A video was made based on blog posts of mine from HERE and HERE.
Jun 122022
Jun 122022
The C-130 is kinda like the B-52; I can’t decide whether to be impressed that a design was *so* perfect that it is still in service going on three quarters of a century after introduction… or to be depressed that we’ve refused to do better in all that time. But while the B-52 production lines closed up shop sixty years ago (1962), the C-130 is *still* in production. Slightly updated, of course.
Here are some C-130’s putting on a show in Wales.
Jun 112022
Strange times. Strange, dual-justice-system times.
Jun 112022
Ian from Forgotten Weapons takes a reproduction China Lake 40mm pump action grenade launcher to the range. Conclusion: it’s finicky and slow, with lots and lots of malfunctions… but also a hoot to shoot. It’s not something that’s at all practical for civilian use, and it clearly requires some tinkering to dial in. Still… it looks like all kinds of fun. Perhaps after the pendulum swings back to sanity WalMart will carry the production version.
Jun 102022
Razorfist discusses the genre, and why it’s important.
When superhero movies finally make themselves unwelcome, one might hope that proper westerns could make a comeback. But for that to truly happen, I suspect a cultural shift would be needed. The multi-decadal push to denigrate the United States, American history, western civilization, etc. makes traditional westerns difficult; but if the pendulum finally swings back the other way, a culture that celebrates the sort of “cowboy ethic” that westerns at their best espoused could well see a return of the likes of The Duke.
Jun 102022
Maybe lingering effects of the covid, dunno.
Jun 102022
The animation is somewhat primitive and the driving characteristics of the “car” seem dubious, but this video demonstrates the rather awe-inspiring scale of an “Island 4” O’Neill space colony. A lot more of the interior of this hab seems to be dull city that seems likely, but it’s still instructive.
I imagine that a fully immersive and explorable Island 4 simulation would be an addictive sort of place. Imagine if it was designed correctly… two such cylinders side-by-side with connecting bridged at each end, each surrounded by a circle of independent “agricultural” mini-habs. If you were able to walk, drive and fly within the habs – with forces correct due to rotation – and if the city areas were fully fleshed out… it would be deeper time-sink than Doom ever was. Especially if there were variants where the habs were used as first person shooter games and the like.
Perhaps games/simulations that allow you to build such habs, based on real world economics and materials. Asteroid mining, lunar mass drivers, etc. all married to the ability to design the interior of you had to your specifications. Woo.
Jun 092022
Woo.
This Louisiana man thought he was rescuing one kitten — then 12 more appeared
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View this post on Instagram
Jun 092022
A video from 2017 showing a BLEVE – Boiling Liquid Expanding Vapor Explosion… in short, a gas tank on fire bursting. Not sure where, though I’d guess South America.
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=2533974840076547
Helpful advice for the day: “Maybe don’t stand so close.”
Jun 092022
After the break there’s a Twitter video that claims to show someone die. I don’t now if that’s the case, but what it *does* show is someone behaving normally, then suddenly swatting at the air as if trying to swat away a bee, then the guy falls over and locks up like rigor mortis, followed by other people rushing in to “help.” The video is of course stripped of all context, so the video is all there is. In looking at the comments on the tweet, the great majority seem to believe that this is something supernatural, specifically revolving around Islamic mythology/superstition (the tweet poster being, apparently, Muslim, so those following him are likewise Muslim). But would something rather more mundane like a sudden epileptic seizure explain this odd behavior?