Crawford Reed (1827-1905)

One of my great-grandfathers.

He served in the 53rd Indiana Inf. Reg. which fought in most of the major western campaigns. 

Greece

At a time like this, all you can do is laugh.

Battle of Britain book review

Jim Bates has his blog going again.  Here is a nice book review and as a bonus it is a subtle dig at me to let me know he is way ahead of me in the number of books read this year.

A neat photo

Many times photos will inspire me to say to myself, “I’d like to build that”.

Courtesy of famed Canadian, Ohio,  Washington lawyer Jim Bates we have this.

Cool Turbo Otter

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is a news story about the aircraft.

And, if you are inspired to build a model in 72nd scale (GOTS), then here is a conversion kit.

Neat idea

Driving will be way different over the next 20 years.  This is a neat idea, but it may just be a stop-gap until all cars are driver-less and are all aware of where each other are. (At which point Skynet becomes self-aware.)

A smart analysis

A smart analysis of why Scandinavian countries can have a prosperous economy and a large cradle to grave welfare state. (Spoiler alert: Its because other, bigger countries don’t)

Time for the US to get back in the manned space business

Here is a great article on some of the reasons why. (post in memory of Mike Nofsinger)

Follow up T-50 news

I previously noted that the Russians had announced they were only going to build 12 T-50s, down from a planned 52.

Here are a couple of more reports hinting at the issues that the T-50 is having.

The South China Sea just got more fun

Vietnam clearly doesn’t plan on coming to the party empty-handed.

The FBI Air Force

Turns out the FBI has its own air force.  Police have used helicopters and planes to track suspects for years.  Nothing new in that.  However, if they are routinely circling over cities and using sensors to sweep up cell phone data and track large numbers of citizens, then this is a worrying development.