Can the Plane Take Off?

Posted on March 6, 2006 by Carson

I first saw this question posed in the Math discussion folder at work (back before the Classifieds where restricted). Then today a story from The Straight Dope (original here) showed up on Digg where there was a pretty spirited discussion about it. Simply put:

A plane is standing on a runway that can move (think of some sort of band conveyer). The plane moves in one direction, while the conveyer moves in the opposite direction. This conveyer has a control system that tracks the wheel’s speed and tunes the speed of the conveyer to be exactly the same (but in the opposite direction). Can the plane take off?

The answer seems obvious: the conveyor will keep the plane stationary, no air will move past the wings, thus no lift will be generated, and the plane will stay on the ground. The plane can’t just jump into the air. It sounds simple enough, and this was my take on it for the first few minutes I pondered the question. But the first assumption this argument is based on is wrong. All I needed was for some to frame the situation a certain way and I saw my mistake. The plane will not stand still relative to the ground.

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Snow and Oscar

Posted on March 6, 2006 by Carson

We got about 4 inches of snow yesterday in Madison. The good news is that it wasn’t very cold, so it was almost nice. Of course, I haven’t tried driving to work yet…

I thought Jon Stewart did OK as Oscar host last night. He was funny as always, but didn’t get the big laughs I was expecting. I’m not sure if he nervous, facing the wrong kind of crowd, missing some of the sight gags possible with his 3 giant screens from The Daily Show set, or just trying too hard – but he never seemed to really connect with the audience. It’s a shame, because he’s one of the smartest and funniest guys out there. I don’t think it helped that ABC’s intro clip portrayed him as the guy they went to when no one else was willing to host (even if it was funny). Which reminds me, I’ve gotta set the DVR to record The Daily Show this week.

I haven’t seen any of the movies up for best picture; we seem to be in a movie drought lately. I can’t remember the last time we went to a movie in the theater, and we’re probably not getting our money’s worth out of Netflix in the last couple of months either. Still, I’ve heard quite a bit about the movies and I was glad to see Crash take home best picture, mostly because everyone was convinced it would be Brokeback Mountain.

Now I’ve really gotta get to work and hope my customers leave me alone so I can get some real work done.

Ramada

Posted on February 26, 2006 by Carson

We’re back in Chicago at the Ramada for the night. I’ve got several posts and some photos to put up, but I’ll do it later. I have a feeling I’ve missed a lot while we were gone. All I’ve really heard about recently are the Olympics and the port management contract going to UAE.

Canopy Tour

Posted on February 22, 2006 by Carson

We had initially dismissed this idea because it wasn’t cheap, but after further consideration we decided we just couldn’t pass it up. This tour is kind of hard to explain, but definitely a once in a lifetime experience. When I first read the description, I assumed they had rigged up some rope bridges and things between the tops of trees and you just walked around above the ground – it turned out to be a lot cooler than that. They had multiple platforms attached to the hillside and some trees, but to get between them we rode ziplines.

First, we got in a bus and rode the majority of the way up a mountain which was somewhat of an adventure in and of itself. We got to a little pavilion and the tour crew outfitted each person with a harness, helmet, and some caribiners and pulleys I don’t know a name for. After a short hike down we had a safety briefing and we were off to the first platform. There were about six guides on the crew, so a few went across to the next platform, while others stayed back to hook up each persons equipment to the cables. Since they did everything for your, there really wasn’t much chance of any problems.

There were a total of nine sections, with one really steep part, and one vertical drop. Amber was pretty nervous about the whole thing, but after the first and second sections, she was feeling a lot better about it. Then we came to the steepest drop, which was a little scarier than the rest. The way they had things rigged up, they could easily control the speed of our descent. Amber was third and she made it down with just a scream. When it was my turn, though, I don’t think the guy below was ready for me. The platform was wrapped around a tree and wasn’t very wide, so I ended up hitting the trunk pretty hard. Luckily, I had my legs in a good position to absorb the impact with my feet. It was a pretty good jolt, but I wasn’t hurt. I think the guy felt pretty bad because he asked me if I was OK about four times before he let me go.

The vertical drop was pretty funny. They let the first few people down nice and easy, but when Amber got up there, they let her free fall the majority of the way and caught her a few feet above the ground. After watching her go, I was ready for it.

The last section was something over 600 feet and even though the ride only lasted a few seconds it was pretty sweet. I was able to snap this picture of Amber as she came down the line.

They snapped a few pictures of each of us, and put them on CDs along with a video of what a trip down the line is like. Here’s a taste. Anyway, the other people in our group all agreed the whole thing was pretty crazy, but totally awesome. One couple even bought us each a bear when we were finished!

Edit: Pictures in the Canopy Tour set.

Long Day

Posted on February 21, 2006 by Carson

We’re finally here in Jamaica, but the trip here wasn’t exactly smooth. After waking up at 3:30 to head to the airport, our flight finally left Chicago around 7AM. So in just over 3 hours we should have been landing in Montego Bay.

