New Zealand: Feminists Are Unhappier Than Other People There, Too.

Even in Hobbit land, and idyllic progressive New Zealand those who believe that sex differences are not a figment of the imagination are happier. A new academic paper explains, in the smooth, stylish writing that makes academia what it is, why people who believe men and women are different are happier than those who believe sex differences are created by the power structure. New Zealand sexists Basically the authors argue that ascribing a sex differences to nature makes people, particularly women, more in line with the social structure, particulalry if the world view is that women are to be taken care of by men rather than hostile to them. The author devides this world into benevolent sexism ("BS") and Hostile Sexism ("HS"). Benevolent Sexism under apparently a lot of research is linked to greater life satisfaction in men and women but particularly women. The authors here were positing why but, unbeknownst to me, it is apparently accepted as a fact in the gender studies arena. Obviously I have a different explanation of this phenomenon but it is amazing to see confirmation of my world view from such a source.

Jeff Barth for Congress

Full disclosure: I know this guy and knew that he was smart and funny. But this is genius:



South Dakota Democrats reading this blog who are not Jeff Barth, please vote for Jeff Barth. Those outside of South Dakota with friends/relatives/etc. in South Dakota, please forward this to them and encourage them to vote for, yes, Jeff Barth.

Thank you, and God bless Jeff Barth, the State of South Dakota, and the United States of America.

Face It Backwards and You've Got Jet Propulsion

A friend of mine growing up had a vast paper route requiring the rigging of huge wire baskets all over his bike. The combination of its color and the engineering involved quickly led to its becoming known as the Orange Wonder, and I am proud to say that, while filling in for him one day, I flipped myself over its handlebars when gravity finally said "Enough" and the three-quarters-laden bike agreed.

As a fellow railfan (he actually got me hooked) this would have been the logical accessory:



Train Nerd notes that the proper sequence in the US when approaching a grade crossing/intersection would be long, long, short, long. You're welcome. And please don't race the train to the crossing: ties go to the train.*

This one's for you, CPL.

*Ties go under the train too, hurr hurr.

Obama Campaign Ad Staff: Thanks, Mitt!

Looks like some copy writers, camera operators and editors can take the weekend off:



Something tells me we will be seeing this from time to time until early November.

H/t Steve Benen

Dante's Al-LEGO-ry, or Lust Be A LEGO Tonight

Laura brought this latest abuse of spare time to my attention: the Nine Circles of Hell in LEGO. I suppose the incessant clicking and unclicking acccompanying the torments of the damned would get to you eventually.

Send In the Clowns

Ok, the headline alone was worth posting on this one. I think a number of women would say they used clowns to get pregnant. Link below. http://now.msn.com/now/0505-clown-fertility.aspx

May the Fourth Be With You!

Happy Friday everyone. As promised, a post about Star Wars from yours truly. Today is Star Wars Day! And without any further ado, I bring you two great videos, sent to me by the new Messenger. First up is the Piano Guys with Cello Wars. I've gotta say that with or without lightsaber bows, electric cellos are kinda badass.



And next up is a great new piece directed by geek extraordinaire Seth Green.

If You Took All The Girls I Knew When I Was Single And Put 'em All Together For One Book

David Maraniss, a pro-Democrat, historian who spends his days making the likes of Bill Clinton look good is publishing a biography of President Barack Hussein Obama. In this book he tracks down some of the incidents in Obama's own "Dreams From My Father" and finds discrepencies. He then asks President Obama about them and the President tells him that he "New York girlfriend" in the book is a "composite" of many girlfriends. At the link the President desribes how he did this partially out of concern for the girl's privacy and I have no reason to doubt him. Understandably, however, some are making mock. A game has been invented wherebye a name for Obama's composite girlfriend is invented. Entries so far include 1) Ivayna Taxya; 2) Sue Arizona 3. Fannie Mae 4. Rhoda Serfdom 5. Joan of Tarp 6. Rita Stribute 7. Sharon Miseree 8. Sosha List 9. Sharon Yourwelth and 10. Karla Marks. My own offering? Nan E. State. Well, what should Obama's composite girlfriend be called? As Simon and Garfunkle sang about a similiar exercise "It would never match my sweet imagination...." P.S. Blogger has changed its interface so I don't know if the link works. And hat tip to Professor Reynolds at Instapundit.

