Ektachrome Film - It's Back!

Well this is a pleasant surprise.  Kodak has revived production of Ektachrome 35-mm film.  Good thing I didn't pitch my Canon AE-1 system.  I also still have my Minolta DiMage Scan Dual III high resolution slide scanner.  Click here for the story in Popular Mechanics.  I just wish Kodak would consider bringing back Kodachrome, but that is probably asking too much.

USS Sturgis Barge is Headed to the Scrapyard

After almost 41 months, the decontamination & decommissioning cleanup project has been completed for the USS Sturgis in Slip 41 in the Port of Galveston.  The tugboats began the journey early in the morning of September 25, 2018.  Click here to read the article from the Houston Chronicle.

Cheap Alloy Cleans Polluted Water in Minutes

Scientists from "Down Under" have developed a novel way to clean up polluted water with an inexpensive metal alloy.  For more information, click here.

Mystery Meteor Explodes Above US Military Base with 2.1 kt of Force

It is amazing that this story has not been more widely reported.  The event happened on July 25, 2018 and the USAF has said nothing.  My question is did the tracking infrastructure see this hours or days before the event?  If not, some tweaking of the system is needed.  But of course, there is not much that can be done about an impending impact.

Ad Astra Rocket Company's Versimir Plasma Rocket Engine Update

Apollo 11 Landing from PDI to Touchdown

Yesterday was the 49th anniversary of the day that the Apollo 11 Astronauts, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, lifted off the Moon's surface in the upper stage of the Lunar Excursion Module (LEM).  This video documents in detail, the decent and landing on July 20, 1969.  It is rather dramatic, as I remember it, although I don't remember these details.  I believe the TV commentators were talking over a lot of these transmissions.

Nobody Lives Here

 Unpopulated U.S. Census Blocks are illustrated here.  Click here to see a larger version of the map.