General

Thoughts On Dads

2 Comments

…and cars.

I have my own dad and car story. As I’ve mentioned in the past, my dad was first an AC, and then a GM executive. He got company cars to drive, and he got discounts on cars that he wanted to buy. Generally, he would get a company car like a Caddy, drive it for a while, then buy it at discount, and then sell it to get a new one, on a yearly basis. But when I was just starting to become aware of cars in my “tween” years, my step-brother bought an Austin-Healy Sprite. Not the one that was a copy of the MG Midget (one of which I later bought myself on a whim because it was a great deal) but the original, “bug-eyed” variety (following in suit, my younger brother even later bought a couple of Healy 3000s, in the first one of which he had an accident when a woman made a left in front of him, with me in what passed for a back seat, and I got tossed out the back, with no serious injuries, but he and his friend in the front seat got some nasty face cuts from wheel and windshield — he bought the next one with the insurance money therefrom).

Anyway, I wonder if that, and the combination of a sort of mid-life crisis (he was forty-five, and about to have his first coronary, the second of which would kill him a little over a decade later) spurred him to buy the coolest car that he ever bought, at least to my knowledge.

The 1968 models (which came out as they always did in the fall of the previous year) represented a wonder year for me, as far as General Motors was concerned. The change in styling was so dramatic, that it almost seemed like I’d been instantly transported into the future. The lines were curved, not square, the windshield wipers were hidden, giving the cars a streamlined look. The Vette went from something that looked all right to the classic Stingray that I think is still the best-looking in its history (yes, I know many disagree — don’t waste time trying to argue with me in comments — you’re wrong. The early ones were ugly and it didn’t achieve its style potential until ’68).

And in that year of their, but not my, Lord, late 1967, my father ordered a 1968 Pontiac. A LeMans. A green one. A convertible.

And here’s the coolest thing. Unlike his Caddies, or Caddie wannabes, like a Buick deuce and a quarter, it had a stick shift. With a clutch. Three on the floor, baby.

I never drove it, because I wasn’t old enough, but I sure wanted to. We took that car a lot of places, with the top down, and I think my dad liked driving it, though after it died (a cracked bell housing that resulted in the clutch not disengaging, and not worth the money, at least to him, to repair) he went back to his standard living rooms on wheels. I wish I’d talked to him more about why he’d bought it. I wish that I could talk to him more about a lot of things.

It’s been thirty years now, but I miss you, Dad.

Political Commentary, Space

Unresponsive

The Constellation presenters at the Augustine Commission, didn’t even attempt to answer the mail:

The main objectives are faster support of the ISS (which I take to mean shrinking the ISS human spaceflight gap), going to the Moon and generally beyond LEO, stimulating commercial spaceflight (which I take to mean encouraging commercial spaceflight more than the status quo), and fitting the Administration’s budget. Safety, robotic support, international participation, and long-term ISS use are also factors.

The main thing that struck me about the Constellation presentation is that it simply doesn’t address the objectives. Follow this quick and to-the-point link; it captures my reaction exactly. Of the 4 main objectives, the only one it addressed head-on is “supporting missions to the Moon and other destinations”. On the other issues, it didn’t even attempt to present a solution. It didn’t pass or fail – it got an incomplete.

Well, this is the same gang that pretty much completely blew off the Aldridge Commission recommendations, so it’s hardly surprising. I’m pretty sure that Augustine et al noticed this as well. I don’t know what’s going to come out of the Augustine Commission, but it’s pretty hard to see how it will be business as usual, given how pathetic was the defense.

Space

Double The Pleasure, Double The Fun

28 Comments

John Hare has an interesting Ares I alternative:

Suppose that instead of stretching and totally redesigning the SRB, they had shifted to a two SRB first stage with the exact same units as used for the last hundred and something shuttle launches. These rockets are fully developed and tested with an extensive flight history of operating in pairs over the last three decades. The purchase costs, handling , and performance are known quantities. Development consists of building an attachment structure, upper stage adapter, and vibration dampening gear. With the considerably more lift performance available from eight segments compared to five in Aries I, the problem fixing payload hits could be absorbed without sacrificing the flavor de jour safety systems NASA would like to have. They wouldn’t even have to game the requirements to match the competition from ULA, Direct, and various upstarts. While it’s possible that this would cost as much as the projected Ares I, it shouldn’t, and if it did, it would be for a system nearly twice as capable.

The first thought, of course, is that it increases the marginal costs quite a bit, but as Jon notes, you can buy a lot of extra SRBs for the billions you might save in trying to tart up the pig. As I noted in comments, one other advantage is that it would allow the first stage to do its own roll control with the SRB gimbals (something that Ares I is incapable of, necessitating a roll-control system for the entire stack on the second stage). But thrust asymmetries could be a big problem. Shuttle can compensate by gimballing the SSMEs, but this configuration wouldn’t have that capability.

Political Commentary, War Commentary

A Harrowing Account

3 Comments

…from an Iranian protester:

5:30 pm, the battle zone

“Ely………….., Hooman,….. bodoeen, Omid…” screamed Jaleh. The police and plain clothed militia had cornered Omid and were beating him. We ran towards him and attacked the dogs. Hooman charged towards the guards in the street, opened his arms wide and with his operatic bas voice screamed “Bezan, Bezan,..(hit me, hit me), maadar gh.. bezan (mother xxx hit me). The guard raised the club but his hands were shaking and then brought his club down. I arched over Omid as Jaleh was screaming “bee gheirat” (a man without virtue) and people started chanting “bee gheirat” to the guards and the police. I felt the burning on my back as I tried to shield Omid, he was crying “man faghat mikhaam beram khooneh (I just wanna go home). They were hitting me hard, my hands, and my legs and suddenly there was darkness as I felt a terrible pain on the back of my head and the sounds and vision blurred into oblivion.

All we can do is hope for the best.

Popular Culture

Remembering The MGB

6 Comments

Thoughts over here.

I never owned a B, because I learned my lesson from my first car, an MGA — don’t buy a convertible.

There are people with hair who can manage convertibles, but I am not one of them. My hair looks bad enough without going through a seventy MPH uncontrolled blower. Or even slower, for that matter.

So I bought a 1967 (pre-emissions, pre-uglybumpers) MGB-GT. It got me through high school. I gave girls rides home in it. It was my preferred car for dates over my dad’s company-car GM behemoths. I loved it in many ways.

But it never got me laid. Sometimes, a car just isn’t enough.

Administrative

Light Blogging

5 Comments

Yeah, was busy today. We got up this morning and went to a range down in Pembroke to try out some 9mm guns that a friend had (the Glocks were nice), and then worked on the irrigation timer in the afternoon, changing out a switch and replacing a solenoid in the valve. For the first time in the five years that we’ve been here, we now have an automated system.

Biting Commentary about Infinity…and Beyond!