This guy doesn’t seem to fit in

 art, awesomeness, history, Hmm..., youtube  No Responses »
Jul 052019
 

This here Britainlander lives in London and makes his own clothes in the style of a “Regency gentleman.” For those unaware – and honestly, why would anyone be – the “Regency era” was a period of British history roughly between the time King George III (you know, the crazy one who lost the Brits the United States) was booted from power for being a nutjob and the installment of Queen Victoria. It would have been a perfect time for the Brits to boot *all* the “royals” and build themselves a republic modeled along the lines of the US. But it wasn’t to be, and now they get to look forward to installing an elderly King Charles.

Anyway.

Anywhere else, a guy going about dressed in the historic garb of his ethnic group would be of almost no newsworthiness whatsoever. A Japanese person wearing a kimono? A Sikh in a turban? An Arab in a… well whatever they call those robes? Meh, to all. But this guy is in Siddiq Khan’s London, and a white guy dressed like a white guy from 200 years ago is BBC Newsworthy:

I can’t say as I think much of that hat, but otherwise, hey, he looks pretty snazzy. Just so long as he doesn’t wave around one of those “Betsy Ross flags…”

Me, I’m a fashion slob. I choose my clothes based on “does it fit?” and “is it cheap?” I give approximately zero thought to fashion because… well, why would I? But if I did… hmmm.

Make some adjustments (better boots), update some of the materials (titanium mail seems like it aught to be a thing), replace the wood shield with one of kevlar), perhaps replace the axe with a shotgun, and that seems like just the outfit for a modern gentleman about town. Especially if it is a town that is still plagued with Antifa…

 

 Posted by at 12:18 am

The ugly truth of the Fourth of July

 AARRRGH, Crazy, Forward!, Gah., history, Meh., politics, ಠ_ಠ  No Responses »
Jul 042019
 

The real “ugly truth” is that it brings the lowest form of anti-American scumbag out of the woodwork to spew their ridiculous nonsense.

What’s the lowest form of anti-American? An American anti-American. Behold:

Fourth of July’s ugly truth exposed: The Declaration of Independence is sexist, racist, prejudiced

Summary: pissing and moaning that a document written in 1776 was written using the language and ideas and beliefs of 1776, and, shockingly, not those of Current Year. I’m honestly surprised that this piece doesn’t complain that the declaration didn’t discuss the rights of gays and transsexuals and nonbinaries and furries (hey, 4chan: get to work on getting the leftnuts PO’ed at the author for leaving these marginalized folks out of his article). In the future this same class of reprehensible muttonhead will complain that the DoI didn’t include clones and AI and uplifted chimps and Europan oceanic bacteria and transdimensional entities and imaginary magical unicorns.

 Posted by at 11:39 pm

Cruise Missile propfan

 aircraft, eBay, history, models, nukes, projects  No Responses »
Jul 042019
 

Someone is selling a contractors model of an engine for a cruise missile on ebay. The engine is an unducted aft fan design. This type of engine was proposed for use on jetliners; it provides fuel efficiency benefits but in the end the brain-melting noise it put out doomed the concept. Not only did it bother people, it also tended to buzz the bejeebers out of the aircraft structure. In the end very high bypass conventional turbofan engines proved capable of doing the job. Noise, of course, would not have been much of an issue for a cruise missile, but since this design was put forward (circa 1989) the US has not fielded any new major cruise missiles.

Note:”TCAE /GEAE” likely stands for Teledyne Continental Aviation and Engineering / General Electric Aviation Engines. Teledyne CAE was known as such between 1969 and 1999, an unhelpful 30-year span.

Vtg USAF TCAE/GEAE Propfan Engine Cruise Missile App 1/5 Scale Contractor Model

 Posted by at 10:44 pm

YouTubers worth watching: the Critical Drinker

 art, awesomeness, Hmm..., humor, politics, science fiction, wisdom, youtube, YouTubers worth watching  No Responses »
Jul 042019
 

There are lots of pop culture critics on YouTube. Most are, bluntly… meh. Some, like Dictor von Doomcock, are on the mark, funny and insightful… and angry, because what’s being done with modern mythology would make any rational man angry. But then there’s the Critical Drinker, who is on the mark, funny and insightful… and drunk, because what’s being done with modern mythology will drive many a rational man to booze.

 

 Posted by at 4:26 pm

Fairing entry is f’n gorgeous

 art, awesomeness, history, news, rockets, spacecraft  No Responses »
Jul 032019
 

Huh.

SpaceX put a camera in the fairings used on the Falcon 9. They finally recovered one, and the results are spectacular.

 

 

 

 

 

 Posted by at 11:59 pm

So now you know what a Danish mermaid looks like

 Forward!, Meh., news  No Responses »
Jul 032019
 

Disney, in their eternal struggle to produce new, fresh content, is remaking “The Little Mermaid,” a tale from Hans Christian Anderson about a mermaid who lives near Denmark and falls in love with a prince. Not having actually seen the Disney animated movie, I can only assume that it closely adheres to the original tale… the Little Mermaid suffers horrifying pain in order to acquire humans legs and feet in order to win the princes love, but in the end fails to do so, watches as he marries some other woman, then dies and dissolves into sea foam because she made a ridiculously bad deal. Lesson: listen up, kids… life is pain and in the end you will die in failure.

Anyway, Disney is remaking the story with a live action cast, presumably a bucket of CGI as well. They’ve just announced the starring role. See if you can make any assumptions about that based on this headline:

Celebs Applaud Halle Bailey’s Casting as Ariel in ‘The Little Mermaid’

Never mind who “Halle Baily” (*not* Halley Berry) is. Pay attention to the “celebs applaud.” Do they applaud over things like “the most skilled acting unit,” or “looks most like the character?” Or do they applaud over “most PC selection” or “most likely to annoy regular folks and provide an opportunity for their woke betters to mock them?”

You be the judge.

 Posted by at 7:50 pm

Cobra Prototype

 aircraft, art, awesomeness, history, Hmm...  No Responses »
Jul 032019
 

The Bell Cobra attack helicopter prototype was built on company funds as a bit of speculation; more than 50 years later (it first flew in September of 1965… only 8 months after go-ahead), it clearly turned out to be a good decision. And while modern Cobras such as the AH-1Z “Viper” are doubtless far more advanced and capable, the very first Cobra prototype still looks sci-fi slick. Especially considering that it was built with retractable skids, a feature not included on production Cobras. The added weight, cost, complexity and reduced internal volume did not make up for the reduced drag… but it just looked *awesome.* The prototype was also fitted with a ventral extension to the tailfin that turned out unnecessary. The AH-1Z looks like a bulldozer compared to the prototype.

Give the Cobra prototype larger wings, install small, modern, powerful cruise missile turbofans in each wing root, an overall gloss black paint job with a white underside and a kick-ass 1980’s synthesized theme song… and you’d really have something.

 

 Posted by at 11:20 am
 Older Entries  Newer Entries