Isegoria

SnapShirts is offering a free web service to “automatically generate a word cloud from your blog” — a word cloud that fits nicely on a brand new t-shirt from SnapShirts.

Peggy Noonan speaks for all of us when she attacks airport security:

This is a flying nation. We fly. And everyone knows airport security is an increasingly sad joke, that TSA itself often appears to have forgotten its mission, if it ever knew it, and taken on a new one — the ritual abuse of passengers.

Now there’s a security problem. Solve that one.

It’s not an SUV. It’s not a minivan. It’s The Manwagon:

Seeking to lure speed-crazy guys with kids, car makers are trying to transform the dowdy old family hauler into something new: the manwagon. In perhaps the most extreme sign of the industry’s horsepower race, some of these wagons are quicker than a Porsche Boxster. They have monstrous engines, giant brakes, track-ready suspensions and race-car-style seats — plus prices up to $30,000 higher than the base versions. But unlike a sports car, these wagons can fit strollers and coolers in the back.

This melding of speed and sippy cups may seem unlikely, but car makers say their consumer research has unearthed a surprising number of family men who thought wagons could be cool, if only they had more guts. Dodge responded by rolling out its aggressively styled Magnum wagon in 2004 and just added a faster version, the 425-horsepower SRT8. Volvo’s V70 R has 79% more power than the base V70 wagon, while Audi put together its S4 Avant by pairing an A4 wagon with a 340-horsepower V8 engine from its flagship A8 sedan. Mercedes-Benz recently began selling the supercharged E55 wagon for the first time in the U.S.: It boasts the same 469-horsepower engine that powers one of the fastest sedans Mercedes has ever built.

There’s something both amusing and disturbing about a Soccer Ball Contact Lens:

A set of ‘Magic Lens’ contact lenses with images of one soccer ball and a German flag cost 45 euros.

There’s a fungus for almost any task, including eating explosives:

When explosives are used for mining or demolition, some may fail to detonate and get lost in the rubble. Riggs reckons the remedy could be to mix pellets of dormant fungal spores in with the explosive charge before inserting the wick into the explosive package.

The dry spores lie dormant while the explosives are in storage and, if the charge detonates as intended, will get blown to smithereens.

But if the explosive fails to detonate, water from the air should migrate down the wick and into the charge. The spores should then germinate and devour the charge, rendering it harmless.

The white-rot fungus Phlebia radiate is particularly fond of high explosives, according to the patent. And the speed at which it gobbles the stuff up depends on the number of pellets added: 5 pellets per stick for slow degradation or 30 to make it safe after just a few days.

(Hat tip to Defense Tech.)

Israeli Military Finds Perfect Vehicle For Special Ops Forces: The Llama:

Israel’s military has found the perfect vehicle for special operations forces—the llama.

After extensive tests, the uncomplaining workhorse animals were found to easily out-perform donkeys. What’s more, they need refueling only every other day.

Llamas are dangerous, so if you see one where people are swimming, you shout…Look out, there are llamas! (From Monty Python’s Flying Circus.)