WNBTv - Good TV

Obscured By Clouds

Nick — Wed, 22 May 2013 18:59:25 PDT

I watched a documentary on tornadoes that mentioned that ~~one of the plains tribes~~ [Native Americans - most likely in the tornado prone plains] had an oral tradition of referring to one particular type of tornado as a “dead man walking.” [as a possible example] They had footage of a May 27, 1997 tornado that went through the small Central Texas town of Jarrell, that was described by storm-chasers as beginning with a medium dual-rope tornado or multi-vortex pencil tornado. (as it went through town it became lethal)

For the first and only time in my life, I saw the dead-man-walking. It looked like the hips, legs, and feet of a huge giant. The two legs were connected at the top, which looked like hips/lower torso. The clouds obscured the imagined upper body, the bend in the “rope” made knees, and the point of contact with the ground made a dusty swelling that could be thought of as feet. As each of the twin tornadoes rotated around each other they created a haunting optical illusion of legs walking. It was a real heart-stopper.

After seeing that footage, I have no problem understanding how an oral tradition of an angry spirit scuffing his way across the landscape could occur.

(via)

Jarrell, TX, documentary

ICBMs

Nick — Tue, 21 May 2013 08:16:45 PDT

There’s a test launch scheduled for this morning at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. The Air Force announced there would be an operational test launch of an unarmed Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile between 3:01 and 9:01 a.m., West Coast time. The missile’s unarmed single re-entry vehicle is expected to travel approximately 4,190 miles to the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands, according to a press release from Air Force Global Strike Command. “Data collected further validates and verifies the effectiveness, readiness and accuracy of the weapon system while providing valuable information to assist the Air Force in sustaining and modernizing the Minuteman III through 2030,” according to the statement.

- FP: Situation Report

~|~

The United States: “You talkin’ to me? You talkin’ to me? You talkin’ to me? Then who the hell else are you talkin’ to? You talkin’ to me? Well I’m the only one here. Who the fuck do you think you’re talking to?”

North Korea: …

Mission To Mars

Nick — Tue, 21 May 2013 06:23:31 PDT

Remember the 1-way trip to Mars?

That’s right – the start-up project that aims to start colonizing Mars by 2025. After just a month they are well on their way to garnering half a million applicants: 78,000 so far. ¹

Some of the applicant videos are amazing. ²

No, I don’t know if X.O. applied. But you would assume he did, right? He’d only be 69 by the time the ship left for Mars; he’s (serially) divorced; his only child will be 30ish then; his parents have passed; he has no life. Moreover, I bet they’ll stream porn to his sleep pod all the way to Mars if he likes….in short, there’s nothing to keep him Earth-bound. Why wouldn’t he apply? ↩
Some…not so much. ↩