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Comment The stingray glider (Score 1) 183

I have had pretty good success (and some random failures) with this design. Alas I can not find a reference to it online, and more than likely the name I have for it is incorrect. I found the design when I was a younger child, the design was in a book of paper plane designs.

The design is fairly simple though:

  1. Start folding a traditional paper plane: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paper_plane using the example image on the wikipedia page, before performing the middle/centre step in the image, insert an additional step.
  2. The additional step is:Fold the tip down so that it touches the tail of the plane at the centre line, then fold it back up again so that an additional crease is made about 2cm from the one made just before.
  3. Continue with the instructions on the wikipedia page.

The result will be a traditional dart with a tiered nose, which will fly a bit more stabler than a traditional dart. You may need to gently tweak the trailing edge of the wings to create a bit more upward direction (lift is probably the wrong word). You can also play with the positioning of the creases made in the additional step to adjust the balance, which will probably achieve the same results as the wing tweaking.

The following SVG should give you a hint: http://pastebin.com/PnsaGPzK

Comment Shorten your sentences please (Score 1) 705

Kevin Lacy, chief traffic engineer for the state DOT, and the one who filed a complaint with the N.C. Board of Examiners for Engineers and Surveyors, protested that in trying to have Computer Scientist David Cox investigated for his detailed complaint about a traffic intersection while not licensed as a professional engineer, "I'm not trying to hush him up."

It does my head in.

Comment I don't like this article (Score 4, Insightful) 530

I disagree that jumping out of ones environment is a smart move, especially if you don't know what's on the other side. I disagree that dolphins are dumb because they get caught in nets because: a) how do you jump over a net if you find your self in the absolute center? b) maybe most do 'just jump over' and the ones caught are the dumb few. c) if a dolphin doesn't jump over a net it will become sushi, a dolphin probably doesn't know that it should jump over a net unless it knows it's dangerous, if a dolphin knows the net is dangerous - it's probably already been caught (see sushi statement). d) nets (i think) are designed to be fairly invisible, dolphins aren't known for having excellent eyesight and I don't know if their echo location is good enough to spot a net... Let's have a fish off and stick a dolphin and a goldfish in a tank and see who wins... actually to make it fair lets stick quite a few goldfish in there...

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