Apr 162010
 

Northrop designed this highly-modified version of the F-23 back in 1990 for the US Navy. It differed substantially from the YF-23 prototype… the wings were moved aft, canards were added, the vertical tails were made more vertical and given a sawtooth trailing edge (done in part to allow the fins to be as large as possible, as far aft as possible, and as short in fore-aft length as possible, while retaining the trailing edge angles). As with the USAF F-23A design, a two-seater concept was also designed. Note that the forward fuselage is also substantially re-contoured.

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 Posted by at 8:59 pm
Apr 152010
 

A while back I took a series of photos of the B-1 bomber on display at the Hill Aerospace Museum and stitched them together into what I must say is a fairly impressive large image. A few weeks back I had it printed on a 24X36 sheet of matte photo paper.  The aspect ratio was just a little off, so there are white “borders” at top and bottom.

Earlier this week I took it down to the Museum, with the intention of showing it to the gift shop’s managers and seeing if I could get them to carry this and other image. Short form: No. Not enough display area to carry such large pictures. Thus ends *that.*

So, having more need of money than for one of my own photos… who wants it? It is a really big picture, and IMO really quite good. It is also a one-of-a-kind, and likely to remain that way… if i somehow or other do manage to figure out some way of selling these as prints, they will almost certainly be on different, less-expensive paper. But I’m not foreseeing any such business venture anytime soon, so whoever buys this will have Print Number One of a run total of One.

Photos show the size of the print, as well as a few minor imperfections. It seems that when I got back to my car from the gift shop, I should have tossed in my coat *first* and then the print, not the other way around. Oh, well. Gives it “character.”

 Rather than eBaying it, I’ll do with this what I did with the aerospace art prints a week ago. First person to say “me!” wins the auction at the most recent price listed.  I’ll start at some ridiculously high price, and occasionally toss out lower bids. If you want the items and I get down to a price you’ll accept, simply post a “Me!” comment. If you’ve never commented before, you’ll find that your first comment must be moderated by me and won’t appear instantly; but go ahead and bid anyway. Comments set aside for moderation are put into their proper order once moderated. If you don’t wish to bid publicly, send me an email:

So, what do we have here…

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 Posted by at 9:55 pm
Apr 152010
 

http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2010/04/susquenita_high_school_officia.html

The youths involved in a sexting case at Susquenita High School last year are facing felony charges.

Now, based on parents’ complaints, the administrators who caught them might face their own consequences, creating another murky legal issue in the largely untested intersection of children, technology and pornography.

Computers make everything easier. Including acting like a dumbass and getting arrested for things that were not crimes just a short while ago… because a short while ago that particualr crime would have been technologically virtually impossible (sending dirty videos over the telephone??).

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You can see her wrists! Scandalous! Arrest everyone!!!

 Posted by at 8:37 am
Apr 142010
 

A 1954 US Air Force sketch of the “Tupelov-Gurevich Intercontinental Bombardment Airplane.” Clearly this is meant to be the Tu-95 “Bear” bomber, but it misses the mark in a number of areas… the fuselage is shown far larger in diameter than the actual aircraft, and of course the Bear only had four engines, not six.

It was projected to be powered by six M-028 turboprops, derivatives of the German BMW-028 design. Additionally, a BMW-109-718 rocket motor was to be fitted for added power at takeoff and for short speed bursts. Speed was to be 500 mph and range of 10,500 miles.

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 Posted by at 11:36 pm
Apr 142010
 

Since the far Left does not have any actual good arguements against the notion of reducing the size and expense of government, they have to rely of emotion and deception. And the deception you can expect to see is summed up succinctly at: http://www.crashtheteaparty.org/

WHAT WE WANT: To dismantle and demolish the Tea Party by any non-violent means necessary.

HOW WE WILL SUCCEED: By infiltrating the Tea Party itself! In an effort to propogate their pre-existing propensity for paranoia and suspicion… We have already sat quietly in their meetings, and observed their rallies.

Whenever possible, we will act on behalf of the Tea Party in ways which exaggerate their least appealing qualities (misspelled protest signs, wild claims in TV interviews, etc.) to further distance them from mainstream America and damage the public’s opinion of them.

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Now, obviously it takes a world-class moron to discuss a devious scheme of infiltrating an organization on THE WORLD-FRIGGEN’ WIDE WEB. And what kind of moron is this? A teacher, of course.

http://blog.oregonlive.com/mapesonpolitics/2010/04/beaverton_teacher_faces_invest.html

Jason Levin, the Portland man who caused a ruckus over his plans to “infiltrate” Tea Party protests in an aim to discredit them, teaches in a Beaverton middle school and now faces an investigation by the Teacher Standards and Practices Commission.

Melody Hanson, the commission’s director of professional practices, said Wednesday that the agency opened an investigation because “there was enough concern that there was some neglect of duty” on the part of Levin.

Now, there will be actual racists, actual crazy people at Tea Party rallies, and the press will focus on them. Partially they will do so because crazy people are just plain more intereting than regular schmoes… but mostly because the press, as much as they bleat othewise, is ideologically opposed to the basic Tea Party tenets of limited Constitutional government. But now… whenever the press features these jackholes… make sure to point out “Crash the Tea Party.”

 Posted by at 1:05 pm