Had a pretty straightforward day - Chatted a bit with graypumpkin online about gaming, road trips and whatnot while I was doing online research about gigs and following up on resumes (not to mention found info about MCSE server 2003). BHK helped a great deal by taking care of othe rbusiness out of house, and visited Tina upon her return.

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Via brass goggles and fridgemagnet, by way of phillykat -

(Strongly suspected to be a relative of Newton and Pyewacket) Kiddo, the first transatlantic cat by airship!

Kiddo's name is unlikely to be familiar to readers; however, he was the first cat — maybe the only one — to cross the Atlantic Ocean (well, almost) by airship. He was a grey tabby and belonged to one of the crew members of Walter Wellman's airship America. Wellman (1858-1934) was an American explorer, aeronaut and journalist. In 1910 he and five companions attempted to cross the ocean, leaving from Atlantic City, New Jersey on 15 October that year. Kiddo is said to have stowed away in one of the lifeboats, and really did not enjoy his first experience of flying, mewing and howling and generally getting on the nerves of the first engineer, Melvin Vaniman. The America carried radio equipment — the first aircraft so equipped — and apparently the historic first, in-flight radio message, to a secretary back on land, read: 'Roy, come and get this goddamn cat!'

Kiddo was unceremoniously stuffed into a canvas bag, with the idea that he would be lowered into a motor-boat beneath the airship; but the weather was too rough to make the transfer and so the cat remained on board. He soon regained his equilibrium and his spirits, and indeed the crew found him 'more useful than any barometer. You must never cross the Atlantic in an airship without a cat,' as the navigator Murray Simon put it. 'He is sitting on the sail of the lifeboat now as I write, washing his face in the sun: a pleasant picture of feline contentment. This cat has always indicated trouble well ahead. Two or three times when we thought we were "in" he gave most decided indications that he knew we would be shortly getting it in the neck.'

The airship broke all records for continuous flight up to that date by remaining in the air for 71½ hours, but unfortunately came down at sea just 475 miles (760 km) short of her destination. The crew, including Kiddo, were rescued by the steamboat Trent, with Simon reminding them that it had been a good idea to bring a cat, as they have nine lives!

A tumultuous welcome awaited them in New York, and Kiddo achieved celebrity status by being displayed for a while in Gimbel's, one of the leading department stores of the time, where he reclined on soft cushions in a gilded cage.

He retired from aviation to live with Walter Wellman's daughter, but Vaniman was not so fortunate, as he died when the airship Akron, on which he was making another Atlantic attempt, exploded on 2 July 1912, killing all on board.

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Moment of Lyric -

( ... )

Transfusion transfusion
Oh man I got the cotton pickin convolutions
Never never never gonna speed again
Shoot the juice to me Bruce

My foot's on the throttle and it's made of lead
But I'm a fast ridding daddy with a real cool head
I'ma gonna pass a truck on the hill ahead-
(scrreeech-BANG!!tinkle)

( ... )

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1 year ago - memes & links, dino pic, windows live pigs in space mefi, hop sing, haha ray

2 years ago - torn mime video awesome, zombie-like news story, book, idiopathic, Japanese Macaque, choicepoint data theft, duckie bath, yahoo video, kaleidoscope, mapper of doom, viva broward pictures

3 years ago - Blueberry Doughnuts, Meme, Factoid and so on

4 years ago - Dorky-Newt explanation, Vet Visit, AI 20 questions, TV schedule

5 years ago - Evil proggy struggle, baby critters, folks getting fired over weblogs, palm piccies

6 years ago - why wiccans suck

Mom brought over some furniture from a house she sold... pretty nice, a computer desk, chair, printer stand and a low bookshelf. She'll be coming by sometime this week to take care of a few issues before they zip off to VA for a few months. One of which is my will - disposition of my loot and Newt in the event of my kicking the bucket. (Hers is all set up now... I'm the executor, should something happen to both her and her husband.)

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Kevin Smith talks about Superman - From the college lecture DVD An Evening with Kevin Smith, which is pretty great storytelling from an engaging speaker even if you’re not a huge fan of his movies.

