 Here
is an impressive electronic version (the Enigma-E) of the infamous WWII German Enigma coding machine. Both the
electronic and the woodworking skills are exemplary. This showpiece is available in kit form.
 This
is a portion of the Virgo Cluster of galaxies, which occupies an area of over 5 degrees in the sky, and
consists of thousands of galaxies (look closely and you'll see scores of them). A totally dark sky and a pair
of binoculars will allow you to see a good portion of this, but a low magnification eyepiece in an 8"
telescope will have you in awe!
![5th Combat Communications Group Radar Maintenance Shop assembling an MPN-14 mobile radar at Robins AFB, GA (circa 1981).This photo and more, along with a [very] brief history of my tour of duty there can be seen by clicking on this image.](../images/cool_p6.jpg) 5th
Combat Communications Group Radar Maintenance Shop assembling an MPN-14 mobile radar at Robins AFB, GA (circa
1981).This photo and more, along with a [very] brief history of my tour of duty there can be seen by clicking
on this image.
 What
is called "The Tapestry," hanging on Jim William's living room wall, is actually the nose cone of a Minuteman
missile, its circuit cards laid out end-to-end around the core memory. |
 First
production massive Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engine with 116 inch fan producing 81,000 pounds of thrust for the
equally massive Airbus A380.
 Bill
Gates' 66,000 sq.ft., $50M mansion along east the bank of Lake Washington.
 Technician
crawling on 10-meter diameter aluminum sphere of the world's most energetic laser at the National Ignition
Facility at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. $3.4B after completion in 2008. 2 MJ of UV laser
light, with short pulses of 500 TW.
 An
incredible shot of Mt. Fuji taken by an RF engineer co-worker of mine during a trip to Japan. |
 This
is "The Lightning Field" - an installation located at 7,200 feet in New Mexico and based on a computer-modeled
grid of lightning rods, by earthscape artist Walter De Maria. Featured in the February 2004, Popular Science.
 On
July 8, 2004, Micron CEO Steve Appleton crashed in his Extra 300 aerobatic plane (same type flown by Patty
Wagstaff). He and his passenger walked away from it. Steve owns and runs Appleton Air Sports, in Boise, ID,
which has quite an inventory of aircraft, including two Hawker military jets. See his website
here.
 This
enhanced infrared image from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), aboard NASA's Terra
satellite, shows widespread contrails over the southeastern United States during the morning of January 29,
2004.
 Towering
(literally) rime ice. |
 This
is a magnetic core memory stack of 13x4096bits. It is about an 8 inch cube. The IFF radar system I worked on
in the Air Force used a 1 kB magnetic core memory.
 This
is a marvel of architectural engineering that existed in Mankato, MN (I saw it while living in nearby Waseca).
Unfortunately, it no longer exists - a national treasure lost.
 Mrs.
Röntgen's hand - the world's first x-ray. The "X" stood for "unknown." |
