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Airspeed Velocity Of An Unladen Swallow

An anonymous reader writes "Finally, the question is answered: What is the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow? A designer with too much time on his hands uses his new method for graphically representing Strouhal numbers to clarify a truly pressing question for all armchair zoologists (and a few Monty Python fans)."

321 comments

  1. Don't give the numbers... by danielrm26 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I hate to say it, but this is one of those things like the explanation of where the immortals in Highlander came from -- we didn't actually want to know.

    --
    dmiessler.com -- grep understanding knowledge
    1. Re:Don't give the numbers... by danielrm26 · · Score: 1

      I wasn't saying it was bad...just that the Python thing is magical - and that it shouldn't be explained (like Highlander).

      --
      dmiessler.com -- grep understanding knowledge
    2. Re:Don't give the numbers... by mseeger · · Score: 4, Funny
      I hate to say it, but this is one of those things like the explanation of where the immortals in Highlander came from -- we didn't actually want to know.

      That's not the point. If seek out the most forgotten cave and you install there a switch with the inscription "Doomsday switch - Press here to destroy earth", it's only a matter of time till someone comes by and presses it.

      Humans are curious like young cats. And the /.'ers are the worst of all ;-).

      Regards, Martin

    3. Re:Don't give the numbers... by Jeremiah+Cornelius · · Score: 1
      Ahhhh....

      Reverence for the Pythons!

      Puts me in mind of, "His sandle," "No, his gourd!"

      I have, many times, read the pedants on /. lecture about the correct application of the term "irony".
      I beleive we now have a most stirling example!

      To all of this, I say, "NNNNNNEEeeeeee!"

      --
      "Flyin' in just a sweet place,
      Never been known to fail..."
    4. Re:Don't give the numbers... by ideonode · · Score: 1

      I agree. We need to know about the velocity of an unladen swallow like we need to know about the midichlorian origins of the Force.

    5. Re:Don't give the numbers... by Araneas · · Score: 2, Funny

      Actually it's "Ni" ;)

    6. Re:Don't give the numbers... by rolocroz · · Score: 1

      Actually, I have the DVD of Monty Python and the Holy Grail here, and it says "Nee".

      --

      I meta-mod all positive moderation Unfair, because it's abuse of the system.

    7. Re:Don't give the numbers... by Larsing · · Score: 3, Insightful

      The script says 'Ni'...

      --
      Ethics is what you say you do. Morals is what you actually do.
    8. Re:Don't give the numbers... by rolocroz · · Score: 2, Funny

      Well, that's probably a more reliable source!

      --

      I meta-mod all positive moderation Unfair, because it's abuse of the system.

    9. Re:Don't give the numbers... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Actually, Ni is the easiest way to explain Linux pronounciation - "i" and in "line"? NO - "i" as in "Ni". Which every nerd knows sounds like "Neee"

    10. Re:Don't give the numbers... by bill_mcgonigle · · Score: 2, Funny

      If the people who do liner notes for videos knew anything you'd have to accept that ObiWan Kenobi really saved Luke from the Jawas, and not the Sandpeople (Star Wars laserdisc).

      --
      My God, it's Full of Source!
      OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
    11. Re:Don't give the numbers... by Fishstick · · Score: 2, Funny

      subtitles? You realize they often use out-of-work nigerian scammers to do the transcription instead of working from the actual script.

      --

      There is much cruelty in the universe, John.
      Yeah, we seem to have the tour map.

    12. Re:Don't give the numbers... by bev_tech_rob · · Score: 1

      Pointing a radar gun at a swallow flying by would have been a lot more simpler...but the exercise in itself looked fun...

      --
      You're messin' with my Zen Thing, man.....
    13. Re:Don't give the numbers... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      > Pointing a radar gun at a swallow flying by would have been a lot more simpler...

      and if swallows were metal, that would mean something!

    14. Re:Don't give the numbers... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Slashdot - News for nerds. Stuff that matters ???

      -marton

    15. Re:Don't give the numbers... by geoffspear · · Score: 2, Informative

      Yeah, they'd need to be made out of metal for radar guns to work. You know, like baseballs, tennis balls, and hockey pucks are all now made out of steel.

      --
      Don't blame me; I'm never given mod points.
    16. Re:Don't give the numbers... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Damn

      Another chapter has been added to high school physics textbooks, for yet another mindboggling exam question, that will serve no purpose in one's future career

    17. Re:Don't give the numbers... by Jade_Siren · · Score: 1

      Hmm...that's a thought...but the question is...Would they actually be dumb enough to believe that the switch is real? I'd hope /.'ers weren't as stupid as that...but then...what do i know? I'm just a lowly specimen.

  2. Had to be said... by Max+Romantschuk · · Score: 4, Funny

    NONE! ... Shall pass...

    --
    .: Max Romantschuk :: http://max.romantschuk.fi/
    1. Re:Had to be said... by azzy · · Score: 5, Funny

      That's what my University tutor used to say about the exams :(

    2. Re:Had to be said... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      at mine, it was NUN shall pass... Damn private schools.

    3. Re:Had to be said... by dtfinch · · Score: 1

      Until you answer me these questions three.

  3. Re:tsarkon ode to a greased anus yoda shoved in as by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    HAHA! I defeat yoo! Yoo no have will of warrior! I defeat yoo troll! AHA! HAH!

  4. WoW ! by cablepokerface · · Score: 5, Funny

    A 54-year survey of 26,285 European Swallows captured and released by the Avian Demography Unit of the University of Capetown finds that the average adult European swallow has a wing length of 12.2 cm and a body mass of 20.3 grams.

    54 years? That's amazing, i think I could copy that research with a shotgun, a measuring tool and a free sunday afternoon.

    1. Re:WoW ! by operagost · · Score: 1
      The use of a shotgun as a collection device may alter the body mass of the subject. Whether it goes up or down probably depends on the load.

      If you're a poor shot, you may find that your wingspan measurements are a bit short ...

      --

      Gamingmuseum.com: Give your 3D accelerator a rest.
    2. Re:WoW ! by Vexar · · Score: 2, Funny
      That's an immense amount of ammo there, mister! I think more accurately, you could reach the same wing length and mass measurements with fewer samples.

      If you have a free afternoon and feel up to killing 26,000 avians, may I humbly recommend the Canada Goose? Several US States kill or displace thousands every year, costing several dollars per goose, which is paid by taxpayers. The geese border on pestilence now. Just TRY to walk across an office parking lot next to a lawn without stepping on a goose or their "fertilizer" waste-product.

      I can just imagine the Egyptian Pharoah, faced with a North American set of ten plagues, including mosquitos, geese, and tornadoes. He would have backed down by #5 for sure. "I can't take any more of this crap, your people may go!"

    3. Re:WoW ! by Darby · · Score: 1

      The geese border on pestilence now. Just TRY to walk across an office parking lot next to a lawn without stepping on a goose or their "fertilizer" waste-product.

      Tell me about it, Dude.

      I work in the north burbs of Chicago and they're a plague.
      They call them "Corporate Geese" cause they're all over the business park lawns. The fuckers got so lazy they don't even freaking migrate any more. Have you ever seen a Chicago winter?!? Dumb ass geese.

    4. Re:WoW ! by cstangle · · Score: 1

      Holy Hand Grenade > Shotgun
      And the Lord spake, saying, 'First shalt thou take out the Holy Pin. Then, shalt thou count to three. No more. No less. Three shalt be the number thou shalt count, and the number of the counting shall be three. Four shalt thou not count, nor either count thou two, excepting that thou then proceed to three. Five is right out. Once the number three, being the third number, be reached, then, lobbest thou thy Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch towards thy foe, who, being naughty in My sight, shall snuff it.'

  5. Entirely too ambiguous! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny
    Finally, the question is answered: What is the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow?
    Well, was it a European or an African swallow??
    1. Re:Entirely too ambiguous! by oiper · · Score: 1, Redundant

      And how did it carry the coconut?!? Grip it by the husk?!

      --
      What do I have to do to get a sig around here?! www.bearscanfly.org
    2. Re:Entirely too ambiguous! by 24-bit+Voxel · · Score: 1

      Are you suggesting that coconuts migrate?

    3. Re:Entirely too ambiguous! by Walterk · · Score: 1

      Actually, if you'd RTFA, then you'd see there were no coconuts in this research. It was just the airspeed of an unladen swallow, not a laden with coconuts one.

    4. Re:Entirely too ambiguous! by 3dr · · Score: 1

      "Airspeed velocity"? :confused:

      Isn't that redundantly redundant? :rolleyes: :monkey: :D

    5. Re:Entirely too ambiguous! by azav · · Score: 1

      Doesn't matter. Swallow wasn't on the list.

      --
      - Zav - Imagine a Beowulf cluster of insensitive clods...
    6. Re:Entirely too ambiguous! by Carnildo · · Score: 1

      "Airspeed velocity"? :confused:

      Isn't that redundantly redundant? :rolleyes: :monkey: :D


      Not really. Velocity is a vector -- it has both a magnitude and a direction. Speed is a scalar -- an amount, but not a direction. The article gave the speed, but not the velocity, of the unladen swallow.

      --
      "They redundantly repeated themselves over and over again incessantly without end ad infinitum" -- ibid.
    7. Re:Entirely too ambiguous! by Fjord · · Score: 1

      As opposed to groundspeed, which is the speed at which a swallow bobs (bird equivelent of walking)

      --
      -no broken link
    8. Re:Entirely too ambiguous! by euxneks · · Score: 3, Funny

      What?? I don't know that.. I didn't read the articaaaaaAAAAAAAHHH!

      --
      in girum imus nocte et consumimur igni
    9. Re:Entirely too ambiguous! by echucker · · Score: 1

      If only this treatment was visited upon everyone else who didn't read the articles, slashdot would be a much better place.

  6. African or European? by whizzzo · · Score: 1, Funny

    More research needed.

  7. Re:huh by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I'm not sure, but I can probably get my Beowulf cluster working on it and let you know tomorrow...

  8. Ignobel awards by Space+cowboy · · Score: 4, Interesting

    ... looks like someone's pushing for recognition :-)

    Simon

    --
    Physicists get Hadrons!
  9. Finally.. by Takara · · Score: 5, Funny
    I decided to try to answer one of the timeless questions of science: just what is the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow

    Yes, finally someone had the balls to answer this question that has been wracking the minds of scientists for ages!

    Someone get this man a nobel.

