Friday Ephemera
For parents-to-be. || Empath. || Oh, brave new world that has such widgets in it. || The young in love. Or in heat, at least. || The thrill of wood steaming. || Fiddlesome games. || Difference noted. || Just like normal people. || Shopping mall scenes. || Unattractive sofa. || SR-72 rumours. “Anywhere on the planet, in an hour, or less.” || Spanish village of note. || Sperm whales 360. || Sticky situation. || Questions exchanged. || An aesthetic statement. || For devotees of the Clown Quarter and its wonders, this is one of these. || Critters. (h/t, Noah Carl) || Scenes of hardcore waitressing. || Only hiring the best, I see. || Error detected. || And finally, somewhat alarmingly, the humanoid equivalent of the Venus flytrap.
pst324: “Jimmy Stewart was 6′ 3″, so I guess those B-17’s were roomier.”
I thought he flew B-24s in combat over Germany?
Oh, bollocks. Not again.
[ Middle of the night, 3:10am. Your host stirs momentarily. As if troubled by a dream of overflowing italics. ]
As if troubled by a dream of overflowing italics.
Morning.
[ Slurps coffee. ]
Is the Cobra there just because it’s a cool-looking helicopter?
The buttock to kneecap length restriction for potential aircrew is to do with ejection seats. When the gun goes off, one does not want to leave one’s knees and shins in the cockpit…
Is the Cobra there just because it’s a cool-looking helicopter?
Does there need to be another reason?
I’d have one on my lawn if the shade wouldn’t kill the azaleas.
The buttock to kneecap length restriction
Band name.
I’d have one on my lawn if the shade wouldn’t kill the azaleas.
The Legion post in Pickerington, OH agrees:
https://www.google.com/maps/@39.9074704,-82.732545,3a,75y,191.16h,95.55t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sisFxN_2OycX9xo8lxWwQ1w!2e0!7i16384!8i8192
I thought he flew B-24s in combat over Germany?
Oh damn. You’re right. I should have checked.
A philosopher speaks.
Ideal for chasing after criminals.
Via Tim.
Ideal for chasing after criminals.
Clown coppers for a clown society.
There’s a company in the UK that sells kit planes that are 90% scale replicas of the Supermarine Spitfire. 90% scale?? I’d need a foot on each wing and a rope tied to the yoke.
[imagines Daniel Ream doing the Carioca]
Clown coppers for a clown society.
Well, indeed. It does seem fairly obvious that if the job includes apprehending miscreants – miscreants who will very often resist and/or run away – then a fat lady who looks like she’d be gasping and clutching her chest after even the briefest attempt at a jog is perhaps not ideal. But this is where we are now. These are our priorities. Because, according to the current Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Service, the incompetent Cressida Dick, it’s more important to have women “in every role,” at “fifty percent,” because people mustn’t “see policing as primarily a male-dominated job.”
I’ve lost count of the YouTube videos in which female police officers, whether petite or obese – and often in pairs, even in threes – fail to inhibit the departure of a single male suspect. It’s now practically a genre. And it occurs to me that the spectacle of female police officers being easily overpowered and laughed at by male lawbreakers, or fat officers being unable to give chase or act as any kind of deterrent, is less than encouraging for law-abiding members of the public.
Though it will almost certainly be inspiring to the people they should, but can’t, physically stop.
The buttock to kneecap length restriction for potential aircrew is to do with ejection seats. When the gun goes off, one does not want to leave one’s knees and shins in the cockpit…
Do they still say “when the gun goes off” even though ejection seats now use rocket motors instead of artillery shells?
[imagines Daniel Ream doing the Carioca]
I’m not interested unless Carmen Miranda makes an appearance.
I should have checked.
Which of David’s Encouragement Devices would be an appropriate
punishmentcorrective measure?Will this do, pst?
And you should stay for the end of the movie when they do The Polka-Dot Polka, although I don’t think Carmen appears in that number per se.
Which of David’s Encouragement Devices would be an appropriate
punishmentcorrective measure?The inmates of Castle Anthrax.
Will this do, pst?
LOL.
My favorite Carmen Miranda adjacent “fact” is the Carmen Miranda Decision: “You have the right to wear fruit on your head. You have the right to one conga line. You have the right to a foreign accent. If you do not have a foreign accent one will be provided to you free of charge.”
These are our priorities. Because, according to the current Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Service, the incompetent Cressida Dick, it’s more important to have women “in every role,” at “fifty percent,” because people mustn’t “see policing as primarily a male-dominated job.”
