Failed a "Cuteness Test"

So check this out. http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/beijing/blog/fourth_place_medal/post/The-Chinese-pulled-a-Milli-Vanilli-during-the-Op?urn=oly,100162

The girl on the right was told she would sing in the Olympic opening ceremony. Then she was deemed not cute enough at the last minute, and was replaced by the girl on the left who seems to have straighter teeth. High marks for China on this one, ruining small children's dreams whenever it best benefits the state.

How Much I am Focusing on Work Right Now..

Well here's the cats. New cat doesn't have a name, but I'll think of one. She's super nice. Zu is bigger now too.

My Favorite Sesame Street Characters Ever

You have have have to watch these. They're bizzare but hilarious.....and timeless awesomeness

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qxWGr8VhzQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4VNMERVsC4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2ZkJd4u0Us

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtFEdhggOw0

Zu the Cat Pictures!

They're finally here, and I'll figure out how to upload video of all this mayhem later. And somehow it posted two of the same picture. Hmm.

No Joke, a .50 caliber M4 in use by SF today...

http://www.alexanderarms.com/beowulf.htm

New Title Picture...Cause Now I know my Job

Ok, so above me is a M119 105mm light howitzer. I recently found out that I am going to 2-32nd FA, which is a "Light" unit attached to an Infantry brigade combat team at Ft. Riley. Light basically means that we can pull our howitzers with Humvees, and can pick up and go at anytime, anywhere. This weapon will be my main tool for my job, so I felt obligated to post a compelling picture of it.

Thought this was funny

Ok, so you've probably seen this image floating around as a joke on people's forums or computers....but I still think it sums up my view of Hillary pretty well. Go Obama!

An Amazing WWII story...

Check this out, it's an amazing account of one pilot's being saved, and then returning the favor to the islanders of New Britain.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080308/ap_on_re_au_an/mastah_preddi;_ylt=AhjHwUo.CASfjy76su1jDM8DW7oF

This is pretty darn cool....and for real...

Thirty years after the movie thriller ‘The Spy Who Loved Me’ hit the silver screen “sQuba” is the first car that can actually ‘fly’ under water.
“Dive it again, James!” If the situation gets too hot for the secret agent he’ll go underground - or under water. So demonstrated impressively by Roger Moore in ‘The Spy Who Loved Me” in 1977 when he dove below the waves in a sleek vehicle that moments before seemed to be an ordinary car. The only problem: The scene never really took place; it was an animation.

With the “sQuba,” the world’s first real submersible car, the movie fake now becomes reality for visitors of the Geneva Motor Show (March 6th - 16th, 2008). Rinspeed boss Frank M. Rinderknecht (52) is known for his extraordinary automotive creations. The acknowledged James Bond enthusiast and Swiss automobile visionary kept revisiting this scene in his mind over and over: “For three decades I have tried to imagine how it might be possible to build a car that can fly under water. Now we have made this dream come true.”

And it is this submerged stabile flight at a depth of 10 meters that sets the “sQuba” apart from military vehicles. While the latter can go under water, they are limited to driving slowly over the submerged ground. Rinderknecht: “It is undoubtedly not an easy task to make a car watertight and pressure resistant enough to be maneuverable under water. The real challenge however was to create a submersible car that moves like a fish in water.”

It also had to be a sports car that was converted into a diving dream in the facilities of Swiss engineering specialist Esoro. In a first step the combustion engine was removed and replaced by several electric motors. Three motors are located in the rear. One provides propulsion on land, the other two drive the screws for underwater motoring. They are supported by two powerful Seabob jet drives in the front, which ‘breathe’ through special rotating louvers from HS Genion (for opening and closing the water intake). The rotating outlet jets were designed to be extremely light yet twist resistant by using high-tech nano materials, so-called Carbon Nano Tubes.

