PC World says:
Turner calls the game “Snowball Blaster.” If you help Santa dodge all the snowballs, you get a special lights display. Passers-by can hop into the “blaster” unit and use a controller to play via a PC that operates 128-channels of lights to form the display.
When the National Post carries a story about someone purloining one of the wise men figures from a church in Brooklin:
Durham Region police reported that the 6′ x 3′ plywood cutout of one of the Three Wise Men was stolen in the early morning hours Dec. 12, and the church had said they would like it returned.
“It’s a bit of an insult,” said Brooklin United Church council chair Rick Barnes.
Mr. Barnes said the thieves were caught on camera, and said they appeared to be “a bunch of kids goofing around and having fun.” The wooden cut-out, which was fastened to a metal post and then attached to the larger constructed scene, would be hard to remove quickly, he said.
“It didn’t take all night but it took them a considerable effort to get it removed,” he said.
Mr. Barnes said that although Brooklin United doesn’t plan to make a big deal out of the incident, it is unfortunate for the church, who have limited resources to begin with.
Brooklin is kind of a quiet place . . . but even here, this isn’t really a big story. Why the National Post bothered to report on it, I can’t begin to imagine.
You’ve probably heard about the US Navy’s recent successful railgun test, but it’s not the only game in town:
It’s all go in the world of hypervelocity railguns this week. Following Friday’s 33-megajoule test shot carried out at a US Navy laboratory, it has also been announced that a different railgun known as “Blitzer” has recently carried out firings which suggest that it is almost combat ready.
The Blitzer comes to us courtesy of famous radical-tech company General Atomics, well known to Reg readers for its development of robot warplanes and electromagnetic mass-driver catapults for aircraft carriers among other things.
Now, in a statement which is dated 7 December (but which didn’t appear on the firm’s website until yesterday*) General Atomics would like to inform the world that the Blitzer was carrying out highly interesting and “tactically relevant” shoots back in September, actually, while the johnny-come-lately test job at Naval Surface Warfare Centre Dahlgren hadn’t even got its boots on.
Railguns have been one of the preferred technologies of near-future SF writers for years, but the necessary real-world technology has not been easy to develop. SF versions are often postulated as replacements for rifles and machine guns, but the current technology will only be suitable for fixed installations or shipboard use (and not just any ship: the electrical requirements are huge).
This may be the most attractive facet for the remaining “big gun” advocates in the Navy:
In the nearish future, depending how accurate GA’s “tactically relevant” puffery turns out to be, warships equipped with Blitzer-type railgun turrets might offer far better air defences than Type 45 or Aegis vessels can today. Such defences might only be penetrable by bigger, heavier railguns firing from beyond the horizon — along the lines of the Dahlgren boffins’ desired 64-megajoule weapon. It would, of course, require a massive capital ship to carry such guns and power them for any serious rate of fire — such a future might see the big-gun (railgun) dreadnought battleship return to its lost dominion over the seas, ousting the parvenu aircraft carrier, missile cruiser etc.
The Minnesota Vikings won’t be able to play their last home game at the Metrodome, so the game will be hosted at TCF Bank Stadium on the campus of the University of Minnesota:
Unlike yesterday’s trek to Detroit for an indoor contest against the New York Giants, this game will not only be outdoors but also at a facility that has roughly 13,000 fewer seats than the Metrodome. Both facts will provide unique challenges.
This is the first outdoor home game for the Vikings in 29 years. And TCF Bank Stadium has been completely shut down and “winterized” for the season, prompting one University of Minnesota official to describe the upcoming preparation of the stadium as a “monumental task.”
In addition, some of the aforementioned ticket holders to this game against the Bears will not be able to attend because of the shortage of seats.
On a positive note — and perhaps the biggest reason the game is committed to being played locally — is so the Minnesota Vikings organization can celebrate 50 seasons of Vikings football on a special celebratory evening.
Today’s Vikings fans are probably not as hardy as their parents and grandparents . . . unless the weather is particularly mild next Monday, expect a big uptick of support for a new domed stadium to replace the Metrodome.
Michael O’Connor Clarke linked to Scott Adams’ thoughts on Sweden:
I am always amused by the strange impact of unintended consequences. Julian Assange simply wanted to release some embarrassing information, have hot sex with a Swedish babe then have hot sex with an acquaintance of that same babe one day later. That’s just one example of why the Swedish language has 400 words that all mean “and your cute friend is next.”
But things didn’t turn out as Assange hoped. The unintended consequence of his actions is that he managed to make Sweden look like a country that’s governed by congenital idiots and populated with nothing but crazy sluts and lawyers. And don’t get me started about the quality of their condoms.
To be fair, I don’t know if Assange’s alleged broken condom is because the product was defective. We have good evidence that Assange has the world’s biggest set of nuts, so assuming some degree of proportionality, he’d put a strain on any brand of condom that didn’t have rebar ribs.
Assange had a lot of help making Sweden look like the last place on Earth that you would want to take your penis. [. . .]
If you haven’t read any background about the so-called rape charges against Assange, you really should. Apparently Swedish laws are unique. If you have a penis, you’re half a rapist before you even get through customs. And if your condom breaks, that’s jail time. What I’m saying is that the Club Med in Sweden is a nervous place.
I was having a hard time making up my mind about Assange. On one hand, he might be hurting the interests of my country and putting people in danger. Death to him! On the other hand, a little extra government transparency might prevent more problems than it causes. Hero! It was a toss-up. Then Sweden turned Assange from a man-whore publicity hound into Gandhi. Advantage: Assange.
Powered by WordPress