Danish helicopter pilot landing in seas that are a little rough…
Sep 232017
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Sep 222017
Kalashnikov statue changed because of German weapon
Woopsie. A statue commemorating Mikhail Kalashnikov, designer of the AK-47, was unveiled in Moscow this week. Looks like a good statue. At the base of the stature there’s a sculpted “exploded view” diagram of the AK-47. Well… of the German StG 44, in fact, not the AK-47. They look similar to be sure, but they are not the same. And once that mistake was discovered, they delicately chopped the diagram off with an angle grinder. The link above shows the before and after photos.
This sort of screwup is not as uncommon as you might hope. Sometime circa 1994 I attended the unveiling of a veterans memorial on (or near, I forget exactly) Rock Island Arsenal. It consisted of polished black marble slabs, one for each war on up to the Persian Gulf War. Each slab had “art” laser or chemically etched into the surface; pictures rather than actual sculpture. I had a difficult time not making a scene when I realized that the Persian Gulf War slab showed what was *supposed* to be an AH-64 Apache, but was actually an Agusta A129 Mangusta, an Italian attack helicopter that the US military most assuredly did *not* use in Iraq.
This is also not an AK-47. Or is it? Hmmm…
So where are the statues of Eugene Stoner, Edward Teller and John Moses Browning? I suggest for every statue of Jefferson Davis or Robert E. Lee taken down, they be replaced with prominent American weapons designers.
$200 million for anti-science
AARRRGH, Crazy, dumbassery, Gah., Meh., news, religion, science, ಠ_ಠ
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Sep 212017
UC Irvine aims to transform public health with record-breaking $200-million donation
The donation comes with a bit of a hitch: it’s to be used to promote homeopathy.
On Monday, UC Irvine Chancellor Howard Gillman announced that the Samuelis have donated $200 million to launch what he billed as the nation’s first universitywide enterprise to embed integrative health approaches in research, teaching and patient care.
“Integrative health approaches” in this context means “alternative medicine.” You know what we’d call “alternative medicine” if it actually worked? “Medicine.”
I suppose if it’s used to actually do good science on crap like homeopathy and reiki and psychic vampire repellent sprays, sure, fine, whatever. But I suspect that it’ll be used to ram woo into the medical industry *despite* the science.
Sep 212017
There is a time and a place for critters. My cats, for instance: their place is “my house” and their time is “all the time, because this is their house too.” But their place is *not,* say, the grocery store or the restaurant. Nor is it appropriate for women to take their genetic mutant fishbait yapdogs into restaurants and the like simply because they want to keep them nearby.
On the other hand: service animals, generally dogs. (NOTE: *real* service dogs, trained and certified) Their place is “pretty much everywhere.” Because they not only do a job, they’ve been *trained.* Cats and dogs, as I’ve said multiple times before, are On Our Team. But service dogs are even more so… they are *professional* members of Team Humanity. They get to go wherever the person who needs them gets to go.
The proper response to a service animal is, almost always, to *ignore* it. Sure, you see a dog and your instinct is to start baby-talking like an idjit and to come over and pet it… but it’s doing a job. Leave it alone. Your petting it will not only distract it, you could well cause a system failure.
There was a time when the only service dog you were likely to see was a seeing eye dog for the blind. But now there are dogs who can detect when their human is about to have an epileptic seizure, or go into sugar shock or something like that. And there are now service dogs trained to aid people with psychological issues, anxiety and PTSD and the like. You coming over and pestering the dog will not only throw it off, you might actually set off the issue that caused the person to need the dog in the first place. I admit, a decade or two ago I thought the idea of a service dog for mental issues was nonsense, but all evidence points to them being fully functional, real and useful. A PTSD service dog is no more nonsense than PTSD is. So if someone has been properly diagnosed with PTSD and the people and organizations who regulate PTSD dogs sign off on that someone having a service dog… I got no problem with that. And neither should anyone else.
But of course, the world is full to overflowing with people who missed out on the whole “rationality” and “empathy” development programs. Take this magnificent example of NSFW insanity:
Note how the dog remains calm throughout, as does the veteran. You know who else remained calm throughout? The womans husband/boyfriend/whatever. The look on his face, though… *priceless.* Ya gotta feel for the guy. How many years of this before *he* needs a therapy dog?
Uuuuuuuuuunnnnnnggggggggghhhhhhh……
Repeat after me, kids: Leave. The. Dog. Alone.
