The Ford Nucleon was ridiculously *small*

 AARRRGH, art, awesomeness, blather, Crazy, drawings, Gah., history, Hmm..., nukes, projects, science, science fiction, ಠ_ಠ  No Responses »
Jul 102021
 

One of the more imaginative and incredibly unlikely concept cars was the Ford Nucleon, a 1950’s idea for a nuclear powered car. Apparently this was pretty much a complete art and sales project, without much actual engineering; it was based on the notion that not only could nuclear reactors be scaled down small enough to fit in a car, they could be made not only wreck-tolerant, but that lightweight and virtually magical radiation shielding would be invented that would allow said reactor to hum away at full power mere feet from paying customers without roasting them or giving them explosive ass cancer. It was, let’s face it, wholly ridiculous… and entirely awesome.

Photos of models of the Nucleon have been available since the 1950’s, but diagrams have been lacking. An article posted online a few days ago included a few specifications for the proposed vehicle, finally nailing down some of the dimensions. And for reasons that seemed good to me (and which are probably obvious), I slapped together a quick side view. I think my side view is *reasonably* accurate based on numerous photos of the scale model Ford built and the dimensions given. What I’m not certain about is whether *Ford* truly understood their vehicle.

Here’s the side view using the 200-inch (16.7 ft) length specified by Ford, accompanied by two normal-sized humans:

The driver doesn’t even come *close* to fitting. So I scaled the Nucleon up until it seemed to look right, with the end result being that the car is now about 26 feet long:

That’s by no means a small vehicle… but then, it’s nuclear. Scaling it up by a factor of about 1.55 makes the cab big enough to fit actual full-size humans. But scaling it up that much makes the 77.4″ width (6.45 ft) into 120 inches, or ten feet. Good luck squeezing *that* onto the road; the Hummer H1, known as an uncomfortably wide vehicle, is a mere 87 inches wide.

Does anyone have any information to contradict and correct the Ford specifications? Or is it just another case of the art department kinda ignoring reality?

 Posted by at 4:28 pm

Yeah, maybe not the best look

 AARRRGH, Crazy, Forward!, Gah., politics, youtube, ಠ_ಠ  No Responses »
Jul 102021
 

“We’re coming for your children.”

“A Message From the Gay Community” Performed by the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus

Beyond the incredibly tone-deaf messaging here, what’s most disconcerting is the soulless gaze of the lead singer.

Maybe not *directly* linked, but… hmmm.

San Francisco Residents Consider Relocating As Crime Worsens, Quality Of Life In A Decline

The poll was released by the SF Chamber of Commerce and based on feedback from more than 500 San Francisco residents who are registered to vote.

It found that more than 40 percent say they plan to move out of the city in the next few years.

Having nearly half your population deciding to leave is also not a good look. And if that 40% *does* leave, taking their property taxes with them, one wonders what San Francisco would look like *then.* Seems like that choir would be better advised to stop singing about grooming children and start forming defensive vigilance committees; San Fran going whole hog on falling into third world hellhole status like Detroit or Mosul would seem to make life a little uncomfortable for such as those in the choir.  If that exodus does happen, it’ll likely be a self-reinforcing spiral; as people leave the place will get worse; as the place gets worse, more will choose to leave.

With China and Russia getting aggressive, pandemics becoming a Real Thing, the economy going shaky, the administration wanting to lock up millions of law-abiding citizens, gas and food prices looking like they might explode… we could be standing on the edge of an abyss. An EMP attack or a Carrington Event would easily push us over. And while I’m confident that the United States would, barring a truly awful pandemic or a massive nuclear strike, be able to pick itself back up, it could be a decade of crap. And in that decade, a lot of things will disappear. Not just civil society, but most drug manufacture and distribution. Lots of diabetics will be in serious trouble. But you know who else will be in trouble? Everyone who has come to think of HIV/AIDS as no big deal. Everyone who think those “prep” drugs are a good replacement for common sense.

 

 Posted by at 12:47 am

Delusional

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Jul 102021
 

There are lots of “movements” that are kinda nutty. But outside of the religious or occult, it’s hard to get more downright delusional than “sovereign citizens,” especially the ones who base their bad behavior on patently ridiculous re-writings of history.

Man arrested after extremist group takes over Newark woman’s home, police say

Short form: a member of a “Moorish” sovcit group broke into a woman’s home in New Jersey, changed the locks and claimed that it was *his* because, as a “Moor,” he has ancestral rights to all the lands in the US and doesn’t have to obey US laws. He apparently thought that that would be the end of it, that the rest of society would accept his actions and let him keep the house. This is not just wrong, it’s loopy and stupid; anyone with a  functional brain would have told him:

The local police responded correctly: a bunch of guys with guns showed up to convince him of the errors of his ways. Fortunately they got him out without shooting up the joint.

