Further much-ensmallered versions of the Museum panoramas…
Apollo 15, lifting bodies, XB-70, Keyhole spy satellite.
Titan IVm XP-75, P-59, tail end of the XB-70
Two views of Bocks Car, winner of the Battle of Nagasaki
B-2 and SR-71. Not so apparent at this resolution, but at full rez you can see a whole lot of little white splotches on top of the B-2. I’m guessing bird poop, as there were a few birds flapping around inside at least Building 4 while I was there.
In this time of chaos, when a barbaric ideology is causing havoc in not only the Middle East but also the civilized world, when the President is clearly delusional and his political opponents are even worse, when we have “anti-fascist” movements proving that fascism is a real threat in the world today by actually being fascistic… we need someone who can clearly and succinctly express how we all feel. And I believe that someone is Raedthinn.
Sick of “white privilege?” Sure, we all are, especially those of us who supposedly have it yet somehow don’t seem to get that monthly gift basket of goodies the White Cis Patriarchy apparently promised us. So, rather than deny it, why not invent some new forms of “privilege” for idiots to get upset about?
If I had five minutes, a modest camera and a tape measure, I could get the images and measurements I need off the MOAB on display outside the USAF Armaments Museum near Eglin AFB in Florida. Sadly, I’d also need to be *at* the museum, and that’s not likely to occur anytime soon. So… is anyone in the area, or going to be in the near future, and willing to take some photo-measurements?
So, a Chinese “Mixed Martial Artist” challenged a “Tai Chi Master” to a bout. Challenge accepted and, fortunately,videoed from many angles. How’d it go? Well…
The results – the MMA fighter had the “Master” on the ground within about seven seconds, then spent another dozen seconds or so repeatedly pounding said “Master” in the noggin. It was a classic rout… it was not even remotely close. So how’d this happen?
Well, think about it. Classical martial arts are kind of an art form… sort of like dance, with rules and traditions and ethics. Focusing on a specific martial art, such as Tai Chi (which, honestly, to me always makes me think of “old people moving slowly”), may make you an expert in that martial art… but it may also limit you to the moves associated with that martial art. But “mixed martial arts,” that’s another matter. Here, the goal is not to honor ancient traditions, but instead to beat your opponent into the dirt by whatever means necessary.
Now, admittedly, your average black belt could undoubtedly pummel me so fast I’d be indistinguishable from a screeching SJW in a matter of seconds. But if it came down to a fight between an Old School Traditionalist and an MMA fighter, or a Navy SEAL… I’m putting my money on the guy who’s job it is to beat the crap out of the other fella.
Traditional martial arts are necessarily hidebound… they are traditions, after all. Perhaps they have been finely honed over the centuries, brought to a level of perfection. And that’s fine, but don’t confuse it for “actually useful in a combat situation.” The Samurai are today seen as some sort of near-magical combatants, yet the Japanese military hardly employs them anymore. The *actual* Samurai got slapped around by a bunch of Japanese farm kids with rifles back in the 19th century. When the Japanese Empire decided to revive the Samurai “Bushido Code” and virtually worship the Samurai in the first half of the 20th century, they got smacked around by a bunch of American farm kids with rifles.
The katana, the chosen sword of the Samurai, is itself a fantastic example of what I’m talking about. Over a thousand years of so, Japanese swordsmiths created a beautiful sword… but imbued with with mystical claptrap. And if there’s one thing that doesn’t help your sword actually perform, it’s magic. The katana is viewed by many as being some sort of nearly perfect tool… the traditional manufacturing process creating a blade of remarkable strength, durability and sharpness, the killingest chunk of metal to be found. But… no. What those swordsmiths produced was a blade that would be regularly bested by a virtually identical blade made by machines using modern steel straight out of a steel mill.None of all that folding or tradition… just take some bar stock, hammer a bit, grind a bit, heat treat a bit, then go embarrass the hell out of the relatively brittle “traditional” sword. What the Japanese swordsmiths succeeded at was making not the best possible sword steel, but the best possible sword steel using the technology and science that they had. But their techniques were evolutionary dead ends. They made, in essence, the very best possible Thylacines. Great fits for their niche… until something better and more adaptable came along. In the case of the katana, what came along was Western science.
And in actual head-to-head competitions science will kick mystical traditions ass, every time. Where science will lose is not in the actual fight, but the propaganda. People are willing to believe nonsense over sense, especially if the nonsense makes promises that science can’t. Doesn’t matter if the nonsense can actually make good on the promise, many people will still buy it. So… will moving slowly make you capable of defending yourself against a mugger? Sure, why not! It’s an ancient tradition!
