Like Gud, I wish we had Nerf guns. When I was about 8, my brother and I would play Star Trek. So I made "phasers" out of Tinkertoys. My "phaser" used rubber bands to shoot a Tinkertoy piece out of its muzzle. That thing could have easily taken an eye out....

Oh yeah, once my older brother shot me in the arm with a BB gun. I cried, so he said I could shoot him with it to get even. I didn't see the point to that.

Well, that was my family! Now, nsm.

I mean, fergawdsake, my father joined the NRA. I'm not real clear on the logic there. Something to do with S&R, I guess. He loves to tell people this, because if they know him but a little, their reactions are classic.

The Betsey Johnson coat is lovely.

I think it's a back cookies day. Also, the christmas decorations are all boxed and now they need to migrate to the garage.

Edit: in the picture, she's wearing a short-sleeved shirt. I don't know of anybody who would wear a wig for religious reasons who would also wear short sleeves.

She's asserting her right to bare arms.

She's asserting her right to bare arms.

Oh, that was painful.

A gimme, but painful.

Of course it's painful. Orly Taitz is involved.

Interesting rant from PZ: The powerlessness of pink

Here's another odd pink phenomenon. This is a page from a Toys 'R Us catalog, illustrating some science toys, and note the odd distinctions being made. Both the telescope and the microscope come in special pink versions, just for the girl who is apparently more interested in getting an instrument that matches her nail polish than being functional, and note also (you may have to click through to see the larger image) that in every case the pink model is less powerful than the black and gray model.

There is a message being sent here. Being feminine, being girly, means you belong in a separate category in the science world, and it's a category that needs less utility and more concern about appearances. I don't get it, and I don't understand how these kinds of distinctions persist. If my daughter wanted a telescope for a present, and I passed over the better version to get her the prettier one, I think she'd club me over the head with it and send me back to the store.

And then we'd have to send a rude letter to the manufacturer for shooing girls off into a pink ghetto.

I hope that kind of thing is only a surprise to fathers of daughters -- I mean, I hope women have already noticed, and fathers of sons haven't noticed yet. Because it is bonkers, and it is pernicious. (Is that the word I mean?)

I have to say, I was really excited to hear that my cousin's toddler daughter is into trucks right now -- they don't usually have a BS girl version.

We're going home. The smell isn't getting any better.

Coolets. Christmas tree. Evah!

Tesla tornado xmas tree

It's funny how you can't even tell from the technical description that it's an X-mas tree:

This Tesla Tornado is made using a Subaru blower fan motor, complete with its 3-position speed switch mounted on the base. The blower motor has a flywheel fabricated out of Lexan with 6 neodymium magnets mounted in it. It magnetically couples with 6 magnets in the Tesla Pump disc pack, which is inside the vortex tube. The Tesla pump discs are magnetically driven by the blower motor flywheel magnets, so there is no direct connection. The pump disc pack is self-centering, and there is no rotating shaft, shaft bearings, or seals required.