I can easily see a lot of other homeowners being a whole lot less patient with this nonsense. It’s your home; I can’t imagine that there are legal issues with you breaking down your own door. If you break down your own door and find someone unwanted in your home, Castle Doctrine would now be in play, I would expect. If said homeowner is a popular person, gifted with many friends and family given to muscles and enthusiasm, the home invader may find himself in a spot of bother.

 Posted by at 12:17 am

I think they might be sabotaged from within

 art, awesomeness, Crazy, humor, photography, politics  No Responses »
Jul 092021
 

Sometimes things are incompetent because the people doing those things are incompetent. And sometimes it’s malicious incompetence. One wonders…

And just in case you think this might be some sort of fake… here is a link to the report. As of this posting, that craptacularly shopped stock photo is the cover image.

 Posted by at 1:56 am

Lovecraftian cultists

 art, books, Crazy, Hmm..., My Fiction, religion, science fiction, War With The Deep Ones, youtube, ಠ_ಠ  No Responses »
Jul 082021
 

An interesting description of the various cults and cultists that pop up on the stories of H.P. Lovecraft. The idea that people would worship hideous monstrosities that want to wipe out mankind is of course nuts… and of course entirely believable. The YouTuber here points out the similarity between the fictional Cthulhu cultists and adherents to a modern day *real* cult of some notoriety.

In my “War With The Deep Ones,” cultists make a few minor appearances in the first book I wrote. But they would have put in much more of an appearance in later books… as the world goes down, the nuts come out. As we have recently seen.

 

 Posted by at 1:03 am

Sign me up!

 Crazy, Forward!, Gah., humor, politics, ಠ_ಠ  No Responses »
Jul 072021
 

I wonder how many of these peoples family members would be left alive if Chairman Mao was still around to punish them for being capitalists?

Caviar Huawei Mate 40 Mao Zedong

The 100th anniversary of the Communist Party is a great celebration for the entire Chinese nation. The power of the state is largely based on the success of its politicians. China’s ruling leaders are wise politicians, experienced military leaders, and talented diplomats.

Since 1921, the Chinese Communist Party has successfully ruled the state. Under her leadership, the country has become one of the leaders in the international arena. China is feared, respected and admired. This is a country which many are eager to surpass.

Caviar iPhone 12 Pro Centenary – smartphone design in honor of the great anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party. Restrained and laconic, at the same time bright and full of strength – the appearance of the accessory successfully conveys the character of the party. The case is made of a lightweight composite material with shockproof properties in red and decorated with relief engraving, echoing the national geometric ornaments of China. Contrasting element – decorative frame, gold-plated of the highest standard, engraved with the emblem of the 100th anniversary of the Communist Party of China.

The design is presented in a limited edition of 68 pieces. The numbers 6 and 8 are sacred for China: 6 means luck and career success, and 8 means wealth and prosperity. The limited edition of the collection is engraved with a laser on the side of the smartphone: the name and serial number of the model are indicated.

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Yours for only $25,370.

Where’s the Hitler Edition? The Jack The Ripper edition? The John Wayne Gacy Edition? So long as they’re celebrating history’s greatest monsters, might as well complete the set.

 

 Posted by at 9:27 pm

Ugh.

 AARRRGH, Crazy, dumbassery, Forward!, Gah., history, Hmm..., ಠ_ಠ  No Responses »
Jul 072021
 

Her Family Owned Slaves. How Can She Make Amends?

Not “her family” as in “her parents,” but “her great-great-great grandmother.”

How many people can honestly say that nobody in their ancestry in the last five generations wasn’t a rapist or a murderer or a thief or a communist or a traitor or a prohibitionist or a tax collector? How many generations have to go by before people understand that people who aren’t them… AREN’T THEM?

 Posted by at 8:36 pm

Well, here it comes…

 AARRRGH, Crazy, Hmm..., news, politics, ಠ_ಠ  No Responses »
Jul 072021
 

Supermarkets Are Stockpiling Inventory as Food Costs Rise

And…

Grocery stores starting to stockpile

Frozen meat and such. Even with freezers the shelf life of this stuff isn’t that great, a few months at best. One wonders if this is a self-reinforcing psychological issue among supermarkets… or maybe they see something in current trends. At best, inflation. At middling, Great Reset. At worst, Covid Two: Pandemic Boogaloo. At apocalyptic: China decides to take Taiwan and drags the world into a full nuclear exchange.

Bonus:

LA County Gas Prices Highest Since 2012

$4.33 a gallon.

 Posted by at 8:22 pm

NEEEERRRRDDDSSS!!!!

 art, awesomeness, history, Hmm..., science fiction, youtube  No Responses »
Jul 072021
 

I get a major kick out of  the level of effort people put into digging out the smallest details in Star Wars/Star Trek/Etc. This sort of thing is possible because the original work was done in the analog age and the current investigation was done in the digital age… had this particular detail been created in the days of easy computer graphics, it likely would have gone forever unclear.

 

 Posted by at 1:46 pm
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