I found the cutest Christmas ornaments! They were 2 for $5 at Costplus! Yay cheap! And they aren't glass, so my darling kitties can't break them! Yay indestructible! There were a whole bunch, but I got the cutest ones, a pig and a zebra in dirigibles! There were also pandas and elephants, and there were also the same animals in hot air balloons, but aerostatic flying machines ought to be steerable. Here they are!
The pig looks like he's having the time of his life, but the zebra doesn't look so sure of this newfangled contraption.
Also, notice the pine cone behind the pig. It's still attached to the tree! That's why we got this particular tree.
Sad, very sad. But cute, too. Aerostatic, my eye. Or elbow. Take your pick. Your mom.
ReplyDeleteYou probably could steer a hot air balloon with a big enough leaf-blower, but it might be prohibitively massive...and why would you bother?
ReplyDeleteSo I found out (thank you Niven) that you don't actually need maneuvering jets to turn a spaceship; you can also use gyroscopes. There's this one story where the villain's landing gear gets partly knocked out, and he doesn't notice it for a while because his gyro stabilizers are holding his ship up...but then the whine from their spinning gets loud enough to hear through the hull, and he turns, horrified...and then his ship falls over on him.
I trust you agree that that's awesome.
That's incredibly awesome. I must read this Niven fellow. He ponders cool things.
ReplyDeleteYou know someone will invent an aeroplane in about 20 years. It is a much safer and convenient way to travel across great distances. Of course, i still prefer the horse. Aren't you glad I sent you on errands?
ReplyDeleteI shall look into fitting my dirigible with a runway of some kind then - perhaps on the roof - for these "aeroplanes" you speak of. Of course I'm also quite fond of autogyros. Ornithopters, on the other hand, get my dander right up!
ReplyDeleteBut the whole joy of balloon flight is not being able to steer. Haven't you read 21 Balloons?
ReplyDeleteNot being able to steer is all well and good when you're "trying" to go to school, but it won't do at all when pirates attack you and you have to do some quick maneuvers to bring your long guns to bear.
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