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priznat posted:Wired.com has a pretty nifty article on the Littoral Combat Ships (LCS) and what a goofy feature creep will do to an otherwise good idea: They build the Austal ships here, and it's cool seeing them built. It's a shame that they're undergoing some development pains. Austal is expanding here to build additional ships, which is great for the local economy.
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Aug 3, 2011 19:59
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Wasn't there a story somewhere recently of some bridge in the US that was using giant forged parts from China? And they were having all kinds of problems building the bridge due to those forged parts being out of spec?
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Feb 14, 2012 21:09
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Simplest answer would be so that they can use existing torpedo launching infrastructure which already exists on many ships.
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Mar 24, 2012 23:45
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http://blog.al.com/live/2012/06/skyraider_on_display_at_uss_ba.html Forfeited A1N Skyraider on display locally. Might have to go take a gander. Interesting story about how it got to where it is.
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Jun 1, 2012 23:57
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Cyrano4747 posted:hah, holy poo poo, they have the kids make a loving still I actually did the first half of this under the guise of making "carbonated water" for a middle school science project. Of course, it had two 2 liter bottles, and both were capped, with the one creating the carbonated water having the tube from the first going all the way down into the water.
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Aug 9, 2012 03:25
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Oct 21, 2012 19:15
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stealie72 posted:I don't think I've seen this posted, but I recently stumbled on this gallery of decaying soviet air hardware at Khodynka Field outside of Moscow. From the video thread, it looks like part of this video was filmed there: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Rgox84KE7iY
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Mar 19, 2013 22:30
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The USS Drum has been going through renovations slowly over the years, and they've recently made a breakthrough on how to fund the renovations. They've rediscovered and have been removing and selling the 50-100lb lead bricks used in the hull as ballast. They've removed 116 tons so far, all of it by hand. They've had to chisel the blocks loose from 70+ years of rust, mud, and muck. http://blog.al.com/live/2013/04/lead_recycling_nets_more_than.html
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Apr 16, 2013 20:25
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Godholio posted:Very cool. I stopped off there around 2006 or so and toured the Alabama, and looked at the sub from a distance...it was in really rough shape even back then. Yeah, it's been in rough shape for a long time. 30 years in the water without any sort of dry dock painting/repair left it in really rough shape when they moved it to its current location. The interior is generally in a lot better shape though.
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Apr 16, 2013 22:23
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Cyrano4747 posted:Reading the 250+ page thick manuals, complete with histories of the air war in the pacific and european theaters, for Aces of the Pacific and Aces over Europe is very real part of the explanation for why I am what I am today. I used to play a ton of Aces of the Pacific on my grandfather's computer, but he didn't have the manuals. 
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May 22, 2013 21:08
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Looks like Redstone Arsenal was testing some chaff yesterday, and it got caught on weather radar. http://vortex.nsstc.uah.edu/uahsevere/img/KHTX_Blob.gif (Gif is very large) http://blog.al.com/breaking/2013/06/uah_confirms_fiberglass_chaff.html
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Jun 5, 2013 17:27
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Earlier today I saw a twin boom aircraft flying out near the airport, and I couldn't figure out what it was. Looked kinda like a C-119 Flying Boxcar, but that doesn't really make sense. Of course, it's hard to judge scale when you see something flying overhead. We've got a Coast Guard training facility there, but it didn't match anything that I normally see flying out of there. http://www.uscg.mil/hq/atcmobil/Tradiv/tradiv.asp Any ideas what I might have seen?
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Jun 18, 2013 02:09
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USAF is apparently having some QF-4 drone troubles. http://blog.al.com/gulf-coast/2013/07/second_drone_in_a_week_crashes.html They've had 2 lose control and crash in the past week. This time it has shut down one of the major arteries through the area.
