A student film that proves to be as good, in its truncated way, as a lot of what comes out of major studios. I shudder to imagine the amount of time it took to create all the CAD models, especially the cathedral.
[vimeo 87024621]
Mar 082014
Mar 082014
Remarkably low stall speed as well.
[youtube HiFIw8OkTWk]
Appears to be the mockup/radar test model of the British Aerospace “Replica” concept from the late 1990s, which in turns seems to have been based on the McDonnell-Douglas JAST (Joint Advanced Strike Technology) concept which competed and lost against the Boeing X-32 and Lockheed X-35.
Mar 072014
A vertical panorama of the Atlas ICBM on display at the Strategic Air & Space Museum in Ashland, Nebraska. Photographed on a pass through last year.
You can also download the very much larger version by LOOKING HERE (over at my long-disused photo blog), good for printing and such. Permission granted for personal use.
If you like the photo and want to toss a few coins my way… well, here ya go.
Mar 072014
It starts off weird with the headline:
Perth twins Anna and Lucy DeCinque share boyfriend and have plastic surgery to look identical
And then it turns into nightmare sauce with the photos:
Gah.
Mar 072014
Here is a completely re-written stab at a one-page (well, slightly over) vignette about the Orion Battleship for “Nuclear Pulse Propulsion.” I’m still uncertain if I’ll include this sort of thing in the book… I doubt that these little story fragments would add much to a book that’s already over 400 pages. If y’all have opinions one way or the other, I’m open. This is a rough draft, so it’s perhaps not all that great.
I have used the “Calibre” program to convert the yarn from Word into several e-reader formats. I don’t now what’s popular, so if I missed an obvious and important one, let me know. Seems to me the way to go with self-publishing would be to produced three or four formats and sell a ZIP bundle with all of ’em. Shrug.
It seemed to be formatted ok on the Calibre e-reader emulator, but if there’s something screwy with any of ’em, let me know.
*********
Well, hummmph. Attempts at uploading the ereader formats failed… apparently WordPress has a problem with them for “security reasons.” So here, in fact, is a ZIP file with four formats: PDF, MOBI, EPUB and AZW3.
Mar 072014
Another nifty free flight of the Morpheus “lunar lander.” They need to launch this off the top of a SpaceX Grasshopper…
[youtube tdrSYP2gSbg]
Mar 072014
A three-view from an XB-42 tech manual. It’s a pity that this plane wasn’t a bit earlier.
Mar 072014
Some years back I took this photo out an airplane window. Where is it? Ten bucks of download-credit to whoever comments first with the correct answer *AND* who correctly points out what is in this photo of greatest interest to *me.*
Mar 062014
Twenty minutes or so ago, there I was, minding my own business, reading up on fusion microexplosions when a fargin stampede stampeded past my window. A trio of neighborhood horses had escaped their enclosure and, as always, ran to *my* back yard to commune with the horses that are already back there:
And while I’m out there taking pictures of them (because why not), there was one of those sounds that sounds *really* creepy: an air raid siren *waaaaaay* off in the distance. Seemed to be coming from over the hills to the west, from ATK. The siren ran for thirty seconds or so, then shut down. Time on the clock: 1PM, Thursday. And then the ICBM motor fired up. Holy crap, that was LOUD; it was a sound that sort of filled the world. Ran for 50 seconds or so and didn’t do the horses skittishness any favors. Several minutes later the exhaust plume finally popped up over the hills:
NOTE: for those few of you awaiting cyanotypes… check out the sky in these photos. This is what I’ve had to work with for *weeks.* The cyanotypes require strong, clear, consistent sunlight. Hasn’t been much of that lately.
Mar 062014
Nation’s First Birthing Center/Abortion Clinic Opens in Buffalo. This Is Huge.
The same doctor who is performing abortions is also delivering babies. There’s no contradiction there.
Ummm. A facility where you can either welcome your baby into the world, or kill it. Woo?
It might’ve been awesome if they’d named it Schrodingers Baby Box. Is it alive, or is it dead? Nobody knows until you actually observe it!