Yeah, some of the changes are sad. You used to be able to fly in something resembling comfort, rather than feeling like being packed onto a bus. Used to be able to get *good* food on an airplane. Airline deregulation very likely led to the end of air travel being a comfortable, classy experience… but it also led to this:
Yeah, airliners aren’t as luxurious as they used to be. But they’re a hell of a lot more affordable.
From here on for the next little while, my internet access will be minimal and sporadic. Thus blogging will be essentially nil, as will email. I will fill download orders as I can, but no promises on that being particularly speedy. I’ve pre-loaded and scheduled a number of blog posts, so stuff will continue to appear more or less daily.
An illustration (found on ebay) from 1949 depicting the Model 473 (-31, or possibly -51), a four-engine jetliner derived from the B-47.
The Boeing press release:
It spent 132 days not brightening. A possible explanation for this is that there wasn’t much surface ice… in other words, rather than being a big ball of ice that will heat up, outgas and get big and bright, it’s just another rock. Feh.
A 1967 North American concept for a hypersonic (Mach 6) passenger transport. Sadly, no further data. If anyone has more – such as a diagram – I’d love to see it.
Giving government officials the power to collect taxes is bad enough. Giving the ability to determine what you *should* be making is worse.
After more than six months of paperwork and interviews, the Minnesota Department of Revenue ruled that de Mars is not a professional artist.
It listed several reasons, chief among them that de Mars took too much pleasure from her work, and didn’t work hard enough to make a profit. As a result, state officials say she owes thousands of dollars in back taxes.
Ye gods. I know that on this planet of seven-plus billion people, there should be a market to sell thousands of copies of, say, Aerospace Projects Review. And yet I only sell dozens. Does this mean some bureaucratic busybody will decide that I should pay taxes on what I *should* sell, and that I’m just being lazy?
If this reminds you of “1984,” it’s only because you’re paranoid.
The flaws in Samsung Smart TVs, which have now been patched, enabled hackers to remotely turn on the TVs’ built-in cameras without leaving any trace of it on the screen. While you’re watching TV, a hacker anywhere around the world could have been watching you.
Awesome.
Evidence mounts that a cometary impact may be at least partially responsible for the end of the mammoths.
We’ve all seen the entitled jackholes who don’t want their expensive car scratched by the proles, so they park the car taking up two spots. This is appropriately seen as a *challenge.*
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