    1. Re:Finally.. by Mattcelt · · Score: 2, Funny

      Next up... figure out how to employ sheeps' bladders to prevent earthquakes.

    2. Re:Finally.. by Walterk · · Score: 1, Funny

      Yes, but is the Earth banana shaped? Certainly does seem to make sense.

    3. Re:Finally.. by rssrss · · Score: 1


      Coming right up. Try this link.

      --
      In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.
  10. Re:tsarkon ode to a greased anus yoda shoved in as by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    My fp abilities are quite tuned up.

    I DO NOT FAIL IT.

    check out:
    http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=85666&cid=7457 130

    I got FP on that , well over 1100 comments in that one.

  11. It's the European swallow by SuuSt · · Score: 5, Informative

    just so you know

    1. Re:It's the European swallow by Joe+the+Lesser · · Score: 2, Funny

      No way. An african swallow maybe, but they're not talking 'bout a european swallow.

      --
      "I only speak the truth"
      Karma: null(Mostly affected by an unassigned variable)
    2. Re:It's the European swallow by Bas_Wijnen · · Score: 1

      Incredible... I'd expect a +4 funny for such a comment, but +4 informative?

    3. Re:It's the European swallow by SuuSt · · Score: 1, Insightful

      No kidding... sometimes the moderators baffle me.

    4. Re:It's the European swallow by rob_au · · Score: 5, Funny

      I can't wait until someone who gets moderated down in this discussion cries out - "Help! Help! I'm being repressed!" - and decries the "violence inherent in the system".

    5. Re:It's the European swallow by ferkelparade · · Score: 5, Funny

      Listen. Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of moderation!

      --
      frotz grue
    6. Re:It's the European swallow by Urkki · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      But it wouldn't be fun at all if it wasn't moderated informative... Why doesn't meta-moderation have a 4th option, "funny"? :-)

    7. Re:It's the European swallow by warpSpeed · · Score: 1

      isn't that "watery tarts" and not strange women?

    8. Re:It's the European swallow by Fishstick · · Score: 3, Funny

      How do you know he's a moderator?

      He 'ent got shit ellover'im.

      --

      There is much cruelty in the universe, John.
      Yeah, we seem to have the tour map.

    9. Re:It's the European swallow by Fishstick · · Score: 2, Informative
      Well, both actually...

      Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government! Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony! You can't expect to wield supreme executive power just because some watery tart threw a sword at you! If I went around sayin' I was Emperor just because some moistened bint lobbed a scimitar at me, they'd put me away!"


      Help, help, I'm being repressed!!! Come see the violence inherent in the system!

      Now do you see what I'm on about?

      --

      There is much cruelty in the universe, John.
      Yeah, we seem to have the tour map.

    10. Re:It's the European swallow by Llywelyn · · Score: 1

      Nope, its "strange women" you're thinking of another line:

      "You can't expect to weild supreme executive power just because some watery tart threw a sword at you!"

      --
      Integrate Keynote and LaTeX
    11. Re:It's the European swallow by Hatta · · Score: 1

      I thought that was "moistened bit"

      --
      Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
    12. Re:It's the European swallow by Alan+Hicks · · Score: 1
      Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of moderation!

      If I went around saying I got a +5 funny because some laudry tart hurled a scimitar at me; they'd lock me away!

      --
      Slackware, what else when it must be secure, stable, and easy?
    13. Re:It's the European swallow by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      god, you're all wrong:

      Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government! Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony! You can't expect to wield supreme executive power just because some watery tart threw a sword at you! If I went around sayin' I was Emperor just because some moistened bint lobbed a scimitar at me, they'd put me away!"

      you call yourselves geeks!? now go home and hang your heads in shame and don't come back 'round here until you can remember python verbatim

    14. Re:It's the European swallow by SomeGuyFromCA · · Score: 1

      No, the moistened bint lobbed the scimitar.

      --
      if the answer isn't violence, neither is your silence / freedom of expression doesn't make it alright
  12. for some reason it doesn't sit well with me by seringen · · Score: 2, Funny

    While the intentions are good, the only truly elegant answers for a question like this would be a related to "42" While a laden swallow would most likely be "69" - one can only guess how it would be unladen

    1. Re:for some reason it doesn't sit well with me by NoOneInParticular · · Score: 3, Funny

      The article ends with an answer of roughly 11 meter per second. Given some a priori reasoning about the universality of the metric system and the Answer, we can deduce that the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow quite likely is a bit higher, namely 11 2/3 meter per second. This comfortably equates to 42 kilometers per hour, and the circle is closed.

  13. easy money for scientists? by braindigitalis · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Now we know what scientists get paid for ;-) is this the same guy that calculated the exact amount of time to dunk a biscuit in some tea before it went soggy?

    --
    http://www.inspircd.org - Modular C++ IRC Daemon
    1. Re:easy money for scientists? by sane? · · Score: 5, Insightful
      Do you think that scientists just sit around, with all the money they want, dreaming up daft experiments to do?

      In reality they have to bid and win for the money to do such things, against stiff competition. Just think of the talent, skill and dedication that went into convincing a biscuit manufacturer to fund such research. Can you imagine standing up in front of a review board and pitching that? The man's a genius.

      I'm guessing that this swallow work was a personal project, but this also was a work of genius. After all, most of their research will go into a dry and dusty journal. Nobody will read it, nobody will notice. However this will be quoted for as long as some smartarse quotes Monty Python. The publicity and the (indirect) fame is well worth the small effort involved.

      Getting your name known, and getting contacts and work as a result, is as much a part of science today as actually discovering new knowledge. This is just marketing, but without the dodgy haircuts and inflated salaries.

    2. Re:easy money for scientists? by hornrimsylvia · · Score: 1

      don't forget the proof that kansas is "flatter than a pancake"

  14. Re:African or European? by danielrm26 · · Score: 1

    "Someone had to say it."

    Someone *did* say it -- the author of the article. It's the very first thing in the article actually. You read it, right? ;)

    --
    dmiessler.com -- grep understanding knowledge
  15. I think... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I think the guy who found this out has been laden awhile.

    Fortress of Insanity
    Blogzine

    1. Re:I think... by JessLeah · · Score: 1

      He's Bin Laden awhile? Quick, CALL ASHCROFT! ;)

    2. Re:I think... by TSNV · · Score: 1

      The problem is, he hasn't been laden a while. Get it?

      --
      If there is hope, it lies in the prowles.
  16. Re:African or European? by whizzzo · · Score: 0

    Apologies, I didn't RTFA and jumped in with that one, I don't often get in after two comments and got a bit overexcited. But we were all thinking it.

    The article does only cover the European Swallow, lazy researcher not bothering to find out the kinematic data for himself. Has he got more important things to do or something?

  17. Re:African or European? by troon · · Score: 1

    And it had to be someone that hadn't read the article...

    --
    Ydco co ,df C erb-y go. a Ekrpat t.fxrapev
  18. Re:African or European? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    Someone had to say it.
    Someone like, oh I don't know, the author?

    RTFA, dumbass.

  19. Doh? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    What do you mean? An African or European swallow?

  20. +5 Informative by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Good sir, I do thank you for posting such an informational account of Rob Malda's eating habit. Could you perhaps post some recipes?

  21. yeah, but by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    is that the airspeed of an european swallow or not?

  22. Re:African or European? by buffer-overflowed · · Score: 2, Informative

    European actually, and the airspeed velocity of an unladen European Swallow is roughly 11 meters per second, or 24 miles an hour.

    Verdict is still out on African(but is probably about the same). The eternal question still stands.

    --
    The key to the enjoyment of pop music is to replace any instance of "love" with "C.H.U.D."
  23. It's not a question of where he grips it. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It's not a question of where he grips it. It's a simple weight ratio's

    A five ounce bird, can not carry a 1 pound coconut!

    1. Re:It's not a question of where he grips it. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Cannot is one word. Obviously you cannot spell.

    2. Re:It's not a question of where he grips it. by WegianWarrior · · Score: 1

      Well, it doesn't matter. Will you go and tell your master that Arthur from the Court of Camelot is here?

      --
      Everything in the world is controlled by a small, evil group to which, unfortunately, no one you know belongs.
    3. Re:It's not a question of where he grips it. by GreeboNZ · · Score: 2, Informative

      Sorry, but English modals follow the same pattern for negation:

      Will, will not.
      Would, would not.
      Do, do not.
      May, may not.
      Must, must not.
      ....
      Can, can not.
      Sure, 'cannot' is a (more) acceptable alternative spelling for that particular case, but not the only acceptable one.
      see:
      http://www.bartleby.com/68/4/1104.html
      http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~brians/errors/cannot.html

  24. What does it mean? by Siener · · Score: 4, Informative
    Incedibly it seems as if some /.'ers are missing the reference. It's all about Monty Python and the Holy Grail

    The relevant pieces in the script :
    A swallow carrying a coconut? and The Bridge of Death

    1. Re:What does it mean? by vr · · Score: 1

      Uh.. Yeah. And this: http://www.mwscomp.com/movies/grail/grail-23.htm

      BRIDGEKEEPER:
      What... is the air-speed velocity of an unladen swallow?

      ARTHUR:
      What do you mean? An African or European swallow?

      BRIDGEKEEPER:
      Huh? I-- I don't know that. Auuuuuuuugh!

    2. Re:What does it mean? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I think I speak for everybody here when I say that if you didn't get the reference then this isn't the website for you.

    3. Re:What does it mean? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      I don't see what Monty Python has to do with news for nerds, stuff that - Auuuuuuuugh!

    4. Re:What does it mean? by JPelorat · · Score: 1

      Next contestant, Siener, special subject, the bleedin' obvious!

      (note for brain-damaged mods, that's a Pythonism too)

      --
      Hokey statistics and ancient misconceptions are no match for a good thought in your head, kid!
    5. Re:What does it mean? by freeweed · · Score: 1

      Odd, I just enjoy open source software and tech news in general.

      I couldn't give a damn how many pets you have named Eric.

      --
      Endless arguments over trivial contradictions in books written by ignorant savages to explain thunder in the dark.
    6. Re:What does it mean? by Fishstick · · Score: 1

      That's later on..

      oy, where'd you get coconuts anyway?

      (see, Arthur is running around the countryside pretending to be on a horse while his squire claps to coconuts together to make the sounds of a horse galloping. One of the other characters calls him on this and Arthur tries to explain that the coconut probably was transported to England by a migrating African swallow...)

      --

      There is much cruelty in the universe, John.
      Yeah, we seem to have the tour map.

