This beautiful "Popular Mechanics" cover is from October 1932. It is of an old sailing ship called the "Sovereign of the Seas". Its inclusion on the cover pointed to a tiny article that said it was possible to make a model of it. I wonder if the point really was to get this great painting on the cover of the magazine, regardless of content.

Home Kinks

I came across this one again, Popular Mechanics "Home Kinks" from 1945. It's really like a "Hints from Heliose" type of thing, even though the title has produced snickers.

The only way to fly - The Spruce Goose

This December 1936 "Popular Mechanics" shows a proposed designed that is a predecessor to Howard Hughes' "Spruce Goose". It's a type of flying boat airplane, a real behemoth.

In this age of 3 hour waits, bad or no food, no room on the plane, and not to mention the TSA, it is interesting to see these happy well-dressed passengers milling about below the plane.

Home Helicopters

Going through things, I find this old magazine.

I always thought the concept of this Feb 1951 "Popular Mechanics" cover was ridiculous. The home helicopter. One in every garage. This was the "Hiller Hornet", version of which were actually used by the military.

What is so wrong with this idea? The first thing that comes to mind is drunken pilots. Right now, if you are sitting at home, you are reasonably safe from drunk driver. Not any more in the "helicopter in every garage" era. Might as well hide in a storm shelter late Saturday night, when the drunks fly out of the bar heliport and careen and wobble through the sky, smashing into each other, and your house.

What experience do you have with helicopters? Or second hand experience? Mine is not the best. A sightseeing chopper I once rode in (which was piloted kind of wrecklessly) crashed and burned, killing everyone aboard a few years after I rode it. My brother relates how a rich buddy had a helicopter, and he was always playing Airwolf with it. Hot dogging, flying under powerlines, lighting on top edges of billboards like a dragonfly, not safe.

Cupcakes

Sorry, no new exciting post today, or even old Spock. But here's a link to Anali's cupcake post. Looks delicious.

Slide of Mr. Spock

Going through some old slides, looking to convert them to digital images. I happen to have a bunch of old Star Trek clips, which were leftover from the making of the original series. Supposedly, these were actual clips from the filming of extra takes.

Mr. Spock does not look too happy here.