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Solar Car To Retrace Cross-Australian Route

Dave Snowdon writes "Its been 20 years since Quiet Achiever, the first solar car, crossed Australia from West to East (~4000km). Sunswift 2, the UNSW solar car is set to retrace the original route, in order to set a new transcontinental record. The original car took 21 days, Sunswift is expected to complete in less than 7."

8 of 84 comments (clear)

  1. Join the Navy! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic
    Your mother and I have had it up to here with your lying around the house. You must take responsibility for your life. Son, you need to get up off your backside and join the freakin' Navy!

    The word "monkey" is of uncertain origin; its first known usage was in 1498 when it was used in the literary work Reynard the Fox as the name of the son of Martin the Ape. "Monkey" has numerous nautical meanings, such as a small coastal trading vessel, single masted with a square sail of the 16th and 17th centuries; a small wooden cask in which grog was carried after issue from a grog-tub to the seamen's messes in the Royal Navy; a type of marine steam reciprocating engine where two engines were used together in tandem on the same propeller shaft; and a sailor whose job involved climbing and moving swiftly (usage dating to 1858). A "monkey boat" was a narrow vessel used on canals (usage dating to 1858); a "monkey gaff" is a small gaff on large merchant vessels; a "monkey jacket" is a close fitting jacket worn by sailors; "monkey spars" are small masts and yards on vessels used for the "instruction and exercise of boys;" and a "monkey pump" is a straw used to suck the liquid from a small hole in a cask; a "monkey block" was used in the rigging of sailing ships; "monkey island" is a ship's upper bridge; "monkey drill" was calisthenics by naval personnel (usage dating to 1895); and "monkey march" is close order march by US Marine Corps personnel (usage dating to 1952). [Sources: Cassidy, Frederick G. and Joan Houston Hall eds. Dictionary of American Regional English. vol.3 (Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press, 1996): 642; Wilfred Granville. A Dictionary of Sailors' Slang (London: Andre Deutch, 1962): 77; Peter Kemp ed. Oxford Companion to Ships & the Sea. (New York: Oxford University; Press, 1976): 556; The Oxford English Dictionary. New York: Oxford University Press, 1933; J.E. Lighter ed. Random House Historical Dictionary of American Slang. (New York: Random House, 1994): 580.; and Eric Partridge A Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English. 8th ed. (New York: Macmillan Publishing Company): 917.] "Monkey" has also been used within an ordnance context. A "monkey" was a kind of gun or cannon (usage dating to 1650). "Monkey tail" was a short hand spike, a lever for aiming a carronade [short-sight iron cannon]. A "powder monkey" was a boy who carried gun powder from the magazine to cannons and performed other ordnance duties on a warship (usage dating to 1682). [Source: The Oxford English Dictionary. New York: Oxford University Press, 1933.] The first recorded use of the term "brass monkey" appears to dates to 1857 when it was used in an apparently vulgar context by C.A. Abbey in his book Before the Mast, where on page 108 it says "It would freeze the tail off a brass monkey." [Source: Lighter, J.E. ed. Random House Historical Dictionary of American Slang. (New York: Random House, 1994): 262.]

    It has often been claimed that the "brass monkey" was a holder or storage rack in which cannon balls (or shot) were stacked on a ship. Supposedly when the "monkey" with its stack of cannon ball became cold, the contraction of iron cannon balls led to the balls falling through or off of the "monkey." This explanation appears to be a legend of the sea without historical justification. In actuality, ready service shot was kept on the gun or spar decks in shot racks (also known as shot garlands in the Royal Navy) which consisted of longitudinal wooden planks with holes bored into them, into which round shot (cannon balls) were inserted for ready use by the gun crew. These shot racks or garlands are discussed in: Longridge, C. Nepean. The Anatomy of Nelson's Ships. (Annapolis MD: Naval Institute Press, 1981): 64. A top view of shot garlands on the upper deck of a ship-of-the-line is depicted in The Visual Dictionary of Ships and Sailing. New York: Dorling Kindersley, 1991): 17.

    "Brass monkey" is also the nickname for the Cunard Line's house flag which depicts a gold lion rampant on a red field. [Source: Rogers, John. Origins of Sea Terms. (Mystic CT: Mystic Seaport Museum, 1984): 23.

    1. Re:Join the Navy! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

      I don't know what to say...
      that was perhaps the oddest troll... ever

    2. Re:Join the Navy! by hitzroth · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      I agree. It was actually... informative. If completely off topic.

      --
      In mathematics, one does not understand things, one merely gets used to them.
      --VonNeumann
  2. koosalagoopagoop by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    koosalagoopagoop!

  3. Chicks dig solar cars. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    I always cruise the boulevard with my solar vehicle. Chicks flock to me.

  4. Re:New business-model? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    1. Write stupid comment
    2. ?
    3. FUNNY!

  5. Of course! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    Imagine a beowulf cluster of these!

  6. We gonna rock down to ELECTRIC AVENUE by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    Down in the street there is violence
    And a lots of work to be done
    No place to hang out our washing
    And I can't blame all on the sun, oh no

    We gonna rock down to Electric Avenue
    And then we'll take it higher
    Oh we gonna rock down to Electric Avenue
    And then we'll take it higher

    Workin' so hard like a soldier
    Can't afford a thing on TV
    Deep in my heart I'm a warrior
    Can't get food for the king, good God

    We gonna rock down to Electric Avenue
    And then we'll take it higher
    Oh we gonna rock down to Electric Avenue
    And then we'll take it higher

    Oh no... Oh no... Oh no... Oh no...

    We gonna rock down to Electric Avenue
    And then we'll take it higher
    Oh we gonna rock down to Electric Avenue
    And then we'll take it higher

    Who is to blame in one country
    Never can get to the one
    Dealin' in multiplication
    And they still can't feed everyone, oh no

    We gonna rock down to Electric Avenue
    And then we'll take it higher
    Oh we gonna rock down to Electric Avenue
    And then we'll take it higher

    Out in the street... Out in the street... Out in the playground... In the dark side of town...

    We gonna rock down to Electric Avenue
    And then we'll take it higher
    Oh we gonna rock down to Electric Avenue
    And then we'll take it higher

    Rock it in the daytime
    Rock it in the night