October 17, 2016
106 Years Ago Today
...the airship America broke records and achieved several firsts.
America photographed from RMSTrent. Note the visible "plug" in the envelope where the ship was enlarged & the equillibrator trailing in the water..
The ship was the brainchild of reporter/adventurer Walter Wellman and was initially financed by the Chicago Tribune, being designed and built for an attempt to be the first to reach the north pole. The aircraft was actually built in France, which was closer to Norway and allowed the designers to use the considerable expertise and physical plant of French balloon manufacturers, and presumably gain some input from the Gaelic airship pioneers. The craft, was, however, quite distinctive. America was a semi-rigid dirigible with a number of innovative features including swiveling airscrews capable of providing vectored thrust.
America, as built, about to make one of her attempts to reach the pole.
In 1906 the airship left Spitsbergen bound for the pole, but suffered from total engine failure. However, the crew managed to return as a balloon. The engine proved unrepairable and the ship was broken down and shipped to France for repairs. After the installation of a new engine the craft returned in 1907 and made 2 more attempts, however, both were stymied by abominable weather. The ship was shipped out again this tome to America and had it's envelope enlarged, had newer, more powerful engines installed, an electrical system including electric lights, and a wireless set was fitted, as was a lifeboat and a peculiar altitude regulator called an equillibrator, described here.
The device was a 300-foot long steel cable with 30 steel tanks containing gasoline and 40 wooden blocks. Each steel tank was 4-feet long and 9 inches in diameter and weighed about 100 pounds when filled with gasoline; the concave end of one tank fit into the convex end of another, like a ball and socket joint, and was padded with felt to absorb shocks and minimize wear and abrasion. The far end of the device consisted of 40 solid wooden blocks, tapering in diameter like the tail of a snake, that would float on the surface.
This was intended to compensate for day/night changes in buoyancy, without permanently dropping ballast. This was obviously a hazard to people on the ground, but with Robert E. Peary having gotten to the north pole in 1909. Wellman and the ship's designer, Melvin Vaniman had set their sights on a different "first", one that would push their little airship to the limits of it's capability. Their new goal was to cross the Atlantic by air, and for this, the equillibrator actually made sense as it had the potential to minimize losses of ballast and hydrogen.
America as refitted.
On October 15, 1910 America took off from Atlantic city New Jersey. Almost at once, things began to go wrong. The ship's propellors set for full vertical thrust kicked up a spectacular sandstorm. Moments after takeoff a loud screech was heard and investigation revealed the presence of a terrified cat that had stowed away in a box near the engine. He was named Kiddo. Engine trouble quickly ensued and and the ship continued on one engine. Attempts at repair proved futile as it was discovered that the engine had ingested a good deal of sand that had been kicked up during takeoff and was a total loss. It was decided to disassemble the other engine and clean it...but engine number two chose that moment to die.
The second engine was not completely wrecked and was repairable, but a ballasting error resulted in considerable loss of hydrogen. Over the next day, a storm came up and one engine was not enough to overcome the strong winds which pushed the ship far to the south.
The ship was far off course and the second engine became intermittent, so it was decided to abandon the flight. On the 17th, just north of Bermuda, the airship, now effectively a balloon spotted a British mail packet, the S.S. Trent, and hailed them via wireless using CQD (the predecessor to SOS). All six crewmen and Kiddo got into the lifeboat and were picked up by Trent, however, before a hawser could be attached, America, relieved of the weight of the lifeboat shot into the sky and was never seen again.
America photographed from RMSTrent. Note the visible "plug" in the envelope where the ship was enlarged & the equillibrator trailing in the water..The flight, while unsucsessful, had a number of firsts.
2: Longest duration flight to that date by a considerable margin.
3: Longest distance covered by an aircraft in a single flight (over 1000 miles), also by a considerable margin.
4: First radio transmission from an aircraft was "Roy come and get this goddamned cat!"
5: First distress signal sent from an aircraft.
6: First launch of a boat from an aircraft.
7: First air-sea rescue....actually a sea-air rescue.
If things had broken just a bit different, America probably would have made it. An air intake filter would have prevented the loss of the engines. Of course this was one of the learning experiences that caused people to adopt them
Wellman threw in the towel on aviation after this, but Vaniman attempted another crossing of the Atlantic the next year in an improved and enlarged version of America named Akron (the first airship manufactured by Goodyear). Tragically, Akron exploded shortly after launch with the loss of all hands. The Atlantic would not be crossed by air until 1919.
