Twin-Engined Tristar

 aircraft, art, history, projects  No Responses »
Jul 082020
 

It is common practice for an aerospace company to crank out many and sundry concepts for derivatives of the aircraft they produce (if they didn’t, Aerospace Projects Review never would’ve come to be). This is certainly true for jetliners. And of course, in many cases derivative are in fact produced… the DC-9, 707 and 737, for instance, saw many stretched, stretched further and stretched some more designs enter service, packing more passengers onto airframes that don’t cost much more to buy or operate.

One derivative that went no further than the concept stage was a 1970’s Lockheed idea for a twin-engine version of their three-engined L-1011. This would have been a *smaller* aircraft, but presumably cheaper, more economical to operate as an “airbus” on shorter routes. However, there were already a number of jetliners to fill that role, and with as expensive as the L-1011 turned out to be to maintain and keep flying, this idea basically never had a chance.

 Posted by at 7:42 pm

The “Interstellar” meme

 art, humor, science fiction, youtube  No Responses »
Jul 082020
 

Hey, look! No politics or news about how we’re now firmly embedded within the Crazy Years!

 

A few years ago people started adding bits of music from the movie “Interstellar” to videos of things rotating out of control. Sometimes the result was comedy gold.

And sometimes there was a convergence of memes…

 Posted by at 7:33 pm

*TRY* to make sense of this

 Crazy, Forward!, news, politics, ಠ_ಠ  No Responses »
Jul 072020
 

Statues and monuments that have stood for more than a century are being vandalized and destroyed from coast to coast, businesses burned and looted, cities destroyed… with the people doing the damage *not* being charged. But if you paint over a blatantly political message painted onto a street? Watch out!

California man, woman who vandalized Black Lives Matter street mural and dismissed racism face hate crime charges

Anderson and Nelson each face two vandalism charges and a charge of “violation of civil rights,” according to the district attorney’s office. The two face a year in county jail if convicted.

The frak. “Violation of civil rights????”

 Posted by at 8:39 pm

This looks like a *delight*

 Crazy, Forward!, I'm from the government, politics, youtube, ಠ_ಠ  No Responses »
Jul 072020
 

The June 29 meeting of the Manhattan Community Education Council District 2 meeting devolves into a straight-up struggle session, with a Mass Attack Of Karens. Fortunately, the target ain’t havin’ it.

Summary:

People have lost their damned minds. A few little people gained themselves a smidgen of power, and they promptly turn into hysterical tyrants. Fortunately, they’re caught on camera and the internet never forgets.

 

 Posted by at 11:49 am

Peak Stupid

 AARRRGH, Crazy, dumbassery, Forward!, Gah., politics, THIS is why Trump won, ಠ_ಠ  No Responses »
Jul 072020
 

At least, I’d *like* to believe that this is peak stupid, but let’s face it… there’s always a challenger ready and willing to rise to the occasion and be even stupider.

HUMOR (that’s scary in its accuracy) BONUS ROUND:

The video “Alternative Math” was posted to YouTube in 2017. it is clearly meant to be a satirical takedown of Trump/conservatives… yet, apart from some throwaway lines by some TV talking heads, the whole things shrieks “this is what you get when woketivists take over the media and academia.”

 

 Posted by at 10:02 am

Just Some Guy explains BLM

 history, Hmm..., politics, religion, youtube, YouTubers worth watching  No Responses »
Jul 062020
 

“Just Some Guy” is a YouTuber who mostly talks about comic books and similar pop culture topics. But here he gives a thoughtful and insightful explanation of what drives the BLM movement and ideology. *Very* interestingly, YouTube has decided that the video is terribly offensive and has thus put it behind an “Age Restricted Video” wall, which means you’re unlikely to find the video unless directly pointed towards it. *Extremely* interestingly, there’s nothing actually offensive in the video. No naughty words, no name calling, no white supremacy or any such, just a pretty good discussion of the topic in light of Eric Hoffer’s book “The true Believer.”

I think the problem that YouTube has is that Just Some Guy concludes that BLM isn’t a movement with a valid cause, but instead a religion that *needs* a devil, and that devil is “the white man.” And, worse, Just Some Guy is a *black* guy. That sort of apostasy cannot be countenanced.

 

 Posted by at 5:09 pm

Well, this *works*

 art, awesomeness, politics, science fiction, youtube  No Responses »
Jul 062020
 

Aerial news chopper footage of illegal fireworks going off over Los Angeles put to Vangelis’s score from “Blade Runner.”

