Success is how high...

Texas folks: enter NASA's Name the Shuttle contest for a chance to win valuable prizes.

Today's tune: Markus Reuter and the IB Big Band perform Mariola live. (Free to download too, if you like it.)

Must-see video of the week (thanks David). Be sure to watch in high-def and fullscreen as SpaceX's Grasshopper rocket takes off, flies straight up, and flies straight down to a gentle landing.

Castle Bravo was the name of the 1954 thermonuclear bomb test that had a yield of 15 MT (3 times greater than predicted) and contaminated the native population of portions of the Marshall Islands and others. The January 2013 report Castle Bravo: Fifty Years of Legend and Lore delves deeply into the issue of fallout.

For a bigger picture (pardon the pun) of the Los Alamos staff who designed atomic weapons during the Manhattan Project take a look at the faces that made the bomb.

Know yer ammo. Sabine Pearlman photography offers great cross sectional views of bullets.

Do you enjoy a good cup of coffee? How about reading about coffee? Check out Bad Bean Coffee.

During my teen years I briefly considered pursuing archeology as a career. I may have thought differently had I read this line: "But archaeologists have long known that if you really want to understand a civilization, to know its people’s passions, weaknesses, and daily rituals, look no further than their garbage." Read a little and see some vintage photos from NYC Sanitation Dept's Anthropologist in Residence. (Do you throw out 7.1 pounds of trash each day?)

Now this is more like it. Archeologists have discovered a royal Wari tomb in Peru that has remained untouched since 700-1000 A.D.

Use Contrailz to visualize flight paths the world over. Here in the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex you can see DFW's influence on the flight patterns as well as DAL (Love Field). Lesser known may be Meacham which is the cause of the north-south lines above Ft. Worth and Alliance which is slightly northeast of that. Military flights are not included and that's why you can't see the JRB in west Ft. Worth.

See how mathematics applies to the art of M.C. Escher.

Nanny Bloomberg is way too interested in limiting the size of soda cups considering that NYC is ranked #14 on cities drinking the least amount of soda. On the other hand, Fort Worth is near the bottom at #98! Three of the top four soda drinking towns are in Texas.

This tantalizing photograph captures the essence of the Memory, Myth & Magic exhibition of Clyfford Still's work. I am especially captivated by the largely white painting on the left. You can read more about the exhibit in this interview with the exhibit curator, David Anfam.

Let's assume Still's painting is too abstract for your tastes. What about finding abstraction in everyday objects?

Will your Instragam'd snapshots look as good in 60 years? Check out these vintage color WWII-era photos. Or these long-exposure photos from Vietnam.

For my Syracuse friends, I read about Liehs & Steigerwald and their handmade franks and sausages in the WSJ. However, their website is frustratingly incomplete when it comes to their product line. So someone please go eat there and let me know how it is.

The only full-size mockup (wing tips not shown) of the A-12 Avenger was recently moved from Lockheed Martin to the B-36 Peacemaker Museum in Fort Worth. The A-12 was cancelled in 1991, the year I left what was then General Dynamics. Coincidence?

Bloggers, breathe a sigh of relief. You aren't liable for libel you republish.

Fun with magnets - watch this video of a superconductor racing around a Moebius strip made of magnets.

More science? OK. When you've lost your vision, why not listen to solar flares and x-rays from distant galaxies by converting them to music?

This is the oldest pencil in the world. It's from the 1630s. More pencil factoids can be found here.

If you're the kind of person who'd like to read Star Wars in Shakespearean style, your dreams have been answered. Here is William Shakespeare's Star Wars.

Courtesy of Smithsonian Magazine comes this interactive guide to the Battle of Gettysburg.

True facts about the beard - it fits on your face.

Chuck Jones has an official Tumblr. (I could do without the overly ornate gold picture "frames.")

Know yer states by their patties using the United States of Burgers. No surprise Texas is Whataburger.  A little surprised that Ohio isn't White Castle.

Know yer Micky D's food by its components using this incorrectly named periodic table of McDonalds.

"Look at that, it's exactly three seconds before I honk your nose and pull your underwear over your head. We're going for a ride on the information super highway. Your entrance was good, his was better. Look ma i'm road kill Excuse me, I'd like to ASS you a few questions. Good Morning, oh in case I don't see you, good afternoon, good evening and goodnight. Here she comes to wreck the day. Hey, maybe I will give you a call sometime. Your number still 911? Brain freeze. We got no food we got no money and our pets heads are falling off! Haaaaaaarry. I just heard about evans new position,good luck to you evan backstabber, bastard, i mean baxter. Alrighty Then." The preceding paragraph courtesy of Movie Lorem Ipsum where the text comes from your chosen actor (Jim Carrey in this case.)

If you're one of those people who enjoy a good documentary, enjoy Glas about Dutch glass blowing in the 1950s.

...you bounce when you hit bottom. ~George S. Patton

What? Are you disappointed I didn't end with some puerile bodily fluid gag?