    7. Re:What does it mean? by Fishstick · · Score: 1

      comment =~ s/claps to coconuts/claps two coconut halves/;

      *sigh* and I did even preview

      --

      There is much cruelty in the universe, John.
      Yeah, we seem to have the tour map.

    8. Re:What does it mean? by Fishstick · · Score: 1

      You don't need a license for a pet fish, I promise you.

      Ok, make me stop now.

      --

      There is much cruelty in the universe, John.
      Yeah, we seem to have the tour map.

  25. How to lie with charts. by blair1q · · Score: 3, Informative

    To imply similarity, make the graph larger than it needs to be. Then all of your points will fall in a narrow range and appear closer together.

    For this and other presentation crocks, read How to Lie with Charts, and its fore-runners, How to Lie with Statistics and How to Lie with Maps.

    1. Re:How to lie with charts. by gfrege · · Score: 1

      Did you read the article? The Nature graph you link to is precisely what is expanded on and given a more informative presentation in the Strouhal numbers article.

    2. Re:How to lie with charts. by grey1 · · Score: 1

      Look, although your point is sensible (i.e. it is possible to mislead/lie etc with distorted graphs or statistics), your inference here is less so. The graph has a vary large error bar for the zebra finch - and that is what is responsible for the large graph area. If you bother to look at the plot you can see that most of the points fall into the range regarded as typical.

      --
      "we demand rigidly defined areas of doubt and uncertainty!"
    3. Re:How to lie with charts. by rogerborn · · Score: 3, Funny

      Do they have one that shows how to lie with girls?

    4. Re:How to lie with charts. by untaken_name · · Score: 1, Funny

      Do they have one that shows how to lie with girls?

      I believe you're looking for the small, poorly-lit establishment on the edge of town. They have what you're looking for.

    5. Re:How to lie with charts. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      >The graph has a vary large error bar for the zebra finch - and that is what is responsible for the large graph area.

      It looks like another separator bar, like the separator bar between the birds and the fishes. It may justify the tall graph, but then why aren't similar error bars on any of the other bird species?

    6. Re:How to lie with charts. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The graph you mention is exactly the size it needs to be. The Strouhal number will range from 1 (lots of flapping, no progress) to 0 (impossibly efficient flight). The graph shows this range, the predicted range of efficient cruising flight (0.2-0.4), and the actual values for each species. It is no bigger or smaller that what the data requires. Where is the lie?

    7. Re:How to lie with charts. by blair1q · · Score: 1

      The graph goes up to 1.8 (what's that? flying into a picture window at the speed of sound?)

      The conveniently large error bar on the one sample species causes the graph to be compressed and amplifies the presumed conclusion beyond the significance of the data displayed.

      If you look at the later graph, it's still not very evocative, as a reasonable understanding of fluid dynamics will tell you that the force and flow will be proportional to the amplitude and frequency of the stroke. Several of the animals nevertheless deviate from the "predicted range" by a significant amount, and from their near neighbors by 100% or more. Why?

      The graphs are presented to give us the impression that the hypothesis is proved. The fact is, the data do not fit the hypothesized range.

    8. Re:How to lie with charts. by gfrege · · Score: 1

      The point of quantified science in general is to show that certain behaviors obey quantitatively expressible laws. Your objections to the article, on the other hand, display an ambivalence with regard to this point. On the one hand, you chastise the original data in Nature for diverging too much from the law it is supposed to fit; on the other hand, you chastise the graphs on style.org for diverging too little, in that you claim that they only express previously well-known laws. You add to the confusion with your misplaced concern that some values fall outside the expected range. In fact, such is typical in all statistical analysis (which is why it's statistical, and not determinate).

      Your concluding accusation could possibly be interpreted as a resolution of this problem, as it impugns the graphs for failing to show that the data was inadequate. But since you earlier accused each of being inadequate to the other, this last accusation also ends up merely confused.

    9. Re:How to lie with charts. by blair1q · · Score: 1

      This wasn't a statistical analysis. They guessed at a range, and failed. And then hid their failure with bad graphics. Which fooled you even after I pointed out their failings.

    10. Re:How to lie with charts. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Basing your "fact" that the data do not fit on your reading of two charts is complete and utter nonsense ... truly laughable. If anyone is actually interested to see how well the data fit the estimated range, please consult the referenced Nature article for real (and extensive) statistical analysis.

    11. Re:How to lie with charts. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They are the only two charts showing the fitting, and they are bogus.

  26. Other significant numbers by Degrees · · Score: 1
    Douglas Adams gets the last laugh, as we already know the answer to that one.... ;-)

    Although with a Beowulf cluster of Big Macs, I'd like to take a shot at finding the question....

    --
    "The most sensible request of government we make is not, "Do something!" But "Quit it!"
    1. Re:Other significant numbers by Bill_Mische · · Score: 1

      The question has already been done. It is "What do you get if you multiply 6 by 9".

      Smartarse comments about base 13 will earn you a clip round the ear.

      --
      Boring Old Fart (40, married, 3 kids...er no...make that 49, married, 3 grown up kids...it's been a long time)
    2. Re:Other significant numbers by crossconnects · · Score: 1

      same as you get multiplying 18 by 3.

      --
      no big sig
  27. Okay, that's 2 questiones answered by 91degrees · · Score: 5, Funny

    But what is your favourite colour?

    1. Re:Okay, that's 2 questiones answered by Nplugd · · Score: 1, Funny

      Actuallay, would you have RTFA, you'd have seen that the author's favorite color is blue.

      You're welcome :)

      --
      Je n'ai pas d'avenir Je n'ai qu'un destin Celui de n'être qu'un souvenir C'est pour demain
    2. Re:Okay, that's 2 questiones answered by WildFire42 · · Score: 3, Funny

      I can just see the Perl monks coming by, in full regalia, smacking their heads on O'Reilly books and singing that stupid chant from Monty Python, now that this has been answered.

    3. Re:Okay, that's 2 questiones answered by Josh+Booth · · Score: 1

      Pies lesu domine

      <WHAP>

      Dona eis requiem

      <WHAP>

    4. Re:Okay, that's 2 questiones answered by KD5UZZ · · Score: 1

      Are you KD5IJW?

      --
      -Daniel
      KD5UZZ
      www.w5yj.org
  28. Concise interpretation by inri · · Score: 1, Informative

    The author of the webpage uses far too much verbiage and pretty pictures and doesn't seem to understand what's happening.

    Amplitude of wing stroke times frequency of wing stroke is (half) the vertical speed of the wing tip. Forward speed is obviously the horizontal speed. Hence the ratio is dimensionless, and measures how steep (on average) the strokes are. It's not too surprising that these ratios should fall in a relatively narrow range, and the authors of the Nature article say as much. Concretely, if the ratio were, say, 100, the wing would be flapping up and down furiously without advancing much -- if the ratio were 1/100, the wing would hardly be moving.

    1. Re:Concise interpretation by Spoing · · Score: 1
      Amplitude of wing stroke times frequency of wing stroke is (half) the vertical speed of the wing tip. Forward speed is obviously the horizontal speed. Hence the ratio is dimensionless, and measures how steep (on average) the strokes are. It's not too surprising that these ratios should fall in a relatively narrow range, and the authors of the Nature article say as much. Concretely, if the ratio were, say, 100, the wing would be flapping up and down furiously without advancing much -- if the ratio were 1/100, the wing would hardly be moving.

      Well, of course, if you say it like that.

      --
      A firewall can not protect you from yourself. Turn off what you do not need. Do not use the firewall to do your work.
    2. Re:Concise interpretation by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "Concretely, if the ratio were, say, 100, the wing would be flapping up and down furiously without advancing much"

      Oh. Perhaps, say, a hummingbird? Lots of wing movement, very little forward motion.

      "if the ratio were 1/100, the wing would hardly be moving."

      So.. like.. perhaps one of the various birds of prey riding a thermal whilst on the hunt for some cheesy (or cheese-consuming at the very least) comestibles? Or perhaps a Commorant in a dive heading for a little sushi on the fin? There's certainly forward motion there with very little wing movement.

      Listen. If you want to play armchair statistician with these things, at least take into account unlisted birds.

      -AC

    3. Re:Concise interpretation by syphax · · Score: 1

      From the article:

      Which is a ratio of the vertical distance traveled by the tip of the wing during the flapping stroke (f A) over the speed of the animal (U).

      So I think he got it.

      And yes, it's safe to assume that Strouhal numbers fall within a range spanning four orders of magnitude (1/100 to 100).

      --
      Simple Unexpected Concrete Credible Emotional Stories
    4. Re:Concise interpretation by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      >Concretely, if the ratio were, say, 100, the wing would be flapping up and down furiously without advancing much

      What, like a hummingbird?

  29. Speaking of charts.... by Xconnect · · Score: 0

    Anyone knows what he used to create those graphics?

    --
    --- root@127.0.0.1
    1. Re:Speaking of charts.... by UniverseIsADoughnut · · Score: 1

      those charts are simply beautiful. The whole webpage and the pages made by those people are beautiful. I very much want to know what was used in making them. I see the group that made them makes web pages for a business so i doubt to many secrets will be revealed. But damn, the look of everything on those pages blew me away. Simply beautiful.

      I need to make graphs all the time, i would love to see what they used. Definitly not excel, GP3, matlab. Some how i want to think some special graphics tool was used in conjunture with normal graphing tools. Like they made the curves then imported them into photoshop or something. I just want to find out. They arn't the most useful graphs but are visualy stunning. The look like something that would be used for text books.

    2. Re:Speaking of charts.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      For part of my work I make scientfic plots and figures. Often we use GMT to draw the data, etc. Then edit it in Illustrator. These figures would be quite easy to make in Illustrator or any other vector graphic tool.

    3. Re:Speaking of charts.... by Mac+Degger · · Score: 1

      Methinks Origin could easily do it with some curve fitting, edited with some photoshop (for the swallows) later on. Hell, Matlab can do it too if you set it up correctly (small stepping, and applying a second input you measure for only up to cos90), and edit the swalows in later.

      --
      -- Waht? Tehr's a preveiw buottn?
    4. Re:Speaking of charts.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Looks like the author has posted a few answers ... you are right, the graphs were all done with Illustrator and Photohop.

  30. Obligatory.. by adeyadey · · Score: 1, Funny

    So what is the speed of 2 swallows, if they are carrying a 1lb coconut strung on a strand of creeper vine held under their dorsal guiding feathers? We need to know! .. Who's that, then? I dunno. Must be a king. Why? He hasn't got shit all over him.

