November 06, 2003
WWW.FLYROCKETS.COM
This site (click this link) has just been put up thanks to the volunteer efforts of rocketeers across the US. It will be referred to during the commercial breaks of The Great Rocketry Challenge scheduled to air beginning November 9th on the Discovery Channel.
Lots of great information there.Posted by: Ted at 05:32 AM | Comments (45) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)
November 05, 2003
Rat sighting
Victor, Nic and Stevie: thought you might be interested. There are pictures and everything.
Posted by: Ted at 01:35 PM | Comments (44) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)
reminder
Over on the right column is a tagline that changes every few days, and right below it is the link to my tagline archive where you can view past bits of wisdom and whimsy. If you have one to contribute, send it in and I'll post it up.
Posted by: Ted at 08:57 AM | Comments (42) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)
This is why PETA hates Bill
It's been a while since I've posted a Bill picture.
Bill throws a lot of parties. It's because no one will invite him to their house. Open it up to see Bill's halloween costume.Posted by: Ted at 07:43 AM | Comments (46) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)
Great big 'huh?'
Welcome to the visitors who reached this blog by searching Google for:
"Lanced boil pictures""Auction houses in San Fransisco"
"Anti-Halloween Poem"
"Estes rocket vegetable"
Posted by: Ted at 05:48 AM | Comments (44) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)
I HATE the scumbags at the BATFE
November 4, 2003 - The ATFE and its contractor, Applied Research Associates, have been purchasing high power rocket motors, rocket kits, launch rails, electrical launchers and other items to conduct tests at Hill Air Force Base in Utah. The purpose of the tests is to provide proof that high power rockets can be used to shoot down commercial aircraft during landings and takeoffs. The tests will be documented by videotape. It is expected that the video tape will be
released during a press conference for maximum media exposure.
different suppliers. It was reported to ARSA that Applied Research Associates employees along with ATFE agents were to conduct tests yesterday at Hill Air Force Base using a target drone to simulate a commercial aircraft. The high power rockets were to be launched out of a parked van. The rockets were going to be launched one at a time at the drone as well as several at a time. The rockets did not contain explosive warheads. It is not known whether the drone was rigged to simulate an explosion as a high power rocket passed by. The information in this story was made available to Senator Mike Enzi's staff. It is not know at this time, what action, if any, Senator Enzi plans to take. Watch for further updates on this story as it develops. Thanks to Izzy of Rocket Forge for posting the article to the Rec.Models.Rockets (RMR) newsgroup. First of all, some questions immediately come to mind: 1. Does Agent Shatzer posses a LEUP (Low Explosives User Permit)? We are required to in order to purchase these motors. In other words, it's already regulated. 2. Is Agent Shatzer posses at least a Level 2 certification from the National Association of Rocketry (NAR) or Tripoli? We are required to in order to purchase these motors. In other words, it's already regulated. 3. Is Agent Shatzer storing his motors in a BATFE-approved magazine? Getting approval for his magazine shouldn't be hard since he is a BATFE agent, but the magazine requirements are not simple to comply with. Again, it's already regulated. Someone brought up a good point - the BATFE doesn't have to videotape anything but a van driving up, opening the doors and launching a rocket from the back. That alone will be sufficient to scare enough
The actual point of the silly cloak-and-dagger routine is that the BATF wants to be able to shout loudly that "Terrorists can easily get model rockets!" while showing vids of this character doing just that... wait till they trot out those vids at the scarefest... er... "press conference". Update: David W. states in RMR: The cert requirement is only in NFPA 1127, which at this time is not very widely adopted, as far as I know. And J350 reloads currently require neither an LEUP nor storage, althought how that gets interpreted and/or enforced depends on which agent you talk to. So the only people who are being required at this time to follow the more stringent proposed regulations are hobby rocketry enthusiasts. I hate these bastards with a passion.
Posted by: Ted at 04:45 AM | Comments (46) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)
November 04, 2003
Mad Scientist's Club
As a kid, my favorite book was The Mad Scientist's Club, written by Bertrand Brinley. This collection of tales were great fun as the seven club members used science to solve problems, uncover mysteries and pull off outrageous practical jokes. Many of these stories originally appeared in Boy's Life magazine.
