Soleimani funeral stampede in Iran leaves at least 56 dead, state TV reports
Hmmm.
Jan 072020
Jan 072020
In 1985 Rockwell – perhaps half-heartedly – suggested the possibility of a business case for a manned station in geosynchronous orbit. The station would be used to service satellites in GEO. While an interesting notion, satellites in GEO relatively rarely require any actual servicing; the three billion dollars Rockwell expected such a system would cost (and let’s face it, the cost would doubtless balloon) would likely far outweigh the cost of simply replacing the satellites.
Jan 072020
For sane people, “cultural appropriation” is a good thing, as it spreads what’s good around while depriving nobody of anything. Still, sometimes cultural appropriation in action just looks kinda hard to wrap your mind around. Take, for example, this:
Where we have a group (Ningen Isu) of old-ish Japanese fellers in traditional Japanese garb rockin’ out to some pretty good headbanging metal. Inspired by the likes of Black Sabbath, they sing not just in Japanese, but *old* Japanese, and use not only traditional Japanese folk tales for inspiration but also Edgar Allen Poe and H.P. Lovecraft.
Wrong, yet so very, very awesome. It (like “The HU“) shouldn’t work, yet it does.
Jan 062020
Iran continues to threaten the most horrific of all possible retributions for the execution of their scumbag, and yet… I’m not too terrified of this. In fact… go on, Iran. Do it. I double dog dare you.
Iran threatens to expose western diplomats who took bribes to create the Iran Deal
H.J.Ansari Zarif’s senior advisor: “If Europeans stop trading with Iran and don’t put pressure on US then we will reveal which western politicians and how much money they had received during nuclear negotiations to make #IranDeal happen.”
That would be interesting.#JCPOA— Raman Ghavami (@Raman_Ghavami) May 8, 2018
Amusing notion: if Hillary took bribes, threatening her could well lead to Iran being found after hanging itself in a closet. That would be an interesting way to avoid war: simply make the Clintons feel threatened, and all of a sudden an entire regime gets Epsteined.
Jan 052020
So, the US jammed a small missile into the proximity of a mass murderer and war criminal. Surely nobody could have a problem with that, right? Surely not in the west, right? Guess again:
@BorisJohnson @UKParliament @realDonaldTrump pic.twitter.com/HPYutC36IY
— 🇬🇧karebear🇬🇧 (@QWATPQ) January 5, 2020
So now a lot of people are yapping about a war breaking out between the United states and Iran. The fact is, we have been at war with Iran since they committed the crime of invading the US embassy and taking the staff hostage. That was an act of international piracy, and international law has *long* accepted that any nation may take action against pirates wherever they may be found. Once Iran surrenders unconditionally, utterly rejects the ideology and beliefs that led them to taking the embassy, reworks their government into a modern secular system that truly provides for freedom of *all* religions and tries all those who supported the criminal and anti-human policies and actions of the “Islamic Republic of Iran,” *then* perhaps we can say that we are not at war with them. If Iran decides to escalate…
In the mean time, it seems like Britain should start mass deportations.
Jan 052020
Apparently the Apple+ series “For All Mankind” ends with a post-credit scene of a Sea Dragon lifting off…
Giggity!
It’s an imperfect depiction (it’s far too submerged for starters), but it’s still spiffy as hell. If only it had an Orion as a payload, I *might* be tempted too plunk down the funds to spend on yet another unnecessary streaming channel.
If you are wondering just what the “Sea Dragon” was and whether it was a real concept… take a look at Aerospace Projects Review article on it HERE. That article was originally published as part of APR issue V4N6 and is available separately, or with a complete Volume 4 bundle.
Jan 052020
A pity that this is only an excerpt.
Jan 052020
In 1985, Rockwell considered that there might be a market for space construction facilities for large orbital structure such as solar power satellites, large radio/radar antenna, SDI “elements” (likely references the relatively gigantic neutral particle beams, space based lasers and other “space guns” that were contemplated at the time) and other large structures. This capability was first contemplated in the mid 70’s for the SPS program, but did not really last much past the late 80’s when such vast structures were no longer really expected anytime soon.
Jan 052020
Given the lack of a moon and the incredibly slow rotation rate, this is a bit of a surprise.
Scientists find evidence that Venus has active volcanoes
Active volcanoes would have please pre-Mariner sci fi authors. Pity about the hellish atmosphere and complete lack of oceans, swamps and dinosaurs, though.
Jan 042020
The Snow Cruiser was a disastrously bad land vehicle designed for Antarctic exploration. It just didn’t work. I suspect a lot of that was due to a pretty insane design for the tires… they were smooth and treadless. How the frak they were intended to gain traction on snow and ice I’ve no idea… but unsurprisingly, they didn’t. Still, it always appealed to me, not unlike the Landmaster. In some slightly different alternate reality it would have been designed slightly differently and would have successfully transited Antarctica. In some rather more different alternate reality it would have led to a series of gradually improved versions, including a nuclear powered land-train version…