Opinions on World Events etc.
Scrubbed
Rocket:Â Falcon 9 v1.1
Payload:Â SES 8
Launch date:November 28, 2013
Launch time:Â 5:39 p.m. EST (2239 GMT)
Launch window:Â 65 minutes
Site:Â SLC-40, Cape Canaveral, Florida
via Spaceflight Now | Falcon Launch Report | Mission Status Center.
For 10 weeks, Mark Haub, a professor of human nutrition at Kansas State University, ate one of these sugary cakelets every three hours, instead of meals. To add variety in his steady stream of Hostess and Little Debbie snacks, Haub munched on Doritos chips, sugary cereals and Oreos, too.
Twinkie diet helps nutrition professor lose 27 pounds – CNN.com.
My contacts have started to bother me more and more lately. They seem to swim around on my eye and I can feel the edges of the lenses or at least I think I can. Any rubbing at all and my right lens goes up and under my eye lid. The use of my reading glasses also seems to make the situation worse.
Bought tix to the Decatur Beerfest in October, the 19th I think it is. I’ll be heading over there with the Brother, and I know that Charlie and Alicia from T-Mac will be there as well. I almost thought I screwed up since I forgot about getting the tickets during lunch and didn’t get online until almost 12:15 and they went on sale @ noon. Figured I missed out. I finally did get the tickets but only after trying several times with my debt card and then switching to my credit card, I think I had some info wrong but couldn’t figure it out.
I’ve been cyber stalking this chick from Denmark, an interestingly cool, dreaded, photogenic, pretty girl with hair under her arms. ( Ann April, Galapril )
On the way home there was a car off the side of the road on old Alabama about where the big house near the golf course is, looked like it was only the single car, that or the other car was already gone, they were putting down cones
Navy veteran identified as shooter in Washington attack that left 13 dead
Crappy stuff, insane people
This is what I learned as I began to watch the news at the shroom when having a beer and waiting for my pizza. Seems the dudes name is Aaron, bad karma man. He was a Buddhist and had lived abroad for some time in Thailand. Open fired in a buildings cafeteria with an AR-15, used a stolen ID.
Came home and watched some TV with Brian, Dexter and then Ray Donavan. Half way through we went out to the liquor store and picked up some beers, I got two Hoppin Frogs, one an IPA the other a… Home and finished the shows.
I have floated down the Ichetucknee a number of times in the early to mid 1980’s it’s sad to think the springs of Florida could be gone someday. This dude has some great photographs here, I wish I would have had the equipment back then to make something even a fraction of this cool.
The Metropoulous Family that took over Pabst Blue Ribbon are also responsible for saving Hostess, the makers of Twinkies. There has been a long held misconception that Twinkies had a shelf like of basically centuries. In fact, they were really only recommend fresh for 26 days.
In a week when you are doing your PBR tallboy/Twinkie pairings, note that they will have double the shelf life – up to 45 days. While the ingredients are still a secret, I’m assuming there is some new preservative in the remake.
via Thanks To PBR Owners, Twinkies Return with Longer Shelf Life | Beer Street Journal.
In 1978, homebrewing was federally legalized in the United States. However, it was left in the hands of each individual state to choose whether to adopt the legislation. Recently, the last two hold out states – Alabama and Mississippi passed legislation allowing brewing at home.
With the last bit of legislation going into effect today, homebrewing is now officially legal in all 50 states since the first time since Prohibition. What’s left? Some states still maintain statues that would prevent home-brews to events, club meetings and more.
The American Homebrewers Association boasts more than 38,000 members. For a complete list of federal and state homebrewing laws, please visit the AHA website.
Congratulations America! As of Today, Homebrewing is Legal in All 50 | Beer Street Journal.
If your employer does not provide you with healthcare insurance (or you are unemployed), you will be REQUIRED to buy that insurance on your own, with your own money. If your income is below a yet to be determined amount, you will be eligible for a tax credit which you can only use to buy insurance at a state-run exchange in the state in which you live. In order to get the tax credit, you must enroll in Medicaid. Following me so far? Good. Because here’s whete it gets complicated. More than half of the states are refusing to set up exchanges and are suing the Federal government to put an end to this. The Federal government only fully funds the state-run exchanges for the first year. The percentage it pays drops the next two years, then disappears altogether. But I digress…
So, you’re back to appying for Medicaid. Except, there is a problem with that, too. Remember when the Supreme Court ruled last year that the new law was Constitutional? Well, they also ruled that the individual states did NOT have to expand Medicaid, which basically was the backbone of the Affordable Care Act. So, you can APPLY for Medicaid, but you won’t necessarily be accepted because your state can’t afford to have anyone else on Medicaid.