If you are interested in more stuff involving airships, J.C.Carlton has you covered.
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October 16, 2016
Trigger Warning: Banality
Yes, banality lurks below the fold.
As is traditional here, we atone for this by providing an image of some exotic and atypically proportioned young ladies enjoying the last of the good weather as they relax next to the ocean.
Art by Ebimomo
more...
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October 10, 2016
My Crazy Theory May Have Just Been Debunked
Earlier, I stated that I had a Crazy Theory regarding the election, specifically that the world and economic situation was so bad that both parties were trying to throw the election so that the other would have to deal with the mess, and thus accrue blame for the inevitable carnage.
That was always dubious as it assumed awareness on the part our political class. Now, thanks to those occasionally useful creeps at Wikileaks, it seems to have been debunked, and another theory, that has been in the back of my mind for some time, has been given credence.
Trump was a tool for Hillary's campaign all along. She wanted the press to take Trump seriously, put him up as the most viable option for Republicans, and the right took the bait, hook, line, and sinker. Now with the Trump campaign burning to the ground, and GOP leaders walking away due to his recent comments, the Clinton campaign's plan to put Hillary on top is coming to fruition.
No word on when Sean Hannity will go back to his pre DNC-hack policy of decrying Assange as a criminal, or when Drudge might cover this electorally relevant story.
As he might say...Developing.
"This just in. Stupid party is stupid. More at 11."
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Still...
At ODU.
It's much worse in the western part of the state, and vastly worse in North Carolina.
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October 09, 2016
Self - Fulfilling Prophecy!?
I note quite ruefully that the busybody teacher who told me to stop eating the Play-Dough was the same teacher who said I'd never be an astronaut.
My life, derailed by poor career counseling and dietary advice.
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October 08, 2016
Mathew Missed His Turn
ODU is flooded a minimum of a foot deep and on emergency power. After driving to the dorms other students kicked out of library by power failure I noted cartops just visible above water down the street from the school. It took 2 hrs to get out of Norfolk and had to take interstate long way around. Trees down on interstate. I'm in a Truckstop in Suffolk watching water rise and power flicker.
UPDATE:
I need to invest in a dashcam. The things I saw tonight really needed to be filmed. The phone is completely dead. I'm home now after a 4 hour trek to make what is normally a 15 minute trip. The tunnel is apparently flooded, which will make my Monday commute....interesting. The garage is flooded, trees are down all over. Power seems stable for now, but I'm signing off just in case. According to the Weather Channel, Mathew's eyewall is passing overhead (though the eye is 100 miles to the southeast...Mathew is kinda "stretchy"). The worst is supposed to hit around 3:30AM...or about 2 hours from when I typed this.
UPDATE 2:
A couple of very bad pictures of Ghent and ODU
I went to check on my parent's boat this morning. The trip required some detours.
One thing I noted was that many streets that were no longer impassable due to water were nearly impassable due to the large number of no longer submerged cars that had been abandoned.
My parent's boat was OK, but the marina was roughly handled. They had just gotten their boat back in the water after scraping the bottom. This poor fellow...
.
Standing water remains..
As I type this, the sun seems to be coming out and the wind, while still high is not so bad.
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October 06, 2016
OK...This is a Cute Use of the Format
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More on the Implications of Mathew's Current Track
Rand Simberg had this to say yesterday.
But the latest is that it’s still headed right at the Cape, and could even become a five when it hits tomorrow. If that happens, it will probably destroy the VAB, and other facilities, which are only rated for 125 mph winds. It would also probably wipe out much of the infrastructure at CCAFS, which would put both SpaceX and ULA out of business for low-inclination launches until it can be repaired. The only access to ISS (at least with any significant payload — one can dogleg out of Vandenberg, with a big performance penalty) would be from Wallops, via Orbital ATK. Hard to understate what a blow this would be in terms of our space capabilities.
This is the track as of 8pm tonight.
Kennedy’s Orbiter Processing Facilities are rated to withstand sustained winds of 105 mph. The Vehicle Assembly Building and launchpads hold together up until about 115 mph, while newer buildings constructed after Hurricane Andrew in 1992 are designed to weather 130 mph winds.
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Go Home Mathew. You're Drunk!
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October 05, 2016
What a Difference a Day Makes
It looks like the Floridians and the Bahamians are in for a rough couple of days.
