Burchismo

Nailed it! SpaceX Launches Cargo to Space Station

SpaceX successfully launched a cargo spacecraft to the International Space Station today from Pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center. Bonus points: The Dragon cargo capsule on this mission is one one previously used to deliver cargo to the ISS and the [...]

Above the Clouds

Large, stainless steel sculpture by Beijing-based sculptor Ren Zhe, exhibited in Exchange Square at IFC in Hong Kong. Ren describes the work: a static, stainless steel work of a man floating above the clouds. [There are two figures, but] he himself [...]

1969 Corvette

In 1969 Chevrolet released the first of its third-generation Corvettes — the ultimate expression of late-1960s automotive Americana. Throughout the 1960s, the team behind the Corvette had been experimenting with more and more radical one-off [...]

Thor Ragnarok Trailer

YES! Seriously .. Led Zeppelin’s Immigrant Song has belonged in the Thor movies. Glad Marvel spent the money to license it, and saved it till now. And “He’s a friend from work.” [...]

Hong Kong — Electric Tramway

In service for over 100 years, these double-decker electric trams run along the busiest, densest east-west corridor on the north side of Hong Kong Island: Recently, the company that operates the trams rolled out a prototype of their latest [...]

Kangaroo, Crocodile and Emu Jerky

Seen in the office lunch room in Hong Kong: I haven’t sampled them yet, but they do appear to be exactly what they claim to be. Validated by the resident Aussie in the office as [...]

Review: Iron Fist

WARNING: MILD SPOILERS AHEAD I tried to like Iron Fist. I really did. I had to because I am a hopeless fanboy of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), which encompasses the big-budget films (Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, Guardians of the Galaxy, [...]

SpaceX Reflies and Recovers Booster

Serious, big-time space history was made today: SpaceX successfully used a booster that it had used once before to boost a satellite . Let me say that again. For the first time in history a rocket has been used twice to boost a payload into orbit. [...]

Hong Kong: No Transpassing !!

Seen by my coworker Sarah Corry at a building site at Silver Mine Bay Beach in Mui Wo, Lantau Island, Hong Kong: No trans people that can “pass?’ No walking faster than any trans people? No tossing trans people around? I [...]

Hong Kong Art Scooter

We have “art cars” in the States, so I guess “art scooters” are appropriate in Hong Kong Those are little microphones the 1:6 scale figures hanging onto the scooter’s front forks are holding. I’m guessing the [...]

Hong Kong Signs

With Extra Virgin: … a regular scene on my weekly shopping errands [...]

Hong Kong – Lippo Center

The Lippo Center (力寶中心) in the Admiralty District of Hong Kong on a perfect Spring weather day today: This is another unique and iconic building along Hong Kong Island’s northern shoreline, near the waterfront of Victoria Harbor. [...]

The 60s before ‘The 60s:’ The Ventures

There are a few “main lines” that seem to dominate pop music history of the 1960s – folk (Peter, Paul and Mary; Dylan), R&B and soul (Ray Charles, the Supremes) and of course “rock” (the Beatles, Jimi Hendrix) The artists mentioned [...]

The Sixties … before “the Sixties”

Most people get the 1960s wrong in an important way. This includes people who “were there” — who lived through that time as children, teens or adults. Perhaps more than any other decade or era in modern US history, the 1960s [...]

“America’s Most Beautiful Roadster”

Modern Art Deco Masterpiece. “America’s Most Beautiful Roadster” is the title of the big prize at the annual Grand National Roadster Show in Pomona California. This year’s winner is Bruce Wanta’s Mulholland Speedster: [...]

Meet The First Female F-35 Pilot

Lt. Col. Christine Mau, first woman qualified to fly the F-35 Lightning II A 1997 graduate of the U. Air Force Academy, Lt. Col. Mau seems to think the fact that she’s a woman is no big deal: “Women have been flying fighters in combat for [...]

Why Music Ownership Matters

Ted Gioia at The Smart Set offers some insight into how streaming rather than owning has more fundamental impacts on music than many people may realize: Music seems to have returned to the medieval era, when starving bards survived by serving the [...]

Japanese-American Hot Rod

Well, sort of. This is a “1934 Ford Speedstar.” For the uninitiated, a “Speedstar” is a style of hot rod featuring a radically lowered, chopped and channeled (i.e. cut-down and re-contoured) mid-30s body and chassis. These days, almost [...]

A Serious Man – The Ultimate Coen Brothers Film

A careful analysis of the Coen brothers masterpiece at the Nerdwriter Youtube channel. [...]

China’s Infrastructure Binge Continues

From Bloomberg Business: China spent more than $10.8 trillion on infrastructure from 2006 to 2015, according to Bloomberg calculations. Outlays for roads, airports, ports, railways, and the like rose 17.4 percent last year, far outpacing the [...]

Cryonics Breakthrough?

University of Minnesota researchers have made a real breakthrough in thawing out tissue samples that have been frozen to the temperature of liquid nitrogen — almost 200 degrees below zero Celsius. The tissue samples had been [...]

Robot Race Cars

All electric, 1200+ horsepower, 199 miles per hour, racing on grand prix tracks … and no human on board. Yep, robot race cars. Oh … and they look absolutely fantastic: At least initially, all the cars will be identical — except [...]

Dichroic Glass Installations by Chris Wood Reflect Light in a Rainbow of Color

Cambridge-based artist Chris Wood (previously) continues to produce stunning light sculptures utilizing panels of dichroic glass that refract light in a vivid array of color. Her works have appeared in numerous exhibitions over the last few years [...]

Purple Porsche

I’m not much of a Porsche fan. The engine in the 911 is in the wrong place, OK guys? I know Germans can be stubborn, but you’ve done everything you can to make a car with the engine behind the rear axle handle well. Give it up, [...]

HSBC Building, Hong Kong

A view of the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation main building in Hong Kong, another landmark in the Central District: The old Bank of China building is in the foreground on the right, and Cheung Kong Center (headquarters of Li Ka SHing, [...]