Saturday, May 30, 2009

Closure - A Really Cool and Imaginitive Flash Game

Close the upgrade box and:
Click the Red "Begin" in case it's not obvious
IMPORTANT: For whatever reason once the game loads you need to hit the Tab key for it to work properly the arrows on the keyboard are the main controls,
and the "R" key will re-start the level. - Have Fun

Friday, May 29, 2009

Alsop Redmond Mousepad - I Love This Mouse Pad



We have a couple of these mouse pads and I have to say, they are the best mouse pads I have
ever owned, hands down.  They are metal and thus rigid and the surface is some kind of semi
slippery hard plastic.  If you get a good mouse with slick teflon feet, the mouse practically skates
across the surface.  The nice thing about the metal aspect for us laptop users is that the mouse
pad can be used on a soft surface like a sofa or Ottoman with the same feel as a table top.  For 
gaming, graphics or any other mouse intensive tasks, I highly recommend this mouse.

Thursday, May 28, 2009

CB Jackets

During the early 1980's these jackets were the thing to
wear, and kids in my high school would wear them indoors.
I had a blue one with black where the pink is on the one
below. Nearly every boy had one of these at one time.
Purportedly they came briefly back into style in 2004,
but I can't remember the last time I saw one. Sorry
about the crappy pic, but this was the ONLY one the
Googles would show to me. Maybe it was only a New
England trend? I dunno, but I could not even find one
on e-bay.

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Napier - Bentley




Although it looks like Jay's tank car, the Blastolene special, the 
Napier Bentley pre-dates it by 30 some years and it has a weirder 
engine, a W-12 Napier aero engine, which although not quit as 
large as the Blastolene's 1800 cubes, weighs in with a still
respectable 1,400 cubic inches.  Like Jay's Blastolene, the
Napier Bentley is a one off and was constructed in 1972.
Bonus fact, before the 8 litre Bentley chassis it was originally
built on Sunbeam running gear.

Rotary Radial Engines

That is not a typo, in the early days of aviation planes often
used rotary engines. In this design the entire engine rotated
and was attached to the propeller while the crankshaft was
fixed to the plane (The exact opposite of the way things are
generally configured). This may seem like a strange way to
go about the business of powering an airplane, but it worked
surprisingly well. The momentum of the heavy rotating engine
and propeller had several benefits. The mass of the rotary
allowed the engine and prop to continue rotating even
if the engine was not firing.In these times carburettors
were very primitive and could not maintain the proper air
and gas mixture as the throttle was open and closed. The
rotary design allowed the pilot to set the proper mixture at
wide open throttle and use the ignition to vary power delivery.
Simply put, when the pilot wanted to land, he would simply
cut off fuel and let the propeller and engine windmill during
the descent until he was about to land and needed power once
more. At this point the pilot would open the fuel valve and the
engine would re-light at full throttle. During the final approach
and landing, the pilot would briefly cut the ignition to vary
amount of power delivered by the engine. It's hard to describe
but the sound is unmistakable, check out the video, you will
see what I am talking about.



Also here is a video of the full sized version in a Sopwith Camel