Aug 272012
Aug 272012
A storm blew by tonight (“by,” not “over”). Lit by the moon it looked like this:
Aug 262012
Many a year ago I read the 1949 novel “The Earth Abides” by George Stewart. In it, a plague sweeps across the planet, very nearly making humanity extinct… the total population of the San Francisco region, for instance, is reduced to on the order of a dozen or so. These few survivors are faced with entertaining decisions such as “do we outright murder this new guy who came stumbling into camp… he seems decent enough, but it looks like he has syphilis, and maybe we’d be better off if we simply brained him and shoved him into a hole.”
After ten or twenty years, the survivors and their children are curious about survivors elsewhere. Given that they don’t have near enough of a genetic base to build a viable population, it’s a valid concern. So the decision is made to restore a jeep to running condition and send a few of the young uns out into the world to see what they can find. Unsurprisingly, getting a jeep into running condition decades after it last ran is not a straightforward proposition. one of the big issues is that the tires have all dried out, turned brittle, broke and rotted. Eventually they do find some that were stored well, and off they go.
That part did get me thinking. If all you had were tires that were decades old and you *had* to get them running… would it be chemically possible to restore the rubber? Would some form of heat treating (boiling them in water, boiling them in oil, boiling them in some solvent or hydrocarbon, putting them in an oven) restore dried-out old rubber? Or does the arrow of time on rubber only run one way?
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PS: if you haven’t read “Earth Abides,” you really should. It’s technically science fiction, what with a remarkably vicious plague that the main character – who is basically Just Some Guy, not an in-the-know scientist or some such – guesses might’ve been a bioweapon. But nothing about it really seemed sci-fi. It seemed frighteningly realistic, and there are some really poignant scenes (I’m especially thinking of two times the main character crosses the Golden Gate Bridge, decades apart… passing the same car stopped mid span, drivers door open, both times). The main character tries to make sure that the next generation will grow up civilized, and puts great hope and faith in one son who is especially promising. And… it ain’t Hollywood.
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Oooh! Somebody buy THAT one!!
Aug 262012
Aug 262012
A photo of a Bell Fold-Rotor concept. The Fold-Rotor was a tiltrotor design that used the props for vertical flight and to get moving forward, but for high speed used other propulsion systems (in this case, the turboshaft engines mounted in the fuselage that drove the wingtip props would disengage and become straight turbojets), and the rotors would stop and fold back to reduce drag. It was an interesting idea, but it still had all the weight of a tiltrotor system, and then some, but with added complexity.
Aug 252012
A customer contracted me to build him a 1/24 scale X-20 Dyna Soar display model. Photos below of preliminary castings, produced in the last few days using a silicone mold that turned out to be too thin. There are flaws in the too-thin mold that came through on the cast, but which wouldn’t exist on a second mold which I plan to make. And obviously the ginormous hole in the tail end wouldn’t exist on a finalized model.
The entry shield will be held on with neodymium magnets, and there’ll be a few more details along with some printed goodies (at least one of which should be *really* impressive) as well as a new stand. There will be specially printed markings, and a choice of finishes… ultra-glossy nitrocellulose lacquer, or satin nitrocellulose lacquer.
The new mold will require that I buy $500 worth of silicone. Anyone interested in an X-20 of their very own? There won’t be too many of these made. If interested, send me an email: 
Again, the model shown here is not a final version, just something of a “prototype.” The actual models will look substantially better.
Aug 252012
Neil Armstrong dead at age 82 – report
82 was a good long run. And let’s face it… he did more in one week than most of us will do in our lives.
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CNN: Neil Armstrong, first man on the moon, dies
“complications resulting from cardiovascular procedures”
Armstrong’s family: “For those who may ask what they can do to honor Neil, we have a simple request. Honor his example of service, accomplishment and modesty, and the next time you walk outside on a clear night and see the moon smiling down at you, think of Neil Armstrong and give him a wink.”
And this suddenly seems sadly relevant:
Aug 252012
UPDATE: Answer in comments.
Aug 252012
Just got this email:
MR. JAMES WEI
CITIC BANK OF CHINA,
TELEX TRANSFER SECTION,
ASIA PACIFIC.
jameswei_citicbk@163.com
Ref: Remittance of (USD$4.500,000.00)
Attention:Beneficiary.
We received instruction from our correspondence bank to transfer the sum of $4.5 million into your account which we are on the process your payment through our International Payment officer or through our online banking account system for easy ransfer of your fund.
However, we were processing the neccesary legalities before contacting you when we receive another email from Ms Diane L. Mcallister whom claim to be your representative and forward to us the following account information for us to transfer the fund into her account.
The account which she forward to us as follow.
Bank of America
St. Petersburg, Florida, USA
Diane L. Mcallister
Account# 003767127294
Routing # 063100277
65 Jabotinsky St\#2
Ramat Gan, ISRAEL 54224
Please, Do reconfirm to us as a matter of urgency if this lady is from you and has your authority to receive your fund on your behalf as your representative, You are requested to fill and send this information for verification purpose,so that your fund value of $4.5million united state dollars will be paid to you through our International payment officers or our online banking transfer method.
1. YOUR FULL NAME........
2. YOUR TELEPHONE......
3. AGE.......
4. SEX........
5. YOUR OCCUPATION........
6. YOUR ADDRESS.........
BANK DETAILS WERE YOUR FUND WILL BE TRANSFER INTO....
HOWEVER, WE SHALL PROCEED TO ISSUE ALL PAYMENT DETAILS TO THE SAID MS.Diane L.Mcallister,
IF WE DO NOT HEAR FROM YOU WITHIN THE NEXT FIVE WORKING DAYS FROM TODAY, WE WILL PROCESS AND RELEASE THE FUND INTO Ms Diane L. Mcallister ACCOUNT.
Kindly Confirm your receipt of this mail without delay.
Yours Sincerely,
Mr. Leo Wang
FUND MANAGER
CITIC BANK OF CHINA,
TELEX TRANSFER SECTION,
ASIA PACIFIC.
Huzzah! This and that money from the Nigerian prince, and I’ll be good to go!
Aug 242012
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