SPACE CANNON!

ITEM: Quicklaunch wants to build a giant cannon to shoot stuff to space stations.

Now THIS is the 21st Century I signed up for.



STEP 1: HEAT IT
The gun combusts natural gas in a heat exchanger within a
chamber of hydrogen gas, heating the hydrogen to 2,600˚F and causing a 500 percent increase in pressure.

STEP 2: LET THE HYDROGEN LOOSE
Operators open the valve, and the hot, pressurized hydrogen quickly expands down the tube, pushing the payload forward.

STEP 3: TO INFINITY AND BEYOND
After speeding down the 3,300-foot-long barrel, the projectile shoots out of the gun at 13,000 mph. An iris at the end of the gun closes, capturing the hydrogen gas to use again.

Step 0, of course, is coming up with $500 million to build it.

Would it actually work? No idea. But c'mon – SPACE CANNON!

Breaking out the big guns,

This is dF

MOS EISLEY: A WRETCHED HIVE OF SCUM AND VILLAINY, BUT A GREAT FLOOR SHOW

It’s the weekend. You’ve had a hard day serving the Empire.

May we recommend unwinding with a martini and some Star Wars burlesque courtesy of the Bordello in downtown Mos Eisley Los Angeles?





Out of uniform,

This is dF

THE ‘10s: YR NEW FAVORITE DECADE OF FEAR

So, we’re 15 days into the new decade. Let’s see how that’s going.

1. DON’T TAPE ME, BRO!

Police in Boston are arresting people for recording them with camera-phones while they arrest other people who don’t have camera-phones.

2. AL QAEDA: THE PRIMARY SCHOOL YEARS

Mikey Hicks is on the TSA’s terrorist watch list. He is eight years old. He received his first airport pat-down when he was two. Because shit, Jim, you never can tell.

3. EVERYTHING IS A BOMB

In San Diego, an 11-year-old kid brings a science project to school: a motion sensor. A vice principal thinks it’s a bomb, shuts down the school, calls the cops and has the bomb squad x-ray it. The kid is not charged, but authorities recommend he get counseling – presumably because no kid in his right mind would make something that adults might think is a bomb.

Actually, that last one is understandable – given that we have been trained to assume everything might be a bomb. Because 9/11 changed everything.

As you can see.

Ride the fear train,

This is dF

HK ACID RAIN, PART 7

Remember the Hong Kong Acid Bomber?

They arrested him.

Well, one of them, anyway – specifically the one who allegedly threw the acid bottle at this location in Causeway Bay.

The bad news: the police don’t think he’s the same guy who tossed the other bottles – which isn’t surprising, as it was the only attack that happened in a HK Island district. All the others happened all the way across the harbour in Kowloon. No motive as of yet.

What’s interesting is how the police managed to track him down, with their only clue being a black Staccato shopping bag found at the scene with one unopened acid bottle.

Officers interviewed numerous people - passers-by and shop assistants - and collected more than 50 surveillance-camera tapes from shops in Lockhart Road and Causeway Bay MTR station.

About 30 detectives from Hong Kong Island regional crime unit pored over the tapes looking for one vital clue. Then they got their breakthrough. Footage showed a man leaving Causeway Bay station on the day of the attack carrying a black paper bag.

The investigation team moved swiftly. Officers collected the Octopus card data of commuters who passed through that turnstile, matching times with footage, to identify the suspect. The Octopus card management company provided transaction records of the card, allowing police to study the suspect's movements.

And here we are.

Here’s hoping they get a similar break in catching the other one(s).

The long arms of the law,

This is dF