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The Physics of Superman
eieken writes "The physics of Superman mostly belong in the realm of comic books, but some scientists decided to give their input on the matter. The article tells of 'a scientific experiment in which a researcher put several chickens in a centrifuge and raised them in twice-normal gravity for months at a time. When they emerged, the chickens were stronger and had larger bones and muscles, and greater endurance. In other words, they were superchickens.' Do they have human sized centrifuges?"
But can the superchickens fly now?
Funnypics
Is it time to welcome our new super-chicken overlords?
Support a true independent artist - Leila Lopez
And here I thought Fred's super sauce was the reason for super chickens.....
l yrics.htm
http://www.digital-sledgehammer.com/superchicken/
Yet another great reason to live in Pittsburgh.....
-- Fugacity: Confusing chemists since 1908
Looks like they should have put their web server in the centrifuge as well...
Duct tape is like the Force. It has a light side, a dark side, and it holds the universe together.
It's difficult to tell from this vantage point whether they will consume the captive earth men or merely enslave them. One thing is for certain: there is no stopping them; the chickens will soon be here. And I for one welcome our new centrifuge generated superchicken overlords.
------ Take away the right to say fuck and you take away the right to say fuck the government.
The Sayan of Planet Vegeta know it for a long time...
see the book "The Physics of Superheroes". It's about exactly what you would expect.
When I saw the title, I was sure that this story was going to be about the recent book .
You could only get so much bigger (bones, muscle, etc) before it wasn't an advantage anymore, right? I mean, growing something in higher gravity so that it creates a stronger 'infrastructure' (for lack of a better term) would only be beneficial up to a certain point, at which point the weight of said 'infrastructure' would weight you down so as to defeat the purpose....
My grandma used to kill chickens by twirling them over her head to break the necks, then throwing them down. Like to see her try that with a "superchicken"!
Can't you just see it? Hank comes outside to find his wife, and there the is, cornered in the hen house. "Look out Hank! That one by the door knows judo or something!"
=======================
Psyclo, the dark night.
Mike, the computer geek.
That chicken thing is just weird. That must have been a while ago, I don't see how anyone could get the ethical approval to do something like that. Just how would you keep the chickens in for months at a time anyway? How would you feed them and such? Do you stop the thing for a moment, do what you need, then start it back up?
That said, the article comments on Superman flying. I read somewhere recently (some list of facts about Superman) some interesting stuff. One of the things was that "Faster than a speeding bullet... more powerful than a locomotive..." stuff was not part of the original Superman comics, it was apparently made up for a radio show. But more interesting to me, apparently Superman COULDN'T fly. He was able to jump REALLY HIGH. You know, "able leap tall buildings in a single bound." At some point that somehow turned into flying (this was a bulleted list of facts type thing, so it didn't expand on these).
There was a special on TLC, Discovery, Science Channel, or some such recently about the physics of Superman. I didn't see it (I'm sure it will be re-run), but I remember from a commercial that they said it would actually be MORE PAINFUL for Lois to be caught by Superman than to simply fall to her death. I don't know why, you'd have to watch to find out I guess.
Comment forecast: Bits of genius surrounded by a sea of mediocrity.
Super Grover unavailable for comment.
Reviews with a twist! http://www.sardonicbastard.com
Apparently they tasted just like Christopher Reeve.
But do they taste super?
If Superman humped Lois and discharged, would those projectiles do her damage?
... it turns out super takes like chicken.
Help poke pirates in the eyepatch, arr.
That's Tom Strong.
-- @rjamestaylor on Ello
Don't astronauts use centrifuges to train?
When a handgun is thrown at them do they duck?
So when they turned the centrifuge off and took the chickens out were they able to walk straight or did they resemble a drunken person trying to walk like the guy in the following video http://www.videotiger.com/funnydrunkmanvideo.shtml ? I hope they recorded when they took the chickens out and will sometime post it on the internet!
Hey, there is only one Return and it's not of the King, it's of the Jedi.
So, did the superchickens have more dark meat on them, or light? Parts that get exercised (thighs) are darker than parts that don't (breast on a non-flying chicken). I can see this at Wegman's now, "boneless thighs from free-range, hormone-free, pre-centrifuged, SuperChickens".
the more accurate the calculations became, the more the concepts tended to vanish into thin air. R. S. Mulliken
How did "Do they have human sized centrifuges?" every get posted?
/. has fallen so far from what it once was...
Finally checked out digg - man
Not only stronger, but probably really dizzy as well.
When you find yourself in danger,
When you're threatened by a stranger,
When it looks like you will take a lickin',
There is someone waiting,
Who will hurry up and rescue you,
just Call for Super Chicken!
