Comments on: geek porn video: “The Mighty J58 – The SR-71′s Secret Powerhouse”

By: hank

hank — Sun, 21 Dec 2014 05:29:10 +0000

classic. And the darkest hour is just before the dawn.

By: Robert

Robert — Sun, 21 Dec 2014 05:00:32 +0000

But that reference seems disrespectful to the old girl.

Have you seen Debbie Harry perform lately? I saw a clip that started when she was offstage waiting to perform, and I saw a nice if somewhat frumpy, barrel-shaped matron in her 60s. Then she got her cue, and in a seamless transition walked on to the stage the very same woman most rated a draw in a competition with Marilyn Monroe back in the day. I could force myself to see the matron if I tried real hard, but for as long as she was onstage, the matron was the illusion, and the blond goddess the reality.

Debbie Harry’s still got it, and so does the Blackbird. Both tap into a timeless vein of truth, “Blondie” about Woman, the Blackbird about flight and its engines about engineering on the raw edge of physics. What got my geek heart in the video was the way that those nerds 60-some years ago pulled off what seems now like an almost steampunk implementation of the 21st century grail the aerospike engine, gears and hydraulics and all. It ain’t that it’s slick and new and the freshest face on the block, simply that it’s still the best on the block, period. It thrilled my heart that they got it essentially right way back at the beginning.

Don’t call it geriatric, man, call it “timeless” porn.

By: hank

hank — Sun, 21 Dec 2014 01:14:22 +0000

The SR-71 is half-century old technology, according to Wikipedia, it was brought into service in 1964. It was decommissioned in the last years of the Twentieth Century. Is anything in place to replace it? Or have we reached the point where the technology is reaching the point of diminishing returns? That is, we might be able to improve aircraft performance somewhat, at enormous cost, but there is no conceivable mission which would require that additional performance.

There are already many aircraft performance records which are still held by planes flown in the 50s and 60s. This may reflect natural limits imposed by the laws of physics, or simply that development has concentrated in other areas with better payoffs, such as avionics, stealth, advanced weapons and defensive systems, etc. Other areas which are probably being exploited now may include VTOL, reconnaissance miniaturization (aircraft which simulate birds or even insects), drones, disposable or expendable remote controlled planes that vaporize in enemy airspace when their mission is completed, making the return flight unnecessary.

We may have already passed the age of geek porn aircraft. They may have reached their natural upper level of developement.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/56/Convair_B-58A_Hustler_in_flight_%28SN_59-2442%29._Photo_taken_on_June_29%2C_1967_061101-F-1234P-019.jpg/300px-Convair_B-58A_Hustler_in_flight_%28SN_59-2442%29._Photo_taken_on_June_29%2C_1967_061101-F-1234P-019.jpg