Weird Al strikes again:
By the way… Weird Al made *the* *best* *Hitler* EVAR on Drunk History a couple weeks back.
The whole video strikes me as an ’80’s flashback. And in context… that’s awesome.
Jul 142014
Jul 142014
Specifically, I’m looking for high quality large format *accurate* Lockheed diagrams of the C-130 (any version). Not looking for magazine 3-views or fan-made plans, but precision Lockheed diagrams of the plane or perhaps subscale models of the C-130, that sort of thing. Help appreciated!
Jul 132014
Timing is everything.
Jul 132014
Whether it’s Star Trek or Avatar, nothing screams “hey, look, you’re in the future” quite like large vertical display screens that are as clear as a sheet of glass, so you can see through ’em. And whether it’s Star Trek or Avatar, nothing makes as little sense as a display screen that’s transparent enough to see *other* things through. This is *not* the route to visual clarity, but rather an effective way to make important data illegible.
Fortunately, a transparent display screen is a fictional concept, so we don’t have to worry about idiot corporate interior decorators redesigning workspaces to include these ridiculous things. Right? Fictional? Not available? Well… crap.
Sci-Fi-like displays are now real
LG Display showed off some of its latest products Thursday, including a display that can be rolled up like a piece of paper and a transparent display that looks just like a window until it’s turned on.
That’s just stupid.
Sure, you could simply put a white sheet of paper behind it (or spraypaint the backside white), but the basic concept is so obviously flawed that you gotta wonder why they’re devoting much effort to it. Perhaps, with a proper opaque backing, the display has important advantages; fine, but if so, why play up the transparency aspect?
Now, one way this might work is if there are *two* transparent layers. One is the display… the other simply turns opaque. There is “smart glass” that will do that when charged up… or at least, becomes “frosted” with a charge. But if it can become truly opaque, then I can see boardrooms in skyscrapers that have big ass windows overlooking Neo Tokyo or the Manhattan Crater or the Mosque of Notre Dame employing this technology.
The other tech described in the article seems a lot more directly promising: paper-thin flexible displays. Imagine, a decade or so from now, if buying a TV meat going to WalMart and buying a TV like you would today buy a poster. Rolled up in a tube, you take it home and stick it to the wall with double-sided tape. Or have it roll up overhead for storage like an old-school movie screen or a map in a classroom.
Jul 132014
Jul 132014
I wrote this a while back, sort of as a simple exercise. It takes the form of a screenplay, though more what I *imagine* a screenplay to be, rather than a proper one… because I don’t think I’ve spent more than five seconds researching how to write a screenplay. If it ends up in Pax Orionis, it’ll likely be re-written into the form of a transcript of a TV documentary or news piece. A note: it takes place at Dugway Proving Grounds near Tooele, Utah, and while described exceedingly vaguely, is meant to be filmed at one specific real-world spot. A further note: cussin’ and such.
I would appreciate comments/critiques/large sums of cash.
Jul 122014
There’re some durned fine Photoshops over here…
Photoshop Theme: Ruin a Norman Rockwell painting
Northrop Space Art
AARRRGH, art, eBay, history, Hmm..., projects, rockets, spacecraft, ಠ_ಠ
2 Responses »
Jul 122014
I recently bought a Northrop lithograph off of eBay as part of the Patreon upsurge. Sadly, though, the seller screwed up… according to him, the images he posted were not those of the lithograph he was actually selling, but were mistakenly swapped with another Northrop space art lithograph. So I got the wrong one.The one I got was nice, but not the one I was after; and the one I was after… was already gone. Bah. Sometimes things don’t quite work out.
Anyway, this is the lithograph I was *supposed to get:
This is undated, but most likely is from the very late 1950’s or early 1960’s and depicts something vaguely X-15-like (but clearly much larger) going past the moon. Sadly, I have no further information. Is this known to anyone hereabouts?
Jul 122014
Woo! We’ve passed the $400 milestone, so starting in August there will be three uploads. At this time I’m expecting to release two documents and one large format diagram (there are many more of the former than latter). Only a little further to the first Online Review milestone!
Jul 112014
Gene Simmons to the white courtesy phone, please…
EXtreme ACcuracy Tasked Ordnance (EXACTO)
The Extreme Accuracy Tasked Ordnance (EXACTO) system seeks to improve sniper effectiveness and enhance troop safety by allowing greater shooter standoff range and reduction in target engagement timelines. The objective of the EXACTO program is to revolutionize rifle accuracy and range by developing the first ever guided small-caliber bullet. The EXACTO 50- caliber round and optical sighting technology expects to greatly extend the day and nighttime range over current state-of-the-art sniper systems. The system combines a maneuverable bullet and a real-time guidance system to track and deliver the projectile to the target, allowing the bullet to change path during flight to compensate for any unexpected factors that may drive it off course.
It would seem that this is a laser-guided bullet. Likely a two-man team… a spotter with a nice powerful optical system with a built-in laser designator, and a sniper with a nice big rifle. The spotter need not be especially close to the shooter, so that the BANG doesn’t rattle the aim of the laser.
The neat thing would be if the system works well enough to track and nail a moving target.
[youtube vX8Z2MDYX3g]