Quartz City

The Russian Soyuz space capsule has to make an emergency landing in the United States! What do you do? Read your official Air Force Rescue Coordination Center PDF file, that’s what! I wonder if there is an ATF import form for the Soyuz’s standard equipment sawed-off shotgun?

This is nothing new though, read up about “Ugol Pasadki.” Countdown to when “Ugol Pasadki” is used as a stoner rock band name begins in 5… 4… 3…

Alan Radecki on the Mojave Airport list sent out the following update on Monday morning’s attempt at the X-Prize:

Hi all,

Starting today, I plan on sending out a daily update on the activities surrounding the SpaceShipOne launch.

• The flight is scheduled to commence at 0630 Monday 6/21, however that is dependent on weather. Should there be a weather delay, such as winds, the folks at Scaled plan on waiting and launching as soon as the weather permits, even if it stretches to the next day.
• The public will enter the airport from the main Airport Blvd entrance off of Hwy 58. The airport will open at 3am, but it is pretty much assumed around here that there will be so many people showing up that the roads will be clogged. RVs will be permitted in the day before, with reservations (661/824-2433). I know that there’s already 89 coming, some of whom are NASA folks who are bringing a band and everything. Regular vehicles will be charged $10 entrance fee (to help mitigate the huge cost of security that the airport has to bear), and I can’t remember the RV cost…check mojaveairport.com for details. Don’t try to avoid the traffic by coming in the back entrances…these are for VIPs with passes and tenants with ID badges.
• There will be a TFR, and only aircraft with PPR numbers will be permitted into the airspace, starting on Saturday, I believe. Again, see mojaveairport.com for details.
• If you don’t make it onto the airport, you’ll still see the firing…it’ll be visible for miles.
• There will be food and consessions selling souveniers, with all profits going to local charities.
• There will be a press conference 2 hours after the flight, at which time the FAA will award the first ever Commercial Pilot’s License with Astronaut rating.

OK, so I got a gmail.com account. Yay me. Please direct all your spam to quartzcity@gmail.com, if you have one of the other addresses, please keep using that. k thanks bye.

Back in 1983, the singer of the band I was in then spray painted “I’ll Only Be Happy When Reagan Is Dead!” on the wall behind a Pomona doughnut shop. Twenty-one years later, my sentiments really haven’t changed. This list is for him:

1. D.O.A. – “Fucked Up Ronnie”
2. Ramones – “Bonzo Goes To Bitburg”
3. Dead Kennedys – “We’ve Got A Bigger Problem Now”
4. D.R.I. – “Reaganomics”
5. The Crucifucks – “Hinckley Had A Vision”
6. J.F.A. – “Jody Foster’s Army”
7. D.I. – “Reagan Der Fuhrer”
8. The Minutemen – “If Reagan Played Disco”
9. The Damned – “Bad Time For Bonzo”
10. Day Glo Abortions – “Ronald McRaygun”

With special shoutouts to the Bonzo Goes To Washington “We Begin Bombing In Five Minutes” megamix and the video the The Minutemen’s “This Ain’t No Picnic”.

From the “this does not bode well” file.

Test subjects can’t see the invisible beam from the Pentagon’s new, Star Trek-like weapon, but no one has withstood the pain it produces for more than three seconds. People who volunteered to stand in front of the directed energy beam say they felt as if they were on fire. When they stepped aside, the pain disappeared instantly.

The long-range column of millimeter-wave energy is known as the “Active Denial System” for its ability to prevent an aggressor from advancing. Senior military officials, who plan to deliver the device for troop evaluation this fall, say years of testing has produced no sign it will lead to health effects beyond perhaps causing skin to temporarily redden.

Whenever possible, I shop at supermarkets that don’t have membership cards on general principle. The cards are invasive and have little to do with “savings” and are merely a way for supermarkets to charge much higher prices under the misinformed nose of consumers. Even just the name “loyalty program” makes my hair bristle and I get irritated whenever a checker tries to push a card application form onto me. I know I know, the poor checkers are ordered to do it, but still.

Now hotels are the latest industry to take to loyalty programs. So when you’ve just arrived somewhere after a long day of traveling, expect to get an aggressive hard sell.

In the past, properties pretty much limited their sales pitch to pamphlets at the check-in counter, and tended to emphasize the perks of membership, like upgrades and gift baskets. But in recent months, travelers say, they have become more vocal about the benefits of joining – and have begun punishing guests who refuse by putting them in less desirable rooms or saddling them with surcharges.

“If you’re not part of a hotel’s frequent-guest program, you’ll get a brochure pushed in your face when you check in,” said Frank Kwan, a communications director for the Los Angeles County Office of Education in Downey, Calif. “They strongly encourage you to join the program. And if you don’t, you pay for it.”