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Something Completely Different

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  • Paul Campbell,

    I've flown big rockets for fun for over 20 years - mostly out in the Black Rock desert in Nevada back when I used to live in the US (it's harder here to find places to fly that are both fire-safe and easily recoverable).

    We were always limited by the US 100K law that limited flights to 100kft (about 20 miles) under FAA control (above that you need to do a ton of paper work and calculate the chances of falling somewhere unsafe - you have to do the statistical math and calculate what fraction of a person you will likely kill) and I must admit I never flew over 15kft personally (about 5km) as it basically costs too much for an individual of ordinary means - friends have flown to just under 100k and others have launched from balloons at 100k.

    Since it's friday here's some video from blackrock some friends made a week or so ago

    I wish the Rocket Labs guys well - flying rockets is hard - absolutely everything has to be perfect under conditions you can't really simulate prior to that first flight - it's way too easy to screw up - and doing it publicly is IMHO just asking for Murphy to step in ....

    Dunedin • Since Nov 2006 • 2623 posts Report

  • Danielle,

    I've flown big rockets for fun for over 20 years

    I can safely say that this is a sentence I never expected to read on PAS.

    Also, it is at moments like these that I become overwhelmed by how profoundly boring I am. :)

    Charo World. Cuchi-cuchi!… • Since Nov 2006 • 3828 posts Report

  • Paul Campbell,

    here's the link I always give people who wonder 'how big' - my biggest project has only been about 4m long (one has to give serious consideration to such important design issues such as "how to get it in the car")

    Dunedin • Since Nov 2006 • 2623 posts Report

  • Paul Campbell,

    .

    Dunedin • Since Nov 2006 • 2623 posts Report

  • Sacha,

    Libraries, boring ?

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report

  • Danielle,

    Libraries, boring ?

    Ah, but I don't work in a library any more! (At least for the moment. Until I get pulled back in like Al Pacino in Godfather III, and my soul dies horribly, Sofia Coppola styles.)

    Charo World. Cuchi-cuchi!… • Since Nov 2006 • 3828 posts Report

  • Just thinking,

    One minute in.

    Putaringamotu • Since Apr 2009 • 1158 posts Report

  • Sacha,

    Sofia Coppola styles

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report

  • 3410,

    Auckland • Since Jan 2007 • 2618 posts Report

  • Danielle,

    1. The 1978 Shatner 'Rocket Man' is possibly the peak of western civilisation. When I first saw it I thought I was going to levitate with joy.

    2. If working in a library was anything like 'Elektrobank' sounds I would be stoked. Also, I own possibly the most incongruous piece of memorabilia ever: a Chemical Brothers *coffee mug*. Just... why? (No one has ever adequately answered who it was doing that synthetic type of alphabetapsychedelic funkin', either.)

    Charo World. Cuchi-cuchi!… • Since Nov 2006 • 3828 posts Report

  • Lyndon Hood,

    Since nobody else has said it yet...

    "a 100 per cent certifiable fucking genius"

    Bit of a rocket scientist, is he?

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 1115 posts Report

  • Tony Parker,

    Napier • Since Nov 2008 • 232 posts Report

  • Russell Brown,

    Thanks for stepping into the breach, David. I stayed up late and played with the cool kids after the music awards last night, so I'm giving myself a day off from everything.

    But y'all really must read Leo's awesome review of Dead Space: Extraction on the Wii. The boy can write.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report

  • Geoff Lealand,

    I have a pen that looks exactly like that rocket above.

    Screen & Media Studies, U… • Since Oct 2007 • 2562 posts Report

  • Josh Addison,

    The 1978 Shatner 'Rocket Man' is possibly the peak of western civilisation.

    Followed closely by the Nimoy "Ballad of Bilbo Baggins" (no time to go hunting for it on YouTube - one of you lovely people will doubtless have it bookmarked...)

    Onehunga, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 298 posts Report

  • Robyn Gallagher,

    The 1978 Shatner 'Rocket Man' is possibly the peak of western civilisation.

    It is a masterclass in the arts of actorising and singerisation.

    Since Nov 2006 • 1946 posts Report

  • Hadyn Green,

    Followed closely by the Nimoy "Ballad of Bilbo Baggins" (no time to go hunting for it on YouTube - one of you lovely people will doubtless have it bookmarked...)

    No...shut up!

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 2090 posts Report

  • Sacha,

    I have a pen that looks exactly like that rocket above

    And some leftover V2 components prop up the building overlooking Aotea Square.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report

  • Paul Campbell,

    now you see I walk through a hardware store and see things shaped like that and start to dream .... that link above is what happens when someone comes across concrete pipe formers in a mitre-10 equivalent

    Dunedin • Since Nov 2006 • 2623 posts Report

  • Sacha,

    That's a mighty big toy.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report

  • Sam F,

    But y'all really must read Leo's awesome review of Dead Space: Extraction on the Wii. The boy can write.

    Certainly I couldn't help but admire this:

    Dead Space Extraction takes place in the media hub that is the Dead Space franchise. The series is a cake made of win and the icing is made of success.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 1611 posts Report

  • Rich Lock,

    now you see I walk through a hardware store and see things shaped like that and start to dream

    Heh. Lucky all those crazy Freudian theories about sexual desire as the primary motivational energy of human life have been discredited, eh?

    Otherwise we could have a lot of fun with metaphoric images of rockets thrusting through skies of virgin blue on mighty pillars of fire.

    Sometimes a rocket is just a rocket?

    Libraries, boring?

    Oook.

    back in the mother countr… • Since Feb 2007 • 2728 posts Report

  • Ross Mason,

    Little Boys.....


    Don't ya love the time travel~~~~~~~~!!!!

    Upper Hutt • Since Jun 2007 • 1590 posts Report

  • 3410,

    Speaking of awesome/terrible spoken word performances...

    Auckland • Since Jan 2007 • 2618 posts Report

  • Paul Campbell,

    Sometimes a rocket is just a rocket?

    Play with these long enough and you've heard all the Freud jokes - sometimes a rocket is just a rocket - some people do it for the challenge of building something cool, others just like the big noise.

    As I said above rockets go wrong easily, and usually spectacularly in front of your friends leaving you looking sheepish and feeling foolish while everyone else is whooping it up .... a lot of people get discouraged and don't come back - you have to develop a sort of zen acceptance of failure to keep at this game.

    Dunedin • Since Nov 2006 • 2623 posts Report

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