Instamatic was Kodak's cartridge loading technology
...a move Kodak regretted circa 1980 when they went into the instant-camera biz themselves. The name would have been a lot more apropos for that product.
But they regretted the whole instant-camera episode even more, when Polaroid's lawyers got through with them...
I recall some Japanese tourists stopping him to take a look at the camera
A busload of Japanese tourists was held up hereabouts by an armed man who robbed all the passengers Jesse James style...police don't have a description of him, but they're examining several terabytes of photographs.
I agree with that in general, but there might be a certain satisfaction in seeing the concept brought up in court, with media present to see the urine hit the floor...
-Lighthouses don't have a person monitoring radio communications. In fact they don't have a person period: lighthouse keepers were replaced by automated lamp changing machinery decades ago. But even when the lighthouses were manned, they had no radio communication function.
-Warships have no special privileges over other vessels: they're subject to the same right-of-way rules as the Staten Island Ferry. And even when they do have the right-of-way, they don't enforce it with threats of armed force. Doing that to a foreign vessel would be an act of war; doing it to a vessel of its own country would get the captain helicoptered ashore and court-martialed.
Of course, maneuverability is an issue. A great big ship can't turn or stop very quickly, and is well within its rights to warn others of that. But the message will be more like "I can only turn this much, use your judgment" than "Out of my way, asshole, or I'll blow you out of the water".
You had your starting point with the Taylor Aerocar in 1949. You didn't buy one. In fact, in those post-WW2 years when lots of people had a good job and a pilot's license (or could get a license for about $200), there weren't enough orders to put it in production.
It is not. Water does freeze at 0C at standard atmospheric pressure, but that has not defined the Celsius scale since 1954. Today, by definition, the temperature of the triple point of water is 0.01C or 273.16 Kelvin. That's pretty absolute, because it doesn't need a separate pressure standard: using the triple point fixes the pressure.
And by "water" I mean Vienna Mean Standard Ocean Water, which comes from neither Vienna nor the oceans: it's pure water having the same ratios of hydrogen and oxygen isotopes found in seawater. Given a list of the aforementioned isotope ratios, you could recreate the Celsius scale on Mars.
Loop, instrument weather can get in the way of ANY kind of air travel. If you're not equipped and qualified for it, your every flight depends on the weather, which puts a bit of a crimp in business use.
Oh, just traveling long-distance for pleasure? Like to bring anyone else along, maybe some baggage too? Note the figures "Fuel 20 gallons" and "Useful load 430 pounds". Useful load includes fuel...so 430 pounds minus 20 gallons of fuel at 6 lb/gal = 310 pounds = two fit adults and a 10-pound bag.
Oops, no, forgot to deduct for the oil in the engine, so maybe a 5-pound bag. You're gonna get a bit smelly while you wait out the weather somewhere out on your course.
Oh, you say you'd like to be able to get to work when it's cloudy/snowing/raining? OK, now we're talking Private Pilot Certificate minimum, with Instrument Rating. And an aircraft capable of operating in the ATC system. And an airport at each end with instrument approach equipment. Oh, cold weather too? Let's talk about deicing equipment...
I used to use my local supermarket as my emergency video rental source, but that died a slow death. As they lost business to Netflix and BB, rental revenues declined, and the management responded by manning the video room only a fraction of the time...you usually had to get somebody to come over from Customer Service. And that was pretty hard, because CS was downstaffed too, typically one lady selling lottery tickets and cashing paychecks for a long line of people. The little light bulb finally came on, and they closed the rental area completely.
Nope...at 65000 feet the ambient pressure is 0.09 of what it is at sea level. All three gases will expand by the same ratio, so the densities become 0.0081 g/l (hydrogen), 0.016 (helium) and 0.144 (air). The buoyancy ratio between hydrogen and helium then becomes (0.144-0.0081)/(0.144-0.016) = 1.06, so hydrogen is down to a 6% advantage.
why not use hydrogen and get substantially more lifting power
Well, sure, if about nine percent is your definition of "substantially". Hydrogen is half as dense as helium, but the buoyancy is proportional to the difference in density between the lifting gas and air. Hydrogen is about 0.09 grams per liter, helium 0.179, air 1.2 at sea level.
German zeppelins didn't use hydrogen to get more lift. They used it because the US had all the helium and wouldn't sell them any.
Furthermore, the gas in a dirigible/zeppelin is enclosed in a large number of individual cells called "ballonets". Puncturing one causes a minor decrease in buoyancy.
And as you say, small holes don't leak very fast at a low pressure differential. The Goodyear blimps have a Plexiglas panel atop the gondola that lets the pilot peer into the bag, so he can see the tiny points of light that indicate leaks; if there are only a few, they can be dealt with by adding a little helium before takeoff. When there get to be too many, mechanics apply some patches.
"Airship" is the aircraft category that includes both blimps and dirigibles. By definition, it's an aircraft supported by a lighter-than-air gas and having a propulsion system. "Zeppelin" and "dirigible" are interchangeable: they both imply the presence of a rigid structure.
Slashdot Mirror
I'm entirely willing to attribute the words you bolded to typing, not spelling.
rj
I'm happy just to see someone on the Internet spell "wreak havoc" correctly...
rj
...we throw in some flowers. Maybe a show.
rj
...with Matlab, Mathematica, Multisim and AutoCAD on it?
rj
For that matter, we slaughter fish in a manner that you could call the piscine counterpart of holding your head underwater...
rj
But they regretted the whole instant-camera episode even more, when Polaroid's lawyers got through with them...