So, let’s say you’re in a restaurant and you see someone with a service dog, and it is behaving itself. And your first thought is something like “ewww, the hygiene, the hygiene,” and your impulse is to get up and complain. Well, I have a very simple test for you. Look around. Does the restaurant allow *children?* If so:
Sep 212017
You really want to impress the guys? Mount a 105 mm Howitzer in the back of your truck. Giggity!
This Humvee-Mounted Howitzer Is Here To “Shoot and Scoot”
It uses a special recoil dampening system that works well enough to allow the cannon to be mounted in the bed of a Ford F-250 pickup truck (seems to work about like the Howitzer proposed for helicopter use in the early 70’s).
The idea is to create a system mobile enough to fire off a few shots and then pack up and leave before counter-battery fire comes raining down. Seems to me, though, to really make the system work well it needs to have an autoloader with a magazine of four or more rounds and, preferably, the ability to fire either on the move, or within a few seconds of stopping, and then to get back moving again within a second or two.
Hold muh beer. BLAMMO!
Sep 212017
Now available: two new US Aerospace Projects issues. Cover art was provided by Rob Parthoens, www.baroba.be
US Bomber Projects #20:XB-59 Special
US Bomber Projects #20 is now available (see HERE for the entire series). Issue #20 collects all the previously published articles and diagrams of the XB-59 antecedent designs and updates them. Additionally, more antecedent designs have been included as well as several designs that followed along after the XB-59. The biggest USXP publication yet!
USBP 20 includes twenty nine unique aircraft concepts (the usual issue of USXP has eight designs) from Boeing Models 484 and 701 showing how Boeing evolved the XB-59, their competitor to the Convair B-58 “Hustler.” Beginning with subsonic flying wings, the concept saw concepts both conventional and unconventional before eventually settling on Model 701-299-1, the final XB-59 design. This issue includes a half dozen Model 701 designs that followed along after the cancellation of the XB-59 program.
USBP #20 can be downloaded as a PDF file for only $8:
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US Launch Vehicle Projects #04
US Launch Vehicle Projects #04 is now available (see HERE for the entire series). Issue #04 includes:
- Space Carrier Vehicle: A US Army lunar rocket with 8 F-1 engines
- Convair Reusable Helios: A stage-and-a-half monster with a gas core nuclear engine
- Boeing Model 896-111: A 1980’s two stage transatmospheric vehicle
- Project RAND Satellite Rocket 3-Stage: A 1947 satellite launcher
- Convair Saturn V-R: An idea on how to make a fully reusable Saturn V first stage
- Lockheed STAR Clipper: A 1968 stage-and-a-half lifting body Space Shuttle
- Shuttle-C: The Shuttle derived vehicle design that came closest to being built
- Titan III Growth/156-inch boosters: A more powerful version of the Titan III for Dyna Soar launch
USLP #04 can be downloaded as a PDF file for only $4:
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Also recommended, these previous Specials:
US Bomber Projects #14: System 464L Special
USBP#14 brings together the competitors to Weapon System 464L, the first major effort in the Dyna Soar program. These designs were previously shown individually in prior issues of USBP; here they are brought together, with some updates, as well as a few extra diagrams and a section of diagrams formatted for 11X17 printing. This issue includes info and diagrams of the Lockheed, Republic, General Dynamics, McDonnell, Boeing, Douglas, Northrop, North American and Martin-Bell entries as well as their various booster systems. Also included are detailed diagrams of the ultimate Dyna Soar design, the 2050E.
USBP#14 can be purchased for downloading for the low, low price of $6.
US Bomber Projects #16: The B-52 Evolution Special
Boeing Model 444 A: A late war turboprop heavy bomber
Boeing Model 461: An early postwar turboprop heavy bomber
Boeing Model 462: A large six-turboprop ancestor of the B-52
Boeing Model 462-5: A six-turboprop B-52 ancestor
Boeing Model 464-17: 1946 four-turboprop strategic bomber, a step toward the B-52
Boeing Model 464-18: a reduced-size version of the 464-17 turboprop strategic bomber
Boeing Model 464-25: a modification of the 464-17 turboprop bomber with slightly swept wings, among other changes
Boeing Model 464-27: a slightly-swept turboprop B-52 progenitor
Boeing Model 464-33-0: A turboprop B-52 predecessor
Boeing Model 464-34-3: A turboprop B-52 predecessor
Boeing Model 464-40: The first all-jet-powered design in the quest for the B-52
Boeing Model 464-40: The first all-jet-powered design in the quest for the B-52
Boeing Model 464-046: A six-engined B-52 predecessor
Boeing Model 464-49: The penultimate major design in the development of the B-52
Fairchild M-121:A highly unconventional canard-biplane
Convair B-60: A swept-wing turboprop-powered derivative of the B-36
Douglas Model 1211-J: An elegant turboprop alternative to the B-52
With additional diagrams of the B-47, XB-52 and B-52B
USBP#16 can be purchased for downloading for the low, low price of $6.
