Wednesday Overnight Open Thread - February 25, 2026 [TRex]

Good evening Horde. The time has come for very random mid-week shenanigans of the post-cafe overnight variety.

Welcome to the Wednesday night ONT which means another edition of overnight fun and games. Pull up a chair and sit a spell. Good will offerings of amusing puns are happily accepted. Pants are optional. Giraffes are excused. Be nice to your fellow commenters and AoS contributors.

[Top photo: Texas State Capitol Dome, Austin, Texas]

VW Blackhawk?

The F-4 seems to be a favorite of the Horde:

I know what you are going to say. What about the F-14? Ok. Here you go:

Are you wise in the ways of the US Navy's Carderock facility in Maryland? They have a lot of water.

This tour of the indoor ocean involves a little math in the context of wave amplitude, but the scale of the place is impressive with or without math.

This is remarkable - World War I on the western front - daily time lapse:

Hat tip: Biden's Dog

Computing the optimal road trip across the U.S.

What's the most efficient way to see the US?

Criteria:

- The trip must make at least one stop in all 48 states in the contiguous U.S.
- The trip only makes stops at National Natural Landmarks, National Historic Sites, National Parks, or National Monuments.
- The trip must be taken by car and never leave the U.S.

The author and his wife compiled a list of 50 major U.S. landmarks - one in each state excluding Alaska/Hawaii and including D.C., and two in California. The used a computer optimization tool to map it all out.

The complete trip around the U.S. takes 13,699 miles of driving. Assuming no traffic, this road trip will take about 224 hours (9.33 days) of driving in total. The author estimates the trip will take at least 2 to 3 months to complete. You can start anywhere on the route as long as you follow it from then on.

Click on the link for the 50 landmarks. The link also has the Python optimization code if you want to make your own trip with your own criteria. With AI, you probably don't even need to know how to work with Python code.

The Pittsburgh police scanner keeps giving. Thank you people of Pittsburgh!

Dos Gringos for the big ONT finish:

Written correspondence can be sent to moronhobbies at protonmail dot com. Are you lurking ?? Thank you for your attention to this matter.

posted by Open Blogger at 10:00 PM

| Access Comments