For many years, I've been on the case of the Official First Friend of The Pond, Vaucaunson's Duck, about his lack of blog, website, or other internet presence.  Y'see, if there's anybody out there for whom blogging was created, it would be Vauc.

For the same amount of years, he has protested my case-being-onning, saying that he fully intended to have a website, but there wasn't going to be any of that "under construction" stuff going on.  He also wanted to find the right hosting service.  Knowing that Big Papa Pixy hizownbadself is a kind and generous tyrant despot dictator Australian ruler of all MuMeeNuVia, I offered to find out for Vauc what he'd be willing to do, but my old friend declined the offer.  *shrug* 

So on and on it went, me ribbing Vauc, Vauc saying "it'll happen, it'll happen."  Well, I'm happy to announce that it has, in fact, happened.  Now to be honest, Vauc's site is a little... well, niche.  I mean, you've got websites that are rather specialized out there (case in point: Combined Fleet).  You've got websites that are devoted to single topics (for example, the lamented Fire Joe Morgan).  And then you've got what Vauc's website is about: chickens.

Well, poultry.  Well, poultry as covered by a small New York publishing firm in the early-to-mid 1900s.  Well, poultry, a small New York publishing firm in the early-to-mid 1900s, and the town it was located in.  As strange as all that may sound, The Van Hoesen Press is honestly quite intriguing.  If you're like me, and god help you if you are, you find learning about stuff you know nothing about to be fascinating and endlessly entertaining.  Here's your chance to be entertained!  I invite my readers to give the place a look-see.  It's actually something of a family history project for Vauc, as Roy Van Hoesen was his Great-Grandfather.

As the website just went live a few days ago, if nothing else we can give it a mini-stress-test... a Duckalanche, if you will.  And, heck, where else would you discover that there was once a periodical entitled "The Bacon Hog Quarterly"?

Posted by: Wonderduck at 09:39 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 360 words, total size 3 kb.

There's no doubt in my mind that The Pond is the only place on the intarwebz where you're going to find this:

The combination of rubber duckies and Katawa Shoujo for Valentine's Day, exclusive to this little website.  And you get to see it... aren't you lucky?

Rin's opinion notwithstanding, of course.

Posted by: Wonderduck at 07:28 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
Post contains 55 words, total size 1 kb.

I've passed thirteen kidney stones in my life.  They hurt like nothing I've ever experienced before or since.  I am probably the last person to celebrate a diagnosis of kidney stones.

Except when the other option was cancer.

Posted by: Wonderduck at 06:31 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 42 words, total size 1 kb.

Admiral Osami Nagano walked into the meeting room with an ashen look on his face.  Taking his seat at the head of the table, he looked less like the Chief of the Imperial Japanese Navy's General Staff, and more like the weak leader some thought he was.  With a shaken tone to his voice, he brought the meeting to order.  "Gentlemen, I've been informed that the aircraft carrying Admiral Isoruku Yamamoto on his inspection tour of the Solomon Islands... has been shot down.  He is confirmed dead."  As the rest of the General Staff reacted to this grim news, he continued.  "Admiral Ugaki survived, but is seriously injured."  He looked around the table.  "Coming so soon on the heels of our losses.. no, let's call them what they are, our defeats, at Midway and that damnable 'Starvation Island', this is another terrible blow.  Reports are that the first of the new American aircraft carriers is nearing completion, soon to be followed by a half-dozen more.  Gentlemen, unless something is done quickly, the unstoppable tide will soon sweep over us and wash us away.  Do any of you have any plans that can balance the ledger sheet in our favor?"

Silence fell over the table.  Nagano looked at the assembled General Staff with something approaching horror on his face.  "Nothing?  Was Yamamoto the only one of us with an imagination?"  At that goading, many of the militaristic hardliners flushed angrily but remained quiet.  From the far end of the table, a quiet yet confident voice, loud in the nearly silent room, said "There is a plan we have been working on...."

