Is it true that if you shoot a bullet through the skin of an
airliner in flight, everyone would get sucked out the little hole? If
not, Hollywood has a lot of explaining to do.
Adam and Jamie from
Mythbusters on the Discovery Channel set out the other night to
find out if this was true. The myth is based on the fact that an
airliner at 35,000 feet is like a ballon flying through the air
— the air pressure on the inside (pushing out against the inside
of the plane) is much higher than the ambient air pressue at that
altitude.
When you pierce the skin of a ballon with a pin, the whole thing
pops. The pressurized air inside the ballon rushes out with such
force that it "grabs" the edges of the hole as it leaves and tears the
ballon apart in an instant. The same should be true for an airliner,
right? And everything in the place should go rushing out the hole,
right?
No. Mythbusters proved this wasn't the case, thus proving wrong
several dozen action movies and at least one James Bond film.
And, true to Mythbuster's style, they proved this point with a
veritable tidal wave of geekiness.
They went to an airline graveyard in the Mohave Desert and found an
old Hawaiian Airlines 737. They sealed it up, then brought in a
massive air compressor and pumped the plane full of air until the
difference between the interior of the plane and the air at sea level
was the same as it would be if the plane was flying at 35,000
feet.
Now the cool part — inside the plane, they had parked their
crash-test dummy, Buster, in a window seat. In the aisle, they rigged
up a Glock 9mm to a firing mechanism and pointed it at the hull of the
plane. Then, with the plane fully pressurized, they fired the gun
remotely.
What happened? Nothing. Sure, the air rushed out, but even
styrofoam peanuts they had placed in the aisle didn't move, much less
Buster. They did the test a second time, this time firing through the
window right next to Buster. Same result — nothing.
Not satisfied (I love it when they're not satisfied...), they
rigged explosive cord around the window to simulate the window blowing
out due to structural failure. They pressurized the plane again and
blew the window.
The results were much more satisying — Buster got his arm
yanked out the window. Crash test dummies aren't designed to come
apart, but if he were a human, I think he would have lost his arm.
However, the rest of his body just wasn't going through the window, no
matter what the myth said.
Still not satisifed, Adam and Jamie put a "shaped charge" (whatever
that is) against the hull next to Buster's knee. Plane pressurized
once again, they blew the charge.
Now, I
don't know how much damage was from the charge and how much was from
the air rushing out, but the entire roof came off the plane. Buster,
beleive it or not, was still belted in his chair, but there was a
20-foot section of the roof missing. That plane was toast, and it
looked eerily similar to Aloha Airlines flight 243 that lost its roof
in mid-flight back in 1988.
So, myth busted. However, they didn't address one thing: the drop
in air pressure caused by the velocity of the air outside the plane.
You see, the entire concept of flight is based on the fact that air
pressure goes down as the speed of the air goes up.
So when a hole gets blown in the side of the plane, even after all
the air rushes out and the pressue of the plane is equal to the
ambient air pressue at that altitude, you now have 600 m.p.h. air
rushing past the hole, which would have a much lower air pressure than
the stationary air inside the plane. Does this make sense to anyone
else?
That question aside, this segment proved, one and for all, that
Mythbusters ranks right up there with Extreme Engineering and Modern Marvels as God's
gift to geeks.
Wired NextFest: decompression05/17/2004 02:46 PM
So, I spent a fair amount of my waking hours in recent months
programming the Main Stage portion of NextFest, the Wired
Magazine event sponsored by GE that took place at San Francisco's
Fort Mason Center this weekend. I took lots of snapshots, and I'm
eager to share them -- along with some of what I observed at the
event. But right now, I'm still peeling my brain off the floor. I'm
exhausted. More soon, but for now this quick snapshot that kind of
sums it all up for me. Seeing so many families and children
experiencing technology first-hand with this look of sheer amazement
and delight on their faces made all the work feel worthwhile. Link to some news clips on NextFest.