Science Fun for the Whole Family

Yesterday, I had an enjoyable morning helping my neighbor set up his booth at the USA Science and Engineering Festival at the Washington Convention Center (Mount Vernon Square). The existence of said Festival was unbeknownst to me prior to yesterday's volunteering. The first Festival occurred 2 years ago on the Mall and they upgraded to an indoor venue this time around. Aerospace, environment, robots, bugs, chemistry. It's all there! While unloading cargo in the bowels of the convention center, I saw no less than 5 dewers of liquid nitrogen being filled and hauled up!

The expo floor has a mix of science and engineering booths aimed at various ages from Elementary to High School. And there are shows on several stages throughout the day. If you have some free time and feel the urge to see and do some science, head on over! My neighbor Bob is at the Mars Society booth (across the aisle from Georgia Tech booth) and has several hands-on demos including landing/impact craters! Tell him Nick sent you. Though, I'm not sure if that gets you a bonus or escorted from the floor.

Coming Soon to the Witness Protection Program

I am pleased to report that I have promoted Nick C to the masthead from the ranks of commenters/freelance contributors. His debut post is a good one and I highly recommend checking it out, because if he follows the time-honored tradition of my other co-bloggers we might never hear from him again. On the other hand, if he posts at least twice more I believe he'll beat JCF out of the cellar.

Anyway, regardless of posting frequency he's a good guy and knows his way around a beer or a game mapboard, sometimes simultaneously. Welcome to the -- hey, where'd he go?!

Geek Chic; Deco Edition.

Good morning, Potpourri.  After my fourth or fifth submission to Dave S of fun web finds, he graciously said, and I heavily paraphrase, "[Do it your damned self!]"  From this point forth, if you see a post about gaming or Star Wars, there is a high probability that it's from me.  My network of Bothan spies runs far and wide.

While surfing the web for gaming info, I stumbled upon "How Did the Duck Hunt Gun Work?", a blogpost/article from Jan 2011.  That article alone made the geek in me smile with 80s 90s nostalgia and optics glee.  Lo and behold, gaming with light beams was done 66 years prior to my beloved Nintendo Zapper!  Embedded was a link to some fantastic early gaming geekery, the 1936 Seeburg Ray-O-Lite Rifle Range (not to be confused with Ray-o-Vac flashlight products also named Ray-o-Lite).  Seeburg made a variety of vending units, primarily jukeboxes.  I was simultaneously taken aback by the pre-computer, vacuum tube technological innovation combined with the craftsmanship of the late-deco wood case and gorgeous art in the game scene.  I am not a collector, but what I wouldn't give to have one of these consoles in my den!

And a little more research reveals that Seeburg sold conversion kits with different scenery and animals; bear, deer, raccoon, and rabbit.  Later models included more mundane cans on a fence (why shoot cans at home when you can show off to your buddies in a bar!) and, sigh, people (a classic gangster shootout, a chicken thief, and convict escaping from a chain gang).  There's even a custom one called "Shoot the Bartender."  Not sure I'd want that game in my bar.

PONG on your oscilloscope?  Check.  And now, from the Great Depression, optical shooting galleries.  Gaming + tech = awesome in any time period!

We Are All Centurions; or Arma Virumque Canon

Having traveled in such tout-rich environments as the former Soviet Union and Turkey, I can say with certainty that none I encountered were ever armed. At least, it never came to that. Incidentally, Turkey beats the FSU in the critical tout categories of creativity and cheerfulness-in-rejection.

I would certainly think twice about trying to limit their livelihood, as apparently is the case in Rome, where Italian police recently gave the thumbs-down to various gentlemen who array themselves in various types of Roman armor (and occasional weaponry) and pose for fees of various amounts with various tourists outside the Colosseum. It's uncertain what the fate of these erstwhile Praetorians will be, but I'm sure some form of this activity will persist regardless of the official attitude, and that's fine. It would take an entire, well, legion of cheesy reenactors on Vespas to detract from the glory that is Rome.

He Bayoneted Me - With Science! or, Bill and Jon's Excellent Experiment

As a history buff I know a fair bit about the US Civil War, but I was unaware of the phenomenon of glowing wounds after the Battle of Shiloh, whose anniversary was just a couple of weeks ago last week (damn backlog). As this story relates, the cause of this was unknown until 2001, when two enterprising youths took up the case. It turns out that some of the soldiers subject to the appalling neglect inherent in 19th-century battlefield medicine (think of it as Extreme Triage) acquired a colony of bioluminescent bacteria via being left in the mud for a couple of days. These bacteria created more hospitable consitions for themselves by killing off other bacteria, thus lowering the infection rate of these soldiers and improving their chances of survival. (Manufacturers of anti-bacterial-in-everything products, take note.)