Maybe you remember tales such as The Strange Sea Monster of Strawberry Lake, The Unidentified Flying Man of Mammoth Falls, The Secret of the Old Cannon, or The Great Gas Bag Race. If not, then you really missed out and should track down a copy. Ok, so I tracked it down for you. Amazon has the original, the second collection, and the only published novel length story - The Big Kerplop! There's talk of finally printing the final unpublished story in the future. I'll be getting a copy as soon as it's available.Posted by: Ted at 01:38 PM | Comments (46) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)
I hear Satan calling...
Sheri at Two Nervous Dogs damns us all to hell. That deserves a great big Munuvian hug and howdy!
Posted by: Ted at 12:06 PM | Comments (44) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)
Rocketing Around the Blogosphere
Hey, did you see this stuff?
Over at You Can Call Me Al, Alan posts a beautiful description of the US Flag folding tradition. Meanwhile, Nic did exactly what I did this weekend, namely getting the yard ready for winter. She ate some spam too. Mmmmmm, spam… For those of you who refuse to try it, well, that just means more for us barbarians. Tink is enjoying the Indian Summer, and hoping for a moderate winter. I don’t know about that, every farmer’s almanac I’ve seen is calling for a harsh winter. We’re kinda due for one too, because the last few have been relatively light. Kevin of Wizbang fame has an interesting debate going on about certain required children’s vaccinations and their potential dangers. His article focuses on the MMR vaccine, but I know that the DPT series also has occasional disastrous side-effects. You can read more here. The site is a little heavy on the scare-tactics, but the information is there. Denita posts an original cartoon that captures the perfect afterlife – for homicide bombers. Brava! I’ve told you about Wince and Nod before. If you need further convincing that it should be a regular visit, then you should check out his take on the media in Iraq, censorship via internet blocking in the name of ‘security’, and the Bill of No Rights. Another debate, this time at Velociworld, about shooting your lawyer. Pro or con, you should go chip in with your two cents. Jay points out an article about amateur groups building and launching ‘near spacecraft’. Fascinating stuff. Personal ads from prisoners. Tiger’s analysis is a perfect example of why you need counsel if you’re considering a little caged heat. Speaking of crime and punishment, you should head over and check out the story of the executed murderer. How mundane, you say? They hanged an elephant (hung? nah, hanged sounds right.). Thanks to Say Uncle for the pointer! From Silent Running:Of course, the fact that Saddam was going out of his way to make everyone think he had WMDs is of no consequence to the 'where are the WMDs?' crowd. Perhaps they actually never did exist, excepting in what Saddam wished for people to believe. Case in point: be careful what you wish for. Someone might actually believe you are as scary as you want people to think. Another classic fisking by Jon of Q and O, one of many. My favorite line: It's magic! The President would tell the UN to "handle it" and it would be "handled". Magical Self-Determination Fairies would wave their Peace Wands and everything would be ok, again! Finally, we'll finish up with some beauty. Terry is a master with the camera, and his photographs continually amaze. His sunsets are particularly awe-inspiring. I enjoy the photos posted by Starhawk as well. He’s done beautiful series on the World Trade Center site and his garden.
Posted by: Ted at 10:51 AM | Comments (47) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)
Appropriate Imagery
Annika points the way to an interesting survey of blogs and bloggers.
A couple of things jumped out at me. BlogSpot and LiveJournal are the two market leaders, each with 31% of these hosted blogs. While BlogSpot is growing more quickly, its retention rate is lower, and the two sites should continue to race neck-and-neck in the near term in terms of active users. Making BlogSpot the AOL of blogging. That's not really a surprise, because I've noticed a bias against BlogSpotters in the blogosphere. Also, this survey only included Blog-City, BlogSpot, Diaryland, LiveJournal, Pitas, TypePad, Weblogger and Xanga. Their rationale seems reasonable. The report concludes that the blogosphere is like an iceberg, where a very few (the big boys) are read by thousands every day, yet the vast majority of blogs remain unseen by most, 'under the surface' if you will. They then discuss nanoaudiences (not to be confused with the off-Broadway production of Nano-Nanette) and the methodology used. According to the report, this is the first in a series of surveys to be done. Future results will be interesting.Posted by: Ted at 08:19 AM | Comments (43) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)
Election Day
Be sure to vote.