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The Correct Response to the Visionless Chucklehead Mentioned in the Previous Post
Two of the Brickmuppet's Crack Team of Science Babes have thoughts on the implications of this test and how it might benefit humanity.
"Mass access to space is almost here!"
"Rocket powered dildos!"
Well....we'll focus on just one of those implications as we are ill-equipped to opine on the other.
The booster was not expected to survive, but was sufficiently overbuilt that it did. This indicates a very good design margin. While this system is intended for tourist flights, and strictly suborbital, it is a proof of concept rig and is intended to scale to fully orbital systems. New Glenn is the name Bezos has given to the larger members of this rocket family.
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It's Time to Have a Little Talk With HR
Scott Lowther notes another scolderiffic luddite pantywaist killjoy douche-mongler who is all upset about Elon Musks rather ambitious Mars plan. The piece is a sad commentary on our culture but would not really be worth noting were it not for one tidbit that Mr. Lowther turned up about this Calvinistic sourpuss who thinks that the ideal model for society is a pot of crabs.
EMPLOYMENT• Manager of Communications , NASA Astrobiology Program, Jan. 2007 – present.• Communication research, planning, and analysis, NASA Planetary Protection Office, Sept. 2002 – 2006.• Director of Communications , SPACEHAB, Inc., Washington, D.C., Sept. 1999 – Aug. 2002 .• Chancellor’s Fellow (1996 – 97, Knight Fellow (1997 – 99) , Indiana U. School of Journalism.• Director of Science Communication, Life Sciences Division, NASA HQ, Oct. 1994 – Aug. 1996.• Manager of education and out reach, exploration office, NASA HQ, Dec. 1993 – Oct. 1994 .• Senior editor/analyst, BDM International, April 1990 – December 1993.• Editor, Lockheed Engineering & Sciences Co., July 1988 – April 1990.• Senior editor for space, Air & Space/Smithsonian magazine, December 1985 – July 1988.• Public affairs officer, National Commission on Space, Sept. – Dec. 1985.• Consultant, National Science Foundation, August – September 1985 .• Editor, Space Business News, June 1983 – August 1985.
"So...she's diametrically opposed to the Raison d ' être
of the organization, and is more generally an enemy of reason.
Why is NASA paying this person?"
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October 04, 2016
Been Securing The Yard
...also buying water. If this thing goes down to cat 2 as currently forecast
we'll probably be OK with regards to wind, but the thing will still be carrying a category 4 surge. A lot will depend on how fast it moves, when it hits and of course, exactly where it makes landfall. This is a big and reportedly very wet storm. We are reasonably prepared for this this down here, however, the northeast, which was roughly handled by Sandy 4 years ago, may be in for another bad time.
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October 03, 2016
Just Another Day in the Mojave
A nicely done FALLOUT fan film.
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Gir Brings Us News Befitting a Monday
Foreign Policy has more on the simmering water conflict between India and Pakistan. Pakistan is threatening to use nuclear weapons on India in response to an Indian raid that killed numerous Jihadists which the Pakistani's claim to have nothing to do with. India is still pondering a redirection of the Indus river and now China is threatening India over an Indian state that China claims under the principle that if Chinese pottery has been found by archeologists...that region is part of China. this has been going on for a while, Foreign Policy points out that China is looking at cutting off the Brahmaputra ...which would be rather more challenging than closing the flow gates on the Indus but would screw India good.
The U.S. is responding to the multiple Russian Mock attacks on NATO by Russian nuclear bombers by launching mock attacks of their own for the first time in over 20 years.
More history than news now and not representing any direct threat, this story is,, nevertheless, sufficiently horrifying to be included in a Monday news dump.
Former secretary of state Hillary Clinton turned away a high-ranking Chinese defector who sought political asylum after the communist police chief sought refuge in a U.S. consulate in southwestern China four years ago.That is sickening. What could possibly be worse than....OH MY GOD! Fortunately we have another option hopefully with the perspective and maturity to...Oh for frack's sake.
I started to type something very terrifying in this space, but upon tracking down the source for the story, all references to it led back to Zero Hedge. Whew!
The USGS is taking the unusual step of issuing an advisory, that the chances of a major earthquake in Souther California is much greater over the next few days. Note that the San Andreas isn't the only potentially aggravating geological feature within 10 miles of these quakes.
Oh yes. This.
