- The NSA’s mission statement as of last year. The NSA’s mission statement today. Seems they’ve given up on “honesty” and turned “transparency” into pure authoritarianism. But then, did anybody believe them in the first place? (Via The Intercept)
- “When Corruption is a Job Perk” (cops and “get out of jail free” cards for their friends and relatives). But no worries! The cop union plans to cut corruption by as much as 1/3. Maybe even 1/2 for retired cops.
- Commander Zero has interesting observations on a little-known experiment in starvation — and also offers his readers a chance to get in on a heavily discounted bulk buy of those excellent Mountain House foods.
- Wow. Nissan creates the “pawfect” vehicle for dog owners — with everything from a built-in dogwash (and dry) to boarding ramps, harness clips, and two-way video.
- The science behind how swearing reduces pain.
- Is the Y chromosome doomed?
- But Andrew Sullivan says testosterone’s not going away (even if modern life is diminishing it), and dogmatic feminists had better just accept that it’s what makes men men, complete with aggression and lust.
- Ireland’s terrible Spike Island Prison (one of many shameful creations of the “civilized” British rulers, which housed and killed many people who were just trying to feed their families) has a tourist attraction” — and one of the top in Europe.
- Marbles, Magnets, and Music — a Rube Goldberg machine.
- Step-by-step facial reconstruction, beginning with a 9,000-year-old skull of a teenage boy.
- Speaking of faces … people are having fun matching photos to paintings and sculptures with Google’s Arts & Culture app. (Damn shame it has to be Google because it’s so cool.) One guess as to which is my favorite match of the linked bunch.
- Two fine true dog tales: Two dogs save an elderly woman from freezing and one persistant pit bull saves her family from potential disaster. (H/T ML)
- Classic art meets the modern world.
Oh, goodie. Google found another way to con people into uploading their images for facial recognition.
I like the dog car,very cool.
One of the details I found interesting about the Minnesota Starvation Experiment was that the amount of food the volunteers got was more than what many diet plans allow.
Back in Ranger School they limited us to one meal a day to induce stress. I didn’t see how it would at first, but found I was wrong.
By the end of the eight weeks I had a craving for a Coke float, so I bought a quart of ice cream and a six-pack of Cokes, and had one.
I think part of it is mental. Out in the jungle in Vietnam, I filled up on two field rations per day, as long as I could have a can of fruit for lunch.
I’ve been trying to cut back on swearing, but unfortunately this computer runs on Windows 10. Does profanity reduce that pain?
I liked the dog car too but it needs to be way bigger!
Those changes to the NASA mission statement ARE a bit curious. Even though I can’t rule out that for once, their spokesperson might have been speaking truly when saying that this was just a website update. Easy enough to picture some junior staffer just typing in whatever fit for spacing or for some other mundane reason, since it’s simply window dressing in the first place.
Long as the subject’s up, however, I’m inclined to mention that I’ve moved from being a credulous believer of NASA’s moon landing stories, back at the time, to someone who is now unconvinced. Perhaps dangerous to mention such a position around here?
firstdouglas — From my days in corporate communications I can state that mission statements, however innocuous and even pointless they look from the outside, are taken painfully seriously within the organization. They are holy writ. No way no how would any junior staffer simply make one up while mucking around with a website. It would be heresy.
I agree, though, mission statements are “simply window dressing.” But how the NSA chooses to dress its windows can still tell us a lot. We are, after all, talking about one of the handful of surveillance agencies that covertly govern the country — and who knows how much of the world.
And you’re certainly welcome to dispute the moon landings here if you want to, even though we’re talking about the NSA and not NASA.
That was rather gentle, thanks Claire (just a bit embarrassed, but smiling).
“That was rather gentle, thanks Claire (just a bit embarrassed, but smiling).”
We’ve all been there, firstdouglas. Glad you can still smile.
On the second dog story, im trying to figure out on how the discovery of a propane leak saved them from Carbon Monoxide poisoning… Saved them from their garage blowing up probably, but not CO. If the heater was still on and the garage was attached, there would have been a danger of CO, but if it was on and propane was leaking, it would have blown up way before then.
Former 12 year Vol. Fireman/EMT speaking here. Im just thinking because if it was different, someone wrote the story badly. Explosive atmospheres (and dependent on the explosive material in the atmosphere) have whats called a LEL – Lower Explosive Level. There needs to be for whatever volatiles are in play a certain percentage of concentration to make something explode or combust.
For example, Methane gas in a coal mine under 5 percent wont combust, but between 5 and 15 percent your in danger (you get the UEL – Upper Explosive Limit after 15 percent, its too “rich” to combust).
Going into the weeds a bit but you could have methane under 5 percent, but a nice dusting of coal dust just right to fill that missing gap and have a dust explosion aided by the methane.
This is what happened with the South Mountain mine #3 in 1992. I was working as an armed security guard for an adjacent mine because they had no 3rd shift, and mining machinery theft was (is?) still a big profitable thing.
I remember that explosion. Part of the mine i worked at shared the same coal seam if i remember the layout drawings on the wall correctly, with only about a 200 foot buffer of coal seam between the two mines for several hundred feet before both mining directions veered off in different directions.
The ground shook and the building i was in shook, like a vehicle had clipped it and a second or two later, half the buildings lights went out (one phase of the three phase power to the mine went out). I was right at the cusp of my shift ending after the morning supervisors show up and my day is done.
Remember the shift sup coming in already knowing the story and telling me “We will call you when we need you back, South Mountain had an explosion so were going to be shut down for sure for a while”.
Went back home, changed out of my work clothes and headed down to the fire station i volunteered at to catch the comms on what was going on.
Anyway, out of the weeds…
“On the second dog story, im trying to figure out on how the discovery of a propane leak saved them from Carbon Monoxide poisoning… Saved them from their garage blowing up probably, but not CO.”
Thank you, Coyote Hubbard! I should have thought of that myself, but I appreciate that you did.
Frightening story about the mine.
Don’t worry, firstdouglas. I read it as NASA the first time, as well.
Going into the weeds a bit but you could have methane under 5 percent, but a nice dusting of coal dust just right to fill that missing gap and have a dust explosion aided by the methane.
Or as I remember the right concentration of coal dust can do the job without the methane. As can grain dust in a silo.
We have an all-electric house, and I like it that way. Sure, amperage can zap you if you get close enough. But gas goes looking for trouble.
About the NSA, one could say they are becoming more honest by those deletions.
I’m immediately suspicious of any organization, any business, that introduces themselves by saying they are “honest” and have “integrity.”
If there are two auto dealers, one called “John’s Auto Sales,” the other called “Honest John’s Auto Sales,” first impression would favor the former.
“There’s one way to find out if a man is honest – ask him. If he says, ‘Yes,’ you know he is a crook.” – Groucho Marx