When one thinks of the Imperial Japanese Navy in World War II, one undoubtedly thinks of the aircraft carriers of the Kido Butai, or the massive battleships Yamato and Musashi.  More thoughtfully, one might consider the deadly efficient force of cruisers they put to sea or their squadrons of destroyers, considered by many to be the best of the War.  Yet only rarely would any consider sparing a thought to the IJN's submarines, unless it was to react in horror to the kaiten manned torpedoes fielded as a counterpoint to the kamikaze.  This is a mistake, as the Japanese submarine force was interestingly varied, not to mention fairly successful in their generally assigned role of warship hunters.  Japanese submarines sank as many American fleet carriers (two, Yorktown and Wasp) as their conventional naval air did (Lexington and Hornet). 

On the whole, Japanese submarines were inventive and cleverly designed, if perhaps ill-used.  Without a doubt, however, there was one surprising class of submarine where they were the unquestioned best in the world.

more...

Posted by: Wonderduck at 01:00 AM | Comments (14) | Add Comment
Post contains 1916 words, total size 14 kb.

Sir Frank's team is one of a regal history having fallen on hard times of late.  The team has been around for 35 years, and is one of F1's historical "Big Four" teams (with Ferrari, McLaren and Renault).  In the time I've been an active fan of the sport, however, they team has, at best, just been okay... and at worst, they've been bad.  So will a return to Renault engines, paired with the new FW34 chassis bring a return to prominence?

No less an individual than Sir Frank Williams hisownbadself has said that the new car has less than 5% parts in common with last year's FW33.  In some ways, this is good: that car was a dog.  It's also quite the risk, as F1 teams have historically found that evolution, not revolution, is the way to success.  Again, though, the 2011 car was just bad and there probably wasn't all that much worth keeping.  Having said all that... the Williams' paint job is terrible for seeing details.  The platypus step looks like it's a vertical wall.  It's not, but that's the way it looks.  Big air intakes, maybe the largest we've seen so far.  I'm amused by the Gillette sponsorship on the multi-level front wings... ladies and gentlemen, the twin-bladed razor of F1 cars!

Wacky rear wing!  The sidepods are small-ish, but nicely shaped.  No undercut on them at all though.  I HATE the the "flying" fin on the airbox.  I'm sure it's aerodynamic, but I just don't like it.  I'm kinda struggling for stuff to talk about with this car.  Of course, I've talked about what, six or seven others already?

I've lowered the contrast by 50%, I've boosted the brightness by 30%, and increased the saturation, and the car still looks like it's sucking in all light within 20 feet.  Ugly nose.  Having said all that, I really hope there's some speed in this chassis.  Formula 1 would be much better off with Williams being good. 

I'll admit it: I got nuthin' here.  The team sounds like they're excited about the FW34, but they would do, wouldn't they?  On the other hand, I can't get excited about it.  If everything goes right, does anybody realistically see them finishing any better than 5th in the constructors?

That's a darn shame.

Posted by: Wonderduck at 09:42 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
Post contains 387 words, total size 3 kb.

Oh yeah, I'm lovin' life right now, and I'm NOT in a good mood.

Posted by: Wonderduck at 08:10 PM | Comments (12) | Add Comment
Post contains 294 words, total size 2 kb.

While the boys from Milton Keynes debuted their 2012 challenger yesterday, it wasn't much of a much.  Instead of actually showing the car in any way, they released a couple of renders and a crappy video.  However, with today being the start of Winter Testing in Jerez, Spain, we got to REALLY see the RB8 for the first time today.  Or, at least, we did once it finally took to the track some four hours late.  Seems the delivery of some important part of the car was delayed by fog at the airport.  Whoopsie.

Well, that's different.  Red Bull's solution to the platypus nose is to hollow it out... which makes sense, once you think about it.  That vent is certainly being used to cool the driver, the electronics, or both.  It probably does away with a lot of the drag caused by the stairstep, too... or at least removes much of the disturbed airflow from where it'd do the most damage, aerodynamically.  The sidepod inlets are smaller in comparison to last year's runaway winner, though not dramatically so. 


