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About cb

Blogger, satirist, historian, natural philosopher, wearer of the cat beard

Ardbeg Uigeadail

Opinion, Reblog, Review, Scotch, , , ,

I like this one too šŸ™‚

buffalowhiskeyguild's avatarBuffalo Whiskey Guild

uigiRecently, we here at BWG have inadvertently relegated our Ardbeg consumption to their special annual releasesĀ (you can readĀ all our Ardbeg reviews here) and seem to have overlookedĀ some of their more regularly available stuff. That has been a mistakeā€¦ ArdbegĀ Uigeadailā€™sĀ nose is like an enchanted forest of flavors. It starts off with a beautifully complex blend of earth, oak, moss, wild blackberries and raspberries and Ardbegā€™s typical, ever present, but not overpowering peat smoke. The palate is a fresh, hand-picked bouquet strewn over smoked wood chips. A few drops of water open up the fruity and floral notes, while adding a creamy texture to this smokey mountain of flavors. The finish is smooth and warm with some sharp cracked peppercorn and fading peat smoke. UigeadailĀ is beautifully complex and balanced. For BWG itā€™s by far Ardbegā€™s best regular offering. Available in store and online at Gates Circle Liquor for $106

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The Classic Laddie Scottish Barley

News, Opinion, Reblog, Review, Scotch, , , ,

This just appeared in my reader … My favorite distiller …

buffalowhiskeyguild's avatarBuffalo Whiskey Guild

scottichbarleyBruichladdich, one of BWGā€™s favorite Scottish distillers recently discontinued their ā€œLaddie 10ā€ flagship bottling and replaced it with The Classic Laddie Scottish Barley. We loved the Laddie 10 (you can read that review here), so we were not happy to learn of its departure ā€“ however, we were equally as excited to sample its replacement. This unpeated Bruichladdich pours a deep honey gold, a few shades darker than its predecessor. The nose is classic Bruichladdich, salty and floral with a caramel, banana sweetness. The palate is clean and balanced, with sea salt caramel taffy and aĀ lavender bouquet.Ā It has aĀ nice oily mouth feel which leads into thoroughly warming finish that lasts a good while. A touch of water broadens the palate with more floral notes, while maintaining its salty-sweet bite. There is no age statement on this Laddie bottling and the abv. has been punched up toā€¦

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Supplying Apple

Economic Issues, News, Opinion, Technology, , , , , , , , ,

Yesterday’s Google News search on Apple had a Barron’s article on Apple’s suppliers. Apparently you can read the whole article through the Google link, but a direct link asks you to subscribe. Go figure.

The basis of the article is that these stocks could get pummeled if Apple disappoints on September 9. That may or may not come to pass, bit if you want to invest in companies riding Apple’s coat tails consider these:

GTAT – GT Advanced Technologies
Manufacturer of Transparent Aluminum

SWKS – Skyworks Solutions
Wireless handset chip supplier

INVN – InvenSense
Motion processing, MEMS gyroscope, and motion processing technologies for consumer electronics

RFMD – RF Micro Devices
Manufacturer of RF (Radio Frequency) integrated circuits

AVGO – Avago Technologies
Provides an extensive range of analog, mixed-signal and optoelectronic components

OVTI – OmniVision Technologies
Manufacturer of proprietary image sensing and state-of-the-art CMOS process technologies

STM– STMicroelectronics
Produces a diverse range of devices, ranging from single transistors to microprocessors

NXPI – NXP Semiconductors
Creating solutions that enable secure connections for a smarter world

MU – Micron Technology
Best known for producing many forms of semiconductor devices including DRAM, SDRAM, flash memory, and SSDs.

The article also referenced the WordPress site RE/CODE as a source.

Women are the Warriors …. our times call for!!

Dr. Rex's avatarIt Is What It Is

WW1

~~August 31, 2014~~Ā 

Women are the warriors our times call for

NAWarrior

ā€œAs it appears in ā€¦.. ā€œ

https://www.facebook.com/AaronPaquetteArt

https://www.facebook.com/AaronPaquetteArt?fref=photo

bjwordpressdivider

Some people make the mistake of thinking women are only gatherers ā€¦ gardeners ā€¦ that they can only dig and pick and cultivate and hide.

I tell you that women are the strongest, smartest and most dangerous hunters the world has ever seen.Ā Individually, they may be physically overpowered, but in planning, in vision, in purpose and explosive action, they canā€™t be beat.Ā Any honest man will admit there is nothing that fills them with awe so much as their partner when she has made up her mind.

She has become an unstoppable, indomitable will. If itā€™s against him, heā€™d better start running!