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Windows In Your Pocket - handy boot info for flash drives.

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2 floating things I saw yesterday.

Inside the Coral Square Mall -
Lion fish. (He must be 12 years old, or they keep cycling in new ones... he's huge, too.)



( more pics )

Outside the Mall -
The Goodyear Blimp. I obviously need to clean my lens, based on the smudge in both sky pictures.



( Another shot )

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Moment of Fin Fang Foom :

Think you to defy me now?!?!

( HA! HA! HA! )

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1 year ago - broward and fed autostitch, visited kev, walkabout pictures with rastas and shirtless, tell-tale heart in street signs, overheard,

2 years ago - spidey, weather, let them sing it for you, freddy vs gb

3 years ago - remembering the keys, overtime psa, comic books, workman's comp, prostate cancer

4 years ago - newt in sink, bro gets viper fins sponsor, pesky security, badly drawn images on a bumpy road, punquin finds my 125 item list

5 years ago - Evil News, bad joke, crux, random journals, nice thing poll, designer'slament, laptop space bar weird, hatt-baby, email plain text

6 years ago - Enjoyed the X-men movie, 1974 memory visiting Florida, reprint of Scooby & the occult, insomnia

It's that time of day again, so Newt and I are on the outside (inside screens) while the condo gets a spruce-up.

Peek in on Newtcam if you want to see if there's any exciting mop-action on the tiles! (Or to see if you can spot Newt on the other side of the sliding glass door.)

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Going to do some consulting work this afternoon for Caroline - I haven't done anything for her since she sold the pharmacy a year or two ago. It should be a nice visit, and with any luck, it'll pay for a new digital camera.

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Resort Hotels of the Stratospheric Future! - Fascinating stuff...Hotels on flying zeppelins.

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Nicely cool outside... Not a cloud in the sky, but a soft breeze and the slightest bite in the air. A good day for a little walkabout. A quick shower after Rosemary leaves, and I think a few hours out and about will do me a world of good. I've been shaking a lot of mental cobwebs loose this morning.

1 year ago - dr who leaks out, tree, death as a doodle, in the news, tmbg-bloodmobile, missing a brown-eyed girl, squirrel names, pirate vote

2 years ago - playing with icons, palm doodles, magical flesh fearing saw, bro still in the pokey

3 years ago - throat tickle, possible gig, FMM stuff

4 years ago - yahoo kills pop3, Can Asians Think?, llamas!, spring break, Egyptian musk, cat-recognition flap, rice dreams

5 years ago - Green Eggs & Hamlet, moody, China, Sophomore Uses List Context; Cops Interrogate

I saw an owl on the school fence, walking home from the bus stop last night. It was super cute... a tiny thing, maybe the size of a can of soda-pop... I was a little shocked, because I think of Owls as big birds of prey The bird looked like a brown and white feathered capsule, with huge yellow eyes and long skinny legs. I stopped in my tracks and admired it for a moment and then went to take a picture. It took off before I could snag him, but I found a very close approximation... it was a burrowing owl! (The mascot of my old university) Apparently they don't get very large, so I doubt what I saw was a baby though it looked babyish to me at the time.

He flew off into this tree, outside of my view. The creepy yellow light looked nifty and I had the palmtop out, so I took a picture.



It's odd... I think of owls as these huge predators, but this guy would've had trouble with a rat, I think. Maybe an anole or a mouse is more his speed. I'll be coming back to see if I can spot him again. I really love living close to this sort of wildlife.

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That Space piggy picture got well over 3500 hits over the course of 12 hours yesterday...that's more hits than my coverage of the hurricane back in October, and I thought that was nuts. I wonder if someone else linked to it, because only a couple of dozen bounced through my journal-site to that page.

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Made plans to go see Wicked with Danny some time in the weeks ahead. I'm looking quite forward to it, though I wonder how much he'll like it. It was his idea, so groovy. Yikes.. I wonder how much he'll balk when he finds out they're between $109 and $225 per seat? I suspect I might be flying solo. A bit more expensive than the $5 seats for Arsenic and Old Lace at his school.

