Dymaxion Restorations

According to Hemmings Auto Blogs, Crosthwaite and Gardiner, one of England’s most renowned restoration houses, has been entrusted with the restoration of Dymaxion No. 2, the only known surviving iteration of Buckminster Fuller’s streamlined automobile dream. They've also been tasked with the re-creation of Dymaxion No. 3, a car last seen in the 1950s.

Dymaxion history here.

Here's a video shot off a screen at the Ford Museum of the Dymaxion in action. The curly-haired woman in the back seat at 0:28 is Emelia Earheart who was interested in purchasing a Dymaxion.

Thomson Airways In-flight Safety Video

A few days ago I ran a priceless video with little kids called The Marshmallow Test. That was a hit, so here's another kid video I found while I was researching one of the things I do for a living: safety videos.

This is a brilliant way to get around the problem of passengers totally ignoring the safety presentation on an aircraft. You can bet everybody on Thomson Airways knows the safety drill now.

The Three Types Of Environmentalists

Writing in the Irish Examiner, Alicia Colon describes the three types of environmentalists: the good, the bad and the stupid.

I've met the good and the very good. The bad can only be described as bordering on evil. As for the stupid, some of my critics would put me in that category whenever I voice my skepticism about global warming being due to mankind. I'll admit ignorance on the issue of climatology but I do know how to recognize truth versus deceit on the subject.

Evil environmentalists? Who knew?

What Happens When Real Scientists Question Global Warming

Back in June I wrote about the predicament of Dr. Mitchell Taylor. He's the Canadian polar bear specialist with 30 years of experience who was ostracized for proving that polar bear populations are growing, not declining towards extinction. When Taylor expressed doubts about whether human caused global warming was causing a decline in bear populations, he was told by his own peers that his opinions were "unhelpful" to the cause of global warming.

Now, Joanne Nova has written a caustic original analysis of Taylor's ostracism for the Science and Public Policy Institute. She writes:

The price for speaking out against global warming is exile from your peers, even if you are at the top of your field. What follows is an example of a scientific group that not only stopped a leading researcher from attending a meeting, but then-without discussing the evidence-applauds the IPCC and recommends urgent policies to reduce greenhouse gases.

What has science been reduced to if bear biologists feel they can effectively issue ad hoc recommendations on worldwide energy use? How low have standards sunk if informed opinion is censored, while uninformed opinion is elevated to official policy?

Hat tip to WUWT.

Global Warmists Fool Themselves About Arctic

Given the state of today's fear-mongering environmental reporting it probably would not surprise you to hear reports that the Arctic ice is melting away to never return. But the media and environmentalists in general rarely tell us about science that contradicts their gloomy narrative. Lawrence Solomon at the National Post is a shining exception:

By taking a snapshot in time, and by ignoring the history and the ecology of the Arctic, global warming alarmists can make a grim case for a disappearing Arctic, and even fool themselves.

The World's Loudest Alarm Clock

I think all of us could have used this alarm clock hack at one time or another. Either that or someone needs to perfect the ejector bed. (Oops. They already did. Now someone needs to combine them.)

Outdoor Time Lapse Art From Blu And David Ellis

Is outdoor graffiti (aka "tagging") an art form?  Or is it just spray can vandalism? I think I have seen examples of both.

What I have never seen though is Combo: An Urban Animated Masterpiece. This is a collaborative time-lapse stop-motion animation by Blu and David Ellis. The video will play twice because, well, you'll want to watch it twice.

Obscura CueLight Interactive Pool Table

This pool table uses an overhead projection system and some sensors to track the balls and display a variety of startling visual effects. Psychedelic much?

Fisker Karma

Us (We?) carguys have known about the Fisker Karma for quite a while now. It's an aggressively styled hybrid electric four-cylinder that sets out to prove that an eco-car need not give anything away in terms of styling, luxury and performance.

Price, either. The Fisker Karma carries a suggested price of about US$89,000.

The Fisker also includes an audio system that broadcasts faux engine noises through its external speakers. Very un-carguy-like.

So who's buying this? Today, the Wall Street Journal reports the US government has kicked in $529 million.

Oh, and Fisker's other top investors also include Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, a veteran Silicon Valley venture-capital firm of which Al Gore is a partner. Gore already has a down payment on his Fisker. Perhaps someone could program Gore's Fisker to sound like a huge vacuum cleaner.

Karma, eh?