In fact, there aren't all that many changes from the RB7 (above, bottom).  I mean, beyond the obvious platypus nose.  The airbox cover doesn't have the thin fin any longer and the verticals on the rear wing are now square with dangling "fingers", as opposed to the curved cut of last year's car.  The sidepods don't look as high, but they also don't seem to slope down as far.  So, not many obvious changes, but that shouldn't be a surprise... I mean, it's not like the RB7 wasn't the best car around in 2011 or anything.  As I mentioned last year, any changes are probably under the skin.

After looking at the slot in the nose, I think we've finally figured out where Mark Webber and Seb Vettel have to slide their timecards.  That nose might just be the worst of the bunch... what is it that it reminds me of?  Oh... oh yeah, I've got it.

Posted by: Wonderduck at 08:17 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 341 words, total size 2 kb.

It's been a busy couple of days in the F1 rollout season!  Four teams brought out their 2012 challengers... and only one of them, Sauber, released glamour shots of their car.  So for a F1 MegaPr0n, we only have a few workable pictures, and there's only one angle that all three of the teams in this MegaPr0n used.  Fortunately, it's the three-quarters angle, which is the most useful for our purposes.  Ladies and gentlemen, the first ever F1 mini-MegaPr0n!  First up, Renault Lotus!

Proof that it's possible to make a good looking platypus nosed F1 car.  Of course, this isn't surprising, because the Renault Lotus E20 appears to be last year's Renault Renault!  It appears that the team had to do quite a bit of engineering work to re-route the forward facing exhaust system to meet the tech regs, and as a result development on the rest of the car stagnated.  The platypus nose is nothing particularly difficult to accomplish, obviously.  However, Renault Lotus actually managed to make this one look good... or at least, not as awful as all the others.  It's not the hideous ramp that Ferrari has, nor is it the "hills and valley" used by the other teams.  Other than those changes, though, it really is the Renault Renault R31, all over again.  That may not be a horrible thing.

Like Renault Lotus, Sauber's C31 seems to be a C30 in 2012 regulations, there are a few changes.  Obviously the platypus nose is present... but the hump has a trick involved.  There's a thin gap where the nosecone meets the hump, apparently an attempt to disrupt a little bit of the drag that'll undoubtedly be created by the thing.  Will it work?  Who knows?  Other changes are a touch more subtle.  The sidepods, which were already cut down last year, have been even smaller and more rounded.  The top of the car from the cockpit to the front tires is flat; last year it actually was angled up from the cockpit to the tires.  The whole chassis is very clean, almost austere in looks.  I rather like it.  The biggest change, though, is the addition of Oerlikon as a sponsor.  Does this mean there's a 20mm autocannon hidden in the airbox?

Toro Rosso's STR7 has a "hills-and-valley" approach to the platypus, which is as good as any, I suppose.  I suppose it's boring to say that it's very similar to last year's STR6, so I won't... though it is.  The sidepods are shorter and more deeply cut than those on last year's car, which should remove quite a bit of parasitic drag from the chassis.  The airbox has an interesting support arrangement to it now, and under the main intake, there's a second intake, presumably for cooling the KERS unit.  Something that isn't particularly visible in the pictures of the cars rolled out to date is the position of the exhausts.  Toro Rosso's is set about as far back as they can legally go, and their position seems to be blowing right onto the rear wing.  "We can't use a blown diffuser, but nobody said anything about a blown rear wing," seems to be the plan.

In an interview with Toro Rosso's designer, Georgio Ascanelli, I finally heard an explanation for the new nose height.  It seems that the maximum height of 550mm is the same as the height of the anti-penetration panels on the sides of the cockpit.  It was done to prevent an impalement, which of course we've seen dozens of times in the past couple of years alone (/sarcasm off).  A solution looking for a problem...

Now, sharp-eyed readers might have noticed that I said that there had been FOUR rollouts over the past two days, yet I've only shown three.  That's because the fourth team was Red Bull, and all they let us see were a couple of cheap renders of the car they'll be defending their title with.  With the first offseason practice session beginning on Tuesday, I expect we'll be seeing a little more than that tomorrow, so I'll hit it and Williams then!