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Jul 17, 2013 18:06
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DesperateDan posted:Yeah, it was news to me, but blood/blood products are sold internationally to make up for shortfalls e.t.c, so I guess it stands to reason that monitoring prices and markets will give you an idea of supply/demand. All that blood that's freely donated all over the US is bought and sold within the US as well. The last segment in this podcast goes into a good bit of detail on the US domestic blood market: http://www.radiolab.org/2013/jul/31/
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Sep 13, 2013 16:32
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Slamburger posted:I don't know why you'd keep a Cockchafer around for so long, given other capable alternatives. From the wikipedia article: HMS Cockchafer was a Royal Navy Insect-class gunboat. She was built by Barclay Curle and launched on 17 December 1915 as the fifth Royal Navy ship to carry this name.
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Nov 12, 2013 01:54
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My paternal grandfather flew B-24s, spent some time in North Africa, and flew out of England during and around the D-Day invasion. I need to go back and make some higher resolution scans of these images, because these were taken ~10 years ago, with a scanner that was pretty old at the time.                  My maternal grandfather was in the Corps of Engineers, made it to both Europe and Japan, and ended up sending himself home several crates of Japanese guns during the occupation. Of course, most of them were given to friends, and his Type 2 paratrooper rifle was stolen, so the only thing that is still around is a Nambu in pretty good condition with matching holster. My uncle has it, and says he'll pass it on to me at some point.
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Jan 15, 2014 15:46
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Here's my wife's grandfather talking about the Battle of the Bulge. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xi2fViMRhp0&t=39s I've got a VHS of the raw interview tape with him sitting on my desk. I really need to get it digitized.
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Jan 16, 2014 15:52
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In regards to the museum at Pensacola, my aunt's father is retired Navy, and gives tours there fairly regularly. If anyone wants to try and meet up and get a tour with him, let me know. Also, the aircraft pavilion at the USS Alabama park is about an hour away, and has an A-12 on display, among other things.
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Jan 28, 2014 18:23
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Jun 4, 2014 03:54
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I wanted it so badly when it first came out, until I found the family PC didn't meet the minimum requirements. Really bummed me out. Finally got it a few years later, and played the poo poo out of it. Even ripped the soundtrack to CD, and rode around in my car listening to it constantly. EDIT: Tempted to buy it again. http://www.gog.com/game/interstate76
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Jun 4, 2014 04:08
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benito posted:This AVX entry for an Army helicopter contract is really weird. For some reason it looks like it should be flying in the opposite direction. I'm not saying it's a bad design, there's just something about it that looks like a highly unpopular G.I. Joe toy. Also be sure to watch the video for some great 1990s CGI: They also want to upgrade the OH-58D Kiowa with a two rotor/two ducted fan design. It also has a pretty awesome video. http://www.avxaircraft.com/oh-58f-avx-modification/
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Jul 4, 2014 18:41
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LingcodKilla posted:No joke the penal system down there is only a step above antebellum slave plantation status. Some plantations have had generations of the same families working as over...prison guards. The state prison outside of Atmore, Alabama has a farm work program where they farm cotton fields. No joke.
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Sep 29, 2014 13:31
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Servicio en Espanol posted:They had actually tried mounting the Avenger on the F-16 in the mid-80s. This made me curious, so I looked it up, and found this article: http://foxtrotalpha.jalopnik.com/the-f-16-gun-pod-that-tried-to-shoot-down-the-a-10-wart-1597577525 with this quote: quote:The reality is that the system was so ill-suited to the aircraft that just firing the gun multiple times would tweak the pylon it is attached to and thus it would become skewed far off zero. Problematic indeed.
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Sep 30, 2014 00:56
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Cyrano4747 posted:Speaking of Japanese guns aren't howa rifles a big thing in precision shooting circles ? Also, Miroku made shotguns for Browning and rifles for Winchester. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miroku_Corp.
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Nov 5, 2014 14:10
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Red Crown posted:You can get your own SA-6 TEL for $8350, evidently complete with dummy missiles Agean90 posted:fixed I bet the HOA won't mess with me now with THIS on my lawn!
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Feb 9, 2015 23:11
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If I were some libertarian hillbilly, I'd put this on my front lawn to intimidate police helicopters.
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LingcodKilla posted:I was really happy to find out that Pensacola has two awesome air museums. I'll be heading west to New Orleans and plan on visiting the WW2 museum on the 10th. Mobile has the aircraft pavilion at the USS Alabama Battleship Park. It's got an A-12, a YF-17, and a handful of other planes. It's just off I-10 as you're going across Mobile Bay.
