I tried to come up with a better headline, but how could I?

For years, the U.S. military has wanted a plane that could loiter just outside enemy territory for more than a dozen hours and, on command, hurtle toward a target faster than the speed of sound. And then level it.

But aircraft that excel at subsonic flight are inefficient at Mach speeds, and vice versa. The answer is Switchblade, an unmanned, shape-changing plane concept under development by Northrop Grumman.

When completed (target date: 2020), it will cruise with its 200-foot-long wing perpendicular to its engines like a normal airplane. But just before the craft breaks the sound barrier, its single wing will swivel around 60 degrees (hence the name) so that one end points forward and the other back.

This oblique configuration redistributes the shock waves that pile up in front of a plane at Mach speeds and cause drag. When the Switchblade returns to subsonic speeds, the wing will rotate back to perpendicular.

The article's by Noah Schachtman of DefenseTech, now getting articles published in Popular Science and CNN.

Thanks to DDG who says he needs some "alone time" with the article, the Decepticon "Thunderbolt," and some cocoa butter.

Posted by: Ace at 09:47 AM | Comments (12)
Post contains 212 words, total size 1 kb.

This is a gay pride activist.
Don't you judge him, don't you dare judge him.

I think that this costume is supposed to invoke the Statue of Liberty.
Ostensibly.
But really, its for showing off his taut, shaved frame.

Posted by: LauraW. at 07:47 AM | Comments (103)
Post contains 47 words, total size 1 kb.

"Boredom is a major problem in this place. The work can be very tedious and people find ways of livening up their days."

By exchanging so much porn that the computer mainframe is brought to its knees.

NICE.

This happened in the UK, of course. Ah, famed British manners. Bollocks. Place is lousy with pervos and nasty, giggling redheads.

In the USA, we like our DMV workers asexual, slow, and barely computer literate, thank you very much.

Posted by: LauraW. at 07:32 AM | Comments (11)
Post contains 85 words, total size 1 kb.

Collect your chi and take the proper kata and then shout: "Take anything you want! Spare my life!"

Actually, it's good advice, I guess, for women accosted by muggers. But the martial-arts angle of it seems strange.

Posted by: Ace at 11:05 AM | Comments (31)
Post contains 51 words, total size 1 kb.

When Irish eyes are bugging out like a schizophrenic off his thorazine...

Shannon-based peace activist Conor Cregan said yesterday that he briefly detained the six on Thursday afternoon after finding them walking on the Limerick Road leading out of Ennis. “I placed the soldiers under citizen’s arrest because these soldiers are not supposed to be walking freely on the streets of Ireland in uniform. It is a breach of the Irish Constitution and Irish neutrality,”he said.

The six were part of a group of 238 troops who were forced to stay overnight on Thursday in due to technical problems experienced by their aircraft at Shannon airport. They were staying at the West County Hotel in Ennis and met Mr Cregan near the hotel on a public footpath.

He said yesterday: “I immediately called for the six to stop and said to them ‘I am placing you all under citizen’s arrest. Do not move’.”

DDG writes:

Irish. Strong. Nuanced.

Posted by: Ace at 09:26 AM | Comments (70)
Post contains 168 words, total size 1 kb.

Isn't it time to make fun of Oliver Willis again?

Wow. I thought maybe he'd gone into a Filet O Fish coma, or something. Guess not!

Posted by: Harry Callahan at 04:21 AM | Comments (36)
Post contains 30 words, total size 1 kb.

Sanitizing the blog so as not to cause former MyDD "ascending star" Jerome Amstrong any difficulties.

Ascending star. Get it? Like, you know, with astrology and stuff? Planets? Umm... house of Jupiter? That kind of thing?

It's late.

Thanks to Riehl World.

Posted by: Ace at 11:42 PM | Comments (12)
Post contains 52 words, total size 1 kb.

The Excitable One compares her to Hitler. Ho, hum. Just par for the course for a silly, hysterical little bitch. Hell, when St. Andrew gets an indifferent manjob he starts crying "Hitler." Or sometimes he screeches "Pol Pot." He likes to mix it up, keep it fresh.

But this is curious. He then calls her a "drag-queen fascist impersonator."

Drag queen? Bear in mind, this shrieking canary cries "homophobia" at the drop of the hat. Is St. Andrew of the Sacred Heart-Ache saying being a "drag-queen," or a Person of Ambiguous Gender, is a bad thing? Isn't that a nasty sort of thing to say about his brother-sisters in arms?

I sure wish lefties like St. Andrew would agree upon whether or not its homophobic to cast aspersions on someone's sexuality. Because this current stance -- it's okay for me to do it, but not okay for my opponents -- seems kinda queer.

Posted by: Ace at 11:15 PM | Comments (38)
Post contains 169 words, total size 1 kb.

I know, I know. Same old, same old.

Except...

He's not a Kennedy!!!

From Crosblog, which dishes up some hot steamin' Latin American crazy here, and former WWF Wrestler Nikolai Volkoff running for Maryland State legislature. As, yes, a Republican.

Posted by: Ace at 06:53 PM | Comments (13)
Post contains 64 words, total size 1 kb.

Good photoshop.

Strange. You can photoshop someone as Hitler and it has such little impact. Done to death.

But as a couple of Star Trek conventioneers? Deadly.

Posted by: Ace at 06:13 PM | Comments (5)
Post contains 31 words, total size 1 kb.