Science!

[Brantly B.]

Panasonic's taking preorders for a set of headphones that work by vibrating your inner-ear bones. Looks like some smaller companies already have something like it out.

Assuming this doesn't make people go deaf or stupid, it sounds like we're one step closer to Codec.

[MarsDragon]

But can it freeze time so you can have a lengthy discussion about pop philosophy in the middle of a firefight?

[Cthulhu-chan]

No.

[Joxam]

That's actually been a thing for a while, some parts of the UK do this to bus windows for advertisements if you lean your head against the window.

[Mongrel]

Environmentally-friendly zeppelin-copter hybrid for shipping heavy freight at low cost

[Classic]

One step closer to crimson skies and my zeppelin city.

[Mongrel]

Even better: One step closer to Don Karnage.

HA-LOW HAPPY PEEOPLES!

[kashan]

I've actually been wondering for a while why dirigibles weren't a thing in shipping. If you don't need to get it there particularly quickly then they would be really really efficient. Best I could come up with was that maybe helium was prohibitively expensive in the quantities needed.

[Mongrel]

A guy I know has actually worked with dirigible pilots in the past. He said that the main problem is the issue of boyancy/ballast, in that you need to continually fine-tweak the boyancy as you unload (or load) cargo, and the difficulty of doing so is actually the single greatest problem with using dirigibles for heavy freight.

[Cthulhu-chan]

well, helium reserves are considered to be dangerously low, and are kinda more important for science/medicine.

[Classic]

Why would you waste precious, precious He when you could have a sexy, sexy new Hindenburg?

[Blossom]

A guy I know has actually worked with dirigible pilots in the past. He said that the main problem is the issue of boyancy/ballast, in that you need to continually fine-tweak the boyancy as you unload (or load) cargo, and the difficulty of doing so is actually the single greatest problem with using dirigibles for heavy freight.

In 2014, that seems like something a computer could take care of.

[Cthulhu-chan]

Why would you waste precious, precious He when you could have a sexy, sexy new Hindenburg?

Not making the dirigible out of rocket fuel would probably help with that.

[Classic]

...
...
Rocket fuel?
I mean, yeah, it's the same atoms, but that's a bit disingenuous.
I mean, liquid fuels are a great deal more energy dense than gas fuels.

A guy I know has actually worked with dirigible pilots in the past. He said that the main problem is the issue of boyancy/ballast, in that you need to continually fine-tweak the boyancy as you unload (or load) cargo, and the difficulty of doing so is actually the single greatest problem with using dirigibles for heavy freight.

In 2014, that seems like something a computer could take care of.

I think they're working on AIs to handle that.
I think the problem has a bit too much hysteresis/state memory to be handled by more straightforward algorithms.

[Cthulhu-chan]

Not talking about the hydrogen. The skin of the dirigible had high iron oxide and aluminum content. One of the running theories was that it was just shy of being rocket fuel / thermite.

[Classic]

Derp. I did not know that!

[Blossom]

Yeah, I think most of the theories about the Hindenburg trace directly to either incompetent design or active sabotage.

[Brantly B.]

The MythBusters show was pretty informative. The fucking thing was the size of three football fields and burned up, completely, in under 40 seconds.

[Smiler]

Why would you waste precious, precious He when you could have a sexy, sexy new Hindenburg?

Not making the dirigible out of rocket fuel would probably help with that.

No way, that would make it go even faster.

[Mongrel]

Turns out massive underground seas are kinda sorta real.