It is a sure bet that the “sQuba” will steal the show from any ‘Baywatch’ beauty on the beach. And easily, too: You drive the car into the water and the car floats. That is, until you crack the door to let the water in. Immediately the “sQuba” starts on his way to the underwater world. The occupants’ breathing air comes from an integrated tank of compressed air that divers know from scuba diving. Rinderknecht: “For safety reasons we have built the vehicle as an open car so that the occupants can get out quickly in an emergency. With an enclosed cabin opening the door might be impossible.” But safety wasn’t the only reason for choosing an open-top design: With an enclosed volume of just two cubic meters of air the vehicle weight would have to increase by two tons (!) to counteract the unwanted buoyancy, giving the “sQuba” the land mobility of a turtle. Without occupants the “sQuba” surfaces automatically. It is even capable of autonomous driving on land thanks to a sophisticated laser sensor system from the Hamburg company Ibeo - without any help from the driver or passenger.

Power is supplied by rechargeable Lithium-Ion batteries. Rinderknecht: “The ‘sQuba’ is a zero-emission car as documented by the rotating license plate in the rear. It produces no exhaust emissions. The Swiss are among the world’s pioneers in the area of hydropower. The ‘sQuba’s’ filling station is the water reservoir.” It is no surprise that the vehicle features powerful yet energy-saving LED lighting technology.
3-D foil elements with embossed fish and sharkskin patterns from Wetzel Processing Group and Hornschuch add visual pizzazz and streamline the exterior. Together with styling elements from Foliatec they create a harmonious velvety matt-white appearance.
For shore leave the “sQuba” relies on a stainless coil-over suspension from KW automotive and large Pirelli tires mounted on custom-made forged light-weight wheels from AEZ with 17- and 18-inch diameters. But the “sQuba” is really at home in the water. To make the occupants feel at home there as well the innovative salt-water resistant interior from Strähle + Hess features genuine mother-of-pearl trim and diamond-plated non-slip inlays from KGS Diamond, normally used in high-tech abrasives. After all, ‘diamonds are a girl’s best friends.’ The high-tech VDO instrument cluster and controls create a futuristic ambiance and allow controlling all vehicle functions even while submerged.
Frank M. Rinderknecht and his partners - amongst them also the fleet specialist LeasePlan - have created a truly unusual vehicle and in the process have thought of everything. Even the Motorex lubricants used in the ‘sQuba” are biodegradable. For the Rinspeed boss that is a meticulousness stemming from conviction: “The ‘sQuba’ lets me be one with the elements and lets me immerse myself in a new and fascinating world - with Q factor. It is our duty to protect this world in which we are guests to the best of our ability.” Isn’t it, Miss Moneypenny? - James couldn’t have said it better himself glancing at the sporty Swiss precision chronograph from C.F. Bucherer. Eau la la - shaken, not stirred.

V-Day

I've gotta run to work, but I quickly wanted to comment on Valentine's Day. Yes, I sent someone flowers and was a sucker to the rampant commercialism that this holiday basically lives off of. However, a thought struck me. Why not treat your special someone as well as you do on V-Day all the time? I don't mean buy them 100$ trinkets or send them flowers every day, cause honestly, they would start hating the mountains of flowers making a mess everywhere. BUT, love....love is the key thing here. People are superior to animals because of their logic and feeling. When feeling or affection leaves a person, they become a machine who only does what is best for him or her. Think about what somebody else needs, that's why I think V-Day might actually matter....even just a little bit..

Old Toys Not On the Floor Anymore, Hurray!

