“We were playing a little bit with where science ends and speculation begins.”
— Doug Randall, co-author of the "secret Pentagon report on climate change" that has the Left bashing Bush againSmoking The Man Pipe
Not a euphemism!
There are web sites where you can figure out the origin of your pipes, such as Logos and Markings and Pipedia, and both link to other sites where aficionados of a particular brand have gone into obsessive detail. Even that’s not enough, though, and sometimes you don’t even have a name to google. In the case of one of Dad’s pipes, just a stem mark that looked sort-of like a fish-hook.
A sharp-eyed youngster (under 40) at the local pipe shop thought it might have originally been a nearly-vertical “♂” symbol where most of the white paint filling the stamping had worn off, and careful inspection confirmed it. But searching for “male symbol pipe” is a bad idea, even with SafeSearch turned on, and I gave up after a while.
Until a few days ago, when I happened to be looking at the history of Laxey Pipe Ltd, which specialized in making African Meerschaum pipes for other companies. If you’ve seen a Peterson or Barling meer, it’s probably a Laxey, and they were located on the Isle of Man.
Sure enough, one of the sample contract pipes at the bottom of the page is Comoy’s Man Pipe, with the same distinctive bowl carving and ♂ logo as Dad’s:
Warmest by how much, now?
NASA reports that September, 2016 is the new hotness, beating out September, 2014 by 0.004 degrees Celsius.
So, exactly how many different measurements taken with different equipment at different times and places do you have to combine to compute the world’s average temperature to 1/250th of a degree, which by my calculations is approximately the amount of hot air expelled by the opening sentence of a presidential debate?
If they hadn’t already convinced me that they’re just blowing (cool, dry) smoke up our asses, this would do it.
Classification FAIL
Yes, those are Tenga masturbation devices. Yes, at a Hobby Town in Japan. Yes, the label on the sign, 楽器, means “musical instrument”. Yes, the two kanji could be read as “fun+tool”, but only by a giggling 12-year-old.
(via; it dates back to at least October 2014, and appears to be legit)
Not-so-mechanical Turk(ish)
Amazon.com surprised me a bit today:
Google tells me it’s Turkish meaning “suggested for you”, and after several hours, it’s still there in a fresh browser session, despite the rest of the UI still being in English.
[Update: still there a day later, for several of my friends as well. I don’t see an easy way to contact Amazon to find out if they know.]
"So smart you don't need a helmet!"
BMW is just a tad optimistic about the tech in their latest concept motorcycle:
The assistance systems in the BMW Motorrad VISION NEXT 100 will not only anticipate and advise when action is needed but also intervene, when required, to keep riders safe. Protective clothing such as helmets and padded suits will no longer be needed. Instead, riders will simply be able to enjoy the sensation of absolute freedom. A key assistance system in this Vision Vehicle is the Self-Balancing mechanism, which keeps the motorcycle balanced both while in motion and while stationary, and prevents it from tipping over. This technology consequently allows all riders of any level of skill or expertise to keep on pushing boundaries for an ever more positive ride experience.
Of course, “the sensation of absolute freedom” includes scraping your unprotected body across the pavement at 75 MPH after an accident, but the bike will still be standing!
