Zombie

Two weeks ago Reaction Engines Ltd (REL) in the UK announced its first formal link-up with the US government. The company, based at Abingdon, near Oxford, has entered into a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with the Air Force Research Laboratory’s [AFRL] Aerospace Systems Directorate. The US interest follows the British government's £60 million investment to continue development of the Skylon project and the European Space Agency's [ESA] validation of the technology behind SABRE [Synergistic Air-Breathing Rocket Engine] The US is interested in how SABRE will switch in flight from air-breathing mode which takes it to Mach 5.5 - twice as fast as a jet - to that of a rocket engine, reaching Mach 25, or 7.5 km per second. The engine’s hybrid nature will allow a spacecraft to take off from a runway and fly directly into orbit. Its secret is heat exchanger technology that can can cool air entering the engine from 1,000°C to minus 150°C in just one hundredth of a second whilst preventing ice from forming within the unit. And it is all done using equipment that weighs less than a standard car to transfer as much heat - 450MW - as generated by an electricity power station. The engines would power Skylon to become a reusable replacement for the Space Shuttle, carrying cargo and crews to space stations from any airport with a long enough and strong enough runway, and with a speedy turnaround time between missions. But the SABRE engine also has the potential to power other vehicles, and could fly passengers at hypersonic speed from one side of the Earth to the other - e.g. London to Sydney - in less than four hours. Barry Hellman, for AFRL, said: “This CRADA opens the door for joint development and testing to help AFRL understand the SABRE engine’s technical details, and whether it may offer unique performance and vehicle integration advantages when compared to traditional hypersonic vehicle concepts. We look forward to exploring the engine and its lightweight heat exchangers which have the potential to enable hypersonic air-breathing rocket propulsion.” http://www.sen.com/news/rival-spaceplanes-attract-interest-abroad

Ahem, maybe time for another song? I'm not a big fan of Country. But then I'm not a big fan of pigeonholing music either - if it's good it's good, end of. And I like this I Want Crazy - Hunter Hayes

He's Captain Jack in Torchwood, a Who spin-off

Cudos to Mertens In the UK this would be equivalent to a minor league footballer (oops, "soccer" player ) - don't think it would get a mention unless as part of a bigger story about prejudice generally. Even gay politicians aren't news anymore. But coming out is probably always going to be news if someone is A list and eligible because we're in a celebrity culture where even plucked eyebrows will get attention For those guys it's about "taking them off the market" for their fans who fantasize about snagging a celebrity and having their babies... So the Tom Daley "news" will always be a story

I'm on a 70s kick at the moment "Batchelor Boy" Cliff Richard has always insisted he's straight - so what's this song all about? Wishful thinking...? Beware the Devil Woman She's gonna get you from behind... Devil Woman

Just a normal mom with a group of happy children? No! These creatures have been created by this mother of four as a business. She sells them for $1,500 a pop! Like this... and this... and these... and these... These living nightmares are now in homes across the world. Oh God, they could be anywhere!

I didn't intend to watch that but then I found I had - AND I'd clicked the Like button. How the Hell did that happen?!? The way I embed vids is simply paste the URL and then bookend it with [ media ] and [ /media ] obviously you remove all gaps and returns to get it on one line - I can't show this because when posted they just disappear - POOOFF!

Heard this on the radio - no mystery which decade this comes from, the mystery is what was Mr McCrae doing here in Holland? Although from his trouser "display" at around 6:00 it seems he was primed for some spectacular action in Amsterdam! Rock Your Baby

Nope, you're missing the point - not reviving the thread discussion, that's been done to death / flogged to destruction Just closing it off - after all Saturday was the appointed day... What he has done is actually get people talking about "what is art?" In this thread - just look at the views! - and in loads of others like this http://www.ladslads.com/blogs/view/2014/January/north_west/so_today_is_the_day_art_school_stole_his_virginity/382241 And that's a good thing. Someone in the ladslads blog made the interesting point that for something to be "art" it must provoke a reaction. Well, he's sure done that Simple concept cleverly executed. He should get an A+

because Saturday 25 Jan.... and You're right - there's absolutely nothing! ... because the "performance" was the frenzied response - his artistic input was the promotion. It's cost him bugger all and he got a worldwide response. I'd call that a result

yum yum, sounds delicious... ... compared with surströmming

maybe, but that still leaves the more serious offence of drag racing - that's the one where he is most at risk of being banged up with a sexually frustrated tat covered sweaty muscle stud and... [sTOP IT! *SMACK!*]

Today's the day!!!

