quantumtom

[quantumtom]

Largest Defense Expenditures of World War II

ED: I was about to post a comment to this post on Reddit. But, then I realized that I’d rather just put it on here instead. It’s a vast and fascinating subject. The post is titled “TIL The B-29 bomber program was the most expensive project of WWII, costing roughly ~50% more than the entire Manhattan…

[quantumtom]

"Camper Extraction" (2023)

A wide-angle and laterally semi-orthogonal view of the camper trailer, from its left-rear quarter. The vehicle entrance ramp to the basement vehicle parking of a four-story residential building (exterior). The view is framed by grey stucco, windows, and utility infrastructure. A delivery worker attempts to guide the extraction process. This view of the trailer camper is partially occluded by the…

[quantumtom]

Need Another Reason to Dislike Tesla Motors?

Tesla offers manual door releases for situations with depleted power, but Janel opted to wait, fearing potential damage to her car. “Inside my car, it’s 103 degrees, so I’m slightly freaking out. I hope I don’t run out of air,” Janel said. Woman Stuck in Tesla For 40 Minutes With 115 Degrees Temperature During Vehicle Update | IBTimes…

[quantumtom]

"The Ichor Permeates MY FACE"

Garbage in, garbage out? I know that computers will be able to write their own software some day, but I don’t think today’s the day. Google has indexed inaccurate infrastructure-as-code samples produced by Pulumi AI – a developer that uses an AI chatbot to generate infrastructure – and the rotten recipes are already appearing at the top of search results. Developers seethe as Google surfaces…

[quantumtom]

Yet another reason to reconsider those crazy bike lanes we've seen sprouting up around town.

The 17th Street and Broadway improvement projects in Santa Monica are good examples of bad street design. In addition, Measure HLA would require the installation of hundreds of miles of new bike lanes and “other transportation improvements on designated boulevards that undergo major repairs,” the L.A. Times reported.  Los Angeles firefighters oppose street modification measure  | KTLA The same…

[quantumtom]

Re-watching Repo Man (again) and I spotted the author of "Dioretix" - Googled that and wound up here.

Another rabbit hole to go down? x rum-bubba x rum-bubba – Cinematic Literature https://cinematicliteraturecom.wordpress.com/tag/x-rum-bubba/ “X. Rum-Bubba! X. Rum-Bubba!” “Know what I mean?” Lite asked rhetorically. “X. Rum-Bubba!”

[quantumtom]

New npm Packages Stealing SSH Keys

The Sonatype Security Research team is currently tracking an ongoing campaign on the npm registry that uses npm packages to retrieve and exfiltrate your Kubernetes configuration and SSH keys to an external server. npm packages caught exfiltrating Kubernetes config, SSH keys Great. I wonder what else is going on. Via…

[quantumtom]

Whoah! WTF?!?

This is absolutely nuts. I’m sure it’s going to have serious ramifications on the west coast, especially in Southern California. Thousands of information technology workers contracting with US companies have for years secretly sent millions of dollars of their wages to North Korea for use in its ballistic missile program, FBI and Department of Justice officials said. Thousands of North Korean…

[quantumtom]

A 9/11 "What If?"

Saw this on ABC News today. It's a few months old, but I thought it was poignant.

Saw this on ABC News today. It’s a few months old, but I thought it was poignant. https://abcnews.go.com/WNT/story?id=129563&page=1 “If San Diego FBI agent Steven Butler had known what the CIA knew about possible terror attacks, he may have had the best chance to stop the Sept. 11, 2001, hijackers, investigators told ABCNEWS.”

[quantumtom]

No Monkey Business

I decided to do a Google image search on "field installation" thor 1957.

I was watching this video and I decided to do a Google image search on “field installation” thor 1957. I’m still not sure about what I’ve discovered. It appears to be a man in a monkey suit. And that gorilla is posing with a few costumed ladies as well. I’m not sure I really want to know the story here. But this is a Thor IRBM made by Douglas Aircraft back in 1957. So, you’re welcome? I…

[quantumtom]

Re: The "Venture Bros." movie

"You've been waiting all day for this haven't you?"

Alternatively, “Follow That Bikini” (1970), and other feature films by Isotope Pictures. EDIT: I am tired of waiting to for myself to write this properly. So I’m just going to hit the “Publish” button and call it a day. I watched the new VB movie last week and I wanted to jot down my thoughts. Radiant is the Blood of the Baboon Heart was a treat and I was far from disappointed with it. I had…

[quantumtom]

A Great Uncle

My great uncle wrote something called "Hotel Slang" in 1939. It's like a glossary for film noir detective novels.

I just discovered a copy of something my dad once told me about. When I was a kid, he’d tell me about my great uncle. Stan was always pretty vague on the subject. Also, the guy had died five years before I was even born. But I still remember bits and pieces of what he used to tell me. Bill (Senior) was his dad’s brother. And that makes him my grandfather’s brother. This familial relationship is…

[quantumtom]

The First Time I Heard About "Taxi Driver"

The First Time I Heard About "Taxi Driver"

I can still remember the first time I’d ever heard about Taxi Driver (1976). I was at Buckley, either 9th or 10th grade. Probably 9th. There was this neighbor girl who lived up the street. I only met her after I switched to her school. Her name was *redacted* or something. She and I were the same age, but she was waaaaay more “sophisticated” than I was. So I remember running in to her this one…

[quantumtom]

Imagine Trolleys on Third Street Promenade

Imagine Trolleys on Third Street Promenade

A streetcar would whisk you up 3rd, all the way from the Starbucks at Santa Monica Place to the … Starbucks … at 7th and Montana. EDIT: I guess this ties in with my post on Steampunk Santa Monica. I don’t want to get bogged down in the history of “Third Street”, (a.k.a. “The Promenade”); it’s too vast and it’s well been documented to great detail. In short, one could argue that this property…

[quantumtom]

I'm Thrilled

And I’ll tell you why. On occasion I feel nostalgic for a radio station I discovered in 1988. The music programming on KROQ (106.7 FM) in the Los Angeles area back then was, shall we say, top notch. Personally, it was a major influence on my musical tastes. And likely some of my cultural attitudes as well. Sometimes I have to wonder if I’d ever even had any inherent taste in music at all prior…

[quantumtom]

The Ballad of Darren

Listening to a pre-release of Blur’s latest record album. So far, so good.