Feel free to print these out and wallpaper your town/office/school with them. Download ’em and jam ’em into your companies newsletter. Hijack a network TV signal and broadcast ’em Whatever.
If you’ve got better, I’d be glad to see it…
Aug 192011
Aug 192011
Wedding photos are… boring. Sure, if they are photos of *your* wedding, they might be the most interesting things ever, but for the rest of humanity… yawn.
But then there’s THIS album.
As the first two posts on the relevant Fark.com thread put it:
These kookoo kids seem to get what marriage is (or should be) all about. I wish them
a long and happy life together.
and…
This is one of those moments where you look at something, and are immediately bummed you didn’t think of it first.
Aug 192011
Heh.
Low-flying car: Russian ex-pilot builds working prototype… but it can only get 10ft off the ground
It becomes airborne at 60 miles per hour but has a maximum height of just 10 feet and can fly a distance of only 600 feet.
The Russian inventor from the city of Kaluga, 93 miles south West of Moscow, modified a 1987 ZAZ Tavria car by replacing the doors and bonnet with lighter materials and then adding wings.
[youtube S7sw5S9d9C4]
It appears that the actual purpose of the car is to give trainee pilots practice in takeoffs and landings. I’m a little uncertain that this would be the best simulator for that sort of thing, but as it’s currently built, that’s pretty much all it’d be good for.
Oh, and mandatory:
[youtube vzm6pvHPSGo]
Aug 192011
I’ve mentioned this before, but what the hell. In 2001 or thereabouts, AIG ran a series of TV commercials based around the concept of taking risks. Say what you will about AIG and their ability to properly manage risk, but their commercials were occasionally something to behold. Best of all of ’em was a commercial featuring a woman reading “The Love Song Of J Alfred Prufrock” by TS Elliot over scenes from the early space program, starting with disasters and ending with triumph. The tagline was “The greatest risk is not taking one.” Now that the US has no manned spaceflight capability… this message is *hammered* home.
[youtube WJX_TaCFg50]
Now, as then, this little video brings a tear to my eye. Shut up. It’s dusty in here.
Also good – but not nearly as good – is another AIG commercial from the same series that was based around the development of flight:
[youtube P3Sd7MnHMaM&NR]
Aug 182011
I’m in serious need of jacking up business around here. Basically, this would seem to mean that I need to get the word out, especially regarding Aerospace Projects Review and the Aircraft & Spacecraft Drawings & Documents. I’ve done some magazine advertising in the past (most notably Fine Scale Modeler) with limited success. I need a return of print ads, or website ads, or something. Posts I’ve made on fora and newsgroups seem to have been of almost zero value, and nowadays seem to come with a “you’re a spammer” backlash.
I am open to practical suggestions, advice or flat-out help in this matter. Magazines, websites, relevant newsletters (I write the “APR Corner” bit for the Houston AIAA “Horizons” newsletter, for instance), what-the-hell-ever. Getting product reviews would be good, I think… but where/how? I know APR is a niche market… but come on, there have to be more than a few dozen people interested in this stuff on the entire freakin’ planet.
Aug 182011
Oy.
Ridley Scott Ready To Direct New Version Of Seminal Sci-Fi Film ‘Blade Runner’
Ummm… how about NO.
I have no doubt that Ridley Scott, with modern film making tech, could make one hell of a remake. But… he got it right the first time.
From the opening scene to the death of Roy Batty, Blade Runner was loaded to the gills with pure awesome geniusocity. Any attempt to remake that will almost certainly fall short.
[youtube YaR5wVL9x2I]
[youtube ZTzA_xesrL8]
Aug 182011
“The Colbert Report” had a damned fine montage of NASAs greatest moments:
Also viewable HERE. The full interview with the crew of Atlantis is also worth watching.
Aug 172011
Anne Hathaway gangsta rapping. Sure, why the hell not.
[youtube uKvQvWTZFWg]
Aug 172011
Check out the trailer for the 2012 Lucasfilm movie “Red Tails:”
[youtube BpA6TC0T_Lw]
P-51’s vs Me 262’s. *I* *AM* *THERE.*
Aug 172011
A May, 2011 video from NASA-Langley discussing current NASA work on rotorcraft design. Has some CG animation of passenger carrying high speed rotorcraft, and some footage of a wind tunnel model of something that *might* be a massively mutated UH-60.
[youtube IESNnkCcGK8]