Mom starts online toy rental service

By LIZ AUSTIN PETERSON, Associated Press WriterSun Feb 10, 3:09 PM ET
After scouring the Internet to fill her house with only the best toys for her infant twin sons, Lori Pope hated to watch the clutter build as the boys lost interest.
If you can rent movies, video games and even handbags online, she thought, why not toys?
That's the idea behind Baby Plays, a Web-based company Pope launched in October that allows parents to receive four or six toys in the mail every month, assembled and ready for playtime.
Call it Netflix for the toddler set.
Baby Plays subscribers visit the company's Web site to browse among nearly 200 toys for newborns through preschoolers. Customers build a wish list of toys they'd like to rent, and Pope's staff ships them to their door.
"It's going to take a load off of moms," Pope said.
The program has been great for Heidi Borden, a financial analyst from the Houston suburb of Katy who used to dread shopping for toys with her now 11-month-old daughter and 2-year-old son.
"She wants to get on the floor and he's running down the aisle and I'm just stressed to pick out something really good really quick, get in and out," said Borden, 39. "It's just a lot nicer to be able to do this online and not worry about if it's something that they don't like."
As the co-owner of an oilfield supply business, Pope also didn't have a lot of time to shop. To save time, money and space, she searched the Internet for a toy rental company. When she couldn't find one, she decided to start her own.
Pope started with 10 customers, shipping toys out of spare office space in her business. Now she's got about 200 customers nationwide, including about 40 grandparents, and is preparing to move into a 3,000-square-foot warehouse next door.
She has spent $250,000 of the money she's made from her other business to get the company off the ground, from buying toys and hiring employees to subletting the office and storage space. She still pours about $12,000 a month into the company but hopes to begin turning a profit by this fall.
Customers pay $28.99 a month to get four toys a month for three months and $35.99 a month to get six toys a month for three months. Families willing to sign a yearlong contract can get six toys a month for $31.99.
Baby Plays' inventory includes popular toys by brands such as VTech, LeapFrog and Playskool as well as more obscure European manufacturers. Pope keeps at least seven of each kind of toy in stock so she can fulfill almost every request. She plans to double her inventory over the next two months.
Pope mainly stocks sturdy, easy-to-clean toys with few parts or parts that are easily replaced. She searches Web sites and catalogs for popular toys that are appropriate for small children and meet all European and American safety standards.
Once a new toy comes in, Pope invites Houston-area customers and their children to her office for some hands-on testing. If the kids love them, she'll order more. If they ignore the toy or lose interest just a few minutes, it's cut.
The toys are sanitized with Clorox wipes and loaded with fresh batteries before being shrink wrapped and boxed for shipment. The few toys that are too big to be shipped fully assembled are boxed with a screwdriver and instructions.
Families generally keep the toys for one month and then send them back in the box they came in, using a postage-paid return label the company includes with each shipment. Most parents know that's long enough for little kids to exhaust their interest.
But it's no big deal if the little one wants to hang on to a couple of toys for several months, Pope said. Parents can just exchange the toys they don't want, and new toys are shipped out as the old ones are returned.
Pope also keeps a close eye on the merchandise, yanking toys that are broken or more than "gently worn" and donating them to needy families nominated by her customers.
"If it has a little scratch on it, we're not going to take it out of the program," she said. But, "we're not going to ever send anybody anything that they're going to feel like is junk."
Each type of toy is also tested for lead paint when a new shipment arrives from the wholesaler, Pope said. She also avoids toys with small pieces that a child could break off and choke on.
The lead testing was a big selling point for Regina Rubin Cody, a Cleveland mother of 8-month-old twin girls.
"With the two babies it's kind of a handful," she said. "To be able to have one less thing to worry about offers kind of a real peace of mind."

Project LAPCAT

Hypersonic jet could reach Australia in under five hours

Tue Feb 5, 7:05 AM ET
British engineers unveiled plans Tuesday for a hypersonic jet which could fly from Europe to Australia in less than five hours.
The A2 plane, designed by engineering company Reaction Engines based in Oxfordshire, southern England, could carry 300 passengers at a top speed of almost 4,000 mph (6,400 kmh), five times the speed of sound.
The LAPCAT (Long-Term Advanced Propulsion Concepts and Technologies) project, backed by the European Space Agency, could see the plane operating within 25 years, the firm's boss Alan Bond told the Guardian daily.
"The A2 is designed to leave Brussels international airport, fly quietly and subsonically out into the north Atlantic at mach 0.9 before reaching mach 5 across the North Pole and heading over the Pacific to Australia," he said.
The plane, which at 143 metres (469 feet) long would be about twice the size of the biggest current jets, could fly non-stop for up to 12,500 miles (20,000 km).
It operates on liquid hydrogen, which is more ecologically friendly as it gives off water and nitrous oxide instead of carbon emissions.
Passengers would have to put up with having no windows, due to problems with heat produced at high speeds. Instead designers may put flat screen televisions where the windows would be, giving the impression of seeing outside.
Fares would be comparable with current first class tickets on standard flights, of around 3,500 pounds (4,700 euros, 6,900 dollars).
The flight time from Brussels to Australia would be four hours and 40 minutes. "It sounds incredible by today's standards but I don't see why future generations can't make day trips to Australasia," he said.
"Our work shows that it is possible technically; now it's up to the world to decide if it wants it."

Where is Love? ..Not at College...