Posted by: Wonderduck at 08:56 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 691 words, total size 5 kb.

1 A couple of cheap renders and a dark, low-resolution video produced by hipster marketing robots!

*Sigh* I guess I can wait one more day to hear your thoughts on The Thing From Milton Keynes. It sure is... something.  

Posted by: flatdarkmars at February 06, 2012 09:26 PM (I55Es)

2 Pullrod rear suspension seems to dominate.

Posted by: Pete Zaitcev at February 06, 2012 11:15 PM (G2mwb)

Hide Comments | Add Comment

Over five years ago, a particular bit of colorized doujin art from the year 2000 made its way to the 4chan image boards, where it made quite the splash.  So much of one that some denizens of that board decided to follow the original artist's intentions and turn the artwork into a ren'ai game.  Two years later, the group (now calling itself 4Leaf Studios, or "4LS") brought out a demo.  The demo, entitled "Act I", was a hit and brought quite a bit of attention to the game.  And then... three more years would pass before 4LS announced that the full game would be released before the end of 2011.  Shortly before that deadline, they moved the date to January 4th, 2012; five years to the day that a particular bit of colorized doujin art hit 4chan. 

Nobody on the staff of 4LS had ever made a game before.  The amount of work involved in such an endeavor is daunting, but they certainly pulled it off; they did release a game.  The question, though, is just how good is it?  To be truthful, it's hard to imagine it being any good at all considering the topic material.  Disabled high school students?  A dating sim about disabled high school students?  Controversial, to say the least.  When Act I came out, a common reaction was "...that game makes me ill, what's wrong with those people?"  So now that the full version has been released, what's the real verdict?


more...

Posted by: Wonderduck at 11:23 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 1497 words, total size 13 kb.

Might be a fun one this time... or it might be ridiculously easy.  It'll be one of the two, for sure.

Usual rules apply: no Imagesearch or anything like that.  I can't do anything about it, but your victory will be tainted and hagridden.  If you DO win, you get a post on a topic of your choice!  While I don't do politics, religion or pr0n (other than F1 Pr0n), anything else is fair game.

So get your guessin' shoes on!

Posted by: Wonderduck at 08:44 PM | Comments (8) | Add Comment
Post contains 86 words, total size 1 kb.

You know something's kinda wrong when no less a light than Stefano Domenicali, team principal for Scuderia Ferrari, comes out and publicly says "Well, actually, it’s not really so pretty from my personal perspective.  But this is a value that doesn’t count in Formula 1... ...as our chairman has already said the fact that it is ugly or very nice doesn’t count a lot. The most important thing is that the car has to be performing."  In other words, "winning fixes ugly."  Having said that, Ferrari better win a lot of races this season, because the new F2012 is a lot of ugly.

Though to be honest, from the front it looks not so bad at all.  The front wing is supposedly evolved from the flexi-bendy wing they ran at the end of the 2011 season.  For their sake, I hope they got the "oscillating like a USGS seismometer in a magnitude 9.5 earthquake" feature fixed.  There were times when I wondered how the Red cars were able to stay on the track, even going in a straight line, because of that wing flapping like an ornithopter.

From the side, it still doesn't look so bad.  Like the McLaren, there appears to be an angle (back-to-front) to the floor.  The sidepods are deeply undercut, more like the Force India than the McLaren, though not the same sort of profile.  Amazing how so many teams can do the same thing, but come up with completely different designs.  It'll be interesting to see which one comes off the best.  One thing that comes back from past designs is the weird double rear bodywork thingy on the engine cover.  I've never been fond of that design element, and it doesn't look any better here.  It looks like the engine cover came off the sprue badly and nobody bothered to trim the flash off.

...and now the hideousness of the nose becomes apparent.  Yeesh... if anything, it may be worse than the Lotus Caterham and the Force India solutions.  However, this does raise an interesting question: just how did McLaren's nose fit under the technical regulations while a team like Ferrari does... this?  Interesting that there's another fin between the front wheels; haven't seen that before, have we?  According to the team, the car is almost all brand new, with very little coming over from the F150° Italia.  I gather the rear wing is pretty much the same, with just some very minor tweaking.

