Posts by Bruce 10

Obama to promote RIAA's favourite lawyer

Who is the real corporate shill?

People were hoping that Obama was not a corporate shill. After all, part of the platform he ran on, through innuendo, was that Bush was a corporate shill and that he, Obama, wasn't a corporate shill. Hey out there!! Are your eyes open yet?

One second-hand space shuttle: Yours for $29m

Concorde not the first large supersonic

The Concorde is not the first supersonic large aircraft. Try XB-70 Valkyrie. First flight of the Valkyrie was in 1964 vs Concorde being in 1969. Valkyrie was about 20 feet(5m) shorter, but cruised at around mach 3 vs mach 2.02 for the Concorde. The useful load on the Valkyrie was over 300,000lbs (160,000kg) vs 245,000lb(111,130kg) for the Concorde. The Valkyrie also saw some of the earliest uses of canard wings as well as in-flight wing shape changing (hinged outer wing edges). The Russians made a 'clone' of the Concorde that added canards in front, but they did not get the engines, fuel control and flight control working as well as the Concorde. Note: The Valkyrie also used fuel for air conditioning, like the Concorde that followed it.

I agree the Harrier was quite innovative. It was followed by the Russian Yak-38 - whose first flight is 1971 vs Harriers being 1969(Harrier I / AV8-A). The Yak used a separate lifting engine in the front while the Harrier was able to use the first stage compressor of the main engine for lifting. Similar research planes included X-14(first flight 1957), VAK-191B (first flight 1971, very similar in config to AV8-A). VTOL is so difficult to successfully pull off in a practical airframe that even presently, very few aircraft are built capable of VTOL.

As for the Shuttle, it is also innovative. While the solid fuel rockets and main tank are jettisoned after main lift, by that time they are dead weight and comprise very little of the total airframe weight (their weight is mostly propellant). Both the solid fuel rockets and main tank are recovered and reused. Both of these are a 're-entry' risk because they would disturb the airflow around the shuttle on re-entry. Another innovative component of the shuttle are the much maligned tiles on the bottom. You can hold one side of the tile in your hand while the other side is heated with an oxy-acetylene torch (no time limit).

Useful ref:

http://depts.washington.edu/matseed/mse_resources/Webpage/Space%20Shuttle%20Tiles/Space%20Shuttle%20Tiles.htm

Doctor investigated for posting inkblots to Wikipedia

inblot B.S.

I had the inkblot test when I was a kid (6th grade - US). At the time, as a 12 yr old, I thought it was utter rubbish and stupid. I still do, in my middle age. As a kid, I knew how to game the images. It is rather simple. You can see multiple images in the inkblot, just like looking at clouds. Depending upon what you want to project, choose the interpretation appropriately.

It was a way for the psychologist to come up with 'results' without doing much real work. Listening and working through a patients views, phobias etc.. takes time. The inkblots give an 'instant' result.. however erroneous it is. There is no science to it.. just a whole bunch of preconceptions on the part of psychologists.