Holy crap that’s a lot of money. I need they were collectable, but not that collectable. It’s not even “mint in box” (or probably “shipping baggie” for that period).
The estimate for the auction is $300,000 to $400,000. Frequently those are just high estimates for show, but it may actually make it this time…
I finally got off my lazy butt and got an SSL certificate for this blog.
So the official address is now https://www.lawrenceperson.com (note the new all important “s” after “http”).
FYI, my SSL certificate was free through WordPress and the Bluehost folks made the change for me.
Update your bookmarks accordingly, since Google and Firefox are starting to get all pissy about http connections (not that I really blame them).
Having problems with links not going to the Heading you linked to in Microsoft Word?
Here’s a random tip that may help.
Do not put slashes in your headers (“Sales/Marketing”). The header will appear just fine, but links may not work properly. Mine were jumping back to the title page for no apparent reason.
The solution is to:
It should work now.
I’m using Microsoft Word for Mac Version 15.37. Can’t say what other versions the bug may affect.
Well, isn’t this a lovely, cheerful thing to contemplate?
It’s expensive to build an automated factory, and even more pricey to repurpose one. German manufacturing giant Siemens wants that to change, and they’ve developed an army of robot spiders to make it happen.
Utilizing what Siemens calls “mobile manufacturing” researchers in Princeton, New Jersey have build prototype spider-bots that work together to 3D print structures and parts in real time. Known as SiSpis, or Siemens Spiders, these robots work together to accomplish tasks, and can be reprogramed to learn new jobs.
The ability to be reprogramed gives the bots an advantage over traditional manufacturing robots. Opening an industrial manufacturing factory currently means installing expensive robots that can only do one or two tasks well. In theory, the SiSpis’ programing can be altered to address new tasks, allowing for greater flexibility for manufactures.
As a devotee of spider-menace movies, I think I know exactly how this will turn out. Why, the SyFy Channel movie practically writes itself. (As does the inevitable sequel, Spiderbots vs. Lavalanchula…)
46 years ago today, mankind landed on the moon.
And “An Ending (Ascent)” (which you only get a little bit of above) is the greatest piece of music Brian Eno ever did…
Via Scott Adams comes word that a team in Japan is teaching robots to fight with swords.
I’ve seen enough movies to know that this won’t end well.
But honestly, this entire post is just an excuse to show the robot sword fight from Exterminator City.
(Remember, that’s the best scene of the worst film ever made…)
…but you’ll never be “Robert Downey, Jr. as Tony Stark delivering a bionic arm to a seven year old boy” cool…
Here’s the comprehensive roundup of all the books I’ve added to my professional library between July 1, 2014 and December 31, 2014. Some of these I’ve blogged about before, but not all of them. All books are Fine/Fine first edition hardbacks, unless otherwise marked.
Copies of most of the small press books from Subterranean, Hippocampus, etc. listed above will be available through the next Lame Excuse Books catalog.
So Dwight sent me an ultra-crappy webpage (warning: auto-sound), wondering if it was worse than Bella De Soto’s page. It wasn’t. But it did make me wonder what bold new frontiers in bad web design had been unearth. It’s not as horrible as Bella De Soto’s page either, but it really tries…
Behold The Afterlife! (Allow it to run the Quicktime once for the full effect.)
Well, that is to say what the afterlife would look like if designed by a dozen Geocities webdesigners after a marathon session of huffing paint fumes in a church basement, followed by an explosion at the local animated .gif factory…
(Cross-posted from BattleSwarm to here for non-political tank buffs.)
I hope you like tanks.
Here’s the first batch of pictures taken at the Bovington Tank Museum in Dorset, which I visited on Saturday as a gift to my inner 12-year old. (There are few prospects more pleasing to the preadolescent male mind than being encased in a 30 ton metal killing machine.) The first batch is all German tanks and tank destroyers from World War II. Let’s face it, the Germans had far and away the best tanks, and shortly after the allies managed to catch up, Germany would be about ready to introduce something better. Germany’s problem (as compared to America or the Soviet Union) was an inability to manufacture enough of them. (Good thing for us.) They had an enormous array of German tanks, and probably the best collection outside Germany’s own tank museum in Munster.
The first picture of the first of two King Tigers (AKA Tiger II, AKA Königstiger, Panzerkampfwagen Tiger Ausf. B) they had on display. The most powerful tank Germany produced during the war, its 88mm main gun could destroy any tank on the battlefield. It didn’t get on the battlefield until 1944, and Germany produced less than 500 of them.
The other Tiger II they had there.
Here you can see the Zimmerite anti-magnetic mine coating the Germans used.
Selfie, with tank.
The first of several tank destroyers.
![](https://scontent-a-lhr.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xaf1/v/t1.0-9/q85/s720x720/10565260_10202661383075873_4578005483423743023_n.jpg?oh=73e44c9d01b5a077ae8157cda7687085&oe=5470F705")
This is a German tank destroyer that ended up in Finland. Stalin thought he could walk all over Finand, but the Finns tore the Soviets nine different new assholes in the Winter War, though this tank destroyer obviously post-dates 1940.
Alternate barrel used for the Sturmtiger close assault variant.
Here’s an early Panzer Mark I command tank. It’s amazing to realize that the initial German blitzkrieg was carried out with relatively slow, under-armed, and underpowered Mark I and Mark IIs, that, with Heinz Guderian’s new tactics of mechanized warfare, were simply Good Enough.
A Mark II.
I think this is the Mark III, would would be the mainstay of the Wehrmacht armored divisions through the end of the war.
A muzzle-eye view.
Armoured car.
An 88mm field canon.