Greetings good citizen! Today's entry is the 100th post on the Futurist and in breaking news, some wingnut has a developed a flying car! It's [at the moment] slated to retail in the vicinity of a starter home. You'll also be obliged to obtain a pilot's license and follow FAA regulations...so we're still a few lightyears miles short of the 'hop in and launch' concept that the original flying car promised.
If you have to go through all the hassle of becoming a pilot, why would you buy a vehicle that [probably, don't know for sure] doesn't perform either task well?
I have no links so you're gonna have to look it up for yourself [Gegner doesn't have the wherewithal to put himself through pilot's school never mind buy a second home with freakin' wings!] so my curiosity is less than 'burning' but a friend of mine (who does fly) insists the product is in development.
And this is the 'disconnect' most of us dreaded when flying cars were first proposed. We thought GM, Ford, Mopar AND American Motors would all come out with their own 'competing versions' of their earthbound 'flying chariots'!
While you might expect to pay twice as much for a car that did both, it would be worth it!
Understand, even a Piper Cub is capable of doing 120 miles per hour for a sustained time period, something you wouldn't even want to attempt in your average passenger vehicle for a variety of reasons.
Then there's the freakin wings. It's gonna be a pretty strange looking contraption because you're going to have to haul the wings (or propellers) around with you when it's not rigged for flying.
Naturally, Futurist's past thought the wings would be 'retractable'. Sadly Physics gets in the way. Supposing the design favors flight (the car's body would be as aerodynamic and LIGHT as possible...sort of minimizing the protection level afforded by most ground vehicles) you would still require a wingspan roughly twice the length of the vehicle!
Worse, reduced wingspan needs to be offset by increased horsepower/prop thrust!
Which is why I'm of the OPINION that a 'compromise' vehicle will be a disappointment in both departments.
It won't fly well AND it will be a bear to park! If the wind is blowing hard enough it may also affect the vehicle's stability on the ground.
Until we conquer gravity, good citizen, I think 'flying cars' will remain the objects of fancy they've long been!
Switch mental gears with me as we examine an old phemonenon with a 'new name' Agnotology!
I refer you to today's Some Assembly Required for a link to the article on Barry Ritholtz's site explaining the origins of this new term.
As old as civilization itself, the practice of 'attitude adjustment' via 'obsfucation' [muddying the water, creating confusion, then pointing to the confusion and crying 'Panic'.] Well the only thing new here is the word, otherwise it's the same old, same old and due to our staggered level of development, people keep falling for it. {with the sad rejoinder being 'MOST'.)
Look at Trump's unlikely candidacy. He's telling the none too bright what they want to hear, which by no means is even an indication that he intends to DO ANYTHING about it! But they're voting for him anyway.
Sadder still, this subset of the electorate also comprises a component of the Never Hillary crowd...a movement more popular than she is, apparently.
Still the public doesn't notice [just how unpopular the non-existent party's candidate is or that their party no longer represents them! How 'disconnected' can you get?]
Which brings us back to PT Barnums observation, about some of the people and all of the people when the most important part of this exercise in armchair demographics is 'most of the people'.
You can, repeatedly it seems, fool most of the people most of the time, and woe unto us for that!
Athiests are firm in their disbelief while 'Agnostics' profess their 'doubt'...and that's all it take to overturn a conviction, doubt.
Altruists often stick it to you with their 'hidden agendas' and so it appears do the spreaders of 'doubt'
Leads us full circle to the Devil's so-called 'greatest achievement' of not so much 'convincing' people he didn't exist but sowing the seeds of doubt was all it took to produce the desired result!
That said I have no truck with 'Spirit in the Sky' nor his 'evil' alter ego, like money, both are 'human constructs'. So do not take this as an endorsement of the Devil or belief in it's existence.
You have more important things to concentrate on like how you're going to save you and yours from the superstitious peasants that surround you...
Remember good citizen, United we Stand, divided we PERISH!
Thanks once again for letting me inside your head,
Gegner
If you have to go through all the hassle of becoming a pilot, why would you buy a vehicle that [probably, don't know for sure] doesn't perform either task well?
I have no links so you're gonna have to look it up for yourself [Gegner doesn't have the wherewithal to put himself through pilot's school never mind buy a second home with freakin' wings!] so my curiosity is less than 'burning' but a friend of mine (who does fly) insists the product is in development.
And this is the 'disconnect' most of us dreaded when flying cars were first proposed. We thought GM, Ford, Mopar AND American Motors would all come out with their own 'competing versions' of their earthbound 'flying chariots'!
While you might expect to pay twice as much for a car that did both, it would be worth it!
Understand, even a Piper Cub is capable of doing 120 miles per hour for a sustained time period, something you wouldn't even want to attempt in your average passenger vehicle for a variety of reasons.
Then there's the freakin wings. It's gonna be a pretty strange looking contraption because you're going to have to haul the wings (or propellers) around with you when it's not rigged for flying.
Naturally, Futurist's past thought the wings would be 'retractable'. Sadly Physics gets in the way. Supposing the design favors flight (the car's body would be as aerodynamic and LIGHT as possible...sort of minimizing the protection level afforded by most ground vehicles) you would still require a wingspan roughly twice the length of the vehicle!
Worse, reduced wingspan needs to be offset by increased horsepower/prop thrust!
Which is why I'm of the OPINION that a 'compromise' vehicle will be a disappointment in both departments.
It won't fly well AND it will be a bear to park! If the wind is blowing hard enough it may also affect the vehicle's stability on the ground.
Until we conquer gravity, good citizen, I think 'flying cars' will remain the objects of fancy they've long been!
Switch mental gears with me as we examine an old phemonenon with a 'new name' Agnotology!
I refer you to today's Some Assembly Required for a link to the article on Barry Ritholtz's site explaining the origins of this new term.
As old as civilization itself, the practice of 'attitude adjustment' via 'obsfucation' [muddying the water, creating confusion, then pointing to the confusion and crying 'Panic'.] Well the only thing new here is the word, otherwise it's the same old, same old and due to our staggered level of development, people keep falling for it. {with the sad rejoinder being 'MOST'.)
Look at Trump's unlikely candidacy. He's telling the none too bright what they want to hear, which by no means is even an indication that he intends to DO ANYTHING about it! But they're voting for him anyway.
Sadder still, this subset of the electorate also comprises a component of the Never Hillary crowd...a movement more popular than she is, apparently.
Still the public doesn't notice [just how unpopular the non-existent party's candidate is or that their party no longer represents them! How 'disconnected' can you get?]
Which brings us back to PT Barnums observation, about some of the people and all of the people when the most important part of this exercise in armchair demographics is 'most of the people'.
You can, repeatedly it seems, fool most of the people most of the time, and woe unto us for that!
Athiests are firm in their disbelief while 'Agnostics' profess their 'doubt'...and that's all it take to overturn a conviction, doubt.
Altruists often stick it to you with their 'hidden agendas' and so it appears do the spreaders of 'doubt'
Leads us full circle to the Devil's so-called 'greatest achievement' of not so much 'convincing' people he didn't exist but sowing the seeds of doubt was all it took to produce the desired result!
That said I have no truck with 'Spirit in the Sky' nor his 'evil' alter ego, like money, both are 'human constructs'. So do not take this as an endorsement of the Devil or belief in it's existence.
You have more important things to concentrate on like how you're going to save you and yours from the superstitious peasants that surround you...
Remember good citizen, United we Stand, divided we PERISH!
Thanks once again for letting me inside your head,
Gegner
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