Spruce Goose or Golden Goose?
by chriser on Dec.18, 2011, under General
What would YOU do if you had a few billion dollars burning a hole in your pocket? Well, if you were Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, you would pay people to build the biggest airplane in the world to launch a rocket. In case you live anywhere other than Huntsville, Alabama, or Mojave, California, you probably didn’t hear about the big news conference the other day where Mr. Allen, Mr. Burt Rutan (both of “Spaceship One” fame), and a gaggle of others announced the latest and greatest idea since flying toast. It’s an air-launched rocket that will be slung between two 747-size fuselages having a combined wingspan of 380 ft. that will be built by Scaled Composites Corp (which is actually ownedby Northrop-Grumman Corp). The rocket is being designed to carry a payload of around 13,500 lbs to low earth orbit (comparable to the currentl Delta II launch vehicle) and will be built by a company called SpaceX that was founded by another internet billionaire and Paypal co-founder Elon Musk. (BTW, I think there’s a lesson to be learned here. First, you make a billion dollars in the IT business, and THEN you dabble in aerospace – not the other way around like some of us stupid schmucks did).
- The Stratolaunch “Spruce Goose”
The company I work for is doing some work on this vehicle for Dynetics Corp, the project system integrator. As an engineer, I think it is a cool technical idea and I have little doubt that it can be made to work if the “investor” keeps the money flowing. As to whether it can actually make a profit – I’m not so sure. But hey, I’ve lost money on every investment I ever made and am still living paycheck-topaycheck, so what do I know.
Merry Christmas from Seoul!
by chriser on Dec.10, 2011, under Family & Friends
A Seoul Christmas
A Merry Christmas to all from Sunny & Kaitlyn!
Pack Dog!
by chriser on Oct.29, 2011, under Family & Friends
It’s a beautiful autumn day so Clancy and I decided to go for a hike up Keel Mt. to see the sinkhole. I decided that it was time for Clancy to start carrying her share of the load, so as you can see, she turned out to be a pretty good pack dog! The Autumn leaves are not quite yet at their peak around here, but there was still a lot of color on the mountain. And yes, I was VERY careful while climbing down the rocks on the trail!
Pack Dog!
Autumn on the Moutntain
Happy Halloween 2011!
by chriser on Oct.27, 2011, under Family & Friends
We hope you all have a spooktacular Halloween this year!
What do you think of my pumpkin carving skills? Not too bad if I must say so myself!
Farewell to the Lake for yet another year
by chriser on Oct.23, 2011, under Family & Friends
We just recently performed our yearly ritual of closing up the lakehouse for the winter. This is the 41st time that I’ve done this, and it gets harder to say “goodby” to the Lake every year! This year’s final visit to the Lake was particularly enjoyable because I celebrated my 58th birthday on a picture-perfect Saturday. We were fortunate that my sister and my best friend Bob were able to come down from the DC area for the weekend. My cousins Bev & Myron were able to pop in for a few hours too. The weather was perfect and we’re looking forward as we always do to going back to open the place up in the Spring again. I think I’ll have to do some major work on the dock next year though – it’s getting pretty old! Click here or on the photo below to see some more photos from the Lake.
Farewell to the Lake for 2011!