As we came close to cruising altitude, the flight attendants started running around attending to something. It wasn’t long before I realized something was going on with a passenger across the aisle from us. Pretty soon they got on the PA and said, “If there is a medical doctor onboard, please identify yourself by pushing the call button above your seat.” Crap.

They moved this guy to the back of the plane and continued to run around. He didn’t really look sick or anything so I couldn’t figure out what was going on. The next thing I Know I felt the plane tilt slightly in the way that can only mean we’ve started a descent. Since they hadn’t announced anything I wondered if maybe we were just changing altitude for some reason, but at the same time I started to get kinda pissed off because I was pretty sure it meant we would be making an emergency landing.

Sure enough, a few minutes later they told everyone that there was a medical emergency onboard and in the interest of the passenger’s safety we were diverting to Atlanta. Double crap.

Keep in mind, we were supposed to be getting breakfast on this flight, and though we’d been in the air about an hour, nothing was served (except first class) because all the attendants were trying to figure out what to do about this guy.

So we finally landed in Atlanta. They told us the passenger needed to deplane and the plane needed to be refueled. So we sit and wait. And wait some more. The passenger gets back on (!) and we wait some more. A refueling truck finally found the plane and around 9:30 we get off the ground.

Around 10AM we finally got our breakfast – 3 hours after we should have been eating and almost 7 hours after we got up. The delay was due to the “health” concerns of one passenger, but after he got back on the plane he seemed to be fine and explained to a few people that he just started to feel really weird and was having trouble moving part of his face. What?

So basically, this guy freaked out at 30,000 feet (was this his first time in the air?) and decided to delay 100 people’s trip to Jamaica for a few hours.

Anyway, after all the waiting, we finally landed in Montego Bay, figured out how to find our transfer flight and made it to Sandal’s Dunn’s River. Still, I’m not really sure we saved anything by spending another $200 to fly closer to the resort rather than take a 2 hour bus ride.

Now it’s Tuesday morning, and we’ve slept for 11 hours and just finished our room service breakfast. We’re about to head down to orientation and figure out what to do with the rest of our day.

Brrr!

Posted on February 17, 2006 by Carson

The low last night in Albion was -7°; now it’s just after 10AM and it’s still 0°. We’re headed for a forecasted high of 10° tomorrow. So in the spirit of the cold weather, I thought I’d post some pics from the Calvin and Hobbes Snowmen tribute. Then I realized that all the pics I had are on my desktop at home which is shut off because we’re gone for two weeks. So that link will have to do. (I’ll try to post the full set another time.) Enjoy!

Edit: No, I’m not nervous. Just tired of waiting around.

On the Road

Posted on February 15, 2006 by Carson

Writing from Des Moines. Three days ’til the wedding and five ’til Jamaica!

We Rock

Posted on January 25, 2006 by Carson

Despite our best efforts, my bowling team held out to stay in second in our division and clinch a spot in the playoffs. I also had a pretty good night with an average just over 150 (throwing a hook for the second week in a row!). That oughta add another pin to my overall average.

It’s getting hard to concentrate at work. I’ve been working on the same project for almost 2 months now and I really don’t know what I’m doing. Unfortunately it’s priority one, so I can’t really distract myself with much else unless my customers have problems. As you might have guessed, they’ve been strangely quiet now that I’d welcome something to do. Add to all this the fact that there’s less than three weeks now before Amber and I head for Nebraska then later onto Jamaica, I’m not getting much done.

Oh, and Lost was good, although a little strange. I’m probably in the minority here, but I felt sorry for Charlie and thought Locke was an ass for one of the first times in the show. Was it really necessary to punch Charlie in the face at all, let alone 3 times?

Trilogy

Posted on January 24, 2006 by Carson

At work we’ve got some discussion folders that give lots of a people a chance to waste time when they should be working. I’m kind of surprised they still exist with over 2000 employees, but you won’t hear me complaining. Today I was reminded why the Back to the Future movies are some of my most favorite ever.

Marty went into the past the first time accidentally when he was being chased by the Libyans, and he was sent back to 1985 by Doc from 1955. Then he and doc and Jennifer went into the future to fix the future (because apparently they couldn’t just put it on a to do list), then they went back to 1985, but it was altered, so they figured out that they had to go back to 1955 to fix the evil 1985 that future Biff made when he gave young Biff the Gray’s sports almanac, then Doc accidentally got struck by lightning and went to 1885, then Marty found the time machine in a cave and went back to 1885 to get Doc, then Marty and Jennifer went back to the regular (more or less) 1985 and the Delorean was crushed by a train, then Doc came to 1985 after he had apparently converted a steam engine into a time machine with the 1885 equivalent of today’s technology.

If ever there were an airtight plot, that’s it.

I love how he fit that all into two sentences. Seriously though, the DVD trilogy with special features is awesome. And who doesn’t love Michael J. Fox as Marty McFly?

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