The Truth About FOX News is That It is Not the Truth: It is Murdoch's Right Wing Shill Machine for Bush 11/1
swift4.he.net/~swift4/article.php?story=20040831145849995 track
this site | 4 links
"In this mourning space, however, there must be room made for the truth. Writer Edward Abbey once said, "The sneakiest form of literary subtlety, in a corrupt society, is to speak the plain truth. The critics will not understand you; the public will not..."
At a time when biology is poised to undergo a fundamental
revolution, the US government, arguably the most potent government in
the history of the world, is rife with White House appointees who
believe that scientific truth and Christian truth cannot be
synonymous, and may well be in opposition.
I ask myself - do I believe that scientific truth and Christian
truth can be synonymous? My answer - no. I ask myself - do I believe
that they may well be in opposition? My answer - yes. The only
difference between me and the people from the religious right then, is
that we disagree with which 'truth' is the more reliable. I stick on
the side of the people who test their conclusions and refine their
belief systems with reference to evidence - they stick to the side of
the people who believe that a magic being sets bushes on fire and
turns women into salt.
So the scary bit for me is not that the nutters in power believe
that the two are incompatible, but that the assumption is that for
reasonable, normal, run-of-the-mill scientists all across America that
it's normal to be able to reconcile meteorology with the concept of
rains of blood and biology with people who bring people back from the
dead...
Explosive packages sent in post09/05/2004 09:46 AM Six potentially explosive parcels are sent to addresses in Luton, and
four more are found in sorting offices.
Russia finds air crash explosive08/27/2004 01:34 PM Russian officials say traces of explosive have been found in the
debris of one of two crashed airliners.
Other News: Explosive Windows Worm
Other News: Explosive Windows Worm01/27/2004 11:30 AM This latest infection demonstrates that Windows worms are completely
out of control.
The Secret Sauce of the Explosive Cocktail02/16/2004 12:10 PM Loïc Le Meur reflects upon the Etech conference to come up with the
secret sauce of an unwired conference (go read the descriptions):
-Prepare the sauce ingredients on a wiki and let it grow during the
conference -Make wifi and...
Men Charged for Taping Explosive to Bunny (AP)
Men Charged for Taping Explosive to Bunny (AP)07/29/2004 06:28 PM AP - It seemed like luck had run out for Lucky the rabbit. Strapped to
a powerful explosive with a lit fuse, she was tossed into a lake. But
Lucky lived up to her name. The explosive didn't blow up, and the
rabbit was pulled out of the water.
Contrite Dean Tries to Recover From His Explosive Speech
Contrite Dean Tries to Recover From His Explosive Speech01/22/2004 03:29 PM Howard Dean today cast himself as an imperfect man driven by passion
but with the courage and integrity to speak the truth on behalf of
"ordinary people."
PSP Sees Explosive Sales, 1/2 Million Units04/08/2005 10:12 AM Sony has announced that in the first two days of sales, 500,000 PSPs
were sold in America. The PSP, which sells for $249, generated $150m
for retailers in the first week.
Sony's PSP is a portable games console, with extra functionality; the
PSP is also able to play music and movies. It's slick design and large
feature set has proved popular with gamers. The PSP has enjoyed
attention recently for the high number of DIY "<a
href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4420745.stm">
hacks</a>"; enterprising owners have made use of the web
features, concocting programs that can connect the PSP to websites and
IRC chat rooms. The launch has not been without problem, however. Many
users have reported dead pixels on units, forcing Sony to offer
replacements to dis-satisfied customers.
Released in Japan late in 2004, Sony have so far sold over a 1.5
million units worldwide. The company has delayed the European launch
to ensure they're able to match high demand. Analysts hope that the
popularity of units like the PSP and rival Nintendo DS will drive
growth into the games market this year.
In equal need of growth and success is the PSP's creator, Sony. The
company has been criticised for its lack of success in recent years,
and for missing the portable media market. Earlier this year, Howard
Stringer took over the reigns with hopes of reviving Sony's fortunes.
Stringer is the first foreigner in the company’s history to be given
the top spot at Sony.