Fred, if you're afraid you'll have to overlook it,
Besides you knew the job was dangerous when you took it
He will drink his super sauce
And throw the bad guys for a loss
And he will bring them in alive and kickin'
There is one thing you should learn
When there is no one else to turn to
Call for Super Chicken!
"Kittens give Morbo gas!"
www.eFax.com are spammers
*mumbles something about welcoming centrifuge raised chicken overlords*
I hate printers.
Beat me to it.
:)
And I'm not even that old, but my dad introduced me to it.
Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum sonatur.
Everytime you mod me down, a scientist centrifuges a chicken.
Please, think of chickens.
not this shit again!
by the food court:
T.S. Quint: But they're engaged.
Brodie: Doesn't matter, can't happen.
T.S. Quint: Why not? It's bound to come up.
Brodie: It's impossible, Lois could never have Superman's baby. Do you think her fallopian tubes could handle the sperm? I guarantee you he blows a load like a shotgun right through her back. What about her womb? Do you think it's strong enough to carry her child?
T.S. Quint: Sure, why not?
Brodie: He's an alien, for Christ sake. His Kyrptonian biological makeup is enhanced by earth's yellow sun. If Lois gets a tan the kid could kick right through her stomach. Only someone like Wonder Woman has a strong enough uterus to carry his kid. The only way he could bang regular chicks is with a kryptonite condom. That would kill him.
T.S. Quint: How is it that I go from the verge of hot Floridian sex with Brandi to man of steel coital debates with you in the food court?
Transporter_ii
Doctors destroy health, lawyers destroy justice, universities destroy knowledge, religion destroys spirituality
The physicists of Planet Vegeta know why, you'd have to simply fall to jump REALLY HIGH. You could only get the chickens in the centrifuge to see as to their death. I thought Fred's super chickens looked like that. Just how would the weight you feed them in the chickens (in the superchickens) fly now? And here I thought Fred's super chickens look like they should have to watch or simply fall to jump REALLY HIGH. You could get the matter settled quickly. The Sayan of the captive earth men or merely enslave them. One of said 'infrastructure' (for lack of a while ago), I sang for a radio show. But can the chickens in which point that "Faster than a special on TLC, Discovery, Science Channel", or merely enslave them? One at a time anyway? How would you get down so that somehow they turned into flying anvils? (this was not part of Superman). I don't see how anyone could, but especially not about Superman. Something interesting to defeat the captive earth men or something interesting to be here. And I guess the physics of the realm of the original Superman flying. I read somewhere recently about the article telling of the matter. The Sayan of facts type thing, so as well... It's difficult to give their input. One thing is for a while ago, and I don't see how it would only be beneficial to give up their web server in twice-normal gravity as well.
I don't know if Discovery Channel in the States has it right now, but two weeks ago Discovery Channel Canada had a documentary called The Science of Superman and went through the details on how the powers from the man of steel actually worked. Most of them were plausible, namely the super strengh as well as the cold-breath. It was really interresting how his powers could be explained through physics. The fact that Krypton was super dense really made scientific sense for Duperman's powers when he got to earth.
Though never shown, I figured Superman would just flap his feet very rapidly to generate thrust, like any of us swimming, but far more powerful.
That's how I do it, anyway. Up, up and away!
"I would say that 99 per cent of what my father has written about his own life is false." - L. Ron Hubbard Jr.
This just in... scientists at the San Diego SUPERCOMPUTER center have dedicated several processing units to modeling Kryptonian physical capacities.
Work is proceeding at a slow pace, as technicians are forced to lift aside the capes on the SUPERCOMPUTERS to configure them.
If, having grown up here on Earth, you travel to a place with lower gravity (like Moon), you will be a superman.
Other example exist too — some athletes excercise at high altitudes to adjust their bodies to lower oxygen levels. When they then compete at (just above) sea level, they have an advantage.
In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
I don't feel like dredging my memory for the proper physics formulas, so maybe some bored physics student can help me out. Let's say I wanted to live in 2x gravity on Earth for a few months (or years), for the healthful aspects.
So I build a huge centrifuge shaped like a bowl, with a track at a certain angle. You'd like to spin the track at a speed and angle such that I get a simulated 2x gravity, while having the angle such that my weight would be perpendicular to the apparent floor. You'd build walls perpendicular to the track (and a parallel ceiling) as well so that things would seem normal.
So how wide would the track need to be, and what angle would you need, so as to have an approximately normal environment? Obviously if the ring is too small, you'll get different forces on each part of your body and you'll notice it. There's probably no good psychological data on what size you "need", so let's see some numbers at different sizes, and see what would seem reasonable.