It’s fair to conclude that not only does the ruling class prioritize “equity” over catching criminals, it doesn’t really care about catching criminals much at all: After all, the ruling class has its own private security personnel so we ordinary folks can go to Hell for all they care. Besides, the more we legitimately fear crime, the more they can tell us that we must consent to ever more laws that they pretend will make us safe.
Do they still say “when the gun goes off”…
“Pull the firing handle(s)” (or lower firing handle on a Martin Baker Mk. 5), which is what today’s Woke™ biology lesson makes me want to do.
“…which is what today’s Woke™ biology lesson makes me want to do.”
Yup. But it would be healthier for you and society to eject those loonies. (Which is why I keep joking about the Golgafrincham Ark B.)
There is never a meteor around when you need one.
The inmates of Castle Anthrax
Please, can’t I have just a little bit of peril?
We need more parents like this. Not perfect, but it’s a start.
Please, can’t I have just a little bit of peril?
Jordan Peterson says that it is important to face one’s peril. You can’t argue with that, David.
As if troubled by a dream of overflowing italics.
“I felt a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of leisure suits were all put on at the same time.”
or:
“…as if millions of performance artists all received government subsidies at the same time.”
Piper,
I’m not so familiar with the choppers. Ames had a big program with rotorcraft, starting even before the Tiltrotor.
The only thing I really know is a few bits about the YO3 Mic carrier.
– Ames pilots hopped it cross-country from Princeton to Mountain View, a hundred or so miles at a time, instead of dismantling it and shipping. For fun, basically.
– A pilot almost landed it wheels-up at Half Moon Bay, shaving off a few inches of the wooden propeller tips. I only found out about this when that pilot was presented with a bag of the fragments at his retirement party, many years later. Pilot humor…
it’s more important to have women “in every role,” at “fifty percent,” because people mustn’t “see policing as primarily a male-dominated job.”
Well since equity is the goal, how about some equity on the criminal side? Why do they disproportionately arrest so many men? Shouldn’t they be pressing to arrest proportionally the same number of women as men? Should apply to speeding tickets as well. And all criminal infractions arrests should be balanced at the infraction level because aggregating those crimes would be sexist. Can’t be saying “men are worse about this but women are worse about that”. Everything should ALL be the SAME. Shouldn’t be arresting any more men for assaults on police officers until they have arrested the same number of women for that offence.
They tell me I’m being ridiculous, but I’m not the only one…
@WTP, people who wouldn’t know any better would think that you’ve stared in to the abyss a little too long.
Equity…
You’ve probably seen the cartoon depicting the difference between equality and equity – three kids outside a ballpark trying to watch the game. Tall, medium, short, trying to see over the fence.
Equality gives each of them a small box to stand on.
Equity gives them each enough boxes to see over the fence.
Removing systemic discrimination is shown by replacing the opaque fence with a see-through fence.
Sweet, eh?
Except the next frame, not shown, should depict the ballpark closed because no one is paying admission anymore.
people who wouldn’t know any better would think…
Yeah. Curious what people who know better would think. Have I ever related how I saved the world from nuclear war when I was 11? True story. Preacher man said what with the world the way it was back in 1973, Yom Kipper War, etc. what better time for the world to end than when everyone was distracted by the upcoming Christmas holidays. See, because Bible says that the world ending would only happen at the time no one expects it. Not wanting to see the world ending before I was old enough to drive a car, I spent every waking hour thinking about nuclear war and such. And see, here we sit all moist and un-nuked. Do I get so much as a thank-you from people? Nope.
…Yom Kipper War….
The Battle of the Herrings 1429 or the EU vs. The Faroe Islands one ?
Yeah, yeah, yeah…damn spell checker wouldn’t take Kippar, Kippir, Kippor, nor Kippyr. I obviously lacked the imagination to dig any further than the first good hit.
Yom Kippur Yarmulke Kipper…
Well since equity is the goal, how about some equity on the criminal side? Why do they disproportionately arrest so many men? Shouldn’t they be pressing to arrest proportionally the same number of women as men?…
…They tell me I’m being ridiculous, but I’m not the only one…
As a matter of fact, I had arguments in the 70’s with feminists who insisted that women were less violent than men only because they had been socialized by The Patriarchy and went on to say that they would welcome a future in which women were just as violent as men.
Indeed: Who the fuck would open a package left by him?
