Telstar Logistics

Full Moon at the Proud Bird Restaurant

The Proud Bird Restaurant in Los Angeles is not likely to earn any gold stars in the Michelin Guide anytime soon, but for a certain kind of aviation aficionado, it may be one of the best restaurants in the world.

Located on patch of flat land just a few hundred yards east of Runway 25L at LAX, the Proud Bird offers a full bar, country club-style cuisine, and awesome views of planes decending toward the runway on final approach. The big jets plunge past the restaurant's massive wall of windows so low and so close they could practically stir your cocktail.

As an added bonus, the Proud Bird also has an impressive collection of vintage warbirds on the grounds. Most are from the World War II era, some are jets, but most all, apparently are hollow fiberglass replicas. No matter, though; They're 1:1 full-size replicas, and very well executed, so only the most ardent airplane geek is likely to care.

We sure didn't.

Telstar Logistics stumbled upon the Proud Bird while heading back to our room at the glamorous Travelodge at LAX Airport during a recent business trip. It was late in the evening, and the Proud Bird was preparing to shut down for the night, so we went on a self-guided tour of the grounds. The evening was warm, the air was still, and a full moon bathed the collection of old airplanes in a spooky yellow light.

Lots more of our photos from that enchanted exploration at our Proud Bird Photoset.

TIP: If you decide to try something other than the aviation fare at the Proud Bird, our sources tell us the "garlic bread next to the pasta and roast beef section is BOMB!" and that the kitchen prepares "the best pasta EVER!!!!!!!!" The Proud Bird also hosts weddings, graduations, retirement parties... and presumably bar mitzvahs.

Images: Telstar Logistics

 

Historic NASA Photos for DIY Fun

NASA has joined Flickr to create NASA on the Commons, a collection of historic photos from the space agency's website that are gorgoeus, inspiring, and -- perhaps best of all -- free of copyright restrictions.

(via Laughing Squid)

California Is A Place (That You Really Should See)

California Is a Place is a new(ish) website serving up gorgoeus and truly brilliant video/photo documentaries that tell "stories about the Golden State." The pieces are short, but they're also rich, beautiful, and oh-so memorable.

All the work is outstanding, but our stand-out favorites so far are Big Vinnie (about a struggling used car dealer in Alameda, Calif.) and Scrapertown (about an astute inner-city bicycle club in Oakland, Calif.). But really, you can't go wrong. Take a few minutes and prepare to have your mind expanded.

Scrapertown from California is a place. on Vimeo.

Naked Man vs. Bale of Hay (Man Wins. Sort of.)

This is quite possibly a video hoax, but it's so entertaining, you quite possibly won't care.

Why do we think this may be a hoax? Wondering how a hay baler actually works, we found another video that explains the basic process. Executive Summary: The mechanism involves both "plungers" and "knives," so we suspect that jumping into a hay baler could be lethal. See for yourself:

At the very least, kids... don't try this at home!

(Naked Man video via Laughing Squid)

Interesting Maps of San Francisco Infrastructure

Noise corridors, streets with great views, major hills, and potential locations for medical marijuana dispensaries... all that, and much much more, awaits curious infrastructuralists at the surprisingly fantastic San Francisco Planning Department Library of Cartography webpage. Dig it!

 

(Tip of the hardhat to Burrito Justice)

Automotive Origami: Old Man Parks Tiny Car in Very Tiny Garage

From the Annals of Extreme Parking: This is garage insertion as automotive origami, with tolerances of just 6 cm separating the gentleman's vehicle from expensive bodywork. Yikes.

 

Scenes from China's Great Wall of Gridlock

The Associated Press sent a photographer out to shoot the massive traffic jam in northern China that has brought traffic -- trucks, mostly -- to a dead stop for 10 days.

NPR reports:

The traffic jam started Aug. 14 on a stretch of the highway that is frequently congested, especially after large coalfields were discovered in Inner Mongolia, Zhang said. Traffic volume has increased 40 percent every year.

Drivers stranded in the gridlock in the Inner Mongolia region and Hebei province, headed toward Beijing, passed the time sleeping, walking around, or playing cards and chess. Local villagers were doing brisk business selling instant noodles, boxed lunches and snacks, weaving between the parked trucks on bicycles.

