Alas, President Wonderful has had to cut his ten day vacation on elite Martha's Vineyard short by a few hours due to hurricane Irene.  The wife is staying a bit longer, however.  It was a gutsy call. He's rested and ready to hard pivot, and focus like a laser on the Hurricane/jobs/Libya/re-election/etc.

election/fundraising/etc.

Near Space from Mathew Roberts on Vimeo.


A while back I posted on a scientifically inclined family from New York who did something like this, and now a team of what appear to be college students have again accomplished an amature flight so high (33 km) that they are nearly in space. The best part about all this is the demonstration that a little knowledge, a scandalously small amount of money, and a modicum of gumption can accomplish something really amazing.  Well done, Englishmen and women!

Lots of expensive fun here.  I hope he gets to buy his ammo in bulk.

S

It's mid summer here and the good earth is doing what it always should do at this time of the year - be fruitful!  It looks like the vintners should get a good crop of grapes to make their wine, and I will get a nice tree full of apples to make sauce, or what ever I get time to create.   The foxes have also been multiplying, as we have two that are living nearby and bark their hoarse bark every night.  Saw one in the field across from us Sunday evening just before dark.  We have to leave the dogs out at night to keep them away from the chickens.  Not, I must say, the typical suburban life.

Here is another crazy cool single shot chambered in 460 S&W.   The stock is homemade out of curly maple.   A real piece of art for sure.

Iranian government forces have discovered and seized 6500 bibles, which are apparently illegal in that Muslim country.  Can't have the people exposed to an ideology that teaches love, tolerance and kindness, can they?  Such a very insecure religion, that Islam.

Here we have the interesting sight of a pileus iridescent cloud.  This effect is said to be caused when water droplets of a similar size diffract colors of sunlight by different amounts.  I personally have never seen something like this, but it would be a sight I would definitely like to experience.  Very beautiful indeed.

There's something profoundly right about this picture.

 The Cadillac Ciel concept car, unveiled recently in Monterey.   Like.  Really like.

Nice.

Ok, Joe Biden is a clownish buffoon on his best day, but give the village idiot some credit here.   On his visit to Mongolia, he appears to be genuinely entertaining his hosts and scoring some good diplomacy points.  He'll get invited back for sure.

The sumo like dude on the left probably can't believe he is seeing the vice president of the US offer to take him on.  Sumo man would crush Joe like a bug.

Meanwhile, back in China, Joe apparently has started a craze for pig intestine soup.  Hmm mmm good!

Mondays, they're like that.

The feckless Obama administration, focused like a laser on jobs, stupidly allows our main competitor in wheat to gain a clear advantage over us in one of our heretofore best markets. 

Really, this is an incredible story of incompetence.  The Republicans should hammer this story from now until the election.

Loggers call this the "barber chair," and it's only one of many ways to get killed falling timber.  I saw this happen once in my youth, luckily from a short but safe distance away, on an oak tree, and it was spectacular.

Catsup with the T bone, A-1 with the Porterhouse.