And from the comments: “I remember him saying on here how he a had a problem with his Christmas lights coming on and off erratically. Some wag piped up ‘Surely you know someone with a timer?’ “
buttock to kneecap length restriction for potential aircrew
Back in the days when I joined the RAF and the Vampire was in service, the leg length restriction for that aircraft was because with too long a leg it was impossible to get full rudder deflection for spin recovery.
when the gun goes off
Modern ejector seats still have the artillery shell for the initial seat firing and the rocket motor is initiated once the seat is clear of the airframe. Think about it – a rocket motor firing inside the cockpit would not be a happy experience.
Modern ejector seats still have the artillery shell for the initial seat firing…
I didn’t know that. Good point. Smaller shell, though? Less acceleration/jolt and thus less stress on the spine?
Why don’t they use a big spring that goes boing; you know, like Wile E. Coyote uses?
[ Looks sternly. Begins to jot name in Book of Deplorably Silly People. Suddenly recalls own jokes. Closes book. Assumes look of blank faced innocence. ]
Piper,
Stored energy per pound, basically. Your initial problem is so push a 250 pound object maybe ten feet straight up in a couple tenths of a second. No reasonable spring is going to do that.
Blank Faced Innocence.
Band name or Trudeau campaign strategy ?
Wait just a goldurn minute. Look, we all KNOW that DAVID is tracking our every utterance and facial expression.
But now others are keeping books too?
Next thing we know there’s going to be segregated seating! Bolsheviks to the left. Geordies to the right. Gingers next to the loo. Deplorable Silly People by the back door. Dipsomaniacs under the bar.
And who’s going to pay for the necessary signage, huh? There’s no budget left, not after the fiasco with the booby-trapped “food” pantry. We only just finished paying to have the scorch marks plastered over.
Gingers next to the loo
I don’t think so. I don’t want those bastards near my table.
Back in WW2 days, the Soviet T-34 tanks were extremely cramped, and had a max height restriction something like 5’5”.
People were averagely shorter at that time than now, especially in places where there had been significant food shortages in the recent past.
For an even more extreme demonstration of that, look at medieval suits of armour, or later, the accommodation on board RN wooden ships. They either (in the Navy) went about bent double or really did have average heights somewhere around 5’.
For an even more extreme demonstration of that, look at medieval suits of armour…
This is a misconception. Much of the historical shrinkage that is to be found is found during the industrial revolution.
The short-assed harnesses you see in museums are often either armor that was made for an adolescent* or armor that the museum didn’t rig together properly, such as by placing the waistline of a cuirass at the modern waistline, not the natural waistline.
*- In general harnesses for the unusually short and the unusually tall tend to have a survivorship bias.
“…female police officers…fail to inhibit the departure of a single male suspect.”
I’m reminded of a time about 20 years ago when, while browsing in HMV (how quaint that now sounds), I became aware of suspicious behaviour by a ‘customer’. Staff had obviously rumbled him and called for the cavalry, which arrived in the form of a constable of gender and avoirdupois. On twigging that his dastardly deeds had been noticed, the rum cove made a dash for it – and would have got away had not a hitherto-unnoticed member of staff sped after him and accidentally-on-purpose tripped him up. By the time the excitement was over WPC Leviathan had scarcely managed to turn herself round and begin wobbling towards the door. A complete waste of (a sizeable amount of) space. The hero of the hour? A tiny African man, noticeably shorter than my mother (who was 4’10”). If the police recruited more pygmies and fewer womxn they would be more effective.
The hero of the hour? A tiny African man
That evil testosterone that feminists hate so much.
But now others are keeping books too?
I used to live 10 miles away from Pickerington, Ohio. Back then it was bucolic. The last time I was there, about 10 years ago, it was a typical wealthy suburb (of Columbus, Ohio, in this case). The picture appears to be from the bucolic era.
There is never a meteor around when you need one.
From the article:
The artist’s comments about art speculation are on point, especially since art sales are a very common money laundering technique.
We need more parents like this
From the article:
So race grifting is fine as long as it’s our tribe that benefits. As is usually the case, these parents had no problems with the school’s trendy, fad-driven pedagogy until their ox was being gored.
Bolsheviks to the left. Geordies to the right.
Here I am, stuck in the middle with you.
Modern Martin Baker seats have two charges that fire in sequence to spread the force across time slightly.
“Gingers near the loo”.
A reminder that with my advancing age the post-Covid selection of aircraft seats will be just that bit more important.
Modern Martin Baker seats have two charges that fire in sequence to spread the force across time slightly.
Thanks!