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Crew Builds a Flying House Modeled After UP!
The people at National Geographic have built a house modeled after the one in the movie UP! for a new TV series called How Hard Can It Be?. The house flew for about an hour and reached 10,000 feet. There was no report of anyone spotting The Beast of Paradise Falls.
It depends on if you want the house to land in one piece and contain any survivors...
Would have been a neat video had they not placed the damn banner so it took up 1/4 of the screen.
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I sure hope they recycled that helium. Aren't we supposed to be running out?
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DRM is like antifreeze, to the MPAA/RIAA it's sweet, to the consumers it's poison.
Here is a proper one! http://uk.gizmodo.com/5778006/the-house-from-up-has-been-built-in-real-lifeand-it-flies
Sure, the 16 by 16 feet house is not a full house
250-odd square feet "not a full house"? Some people would beg to differ.
Indeed. Using it for balloons at parties is much more justifiable.
MythBusters should try this. I am sure they could do better. ;)
Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
We have this thing called "money" that is used to purchase scarce goods on a thing called a "market". It ensures that people pay a high premium for more scarce goods.
It lets people do the things they want to do, free from moralistic assholes like yourself trying to dictate how other people spend their time and resources.
I've had enough abrasive sigs. Kittens are cute and fuzzy.
What happens when the government mandates that the scarce yet valuable good is sold at an extreme loss as fast as possible? If the market were to decide how much helium cost, and not the government, a birthday balloon of helium would cost ~$200.
Surely, that is the way we are meant to use such scarce resources, right? Mandate they be sold at a 99% discount so we can empty our stockpile before 2012 and wonder why scientists can't get any?
Besides, you can probably use it to prove that coal plants emit more dangerous radiation than nuclear plants, and everyone knows that is a de facto illegal act. Just like being able to prove what the police actually did to you.
There seems to be some hedging on that point. Seems like a waste of good He without two people in costume going along for the ride.
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Prisencolinensinainciusol. Ol Rait!
that it should require heavy gloves, hats, and coats?
real American can-do spirit as opposed to colorful Hollywood fantasy.
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
They aren't selling it "as fast as possible". There's a set amount they draw from the reserve every year.
It was wrong for the government to spend so much money distorting the helium market in the first place. Selling off the reserve is a necessary evil to correct past wrongs, and once it's complete, the market for helium will no longer be distorted.
I've had enough abrasive sigs. Kittens are cute and fuzzy.
Funny, but apparently no one else got you.
I swear to God...I swear to God! That is NOT how you treat your human!
Even if getting a house to float isn't an end goal in itself, it might increase awareness of smaller houses. Not everyone needs a mansion. If a 16x16 ft cottage is "decent living conditions" and fits better within "limited means" than the bloated houses common in U.S. suburbs, then of course Habitat should be building smaller houses.
If you are so certain of that, perhaps you should buy up all the helium you can afford, hold onto it for two years, and sell it to scientists at a massive profit in 2013.
If you're really worried, there's zettaaton quantities only a couple light-minutes away.
Feel free to go collect it.
=)
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
"Sofa king", "so fcuking", "so fscking", "so foquin", and the like are censor dodges for the present participle of a certain slang word starting with F.
"Up!" is a skinflick by Russ Meyers. "Up" is the Disney film.
Contribute to civilization: ari.aynrand.org/donate
Using time and money to create joy and whimsy is, and always will be, worthwhile. It's part of our humanity, all the arts, and a big swath of science and invention. I am glad we have people who do such things, and people who enjoy them, rather than everyone being a practical curmudgeon such as yourself, AC.
So *this* is why we have a pending helium shortage?
Your favorite sig sucks
The Up house was designed after a friend of mine's house in Berkeley. He'll kill me if I reveal the location, but the Pixar director had been eying the house for years apparently and through a mutual friend made acquaintance with my friend, the owner. They sent a team from Pixar over to take pictures and measurements and from watching the movie, the animated house is pretty darned similar. So these guys have essentially re-built a house in already standing in Berkeley and floated it. FWIW.