Realizing that their exploding phones are unlikely to get iPhone or Blackberry users, Samsung is making an effort to get the rest of us with exploding washing machines. I guess Whirlpool was the correct choice!
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October 02, 2016
Three Weeks to Go.....UPDATED
Here's the first full length trailer for RWBY Season 4. It first aired at RTX in July and low quality phone cam pirates have been making the rounds since then, so it's a little disappointing that this has no additional footage after all the hype.
Still, it is very impressive in a lot of ways and unlike the fuzzy pirate versions, this gives a very good idea of just how much the production values have improved. Like seasons 2 and three this is a major leap the animation quality of the previous volume.
It's gorgeous, but the choreography is off. Monty Oum went to great lengths to make his fight sequences at least appear to be obeying some laws of physics. Inhumanely dramatic changes in momentum generally had some rationale, either they were the result of recoil, rocket boost, using leverage to redirect momentum or acknowledged wire work as with Blake's kusurigama inspired weapon. In this vid Ruby might as well be supergirl. That sense of movement and mass, and the implication of extreme skill is not present. In any of the "hang-time" movements (though the combat on the ground is pretty satisfactory in that regard). Monty Oum was truly a singular talent, and it is understandable that his sucsessors will go there own way, but this is the thing that stood out from this video...that and the fact that Ruby and Blake's new outfits are REALLY cool.
I also liked the attention to detail with Nora and Ren's hair, which gives a good sense of the passage of time and the little system status icon "Local Area Only" which is a nice reference to the communications situation in the wake of the events at the end of season 3.
Of course production values can be bought. The question is whether the story is any good. I'm hopeful. The last season ended rather jarringly and turned off many people but it was quite effective at surprising it's audience. I found it to be quite pongniant and have been looking forward to the continuation.
With 19 days to go, it is probably time to review the current status of characters that underwent major changes at the end of last season.
UPDATE: OK...spoiler tag is not working, so the overview of major character developments goes below the fold. Note that sentence, which is an indicator of SPOILERS!
more...
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September 29, 2016
Meanwhile, In Kashmir
India hits back with bullets and bayonets, rather than the 'spicket'.
Indian officials said elite troops crossed into Pakistan-ruled Kashmir on Thursday and killed suspected militants preparing to infiltrate and carry out attacks on major cities, in a surprise raid that raised tensions between the nuclear-armed rivals.
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September 28, 2016
"But Ponder THIS..."
"...you can call ME Dear Sweet Oni-Chan without it technically being creepy."
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Questions for Tech People
I saw this on Instapundit and immediately thought of the Battle of Midway, the Verona transcripts and Bletchley Park.
The language follows step-by-step, logically, and can be tested just like a mathematical proof. So why is this formal verification essentially hack-proof? Because most hacks are made by exploiting bugs and errors in code. Code that’s gone through this process, with this approach, is supposed to be bug-proof. So there are no holes for hackers to exploit, because the code just works.
Emphasis mine.
In your professional opinion, how applicable (as a practical matter) would this be to the IT industry in general?
*****
Do any of the IT people reading this blog think that the "Internet of Things" is a cracking good idea which will provide benefits far surpassing its potential security risks and bot-farm potential?
*****
Would it be a good idea or a waste of time to make a class or 2 in code mandatory in highschool? If so what language would you reccomend? Does it matter that much?
*****
Turning over the internet to ICANN: discuss.
*****
Why is Minx not listed here?
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September 27, 2016
Keeping Informed
Meanwhile...
India and Pakistan are having a tiff.
At least 18 soldiers were killed in a terror attack on an Army camp in Uri in Jammu and Kashmir on September 18. All four terrorists, who attacked the camp, were killed.
Pakistan's defense minister, last week decided this an oppertune moment to clarify Pakistan's stance.
Amidst growing tension over Uri attack by Pakistani terrorists on Sunday, a video of the country’s Defence Minister Khawaja M Asif threatening to use nuclear weapon against India is doing the rounds on social media. The video shows the Pakistani defence minister telling Geo News: "If Pakistan’s security is threatened, we will not hesitate in using tactical (nuclear) weapons.â€
And patience is running thin in India which has decided that they need to take action.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi after a fiery speech in Kerala where he blamed Pakistan for exporting global terrorism has now called for a briefing on the Indus Waters Treaty.
Huh?
One of the suggestions is to turn off the Indus river tap that waters much of Pakistan
Oh Dear.
India and Pakistan have a bit over 100 nukes each.
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