I recall some Japanese tourists stopping him to take a look at the camera
A busload of Japanese tourists was held up hereabouts by an armed man who robbed all the passengers Jesse James style...police don't have a description of him, but they're examining several terabytes of photographs.
rj
Zero tolerance is an abdication of responsibility. "I enforce a policy of zero tolerance" means, quite literally, "I don't know how to do my job".
rj
I agree with that in general, but there might be a certain satisfaction in seeing the concept brought up in court, with media present to see the urine hit the floor...
rj
Or by anyone whose pay raises do not depend on how much money the city gets...
rj
Fake on a couple of levels...
-Lighthouses don't have a person monitoring radio communications. In fact they don't have a person period: lighthouse keepers were replaced by automated lamp changing machinery decades ago. But even when the lighthouses were manned, they had no radio communication function.
-Warships have no special privileges over other vessels: they're subject to the same right-of-way rules as the Staten Island Ferry. And even when they do have the right-of-way, they don't enforce it with threats of armed force. Doing that to a foreign vessel would be an act of war; doing it to a vessel of its own country would get the captain helicoptered ashore and court-martialed.
Of course, maneuverability is an issue. A great big ship can't turn or stop very quickly, and is well within its rights to warn others of that. But the message will be more like "I can only turn this much, use your judgment" than "Out of my way, asshole, or I'll blow you out of the water".
rj
Look up the Taylor Aerocar of 1949.
rj
rj
A clothing-optional server farm...the mind boggles.
rj
It is not. Water does freeze at 0C at standard atmospheric pressure, but that has not defined the Celsius scale since 1954. Today, by definition, the temperature of the triple point of water is 0.01C or 273.16 Kelvin. That's pretty absolute, because it doesn't need a separate pressure standard: using the triple point fixes the pressure.
And by "water" I mean Vienna Mean Standard Ocean Water, which comes from neither Vienna nor the oceans: it's pure water having the same ratios of hydrogen and oxygen isotopes found in seawater. Given a list of the aforementioned isotope ratios, you could recreate the Celsius scale on Mars.
rj
Loop, instrument weather can get in the way of ANY kind of air travel. If you're not equipped and qualified for it, your every flight depends on the weather, which puts a bit of a crimp in business use.
Oh, just traveling long-distance for pleasure? Like to bring anyone else along, maybe some baggage too? Note the figures "Fuel 20 gallons" and "Useful load 430 pounds". Useful load includes fuel...so 430 pounds minus 20 gallons of fuel at 6 lb/gal = 310 pounds = two fit adults and a 10-pound bag.
Oops, no, forgot to deduct for the oil in the engine, so maybe a 5-pound bag. You're gonna get a bit smelly while you wait out the weather somewhere out on your course.
rj
Oh, you say you'd like to be able to get to work when it's cloudy/snowing/raining? OK, now we're talking Private Pilot Certificate minimum, with Instrument Rating. And an aircraft capable of operating in the ATC system. And an airport at each end with instrument approach equipment. Oh, cold weather too? Let's talk about deicing equipment...
rj
I used to use my local supermarket as my emergency video rental source, but that died a slow death. As they lost business to Netflix and BB, rental revenues declined, and the management responded by manning the video room only a fraction of the time...you usually had to get somebody to come over from Customer Service. And that was pretty hard, because CS was downstaffed too, typically one lady selling lottery tickets and cashing paychecks for a long line of people. The little light bulb finally came on, and they closed the rental area completely.
rj
Nope...at 65000 feet the ambient pressure is 0.09 of what it is at sea level. All three gases will expand by the same ratio, so the densities become 0.0081 g/l (hydrogen), 0.016 (helium) and 0.144 (air). The buoyancy ratio between hydrogen and helium then becomes (0.144-0.0081)/(0.144-0.016) = 1.06, so hydrogen is down to a 6% advantage.
rj
Well, sure, if about nine percent is your definition of "substantially". Hydrogen is half as dense as helium, but the buoyancy is proportional to the difference in density between the lifting gas and air. Hydrogen is about 0.09 grams per liter, helium 0.179, air 1.2 at sea level.
German zeppelins didn't use hydrogen to get more lift. They used it because the US had all the helium and wouldn't sell them any.
rj
Furthermore, the gas in a dirigible/zeppelin is enclosed in a large number of individual cells called "ballonets". Puncturing one causes a minor decrease in buoyancy.
And as you say, small holes don't leak very fast at a low pressure differential. The Goodyear blimps have a Plexiglas panel atop the gondola that lets the pilot peer into the bag, so he can see the tiny points of light that indicate leaks; if there are only a few, they can be dealt with by adding a little helium before takeoff. When there get to be too many, mechanics apply some patches.
rj
"Airship" is the aircraft category that includes both blimps and dirigibles. By definition, it's an aircraft supported by a lighter-than-air gas and having a propulsion system. "Zeppelin" and "dirigible" are interchangeable: they both imply the presence of a rigid structure.
rj
And I take it they never discuss the Fourth of July at all, since it always falls on a holiday...
rj
Well, you could call it Steak and Hair Pi Day.
rj
You mean "nice" is equivalent to "hideous"?
rj
It was perfectly clear to me that he meant "'twixt".
rj