War5

Thereā€™s a narrative that women are weak, that theyā€™re vulnerable, that they are somehow less intelligent or capable than a man.Ā Well, they said that about serfs, about slaves, about peopleā€¦

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Superchargers come to Europe

Electric Vehicles, History, Technology, Twitter, Video, , ,

Via Twitter

Superchargers come to Europe

 

I was fortunate to travel to Norway (Stavanger) on business several times in the early 2000s. It is an extremely beautiful country. I wish I could afford to live there. I was also fortunate to know a native Norwegian whom I had previously worked with in the States. He was kind enough to take me on a day trip to the Norwegian country side. I was amazed that most of the back roads are effectively one lane wide, as can be seen in the video.

See also SUPERCHARGER

TMNT | XKCD

Art, Humor, Music, Video, , , , , , , , , ,

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http://xkcd.com/1412/

Monday’s XKCD (above) made me go find the original theme song on YouTube (top).

In the late 80′ – early 90s TMNT were all the rage. The boys were little and between Christmas and birthdays we acquired every form of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle paraphernalia know to man. You name it we had it: action figures, weapons, vehicles, home-made VHS recordings of the TV shows, comic books (new and old). The show was on every afternoon after school around dinner time and I watched many an episode with the boys. We also saw the first several movies. The theme song was unquestionably catchy, humor childish but not always so, the plots predictable. But heck, I enjoyed it as much as the boys did.

It was a classic.

Perfection

History, Music, Video, , , , ,

Nineteen Seventy-One, the year I graduated from high school. Badfinger is riding high in the charts. Heir apparent to the Beatles, backed by George Harrison, published by the Beatles’ Apple Corps (no relation to Apple Computer, but that is another story), with a number of hits already playing. No Matter What, Come and Get It, and Day After Day had been or were playing regularly on AM radio. Come and Get It debuted in the 1970 Peter Seller / Ringo Starr movie The Magic Christian.

Continue reading Perfection →

Alien thigh bone on Mars

Mars, News, Space Travel, , , ,

The interwebs are all atwitter at the alien thigh bone found on Mars by the Curiosity rover. I’m sure this is old news by now.

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More likely than not it is actually a volcanic bomb formed as molten rock thrown from one of the Martian volcanoes or impact craters cooled while flying through the air.

One wishes they would send Curiosity over to run an analysis on it. If it had the chemical composition of Martian rock, one could more forcefully argue against it being a fossil.

Dos Maderas P.X. 5+5

Opinion, Reblog, Review, Rum, , , ,

My latest impulse buy ā€¦

Dos Maderas P.X. 5+5

Extremely Smooth. Once you understand how Dos Maderas P.X. 5+5 is aged, youā€™ll have a full appreciations of itā€™s deep mahogany color, a reddish brown hue like brilliant sapphire. The heavier caramel rum aromas are lifted by sweet traces of sherry ā€¦
Read the full review at Rum Gallery. Seriously, if you like rum and haven’t tried Dos Maderas P.X. 5+5, go read the review now.

Not bad for an un-educated impulse buy. Definitely in the same league as Ron Zacapa Centenario 23. I suck as a reviewer, but I know what it like. This is sweet, delicious goodness. It is like fine double casked scotch made from sugar. Mmmmm ā€¦

En EspaƱol (mostly)

 

Num, num, nummmmmmm ā€¦

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Geek Obscura: Robert A. Heinlein

Fiction, Film, History, Opinion, Reblog, Science Fiction, Social Issues, Space Travel, , , ,

Heinlein is one of my favorite Sci-Fi authors.

davekheath's avatarDave's Corner of the Universe

Bob

When I was in high school you couldnā€™t get past the nerd clubhouse front door unless you were familiar with Robert A. Heinlein. You didnā€™t necessarily had to have read his books, but you needed to be familiar with the guy. About a month ago at work some guys were discussing the various merits and demerits of the Paul Verhoeven movie version of Starship Troopers, and I added my two cents that no matter what you felt about the movie that the book was great. One of the guys seated there, who was a pretty big sci-fi fan, replied that he didnā€™t even know it was a book.

So how did one of the most thought provoking controversial and exciting books in the science fiction universe get downgraded to a shower scene? Well letā€™s start with the man himself Robert A. Heinlein.

Heinleinā€™s early life could be summed up inā€¦

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The Mars Seven

Fiction, Humor, Mars, Science Fiction, Space Travel, ,

To those of you who read A Brief History of Mars ā€¦ did you catch the Easter Eggs?

Every Martian knows the names of the Mars Seven (the first humans on Mars):

Mission Commander Sarah Radstrom,

Pilot Maggie Trznadel,

Crew Chief Hillary Edmundson,

First Science Officer Lenny Yomin,

Environmental Officer Rolf Redan,

Flight Engineer Nole Moschatus,

Timmy Enelpozo de Agua.