Mr. X Provides Explosive Effects for Resident Evil: Apocalyse
Mr. X Provides Explosive Effects for Resident Evil: Apocalyse09/07/2004 03:05 AM With its unique mix of artists, filmmakers, VFX supervisors, and
programmers, Mr. X specializes in partnering with filmmakers to
provide story-driven visual enhancements. Now Mr. X has been
generating even more excitement in the film industry, creating
innovative visual effects for recent films including 2004's hit DAWN
OF THE DEAD, which debuted as the #1 movie in North America. Now Mr.
X continues to break new ground with the fall movie season's highly
awaited horror sequel: RESIDENT EVIL: APOCALYPSE. Mr. X contributed
over 250 vital visual effects shots to the finished film, including
its rousing finale. [PRWEB Sep 7, 2004]
Decompression bombs: email attachments expanded and expanded and expanded
Decompression bombs: email attachments expanded and expanded and expanded02/11/2004 06:56 PM Here's an interesting security noodle from Yoz Grahame: some
(meaningless) data is highly compressible using standard compression
algorithms -- what would it do your computer if the payloads in
automatically decompressed messages went from 7kb to 100gb?
Here's an example scenario: A mail arrives at your
super-barbed-wire-protected mail gateway. The gzip-compressed
attachment - only 7k big - is grabbed by the anti-virus scanner,
looking for any suspicious signatures. It starts to decompress it and
BANG - the resulting file, over 100 gigabytes, crashes the AV scanner
and completely fills the hard drive partition in the process.
Fortunately, a good number of the AV scanners that AERAsec tested
aren't too vulnerable, but some require patching. Similarly, sending a
gzipped-HTML bomb to a browser will crash a fair few of them. Not so
scary, then, but nifty in an admirably-nasty way.
Explosive sink and toilet plunger is a gift from the gods
Explosive sink and toilet plunger is a gift from the gods08/16/2004 08:18 PM I went to Home
Depot over the weekend to buy two dollar's worth of hardware (pins for
door hinges) and walked out with over $100 worth of stuff, of course.
My prime pruchase was something called a KleerDrain instant drain
opener, which combines the fun of explosives with the satisfaction of
unclogging a sink.
I was a little wary of spending $30 on this gadget, which looks
like a cross-between a plunger and a pogo stick. But Home Depot had
one of those videos running next to the set-up, which showed clogged
sink after clogged sink giving up its precious bolus of greasy hair to
the explosive force of a CO2 cartridge unleashing its entire payload
at once. Watching the guy on the demo using the device, with its
rifle-like kickback and puff of condensed carbon dioxide gas,
mesmerized me. The next thing I knew, I was racing home with my new
KleerDrain.
I could hardly wait to use it on a slow-draining sink in the
bathroom. I duct taped the overflow drain on the sink, and inserted a
CO2 cartridge into the Kleer Drain. I screwed on the rubber cone and
then pressed it into the drain opening.
WHAM! A shower of gray grime flew out of somewhere and splashed
against the walls, mirror and ceiling. I wiped the junk off my face
and turned on the faucet. The water whooshed down the drain, ending
with a nice sucking sound, like it was wishing there were more water
it could dispose of.
I think I'm in love. Time to stock up on more CO2 cartridges. Link
The explosive device is a foot long and shaped like a cigar
Archaeologists Seeking Pots Find WW2 Explosive (Reuters)06/30/2004 09:25 AM Reuters - American archaeologists diving for
Roman artifacts off a packed swimmers' beach in Cyprus found
live explosive dating from the Second World War instead,
authorities said on Tuesday.
Explosive Suggests Terrorists Downed Plane, Russia Says
"Many media outlets have been providing a relatively easy outlet for the so-called "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth" (SBV for short; more appropriately described as the Swift Boat Veterans Who Have a Problem With The Truth or as Swift Boat Veteran..."
Kyocera, CPSC recall explosive cell phone batteries01/24/2004 12:09 AM Kyocera Wireless has issued a recall of cell phone batteries used in
one of its smart phones after discovering the batteries can explode,
the company said Friday in conjunction with the U.S. Consumer Products
Safety Commission.
