Submitted by David Drumm (Nal), Guest Blogger
H/T: Bio-Rad. (Which has additional videos such as out-takes.)
Submitted by David Drumm (Nal), Guest Blogger
Got some extra room under you Christmas tree? Have I got the perfect stocking stuffer for you! It fires a 7 pound projectile at 7,875 feet per second. What’s not to love? It’s an electro-magnetic projectile accelerator. OK, it’s a railgun. The launcher is at ONR’s Electromagnetic Launch Facility, located in Virginia at the Naval Surface Warfare Center’s Dahlgren Division Laboratory.
A video of the test firing is below the fold.
In a much-anticipated report issued last Thursday, the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) concluded that Virginia Tech acted too slowly to alert students and staff about the ongoing rampage of mass murderer, Seung-Hui Cho. The report found that VT officials violated the Clery Act by failing to alert students of a dorm room shooting that left two people dead about two and a half hours before Cho went to Norris Hall and killed 30 more students and staff.
Continue reading “Was VT Slow To Respond To Campus Threat That Left 32 Dead?”
Recently, Republican Rep. Ron Paul of Texas took to the floor of the House to talk about Wikileaks, transparency in government, and the case of Daniel Ellsberg, the 
Pentagon Papers, and the New York Times. He spoke about how the Iraq War was based on lies. He asked how the U. S. government should prosecute a citizen of Australia for publishing classified U. S. documents that he did not steal. Paul also said the following: “Revealing the real nature and goal of our presence in so many Muslim countries is a threat to our empire, and any revelation of this truth is highly resented by those in charge.”
Continue reading “Ron Paul Speaks about Wikileaks on the Floor of the House”
How’d that secession thing work out for you? Not so well? Want to get all the benefits of secession without any of the drawbacks? The Tea Party has your answer – nullification. Any law a state doesn’t like can be declared unconstitutional and poof, the state can ignore it. Want to ignore Brown v. Board of Education? No worries.
Only one problem, nullification is unconstitutional.
Evanston, Illinois may not seem like the epi-center of a galactic struggle between “The Force” and the “Dark Side” of bullying, but for seven-year-old Star Wars’ fan, Katie Goldman, it surely was. When the first grader announced she would no longer be bringing her cherished Star Wars waterbottle to her classroom, mom and dad wanted to know why. Katie was as mum as R2D2, but her parents kept pressing. Finally, the little girl said her classmates were teasing her because “only boys liked Star Wars.” She didn’t want the water bottle anymore.
Continue reading “The Blog Force Is With You Or Don’t Mess Around With Katie!”
Thomas Drummond is a resourceful fellow. Driving in the unfamiliar wilds of southeastern Missouri, Drummond spun out on icy roads and ended up in culvert. In his last-“ditch” effort to notify someone of his plight, he texted his girlfriend about the accident around 2:00 a.m., but, in a curious omission, forgot to tell her the location. Two hours later, a soused (0.148 BAC) Drummond was found by the highway patrol and promptly arrested for operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol.
Continue reading “Get Lost, Get Cold, Get Drunk, Get Acquitted”
Prince Charles and his consort, the Duchess of Cornwall were attacked by a mob protesting tuition hikes screaming “Off With Their Heads” and “Tory Scum” on Thursday as seen in this extraordinary video. One protester reported was able to poke Camilla with a stick through a window left open by security.
With a 2000 year old history, the Holy Thorn Tree of Glastonbury has stood as an important symbol for Christians in England — a pilgrimage point retracing the steps of Joseph of Arimathea (believed to be Jesus’ great uncle). Now it has been cut down in what some are alleging to be an anti-Christian act of vandalism. I have seen no evidence establishing an anti-Christian intent.
Continue reading “Vandals Cut Down The Holy Thorn Tree of Glastonbury”
We have previously followed complaints from families in the Jewish Orthodox community that pedophiles continue to receive protection from disclosure or prosecution — even as the Catholic Church is forced to deal with its own scandal. This has come to another flashpoint with the hunt for Brooklyn Rabbi Gershon Kranczer and his 21-year-old son Asher for the sexual abuse of four family relatives.
Continue reading “Child Abuses Allegations Hit The Orthodox Jewish Community”
Anthropologists in universities across the country are experiencing an unprecedented civil war over the very foundation of their field. The American Anthropological Association has decided to drop the word “science” from a associational statement — triggering outcries from science-oriented faculty who have long opposed the growth of anthropologists who study race, ethnicity, and gender from a more political perspective.
Continue reading “No Bones About It: Anthropologist Association Drops “Science” From Its Associational Statement”
I have always marveled how everything in the Middle East can be reduced to a conspiracy theory. This week, however, Egyptian authorities are exploring the possibility that the recent shark attacks in Sharm al-Sheikh were the result of Mossad using GPS technology to guide the sharks. That’s right, shark attacks at a beach resort so the Jews did it.
Continue reading “Jaws V: The Mossad Menace”
William Vasilakos has a novel claim against Hartford, Connecticut Officer Michael Presti — alleging that Presti took his cellphones and then emailed revealing pictures of and videos of Presti’s girlfriend to his own phone.
Continue reading “Police Officer Allowed to Remain on Force after Arresting Man and Stealing Images of His Girlfriend From His Cellphone”
While I was trying the case, the Florida appellate court issued an interesting ruling that a former elementary school principal was wrongly convicted of child pornography when he pasted the faces of some of his 11- and 12-year-old students over pictures of adult women. John Stelmack is already serving five years for the crime.
Continue reading “Child Porn Conviction Overturned of Elementary Principal Who Pasted Pictures of Students on Bodies of Adults”
Mohammed Abou-Sabaa, the son of a leading Tunisian official, was reportedly turned down for a job so he went home and decided to beat his dog — captured in a horrific six-minute film abusing his five-month-old labrador named Poppy. It appears however that being educated gives you something of a license for beating puppies because you said you had “a bad day.”
Continue reading “The Educated Abuser: Tunisian Diplomat’s Son Caught Savagely Beating Five-Month-Old Puppy And Allowed To Walk”