MsGuy

No guys? Only women? Homophobic SOB got what he deserved!

I'm no engineer, AS, but I would think that the point of maximum stress would occur when you tried to pull out of the dive. You know, when the wings are trying to change direction but the fuselage is doing its damnedest to continue on course.

That's all well and good but I suspect that if I were to look out my window and see the wings flapping away at anywhere near design limits, I wouldn't be able to finish my drink for the stench of poop wafting out of the pilot's cabin.

Lucker, I think it's exceptionally kind of you to provide us with a link to the donation page. So thoughtful.

Not at all, MsAnn. The author doesn't even mention mountain oysters. Clearly an ignorant hack!

Hahahaha... if he's still using those Scientology rottweilers, then I doomed.

Not to worry, Zipper, we all get confused from time to time. Personally, I find confusion actually adds to my general store of happiness, more often than not. In fact, I quite anticipate settling into my senility in the next few years, happily picking my nose and drooling and grinning from ear to ear.

Jesus Christ, Suchrates, now that you've said it, I can't look at the picture w/o seeing them too.

W...T...F...?

Ascribed to Churchill: "Lady Penelope, will you fuck me for a million pounds?" "For a million pounds? Well, yes." "How about for 10 pounds?" "What do you think I am?" "Madam, we have established what you are, now we are negotiating." ==== 1finger, most folks have a price; the question is whether you will pay it.

Maybe they get taped down, kinda like the drag guys do? Or maybe they just want the gig really, really bad...

AS, didn't they come up with some pill that alleviates obsessions like this a decade or so back?

As an artifact of history, presidents can make interim (temporary) appointments to executive positions while Congress is not in session. No such exception exists for judicial posts. So yes, wishful thinking. It bothers me that I'm hearing reports of Republican senators already announcing that they will block any Democratic nominee no matter who he is. This amounts to declaring Democrats not merely wrong headed but illegitimate as political actors. Attitudes like that make a democratic form of government difficult to sustain..

Zipper, aren't you assuming the Senate won't block any Obama nominee until next January? I suspect that a number of Republicans will see this as a wedge issue for the presidential campaign. And no, I don't really think it will come to that, but a lot of things have been popping up lately that I didn't think could possibly happen. A 70 something year old self described socialist putting the squeeze on Hillary? The Donald crushing Jeb? The Kardashians still on TV? Who knows anything for sure any more.

Very good post, Trzinko. Thank you.

Is this what a hipster wedding looks like?

RA1, I had to puzzle over that one for a day and a half but I finally got it. WOO HOO! I guess it was a case of me approaching your post with the wrong (serious) mind-set and never being able to back track enough to look at it with fresh eyes. I just went mind blind to the three smilie faces, I guess. Not unlike the NASA and Thiokol bigwigs when you think about it.

A rolled up sock?

Sucky, I read this article and thought you might be in market for a little something for some of your boys. Come to think of it, MsAnn might be interested in picking up one of these for himself. And AdamSmith, try it, you might like it. I'd mail a set to Oz but his two boys might get jealous.

RA1, you make a good point, several in fact. Sitting on top of several thousand tons of LOX and 'rockety' fuel and lighting it afire seems inherently problematic. Thirty years after, here's an article on one of the Thiocol engineers who did their damnest to stop the launch of the Challenger.

After substantial independent research (15/20 minutes), I can now confirm that a 5th engine was indeed added to latter missions of the Saturn V to accommodate the additional mass of the lunar rover. The first couple of missions were apparently made with the 4 engine version. However Von Braun seems to claim that the 5th engine, together with substantial improvements in the performance of the original engines, left a more than adequate margin of safety. So much for "hairily close run thing".

Added a fifth engine not originally designed for? Is that for real or is it a bit of dramatic licence in the re-telling?