A 4-bore rifle. Hmm.
The bullet weigh the same as 40 .556 rounds and produced 200 pounds of felt recoil.
Apr 172023
Apr 152023
They’ve got FAA approval:
Green light go: SpaceX receives a launch license from the FAA for Starship
If it goes to plan, as soon as 7AM Texas time on Monday Starship/Superheavy will launch. The booster will splash down 30+ kilometers from the Texas coast in the Gulf of Mexico; Starship will climb to 235 kilometers, get into *almost* a circular orbit, and re-enter and bellyflop into the Pacific 225 kilometers north of Oahu. Of course the chances of everything going right are probably low; I would not be surprised to see an enthusiastic unassembly early in the flight (though hopefully far enough away to not tear up the launch site). If it claws its way off the pad, it’ll be the most powerful rocket ever launched.
With the state of the world, and especially with the plethora of mysterious “accidents” happening to industrial facilities around the country, I expect to see things not go quite to plan. I hope to be be proven wrong.
Apr 122023
As a non-user of mind-altering substances… good:
Federal Judge Tosses Gun Possession Case Against Drug Users
“In short, the historical tradition of disarming ‘unlawful’ individuals appears to mainly involve disarming those convicted of serious crimes after they have been afforded criminal process,” Judge Cardone wrote in her opinion. “Section 922(g)(3), in contrast, disarms those who engage in criminal conduct that would give rise to misdemeanor charges, without affording them the procedural protections enshrined in our criminal justice system.”
As with “red flag laws,” a case can be made for disarming someone. But that case requires the rule of law, the presumption of innocence, due process, the right of the accused to put up a defense. Just yeeting someones rights Because Reasons is unAmerican. And taking someones guns because they smoke dope is pretty stupid when we *don’t* take someones guns because they drink alcohol. I’ve seen drunks, and I’ve seen stoners… and I know which of the two I’d consider more chill, more likely to just sit there and gnaw on some Cheetos, and which group would be more likely to fly into an irrational rage.
Apr 112023
The Grim Truth: The War on Guns Is Lost
The author of this New Republic piece seems close to tears that:
- Millions of Americans are exercising their basic rights
- The Supreme Court recognizes their basic rights
- Americans keep voting for enough politicians who understand the Constitution to keep the tyrants somewhat at bay.
This is one of those cases where reference to “liberal tears” is wholly legitimate. The author sees the idea of Americans being allowed to own standard firearms as a horrible tragedy, a failure of the police state she would prefer we lived in. The only hope she seems to have is in a “National Divorce.”
However, chances are quite good that the despair is performative. Take a look at the listing of the other New Republic pieces written by this author; they are all leftist black pills. Republicans either live rent free in her head, or she’s paying the rent by ginning up fear of Republicans.
Shrug.
Apr 072023
“I Knead You” Song by “Chevy,” animation by Amelia Bothe. Anyone who’s ever had kittens will catch all the feels from this one.
Apr 042023
A Russian movie from 2022 seems to have had some good VFX depicting a series of relatively small asteroid impacts shotgun-blasting a city:
On the one hand, you can say that the Russian VFX people are quite good. on the other, you can point out that in 2022, Russians got a lot of practice with exploding cities. Or, rather, Russians got a lot of practice exploding cities.
Apr 032023
Ever since the early sixties there have been ideas about “inspector” spacecraft that would check out other satellites. This would be done to see just what some foreign satellite actually was…r econ, communications, navigation, weapons platform. But actually doing it has not but done too often… at least, it hasn’t been *shown.* But here are the results of one commercial satellite – the Worldview-3 earth observer – looking at a Landsat from a range of about 100 kilometers. The imagery is remarkably clear.
You’ve probably seen artists’ renderings of #Landsat satellites in orbit… but how about an *actual image* of a satellite in orbit?
Thanks to Maxar, we now have images of Landsat 8 orbiting Earth from the WorldView-3 satellite.
Enjoy! 🛰️ pic.twitter.com/YFeQlHVV7t
— NASA Landsat Program (@NASA_Landsat) April 3, 2023
Mar 282023
The first US Aerospace Projects in *years* is now available. Cover art was provided by Rob Parthoens, www.baroba.be
US VTOL Projects #3
US VTOL Projects #3 is now available (see HERE for the entire series). Issue #2 includes:
- Lockheed CL-579: An optionally-manned “communications satellite” for after WWIII
- Vanguard Model 18: A short range passenger transport from the 60s with slightly unusual wings
- Hiller STORC: A helicopter that could convert into a conventional aircraft for long-range ferry flights
- North American Rockwell NR-356 Sea Control Fighter: The design that led to the failed XFV-12A
- Bell D181: One of the first VTOL “assault transports”
- Hiller Anti-Submarine Warfare Drone Tailsitter: An unmanned pulsejet-powered torpedo-launcher
- Gates Twinjet: An ill-timed executive transport helicopter
- McDonnell Douglas VT107-4-4I: A short-range VTOL jetliner from the early 70s
While this issue covers the usual eight designs, note that it’s about 50% longer than similar, earlier issues. The delay in publication was due in large part to working on several book… and working on several books seems to have led me to be more verbose in my descriptions. So hopefully this means a better product!
USVP #3 can be downloaded as a PDF file for only $5.25:
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Mar 272023
Of all the professions I did not immediately expect AI to replace “toy designer” was not at the top of the list. But here we are… the best new stuff comes from the mind of a machine:
Fisher-Price’s prototype electric chair
by u/Ventorix in midjourney
Mar 262023
Asking for a friend.
Technology for the wrong cause pic.twitter.com/VrzQlhSszR
— Clement Ben IFS (@ben_ifs) March 26, 2023