Tuesday, August 01, 2006

Jet Packs!

That Buck Rogers Stuff

We’ve seen the jetpack in Bond flicks, and at the superbowl.  We’ve all wanted one.  But this guy has come up with a new improved jetpack.  It has four times the endurance of the original, and is far less likely to singe the hairs on the backs of your legs.  The downside is that the new model looks a little goofy with all those teeny, tiny jets sticking out to the sides.  But hey, you can be superman for four minutes at a time if you have $200,000 handy.

I'm flyink

[Wik] For those really interested in rocketbelts and jetpacks, there will be a Rocketbelt Convention at the Niagara Aerospace Museum in Niagara Falls, NY on the weekend of September 23-24.  The festivities are, perhaps predictably, being hosted by an energy drink sponsor, but will culminate in a fly-off.  That should be something to see, though as cool as it may be, it will not be as cool as seeing 100 P-51 Mustangs all at once.  Murdoc pointed this one out, and I think the Buckethead clan will have to attend, as this event is being held at Rickenbacker field in Columbus, Ohio.  We have lots of relatives in Columbus and late September is conveniently located halfway between Independence Day and Thanksgiving when we always make the trek east.


Posted by Buckethead on 08/01/06 at 06:43 PM
That Buck Rogers Stuff • Permalink

The wrong side of the Ohio River

Just So You Know

Today, we move back to the south.  Namely, Kentucky, that whole-hearted supporter of the Union during the recent unpleasantness.  Behold, we have a briar patch full of new, improved state mottoes for all them hillbillies in ‘Ol Kentuck:

  • The wrong side of the Ohio River
  • Like Tennessee, but more, you know, Northern
  • Home of the Evil Lawn Gnomes
  • For the last time, Jack does not actually live here
  • So many people, so few last names
  • Fried Chicken!
  • The New Jersey of the Upper Tennessee Valley
  • Go ahead and grow weed. We don’t care.
  • We don’t just love horses.  We love horses.
  • Yes, we realise that bluegrass is’nt really green
  • Down in the Briar Patch
  • The Eddjakashun State
  • Tobacco is so a vegetable
  • Come for the Bluegrass—Stay for the Incest!
  • Gateway to Nashville
  • Most of us work in Cincinnati
  • We’ve Heard ALL the Hillbilly Jokes, So Don’t Even Bother
  • Bourbon and horses don’t mix.  Unless you’re into that sort of thing.
  • Shallowest gene pool in the Union, except for West Virginia
  • Where the women are so fast you have to put a Governor on them
  • Yes, we’re all related
  • Where the grass ain’t blue and what?  I forget.


Posted by Buckethead on 08/01/06 at 06:11 PM
Just So You Know • Permalink

Knights in Shining Armor

That Buck Rogers StuffWar

Liquid armor will soon be available in a store near you.  As we reported some time ago, in a post I am too lazy to find, University of Delaware scientist Norman Wagner invented a remarkable material that is composed of polyethylene glycol and nanoscale bits of silica.  The developers call it a “shear-thickening liquid,” one which stiffens instantly when struck, and then re-liquifies instantly once the stress is gone.  New materials for armor have been the focus of constant research ever since the introduction of Kevlar back in the seventies.  While Kevlar flak jackets offered a significant degree of protection, astute observers have always been aware that Kevlar armor has never been able to protect from rifle fire, or even all shrapnel.  Kevlar armor has been reinforced with everything from steel to ceramic plates in an effort to improve protection, but the sad result of most of these efforts was to greatly increase the weight of the armor.  Researchers have also attempted to use a variety of other synthetic fibers, and even cloned spider silk, but these efforts were unable to produce anything noticeably more effective than Kevlar.

