The Goodyear Zeppelin?

It doesn't have quite the same ring as blimp. [Link]

Say goodbye to the old fleet of Goodyear blimps and hello to the new fleet, which has started construction – only this time the "blimps" are actually zeppelins, or semi-rigid airships with framework (aluminum and carbon fiber in this case) to support their structure, engines and gas-filled envelop that generates lift. Goodyear, however, will still call them blimps.

Perhaps the allure of better technology has finally overcome the negative connotations associated with zeppelin airships since the fiery crash of the Hindenburg in 1937. In fact, the company behind the development of Goodyear's new airships is ZLT Zeppelin Luftschifftechnik, the same company that built the Hindenburg. A key difference between then and now is that zeppelins no longer use hydrogen for lift but non-flammable helium instead – the same gas used in Goodyear's current fleet of non-rigid airships.

Why the change from blimp to zeppelin? Well, for a variety of reasons, including golf. (Stay with me here!) Zeppelins are quieter, faster and have better maneuverability than blimps, and ZLT's design uses three engines, which can be vectored to make the airships hover, a valuable technique that the current two-engine blimps can't perform. Film crews at sporting events can appreciate this to help them set up the perfect aerial shot, but so can a professional golfer, who can't have a blimp flying around and casting distracting shadows during play. Because of this, expect to see the new Goodyear "blimps" in more places than the old ones.

Minion Want Ad

For Sean [Link]

[Hmm … I see that Jeff is looking for minions but the picture of the want-ad isn't big enough to read and gosh darn it, I've always wanted to know how such minions are recruited. I'll have to ask Jeff next time I see him … ]

Here you go:

Minions Wanted

☠ Do you enjoy the "Graveyard Shift"?
☠ Do you enjoy getting your hands dirty?
☠ Are you not a "People Person"?
☠ Can you follow orders blindly?
☠ Do you have what it takes to be a minion?

Minions are very important to the Mad Scientific Process. Many would "Kill" to have such a prestigious job opportunity. If your brain is at least 1300 cubic centimeters in volume and you have questionable morals and you have your CCM (Certified Craven Minion), you may be qualified to be a Mad Scientist's Minion.

The annual 'Zeppelins are making a comeback' article

An article just like this keeps getting published almost every year. They haven't come back yet. [Link]

As the cost of fuel soars and the pressure mounts to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, several schemes for a new generation of airship are being considered by governments and private companies. “It’s a romantic project,” said Mr. Massaud, 45, sitting amid furniture designs in his Paris studio, “but then look at Jules Verne.”

It has been more than 70 years since the giant Hindenburg zeppelin exploded in a spectacular fireball over Lakehurst, N.J., killing 36 crew members and passengers, abruptly ending an earlier age of airships. But because of new materials and sophisticated means of propulsion, a diverse cast of entrepreneurs is taking another look at the behemoths of the air.

Gulf Times Airship seeks Kalahari diamond mines June 2006

USA Today Paris Air Show points to flight paths for aviation's future June 2005

BBC Paris Air Show: Speed and size June 2001

Time More Than Hot Air July 2000

Seattle Times Zeppelins May Make A Comeback With Flights Over The Alps January 1999

Ubiquitous zeppelins has become a shorthand for being in a parallel universe. [Link]

"A startling number of alternative histories wind up strengthening the marginal technology of airships and zeppelins, for example. This is a matter of flavor rather than logic, but this is a game book, after all." - GURPS Infinite Worlds If your characters have entered a parallel universe that's just a few steps removed from our own, the fastest way to establish it is by sticking a whopping great zeppelin in the sky. In our world, of course, zeppelins and other airships decreased rapidly in popularity after the 1930s, partly because of the Hindenburg crash and partly because advances in plane technology left them rather redundant except as decadent novelties. Though they are making a comeback for some applications, particularly logging. So by filling up Earth 2 with bulbous aircraft rather than hovercars or spaceships, you are suggesting a world that is of a similar time period to our own, but just happened to follow a different technological route. It also helps that they have lots of Steam Punk cred and are sufficiently olde-worlde to be used in fantasy stories too. They are also cool. Alternatively, the zeppelins are just there to show the audience that the movie is set in another world, even if nobody from our world crosses over into it.

And I love this bit:

Kenneth Hite noted this trope in his column Suppressed Transmission, and took it to its logical conclusion: our own history was an Alternate Universe in the early 20th century.

• One of Ken's contributions to GURPS Infinite Worlds is a table to randomly generate alternate technologies for one's randomly-generated worldline; it has a note that certain results dictate adding zeppelins regardless of the rest of the universe's tech level. Apparently, alternate history just generates airships.