Posted by: Ted at 05:08 AM | Comments (46) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)
November 03, 2003
Passing the torch
As I mentioned here, on October 21st the last Titan II rocket launched and succesfully deployed a satellite into orbit. A nice picture of the liftoff is here, along with some background information about the rocket and it's history.
More amazing photos here and here. According to online sources, "there are probably 30 more Titans at Davis-Monthan AFB, but maybe only one fully reconditioned and ready for flight. At the time of the Titan II deactivation, there were 52 missiles + spares in serviceable condition - I think something less than 15 were selected for use as satellite boosters - they got guidance upgrades, safety upgrades, and assorted what-not." The current undisputed workhorse of the US lifter fleet are the Boeing Deltas. Some beautiful pictures of the Delta II, Delta III, and Delta IV can be found at the Boeing Gallery website. Be sure to look around a bit, because there are multiple pages of photos.Posted by: Ted at 09:56 PM | Comments (44) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)
Air Force Blue
Basic Training at Lackland AFB, Texas. San Antonio in August. Hell with an accent.
For some strange reason, our 'flight' of recruits was almost evenly divided between New Yorkers and Californians. There may have been a few other states in there, but not many. The Californians (including yours truly) took one bay of the barracks, and the Noo Yawkahs took the other. We had arrived on a friday, and official training didn't start until monday, which meant that our TI (training instructor, as opposed to drill instructor) had the whole weekend to fuck with us to his hearts content. And he did. He began by running our asses ragged all day long. Mostly by announcing fire drills one after another which caused us to hustle down three flights of steps and across the street into a field where we tried to get into some sort of formation, and then we'd take verbal abuse until the TI and his assistants got thirsty from yelling. Then we'd return to our barracks ("Double-time Hollywood! Hup hup!") and do it all over again in 10 minutes. We were hot, sticky, tired and generally pissed off. A little scared too because this neckless dude with the big voice and little smokey-the-bear hat suddenly had supreme power over our lives. Finally we were told to grab showers before evening chow. As seventy teenagers gratefully (and wearily) stripped down, we heard the TI's voice ring out, making our blood run cold. "Holy Shit!!! Will you take a look at this?" Most of us knew better than to look at him, not wanting to draw attention to ourselves. We'd learned that much already. "All of you, strip to your skivvies! Then get to attention at your bunks." Oh crap, this couldn't be good. He walked over to the other bay to give them the same directions, the east coast boys were being watched over by the assistant TI. We could here whoops and hollers from the two sergeants. We finished undressing and stood there at something resembling attention, wondering what the hell was going to happen next. I feared another fire drill. Then the bay was filled with the rest of the flight as the guys from the other bay hurried in, being verbally herded by the TI's. They fell in between us, filling the ranks. The kid directly across from me was buck naked. The TI called for everyone without underwear to take a step forward (I have no idea how many there were), and he read them the riot act for free-balling it. Many dire warnings about what constituted proper and complete military uniforms were issued, along with a promise of random, frequent checks to ensure compliance. Next the TI walked down the line and pointed at various people as they walked by. "You... you... no... you... no..." We held our breath and prayed that we weren't singled out. Those selected were told to take a step forward. Suddenly there were more smokey-the-bear hats in the room. I'm guessing that the assistant TI called the other sergeants up for the fun and games. Six or eight of them I think. It was a fashion show. Many of the California boys were wearing, uh... unusual underwear. Various bikini styles. We were all reminded that Uncle Sam issued us six pairs of white boxers or briefs, and that's all we'd better be wearing during Basic Training. As the troops marched up and down the aisle of the barracks, the TI's made comments. Nobody else laughed or even smirked, that was a sure way to catch personalized hell. Afterwards, assignments were handed out for Flight Leader, Squad Leaders, Guide-on, road guards and so on. These were temporary, and could (and would) be pulled immediately upon screwup. The TI's voted and gave the jobs out based on the best underwear. I became (temporarily) a squad leader.Posted by: Ted at 03:01 PM | Comments (46) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)
I haven't laughed this hard in a long long time
Over at Rocket Penguin, a story about a Sergeant, a boy and his poncho.
Oops, I guess I should warn y'all that it's a .pdf file, if that matters. It shouldn't, because it's that good.Posted by: Ted at 12:35 PM | Comments (48) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)
Cadillac
Watching the commercials for Cadillac yesterday, it struck me that they made a brilliant choice of theme music for their SUVish model: Led Zepplin (I recognize the song, but can't place the title). The song has energy and fits perfectly with the image they try to show, plus the target audience are the exact same people who grew up listening to Zep.
