I took this photo the other day when we were in the garden shop, where tulips of all different colors were offered for sale. I couldn’t believe how bright red the tulips in this bunch were. Click on the image to enlarge.
Yesterday’s Tomorrow – Airborne Aerodrome
This image is from the October 1934 issue of Modern Mechanics magazine. The accompanying article contained elaborately illustrated and annotated details about how the aerial airport dirigible could work:
Sun’s Rays to Drive
Aerial Landing FieldRecent experiments in the conversion of the sun’s rays into electric power have led to an unusual idea in aerial equipment. It is a dirigible that not only would get its power from the sun but also provide space for a landing field in the air.
The ordinary cigar-shaped dirigible would in effect have a slice taken from the upper half of the gas bag. This would provide a large deck on which could be mounted solar photo cells, an airplane runway, and a hangar. Planes could land on the dirigible, floating over the sea, to refuel for trans-ocean passenger service.
Another unusual feature of this design, in addition to the landing field, is the use of sun rays to power the motors of the dirigible. Scientists estimate that the sun can develop as much as 86,300 kilowatts or 115,000 horsepower per hour in an area of a square mile. Photo cells convert the sun’s energy into electricity. When this can be done on a practical basis, the roof of an ordinary house can be used to develop electricity for the home.
Fun to think about, but as we know almost eighty years later, it is impractical. This image reminds me of a similar platform in the Art Deco fantasy, “Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow.”
Click on the image above to view the original Modern Mechanix article.
Never Forget Tribute — Sixty Million Hits
Just a few minutes ago, the counter on the Never Forget Tribute advanced past sixty million hits. Each time the graphic is served up on web pages that embed the tribute, the hit counter advances by one. Damsel and I thank those of you who have taken the time to embed the tribute on your websites. It’s people like you who know that America, and the World, can Never Forget. We are grateful that so many of you care.
In less than a year, the graphic has received ten million hits. Last March 15th, the counter clicked past fifty million. You can see the progress in the sidebar (if you have JavaScript enabled) which gets updated every several seconds thanks to the AJAX (asynchronous JavaScript and XML) script I developed to place under the graphic. Watch it for a while and you will see the counter advancing as websites all over the world serve up an instance of the tribute.
The animation was originally inspired by an anonymously-produced PowerPoint slideshow making the rounds on the Internet and via emails after 9/11. I gathered some of the graphics and produced the prototype of the graphic to display on my personal website. After refinements and improvements suggested by Damsel and others, it appears as it does today. This is the graphic seen in the right sidebar depicting the attacks on America by terrorists. Last year, I added the tribute to the U.S.S. Cole to the package. Prior to that, I included the graphics for Flight 93 to the original tribute.
In August of 2005, I made the animation available to anyone. The offer was only taken by a few sites at first, but since then, many more have begun displaying the animation. As of December 2005, there were over 200 sites linking to it, and that number has been growing since. Sites in the US, Canada, Australia, Sweden, Norway, the UK, Italy and several other countries, display the tribute on their pages.
To all of you displaying the tribute, thank you for reminding your readers to Never Forget.
White Daffodil with a Golden Cup
Now showing on the patio. I’m not sure I can remember the name of this variety, but I think it’s narcissus. Click image to enlarge.
Chocolate Rocks on Mars
Cubical rocks lie in a spot designated “Chocolate Hills” by the JPL team. These remind me of stones quarried to build ancient structures on our planet.
Excerpt from the Mars Rover website:
Opportunity at a sweet spot on Mars
This rock has a thick, dark-colored coating that is interesting to scientists because many of the rocks in the surrounding area have the same mysterious dark stuff. The coating could be remnants of a layer that was changed by the action of water and weather or, it could be a layer of rock that melted when a meteor (less than a foot across) impacted Mars, ejecting this rock and others and creating the crater “Concepcion”. Knowing its origins will help them understand the history of Mars. Opportunity’s mission is to figure out the “ingredients” of this morsel by studying the chemicals in it.
The article is silent about the shape of the rocks.
Teaching Responsibility
We often discuss the topic of parenting, or the lack of it these days. We look around our neighborhood and see a mixed bag of the products of modern parenting. Some families seem to have their act together, with well-disciplined and polite children and teens. Others, most of them in fact, are rude, inconsiderate and irresponsible. I have no idea whether they are ‘victims’ of California public education or not, but the schooling here doesn’t help matters any.
We like it when we’re at the range and see gun-owning parents teaching their children about guns and shooting them. Occasionally, we see a group of scouts and their mentors at the range. That’s a good thing too. Learning about shooting and guns is a much better investment than developing a skill set only suitable for X-Games like skateboarding down a stair rail or something.
I saw this cute poster on a forum yesterday and it got me thinking how parents and schools are letting kids down these days.
Click on the poster for a larger view.
