The archives of the San Diego Aerospace Museum has a number of “brochures” of Consolidated Vultee/Convair aircraft projects from well before WWII to just after. Here, for example, is a design for a patrol seaplane/bomber dated 12-2-1944. Note the two jet engines in the wing pylon. This has to be one of the earliest designs for a large jet seaplane.
<>It looks somewhat like a modernised, refined, jet propelled PBY Catalina.
If you’re like me (and if you are, you have my condolensces and my scorn), you believe that:
1) The Japanese whaling industry should be stopped
2) The lame-ass hippies of the “Sea Shepards” are a bunch of environazi ecoterrorists and also need to be stopped.
Well, the Japanese part of this equation finally pulled their thumbs out and did their part towards bringing #2 to fruition: the Sea Shepards got themselves a shiny new “stealth boat,” the “Ady Gil,” and promptly put it in the path of a Japanese whaling vessel which ran it over, chopping it in half. Last I read, the boat is probably going to sink.
Now, look, the Japanese are assholes. But the hippies put a damned speedboat in the path of a big-ass, full-up ship and somehow couldn’t avoid the collision? Sorry, no, wrong. If you play chicken with something bigger, slower and less maneuverable than you and you lose… tough fricken’ luck, Moonbeam.
Entertaining YouTube videos HERE (enjoy the witty play-by-play by the hippies filming the incident) and HERE . The second one was shot from the deck of the Japanese vessel. The annoying bleeping is the sound of the LRAD acoustic weapon used against Sea Shepard and other pirates on the high seas. Note that the Ady Gill is clearly under power and proceeding forward at the time of the collision. Any claim that the Gil was reversing in order to avoid contact appears to be rubbish. HERE is a video from just before the collision showing the crw of the Ady Gil behaving like reckless morons.
Well, I’m here. I decided that I needed to take the train across country once, just to see what it’s like. Well… it kinda sucks. The scheduled 31 hours from Utah to Illinois was harsh enough, but the additional 4 hours delay was an added bonus. The seats are pretty good… vastly better than the torture devices employed by the airlines. The food was like rubber, but at least it was overpriced. And while it passed through some of the most beautiful terrain on earth, the optical quality of the windows was abyssmal. And thirty-six or so hours sitting in the same seat in the same clothes… let’s just say I wasn’t exactly “springtime fresh” at the end of it.
On the plus side, the last 4 hours or so just flew by, as I spent them in conversation with a very nice, very smart, extraordinarily gorgeous blue-eyed redhead who reminded be a great deal of The One girl I was extremely fond of, lo those many years ago. It’s always shocking to me when such a beauty seems to find me interesting (which means I’ve been shocked, what, maybe three times now. Gah.). Pity about the age difference… and her boyfriend. Oh, well. An old broken down geezer can still appreciate a pretty girl who flits in and then out of his life.
Anyway, I took hundreds of photos, but only a few turned out really decent. None of the telephoto shots came out… I simply could not get the lens to focus. And anything taken at any angle other than straight out tended to be ruined by the waviness in the plastic window.
Starting late tonight, my online & blogging activities will likely be curtailed somewhat for two weeks or so. Going somewhere I’ve been before, but by a route I’ve never taken before. Could be good, could be disastrous.
Violent attack shattered lives
But just 18 days after that plea, state records show, King was paroled as part of the early-release program that Gov. Pat Quinn on Wednesday called “a big mistake.” And the next day, King allegedly threatened another woman, near the same place he attacked Hall, yelling, “Remember the couple who got beat real bad for not giving a cigarette? That was me,” police said.
Remember, this happened in Illinois, home of Political Corruption and Obama’s career. But I repeat myself. Hall would have gotten thrown in the slammer for Odin only knows how long had she been caught carrying a pistol, but the monster who prit near killed her get’s eighteen *days.*
It is of course entirely possible that had Hall or Hoffman been carrying a piece, things would have still gone jsut as bad. But it’s unliekly that this waqs the first time that King had tried soemthign like this. Had just the time before his victim dropped him, society – and certainly Jennifer Hall – would have been much better off. I don’t care what some people say… not all human life is sacred. Sometimes, your Honor… he needed killin’.
As a followup to this, here’s the LS-200-10 Shuttle concept from 1971.
Buy My Stuff, such as aerospace drawings and documents and Aerospace Projects Review. Or you could just Donate. For more posts like this, click on the Unwanted Blog header up top and then click on the “Projects” category to the right (or just click the “Projects” link to the right, if you happen to see it).
Biblical scholar’s date for rapture: May 21, 2011
Behold the “logic” he uses:
By Camping’s understanding, the Bible was dictated by God and every word and number carries a spiritual significance. He noticed that particular numbers appeared in the Bible at the same time particular themes are discussed.
The number 5, Camping concluded, equals “atonement.” Ten is “completeness.” Seventeen means “heaven.” Camping patiently explained how he reached his conclusion for May 21, 2011.
The mind boggles.
UPDATE: Here’s the guy:
Now, where have I seen him before? Hmmm…
<>Took these a few months back along the Mississippi in Illinois.
A couple shots of a few of the SPIW prototype rifles at the Rock Island Arsenal museum. These examples are pretty rough… the museum has better.