The Scuderia was to have a huge blowout at the Ferrari factory at Maranello, followed by a few laps at the team's test track, literally right across the street.  One little problem, though: it's been snowing in Northern Italy.  A lot.  So instead of the big media presser and hot laps, we got... well, this:

I'm pretty sure they trucked it to the track.  I mean, could you imagine driving a F1 car... in the snow... on slicks?  I suspect the car would be in the wall, on its back, and on fire, within a few feet.

Renault Lotus is next up on Sunday, followed by a F1 MegaPr0n on Monday, when Sauber, Toro Rosso, and defending constructor's champion Red Bull all roll out.  See ya then!

Posted by: Wonderduck at 08:49 PM | Comments (9) | Add Comment
Post contains 541 words, total size 4 kb.

We've had two rollouts to date, and the score is one normal nose (MP4-27), one platypus nose (CT01).  The question is, which way would Force India's fifth design, the VJM05, go? 

Platypus.  Definitely platypus.  The people who know these things say that Force India used the same wing for two years, with the team issuing upgrades and developments at various points over those seasons.  It appears that the VJM05 is rockin' a new, more complex, front wing that some suggest will be flexi-bendy, like the Red Bull's.  If they can pull that off, it'll be a major coup.  Remember, Ferrari couldn't make it work, ending up with something that flapped like a hummingbird's wing.  This had a rather unfortunate effect on the structural stability of the car.

The sidepods are longer than the McLaren's, but seem to have a bigger undercut to them.  Other than that, the chassis seems to be fairly conventional.  Smooth airbox. 

The platypus nose looks hideous in this picture.  Unlike the CT01, this one has a rounded nose, again similar in appearance to the Red Bull designs.  Though we can't see it in these shots, I gather that the underside of the nose is also rounded, better to shed air in the direction of the underside of the car and increasing the downforce.  The, for lack of a better term, "barge boards" just to the outside of the sidepods seem much more prominent than they do on the other two chassis that have been rolled out thus far.  I'm sure they're perfectly legal, but I'll be switched if I like 'em.  The nicest rule change in the past five years was the one that got rid of the proliferation of such things; these bring back unpleasant memories. 

I suspect this is a make-or-break season for Vijay Mallya's team.  It's been five years without a win, only one podium and just one pole, both of which look like flukes.  There are reports that Mallya's financial empire is showing cracks;  Kingfisher Airlines paid their salaried employees late four months running, for example.  If this is truly the case, one could reasonably assume that F1 would prove to be something totally disposable... unless good things start happening in a hurry.  We'll see how the VJM05 does down the road!

Ferrari's rollout will be covered tonight.

Posted by: Wonderduck at 09:24 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 391 words, total size 3 kb.

McLaren has always seemed to have been of two minds when it comes to their F1 cars.  Either they're a little boring or they're completely goofball.  Last year's MP4-26 went full goofball, what with the L-shaped air intakes on the sidepods and all.  For 2012, it looks like the team from Woking has gone button-down collar and pocket protector on us.  Ladies and gentlemen, the MP4-27.

The first thing that leaps out at you is... the more or less normal looking nose.  As we'll see in the next picture, all is not as it appears, though in comparison to the Lotus Caterham, it's boring.  The air intakes on the sidepods are back to something a little more staid than last year, though they are somewhat... elongated.  The section directly under the nose is a little busier than last year.

As with the Caterham before it, the MP4-27 has teeny sculpted sidepods, clearly to steer more air towards the back.  As mentioned earlier, the nose doesn't have the stonking great stepdown like the CT01, but it does rather plummet.  It's a graceful plummet, but compare it to the MP4-26, and you'll see the difference:

The rear wing of the new car also has... fingers at the bottom of the rear wing assembly.  These started to appear on the cars last season, and I'm sure there's something good aerodynamically involved with them, but I'll be switched if I can figure out what it is.  I'm not the big brain though, as anybody who's read The Pond could attest to.