Where Is the Love? Students Eschew Campus RomanceJanuary 31, 2008; Page D1Like many campuses, Purdue University has some traditional hot spots for romance -- "The Old Pump," where couples used to meet after dark, and a bell tower known as a lucky place to propose marriage.But engineering major Amy Penner has been so busy volunteering with a women's engineering group and planning her career that she's only dimly aware of them. Her boyfriend has left campus to get a doctorate overseas; asked how much time she spends dating, she says, "That would be zero."MORE WORK & FAMILY • Does marrying later push people to make a better choice for a mate? Join the discussion on The Juggle, the Journal's work and family blog.• Sue Shellenbarger talks with one woman who sacrificed her dreams of becoming an opera singer after she became a "trailing" spouse, following her Air Force husband around the country.Remember the movie "Love Story" and its star-crossed student lovers? Such torrid campus romances may be becoming a thing of the past. College life has become so competitive, and students so focused on careers, that many aren't looking for spouses anymore.Replacing college as the top marital hunting ground is the office. Only 14% of people who are married or in a relationship say they met their partners in school or college, says a 2006 Harris Interactive study of 2,985 adults; 18% met at work. That's a reversal from 15 years ago, when 23% of married couples reported meeting in school or college and only 15% cited work, according to a 1992 study of 3,432 adults by the University of Chicago.Gone are the days when sororities and dorms marked engagements with candle-passing ceremonies while men serenaded beneath the windows.
College romances like the one in 'Love Story' are becoming rarer these days.Even at tradition-steeped Transylvania University, a 228-year-old institution in Lexington, Ky., an old white ash called "The Kissing Tree," cited in 2003 by the Chronicle of Higher Education as one of the most romantic spots on campuses, is no longer an "icon of intimacy," says Richard Thompson, a longtime Transylvania professor and dean. Lucie Hartmann, 21, a senior, says "no one utilizes" the spot for romance; like most students, she's intent on "using college to set a foundation for a career."Researchers cite a couple of factors. Young adults are delaying marriage, for one thing. In the past 15 years, men's median age at first marriage has risen by 1.2 years to 27.5, and by 1.4 years for women, to 25.5, the highest in more than a century, Census Bureau data show.Also at work is "credential inflation" -- an increase in the qualifications required for many skilled jobs, says Janet Lever, a sociology professor at California State University, Los Angeles. Many young adults want the flexibility to relocate freely and immerse themselves in new work and educational opportunities before making room for marriage and family. As a result, students favor "light relationships that aren't going to compromise where they go to grad school or which job they take," she says.Cody Cheetham, 22, a Purdue senior, is looking for a marketing job after she graduates in May and plans on getting an MBA. "A lot of us don't even know where we're going to be living six months after we graduate," she says. "We don't want to bring another person into the chaos of our lives."If you're a parent, as I am, you may be wondering what all this means. Such sordid campus-life portrayals as Tom Wolfe's "I Am Charlotte Simmons" aside, the news about students' social lives isn't all bad. To be sure, the "hookup culture" -- the campus trend toward casual sexual behavior, usually linked with alcohol and no expectations of a continuing relationship -- is rife. Some 76% of college students have engaged in hookups, which usually stop short of intercourse, according to a study of 4,000 students by Stanford University sociology professor Paula England. Students report having had an average 6.9 hookups and only 4.4 traditional dates by their senior year.On the bright side, more students are having fun on group dates; also, deep, but platonic, male-female friendships are more common.Many young adults return to traditional dating after graduation, says Kathleen Bogle, author of a new book, "Hooking Up," based on a study of 76 students and recent alumni. Young adults "want to find a quality person, a good person," to marry, says Ms. Bogle, an assistant sociology professor at La Salle University in Philadelphia, "and traditional dating is seen as a better way to do that" than hooking up.With the benefit of hindsight, though, some grads may yearn for the stretches of time on campus for extracurricular activities and studying with the opposite sex. Julia Vasiliauskas broke up with her boyfriend at the University of Rochester in New York soon after her 2003 graduation, then went to grad school and began teaching near Seattle. Now that she feels ready, at 26, to find a partner, "I regret that I didn't find that person in college -- because now that I'm working, I don't have time."Write to Sue Shellenbarger at sue.shellenbarger@wsj.com