Five Amazing Facts About the Lockheed U-2
The Lockheed U-2 has been around for decades, but much of the information was classified. A new book is coming out, and it will probably be interesting.
The amazing fact I learned is that due to the operating altitude, conventional jet fuel boils off. To research an appropriate fuel, they turned to Jimmy Doolittle, of Doolittle Raid fame, who was then a VP at Shell Oil.
Here’s what was in the NYT, on October 7, 1925.
“They tell me a paper has quoted me as saying the first commercial airplane reliability tour proves the airplane to be reliable,” said Mr. Ford. “Maybe I said that, but I doubt that the tour alone could prove such a thing. I’m a greenhorn at this aviation business, but I can see that it is going to be a great industry.”
My good friend and colleague, Chris Boch, recently posted on his blog about the naive views of the US Secretary of Energy, Chris Wright. I know something about that.
Early in my teaching career, I attended a summer workshop at the Princeton Plasma Physics Lab. The physicist in charge, Andrew Zwicker, is the guy on the left wearing sandals.
“I’m at a point right now where I have a hard time writing science-fiction,” Cameron told CNN this week. “I’m tasked with writing a new Terminator story [but] I don’t know what to say that won’t be overtaken by real events. We are living in a science-fiction age right now.”
Humanoid Robots Have a Serious Design Flaw, And We Need to Fix It
Watch Boston Dynamics’ Atlas robot doing training routines, or the latest humanoids from Figure loading a washing machine, and it’s easy to believe the robot revolution is here.
From the outside, it seems the only remaining challenge is perfecting the AI ( artificial intelligence) software to enable these machines to handle real-life environments.
Humanoid robots won’t be attending the robot revolution.
EPA Proposes Rollback of ‘Hated’ Feature in New Cars
For those who have ever stopped at an intersection only for their car to fall silent and then jolt back to life moments later, relief may be on the horizon.
Some government rules are so pointless or counterproductive, the goal seems to be to punish us or keep us mildly irritated.
TWZ: Los Alamos Scientist’s Insights On The GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator
This interview convinces me that Gary Stradling is a smart guy with a good attitude. Good thing he is on our side.
This is very sophisticated work. It is not casual, and it’s not speculative. These are real experts who are doing the work. Careful, technical, quantitative work to be able to deliver this kind of war-fighting capability to the services.
WSJ: Even Warren Buffett Hasn’t Fixed the RV Industry’s Serial Breakdowns
WSJ: Even Warren Buffett Hasn’t Fixed the RV Industry’s Serial Breakdowns
Forest River, owned by Warren Buffett’sBerkshire Hathaway, is one of the RV industry’s Big Three, along with Thor and Winnebago. Over the past decade, those companies have reported more recalls than Detroit’s Big Three automakers, even though they make far fewer vehicles.
That’s lucky. My Wolf Pup was made by Forest River.
How Proposed Pedestrian-Impact Safety Standards Will Soften Automotive Design
This is the type of over-regulation I talked about in the Modern life should be better post.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) wants new regulations so that pedestrians don’t get hurt when they get hit by a car.
Imagine how difficult it will be to implement this rule without limiting the driver’s field-of-view or reducing the car’s efficiency.
Lunar Outpost unveils sleek new ‘Eagle’ moon rover (photos)
This sweet looking lunar rover was built by Lunar Outpost, and is one of three designs proposed for the Artemis 5 Moon mission set to launch by the end of the decade.
It’s not clear why the rover has no roof. Cosmic rays are a big hazard on the Moon. Polyethylene, a very common plastic, is the material recommended for cosmic ray shielding.
© 2026 Big Stick Physics
Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