    --
    "You lied to me! There is a Swansea!"
    1. Re:Obligatory.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      he had some farcical aquatic ceremony wherin some watery bint lobbed a scimitar at him

    2. Re:Obligatory.. by tommck · · Score: 1
      Hey! That's my sig line! :-)

      --
      ---- It puts the lotion on its skin or else it gets the hose again. It does this whenever it's told.
  31. Well, sour face mods by ishmaelflood · · Score: 1

    I think we might call this one a joke.

    But your mileage may vary.

  32. When I read articles like this....... by gumbysworld · · Score: 0

    When I read articles like this. I think to myself "Some people should use drugs" and lots of them.

  33. The Far Side version by Zog+The+Undeniable · · Score: 1

    What's the average rainfall of the Amazon basin?

    --
    When I am king, you will be first against the wall.
  34. It's right at the bottom of the page by WegianWarrior · · Score: 4, Funny

    Blue

    --
    Everything in the world is controlled by a small, evil group to which, unfortunately, no one you know belongs.
    1. Re:It's right at the bottom of the page by Tumbleweed · · Score: 4, Funny

      No, green! *AHHHHHH!*

      You know, the best thing about this article is that it's uncontaminated by cheese.

    2. Re:It's right at the bottom of the page by Raumkraut · · Score: 0

      No, yelloooooooooooo......!

    3. Re:It's right at the bottom of the page by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You know, the best thing about this article is that it's uncontaminated by cheese.

      That's because the van broke down.

    4. Re:It's right at the bottom of the page by pipingguy · · Score: 1

      You know, the best thing about this article is that it's uncontaminated by cheese.

      Which cheese?

    5. Re:It's right at the bottom of the page by bobthemuse · · Score: 2, Funny

      Wait, no, red!

    6. Re:It's right at the bottom of the page by oopsyoubrokeit · · Score: 1

      NO YELLOWWWWWW!!!!!

    7. Re:It's right at the bottom of the page by Fishstick · · Score: 1

      it's a bit runny sir...
      I don't care how f@cking runny it is!

      what about cheddar?
      oh, not much call for it 'round these parts.

      ok, I'm going to ask you once more, and if you answer 'no' I'm going to shoot you.

      --

      There is much cruelty in the universe, John.
      Yeah, we seem to have the tour map.

    8. Re:It's right at the bottom of the page by red+floyd · · Score: 1

      Right. I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to shoot you.

      <BANG>

      What a senseless waste of human life.

      --
      The only reason we have the rights we have is that people just like us died to gain those rights. -- Cheerio Boy
    9. Re:It's right at the bottom of the page by DaveLatham · · Score: 1

      Sir Galahad actually says, "Blue... no clear, aaaahhhhhhhhh!"

      His favorite color is clear! I guess it's because he is "Sir Galahad, the pure"

    10. Re:It's right at the bottom of the page by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No Yello-aaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh

    11. Re:It's right at the bottom of the page by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Rimshot!

  35. Yeah but... by ishmaelflood · · Score: 1


    "Smartarse comments about base 13 will earn you a clip round the ear."

    Did you work that out yourself BEFORE anyone else told you? Unprovable assertion: I did.

    I met DNA once. Didn't like him.

    1. Re:Yeah but... by Bill_Mische · · Score: 1

      No - but I had the badge about 15-20 years ago and I'm in grumpy Dad mode this morning.

      --
      Boring Old Fart (40, married, 3 kids...er no...make that 49, married, 3 grown up kids...it's been a long time)
  36. And now for something completely different by orthancstone · · Score: 5, Funny

    For his next article, can he tell us if the parrot is dead?

    1. Re:And now for something completely different by Jeremiah+Cornelius · · Score: 2, Funny

      Without opening the box, only within certain probability.

      --
      "Flyin' in just a sweet place,
      Never been known to fail..."
    2. Re:And now for something completely different by Micro$will · · Score: 1

      It's not pinin'! It's passed on! This OS is no more! It has ceased to be! It's expired and gone to meet its maker! It's a stiff! Bereft of life, it rests in peace! It's kicked the bucket, it's shuffled off its mortal coil, run down the curtain and joined the bleedin' choir invisibile!! *BSD is an ex-operating system!!

      Oops, that was the wrong Dead * Sketch.

    3. Re:And now for something completely different by anonymous+loser · · Score: 1

      No, but he does have a foolproof test for witchery.

    4. Re:And now for something completely different by Joe+the+Lesser · · Score: 1

      And is in fact the lumberjack 'ok'?

      --
      "I only speak the truth"
      Karma: null(Mostly affected by an unassigned variable)
    5. Re:And now for something completely different by ickyboi · · Score: 1

      I'm not dead yet!

      -Parrot

  37. the air speed of an unladen swallow? 42 ft/sec! by zuzulo · · Score: 3, Funny

    Now that we finally know the right question to match the ultimate answer, I suppose the universe can end.

    Somehow it does not surprise me that Douglas Adams and the Monty Python crew are the secret masters of the universe. ;-)

    --
    "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
    1. Re:the air speed of an unladen swallow? 42 ft/sec! by cpghost · · Score: 1

      Q. What's the acceleration of an unladen swallow?

      A. -9.81 m/(s^2)

      --
      cpghost at Cordula's Web.
    2. Re:the air speed of an unladen swallow? 42 ft/sec! by Xaroth · · Score: 1

      Neverminding that 11 m/s is 36 ft/s... :P

    3. Re:the air speed of an unladen swallow? 42 ft/sec! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm pretty sure that's the acceleration of a African Swallow laden with a coconut.

  38. Re:African or European? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    C'mon, need I remind you this is Slashdot? Of course he didn't RTFA.

  39. Mod parent up by ishmaelflood · · Score: 2, Informative

    Very good.

    In other words, in airscrew terms, the effective pitch of the blade* rpm is a very linear function of speed.

    Everyone who did physics at school will know that the optimum speed for a momentum transfer device (eg a waterwheel) is a very simple ratio of the stream velocity.

    Damn, I thought it was a pretty neat article, now you tell me it is a (very pretty) statement of the bleeding obvious.

  40. If there was ever a day to RTFA.... by B747SP · · Score: 3, Informative
    Either I've been trolled really well, or this is actually really good stuff. RTFA slashdotters, this Strouhal write-up is actually a really good/interesting read. They've basically come up with a simple formula to describe efficient flight for all animals, regardless of size. Really interesting stuff.

    --
    I find your ideas intriguing and I wish to subscribe to your newsletter.
    1. Re:If there was ever a day to RTFA.... by TelcusFreshbreeze · · Score: 0, Funny
      They've basically come up with a simple formula to describe efficient flight for all animals, regardless of size.

      So now we can answer that other age old question of how efficient is the flight of a wooden cow?

    2. Re:If there was ever a day to RTFA.... by PerspexAvenger · · Score: 1, Funny

      I suspect the arbitrary flight efficiency number will approximate -9.81, somehow...

    3. Re:If there was ever a day to RTFA.... by Bobulusman · · Score: 1

      I'm curious: Did anyone one get confused and a little suspicious of the style article's equations? It seemed like an awful lot of his work was "Well, I got this number doing it this way and that number doing it that way, so let's just average the two together and pretend it's right. And then I looked it up and it's actually a third number number, so we'll average this in there as well".

      I assume the article was mostly just in good humor, but it still left me scratching my head in confusion.

      --
      Cogito ergo sum in Slashdot.
    4. Re:If there was ever a day to RTFA.... by Joel+Carr · · Score: 0

      But only in a vacuum I think...

      ---

      --
      Any man who can drive safely while kissing a pretty girl is simply not giving the kiss the attention it deserves. -- AE
    5. Re:If there was ever a day to RTFA.... by xanadu-xtroot.com · · Score: 1

      So now we can answer that other age old question of how efficient is the flight of a wooden cow?

      Or a giant wooden rabbit...

      --
      I'm not a prophet or a stone-age man,
      I'm just a mortal with potential of a super man.
    6. Re:If there was ever a day to RTFA.... by WhiteDragon · · Score: 1
      They've basically come up with a simple formula to describe efficient flight for all animals, regardless of size.

      So what is the formula for a cow thrown from a catapult?
      --
      Did you mount a military-grade, variable-focus MASER on an unlicensed artificial intelligence?
  41. Thank you, captain obvious! by Theranthrope · · Score: 2, Funny

    You have saved us all!

  42. Re:Nitpick - slighly off topic by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If that was true, wouldn't they call it the Western African swallow?

  43. Follow on question by maroberts · · Score: 0, Funny

    What do you load swallows up with so they are laden swallows?

    --

    Donte Alistair Anderson Roberts - hi son!
    Karma: Chameleon

    1. Re:Follow on question by vidarh · · Score: 1
      Do you mean you REALLY haven't seen Monty Python and the Holy Grail?

      It's obviously a coconut.

  44. Readers Digest Holy Grail (condensed) by adeyadey · · Score: 1, Funny

    The Readers Digest Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
    ---
    What? A swallow carrying a coconut?
    It could grip it by the husk!
    It's not a question of where he grips it! It's a simple question of weight ratios! A five ounce bird could not carry a one pound coconut!

    Who's that, then?
    I dunno. Must be a king.
    Why?
    He hasn't got shit all over him.

    Oh! Come and see the violence inherent in the system! Help! Help! I'm being repressed!

    'Tis but a scratch.
    A scratch? Your arm's off!
    No, it isn't.

    She turned me into a newt!
    A newt?
    Er.. I got better..

    We dine well here in Camelot.
    We eat ham and jam and spam a lot.

    I don't wanna talk to you no more, you empty headed animal food trough wiper! I fart in your general direction! Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries!

    Run away!

    Oh, I am afraid our life must seem very dull and quiet compared to yours. We are but eight score young blondes and brunettes, all between sixteen and nineteen- and- a- half, cut off in this castle with no one to protect us. Oooh. It is a lonely life: bathing, dressing, undressing, making exciting underwear..

    We are the Knights Who Say... 'Ni'!

    Well, what is it you want?
    We want... a shrubbery!

    ---
    Continued next issue..

    --
    "You lied to me! There is a Swansea!"
  45. duh by Rhinobird · · Score: 1

    duh...coconuts
    pay attention

    so now that we know the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow, now we need to find out what the velocity is of a coconut laden one.

    --
    If Mr. Edison had thought smarter he wouldn't sweat as much. --Nikola Tesla
    1. Re:duh by Ignominious+Cow+Herd · · Score: 1

      Easy. Zero!

