Expect the Unexpected.

I don’t know what I expected, really, but it wasn’t this…

Yet another foundation stone for my argument that women shouldn’t be behind the wheel.

Note:  I’m biased after having one woman pull right out in front of me and another rear-end me – the second incident leading me to the neck problems I have today.

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X-ray laser… now is that cool or what?  Now maybe I’m old but I always  thought of the magnets in a free-electron laser as “wiggler” magnets, so the term “undulator magnets” seems a mite peculiar.

The shortest wavelengths I’ve ever been around was vacuum-ultraviolet (VUV), so this really seems pretty cool.  Alignment required better than 5 microns over 15m of length… that’s 0.33 microradians, which is just amazing.  Wicked.

I have seen better than that but we’re talking parallelization of etalon plates that are 2″ in diameter, but this FEL/X-ray laser thing is crazy – it’s in a class by itself.

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You CANNOT make this stuff up.

Rehoboth Beach in Delaware isn’t a topless beach — but a few transgender men caused a stir by treating it like one.

Police say passers-by complained after the men removed their tops and revealed their surgically enhanced breasts over Memorial Day weekend. A lifeguard asked them to put their tops back on. The men initially refused, but covered up before police arrived.

[snip] Police Chief Keith Banks notes the men were doing nothing illegal. Since they have male genitalia, they can’t be charged with indecent exposure for showing their breasts. Banks says there’s no need for a specific law to address the issue.

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Look! I’m FLYING! Oh the HELL I am…

Those of you who know me even a little bit recognize that I’d rather slather my naked body with raw hamburger and jump into a pit of starving hyenas than fly. I’m better than I used to be. Used to take 30mg of valium just to get me on the plane and there’d still be a lot of whining. A lot of higher-than-a-kite whining, but still a distinct amount of it.

You see, this is NOT designed to make me feel good.

Airplanes taking off in the wrong direction at Newark Liberty Int’l airport.

NEWARK (CBS) ― Planes at Newark Liberty International Airport depart southwest have historically turned to the left on take-off, but now a new regulation that went into effect in December allows controllers to tell pilots to take a right turn.

AS CBS 2 HD has learned, the new rule may be causing some confusion.

At Newark Liberty, some travelers are very concerned. The union representing air traffic controllers says several planes this month were sent in the wrong direction on take-off.

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Neither was this going to make me feel warmish and fuzzy. WHY do they not neuter the damn things or at least chain them up so they can’t go around creating unwanted planes?

(source: Independent.co.uk)

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Other things can happen, too. Like the pilot falling asleep. Like BOTH pilots falling asleep. This is, according to top experts falls under the heading of A Bad Thing.

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Another Bad Thing

Airplane sushi… wherever is Itamae-san?

More “Bad Thing” kinds of accidents can be found on this fun blog.

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But, as a good friend of mine, EW1(SG) – crazy man that he is – reminded me of The Untouchables this morning, I think I can pull a quote out of context that fits the mood regarding flying when faced with the realities of life/work:

Jim Malone: [after a plan goes wrong] Oh what the hell? You gotta die of something.

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