Armor Holdings, inc., a company until now primarily concerned with supplying the Army with vehicle armor, bought the rights to this technology, and hopes to be selling suits of liquid armor by early next year.  At first, Wagner thought that the liquid armor might be applied almost like peanut butter, in a relatively thick layer.  But experimentation showed that the greatest protective effect was achieved by applying many very thin layers of the liquid to sheets of Kevlar.  The shear-thickening effect of the liquid is enhanced when the liquid is embedded in layers of Kevlar - the force of a blow is spread wider, resulting in greater protection for the wearer.  By greatly enhancing the stopping power of Kevlar - less is needed.  AH hopes that its new armor suits - with liquid armor sandwiched between two layers of ballistic fabric - will be significantly lighter than existing models.  And, amazingly, it will also be cheaper to manufacture.  The first target of their sales effort will be prison guards, for the reason that liquid armor will stop knife attacks - something even the best Kevlar has never been able to do.  AH hopes that troops might start getting theirs by the end of 2007. 

Liquid armor hasn’t been alone in the field of advanced armor concepts.  Back in 2005, we heard that Israeli researchers had developed a nanomaterial that was five times stronger than steel.  A detailed and informative article can be found here, but there has been little news since.  The Israeli nano-armor is rigid, and can take shock pressures of at least 250 tons per square centimeter and remain unmarred.  That’s fairly impressive.  They are reportedly working on a newer version of the material - one constructed on the same principles (nanoscale inorganic fullerenes) but with a different base; Titanium Disulfide instead of Tungsten Disulfide.  If this pans out, the resultant improved nano-armor should be even stronger, yet weigh a quarter as much. 

If all of this research and production bears fruit, we could see American troops significantly better protected in a matter of years.  That is, of course, all to the good.  The introduction of lightweight, and - importantly - truly bulletproof armor could have a great effect on the conduct of military operations.  Those who are interested in this sort of thing, and I am certainly one, spend our free time pondering how technology has changed warfare, and how it continues to change warfare today.  We often focus on the complicated products of our computer and military industries.  UAVs, missiles, missile defense systems, lasers, VTOL fighters and multi-billion dollar warships.  Armor for the infantryman might not seem as big a thing, but it could be much bigger.

Imagine a Marine.  He has ApNano armor covering his head, torso, arms and legs.  His helmet and armor is made of a material capable of deflecting a shot from a .50 caliber machine gun at close range.  The joints between the hard armor are protected by liquid armor cloth.  While not as effective as the hard armor, it will fully protect him from smaller caliber weapons and most shrapnel.  Imagine further that all this armor weighs half what the current Interceptor plus K Pot weighs, thanks to the miracle of advanced materials science, the whole armor system weighs in at a miniscule 20 pounds. 

This Marine is mobile.  His lightweight armor does not impede his movement, and does not overtire him.  It affords him near invulnerability from anything save vehicle mounted weaponry or artillery.  And unlike armored vehicles like the Stryker, he is a much smaller and harder to hit target. 

His opponents are armed, mostly, with AK 47s and the like.  They can’t kill him with those.  What does this remind you of?  It reminds me most of all of Cortez and the Aztecs.  Cortez’ soldiers in their steel helmets and back and breast armor were invulnerable to all the weapons the Aztecs had.  The Aztecs couldn’t kill the Spaniards unless they caught them alone and overpowered them.  And we all know what happened to the Aztecs.

US Troops are already vastly superior to most actual and potential opponents in terms of doctrine, training and weapons.  The effect of this superiority is, typically, lopsided casualty rates, especially during “regular” phases of combat when all of America’s advantages in air support, mobility, intelligence and training come into play.  Where our opponents gain back some ground is in static insurgency warfare where improvised munitions and house to house combat remove much of our high tech gimcrackery from the equation.

How different will urban combat operations be when a soldier can enter a hostile environment knowing that short of a freak accident, the chances of injury are remote?  I think they will be very different indeed. 

These technological developments promise real body armor.  Body armor proof against almost any weapon an insurgent can get and carry.  Even if liquid armor and ApNano breastplates don’t happen now, or next year, the research will lead to the real thing in the short term – five to ten years out at the outside.  And when it does, and American troops get it, they will have an advantage more powerful than most of the rest of the panoply of modern equipment can provide – safety.  It will also be an American advantage, because insurgents won’t have access to it. 

