Slashdot Mirror
Paper Airplane Touches Edge of Space, Glides Back
itwbennett writes "Brits Steve Daniels, John Oates and Lester Haines just became the envy of geeks the world over. The trio 'built a one-wing glider from paper, lofted it to the edge of space at 90,000 feet with a helium balloon, and posted sound and video recordings from the plane as it glided safely back to the ground,' writes blogger Kevin Fogarty. The Register newspaper sponsored the stunt and reported each step of the process. And British defense-contractor Qinetiq supplied the cameras and testing chambers, says Fogarty."
When you said "the edge of space" I thought you meant the border of the universe, so I was all WTF.
It seems the new cool thing is to take stuff up high in a balloon and drop it. I must say I'd love to do it too, but it doesn't seem very newsworthy anymore.
Sure, it's cool. But balloon stories are a dime a dozen right now, don't you agree?
And to be honest, it would have been more impressive if they didn't try to make it sound more impressive by using the word "space", but instead used the now neglected word "stratosphere".
Cause it wasn't even a third of the way up to the lowest common definition of the space "boundary", but a stratospheric paper plane? That's way cool!
Split the difference?
Spaceosphere!
The enemies of Democracy are
That is "homegrown". Some hobbyists spend that much building a single RC-aircraft. Get together with 5 or 6 like-minded friends, and you can put together a similar project no problem.
Yes. That is damn cool. The naysayers and nitpickers will swarm on this story soon enough. But it's still cool.
It was absolutely frickin' badass... the first ten times. Now it's just plain getting old. Hey look, someone used a weather balloon and sent it up into the atmosphere. Hey wow, someone uses a balloon and sent it up into the atmosphere, and THIS TIME it was a father and son. Whoa, look, someone used a balloon and sent it up into the atmosphere, and THIS TIME it has a glider made of paper! Really I'm at the edge of my seat, but it's getting repetitive.
Now I know where I am. This is Slashdot (say it like King Leonitus and kick something if you need to). It's nothing to be ashamed of, but Slashdotters have a problem. After seeing the ten millionth repetition of "in Soviet Russia" or "sharks with lasers" and modding it up to +5 Funny for the 9 trillionth time, they have a very hard time admitting when something has gotten old and it's time to move on. (Someone is tempted to reply with one of those memes thinking "hah, that'll fix him, he'll NEVER see this coming!")
Now, no one's judging anyone here. Some people are alcoholics, others have to wash their hands eight hundred times a day, while others still are just plain not nice. In the scheme of things never admitting that something is old and repetitive and redundant is pretty tame. I understand that. I'm just sayin', maybe the Slashdot crowd isn't in the best position to realize that it's OK to stop beating the dead horse. The guy who points out that the dead horse is not only dead, but also embedded in the ground, starting to decay, and really starting to smell -- well, that guy might seem like a naysayer or a nitpicker to you. That's only natural.
Just don't be too harsh on that guy. He may be trying to help you appreciate objectivity.
It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education. - Einstein
What's next, Slinky down side of Everest?
Table-ized A.I.
Would it be any better for you if we made a Beowulf cluster of them? So that you can enjoy your petrified Natalie Portman with hot grits?
C|N>K
Wouldn't this paper glider have encountered jet streams? How did it survive them? https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Jet_stream
...Stratospace sounds much more cool.
Actually, I'd prefer not only to see it happen more often, but striving for higher, and better. Competitions, and most of all, kids involved.
Experiments are a great way to get people interested in science. We don't need to see it reported all the time, but it would be great to see the concept continued and expanded upon.
Would it be any better for you if we made a Beowulf cluster of them? So that you can enjoy your petrified Natalie Portman with hot grits?
Haha. I salute you, fellow long-time Slashdotter.
Of course, the hot grits need to be poured down someone's pants. And someone should link to an XKCD comic or something. Preferably the GNAA will not be involved.
It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education. - Einstein
Only if the stated goal is to deliver a screaming child ever higher into the atmosphere, with video and sound.
Bonus points if they come down in one piece.
A balloon has some fundamental limitations, a...ceiling. To which your average helium balloon is quite close and overcoming it requires pretty high tech. Once you get the hang of proper handling (ever more difficult with higher tech), what limits you is the (lack of) atmosphere and slight manufacturing faults of the balloon.
