Vintage big-screen TV: 1947 RCA rear projection console

From the description on YouTube:

This set provided a 25" picture (measured diagonally) at a time when most sets offered 10" or less.

Many believe that early rear projection sets fell out of favor due to their poor, dim picture quality and limited viewing angle.

Watch the video and judge for yourself.

I believe their downfall was their large size, their weight and their high initial setup costs. Eventually of course, direct view picture tubes caught up to them. But if you had deep pockets, you were watching a 25" TV several years ahead of most folks!

Squirrel Roundup (May 31, 2011)

Life in a small town
From the Burlingame police blotter:

3:33 p.m. A resident found a baby squirrel on the 1100 block of Trousdale Drive and did not have a car to transport it to the animal hospital.

What, the resident didn't have a pellet gun either?

More small town squirrel trouble
From the Flathead County and Kalispell police blotter:

3:16 p.m. A Columbia Falls man wanted to talk to the animal warden about "shipping out" an aggressive squirrel.

Seriously, people! You can pick up a pretty decent pellet gun for under $40!

Squirrel: Chicken of the trees
It's nice to see some people understand what squirrels are good for:

To paraphrase blogger turned cookbook author Hank Shaw - if you wanted to starve to death in the wilderness, you'd have to try pretty hard. Squirrels are plentiful - overly so in some regions.

My mouth is watering already.

Entrepreneurial squirrel
There's a new children's book entitled Jason Squirrel Starts a Company. Hmmm. Squirrels are free-market capitalists? I may have to rethink my opinion of these bushy-tailed rodents.

Marker Magic: Road rage

The first test of my heads-up display (HUD) prototype was a success. Next step: look up patenting procedure on Wikipedia.

Introducing my new "cartoon" blog

Yeah, I know. Another blog. But this one is different. It's old school, boasting material created entirely on a whiteboard. Not many bloggers can say that.

What kinds of things can you expect to see? This blog, entitled White Noise, will deal with all sorts of subjects, like social and political issues...

...general trivia...

 

...statistics...

...and just about everything else under the sun.

So be sure to check out White Noise, a blog featuring random sketches and musings from my whiteboard. Quirky, dry, satirical, and sometimes thought-provoking, there should be something for everyone. I hope you enjoy it!

New Zealand waitress uses karate to fight off two attackers

This is the kind of news story you like to see:

A young waitress used her karate skills to fight off two attackers as she walked home from a night shift in central Wellington, earning praise from police.

The woman, 18, has studied martial arts for seven years. She elbowed one man in the chest, then punched his accomplice in the stomach. ...

... Senior karate instructor Sensei Rajesh Ravji was pleased to hear that the woman had used her skills to escape the attackers.

"When someone is bigger than you, it is always a difficult thing to combat, but that's the beauty of martial arts, you learn how. Those attackers would have been surprised to have someone come back at them like that."

An undeniable truth (5/27/2011)

If beauty is only skin deep, then it's reasonable to conclude that some people have thicker skin than others.

Philosophy Friday: Do we have free will?

The following thought-provoking clip is from the film Waking Life:

Slow day at NASA

I'm guessing this AP report is an example of the kind of breaking news we'll be getting from NASA until we actually land a man on Mars:

A spacewalking astronaut got soap in his eye and almost had to retreat into the safety of the International Space Station on Wednesday.

Andrew Feustel said it stung "like crazy." But several minutes later, he said he was feeling better and the third spacewalk of shuttle Endeavour's final voyage continued as planned for about seven hours.

The incident came as the spacewalk hit the five-hour mark. Feustel and Mike Fincke had just finished running power cables from the U.S. side of the orbiting house to the Russian half.

"Just as an FYI, my right eye is stinging like crazy right now. It's watering a lot. Must have gotten something" in it, Feustel called out quietly and calmly.

"Sorry, buddy," Fincke said.

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...

Peeps show

Each year the Washington Post holds a Peeps Show contest in which participants create dioramas featuring everyone's favorite Easter treat. This year's winner was a depiction of the Chilean mine rescue.

Among the other entries...

View the rest here.

Barack Obama: World's first time-traveling president

Either that, or he has no idea what year it is.

Lemon Harangue News

LONDON, England - President Obama and the First Lady traveled three years back in time to lay a wreath at the Grave of the Unknown Warrior at Westminster Abbey.

The time travel incident was confirmed by a source at the Abbey who stated that President Obama himself signed the guestbook on May 24, 2008. "I didn't think anything of it at the time," the source said, "but when the media began reporting it as if it had just happened today, I had to speak up about what I saw three years ago."