No matter how fast the MP4-27 goes, there is one thing you can say about it: it sure is purty.  I think they need to go back to the silver rims though.  The black just doesn't work.

Now for the best thing of them all: the annual McLaren centerfold!  Just click "more" for some sweet sweet Glare On Wheels action, sans staples!

more...

Posted by: Wonderduck at 08:36 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
Post contains 326 words, total size 2 kb.

It's no secret to readers of The Pond that I am a fan of the Chicago Cubs.  By extension, therefore, I am a detractor of the St Louis Cardinals.  It's as natural as breathing, which Cardinals fans tend to do through their mouth.  One cannot be a Cubs fan without hating the Cardinals.  I assume Cardinals fans feel the same way about the Cubs, though to be honest I've never met one articulate enough to voice such things.  But I digress.  Last season, the Cardinals won the World Series, and it would be churlish of me to not congratulate them on having done so.  One of the heroes of their run was Skip Schumaker, a 31 year old utility player who still goes by the nickname "Skip."  Schumaker, whose name bears a startling resemblance to that of Mercedes F1 driver Slappy Schumacher, was at bat in Game 4 of the NL Divisional Series against the Phillies when a panicked and frightened grey squirrel dashed across home plate.

Posted by: Wonderduck at 08:46 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 350 words, total size 2 kb.

Well, this is a fine kettle of fish.  I received an e-mail this afternoon from the Official First Friend of The Pond, Vaucaunson's Duck.  Attached was a challenge: "Name This Mystery Ship."  After working on it for an hour or so, I gave up.  And now it's your turn... and I don't know the answer!

My guess is that it's a destroyer, destroyer escort, or frigate.  The flag looks Dutch, but my searching didn't turn up a match of any sort.  I guess it could be a cruiser, but it seems like the armament is awfully light for that.

Name the ship and if Vauc can verify that your guess is correct, you win a post on a topic of your choice!  As usual, I won't write about politics, religion or pr0n... anything else is free game.  Have at it, y'all!

Posted by: Wonderduck at 06:29 PM | Comments (11) | Add Comment
Post contains 146 words, total size 1 kb.

1 Yep, she's Dutch.  And yes, she could be a cruiser, and her armament is awfully light for that, because she's a light cruiser.  The Royal Dutch Navy light crusier Tromp.  She was repeatedly claimed sunk by the IJN, apparently. That puts her in good company.
 
http://www.navypedia.org/ships/netherlands/nl_cr_tromp.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HNLMS_Tromp_(1937)
http://www.netherlandsnavy.nl/Tromp.htm
http://www.netherlandsnavy.nl/Photo_tromp.htm

Posted by: flatdarkmars at January 30, 2012 12:26 AM (I55Es)

2 flatdarkmars is right.

For some time, I've been looking for a ship photo with the idea of stumping Wonderduck.  I figured the photo had to be from an off-line source - so I was pleased to find this photo, framed in an antiques store.  I initially thought it wasn't online anywhere, but was wrong about that.

Just six hours from posting to solving - the power of the hive mind.

"The ghost ship."  Now why wasn't there a counter for it in Victory in the Pacific, like the De Ruyter?.

Posted by: V. Duck at January 30, 2012 10:39 AM (XVJDy)

3

Apparently I was the only person who didn't know that this was the Tromp.  I have an e-mail from Siergen who named it correctly, but admitted to imagesearching for it.  I received a textmessage from Brickmuppet two minutes before FDM posted his comment, naming the Tromp.

However, since FDM was the first to leave his guess in the comments, he gets the "prize."  Name your post... or should I assume you want another "Name This Mystery Ship"?

Posted by: Wonderduck at January 30, 2012 01:12 PM (OS+Cr)

4

If you think the Tromp was lightly armed for a cruiser, you might want to take a look at HMS Delhi following her 1941 refit in the US, or the Capitani Romani class as built.  Heck, Tromp's sister might even qualify.

C.T.

