Faster please

As Instapundit says.

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Cleveland’s missiles

I didn’t realize that so many Nike missiles were deployed around Cleveland. (h/t to Jim Bates for the pointer)

AC-130U Spooky retires

The USAF is retiring their AC-130U  aircraft and replacing them with new-build AC-130J aircraft.  The new AC-130Js are getting some new armament as well.

Movie review: Blade Runner 2049 (2017)

In a fit of sleeplessness, I finally got around to seeing this film, which I had wanted to do for a long time.  I very much liked the dark tone and design of the original.  Sadly, this movie is a pale imitation.  While there are some visually stunning moments, it doesn’t hold a candle to the visual impact of the original.  While Harrison Ford, supported by a great supporting cast, was a big part of making the original the great movie it is, Ryan Gosling, who is the lead in this movie is flat.  There isn’t any of the depth that Ford brought to the original.  Ford, reprising his role from the original, while still compelling, just doesn’t have what it takes to carry the film on his own.  Most of the supporting cast is also a pale reflection of the original, with the exception of Mackenzie Davis, who does an excellent homage to Darryl Hannah’s Priss from the original.  Also, at 2 hours and 44 minutes  the film feels self indulgent and more than a little bit lost. 2 out of 5 stars.

Way to go JAXA

JAXA, the Japanese space agency (their version of NASA) has just landed a satellite on an asteroid in order to sample it and better understand its composition.  This is a tremendous achievement and is good news for all of us hoping to see a more vigorous exploration of space.  ( post in memory of Mike Nofsinger, who passed away 5 years ago this week)

Movie review: The Philadelphia Experiment (2012)

Do Not Watch This Movie.  It is an hour and a half of your life that you will never get back.  The acting is uniformly bad.  The script is bad. (The dialog makes George Lucas look like Shakespeare.)  The movie, of course, centers around the rumors/conspiracy theory of the WWII experiment on the USS Eldridge.  A degaussing experiment on the ship goes wrong, rendering the ship invisible and also transporting it thru space and time.  In this version, in the current day, a lab conducting similar experiments based off the original ones open a portal which brings the original ship back from when it disappeared in 1943.  The details of the rest of the plot don’t matter, because, have I mentioned, this movie is BAD.  Don’t watch it.  Go model.  (One interesting piece of trivia.  There have been two movie adaptions of the Philadelphia Experiment, his one and one from 1984.  One actor, Michael Pere is on both movies.)

Way to go Sweden

While I think the Russians are a paper tiger, this is nothing but good news.

South China Sea

More great news from the region most likely to start a hot war.  The Chinese have put anti-ship missiles on the man-made islands in the South China Sea.  This was the inevitable end of the Chinese behavior in the region.  Where do we go from here?  Who knows?

Speaking of aliens . . .

The scientists at UKs SETI program want to get the public’s input on how we should respond to alien contact.

Uh oh

The Russians have experienced some sort of submarine fire.  Also, in completely unrelated news, the Vice President dropped out of a scheduled event to rush back to the White House, Putin also altered his scheduled appearances for the day, and the EU security council has gone into emergency session.