Also, is there any problem with this scenerio? I've never heard of it being done, which means maybe there's something I'm missing as far as practicality.
Sometimes it's best to just let stupid people be stupid.
I remember reading his analysis about Superman and reproduction. Delving into the possiblity of reproducing with Supergirl (ruled out; Krypotonian incest bad) and killing Lois accidentally during sex (sperm that's more powerful than a locomotive, faster than a speeding bullet, etc...). http://www.larryniven.org/
I might have to go dig that book back up and see if I can warp some minds...
"Common sense will be the death of us all"
Perhaps this new finding will need to be added to the next edition of The Physics of Superheroes
I assume by virtue of inclusion that the bit about growing chickens in higher gravity yields stronger muslces and bigger bones is of some surprise. Why would you not think biology has feedback? I know we humans like to pride outselves on things we invent but mother nature has been at it for many more years.
/. summary is about the chicken when the chicken part is only at the end of the article, but thought I'd point it out. It seemed rather shocking to eieken to warrant dominating the summary about the chicken.
Your respiratory rate is determined by the level of carbon dioxide present in your blood (not oxygen). Feedback.
Your heart rate has a normal rate but can be altered by hormones like adrenaline (fight-or-flight response). Feedback....in a more long-about sort of way.
Blood glucose levels plays a part in hunger which leads to eating which restores glucose. Feedback.
Immobility or lack of exercise can lead to atrophy of the muscles but can be restored by using them. Feedback.
Astronauts have to exercise in microgravity to also prevent atrophy. Feedback.
So if a chicken grows up in high gravity then why shouldn't it have higher muscle strength and bigger bones.
Nevermind the bulk of the
:wq
By spinning astronauts and then testing them in the "balance booth," Paloski hopes to learn how to facilitate the transition from one state to another. His subjects will be crewmembers of shuttle mission STS-107, which is slated for launch in January 2003. "We plan to test these astronauts both before and after the mission," he says.
Damn.
I think a rotisserie is like a really morbid ferris wheel for chickens. It's a strange piece of machinery... "We will take the chicken, kill it, impale it, and then rotate it. And I'll be damned if I'm not hungry! Because spinning chicken carcasses make my mouth water! I like dizzy chicken. With a side of potatoes of some sort."
Post-rock/Ambient/Drone and other noise.
For anyone interested in the development of Supermans powers as the series progressed, check out this website:
http://www.johnath.com/~david/etc/superman.html
As other posters have mentioned, yes, it is true that he started without flying ability -he could leap only one eighth of a mile. The development of his powers is actually quite staggering, going from what nowadays would be a lesser superhero, to being one of the most powerful superheroes in the combined comic book multiverse.
it was done with rats and other animals decades ago. Still ... chickens. It is pretty funny.
The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.
I picked up the book "The Science of Superman" some time ago. Not a bad read, and it goes into the details of how Superman's powers might stem from the differential in intensity of the earth/krypton sun, gravity, etc.
I have no idea if this is still used in training, but back in high school track days we had weighted vests and ankle weights we had to wear all the time. IIRC the vests weighed 16 lbs and the ankle weights were about 2 per. Then joe sadist coach made us run out to the beach and run in hip deep water. Then up and down sand dunes. Then you were required to *run home*, which for me was considerable miles living out of town in the country.
As soon as I got a job I *quit* track......
I've heard rumors to the effect that if you attack them with a sword repeatedly, it will send a call out to dozens of other superchickens which will all attack you until you flee indoors or scroll to the next area.
God spoke to me.
Are these superchickens docile, or does this mark the end of the era of the subservient chicken?
http://www.nasa.gov/vision/space/preparingtravel/h uman_centrifuge_08315.html
.. may be relevant. Zeus (aka Jupiter in the Roman pantheon) had several children to Human mothers. If Zeus = superhuman and assuming that the ancient greek fallopian tubes were roughly similar to Lois Lanes, then I think they have a chance. Debating Greek mythological reproduction is no less stupid than debating comic book hero reproduction. Well, IMHO. (There's also cases of Zeus turning into a swan, or bull. Let's see Superman try that).
"The greatest lesson in life is to know that even fools are right sometimes" - Winston Churchill
To prevent this day from getting worse, I'll just read ERROR as GOOD TH
"If he was gone two hours (flying at the speed of light), by the time he returned the world would be over."
Wouldn't he return in 2 hours?
probably just as scientific, remember Conan the Destroyer? or the barbarian or pastry chef i cant remember. Anyway he was just a standard slave who was tied to a hand driven mill that he pushed around and around and around until he became the governor of Kaifornya! Laughing time is ovah.