Posted by: cxt217 at January 30, 2012 07:03 PM (JMzrv)

5 CXT, I still owe you a post... you need to get me a topic, though.

Posted by: Wonderduck at January 30, 2012 07:31 PM (f/6aJ)

6 Sorry about that.  The last couple months had been hectic, not to mention physically demanding that I had completely forgotten about it. 

Posted by: cxt217 at January 30, 2012 08:38 PM (JMzrv)

7 Hehe I spent at least two minutes finding links!  Anyway I can't think of anything in particular, so another Mystery Ship it is!

Posted by: flatdarkmars at January 31, 2012 12:04 AM (I55Es)

8 what happen to old ship. please, anybody explain to me what happen to any old ship. it is not like an airplane where it's would be easy to sell to other country when it get old . 

Posted by: justjoe at April 18, 2012 06:57 AM (N80Xh)

9

A lot of them do get sold. An American WWII light cruiser was sold to Argentina, who renamed it "General Belgrano". It was sunk by a British submarine during the Falklands war.

But if they can't be sold, usually they're torn apart so the steel can be recycled. Thousands of tons of scrap steel is worth quite a lot.

Sometimes they are ditched in a ship's graveyard, left at anchor to rust away.

Some get taken out to sea and deliberately sunk with scuttling charges. Sometimes this is done to create attractions for scuba divers, in service of the tourist industry. Sometimes they do it in hopes of starting coral reefs.

A few are turned into floating museums.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at April 18, 2012 09:06 AM (+rSRq)

10

Sadly, being recycled for razor blades will be the fate of USS ENTERPRISE (CVN-65).  As much anyone would like to preserver her as a museum ship, the cost and effort involved in removing 8(!) nuclear reactors will leave the ENTERPRISE suitable for nothing else when she decommissions after her current deployment.

I do like the idea of trying to save her island, since that is the most iconic and identifiable part of her.  It is a lot easier than saving the entire ship.

Posted by: cxt217 at April 18, 2012 10:34 AM (Y/p7u)

11 Tearing apart any CVN will be challenging. But lifting the reactors out will be a lot easier if all the decking above the reactor is removed first.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at April 18, 2012 01:19 PM (+rSRq)

Hide Comments | Add Comment

Seventeen years and one day after the tragedy of Apollo 1, the American space program lost another crew.

Posted by: Wonderduck at 06:52 PM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
Post contains 181 words, total size 1 kb.

45 years ago today, the US space program suffered the first fatalities of its history.  Gus Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee died during a routine training mission when their Apollo capsule caught fire.  The conflagration was aided by a 100% oxygen atmosphere in the capsule.  A single ignition source was unable to be found.  A study did find, however, that the standard nylon astronaut pressure suit of the time could generate enough static electricity to create a spark just from regular movement in the capsule's flight seats.

Posted by: Wonderduck at 09:47 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
Post contains 131 words, total size 1 kb.

Historically, the opening of the F1 season comes when Ferrari debuts their new challenger.  They are always the first.  Pride of place should be with them, truth be told.  It's not like they aren't the oldest and most famous team in Formula 1, after all.  Which makes the first debut of the year all the weirder, because it's not the oldest team, but one of the newest, which rolled out their steed.  The team that was Lotus and now is Caterham stole a march on the big guys today, releasing pictures of the CT01.  Ladies and gentlemen, F1 Pr0n is back!

Some interesting stuff here from Caterham.  The sidepods are shorter, making for a more compact, almost wasp-waisted, chassis.  Unseen in the picture above is that there's a vent in the back of the airbox to add cooling to that which the smaller sidepods lose.  The exhausts are low-mounted and positioned in the lee of the sidepod's airflow.  The leader at the clubhouse turn is that they'll blow over the lower elements of the rear wing, trying to claw back some of the downforce lost by the banning of blown diffusers.  However, the F1 sites across the interwebs are all abuzz over the nose.

