Keep up to date with the things that will KILL US ALL at The Extinction Protocol
All the news that’s fit to fill you with mortal dread.
Jan 162012
Jan 162012
From the same Boy Scout manual discussed HERE, here is an artists concept depicting a heavy lift “flying crane” helicopter lifting a battlefield ballistic missile on a tracked transporter/launcher (appears to be a Pershing missile). Manufacturer is unknown, though Sikorsky seems a safe bet. Note that it appears to have four turboshaft engines.
Jan 152012
In the early-mid 1970’s, Boeing was looking towards a new generation of wide-body jetliner to replace their older planes such as the 707 and 727. Initially designated “7X7,” it eventually became the 767. Along the way, a wide range of unusual layouts were studied, a number of which were built… at least as display models.
This concept called for four turbofan engines mounted above the wing. This would add two features:
1) It would be quieter, since some of the noise from the exhaust would be shielded from the ground by the wings (though potentially louder in the cabin)
2) The Upper Surface Blowing configuration creates additional lift at low speed due to the Coanda Effect.
On the other hand, having the exhaust scraping directly along the wing surface would create additional stresses as well as reducing thrust at high speed. Additionally, a configuration like this would be difficult to re-engine later with higher bypass engines.
Jan 152012
‘Anti-Islamic’ band nominated for Norway’s top music prize
A notoriously “anti-Islamic” band has been nominated for Norway’s top metal prize. Taake are one of six nominees for a prestigious Spellemann award, despite a song that declares: “To hell with Muhammad and the Muhammadans!”
“Norway will soon awaken!” read the lyrics to Orkan (Hurricane), on Taake’s album Noregs Vaapen. The Spellemanns are Norway’s equivalent of the Brits or the Grammys, and Noregs Vaapen is nominated for best metal album. Elsewhere on Orkan, singer Ørjan Stedjeberg refers to Muslims’ “unforgivable customs” and calls for a new “kingdom” to “shine through [the] bad years, shame and Christian times”.
Jan 152012
Movies from an Alternate Universe
A number of movie posters… if those movies had been made years earlier than they actually were. By far my favorite:
Jan 142012
Scientists: UN Soldiers Brought Deadly Superbug to Americas
It seems an exciting new form of cholera was introduced into Haiti by Nepalese UN peacekeepers. 500,000 Haitians have been infected, and it’s moved on to other third-world locales such as Boston, Miami and New York.
Jan 132012
Once again, somehow or other some non-leftist video managed to slip past the editors of The Daily Show. The end result is an interview with a journalist (Froma Harrop, president of the National Conference of Editorial Writers) who is heading a “Civility Project…” and who believes that Tea Partiers are literally terrorists for wanting to reign in the FedGuv budget.
Jan 132012
Another of one Alexander Lippisch’s aerodyne concepts. Wingless VTOL vehicles, they obviously never caught on. This one is for a US Navy craft of some type, apparently a resupply vehicle for submarines. It has the appearance of being designed to submerge itself… but that’s just nutty. I have no idea whatsoever what the red bulges are top and bottom. Maybe radar antennae domes? If so, it seems odd that there’d be handrails running up the front of ’em. But for a vehicle like this, “radar picket” would seem a possible role.
Jan 132012
I’m selling off a few of my old Astounding/Analog sci-fi magazines. Dating back to the ’40’s, these are classic “pulp” magazines, meaning the paper was pretty cheap… which means the state of some of these magazines is pretty rough. However, they are all complete with covers. I am selling them in lots. If you want more than one set, take 10% off for two sets, 15% off for three sets. First come, first served… and by this I mean “first to comment, first to get ’em.” To comment, click on the post title above (“Buy It Now: Pulp!”) and let me know which set(s) you want. US orders will ship via media mail unless other arrangements are made. Paypal prefered.
———————————–
Set one: Astounding Science Fiction issues November 1948 and November 1949: $20 plus postage
—————————-
Set 2: Astounding Science Fiction issues August 1950, April 1951, March 1952, June 1952. $30 plus postage.
————————-
Set 3: Astounding Science Fiction issues March 1953, January 1954, May 1954, August 1954, November 1954, December 1954. $35 plus postage.
————————-
Set 4: January 1954, June 1954, August 1954, November 1954, December 1954. $30 plus postage.
——————————
Set 5: Astounding Science Fiction issues February 1959, June 1959, July 1959, October 1959. $25 plus postage.
————————————-
Set 6: Astounding Science Fiction issues March 1960, June 1960, October 1961. $16 plus postage.
————————————–
Set 7: January 1957, June 1956, August 1955, September 1956, November 1956, December 1955: $35 plus postage
Jan 132012
VSP is a CAD program used by NASA for rapid preliminary design. Until recently it was available to the public on a limited basis… had to sign licensing forms, no further redistribution… and no release to non-US nationals.
OpenVSP is a parametric aircraft geometry tool. OpenVSP allows the user to create a 3D model of an aircraft defined by common engineering parameters.
It’s now been released for general consumption. I’ve not used it, but it’s reportedly very easy to learn and use, and is designed for preliminary conceptual aircraft design. I’m told that it does well at creating watertight meshes, and outputs in a Rhino format.
OpenVSP
An AIAA paper describing VSP is here: Aircraft Conceptual Design Using Vehicle Sketch Pad
Sadly, I don’t see a big fat collection of actual NASA-produced conceptual aircraft designs for downloading, but I suppose some of them will make it out at some point.
www.openvsp.org