Virgin Orbit sold off

 AARRRGH, aircraft, Crazy, news, rockets, spacecraft  No Responses »
May 252023
 

Given the vast amount of money spend on Virgin Orbit to develop a rocket that promised to be cheap, the fact that the company failed is no surprise whatsoever (see HERE). But their failure is other companies gains.

No one should be surprised Virgin Orbit failed—it had a terrible business plan

Stratolaunch bought VO’s modified 747 with the intention of using it to launch things. This probably makes a lot more sense than their gigantic ROC carrier aircraft… too much airplane for many missions, and not exactly capable of landing on every runway in the world. Big as the 747 is, there are a *lot* of airports with decades of experience accommodating it.

 

Stratolaunch Expands Fleet with Virgin Orbit’s Modified Boeing 747

And the New Zealand/American company Rocket Lab has purchased a fair chunk of VO’s infrastructure:

 

Rocket Lab Bolsters Neutron Rocket Program with Purchase of Virgin Orbit Long Beach California Assets

Good for them. Instant growth, and, hopefully, continued employment for some VO staff. And if nothing else at least the ChiComs didn’t get it.

 Posted by at 9:06 pm

There are so few actual white supremacists…

 AARRRGH, Crazy, dumbassery, Forward!, Gah., Hmm..., Meh., news, politics, ಠ_ಠ  No Responses »
May 232023
 

… that the market for them is being filled by non-white people. There was the “white supremacist” Mexican, and now this guy who was supposed to have tried to ram his U-Haul into the White House:

19-year-old Missouri man arrested in U-Haul crash at White House security barriers

U.S. Park Police on Tuesday identified the driver as Sai Varshith Kandula, 19, of Chesterfield, Missouri.

That’s a weird name for a Whitey McWhiteGuy.

 

 

Behold, modern “journalism:”

 

19 year old who rammed White House barrier threatened president

News of the arrest just feet from the White House comes amid a climate of fear and hostility as Republicans continue to demonize diversity programs while downplaying the threat of white supremacist violence.

 

Yeah. *THAT’s* the big problem plaguing society… white supremacy that’s so

 Posted by at 3:20 pm

An anomaly at Amazon

 AARRRGH, aircraft, books, Crazy, Hmm..., Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird Origins and Evolution, projects, SR-71 Origins and Evolution, ಠ_ಠ  No Responses »
May 222023
 

With the release of my latest book, I went to Amazon to see if my previous works are currently available (SR-71: yes; B-47/B-52: yes; Vol 1: currently no). In the process, I was surprised to see that there is a *hardback* version of my SR-71 book available. This is surprising for several reasons…

1: No mention of it was made to me by the publisher

2: It’s a relatively slim volume for a hardback

3: There has been some discussion, so far quite preliminary, of an expanded version of the SR-71 book at some point in the future, which would be more appropriate as a hardback.

Anyway, the listing looks like this:

 

“Huh,” sez I, so I click on the “hardback” link to see what it looks like. And… it looks like this:

 

 

Wait, what?

 

Now, that’s a perfectly fine book. I have a copy myself. But it’s not *my* book.

 

I also noticed that there are 187 reviews, which is substantially more than I recall there being. And that’s because the reviews for Goodall’s book are mashed in with reviews for mine.

Somebody hit the wrong button somewhere.

So if you want to get a copy or three of my book – an urge I wholeheartedly support – just make sure you order the right book. I’ve contacted the publisher about this and they’re baffled; they’ve contacted the people they need to to try to get this weirdness resolved.

 

 

Oh, and there’s this, for whatever it’s worth:

 

Woo, and, indeed, hoo.

 Posted by at 3:25 pm

A Russian civil war in the offing?

 Crazy, Hmm..., news, politics, russian empire, youtube  No Responses »
May 222023
 

There seems to be some interesting combat going on these days, with Russian volunteers fighting for Ukraine invading a Russian border city and fighting the Russian military. Some suggest that this is actually a false flag operation… but wouldn’t that make it *worse?* The Russian government actually showing the Russian people an active resistance? Nah. The Kremlin couldn’t be *that* incompetent… could it?

 

 Posted by at 2:05 pm

Radioactive Toothpaste

 AARRRGH, Crazy, dumbassery, Gah., history, science, ಠ_ಠ  No Responses »
May 212023
 

History is *filled* with astonishingly bad ideas. And who would have guessed that some of the worst would come out of collectivist totalitarian systems like Nazi Germany?

The Case of The Radioactive Toothpaste

Curiously, the toothpaste in question was filled with Radium, the radioactive element of choice for insane and/or stupid product manufacturers in the early 20th century, but Thorium. Why Thorium? Well… “why not” seems to have been the answer.

 Posted by at 6:33 pm

US Supersonic Bomber Projects Vol. 2

 aircraft, awesomeness, books, new products, news, projects, rockets, US Supersonic Bomber Projects Vol 2  No Responses »
May 212023
 

My next book, released for pre-order and to be shipped in a few weeks:

US Supersonic Bomber Projects 2

“The threat posed by the Soviet Union throughout the postwar period coincided with an explosion of innovation and can-do attitude among America’s aircraft manufacturers. Challenging requirements and experimentation resulted in a huge variety of designs for aircraft powered by nuclear reaction, aircraft capable of flying faster than Mach 5, advanced bombers able to land and take-off from the surface of the ocean, VTOL fighters and bombers, and many others. Aerospace engineer Scott Lowther collects some of the most radical and beyond-the-state-of-the-art ‘secret projects’ in this – the second volume of his US projects series.”

 Posted by at 6:31 pm

Republic? Democracy? Or something else?

 AARRRGH, blather, Crazy, Forward!, Gah., history, Hmm..., I'm from the government, news, politics, Worldwreckers, ಠ_ಠ  No Responses »
May 202023
 

So, what is the current form of American government? To the simple, it’s a democracy. To those who actually have *some* understanding of the theoretical workings of the US Federal government, it’s a representative republic. But to those who have watched how the Feds and a startling number of state and local governments work, a more accurate descriptor is one that most probably haven;t heard of… but rest assured, you *will* be hearing it a lot so long as the means of communications remain reasonably free and accessible:

Anarcho-Tyranny

Coined in 1995, “Anarcho-tryanny” is a form of government that is characterized by taking a hands-off approach to dealing with actual criminality at all levels… but exercising draconian oppression upon the average citizens. Sound familiar? Cities that let criminals loot and burn and protest and terrorize at will… but toss people who defend themselves into the hoosegow for show trials. States that do diddly to deal with gangs and murderers of all stripes, but ban common firearms and standard magazines. Federal law enforcement agencies that welcome in whole armies of invaders, and hire armies of armed bureaucrats to hunt down small business owners who might have made small mistakes on the deviously complex tax returns.

And then there are the “glowies.”

 

If you, as an average, law-abiding citizen who wants nothing more than to be left alone to live your life and pursue happiness, fear the government descending upon you more than the guy breaking into your car or shoplifting your store does… you may be in an anarcho-tyranny.

 Posted by at 8:24 am
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