Tuk Tuk Fight

abandonedography:

Project HARP (High Altitude Research Project) was a joint initiative between the United States and Canada to research the use of ballistics to deliver objects into the upper atmosphere and beyond.

In lay terms, the project was established to create a cartoonishly large gun to shoot things into space. The sole fruit of this partnership, a massive toppled gun barrel, still remains on the Barbados test site.

Designed by mad ballistic engineer Gerald Bull, the gun itself was originally built from a 50 caliber naval cannon, like what might be seen on a battleship, and was later doubled to 100 caliber, making the gun too big for effective military application, but seemingly perfect for satellite delivery. Not-designed for delivering human subjects, the cannon fired smaller projectiles in a sabot that would protect the payload during the firing and would fall away as the satellite rose. At its apex, the gun was able to fire an object a staggering 112 miles into the sky, setting the 1963 world record for gun-launched altitude at 93 KM.

As the project continued, installing similar guns in further locations, the Barbados gun was abandoned in the late 1960s and left to rust on its original launch site. Looking more like a painted sewer pipe than a Godzilla-size gun barrel, the original Project HARP space gun can still be reached along the Barbados coast.

Source

*That space cannon is looking better than Dr Jerry Bull, who ended up with a lethal barrage of handgun bullets in him after working for Saddam Hussein’s space cannon.

Put This On: Colin Marshall on Men’s Style Books: 100 Years of Menswear by Cally Blackman

Mon, 20 May 2013 13:32:03 -0400

Put This On: Colin Marshall on Men’s Style Books: 100 Years of Menswear by Cally Blackman:

putthison:

About the menswear of the twentieth century, I can say this for sure: I don’t think I’d wear most of it. Neither would you, I imagine, unless you’ve thrown in your lot with the Brooklyn handlebar-mustache set, though in that case you’d have pledged allegiance to only a select set of time…

"Google Fiber and its ilk may be the final straw that will break the back of broadcast television...."

Mon, 20 May 2013 12:19:22 -0400

“

Google Fiber and its ilk may be the final straw that will break the back of broadcast television. Once high-speed video downloading becomes widely available, instant access to VOD services will make them even more appealing…

…What makes this possible is the complete paralysis of the broadcast dinos. All the majors are frozen in terror, repeating old behavioral patterns that turned self-destructive years ago. NBC spent the annual defense budget of Mauritius to promote “Ready for Love,” a tired Bachelor clone. ABC is going to build its autumn slate on “Scandal”, “Revenge” and “Betrayal,” as well as a hasty spin-off of its fading “Once Upon a Time” franchise. ABC also handed Robin Williams a comeback vehicle. Sensing desperation, audiences are tuning out in disgust.

”

- Not untrue, so far as it goes. And, without figures to hand so yeah pinch of salt, but I think the US network tv “hits” of last season, like REVOLUTION, would have been woeful cancellation fodder even four years ago.

Cable, both basic and premium, have gotten their whacks in, but the full-on “disruption” of American tv by deep-pocketed internet business is going to be really interesting, not least for what disrupts them.

Google Fiber broadcast television impact analysis | BGR
(via warrenellis)