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User: Skizzo

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  1. Re:A really good idea, except for that one thing.. on 250-Foot Hybrid Airship To Spy Over Afghanistan · · Score: 1

    Sorry to burst your bubble, but blimps don't have much density (or metal) to them and will be practically invisible to RADAR. They also lack a thermal profile due to electric motors so they are invisible in the IR band too. Winds on the way to altitude are typically high, but it all varies seasonally, by position on the globe, jet stream, etc. Mostly, though, things are reasonably calm above 60k. Power is solar, with batts for night. Control power is an issue, as there isn't enough data to really derive good thrust/control-power requirements. Time to get to/from op altitude is really long. 10-17 hours is probably a good time range. You have to give the gas inside the envelope time to adjust, keeping the deltaTemp between the lifting gas and outside (called Superheat) within limits. Otherwise, you can get into runaway conditions where the ship will rise too fast out of control and burst, or descent out of control too fast and crush. All that time spent between takeoff and op altitude could see the ship blown way off course, requiring a long time to maneuver into position.

  2. Tremors have begun ... on Is the Yellowstone Supervolcano About To Blow? · · Score: 1

    Tremors are beginning and that means the quake swarm is no longer "ordinary". http://www.seablogger.com/?p=12519

  3. Barrons.com Free Real-time Quotes on Google to Offer Real-Time Stock Quotes · · Score: 2, Informative

    Coincidentally, Barrons.com announced free real-time quotes today too http://online.barrons.com/article/SB121237840349237093.html