think or thwim

Kent Brewster at Speculations.com reports that the Navy has extended the contract for Robert Bussard’s fusion research.

It’s two orders of magnitude below the $200 million Dr. Bussard says he needs to produce a full-scale 100mw system, but it’s a start.

Bussard presented his work at a November 2006 Google Tech Talk shortly after the Navy discontinued funding for all power related research projects. In the talk Bussard claimed to have created a working fusor and solved the fundamental science problems of fusion. For more details see this post.

:: Power and Control

Update

The rumor was false. Bussard’s contract was extended, but there is no additional funding. Fusor.net

One problem with testing cars in wind tunnels is that that the stationary floor affects the air flow. To solve that problem Haas Automation (Haas Racing) and Jacobs Engineering are building a wind tunnel with a treadmill floor. The pictures show the treadmill portion, but it doesn’t appear to be located in the the wind tunnel yet. I would imagine this whole assembly will be recessed into the floor of the completed wind tunnel.

From the Haas CNC Magazine (PDF pg 44):

The distinctive “rolling road” is actually a 1-millimeter-thick continuous steel belt about 11 feet wide and nearly 30 feet long. A revolutionary “thru-the-belt” sensing system will measure the aerodynamic downforce under each tire, providing handling data with greater accuracy than ever before. At the tunnel’s top speed, the 22-foot diameter main fan will re-circulate 2.85 million cubic feet of air per minute, consuming 7 megawatts of power in the process.

The $40 million wind tunnel is under construction in Concord, NC. Langley Air Force Base has a good description of their similarly sized wind tunnel.

:: Hacked Gadgets :: OhGizmo :: Jalopnik

Air Force One landed at Love Field, and the limo left from there. This film allegedly shows the Secret Service Agent in Charge, Emory Roberts, ordering the agents who were supposed to ride on the back of the limo to stay behind.

I didn’t look extremely hard, but I didn’t find any explanation from Roberts. However, I did find an interesting transcript of his testimony, and this, this, and all of these from Vincent Palamara who seems to have looked into this a little.

Here’s a tip. If you run for president DO NOT pick a guy named Johnson for your running mate.

From the Lincoln Assassination Theories page:

Approximately 7 hours before shooting the President, Booth dropped by the Washington hotel which was Vice-President Andrew Johnson’s residence. Upon learning from the desk clerk that neither Johnson nor his private secretary, William A. Browning, was in the hotel, Booth wrote the following note: “Don’t wish to disturb you Are you at home? J. Wilkes Booth.”

Mary Todd Lincoln: “As sure, as you and I live, Johnson, had some hand, in all this…”

:: Cynical C

I’ve said before that I’m not a conspiracy nut. I’m also not very knowledgeable about JFK’s assassination. I haven’t read the books, and I haven’t even watched Oliver Stone’s movie. However, I keep running across interesting stuff lately, and I thought I’d share:

First, check out this Rolling Stone article: The Last Confessions of E. Howard Hunt.

Hunt was a CIA agent involved in the Bay of Pigs Invasion, Watergate, and possibly the assassination of JFK. Before he died in January 2007 he implicated:

• LBJ - JFK’s Vice President
• Cord Meyer - CIA agent who’s wife had an affair with JFK and was later murdered.
• Bill Harvey - CIA agent
• David Morales - CIA agent who appears to have been present at Bobby Kennedy’s assassination.
• “french gunman grassy knoll”

That is pretty similar to Bradley Ayers’ (also CIA) assertion that Morales and nine other Miami based CIA agents were involved.

It also seems to pretty much fit with private investigator Joe West’s findings. During his early 1990’s investigation, he received a tip from retired FBI agent Zack Shelton:

James Files says he was in Laos as a covert military operative in 1959. He was scheduled to be court martialed in 1960 (for killing two of his own men to save face with the Laotians) when the CIA stepped in and recruited him to train Cuban exiles for the Bay of Pigs invasion.

Then in 1962, he became a driver for Chicago mafia hit man Charles Nicoletti, and eventually started participating in hits himself. According to James Files, JFK’s assassination was a collaboration between Chicago mob boss Sam Giancana and the CIA, and Files was the gunman on the grassy knoll.

Files says he spent a week with Lee Harvey Oswald prior to the assassination, but he didn’t know Oswald was present on that day. He thinks the other shots were fired by Nicoletti in the building across the street from the Texas Schoolbook Depository. Jack Ruby is also supposed to have had ties to the mob, and before he died in 1967 Ruby talked about a conspiracy.

Actually, there were probably dozens of plots to kill Kennedy, because everybody hated Kennedy but the public. The question is which one of them worked?

-Saint John Hunt

The Wikipedia page on JFK conspiracy theories is really good. After reading all this, it seems like Lee Harvey Oswald and I are the only ones that were not involved.

Wim Dankbaar at jfkmurdersolved.com is the source of the videos. His site has an incredible amount of information. This interview (Word File) provides a good overview of his theory and evidence.

See. I tried to warn you.

Actually, I’ve been clean for 5 days now. However, I’ve moved on to an even more sinister time sink. More on this later…

Spencer Wells reveals the results of 10 years of DNA testing used to trace the human family tree back to one man who lived 60,000 years ago in Africa. Dr. Wells travels to the village of that man’s closest descendants, and follows the path humans took as they spread around the globe.

The whole thing is available at YouTube in thirteen 10 minute segments.

DVD at Amazon.com

If you like this, you may be interested in Jared Diamond | Guns, Germs, and Steel which explores the reasons some civilizations overpowered others.

Kim Steiniger:

After noticing this owl was flying right at me, this image was captured right before I ducked! This won grand prize in the National Wildlife Federation 2005 photo contest… I also won 1st place in the portrait division of Birder’s World 2004 photo contest for one of my Tri-colored Heron photos.

:: Ursi’s Blog