Ekranoplan 903

I’ve mentioned ekranoplans on the blog before; in honor of igor113’s truly incredible photoset, here’s a collection of Lun (‘dove’ or ‘hen harrier’ – not clear – but certainly not ‘logical unit number‘) linkage.

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Wing-In-Ground (WIG) effect craft take advantage the fact that the aerodynamic efficiency of a wing, and particularly its lifting capacity, improves dramatically when is operated within approximately one-half of its span above ground or water, in what is termed ground effect. If the wing’s natural accelerated flow passing over it is further accelerated by the high-velocity exhaust of a turbojet engine, the lifting capacity of the wing is even more greatly enhanced. In 1966 the Central Hydrofoil Design Bureau under Rostislav Alekseev produced a gargantuan “ekranoplan” (“surface plane”) combining the smooth hull form of a ship with stub wings, a large vertical fin and horizontal tail.

Alekseev developed a smaller military WIG, the Lun (“Dove”), armed with six large antishipping cruise missiles perched unaerodynamically on its back. In 1989 the missile launcher ekranoplane “Lun” (about 400 tons) was enlisted in the Navy. The ship was armed by three pairs of cruise missile 3M80 or 80M “Mosquito” (NATO’s designation SS-N-22 Sunburn), though they were never deployed to fighting units.*

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Functionally the body of this strange ship was divided into 4 parts: fore, middle, after-part and keel together with stabilizer. Fore part possesses pilot house and a pillar holding 8 main engines, as well as a room with secondary ones. Middle and after parts were fully equipped with test facilities but still have also a caboose and a toilet. The whole keel is filled with power installation for electricity supply during mooring and a complex of radio navigation and communication equipment. A room for a gunner is placed in a cross-line of keel and stabilizer at a height of 12 meters over the waterline.*

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And if you’d like to get out the cardstock and an X-acto knife:

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Update – igor113 has 2 more photosets linked through from the one above – here and here. The awesomeness just keeps going:

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Update the second – come to find out – this got Boinged about a month ago, so it’s likely that just about everyone on the planet except me knows about it already. In my (lame) defense, I find that the new BB format lets interesting things slip by me in a way that the old setup did not. So it goes.

The Impossible Project, SX-70 and FMM

A while ago, a friend offered up his old SX-70 for sale. At that point, Polaroid was out of the film business and though there was a lot of interest in keeping the film in production, it wasn’t a sure thing. I figured what the heck, gambled and bought the camera. The gamble paid off – The Impossible Project (the folks who bought the production equipment) just released their first film packs. Not cheap, but not as expensive as some things I’d like to shoot someday.

Manipulated 1

Portrait of FMM, manipulated by her own little self then digitally processed by me.

Old color film that came with the camera.

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FMM

New film. I like it – and I need to remember that the focusing circle is not centered in an SX-70.

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FMM and T-rex.

Taken by her mom (not Polaroid).

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Hey, it’s my blog and I’ll post cute small person pictures if I want to!

8-bit

Like LOLCats were, internet centuries ago, 8-bit is everywhere and it’s fun.


PIXELS by PATRICK JEAN.
Uploaded by onemoreprod. – Watch original web videos.

After 1:48, all I can think of is ice-nine.

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Much the same as 1st video, but with music!

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rstevens has been having pixelfun since before everything (this strip is esp. for Sy, the ladies and the cassowary).

Bulls, Bikes, Birds

Via a retweet from @bibliodyssey, an addition to the blogroll – Next Nature. I knew I’d hit paydirt when I saw that the most recent post talked about aurochs and Heck cattle – a topic we’ve visited here previously. On (to the blogroll) you go!

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Over at Ride the Machine – one of my favorite two-wheeler blogs – s.a. has posted some great Velocette (not to be confused with velocet – or drencrom) cover art.

I love this one for the aeroplane, the pants (plus-fours? maybe even plus-sixes?) and the mystery of what the heck is going on. Courier? Passenger checking in, as a motorcycle valet rushes in (out of frame)?

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The way the ‘L’ and the ‘TT” (Tourist Trophy) are used is wonderful.

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On a personal note – I had a wonderful time Tuesday and Wednesday – Noted Nature Writer was in town to do a talk/signing event at a great local indie bookstore. We had a great time discussing birds and frogs and spiders and…

That’s Sy, waaaay back at the table.

Funkasaurus rex

Happy Friday! After surviving an incredibly rainy March here in the Northeastern US, it’s April, supposed to hit 70+ F today and the spring flowers are starting to bloom. Makes me want to dance.

“Frank has a profile on eharmony.com if any of you single ladies out there are into puppet dinosaurs with sweet dance moves.”

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Nice bamboo you got there, Frank.

h/t Pop Headwound.

Map Kibera

Kibera in Nairobi, Kenya, widely known as Africa’s largest slum, remains a blank spot on the map. Without basic knowledge of the geography and resources of Kibera it is impossible to have an informed discussion on how to improve the lives of residents. This November [2009], young Kiberans create the first public digital map of their own community.

Map Kibera.

Several Species Of Small Furry Animals Gathered Together In A Cave And Grooving With A Pict

New Written Language of Ancient Scotland Discovered : Discovery News

The ancestors of modern Scottish people left behind mysterious, carved stones that new research has just determined contain the written language of the Picts, an Iron Age society that existed in Scotland from 300 to 843.

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Interesting – though it sounds as if not everyone is convinced – go figure.

Sartorial Splendor

It is good to have a friend who works in a thrift shop. Tony Lama tooled, cut out, laced and dyed belt with literally (in the literal sense) MY NAME ON IT. My head literally (in the metaphorical sense >grin<) exploded! The buckle is from my extensive (there is one other – the traditional skull formed from naked ladies w/ integrated bottle opener) collection, via eBay. Growing up in Phoenix, the scorpion in resin was an eight year old’s holy grail; paired with a belt like this – beyond imagining.

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The shirt underneath is another score – I’m partial to blue chambray work shirts and it’s tougher and tougher to find non-tarted up examples. Ah, for the days of Madewell work shirts and dungaree – long gone, it appears.  Found this at an outlet store – sold.