Elegant Tape, Practical Tape

Paris Shop Window WW2

From Flares Into Darkness:

During WWI Parisians were worried that their city might come under German bombardment or air attack. Shop owners and businesses, to minimize the danger of shattered glass, taped their windows. While the taping started out utilitarian, eventually the taping deigns became more elaborate and artistic.

These images are taken from the La boite verte post Les élégantes protections anti-bombardements des vitrines de Paris en 14-18. There are more examples at that link.  

I'm a great believer in tape. I recently got fed up with not having any tape (evidently I had used up every kind of tape I had on hand, except Scotch tape), so I dialed up Amazon and ordered a bunch. I ordered packs of electrical, package, masking, duck and gaffers tape. I got too much of some, like electrical tape and packing tape, but when one roll costs $4 and ten rolls costs $8, you can see how that happened. I only got one roll of gaffer's tape because the stuff is expensive. It's supposed to better than duck / duct tape cause it doesn't leave any adhesive residue on the surface when it's pulled off, but I haven't had a chance to try it.

Travel Air Model 10

1929 Travel Air Model 10

This is the last surviving Travel Air Model 10 and it might be back in Peru where it started work. It sounds like it was flown there and back.

Lockheed P2 Neptune

Lockheed P2 Neptune on Iceberg Patrol near Adak, AK around 1966

Don't know how accurate the caption is. The International Ice Patrol has been operating in the North Atlantic Ocean ever since the Titanic sank, and the Navy operated Neptunes all over the world. I wouldn't be surprised if they were doing their own ice patrols while looking for enemy submarines.

P.S. April 2022. I just noticed that the propellers on this airplane are not turning. Normally photographs of this vintage show the propellers as a blur. It's only since the advent of digital cameras that we have been getting psychedelic images of props. Since it looks like they are not turning it means either: the engines have stopped and the airplane is gliding, on its way to its doom, or they used special high speed film and camera to stop the propeller, or the date is a lie. If the engine is turning at 1200 RPM, then the tip speed of this 15 foot diameter prop is around 1,000 fps. Typical exposure time for a 35 mm camera is 1/100th of a second which is 10 milliseconds. In ten milliseconds, the tip of the prop would have moved 10 feet, or about a quarter of a rotation and we would not be seeing the individual blades. Of course, this is a military aircraft and they would have had access to high speed film and cameras, so that's likely the explanation.

All Politics All The Time

Big Brother and the Proles

My Daily Kona has a good post up about truth, lies and why so many people like Trump even though he is just awful. I like this bit:

Everybody knows that most of what the upper level of the judicial system does is politics by another name.  They know that most of the time, Obama judges, Trump judges, Bush judges, and Clinton judges rule differently on politically charged questions.  And a large portion of the American people decide whom to vote for in presidential elections based mainly on what kinds of judges they want the next president to appoint.

'Awful' sounds bad, but sometimes you need a person who can get the job done, never mind his personal character flaws and abrasive personality. Kind of reminds me of The Dirty Dozen.

Japan

The Wife of Watanabe – image from Yoshitoshi.net

Humans are blood thirsty. Page about Yoshitoshi.

Boeing JE-3 Sentry

Boeing JE-3 Sentry (LXN90447)

This photo was taken on Gran Canary Island during Ocean Sky 2021, an air combat exercise organized each year by the Spanish Air Force. The Boeing E-3 Sentry has appeared here before.

Rurouni Kenshin: The Final

Kenshin Takes on Enemy Territory Alone ⚔️ | Rurouni Kenshin: The Final | Netflix
Netflix Philippines
A semi-silly conclusion to the series. Like I said before, it's basically John Wick 2 with swords. Endless supplies of bad guys who get knocked down and beat up in these massive sword fights where hardly anyone ever gets cut. Kind of weird. It's kind of like 'if we just put a bunch guys wailing on each other on the screen, it'll be an entertaining scene'. Anyway, there's a bunch of that, a handful of very nasty villains, a goodly bunch of over the top stunts, and, oh yeah, a couple of cute girls.

Netflix 2+ hours