Question for the studio audience: Does "logistics" have an antonym?

(via BoingBoing)

Images: Associated Press via NPR

Stormtrooper or Boeing 747?

Is the picture above a closeup of a Star Wars Stormtropper, or a Qantas Airlines Boeing 747?

Sorry, no extra credit for getting this one right -- it's a 747, of course. But after snapping the photograph above during an overcast day at SFO, we couldn't help but notice some resemblance.

See for yourself:

 

Images: Quantas 747 by Telstar Logistics; Stormtrooper helmet via Superrune

 

A Pillowfight in Economy Class

Join in as a big pillow fight breaks out on Luftansa Flight 687, en route from Tel-Aviv to Frankfurt. Nice to know there's still some fun left in the anxious skies.

(via Laughing Squid)

Anti-Social "Information Gladly Given" T-Shirts from San Francisco

No sooner did our Shinkansen Chopsticks leave the station than another railway-themed lifestyle accessory arrived at our front door. This one was produced by Market Street Railway*, the nonprofit organization that supports San Francisco's vintage streetcar fleet, and it sends a pleasingly ambiguous message:

"Information Gladly Given, But Safety Requires Avoiding Unnecessary Conversation."

MSR explains:

Tens of thousands of San Francisco commuters have probably taken a few moments to ponder this simple statement, which has been posted near the operator's station of every Muni bus and streetcar since the early 1960s. The message is simultaneously friendly and forbidding, inviting yet indifferent, personable yet coldly professional.

Printed on a 4.5-ounce preshrunk cotton Hanes Contemporary Fit tee, our “Information Gladly Given” shirt sets clear expectations on the street, in the workplace, or during uncomfortable visits with estranged relatives.

There's another practical benefit: Buy the shirt from MSR here and the proceeds help keep San Francisco's vintage streetcars rolling.

* Telstar Logistics is a member of the board of directors of Market Street Railway.

Operation Telstar: How Telstar 1 Fought for Freedom Alongside the Mormon Tabernacle Choir(?!)

From the "When Galaxies Collide" Department...

The Arts and Leisure section of today's Sunday New York Times carried a front-page story about a bizarre tale involving our namesake, the Telstar 1 telecommunications satellite, and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.

This seems like an unlikely pairing to contemporary ears, because, as we've discussed previously, Telstar 1 did come with a popular soundtrack. But the #1 hit song from 1962 that we now know as "Telstar" was created by a British music producer named Joe Meek.

Before "Telstar" topped the charts, however, Telstar 1 participated in an all-American event with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir to strike a blow for freedom as part of a Cold War propaganda campaign. The Times recalls how the historic day unfolded shortly after Telstar reached orbit:

At 3:30 in the morning on July 23, 1962, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir gathered at the airport [in Salt Lake City] for a flight to a military base in the Black Hills of South Dakota. Preparations for a now nearly forgotten salvo of the cold war, called Operation Telstar, were under way.

It was time to sing.

The 360-member choir, the lyrical voice of Mormonism since pioneer days, was on a mission with multiple levels, historians and surviving singers say. They were to be the featured musical anchor later that day for the first international satellite television program -- a blast of American culture and technological prowess aimed at Europe, using a wobbly, 170-pound satellite that had been launched into orbit that month.

Shinkansen "Bullet Train" Chopsticks from Japan

Talk about fast food!  Nikolas Weinstein visited Japan recently, and while he was there he picked up a very special gift for Telstar Logistics -- our very own pair of Shinkansen chopsticks.

Designed to look just like the wonderful bullet trains that crisscross Japan -- the pioneering 0 Series Shinkansen, to be exact -- these clever chopsticks come in gorgeous packaging that includes both rails and a wee little tunnel for added effect.

This is the kind of gift that keeps on giving.

And the best news? You don't even have to go to Japan to buy them, although we're sure glad that Nikolas did.

The Terrifying View from the World's First Glass-Bottomed Hot Air Balloon

Impact Lab brings news of the maiden voyage of the world’s first glass-bottomed hot air balloon, which took place today in the run-up to the 2010 Bristol International Balloon Fiesta in the UK.

