Apr 232022
 

A month or so back I and a group of friends sat down to watch the premiere episode of “Our Flag Means Death,” the “pirate comedy” show from Taika Waititi. The trailers had made it look like it could be a blast, and given its “What We Do In The Shadows” heritage, that seemed a good bet. We shut it off about 2/3 of the way through that first episode, none of us having so much as even considered chuckling at any of it. It was painfully unfunny. We never went back to it, and largely forgot about it. Then I read this today, passed the link along, and we were agreed that we chose correctly in not proceeding. It sounds like it went from “unfunny” to “ummm, no thanks.”

Our Flag Means Death Is Sweet Relief for a Weary Fandom

The “fandom” here are not the kind who might be Star Trek, Star Wars or Dr. Who fans who are annoyed at what recent iterations of those franchises have done. No, the “fandom” here would be those who *like* what has become of those formerly great intellectual properties. You know… not fans of the worldbuilding, but of The Message.

Bleah.

 Posted by at 12:39 am
Apr 222022
 

A few days back I posted some videos of a guy restoring some old rusted guns. The restoration of the Luger was particularly impressive. There are a a whole bunch of gun restoration videos that run the gamut of “that’s impressive” to “that’s fraudulent,” where the firearm was pretty clearly “distressed” by the restorer.

And then there’s this one, which starts off pretty well, but then, right as I’m wondering “ok, what process is he going to use to ‘blue’ the metal parts,” it take a “ya gotta be kidding me” choice.

I guess if you just want to make it a display piece… I guess? But even so, doing it *right* seems to me to always be the correct choice.

 

 Posted by at 11:27 pm
Apr 222022
 

The “song” below has been used so often in the various “Biblically accurate angels” vids people put out that it is now almost like it’s understood that a visit from an angel would be accompanied by this. I dunno if that’s the case, but it’s durned odd. Appealing in a way, but I’m not really sure that this is what you’d want to hear when suddenly confronted with a glowing interdimensional being of unfathomable power and intent. I don’t think it would enhance your calm.

 

 

Example:

 Posted by at 11:25 am
Apr 212022
 

Well, not *that* Moscow, it’s at the bottom of the sea. And not quite *that* Moscow, but the city of Tver, a few miles to the north west. It’s *probably* not related to Ukrainian sabotage, but… who knows? It’d be a dandy target and a propaganda coup if this fire was started by some Ukrainian Doolitle raider.

Fire At Russian Defense Ministry’s Research Institute In Tver Kills Six People

Reportedly this facility develops missiles of kinds used in Ukraine, and space weapons. The claim is that the fire is due to old wiring, and looking at that ancient building, I can believe it. But that’s not a whole lot better of an explanation for losing a “space weapon” laboratory than enemy action, any more than “it just caught fire” was a better, more comforting explanation than “It caught a couple anti-ship missiles.” If their work was related to weapon systems currently being expended, perhaps they had ramped-up work hours and an increased demand on the power and other systems.

 Posted by at 7:52 pm
Apr 212022
 

Two of the three pieces of vintage original aerospace concept art I recently bought on ebay have arrived, and they’re spectacular. They are from Bell Aerospace, one from the 70’s (depicting a four-turbojet C-130 demonstrator for the AMST program), one from the 80’s (depicting a hovercraft takeoff sled for an F-15 to allow liftoff from damaged runways), both actual paint on an actual board, no computer graphics. I managed to scan both of them on my flatbed scanner at 600 dpi; even at that high resolution, at full magnification they look awesome. Neither, however, is signed. If anyone knows who the artists were, drop a comment.

One more art to come, hopefully early-ish next week.

I have framed these two and will hang them on my wall… but they will eventually be donated somewhere relevant and appropriate, *probably* the Smithsonian (if nothing else, that’ll be in my will), but I’m open to suggestions. The NMUSAF is another option.

If’n you want max-rez scans of these two (and the forthcoming third, plus some backup PDF documentation on the programs these illustrate)… $25.

Procuring these was not cheap, but now they are saved for posterity.

 

If you would like to help fund the acquisition and preservation of such things, along with getting high quality scans for yourself, please consider signing on either for the APR Patreon or the APR Monthly Historical Documents Program. Back issues are available for purchase by patrons and subscribers.




 

 

 

 Posted by at 3:27 pm
Apr 212022
 

Well, here is where we are. While the Florida state senate voted on whether or not to strip Disney of their special tax district status, a number of people in attendance – I *assume* visitors, not actual state senators, but these days who knows – shrieked like maniacs. That as much as anything shows the importance of standing up to these bullying groomers. With luck those who threw this little tantrum were caught on video somewhere clear enough for facial recognition to figure out who they were so that they can be put under psychiatric evaluation, and to keep them away from children. I won’t be at all shocked to find that at least some of them are teachers of small children. And if so, hopefully soon to be *former* teachers of small children.

 Posted by at 2:58 pm
Apr 212022
 

One of the more creepifyin’ of the political class seems to have a case of the shakes, assuming that this isn’t a result of some digital trickery. Assuming it’s legit, I wonder at the cause. Could it be barely repressed rage at being called out on her massive policy failures? Is the demonic posession starting to shake loose? Time will tell.

 

 Posted by at 2:33 pm
Apr 202022
 

A security camera caught a string of events. First, a security guard gets out of his vehicle. Another person walks up behind him and shoots the security guard in the head. A witness in the background watches this and does not react. The shooter then bends over, steals the guards pistol and something else, then wanders off, going past the witness. Neither react to the other. Witness gets up, walks past guards body, continues nonchalantly on his way. Then three more people happen upon the guards body; one bends down and rifles through his pockets and takes something; the other two stand there for a bit and seem to look at the loot, then they all wander off, unconcerned.

Where did this spectacular display of inhumanity take place? Mogadishu? Iran? North Korea? Cartel-occupied Mexico? Nope.

Atlanta.

Shocking surveillance footage shows security guard, 51, being shot in the back of the head and robbed before another man steals items from his dead body

One murderous dirtbag? Well, these things happen, in a sense. But a whole collection of people seemingly utterly unconcerned with concepts of “justice” and “right & wrong?” These were not, so far as is known, a group of hardened criminals who all planned to gather there; they were apparently a random selection. That they were *all* this awful says a lot about the local culture, and none of what is says is good or complimentary.

 Posted by at 10:55 pm