Space Shuttle Endeavour Docker at ISS

Posting picture just because its very cool looking. Picture was taken by Paolo Nespoli from the Russian Soyuz TMA-20 spacecraft as it departed the space station on May 23rd.

Slaton Air Show 2011

Rarely now days does anybody take any pictures of yours truly. So it came as a surprise that fellow WINGs Miniature Aircraft Society (WINGS MAS) club member Tom asked me to join him on a walk down the flight line - where we took each other's picture standing next to some warbirds.

Every year, the Slaton airport holds a airshow fly-in. This year, Wings MAS had a charity booth spot in the north hangar to hold a raffle of a ready to fly Hangar 9 P-51 PTS trainer with a transmitter, that was won by a young boy. The star attraction didn't show up -

a FW-190. Something to do with a broken cooling fan. Instead, I got to finally see a Hawker Sea Fury in the flesh (so to speak)! There was a fly-over of a C-47 done up in D-Day paint scheme. Turns out the the Silent Wings Museum at the Lubbock International Airport was holding a event the very same weekend!

Of course, no airshow with Warbirds is complete without a Tora, Tora, Tora re-enactment. So, I had my picture taken with both the Japanese Zero and the Japanese Kate Torpedo bomber. There was also the big yellow T-28 Trojan in US Navy paint scheme and carrying the noseart of "Maid in the USA."

When I get around to it, I'll update this posting with some additional pictures that I took of the Sea Fury.

UPDATE June 6, 2011: Here are the pictures that I took of the Airshow.

Texas TSA pat down ban may be back - The Hill's Transportation Report

Texas TSA pat down ban may be back - The Hill's Transportation Report

Invent the REAL Tricorder for Next $10 Million Dollar X-Prize

Doesn't matter what version of Star Trek you love. From TOS(i.e. The Original Series), through the movies and Next Generation era shows and back to the future with the prequel series Star Trek-Enterprise; there are certain elements that are common to all those shows.

The Tricorder was a plot device to help move the story on as a quick reference tools for Spock or Dr. McCoy. Now in the early years of the 21st century, we have our own communicators and Data PADDS (i.e. cell phones and computer tablets now). But we are still missing out on a fully functional Tricorder.

Here is where the X Prize Foundation and Qualcomm joined up to develope a new competition to enhance health care. The Tricorder X-Prize intends to extend the reach of health information and to provide more services to more people.

Quote: The collaboration between the X PRIZE Foundation and Qualcomm will bring together experts in technology usability, wireless sensors, cloud computing and mobile health to accelerate the convergence of these fields. The winning tool will enable consumers in any location to quickly and effectively assess health conditions, determine if they need professional help and answer the question, "What do I do next?" End Quote.

Quote: Eugene Wesley "Rod" Roddenberry, Jr., son of Star Trek creator, Gene Roddenberry, commented, "It is great to see two amazing organizations -- the X PRIZE Foundation and Qualcomm -- bring the technology of Star Trek to life and make the Tricorder a reality for people everywhere." End Quote.

For greater details, just copy and paste the link below.

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Ref.

1. Commercial Space Watch. "X-Prize and Qualcomm Announce $10 Million Tricorder Prize" press release. May 27, 2011.(http://www.comspacewatch.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=33698).

2. Star Trek (in all its forms). Tricorder reference.

New Egyptian Pyramids Discovered by Infra-Red Satellite Images.

Seventeen lost pyramids and buildings have been discovered in new infra-red images of Egypt in the Saqqara (Sakkara) region. This is the location of the famous city of Tanis.

US Egyptologist Dr. Sarah Parcak confirmed news reports of the new discoveries. More than 1,000 tombs and about 3,000 ancient settlements were also revealed by the satellite survey.

The satellite is in orbit about 700 kilometers in altitute, and the onboard camera can locate objects of about one meter in size. The use of Infra-red imaging to highlight different materials under the surface.

Ancient Egyptians built their buildings out of mud brick. A material that is denser than the soil that surrounds it.

All this material will be presented in a new documentary enttitled Egypt's Lost Cities.

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Ref.

1. BBC. "Egyptian pyramids found by infra-red satellite images" by Frances Cronin. May 24, 2011. (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-13522957).

Last Flight of my PC-9

Hello blogverse-

I just lost my one and only glow engine powered radio control model airplane today. Seagull Models semi-scale PC-9.

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I was having my friend Ricky fly the model while I shot the video.

My eRC B-25 Flight Videos

These videos were shot on May 7th this year at the Lubbock Oddball RC Society flying site of my eRC B-25J that comes form Hobby Lobby.

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On the maiden flight, I flew without the engine cowlings on the engine nacelles. I wanted max cooling air to reach both motors and ESCs.