… that not only is Maxine Waters still “a thing,” but she continues to wield political power far out of proportion to the limited capabilities of her tragically limited little mind:
And while this next video is of pretty awful quality, it is important for one thing, if nothing else: it explains exactly why we had a housing bubble based on sub-prime mortgages a decade ago. Fascists like Waters threatened mortgage lenders to crank out criminally awful mortgages, under threat of punitive Federal actions. And as bad as it was then, the drive among the fascist class to enforce their idiot fiscal policies at the point of a sword remains.
Selecting images from the recent trip and stitching together panoramas is an ongoing effort, and will be for a while yet. The panoramas range from the “artistic: that looks great” to the “useful for references: that looks kinda odd.” Many of them have missing sections, but so long as the panorama captured the aircraft I was after, having a corner missing is ok.
The combination of a telephoto lens with a 24 megapixel sensor has led to some *monstrous* panoramas. For example:
This “partial” panorama of the X-15 is 40,700 pixels wide. At 300 dpi (pretty much the standard for photo printing), that’s 135 inches wide. That’s 11.3 *feet* (or 3.45 meters) wide.
Another partial, this time of the XB-70. At 300 dpi, this one would be 14.75 feet long. If you look just behind the cockpit side window you can just make out some markings.
Well… this is a crop of the full-rez panorama showing just those markings:
Balcony panorama at the SAC Museum in Nebraska:
Balcony overview panorama of the Cold War gallery at the USAF Museum:
XB-70, X-15, lifting bodies, Gemini B:
Balcony overview panorama of Building 4 at the USAF museum:
The “Valkyrie cafe” at the USAF museum has a large mural painting of the XB-70. It’s several dozen feet wide and impossible to photograph straight-on (not only is there stuff in the way, it’s too huge for the space available). But there is one spot where you can get the whole thing. So, a number of photos were stitched together then “warped” to get it back into rectangular format. And the end result is pretty spiffy, and at 300 dpi it’d print out at 53 inches long. Needs some color correction.
These images have of course been scaled waaaaaay down to fit on the blog. Those who signed up for the DVD will of course get the full rez versions (though some compromises may be needed… that ginormous XB-70 panorama is over 800 megabytes).
Oy.
In short: Leon Balfour Jr., a 16 year old “kid,” decided it would be a fine and witty jape to pick up an old lady, body slam her onto the concrete, then throw her into a swimming pool (after potentially bashing her head in and wrecking her shoulder). One might think “hmm, that sure sounds like attempted murder to me,” but, nope.
Marvel at the ballsiness of the family lawyer claiming that not only is this a “good kid,” but that “his family is a good family.” Yes, his family is so good that his father, Leon Balfour, will be a guest of the Florida penal system until at least 2027 due to a slight incident of first degree murder.
And to be sure, Leon here will be made to pay. Why, he’s under home detention! Sure, he’ll still be allowed to travel with his basketball team, but hey. Home detention. For three whole agonizing weeks.
A note: this 16-year-old was able to pick up and haul around an old lady. Trayvon Martin, long portrayed in the media by way of photos from when he was 12, was 17 when he was shot while bashing George Zimmermans head into the concrete sidewalk. The point: anyone who thinks that “teenager” equates to “small helpless child” has apparently not seen a whole lot of teenagers these days. Or any days.
But hey. Rejoice, friends! The children are or future. In the video, pay attention to more than the kid assaulting the lady. Pay attention to the partygoers. The ones calling out “throw her in” beforehand. The ones laughing afterwards. In just a few short years (or even months), they will be old enough to vote and hold down jobs.
Our nations future is secure.
As some knew and others may have guessed, I’ve been traveling for the past three or so weeks. This excursion included visits to:
This included putting the new Nikon D5500 through its paces, cranking out 5300+ museum photos at around 75 gigabytes. The primary goal of the exercise was to photo the bejesus out of the XB-70 in Dayton, which task has been accomplished as best as possible within the crowded confines of the museums Building 4.
A whole lot of processing is now needed, along with catching up on stuff. Stuff including picking up four undoubtedly annoyed cats from the vet and re-integrating them into a house that smells kinda… stale.
Saturday Night Live actually had a pretty funny bit with this “lost” Star Trek episode, featuring Chris Pine doing a pretty fair William Shatner impression.