A bit surprising to see that Los Angeles is – at least kinda-sorta-in-a-way – telling the anti-America woke brigade to go F off by setting off as many pyrotechnics as possible.

 Posted by at 12:27 am

A cult worth watching

 Crazy, Forward!, Hmm..., news, politics, religion, youtube, ಠ_ಠ  No Responses »
Jul 052020
 

I’ve mentioned the “Black Hebrew Israelites” before. It is a black supremacist religion no different from, say, the white supremacist “Christian Identity” schmucks, just with reversed color values. They believe that black folks are the *real* Hebrews, and that they are prophesied to eventually take over the world and enslave white people for all eternity. Nice folks. They came to prominence a year and a half ago when they kicked off the Covington Blood Libel. They have had themselves a little rally at Stone Mountain in Georgia. Interestingly, though, the news media has kinda passed on a lot of the details. For instance:

Predominantly Black armed protesters march through Confederate memorial park in Georgia

The article says that the armed protestors came to the park to call for the removal of the statue, and to stand up to white supremacists. But there is a half hour long video of the leader of this group. It’s an interesting watch:

Here he calls not just for the removal of the Stone Mountain carving, but for turning Texas into a black-only ethnostate. He calls for the killing of cops and white people in general. As a thought exercise, reverse the color values and imagine how the press would cover *that.*

He supports people arming themselves and defending themselves. That’s all good and proper, and something that I fully support and suggest that everyone do. But he’s also a religious whackaloon racial supremacist calling for a civil war.

2020 looks like it will continue to be interesting, and 2021 perhaps even more so.

 Posted by at 4:06 pm

“National Garden”

 art, history, Hmm..., news, politics, THIS is why Trump won  No Responses »
Jul 042020
 

Trumps latest executive order:

Executive Order on Building and Rebuilding Monuments to American Heroes

In short, two things:

1) Rebuild statues torn down by the recent spate of crazed freaks

2) Build a “National Garden” of statues to honor some of the greatest Americans in  history.

As for the “National Garden,” a list of names was provided. Presumably this isn;t meant to indicate the total and complete set of statues; it would make sense for the Garden to contain space to add more over time.

The National Garden should be composed of statues, including statues of John Adams, Susan B. Anthony, Clara Barton, Daniel Boone, Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, Henry Clay, Davy Crockett, Frederick Douglass, Amelia Earhart, Benjamin Franklin, Billy Graham, Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson, Martin Luther King, Jr., Abraham Lincoln, Douglas MacArthur, Dolley Madison, James Madison, Christa McAuliffe, Audie Murphy, George S. Patton, Jr., Ronald Reagan, Jackie Robinson, Betsy Ross, Antonin Scalia, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Harriet Tubman, Booker T. Washington, George Washington, and Orville and Wilbur Wright.

It’s an ok list (a few are pretty “meh,” but nothing to get in a twist over), but I would make some suggestions for others:

Neil Armstrong/Buzz Aldrin/Michael Collins; Albert Einstein; Werner von Braun; Sam Clemens; Edgar Allen Poe; Robert Heinlein; Kelly Johnson; Tom Edison/Nikola Tesla; Henry Ford; H. P. Lovecraft (fight me, ya mooks); Fred Rogers; Sam Colt; Moses Browning; Alexander Bell; Bernie Goetz; Norman Rockwell; Andrew Carnegie; Sequoyah; Thomas Sowell; Lewis & Clark; William Tecumseh Sherman; Ulysses S. Grant; The Amazing Randi; Houdini; Richard Feynman; Carl Sagan; Isaac Asimov; Jonas Salk; Norman Borlaug; Hyman Rickover; Edward Teller.

Feel free to add to the list. I suspect that if this goes forward – and if the depraved doddering dementist wins in November, it certainly won’t – there will probably be some sort of way to make suggestions and/or vote on them.

 

Statues should depict historically significant Americans, as that term is defined in section 7 of this order, who have contributed positively to America throughout our history. Examples include: the Founding Fathers, those who fought for the abolition of slavery or participated in the underground railroad, heroes of the United States Armed Forces, recipients of the Congressional Medal of Honor or Presidential Medal of Freedom, scientists and inventors, entrepreneurs, civil rights leaders, missionaries and religious leaders, pioneers and explorers, police officers and firefighters killed or injured in the line of duty, labor leaders, advocates for the poor and disadvantaged, opponents of national socialism or international socialism, former Presidents of the United States and other elected officials, judges and justices, astronauts, authors, intellectuals, artists, and teachers. None will have lived perfect lives, but all will be worth honoring, remembering, and studying.

 Posted by at 5:21 pm
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