Let's say you're me and you're in math class, and you're supposed to be learning about factoring. Trouble is, your teacher is too busy trying to convince you that factoring is a useful skill for the average person to know with real-world applications ranging from passing your state exams all the way to getting a higher SAT score and unfortunately does not have the time to show you why factoring is actually interesting. It's perfectly reasonable for you to get bored in this situation. So like any reasonable person, you start doodling.
[more inside]
posted by ErWenn
on Dec 3, 2010 -
27 comments
Surely this must be a double, right? I mean, you've got this great and strange program, Addi's Inflatable Minute, and this incredibly strange but somewhat haunting instrument and its all in
one You Tube Link? People don't actually make this sort of content in real life, do they?
posted by Ogre Lawless
on Jan 11, 2008 -
30 comments
In 1897, pioneering Swedish balloonist Salomon August Andrée and two companions took off for the north pole in a hot air balloon. In 1930 their bodies were found, along with records of their expedition.
This archive of newspaper articles tells their story.
(So does Wikipedia, of course.) Many of the photos they took are
here, along with a lot of text in Polish that I can't read any more than most of you can, so don't come complaining to me.
posted by dersins
on Oct 8, 2007 -
12 comments
These days, you don't have to be rich to have all the
right stuff, at least for the
night. Going
deep or flying
high, these days you don't have to be rich, to pretend. Just a good credit card, and no thought for the future.
posted by nomisxid
on Jul 19, 2007 -
8 comments
Huge gently floating bombs made their way across the pacific below
balloons using the high altitude jet streams floated to the Americas during WWII. Kept secret for most of the war, you can read about their amazing history
here.
posted by lee
on May 6, 2007 -
37 comments
Project Nova: on the 9th of September three Cambridge engineering students
launched a balloon equipped with a camera and tracking devices. It reached a height of 32km and took
857 photographs during its three hour flight,
some showing the curvature of the earth. You can also download
a KML file to follow the balloon's flight path in Google Earth.
posted by jack_mo
on Sep 23, 2006 -
24 comments
"It was the quickest way down." On August 16, 1960,
Joe Kittinger jumped from a helium balloon at
102,800 feet, over 19 miles up. After
free-falling for four and a half minutes and reaching 614 MPH,
almost breaking the sound barrier, he opened his parachute at 18,000 feet and
landed safe and sound after an almost 14 minute descent.
He set records for highest balloon ascent, highest parachute jump, longest freefall and fastest speed by a man through the atmosphere.
[more inside]"I didn't hear a sonic boom; I didn't even hear any whooshing or whistling of the wind. But when I flipped over and looked back at my balloon, it sure was an eerie sight--the sky was black as night but I was bathed in sunshine."
posted by kirkaracha
on Mar 26, 2006 -
48 comments
Urballoon: "a balloon equipped with a projector and wireless connection to the web that enables people to submit content online and broadcast it in public spaces." Today's the last day to submit for projection in NY.
posted by dobbs
on Oct 3, 2004 -
4 comments
