Tinkered around a little more with the very fast exposure settings on my camera, this time getting shots at 1/100,000 of a second. Focus remains a serious challenge, but I’m sure it would be resolvable.
It’s interesting to see that what looks like a solid stream of water is just a bunch of individual drops. As the flash goes off you can actually make that out; for a split second you get a very clear image burned into your retina.
I downloaded the CHDK “hack” for my camera. It’s a little program that feeds directly into the cameras microprocessor, and allows the camera to do things it normally doesn’t. In my case, I used it to take both long and short duration exposures. So far, the photos kinda suck, but they show promise…
Two long duration photos, attempting to capture the Milky Way. What I did manage to get pretty clearly is that my cameras sensor chip is loaded to the gills with hot pixels (individual pixels that are basically burned out), and one corner of the sensor is going *really* goofy. Both problems are brought into sharp focus at long exposures of dark views. The first problem manifests itself by way of thousands of extraneous blue and red dots; the second in a purple “nebula” in the corner. A new sensor would fix this right up. And I’ll bet a nickel that that’s just what Best Buy *won’t* do under the cameras warranty…
And then there are the high speed photos, showing water. A mix of 1/60,000 and 1/10,000 second shots, all requiring a flash. Focus is vital, it seems. Still, there’s promise here.
After some unavoidable delays, Justo Miranda’s “Reichdream Dossiers” continue to be added to the up-ship.com/blog catalog. Recently added are:
DOSSIER NO 6. “PROJEKT AMERIKA”
DOSSIER NO 7. THE FIRST ANTIAIRCRAFT MISSILES
DOSSIER NO 8. BORDWAFFEN, ABWURWAFFEN, FLUGKÖRPER
DOSSIER NO 17. ARADO JET BOMBERS
Check them out here:
http://www.up-ship.com/blog/drawndoc/rd/rd.htm
Another Hiller museum photo, this time showing a photo of a model of a smallish jetliner featuring aft wings and largish canards up front. No further data.
From Reuters:
Nearly completed high-rise collapses in Shanghai
HONG KONG (Reuters) – A 13-storey residential building under construction in Shanghai collapsed on Saturday, killing one worker and highlighting the dangers of shoddy building in fast-urbanising China.
On the one hand… how badly do you have to build a structure so that it just topples over?
But on the other hand, how many other large buildings have you ever seen that fell over like this and weren’t instantly converted into a shapeless pile of rubble? Not too often, though sometimes… (also here and here)
Now THIS is damned funny. Who knew the Germans had a sense of humor?
UPDATE: But then, the same group produced THIS video adverstisement. And my feeling of “haw, haw, thet’s damned funny, right ther” transmogrifies into “What the hell is that? Is that a feller, or some sorta androgynous robo-thingie? If it’s a feller, and he’s the German target audience…how’n hell they ever sweep across Europe?”
In the mid-60’s, VTOL in all its forms was all the rage. In 1965, Lockheed answered a US Army Request For Proposals with the CL-945 concept, a stowed-rotor helicopter design. At low speeds and hover, it would operate as a helicopter; at higher speeds, aircraft-style propulsion systems would power it forward; and at much higher speeds than helicopters normally attain, the rotors would stop rotating and would fold back and be stowed for minimum drag. It was a great idea that had the little problem of being horribly complex, heavy and expensive.
At least three distinct designs were put forward. The First, the CL-945-1, used the rotors, pusher prop and tail rotor from the AH-56 Cheyenne were used with an all-new fuselage. The rotors folded backwards in flight, but were not covered.
The CL-945-2 designation was given to two slightly different designs. Both not only folded the rotors back, but also stowed them internally for minimum high-speed drag. One design featured turbofan engines, one under each small wing.
The other was similar, but used turboprops instead.
There were slight variations on the latter design shown publicly.
U. of I. jobs-for-entry scheme
What does it cost to get an unqualified student into the University of Illinois law school?
Five jobs for graduating law students, suggest internal e-mails released Thursday.
On no account should a politician who came of political age in the Illinois machine system ever be allowed to take high national office. No good will come of it. Additionally, lawyers – especially Illinois lawyers – should be barred from holding elective office higher than local. Conflict of interest, after all, to have the people who m ake money off of the law actually making the law.