Well, Superman Returns proves Larry Niven is wrong.
His entire argument hinges on the assumption that the Kryptonian nervous system behaves just like the human immune system. Since Superman can see things and react in bullet-time or faster and he can sort out millions of audio signals independently, neither of which a human can do, Niven makes an irrecoverable mistake in his essay. In fact the speed of reaction Superman exhibits is faster than our neurotransmitters can even signal, so Kryptonian neurophysiology has to be completely different, perhaps optical or even quantum in nature. Given that he's powered by the Sun, I'd lean more towards an optical nervous system.
My God, it's Full of Source!
OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
In Melbourne (Australia), we have an amusement park named "Luna Park" that had a really cool ride called the Gravitron, that looked like this. It was essentially a human sized centrifuge, where you walked in, and lay down against a padded mat that was lying on the wall. Then the ride would start, the thing would speed up and the the g's would start building up and press you against the wall.
:)
Which enabled you to do stupid things like go upside down and have your face stretched. It was cool and my favourite ride at that age. Perhaps it contributed to my huge bone density and muscle strength of later years
Not sure if it is still there... anyone know? Anyone remember this?
How do they taste?
Leben Sie jetzt die Fragen.
...Do the superchickens have large talons?
Why is it that when you believe something it's an opinion, but when I believe something it's a manifesto?
The attempt has been made to put humans in this kind of plus G environment. People loose so much bone mass during space flight the idea was to build as much bone as possible before leaving earth and then let people fall back to normal.
Unfortunately our sense of balance is directly tied into G, specifically the acceleration of liquids in one G. When you're in a high G environment your inner ear believes that a small turn of the head is an increadibly rapid and vicious turn. What results is increadible nausea and an inability to function, and since it takes months at high G to build bone this idea is limited in its applications. While people are able to adapt relatively quickly to freefall this is not so easy with Hyper-G.
-Ian
Moderators who modded you Insightful must not have read up much on relativity - When you say "gone for two hours" the answer to the question is - his time our yours?
If that's two hours of his time, no he would not be back in two hours...
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Centrifuge? No thanks. I prefer to increase my gravity the old fashioned way - with food, beer, and sitting around.
It seems to be a common misconception that superheroes are science fiction. Like Star Wars, they're Science Fiction Flavored, but they aren't really stories about science.
It can be a fun framework for discusion, but (stating the obvious here) realism is no more important to these stories than it is to Harry Potter or King Arthur.
Talking about realism is more relevant when the story is science fiction instead of fantasy dressed up like science fiction.
While I enjoy fantasy stories, it seems unfortunate they have eclipsed science fiction by appropriating the settings and conventions.
Hi,
I am the president of the Linear Momentum Anti-Defamation League, and I must protest the screening of Superman. It is a blatant disrespect for the Laws of Physics and restores the traditional anti-physicist canards of the "motion-libel" that the laws of Physics can be violated with impunity.
Regards,
President
Motto: To stop the defamation of the Laws of Physics. To restore mathematical sanity for all.
l'Homme n'est Rien l'Oeuvre Tout: Gustave Flaubert to George Sand
If you want to read more details, use the "Inside Book" search on Amazon within the Great Mambo Chicken.
From the search results link above, visit pages 54 and 55 - the sidebars navigate to the next and previous pages.
No I have no affilate link in there (that I am aware of) - call me crazy.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
No discussion of the Physics of Superman is complete without this analysis of why Superman can't have sex.
Remain calm! All is well!
The obligatory reference to Larry Niven's classic "Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex" in which he describes some of the problems involved in a Kryptonian/Human relationship:
http://www.rawbw.com/~svw/superman.html (first Google link)
http://acg.media.mit.edu/people/fry/valence/valenc e-id40-512x384.mov
...but the chickens wouldn't know that. Besides, what you really want to do is spin them up, keep them at high speed until ready for the supermarket, then hit the brakes. The bones'll be large enough that you won't get fragments everywhere, it would be painless for the chicken, and I'm certain you could make a fortune selling the slow-motion video to students.
It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
You mean ultra-mega-hyper chicken? Shh! He is legend!
Unlike porn, which yada yada rimshot hey-ooh!
From the article----""The flying always bothered me,'' admits Richard Muller, a professor of astrophysics at Cal and a Superman fan. "I think what he really does is leap and guide himself along the air currents. Or, if you can't really rule out flying, maybe he has a mechanism for somehow forcing air backward ----" Isn't that called farting?
with regards to the xray vision and mirror statements... are these guys so damn dumb...???