Which means you’re back to paying for healthcare insurance on your own. You will have to wade through the dozens of options offered by every insurance company that can lawfully operate in your state. Don’t worry….I’m sure each will send that information directly to your home, since they will be able to find out from the government who doesn’t have employer-provider insurance.
And if you decide that it’s too much trouble and/or you can’t afford it? Well, there’s a penalty, er…a tax…for that. Which will be collected and enforced by the IRS.
The Star Trek Into Darkness actress strips down for her Allure photo shoot—and talks about her approach to sexuality and her thoughts on dating actors (one ex is Bradley Cooper). Check out these exclusive photos from her shoot with photographer Tom Munro at Milk Studios in New York City.
I love sciFi and I especially love Star Trek so when a gal who stars in a Star Trek movie is in sexy photos I’m all over it.
via Zoe Saldana: Her Allure Photo Shoot: Cover Shoot: allure.com.
SpaceShipTwo fires her rocket motor in flight for the first time in a flight over the Mojave Desert on April 29, 2013.
MarsScientific.com and Clay Center Observatory
Virgin Galactic Press Release
Supersonic flight for SpaceShipTwo | The Planetary Society.
SpaceShipTwo glided past the Moon as she came in to land at the Mojave Spaceport after another successful test flight. This was her 24th glide flight and the 6th in-flight test of her patented feathered re-entry system. The flight also successfully verified SS2’s nitrous loading and venting system, another key milestone on the way to her first powered flight.
You will soon no longer have to spend your days without Twinkies, Ho-Hos and Ding-Dongs thanks Metropoulos & Co.  A U.S. judge has just approved the sale. Metropoulos & Co owns iconic beer brand Pabst Blue Ribbon. Last year, Hostess filed for bankruptcy, owing more than 1.4 billion to its creditors.
The deal for the pastries is said to be $410 million. There is a Twinkie/PBR tallboy special in your bar’s future. Just wait and see.
via Twinkies May Soon Return Thanks to PBR | Beer Street Journal.
NASA / JPL / MSSS / Ed Truthan
A total of 64 frames shot by the MAHLI on the end of Curiosity’s robotic arm were required for this large mosaic. On sol 177 (February 3, 2013), the rover was sitting at the “John Klein” site, preparing to drill for the first time. Zoom in at lower left and you can see two gray marks on the ground where Curiosity tested out the drill in percussion mode on sols 174 and 176.
via Yes, it was once a Martian lake: Curiosity has been sent to the right place | The Planetary Society.
Hit the snooze multiple times up around 6am. Rainy and cold drying up later and the sun coming out by about 2pm.
At work I got somewhat through the new stuff for the SP7 for 6.6, about 23 or so bugs fixed out of about 58 in patching
Went over to the ‘Shroom and had a few beers and dinner, Sahil, Rachel and Sam again. Charlie was there earlier and left soon afterward thankfully. Chatted with a cool guy about politics, mostly the economy actually. Our budget for last year was 3.8 trillion dollars, up from 1.8 since 2001. The country also has over 16 trillion in debt and we only have a Gross Domestic Product of 15.7
16T debt, 5.2 foreign, 1.164 China rest to Americans or US Gov. to itself. And at a 102% Debt to GDP ratio, we are in trouble folks.
Nicki asked the same thing again, wants to stay on the insurance when she gets married to the dumb-shit Jorael. I don’t even say I approve at this time. Neither of them are capable of supporting each other, not to mention that Nicki has some medical issues that she can’t take care of without some serious financial concessions that she is not willing to make. I refuse to allow her to have her cake and eat it too. I really just want her to realize that life is not something you start having others pay for you. She started the discussion again with a “let’s not argue” but when I said NO again she just wouldn’t quit, I tried to tell her again that is wasn’t going to change thing no matter how much she tried to “guilt” me into it by saying How she would be scarred if she didn’t have the medicine like I am making her get married. Then she played the “it’s no money out of your pocket”, that’s not the point, the point is YOURE MARRIED to HIM. Then I’m selfish and then that I just want to control her, well maybe I just don’t want her to jump into something they are not fully equipped handle. OK I said, go with that one. Make yourself feel better.