To be charitable, it's not pretty.  To not be charitable, it might be the ugliest nose since the 2004 Williams "Walrusnose"... or this one.  Unfortunately, that stepdown is mandated by the new tech regulations.  Yes, really.  It's a safety feature, designed to keep cars from being launched, somehow.  I think it accomplishes the feat by being so repulsive that no self-respecting F1 chassis would deign to approach it.  I tells ya, Morty, it's like it got taken back behind the woodshed and got beaten with the ugly stick.  And because the rules require that the nose be no more than 550mm above the ground, but the rest of the body has to be 650mm above, we'll probably see this on EVERY car this year.

BEHOLD!  The era of the ugly F1 car is upon us, and woe be unto those who think that the individualism of the teams is being legislated out of the sport by the FIA.

The next rollout is McLaren on February 1st!  See you then for more F1 Pr0n!

Posted by: Wonderduck at 08:39 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 381 words, total size 3 kb.

A lot of railfans love the locomotives.  They like being able to look at these huge pieces of machinery and be able to rattle off statistics about how much horsepower it has, or how much it can pull, or how many of them there are, or whatever.  And who can blame 'em?  One of the (few) things I appreciate about diesels is that the railroads realized that they could be painted in company colors... and so they were.  And what colors!  Everywhere you went, the most boring of engines could be made interesting by the various liveries.  For example, as a young duckling here in Northern Illinois, one of the most common railroad lines to see was the Chicago Central, a junior member of the Illinois Central company.  They ran from Chicago to Iowa with a spur going north to Albert Lea, MN... a more boring trackmap would be difficult to find.  But then you saw the locomotives.

Cardinal and White, and they look glorious.  I don't even know if the company is around anymore or if they were om nom nommed by CN when they took the Illinois Central, but I still remember the plain but beautiful look of the engines.

But that's just the tip of the iceberg.  Let's take a look at some of the better known and beautiful liveries throughout rail history, shall we?

more...

Posted by: Wonderduck at 11:10 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
Post contains 694 words, total size 6 kb.

-Sora no Woto, Ep13

Didn't I just do one of these a couple of days ago?  Well, yes, yes I did.  Except that one actually had a point to it (i.e., don't watch Kill Me Baby).  This one, on the other hand, is some attempt at an explanation of my lack of actual content here at The Pond of late.  One could argue that it's been 18 days since my last post of any real value.  I will concede the point.  It's not like I don't have big things to write about... indeed, I've got two major posts staring me in the face (Best Late War Fighters, Katawa Shoujo). 

Thing is... I just don't feel like writing.  Part of it is work-related; we've been going great guns all month in preparation for the start of Spring classes, which occurred this week.  Tuesday, to be exact, which might tell you just how sick I really was this past Wednesday.  Anyway, work is part of it.  The aforementioned Katawa Shoujo and Skyrim are also reasons why I haven't blogged much.  It may not be a coincidence that my output went through the floor the same day that KS was released.  I'm enjoying my time in two radically different imaginary worlds for radically different reasons.  I just... look, I've been here at The Pond for a long time (well, in blog time at least).  I still enjoy blogging, it's just a different sort of enjoyment now.

Back in the "old days," when nobody knew who this Wonderduck guy was, I wrote to a) entertain myself; and b) make people aware that there was a hyperintelligent duck with phenomenal (for a duck) typing skills out there who might have some interesting things to say.  Then once I got noticed by a few folks who decided to stick around, the "new day" of blogging dawned.  In some ways, I felt I had to keep one-upping myself.  This led to mammoth posts that took waaaaaaay too long to write; 4100 words and eight hours?  For an episode of Rio Rainbow Gate!?

Maybe I'm just getting old, but the immense need to write seems to have gone away at some point over the past few months.  Maybe having that tooth pulled let it all leak out?  I'm not going anywhere, don't fret none 'bout that.  I'm not even taking a hiatus.  I'm just... going to take it easy for a bit.  Not for long, and you might not even notice a difference, but I'm going to stress less about blogging and try to have myself a little fun again.

Besides, the F1 thing starts up in earnest this week when Caterham rolls out their 2012 car to begin the F1 Pr0n season.  I weep for my lost weekends...

Posted by: Wonderduck at 09:14 PM | Comments (10) | Add Comment
Post contains 467 words, total size 3 kb.