Hint: Titles and names. Titles and names.

Bark, bark, bark ā€¦ What is it Lassie? Ovibos moschatus?

I know that some of you only read the text and never watch the embedded videos ā€¦ you know who you are. But seriously, you need to watch the embedded video in A Brief History of Mars.

A Brief History of Mars

Economic Issues, Essay, Fiction, Film, History, Horror, Mars, Science Fiction, Space Travel, Technology, Video, , , , , , , ,

Copyright Ā© 2014 by Christian Bergman, All rights reserved.

All people, places, and events are fictional ā€¦ except when they arenā€™t.

ā€¢ ā€¢ ā€¢

In the distant past, a forgotten shepherd stares up at the sky, studying the bright red dot that drifts night to night among the background of stars.

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Continue reading A Brief History of Mars →

Machines at War 3

Essay, Opinion, Technology, , , , , , , ,

MaW3

Do I look like a gamer? Look here. (Don’t answer that)

Ok, so I suck at First Person Shooters. Number 2 son calls me “the turret”.

But I do like head-to-head Real-Time Strategy (RTS) games. My friend and I used to enjoy playing each other on Command and Conquer Red Alert for iPad. That is, until we discovered MaW3. Without a doubt the best military RTS game, bar none, is Machines at War 3 by ISOTOPE 244.

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Available for iOS, Mac, and Windows on the iPhone and iPad App Store, Mac App Store, Steam, and directly from ISOTOPE 244.

I can’t say enough positive about this game. Don’t take my word for it. Read the review links at ISOTOPE 244. This is one amazing and phenomenal game. James Bryant has accomplished a tour de force. It is elegant, masterful, and flawless. It even plays well on a iPhone 5s.

If you like the RTS genre, please – please, check out MaW3.

And now back to skirmish mode … (Roger that Sir! Reinforcements, we need reinforcements. A ha ha ha ha, taste my laser! Oh the humanity.)

Thin, Very Thin Transparent Aluminum

News, Technology, Video, , , , ,

Transparent Aluminum

I first told you about Transparent Aluminum* here.

I have talked about it several times since.

GT Advanced Technologies (GTAT) has the technology to make thin, very thin sheets of it.

 

Apple has a large plant in Arizona where GTAT is making Transparent Aluminum for them by the ton (literally).

Last February 2014
 

* in case you have forgotten transparent aluminum is sapphire, Al2O3

Bras in Space

Fashion, History, News, Space Travel, Technology, Video, , , , , , , ,

The creation of the Apollo AL7 Pressure Garment is one of the great American stories of the past forty-plus years. [ā€¦] NASA turned the creation of the spacesuit into a competition (largely dominated by military contractors)ā€”and it was assumed a military contractor would win the day.

Instead, pitted against the military-industrial complex, Playtex created the 21-layer spacesuit, each layer distinct yet interrelated in function to the rest of the wholeā€”a masterly combination of elegance, complexity, and form. [ā€¦] Traditional engineering firms could not figure out how to meet all the mission requirements and create a functioning suit that would keep the Apollo astronauts alive. The seamstresses at Playtex, with their years of experience fashioning girdles and bras, could, and did.

It was the same materials. It was bras in space. It was literally the same materials that were used in the bra-making process. The straps from bras were reused to hold the thing into shape and the Nylon fabric that a bra-cup is made of was used to give strength to the Latex so that it didnā€™t expand under air pressure. Then the Latex itself was the same, as they say it started out as exactly the same Latex as went into the girdles [ā€¦]

Continue reading Bras in Space →

We Choose To Go To The Moon

Essay, History, Mars, News, Opinion, Russia, Science Fiction, Social Issues, Space Travel, Video, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too.

President John F. Kennedy, September 12, 1962, speaking to incoming freshman students at Rice University, Houston, Texas

Continue reading We Choose To Go To The Moon →

Welcome

Reblog

Wow how time flies

I had intended to reblog this back on July 8, but it completely slipped mind.

Oh well, happy belated anniversary to me!

cb's avatarContrafactual

Welcome to Contrafactual ā€“ ā€œthat which is not true, but might be under certain conditionsā€.

Thanks for stopping by. Things will become clearer in the days to come.

cb

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SpaceX Soft Lands Falcon 9

News, Space Travel, Technology, Video, Welcome to the Future, , , , ,

SpaceX Soft Lands Falcon 9 Rocket First Stage

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Following last week’s successful launch of six ORBCOMM satellites, the Falcon 9 rocketā€™s first stage reentered Earthā€™s atmosphere and soft landed in the Atlantic Ocean. This test confirms that the Falcon 9 booster is able to consistently reenter from space at hypersonic velocity, restart main engines twice, deploy landing legs and touch down at near zero velocity.

