Pi Day
Happy Pi Day to all you math nerds out there!
Keep in mind that in two years, Pi Day will be even cooler!
A DATE WITH THE EVERLY BROTHERS
One the projects I recently backed on Kickstarter is The Chapin Sisters’ tribute to the Everly Brothers project.
Covers, which I like, of music I like, i.e the Every Brothers.
Double Win! Going for the hat trick for supporting independent artists.
3D Printer Update
Last time I went on about 3D Printers was back in October 2008. Time for an update.
There are more options out there than the RepRap. Engadet has a “consumers guide” to 3D printers.
What I found interesting is that there are some sub $1,000 models. Granted, most of those are Kickstarter projects, but it shows that these things are getting some traction in the geek hobby market.
That expanding base also means a greater number of programmed designs as people share their experiments.
One that is sure to cause a stir is Defense Distributed’s plan to design a 3D printable firearm. They have designed, and printed an AR-15 lower. They have put over 600 rounds though a firearm using that printed lower in a single day. They claim that it should be able to handle a 1,000 rounds.
The AR-15 was a good choice. It is one of the most popular civilian firearms in the US, and as Gun Geeks will tell you, it’s the general purpose PC of firearms. It is very modular, with the ability to change stocks and uppers easily. It also has a large market of add on accessories, including pink plastic parts for the female (or male who just likes pink) shooters.
The inter-changeable upper (which includes the barrel) is key. You can convert your .223 AR-15 to 5.55mm NATO, .308 Winchester, .22 LR or even .50 Beowulf. All the same firearm by current US regulations.
On the lower end of the 3D printing scale, is the EDoodler. A hand held devices that extrudes a steam of heated material that you can create whole pieces or parts of a larger object. This is another Kickstarter project which blew past its original goal of $30,000 pretty fast. They have pledges of over $2 million and still have three weeks to go for fundraising.
Going even lower end, you have InstaMorph. I know people who swear by this stuff for really Q&D projects. You heat the stuff up and then are able to mold it. When it cools, it hardens. Kinda like a gateway drug for 3D printing.
Originally posted at Urbin Technology
Update: Just how versatile is the AR-15 you ask, here is an upper designed for black powder use! There is even a crossbow upper.
Monday Book Pick: The Five Tibetans
The Five Tibetans: Five Dynamic Exercises for Health, Energy and Personal Power by Christopher S. Kilham
I learned these yoga exercises at a martial arts seminar a couple of decades ago. Found the book years later. I find them very useful in jumpstarting your metabolism. Best done in the morning. I find that if I do them in the evening, I’m up past 2AM.
Friday B-Movie Pick: Sky High
Going back to 2005 for another Mary Elizabeth Winstead flick. Sky High is the nickname for a floating high school where the children of superheros, super villains and their respective sidekicks to learn the trade of their parents. It’s a fun, light hearted flick that combines teen angst and super powers. It has a good cast which includes B-Movie SuperStar Bruce Campbell, Dave Foley, Lynda Carter, and Kevin Heffernan as Ron Wilson, Sky High Bus Driver. Oh ya, Kurt Russell is in it too. He plays the father of the protagonist, the uber-superhero of the era. Which provides a whole new level of angst to his son, who has to try to live up to his parent’s reputation as the top of the superhero food chain.
Sometimes the truth will slip out of a leftist’s mouth
Filed under: Barking Moonbats, Culture of Corruption, Our Dear Leader, Politics
Bill Maher, a far left extremist, has a rare moment of honesty:
The Obama administration has been heavily targeting whistleblowers and information activists. What can we do to hold the government accountable for this harsh crackdown?” Yeah, the Democrats, [Laughs], their view on Obama seems to be “God, what he does would be awful if it was a Republican”
Leftist Tina Brown notes in the same program: “…he’d be impeached by now for drones if he was W. Bush.”
Ya, sometimes the truth will slip out of a leftist’s mouth.
