29 Aug 2003
Insultingly Stupid Movie Physics

Well, I was wondering what I was going to post about today: slow news day, and I've been very busy with work. Not to mention that we've sold quite a bit of farm produce in the last week, I've been hopping.

Well, Secular Blasphemy to the rescue! They pointed out one of the funniest sites I've seen since "Dr. Froggy's Home Hemmoroid Removal Kit". Check out Insultingly Stupid Movie Physics. Here's a sample about machine guns and action heros:

First, let us point out that the thirty-round magazine in a Mac 10 will be expended in a mere 1.8 seconds of sustained fire! If our shooter blazes away steadily for a total of only 3 minutes, his or her Mac 10 will spit out around 3000 chunks of lead at roughly 15 grams a piece. This amounts to 45 kilograms or a little less than 100 pounds of lead. And that doesn't account for the weight of the 3000 cartridge cases or 100 empty magazines scattered on the ground.
...
Yes, 9 mm submachine guns with slower firing rates would reduce weight problems, but it seems that real action heroes use Mac 10s, preferably one in each hand. We can't help asking where the sidekicks are with wheelbarrows to carry the ammo, let alone the cooling systems.

00:00 /Humor | 0 comments | permanent link

Fare thee well, Hestia

Well, Hestia is calling it quits. Because of her professional obligations she's found it necessary to discontinue her personal blog, although her professional blog will carry on. I will miss it: Hestia was the first blog I blogrolled and one of the first personal blogs I ever started reading on a daily basis. I actually went so far as to gift Hestia with a key for her scavanger hunt, which turned out to be somewhat valuable. But alas, all is indeed change, much as we would like it otherwise.

So in honor of the blog, and of Hestia (the goddess), and of course my bloggng friend Kathryn and her new blog A Mindful Life, here's the banner and prayer that so moved me:

Hail Hestia

Blessed be the Goddess of Faith
Hestia, Constant One,
Goddess of hearth and temple.
Teach me the lessons of commitment
And contentment,
Service and celebration.
Warm me within and without.
I light this candle
In fiery offering to you,
Hestia, Goddess of Fire.

00:00 /Politics | 0 comments | permanent link