Chalk this one down in the I-wasn’t-really-watching column. It appears that the Olympic nativist controversy this time is concentrated on the Russians and their Aboriginal costumes/dance in the Ice Dance. In comparison, the Americans have gotten good reviews from India on their costumes/dance. Who are the culturally blind ones now, eh?
PM has a nifty article on the 18 most interesting airports in the world. I’ve been into number 13 (good luck!) a ton of times…
Near the center of Honduras’ capital city, Tegucigalpa, is the notorious Toncontin International Airport, which has been the subject of scrutiny following several accidents, including a 2008 crash that killed five. The airport opened in 1934, an era when planes were less powerful and didn’t require such lengthy runways.Why It’s Unique:
Toncontin’s runway is just over 7000 feet long and situated in a valley surrounded by mountains. Despite the stubby runway, planes as large as Boeing’s 757 routinely land at the airport. Schreckengast tells PM that “Seven thousand feet is awfully short for 747s,” let alone anything larger, and says that planes are forced to land and take off in the same direction because they won’t be able to clear the mountains otherwise. “There’s one way in and one way out,” he says. Honduran officials have launched an initiative to reroute commercial traffic to the safer Soto Cano Air Base.
Only two more days until I can talk in public about what I’ve known since last Friday. It’s pretty big, and I need to talk to some folks about what I want to do with it. It’ll change a lot of stuff…
There are a few places that I will always remember from my time at the Academy. One of them is the hill behind the chapel, where I spent many hours sacrificing tears, sweat, and blood with 11 of the finest people I have ever known. Now, it looks like they’ve made a church out of it:
The Air Force Academy has set aside an outdoor worship area for Pagans, Wiccans, Druids and other Earth-centered believers, school officials said Monday.A double circle of stones atop a hill on the campus near Colorado Springs has been designated for the group, which previously met indoors.
h/t to Dan Reihl. Going off of the description, I am pretty sure that it’s the same place, but it’ll have to wait until I can go back for a visit to be sure. The more things change…
It looks like the drinking games got busy:
Falling behind on the chugging here. Sorry about that. He forced me to to do a lot of it quick. I inherited that chugging! Chugging is hard!
While not quite as extreme as Zubon, I can definitely understand the feeling. I’m pretty much just logging on for the Daily Heroic on a couple of characters and it feels nice. I get to play, but I don’t feel a lot of pressure to be on all the time. It’s helping with the Chinese studying and the fitness goals too! Zai jian!
I’m in a class this week for work. It’s nice since I’ve been here about four months and now I can finally get qualified. The other nice thing is that after 15 years of playing with networks one way or another, I understand subnetting. In fact, I can subnet the crap out of any network you can name, even a VLSM. Hopefully I can remember this for longer than the final test…
Speaking of computer stuff, the below is completely done on a computer. No live shots.
The Third & The Seventh from Alex Roman on Vimeo.
It’s an office supply* commercial about the neighborhood barber who gets the giant chain hair salon moving in across the street. Since he can’t compete with the $6 haircuts, he goes to the ummmmm, giant chain office supply store to out advertise the hair salon. Lo and behold, six months later the plucky neighborhood barber has won and the other place has closed shop, all thanks to the help he got from we-don’t-want-point-it-out giant chain office supply store. Go small business!!
*I’m not naming them on purpose!
Whether any election anywhere is capable of providing lessons on anything to any voter, American or otherwise. While the election of Scott Brown is interesting (and IMHO good overall), neither the GOP nor the DNC will get the right message. Outside of the parties, some will continue to scoff at certain kinds of populism while continuing to endorse other kinds with no sense of irony at all.
Republican Scott Brown has defeated Democrat Martha Coakley in Massachusetts, running on a platform driven by populist resentment, with a main plank of “killing” health insurance reform.
I’m not sure how that post wasn’t used last year:
Democrat Barack Obama has defeated Republican John McCain in the Presidential race, running on a platform driven by populist resentment, with a main plank of “killing” Middle Eastern democratic reform.
Remember all those horrible things that could happen if you get on a plane with a water bottle? Well, the TSA doesn’t, they just let someone through the scanners with a filled waterbottle. Score another one for bureaucrat security!