I've also been enjoying the Chrysler "Harley" whatever-his-name-is commercials. Very nice.Posted by: Ted at 11:23 AM | Comments (42) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)
Painful to watch
I don't know what was worse yesterday, listening to Chris Collinsworth compare the Redskins pass rush to high school football, or hearing Howie Long and crew mock the 'skins. Because every single thing they said was absolute truth. The Redskins have sunk to the lowest of the low. The Lions, Bengals and Texans have been replaced by the Raiders and Redskins this year.
Patrick Ramsey isn't going to last the season at this rate. The kid is tough, he's got talent, but he's going to get hurt badly one of these games. Right now, Ramsey has the chance to be the new Manning. Archie, not Peyton. A fine quarterback on a hopelessly cruddy team. Spurrier has to go. So does about half of the roster, because even less talented players would be better than the overpaid quitters that are collecting paychecks now, as long as they tried hard. Every play. Lose every damn game - fine - but go down swinging. I don't even like the Redskins, but they're local so you pick up the information by osmosis. Rick freakin' Mirer. Oh God, help the Raider Nation.Posted by: Ted at 11:10 AM | Comments (46) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)
November 02, 2003
Spacecraft computers
Someone on the Rec.Models.Rockets newsgroup asked what kind of computers were run on board 'capsules'. The best answer posted was from Mike Gerszewski, a Graduate Assistant at the University of North Dakota Space Studies department. He concentrated on US programs, and his excellent reply follows:
Mercury: No computers on board, ground systems used IBM 709 & 7090 computers developed for the Ballistic Missile Early Warning System. An additional system was added to solve communication problems with geographically distant ground stations, a 7281 I Data Communications Channel. Ranger, Surveyor and Early Mariner Unmanned Probes used sequencers. Apollo AgeGemini:
The Gemini Digital Computer. IBM received the contract for the GDC on April 19, 1962. It weighed approximately 59 pounds, performed more than 7,000 calculations per second, and required 1.35 cubic feet of space. It used a magnetic core memory, which was originally deisgned for the Semi-Automatic Ground Environment (SAGE). The GDC failed at re-entry during the flight of James McDivitt and Ed White. They had to manually de-orbit and landed 80 miles off course. Apollo: The Apollo guidance and navigation computer was designed by MIT. Skylab: NASA went with IBM again and the system was designed around an off-the-shelf version of the IBM 4Pi processor, a direct predecessor to the System /360. This is the first time I saw when a system that implemented microcode was flown in space. Voyager, Galileo: Used a distributed computing system designed by JPL. Space Transportation System (Shuttle):
Initial design for the main computer was a repackaged version of the F-15 fighter jet's IBM's AP-1, called the IBM AP-101, based on the IBM 4Pi processor. The IBM AP-101 was a collective effort between IBM and Rockwell International. The size of the AP-101's memory was settled on as 32K, but later in the software engineering process the memory requirements grew to over 700K. The first use of Open Source in space was when Debian GNU/Linux flew on the shuttle in 1997 controlling a hydroponics experiment. This was most likely on an IBM laptop, but I didn't find any concrete references to this. I don't know who the contractor was for the main computer aboard the ISS, but the individual astronauts use IBM laptops, running MS software, for everyday ops. So just as home computers can be traced back to military computers, so can spacecraft computers, perhaps more directly.
Posted by: Ted at 07:58 PM | Comments (48) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)
More Baseball Cards (again)
Previous entries about these cards are here and here.
Posted by: Ted at 09:30 AM | Comments (45) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)
Cleaning out the corners
For some unknown reason I just looked under my computer table and noticed a big spider web in the far corner between the wall and leg and floor. There are two daddy long-legs dead and hanging in this web. Now I'm freaked out. I'll be back, I need to get the flamethrower broom and vacuum cleaner.
Posted by: Ted at 09:14 AM | Comments (45) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)
Southern Virginia Rocket Launch
On November 29, in Toano, Virginia. That's between Richmond and Norfolk on I-64. This is the first launch at this field as they've just gotten permission to fly there. FAA waiver to 8000 feet. Directions can be found here, and as always spectators are welcome.
Posted by: Ted at 08:20 AM | Comments (46) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)
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