Cutaway diagram of the Aerojet Surface Effect Ship SES-100A:
Apr 192021
Apr 142021
This looks like it’ll be an impressive achievement. Let’s hope they use western imperialist math and engineering rigor rather than Other Ways Of Knowing to accomplish the task:
Feb 182021
Last year the ore carrier “Stellar Banner” ran aground off Brazil (February 2020). The decision was made to scuttle the vessel, and in June of 2020 it was sunk in deeper waters. This process took 20 minutes… but most of the actual sinking occurred in a matter of seconds:
Once it started going, it went down in a hurry.
Feb 012021
Pretty sure ships aren’t generally supposed to do this:
Whoopsie.
Terrifying Video Shows Cargo Ship Break in Half Off Turkey
Turns out that the Ukranian-owned, Palau-flagged “Arvin” sank on January 17, losing three sailors in the process. The ship was hauling 2,900 tons of urea. Bleah.
Jan 232021
Just a thought. If someone were to take a model of the CVN-65 USS Enterprise nuclear powered aircraft carrier and modify it with the Douglas “Ithacus Jr.” rocket transport as in the concept art below, what should go along with it? The art depicts the Enterprise modified with a bow extension, two movable “VABs,” and two of the rocket transports (an aft extension is implied but not visible). The flight deck is shown as deserted, which is reasonable under the circumstances… with those VABs, most of the flight deck would be unavailable for takeoffs and landings. Only the angled deck would seem to provide some functionality there.
The concept dates from 1964. If a model was made, it would probably tend to represent a time frame from the mid 1970’s onwards. What should be on the deck in that case, to help dress it up (it seems like it’d be kinda bland without some other things populating the deck)? A few things seem reasonable:
Boeing Heavy Lift Helicopter:
A VTOL C-130:
Convair 200 VTOL fighter:
Lockheed CL-1090 (or similar) passenger compound helicopter:
Anything else to consider?
Dec 132020
The container vessel ONE Apus recently lost nearly TWO THOUSAND cargo containers due to getting tossed around in a storm. it was transporting Chinese products to California, but redirected to Japan after the incident. I suppose containers will be washing up all around the Pacific rim for years… but if *you* ordered something that came by that boat… don;t bet on ever seeing it. Fortunately, the Chinese probably already have your money, so they’ll be ok.
Storm-beaten ONE Apus berths in Japan
Of the more than 1,800 lost at sea, only 64 have had their contents described… because in their cases the contents were dangerous (batteries, chemicals, fireworks, etc.). Gotta wonder how many of the containers had *humans* in them… some being trafficked, some fleeing the ChiComs, some being sent *by* the ChiComs.
Oct 092020
Hmmm.
Singapore introduces ‘cruises to nowhere’ for travel-starved locals
In short… load half the number of passengers onto a cruise ship, set out to sea, pull into no ports, return home. All passengers and crew to be tested for Commie Cough prior to boarding.
I’ve been on a grand total of one cruise, an Alaskan coastal cruise some years ago. It pulled into several ports for excursions, but it seemed to me that the cruise itself was the main point of the exercise. I imagine that a cruise ship around – but not quite to – interesting locales, complete with notably fewer passengers, could sell quite well, even at a substantial markup. Close off the interior cabins, sell only the exterior cabins – the ones with good views and lots of fresh air – test the crew *daily,* go bonkers with the luxuries, and these things seem like they’d do quite well.
Oct 032020
Who says Communism can’t lead to booming businesses? Here’s a story how the Chinese Communist Party has successfully created a bunch of jobs in Turkey:
The covid cruise ship graveyard: Passenger liners are stripped for scrap at Turkish dock after the multi-billion pound industry was smashed by the coronavirus crisis
Communism is a *fantastic* way to turn good times for the western world into misery and financial ruin. But hey, at least there are some snazzy photos to look at while you ponder what sort of world we’ll have one not only has the Commie Cough had its way with the world, but the Harris Administration strips the citizenry of human rights and the ability to travel. Good times ahead!
Ponderable: Let’s say Trump succumbs to the Pinko Pox before the election. What happens to US/China relations in a theoretical Pence administration? Not much point in contemplating such things in a Harris administration; safe to say she’d stay their lapdog. Hell, the new administration would probably be even *more* grateful to the ChiComs for having taken out Bad Orange Man. Sure, they will have taken out a quarter million other Americans to get him, but a Communist can’t make an omelet without scrambling a few kulaks, amirite?
Sep 282020
Kinda wish there was a Paul Harvey “And that’s the rest of the story” on this.
Aug 062020
1: The cruise ship Orient Queen was in port opposite the blast… it capsized and sank:
غرق الباخرة السياحية Orient Queen pic.twitter.com/kdomynOYGf
— Cedar News – أخبار بلاد الأرز (@cedar_news) August 5, 2020
2: A wedding shoot (or at least a photoshoot of the bride) was upended by the blast. Certainly a memorable day…
3: Satellite images of the site, before and after, give an indication of the scale of the event and of the disaster: