Category: Not-politics

‘How can you be sure there won’t be vacuum pockets left in the chamber…’

“…that someone could accidentally stick their head into?”

(h/T: Meryl Yourish) This was an actual quote, supposedly, in relation to the delayed certification of a vacuum chamber by a bureaucrat. Also requiring resolution was where the vacuum would end up going if the chamber was suddenly vented and whether there were any additional safeguards to keep people from accidentally letting the vacuum out besides the need to exert fifty tons of force in order to open the door. This was all necessary because vacuum was defined as an “asphyxiant…” yes, laugh at the silly bureaucrats. The scientists can’t, though: it took them three weeks to find somebody to overrule the certification process, and the bureaucrats were apparently touchy on the subject for some time afterward.

Please contemplate this story the next time that the topic of how to implement increased regulation comes up in conversation. Because those are the details that the devil likes to be in.

Moe Lane

PS: I’m not really being dour about this. Just mildly tired.

Crossposted to RedState.

New Book of the Week: Storm From the Shadows

Short time for Lullaby to be on the list, but such are the vagaries of life.

I’m replacing it with David Weber’s Storm from the Shadows, which is the latest from the Honorverse. I was actually able to afford getting this one thanks to an early birthday present; it was a tough call between it and Escape from Hell, though. I’m about halfway through it, and it’s good.

Startling Star Wars Trivia of the day.

I wish I could remember where in Lileks I saw that bit that he wrote about why Lucas did Return of the Jedi the way that he did, but this quote of Dan Vebber emailed to me by Erick Erickson has its own charms:

But aside from what we see onscreen, the Ewoks are miserable little creatures for a completely different reason: they are the single clearest example of Lucas’ willingness to compromise the integrity of his Trilogy in favor of merchandising dollars. How intensely were the Ewoks marketed? Consider this: “Ewok” is a household word, despite the fact that it’s never once spoken in the film.

Of course, the advice that I got right afterward from a third party – which was to just get over the entire Lucas betrayed fanboy thing – was probably very sensible. At least, I bristled at it, which is usually diagnostic.

Somewhere, there’s at least three people muttering about how *their* moms…

…threw out their copies:

Rare Superman comic sells for $317,200

NEW YORK – A rare copy of the first comic book featuring Superman has sold for $317,200 in an Internet auction. The previous owner of Action Comics No. 1 bought it for less than a buck.

It’s one of the highest prices ever paid for a comic book, a likely testament to the volume’s rarity and its excellent condition, said Stephen Fishler, co-owner of the auction site ComicConnect.com and its sister dealership, Metropolis Collectibles.

Heck, even the 50th Anniversary Reprint Edition has a decent street value. But look on the bright side – and, for that matter, all around you: somewhere in that pile of stuff that we call a ‘house’ is an item that a descendant will be able to hock for a small fortune.

The trick is figuring out which one.