Everyone knows, weight is bad in airplane design.
But, when they were designing the Boeing 777-200ER, a plane that weighs something like half a million pounds, they calculated for flying a 3,000-mile flight, cutting 2,500 pounds could save about 23,250 gallons of jet fuel.

At an average price of $1.66 per gallon, that's almost $39,000 saved on one transcontinental flight. :mg:

That one I already know.

Maggie's out of the borough, but she is in Norristown. Being out of the borough, though, makes all of the difference.

Today I learned that the best way to make the assistant in the Mens Dept. uncomfortable is to look him in the eye and say "I'm not gay, but I'll learn.".

The wife hates shopping with me.

zippyt, you get on over here and I'll buy you that Guinness! :thumbsup:

Most of it. I'm protected from the effects of the lame borough government, but not from the school district.

I thought I was kicking butt in dance class and learning the choreography but then the teacher injured her knee, so she sat in a chair and we did it without her in front, and it turns out no one in class can remember sh** without watching her. Now she's going to make a point of making us dance without her every week. :thepain3:

Cutting 2,500 pounds from "my" airplane would make it lighter than air; it's not allowed to fly if it weighs more than 2,500lbs.

Only seats four, and there's no lav. Would take several hops to go transcontinental too.

That said, weight is even more of an issue for a little airplane...

Another airplane tidbit.....
The Kevlar band made to encircle the engine fan is about three inches thick and two feet wide.
This containment ring is so strong that it can absorb the energy equivalent to stopping a ten-thousand-pound automobile traveling at 70 miles an hour in five inches! :eek:

During the development of the engine for the 777, there were a series of shows about its design, development, testing, etc. There were many shows and one of them, on the engine, had a segment that featured that retaining ring. It showed in extreme slow motion the result of many different insults. They fired a frozen turkey into the spinning turbine blades (sliced frozen turkey, in case you were wondering), they tried to drown it with enough water to simulate storm that dumped 22" of rain (boring. wet.) and they showed what happened when a designated turbine blade came loose. That was interesting. It was painted white, and when it came out, it moved outward from the center of course. But the clearance was so slight that it immediately collided with both the inside of the shroud and the turbine blades following it. Several broke and the whole mess of them continued their outward path. One camera angle was from outside the engine looking at the spot where the blades would have come out (in the absence or failure of your band) and all we could see was a little movement under the fabric, as if something were moving under a sheet. Then nothing.

Until now I hadn't understood what was going on there that produced the effect I saw. Now I know more, but I'm just as amazed.

What I learned last night:

If a recipe doesn't specify what heat to have your grill at, start off on Low. Aubergines go from well-done, to burnt, to ON FIRE!!!! in the time it takes you to cross the kitchen.

Today, I learned how to experimentally determine the rate constant and law of a reaction. And that undergrad chemistry is great fun!

Technically, I learned this yesterday but whatever...

Pontiac Grand Ams make a weird crunching noise when a semi runs them over.

Phila drivers are INSANE!

This guy is one of the dumbest drivers on the planet! How do you not see a semi the size of a small house, lit up like a cruise ship at night, on a well-lighted street, flashing THREE sets of turn signals, making a turn at less then five mph and then try to get past it on the right???

Wish the pics had come out better than black with a shiny thing on it so I could show you the wages of stupidity.

And I barely felt it (felt like a curb to me). Damage to truck: a scuff on a tire, a small scratch on the lower rail and nothing else.

I'll find out what safety dept has to say in a few days. Could be anything from "Oops!" to "You're fired!". I'll let y'all know.

Brian

Yikes. Good luck with that.

I learned just how much the other half and I laugh. Which is nice.

My hubby had thyroid surgery yesterday and now it really hurts when he laughs. We didn't realize how often that was before. And of course not being able to laugh make you want to.... I'm staying out of eye contact for now. He's literally in danger of laughing his head off :lol: Poor thing.

Today I learned that there's a preservative in a lot of bread which sends kids loopy (apparently).