The Windkey and the Lamplighter

In High School, I spent a few very pleasant weekends at the Thayer Hotel on the campus of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. This past week let me revisit those old stomping grounds. All the stonework is the same, and the knickerbocker-clad Hudson Highlands are immortal. My goodness has the security posture changed, though. The highways of the last century were built for gates that no longer admit visitors.

I ran into this entirely randomly, while trying to confirm that 10-32
screws are the same as .190-32 screws. Google Sketchup is a 3D
modeling program, integrated into Google Earth.
It’s still downloading, but it looks like a fast, light competitor to
Inventor or SolidWorks. The Pro version claims to let you "create
3D models from photographs", and export to other CAD programs. That
could be interesting. At $495, I think it comes in cheaper than
Pro/Engineer or SolidWorks—can’t tell for sure, since neither will
sell to consumer single-users directly…

NASA’s recruitment page says
Help Wanted: Astronauts
America needs YOU at the frontiers of space and technology!

I almost qualify—a bachelor’s degree in engineering, math or science
and at least three years of experience in one of these fields.

Next year, I guess. That’ll put me right on track to be the first
post-shuttle class (Class of 2010), if I were accepted…

If you go to Japan after November, 2007, be prepared to be
fingerprinted and photographed—everyone entering the country
will have their "Personally Identifying Information" taken at the
immigration checkpoint.

The linked video explains that this will help Japan with
"Accurate identification of foreign terrorists"
and
"Prevention of terrorism in advance
and that it
"Defends against illegal immigrants and foreign criminals"

It also notes, unsurprisingly, that
"If you refuse to be fingerprinted or photographed, you will be
refused entry to Japan and ordered to leave"

(A bit more investigation reveals that Britain is also collecting
fingerprints and photos, but from visa applicants, rather than at the
immigration checkpoint, and hasn’t fully rolled out their system yet)

http://www.immi-moj.go.jp/english/keiziban/happyou/video.html

Yesterday I went to Easton Beach in Newport, RI not-quite-on-my-way home
from a work meeting. (It was only like 4 miles out of the way!)

The beach was covered in neat red seaweed. Very cool-looking, but I
don’t really know what it is, so I didn’t risk wading. Besides, I was
wearing cordoroy pants, which are not the best for the beach.

These are the phone pictures I took and was not able to post from my
phone. It told me the mail was sent… stupid phone.
(It is getting harder and harder to convince myself I do not want an
iPhone)

href="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Newport,+RI&ie=UTF8&t=k&om=1&ll=41.484856,-71.28788&spn=0.01929,0.025749&z=14&iwloc=addr&source=embed"
style="color:#0000FF;text-align:left">View Larger Map

At least someone in NASA’s PR department has a sense of humor.
Spirit has now been on Mars longer than Viking II.

This is amazing. I love storms.
width="300">

*Thanks to Jeff’s New York Weather Blog*

Shamus Young, the author of the [just-finished] adaptation
DM of the Rings, has started a new web comic. The first page of
Chainmail Bikini had me skeptical at the beginning, then laughing out
at the tag.

Jackie Chan is a tricky, tricky man. We just finished watching
Operation Condor 2: The Armour of the Gods. It had far less Nazi
gold than I’d remembered. Turns out I was remembering Armour of God
II: Operation Condor. Whoops. They’re even closely titled in the
original. Can you tell Fei ying gai wak from
Long xiong hu di? Me neither. We watched the latter. The former
has the Nazis, the wind tunnel, and the gold. The latter has monks
and Miss Spain 1979.

If you think that’s bad, check out how many other "Operation Condor"
movies are listed by IMDB.