Odd Lots

[jeff_duntemann]

• My old friend Lee Hart scratchbuilt a marvelous model of the Galileo spacecraft, including an operating COSMAC processor that blinks out the Arecibo message on an LED.
• The COSMAC 1802 was a good choice for spacecraft, because it drew almost no power and could be

Comments

[beamjockey]

That radio site has Broadcasting and Cable, so I can look up hundreds of articles my late brother John wrote. Nice.

[baron_waste]

I knew about the Grandoni Air Rifle.  I'm astounded that the technology of the time could produce such a thing at all, and not at all surprised that it didn't work all that well.

What does surprise me is that no one ever thought to use those outrageously powerful Genoese crossbows, the kind that had to be cocked with a mechanical crank hung on the belt, as the basis for a “spring” piston air rifle.  That kind of potential energy propelling a piston forward into a cylindrical airspace could compress air to explosive force, enough to drive a .50 ball at a muzzle velocity comparable to, well, one round from a .50 caliber machine gun!  I suspect there'd be a heck of a recoil, though maybe not, and how accurate are muskets anyway?

“Volley by ranks…  Crank…  Load…  Aim…  Fire!” - and that rioting mob of radicals demanding bread (the anarchists!) is suddenly street pizza.

“Reload!” - And the screaming, clawing mob evaporates, leaving the street empty save for fallen placards.  And corpses.  Vive le Roi!