Probably nothing here really new to anyone, but it’s still a good reminder that every now and again people think big. A Flickr collection of color concept art from the 1970s illustrating NASA-Ames ideas for space colonies.
Aug 052016
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Aug 052016
About two months ago I mentioned this monster collection of 20 Blue Rays, scheduled to be released in early September. At the time the price had not yet been announced. I just wandered on over to Amazon and checked it out, and it is now available for pre-order… for a bit more than I’d hoped: $208.99.
If that’s a bit much, there are a few other options on Amazon. The three seasons of the original series are available on Blu-Ray for about $60. The movies (1 through 6) are available used from $40 to $60. The animated series doesn’t seem to be available on Blu-Ray, though.
If you’re going to get this, feel free to buy it through the links above… if you do so, a small smidgeon of a royalty makes it back to me. Similarly with the Amazon search box, anything bought after using the search box on my site sends a pittance to my account.
Aug 052016
Aug 052016
Finally coming out in October. Pre-order at Amazon for $29.95.
It is by modern standards a goofy flick, very much an early 1950’s Hollywood movie. But never mind the characters or the plot… the beauty of “SAC” has always been the footage of the aircraft, the B-36 and B-47. Should look spectacular in hi def.
Aug 052016
And a bonus shot of Raedthinn in the sun, sticking his tongue out, as one does.
Aug 052016
The past couple days have been reasonably apocalyptic out here in rural Utah. A wildfire broke out Wednesday morning west of Plymouth, Utah (last I heard it was “human caused,” but no definition further than that), maybe twenty or so miles north of here. As Wednesday progressed I watched the plume of smoke get bigger and bigger, until later in the afternoon I drove off to go take a look. After nightfall the smoke cloud continued to progress, so that by Thursday 6:30 AM I woke up not being able to see my neighbors house. The wind shifted a bit and the air cleared some, but the smell of fire remains. This has done my lungs no good. So far, at least, no bronchitis has yet broken out, but wow do I have a headache.
I’ve taken a number of photos that might be of interest.
Two photos taken early 8/5 showing how a light down the way is scattered off the junk in the air. It’s got that “starry wisdom/gateway to somewhere you don’t want there to be a gateway to” look going on.
Early 8/4, low smoke cloud to the north lit by the fire.
Early 8/5, smoke cloud to the north and a light plume from lights illuminating a flag pole:
Panorama on the evening of 8/3 showing the smoke cloud working its way south
Panorama early 8/4
Panorama early 8/4 showing smoke cloud lit by fire
Evening 8/4, near Plymouth
Evening 8/3 showing smoke cloud to the north
Afternoon 8/3 near Plymouth
Aug 032016
A while ago I was asked by another aerospace historian if I had any artwork of the “Dual Keel” version of the Space Station design from the mid/late 1980s. This was a predecessor to the International Space Station (the “Russians” being the “Soviets” at the time) and was to be used not just as an orbiting shack for some basic research, but also as an assembly area for manned missions to the moon and Mars. Turns out I had a fair amount of Dual Keel art. As is the way of things, a lot of that art is moderately poor… scanned from dusty slides, in many cases. Still, it’s what I had. It dawned on me that others might be interested in it, so I put all the images into the same size and format (standard 8.5X11) and made a PDF out of it, seventy some pages. I have uploaded Part Two to the “APR Extras” Dropbox site into the “2016-08 APR Extras” folder. This is accessible to all APR Patreon patrons at the $4 level and above (if you are such a patron and don’t have access, send me a message via Patreon, I’ll get you fixed up). Part One was uploaded to the “2016-07 APR Extras” Dropbox folder last month.
Aug 032016
Eric Greitens for Governor of Missouri.
Sigh. *Again* with the wrong sound effect for the Minigun…
And this:
Aug 032016
Apparently, come September a brand-new Skycycle will attempt to launch across the Snake River Canyon. Read about it here:
Return to Snake River: A new generation prepares to complete Evel Knievel’s greatest feat
Everybody remembers Evel Knievel; relatively few remember Bob Truax, the rocket engineer who designed and built the Skycycle. Fortunately the article does talk about two generations of Truax, including Bob Truax’s son who built the new Skycycle that will be used in the new attempt.
This is scheduled for September 17 near Twin Falls, Idaho. Hmmm. That’s only about 2 hours from here, easy enough for me to drive up to. Except: the launch site is on private property and you have to buy a ticket. That’s fine, of course – but the tickets cost $1,000. A bit out of my pay grade, sadly.
Aug 022016
EDIT: As noted in the comments, the original AP link got nuked or something, So, screw it… here’s the link to the Fark discussion of the topic.
In short: testing in the Olympic waters of Rio show 248 million adenoviruses per liter, while in California a reading of thousands per liter would set off the health department.
