Space Launch Attempts Chart

 I found this chgart on the Interwebs...

Embiggen to see details. (Sorry it's so small)

Comparison of USA vs. Russia and China for Hypersonic Missiles

 I asked Google Search AI to compare the current capabilities of the USA, Russia and China to make, deploy and use hypersonic missiles, including the availablem odels, the cost, and capability of each system.

Here's what Google AI told me on 23 July 2026 (I don't know how current this is, but one source is from 15 July 2026):

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Russia currently leads the United States in the operational deployment and combat testing of hypersonic weapons, while competing closely with China, which boasts the world's most rapidly expanding and mass-produced hypersonic arsenal. [1, 2]

The global hypersonic race is defined by a clear dynamic: Russia and China have successfully fielded multiple operational systems, while the United States remains primarily in a development and testing phase. [1, 2]

1. Operational Status and Deployments

• Russia: Russia maintains a diverse and combat-tested hypersonic portfolio. This includes the Avangard hypersonic glide vehicle (mounted on ICBMs for strategic nuclear deterrence), the air-launched Kh-47M2 Kinzhal, and the ship-launched Zircon cruise missile. Most recently, Russia has integrated and mass-produced the Oreshnik, a nuclear-capable intermediate-range hypersonic missile deployed to borders like Belarus. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
• China: China has successfully deployed robust regional hypersonic systems, notably the DF-17 medium-range ballistic missile equipped with the DF-ZF hypersonic glide vehicle. It has also introduced the YJ-21 anti-ship hypersonic missile to target naval assets, demonstrating rapid domestic manufacturing and deployment. [1, 2, 3]
• United States: The U.S. does not yet have a fully fielded, mass-produced hypersonic weapon. It is actively testing platforms like the Army’s Long-Range Hypersonic Weapon (LRHW) and various air-launched cruise missile concepts through DARPA and branches of the military, but continues to play catch-up. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

2. Strategic Mission and Payload (Nuclear vs. Conventional)

• Russia & China: Both nations heavily view hypersonics as primary tools for nuclear strategic deterrence and overcoming Western missile defense systems. Their missiles are explicitly designed to carry both nuclear and conventional payloads. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
• United States: By contrast, the U.S. has strictly prioritized conventionally armed hypersonic weapons. Because a conventional warhead requires extreme technical precision to destroy a target without a nuclear blast radius, the U.S. development and engineering cycles face much tighter technical tolerances, slowing down deployment timelines. [1, 2, 3]

3. Combat Testing and Technological Heritage

• Russia: Russia holds a distinct edge in combat utilization, having fired hundreds of hypersonic or near-hypersonic missiles during its ongoing conflict in Ukraine. This provides real-world data on performance against Western air defenses like the Patriot system. [1, 2, 3, 4]
• China: China leverages its vast manufacturing capability to scale production quickly. There is also growing strategic collaboration; experts note that China's newer systems utilize Russian missile design heritage while offering advanced software and mass-production speeds that Russia currently lacks. [1]

4. Cost and Production Scalability

• United States: The U.S. faces severe infrastructure constraints and skyrocketing development costs. American hypersonic prototypes are estimated to cost between $15 million and $30 million per missile, making large-scale stockpiling financially unsustainable compared to cheaper drone and missile options. [1, 2]
• Russia & China: Both nations have dedicated years of heavy, uninterrupted funding to these programs, allowing them to build mature supply chains that can absorb mass-production orders far more efficiently than Western defense contractors. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

Would you like to focus on a specific aspect of this comparison? I can provide more details on:

The technical differences between hypersonic glide vehicles (HGVs) and scramjet cruise missilesHow current U.S. air defense systems like the Patriot or Aegis perform against hypersonic threatsThe specific capabilities and range of Russia's new Oreshnik missile.

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An interesting report:  https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/R45811 

Why Standard Railroad Tracks Are the Width They Are

 Things you didn't learn in grade school...

The US standard railroad gauge (distance between the rails) is 4 feet, 8.5 inches. That's an exceedingly odd number. Why was that gauge used?

Well, because that's the way they built them in England, and English engineers designed the first US railroads. Why did the English build them like that? Because the first rail lines were built by the same people who built the wagon tramways, and that's the gauge they used. So, why did 'they' use that gauge then?

Because the people who built the tramways used the same jigs and tools that they had used for building wagons, which used that same wheel spacing. Why did the wagons have that particular odd wheel spacing?

Well, if they tried to use any other spacing, the wagon wheels would break more often on some of the old, long-distance roads in England. You see, that's the spacing of the wheel ruts. So who built those old rutted roads?

Imperial Rome built the first long-distance roads in Europe (including England) for their legions. Those roads have been used ever since. And what about the ruts in the roads? Roman war chariots formed the initial ruts, which everyone else had to match or run the risk of destroying their wagon wheels. Since the chariots were made for Imperial Rome, they were all alike in the matter of wheel spacing.

Therefore the United States standard railroad gauge of 4 feet, 8.5 inches is derived from the original specifications for an Imperial Roman war chariot. Bureaucracies live forever.

So the next time you are handed a specification/procedure/process and wonder 'What horse's a*s came up with this?' you may be exactly right. Imperial Roman army chariots were made just wide enough to accommodate the rear ends of two war horses (Two horses' a*ses.).

Now, the twist to the story: When you see a Space Shuttle sitting on its launch pad, there are two big booster rockets attached to the sides of the main fuel tank. These are solid rocket boosters or SRBs. The SRBs are made by Thiokol at their factory in Utah. The engineers who designed the SRBs would have preferred to make them a bit fatter, but the SRBs had to be shipped by train from the factory to the launch site. The railroad line from the factory happens to run through a tunnel in the mountains, and the SRBs had to fit through that tunnel. The tunnel is slightly wider than the railroad track, and the railroad track, as you now know, is about as wide as two horses behind.

