R&D junkie, Worthy Textor, has-been windsurfer, sport rocketeer.
Airline breaks guitar; musician writes song Posted: 5 months ago by Fanatic
A regionally-famous Country/Celtic band called Sons of Maxwell flew United Airlines on a recent tour, and witnessed their guitars being thrown around the tarmac. They got the runaround on their damage claim, and so they're trying another approach. Video here.
Comments: 4 Score: [-] 260 [+].
World's largest model rocket set to launch next week Posted: 8 months ago by Fanatic
The 1/10 scale model of the Saturn V stands 36 feet tall and weighs over 1600 pounds. It will fly to 4000 feet on nine motors generating 8000 pounds of thrust.
Comments: 7 Score: [-] 440 [+].
MN Election court rules Franken the winner in US Senate race Posted: 8 months ago by Fanatic
The three judges unanimously ruled against Coleman's election challenge on every. single. count.
Coleman will appeal, arguing that illegally cast absentee ballots should be included as a matter of fairness.
Comments: 0 Score: [-] 235 [+].
Caroline Kennedy withdraws from consideration for Clinton Senate seat Posted: 10 months ago by Fanatic
She reportedly wishes to spend time caring for her uncle, Senator Ted Kennedy.
Comments: 5 Score: [-] 355 [+].
Roberts gets it right the second time: Obama resworn Posted: 10 months ago by Fanatic
"Out of an abundance of caution," Obama re-took the oath of office this evening from Chief Justice John Roberts.
Comments: 10 Score: [-] 427 [+].
MN Supreme Court orders improperly rejected absentee ballots to be counted Posted: 11 months ago by Fanatic
Senator Coleman had filed for an injunction to prevent counting about 1600 absentee ballots that had been improperly rejected on election day. (They haven't been opened, so no one knows who the votes are for, except by demographics). The court ordered that the campaigns and the canvassing board set standards for identifying these ballots, and then that they should be counted.
Comments: 1 Score: [-] 14 [+].
MN-Senate: Coleman's lead vanishing in recount--now at 5 Posted: 11 months ago by Fanatic
In a follow-up to this story, the canvassing board has rejected enough of Coleman's disproportionate number of recount challenges to put Franken within 5 votes of Coleman. Watch for Franken to take the lead early tomorrow, at least until they decide what to do with improperly-rejected absentee ballots.
Comments: 3 Score: [-] 51 [+].
TSA employee damages nine commercial jetliners Posted: 1 year ago by Fanatic
Testing whether it was possible to gain access to aircraft, the undertrained employee climbed up the outside of the fuselages using flight instrument probes as a ladder--breaking all of them. Pilots are understandably peeved.
Comments: 1 Score: [-] 325 [+].
Phoenix Mars Lander is on the Surface! Posted: 2 years ago by Fanatic
Phoenix survived the seven minutes of terror to successfully land in the Martian polar mission, where it will dig for water.
Edit: First image in comments
Comments: 4 Score: [-] 301 [+].
Wisconsin homeowner bets his life he can sell the house Posted: 2 years ago by Fanatic
Sixty-nine year old homeowner is offering a ten year, $500K policy on his own life as an incentive--if he dies before age 79, you get his house for free. His realtor says he's an "out of the box thinker." Pine box, apparently.
Comments: 0 Score: [-] 122 [+].
Four children die in school bus crash. Posted: 2 years ago by Fanatic
A multi-vehicle crash in rural Minnesota took the lives of four children on a school bus, which ended up on its side.
Comments: 1 Score: [-] 167 [+].
Virginia Beach police cite Abercrombie store for obscenity Posted: 2 years ago by Fanatic
Police cited the manager, and seized large black and white photographs that were used as store displays, and hauled them away as evidence. The objectionable images included... well, look for yourself. Then look up the Virginia State Flag.
Comments: 5 Score: [-] 158 [+].