...
ppl see off reflected rays and your eyes act as the receiver and the object itself is the reflector
nowhere has it been stated that he generates/uses xrays itself. It is called xray vision to illustrate the effect being similar to xrays..i.e penetrate through layers.
anyway, it is very conceivable (given everything else) that he just uses rays of varying wavelenghts/frequencies that each can penetrate through varying thickness. and based on how/when they reflect back, he can figure out the shape and placement of the object....
Once you go beyond a certain point, even before you start "weighing too much" you start to lose a lot of mobility due to the bulk and tension of your muscles. It also can cause a whole host of health problems. Its basically the polar opposite of being way too fat. There are extremes in both directions where problems arise once you cross a certain point. Like most things in life, ideeally you want to be somewhere in the middle.
You are who you are, let no one tell you different. But, never close your mind to a new point of view.
National Geographic just did a show on the physics of Superman and trying to explain his superpowers. I found it quite interesting.
When I was an undergrad taking lower division Newtonian Physics my prof assigned a problem set along the lines of:
"Superman: the man of steel. Faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, able to leap tall buildings in a single bound:
1) Calculate Superman's kinetic energy to go faster than the bullet
2) Determine the amount of work Superman would do pushing against the locomotive to make it go backwards 1 km on a level track
3) Compute the impulse generated by Superman to leap a tall building
Most of the class did OK, I got all the answers in the ballpark, but one student had answers that were an order of magnitude greater than anybody elses'. When the prof asked the student why his answers were so high, he replied "Well, it seems as if I used a higher mass than anybody else - you DID say that Superman was the man of steel, didn't you?"
He got full credit.
All this talk about super chickens, spinning, gravity, large bones, dinosaurs, hollow bones of birds, kinda makes me think of playing pool, & I wonder, is there little creatures on my pool balls & how can I talk to them ?
Wanna fight ? Bend over, stick your head up your ass, and fight for air.
How did they taste?
No one cares. If I wanted to go read a poorly done Slashdot clone ran by rejects from Myspace, I'd go read, well, Digg. I don't. That's why we're at Slashdot, not Digg.
I guess what I'm just trying to say is STFU and GTFO.
They started training at 10 times earth gravity, and were well up over a hundred in just a couple villain intermissions worth of training.
So yeah, train hard, get strong. (as long as you don't break yourself in the process)
Maybe the interesting thing here is not that the chickens got stronger, but that 2g was within their biological limits.
Start Running Better Polls
For centrifuged chickens, Great Mambo Chicken And The Transhuman Condition by Ed Regis. For horny Superman, Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex by Larry Niven.
So, uhh, what does beefed up chicken taste like?
Can a chicken really do anything "in style"?
I give bread to the poor, they call me a saint.
I ask why the poor have no bread, they call me a communist.
While reading some Tesla information, it did come across my mind that it should be physically possible, if figured out how, to do the stuff Superman does, more or less.
Don't know whether it was mentioned before, but centrifuges for humans do exist. They are widely used to torture pilots and astronauts with g-forces encountered during flight maneuvers or during a shuttle/rocket start. One of them was also used in an attempt to kill James Bond (Sean Connery in...forgot which one). And there was a patent that claimed to facilitate childbirth by putting mom-to-be into a centrifuge...
... it still tastes like chicken, right ?
Here it is: http://transform.to/~werekatt/cartoon/dog/dog20.JP G
However, if you escape from the assumption that he's some fancy biological being, then things change completely. In my mind, Superman is a being composed of energy. His appearance is just a convenient form, a shell. Kryptonian technology seems to be advanced enough for this to be plausible, and it also rids us of the unlikely coincidence that Kryptonians and humans happen to look exactly the same.
Composed of energy and manipulating forces, all of Superman's powers become plausible - as energy, flight makes sense, speed makes sense, and strength could be the transmutation of energy into forces. With Kryptonian technology, it might be possible to create force fields of two dimensions (planes, or surfaces) or three dimensions (volumes, or zones), which you could also view as curving space. Then things like lifting a car by its bumper would make sense, whereas with human phyics you'd just rip the bumper of. And as for lifting continents, if the force required to lift a continent was applied to an area the size of your hand it would pass through any known substance as easily as we pass through air. Strength-by-force-field is the only thing that makes any sense.
Kryptonite also makes more sense with Superman as an energy being. Maybe it gives off some weird particles that interfer with Superman's ability to transmute energy into gravitons or other force particles. Superman being solar-powered makes better sense this way too. And obviously heat vision, x-ray vision, and flying at cose to the speed of light make more sense for an energy being than for a material being.
Well, that's my uberdorkiness binge for the day.
A-Bomb
being on the planet it could only ever be 1g
That's roughly what obese people are doing to their body; they don't increase gravity, but they do increase body mass. You can also simulate this with weight vests.