So, a major Space Shuttle design feature, of what is arguably the world's most advanced transportation system, was determined over two thousand years ago by the width of a horse's as. And you thought being a horse wasn't important? Ancient horses as*es control almost everything.

She's Going to a ... Convention

A man boarded an aircraft at London’s Heathrow Airport for New York, and taking his seat as he settled in, he noticed a very beautiful woman boarding the plane. He realised she was heading straight toward his seat and bingo – she took the seat right beside him.

‘Hello’, he blurted out, ‘Business trip or vacation?’

She turned, smiled enchantingly and said, ‘Business. I’m going to the annual nymphomaniac convention in the United States.’

He swallowed hard. Here was the most gorgeous woman he had ever seen sitting next to him, and she was going to a meeting for nymphomaniacs!

Struggling to maintain his composure, he calmly asked, ‘What’s your business role at this convention?’ ‘Lecturer,’ she responded.’I use my experience to debunk some of the popular myths about sexuality.’

‘Really’, he smiled, ‘what myths are those?’

‘Well,’ she explained, ‘one popular myth is that African-American men are the most well endowed when, in fact, it’s the Native American Indian who is most likely to possess that trait. Another popular myth is that French men are the best lovers, when actually it is the men of Greek descent. We have also found that the best potential lovers in all categories are the Irish.’

Suddenly the woman became uncomfortable and blushed. ‘I’m sorry,’ she said ‘I really shouldn’t be discussing this with you, I don’t even know your name!’

‘Tonto,’ the man said. ‘Tonto Papadopoulos, but my friends call me Paddy.’

How Our Society Became So Stupid

Watch Bill Whittle's video about the moon landing, education and more...




Interesting!

TSA Bumper Stickers

Click on the image to make it larger.

Boeing 787 Dreamliner video

Flight testing of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner continues, and some of the more dramatic tests took place recently at locations around the world. The airplane maker released a video highlighting three of the more unusual takeoff and landing tests, including dragging the 787’s tail down a runway.


The 3-minute long flight test video is here.

I worked on the nacelle system (the engine pods) for the Boeing 787 in my last two years in Engineering at Goodrich Aerostructures, so I'm very interested in seeing the Boeing 787 go into production and be a successful aircraft.   

Trains, Wagons, Horse's Asses?

Is this true?

Railroad tracks. The US standard railroad gauge (distance between the rails) is 4 feet, 8.5 inches. That's an exceedingly odd number.

Why was that gauge used? Because that's the way they built them in England, and English expatriates designed the US railroads.

Why did the English build them like that? Because the first rail lines were built by the same people who built the pre-railroad tramways, and that's the gauge they used.

Why did 'they' use that gauge then? Because the people who built the tramways used the same jigs and tools that they had used for building wagons, which used that wheel spacing.

Why did the wagons have that particular odd wheel spacing? Well, if they tried to use any other spacing, the wagon wheels would break on some of the old, long distance roads in England, because that's the spacing of the wheel ruts.

So who built those old rutted roads? Imperial Rome built the first long distance roads in Europe (including England ) for their legions. Those roads have been used ever since.

And the ruts in the roads? Roman war chariots formed the initial ruts, which everyone else had to match for fear of destroying their wagon wheels. Since the chariots were made for Imperial Rome, they were all alike in the matter of wheel spacing. Therefore the United States standard railroad gauge of 4 feet, 8.5 inches is derived from the original specifications for an Imperial Roman war chariot. Bureaucracies live forever.

So the next time you are handed a specification/procedure/process and wonder 'What horse's ass came up with this?', you may be exactly right. Imperial Roman army chariots were made just wide enough to accommodate the rear ends of two war horses. (Two horses' asses.) Now, the twist to the story:

When you see a Space Shuttle sitting on its launch pad, there are two big booster rockets attached to the sides of the main fuel tank. These are solid rocket boosters, or SRBs. The SRBs are made by Thiokol at their factory in Utah The engineers who designed the SRBs would have preferred to make them a bit fatter, but the SRBs had to be shipped by train from the factory to the launch site. The railroad line from the factory happens to run through a tunnel in the mountains, and the SRBs had to fit through that tunnel. The tunnel is slightly wider than the railroad track, and the railroad track, as you now know, is about as wide as two horses' behinds.

So, a major Space Shuttle design feature of what is arguably the world's most advanced transportation system was determined over two thousand years ago by the width of a horse's ass.

And you thought being a horse's ass wasn't important? Ancient horse's asses control almost everything... and CURRENT Horses Asses in Washington are controlling everything else

How to save the airlines

From my email...

Dump the male flight attendants. No one wanted them in the first place.

Replace all the female flight attendants with good-looking strippers! What the hell -- They don't even serve food anymore, so what's the loss?

The strippers would at least triple the alcohol sales and get a 'party atmosphere' going in the cabin. And, of course, every businessman in this country would start flying again, hoping to see near naked women.

Because of the tips, female flight attendants wouldn't need a salary, thus saving even more money. I suspect tips would be so good that we could charge the women for working the plane and have them kick back 20% of the tips, including lap dances and 'special services.'

Muslims would not get on the planes for fear of seeing naked women. Hijackings would come to a screeching halt, and the airline industry would see record revenues and profits.

This is definitely a win-win situation if we handle it right -- a golden opportunity to turn a liability into an asset.

Why didn't Bush or Obama think of this? Why do I still have to think of all the good ideas, and do everything myself?

Sincerely,

Bill Clinton