It is a great privilege to commemorate our common heritage, and common sacrifice.

Barack Obama

24 May 2008

It is assumed by some that the president visited Westminster Abbey today and simply wrote down the wrong date. Those close to Obama, however, find it difficult to believe that a man of his intelligence could have been off by three whole years. "Sure, 2008 was a really big year for him," a White House staffer said, "but time travel is the only explanation that makes any sense."

The exact reason for the trip into the past remains unclear, as well as the means by which it was accomplished. There have been reports that there is a Delorean in the presidential motor pool, but those reports are as yet unconfirmed.

One step closer to personal jet packs

Yves "Jet Man" Rossy, a 51-year-old Swiss pilot and inventor, strapped on a jet pack and enjoyed an eight-minute flight over the Grand Canyon two weeks ago.



Is it possible the future we've been promised for the last 60 years or so is finally within reach?

(via The Jetpacker)

Real Facebook Ads #009

Why do I get the feeling that this involves swallowing something inflatable?

No U-turns

(via GoComics.com)

Homemade dams holding back the Mississippi River

The Daily Mail featured these extraordinary photos of Vicksburg residents trying to save their homes from the flooding Mississippi River:

To get a grasp of just how bad the flooding is, take a look at this NASA video, which shows some shocking before and after photos:

In case of rapture...

Anyone else getting tired of those commercials?

Ketchup on hot dogs: Yea or nay?

I might have to side with Dirty Harry on this one.

Google wants to control the world

So says TIME:

Google announced that it intends to help hardware makers develop add-ons that will work with any Android device, including game controllers, keyboards and even surprises like the exercise bike it demoed onstage. Google also unveiled an initiative, Android@Home, to let Android power home-automation systems that can do everything from play music to turn lights on and off. And it shared plans for an upgrade — code-named Ice Cream Sandwich — designed to work on phones, tablets, TV boxes and every other sort of device that might conceivably run Android.

There are already "smart light bulbs" that work with Android devices, and Google Maps is being used to guide surveillance drones. Taking over your home is the next logical step toward complete world domination.

What a day for a daydream: Dealing with TSA-related anxiety

If you're like most airline passengers, you probably don't like the idea of posing for nude photos in a full-body scanner or receiving an intimate pat-down from a stranger. So how would you feel if some stuffed-shirt psychologist told you that you could overcome your anxiety by simply imagining you were someplace else? You'd probably feel like it would be adding insult to injury:

Micah R. Sadigh, a psychology professor at Cedar Crest College in Allentown, Pa., notes we might become flustered when we "feel that our rights are infringed upon and ... [by] the fact that we feel pushed around by forces over which we have little or no control."

The antidote, he says, is daydreaming. "It reduces tension and helps us sublimate our frustrations into something very helpful."

In other words, pay no attention to the gloved hand down your pants; just pretend you're in a Calgon commercial.

Gesundheit!

(via 22 Words)

What's the perfect way to kill time during a rain delay at a baseball game?

Jousting.

Darwin's evolution

(via GoComics.com)

Gas at 20 cents per gallon?

Yes, if the price is based on the value of silver used in U.S. coins nearly a half-century ago.

(via LewRockwell.com)

Doritos-flavored mouthwash

That fresh, tingly, nacho feeling lasts all day!

(via 22 Words)

U.S. military goes green

The U.S. military has begun using environmentally conscious ammo. But don't worry. These "green" bullets are actually more deadly than their lead predecessors.



Now, when G.I. Joe guns down an enemy, his conscience can be assuaged by the fact that his bullets aren't poisoning the environment. Military policy is nothing if not ironic.

Real Facebook Ads #008

No catch. Really. Just "like" this and you'll get a dream home with 4,453 neighbors.

Lost fortune cookie

Something tells me this isn't going to be a good week.

Star Trek II officially a legal authority

Back in 2008 the Texas Supreme Court ruled on the limits of police power in the case of Robinson vs. Crown Cork Seal Company. The most noteworthy aspect of the ruling is that Justice Don R. Willett quoted a line from Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan:

Appropriately weighty principles guide our course. First, we recognize that police power draws from the credo that "the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few." Second, while this maxim rings utilitarian and Dickensian (not to mention Vulcan²¹), it is cabined by something contrarian and Texan: distrust of intrusive government and a belief that police power is justified only by urgency, not expediency.

