Engineering
Three Gyroscopes – Part 4
Introduction As a child I loved playing about with magnets – I still do. They can move heavy objects – such as lifting cars at a scrap yard. They can also move light (-weight!) objects [more…]
Space
Engineering
Three Gyroscopes – Part 3
Introduction In part one we looked at how a gyroscope seems to defy gravity. This is accomplished by angular momentum. We’ll come back to that later 🙂 In part two we looked at how a [more…]
20th Century
Space-Travel Anniversaries and More Debris
I have been wondering how to continue with articles on the space-coins collecting theme. It is a vast subject and open to many directions of thought. However, a glance through history quickly shows that 2022, [more…]
20th Century
‘Twas the Night before Christmas………..53 years ago
Placing the spacecraft in lunar orbit had not been easy. Compounding the difficulty, the engine firing, which would put the spacecraft in the right spot, had to happen while the spacecraft was out of contact [more…]
Hobbies
Collecting Spaceflight Coins, Part 2
The previous article I did about collecting space coins was quite broad; I included quite a few examples of all ages, sizes and themes. Since then I’ve added several more items to the holding; well, [more…]
Communism
The Science of Deception
If history tells us anything, it is that things always have the potential to get worse, and it’s already looking as though 2020 has done just that by inflicting 2021 upon us, not as a [more…]
Arts
Film Review: Starship Troopers
Robert A. Heinlein’s book Starship Troopers (1959) marked his transition from writing juvenile pulp science fiction to serious novels of ideas, in this case setting forth a highly reactionary and militarist political philosophy. Paul Verhoeven’s [more…]
Hobbies
Collecting Spaceflight Coins
Several attempts at an article have been made by me during the past year or two, but they have never made it past the “put flesh on the bones” stage. Having assessed a few more [more…]
Computing
Nothing is Beyond Our Reach
During a presidential debate, a little old lady, her grey hair in a bun, asks, “Name the three most important Space Race countries”. Sleepy-creepy Jo Biden, from his basement and with the benefit of voice [more…]