It does increase muscle mass, but other long term results are joint problems and problems with the circulatory system. Your body is optimized for a particular total body mass in standard gravity. It can adapt to some degree, but if you deviate too far, things stop working.
If you run the centrifuge backwards, do they come out as eggs? And if so, super strong eggs, or super weak eggs?
sudo ergo sum
Yes, Six Flags Magic Mountain has one, and it's parodied as the "Maternafuge" in Futurama. It's about the only thing in California that makes me want to vomit for a reason other than disgust.
Help us build a better map!
As long as the centrifuge does not also make them superintelligent, these chickens are no match for Chuck Norris.
Superman falls, and simply misses the ground.
If you like what I've said here, and want to read more, go to http://www.krillrblog.com
Based on the fine article, I like the anti-gravity approach to explain flying, since it's something we don't have too good a handle on how to do. If we find a way to explain flying by playing around with G, can we use the same principle to play around with c? It's been a while since I had college physics, so I do not immediately recall, but I am sure you could find some equation to tie G to c.
As Q once said on the Enterprise, "Well just change G..."
What was their reaction to it?
http://nathanlindsell.blogspot.com/
1. The Super-Chicken becomes a usual chicken after life during some time in normal conditions. 2. Children of the Super-Chicken are usual chickens.
Hide your files and folders from others!
Goku and Vegeta already did this a long time ago in DragonBall Z or GT... at 500G.
The article tells of 'a scientific experiment in which a researcher put several chickens in a centrifuge and raised them in twice-normal gravity for months at a time. When they emerged, the chickens were stronger and had larger bones and muscles, and greater endurance.
Andromeda's Dylan Hunt maybe.
The scientists are now seeking a grant from NSF to hire a post-doc to scrape the accumulated chicken poop off the outer wall of the centrifuge.
Saw bits-n-pieces of this last weekend: http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/channel/ET/p opup/200607080100.html
I can remember going along to Luna park as a kid. It was much better then (or seemed that way, I actually enjoyed the royal show as well in those days).
My wife and I went along about four years ago, right before our son was born. It was at night after a company christmas party up the road. The Gravitron was still running then so we had a ride. I was most interested in D4MO's post. I must try to get my wife to go back, in summer.
http://michaelsmith.id.au
Okay that's enough, who said that?
Does Superman have superhumor? Or, if he became a dad, would he then become Superdad?
"If you loved me, you`d all kill yourselves today"
Spider Jerusalem
Do they have human sized centrifuges?
Yes.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
... but what do they taste like?
So in other words, overweight people have superlegs...
It has been long known that stresses on the body cause it to adapt. For instance, I lift weights pretty seriously. I went to a sports medicine doctor last year to diagnose an issue I was having with my right shoulder. I had ex-ray scans taken of my upper torso and the shoulder. The doctor put my scans up and said he could tell I weight trained...I was told my bone density was much higher than that of a 'normal' man.
So congrats, they figured out that training an animal will cause its body to adapt and grow stronger in response. This is physical training 101, not some new fangled discovery.
/* sig */
Don't forget Kung Fu Chicken!
He's the dude who's Chinese Food!
If you call, he'll come for a poultry sum!
Flash: "Here's your purse back, lady!"
Lady: "You destroyed two city blocks!"
Flash: "No need to thank me..."
Lady: "The sonic booms alone shattered hundreds of windows!"
Flash: "Serving the citizenry is all the thanks I need!"
Lady: "At least a dozen people were killed by the falling glass!"
Flash: "Remember, all you have to do is call and the JLA will be there."
Lady: "Not to mention the cracked building foundations, the destroyed cars, the pavement damage..."
Flash: "Well, I'm off to save another citizen from the scourge of crime!"
Lady: "...those two people standing near your path who burst into flame..."
-Eric
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
Surely we can just learn our lesson and stop this nonsense...
Take it to the limit, everybody to the limit, come on, everybody fhqwhgads.
-Eric
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
There are none, except maybe if you can convince a few thousand good men to step in a centrifuge and spend a week spinning like..well, like super chickens!
*smacks head
Like superman!
The man has a serious GAS problem, you can always see him lean his but out just a little before he takes off. Same thing goes when he levitate, it's just one constant steady flow of but wind. If a person were on krypton then they would be able to smell the difference, but on earth superman's gas emits no odor. The same theory can be applied to his super speed, i'm still working on the other abilities.