Perhaps I can interest Sir in our new 2014 Catalogue... The "Leatherman" collection or, my personal favourite, "The Enforcer"

Underage pop star charged with offenses after failing field sobriety test, racing Lamborghini on city streets First offense of a drag-racing offense nets a sentence of up to six months, a fine of $500 to $1,000, and a one-year license suspension. "Do the crime do the time". Yeah, baby, boy's goin' down! Expect slash writers to be sharpening their pencils and their readers needing several changes of underwear as the excitement mounts at the prospect of JB being locked up for 6 months with a hairy horny hunk with tats... http://www.policeone.com/highway-patrol-2/articles/6760921-Bieber-arrested-for-OUI-drag-racing/Bieber arrested for OUI, drag racing

When granddads rocked...

maybe in Russia they've abolished the theory stuff and gone straight for the practical...

I agree with you. Consider the feeble accuracy of weather forecasting, say, just 30 years ago when they couldn't reliably get it right for the next 24 hours. Unbelievably vast amounts of money has been ploughed into getting it right - data gathering [satellites], analyzing and modelling [supercomputers] which now give us pretty reliable 5 day forecasts. And all this effort and money was driven by the military - Britain's Met Office is part of the MoD and it's probably the same in the US - because the military learned from D-Day just how critical understanding weather is for military operations. But there isn't a military driver for global warming because the effects aren't relevant to military objectives. So political leaders need to step up and accept their responsibility to drive this now because part of their role is managing risks for society and this risk is potentially catastrophic because even if the likelihood is rated as very low, the impact is... er... catastrophic! In the UK our political leaders have told us "we're all in this together". And they're right. If it turns out humanity has been crapping in our collective "nest" then we're all doomed to end up in deep shit. *btw I've not ignored you, Graeme - the contrary views you've raised support James's view of the need for a concerted and sane approach on research - we have to get past the current insane political deadlock and behave as the intelligent species we seem to think we are - and that means serious public funding so we can understand all we need to know and not just assume all will turn out well *

now we know why a little blue bear still needs her nappy...

"Josh is one of those friends that you know bring out the best in you, and that you can talk deep shit with. I don't really have too many of these in person these days." No-one does - they're life's treasure

Yeah, Hitler wasn't too happy when Jessie Owens rubbed his nose in it either

Yes it's a good joke, Mike

No, thanks for the concern but it was Westie's blog about the benefits of turmeric and how it might be used as an alternative to some medications reminded me about this, which I'd read about a while ago https://www.gayauthors.org/forums/blog/292/entry-14241-life-update-into-the-new-year-and-beyond/

Grapefruit can kill Are you taking prescription drugs? If so you should avoid grapefruit, grapefruit juice, limes, pomelos and marmalade which contains Seville oranges [sweet orange, such as naval or Valencia oranges are fine] until you've spoken to your doctor. This is because these fruit contain a class of chemical called furanocoumarins. Furanocoumarins inhibit an enzyme, cytochrome P450 3A4, that is responsible for the inactivation of approximately half of all drugs. What this means is if a drug that is normally broken down by cytochrome P450 3A4 is taken at the same time as grapefruit, juice containing grapefruit or the other fruit mentioned, then more ‘active’ drug will be absorbed by the body, as less will have been inactivated by the enzyme. The result is that the level of the medicine in your blood can be increased which may increase the risk of side effects or alter the effect that the medicine has. Clearly this would have serious health side effects where dosages are critical. The links, below, to the NHS website contain details of those drugs that are known to react badly with these fruits which include commonly prescribed drugs like statins, calcium channel blockers, Ciclosporin and immunosuppressants, Entocort and Cytotoxic medicines. So its best to avoid these fruit and all juices containing these fruit until you are satisfied that there are no risks with the drugs that you are taking - which might not be easy to do as a lot of medics don't seem aware of this despite the risks being published more than 20 years ago. I have never had a doctor warn me whenever I've been prescribed drugs and I'm not aware that any of my family has either http://www.nhs.uk/news/2012/11November/Pages/Prescription-pills-and-grapefruit-a-deadly-mix.aspx http://www.nhs.uk/chq/Pages/2474.aspx?CategoryID=73

Exciting news about the wedding Interesting about turmeric too - reminded to post an item about the dangers of grapefruit and marmalade with prescription drugs.