JJV, who brought this to my attention, is probably wondering, as I am, why the whackaloon reenactor who plagued us during our last Civil War B & B weekend in 1998 didn't mention glowing wounds as part of his spiel. On the other hand, we were touring the Wilderness/Spotsylvania battlefield so I guess we should count ourselves lucky he didn't gut-shoot us then set the surrounding brush on fire.

30 Seconds Over Tokyo, 70 Years On

Today is the 70th anniversary of the justly renowned Doolittle Raid on Tokyo. While it caused negligible physical damage, the raid was a propaganda coup for the US, interrupting an unbroken string of Japanese victories on land and sea with a demonstration that perhaps the enemy was not invincible. More significantly, the raid led the Japanese to shift their strategic focus to defeating the American carriers by luring them to destruction. We know how that ended. What is sometimes glossed over is the extraordinary daring at all levels that made the raid happen.

For starters, the B-25 bombers used in the raid were never designed for use on aircraft carriers. Remember that this is long before the use of steam catapults and thousand-foot supercarriers; USS Hornet was under 800 feet in length, and with all 16 bombers on the flight deck, the lead plane had less than 500 feet to get airborne -- using its own engines and a headwind -- at a time when it was not all that uncommon for much-smaller fighters to ditch on takeoff. (The last bomber in line, meanwhile, was spotted such that its tail stuck out over the stern of the ship to maximize takeoff space.)

The raid itself was acknowledged up front as a one-way flight, as the planes had neither the range nor the ability to return to and land on an aircraft carrier. The idea was that the planes would land in unoccupied China, but most crash-landed and one crew was interned in the USSR for over a year. As such, the crews were all volunteers. The carriers, a precious resource themselves after the devastation of the Pearl Harbor attack, launched the raid early, having been spotted by a Japanese patrol boat, and retreated with minimal air cover out of danger.

Wikipedia tells me that there are five surviving airmen from the raid. Here's to them.

Zis Is an Outrage!

The United Kingdon's National Army Museum has ranked George Washington as Britains greatest foe of modern times (post 1600). To qualify you had to take the field against them, can't be just a political foe. The French are not amused. 'Ze nation of shopkeeeepers can not even keep der worst foes straight! Der judgment iz as bad as der cookery!" a spokesman at Les Invalidise was quoted as saying.

We Got Too Used to Guarding Clinton Secret Service Says

This is evidently an expanding scandal. The idea that Secret Service men would become involved with prostitutes while guarding the President abroad is a Christopher Buckley story-not a plausible Obama era scandal. Only one President since Kennedy really deserves this silly own goal during an election year, and his name ain't Barack Hussein.

Don't Grasp My Straw, Bro

If you've spent much time in the DC metropolitan area recently, you may know that the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (Metro) is undergoing a shite-storm over the unreliability of its flagship subway system. Metro's enduring love of deferred maintenance came to light in 2009, when two of its flagship trains collided in a flagship example of flagship carnage. Since the accident, we have endured instances of runaway escalators, serial track maintenace, and ongoing struggles with broken trains. Many of these transit fumbles have resulted in sub-par service and seriously crowded trains. I understate the problem when I say that Metro's disappointing service causes riders' tempers routinely to flare.

I admit not a little fury, therefore, when I learned recently of a new Metro ad campaign that seems to throw a match into the powder keg that Metro has created. I speak of Metro's new anti-grope campaign. Metro, it's Lord of the Flies down here. Last winter, I had a commute during which I became common law married to six people. If you could keep your friggin' trains running, there would be no chance for opportunistic groping, but more to the point, why are you suggesting that there is any semblance of personal space in this mess that you've made?

There Is No Substitute

This week witnessed the passing of FA Porsche, grandson of the designer of the VW Beetle, who did his grandfather one better by penning the iconic 911. The fortunes of his family's company could have slipped into the abyss at many junctures but for his brilliant design, currently in its seventh generation. Indeed, the company explored a number of potential replacements for the 911, including the new-fangled, front-engined 928, but each was forced to yield to the 911's elegant simplicity. In the end, salvation from Guido the Killer Pimp isn't enough to generate product success; the 911 roundly knocked the snot out of the 928 and all other Porsche and non-Porsche rivals.

Lysistrata en Espanol

JJV sends another item of note over the transom from his undisclosed location. This time it's about Spanish prostitutes on strike against financial professionals. Or maybe they're just ceding the field to the bigger whores. For me the chief takeaways from this are:

• the phrase "sexy-time stonewalling"
• Spanish women can easily tell the difference between financial professionals on the one hand, and architects and engineers on the other

Clearly, for the moment at least, this story will not have a happy ending.