Covington High: The Other Side

 AARRRGH, Crazy, dumbassery, Forward!, Gah., news, politics, ಠ_ಠ  No Responses »
Oct 082021
 

Remember a few years ago when a student from Covington High was set upon by the media, the political class, celebrities, activists and so on due to libelous claims that he was a racist mocking a “native American Elder?” Remember how that initial fraudulent narrative was all over the national news for a few days until more video came out to prove that the “elder” was the actual aggressor and that the kid did nothing, absolutely nothing, wrong?

Well, Covington High and its students and their interactions with elders is back in the news. But it’s not the same Covington High. And there is actual racial violence, with actual injuries, involved. Let’s see if the national news media covers *this* story with the enthusiasm they covered the earlier Covington story:

Additional suspects arrested in Covington High Tik-Tok teacher attack

A wheelchair-bound 64-year-old teacher was injured in an attack after the bell rang…

Here is the smirking face of *this* Covington student:

How long until she gets a statue?

 Posted by at 5:41 pm

Could it be… Cthulhu???

 AARRRGH, Crazy, Gah., news, ships, ಠ_ಠ  No Responses »
Oct 072021
 

US submarine hits underwater object in South China Sea

The Seawolf class USS Connecticut hit *something* hard enough to cause a number of injuries among the crew. Article doesn’t say at what depth this occurred; could well have happened on the surface. And given that this happened in the South China Sea, it could well have been a Chinese naval vessel.

But there are always other possibilities.

 Posted by at 3:39 pm

“Keyword warrants”

 AARRRGH, Forward!, Hmm..., I'm from the government, news, politics, ಠ_ಠ  No Responses »
Oct 062021
 

Exciting new developments in the field of pre-crime:

Accidental leak reveals US government has secretly hit Google with ‘keyword warrants’ to identify ANYONE searching certain names, addresses, and phone numbers

Mostly it looks like if you do Google searches on things what go kerblam, the FBI might start taking an interest in you.

The original Forbes article on the subject focuses on a slightly more sensible – yet still creepy – use of the concept:

Exclusive: Government Secretly Orders Google To Identify Anyone Who Searched A Sexual Assault Victim’s Name, Address And Telephone Number

There are, I suppose, a *few* good reasons why you’re want to look up information on a crime victim. One, you’re a journalist covering the story. Two, you’re the defendants lawyer. Three, you’re the victim and you want to know what’s out there about you. Four, you run a “fake hate crime” database and your story sounds fishy. But beyond that, valid reasons beyond generalized curiosity get kinda thin. Still, putting someone under surveillance for doing so seems… ahem, unwarranted. Unless that someone is an actual suspect, I suppose.

 Posted by at 6:25 pm

September 2021 APR Rewards

 AARRRGH, aircraft, APR, art, drawings, Gah., Monthly Historical Documents Program, news, Nuclear Pulse Propulsion, Patreon, projects, rockets, spacecraft  No Responses »
Oct 062021
 

Yeesh. I continue to successfully get rewards out to Patrons and subscribers in a timely fashion… but I also continue to fail to publicize the fact. Last day of September, the rewards for that month were sent out. The September 2021 rewards included:

Diagram: “Early X-3 cutaway:” A large format cutaway illustration of a not-quite-final Douglas X-3 configuration

CAD Diagram: the command module of the Solem “Medusa” nuclear pulse propelled spacecraft

Document: a giant 1100+ page “Data Sheets for Ordnance Type Materiel,”1962 US Army “catalog”of pretty much all their stuff. Includes an illustration (often, though not always, including a basic diagram) and data for everything from trucks to tanks to bayonets to pistols to rockets.

Patrons should have received a notification message through Patreon linking to the rewards; subscribers should have received a notification from Dropbox linking to the rewards. If you did not, let me know.

 

If this sort of thing is of interest, sign up either for the APR Patreon or the APR Monthly Historical Documents Program.



 Posted by at 5:11 pm

“Allison GGR Engine” ???

 aircraft, history, Hmm...  No Responses »
Oct 052021
 

I have drawings of a proposed aircraft from 1946 that was to have an “Allison GGR engine.” This was an inline piston engine to turn a propeller, but is otherwise not described. Does an “Allison GGR” ring any bells?

Update: never mind. The drawing is poor… what I read as “GGR” appears to actually be “G6R,” a variant of the V-1710 engine.

 Posted by at 10:46 pm

X-Wing

 aircraft, art, history, projects  No Responses »
Oct 042021
 

Early/mid 80’s artwork depicting an X-Wing vehicle (a helicopter with very rigid rotors that could stop in flight to serve as wings). The text attributes this to Boeing-Vertol, but I could swear I’ve seen it attributed to someone else (Lockheed? Grumman?).

The X-Wing concept seemed to have great promise, but testing showed that, perhaps unsurprisingly, it had severe problems during transition. Had it worked, though, it would hve provided the high speed and long range of a conventional aircraft with the hovering efficiency of a helicopter.

 Posted by at 9:30 pm

Modern political discourse

 AARRRGH, Crazy, Gah., news, politics, ಠ_ಠ  No Responses »
Oct 042021
 

Democrats are eating their own for not being sufficiently far-leftist. Here some whackaloons follow Senator Sinema into a crapper to yell at her. Imagine, gentle reader, if these were right wingers doing *exactly* the same thing to Bubbles Cortez: the wokies would be screaming in fake horror and feigned outrage.

Dear Senator Sinema: the Republicans would probably take you on board.

 Posted by at 5:28 pm
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