Sep 202017
In the footsteps of SpaceX: Chinese company eyes development of reusable rocket
A private Chinese company wants to build a reusable rocket that looks a *lot* like the Falcon 9. Refreshingly, they at least acknowledge that they’re basically copying SpaceX. It uses the same recovery system as the Falcon 9, roughly the same landing gear, same sort of grid fins for stability. Second stage looks pretty stubby, though. It’s a much smaller rocket than the Falcon 9, designed to put dinkysats into orbit.
Sep 192017
Feel free to insert your preferred political rant HERE. I’m’a go with “something something anti-science where are Penn & Teller…”
Psychic Vampire Repellent
A spray-able elixir we can all get behind, this protective mist uses a combination of gem healing and deeply aromatic therapeutic oils, reported to banish bad vibes (and shield you from the people who may be causing them). Fans spray generously around their heads to safeguard their auras.
One might be tempted to think this is a gag gift, And for the Newage sucker in your life, it might serve fine in that capacity… but not for no damn thirty bucks. Behold:
“Sonically tuned gem elixers.”
Sonically tuned gem elixers.
Reiki charged crystals.
Seriously, somebody’s raking in the cash and laughing their keisters off. *At* *best* this would be…. what? Water that was poured over a rock? Has some sand or sand powder in it? Or is the photo accurate, and the spritz bottle actually has some aquarium pebbles in the bottom of it?
But wait! There’s more!
Chill Child – Kid Calming Mist
For getting the kiddos to chill, this aromatherapy mist is incredible: in addition to uplifting rosewater, cleansing sea salt, and therapeutic-grade oils of lavender, jasmine, chamomile, and geranium, it also contains a blend of sonically tuned gem elixirs (amethyst, jade, selenite, and rose quartz) and tiny, Reiki-charged crystals. It also smells incredible—misted into the air, this magic elixir can instantly soothe virtually anyone’s energy. To use, shake gently, then spray into the air around your wild child’s aura to restore peace to the environment (avoid spraying near the eyes, and do not ingest or inhale).
Honetly. Why don’t *I* ever think of things like this? Can you imagine a better way to get idiot newagers to throw money at you than to fill small spray bottles with municipal tap water and a spoon full of colored pebbles? I sure can’t… and sadly, I didn’t.
But, maybe this gives me a very bad idea: homeopathic nuclear bombs. I just need to find a sample of muromontite (a naturally occurring mixture of uranium and beryllium which results in trace amounts of plutonium) and then put that sample in a gallon of water, then mix that gallon of water with another thousand gallons or so, then pour it out into two-liter bottles and slap an “all natural H-Bomb” sticker on the side and sell to the Norks. I wonder if that’s the sort of thing the FBI and NSA would allow to happen, or if they’d shut it down because they, too, have been infected with newage and think that maybe it would actually work?
Or how about this: take the idea of a spray bottle with some shiny rocks in it, slap a label yammering on about all the psychic benefits… but instead of “psychic vampire repellent” or the like, say it’s “Nazi repellent.” It’d probably sell like hotcakes on many a college campus, and chances are really good that you could claims that it works successfully, because what are the chances that anyone’s going to actually run into an actual Nazi these days?
Alternative: call it “authoritarian fascist repellent,” and fill it full of cadaverine and sell it to campus cause-heads, with instructions that say to spray it on *themselves.* If they complain that it makes them stink and they don’t like it, point out that apparently it’s working correctly.
Sep 192017
Both US Launch Vehicles Projects #04 and US Bomber Projects #20 (XB-59 Special) are done and in the editing phase. I’m hoping to have them ready in the next few days.
Sep 182017
A rare piece of color art of an early Dyna Soar being lofted atop an Atlas/Centaur. Color artwork of the Dyna Soar was created in some considerable abundance, but it was mostly reproduced in B&W, and its sadly rare for even those B&W reports to have been printed well, rarer still for them to have been scanned or copied well.