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May 25, 2015 22:05
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LingcodKilla posted:Oh I did that also two weeks ago. Growing up we did Boy Scout overnights on the battleship. We'd stay up most of the night playing capture the flag, above decks vs below decks.
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May 27, 2015 05:46
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mlmp08 posted:I'm so pumped about a vacation to Pensacola to see the Naval Aviation Museum and to hang out on beaches that it's distracting me from doing real work. So many aircraft and beaches. The flesh eating bacteria in the water at the beach should give you plenty of time to see the museum. Also, a drive over to the USS Alabama is worth your time too. http://www.fox10tv.com/story/29309965/two-deaths-reported-in-florida-from-flesh-eating-bacteria n0tqu1tesane fucked around with this message at 19:13 on Jun 20, 2015 |
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Jun 20, 2015 19:11
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mlmp08 posted:edit: thanks for the info above. If I had more time, I'd definitely hit the AF armament museum, but I'll really only be in the area for 2 days, plus an afternoon/evening. First evening is definitely ocean time. Day 1 is NAS Pensacola, Day 2 is probably also ocean time. Didn't know how limited your time was, but if you're ever back in the area, the Alabama is worth visiting. They've got a sub, and an A-12 Blackbird too.
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Jun 21, 2015 19:13
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Poor PBY  http://www.al.com/news/mobile/index.ssf/2015/07/beached_wwii_era_seaplane_disr.html
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Jul 2, 2015 05:17
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Shooting Blanks posted:drat, I didn't even know there was still an airworthy PBY out there. Wikipedia says there are 23: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_surviving_Consolidated_PBY_Catalinas Well, 22 now. The one that got stuck: PBY-6A 64041 N85U A Flying Fireman Inc, Spanaway, Washington
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Jul 2, 2015 13:14
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The PBY Catalina that got beached this week broke apart during salvage attempts Thursday. http://www.al.com/news/mobile/index.ssf/2015/07/uss_indianapolis.html No new pictures though.
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Jul 5, 2015 16:52
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OhYeah posted:Yes, Windows 10 is well designed and not at all a loving mess of differing styles and design choices. That's a pre-release build, and Windows has always been a bit of a mess in that respect.
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Dec 30, 2015 15:09
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Arglebargle III posted:Yup. I think the perception in China is that foreign executives are rubes. A lot of Western companies have gone to China only to be shut out by the government the moment it becomes convenient for the Chinese champion firm that's copying their technology. The most worrying thing to me is the idea of a 737 made in China with a Boeing label on it and no indication to the passengers getting on it that this aircraft was made in China. I don't know how certification works but building a plane with the name 737 on it seems like a good way to sidestep scrutiny for your inevitably lovely product with parts subcontracted out until nobody in the Chinese factories knows what's going into the plane much less the buyer. I do know that the Airbus A320s that are produced in China aren't supposed to leave the Chinese domestic market.
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Feb 4, 2016 21:34
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Speaking of sunk tanks, Alabama has 100 M-60 tanks sunk in artificial reefs off the coast. http://www.usgulfcoaststatesgeotourism.com/content/alabama-offshore-artifical-reef-zone/gul1EF12AE2F8854C73F 
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Mar 10, 2016 21:41
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Silly Russians, the PIT maneuver doesn't work on ships.
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Apr 15, 2016 14:57
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Also, the F-16 is still in production, where the A-10 hasn't been made for over 30 years.
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May 2, 2016 14:41
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Agean90 posted:is that an actual airforce design http://foxtrotalpha.jalopnik.com/why-boeings-design-for-a-747-full-of-cruise-missiles-ma-1605150371
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Sep 27, 2016 22:20
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Concordat posted:I don't know if anyone posted this, but the ship's motto is "Pax Propter Vim" - Peace through Power. The USS Dewey DDG-45, which was put in service in 1959, also used Pax Propter Vim. 
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Oct 24, 2016 16:08
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xkcd made a thing:
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Apr 14, 2017 16:40
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