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Feather-based Jacobean Space Chariot
simonmsh writes "The article Cromwell's moonshot: how one Jacobean scientist tried to kick off the space race describes 17th century plans to build a space chariot out of springs, feathers and gunpowder. The design was based on the idea that gravity disappeared at an altitude of 20 miles, which was called into question by Hooke ? and Boyle ? 's work.
It sounds like the plot of a Neal Stephenson book." Said book, and its sequels are phenomenal.
Maybe if you had a REALLY REALLY big spring ...
Quotes like this remind you of a child trying to divine where all the food they eat goes.
Or more sadly it may remind you of our current president. Which of the "internets" am I using to post right now?
A little knowlege is extremely dangerous, and history shows us a large number of "little knowlege" people that caused lots of pain and suffereing for hundreds of years afterwards.
... and most of the US.
Enter George W Bush.
it's in my head
This story should be Exhibit A in the argument that we need to be able to moderate entire articles. This one should be -1 Offtopic.
<sarcasm>
Wow, once upon a time people had hairbrained ideas for inventions or crazy concepts about how the world works. How newsworthy!</sarcasm>
Tell me, was this article: 1) 'news for nerds', 2) 'stuff that matters', or 3) offtopic?
And as you tread the halls of sanity, You feel so glad to be, Unable to go beyond. I have a message, From another time..
It flew with the "speed of the wind" and gave forth a "melodious sound."
It would have to fly quickly, playing all the "melodious sounds" without a license wouldv got ye olde RIAA (Red Indian Acoustic Americans) on their asses.
liqbase
If I network my house with my neighbors', we have an internet.
Yes, the ignorant would call it an internet. This is a LAN. If you stick web services on your LAN you could call it an intranet. I would hate to see you disapointed when you can't access www.google.com on your "internet".