Thursday, June 09, 2011
Man Hole!!
"According to urban legend, a manhole cover was accidentally launched from it's shaft from an underground nuclear test in the 1950's, at a great enough speed to achieve escape velocity. The myth is based on a real incident during the Operation Plumbbob nuclear tests, where
a 900 kg steel plate cap was blasted off the test shaft at an unknown velocity, and appears as a blur on a single frame of film of the test; it was never recovered. A calculation before the event gave a speed of six times Earth escape velocity, but the calculation is unlikely to be accurate and they did not believe that it would leave Earth in reality. After the event, Dr. Robert E. Brownlee described the best estimate of the cover's speed from the photographic evidence as "going like a bat!!"
I can only assume that the urban legend edited the "Outta Hell" bit from the last line.
Also, I'm wondering, even if the calculations (for this urban myth) were off by a factor of 4 -that's pretty bad.
Nay. That's really, really, really bad! For those who are calling themselves nuclear scientists, dealing with energies most of us mortals can't understand - and even they can't really, without some super complex figures and math and stuff to deal with - these energies are beyond human scale. So even if they're wrong by a FACTOR OF FOUR, there's still 2x's the force required to achieve escape velocity for this manhole cover - and leave earth's gravitational pull, and shoot out into the stars.
Regardless if this is an urban myth or not...it kinda' sounds like to my ears, like it could have actually happened.
And as a pragmatic kinda' guy, I'd much rather a spacefaring race of aliens find a circular piece of iron that used to cover a hole, floating through space with "Made in Mexico" written on it...
than the one that has the instructions to find our planet, and how we reproduce, what our music sounds like, and our frikken DNA.
If they find the first one, they'll probably melt it down to make a cell-phone, or laser blaster, or mebee a nice side-table to hold a super-cool looking lamp. If they find the latter-well...we'll probably be working uranium mines until we die a horrible death of radiation poisoning. And I got a feeling, I don't think they'll care. Thanks to nuclear testing, and a super-nice manhole cover, we've got a 50 - 50 chance that that doesn't happen.
More manholes in space please, I'd like to up those odds.
Saturday, May 28, 2011
Do you know how to create fire?
Point being, what people used to wage wars over, salt, waaaay back in the day, were wars that would determine the outcome of entire nations. And now, it's available for less than a dollar a pound. I dunno about you, but a dollar in my book, is worth almost next to nothing. And although I wouldn't be happy about it, I'd probly be willing to shell out a buck for a book of matches.
And now we're done with my little rant. There's nothing life changing or revolutionary here, but there is something to appreciate in the commonplace. At any restaurant you get salt for free. Why? I dunno, guess it's cheap enough to give away. Same idea with fire. How does this have anything to do with anything? I can't say...but yet, building on this preposterous quicksand, we've somehow managed to create
this.
Monday, May 23, 2011
Sorry it's taken so long...
Saturday, April 09, 2011
Friday, April 23, 2010
Wow!
Friday, August 14, 2009
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Monday, July 13, 2009
Eyes Clean?
I dunno if it's really that impressive, or if it just seems like it is. However, this is a little presentation that had some ideas worth pondering.
"
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Tuesday, June 09, 2009
From the Fjordstyle Files
Look at this car.
It's the Aston Martin DB4 GT Zagato
I'm not a guy who desires much, but this thing makes me drool. If there is a design
that can ooze "things happen around this object," it's right here, in this car. You'd pretty much have to shower, shave, and put on your tux, just to drive this thing to the store for milk. Of course at the store, you'd somehow stumble across a fantastically attractive superspy chased by evil-doers, which would lead to an action-packed chase scene. Obviously you'd get away - I mean, look at this Gjoddang car!
At which point you'd get a nice thank-yoo smooch, and the thanks of a grateful government. Unfortunately, you'd still need milk.
Pics from Jalopnik - where there's a ton of info if you like this thing.