Now in 3D. Still pretty blocky and simplistic, but I think everything here is justifiable by the text. Critiques and suggestions welcomed.
UPDATE: it appears that my efforts here have been needless.
http://up-ship.com/blog/blog/?p=13764#comment-463214019
So, that’s that. In the words of the great Zaphod Beeblebrox: Great. I’m gonna go and find something else for my entire life to be about.
Some really bare-bones preliminary CAD sketches of the Message Bearer, a digit ship and the Archangel Michael. There are two “Michaels,” one made the size as described, one 1/8 that size, based on the assumption that the same character mis-spoke *twice*. Not an assumption that makes me terribly happy, but looking at the full-size vehicle, more than a mile long, it’s just silly. The Michael was built under a dome; so this would have meant building a greenhouse dome well over a mile tall. Beyond the unreasonableness of a mile-long spaceship being built under wartime conditions, a mile-tall (and probably several mile-wide) greenhouse would be just a little obvious.
Comments and suggestions welcome. When I’m more or less satisfied with the overall geometries and details, I’ll proceed to 3D modelling.
Some books… selling them for $5.00 (plus postage) each. First come, first served… and by this I mean “first to comment, first to get ‘em.” To comment, click on the post title above (“Buy It Now: Pulp!”) and let me know which set(s) you want. US orders will ship via media mail unless other arrangements are made. Paypal prefered.
1) Ira Levin, “The Stepford Wives.” 1972, first edition with dust jacket. In really good condition.
2) Arthur Hailey, “Airport.” 1968, first edition with dust jacket. The jacket is a little rough, but the rest of the book is in really good condition.
3) E. M. Nathanson, “The Dirty Dozen.” 1965, first edition. No dust jacket. Book is in fairly good condition.
4) Payne Harrison, “Storming Intrepid.” 1989, first edition with dust jacket and plastic cover. Former Dugway Proving Ground Library book. Some library stamps and such, but otherwise virtually mint… looks like it was never checked out. I read this about two decades ago, and I recall it being substantially awesome. The Soviets steal a space shuttle; spies, armed spaceplanes and B-2 bombers laying waste. Woo!
5) A. Meritt, “The Metal Monster.” Hyperion press, 1974 paperback.
6) Garrett P. Serviss, “A Columbus of Space.” Hyperion press, 1974 paperback.
7) Harold Lamb, “Marching Sands.” Hyperion press, 1974.
The last three are quality reprints of early (1890s to 1940s) sci-fi yarns.
Neil deGrasse Tyson has a new book out, and is doing the press junket thing for it. I just saw him on the Daily Show, where he knocked it the hell out of the park (when the video is available, I’ll post it). Earlier he was on NPR, where he said:
“I could stand in front of eighth-graders and say, ‘Who wants to be an aerospace engineer so you can design an airplane 20 percent more fuel-efficient than the one your parents flew?’ That doesn’t usually work. But if I say, ‘Who wants to be an aerospace engineer to design the airplane that will navigate the rarefied atmosphere of Mars?’ because that’s where we’re going next, I’m getting the best students in the class. I’m looking for life on Mars? I’m getting the best biologist. I want to study the rocks on Mars? I’m getting the best geologists.”
Damn skippy, Neil!
Secret £14million Bible in which ‘Jesus predicts coming of Prophet Muhammad’ unearthed in Turkey
Thought to be a “Gospel of Barnabas” that has Jesus saying that the *real* prophet of God would be an Arab feller named “Muhammad.”
Yeah… about that…
If there one thing that people love to make phony copies of, it’s religious artifacts. And even better are hoaxed artifacts that help sell some local religious, political or personal agenda. And so while I’m hardly an apologist for Christian theology, my first thought about a religious text that claims to overturn an entire religion in favor of the local religion works out to:
We’re dealing with a region of the world with rather an impressive history of religious chicanery. More importantly, we’re dealing with a local culture so deeply entrenched in credulous gullibility that it makes a convention of 9-11 Truthers look like a meeting of the most curmudgeonly skeptics in CSICOP.
Afghan’s Karzai demands public trial for Quran burners
Some cultures… well, they just don’t belong.
Our soldiers are dying because a whole bunch of morons have been brainwashed into believing that their little supernatural handbook is somehow more special than all the other supernatural handbooks. Fug’em. We should bail… and salt the land behind us as we go. Send U-2’s at high altitude over their little craphole of a country and rain half-burnt copies of their book on ’em from high altitude.
Below is a screenshot showing some recently drafted diagrams that’ll appear in “Nuclear Pulse Propulsion.”
Swapped out the modem today, and obviously, the new one fixed up the problem. So, feel free to send me lots and lots of money.
It’s interesting how irritating it can be to be cut off for only a few days. Still, I made some good progress with CAD diagrams for “Nuclear Pulse Propulsion;” the “Columbiad,” Ganswindt’s Weltenfahrzeug and Andersons “Orion Shall Rise” are all done, a bunch more underway.
Well… start with *mine,* of course.
Once you’re done buying my stuff, check out Black Cat Press. Books written and/or compiled/edited by Ron Miller (of “Dream Machines” fame). Includes several Jules Verne books (of which I have a few) and several other old, OLD-school science fiction books (of which I have a few), several old space-science popularization books (of which I have a few) and several other categories of books (which I don’t have). These are print-on-demand books through Lulu, which is similar to the MagCloud process I use for APR.
A similar business is Pulpville Press, which, as the name suggests, prints reproductions of pulp-era sci-fi, adventure, detective, etc. I’ve not bought any of these, but I approve of the concept.
PLUS: remember to pack heat and visit your local Starbucks tomorrow, and the days after, to show support for their company policy of letting people who are legally carrying to frequent their establishments. If on the other hand you’re turned off by their company support of gay marriage… shrug. Personally, I know which one is more important. So I understand they have good hot chocolate or some such…
MagCloud is running a site-wide sale… 25% off the production cost of all regular priced products, including Aerospace Projects Review issues & specials, Justo Mirandas “Reichdreams” series, Historical Documents and even “Photographing Stuff.”
My main MagCloud page: http://scottlowther.magcloud.com/
The Aerospace Projects Review MagCloud page: http://www.magcloud.com/browse/magazine/157097
The Historical Documents MagCloud page: http://www.magcloud.com/browse/magazine/198489
The Reichdreams MagCloud page: http://www.magcloud.com/browse/magazine/164597
The “Photographing Stuff” MagCloud page: http://www.magcloud.com/browse/magazine/144138
And while I’m at it.. would there be interest in MagCloud printed versions of the Saturn I and Saturn V Payload Planners Guides?