January 16, 2004
Zap.
I cannot stop watching this video of an insane electric arc.
I especially love the tantalising beginning of a "whoop!" from one of the workers as the video abruptly ends. It has the same effect on me as the intentionally tense ending of "Her Majesty" on "Abbey Road."
via MemePool
January 15, 2004
Bush and Mars
Google provides warm fuzzies for nasa:
I'm very happy to have witnessed a successful landing on Mars. I'm particularly happy that it was unmanned. I am firmly of the opinion that, if one values science per se, manned missions are a disastrous waste of money.
I am very unhappy, on the other hand, about Bush's ill-conceived push for the moon. There's the matter of his already having bankrupted the nation through vast military-industrial welfare (a.k.a. the "War on Terror"), but there's the more puzzling and frightening matter of motivation. I don't think anyone could seriously entertain the notion that Bush has any personal interest in science. Why does he want the American flag planted on the moon? Is it merely a further gargantuan handout to the military-industrial complex?