I grok what you mean--that launcher arm action has a sort of "too perfect" look to it (it's called the "uncanny valley" effect in connection with CGI human characters that are ^so^ realistic that they--paradoxically--trigger an automatic "Yech!" or "Ugh!" reaction in viewers, if they're made still more realistic), and:

A contemporary (1950s) example was in a Soviet animated educational film from that era (it may be among these: http://www.youtube.com/results?sear...radio+tank+film ), which showed a multi-stage rocket--carried by a sleek jet-propelled "first stage"--that ultimately ended with a small "radio tank" (which was vaguely reminiscent of the three Lunokhod robotic lunar rovers [three were built, but only Lunokhod 1 and 2 were landed on the Moon, in the Mare Imbrium [the "Sea of Rains," in 1970] and in the crater-bay Le Monnier [in 1973], respectively]) that was deployed from the very last stage, and roamed about the lunar surface. Also:

The film's animator(s) made each of the launch vehicle's--and the radio tanks'--movements *so* perfect that watching them almost sent an unpleasant shiver down my spine (even when I watched it on television, as a child). Not knowing why the too-perfect animated motions caused the vaguely unpleasant feeling made it worse.

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Black Shire--Draft horse in human form, model rocketeer, occasional mystic, and writer, see:
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All of my book proceeds go to the Northcote Heavy Horse Centre www.northcotehorses.com.
NAR #54895 SR

"grok" ?

Somewhere, Robert A. Heinlein is weeping... :-) Grok is a fictional (but nonetheless useful; it is actually in the Oxford English Dictionary: https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/grok , and has found surprisingly widespread use) Martian word that Heinlein introduced in his 1961 novel "Stranger in a Strange Land" (see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stran...nd#cite_note-16 ), which is about a young man who was born on Mars and raised by Martians, who feels like an alien among his own people when he is brought to Earth. It has nuances of meaning, but boiled down to its essence, to grok something means to comprehend it completely, emotionally (which involves understanding why others enjoy it or find it otherwise desirable) as well as intellectually. While I have never read the novel, I first heard of the word decades ago, and I have found it useful. For example:

My mother found it frustrating that I never took any interest in visiting my father's grave, which she did fairly often. That is one common (although not universal; it is rather rare among people, though) aspect of human behavior that I fail to grok. (I don't ridicule or look down upon "grave visitors," and neither do I think of them as "weak" or in any way inferior because they do that; I have seen others doing it, and gaining some sustenance or peace from it, and that is good.) But:

While I can *intellectually* understand and explain how and why visiting the graves of loved ones helps the living who do that, I cannot *emotionally* understand it, because I cannot feel what they feel. I loved my parents very much, but visiting the plots of ground in which their deceased physical remains are interred is a meaningless exercise to me (and a glance at my signature file below makes it plain that I know that the story of life is far more than a hyphen or a dash between two dates on a stone or a plaque). Also:

There are other things that I understand emotionally (I "get" them, in common parlance), but not intellectually, and thus fail to grok them as well. It's almost as if (and who knows, maybe it did happen this way) Heinlein thought, "I need a Martian--yet easy to pronounce and spell when transliterated into English--word for the novel that expresses full comprehension at all levels [1] in order to convey the historical and cultural gulf between the two races, and [2] beyond the novel, to foster new and broader ways of thinking among human beings," and came up with grok, and:

The novel makes it clear--to further illustrate the differences between Martian and Terran society and culture--that grok (and other Martian words, of course) also has nuances of meaning to Martians that human beings--having a totally different history and experience--can't immediately grasp, or even conceive of; they must be explained in (human) writing, or verbally by an individual who is conversant with both languages and cultures. (It's an interesting intellectual exercise. Even Carl Sagan wondered if--after making radio, laser, or perhaps Bracewell probe contact with another civilization and establishing mutually-intelligible dialogue via scientific and mathematical concepts--the other race and human beings could ever ^fully^ understand and comprehend each other; as he mused [not verbatim, but close enough], "But they may always be, in some unfathomable way, different, such that we might never fully understand each other as two people can.")

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Black Shire--Draft horse in human form, model rocketeer, occasional mystic, and writer, see:
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http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/what...of-2%29/6126511
All of my book proceeds go to the Northcote Heavy Horse Centre www.northcotehorses.com.
NAR #54895 SR

Navaho X-10 Testing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnERCGC5fvI

Bomarc and X-10 Intercept Test (excellent X-10 footage)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SormAHHvCC0

There are so few good angle still image views to show how sexy the X-10 is, so I caught one (linked below) from this new USAF Museum video where it isn't even the subject of the video:

(Butt ugly) Boeing X-32A Joins R&D Gallery (Short Drone View)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLwbaxPwOJc

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535...eb69f9c50_b.jpg

John Boren's incredible built-up Navaho:

https://naramlive.com/naramlive-201...s/image769.html

__________________
The other day I sat next to a woman who has a profound fear of flying. I wanted to comfort her, so I said, "Don't worry, we're not gonna' crash. Statistically, we got a better chance of being bitten by a shark." Then I showed her the scar on my elbow from a shark attack. I said, "I got this when my plane went down off of Florida." - Dennis Regan

I'm the same way about visiting the graves of my parents and grandparents. I don't get it at all, other than to look at the names of their neighbors, (who were often their neighbors in real life.) I'm not sure if I told Mom or Grandma that I got nothing out of visiting the graves, mostly because I already thought of them all the time anyway. That seemed to soothe things for them. Deep down they just didn't want to be forgotten.

__________________
Bill Eichelberger
NAR 79563

http://wallyum.blogspot.com/

I miss being SAM 0058

Build floor: Estes - Low Boom SST Semroc - Marauder, Shrike, SST Shuttle

In paint: Canaroc - Starfighter Scorpion

Unflown: Estes - Der Red Jinx, Eliminator, F-22 Air Superiority Fighter, Firebird, Jayhawk, Multi-Roc, Solar Sailer II, Spartan, Surveyor, Wizard (13mm), Xarconian Cruiser, Mach 10, Asp-1, Microsonde 3 Payloader, Aerobee 300, Cyber III, Earmark, Marauder, Mini Dactyl, Scrambler

Bill, I find it interesting and a bit ironic that you replied to Jason's post, since he, too, is now gone to the next plane of existence.

That said, I get this thought, and have gotten little solace visiting my Mother's grave when we're in Santa Fe and I don't think I've ever been to that of any of my grandparents.

Odd discussion when this thread is ostensibly about the Navaho missile.

__________________
Bernard Cawley
NAR 89040 L1 - Life Member
SAM 0061
AMA 42160
KG7AIE

This was the first I heard about Jason. I quick review of the acknowledgements in my RotW supplements reminds me just how much research he had contributed on over a dozen scale drawigns 20 years ago. He made some real contributions to the scale rocketry community.

I get it, but I'm religious. It's a religious thing. A full discussion would violate this forum's rule on not discussion religion.

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-Wolfram v. Kiparski
NAR 28643 - TRA 15520
MTMA Section #606 President