      Coconuts are big, heavy, fluid-filled things. Swallows - even African ones - are small, light, delicate things, as are most flying animals.

      Even if you nailed the poor damned thing's feet to the coconut, all you'd get is a scared (or angry - do birds get angry?) swallow flapping its wings in a mad fury of an attempt to escape the cruel bondage that has been inflicted upon it. The coconut might roll around a bit.

      Eventually you'd just have a dead swallow nailed to a coconut to go with your dead parrot nailed to its perch.

      What I want to know is what the Pythons have against birds.

      --
      Lump lingered last in line for brains, and the ones she got were sorta rotten and insane.
  46. Re:Nitpick - slighly off topic by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Did you read the comment? It's North African, West African, East African, but Southern African - to avoid confusion with the name of the country.

  47. Re:African or European? by balloonhead · · Score: 1
    I would have the question would be:

    Spit or swallow?

    --
    This idea was invented by Shampoo.
  48. I suppose... by OpCode42 · · Score: 1

    ... that you've got to know these things when you're a king, you know...

    1. Re:I suppose... by TSNV · · Score: 0

      It's good to be the king.

      --
      If there is hope, it lies in the prowles.
  49. Inside Knowledge... by danielrm26 · · Score: 4, Funny

    This is so cool. Now, the next time we put Holy Grail in the DVD player, I can watch the scene and be like,

    "Actually, that's not correct."

    If there were any chicks at these MP parties, I am sure it would go over well.

    --
    dmiessler.com -- grep understanding knowledge
    1. Re:Inside Knowledge... by calags · · Score: 1

      I'm not sure they actually stated the speed of an unladen swallow in the movie.

      All one can say now is (raising one's hand): "Ooooooo... Ooooooo... I know the answer to this one!!!"

      Be prepared for puzzled stares.

      --
      Never attribute to stupidity what can be construed as a monopoly preservation tactic.
    2. Re:Inside Knowledge... by SeanAhern · · Score: 1
      I'm not sure they actually stated the speed of an unladen swallow in the movie.

      No, but they did say something along the lines of
      In order to maintain airspeed velocity, a swallow needs to beat its wings forty-three times every second, right?
      Which, according to the article, is incorrect.
  50. Reality check: 14 beats per SECOND? by shanen · · Score: 1

    Apart from the hummingbirds, have you ever seen any bird that appears to flap its wings anywhere near that quickly? Do your observations of any birds seem to mesh with that claim?

    --
    Freedom = (Meaningful - Coerced) Choice != (Speech | Beer^2), and sad sock puppets' bad mods avail them naught.
    1. Re:Reality check: 14 beats per SECOND? by shanen · · Score: 1

      Okay, my mistake. I shouldn't have posted before reading the rest of the article. He backs off that claim, but now the whole thing is quite doubtful.

      Plus, he completely punted on the African Swallow part of it.

      --
      Freedom = (Meaningful - Coerced) Choice != (Speech | Beer^2), and sad sock puppets' bad mods avail them naught.
    2. Re:Reality check: 14 beats per SECOND? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      Apart from the hummingbirds, have you ever seen any bird that appears to flap its wings anywhere near that quickly? Do your observations of any birds seem to mesh with that claim?
      Yes, budgies definitely beat their wings that fast (budgies are in his table, too). It seems that swallows are unusual in that they beat their wings more slowly than you would expect.

      For your reference, hummingbirds beat their wings between 18 and 200 times per second (depending on the species).
    3. Re:Reality check: 14 beats per SECOND? by TheLink · · Score: 1

      "It seems that swallows are unusual in that they beat their wings more slowly than you would expect."

      Anyone who actually watches swallows would realize that they don't beat their wings fast on average - they flap a few times then glide a lot. And even when they flap like crazy it isn't that fast either.

      The article was a big waste of time in terms of answering or even dealing with the question.

      I wonder if he spent more time on the graph and pictures than on actually figuring out things.

      --
    4. Re:Reality check: 14 beats per SECOND? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If you read the parent article, you will see that the author does take into account intermittent flight (flaps followed by glide) versus direct flight (continuous flapping). In order to make meaningful comparison, the graphs show idealized flight patterns, averaged over time, as even waveforms, though he notes that in the real world each species has a different flight pattern.

  51. What about the coconut?!? by obfuscated · · Score: 1

    Now someone should take that data and factor in the coconut. Of course all the different varieties and species of coconut should be considered. =)

    --

    -- dK ... Narf Poit!
    1. Re:What about the coconut?!? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Quite right... undertaking all this dangerous research... what were they thinking... WOULD SOMEONE PLEASE THINK OF THE COCONUTS!?!?!!?!?

  52. Mod parent down by gfrege · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Perhaps you are able to sit in your chair at home and, using purely a priori reasoning, arrive at conclusions that others must use empirical investigation to achieve. And perhaps, once the scientists have arrived at those answers through painstaking quantitative research (as in the case of the authors of the Nature article), you enjoy pointing out that you reasoned your way there without the messiness of actual research. Fair enough.

    But even if the discovery made wasn't surprising to you, it was interesting enough to make it into Nature. And the author of the style.org article on Strouhal numbers was clearly concerned not so much with the discovery as with the graphical representation of the information discovered. He is, after all, a designer.

    In other words, you may benefit from spending a little more time trying to figure out what people are doing, and a little less time trying to show everyone how far ahead of them you are.

    1. Re:Mod parent down by inri · · Score: 1

      Note: I'm a mathematician (not a scientist, say), and I was remarking on the webpage, not the Nature article.

      That is, the webpage has lots of pretty pictures to explain the Strouhal number, but doesn't provide a concise description: he essentially says as much (as another poster notes), but I clearly helped some other readers understand -- and by writing a paragraph, not drawing 200 pictures. This (that the webpage, while flashy, didn't communicate terribly well) was my implicit message; my explicit message was that the Strouhal number is easy to understand, and has a pretty obvious connection with "propulsive efficiency".

      The exact connection between the Strouhal number and efficiency is commented on in the abstract :

      Propulsive efficiency is high over a narrow range of St and usually peaks within the interval 0.2 < St < 0.4 (refs 3-8). Because natural selection is likely to tune animals for high propulsive efficiency, we expect it to constrain the range of St that animals use.

      This is what I meant by "not too surprising". Note however that the authors also write:

      This [range] seems to be true for dolphins, sharks and bony fish, which swim at 0.2 < St < 0.4. Here we show that birds, bats and insects also converge on the same narrow range of St, but only when cruising.

      In other words, this was know for swimmers, and here they've shown it for fliers, but only when cruising. As others have noted, birds have other types of flight that are not so tuned: soaring birds of prey, or hovering humming birds, for instance.

      So: the Nature article is fine: saying that a result is "not surprising" is not a criticism in science (that's how you form a hypothesis). I do not presume to dispense with data, simply provide insight. Further, just because something is plausible doesn't make it true -- hence the need (and value) of experiments in science. OTOH, just because something is true doesn't mean we understand it -- hence the need for theory and intuition, which I was trying to provide.

      The webpage, OTOH, while pretty, does a poor job of communicating. One paragraph and two pictures (implicit in my description) could have given insight into why Strouhal numbers fall in a narrow range.

  53. No problem! by Haeleth · · Score: 4, Funny

    11 m/s is approximately 21 knots. So the combined airspeed of two European swallows is... (drumroll) 42 knots.

    1. Re:No problem! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You wouldn't need two swallows, unless you are going to distribute coconuts.

    2. Re:No problem! by Galvatron · · Score: 0, Redundant

      But then they wouldn't be unladen, now would they?

      --
      "The question of whether a computer can think is no more interesting than that of whether a submarine can swim" -EWD
    3. Re:No problem! by davew666 · · Score: 1

      Don't forget there is a string in between them , holding the coconut, so the added air resistance will cause the speed to be not as much as double the speed of one swallow

  54. check ya facts by Down8 · · Score: 1

    And ye that are nitpickers shall be proven wrong.

    Repeatedly.

    -bZj

    --
    .sig
    1. Re:check ya facts by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What are you proving? The point is that the swallow is named after a country, not the continent or region thereof. I.e. there is such a thing as a South African Swallow, but it's not named after the the continent as the article claims.

  55. Re:New Low by SuuSt · · Score: 1

    *ah hem* news for NERDS.

  56. Those responsible ... by rob_au · · Score: 5, Funny
    Those responsible for the posting of this link and subsequent slashdotting of the site have been sacked.

    The site has now been mirrored by karma whores on numerous different hosts at great expense and at the last minute.

    1. Re:Those responsible ... by adamfranco · · Score: 1

      Sorry that the mirrors went down. Those responsible for the sacking have been sacked.

      - Johnllama Llammakowski

      --
      "When ideology and theology couple, their offspring are not always bad but they are always blind." -- Bill Moyers
    2. Re:Those responsible ... by S7urm · · Score: 0

      And there was great rejoicing

      "Yay!"

      --
      "This is the value of a summer spent and a winter earned"
  57. Re:New Low by DiscoDave_25 · · Score: 1

    Are you insane. Look at the title 'NEWS FOR NERDS'. Should you really be on /. if you don't at least worship at the altar of 'Python'? Honestly, what would you rather, another SCO story/Dupe (or are they really the same thing) or this....

  58. armchair zoologists by krilli · · Score: 0

    Well, we've heard of armchair sexology, so why not?

    --
    Jag pratar lite svenska.
    1. Re:armchair zoologists by krilli · · Score: 1

      My "funny" "joke" got ruined.

      There was supposed to be a link to furnitureporn.com. Never mind.

      --
      Jag pratar lite svenska.
  59. GNUPLOT & ... by foobsr · · Score: 1

    ... a member of the TeX family (PiCTeX), maybe.

    At least this combo should do the job.

    CC.

    --
    TaijiQuan (Huang, 5 loosenings)
  60. Bill Gates has something to do with this by jamshedji · · Score: 0

    After all, isn't this slashdot? Comatose!

  61. Bird size by marcovje · · Score: 1


    I looked at the Strouhal numbers link, and what
    immediately struck me is that there is no correction for bird size.

    The wingspan (amplitude) is in the equation, but not for this (it is used as a factor to determine the thrust)

    I'd expect the friction factor and a measure for the size of the bird (e.g. surface that is seen from the front) in there.

    1. Re:Bird size by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Evolution corrects for bird size, and the Strouhal number is interesting for the very reason that it can be applied to birds of all sizes. The point is that evolution seems to favor animals that can cruise efficiently, and efficient cruising (whether you're a whale or a zebra finch) seems to favor a Strouhal number in the range of 0.2-0.4.