Minnesota Researchers grow a beating heart in a jar Posted: 2 years ago by Fanatic
University of Minnesota researchers allowed embryonic rat cells to grow into a matrix of connective tissue taken from a rat heart. They ended up with a beating heart. There's a little more work to do before they try it in me, though....
Comments: 5 Score: [-] 427 [+].
U.S. Immigration officials pass judgment on adoptions Posted: 2 years ago by Fanatic
Because of the father's year-old misdemeanor DUI arrest, the special-needs infant and her mom have been stranded in China for two months. "For the safety of the [child]," the infant was refused a visa by a U.S. Immigration official, overriding the advice of experts, the adoption agency, chemical dependency tests, and a second home assessment. An isolated case? Nope.
Comments: 2 Score: [-] 153 [+].
A380 Safety Fears Raised After Safari Incident Posted: 2 years ago by Fanatic
They need to get better control of the lions; also, the golf course doesn't meet championship standards.
Comments: 1 Score: [-] 37 [+].
21-foot X-wing flies....and dies Posted: 2 years ago by Fanatic
Remember that 21-foot X-wing from last week? It flew spectacularly well, for about six seconds.
Comments: 9 Score: [-] 217 [+].
21-foot X-wing model to fly on 3600 pounds of thrust Posted: 2 years ago by Fanatic
This Star Wars X-wing model, with realistic folding wings, is large enough for a child,except that this one is rocket powered. This is the project website; Also seen on Gizmodo .
Comments: 3 Score: [-] 94 [+].
Arrest made in horrible therapy dog decapitation Posted: 3 years ago by Fanatic
You may have seen this story in plime some weeks back, about a girl who got her dog's head in a gift-wrapped box after it went missing. It appears they've caught the man that did it.
Comments: 5 Score: [-] 103 [+].
Brand new fire boat...sinks. Posted: 3 years ago by Fanatic
It hadn't even been accepted by the city of Newport News, let alone fought a fire. Now it sits on the bottom of the James River.
Comments: 2 Score: [-] 65 [+].
Space X launch succeeds, second stage apparently fails Posted: 3 years ago by Fanatic
A private space company's second shot at flying its low-cost rocket into orbit was an apparent partial success tonight. Space Exploration Technologies' two-stage Falcon 1 rocket launched from a remote seven-acre island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. The first stage worked well; the second stage apparently entered an oscillation and telemetry has been lost.
Comments: 1 Score: [-] 8 [+].
Man takes off with daughter, then deliberately crashes plane into ex-mother in law's house. Posted: 3 years ago by Fanatic
A man apparently deliberately crashed a rented airplane--with his 8-year-old daughter aboard--into his former mother-in-law's house.
Local news source here.
Comments: 4 Score: [-] 41 [+].
Top Gear launches a Space Shuttle--Made from a (real) car!? Posted: 3 years ago by Fanatic
The solution to the high cost of space travel involves launching a Reliant Robin--a 3-wheeled car with a pointy nose--on a 1/5 scale space shuttle. With predictable results. Take it from me, though, the amateur rocketry technology behind this launch is incredible,and the results are due to the short TV production schedule. (20 minutes, FF to 16:00 if you just want to see the outcome).
Comments: 4 Score: [-] 70 [+].
Two killed at airport--in shuttle bus crash. Posted: 3 years ago by Fanatic
Oh, the irony. Survive the flight and die on the way to the parking lot.
Comments: 2 Score: [-] 24 [+].
Five aurora-studying satellites launched on Delta 2 Posted: 3 years ago by Fanatic
The five satellites--the most ever launched at one time by NASA--will study geomagnetic storms that lead to auroras, but that also endanger astronauts and satellites.
Comments: 0 Score: [-] 6 [+].
Kansas City chemical plant explodes; fire still burning Posted: 3 years ago by Fanatic
The ChemCentral plant in Kansas City continues to burn four hours after an explosion occurred there. No one has been hurt; firefighters intend to let the fire burn out. However, several rail tanker cars are endangered.
Comments: 2 Score: [-] 76 [+].