Skytrains

This would make a great pulp visual: a line of airships hooked together as a train. [Link]

Back in 1997, Mike deGyurky, a program manager at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), had a design for a giant blimp, perhaps a mile in length. With a cargo capacity of 50,000 tons or more.

Mike and others at JPL had the skytrain concept, which were a bunch of blimp "box cars" connected together for less drag and more fuel efficiency. The largest of the box car designs was about 45,000 tons of cargo. Updated designs would be even better now because they were depending on thin film material for the skin and for thin film solar cells for power. Both of those have seen a lot of improvement and more improvement is anticipated.

JPL was and is not in the business of building airships, but was directly connected to an institution that was; The California Institute of Technology (CalTech). CalTech had been involved in Zeppelin research during the early 1930's. Theodore von Karman, a professor of aerodynamics at CalTech and a person who had participated in airship research in Germany (including the construction of the Zeppelin "Los Angeles" as part of wartime reparations to the US.) had proposed high speed dirigibles in his autobiography . This connection was first noted by deGyurky.

There were a number of design questions that arose and a number of which remained unanswered at the time. Among them, how would the system be powered? Elements of the SkyTrain could be covered with new ultra light weight solar cells to the point of being completely solar powered. A conventionally fueled backup would be necessary for staging operations. The 1994 analysis showed that this would reduce the pure solar SkyTrain cruising speed to around 43 mph. [a proposed Skycat airship design should have a speed of 97mph. The old Zeppelin's had a maximum speed of about 65 mph, There is an Aeroscraft, hybrid airship, that has a top speed of 174 miles per hour.]

Doc Savage Experiment Gone Awry?

Some cars in a 5 block radius of the Empire State Building are mysteriously dying. [Link]

No one is sure what’s causing it, but all roads appear to lead to the looming giant in our midst - specifically, its Art Deco mast and 203-foot-long, antenna-laden spire.

“We get about 10 to 15 cars stuck near there every day,” said Isaac Leviev, manager of Citywide Towing, the AAA’s exclusive roadside assistance provider from 42nd St. to the Battery. “You pull the car four or five blocks to the west or east and the car starts right up.”

Motorists like Russell Valeev, 25, learn about it the hard way.

“The lights work, the horn works, everything. But it won’t start,” Valeev, a driver for Golden Touch Transportation said one recent evening as he sat in his 2005 Ford van with the hood propped open on E. 35th St., between Lexington and Park Aves. “It’s my job. No money.”

I blame Doc Savage.

Bond Villain Zeppelin

Prospect for diamonds for your death ray with your zeppelin and gravity sensors.

Bell Geospace is pleased to announce a joint project with De Beers to fly Air-FTG^® surveys in South Africa and Botswana using a Zeppelin-NT airship. The airship, which will provide an unprecedented low level of noise for airborne gravity gradiometry, was delivered to South Africa by Zeppelin^® GmbH.

The Zeppelin's low-noise environment and low cruising speed, combined with advanced gravity gradiometry technology from Bell Geospace makes this a compelling tool for mining exploration.

I for one salute our new Banana overlords

That is one big banana. An artist is going to send up a 300 meter long banana into the upper atmosphere.

Montreal artist Cesar Saez is making a giant, helium filled banana that he intends to launch in Texas, sending it 20-30 miles up. The title of the project is "Geostationary Banana Over Texas." The BBC says it will be "between 15-20% of the size of the full moon" when viewed from Earth.

There is probably a lot of accidents at the build site from slipping.

Fourth Indiana Jones Film Title

Coming May 22, 2008:

The upcoming fourth Indiana Jones movie will be called Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, co-star Shia LaBeouf announced during the MTV Video Music Awards on Sept. 9.

LaBeouf stars with Harrison Ford, Cate Blanchett, Karen Allen, Ray Winstone and John Hurt in the movie.

Bond Villain

Every good Bond Villain needs a mobile base of operations.

Featuring over 5,000 square feet of interior cabin space, it offers multiple configurations, including as an "airborne business center" with an automated office, videoconferencing facility, conference center, and more. Yes, I can picture it now. "Yes, let's meet on that proposed merger next week. Meet me on my futuristic airship." Nothing says intimidation like working from a giant blimp.

The ML866 can take off vertically like a helicopter, making it perfect for those megarich who don't want to mess with a runway but still want a way to travel via air without dealing with the general public.

The best movie never made

The best movie never made was Zeppelin v Pterodactyls. It could only have been topped with the inclusion of gorillas in jetpacks fighting undead ninjas.