Says balloon pilot Christian Brown:

”We’ve done tethered trials before, which usually end with passengers shrieking and screaming in fear, but this is the first time we’ve actually taken to the skies unaided. It was a terrifying experience."

Anxiety-inducing video provided as a customer service -- in lieu of actually having to fly in the thing:

Images via Impact Lab

(HT @ThomasFrey)

Does Google Plan to Fly UAV Spies in the Skies?

 

Citing a German news report, Techeye.net reports that Google has purchased small UAV "microdrone" aircraft manufactured by Germany's microdrone GmbH, perhaps for use to augment the company's Street View mapping data. Techeye says:

The UAVs being flogged are mini helicopters with cameras attached that can be flown about all over the place. They're quiet and resemble sci-fi UFOs for the vertically challenged alien.

They can fly up to 80km per hour, so Microdrone CEO Sven Juerss suggests they'll be brilliant for mapping entire neighbourhoods really quickly and relatively cheaply.

Even before Google started data mining on open web networks its Street View operations were controversial, with Google Maps picking up on people who didn't exactly want their faces plastered all over the internet. With the kind of high-angle aerial shots this sort of kit can achieve, it boggles the mind as to the sort of images that may be accidentally captured. 

Our take: Skepticism is warranted, and outrage is probably premature.

Our understanding is that FAA certification procedures for civilian UAVs operating in domestic airspace are not yet in place, so it is not clear that the regular operation of such UAVs would be legal -- never mind prudent from a privacy or public-relations point of view.

Meanwhile, the Techeye report, while fascinating, is also single-sourced, with the news of the UAV sale to Google coming from the manufacturer of the UAV -- which is to say, he's hardly a disinterested conduit for information. There has been no confirmation of the sale from Google, so far as we know. (Indeed, Forbes reports a Google spokesperson says, ""This was a purchase by a Google executive with an interest in robotics for personal use.”)

So, while curious and exciting, Telstar Logistics suggests keeping cool pending further information about Google's plans and the regulatory environment that may or may not make such plans viable.

UPDATE: Our friends at BoingBoing link to more information about Google's UAV denial, as well as further detail about the air-certification challenges such UAVs would present.)

We'll keep our eyes in the skies, but in the meantime, here's some nifty footage of the Microdrone in action, during which we can see just how adept the tiny aircraft is at peeking into the windows of private homes. Oh joy:

Images: microdrones GmbH

In Praise of the F-15C, America's Last Dogfighter

Michael Behar, an old friend of Telstar Logistics, has written a thoughtful article for the Smithsonian's Air & Space magazine about the gradual obsolescence of the F-15C, America's last, purpose-built air superiority dogfighter. After decades of service, many F-15s are now well-worn, but Behar provides a wonderful description of how the aircraft evolved to keep pace with the times:

The dials and knobs are decrepit; nearly every painted surface is scuffed and chipped. The control stick looks like it might have been dragged behind a tractor for 60 miles. And I’m pretty sure that the tattered pilot’s seat came from the VW bus of a group of Deadheads, shortly after the ’77 spring tour. To discover where the magic happens, I have to peek beneath the forlorn facade. Integrated into both the interior and the exterior fuselage are several large compartments and caches. They once housed hefty pneumatic controls and bloated radar and weapons components that pre-dated the microcomputer revolution. But as technology shrank, the F-15’s flight systems got smaller and lighter, leaving room to cram in new innovations. Instead of languishing as decades passed, the Eagle got more agile and lethal.

By the 1980s, McDonnell Douglas engineers had gained enough space in the forward fuselage to add a second seat for the F-15E model, a potent air-to-ground strike fighter. It boasts under-wing fuel tanks to extend its range, a digital flight control system, low-altitude “tree-top” navigation, infrared night vision, and color cockpit displays. During Operation Desert Storm, F-15Es pounded Iraqi Scud missile sites, obliterated Saddam Hussein’s feeble air force, and rained cluster bombs on his Republican Guard troops. To detail the dozens of improvements since the Eagle’s debut—communications, navigation, propulsion, displays and instruments, electronic warfare, sensors, and weapons targeting—would drown you in acronyms.

Photos: Wikipedia and USAF