    2. Re:Bird size by marcovje · · Score: 1


      That's what I don't get. Why the calculation of the Strouhal number doesn't involve size.

      Since size (and friction coefficient, which is related to streamlining) matters for e.g. friction, and friction effects efficiency.

      Maybe the difference is negiable since all birds are usually quite streamlined, and gas friction is much less than friction in fluid.

  62. The Physics Approach by BallPeenHammer · · Score: 0
    Assume the swallow is a sphere...

  63. Air Speed Velocity Of An Unladen Spit? by tommck · · Score: 1
    Had to ask...

    --
    ---- It puts the lotion on its skin or else it gets the hose again. It does this whenever it's told.
  64. I'll give it a try by The-Bus · · Score: 4, Funny

    "Look my liege! Charts describing Strouhal numbers and swallows!"
    *trumpets*
    "Charts!"
    "Charts!"
    "It' s only a model."
    "Shhh!"

    --

    Small potatoes make the steak look bigger.

    1. Re:I'll give it a try by DaveLatham · · Score: 1

      On second thought, let's not read the link. It is a silly page.

      Right...

  65. Is it just me... by theskipper · · Score: 1

    or does it look like some of those swallows are violating SCO's IP?

    Ok, coffee time.

  66. Re:WHAT!?!? by Phroggy · · Score: 0

    A gaggle of geeks and no one bothers to ask: European or African swallow?

    That's because some of us read the article before posting.

    --
    $x='S24;r)>63/* h@<5+oZ)32"5cz';$me='phroggy'x$];
    $x=~y+ -xz+\0-Tx+;print$_^chop$me for split'',$x;
  67. The expurgated version by andrewagill · · Score: 1

    Tsk. They use Roberts' Birds or Southern Africa, instead of the more appropriate Olsen's Standard Book of British Birds (the Expurgated Version)

    1. Re:The expurgated version by djtrialprice · · Score: 1

      Is that the one without the Gannet? I don't like them, they wet their nests.

      p.s. - I'm not buying that, it's torn.

  68. Speed, not Velocity by peterpi · · Score: 2

    You might be able to calculate the speed of a swallow, but the velocity is something different.

    1. Re:Speed, not Velocity by Mac+Degger · · Score: 1

      Hell, all you need to do is just calculate r'(t). Easy!

      --
      -- Waht? Tehr's a preveiw buottn?
  69. Capital of Assyria by Phroggy · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Might as well go completely off-topic on a story like this.

    The bonus question was, what's the capital of Assyria? One of the answers was Nineveh, which in the Bible is where God sent Jonah to warn the city's inhabitants of their impending destruction unless they repented of their evil ways. Jonah, who hated the Assyrians and didn't want Nineveh to have a chance to escape destruction, fled to Spain instead (about as far away as he could get), hoping God wouldn't be able to find him there. That obviously didn't work; Jonah was swallowed by a giant fish in the middle of the Mediterranean, then spit out whole; after sulking for awhile he did make the trip to Nineveh, told the people they were being wicked in the eyes of God, and to his dismay, they repented and changed their ways.

    So my question to any Slashdotters who happen to be history geeks: is there a non-Biblical historical record of any such change in the attitude or behavior of the people of Nineveh ( or the Assyrian Empire in general) that would coincide with the story about a warning of doom from an Israeli prophet? Biblical stories are always so much more interesting in proper historical context, and I know nothing about the subject, and this isn't an appropriate place to ask, but what the hell, I've got more karma than I know what to do with anyway. :-)

    --
    $x='S24;r)>63/* h@<5+oZ)32"5cz';$me='phroggy'x$];
    $x=~y+ -xz+\0-Tx+;print$_^chop$me for split'',$x;
    1. Re:Capital of Assyria by Maul · · Score: 1

      It is a well known fact that they slapped people with fish on a regular basis.

      --

      "You spoony bard!" -Tellah

    2. Re:Capital of Assyria by xcomputer_man · · Score: 2, Informative

      I did a little scouring around and did find this article:

      http://www.grmi.org/renewal/Richard_Riss/evidences /8jonah.html.

      One of the interesting facts is that there are several documented cases of people swallowed alive by whales who lived to tell the story; and yes, there are historical documents according to the article that support this story, one of which is cited as being from the Babylonian historian Berosus.

    3. Re:Capital of Assyria by Hettch · · Score: 1

      Props to you for finding that. That is a very interesting read indeed. I never thought about Jonah emerging from the fish in relation to the Assyrian god Dagan. I, for one, would probably be a bit freaked out if i saw a whale or something spit up a guy onto a beach who was turned pale white all over (presumably from the gastric juices, which had also never crossed my mind).

    4. Re:Capital of Assyria by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Offtopic, but fascinating! I wish I had some mod points...

    5. Re:Capital of Assyria by Joe+the+Lesser · · Score: 1

      Hmm, I think by the time of King Arthur the Syrian capital had been moved to Damascus. Could be wrong there.

      If there was any warning of doom for the country, I'd hope it was about the oncoming Roman legions.

      --
      "I only speak the truth"
      Karma: null(Mostly affected by an unassigned variable)
    6. Re:Capital of Assyria by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Another Link

      This suggests that there is no evidence for, and some evidence against, the validity of the Bartley story

  70. For the Monty Python Ignorant.... by linuxrunner · · Score: 4, Funny

    GUARD #1: Where'd you get the coconut?
    ARTHUR: We found them.
    GUARD #1: Found them? In Mercea? The coconut's tropical!
    ARTHUR: What do you mean?
    GUARD #1: Well, this is a temperate zone.
    ARTHUR: The swallow may fly south with the sun or the house martin or the plumber may seek warmer climes in winter yet these are not strangers to our land.
    GUARD #1: Are you suggesting coconuts are migratory?
    ARTHUR: Not at all, they could be carried.
    GUARD #1: What -- a swallow carrying a coconut?
    ARTHUR: It could grip it by the husk!
    GUARD #1: It's not a question of where he grips it! It's a simple question of weight ratios! A five ounce bird could not carry a 1 pound coconut.
    ARTHUR: Well, it doesn't matter. Will you go and tell your master that Arthur from the Court of Camelot is here.
    GUARD #1: Listen, in order to maintain air-speed velocity, a swallow needs to beat its wings 43 times every second, right?
    ARTHUR: Please!
    GUARD #1: Am I right?
    ARTHUR: I'm not interested!
    GUARD #2: It could be carried by an African swallow!
    GUARD #1: Oh, yeah, an African swallow maybe, but not a European swallow, that's my point.
    GUARD #2: Oh, yeah, I agree with that...
    ARTHUR: Will you ask your master if he wants to join my court at Camelot?!
    GUARD #1: But then of course African swallows are not migratory.
    GUARD #2: Oh, yeah...
    GUARD #1: So they couldn't bring a coconut back anyway...

    GUARD #2: Wait a minute -- supposing two swallows carried it together?
    GUARD #1: No, they'd have to have it on a line.
    GUARD #2: Well, simple! They'd just use a standard creeper!
    GUARD #1: What, held under the dorsal guiding feathers?
    GUARD #2: Well, why not?

    --
    www.slightlycrewed.com - Because aren't we all?
    1. Re:For the Monty Python Ignorant.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      >> ARTHUR: The swallow may fly south with the sun or the house martin or the plumber may seek warmer climes in winter

      That's "plover," tosh, not "plumber."

      (Yes, I'm suggesting that as a rule, plumbers are not migratory)

    2. Re:For the Monty Python Ignorant.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Morover, it's Mercia, not Mercea.

  71. RFC 1149 by Phroggy · · Score: 1

    Can RFC 1149 (or the more advanced 2549) be related somehow?

    --
    $x='S24;r)>63/* h@<5+oZ)32"5cz';$me='phroggy'x$];
    $x=~y+ -xz+\0-Tx+;print$_^chop$me for split'',$x;
    1. Re:RFC 1149 by First+Person · · Score: 1

      Damnit, another RFC obsoleted by the march of...um...progress. Concorde level service is no longer available.

      --
      Given one hour to live, the student replied: "I'd spend it with professor FP who can make an hour seem like a lifetime."
  72. Of others news, by Inominate · · Score: 1

    There is final and conclusive proof that they were arrested for a crime they could not have committed. The proof? The guy who killed the historian had a horse, not coconuts!

  73. What about... by asdrtyjkl · · Score: 1

    A swallow carrying a Coconut? When are they going to do that one?

    1. Re:What about... by milesbparty · · Score: 1

      A swallow carrying a Coconut?

      One could just grip it by the husk. Or two could carry it together, and just use a standard creeper.

      --
      eMelody Web Directory add your site today!
  74. An awful lot of effort... by ThosLives · · Score: 2, Informative
    To go through all this math and such when

    A) you can divide the distance traveled by the swallow by the time it took to travel that distance, or

    B) you can use a radar gun to measure speed directly

    (Especially when, if you read the article, there is mention that "wind tunnel tests" of swallows showed that their estimates were off (espeically on beat frequency). And they actually used speed measurements to validate their model. Hrm. Seems like an awful lot of work to me...)

    My apologies. I'm a bit cynical this morning.

    --
    "There are a dozen opinions on a matter until you know the truth. Then there is only one." - CS Lewis (paraprhase)
    1. Re:An awful lot of effort... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      A) If the swallow flies in a circle (or in anything other than a straight line... gee, wonder how often that happens) your measurement is shot.

      B) Swallows don't show up on radar.

  75. That whooshing sound... by SnappingTurtle · · Score: 0

    ... is the joke blowing right over your head.

    --
    I've found that my posts don't format quite right w/o a sig.
    1. Re:That whooshing sound... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      or was that an unladen swallow?

  76. But how big does our graph "need to be"? by ianscot · · Score: 1
    To imply similarity, make the graph larger than it needs to be. Then all of your points will fall in a narrow range and appear closer together.

    Looks like the zebra finch data set was small, pushing the top of the y axis to three times the top Strouhal number for anything on it. I'd call this clumsy more than misleading, but you're right -- it does conveniently push everything down to the bottom, doesn't it? The whole "narrowness of the band" line of argument fits that a little too well...