Any Moammars 'llowed In?

That headline comes from a commenter on the CBC website, and I just couldn't resist. Seems as though Lybian dictator Moammar Gadhafi is planning to pitch his tent right here in St. John's next week while his plane is refueled. No, really.

Ghadafi might want to check a weather forecast before he pitches a tent in Newfoundland this time of the year.

But the real question is should Gadhafi be allowed to deplane in Canada at all. Refuel, yes. But put 160 of his people in local hotels and pitch a tent? That has all the trappings of a sanctioned diplomatic visit. After the Lockerbie fiasco, which also killed Canadians, I can't see why we would afford him any welcome.

Although there will be no meetings with local dignitaries, Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon will meet with Gadhafi while he is here and deliver a message of strong disapproval over the hero's welcome organized for Abdelbasset Al Maghrahi, the man responsible for the Lockerbie terrorist bombing.

More from The National Post.

For the record I do not condone this idea from the comments in the National Post:

Just put enough fuel in the tank to get him 1,000 kms offshore, then liqour him up with screech. Make sure to get a picture of him kissing the cod.

Update: And now there's this news: Gadhafi brought over his own personal linguist to act as interpreter for his UN speech which was supposed to last 15 minutes.

An hour and a quarter into the speech his interpreter shouted into the live microphone in Arabic: "I just can't take it any more." At that point, the UN's Arabic section chief, Rasha Ajalyaqeen, took over and translated the final 20 minutes of the speech. "His interpreter just collapsed – this is the first time I have seen this in 25 years," another UN Arabic interpreter said. Ms Ajalyaqeen was given the next day off. "Ten minutes with Gadhafi earns you a lot of annual leave," one of her colleagues said.

Update 2: More on Gadhafi's tent.

Water On The Moon And Mars

Scientists have been deeply surprised to find there is water on the Moon. It has long been assumed the lunar surface is completely dry.

There is not enough water to foster life on the lunar surface - but if processed in large quantities, it might provide drinking water or fuel for future moon bases.

New studies are showing Mars also holds significant amounts of frozen water.

The CHRC Chases Its Tail

Ezra Levant writes about the Canadian Human Rights Commission's farcical investigation of Richard Warman:

I can't believe I'm writing these words: the Canadian Human Rights Commission is proceeding with an investigation against Richard Warman for hate speech. The maximum disruptor is now about to be disrupted himself.

Clunker Update

Autoblog has parsed the list. By an order of magnitude the cars most "clunked" were Mercedes Benz (5,000+) and BMW (3,500+). Like I said, this stinks. 
Autoblog seems to concur:

We find it hard to believe that many vehicles in the list below were actually destroyed through the Cash for Clunkers program, and while they may be officially on the list, their inclusion is more likely explained by an error in the submission process, typos or dealerships that managed to game the system.

Game the system? You mean game the US taxpayers, right?

Honda's New Electric Unicycle

Honda has demonstrated a new electric powered unicycle called the U3-X. Like a Segway, the U3-X balances itself. Unlike a Segway it can glide sideways. Awkward demo videos here, along with an animation of the U3-X's absolutely ingenious propulsion system. Now if they could just design out the dork factor...

Zelaya Loses It

The Miami Herald has interviewed Manual Zelaya, holed up in the Brazilian embassy in Honduras. He's getting a little edgy. And paranoid.

It's been 89 days since Manuel Zelaya was booted from power. He's sleeping on chairs, and he claims his throat is sore from toxic gases and "Israeli mercenaries'' are torturing him with high-frequency radiation.

"We are being threatened with death,'' he said in an interview with The Miami Herald, adding that mercenaries were likely to storm the embassy where he has been holed up since Monday and assassinate him.

It is important to realize, contrary to persistent media reports (and the stance of the White House), there was no coup in Honduras. The Honduran government acted lawfully within its own democratic constitution to remove Zelaya from power.

Aston Martin DB7 Volante Clunked

My head went clunk when I saw the official list [PDF] of Cash for Clunkers cars that were actually destroyed. An Aston Martin DB7 - that's one at left - got clunked for a maximum trade-in subsidy of $4500. For context, here's a DB7 sale listing. Similar cars are over 50Gs in the US.

This stinks. Even a DB7 crashed into the ocean while it was on fire is worth more than $4500. The Aston is an anomaly, but other desirable, now-ruined, cars are not.

Edward Niedermeyer tells the sorry tale of The Tragedy of the Clunkers over at TTAC.

