[This article is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Isaac Asimov, from
whom I learned most of what I know about Science. Safety Fast
really means that no MG may, either directly or through inaction,
allow harm to come to the driver...]
All of us folk who engage in the exciting hobby/sport of model
aircraft have long been familiar with the effects of reversing
a prop. In fact, my very first model airplane (a Cox Piper Cub
with a .049) came with the instructions that beginners could put
the prop on backwards to keep the plane from flying too fast.
No kidding! Well, it wouldn't be the first time I had a wild
idea turn out to have some interesting basis in reality. I guess
there are some benefits to having to discover most of the laws of
physics for myself while working on the car.
Maybe you guys would be interested in some work I've done on how
the relative masses of a planet and its moon affect their orbits
around a star. I arrived at it by studying the rotation and gear
ratios of the spider gears in an MGB differential. It's really
fairly trivial, about on par with my plan for using WD-40, Marvel
Mystery Oil, a 12V battery, and the points from an SU fuel pump
to cause interstellar hydrogen to recombine into usable elements,
thereby avoiding the heat death of the universe. Piece of cake,
really. We just need fourteen trillion Sears Die-Hards distributed
along an axis that passes through the center of mass of the universe
and a means of synchronization across multi-parsec distances.
Implementation details, really.
--Scott "The plugs are the main thing, good British plugs" Fisher
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