Author Archives: Mike

The view from the top of the Pacific

Posted on 29 July, 2010 by Mike

This is a little old, but some folks might enjoy my photo expedition to Mauna Kea from 2008. Some things have changed — Saddle Road, for instance, is a lot better than it was even two years ago — but … Continue reading →

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I’d like to welcome our new photophytotoxic overlords

Posted on 26 July, 2010 by Mike

I know it was a somewhat silly series of books, but I had “The War Against the Chtorr” in the back of my mind while watching this: Does fire kill this stuff? Jeez, that’s terrifying.

Posted in Grim Meathook World | Leave a comment

Single national narratives

Posted on 20 July, 2010 by Mike

Andrew Coyne, Canada is a French country: But if the history of Canada is an unbroken chain of sovereignty, Francis to Elizabeth, Champlain to Johnston; if what is important about it is not the change from French to British rule … Continue reading →

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Thanks a lot, James May

Posted on 14 July, 2010 by Mike

It turns out that the Eyjafjallajokull eruption that stranded me in the United Kingdom earlier this year was all James May’s fault. Seriously. If you watched the first episode of Series 15 (if you don’t know what I’m talking about, … Continue reading →

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It also says you can’t put squirrels down your pants for the purposes of gambling

Posted on 9 July, 2010 by Mike

So I was reading through the Canadian Aviation Regulations this afternoon looking for something specifically prohibiting me from dropping things from airplanes. (It turns out there isn’t any such regulation, as long as you do it safely.) And then, I … Continue reading →

Posted in Aviation | 2 Comments

Lost in Sysadminning

Posted on 4 July, 2010 by Mike

Buying a Unix system guarantees you a descent into Hell. –Philip Greenspun We’re back up and running (somewhat) normally, following ~18-ish hours of weirdness that stemmed from a badly botched update of WordPress. It started when I decided to bring … Continue reading →

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Homemade pornography!

Posted on 13 June, 2010 by Mike

(Man, I wonder what the search engines are going to do with these airplane porn posts…) It’s the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Canadian Navy — whatever we want to call it this year — and, to mark … Continue reading →

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More filthy pornography!

Posted on 10 June, 2010 by Mike

The Australian Department of Defence released this awesome series of photographs of one of their brand-new F/A-18Fs doing some low-level flying. They are staggeringly cool pictures. Also, a very interesting view of a 787-8. I say it too much, but … Continue reading →

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Quick Hits

Posted on 8 June, 2010 by Mike

Item 1: We are so living in the future now, says William Gibson: Say it’s midway through the final year of the first decade of the 21st Century. Say that, last week, two things happened: scientists in China announced successful … Continue reading →

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Set my soul on fire

Posted on 29 May, 2010 by Mike

How I was unaware of this version of “Viva Las Vegas” until quite recently (well, actually, yesterday to be exact) is a bit of a mystery to me. But I have since found it, have fallen in love with it … Continue reading →

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