    A classic case where an editor's instincts on this point might lead newspapers to deliberately mislead the reader would be the stock market. When the market's at 10,000 (arbitrary example), to make a graph in which the y axis runs from 9,500 to 10,200 artificially exaggerates changes over time. (Oh my God! The market's down 80 points today! Which is to say, it's down just under 1 percent...) Graphs describing the stock market mostly show a tiny share of the market, the top 5% or 10% of the overall value, with steep rises and drops within a single week. Misleading, and sensationalistic.

    Don't let's get started on "government spending" graphs, either...

    --
    "Fundamentalism" isn't about divine morality. It's about human authority.
    1. Re:But how big does our graph "need to be"? by mvdw · · Score: 1

      You are right, of course, but your example leaves a little to be desired. 80 points is a significant amount of a 10,000 point market. 1 per cent in a day is a big change - imagine if you could get 1% per business day return on $10000. After a year, you'd have tripled your money.

  77. Haven't seen this yet... so here goes by blankmange · · Score: 1, Funny
    Imagine a Beowulf cluster of unladen swallows -- wouldn't that rock!

    Sorry, I just had to....

    --
    ...we are from the government - we are here to help...
    1. Re:Haven't seen this yet... so here goes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      no, no you didn't.

      I would suggest you stop using that imagination at once, it's obviously waster on you.

    2. Re:Haven't seen this yet... so here goes by Hell+O'World · · Score: 1

      I for one welcome our new swallow overlords.

    3. Re:Haven't seen this yet... so here goes by gregeth · · Score: 2, Funny

      You mean, kind of like the pigeon cluster google has?

    4. Re:Haven't seen this yet... so here goes by Alan+Hicks · · Score: 1

      Why on Earth would you want an unladen Beowulf cluster?

      --
      Slackware, what else when it must be secure, stable, and easy?
  78. What?! Informative?! by ndogg · · Score: 2, Funny

    To those who got modded +1 Informative:

    NI!!!!

    (damn you people, you're killing the moment!!!)

    --
    // file: mice.h
    #include "frickin_lasers.h"
  79. Air-speed velocity? by technomom · · Score: 2, Interesting

    The thing that always bugged me about this scene in the movie is the term, "air-speed velocity". Isn't that kind of redundant?

    Then again, I'm the kind who yells at the Scarecrow in the Wizard of Oz whenever he tells us
    "The sum of the square roots of any two sides of an isosceles triangle is equal to the square root of the remaining side."

    JoAnn

    1. Re:Air-speed velocity? by richmaine · · Score: 2, Interesting

      The "airspeed velocity" also struck me, but no it isn't redundant. It is contradictory. Speed and velocity are different things. (Speed is a scalar,
      velocity a vector).

    2. Re:Air-speed velocity? by Hettch · · Score: 1

      The airspeed vab, solved in body-fixed coordinates, contains the x-, y-, and z-components of the aircraft's velocity relative to the surrounding air. The airspeed is the difference between the inertial velocity vb and the wind vwb, which are both also formulated in body-fixed coordinates. -Taken from this site

      So, if i understand this correctly, the airspeed-velocity, would be the velocity of the aircraft (or sparrow) with the wind speed subtracted. Wouldn't the wind have to have a direction though, making it a vector as well?

    3. Re:Air-speed velocity? by multipartmixed · · Score: 1

      Yes, of course. You can't subtract a scalar from a vector. Or vice versa.

      --

      Do daemons dream of electric sleep()?
    4. Re:Air-speed velocity? by tilrman · · Score: 1

      It's a little redundant, but not really contradictory. Contrast "airspeed" to "groundspeed". Airspeed means your speed relative to the air (and wind, Coriolis effect, etc.); goundspeed, to the ground. So "airspeed velocity" means your velocity relative to the air. In this case, "airspeed" is implied to mean "air-relative".

  80. But can we explain the variations? by G4from128k · · Score: 2, Interesting

    The parent post does a great job of explaining why the Strouhal Number is the same across a range of organisms that use flapping for propulsion. Yet a glance at the graph shows considerable variation among creatures -- a 3:1 range between leaf-nosed bats and gulls. Most of the soaring air-based animals have Strouhal's of around 0.2, whereas the water-based animals have Strouhal's of around 0.3.

    It would be interesting to understand not why Strouhal Numbers are constant, but why they vary. I would assume that wing (or fin) shape would affect the optimal Strouhal Number because the Number is calculated on the wing tip, whereas the optimal flap is based on integrating over the wing surface. Wings of different designs, articulations, and flap movement trajectories would have different ratios between the tip-amplitude and the average area-weighted amplitude across the wing surface. I would expect that area-weighted Strouhals to have even less variation across animals that the tip-based number.

    Other factors might explain remaining variation. For example, sinusoidal wing beats would have a different Strouhals than square-wave wing beats. Perhaps the Reynolds number might affect Strouhals - explaining the difference between "flight " in air vs. water. Finally, some animals that only fly short distances may have sub-optimal Strouhals because the wings are optimized for other purposes such as courtship.

    --
    Two wrongs don't make a right, but three lefts do.
    1. Re:But can we explain the variations? by GospelHead821 · · Score: 1

      For one, it's a very simplistic model. A single dimensionless number is a good start to an effective correlation, but two or three definitely better define the system. You suggested Reynold's number, and I agree, it would be important to know, especially for the case of insect flight, since it is supposed that some insects take advantage of turbulence effects to remain aloft. So between the Strouhal Number and the Reynolds Number, the fluid flow regime and the stroke characteristic have been described. Perhaps create a third dimensionless group describing the size of the bird, non-dimensionalize the mass, volume, and wingspan (or stroke length) of the animal. Then you'd have three dimensionless groups which might yield a more tightly packed cluster of values for efficient flight.

      --
      Virtue finds and chooses the mean.
      Aristotle, Ethica Nichomachea
  81. Edward Tufte Award by jea6 · · Score: 1

    The website deserves a Tufte award for Excellence in the presentation of visual information. Very impressive effort!

    Though, no, such an award does not yet exist.

    --

    sarchasm: The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the person who doesn't get it.
  82. Beautiful Plumage! by mekkab · · Score: 1

    They needed education like this in school.

    Funny premise, so I stuck with it, built off of physics 101 ideas of waves (amplitude, freq.), and GOOD LORD! I learned something!

    --
    In the future, I would want to not be isolated from my friends in the Space Station.
  83. MathML? Could it be? by Jon+Abbott · · Score: 1

    You know, I got really excited when I saw the equations in the article... They looked too clean to be GIFs, so I thought that maybe it was MathML, the "holy grail" of mathematical HTML! I thought the world was complete. However, my aspirations were quickly dashed when I viewed the source, and saw that the equations were merely well-crafted CSS.

  84. Already nominated him for an IgNobel by CrystalFalcon · · Score: 1

    and the committee has acked the nomination. Dunno if he makes the finalists, but I sure as hell think he deserves one. :-)

  85. RTFA. European. :-) by CrystalFalcon · · Score: 1

    That's the first question answered in the article. It's about an European swallow.

  86. Biscuits? by Telepathetic+Man · · Score: 1

    I'd bet it was a meat packing plant in Austin, MN that funded it. Its much more likely.

    For those who need a map to get back to reality from that reference... ... its a SPAM(tm) reference.

    --
    Just because you can, does not mean you should.
  87. I weel not buy theese record by calyphus · · Score: 1

    ...eet eese scratched.

    --


    The potato it is uninformed.
  88. Lemon Curry? by Seanasy · · Score: 1, Offtopic

    Lemon Curry?

  89. A matter of time? by Conspiracy_Of_Doves · · Score: 1

    Like Terry Pratchett said, the paint wouldn't even have time to dry.

    1. Re:A matter of time? by mseeger · · Score: 2, Funny
      Like Terry Pratchett said, the paint wouldn't even have time to dry.

      Probably you would be run over and beaten afterwards by people who would complain, that the switch doesn't work. If the switch worked, they would complain too (about lax security measures) if they still could.

      Bye, Martin

    2. Re:A matter of time? by WildFire42 · · Score: 2, Funny

      Probably you would be run over and beaten afterwards by people who would complain, that the switch doesn't work. If the switch worked, they would complain too (about lax security measures) if they still could

      So, you mean you'd hear complaints from slashdotters? /me ducks.

  90. Reckless assertion... by CommieLib · · Score: 1

    IANAEB (I am not an evolutionary biologist), but...having actually read the article, the distribution of Strouhal numbers (an indicator of the amplitude of the wing beat, the wavelength of the wingbeat, and the resulting airspeed) falls within an envelope. From the article:

    Strouhal numbers for birds seem to fall on the lower end of the predicted range (closer to .2), while bat species tend to fall on the higher end (closer to .4). Similarly, Strouhal numbers for relatively large birds (amplitude larger than .5 meters) also seem to hug the lower end of the predicted range.

    Here's the reckless assertion: the envelope is a function of the folllowing factors:

    1. Mean air density at habitat
    2. Earth's gravity
    3. Biological limits of birds

    So alien birds would have an envelope, but's it's slope and area would be different according to the local conditions. Below certain critical levels of low air density or high gravity, the envelope collapses because no species can maintain the energy density necessary to maintain flight.

    --
    If your bitterest enemies are people who hack the heads off civilians, then I would say you're doing something right.
  91. I heard Bin Laden was a spitter by ReadParse · · Score: 1

    Sometimes the jokes write themselves.

  92. Strouhal numbers by forgetful · · Score: 1

    fA/v looks a lot like fA/c = energy . Wouldn't the Strouhal number relate to the biological energy available to the flying entities? Wouldn't that fall within a fairly narrow range?

    --
    "...while history is usually explicable it is often irrational" --Roger Spiller
    1. Re:Strouhal numbers by pclminion · · Score: 1
      I don't know where you're getting fA/c = energy... Assuming you're talking about light, then A is the electric field (volts per meter), so fA/c = volts per square meter, which isn't energy.

      The only way fA/c could be energy is if A is measured in joule-meters. I have no idea what a joule-meter is :-)

    2. Re:Strouhal numbers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I didn't read the article, so I don't know what they're using for f. But joules are newton*meters (remember W = Fd), so a joule-meter is (drumroll) a newton. Thus A would be force (or maybe just some other combination of kg*m/s^2). Not sure how that would help, though.

    3. Re:Strouhal numbers by pclminion · · Score: 1
      No, J = N*m therefore J*m = N*m*m, not a newton.

      Also, 'f' nearly always means frequency. Physicists use big 'F' for force.

  93. The other bonus question and answer by fireboy1919 · · Score: 4, Funny

    How can sheep's bladders be used to prevent earthquakes?

