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Sturgeon's House

I Learned Something Today


LostCosmonaut

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TIL from Reddit that apparently blitzkrieg was more of a term like EXTREME was in the 90's, aka a way for poorly informed reporters to describe everything the nazi military did....

 

I'm not sure whether I actually learned something true there or not, but it gave me a "brilliant insight" (meaning most likely I'm horrifically wrong about everything I'm about to say, and am probably a bad person in fact for even THINKING IT)

 

BUT

 

I'm going to say it anyway because that's just kinda how I roll.

 

My thought was that makes radium the original NANO / titanium / carbon...

 

Aka when radium became the new hotness they put that shit in EVERYTHING / tacked some reference to it onto anything they couldn't put it physically in... (Just like Columbia had jackets with titanium thread, cover girl has makeup with nanobeads etc)

 

Then I got to thinking... (This, is usually where the trouble starts for me)

 

My thought was that the Spanish flu started a good bit into this whole radium etc craze where it was in everything. (not to mention that ww1 thing and the resulting starvation and waves of refugees etc)

 

Could radium etc being in god damn everything for quite a number of years before the Spanish flu outbreak have had a hand in making it so incredibly deadly and et cetera?

 

I'd actually genuinely like to know, please don't kill me too bad LOL

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If there is a del taco in the area you are, they will have this thing you seek.

 

Alternately the local 24 hour Mexican burrito place that goes by a thousand names depending on the part of the country you're in but all have the same menu boards etc will also have them...

 

Some of this burrito places known aliases: muchas gracias, filibertos, Alberto's, betos, and I'm sure god knows how many others.

 

(The menu board at the drive thru is always white with red lettering and usually has a retarded cactus in the top left)

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6 hours ago, roguetechie said:

If there is a del taco in the area you are, they will have this thing you seek.

 

Alternately the local 24 hour Mexican burrito place that goes by a thousand names depending on the part of the country you're in but all have the same menu boards etc will also have them...

 

Some of this burrito places known aliases: muchas gracias, filibertos, Alberto's, betos, and I'm sure god knows how many others.

 

(The menu board at the drive thru is always white with red lettering and usually has a retarded cactus in the top left)

Del Taco isn't a thing up here... But Taco Bell Canada has had fries on the menu for 30+ years.

I'm not equating Taco Bell with real Mexican food or a real burrito place at all.

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Ah I was mistaken, for some reason I was under the impression you had journeyed to the states for some reason and were attempting to locate something along the lines of your canuckistani taco Bell fries here in the US.

 

Thus I was attempting to point you in the direction of establishments which exist in the states where you might be able to procure an at least passable substitute.

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14 hours ago, Belesarius said:

TIL Taco Bell USA didn't have fries on the menu? WTF USA?  Y'all don't know what Fries Supreme are from Toxic Hell?

 

#30fuckingyears

 

 

Taco Bell has "mexi fries" or whatever they're called. Basically tater tots fried up with their special salt/spice blend.

 

Why would someone want french fries at a Taco Bell anyway? You probably dip them in mayonnaise too, don't you? Don't bother denying it!

 

Confess!

 

CONFESS!!!

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6 minutes ago, Donward said:

 

Taco Bell has "mexi fries" or whatever they're called. Basically tater tots fried up with their special salt/spice blend.

 

Why would someone want french fries at a Taco Bell anyway? You probably dip them in mayonnaise too, don't you? Don't bother denying it!

 

Confess!

 

CONFESS!!!

I almost never eat at taco bell and when I do, I generally get basic soft tacos and a side of sour cream, and get them to leave the lettuce off.  Because BHT tastes awful and makes lettuce irredeemable.

 

 

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  • 3 weeks later...
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TIL: There is such a thing as "funeral potatoes" which is apparently a casserole dish served at group or potluck functions and which is popular with the Latter Day Saints in Utah and Idaho.

 

http://www.idahostatesman.com/news/nation-world/article208045964.html

 

So of course the Left is freaking out over the fact that Walmart is advertising the dish on social media since the term "funeral" might pop their precious social bubble.

 

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  • 3 weeks later...
On 4/6/2018 at 1:10 PM, Donward said:

TIL: There is such a thing as "funeral potatoes" which is apparently a casserole dish served at group or potluck functions and which is popular with the Latter Day Saints in Utah and Idaho.

 

http://www.idahostatesman.com/news/nation-world/article208045964.html

 

So of course the Left is freaking out over the fact that Walmart is advertising the dish on social media since the term "funeral" might pop their precious social bubble.

 

 

Funeral potatoes are, in fact, fucking delicious.

 

But if you're not Mormon ex Mormon or descended from Mormons you cannot make them because that is cultural appropriation, and cultural appropriation is wrong.

 

Maybe one day I should write a post on Mormon soul food. 

 

Edit to add: It's definitely not just an Idaho or Utah thing just so you guys know, if you go to a Mormon potluck or anything that involves food held at a Mormon Church or stake center anywhere in the US funeral potatoes are almost mandatory.

 

Weddings, funerals, post service project feeds, scouting events... Doesn't matter.

 

Whose bringing the funeral potatoes comes up just as surely as there will be arguing or some competition between the deacons and teachers to see which one has to put away the chairs and tables and which group gets to do the floors, trash, and help the Mia maids clean the kitchen!

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TIL that the 'pitching wunderwaffe to Hitler to stay away from the Eastern front' joke was real:

https://boingboing.net/2018/05/03/secret-nazi-experimental-plane.html

 

Edit: it gets even better when I think about how many people wet themselves over the 'stealth characteristics' of the Horten. I wish my bullshit projects could get such adoration!

