How? Use it as a launching platform for paper airplanes.
Nope, I’m not kidding.
Via Cory Doctorow at BoingBoing, a link to this report:
Researchers from the University of Tokyo have teamed up with members of the Japan Origami Airplane Association to develop a paper aircraft capable of surviving the flight from the International Space Station to the Earth’s surface.
The researchers are scheduled to begin testing the strength and heat resistance of an 8 centimeter (3.1 in) long prototype on January 17 in an ultra-high-speed wind tunnel at the University of Tokyo’s Okashiwa campus (Chiba prefecture). In the tests, the origami glider — which is shaped like the Space Shuttle and has been treated to withstand intense heat — will be subjected to wind speeds of Mach 7, or about 8,600 kilometers (5,300 miles) per hour.
First, a note – I tried checking sources on this, and pretty much everything points back to the Pink Tentacle report. This could all be a joke.
But even if it is, I think that it’s great.
There will undoubtedly be those who say that such activities are a waste of time, money, and scientific talent. Yeah, maybe they are. But you know, if we completely lose all sense of whimsy just because something is associated with “science”, then an essential element of creativity – play – will be missing. This is an excellent way to pique the interest of anyone who has ever thrown a paper airplane, to tie a very basic human toy to real science and technology.
As a public relations move, it’s brilliant. Even if it is just a joke.
Jim Downey
Filed under: Comics, Humor, Jeff Bezos, Kindle, Predictions, Publishing, tech
Berkeley Breathed echoes my opinion of e-books in today’s Opus strip.
Jim Downey
(Hat tip, ML!)
Today’s Pearls Before Swine (mostly the third panel) by Stephan Pastis is brilliant, and all too true.
More later.
Jim Downey
Filed under: Bruce Schneier, Government, Humor, Nuclear weapons, NYT, Predictions, Society, tech
Via Bruce Schneier, this delightful little BBC story of the nuclear age:
Newsnight has discovered that until the early days of the Blair government the RAF’s nuclear bombs were armed by turning a bicycle lock key.
There was no other security on the Bomb itself.
While American and Russian weapons were protected by tamper-proof combination locks which could only be released if the correct code was transmitted, Britain relied on a simpler technology.
Woo-hoo! Yeah, see, you just had to open a plastic cover, use an Allen wrench to select the yield on the warhead and fusing options (air burst? ground contact?), and then insert and turn a bicycle lock key 90 degrees – and you’re good to go!
Sheesh, and we worry about what safeguards the Pakistanis have on their nukes.
It’s simply amazing that we haven’t lost a few cities to nuclear bomb accidents. Simply amazing.
Jim Downey
Filed under: Comics, Darths & Droids, George Lucas, Humor, movies, Music, Science Fiction, Star Wars, YouTube
In response to my last post on Friday before skipping town for a few days, a friend reminded me of this Weird Al Yankovic version of American Pie:
What adds a bit to the weirdness is that one of the people I was visiting with this past weekend was from Clear Lake, Iowa and hence is more than a little sick of American Pie, and the song was the topic of considerable conversation and humor. Having this version pop into my inbox this morning was more than a little serendipitous.
Anyway, while I usually only enjoy Weird Al in somewhat small doses, I do respect his particular variety of genius, and this is a good example of just what he is capable of. Enjoy!
Jim Downey
Filed under: Comics, Darths & Droids, George Lucas, Humor, movies, Science Fiction, Space, Star Wars, Twenty Sided
As Shamus Young, of “DM of the Rings” said:
Also, for those people who suggested that I should take on the Star Wars movies next, I’m happy to report that someone has stepped up to the challenge. David Morgan-Mar, the guy behind Irregular Webcomic is now working on Darths & Droids, a send-up of Phantom Menace. According to the site, it’s going to be a collaboration between six or seven people? Wow. I was barely able to get along with myself during the run of DMotR, so I don’t know how that’s going to work. Still, I wish them luck. They’re off to a good start.
Indeed they are. The humor has a different flavor, and there’s a bit more rationalization about what they’re doing, but this has promise. Since they’re only 23 strips into the project (at this point), you can start now and follow along. Working within the limitations of what Lucas created with the Star Wars franchise, there is still a lot of material which will lend itself to this kind of interpretation. So we’ll see.
Jim Downey
My wife passed on an item posted over on Forum Wales which I found of interest. Not saying that I “believe” or anything, but it is definitely something to take a look at. It’s a short clip, and you should turn your sound up a bit:
And in the true spirit of Halloween I give you this British Car Ad that was never run:
This is a car advertisement from Great Britain. When they finished filming the ad, the film editor noticed something moving along the side of the car, like a ghostly white mist. They found out that a person had been killed a year earlier in that exact same spot.
The ad was never put on TV because of the unexplained ghostly phenomenon. Watch the front end of the car as it clears the trees in the middle of the screen and you’ll see the white mist crossing in front of the car then following it along the road….Spooky!
Is it a ghost, or is it simply mist? You decide. If you listen to the ad, you’ll even hear the cameraman whispering in the background about it near the end of the commercial.
Jim Downey
(Cross posted to UTI.)
Communion Of Dreams 