Lies, Damned Lies And Global Warming - The Dog Ate My GW Data

What if, as a scientist, you asked to see the fundamental data that was used to predict anthropogenic global warming back in the early 1980s. And what if you were told the original data was lost or destroyed over twenty years ago. Would you still believe that scientists using computer models today based on those lost data sets could go ahead and predict the future anyway? Unlikely.

But that's what's happened.

Iran Stories You Might Not Have Heard - From The MSM, That Is

Last Friday, protesters took to the streets in Iran. Millions of them. When a hundred thousand people wearing green shirts and carrying green balloons showed up for a nationally televised football game, the state broadcaster switched to black and white. When they started to chant "“Death to the Dictator,” “Death to Russia,” and “Death to Putin, Chavez and Nasrallah, enemies of Iran,” the sound was shut off.

But the censors forgot about the radio, and the microphones stayed open, so that millions of listeners could hear the sounds of the revolution.  And in Azadi Stadium, as in most parts of the country, the security officers either walked away or joined the party.

As Michael Ledeen reports:

You will not have heard such stories, nor read about them in our “media,”  which have raised denial of the day’s major events to an art form of late.  Rather like the Iranian regime, which used to have an enormous influence on the way citizens thought, the major broadcasters and dead-tree scribblers have also become objects of ridicule.

On Sunday morning, Supreme Leader Khamenei proclaimed that the demonstrations had been an enormous success for the regime, but anyone looking at the pictures could see that he was short on sleep.  So would you if you had heard the thunderous shouts of “Death to the Dictator” during the night.  Khamenei’s claim was greeted with ridicule.

Did The Nazis Steal The Volkswagen - From A Jew?

Mechanically, it has a platform chassis with a center tube, a rear transaxle with a horizontal engine, a swing axle suspension in the back, and independent suspension in the front. The body is a simple aerodynamic shape.

If this all reminds you of a VW Beetle, it should. It's specifications are virtually identical to those laid down for Hitler by Ferdinand Porsche.

But a new book suggests that Porsche never designed the Beetle. And here's the shocking part: This light, simple, inexpensive car that the average person could afford, was built by Josef Ganz starting in 1923. He called his concept the Volkswagen and used the name Maikäfer (May Beetle) for the prototypes he made for his client companies.

So what happened to Ganz? He was arrested by the Gestapo in 1934 and eventually got out of Germany. But it appears the Nazis stole his work and the Volkswagen was not the evil spawn of the Nazis that many have believed.

Canada Ignores Ahmadinejad

Canada will demonstrate leadership this afternoon and take the high ground at the UN.

The Ottawa Citizen reports:

Canada will boycott Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s speech at the United Nations on Wednesday, saying his outbursts about the Holocaust and Israel are “shameful.”

And from the CBC, Stephen Harper, speaking today in Oakville:

"There are times when things are being said in this world that it is important that countries that have a moral compass stand up, make their views known," "And our absence there will speak volumes about how Canada feels about the declarations of President Ahmadinejad."

Update: Diplomats walk out as Iran slams Israel at UN.

Message To Michael Moore: The Rich Pay The Most Taxes. Duh!

In his new movie "Capitalism: A Love Story", Michael Moore makes a startling assertion about where the wealth is in the US. He's quoted here in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette:

"The richest 1 percent have more financial wealth than the bottom 95 percent combined," Mr. Moore shouted.

In yesterday's National Post, columnist Kelly McParland goes through considerable speculation on where Moore got those numbers:

I can't find a reference anywhere else that backs up what he says. Besides, it's nuanced in such a way as to make it difficult to find supporting figures. That doesn't mean it's untrue, but there are lots of other numbers out there...

It's obvious to me where Moore got the numbers. True to form, he turned some real statistics upside down.

Here's the actual stats from the IRS via the Tax Foundation:

...the share of the tax burden borne by the top 1 percent now exceeds the share paid by the bottom 95 percent of taxpayers combined.

And there's this:

To put this in perspective, the top 1 percent is comprised of just 1.4 million taxpayers and they pay a larger share of the income tax burden now than the bottom 134 million taxpayers combined.

So what Moore has done is taken the IRS figures and spun them to fit his notion of what "financial wealth" might be. To prove capitalism is immoral, he needs to show that the rich are, well, rich. Actually, filthy, stinking, evil rich.