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On 5/3/2018 at 10:15 PM, Toxn said:

TIL that the 'pitching wunderwaffe to Hitler to stay away from the Eastern front' joke was real:

https://boingboing.net/2018/05/03/secret-nazi-experimental-plane.html

 

Edit: it gets even better when I think about how many people wet themselves over the 'stealth characteristics' of the Horten. I wish my bullshit projects could get such adoration!

 

I read the line about "bell-shaped lift distribution" and became intrigued.

And boy oh boy did that lead down a rabbit hole:
 

 

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What the fuck did I just watch? I admit, I know nothing about flight or airplanes.  But I am pretty sure that the ideal shape for an airplane is not the flying wing from Raiders of the Lost Ark.

 

 

oh, my bad, the plane in the above video has rudders.  Apparently, rudders are terrible and wrong or something.

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8 hours ago, Walter_Sobchak said:

What the fuck did I just watch? I admit, I know nothing about flight or airplanes.  But I am pretty sure that the ideal shape for an airplane is not the flying wing from Raiders of the Lost Ark.

 

 

oh, my bad, the plane in the above video has rudders.  Apparently, rudders are terrible and wrong or something.

 

 

An airplane is a set of compromises flying in formation.  Every design goal on an aircraft that's optimized will mean others that are compromised.  But let's say the goal is to optimize an aircraft for range, flying the farthest it possibly can on a given tank of gasoline.  Or, equivalently, flying as efficiently as possible.

 

From that point of view, the airplane needs to have the highest lift to drag ratio possible.

 

This was Jack Northrop's logic when he designed his series of flying wings.

 

Fuselages don't generate lift, so get rid of them.  Horizontal tails can be designed to generate lift, but they will never be more efficient than just making the main wing bigger, so get rid of them too.  Vertical tails don't generate lift, so get rid of them too!  As long as we're talking pure theoretical, a flying wing is hard to beat for pure subsonic lift to drag ratio, since it's just a big lift-generating surface with no drag-producing structures to slow it down.

 

The problem, as usual, is all the annoying shit that the real, non-theoretical world throws up.  An actual airplane isn't just a lift-generating machine, it's also got to contain stuff inside of it.  Fuel, hydraulics, people, engines, cargo, et cetera.  Stuffing all of this stuff into the wing means that the wing ends up a lot thicker than is aerodynamically ideal.

 

Then there are the control problems.  A flying wing is very short, nose to tail, compared to a conventional plane.  That means that the distance between the pitch control surfaces and the center of gravity is also short, so the plane has very little leverage in the pitch plane.  Even more worrying, the very short distance between the center of gravity and center of lift on a flying wing means that keeping an appropriate relationship between the center of gravity and center of lift is a lot twitchier than it is on a conventional airplane.  Fly-by-wire systems that could control an aircraft with the center of gravity behind the center of lift wouldn't exist until the 1970s, so the pilot of a 1950s flying wing would have to manage the fuel consumption, cargo layout, etc. to make sure that the center of gravity of the plane remained within a very small happy zone.  Too far forward, and it would exacerbate his lack of leverage in the pitch plane.  Too far back, and the plane would rapidly lose stability.

 

Then there's the issue of yaw control.  Flying wings don't have a great way of doing this, although this new research suggests that their need for yaw control could be greatly reduced.

 

Given all of the above, it's no big surprise that most designers have said "ah, screw it," and gone with a more conventional layout.  The fuselage does add drag and produces very little lift, but it's also a convenient envelope in which to place all of the stuff.  It also acts as a great big lever arm that improves the effectiveness of the horizontal and vertical stabilizers.  Adding a vertical stabilizer is not a particularly elegant solution to the problem of yaw control, but it works and doesn't produce many further complications.

 

Conventional aircraft layouts aren't close to ideal in any mathematical sense, but they produce fewer headaches than the more theoretically optimized ones.

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Remind me of a Black and Mortimer I read when I was a kid.

The action takes place in the 1940, just after WWII they've got a WWIII on their hands but this time with an evil Tibetan empire as the villain.

 

The author invented several planes for his story, and worried than his sketches would be too aliens he apparently showed them to a professional who would have told him that there was no major impossibilities (although it was most likely highly impractical and hard to do with the 1946 tech).

 

Anyway those planes left a strong impression on me at that time.

 

Some kind of long range, high altitude recon plane they use to escape an attack on their base:

 

Spoiler

http://a406.idata.over-blog.com/600x308/1/30/67/45/Septembre-2011/blake_mortimer_jacobs_hachette_n19_00.jpg

 

L'aile rouge personal plane of their long time nemesis the colonel Orlik

 

Spoiler

http://www.bdnet.com/img/couvpage/08/9910000030086_cg.jpg

 

The two together:

 

Spoiler

http://www.fanbobmorane.fr/Aviation/DocSiteOfficiel-en%20PageAviation/ImageAviation/IllutrationImages/IllustrBD2/IllustrG/gBlack/3Avions.gif

 

Le Requin (shark), main stratospheric fighter-bomber of the evil empire:

 

Spoiler

http://a397.idata.over-blog.com/1/30/67/45/Decembre-2011/HACHETTE/25-CASE.jpg

http://a403.idata.over-blog.com/1/30/67/45/Decembre-2011/HACHETTE/25-AVANT.jpg

 

And the secret weapon of the allies l'Espadon (Swordfish) launched from under water

 

Spoiler

http://www.maquetland.com/v2/images_articles2/images/10.jpg

https://www.aerobuzz.fr/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/jpg_ESPADON_cote.jpg

 

 

 

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