I grew up near an ammusement park that had a ride call the "Turkish Twist". Apparently, that was their own name for what the manufactuer calls "The Rotor". It was much like a Gravitron, but more powerful. It was kind of like being on the inside of a giant washing machine tub. The walls were completely vertical, and padded with a thin layer of rubber. You stood against, and got stuck to, the wall. Once up to speed, the floor dropped down, but you stayed stuck to the wall.
Google found a computer model of a Rotor, too.
One of the weird things (aside from being stuck to a wall in mid-air) was that, once up to speed, my perception was that the whole world had turned sideways. I didn't feel like I was spinning at all. I guess that rotation really messes with one's inner ear.
All the Gravitrons I've been on were tame in comparison.
dragonhawk@iname.microsoft.com
I do not like Microsoft. Remove them from my email address.
I can't wait for the first Kentucky Fried Super Chicken shop to open!
Duct tape is like the Force. It has a light side, a dark side, and it holds the universe together.
Ok - so the teaser on Slashdot points out the Chicken experiment - in fact, the whole quote on Slashdot is all they say about this Chicken experiment - so don't bother reading if you thought the Chicken thing sounded interesting because the rest of the article is common sense stuff.
www.wildpad.com
Here's an idea - I know this is way offtopic.
We need a wikispellchecker webservice to correct common misspellings like "loose" above - which should be "lose" of course. This service sould be rolled into a bot that trolls websites and intelligently corrects all the problems words. I won't ask it to go after grammar - fo shizzle...
It's trite, stupid and silly for anyone to obsess of spelling, but it's like blackflies...too many biting at once and you lose your mind.
Sorry for the "induglence".
JB
That's why I liked The Incredibles so much, they had some negative consequences. Also it was hilarious and the animation was beautiful.
Did you mount a military-grade, variable-focus MASER on an unlicensed artificial intelligence?
When you find yourself in danger,
When you're threatened by a stranger,
When it looks like you will take a lickin',
(puk, puk, puk, puk)
There is someone waiting,
Who will hurry up and rescue you,
just Call for Super Chicken!
Being anonymous is not cowardice.
... yes very short term and lots of hot oil!
While I know Superman is invincible, I never understood how his cloths never got damaged. Are they imported from another planet?
Since nobody seems to have answered the original question of "Why aren't we trying this with humans?" -- The answer is that "We are. And it doesn't work that well."
If you search for "NASA Hypergravity" on Google, you will find all kinds of data about the experiments, all kinds of crackpots talking about becoming super-strong or the like and this interesting Wired article written by one of the participants. If you don't want to dig too deep, check out the article. It's a pretty good summary from the inside out.
that would explain a lot :)
Bantams, now, they are pretty good fliers.
I understand that Stan Lee was intrigued by Superman's early leaping limitation, and incorporated that power into the Hulk. Unlike DC, Lee always tried to make his superheroes 'plausible' and to give them limitations. He said it made for more interesting stories.
Serving your airship needs since 1995.
Growing muscles through gravity should be submitted to SCI-FI next time....
I wonder what the ramifications of this experiment are for human rehabilitation practices. Could I be rebuilt someday, bigger, faster, stronger?
I'm no healthnut, but I'm interested: www.healthbolt.net
But superman wasn't raised in super high gravity! Only born in it.
:)
We've shown our astronauts can deteriorate after time in space(in zero to very low G), and superman's been on earth longer than anyone's been in space.
Oh yeah, and what about crystals growing into continents without consuming matter and weighing very little?
Or rather, throw a big spoiler warning on the article. It reveals a plot development from Superman Returns, in case anyone hasn't seen the movie and wants to not know the ending beforehand.
"Thank you, mysterious heros - the value of the gemerald you saved is slightly greater than the cost of the damage you caused to this mueseum. A net gain for our great city!"
(Futurama)
Perhaps it was just resting. All shagged out after a long squawk.
It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
Do the Chickens have Large Talons?
Tweet, tweet.
http://www.digital-sledgehammer.com/superchicken/
Although the older methodology was to do your training at high altitude, this is no longer accepted as the "best" way to take advantage of this. The current training wisdom says that the best thing to do is to live at high altitude (or live/sleep in a low-oxygen house or tent) and do your training at sea level.
You get all the physical adaptions you get at altitude, but by doing your training at sea level, you can train harder.
http://sportsci.org/traintech/altitude/wgh.html
When criminals in this world appear,
And break the laws that they should fear,
And frighten all who see or hear,
The cry goes up both far and near for
Underdog,
Underdog,
Underdog,
Underdog.
Speed of lightning, roar of thunder,
Fighting all who rob or plunder
Underdog, Underdog.
When in this world the headlines read
Of those who's hearts are filled with greed
And rob and steal from those in need.
To right this wrong with blinding speed goes
Underdog,
Underdog,
Underdog,
Underdog.