Here’s hoping she isn’t pregnant.
Got the NRA Membership stuff today.
Now getting the 2 CSRs I got from Paul C Buff sent back, got them reboxed, a box to ship them in and now I just need to send them back, insured I guess.
Rainy and wet this morning, up at the first snooze. Foggy most of the am as well.
The pope resigned today, well at least he said he will at the end of the month.
VATICAN CITY — Pope Benedict XVI’s surprise announcement on Monday that he will resign on Feb. 28 sets the stage for a succession battle that is likely to determine the future course of a church troubled by scandal and declining faith in its traditional strongholds around the world.
Nicki asked if I would keep her insurance when she got married, I told her no I felt that if she was getting married she should be supporting herself completely. I refuse to enable her and Jorael so they can rush into a marraige. I reacted badly and brought up how I didn’t feel that Jorael was much of a man if he would marry her before they could support themselves. I think I did say too much but I was angry and she wasn’t listening anymore and just wanted her way.
She mentioned I make her feel inadequate, I know I am disappointed most of the time, her priorities are nowhere near mine, she is just looking for the easy way. Feeling sorry for herself and her medical issues, asking for handouts and believes she should not be responsible for herself.
Some of this is OK, all the executive orders are mainly in beefing up background checks and doing things @ schools and in the law enforcement community.
Got it local here.
The National Rifle Association is pushing its proposal for an armed officer in every school in the country with a new ad that calls President Obama an “elitist hypocrite” for his daughters’ security detail.
The 35-second ad, released Tuesday on the NRA’s Website,
criticizes Obama for saying he is “skeptical” that armed security is the solution to school violence.
“Are the president’s kids more important than yours?” the ad asks.
via NRA ad calls Obama ‘elitist hypocrite’ for daughters’ security detail at school | Fox News.
Rep. Steve Stockman (R-Texas)
Stockman accused Obama of seeking an “unconstitutional and unconscionable attack on the very founding principles of this republic” in the president’s recent suggestion that he was willing to undertake executive action toward to goal of reducing gun violence.
“I will seek to thwart this action by any means necessary, including but not limited to eliminating funding for implementation, defunding the White House, and even filing articles of impeachment,” Stockman pledged. “The president’s actions are an existential threat to this nation. The right of the people to keep and bear arms is what has kept this nation free and secure for over 200 years. The very purpose of the Second Amendment is to stop the government from disallowing people the means to defend themselves against tyranny. Any proposal to abuse executive power and infringe upon gun rights must be repelled with the stiffest legislative force possible.”
Rep. Steve Stockman (R-Texas)
via Steve Stockman Threatens To Impeach Obama Over Gun Control Push.
The Crappy part, allows the Attorney General to basically ban ANY semi-automatic gun or rifle at his discretion.
The dictatorship part is that Obama is considering misusing his Presidential Executive Order ability to bypass Congress.
Remember, it is registration, then confiscation. It has happened in the UK, in Australia, in Europe, in China, and what they have found is that for some reason the criminals do not turn in their weapons, but will know that you did.
Streetsweeper. Catch-all category (for anything missed or new designs):
A semiautomatic rifle that accepts a detachable magazine and has:
(i) a folding or telescoping stock,
(ii) a threaded barrel,
(iii) a pistol grip (which includes ANYTHING that can serve as a grip, see
below),
(iv) a forward grip; or a barrel shroud.
Any semiautomatic rifle with a fixed magazine that can accept more than
10 rounds (except tubular magazine .22 rim fire rifles).A semiautomatic pistol that has the ability to accept a
detachable magazine, and has:
(i) a second pistol grip,
(ii) a threaded barrel,
(iii) a barrel shroud or
(iv) can accept a detachable magazine outside of the pistol grip, and
(v) a semiautomatic pistol with a fixed magazine that can accept more than 10
rounds.A semiautomatic shotgun with:
(i) a folding or telescoping stock,
(ii) a pistol grip (see definition below),
(iii) the ability to accept a detachable magazine or a fixed magazine capacity
of more than 5 rounds, and
(iv) a shotgun with a revolving cylinder.Frames or receivers for the above are included, along with conversion kits.
Attorney General gets carte blanche to ban guns at will: Under the proposal, the U.S. Attorney General can add any “semiautomatic rifle or shotgun originally designed for military or law enforcement use, or a firearm based on the design of such a firearm, that is not particularly suitable for sporting purposes, as determined by the Attorney General.”
