And I thought the North Koreans were nuts

 AARRRGH, blather, Crazy, weapons  23 Responses »
Dec 192011
 

Ack.

She’s Warm, Easy to Talk to, and a Source of Terror for Private-School Parents

As admissions director since 1996 at the Dalton School on the Upper East Side, Ms. Krents decides each year which of the city’s supply of high-achieving 4-year-olds get the privilege of attending one of the nation’s best-regarded kindergartens, which costs $36,970 a year.

Soft Power

The Barricade is a pretty scary toy, and it’s not even close to being the scariest Nerf gun. … Indeed, Nerf has become a lot more frightening since I was a kid. … Over the past few weeks I’ve been playing with some of the new Nerf guns, and I’ve tied myself in knots thinking about whether ultrarealistic weapons are just harmless fun or whether they reveal something terribly wrong with modern American boyhood.

Oy.

Thirty-six grand for kindergarten? Worries about Nerf guns, and thinking that they are “ultrarealistic?”

We’re doomed.

No, really. We’re doomed. If this sort of thinking infects a good fraction of the voting public – and I think it has – then before too long the North Koreans will be able to simply walk in and take over the joint.

 Posted by at 11:07 pm

Russia’s new ICBM

 news, rockets, russian empire, weapons  2 Responses »
Dec 192011
 

It’s from Pravda, so…

Russia works on 100-ton monster ballistic missile

The new missile, the mass of which is going to make up 100 tons, is said to replace the world-known “Voevoda” ICBM. In the West, this missile is known as “Satan.” In the meantime, Russia has already started working to create the middle-class newly equipped missile. The new missile is to be passed into service in 2015, RIA Novosti reports.

“Russia does not stand against the US missile  defense system. Russia stands against the creation of the missile defense system, which would be directly aimed against Russia to potentially reduce the possibilities of the Russian nuclear containment forces,” the official stated.

 Posted by at 12:58 pm

Who says commies are atheists???

 blather, Crazy, humor, news, politics, religion  6 Responses »
Dec 192011
 

Watch these North Koreans go bonkers over the death of Kim Jong Il. Their response, even of only one-tenth sincere, is nothing short of religious. They’re simply transferred the religious impulse to a family of dictatorial goobers.

[youtube 9M7egqcX90I]

[youtube pSWN6Qj98Iw]

[youtube FopyRHHlt3M]

 Posted by at 12:45 pm

The Truth Behind

 awesomeness, blather, history, science  4 Responses »
Dec 172011
 

Imagine my astonishment to stumble across a TV series that covers topics like the Nazca Lines, UFOs, crystal skulls, the Bermuda Triangle and such in a truly skeptical fashion. The National Geographic Channel is showing “The Truth Behind,” which I’ve caught just a few episodes of. Unlike “Ancient Aliens,” where a few hare-brained “experts” trot out patent rubbish without any rational counterpoint, “TTB” starts with the claims… and then has *actual* experts put them to the test. The crystal skulls episode, for example, showed that the supposed Magic Mayan Skulls were actually made no earlier than the late 19th century, and probably in Europe, using modern machines.

http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/channel/the-truth-behind/

 Posted by at 4:09 pm

Ditching a B-36

 aircraft, history  No Responses »
Dec 172011
 

In 1947, NACA-Langley conducted ditching tests on a  1/20 scale model of the XB-36. This involved accelerating the model under a rail system and releasing it over water, letting it glide down to a landing. In order to more accurately represent the configuration of the aircraft, panels were removed from the underside… landing gear doors, bomb bay doors, skin panels, etc. Obviously, a B-36 would not land in the water without good reason; and battle damage would rank way up there. While the plane remains stable during these battle-damage-landings, it sure does grind to a halt in a hell of a hurry. In suspect a real-life ditching like this would involve the aircraft breaking into several chunks.

[youtube k7e_mufjHXI]

 Posted by at 10:28 am

Shuttle Flatlines

 history, spacecraft  3 Responses »
Dec 162011
 

NASA Shuts Doors, Pulls Plug on Shuttle Discovery

NASA powered down the space shuttle Discovery for a final time Friday (Dec. 16), more than 28 years after the agency’s retired fleet leader first came alive. The vehicle was “unplugged” inside Orbiter Processing Facility-1 (OPF-1) at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Awww.

I has a sad.

Hopefully the February launch of a SpaceX Dragon to the ISS will make things a little less hopeless-looking.

 Posted by at 10:40 pm

Air Launch: the other end of the scale

 aircraft, projects, rockets, spacecraft  4 Responses »
Dec 162011
 
DARPA is looking at air launch options… but instead of giant, world-record carrier aircraft, they are also interested in the possibility of using fighters and/or small corporate jets as the carrier aircraft in order to launch 100 pound payloads. The goal is a mission cost of one million dollars or less… equating to $10,000/pound, which is the equal of the most expensive large launchers. But the benefit for such high per-pound cost launch systems will be, it is hoped, the ability to launch on short notice, from innumerable airfields, and with high annual launch rates.
One design not mentioned but that springs to mind anyway is the XCOR Lynx. It’s a two-seat rocketplane designed to carry a small payload on its back; payload deliverable to LEO is not  given, but with a dorsal payload of 650 kilos, it’s probably in the range of  20 kilos or so. The targeted price of a ticket on Lynx is just shy of $100 grand; so based just on that, Lynx would haul payload for the equivalent of $5000/kilo, or about $11,000 per pound. This, sadly, does not include the cost of the upper stages, which likely will be substantial, and probably expendable (although I wouldn’t rule out reusability here). This indicates that reaching that $10K/lb launch price at this scale may be a bit tricky, but is at least within the range of the possible.
 Posted by at 9:45 am
 Older Entries  Newer Entries