ALVRJ artwork

 art, eBay, history, Monthly Historical Documents Program, Patreon, rockets, weapons  No Responses »
Apr 112022
 

A recent ebay acquisition, this is a lithograph with a photo and color cutaway of the Vought ALVRJ demonstrator vehicle. The Advanced Low-Volume Ramjet was a program that ran from the late 1960s into the 1980’s with the goal of producing a ramjet engine for missile applications, such as air-to-air missiles and the like.

The artwork was scanned at 600 dpi and made available to above-$10 Patrons and Subscribers. 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with getting high quality scans for yourself, please consider signing on either for the APR Patreon or the APR Monthly Historical Documents Program.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 12:19 am

Dead Store Walking

 AARRRGH, Crazy, Forward!, Gah., history, youtube, ಠ_ಠ  No Responses »
Apr 102022
 

As a child of the 70s and 80’s, department stores and shopping malls means something different to me than they doubtless do to Millenials and Gen Z’ers. I am sufficiently non-stupid so as to not be shocked that things change… but still, there’s a sadness to watching things that used to be popular and successful turn into ghost towns. I guess it’s like seeing the last of 8-tracks or cathode ray tubes. Still: I’d trade the convenience of Amazon and the inexpensiveness of WalMart if it meant that the cultural madness of Twitter and TikTok and Facebook and Tumbler and the rest of them could also be swept away. Kids these days could do with actual socialization and the exercise that comes from mall-walking. Maybe there’d be less
“gender madness” if kids could actually see, in a social setting, their peers looking normal and reasonably healthy.

The list of functioning Sears stores here (2:02) is kinda astounding, given that there used to be 3,000 of the places. There are only 4 (*FOUR*) functioning K-Mart stores, soon to be three. 2022 will probably be the last year for both of these brands.

Bonus:

 

 Posted by at 8:03 pm

It Can Happen Here

 AARRRGH, Crazy, Forward!, history, Hmm..., news, politics, ಠ_ಠ  No Responses »
Apr 102022
 

A collection of videos showing the current state of COVID-theater in China. So much of it is so over-the-top that it is clear that the purpose is not, as claimed, to control the spread of the ChiCom Flu, but to simply dominate the people… and to let the people know they’re being dominated. Power, pure and simple, naked and unlimited. This sort of thing is entirely possible in the west… if we allow it. Canada and Australia have been China-lite… how long until they – or the US – try to equal the Chinese government?

 Posted by at 7:45 pm

Here are some more reasons to hate, despise, oppose and hate communists

 AARRRGH, cats, Crazy, critters, Forward!, Gah., news, politics, ಠ_ಠ  No Responses »
Apr 102022
 

No joke about “disturbing video:”

Disturbing Video: China Is Taking Cats for Extermination Due to COVID — Dogs Too

Think twice before clicking. Scenes of members of Team Humanity being tortured and killed on an industrial scale by humans. As much as many of use *hate* the little monsters responsible for the assault on Buddy The Cat… here’s an entire government that deserves that ire.

Remember the old wisdom about “if someone will do that to an animal, they’ll do that to a human?” Yeah, well… these are ChiComs. They’ve *already* done this to tens of millions of humans, so this is hardly surprising. But it’s still… hmmm.

Once again: humans at our worst are a Cosmic Horror to animals, especially those who rely on us.

 Posted by at 2:31 am

Russian capability losses

 Hmm..., news, politics, russian empire  No Responses »
Apr 092022
 

Interesting if true:

Russia may have lost one fifth of their combat power in Ukraine, say Western officials

Seems like guesswork, but given how badly things have gone for the Russians… it may be true. A month and a half after essentially invading Kansas and Russias army has lost around 20% of their capability? A few more months and they’ll be under 50%. At that point, the Chinese will be looking *real* *hard* at Siberia. Finland might decide to just walk in and take their territory back.

 Posted by at 5:45 pm

Torturing Ben Shapiro

 AARRRGH, Crazy, Forward!, Gah., humor, news, politics, Worldwreckers, youtube, ಠ_ಠ  No Responses »
Apr 092022
 

Ben’s staff selects some of the craziest nutbars tiktok has to offer to make their boss react to. Someday, historians will look back on this time in amazement that society ever allowed people with this level of mental illness to have this outsized of an influence on culture, norms and laws.

 

By the way: if you are still concerned about the so-called “Don’t Say gay” bill, Ruined Leon is here to set you right. Unlike the people screaming the loudest about it, he actually goes to the bother of actually reading the thing: Spoiler warning: the crazies are lying. Shocker, I know.

And if you are confused or concerned that perhaps you too are a groomer, the Babylon Bee has kindly provided a simple test:

Are You A Groomer? 9 Things To Look For

1. Do you talk about sex with 5-year-olds behind their parents’ back?

2. Do you begin sentences with, “Don’t tell your parents, but…”

3. Do you encourage kids to cut off their sex organs?

4. Are you a Disney Executive?

Take a look and see how you stack up, and whether you should be removed from the proximity of children.

We don’t need stricter gun laws. We don’t need open borders. We do need a whole lot of mental asylums.

 Posted by at 3:30 pm

Early Grumman Lunar Lander

 art, history, models, projects, spacecraft  No Responses »
Apr 092022
 

Coming soonever from Fantastic Plastic: a 1/48 scale model of an early Grumman lunar lander concept. I’ve recently finished the CAD model for this, based on diagrams, art and display models. As modeled it has a basic interior; your average LEM model doesn’t have an interior, but at this early stage int he design the windows were HUGE, which made the interior kinda mandatory. The windows were gigantic because the crew were seated and thus recessed from the skin of the vehicle; by going to standing crew, they could put their faces right up next to the windows… allowing the windows to be far smaller.

 

 Posted by at 3:49 am

Because we live here!

 art, awesomeness, history, politics, russian empire  No Responses »
Apr 082022
 

It’s the 80’s all over again, just not quite in order. Right now we’ve got the 70’s as far as feckless and incompetent leadership, flailing their way through economic troubles including inflation, but 80’s music has had a resurgence. And now Ukrainians are remaking one of the best American movies of the 80’s:

How many Ukrainians armed with man-portable anti-tank rockets yell “Eat me!” when they pull the trigger? I can assure you that there has been a  *lot* of “avenge me!” bandied about over there.

 

Also: if you want one of the most laughable reviews of “Red Dawn,” one that could not be made today with anything remotely resembling a straight face… well, here ya go:

“Oh, boo hoo, the Soviets are portrayed as the villains.” Yeah. They’re portrayed doing almost *exactly* the sort of things that are happening RIGHT FRIGGEN’ NOW. “Those dastardly right wing film makers showed Russian troops killing kids at a school!” yeah. Who could have imagined THAT ever happening.

 Posted by at 9:29 pm
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