Well, some are fighting back…

 Crazy, dumbassery, Forward!, Hmm..., news, politics, youtube, ಠ_ಠ  No Responses »
Aug 262020
 

Last night the rioters in Kenosha found out that some people aren’t willing to just stand back and let them have their way. It seems that a group of rioters were planning on burning down another car dealership, but at least one (presumed) owner or employee was willing to stop them. in this case, with a rifle, probably an AR-15. As a result, two are dead, one injured. The videos in the tweets below are both informative and explicit in that it shows a guy dying on the ground with a head wound. What’s also shown is the *extreme* irony of these “we hate cops” rioters yelling out “call the cops!” when one of theirs is gunned down.

As I understand Wisconsin law, they have “Castle Doctrine” which means that a home or business owner has no duty to retreat in the face of an invading aggressor, but can shoot to kill in order to defend themselves, other people, their home and their stuff. Which, if the shooter here is an owner or employee, would *seem* to indicate that this should probably be considered a legal shooting. Which should have an interesting effect on the rioters if they know that they can get a lead pellet to the brainpan anytime they screw around on private property.

I’ve put the vids after the break. So click to see ’em or don’t.

Continue reading »

 Posted by at 9:12 am

Electromagnetic warfare

 Hmm..., science, weapons, youtube  No Responses »
Aug 252020
 

We’ve recently seen the insurrectionists using electronic devices from lasers to bullhorns as weapons against the police and the citizenry. It occurs to me that a discussion may be had about countermeasures: what portable device can a person have on their person that could be used to disable electronic weapons? If, say, someone were to don the Antifa uniform – black clothes, face mask, dark glasses, hoodie and/or helmet – they could wander more or less freely through the crowd of commies. If they had a bullhorn neutralizer in their backpack, it might not need to be obvious that it was in operation. What the range and true capability of such a mechanism could be, I don’t know, but it seems like it would be interesting to speculate about. Any device strong enough to shut down something as straightforward as a bullhorn would seem likely to do untold damage to GoPros and cell phones as well. The following vids show home made devices that generate EMPs that work at *very* close range to shut down electronics, but I would expect that professional devices could have longer range and directionality.

These things are also LOUD, which could be an issue.

For anti-bullhorn use, melting down the electronics might not be the only approach. Somehow over-riding it, so that it sends out nothing but static, or *your* *own* *messages* could be useful as well. This might be a case of powerful radio transmissions rather than EMP. Dunno. Thoughts? Ideas?

 Posted by at 11:46 pm

Moonbase

 blather, dumbassery, Forward!, Hmm..., news, politics, spacecraft, THIS is why Trump won, ಠ_ಠ  No Responses »
Aug 252020
 

The Trump campaign published their second term agenda. It is pretty much a list of what you’d expect… generic reasonable aspirations and talking point, few of which are even remotely controversial. Behold:

Trump Campaign Announces President Trump’s 2nd Term Agenda: Fighting for You!

The agenda says this about the space program:

Launch Space Force, Establish Permanent Manned Presence on The Moon and Send the First Manned Mission to Mars

Which is frankly not a whole hell of a lot. Of course, this being 2020, “not even remotely controversial” results in “I’ll take that challenge” from the usual crowd. Behold an entire opinion piece written to decry those few words about the moon:

Trump Wants a Moonbase

In case you’re wondering about the quality of the piece and it’s author and don;t wish to give them clicks, here’s a summary:

Last night, Trump released his second term agenda, incredibly specific guidelines for xenophobic totalitarian rule sprinkled with pipe dreams. Among the former is the usual parade of fascistic talking points: “teach American exceptionalism,” prosecute the “violent extremist” group antifa, deport “non-citizen gang members,” hold China “accountable” for covid-19, eliminate sanctuary cities. The latter variety is contrasted with such gems as “return to normal in 2021” and establish a “permanent” “manned presence” on the moon.

A base. On the moon. A moonbase, if you will.

Uh-huh. Note what the author considers fascism: enforcing laws against rioting and arson and assault and murder and illegal immigration. More specific to determining the value of the author:

he somehow bloated the military with a Space Force, in spite of the total absence of warfare in space currently.

Huh. There’s no war in space *now,* so there’s no need to plan for it.

GENIUS!

But even more… are we sure there’s no war in space right now? Are we absolutely certain?

Bah. Journalism is dead.

 Posted by at 2:13 pm

Kenosha

 AARRRGH, Crazy, Forward!, Gah., news, politics, THIS is why Trump won, ಠ_ಠ  No Responses »
Aug 252020
 

In the movies, when there is some sort of disaster the National Guard comes out and says that anyone caught looting is subject to being shot. This is a bit of dramatic license; that’s not legal under current laws.

Trump would likely guarantee a 50-state sweep if he *did* make it legal. The video below shows just what’s going on… an71-year-old feller has his business (a mattress shop) set on fire by Mostly Peaceful Protestors, and when he tries to interfere, they try to murder him.

