One Way Ticket to the Blues

I didn't think people in the UK gave a second thought to the prospect of war, though recent surveys suggest increasing numbers of them do. Two developments over the weekend worth droning on about: first, the speed record for quads that is bouncing between individuals in Australia, Switzerland and South Africa was just broken again and second, the UK begins to manufacture the above drones on British soil because the factories in Ukraine ~ and I don't want to worry you unduly here ~ are a natural target for daily dive-bombing by Iranian-designed one-way drones.

What is interesting from my own point of view is whether egg preceded chicken viz. did record-breaking quads copy what was done in Ukraine, or did the latter (and the South Koreans, as per prior post) copy what seems to be the best possible design?

This last month though was the anniversary of the UK's '100-Year Partnership' that is a part of the £4.5 billion pledged already, which includes manufacturing munitions here... and these are munitions and not something estate agents use on mansions.

Among the things to ponder are whether '100-year' agreements are not as silly as the '1000-year' regimes that generally die in less than 10; whether calling the war 'illegal' matters in view of the fact 'legality' is merely an extension of power by other means; and whether the people of Britain have a say* in whether they want to join WW3? Can't we just watch highlights on catch-up, like Strictly Come Dancing?

* No, in a nutshell. We in Britain love doing stuff on the cheap and contracting other people to do the dying is economically and politically preferable. It's what Kipling called the 'great game' and while Kipling is out of favour, war is apparently not.

The Li ion's Share

Largely unheralded, a British first: the above train holding the record for the longest journey by a battery-powered train, at just over two-hundred miles. Eclipsing prior record by a country mile, despite that having been pursued in Germany (where the electric train was invented).

It has been plying its trade on a four kilometre shuttle from Paddington, and on its inaugural run it attracted any number of enthusiastic bystanders along the way tho' it set off at 05:30... which could only really happen in the UK too.

It's not an altogether new idea, such services having been pursued as early as the 1950s with trains (inset) that however used diesel to power ancillaries like heating. And that's not to be sneezed at, because 30% of the battery-power on the modern train is diverted to such services as in-seat power for the porn that passengers will be viewing on their smartphones.

The project uses refurbished carriages that were built forty years ago, which we're all familiar with in their un-refurbished state on railways in the north of England. Two takeaways however from all of this, and one being the fact that the endeavour stems from the work of one man ~ Adrian Shooter ~ who failed his Maths exam and thus his hopes of going to university.

The second is that there are more than one type of lithium ion battery, whose exact chemical composition has a bearing on safety, longevity and adaptability to a rapid charge.

You didn't know that ~ and nor did I ~ but we do now, don't we Gromit?

Self-Launching Boat

Well somebody's got to do it, and this is where we're going with it... and it dropped yesterday in a device near you.

Ed. the loathsome expression 'dropped' originates from the US and was adopted in the UK now that we cannot invent anything ourselves, let alone expressions. Here DJs, politicos and media types compete to see how often it can be used in a single sentence... a medical condition I call 'dropsy' ©

London Heathrot

London's principal airport ~ where I myself was based for six happy-ish years ~ as it looked altogether earlier when we'd be up there ourselves spotting aircraft. There were ponds, flower-beds, play-areas, roof-top piers and viewing galleries. Whereas in keeping with the times, now it's a shitty shopping mall with over-priced coffee-bars prior boarding boring airliners never having seeing light of day. Contributing to all this, I look back on my contribution as a minor SS officer might his war years.

Ed. he's a sad and bitter individual and best ignored.

Box Clever

Here's the new-build versus one that I attempted practically a year ago, dismissing it as a result as barely practical... for the use of pre-laminated tiling backer board is a game-changer, reducing the cost, part count and labour involved to a fraction of what went before.

This one is clued-up and glued-up, destined as it is to a life of testing: aren't we all?

By adjusting the template to feature three strips instead of four down the right side, however, a more open accommodation altogether can be assembled like that on the left in the montage.

Then we can sit in it and ride off into the sunset... our work done here, like Shane's.

Indiana Drones and the Template of Doom

I could swear these blog-post titles are getting worse, but here's the one I drafted for our backer-board catamaran. All it asks of you is that the width (viz. height) of the end-caps matches that of the sides, for otherwise like me it is infinitely flexible.

Why Combinator?

Y Combinator is likely the only Californian VC most people outside of California have heard of and one dear to my own heart, having once been under its purview. Best known for backing any number of household names in the digital arena, of late it's been branching out into the physical: first in support of electrical surface-effect and second cargo drones in the shape of Regent and Mayman respectively. They're both in the US, but we mean to get YC to spread their wings farther afield, don't we?

Surface-effect craft or WIGs are something I've been interested in since before the legendary Janes naval directories dedicated one such wholly thereto, viz. Surface Skimmers. Both the directory and indeed the craft died a death until such time that the practicality of electrical motors has endowed them with such an allure that they are among the most successful forms of venture capital outside of flying taxis.

(The picture however is an electrically-powered Norwegian seaplane, me reviewing Regent's efforts elsewhere among these posts. But you get the picture ~ water and electricity appearing to mix after all.)

The jet-powered cargo-lifter has attracted the interest of the US military meanwhile, for though turbines are decidedly thirsty at low-level they are also decidedly fast at that level too. What's interesting about it from my own point of view is its refreshing disregard for redundancy ~ losing one engine having an effect much the same as a leg falling off the kitchen stool.

In warfare (an outdated concept also being re-visited by UK public opinion, were the press to be believed), having a drone drop occasionally is a lesser hazard than being shot at.