Responsible Gun Ownership

I try to keep politics off of this blog, but sometimes it is necessary. Here in the United States there has recently been an assault weapon ban proposed. I do not agree with this. People are trying to keep dangerous weapons out of the hands of criminals, but the way they are trying to do it is not a very effective way. Even if all weapons were banned, criminals could still get them.

So, then we have this video. This is one of the best examples of responsible gun ownership I've ever seen. These people own massive amounts of firepower - from cheap old 8mm Yugoslav Mausers all the way to fully-operational Miniguns and M2 Browning machine guns. They go and shoot them at a special range that was created specifically for this activity. There's no NRA, there's no law enforcement. They know what they are doing, and they know how to be safe. These are the kind of people who would be hurting because of an assault rifle ban, not criminals.

Hydrogen Humor

It took me a few seconds, but I got it. If you need a hint, just think about the simplest element on the periodic table.

Little World

Imagine life from an ant's size. Wouldn't the world be much more amazing?

Sturm

Super rare picture of the Sturmtiger attacking with the 380 mm Raketen-Werfer 61 L/5.4, a breech-loading rocket launcher, which fired short-range, rocket-propelled projectiles roughly 1.5 meters (59 in) long. There were a variety of rounds with a weight of up to 376 kilograms (830 lb), and a maximum range of up to 6000 meters, which either contained a high explosive charge of 125 kilograms (280 lb) or a shaped charge for use against fortifications, which could penetrate up to 2.5 meters (98 in) of reinforced concrete.

NGC 5189: An Unusually Complex Planetary Nebula

Why is this nebula so complex? When a star like our Sun is dying, it will cast off its outer layers, usually into a simple overall shape. Sometimes this shape is a sphere, sometimes a double lobe, and sometimes a ring or a helix. In the case of planetary nebula NGC 5189, however, no such simple structure has emerged. To help find out why, the Earth-orbiting Hubble Space Telescope recently observed NGC 5189 in great detail. Previous findings indicated the existence of multiple epochs of material outflow, including a recent one that created a bright but distorted torus running horizontally across image center. Results appear consistent with a hypothesis that the dying star is part of a binary star system with a precessing symmetry axis. Given this new data, though, research is sure to continue. NGC 5189 spans about three light years and lies about 3,000 light years away toward the southern constellation of the Fly (Musca).

Day and Night

An interesting marriage of two images of New York.

Bow Shock

Zeta Oph, the bluish star near the center of this image lies about 460 light-years away and is 20 times as massive as the Sun. It's traveling through space at the breakneck speed of 24 km/second. It is theorized that Zeta Oph once belonged to a binary star system, and was flung into space after its more massive partner exploded as a supernova. The gas and dust surrounding

 the star is pushed and compacted by its stellar winds into a dramatic arcing shape, creating the "bow shock" effect seen here. Other clouds of interstellar material can be seen around this star, unaffected by the heat and force of Zeta Oph's stellar winds.