This appears to be a GoFundMe to help the guy with medical expenses… and to relocate.

Difficult to argue that we’re not now in a civil war. The last time the lines were more or less geographical. This time, it’s ideological, with far leftists vs. everybody else. Right now, the American public is still not involved with putting this insurrection down, hoping that it will simply blow over. But with every day that it’s allowed to fester and burn, the likelihood that it will stop declines. At some point, it will become sufficiently self-sustaining that the only way it’ll end will be full-blown combat. Fortunately… it seems that the combat forces of the bad guys here are not exactly the sharpest tools in the shed:

 

 Posted by at 12:29 pm

OK, back to Lovecraft

 AARRRGH, Crazy, Forward!, Gah., news, politics, War With The Deep Ones, youtube, ಠ_ಠ  No Responses »
Aug 242020
 

As some may recall, a few years ago I wrote a lot of Lovecraftian short stories in a relatively short period, all in the “War With The Deep Ones” series. For those who don’t remember, I had an idea for a book – actually a series of books – that deal with the rise of eldritch horrors from the “Cthulhu Mythos,” their efforts to wipe humanity off the Earth, and mankinds attempts to fight back. As most of my projects go, this one sputtered out due to an inability to find much interest among publishers and life introducing other challenges such as a need to make money, health concerns, a major move, a need to make money, the sudden appearance of not one but two aerospace history book contracts and a need to make money.

But the events of 2020 make it clear that we really are living in a world of Lovecraftian madness. I’ve an idea for another piece to be set in the WWTDO plotline; rather than a story per se, it would be an inter-office memo attempting to explain the 20th and early 21st centuries by way of the influence of Cthulhu’s influence driving people mad. Because BEHOLD:

KENOSHA MAYHEM RAW — Marxists with assault weapons stop armored sheriff’s vehicle…

This is Lovecraft’s world; we’re just living in it.

“The time would be easy to know, for then mankind would have become as the Great Old Ones; free and wild and beyond good and evil, with laws and morals thrown aside and all men shouting and killing and revelling in joy. Then the liberated Old Ones would teach them new ways to shout and kill and revel and enjoy themselves, and all the earth would flame with a holocaust of ecstasy and freedom.”

 Posted by at 10:32 am

Titan II-Scramjet

 aircraft, art, drawings, Hmm..., humor, projects, rockets, spacecraft  No Responses »
Aug 242020
 

Now here’s an odd thing…

Part of the collection of images from the Cradle of Aviation Museum, Garden City, NY, this depicts a Republic Aviation concept circa early 1960’s for putting a scramjet vehicle atop a Titan II first stage. Presumably this is meant to be… I dunno, a space launcher? No wings are in evidence, so cruise flight and a landing seem unlikely. But it would seem a hell of a thing to throw away, so *presumably* it was meant to be recovered somehow. Perhaps it shed the entire payload-containing nosecone and came back using the blunt forward dome of the propellant tank as a heat shield, followed by a splashdown. Dunno.

 

Also in the collection is the “AX-92 detailed drawing.” Clearly this is an entirely serious proposal, and not at all an example of an artist screwing around for giggles.

 Posted by at 12:57 am

Elmo vs Codger

 art, dumbassery, Forward!, humor, politics, youtube  No Responses »
Aug 232020
 

When this popped up in my YouTube recommendations, I had a brief moment of joy thinking that Professor Tosspot was back. But instead it’s another cranky old codger in the same puppet. This one, though, takes on the Current Major Issue Of The Day by way of re-editing a sickening Sesame Street video that claims to take on racism. It’s freakin’ hilarious.

 

FYI: The Codger met Professor Tosspot HERE.

 Posted by at 11:38 pm

The Right Stuff

 aircraft, art, history, Hmm..., spacecraft, youtube  No Responses »
Aug 232020
 

Coming to Disney+ in October, so I won’t be seeing it anytime soon. On the whole I guess it looks ok, but there is one thing that kinda jumped right out at me.

Here’s the thing. At about the 0:47 mark…

Was a Mercury-Atlas ever launched without an escape tower? Later in the trailer there are scenes of a booster exploding into a fireball in flight, and civilian observers on the ground freaking out. Being a trailer, there’s no good reason to conclude that these three shots belong together, but they kinda look like they do. And since no manned Atlas ever failed, this would seem to indicate a test launch. So maybe this depicts an unmanned test Atlas launching and then failing, with witnesses aghast?  But even then, I don’t immediately recall towerless Mercuries launched by Atlases. But I’m not an expert on the Mercury program. Perhaps a dream/nightmare sequence of one of the wives? Dunno.

Other thoughts: the casting looked shockingly non-diverse. Will Disney catch hell for this? Or is the show jam-packed full of stunt casting that doesn’t appear in the trailer? Will the Mercury 7 turn out to be surprisingly populated with alphabet people (this is Disney, after all…)? Will the head of NASA be portrayed by a black woman (but then, this *isn’t* the BBC)?

 Posted by at 1:10 pm
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