Meme Thread... no politics

NickD said:

Look into the research done by the US regarding planes with no landing gear.  Just a greased rubber strip to sort of Slip-N-Slide on.  One report had rubber marks on the TOP of the leading edge of the wings.  Most landings resulted in excessive damage to test pilots, like severe spinal compression, in one instance the pilot's front teeth were embedded in the stick...

Further testing did involve a rudimentary HANS system, and then they discovered that locking the pilot's head to the airframe made flying difficult because of how disorienting it was, like the plane was stationary and the world was rotating around.

I am not entirely sure what the goal was of having a plane that required a special landing strip and could not taxi.  I'm inclined to believe that it was intended for Soviet spies to find and cause Mikoyan-Gurevich to waste all sorts of funds to research.

Meanwhile, Ukraine is asking for SAAB Gripens because they can use any piece of road to land on and take off from, and can be serviced remotely with a small crew and two trucks.

Pete. (l33t FS) said:

I am not entirely sure what the goal was of having a plane that required a special landing strip and could not taxi.  I'm inclined to believe that it was intended for Soviet spies to find and cause Mikoyan-Gurevich to waste all sorts of funds to research.

Kind of like the small building in the center of the Pentagon courtyard that freaked the Soviets out. They had satellite images of high-ranking personnel entering and exiting this building and assumed it was the most crucial part of the Pentagon. Turns out it was a hot dog stand.

Pete. (l33t FS) said:

Look into the research done by the US regarding planes with no landing gear.  Just a greased rubber strip to sort of Slip-N-Slide on.  One report had rubber marks on the TOP of the leading edge of the wings.  Most landings resulted in excessive damage to test pilots, like severe spinal compression, in one instance the pilot's front teeth were embedded in the stick...

 

 

 

I could be wrong but I believe that research was done by the Brits.  Eric Brown was landing Vampires on rubber mats in testing.  The idea was that roughly 15% of the plane's weight was landing gear which was only used twice each flight.  They wanted to eliminate that weight.  You're correct, it didn't work so well. 

Gross

mapper said:

Gross

Some of us wear our Vans that far...

Floating Doc (Forum Supporter) said:

Jim Pettengill said:

Nah - best theme song has to be Mission Impossible in 5/4 time.  Or maybe Harlem Nocturne in whatever the cop show was with Stacy Keach.

You're right, Mission Impossible in 5/4.

If you need convincing:

https://www.youtube.com/embed/aaNrAiUNHtQ?rel=0

And a meme, so I'm in compliance with the thread. 

I threw the Mission Impossible theme song into a homecoming halftime show when I was running the marching band at the University of Western Ontario. You can march to 5/4 if you do slow slow fast fast. Well, 10/8 really, but that's how the song works.

Also, the reworked version of the MI theme done for the first Tom Cruise movies only does 5/4 for 4 bars, then it drops into easy 4/4. And it was done by the rhythm section of U2! Slackers. At least the Limp Bizkit version has a 5/4 interlude.

These fractions aren't making sense

In reply to ProDarwin :

In reply to johndej :

SanFord is languishing behind the shop. 

I should sell it but I really don't want to. 

Appleseed said:

In reply to ProDarwin :

My first thought when I heard of Fifth Third Bank was "Do I really want to bank with an institution that can't reduce fractions?"

Appleseed said:

In reply to ProDarwin :

The commercials promise 166% in everything they do.

My annoyance is, 166% is five thirds.  A fifth third is either like Mostly Harmless, the fifth book of a trilogy, or is is 1/5th of 1/3rd...

It's all because way back when the Fifth National and the Third National banks merged or one bought the other or something.

In reply to Toyman! :

Bust the beast free for a summer camping trip!

Unrelated.   

Pete. (l33t FS) said:

My annoyance is, 166% is five thirds.  A fifth third is either like Mostly Harmless, the fifth book of a trilogy, or is is 1/5th of 1/3rd...

Life, the Universe and Everything would be the 1st [3rd book] in the series.  The 2nd [3rd book] would be So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish.  Etc.  The 5th [3rd book] hasn't been written yet.

Like people who say their 38th birthday is there 10th 29th birthday.

Only somewhat related, but I HATE this:

7.5 is not 3X more than 2.5.  Its 3X 2.5  

3X more than 2.5 is 2.5 + 3*(2.5) or 10.

I've also seen the error on a NASA website as well, which shocks me:

https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/earth/in-depth/#otp_size_and_distance

With a radius of 3,959 miles (6,371 kilometers), Earth is the biggest of the terrestrial planets and the fifth largest planet overall.

https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/jupiter/in-depth/#otp_size_and_distance 

With a radius of 43,440.7 miles (69,911 kilometers), Jupiter is 11 times wider than Earth. If Earth were the size of a nickel, Jupiter would be about as big as a basketball.

Uh, no.  43440.7 is 11 times as wide as 3959, not 11 times wider

technicallycorrect.jpg

When I described Mostly Harmless as a fifth third, it was describing each book as one third of a trilogy.  HHGTTG was the first third, Restaurant at the End of the Universe was the second third, and so on.

This is what we get with a language with the same word used for many different things, often even in the same context!

johndej said:

In reply to Toyman! :

Bust the beast free for a summer camping trip!

 

Unrelated.   

Pete. (l33t FS) said:

When I described Mostly Harmless as a fifth third, it was describing each book as one third of a trilogy.  HHGTTG was the first third, Restaurant at the End of the Universe was the second third, and so on.

Ah, yes, also correct.

Damn English. 

ProDarwin said:

These fractions aren't making sense

Are you making a joke because we're music nerds? Or are you legitimately confused because... yeah, music theory is kinda weird at first blush?

I can give a quick music theory rundown if you're actually wondering.

In honor of the page number...