The Conservative Zone

...if they flew straight every time.

We had an alternate launch day this past Saturday because of bad weather on our regular launch day. I had just bought a wireless video camera so I could get an astronauts view of the flight on the rocket. I loaded a moderate motor, an I211 into the Garth R and let rip.

Except I forgot to check the balance point of the rocket. My center of gravity was not in proper relation to my center of pressure, and as soon as the rocket cleared the pad it started cartwheeling, landing just 50 feet from the pad, with most of the rocket crunched. The camera was a total loss, as was the rocket.

I had four successful flights on this airframe before this catastrophe. Now I'm in crunch time, if I want to have a high powered rocket for Southern Thunder, I have 46 days to do it in. It looks like the budget will be stretched to almost the breaking point as well.

I have ground video, as well as on-board video of the flight. As soon as I have it posted to YouTube, I'll update and post it here.

Posted by Mark at 2:38 PM | Permalink

I just picked up a new camera, a Nikon D50 Digital SLR. I like SLR's because you can choose the lens. I got it as a package on eBay, so I got a ton of stuff on top of the camera and three lenses as well. My only irk is that the telephoto lens is supposed to be a macro lens as well, but it isn't. I have to take a picture from about 5 feet away in order to take a "macro" shot. I'll have to buy a new lens and sell off the one I have to get the right thing that I want.

Anyway, here is a picture that I took of two of my birds, Rocket and Corky. It will take a while to load, even at Cable speeds, because I didn't know what setting it was on and took it at maximum JPEG resolution. At least it isn't the 5MB RAW file....

Posted by Mark at 10:04 AM | Permalink

My condolences go out to the families of the dead, and my thoughts of speedy recovery to the wounded. This tragedy is almost inconcieveable.

The facts are still trickling out, but that's not what I wanted to speak to.

The last dozen or so tragedies and mass killings have all occured in the same area: Gun Free Zones. These areas, supposedly to protect our children, have instead put them at the mercy of those who would break the law. Criminals do not obey the law, that's why they're criminals. They are going to break every law they want, and not think twice about it.

Gun Free Zones are not a protected area for our children, it puts a target on their backs. This restriction needs to be repealed, for the safety of our children. The only thing that will stop a rampaging criminal bent on killing as many people as possible is an armed citizen. This has been proven in one or two instances where a teacher or faculty member ran to their car, outside of the "Gun Free Zone," and then got their legally licensed weapon and brought it back and used it to stop the gunman.

A friend and fellow shipmate once said, "It is better to have a gun in your hand than a cop on the phone."

So true, so true. I can only think of how many less people would have died if there had been an armed citizen in the path of that gunman.

Posted by Mark at 9:15 AM | Permalink

This is a 48 minute speech, but I highly suggest that you watch it. It sheds a lot of light onto the mindset and paradigms of the modern Liberal.

Posted by Mark at 10:50 AM | Permalink

A Communist is someone who has read Lennin and Marx. An Anti-Communist is someone who understands Lenin and Marx.

Posted by Mark at 12:57 PM | Permalink