Friday, February 01, 2008
Railgun prototype
It looks like the prototype for the Navy's rail-gun is operational. Once ship designs allow for the power-diversion necessary, this will put the concept naval bombardment back on the map, but without that "yeah, but they only carry x Tomahawks" problem! If it can be made fast-firing, at that speed it might feasibly even be useful for point defense!
On Running
I was always a lousy runner. Terrible. Awful. As in, like really bad.
And now I'm over 30, fat and out of shape. So I'm starting back on the treadmill again, trying to contain my "lipidinous" tendencies. And I'm going at a totally slug-@ss pace that would make any self-respecting member of male society cringe. But this time I have an edge I never had before. I saw a little kid running ahead of his Mom, and managing to keep all of two-steps ahead of her. But I watched his motion and realized his gait was way different from what an adult would have done. And adult would have jogged ahead, but this kid was running ahead, but with only the tiny footsteps that his undeveloped balance would allow him. And that's when I realized that the reason I was always so awful at running is that I've never really practiced running before -- I was attempting to jog-really-fast, and was getting completely worn out. So now it's a mile every day on the treadmill as I slowly work my leg musculature up to being able to sustain running at a non-mortifying pace, and you know what? It's almost fun!
And now I'm over 30, fat and out of shape. So I'm starting back on the treadmill again, trying to contain my "lipidinous" tendencies. And I'm going at a totally slug-@ss pace that would make any self-respecting member of male society cringe. But this time I have an edge I never had before. I saw a little kid running ahead of his Mom, and managing to keep all of two-steps ahead of her. But I watched his motion and realized his gait was way different from what an adult would have done. And adult would have jogged ahead, but this kid was running ahead, but with only the tiny footsteps that his undeveloped balance would allow him. And that's when I realized that the reason I was always so awful at running is that I've never really practiced running before -- I was attempting to jog-really-fast, and was getting completely worn out. So now it's a mile every day on the treadmill as I slowly work my leg musculature up to being able to sustain running at a non-mortifying pace, and you know what? It's almost fun!
System vs. Symptom
... it's funny: I caught wind of this cartoon by Chuck Asay after spending a good bit of my morning considering that the biggest differences between Democrat and Republican panderings is one of Symptom versus System.If you're in the savior business (Democrat), you've got ruin the system, or else you're unnecessary. If you're in the tradition business (Republican), you've got to keep the system static in case your interests are threatened. Neither's compatible with
Along the same vein, today's Wondermark:
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