LH2 C-141

 aircraft, drawings, projects  8 Responses »
Dec 192014
 

In the early/mid 1970s the US aerospace industry studied alternate fuels for aircraft. This included liquid hydrogen… a pain to work with, but it makes a great fuel and can be processed easily out of natural gas, less easily out of coal, and with a whole lot of electricity out of water. But it is extremely cold and extremely low density. Thus when Lockheed (apparently half-heartedly) looked at an LH2 version of the C-141, it looked like this:

lh2 c-141

Under normal conditions, wingtip fuel tanks that vast would snap the wings right off, but LH2 is so light and fluffy that this aircraft would weigh *less* than a fully fueled standard C-141.

 Posted by at 5:48 pm

Hurray for Team Human

 awesomeness, critters, youtube  2 Responses »
Dec 192014
 

Every now and then you come across some work of Man that makes ya proud. The kind of thing that makes you think “this is what Men can do.”  The Apollo program. Lasers. Nuclear power. The Panama Canal. The discovery of evolution and relativity. But not all of them need to be gigantic projects. Sometimes they’re just new legs for a pet dog:

[youtube uRmoowIN8aY]

 Posted by at 1:30 pm

Robo Arms

 awesomeness, Hmm..., news, science, science fiction, youtube  No Responses »
Dec 192014
 

DARPA has been interested in advanced prosthetic limbs for some time. Officially it in order to provide new limbs to wounded military veterans… but who knows, maybe there’s someone at DARPA planning one building their very own Terminator. In any event, there has been some remarkable progress, as this video from Johns Hopkins shows. They’re still nowhere near the dream…. a robo-arm like Will Smiths in “I, Robot” that is surgically integrated and works as smoothly and as nimbly and as fast as the organic original… but at least these are work off of *thought,* transmitted down the nervous system to the remaining nerves. In this case, the nerves used were move from elsewhere in the chest, which the patient suggests was a remarkably excruciating procedure.

[youtube 9NOncx2jU0Q]

 Posted by at 9:38 am

Buttons update

 blather, cats, photography  11 Responses »
Dec 182014
 

Buttons went back to the vet today, and went under the knife to get the lump removed from his jaw/lip. It turned out to no be a malignant cancer, but some form of infection. So… problem dealt with. He also got some dental cleaning.  Something in all that made food different… when I brought him home I gave him some treats, which he leaped at… and then jerked away from like they bit him. He tried a couple times, and eventually he decided that food was out to get him. So he swatted it. Dunno if it was because he hurt, or because he was numb, or because his chin is shaved, or because without all the plaque his teeth felt funny or everything tasted different.

Some photos from the drive back and at home.

WP_20141218_031 WP_20141218_022 WP_20141218_024 WP_20141218_029 WP_20141218_030 WP_20141218_015

 Posted by at 9:19 pm

DF-41

 news, rockets, weapons  2 Responses »
Dec 182014
 

Well, here’s a spectacular bit of good news…

China Tests ICBM With Multiple Warheads

Saturday test of a new ICBM that is thought to have up to 10 MIRVs (same as the Peacekeeper, which the US no longer has any of) and has a range of more than 7,400 miles, giving it complete coverage of the continental US. Much of the tech needed to do this was given to China by the Clinton Administration. These will be road-mobile, and thus damn difficult to target.
Yaaaaay.
 Posted by at 8:15 pm
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