 

After landing, the vehicle tipped sideways as planned to its final water safing state in a nearly horizontal position. The water impact caused loss of hull integrity, but we received all the necessary data to achieve a successful landing on a future flight. Going forward, we are taking steps to minimize the build up of ice and spots on the camera housing in order to gather improved video on future launches.

At this point, we are highly confident of being able to land successfully on a floating launch pad or back at the launch site and refly the rocket with no required refurbishment. However, our next couple launches are for very high velocity geostationary satellite missions, which donā€™t allow enough residual propellant for landing. In the longer term, missions like that will fly on Falcon Heavy, but until then Falcon 9 will need to fly in expendable mode.

We will attempt our next water landing on flight 13 of Falcon 9, but with a low probability of success. Flights 14 and 15 will attempt to land on a solid surface with an improved probability of success.

 

This message was sent from SpaceX to [ā€¦]. It was sent from: [ā€¦], SpaceX, 1 Rocket Road, Hawthorne, CA 90250. For more information on SpaceX, please visit http://www.spacex.com

Space Rocket History

History, Photography, Russia, Space Travel, Technology, Video, , , , , , ,

Interested in the history of space travel?

Tired of the same old tunes, news, or talk radio during your drive time commute?

Want to expand your knowledge of the most exciting (and fearful) decades in the history of humanity?

Then the Space Rocket History podcasts are for you.

I discovered them on iTunes and Apple’s Podcasts app. I listen to Mike’s 20 minute podcasts to and from work. I thought that I knew all there was to know about the early history of space flight – boy was I ever wrong. Mike has done his research. Of course Mike has the advantage of having access to post-Soviet information that I never had as a kid growing up.

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As you can see the iTunes reviews are 5 stars! I am one of those 5-star reviewers.

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http://spacerockethistory.com

Get it free from iTunes

 

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Š›ŠµŠ½ŠøŠ½ Šø Š”Š¾ŃŽŠ·

Focus

Humor, Photography, Technology, ,

Found on Facebook ā€¦

So, yesterday I was using my work expenses app to submit some expenses, as one does. And I’m trying to take a picture of a receipt, but it’s blurry. So I start tapping on the receipt to get it to focus, but nothing is happening. And that’s when I realize …. I should probably be tapping on the picture of the receipt on my screen instead of the physical receipt on my desk.

Hydrogen Reactor – Brunton – Review

News, Reblog, Technology, Video, Welcome to the Future, , , , , , , ,

In case you missed my link in https://contrafactual.com/2014/07/13/brunton-hydrogen-reactor

Line Marie's avatarThe HikeLine

Totally Sci-Fi. The Brunton Hydrogen Reactor is my latest gadget, and it is really cool.

The Hydrogen Reactor is a reactor that converts hydrogen and air into electricity and vapor. Itā€™s all a bit hocus pocus, and sinceĀ Iā€™m not a scientist, I really canā€™t explain it in bigger detail.

In the package you get a reactor and 2 hydrogen cores. Each hydrogen core contains 4.500 mah which is equivalent to 3Ā iPhone charges. Iā€™ve researched this fact very carefully, because some sites claim it to be 9.000 mah. My phone and Brunton tells them wrong. The core is made of solid metal that binds the molecules. Itā€™s NOT nuclear, so there is nothing to be afraid of.

You screw the core in, hear a funny little *puff*, wait for the blue light, and then you connect your device. Itā€™s quit easy and straight forward. You can boost the output if youā€¦

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Brunton Hydrogen Reactor

News, Space Travel, Technology, Video, Welcome to the Future, , , , , , , , , , ,

This high-science device combines hydrogen and oxygen to produce electricity on-the-move and under any condition. Simply lock the Hydrocore fuel into the Hydrogen Reactorā„¢ to power USB devices like smartphones, tablet computers, UV water purifiers, rechargeable lights, portable game consoles, GPS transceivers and more.

Remember when fuel cells cost millions of dollars, could only be afforded by NASA, and were powered by liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen that was known to explode? Of course not, you weren’t born yet. Well maybe you were since the Space Shuttle used them.

Continue reading Brunton Hydrogen Reactor →

Tesla Recruiting US Vets to Build Cars

Economic Issues, News, Social Issues, Technology, Welcome to the Future, , , , , , , ,

Click the image below to read the entire article at Green Car Reports.

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Quotes from the article:

The Silicon Valley electric carmaker is poised to become a leading employer of veterans, according to the San Jose Mercury News.

Tesla now has more than 6,000 employees, of whom 300 are veterans. A further 600 veterans are “in the hiring pipeline,” according to the company.

Tesla [ā€¦] has made Veterans Day a company-wide paid holiday.

Read the entire article at Green Car Reports.

Did I mention that Elon Musk is my hero?