Study: Explosive growth for XML server market (Internet Week)
Economy: Bush puts forward and explosive proposal on immigration
Economy: Bush puts forward and explosive proposal on immigration01/07/2004 06:24 PM If I understand this right, I can, under Bush's new temporary guest
worker program, hire people internationally and bring them in as
temporary workers for three years. I am not sure that people
understand the implications of this. What if IBM says that
instead of shipping jobs to India, they will hire people from India
(for three years under this program at $15 k a year -- people can live
on this in the US, believe it or not) and bring them here for
more intensive and collaborative jobs (at less total cost since they
don't pay services to manage them remotely)? Other implications:
this doesn't help Mexican workers at all (this is an open door to the
rest of the world and makes low wage work in the US globally
competitive rather than one based on proximity). It doesn't help
US workers since this is a fast race to the bottom in wages (but Bush
doesn't care about this). There also doesn't seem to be any upper
limits on how many people that can be included in this program (we
could see tens of millions in next couple of years).
I am not negative on this if it eventually leads to
citizenship. We want everyone that is capable of contributing.
Let's open up and do what nobody else can.
Swift Boat Veterans for Truth - Statement By Swift Boat Veterans for Truth Member Larry Thurlow
Take part of the Explosive Computer Graphics Revolution with “Shaders for Game Programmers and Artists” by Sebastien St-Laurent.
Take part of the Explosive Computer Graphics Revolution with “Shaders for Game Programmers and Artists” by Sebastien St-Laurent.08/03/2004 02:14 AM “Shaders for Game Programmers and Artists”, a first of its kind, is
now available in online and stores worldwide. Many of the most
anticipated games such as Doom 3 (ID Software), HALO 2 (Bungie) and
Half-Life 2 (Valve), take advantage of new programmable Shader
technology to create the most breathtaking computer graphics. This new
books takes a head-on approach programmable shaders, allowing both
developers and technically minded artists to take advantage of this
new revolution. [PRWEB Aug 3, 2004]
Recruitforce.com Signs Longs Drugs Stores as 100th Customer of its On Demand Recruiting Software; Cites 2004 as Explosive Growth Year Across Multiple Industries With Companies Small and Large.
Truth08/27/2004 01:51 PM A
letter from the wife of one of the commanders of the three Swift
boats, killed in action later, reports on her husbands's views. (via
NYT) Grok Description matches for The Truth About Explosive Decompression GrokA matches for The Truth About Explosive Decompression
The Truth About Explosive Decompression
The following phrases have been identified by the grok system as matching this entry:
So, I spent a fair amount of my waking hours in recent months
programming the Main Stage portion of NextFest, the Wired
Magazine event sponsored by GE that took place at San Francisco's
Fort Mason Center this weekend. I took lots of snapshots, and I'm
eager to share them -- along with some of what I observed at the
event. But right now, I'm still peeling my brain off the floor. I'm
exhausted. More soon, but for now this quick snapshot that kind of
sums it all up for me. Seeing so many families and children
experiencing technology first-hand with this look of sheer amazement
and delight on their faces made all the work feel worthwhile. 
Is it true that if you shoot a bullet through the skin of an
airliner in flight, everyone would get sucked out the little hole? If
not, Hollywood has a lot of explaining to do.
Now, I
don't know how much damage was from the charge and how much was from
the air rushing out, but the entire roof came off the plane. Buster,
beleive it or not, was still belted in his chair, but there was a
20-foot section of the roof missing. That plane was toast, and it
looked eerily similar to Aloha Airlines flight 243 that lost its roof
in mid-flight back in 1988.
View: 
I went to Home
Depot over the weekend to buy two dollar's worth of hardware (pins for
door hinges) and walked out with over $100 worth of stuff, of course.
My prime pruchase was something called a KleerDrain instant drain
opener, which combines the fun of explosives with the satisfaction of
unclogging a sink.