    Just consider the facts:
    B: What causes earthquakes?
    A: Sudden slippage along a fault line

    B: Ah, but WHY does that cause earthquakes?
    A: Because it's a lot of ground moving?

    B: No, try again.
    A: Because it doesn't slip smoothly?

    B: Yes, that's right. So...logically...
    A: We could prevent it if we got it to slip smoothly?

    B: And what do you slip on all of the time?
    A: Sheep urine?

    B: Absolutely. And where do you find sheep urine?
    A: Sheep bladders.

    B: Therefore...
    A: If we stick sheep bladders into a fault line, it'll prevent earthquakes!

    A: Thank you, Bedevere. Good insight.
    B: My pleasure, Oh King.

    --
    Mod me down and I will become more powerful than you can possibly imagine!
    1. Re:The other bonus question and answer by SeanAhern · · Score: 1

      Well done! If I had mod points, you'd get one.

  94. While we're at it we might as well hit them all... by Ignominious+Cow+Herd · · Score: 1

    1. Calculate and graph airspeed velocity of an uladen swallow
    2. ???
    3. Profit!!!

    --
    Lump lingered last in line for brains, and the ones she got were sorta rotten and insane.
  95. Re:Nitpick - slighly off topic by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    So ... South Africa isn't named after the continent?

  96. Just explain this... by yroJJory · · Score: 2, Funny

    Now if only someone explain how to chop down the largest tree in the forest using only a HERRING!

    --
    Jory
    1. Re:Just explain this... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      The exact wording is "WITH a herring". The "with" could mean "using only", or just "accompanied by". Chopping down a tree using an axe, while one of the other knights holds a herring nearby, would comparatively easier.

    2. Re:Just explain this... by Jade_Siren · · Score: 1

      Amen to that!

  97. Why "airspeed velocity"? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Why isn't it just "airspeed"? Why is a directional vector (velocity) called for in this problem?

  98. Strouhal No. looks bogus. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It's not dimensionless -(wing strokes/second) x (wing-travel meters/wing stroke) over
    (forward-travel meters/second)? The strokes might cancel each other out, but wouldn't you get
    wing-travel meters/forward-travel meters? That sounds like a reasonable thing, but it's not dimensionless.
    It would be interesting to understand not why Strouhal Numbers are constant, but why biologists think they are meaningful or useful in analysis of flight - the answer might lie in biologist math allergies. Was Mr. Strouhal a biologist or an engineer studying natural flight? The parameter seems so over-simplified. How much does the wing bend, how much of the distance to the wing-tip is just cosmetic and provides no lift, what is the wing area and how does it move, nody mass and shape, etc., etc., etc.

  99. Why's this funny? by GospelHead821 · · Score: 1

    Aside from the fact that the person who submitted this article was pushing the Monty Python reference, I think this is an excellent scientific article. As a chemical engineer, I'm well familiar with the importance of dimensionless numbers. One of the early exercises in teaching them is a correlation between leg length, stride length, stride rate, graviational acceleration and the resulting forward velocity. By developing dimensionless models, conclusions may be drawn about unmeasurable systems. For example, the above mentioned velocity correlation can be used to predict the speed of extinct animals. Similarly, this study of the Strouhal Number may be useful in better understanding flapping-wing flight, in a general sense.

    --
    Virtue finds and chooses the mean.
    Aristotle, Ethica Nichomachea
  100. It doesn't matter by CelticWhisper · · Score: 0

    He'll never get his hands on the grail! Never!

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  101. Just remember: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    There is no spoon.

  102. I'm speechless by Atario · · Score: 1

    "Lemon Curry" got modded -1 Offtopic in a Monty Python thread. I can't decide if that's right or not. Maybe if there was such a thing as +1 Offtopic?

    NI!

    --
    "A great democracy must be progressive or it will soon cease to be a great democracy." --Theodore Roosevelt
  103. What is being communicated? by gfrege · · Score: 1

    Very well: your original post was about the webpage, not the article in Nature. In that case, let's evaluate both postings not as claims about science (that is, not in terms of your "explicit" claim), but as a claim about the webpage in terms of its announced goals (your "implicit" claim). After all, we seem to agree on the importance of experiment.

    Your claim in your original post was:

    The author of the webpage uses far too much verbiage and pretty pictures and doesn't seem to understand what's happening

    which breaks down into two points. They both share a common assumption: that the author is trying to explain the Strouhal number, and more specifically, trying to explain why it exhibits the narrow range it does in the organisms in question. But this assumption is incorrect. The author never attempts to answer the "why" question, and his exposition of the Strouhal number itself is short and comes in the first two sentences of the article:

    For dolphins, sharks, and bony fish moving at their preferred cruising speed, the ratio of tail frequency and amplitude to forward speed is constrained to a narrow but efficient range of values. This dimensionless ratio is the Strouhal number, and evolution seems to favor efficient swimming motion with a Strouhal number in the range of 0.2-0.4.

    Since this explanation is clearly over with early on in the article, it is gratuitous to assume that giving it is the entire project of the article. So, if he's not trying to explain the Strouhal number qua zoological measure of some kind, what is he trying to do? He himself makes it clear at the end of the introduction:

    I wanted to see what ratios of amplitude, frequency, and speed actually look like in winged flight, what the Strouhal number actually represents, and why it is dimensionless.

    Clearly the important phrases in this characterization of his goal are "look like" and "actually represents."

    Now, what do these phrases mean or imply? The emphasis on the visual and the actual indicates that the author--a designer--is interested in connecting the mathematics of the Strouhal number with a picture of the organisms (in this case, birds) whose behavior it is said to describe. He then goes on to introduce aspects of that behavior (movement through space; flapping of wings) and of those organisms (relative size, primarily) that are key to visually picturing how the number relates to them. That done, he wanted to produce visual representations of how the narrow range of Strouhal numbers translates across a wide range of organisms. The overall point is to provide many and eloquent pictures of what is expressed tersely in the number itself and its associated equations.

    Whether this goal is reached is a question one could ask, but it was nowhere present in either of your postings. Granted, in mathematics the era of picture-thinking is long over, brought to an end by Hilbert, if not before. But there's no reason to assume that "communication" is a univocal term whose meaning is best captured by the mode of communication and expression used in the sciences. Different goals, different means. His goal was to achieve a particular type of visualization. This is what I meant when I recommended that you try to figure out what people are doing before you try to figure out how to do it better.

    1. Re:What is being communicated? by inri · · Score: 1

      Your subject line is rather expressive: I think that the goal (of the webpage author) is to communicate his understanding. More specifically, he wants to communicate it visually, but this is too narrow a goal. (An analogy, perhaps: someone building a housing project may say that their goal is to build a skyscraper, but their actual goal is (or should be) to house the poor. (yeah, I'm in Chicago)). So while the author succeeded in his narrow goal of drawing pictures to explain the Strouhal number, he failed (or at least did a suboptimal job) to convey the understanding.

      There's something else here: it's often easiest to explain some idea by showing the way you discovered it, but this is usually bad for communicating and reflects a lack of understanding: if you understand something, you can often explain it more simply than by reciting the steps you used. So after drawing some pictures, the author realized that the Strouhal number was just the ratio of vertical to horizontal (speed, or distance/cycle) -- but instead of saying that, concisely, he draws the pictures and only then, awkwardly, explains the ratio.

      That is, he put a lot of work into presenting his understanding, but some of that work should have been spent mulling over his understanding and polishing it, rather than presenting a gorgeously illustrated first draft.

      Quoting now:

      I wanted to see what ratios of amplitude, frequency, and speed actually look like in winged flight, what the Strouhal number actually represents, and why it is dimensionless.

      As you note, "look like" and "actually represents" indicate what kinda goal he has -- I would add "see" also suggests his visual goal. However, he's expressing it in visual terms b/c he's a visual person: I argue that his ultimate goal is understanding: "why it is dimensionless", say.

      Incidentally, I am a geometer, hence my especial interest in this story: I'm also very visual. However, I think that visual understanding happens in your mind's eye, not in actual pictures. Perhaps this is because I do somewhat abstract geometry (I specialize in high dimensions, mainly 5 or more), hence we can't draw actual pictures, yet we can still use our visual intuition. Drawing pictures can help, but the actual understanding is not in the pictures: it's in your brain. Thus paradoxically pictures can inhibit visual understanding: you see the picture on the page (er, screen), but you don't have it in your head as an understanding.

      Similarly, he essentially says that the Strouhal number is unitless because the units cancel, instead of saying that it's a ratio of speeds. Here we have a similar situation to pictures, only with equations: manipulating an equation can give you a result, just like you can see a result in a picture, but it doesn't mean you necessarily understand it, or can convey that understanding.

      Note that I also teach Calculus, so exposition is often on my mind: I was chastising the author, not because he did a bad job, but because it could have been rather better.

      Oh, and about Hilbert: his goal to eliminate pictures from mathematics was quixotic: turns out language is as squishy as pictures. If you want completely rigorous mathematics, you can do it (as Goedel and some did), but by making it machine-readable, it's no longer human readable. A quip about geometry is that it's "precise reasoning about imprecise pictures": the pictures are essentially schematics -- but so are the words: reality is elsewhere.

  104. Re:It's "could not" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    The argument is irrelevant anyway, because the line is:
    "A five-ounce bird could not carry a one-pound coconut."

  105. what? by nih · · Score: 1

    nothing to see here

    --
    I'm a rabbit startled by the headlights of life :(
  106. Re:but... by ryusen · · Score: 1

    figuring this out doesn't completly ruin the movie. knowing the actual speed of the a swallow, does in no way, make the characters any less un/appealing. knowing about little microbes that control everythign int he universe and turn what was once billed as religious hockey into a verifiable science does A LOT to ruin the ambiance of a setting...

    --

    I believe sex is highly over rated... unless it involves me
  107. Good call by quinkin · · Score: 1
    Good call, I bet he at least makes the nominations.

    Q.

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    Insert Signature Here
  108. Still, the question not answered is... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Where did Arthur get the Coconut?

  109. yes... but WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE COLOR! by monk · · Score: 1

    Thank you for confirming my confidence in the general silliness of existence.

    --
    [-- Trust the Monkey --]
  110. Use charts to lie with girls by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Penis length

    Me 8=========D
    Avg. Horse 8====D

    INCHES -12 0 12 24 36 48 60

  111. cablepokerface by ishmaelflood · · Score: 1

    It took a while, but it got the attention it deserved. Not many things on this site make me laugh, that one did.

    How the fuck do you get -1 every time?