Terrorist attack in Colorado

 AARRRGH, blather, Crazy, Gah., news, weapons  11 Responses »
Jul 202012
 

No joke:

Officials say at least 10 killed after shooting during ‘Dark Knight’ screening in Colorado

Reports are confused, but it looks like someone wearing a gas mask went bugnuts in a theater in Aurora, Colorado, a few minutes into the new Batman movie, opening fire on the crowd with either an “assault rifle” (which, let’s face it, could mean anything) or a shotgun, and set off at least one explosive device. The shooter has apparently been caught, and rumors are he looks like an “Indian” (which *kind* of Indian is unknown as yet).

For further speculation, I can’t do better than this commenter on  a the relevant Fark.com thread:

Dr. Mojo PhD
2012-07-20 05:01:29 AM

It’s either radical Muslims, radical anti-Muslims, extremist Christians, extremist Jews, militant atheists, white supremacists, black supremacists, gangs, militia members, right-wing extremists, left-wing extremists, a lone nut, or several lone nuts who decided not to be lonely any more.

There, all the bases are covered.

But if it’s radical centrists, boy will I have egg on my face.

 Posted by at 2:29 am

Cyanotype print 24: A-4 graphite vane

 cyanotype blueprints, history, new products, rockets, weapons  No Responses »
Jul 122012
 

Cyanotype print 24: A-4 graphite vane

A Peenemunde layout diagram of the “Druckstuck M” graphite vanes used to direct the thrust of the rocket engine on the A-4 (V-2) ballistic missile.

A hand made cyanotype blueprint on sturdy 12X18 watercolor paper. Each is unique, and likely to feature small imperfections.The blue will fade if left in the sun. If this happens, it can be darkened by placing it somewhere dark with good air flow to re-oxidize the ink. Alternatively. hydrogen peroxide, available from grocery stores, will instantly oxidize the ink and restore it to its full hue.

————–

 Posted by at 11:02 pm

Cyanotype print 11: A-11

 art, cyanotype blueprints, history, new products, rockets, weapons  No Responses »
Jul 122012
 

Cyanotype print 11: A-11

A painting created in 1946 at White Sands, under the direction of Werner von Braun and by deBeek, the artist responsible for paintings at Peenemunde during the war. The design is typically considered to be the “A-11,” a hypothetical three-stage rocket capable of putting a V-2 rocket into orbit. It was described here.

In order to get best-quality prints of the A-11, it must be processed for more than four times as long as the other images, and consequently costs a little more.

A hand made cyanotype blueprint on sturdy 12X18 watercolor paper. Each is unique, and likely to feature small imperfections.The blue will fade if left in the sun. If this happens, it can be darkened by placing it somewhere dark with good air flow to re-oxidize the ink. Alternatively. hydrogen peroxide, available from grocery stores, will instantly oxidize the ink and restore it to its full hue.

 Posted by at 9:15 pm

Zenith Star Mockup

 history, models, nukes, projects, rockets, science, science fiction, spacecraft, weapons  3 Responses »
Jul 052012
 

The “Orphans in Space” DVD set contains a bunch of really rather odd old films about space, from the early part of the 20th century up to the 1980′s. The video of most interest to readers of this blog is a Martin-Marietta promotional video for the Zenith Star laser satellite, featuring snippets of a speech by President Reagan at the Martin Marietta facility (near Denver?) in front of a full-scale Zenith Star mockup.

The video was copied to DVD from a videotape, which is why the resolution is a bit low.

 Posted by at 10:25 am

Missile launching satellite

 art, nukes, science fiction, spacecraft, weapons  13 Responses »
Jun 282012
 

Here’s a mid-1980’s Martin Marietta painting depicting a satellite  capable of holding and launching a multitude of missiles. As this came from a promotional video dealing with the Star Wars program, these missiles are presumably anti-missile missiles. Oddly, they seem to launch from both ends of the satellite.

Was this painting derived from a serious engineering design? I don’t know, but I do know that it bears an uncanny resemblance to the Soviet bomb satellite model built for (but cut from) “2001: A Space Odyssey.”

 Posted by at 11:15 pm

Yay! Lightning guns!

 awesomeness, news, science, science fiction, weapons  2 Responses »
Jun 272012
 

Didn’t I see this on Flash Gordon?

Picatinny engineers set phasers to ‘fry’

The Laser-Induced Plasma Channel is not actually a new idea. A laser beam is used to ionize a path through the air; a lightning bolt (for lack of a better term) is directed down that path to the target, or at least to wherever it finds a more conductive path.

ZZZZZZAP

The money quote:

“We never got tired of the lightning bolts zapping our simulated (targets),” said George Fischer, lead scientist on the project.

 Posted by at 2:03 pm

Eric Holder – 1995

 dumbassery, I'm from the government, Obamazombies, politics, weapons, youtube  1 Response »
Jun 202012
 

When contemplating why the current US Attorney General does what he does about programs like “Fast and Furious” which seem to have been calculated to make firearm owners and dealers look like villains, keep in mind what his views on firearms actually are. In 1995, he gave a speech where he makes it plain that he wanted a “brainwashing” campaign to convince citizens to disarm themselves.

[youtube GDCQTzBzl1A]

 Posted by at 8:15 am

NYC stabs its way into the news again

 news, politics, weapons  8 Responses »
Jun 122012
 

Bible-college student’s pocketknife spoils trip to New York City

So not only can a properly licensed American get arrested in New York City for the perfectly legal act of carrying a concealed firearm, you can also get arrested for having a small pocketknife. And since the Mayor of NYC now wants to make 16.1 ounce soft drinks illegal and lemonade stands are basically illegal, and you cannot actually legally break into the taxicab business…

 Posted by at 2:11 pm
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