In an era where casualty figures are a political weapon, this alone may be a boon beyond price. 

[Wik] Thanks to the greatUnknown over at Murdoconline for pointing out that it is “shear” and not “sheer.” Every single news or popular science article got that wrong.  But, if you go back and look at links to the technical abstracts, they all correctly describe the material as “shear-thickening.”


Posted by Buckethead on 08/01/06 at 05:57 PM
That Buck Rogers Stuff • War • Permalink

U.S. Giant Robot Corps

EntertainmentWar

I finally got around to perusing the most recent Photoshop Phriday, which Geek Lethal kindly linked the other day.  While I certainly appreciate the pic that GL excerpted, I find that I really dig this one:

US Giant Robot Corps

Seeing that ominous giant fighting robot would normally fill me with fear, as it should any sane human.  But somehow, the two US Army Air Corps-style rondels on the robot’s chest make it ok.  That Robot is clearly fighting for truth, justice and the American way.  He’d protect us from the Hun, the Nazis, the nips, wops, commies - and even other, evil, giant fighting robots.  He is our friend.


Posted by Buckethead on 08/01/06 at 12:43 PM
Entertainment • War • Permalink

You know the Nazis had flair

Perfidy Responds

This past weekend, the entire Buckethead clan attended a blogmeet-type get together over at the elegant abode of Miss Princess Cat.  My wife, bless her heart, was concerned momentarily about how she should dress, until she remembered that she was going to meet bloggers.  That confusion out of the way, we packed the youngsters up and headed into the wilds of Falls Church.

While not the best attended blogmeet ever, there were a sufficiency of guests.  Lysander the very nearly ex-blogger was there along with his newly Virginianated girlfriend; Cat, of course; Dawn; and new (to me) were Professor Chaos, Sabre along with her friend; Matt and his dog; and Fruit Girl the gynecologist.  Cat set a good table, the appetiser spread was excellent; though the Professor was leery of the bacon-wrapped artichoke hearts.  For me, it is a simple equation wrapped in bacon = food.  But then, I am a simple man.  The fried wings tasted much better than the baked, no surpise there.  The taco pizza thingies were delightful once I picked the vegetables off.  And the item that Fruit Girl denominated “grease wheels” were very tasty indeed.

I greatly enjoyed talking politics and terrorism with the Professor, if for no other reason than it greatly confused Cat’s gynecologist friend.  As the Professor consumed more and more, he began suggesting - and later insisting - that Fruit Girl start a blog and call it twattalk.  I suggested that perhaps that domain might already be in use, and lo, it is.  It seems that Fruit girl will have to go further afield for her blog name.  Perhaps fruitytwattalk is available.  The final stage of drunkenness for the Professor is, apparently, obsessively quoting from the movie Office Space.  It truly was a remarkable performance.  He quotes Office Space the way I quote the Blues Brothers.  He even admitted that he once tricked a girlfriend into believing that he had never seen the movie, just to mess with her head when they watched it.  I used to do that with slasher pics, and thinking of it now, I can’t decide which is more low class.  In the end, though, we were enablers for the good Professor’s issues as we fired up the DVD.  I never thought I’d experience a Mike Judge movie with a greek chorus, but wonders really do never cease.

Myself, I drank a bit less, as I had nearly exceeded my July quota of alcohol the night before hanging out with Hill rats over in Arlington.  That may have been a fortuitous party, as I may actually get some interesting work out of it. 

Two fun nights out in a row - which is damn rare in the world of Buckethead these days - thanks to Cat for the yummy treats, and to whomever brought the Blue Moon beer. 

[Wik] The Professor wasn’t all that drunk.  Really.  He only imitated the “O” face once.


Posted by Buckethead on 08/01/06 at 11:49 AM
Perfidy Responds • Permalink
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