APR V3N3 is laid out, all the drawings figured out. Fair bit of writing yet, though…
Jun 232013
Jun 232013
According to New York City, you are a bad, horrible very naughty person if you want British people in your British themed pub.
Brooklyn Pub Surrenders to Human Rights Commission
In short, advertising for employees and mentioning that being British would be a plus will score you a $2500 fine *and* mandatory “antidiscrimination training.”
So… anyone *really* surprised that Paula Deen got canned?
New York’s only Welsh pub fined over ad preferring British workers
Back in the 1950’s, when cities or states violated the civil rights of citizens, the federal government would send in the National Guard to go straighten things out. I’m thinking that New York City government could benefit from being federalized.
Given how libertarian I am, things have to be *REALLY* bad for me to suggest that a local government needs to be kicked out by the federal government. But given how consistently awful the NYC government has been on matters of civil rights, I think it’s about time. Then on to Chicago.
Of course, this would require that the fedguv has a basic understanding of Constitutional rights. So… yeah…
Jun 232013
Seems like in any superhero movie where the villain comes from an advanced alien race there’s always at least one scene where the aliens talk smack about how humans aren’t worth respect because we’re not that advanced or powerful. There has, at long last, finally been a proper response given to this rather tired trope, courtesy an animated Superman movie that apparently just came out:
[youtube 2hBLKKyGXho]
Jun 232013
[youtube 2zqy21Z29ps]
Jun 222013
Saw the movie today. Read the book a few years back. My review: largely pretty good, so long as you recognize and accept that the movie has almost nothing to do with the book. The book takes place, IIRC, about 20 years after the zombie apocalypse started, ten years after mankind finally got things under control. The book is a collection of recollections from a wide range of people all over the planet; there is not single narrative, normal “hero” in the normal sense, just as a history of any big war would not be the story of one guy. The movie, on the other hand, is the story of one guy who travels the world in a few days at the beginning of the war, learns some stuff, and basically saves the world. Sorta.
The first 2/3 of the movie was really quite good and effective. Our Hero starts off in Philadelphia, goes to Newark, goes to a ship in the Atlantic, hops a US Air Force Antonov AN-12 (Yeah, figure *that* out) to South Korea, flies from there to Jerusalem and then to Wales. The zombies are quite terrifying; they are of the “sprinter” variety. Oddly, there’s almost no gore… virtually all the killin’ takes place just off screen. The effects are good, and range from the whack-you-upside-the-head to the somewhat subtle… my favorite shot in the movie occurs somewhere on the flight from Korea to Israel, when the French pilot of the USAF AN-12 (yeah…) and Our Hero witness a nuclear explosion in the distance.
There are a lot of strange differences between the trailers and the movie… not only lines from the trailer that weren’t in the movie, but also apparently makeup that was changed (the guy seen in the cage has big buck teeth in the trailer… *no* teeth in the movie) and lines that were greatly altered (“Russia is a black hole” is now “India is a black hole”). This may be because WWZ famously underwent major revisions after the studio saw a first cut, with the last 40 minutes of the movie reshot. I wonder if originally Our Hero went to Russia rather than Wales…
If you are desperate to see the book World War Z made into a faithful movie…this ain’t it. Not even remotely close. But if you like a good End Of The World flick, this ain’t half bad.
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If you haven’t read World War Z, I highly recommend it. While there are satirical elements, it’s nevertheless a remarkable book.
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Jun 222013
As may have been noticed, a major effort of late has been the large format cyanotype blueprints on vellum (which, continuing the long sad tradition, turned out to be another product line people don’t want). But I’ve also been working on a number of model projects, everything from finished display models to repairing some vintage display models to working on all-new models to be turned into kits. One of the latter is the Helicarrier being developed for Fantastic Plastic. Still a fair way to go, but the bulk of the major parts are at least roughed out now. The final model is going to be damned impressive… it’s not planned to be small.
Jun 222013
Proposal artwork depicting the interior structure of the Design 619 space shuttle concept. Note that the airlock, used for docking to space stations and the like, is in the nose.
Jun 212013
Watching CNN, it appears that TV food cookery person Paule Deen has been canned from the Food Network.
Because she used a naughty word.
A quarter century ago.
After being on the receiving end of an armed robbery.
Buh?
Is that about right?
Sure, in 1986 “the N-word” was understood to be inappropriate. But nearly 30 years later losing your job for it?
Jun 212013
I saw this online and thought that it must be distributed further.
EDIT: seems hotlinking directly from Fark sometimes leads to blank spots in posts.
Jun 212013
A little-known and poorly-documented proposed variant of the Titan family of launch vehicles, the Titan IIIG used an increased-diameter core with 156-inch diameter solid rocket boosters. The late-1960’s Titan IIIG would have been capable of launching 100,000 pounds, and seems to have been focused on USAF missions. McDonnell Douglas appears to have considered it for use in launching the Big Gemini logistics capsule. Beyond that, not much is known. The McD illustration below is one of the few I’ve come across, and does not seem likely to be terribly accurate. Also depicted here are the Titan IIIM, a launch vehicle composed of a cluster of four 156-inch solids topped by an S-IVb stage (a McD product), a 260-inch solid topped by an S-IVb, and external tank arrangements for reusable launch vehicles such as the ILRV (integral Launch and Recovery Vehicle), a predecessor to the Space Shuttle. McD’s entry to the ILRV study was a derivative of their generic Model 176 concept.