The left’s hypocrisy raises its ugly head again
It’s usually pretty easy to know what the left is up to. You just check what they are accusing anybody who dares disagree with them of.
Case in point, the left’s favorite slur for anybody who dares confront them with actual facts, “racist.”
The left will call you a racist if you disagree with any policy of our Dear Leader, point out that it is, in fact, illegal to violate immigration laws, or refute any of their beliefs with actual verifiable facts.
Then the same leftists will insist that they are not racists, since they are so “tolerant” and “open minded.”
However, facts are stubborn things, despite the left’s vigorous attempts to deny them.
Case in point, the left’s attack on the wife of Senate Republican Mitch McConnell. Their objection to his wife is, wait for it…that she is of Chinese ancestry. The fact that Senator McConnell is married to someone who’s family immigrated to America from China is the reason American jobs are going to China.
That’s right, just the fact that she is ethnically Chinese, is the left’s reason for American manufacturing jobs going to China. Oh, and she is married to a Republican.
Couldn’t have anything to do with the rising cost of American manufacturing, primarily driven by labor unions that act more like Political Action Committees distorting the actual value of manual manufacturing labor. Couldn’t have anything to do with burdensome regulations, mainly enacted by left leaning politicians. Nope, because, as we discussed previously, one of the primary commandants of the left is that nothing is ever their fault.
So, they fall back on their Alinsky tactics, pick an individual person, and attack them. Not the problem, but the person. The left is making a purely racist attack against the very people they accuse of being racists for disagreeing with the left.
Friday B-Movie Pick: Live Free or Die Hard
This is the fourth Die Hard film, or the saga of John McClane, a man who keeps ending up in the wrong place at the wrong time. This time, it’s fighting rouge Cyber White Hats gone extremely black. Plenty of action, lots of gun fu and even some movie kung fu supplied by Maggie Q. Justin Long plays the cyber-geek sidekick who really doesn’t want to be involved the whole thing. For B-Movie bonus points, Mary Elizabeth Winstead plays McClane’s daughter Lucy. She has been in another B-Movie pick, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World.
Lefties are all worked up over the strangest things…
Ya, I know, not much a surprise. Reality really isn’t one of their strong points, so they don’t respond to the same stimuli as sane people.
One common trait amount so called “progressives” is that nothing is ever their fault. For example, I saw a moonbat on Facebook arguing that it was the Republicans who were trying to kill the US Post Service. The USPS is in dire financial straits because the majority of their employees are members of a public service union and they are supposed to operate as a P&L. Those two are mutually exclusive! Here is a news flash, it wasn’t the Republicans, or even moderate democrats who inflicted public service unions on the American tax payer. Hell, even FDR, the uber-progressive, said they were a bad idea. Will any leftist admit that the USPS is royally screwed because their policies have inflicted ruin? Of course not! They can never admit fault! So it must be the fault of the “evil Republicans” for not wanting to flush more tax payer dollars down the toilet created by leftist “progressive” policies.
Yet another example of the “tolerant and opened minded liberal” going hyper-partisan at Warp Speed. The only thing going for the Republicans in these attack is that there isn’t a clear Republican leader they can go all Alinsky on. Nobody to destroy personally in order to get their base of low information voters all lathered up in a series of two minute hates. They need their Emmanuel Goldstein. They have tried their racist attacks on Rubio and Cruz because they fear popular conservatives with a minority background. So they want to punish them for straying off the plantation. So far, the left’s pathetic attempts have resulted in a major fund raiser for Rubio.
Friday B-Movie Pick: Dredd
It’s back to Mega-City One and the world of Judge Dredd. This time it’s with SciFi fan Karl Urban in the lead role instead of Stalone. Urban played this role much truer to form. As in the Comics, you never see Dredd’s face. He always wears the helmet. It’s gritty, dark, nasty, and a lot of fun to watch. The bad guys are bad, the good guys are damn harsh, but fair. In all, a fun ride for fans of gritty SciFi action films.