Speed of lightning, roar of thunder,
Fighting all who rob or plunder
Underdog, Underdog.
http://fig.cox.miami.edu/~cmallery/150/neuro/belg
You can do a google image search for "Belgian Blue." These cattle have some sort of crazy genetic quirk that makes them grow muscles like mad. And trust me, you do NOT want to see them when they're angry.
It's not just the chickens that are developing superpowers. This breed is clearly the start of some sort of Bovine X-Men. Throw in flying squirrels, bat sonar, electric eels, chameleons, shape-and-color changing squid, etc... and you'll quickly realize we don't have long before today's modern superanimals will rise up and destroy us.
... super boobies?
Couldn't resist...
Don't thank God, thank a doctor!
http://bilder.tentakelvilla.de/pollo/kampf.gif
The MAFIAA is a bunch of mindless jerks who will be the first up against the wall when the revolution comes
A scientifically proven way to enlarge the size of your cock!
Roger Waters made pigs fly in '77, so whats the big deal now?
Breaking news: Barry Bonds allegedly spent time in a centerfuge sometime between 1997 and 1998.
Thou shalt not begin a subject line or post with the word "Umm".
What about Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex?
That's the plan. I'm from Texas and most southern folk like myself figure we can't just kill you blueballers, since it's illegal and such. So, we'll just eat all your food and overtake your cities by overpopulation instead. And for the few remaining blueballers who survive, well, we'll just have ourselves a soylent blue barbeque. Stupid yankees...
There actually was a comic book like that, called "Damage Control". It was about a team of lawyers and such whose sole duty was to clean up after comic book heroes afterwards. Also, She Hulk oftentimes takes Superhero cases. Harvey Birdman is largely a rip-off of this idea.
There was a book like that, called "Damage Control". It was about an agency whose sole duty was to clean up the messes left by superheroes. Also, She-Hulk (in her capacity as a lawyer) oftentime takes Superhero cases; Harvey Birdman is largely derived from this idea.
15 years from now at your local KFC... Hi, yes I would like to order 1 bucket of Extra crispy Super Chicken
Well Im gona go do something... and by something I mean nothing but doing nothing away from my computer counts as someth
A: Yes, there's a ride a Magic Mountain in southern California, but I don't know that they'd keep it running for you months at a time, and it would cost you a bloody fortune in ride tickets and daily admission. :-)
Yay! what a great day in science. Curing a disease..nahhh.. Crwating life sustaining technology???... phfft.. Let's make heavy chickens.. Yay!!! What a waste of time. It is a comic, it doesn't have to be explained. Just like Star trek, or BSG, or Star Wars. It is entertainment. *rolls eyes* i am going back to my comics. Talk to me when they cure something or other.
i do not suffer from Insanity... I revel in it.
That's an interesting claim. On what do you base it?
I only have my own personal experience to go on. I've ridden the Turkish Twist (Rotor) at Canobie, and maybe two or three Gravitrons. The Gravitrons were all much milder. Now, both rides have a manual speed control for the operator, so personal experience may not reflect the actual maximums the rides are capable of. However, I also note that Twist stuck you to a vertical wall, while the Gravitron used an inclined bench on rails. That would seem to imply the Gravitron is weaker (needing more "help" to overcome gravity).
dragonhawk@iname.microsoft.com
I do not like Microsoft. Remove them from my email address.
. . limits! Seriously, our younger cat has higher than normal muscle developement. Her body mass (weight) is at least double that of any ordinary domestic cat of a similar size, and her muscletone matches that of pigdogs and bull-mastiffs. When she leaps, she exerts minimum (controlled) force to achieve her objective - similar to that of an astronaut performing a leap 18 inches high on the moon. She walks with the slow measured stride of a panther MANY times larger than her size.
In play she charges our older cat just to leap just clear over at the crucial moment. Apart from flight, and vision powers, she would appear to be a super-cat. No centrafuge was used in her upbringing.
.
(David Bowman, EVA near HUGE Monolithic Win-PC in orbit around Jupiter) "My God - its full of Malware!"
In the ORIGINAL 'Superman the movie' (1978), Superman startles a thief climbing the exterior of a building using suction cups. The 'cat burgler' falls whereon Superman dives after him and positions himself in the thief's path. When the falling thief reaches his waiting arms, Superman matches the speed of the thief's descent so as to avoid any problem of whiplash.
That's the only safe way to catch a falling human being.
(David Bowman, EVA near HUGE Monolithic Win-PC in orbit around Jupiter) "My God - its full of Malware!"
Isn't this how the trained for fighting in Dragonball Z? Sit in a capsule that was 10g and train?