Look at these numbers through Moore's lens and you see a huge concentration of wealth. Look at the numbers in daylight and you see wealth for sure, but you also see who is really paying for virtually all government spending.

More analysis from the Tax Foundation:

... the recent IRS data bolsters the findings of an OECD study released last year showing that the U.S.—not France or Sweden—has the most progressive income tax system among OECD nations. We rely more heavily on the top 10 percent of taxpayers than does any nation and our poor people have the lowest tax burden of those in any nation.

See, according to Michael Moore, it's that evil greedy capitalism that makes the rich richer and the poor poorer. Look at the numbers! The Pittsburgh crowd shouts back: "Take it away from them!"

When Moore talks about capitalism being legalized greed he ignores the greed implicit in the statement "Take it away from them!".

And I would ask Mr. Moore this: If the rabble gets its way and wealth is confiscated from the rich to be redistributed, what happens when there is no new wealth being created? What happens to his widely reported net worth of $50 million?

The Art of Corruption

Andrew Klavan writes that the National Endowment for the Arts has violated its founding principle - to protect artists’ freedom from the corrupting influence of financial deprivation.

And whether or not these artists will bite into the apple of governmental corruption—whether or not they’ll allow their creativity to be guided by the blandishments of the state—the phone call is proof of the depths of this administration’s intentions to corrupt.

All Obama All The Time Dilutes The Power Of The Presidency

From the Times of London:

Five television interviews in one day, an unprecedented appearance on a late-night talk show and eight speeches in two weeks have guaranteed him blanket coverage since his summer holiday. But what is on show is the personality of the office holder, not the authority and mystique of the office, which dissipate with every soundbite.

What Digital Cameras Are Good For Besides Taking Pictures

Here's a set of ten things you can do with your digital camera besides take pictures. Well technically you are taking pictures, but for other purposes. I've used mine for every one of these things including the innards of my computers and cars. I especially like the idea of locking a photo of your name and phone number on the memory card. A photo of your business card would be even cooler.

And here's another I discovered myself: Use your camera's view screen as a flashlight. Take a flash photo of a white wall or even your open hand. The way-overexposed photo in your view screen will give you enough light to see along a trail in the dark, find your real flashlight in a blackout and so on.

Must Have Been A Slow News Day

On Sunday, the Calgary Herald reported this bottom story of the day:

Obama’s popularity higher than ever in Canada: poll.

Train Wrecks

Apropos of nothing really, and certainly nothing to do with ACORN or the NEA or politics in general - Train Wrecks. You know you gotta look.

Breitbart Hits Again - This Time It's The NEA

Last week Andrew Breitbart essentially closed down ACORN. This week it's the NEA.

The NEA is the American National Endowment for the Arts. It dispenses government money to create art. But Andrew Breitbart's BigGovernment.com has scooped the mainstream media again. The NEA has been corrupted for the political gain of the Obama administration.

If you’ve ever wondered–and worried–about where government support of the arts leads, look no further than the full transcript of an August 10 telecon  between an official at the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and a group of “independent artists from around the country.”

The short version: It leads to the use of taxpayer-funded culture as a means of propagandizing for specific, partisan political aims. Which corrupts not just art but artists.

Nice work if you can find it, propagandizing for Obama. But it ain't art.

Much more coverage here.

Man Goes 82.4 MPH - On A Bicycle

Sam Whittingham from British Columbia has set a new record in the World Human Powered Speed Challenge.

Whittingham’s speed of 82.4mph beat by a whisker his previous record of 82.3mph, set in 2008. That may not sound fast, but when you consider that it’s twice the speed that Chris Hoy, the triple-Olympic-medal-winning cyclist, can hit on the track, it puts the feat in perspective. Whittingham, 37, is truly taking pedal power to another level.

The Father Of Neoconservatism Has Died

The news story is at the National Post:

Irving Kristol, the former Trotskyite who turned sharply anti-Communist and shaped modern U.S. politics and foreign policy as the "godfather" of neoconservatism, died Friday at the age of 89.

But what is neoconservatism? What does it mean to be called a "neocon"? The term is used by leftists as a slur, especially in North America. But Kristol argues that neoconservatism is where many disillusioned liberals found their intellectual home after the economic and social chaos caused by liberal policies during the 1970s.

From the August 25, 2003 issue of The Weekly Standard, here is Irving Kristol's The Neoconservative Persuasion: What it was, and what it is.

Read the whole thing.