And the accompanying footnote:

²¹ See STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN (Paramount Pictures 1982). The film references several works of classic literature, none more prominently than A Tale of Two Cities. Spock gives Admiral Kirk an antique copy as a birthday present, and the film itself is bookended with the book's opening and closing passages. Most memorable, of course, is Spock's famous line from his moment of sacrifice: "Don't grieve, Admiral. It is logical. The needs of the many outweigh..." to which Kirk replies, "the needs of the few."

(via io9.com)

Some people take the American flag way too seriously

From the Daily Mail:

A hotel has been inundated with threats and angry phone calls after a broken flagpole made it look as if it was mourning the death of Osama Bin Laden.

In a most cruelly timed malfunction, the broken flag was stuck at half mast for several days this week outside the Hampton Inn in Springfield, western Ohio.

Guests and people living in the local area were outraged at what they assumed was a tribute to the Al Qaeda chief who was killed by U.S. forces on Sunday.

The hotel, which had got the flag stuck while trying to replace it because it had frayed, began receiving dozens of calls condemning the apparent mark of honour for Bin Laden.

Outraged locals called the police and phoned the hotel, with one threatening to 'run them out of town' and another saying he was going to cut down the flagpole.

Cue the Lee Greenwood music: ♬ "And I'm proud to be an American..." ♬

Ever get the feeling you're being watched?

"Surveillance 2010" by artist Will Varner.

Facebook symbols

The following symbols can be easily incorporated into your Facebook status updates, messages, and conversations...

Simply click here and begin copying and pasting.

Real Facebook Ads #007

Apply where to what schools where?

Happy Mother's Day!

Mom, if you're reading this in your RSS feed, Happy Mother's Day!

Homemade pork rinds

Courtesy of Food Network's Paula Deen:

Ingredients
Ham skin
Fine salt

Directions
Preheat oven at 325 degrees F.

Put leftover ham skin on a sheet pan and sprinkle with salt. Bake until nice and crispy, usually about 3 hours.

I will definitely be trying this next time I buy a ham.

Embrace nothingness

Real Facebook Ads #006

No, my criminal arrest records are not publicly viewable, so how did you get my mug shot?!

Mac and cheese pie...in a bacon crust

More, please!

(via Dude Foods)

Bigfoot shot, dumped in swamp; hunter refuses to release photos

Account of the incident sketched by Owen on a cocktail napkin

Lemon Harangue News

FOLKSTON, Ga. - A Georgia hunter is claiming to have shot Bigfoot. Barry Owen of Folkston allegedly killed the elusive creature in a wooded swamp outside his home town late Monday night.

"I was out turkey hunting," Owen said. "I had set up camp in the woods, and a huge crash woke me up." That's when Owen grabbed his gun and ran outside to investigate.

"It was huge, smelly, and covered in hair," recalled Owen. "He had been scrounging through my supplies, and when he saw me he let out a loud roar and started to charge. I didn't have any choice but to shoot him."

After confirming that he had indeed shot Bigfoot, Owen said he took some pictures of the body and then dumped it somewhere in the Okefenokee Swamp that straddles the border between Georgia and Florida.

"I wanted to be respectful," Owen said. "The fact that no one has ever recovered the body of a Bigfoot indicates they are very ritualistic. They take great care in concealing their dead. Besides, I didn't want the area to become a tourist attraction."

When asked why he didn't at least bring in a tissue, blood, or hair sample to be analyzed, Owen said, "No need. I'd know that hairy son-of-a-gun anywhere. It was him, all right."

Owen is also hanging onto those pictures for now. "It's important to make sure that graphic photos of a Bigfoot that was shot in the head are not floating around causing a bunch of crazy animal rights activists to get their panties in a bunch."

"I don't need to trot out this stuff as trophies," Owen added. "The fact is this creature attacked me, and he got what he deserved."

Owen is no stranger to bizarre incidents. He says he once saw Elvis Presley in a diner outside of Barnesville, and he also claims to have been abducted by extraterrestrials in 1979.

"People are going to doubt me," Owen said, "but they're just going to have to take my word for it. Bigfoot is dead."

Get your "sleeveface" on

Have you ever wanted to pretend you were Huey Lewis, David Bowie, or Barry Manilow? Just grab an old LP sleeve and a camera to create your own "sleeveface":

(via St. Eutychus)

Expresso yourself

(via Design Crush)

Interactive 3D model of the Solar System

The seasoned astronomer and casual observer alike will enjoy this informative, interactive site that features real-time celestial positions of the planets and stars.

Start interacting here.