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Pretty Keen - estimate to price of any address.

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Floating wind turbines

The Magenn Power Air Rotor System (MARS) is an innovative lighter-than-air tethered device that rotates about a horizontal axis in response to wind, efficiently generating clean renewable electrical energy at a lower cost than all competing systems.

The magenn flying wind turbine is held up by helium generating 4Kw,enough to power your needs. It costs around $10,000, but it could pay for itself in about 6 years depending on how you use it. It’s anchored by a tether that can extend up to 1,000 feet above ground. Generally, 400 feet is enough to catch the minimum 3 meters/sec wind speed needed to sustain a nice supply of electricity. No towers or heavy foundations are necessary and sizes range from small “backpack” models to large megawatt generating devices.

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Moment of lyric (take your pick - mov, or youtube)

( ... )

Can you think of anything else that talks, other than a person?
Uh ohh... uh oh, a bird! yeah!
Sometimes a parrot talks
Ha ha ha ha ha !!!!
Yes, some birds are funny when they talk
Can you think of anything else
A record, record, record !

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1 year ago - Rooster year, Kerby, palm doodle, nifty dolls, web-flowers, ljers who kill, machine gun vs katana, google maps, living with a corpse

2 years ago - RIP, J.S. , meme, Long distance , layers, GA success

3 years ago - tittles, palm pics, Pondering Newt getting pooch bro, incubus

4 years ago - bro email, morty the cylon, Emily Dickinson, Tulpas, links

5 years ago - More love issues, lj drama, lonelies

Eau de Humanity

I was right, took me about three hours, and I got a nice bonus check and an Italian lunch out afterwards.

The gang will be happy with the new machines... flat screens, better boxes, and cordless keyboard/mice for some. HP is really quite good about granted equipment, if you're willing to dance around the paperwork.

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Treadmill for FPS games... about time!

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Sam & Max team started a new studio! It may not be dead, after all! Telltale Games

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3-d Model of the haunted mansion

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Would someone like to buy me a 10 million-dollar zeppelin for Christmas?

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Archive.org: Sabucat vintage movie trailers collection (see also the great AV Geek section)

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1 year ago - Prop2 gets nuked, poop in the pool, decade old posts by Scotto to Usenet, Hala attacked by the carnivator, I find out that I need surgery, chimp & the woman

2 years ago - net's a little poopy, Finn drama at work (after the letter campaign)

3 years ago - clerisy, broken door, bad day, Ripple,

4 years ago - rainy day, poi dog, I first learn to do online carts, x degrees of sep

GRASP is short for Gravity Research for Advanced Space Propulsion. A Russian scientist has apparently managed to create an anti-gravity device. Potentially, this could be used to create a weapon that could vaporize objects hundreds of kilometers away with a beam of 1000 g's of force. It sounds pretty far out to me, but for some reason, both NASA and Boeing are taking it seriously.

NASA's attempts to replicate the research have so far failed because they lacked his "unique formula."

Who was the MJ-12 researcher who squished himself with symbols he carved after researching the Roswell craft?

A map plotting the HQs of 676 active hate groups in the US. You can click on a state and get a detailed run-down of what groups are in each city.

Wednesday night, plan on going out for Chinese, Thai, or Italian with mom and the bro.

It'll have to be sometime after 8pm, because I have to work until then. Either they can meet me at work, or wait an additional hour for me to get home.

Jenjen's getting married? last I'd heard, she wasn't even dating anyone. I've got to get the skinny on *that* tidbit. John? sakes.

