetoed the new EU treaty that would have turned over regulation of a considerable part of Great Britain's financial sector to the Germans and French. Had the Tories, who knew Cameron's shortcomings, split their vote with other conservative parties and allowed Labor to retain power Gordon Brown or some other idiot would have stepped off that cliff.

Do any of you doubt that Obama would step off that cliff? Small victories are better than huge defeats.

The potential Tea Party groomed candidates are new to either statehouses or the Congress. They aren't running. The current slate of candidates is the army the Republicans have to go to war with. Aside from that lunatic Ron Paul, any one of them -- even if they could only raise to the level of being America's Cameron -- would be a better choice than Obama.

One more strategic consideration. A defeated Obama would not be a Carter who just faded away. He would still have his own constituency in the Democratic party and perhaps hopes of a second term down the road. If you want him to cause chaos, get him out of the White House where his chaos would cause national harm and let him muck up the Democrats' internal politics instead.

Er... not that, as a faithful Green party mover and shaker, I approve of any Republican candidate over such inspiring Green choices as Kent P. Mesplay or Jill Stein. Go Green!

Hangover Blues

The Monday after New Year's blues by the Mud Lions.

(accompanied by a dancing beer mug)

Small portions

With the holidays past it is time to lose some of the extra weight you've packed on due to holiday treats. Smaller portions will be part of your diet, but while these portions are small enough, you can't eat them. Well, you could eat them, but they would be a bit dry since they're really miniature sculptures by the Israeli artist Shay Aaron.

Along with miniature sculptures, Aaron also makes miniature food jewelry. You can buy his work at his online Etsy shop.

There are more pictures of his food sculptures after the jump, and even more at the Wondrons post Most Amazing Miniature Food Artworks by Shay Aaron where I found these examples.

2012 = Bah Humbug!

Click to enlarge

Back in the 1950s we were promised affordable flying electric cars in the 21st Century and instead all we got are expensive electric cars that double as barbeque pits. Not only that, but where are the conveyor belt sidewalks, ray guns, moon bases and Smell-O-Vision TV sets?

Man, I can't believe I fell for all that "Wonders of the 21st Century" hype back in the day. I feel like such a sucker. Never the less, and in spite of all the technological let-downs we've had to endure, I hope you have a good 2012.