Hawaiians: Head For The Hills

 news  4 Responses »
Mar 112011
 

OK, this seems kinda pointless… I have difficulty imagining why you’d read this on my little piddly blog and NOT be aware of the larger world of news. But if you are in Hawaii – or pretty much anywhere else on the Pacific Rim… head for the hills.

TSUNAMI WARNING FOR THE STATE OF HAWAII BASED ON AN 8.9 M EARTHQUAKE OFF HONSHU JAPAN.  EST. 1ST WAVE ARRIVAL IS 3:07 AM.

The quake in Japan has led to some video that when I saw it on the TV I couldn’t tell *what* the hell I was watching. As it turned out, it was live helicopter footage of a tsunami rolling in. Holy crap.

[youtube w2Y-EKchjqo]

Astonishing footage, with dumbass fratboy commentary:

[youtube zL9q3-xZrCA]

More footage:

[youtube jBGROIKdsOs]

[youtube wBt5VlZkdyY]

[youtube gnrRohiB_74]

And here’s a half hour of video, with Hindi language commentary and a *lot* of annoying graphics and text.

[youtube koyvjWicGYA]

I gotta imagine that the death toll here is going to be impressive.

As for the cause of the earthquake…

 Posted by at 2:13 am

The end of the British Interplanetary Society?

 AARRRGH, news, rockets, spacecraft  6 Responses »
Mar 102011
 

From the March 2011 issue of “Odyssey, the Newsletter of the British Interplanetary Society:”

AN OPEN LETTER FROM THE EXECUTIVE SECRETARY OF THE BIS
TO THE MEMBERSHIP

You will have read in the March 2011 edition of Spaceflight that
the Society has reached a turning point in its history. The
direction we take at this crossroads will decide the Society’s
future, or perhaps more aptly whether the Society has a future
at all. One direction leads to the continuation of the BIS as a
guiding force in the world of astronautics; the other leads to the
winding-up of the BIS, or at best to a scaled down and much
less influential version of the Society to which you belong.

Which direction we take very much now depends on you. It is
no longer enough just to be a member of the British
Interplanetary Society. What we need now is your active
participation and support. Without this the Society will close
within 12 months.

The BIS was there *before* the dawn of the Space Age,and presented the first technical feasible – if moderately insane – design for a manned moon rocket. It looks like the decline in interest in the future of mankind has begun to take its toll across the pond.

 Posted by at 4:28 pm

D188A ARRGH update…

 AARRRGH, APR, blather, books, new products  6 Responses »
Mar 092011
 

Emails continue to come in regarding the D188A publication. Some are complaints that text is hacked off, others notifications that the text is *close* to being hacked off. There is clearly some substantial variation from one print to the next. I’ve been informed by someone who’s been down this road before that this is common with print on demand services, and that the stuff on the page can be shifted around by 5mm or more.

Awesome.

This was *not* mentioned in the documentation. Or if it was it was buried in the small print. So, a revised version proof has been mailed to me and should be here within a week. At that time I’ll determine if even *more* tinkering needs to happen, or if I can re-release it. I really hope for the latter, as each proof costs me money… and with less than 20 sold, it only takes a few proofs to wipe out what little profit I’ve made.

Assuming I can get this satisfactorily worked out, I’ll figure out something for those who got screwed  up copies. The best I have at the moment: if your copy has text hacked off, send it to me, and I’ll order a replacement for you. Don’t do this just yet, of course… there are no replacements.

Arrrrgh.

 Posted by at 7:12 pm
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