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Studies In Ornithopters

weileong writes "This should be of especial interest to fans of Frank Herbert's Dune (or maybe only those who preferred House Atreides) - a genuine, flexible, flapping-capable winged aircraft (by which I don't mean passenger-carrying. Yet.) has been produced by the University of Toronto's Institute for Aerospace Studies and SRI International (Washington Post article, free reg required). Advantages include everything from low speed control to efficiency. Once these things really hit "real world" usage, the V-22 Osprey really HAS no reason to exist (and all the army personnel at risk of dying in one should rejoice)."

7 of 223 comments (clear)

  1. Talk about Recycling... by fuqqer · · Score: 3, Funny

    Holy crap I knew the story was old. Slow news day? This verges on antiquity with a 2001 story date. Maybe the slashdot editors could rename the tagline - "No Gnus is nerd Gnus"

    Here is the original slashdot story.

    Here is a link to the ornithopter website.

  2. Ornithopters... by jacobdp · · Score: 5, Funny

    An excellent Magic card, too! 0/2 flying artifact creature for 0.

    As a blocker, it can't be beat.

  3. evolution by Scrameustache · · Score: 4, Funny

    she says, "centuries of evolution have produced structures and systems that work very well."

    Centuries of evolution?

    Wow! They've found a young-earth darwinist! : )

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    You can't take the sky from me...

  4. Re:The V22? by babbage · · Score: 4, Funny
    They removed the problems that killed people (mostly, no a/c is perfect)

    I think it's far to say that any conditioner that could ever hurt people, nevermind kill them, is very far from perfect indeed.

    A/C just isn't worth dying for, I don't care how hot the summer was.

  5. Washington Post excludes 106-year olds! by scruffyMark · · Score: 3, Funny
    The site refused to let me in when I said I was born in 1897 - enter a valid year of birth, it insisted. Well, how is it to know I'm not in fact 106?

    It was perfectly happy to let me read the article as a 101-year old though...

    --

    What is the robbing of a bank, compared to the founding of a bank? -- Bertolt Brecht

  6. To make the Dune reference complete by sonicattack · · Score: 4, Funny

    ..they should rename the 'thopter from "Mentor" to "Mentat".

  7. Re:Material Fatigue ? by alfredo · · Score: 3, Funny

    Imagine trying to keep your drink from spilling. Or what about walking to the bathroom. One good side effect would be the inability of hijackers to get out of their seats, or once out of them, to stand up.

    You want that martini shaken or shaken?

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