Sep 212008
 

The *other* XP-59, the project for a pusher-prop fighter that was cancelled in 1941, not the jet fighter. Most of these photos show a full-scale wooden mockup of the XP-59 as pitched as a US Navy fighter, along witha  display model showing the plane in Navy colors.

Photos from Bell archive via Jay Miller.

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 Posted by at 12:55 pm
Sep 212008
 

After a dozen years in the arid regions of Colorado, California and Utah, being in Maryland – which is categorized in part by lots of water and trees – is a bit of a shift. Yesterday visitted Elk Neck State Park, which is located on a peninsula sticking out into the Chesapeake.

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Also features Turkey Point Lighthouse.

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 Posted by at 11:13 am
Sep 212008
 

I haven’t flown in a disturbing number of years, and want to get current, so I stopped by a local airport to check on flight instruction. Waiting outside was a student pilot’s little buddy…

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I’m much more of a cat guy than a dog guy, but this litter feller seemed pretty friendly.

Of course, Raedthinn is opposed to giving *any* air time to The Enemy…

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 Posted by at 10:54 am
Sep 202008
 

I spent the day at the National Archive sin College Park, MD. The trip was largely a bust… only came away with a few minor trinkets. One nice little item was a Bell film promoting the BoMi (Bomber Missile) concept, circa 1957, starring Walter Dornberger his own self. I got a copy of it on VHS. This is non-optimal… would have greatly preferred DVD. But you take what you can get. Small problem in that I don’t have a VCR…

Took some photos of the monitor. Again, non-optimal, but until I can get the VHS converted to DVD, it’s what I’ve got.
The BoMi series of articles will begin soon in APR. This video will provide some further insight.

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 Posted by at 1:08 am
Sep 192008
 

From a speech today in Green Bay, Wisconsin:

Two years ago, I called for reform of this corruption at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Congress did nothing. The Administration did nothing. Senator Obama did nothing, and actually profited from this system of abuse and scandal. While Fannie and Freddie were working to keep Congress away from their house of cards, Senator Obama was taking their money. He got more, in fact, than any other member of Congress, except for the Democratic chairmen of the committee that oversees them. And while Fannie Mae was betraying the public trust, somehow its former CEO had managed to gain my opponent’s trust to the point that Senator Obama actually put him in charge of his vice presidential search.

This CEO, Mr. Johnson, walked off with tens of millions of dollars in salary and bonuses for services rendered to Fannie Mae, even after authorities discovered accounting improprieties that padded his compensation. Another CEO for Fannie Mae, Mr. Raines, has been advising Senator Obama on housing policy. This even after Fannie Mae was found to have committed quote “extensive financial fraud” under his leadership. Like Mr. Johnson, Mr. Raines walked away with tens of millions of dollars.

Senator Obama may be taking their advice and he may be taking their money, but in a McCain-Palin administration, there will be no seat for these people at the policy-making table. They won’t even get past the front gate at the White House.

My friends, this is the problem with Washington. People like Senator Obama have been too busy gaming the system and haven’t ever done a thing to actually challenge the system.

Ouch.

 Posted by at 9:01 pm
Sep 162008
 

Having solved all the world’s lesser problems – like a cure for cancer, cheap spaceflight and series production of small, efficient commercial nuclear reactors – the world of corporate Big Science has now given us what the world has long dreamed of: three ply toilet paper that will change your life.

Quilted Northern Ultra Plush™ will deliver a luxurious, spa-like experience to consumers during every trip to the bathroom, and includes an added layer for strength and absorbency.

Hu-freakin’-zzah. I’ve never been to a spa before, but I gather it’s rather like wiping your ass. Personally, that doesn’t really seem like the sort of thing that I’d spend lots of money to do, but hey, to each their own.

 Posted by at 10:15 pm
Sep 162008
 

There’s a woman at work who turns out to have a few interesting features:

1) She’s intelligent

2) She wanted to be an astronaut, and majored in aerospace engineering

3) Is a member of AIAA

4) Likes airplane museums

<>5) Doesn’t seem to be equipped with a significant other

<>6) Doesn’t seem horribly apalled at my presence.

<>There’s an aircraft museum in Dover, DE, that looks good. So, yesterday after work I determined to ask her out. What could be better? What could go wrong?

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The day at work went as normal. Finally found the right time, and casually brought the concept up. Guess how it went.

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Put simply…

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Yay.

 Posted by at 7:59 pm
Sep 152008
 

From the Daily Express:

 

Christmas and Easter have been scrubbed from a college’s calendars in case they offend non-Christians.

Holidays at these times will now be referred to simply as “end of term breaks”.


The move will “increase inclusion and diversity”, claim bosses at Yorkshire Coast College in Scarborough, North Yorks. And it is in line with Ofsted guidelines, they say.

As a non-Christian (and, according to some – specifically those who demand to be treated like they’re special – “anti-Christian”), I find the idea of re-naming Christian holidays and such in order to help keep people like me from being offended to be… offensive. Look: things are what they are, and things are called what they’re called. Re-naming “Christmas” is as stupid as re-naming Wednesday. If you’re offended that the extant culture has a name for things that are derived from a religion other than yours… too fricken’ bad.

There are, in essense, two groups of people who need to grow the hell up:

1) Bitchy Muslims

2) Whiny liberals.

On the one hand, you’ve got Islamist organizations like CAIR who pitch fits whenever things aren’t the way they want them. On the other hand, you’ve got “can’t we just get along” leftards who want to “compromise” in order to maintain the peace. But unfortunately, “compromise” for far too many people means “let’s accomodate the people who scream the loudest.” The end result is that those who scream loud learn that they can constantly get things their way if they just keep screaming. Britain, which has just instituted Sharia courts (yeah…. THAT’s a good idea…), keeps slipping further and further down the rathole that is Islamopeasement. Now, I have no children, but I’ve watched the little bastards for near to forty years now… and I’ve noticed that when a child screams and pitches fits and the parents *don’t* smack ’em down, and, worse, when the parents back down and render unto their precious snowflake what the precious snowflake wants… the child learns that bad behavior gets him what he wants. This is only logical behavior on the part of the child; you can’t really blame him. The parents, on the other hand, deserve a good tasering or two. They are responsible for the bad behavior. Similarly, you can’t really blame screaming Islamists for screaming; their goal is to dominate the world and bend all of mankind to their will, and they’ve learned how to do it. It’s the schmucks who actually give in to Muslim rage – often enough even before the rage has expressed itself, just because they are afraid that maybe there might be some Muslim rage – who deserve the scorn in these cases.

The best response to such behavior is not “oh, alright, I’ll compromise,” it’s “shut up, ya little monster. Go to your room and wait till your father gets home.”

 Posted by at 10:00 pm