This is snippet of a “devotional address” by former Secretary of Agriculture/future president of the LDS church (Mormons… you know, white shirts, black ties, bicycle helmets) given at Brigham Young University in 1968. Past the religious discussion, there is political discussion and purported predictions made by Nikita Kruschev. Give it a listen and see if’n it sounds like ol’ Nikky might have been right…
In 1964, Lockheed responded to a US Navy RFP for a flying submersible anti-submarine-warfare craft. Two of the designs studied were the CL-865-1 and CL-865-2, bot of which were more “submersible aircraft” than “flying submarines.” Both featured long-span, straight, high aspect ratio wings, a two-man crew, a single T56 turboshaft engines and hydroski landing gear. The -1 connected the T56 to a single propellor mounted on a pylon well above the fuselage (in a layout reminiscent of a n umber of motorized sailplanes), while the -2 connect the turboshaft to two ducted fans. The -2 was the more aggressive of the two designs (though there were apparently other even more advanced concepts), using wings that would fold back to reduce underwater drag and a water augmented rocket for takeoff assist. Both designs would have met the design requirements of:
1) cruise altitude: 2500 feet
2) cruise speed: 225 knots
3) flight radius: 500 nautical miles
4) submarine endurance: 10 hours
5) Maximum depth: 75 feet
6) Payload: 1500 pounds
The development of the Saturn launch vehicle was a complex one, though, by modern standards, very brief. It was originally conceived as a vehicle composed of a cluster of smaller vehicles; the final Saturn I launch vehicle first stage was indeed built from Jupiter and Redstone tanks, with engines derived from that of the Jupiter IRBM. But the upper stages were also sometimes shown as being derived from Atlas or Titan missiles.
Here are a few early steps along the way.
A Marxist will soon be in the White House. The Dems, who already control Congress, will soon have an unstoppable majority in both houses.
So, it’s now up to you. Since the Dems took back Congress in the 2006 elections, the economy has tanked, driven in no small part by the bad leadership of Pelosi and Reid and Frank. Now, they won’t have Bush to bitch about. Hell, now they can’t even bitch about racism.
And don’t forget… for the past seven or so years, all we’ve friggen’ heard is that “dissent is the highest form of patriotism.” Goes both ways, Comrades….
When I went to the vet yesterday, I had Bitey and her sister Fingers together in a crate. When I came home, I had Fingers in a crate, and Bitey in a cardboard box.
Bitey and Fingers were extremely close siblings. Last April or so, when Fingers downloaded a brood of three kittens, Bitey stayed with her and protected her, and helped mother and even nurse the kittens.
Bitey and Fingers were found invariably together, playing with each other (often “volleyball with a grasshopper”), hunting varmints together, whatever. If one got food, the other was sure to be along within just a few minutes. As far as I know, they’ve never been apart more than a single night.
I went out today to get groceries and take some photos (a storm blew through, and that’s usually pretty photogenic in the mountains). When I got home tonight, Fingers dashed into the garage, chattering up a storm, searching around among all the clutter. I brought her into the house and let her into the basement (keeping her away from my three “official” cats, due to the risk of her having leukemia as well and possibly spreading the virus) so that she could spend a night in the warm and dry; she immediately proceded to run around all the clutter in the basement, calling out. Then she clawed at the door to be let out, whereupon she ran up the steps and searched around under the deck, calling out. She came in and out half a dozen times before deciding to take off into the night, calling out the whole time.
Anyone who suggests that animals are incapable of emotions have never seen a cat trying to find her lifelong best friend. Anyone who suggests that engineers are incapable of emotions have never seen an engineer watch a cat search piteously for her best friend… knowing that she’ll never find her.
According to townhall.com:
GOP Election Board members have been tossed out of polling stations in at least half a dozen polling stations in Philadelphia because of their party status.
A Pennsylvania judge previously ruled that court-appointed poll watchers could be NOT removed from their boards by an on-site election judge, but that is exactly what is happening, according to sources on the ground.
It is the duty of election board workers to monitor and guard the integrity of the voting process.
Denying access to the minority (in this case Republican) poll watchers and inspectors is a violation of Pennsylvania state law. Those who violate the law can be punished with a misdemeanor and subjected to a fine of $1,000 and sent to prison between one month and two years.
Those on site are describing the situation as “pandemonium” and there may be video coming of the chaos.
I recommend: get used to this.
Living in farm country has meant living with a number of roaming semi-wild cats. Some are entirely wild; some are downright friendly with humans. Bitey was one of my favorites (despite the incident that got her her name)… not quite civilized, she’d avoid being caught, but once caught she’d purr up a storm. She and her extended family would drop by once a day or so to say “howdy” and “give us some food.” They have proven to be quite capable of taking care of themselves, so I didn’t have any particular fears for them when I went off to Maryland.
When I got home on Saturday, it didn’t take but a few minutes before Bitey showed up at my front door. But rather than the plump, frisky kitty I remembered, she was slow, skinny and coughing. Today I took her to the vet. And today I held her in my arms as the vet gave her the shot that quickly and peacefully stopped her heart.
Bitey had contracted feline leukemia, and was near death; the vet figured a few weeks, tops. A few weeks of pain, with the danger of infecting other cats. So I made the decision. Normally when I’d hold her, she’d put up with petting for a half minute or so then decide she’d had enough, and would squirm away. Today the vet wrapped her in a blanket and gave her to me to hold before they administered the shot; for ten minutes she just lay there peacefully, purring slightly, and looking at me. I know it’s irrational to anthropomorphise the feelings and motivations of cats, but I can’t shake the thought that she knew that she was in a bad way, and that she expected me to make it all better.
This last month has really sucked. On top of everything else, I now have one less little furry friend, and am left to wonder if she felt betrayed at the end. Because I didn’t make it all better. I just made the pain stop for her.
And, no, that’s not hyperbole on my part. Read the transcript, listen to the interview here:
What I’ve said is that we would put a cap and trade system in place that is as aggressive, if not more aggressive, than anybody else’s out there.
I was the first to call for a 100% auction on the cap and trade system, which means that every unit of carbon or greenhouse gases emitted would be charged to the polluter. That will create a market in which whatever technologies are out there that are being presented, whatever power plants that are being built, that they would have to meet the rigors of that market and the ratcheted down caps that are being placed, imposed every year.
So if somebody wants to build a coal-powered plant, they can; it’s just that it will bankrupt them because they’re going to be charged a huge sum for all that greenhouse gas that’s being emitted.
While roaming Medicine Bow yesterday, I kept trotting around from spot to spot, looking for the best photographic opportunities. Since time was limited, this meant driving and then jogging, rather than extended hiking. And even so, it really didn’t take long to get winded and all beat to hell. Now, sadly there is a lot of “old” and “out of shape” that I could blame that on… but in the new Obamessiah era of not blaming oneself for problems but shadowy outside forces, here’s another possible explanation….
Well, there’s three months down the drain. At least I got some good aerospace data and a boatload of photos out of the deal, some of which are below. People keep telling me that I could have a career as a nature photographer… I think it’s just about time to find out.
I will get busy on cranking out APR CD’s for subscribers as soon as I can. But for now I need to hurl heavy objects and collapse for a while.