One of my eccentricities in this life is my fondness for airships. It's really unfortunate in my mind that the Hindenburg disaster seemingly wrecked any chance of us having a nice lighter-than-air fleet. Zeppelins don't go up as easily as you might think...Simple bullet strikes won't necessarily do it -- there were cases of German WWI Zeppelins being shot full of holes by attacking British planes, and, while they eventually lost altitude, they didn't ignite. Even the hydrogen didn't leak out at the high rate you would expect, as a rigid airship's gas cells are at atmospheric pressure. (That is why they appear only partially filled when the ship is on the ground, and expand to full volume at what is referred to as "pressure height" -- the maximum altitude the airship can reach without triggering automatic valves, or risking rupture of the gas cells...) The RFC/RAF could only reliably down a Zeppelin with MG fire when they used incendiary rounds, or at least a higher proportion of tracer in the MG belts.

There was no smoking aboard the wartime Zeppelins, and the only way around that was to volunteer for duty in the "spy basket", a vaguely teardrop-shaped car suspended a few hundred feet below the airship. (The theory was that the ship would cruise above the clouds, and the man in the "spy basket", dangling below the clouds, would serve as a spotter for navigation and bombing, communicating with the ship via a phone line braided into the suspension line for his perch. This was not as successful as it sounds, and the USN abandoned its own version of the idea in the early 30s...) The spotter wore a parachute, but it was generally believed that, if the cable broke, the suspension system would foul the basket opening long enough for the ground to come up and hit you while you were trying to work your way free... So you had to risk your neck for a chance to flick your Bic -- better to simply wait until after the ship landed back in Germany!

The post WWI German commercial Zeppelins were rather fanatical about fire safety. IIRC, Graf Zeppelin (LZ-127) was a "smoke-free" airship. Hindenburg (LZ-129) and, I believe, her sister ship Graf Zeppelin II (LZ-129) included a "smoking room" -- the only place anybody was permitted to smoke on the airship. This room was asbestos-lined, and you still couldn't use your own matches or lighter (such implements were temporarily confiscated while you were aboard) -- you had to use one of the special lighters that were chained to the tables!

The airships of every non-US nation during this period used hydrogen for two main reasons:

1. Hydrogen, in the purity normally used for filling an airship, will lift approximately 68 lbs per kcf, while helium will lift only 62 lbs per kcf.

2. Helium was found in useful quantity only in the US, and our government had restrictions on export of helium. Even in the US, it wasn't inexpensive -- it generally cost at least ten times what you would pay for an equal amount of hydrogen. This fact was not lost on a penny-pinching Congress, but use of helium in US airships had been mandated, ever since the loss of the Italian-built US military semirigid airship Roma, which struck a high-tension line, and crashed, with heavy loss of life, when her hydrogen cells caught fire. Los Angeles was filled with hydrogen for her delivery flight from Germany, but this was very soon replaced with helium. (However, Congress was slow to fund extraction of enough helium to refill the ship, so the gas from the Shenandoah had to be transferred over to Los Angeles, temporarily grounding that ship. Shenandoah only flew again after Los Angeles went in for overhaul!)

Airships went everywhere, including to the poles. Norge reached the North Pole, as did Italia later on (though Italia crashed on the way back), and even the Graf Zeppelin made an Arctic flight, though she didn't cross the pole.

A polar expedition was planned for USS Shenandoah (ZR-1) in 1925, soon after the ship finished up a goodwill tour of the Midwest. Unfortunately, the Shenandoah broke up in a squall near Ava, Ohio, on the night of 2-3 September, 1925 (the anniversary of the ship's commissioning!), killing over a dozen of her crew, including LCDR Zachary Lansdowne, her CO.

A good starting source for airship data is Airship: The Home Page for Lighter Than Air craft (http://spot.colorado.edu/~dziadeck/airship.html). If you want to go directly to the German Zeppelin data, try http://spot.colorado.edu/~dziadeck/zeppelin.html

For a picture of the Los Angeles doing a nose-stand at the high mast at Lakehurst NAS, in New Jersey, see (This was not an example of stunt-flying, but of freak weather conditions while the ship was moored! The wind conditions raised her all the way up to 90 degrees, but, while various objects fell the length of the ship -- some breaking through the outer covering -- and crewmen were holding on for dear life in the keel corridor and control car, no one was hurt, and damage to the ship proved to be negligible! One photo in my collection shows her standing completely vertical at the mast...):)