[Date Prev][Date Next]
[Chronological]
[Thread]
[Top]
Re: [PSUBS-MAILIST] I just saw "Building the Impossible"
At 14:29 -0500 3/13/02, Michael Holt wrote:
>Kinda disappointing: the boat wasn't really tested completely. The tone
>of the whole thing was breathless, as though it were a deadly serious
>matter of great import to everyone.
>
Yeah, see -- that's what I was thinking: isn't it interesting enough to see some interesting people solve some interesting engineering problems, without that breathless "hurry, hurry" sense to it. I suppose if they hadn't gotten it done by the arbitrary deadline... would they have said "oh well, forget it," and just packed up and gone home?
(also, they were all concerned with authenticity... did the original guy build his original boat in some kind of race for 18th century TV?)
But the boat-builder did a beautiful job.
>Oh, well.
>
>Anyone want to discuss oars and fish-like paddles?
I remember a story told by Buckminster Fuller fanatics, about a boat he had when he was a little kid and lived on an island. He came up with this single oar with a cone-shaped flexible end, sticking straight out the back. He would push and pull on it to scoot forward, sort of like a jellyfish or something.
--
David
buchner@wcta.net - MN, USA
http://customer.wcta.net/buchner