Schematics for the Fu-go Bomb (Fusen Bakudan) designed by the Japanese as a propaganda tool to incite panic in America. As a response to the first bombing of Tokyo in April 1942, these bombs were set a drift in November 1944 along the Pacific jet stream set to start forest fires on the US west coast.

Between November of 1944 and April of 1945, the Japanese launched about 9300 balloon bombs against the US. Out of that number, only about 1,000 actually made it to the US and Canada, and of those there was one case of six people being killed by the bomb carried by the balloon. Little of no other damage was reported during the balloon attack.

Some bombs made it quite far—Michigan, Texas, Canada and Mexico—but were luckily largely ineffective. I think the most interesting part of this story is that this was an expensive Japanese war effort that was conducted largely in secret. School days were shorten so that girls could help build the balloons. The balloons themselves were pretty elegantly designed things despite their lack of functionality.

The balloons were made from mulberry paper, glued together with potato flour and filled with 19,000 cubic feet of hydrogen. The balloon envelope was encircled by a scalloped cloth band to which numerous shroud lines were attached, and these were tied together below in two large knots. From these knots, the bombs and ingenious ballast release mechanism were suspended. They were 33 feet in diameter and could lift approximately 1,000 pounds, but the deadly portion of their cargo was a 33-lb anti-personnel fragmentation bomb, attached to a 64–foot long fuse that was intended to burn for 82 minutes before detonating.

The design to keep the balloon afloat is pretty interesting.

Read here.

One of the paintings; "The Briar Wood," in the The Legend of Briar Rose (1885-1890) series by Edward Burne-Jones.

Photographs of a house in Kyobate by Horibe Naoko Architect Office in Nara-Shi, Japan.

Rendered model of Meath + Navan Town Council urban/masterplanning competition proposal by Hall McKnight.

National and University Library NUKII (20??-20??) by Hidalgo Hartmann in Ljubljana, Slovenia.

Still from Porco Rosso (1992) by Hayao Miyazaki.

I'd much rather be a pig than a fascist.

I was blown away by this film. The romanticism of inter-World War Europe, particular the Italian culture, is in spades here. I have yet to watch Casablanca but a lot of the iconography reminds me of that era and style of film. I have to say, I love aerial combat, I love the time period, I love the mechanical fetishism of modern technology, I love the foreboding of fascism, I love when men dressed in suits on a regular basis, I love how Porco is a pig and pervert, I love how people want to be together and have adventures... I don't know; Miyazaki just hit all the right spots. There are rumours that Miyazaki might be considering a sequel set during the Spanish Civil War where the titular character is much older. (Metal Gear Solid 4 anyone?) If this film gets done it will easily be my most anticipated anime release (since ever).

Canned music robots are the death of live music in theatres.