That said - yes, it's fun. Yes, we don't need to see it reported all the time.
One that hath name thou can not otter
I am more than a bit astonished that Slashdot eds, much less the poster would refer to El Reg as a "newspaper."
.co.uk, so they're not Amurrican....
Do none of these people honestly know that The Register is one long lived, entertaining, and generally informative tech web site, and that it was the creator of the ever popular and true to life adventures of BOFH?
Oh right, their URL ends with
Three Squirrels
I think that a day doesn't go by when someone sees a "Soviet Russia", "sharks with lasers", etc meme for the first time. I discovered the joy of "all your base" many years after everyone else. And all three of those, when done well, still give me a smile.
You speak of the 'Slashdot crowd' like we all joined at the same time and we're all the same age and of the same background but it's simply not true. It's not even a valid generalisation.
And the fact that someone modded something funny means that they enjoyed reading it enough to give it a mod point. And that's how this thing works. Don't be a back seat moderator. You use your mod points on whatever the hell you want and let everyone else do the same.
Now i'm not judging anyone here, but you're all idiots :p
Your right, it's getting old... someone should do it with their house next!
I have left slashdot and am now on Soylent News. FUCK YOU DICE.
The concept you're missing is called "gestalt". It's not quite the same thing as a generalization. If you don't want to appreciate that, then you won't, and that's not really my concern. Incidentally I used the repetitive memes as a lighthearted analogy. The subject of my post was the overabundance of "balloons floating" stories out there. Deliberately or accidentally, you missed that.
Me writing a post to try and point something out does not prevent anyone with mod points from using those points as they see fit. It's possible I might pursuade someone to reconsider how they moderate, but only if they want to be persuaded. If they don't agree with me then they will moderate however they please no matter what I say.
I will use my own mod points however the hell I want, I always have, this isn't your idea, and I really don't care whether you approve. Likewise, I am not preventing anyone else from doing the same. Other mods don't need me to "let" them do anything. I am not their master. Meanwhile you're just upset that I might convince them of something you dislike and you veil that quite thinly. That's frankly not my problem. Worrying about this is beneath you, and if it isn't, it should be.
Oh, one more thing. By your very own standard there, several moderators found my comment "Insightful". They enjoyed reading it enough to give it a mod point. And that's how this thing works, or so I've recently heard. I'm sure you can demonstrate the "use your mod points on whatever the hell you want" portion of your little philosophy there. Can you model for me the part about "let everyone else do the same"? Or do you feel a need to complain about that when it doesn't go the way you like?
It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education. - Einstein
Two six-digit accounts talking about the good ol' days of Slashdot. Precious!
The most rabid believers in American Exceptionalism are the exact same people whose policies are destroying it.
It's not even that cool. Say "paper airplane", and everyone thinks of the folded paper planes we all made so many of as a kid.
This is just a traditional model airplane with a ton of work done to substitute paper for balsa, _just_ so they could say "paper airplane" in the headlines. It's totally disingenuous.
Vulture 1 team, turn in your Geek Badges. You are Junior Marketing Assistants now.
Balloons and gliders predate powered flight.
Alexander de Seversky proposed an ionic drive that would need most of that altitude to work.
http://www.rexresearch.com/desev/desev.htm
Phew! I thought you were going to mention the nazis.
They whose government reduces their essential liberties for temporary security, receive neither liberty nor security.
Sorry to burst everyone's bubble, but it has an airframe and the skin is some kind of foil. It's not a paper airplane by any reasonable interpretation.
Yeah, I was pretty disappointed, too, when I saw the Vulture and it was a full-on aeroplane. I didn't know what I expected, maybe a huge paper plane that could somehow carry the camera, or maybe a microcamera, something besides a regular camera and what appears to be the same kind of plane radio hobbyists fly. If they had been a bit more honest there wouldn't have been this feeling of loss. Meanwhile, there's still the opportunity to one-up them via honesty, and put a real folded-paper airplane up there with a microcamera and memory stick or transmitter up there.
"Stratigraphically the origin of agriculture and thermonuclear destruction will appear essentially simultaneous" -- Lee