God bless her and all who sail on her

The Queen Mary II, new flagship of Cunard's line and the world's biggest cruise liner at 1139 feet, just set sail from Southampton on her maiden voyage across the Atlantic, into the teeth of a North Atlantic storm with up to 100mph winds.  She should arrive at Fort Lauderdale in two weeks.  Cabin prices run from around $1,700 to as high as $42,000 per person for the top Grand Duplex suites, but they found 2,620 passengers somehow.

I somehow doubt this is the best time for a super-luxury liner to enter service, but I wish her well.

(Then again, the fat-cats who can afford the Queen Mary II really aren't hurting that bad .... the CEOs and bank presidents are still collecting their million-dollar-plus salaries.)

Impending Pinlessness

Oh yeah ... my medical appointment today has been rescheduled from 1100 to 1515 (we got a call to this effect around 0830).  It has also been confirmed that at this appointment, the one remaining [fully internal] pin in my foot will be removed.  The plan was it would stay in unless it became a problem ... well, considering that the end of the pin is pretty much at the bottom of the abscess that developed last week, it may be related.  So, out comes the pin.

Unlike Mr. Grenade, Mr. Foot is still your friend after you remove Mr. Pin.

[I swear this song was not front-loaded.]

It only took 36 years . . .

. . . but the US State Department has finally concluded that the Israeli attack upon the USS Liberty on June 8, 1967, during the Six Day War, was "an act of gross negligence for which [Israel] should be held responsible."  Tapes and transcripts of Israeli pilots and ground control, speaking in Hebrew, were released in July in accordance with a Freedom of Information Act request.

The USS Liberty, an electronic-intelligence ship, was operating in international waters off the Egyptian coast when it was repeatedly attacked over a period of many hours with cannon, rockets and napalm by Israeli Air Force jets and torpedo boats.  Survivors of the attack, among others, have repeatedly stated a belief that the attack was a deliberate effort to stop American surveillance of Israeli activities during the conflict.  Israel has always maintained that the attack was a mistake and that they believed the ship to be an Egyptian horse carrier, begging the question of why an Egyptian horse carrier would be in international waters, flying a US flag, in the middle of a war with Israel.

Peculiar dreams

Last night was a night for peculiar dreams.  I meant to write these down as soon as I got up, but I'm not sure I can remember them all now.

Let me see, there was one involving being (for some unknown reason) trapped underneath a bus that had maybe eight inches of ground clearance, less around the sides, which appeared to draw its power from the road like a toy slot car, except that instead of a blade sticking down from the bus into a slot in the road, a rail stuck upward from the road and was gripped by shoes under the bus.  The rail was interrupted at stops, forcing the bus to have a separate engine to move it back onto the rail after each stop.  My presence underneath the bus apparently had some incomprehensible connection to hooking up high-speed Internet service for our home.  My ability to get under there was apparently explained by being able to lift the bus several inches with one hand in order to get past protrusions under the bus.  Why I couldn't simply do the same to get out from under it is beyond me.

(No, it doesn't make any sense to me either.)

There were two others, equally surreal, but I find I'm unable to recall them now.  This is possibly a good thing, if the bus dream is anything to go by.

Overheard....

[Names changed to protect the innocent]

[Prelude:  Everyone has something that squicks them]

<John> Even that lady who does the Sunday Night Sex Show . . . usually the most deadpan, matter-of-fact about anything and everything, but I did see her get squicked once.

<Jim> I'm afraid to ask....but what squicked her?

<Joe> What squicked her?

<John> Guy called in about penis enlargement.  When asked why, he said his girlfriend wasn't satisfied by regular sex, and was asking him to poop on her chest.

<Joe> Ok, that's ew.

<Jane> Did that satisfy her?

<John> Dunno.  She said "I don't think the size of your penis is the problem here."

Truer words were never spoken.

Pinless

I no longer have any pins in my foot.  The wound is nice and clean; there was a little drainage, but no pus, indicating no lingering infection.  Having been so swollen, the skin on my toe is peeling like a drunk sorority date, but that ought to clear up quickly now that the swelling's gone.  My whole foot looks almost normal in both size and color, and I now have a couple of support socks for that foot, which I'm supposed to put on first thing in the morning to prevent swelling and edema.  (This will become less necessary when I can walk more again, and maybe even run again, in the future.  Yes, I do believe that I will be able to run again, though probably not as well as before.)

DEATH OF FILM PREDICTED; Internet at 11

Eastman Kodak has announced that it will cease to manufacture APS (aka Advantix) film cameras by the end of this year, and will also cease to market and sell reloadable 35mm film cameras in the US, Canada and Western Europe, citing declining demand.  Kodak already announced last year that it would cease to manufacture slide projectors.  All of these decisions represent steps in Kodak's continuing move to digital photography.

Eastman Kodak will continue to manufacture 35mm and APS film, including slide film, and will continue to sell 35mm cameras in emerging markets such as China, India, Eastern Europe and Latin America, where the 35mm film market is growing at double-digit rates.  Six new 35mm cameras will be released in those markets this year.

Full details to be found on CNN and Reuters.

OK, I admit it .... I posted this solely because that tagline popped into my head and I just couldn't resist it.

Gentlemen, start your ion engines

rbos found this, a discussion of combining vapor-core fission reactors with VASIMR (Variable Specific Impulse Magnetohydrodynamic Rocket).  This could give us a viable, working in-system spacedrive, and do it SOON.