Included here are not only the closeups, but also a view from the public area showing just how brightly the exhaust lit the world.
Nov 192022
Nov 182022
A mere sixteen years ago I posted artwork of the Martin “EGRESS” ejection capsule meant to fling crew from a stricken spacecraft anywhere up to and including orbit. Those scans came from photocopies of a conference paper. I have at last now scanned the same work, producing slightly better results. The artwork is remarkable for one detail in particular: of the two crewmen, one is clearly Lance Squarejaw, wholly unfazed at his situation. The other is… not unfazed. I’d pay real money to get at the original color painting.
The whole thing – diagrams and art scanned at 600 DPI – will be offered up to APR Patrons & Subscribers soon.
Nov 182022
AI Drew This Gorgeous Comic Series. You’d Never Know It
There are two points that I think should be noted:
First: “AI image generation is advancing so rapidly, he adds, that The Lesson, out Nov. 1, marks a clear visual step up from the first comic in the trilogy, Summer Island, a folk-horror story in the spirit of Midsommar that came out in August. During those three months, Midjourney went through two upgrades.”
Second: it’s free to download.
I have not downloaded or read it, but the writer of the article seemed to like it, and noted that it was a substantial improvement over the issue published a few months before. That should worry comic artists, who can take many years to go from “adequate” to “good” to “great.” And the fact that it’s *free* should worry *everyone* in the comic industry. Because while I doubt “free” will be the way this sort of thing will remain, it’s a safe bet that its far cheaper to produce AI-art-comic books than human-art. Soon enough the market will be flooded with AI-art books.
Nov 182022
Another early 80s advanced fighter concept from Boeing. This one used Viggen-like close coupled canards and vectorable 2D exhaust nozzles for aerial agility. Stealth seems to have been a minimal concern, with performance being more important. The inlets and overall aerodynamcis suggest supersonic cruise. Four sizable missiles – possible SRAM nuclear-tipped surface attack missiles – are semi-submerged in the belly for reduced drag. No further data.
Fell rez scan is in the 2022-11 APR Extras Dropbox folder.
Nov 172022
This will take a little while to fully process.
Nov 172022
The original USS Enterprise model is back in the restoration shop at the National Air & Space Museum. Adam Savage got to go in and take a close look at it, and you can *feel* just how hard it was to not get handsy with the thing.
Nov 172022
Criminals are getting bolder in San Francisco. And why shouldn’t they? The local and state governments have given them the green light. I kinda expect much the same in Illinois when the Purge becomes law here in a couple months.
This is what people keep voting for.
Nov 172022
I’ll take three of each:
And this is nice, but really needs three round burst:
Nov 152022
You know, NATO MEMBER Poland. Two Polish civilians killed.
Strikes put Ukraine in darkness; missiles cross into Poland
Everybody got their bombs shelters ready?
Nov 152022
Electric cars are a great idea. But they are not perfect, not by a long shot. Some issues: